Off Duty BDF Corporal Allegedly Caught Smuggling Ecuadorians into Belize

Major Rogelio Ramirez

An off-duty Belize Defense Force officer was allegedly caught smuggling thirteen Central American Immigrants into Belize. Tonight, Corporal Mark Cano stands accused of human trafficking and is on suspension after authorities caught him at a checkpoint in Bullet Tree Village allegedly transporting seven adults and six children, all from Ecuador. He is now awaiting a criminal and internal investigation. Major Rogelio Ramirez, the Acting Chief of Staff at the Belize Defense Force, gave us the details.

Major Rogelio Ramirez, Acting Chief of Staff, B.D.F.

“This soldier, Corporal Cano, his name is Mark Steven Cano. He was detained at a check point they had close to Bullet Tree, Santa Rosa road. So, he was detained with thirteen immigrants from Ecuadorian Nationality. He was detained and then subsequently he was charged on Monday. So the thirteen individuals who were with him included seven adults and six children. Corporal Cano, after he was charged, documents of his charge were submitted to headquarters. Once that submission is made then we send a submission to the Ministry, to the SSC, Security Service Commission, for him to go on suspension. That document was sent on Friday. The document or request for him to go on suspension was submitted. So, we are just waiting for the approval from SSC to come down and then subsequently he will go on suspension. This is the beginning of it for him. What will happen is obviously he has been charged. He will have his time in court. The police will investigate and make subsequent findings then the decision will be made in court. But, if he is found guilty and the advice that we have gotten is that even if he is not found guilty we still can look at what can be done from an internal standpoint. How can he be charged? Will we charge him for brining the force into disrepute? It is not something we condone. It is not something that commander is happy with, or even the Ministry, so we have been tasked to go ahead and conduct an investigation into what transpired in that particular instance.”