U.S. Chargé d’Affaires on Plans for 2020

Keith Gilges

In 2018, Keith Gilges assumed duties as Chargé d’Affaires for the U.S. Embassy in Belize. The career Foreign Service Officer has been working closely with government agencies and groups to further establish a stronger relationship between the two countries. This week we caught up with the U.S. diplomat in studio.  For 2020, Gilges says that the Embassy will be closely working with Belizean law enforcement to combat the transshipment of drugs in Belize.

Keith Gilges, Chargé d’Affaires, U.S. Embassy

“As I am looking forward to 2020 and what we can help accomplish here open of the big one is help reduce the transshipment of drugs in Belize. To deal with the drug problem you have to deal with the production. You have to deal with the distribution and shipment of it and you have to deal with the consumption. We are looking on all of those things. Our engage in Belize is focused on the transshipment of it. We are looking to increase Belize’s presence in our Joint Inter-agency task force in the US. They are the ones who are able to track the planes that are moving. Belize should be relatively soon stationing a person as a liaison officer to have access so we can get that information back and forth and help combat drugs. We are looking to ensure that while migration is an issue for Central America it has not been an issue for Belize. We want to make sure that any policies is that we have got returning asylum seekers to other countries in Central America does not have an impact on Belize. We want to make sure that those folks aren’t stationed anywhere near Belize’s border so they start passing through Belize.”