Minister says it’s impractical to refuse entry to Guatemalan citizens
When he spoke to us today, Minister of Immigration Godwin Hulse also expanded on the plan to require new entry permits, at an additional cost, from all persons entering Belize with the newly proposed Guatemalan passport. The printing of the passports have been put to tender, but Guatemala is proposing that will retain a map with Belize shaded the same color as Guatemala, divided by a dotted line with the words Territory Under Dispute. According to Hulse, it is impractical to refuse entry to Guatemalan citizens who would be using the new passport since realistically they do not have any responsibility for what is contained in or on the passport.
Godwin Hulse, Minister of Immigration
“We discussed it briefly in cabinet and we can’t discuss anything that doesn’t exist yet; there is no passport issued. I know that the Foreign Minister has been talking with his counterparts and also with people in United Nations with views of getting Guatemala to seize and desist from this activity. However, we have no control over them so if they persist, what we have decided that we will do, our ministry, is we are not going to accept that passport as an entry document cause we are not going to countenance an insult to our sovereignty and our integrity. Therefore we are going to issue such persons wishing to come into Belize with an entry permit for which they will pay and that will be their legal document in and while they are in the country and their exit document when they leave. They can do what they want with that passport that they have, but we are not going to stamp it, hold it or do anything with it more than utilize the bio data to fill the permits and that is how… and we must do that because even though the opposition has said they should not be allowed to enter, in reality and practicality, people come and go. And it is not totally the fault or even the fault of a citizen of Guatemala who get a passport that his state issues. If you get a Belize passport, you as the citizen will accept or must accept what the state issues, unless you refuse to accept. We have to work with people as individuals, but we do not need to countenance any insult by the government of Guatemala and we won’t.”
Reporter
Godwin Hulse
“On the matter of the entry permit, is this a decision that can be taken within your ministry?”
Godwin Hulse
“This will be a decision of cabinet, but we are going in that direction in any case and it is not unusual; this has happened many places around the world. As you know, China recently issued—or not so recently—a passport which included certain of its neighbors territorial portions and those countries have reacted similarly.”
Well, Guatemala will see Belize as a country without integrity and backbone. They’re showing the Belizean authorities, the Central American region, and perhaps the world who is the boss here. We’ll see what’s next they’re going to do to disrespect the Belizean people. I wonder how the Belize immigration officers will feel when a Guatemalan citizen shows up at the border with this new passport and he or she has to stamp a pass. Would it be shame or humiliation?
I like this idea. It’s a practical compromise. Why isn’t Mr. Hulse our MFA?
suspend diplomatic relations. Once upon a time the borders were closed.
Man up or back down with no backbone.
Now that the Guats are halting the Rios Montt trial, it is clear they are loosing it, and other forces are taking control.
Their map is a sign of their intransigence going on in the country. If you don’t want a war, shut the door. They are bigger, they will squish Belize and burp.
The passport is already in circulation here in Belize. The Guatemalans are already using it to identify themselves when making business and financial transactions. Are we closing our eyes??????
If a man and a woman have sex and a child is concieved and is born with defects due to the alcohol; certainly the fault is not of the child but of the parents. But no matter how inocent the child is, it still suffer the consequence. That is the law of nature. Likewise, when a govt. takes actions and makes decisions that may have negative results, the people suffer the consequence no matter how innocent they are. It does not matter if the Guatemalan people are innocent, they are responsible for the actions and decissions of their govt. just as we belizeans are for the actions and decisions of our GOB. Of this, history is littered with examples.
It is practical to deport all those who are here illegally and put a mandatory prison term for all who return to Belize.
I am a tourist living in Mexico. I decided to visit Belize last week. When I got to the Northern Border I was refused entry. The immigration officer said that I was not welcome to Belize because I lived in Mexico and was not a tourist to Belize. They said I was only coming to Belize to get my Mexican visa renewed. My Mexican visa was not to expire for 2 more weeks. I had hotel reservations and was going to tour the whole country for a few days. This is the first time in my life I have been refused entry into a country. What makes it worse is that Belize is supposed to be a country that lives off tourism. To top it off the Immigration officers were very rude and disrespectful to me. and my friend. No one seemed to care including the tourism booth at the border. I wish the Tourism Minister and the Belize Tourist Board would look into these incidents which I have heard happen a lot at the borders of Belize.
Do you think I will recommend Belize to anyone in the future. I BET NOT !
Yup you were going to tour the country in two days!!!!!
If you are going to lie to authorities at least come up with better lies.
I was going to travel and explore Belize for whatever time the ignorant uneducated Immigration officers gave me. I had hoped they would give me a week or two. But they said No you are not a tourist coming to Belize. According to Wikipedia:
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure, or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people “traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes”
That means that a Belizean who lives in the USA can come back to Belize and they are “tourists” But the idiots at the border have no education or ideas of how to run things.
I spoke to the Mexicans in Chetumal and they said they no longer go to Belize because of the shoddy treatment they get at the Belize border.
These uneducated immigration officers are costing the country of Belize a lot of money. Once the money from tourism dries up the Belizeans will have to sell their @$$ to the Guatemalan just to buy food. Remember the POWER of the Internet Tourism Belize.
“We can’t discuss anything that doesn’t exist yet” — HOW ASININE!
Discussing “things that don’t exist yet” is called PLANNING.
No wonder the geniuses we call GOB are out-maneuvered, outfoxed, and out-thought by everyone at every turn.
@Not a Tourist, welcome to the real world. First of all visiting a country is a privilege and not a right so it is totally up to the prerogative of the immigration authorities to allow or deny entry, especially if you falsify information, is acting or looking fishy.( notice I did not say smelling fishy)
Second of all, not because tourism is a major income earner that means any and anybody gets to enter under suspicious circumstances. After all this IS, the Jewel my boy and we got it like that!
Check?
ok if we have to respect their bogus passport why can.t we do the same by shading the Belize map with the color Blue or green including our Islands?? we can do that and if they allow GUATEMALA to what they proposing to DO.
…………
I was planing on staying in Belize for at least a week. The immigration officer at the border said I was not a tourist. Note Wikipedias definition of a tourist:
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure, or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people “traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism
That means if a Belizean who lives in the USA comes to visit Belize even they are tourists. These immigration officers at the borders have no PR, no education and should be working on a pig farm instead of with tourists. On returning to Chetumal I spoke with many Mexicans who said that they used to to to Belize a lot but with all the problems at the Belize border they now only go as far as the Free Zone. Does the Government of Belize, the Tourism Minister and the Tourism Board not have an idea how much money Belize is loosing due to the uneducated ignorant officers at the borders.
If the tourist dollars dry up due to the ignorant uneducated manning the borders, the high crime rate, the beggars, the drugs and all the corruption the Belizeans will have to likc the !@#$ of the Guatemalans to get money to eat.
Do they not know that the Internet is much more Powerful than the Sword.