Haitian LGBT Denied Visas; Foreign Affairs Intervenes

Caleb Orozco

Belize’s LGBT community is seeking to get to the bottom of a reported act of discrimination against guests it is welcoming for an event next week. The Executive Director of the United Belize Advocacy Movement, Caleb Orozco, wrote to C.E.O. in the Ministry of Immigration, Edmund Zuniga, alleging that several visitors from Haiti were denied visas to enter Belize by the Belize Consulate in Haiti despite their early application and meeting all requirements. Orozco writes that the security guard told an applicant that the applications were never sent to the Dominican Republic by the Consul because they were dropped off by a Trans man. According to Orozco this is just the latest of multiple examples of homophobia and transphobia by the Immigration Department against would-be L.G.B.T. visitors which he says must be addressed. In the case of the Haitians, Simone Hill of PETAL, the organization supporting lesbian and bisexual women, told us this afternoon that they continue to work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to sort out the situation.