Missing Children Were Smuggled to the U.S.
Two children, who went missing over the weekend from their home in Valley of Peace Village, Cayo, have apparently been taken out of the country by someone acting on behalf of their father in the U.S. The pair had attended a children’s party in Las Flores off the Hummingbird Highway on Sunday. Then on Monday, when they were supposed to be at school, their grandparents got a shocking phone call. News Five’s Marion Ali investigated the incident today.
Marion Ali, Reporting
On Sunday, nine year-old Vilma Ayala and her ten year-old brother, Dennis went missing from a party they attended in Las Flores Village also in Cayo, but several miles from their home. Their grandparents reported them missing and the Police Department issued this flyer on Monday. The children’s grandfather, Carlos Rodriguez told News Five they have since learned they are now on their way to the United States. It seems it was all orchestrated by their father who lives in the US. He and the kids’ mother are separated and she lives in another state and the children had been living with their maternal grandparents in Valley of Peace. A relative translated the grandfather’s account for us.
Voice of: Relative
Voice of: Carlos Rodriguez, Grandfather [Translated]
“They went to a party, they got to the party in Las Flores and in the night they were there because we called them but the next day my sister went to pick up them and they weren’t there.”
The family said they asked questions but when they got no answers, they went to the police. They were frantic until the children were somehow able to call them.
Voice of: Relative
“The next day, the children called. They explained they were good and they were on their way.”
Marion Ali
“Where?”
Voice of: Relative
“They were on their way to USA.”
Marion Ali
“Who orchestrated all of this?”
Voice of: Relative
“The father.”
Marion Ali
“He’s where?”
Voice of: Relative
“The United States. They were taken against our permission as we never knew nothing.”
The children were smuggled out of Belize to live with their father in the United States and it is not known where they crossed out of Belize or how far along their way they are. The issue of human trafficking is a growing problem that the Ministry of Human Services has been dealing with, but more so with people being smuggled into Belize. And in a case like this one, there’s not much that the Ministry can do.
Sean Vargas
Sean Vargas, Director, Department of Human Services
“It is rare that we have our Belizean children trafficked to a different country. What the records have shown is that we have a number of children that are trafficked into Belize. That is an international matter and we won’t act until we are given instructions to. We follow a protocol and then we wait until that is in place. Until that matter is referred to us, there’s nothing we can do. It’s not part of our responsibility to call the embassy. That’s the A-TIPS Unit. That’s the Police Department.”
In March of 2021, a video clip taken by a reporter at the US/Mexico border went viral when a group of children, a Belizean included, was intercepted while walking across the border. In this week’s Valley of Peace case, the family says the children’s father had asked before to have them, but they had refused. Now their concern is that because they are making an illegal crossing, they will have to swim across the very deep and treacherous Rio Grande.
Voice of Relative
“I don’t know what can happen there. I don’t know if they can reach where they are going.”
Marion Ali reporting for News Five.
News Five has reached out to the U.S. embassy for a comment on the matter of human trafficking. And, we are currently awaiting a response.
