Ministry of Tourism Comments on South Americans Denied Entry

The Minister of Tourism and the director of the Belize Tourism Board also addressed concerns over the C.O.P.A. Airlines passengers that have been denied entry during the B.T.I.A. Annual General Meeting.

Evan Tillett

Evan Tillett, Director, B.T.B.

“I know that there are some challenges; in fact, we have had meetings with C.O.P.A., with Immigration Department, with Aero dispatch to discuss some of the issues. But, one of the core things is that there is a lot of human trafficking coming from the south and that creates a problem, and so that is a part of the issue why the C.O.P.A. flight is screened so thoroughly. So we are waiting to get all the details from Immigration Department.”

Anthony Mahler

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism

“We have had significant discussions with Immigration and in Cabinet about the human trafficking issue. The U.S. Government has flagged it. So it is a national security issue for all of us and even though it is kind of problematic for what appears to be people coming in for tourism purposes, many of those people have not come to Belize for tourism purposes and they disappear in the system. So we’re trying to put controls in along with the Immigration Department, with our partners over at C.O.P.A. and with the Panamanian Government for us to control that level of entry into the country.”