Buses permitted to cross Mexican border on weekends
Marcelino Miranda
The gamma ray screening process which was implemented at Mexico’s border stopped Belizean buses from crossing the border in January. There was a public outcry as visitors were forced to walk across the Friendship Bridge to Subtiniente Lopez and then use Mexican transportation. According to Marcelino Miranda, press officer for the Mexican Embassy in Belize, access to México at Subtiniente Lopez has resumed for buses on weekends, so Belizeans will no longer need to make the switch at Subtiniente Lopez.
Marcelino Miranda, Press Officer, Mexican Embassy
“At the beginning there was some confusion about the new gamma ray screening that is being conducted in Chetumal. This is part of the national policy in México; so it’s a part of the modernization of Mexican customs. And within this plan there is the gamma ray screening system that is being implemented in all Mexican Customs around Mexico. At the beginning, as I said, there was some confusion because some buses were stopped at the border because they had to follow the screening within a certain timetable. But Mexican Customs have clarified already that the gamma ray timetable is going to be operating even during weekends because at the beginning there was some confusion as to whether it would be used on the weekends or not. And so the gamma ray screening is going to be open Monday to Friday, from nine a.m. to seven p.m. and then Saturday and Sunday from nine a.m. to five p.m. And this was also regarding some complaints and especially the concern from the Mexican government of facilitating the crossing of Belizean visitors into Chetumal.”
Jose Sanchez
“For the week or two that the buses couldn’t cross, was commerce affected in Chetumal?”
Marcelino Miranda
“Obviously, there were some concerns that were not only expressed by the trade section in Chetumal, also in Belize. But I think that at the moment, the timetable is working in order to continue to allow Belizeans across the border especially during the weekends.”
Miranda says that even though the timetable for buses entering Mexico on the weekend is between nine a.m. and five p.m., departure of buses from Chetumal is not limited to the time frame. In other words, you can return at anytime.
