Immigration Dir. says no wrong doing in processing naturalization

Meanwhile, back at the Immigration Department in Belmopan, we continued our efforts to find out exactly what was going on yesterday, as a large crowd of immigrants sought to complete their paperwork for citizenship. Immigration Director Merlene Martinez, who was out of the office at the time our news team was present on Tuesday morning, today told News Five’s Stewart Krohn that she was not aware of any irregularities occurring at her office. When asked if it was normal practice for a political candidate, in this case U.D.P. Cayo West aspirant Erwin Contreras, to be behind the counter assisting people with their papers, Mrs. Martinez had several things to say. In the first place she had no direct knowledge of any such incident and thus could not comment on it. Secondly she told us that the only persons who act in an official capacity in her office are her employees, so no one else, including Mr. Contreras, who does not work there, could have been engaging in any official acts. And finally, after checking with members of her staff, she is satisfied that Contreras did not act in such a manner which would give the impression that he had any official status.