Cattle Trade at a Standstill, Millions Lost in Revenue
During the meeting, Chairman Pinelo informed the panel that prior to the suspension of cattle export in the area, farmers were often seen paying out monies to police officers stationed in the village. As we’ve mentioned, the trade in cattle between Belize and Guatemala, despite an existing partial scope agreement, has not been formalized, therefore those transactions with members of law enforcement are curious. In explaining the concept of the toll, Sabino tossed out a loose figure of seventy-five dollars per truck, as an example. We note, however, that the fee charged at the Tower Hill Bridge is only seventy-five cents. The livestock industry, for all intents and purposes, appears to have been stagnated at the whim and fancy of the village council chairman.
Voice of: Jose Abelardo Mai, Member, COVID-19 Task Force on Agriculture
“What kind of benefits are you looking at Mr. Sabino, for us to consider?”
Voice of: Sabino Pinelo, Chairman, Bullet Tree Falls
“Well at least the benefits that the police officers are getting because I will be honest with you, several times, you know I’m a businessman here in the community, I travel through that checkpoint every minute and I see how those cattle trucks they just come and they take money into the compound of the police officers, you understand. And not only me, several persons have seen that.”
Voice of: Jose Abelardo Mai
“Okay, so you are saying that they are giving money to the policeman and you want the same benefit?”
Voice of: Sabino Pinelo
“Well the benefit is not for me, it’s for the community, right.”
Voice of: Jose Abelardo Mai
“Okay, how much… let us get to the bottom of this, how much money is the village council asking for, because we don’t have enough time you know, the pastures are drying up and we need to move on this.”
Voice of: Sabino Pinelo
“Well sir, I’ll be honest with you, if you don’t have time well I’m sorry.”
Voice of: Jose Abelardo Mai
“No, no. What I want to get is to the bottom of it.”
Voice of: Sabino Pinelo
“…to not agree to work along with the council.”
Voice of: Jose Abelardo Mai
“We want to work along with the council but we need to know what is it that you want exactly so we can propose right away to the government and they will tell us what to do. What is it that you are requesting exactly?”
Voice of: Sabino Pinelo
“At least for every truck that passes, at least they pay a fee for coming through the community, sir.”
Voice of: Jose Abelardo Mai
“What fee sir, what fee are you looking at more or less?”
Voice of: Sabino Pinelo
“Well right now I don’t have a figure, right but we can try and figure out with the council and see what will be the… Let’s say, like we decide, let’s ask them for every truck that passes, let’s say, for example, for every truck that passes let’s say we let them pay at least seventy-five dollars per truck. The community will benefit from it. That is an example, I am not saying that that is what we are going to charge, but I am saying it’s like a fee right. For every truck that passes at least pay a fee for the community. That’s my major point.”
News Five understands that an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture is being hammered out and a solution to the crisis should be met in the days ahead.
