Bowen & Bowen: Contraband cervezas jeopardizing jobs

Tonight the management and staff of Bowen and Bowen Limited, bottlers of Belikin beer are fighting mad. Recent investigations by the company have turned up restricted Mexican products as far inland as the Cayo district. Company officials tell News Five that since the recent increase in taxes on beer, the contraband trade has only escalated. Bowen and Bowen say while illegal soft drinks are on the market, the main offenders are thousands of bottles of Tecate, Corona, and Superior. Today district manager Santiago Pelayo and merchandising executive David Craig say they want to voice the concerns of their frustrated sales staff because the contraband cervezas are threatening jobs.

Santiago Pelayo, District Manager, Bowen and Bowen
?We had to lay off over forty people. We took fourteen people off the routes, which mean these are?if you take an average of two men per truck, that?s exactly twenty-eight people. We had to lay off some warehouse staff.?

?Based on what we have found out, these here that are on this desk, we bought these recently in Cayo for eighteen dollars for six, three dollars each. Actually, if you take our wholesale price, our beer is actually cheaper than this, so why would people buy it? Obviously it?s because it?s a prohibited item and so you would then … I don?t know, maybe it drives up their adrenaline, I?m not sure. Only they would be able to answer that question. But one of the things I would like to say is that buying a six pack of Tecate at eighteen dollars is not good business. The people making the money are the people bringing in the contraband. They are the only ones making a?call it a mint if you like.?

David Craig, Merchandizing Manager, Bowen and Bowen
?We probably knew that it was happening for such a long time now and the fact that for Mexican beer to reach the Cayo district, it probably has to go through a couple police and customs checkpoints. This is alarming and you can understand how concerned we are because it?s police and customs checkpoints and these people are very, very clever.?

Santiago Pelayo
?Customs and B.D.F. closed one point and half a mile down the road or quarter of a mile down the road I think it was another point opened. So where do we stem the tide? We have to appeal then to our own Belizeans, patriots to then support local industry.?

David Craig
?Our sales are down twenty points, twenty percentage points in beer. In this beverage industry, even one point affects operations, so you imagine how a twenty percent in beer has affected our industry.?

Janelle Chanona
?So what happens now??

David Craig
?Well what we want to do is to appeal to the public first of all to support our products. This is a Belizean industry, these are Belizeans that are being hired, we are one of the biggest employers in Belize. We want to appeal to the public to reject contraband activities, reject contraband products. What is does is just really destroys the revenue base for the government, it erodes investor confidence.?

According to Bowen and Bowen, the laid off workers are called back in to work in the event of any vacancies within the company.