Belize City man protests canceled lease
Twenty-seven years ago, when the Northern Highway was little more than a two lane potholed track, George Betson leased a piece of land at mile two from government. Today, with prime Belize City commercial lots selling at a premium, he finds that because he failed to develop the land, his lease has been cancelled. This morning the new leaseholder arrived to prepare the lot for construction, only to find that a determined Betson had quickly put up a fence and a portable shelter and vowed to stand his ground.
George Betson
?I feel like someone stuck a knife directly though my heart. This is my life here, this is everything I own here and I?ve been struggling hard for years and years to get equipment cause I?m in the heavy equipment business. I?m at the point now where I?m ready to move the equipment, I?m here in Belize trying to develop a cash flow so I can move my equipment and proceed with my business.?
?This is probably going to be some kind of blood bath situation because who am I going to turn to, to get justice? Just tell me who can I turn to, to get justice? As I told the guy when he was here, when you?re going to take the house, you?re going to have to take me along with the house because this is all I have and I?m not going to have Mr. Coye or nobody else try to beat me out of me life.?
Stewart Krohn
?Mr. Betson, to look at it from the other point of view, for twenty-seven years you had this land. All you managed to do in twenty-seven years, you managed to pay a little bit on the lease, you never bought the land, you fill about half of it, you put up a little fence that I understand was knocked down. They?ve offered to give you title I believe to land up at mile eight. The whole purpose of leasing land is to develop it and really in twenty-seven years, not a whole lot of development you?ve put into it, so really what is the beef??
George Betson
?I have done what has been required of me by my lease. I fill the place, filling is a part of development.?
Stewart Krohn
?You fill half the place.?
George Betson
?I had structure on here, two of them… and I haven?t been compensated for that. I?ve been in the States not playing, I?m working hard, the bottom line is to come here. For years it took me to get the to the point where I am now. And now I?m here and I?m going to lose what I?ve been working with for years.?
Stewart Krohn
?But Mr. Betson, didn?t you just have a sign up that you were trying to sell this land and you didn?t even own the land, you had is leased??
George Betson
?I put a sign up to try to see the response I was going to get from the public after four institutions in Belize City turned me down because. As I said I was here trying to develop a cash flow on my assets and after I?ve been turned down by four different institutions here in Belize City, my back was totally against the wall. What can you do when you don?t know what to do??
Stewart Krohn
?So you were going to get money from the prospective buyer, pay off the lease, buy the land and then sell the land??
George Betson
?That was my intention sir.
Stewart Krohn
?What?s the next step??
George Betson
?My next step is the protect this land with all my strength, health, will, if it takes me to the grave.
The new leaseholder, Rupert Marin of Sanitation Enterprises Ltd., told News 5 that Betson’s lease had been canceled from August, but that when Betson recently arrived in Belize from his home in Los Angeles, he proceeded to try to sell it, with an asking price of three hundred and five thousand dollars. Marin says he needs the land, which measures one hundred by two hundred and fifty feet, to build a new headquarter for his business which currently employs one hundred and twenty-five people. Marin said that he is the legitimate leaseholder and is content to let the law take its course.
