Police investigate baby trafficking in Cayo
Human Trafficking. The very words evoke fear in most who realise the scary and deadly consequences of this depraved and illegal activity. And tonight, authorities in the west are investigating a possible incident of human trafficking that involves newborn babies and the staff of the San Ignacio Hospital. News Five understands that in mid-October a woman from Melchor de Mencos went to the medical institution to have her baby. It is alleged that following the delivery, the newborn ended up in the hands of an American citizen who later tried to get a U.S. visa for the child. But when she was unable to produce any proof that the baby was hers or that she had legally adopted the child, officials became suspicious. An investigation was immediately launched and it has since revealed that after the baby was born, one of the hospital’s staff members, identified as Martha Tesecum, the hospital’s cashier, documented the birth but did not register the baby under the mother’s name, but rather under another woman’s name… presumably the same person who tried to leave the country with the baby. San Ignacio police have confirmed that as a result of the incident Tesecum was arrested and charged with uttering upon a false document, possession of a false document, conspiracy to commit forgery, and forgery of an official document. This morning, Director of Health Services Dr. Errol Vanzie maintained that as disturbing as this case is, the incident has highlighted another area of concern.
Dr. Errol Vanzie, Director of Health Services
?People from neighbouring countries, namely our neighbours to the west and south, trying to get Belizean nationality for any reason is not a new thing. We are aware of this at least for the past twenty years. The extent of it, the magnitude of it, we don?t know. Well we are very much concerned because it is that information that is used by the Registry to determine if a person was born in Belize or not. Initially we had concern about people in the community issuing those documents and we had put that system in place in order to facilitate the registration efforts. And because we became aware of the potential problem, we moved that responsibility to the hospital and now we find that it did happen within the hospital, so we have to come up with another mechanism that is more secure.?
Tonight we understand that Tesecum is currently out on bail while police continue their investigations.
