Caye Caulker couple wins SUV in Sol raffle

Since March, customers buying fuel at the fifteen Shell gas stations across the country have received raffle tickets for every fifty dollars spent. Today all those tickets went into a barrel and one lucky couple drove way in their new 2007 Suzuki Vitara.

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
This morning, last minute gas buyers hurried to get their tickets in the big barrel for a chance to win a 2007 Suzuki Vitara.

Joe Habet, General Manager, Sol Belize Limited
“We ordered seventy-four thousand tickets initially and within four weeks we had to send and order some more, that’s how successful the promotion was. So we had to order another box of tickets, another thirty thousand, so we estimate about a hundred thousand tickets are in the barrel.”

“The promotion was carried out in all eleven territories that Sol operates in the Caribbean, including Belize, so a similar draw is being done in all the territories today. So we’ll have eleven lucky winners across the region.”

Under the watchful eyes of a representative from the Lotteries Commission and Sol employees, the barrel was rolled a couple more times before the V-Power Girl picked the ticket.

Onlooker
“Who win?”

V-Power Girl
“Raul Martinez.”

Although Raul Martinez’s name was on the ticket, he was disqualified because according to the rules, affiliates of the company cannot participate in the raffle. And so it was back to the barrel.

Joe Habet
“Lourdes Maria Campos Gutierrez of Caye Caulker is the lucky winner of the 2007 Suzuki Grand Vitara.”

But when Sol Belize General Manager Joe Habet made the phone call to Lourdes Gutierrez, she thought it was a prank.

Joe Habet
“Did you buy fuel from a Shell Marina or service station? Your husband did. Well, you are the lucky beneficiary of your husband’s actions. You just won the Grand Vitara that Shell was raffling. Hello? Is your husband there? I am not teasing you no, I am not teasing you.”

It took talking to her husband, Tony Aguilar, to convince the couple of their good fortune.

Joe Habet
“Mr. Tony Aguilar, this dah Joe Habet from Sol, Shell. No we just drew your ticket in the raffle of the Suzuki Grand Vitara that we were doing. Your wife look like she just drop down dead pon mi when I tell ah. She seh I di joke with ah. Tell her it’s no joke.”

This afternoon Tony Aguilar and Lourdes Gutierrez showed up at the Sol office on the Northern Highway to pick up their prize. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.

The Caye Caulker couple has decided to park their grand prize in Orange Walk until they decide what to do with the vehicle. Apparently a number of relatives have already expressed interest in purchasing the S.U.V. since it is unlikely it will end up on the island.