Senior citizen says operation Jaguar needs to restore her broken doors
A seventy-three year old woman who is still grieving the death of a family member says she was terrorized by a surprise raid of her apartment building. Her brother, the well known personality from Corozal Town, Mateo Ayuso, died only a few days ago. Just past midnight, law enforcers showed up at her property in search of an escaped prisoner. They didn’t find the inmate but they left behind broken doors to her freshly repaired property and caused her tenants to pack up and go. News Five’s Delahnie Bain has a report.
Delahnie Bain, Reporting
Early morning police raids are common in Belize City, particularly on the Southside. But just after twelve o’clock this morning the authorities targeted an apartment building on Vasquez Avenue, which is owned by seventy-three year old Eustreberta Santos. Santos says she was startled by a commotion outside.
Eustreberta santos
Eustreberta Santos, Landlady
“I look through my window and I saw a B.D.F. on a dirt box that is in my yard. It’s a cement dirt box; he’s standing there and others were by the gate and all of them had Winchesters the B.D.F. and the dogs were making noise; that’s what caught my attention. And I asked the one that was in my yard what are you doing there. He said we’re looking for someone and asked who are you. I said I am the owner of this place and with that they stopped talking. Ih seh go back go sleep.”
That exchange of words was only the start of the ordeal for Santos and her tenants.
Eustreberta Santos
“About ten minutes later I heard the banging of the doors. They banged open this door here. The lock just flew out. Anyhow, and then they went in and banged every door open. They stamped them. One door, the person was sleeping in it. Hinges, everything went down. If that door had fallen on that person sleeping, he could have killed that person.”
Voice of: Apartment Tenant
“Suddenly I heard a severe bang on my door. So when I heard the bang I woke up. When I woke up the next bang I heard, my door fell down. So when the door fell down they told me “hands up, put your hands up, come on, come on”. So I asked them what happened. They were everywhere. They secured everywhere with rifles. I asked them what happened and they didn’t explain anything to me; they only showed me photos of those they have declared wanted.”
According to Santos, the police and B.D.F. soldiers claimed they were on a manhunt for an escaped prisoner. And while that is their job, Santos and her tenants feel the officers went about it all wrong.
Eustreberta Santos
“They banged the neighbor, two men were there and there same thing, three of them pointed the gun at them. Then they still stomped open the next one now. There was a woman in there and that’s the one that made the most noise cause it’s that woman they were after. It’s a woman, she’s here with a gentleman and they claim that it is the convict that they are looking for but we have never seen that convict here at all but apparently she had connections with him.”
Voice of: Apartment Tenant
“If the landlady had come to knock on your door, we know her. If she says something we would have come out and there wouldn’t have been any damage of properties. So we are not happy about this.”
Santos now wants compensation for the damages to her property, but says being bombarded by the heavy handed officers has also affected both her business and her health.
Eustreberta Santos
“It affected my business because all my tenants left this morning. They left, they packed their bags and they’re gone; most of them. And the next thing, I am a widow, I am a diabetic. For forty-five years I am a diabetic and right now I don’t know all of a sudden I started feeling a little you see because diabetics can get heart attacks suddenly. I am retired teacher from 1992 and I am all alone. I am a widow. So it has me broken down.”
Santos says the officers never provided a warrant to her or anyone else during the raid. Delahnie Bain for News Five.
According to the elderly woman, when she complained about the damages she was told flippantly to take her estimates to the Raccoon Street Police Station.
Damned if they do, damned if they don’t. They were doing their jobs. With too many people armed & just as many not respecting authority, asking to be let in nicely could result in these officers deaths & while the department should pay for the repairs in a timely manner, we cannot ask the men to not do their jobs because a nice elderly widow is in the building.
They did not cause her diabetes & everyone’s hearts race when they are startled. Her tenants may return but renters are transient at times & will be replaced.
Isn’t there laws in Belize for Citizens to sue?
