Belmopan Mayor Says Citco not Targeting Vendors

Although the vendors at Belmopan Market Plaza are unhappy with the new individual trade license regulation, Mayor Pablo Cawich believes it’s actually in their best interest. He explained that the decision to cancel the Memorandum of Understanding (M.O.U.) between market owner David Zabaneh and the previous city council was due to concerns raised by the Belize Tax Service. According to Cawich, the M.O.U. contradicted the Trade License Act of Belize and shouldn’t have been signed in the first place. He mentioned that the city council reached out to Zabaneh late last year to discuss these issues, but they still haven’t found a solution that works for everyone. Here’s more on that.

 

Pablo Cawich, Mayor of Belmopan

“This MOU particularly just for us to be clear, was signed in 2021 with Maypr Palacio and it had agreements for a five-year term for a thirty thousand dollars anual trade license fee. I would like to point out that based on historic records that we saw, market stalls market, areas used to generate over three hundred thousand dollars a year for Belmopan, that has now been cut to just thirty thousand.  When we started the formal or written communication with Mr. Zabaneh, we got a response in writing as well with a second, MOU attached. We did not have knowledge or any record of this second MOU. This second MOU changes two portions. It changes the term of the MOU, which is now based on the second MOU, thirty years. It also increases the rate to thirty-two thousand a year. At which point I would like to mention that in the previous years, up until now, April, 2025, the maximum funds we have received from the Belmopan Market Plaza are thirty thousand dollars annually in installments. So for now I think we have received their first payment for the 2025 year. And it’s only the first installment, which is a five thousand dollar install.”