Western Border Open but Business Slows Down Considerably

Aside from the Sarstoon, we headed to Benque which is the western town on the border with Guatemala. We witnessed Guatemalan children crossing the border to attend school in Belize. And while business has slowed down, the flow of traffic and people continued without incident. News Five’s Isani Cayetano has a report from Benque.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

Routine vehicular and pedestrian traffic across the Belize/Guatemala border at Benque Viejo slowed down to a trickle today.  The number of Belizeans crossing over into neighboring Melchor de Mencos on a daily basis fell sharply in the wake of military mobilization on the Guatemalan front.  While business was markedly slow at the western border, buses of school children entering Belize continued to pour in.  By midday they were all checking out and returning to their respective communities.  News Five understands that a threat was purportedly delivered electronically to an unnamed local official indicating that the border offices of the Customs and Immigration departments would be torched overnight.

At eight o’clock this morning however, it was business as usual, albeit at a sluggish pace.  Money changers, as well as cab drivers, on either side of the border complained that business today, and presumably for the remainder of the weekend, would be adversely affected.  While we were discouraged from venturing across the border, from where we stood near the O.A.S. Office, we did not observe Guatemalan military personnel.  Neither was there a noticeable increase in the number of B.D.F. and police officers at the border.  Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega meanwhile, indicated that the borders in the west and south remain open.  This, notwithstanding the sharp drop in numbers.