Out West, Humble Artisan Perishes on Roadside

Arcenio Itza

There was further loss of life over the weekend. In the west, forty-six-year-old Arcenio Itza was knocked down and killed in a hit and run on Saturday night. But his family didn’t find out until late on Sunday. The Succotz carver was walking along the George Price Highway when a vehicle hit him. The driver didn’t stop to help and Itza succumbed to his injuries. News Five’s Andrea Polanco has more in the following story.

Andrea Polanco, Reporting

Arcenio Itza’s family last saw him alive on Saturday afternoon. He told them he was going out and that he would return home to Succotz that same day but he never did. His sister Francelia Alfaro became worried when she didn’t see him the next day. She feared something was wrong.

Francelia Alfaro, Sister of Deceased

“I come out from my house and I see the door closed so I thought he went to church. I wasn’t expecting something bad to happen to him. So, eleven come; twelve. I was busy doing lunch and then my uncle came and I asked him if he didn’t see him at church and that is when I started to get worried and I came running here to find the door locked. But still didn’t want to believe something bad happened to him.”

But something tragic did happen. Around seven on Saturday night, forty-six-year-old Arcenio was knocked down and killed here on this stretch between Central Farm and Esperanza Village. But the driver didn’t stop to render aid. Itza received massive head injuries and multiple broken bones.

Francelia Alfaro

Francelia Alfaro

“The Corporal said that Based on what they have is that it was a hit and run. I asked him ‘you don’t know who did it?’ He said ‘no, we don’t know who did it’. I asked where it happened and then he told me that it was between Central Farm and Esperanza. I said but what was my brother doing there. He said they had no idea and that was all we gathered.”

His sister says that she was informed that Itza got on the wrong bus while in San Ignacio on Saturday night. Instead of getting on a bus to Benque Viejo to return to Succotz, he caught a bus that was headed to Belize City. He got off thebus along the George Price Highway and was walking back towards San Ignacio when he was knocked down and killed. Itza had been a carver for several years and would sell his work to the gift shops here along the Mopan River in San Jose Succotz.

Francelia Alfaro

“He was a person who worked for himself and he did slate from stone, carvings, in other words. Whenever he would have his products ready he used to go sell it to the people down by the ferry gift shops and most of them used to come and order from him.”

Francelia Alfaro is asking the driver of the hit-and-run to come forward.

Francelia Alfaro

“It was a human. We don’t want to say it was the driver’s fault but it was a human. But for the human’s sake you supposed to stop. Even if it is a person who was drunk and you tried to avoid it and you couldn’t, you have to stop and get assistance. So, like that maybe from Saturday night we would have known something happened to him. So, I really want to tell all the drivers to be careful when driving especially on the highway and where it is dark.  On behalf of my brothers and sisters, we are pleading that something could be done. We don’t want to say like justice that he would be back. But at least let the person be responsible.”

Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.