Belize Formalizes Cattle Trade with Guatemala

Cross-border cattle trade with Guatemala was formalized several months after the illegal export of livestock was suspended due to concerns of COVID-19.  Despite its informal nature, the business of transporting cattle for sale into Melchor via Bullet Tree Falls was an activity that endured for decades.  Earlier this year, government put a stop to it, pending formal talks with Guatemala’s ministry of agriculture.  Those negotiations resulted in an agreement that has seen the exportation of twenty-seven heads of cattle in the first instance.  It’s a relatively small number when compared to the once lucrative, multimillion dollar trade that saw hundreds of cows being ferried across the western border.  Earlier today, during a virtual press conference, Minister of Agriculture Godwin Hulse confirmed the export of the cattle under the new regime.

Godwin Hulse

Godwin Hulse, Minister of Agriculture

“This ministry and the Government of Belize absolutely, absolutely, unconditionally opposes any attempt to ship cattle illegally or informally.  That door has been closed, we cannot try to smuggle animals into our neighboring republic for several reasons.  First of all, they closed their border and we closed our border.  Secondly, there is COVID raging and we have already passed legislation for border jumpers, serious, serious penalties.  We cannot and will not support that in any form, fashion or other.  People caught doing that will be held to pay.  But we recognize the plight of farmers, cattle farmers especially.  So the ministry worked diligently together with the BLPA to try to get the legal export up and going and at the highest, highest level of government, at the ministerial level, I communicated with the minister of Guatemala and all his team; at the highest sanitary and phyto-sanitary level, BAHA worked with MAGA, those are all the veterinarians and technical people and we were able to make the first official shipment of twenty-seven animals into Guatemala, I think it was a Monday or two Mondays ago and there’s already on the another large order.”