This is sad….although the operation is good….they must ensure that they carry out their duties
no worry grans claim for you door the police were jsut doing there jobs and maybe one o two bad apples were inthe bunch but da so it goes u can never have it all good
The POLICE need better INTELLIGENCE….. this is pure POLICE ABUSE!!! …. Due to Lack of “intelligence”. They should have known for sure!!!! Set up a “Stake-Out” ……. Watch and see what’s going on before you strike……….. COMMON SENSE !!!!!
The cops are in a very tough position; like BZNinCali said but you need to ask yourself one question who is supose to be the trained professional. They are either our best friends or our worst enemy depending on which side of the law we find ourself at any particular moment.
Cops have and should have tough standards by which they function because usually when they make a mistake someone winds up dead or there is much damage done to property, as is the case here. So when they go out on raids they need to be prepared and have a crew on hand that will respond to damamges like this immediately and we can only hope that with better training mistakes can be held to a bare minimum.
They should not be so ready to unholster their weapon and brandish it at least this is how prefessionals behave. I still prefer that the cops make a mistake than for the bad guys carry their intentions forward. At least when the cops make mistakes we have a legal recourse.
They need to fix the old lady door ASAP!
The cops were well within their rights in operating this way. Lets look at what really was going on. They were looking for an escaped felon so they had to be armed to the teeth and prepared for anything. ONE OF THE TENANTS was aiding and abetting the escaped felon and thats what caused them to go to this specific building.
If the lady knew her tenants and what type of people they are she wouldn’t have had any issues. Personally I wouldn’t want to be this lady’s neighbor and have her harboring and abetting escaped criminals in my neighborhood
CEO you said .. “They should not be so ready to unholster their weapon and brandish it at least this is how professionals behave”.
WHICH PROFESSIONALS????? By far the most professional law enforcement gentlemen doing raids around the world are elite groups like SWAT from the US, GSG-9 from Germany, etc etc. Guess what when the raid is on you bet your narrow behind that this true professionals are unlocked loaded and ready to stop any threat.
Mr. ok!! shet the hell up!!! there are procedures in doing things, you kno how long it will take for her to get compensated. Take your apples and eat them some where else.
BZNinCALI…..Just doing their jobs????……thats harrassment. You have the guts to say crap like that about people who are experiencing this type of harrassmen on a daily basis? You’re in the states, you’re not in Belize so shut the hell up! You have no idea whats it like here since you live in the states. You for one should know well the cops in the states can’t pull that crap on people over there without being sued. The police in Belize are crooked,rouge and they don’t follow protocol nor procedures….they are incompetent this is why people don’t trust them. When the police breaks down your doors here….don’t expect any repayment for damages because they do no such thing. All the silly Belizeans over in the states will say this and that about whats happening here but they aren’t experiencing it….who feels it knows it………
Earl Grey:I agree with you a hundered percent brother.Without good intelligence they’re going to be breaking more doors .How is that restoring Belize?
The Belize Police Department and Belize Defense Force have fall from grace , lack of Educated and trained minds and a surplus of ignorant minds. The Police Department has the most criminals , ADU especially have no respect for rights of citizens and Commit the worst . Plus destroying homes and scaring civilians from talking. I would like to see the BDF with their rifles mess with Elite Kibiles across the boarder. Respect come with Respect.
None of this would have happen if the prison wasn’t light as it is now . Use lethal force, blood hounds prisoners have no rigths if they try to escape. Look back to the roots of the problem
“A good govern country should be ashamed of poverty”
“A badly govern country should be ashamed if wealth” Confucius
…and this is the way police wants the public to co-operate with them? never in a million years will the accomplish that with the way they do things….
Red Bwai, many of us still have relatives there & have had to deal with the problems firsthand, the murders being committed in Belize have not left us unscathed. The police in the US don’t automatically volunteer to pay for damages & in some cases are exempt. No one suggested the Dept is not responsible for damages, the indifference of one civil servant does not change the fact that the aggrieved still needs to file a formal complaint & follow certain procedures in order to get paid. Belize is screwed up in a lot of ways but we do have ways to address grievances. Harboring a wanted criminal is a crime & the BDF acted in good faith. Not cooperating with the police & BDF is not making anyone safer. None of us like what’s going on at home & some of us are doing more than just throwing stones. I, like other Belizean-Americans will shut up when we stop paying for funerals.