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Why I left Belize in a hurry.
Early in 2004, when I was in the US working and accumulating
things to bring back to Belize, an event occurred which shook my resolve to
return.
A Gringo living in Belize City was awakened by the sound of
his dogs barking at 2AM. They were inside a high fence and he was on the
second floor. He looked out to see eight men, dressed in black, outside
the fence, taunting his dogs.
"Leave my dogs alone!" he called to the men.
"Open up and let us in. We're the police."
He went down and let them in. He asked to see a warrant
and they said they didn't need one. They proceeded to search his house --
ransack it, actually -- until they found a single shotgun shell. They put
him under arrest, and took him to the local stationhouse. He was released
from jail after he posted bail of $1500 US -- which he had on his person at the
time!
He secured a lawyer and discovered that he was liable to be
fined ??$10000?? for possession of unregistered ammunition. I never heard
what happened to the case. In a series of discussions on the bz-culture
list, some listers suggested that he must have been involved in something
illegal. (The old "Where there's smoke, there's fire"
argument.) He was the owner of a successful temp storage facility (rare in
Belize) and sometimes those are involved in drug-related activities.
He had been identified, said the police, by an anonymous
caller. (The police have a crime line where citizens are encouraged to
call and report crimes without fear of reprisal.) This man, according to
his own account, had never owned a weapon of any kind in Belize, and didn't know
where the shotgun shell came from. Was it planted by the police, or by a
cleaning person who had access to his house? We never found out.
At that time, I was being told by people in Corozal that I
shouldn't come back to Belize. I contemplated the possibility that, after
I returned, someone might call and identify me as a potential criminal. I
certainly didn't (and still don't) have the resources to hire a lawyer to defend
me. I had many second thoughts about returning. Ultimately, I decided to
return.
However, a year later, after my confrontations with the
police, my fears returned. What if someone made such a call?: What
if the Police just decided to search my premises and find a shell which they had
planted? I might wind up in jail, faced with a $10,000 fine which I
couldn't pay. If you can't pay, the alternative is Hattieville;
a frightening prospect for a 70-year-old man.
Paranoid? Perhaps? Perhaps I was just being realistic
about life in a Third World country. I decided to return to my native land
where I am sure of my rights as a citizen.
Rick Zahniser (November 2005)
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