Disabled Baker Traumatized After Police Raid

Tonight, a local baker has come forward with a harrowing account of her experience with the Belize Police Department. Dylan Ysaguirre, a disabled baker from Dangriga, claims that on Thursday night, police stormed into her home on suspicions of her selling cannabis and possessing illegal guns and ammunition. She alleges that the officers overturned the baked goods she was preparing to sell and is demanding compensation for the loss of her goods and the emotional distress she has suffered. Ysaguirre, who was charged once back in 2023 and has been diligently paying her fine, further alleges that one of the officers disrespected her and even kicked her wheelchair. She suffers from a stress-induced autoimmune disease, which she says has worsened since these raids began.

 

On the Phone: Dylan Ysaguirre, Alleged Raid Victim

“They have been, this is like the tenth time that they’ve come to my house and it’s over the course of the past like year and a half, because last year I had gotten arrested and charged for some marijuana that they had found in my house. It was my personal,  they didn’t believe it, so they put  a traffic in charge on me and I wasn’t happy with that because, I tell them that, I tell them what is the main reason that I use it for, that I use it for herbal medicine, yes I smoke weed, but the main reason I’m using it is for my remedies and for my medicine for my son because, I am disabled, my mother is also disabled but my son, he is special needs, he’s not just disabled. They keep harassing me not even my personal, that’s the part that really hurt me yesterday because yesterday they were roughing me up and I had less than two grams on my table.  And they’re still accusing me of selling weed even though I had less than two grams on my table and they’re still accusing me of selling weed.. I do not appreciate the way how they disrespect me as a disabled woman because, I know how women are, sometimes we’ll have scuffle and we’ll back and forth, but that’s not the way to treat someone in my position that’s disabled because they’re not shaved. She kicked my wheelchair while I was trying to stand up to make me fall. She disrespected me, she disrespected my stuff, and I feel unfair and I feel like I should get compensated for the cupcakes that I had lost. And also emotional damages. After they left my house, And after I did that live, I was so upset that I was physically sick, like my hands were shaking, and I felt like I wanted to vomit.”