Over 20,000+ Belizeans Heading to Mexico for Easter

Oscar Arnold

The Easter holidays are upon us and with the borders open, a lot of Belizeans will be traveling to various destinations in Mexico. News Five confirmed today that in excess of twenty thousand Belizeans are expected to head north during the next few days. But there are some changes travelers need to be aware of at the Santa Elena crossing. Belizean Ambassador to Mexico Oscar Arnold spoke of what you should have on hand when traveling beyond Chetumal, especially if you are in a private vehicle.

Oscar Arnold, Belizean Ambassador to Mexico

“One of the changes that Belizeans will see is that when they approach the customs area at the border, they will see that it is manned by their military. There is another layer there when you are crossing the border for Belizeans to take into consideration that there is like a BAHA agricultural checkpoint and they are checking to see if anyone is bringing anything fruits or agriculture related. Then you will do your normal immigration check; there is quite a queue that builds up there, so whoever is traveling please take that into consideration that you need to allot the amount of time there so you can get processed and cross the border. And then after that it is the customs area where like I said, it is the military that is now in charge of that area to do the inspection and so forth. And then you get to the area where you have to get your vehicle sprayed. One of the main things they said that people weren’t doing was getting the Mexican insurance for their vehicle. They are explaining that if you are driving in and around Chetumal, it wouldn’t be necessary, but there is a law that governs in Mexico that whenever you are on any of the highways that are federally controlled, that you should have Mexican insurance. And so that is one of the things that I would want to urge Belizeans to look into getting that Mexican vehicle insurance if you are going to be transiting or driving anywhere in Mexico over the holidays. The second thing that they say that they saw is when you are driving a vehicle that is not registered in your name, ensure that the certificate of registration is there; that you have a letter authorizing you as the driver to be the person driving or conducting that vehicle as well as maybe a copy of the passport or ID of the owner of the vehicle. This is just so that they know that you have permission to be using that vehicle across the border.”