Artist4Life Comes to Aid of Vendor Who is Attacked and Robbed

There was a brazen broad daylight robbery and beat down of a tamales vendor in Belize City this morning and it all went viral on social media, posted by the very familiar face of painter Alex Sanker.  Now, as the Corozal vendor went about his usual route across the city, two thieves targeted him. After selling tamales at a house on Usher Street, he made his way on to Rhaburn’s Alley; that’s when two men on separate bicycles, who did not wear masks, pounced on him. The vendor was thrown to the ground and pummelled. But his cries for help were heard by Sanker, who lives in the neighbourhood. And Sanker was quick to act.  After hitting the robbers with an easel, the thieves ran away leaving their bicycles behind. Police responded to the scene quickly, but by then the robbers had already escaped from the area. Sanker went live with the incident garnering praise from many residents.

Alex Sanker

Alex Sanker, Usher Street Resident

“Blood, I noh know if ih teeth chip. The guys had ahn pan the ground cause he di fight back; yo know, ih di defend ihself. So when I gone out and I be like weh di go on yah mien. Ne ah dehn wah tell me—you know I can’t use the language—and I be like oh okay. So I run back ina di yard and I grab one ah di easel, the one weh fold up, and I did what I had to do and they said dehn wah come back. When he disrespect me, he di basically tell me go back inside; that noh have nothing fi do with you. No! you come through my alley, front ah my house; that have everything to do with me. So when I tell ahn, “Oh okay” and I run and get the stick and when I lash the first one and swing after the other one, I barely ketch he. Then dehn run off.”

Duane Moody

“Are they from this area?”

Alex Sanker

“As far as I am concerned, no. They are definitely not from this area because I noh know if dah di struggle or what, none of them have on mask. I see dehn two face—I noh know dehn name—they are not from here. This dah wah small little neighbourhood, they are not from here. But at the end of the day, mark my words, dehn wah find dah who because when dehn di right there is just straight up wrong.   These police are here dealing with a lot right now because it’s broad daylight so this is showing where we are as a country. Bredda this noh wah get better. It is a world epidemic, everything will keep happening and get it worse and worse. We have to clock crime in the butt right now. Unfortunately, wah lotta people don’t believe that could happen. But we wah have to make the difference. When we see something, we need to say something. If they identify dehn yah guys, I gwen dah court go identify them.”