Who Are the Belizeans in Peru and Bolivia Getting Passports?

Following reports that immigration officials recently traveled to Latin America, specifically Bolivia and Peru to provide passport application services to Belizeans abroad may have some wondering about the identity of those receiving these services. While our requests for comment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were not immediately returned, credible information to News Five is that the Belizeans in Bolivia and Peru are primarily Mennonite families.  In most cases, these individuals are seeking to regularize their immigration status in those countries. But, having been away from Belize for an extended period, their passports may have expired or they need other documents.  We are told that periodic trips are taken to countries without a Belizean Embassy or Honorary Consul to provide these consular services.  A release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, and Immigration issued on Thursday says nine hundred and ninety-six applications were processed in Bolivia during three weeks in February of this year.  One hundred and forty-two applications were processed in Peru during one week in November.