Organization for Responsible Tourism (ORT) has learned the Belize immigration department profits directly from human trafficking by extorting more than $1.3 million annually from San Pedro, Ambergris Caye bar owners, ORT President Vivian Trill today announced.

The Town of San Pedro, with is unusually high concentration of ficha bars, is a major contributor to the nearly $10 million (Belize) the country’s immigration officials wrest from bar owners across the country.

Ficha bars, which offer human trafficking victims forced into prostitution, are common in Belize, but rampant in the Town of San Pedro. This community provides a bonanza for the immigration department — from the inspector level to the top.

While the country of Belize is targeted by ORT for tourism boycott due to its record as the worst human trafficking violator in Central America, the Town of San Pedro has been designated a red flag no-go zone for tourists. The Town of San Pedro counts 90 exploitation bars for a population of 12, 000.

As elsewhere in Belize, immigration staff issue work visas to Town of San Pedro bar owners for illegal residents trapped in ficha bars – specifically, human trafficking victims. The bar owners treat this “purchase” as payola, a cost of doing business, with the understanding that they have bought the blind-eye of immigration.

“The Town of San Pedro is a hub for human trafficking so is especially lucrative for immigration extortion, ” said Trill. “Instead of identifying trafficking victims to assist them, immigration staff extort money to keep the victims in slavery in the Town of San Pedro and across the country.”

Within San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, there are 90 bars, each offering 10 human trafficking victims. Immigration charges bar owners $1, 500 (Belize) for each human trafficking victim. By comparison, a legitimate Belize work visa has a price tag of $150 (Belize).

Compounding the corruption, the same immigration officials regularly raid ficha bars and arrest the same human trafficking victims for whom they have issued sham work visas. Immigration is able to make the arrests because the victims have no documentation and are in the country illegally. The victims are in Belize because they have been trafficked across borders. They have no passports or other identification because bar owners take whatever documents they have.

After arrest, most of these women wind up in Hattieville Central Prison on remand, where the Kolbe Foundation gets over $400, 000 a year for incarcerating human trafficking victims. These profits are due mainly to Belize immigration staff co-operation across the country.
Top Cop Corrupted

Top Cop Corrupted

“Belize immigration officials, to the executive level, are victimizing human trafficking victims, ” said Trill. “Belize is poised for worst-list human trafficking status. To avert Tier 3 designation, it is incumbent on Belize to ensure their immigration staff are identifying and assisting victims, not profiting from human trafficking.”

ORT promotes traveling for a better world.

Ambergris Caye, Belize Tourism Board, Human Trafficking, Human Trafficking Central America, Human Trafficking crime belize, Judith Alpuche, organization for responsible tourism, San Pedro, vivian trill

Filed under: Human Trafficking, Trafficking In Humans, Trafficking In Humans Guatemala, belize tourism boycott, human trafficking reports | Tagged: belize tourism boycott, Fight Human Trafficking, Human Trafficking Central America, Human Trafficking Honduras, human trafficking san pedro belize, Modern Day Slavery, Trafficking in Humans, US Government Human Trafficking, vivian trill on Belize Boycott