YOUNG AMERICAN WOMAN MURDERED IN TOLEDO According to Belize police and other sources, a 20-year-old woman from the U.S. was murdered in Indian Creek village in Toledo District Sunday evening, November 13. The woman, described as a backpacker who had been studying Spanish in Guatemala, arrived in Belize on Thursday, November 10. According to a police spokesman, she went to Toledo on Sunday, had a few drinks in Indian Creek with local villagers, and was found dead, apparently from strangulation, late Sunday night. Allegedly she also had been raped. Police say they have arrested a suspect. Indian Creek, a Ketchi village of about 600 people, 25 miles north of Punta Gorda near the Southern Highway, is near Nim Li Punit Mayan site.

--Lan Sluder

SIN, I write books, not PROMOTING anything but presenting the facts, good and the bad.

Guess it's kinda difficult for some folks, especially in your line of work, to understand that.

--Lan Sluder

crime happens everywhere, its good to know the facts.

Lan: When's the last time you wrote anything good about Belize? seems like your're fixated on the bad stuff. Some kinda sickness with you?

The guy is reporting the news. What's wrong with that?

It's a warning if nothing else.

Jesse, are you interested in having a someone write a book on Belize with all the current and correct facts on Belize? If so would it be excepted from a young person's perspective who truly experiences Belize and has spent an extended period of time here?

It seems most Belize books are very outdated, and yet even when a new book is published it is already outdated but it seems most books are several years behind.

Jesse, of the seven books on Belize I've done, and the hundreds of articles for newspapers and magazines, I'd say 98% or 99% of the information is positive or simply reports facts, neither positive or negative.

Maybe 1 or 2% of my material discusses things like crime, corruption, etc.

As I say I'm not in the business of promoting real estate, timeshares or anything else, nor do I put a positive spin on everything in Belize, but I suspect that over the last 15 years my books and articles have directly or indirectly encouraged tens of thousands of travelers to visit and experience Belize.

There's a tremendous amount about Belize that is wonderful -- 99% of the people, the culture, the reef, sea and the cayes, the Mayan sites, the rainforests, etc. -- but there are also dangers and difficulties, and I think it's tragic to mislead people, whether visitors, retirees, or investors, into thinking that everything is perfect. If I or my family were coming to Belize for the first time, or to invest, I'd want a realistic appraisal of the risks as well as the rewards.

It's also too bad that somebody who has an "official" role on the forum is permitted to make personal attacks against members here. This is not the first time you've done it.

Anybody who has the time and inclination can write a book or an article on Belize, and these days, it can be published and distributed at relatively low cost. If somebody has an idea and the grit to actually do the work, go ahead write that book or article, whether it's positive, negative, or neutral, and get it out there in the marketplace and see how it is accepted.

--Lan Sluder

You're right Lan, for many years you were a positive force on matters of Belize, but lately you seem to have changed the tone of your messages to become mostly negative. This is particularly hurtful to our community because you are a respected authority on Belize.

I really like Lan's work and reporting. Keep it up Lan, you have always been an excellent source of info on Belize.

It is good to be knowledgeable about the good, the bad, and the ugly if you are interested in a country - whether it be to live there or to visit (or for whatever other reason!).

I, too, am tired of some of these perceived personal attacks as one ignorant comment was directed at one of my posts a while back. So, I take it with a grain of salt and consider the source.