BELIZE'S MINSTER DETAINED IN CHETUMAL
September 17, 2008

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Marcel Cardona is getting bad press in Chetumal Quintana Roo following a traffic incident in Chetumal on Monday morning. According to Mexican press, Mexican police were called out to the intersection of Avenida Heroes and San Salvador sometime around 2am where Michel Merfil Rivero reported that his vehicle was hit by a black pick up truck bearing Belize license plate. Rivero reportedly told Mexican police that the black pickup truck sped off following the impact. Mexican press reports that police immediately began a search and intercepted the black pickup truck driven at the time by Minister Cardona. According to Mexican News Paper , De Peso , Cardona first refused to descend from the vehicle identifying himself as a the Belize minister of culture, youth and sports and is reported to have said that the Mexicans had no authority of arresting him since he is a government Minister of Belize. Cardona reportedly uttered several insults before paying a fine, paid for damages and was released. We attempted to contact Minister Cardona late this evening for comment but only got his voicemail.

http://lovefm.com/ndisplay.php?nid=8652

Mexican press says minister fled accident scene

There is plenty news to report tonight and we begin with the story of the Minister of Sports and Youth, Marcel Cardona, who got into a whole lot of trouble with the law across the border. The minister was picked up by Mexican authorities after he fled the scene of an accident. Television and press reports in Chetumal show the Minister and his family at a police station were he was taken after he allegedly ran into a Mexican vehicle at about two o’clock on Monday morning. According to the reports, Mexican traffic police received a distress call from a person who claimed his car had been hit by a pick-up truck with Belize License plates C 5396 that sped away. Police caught up with Cardona who claimed he was a high government official from Belize and was acting as foreign minister and who refused to exit his vehicle when he was asked to do so by the police. Cardona was accompanied by his wife and another person identified as Roy Briceño, an aspiring U.D.P. candidate for the town council in Orange Walk. As you will see from the video, Cardona’s wife got into a heated exchange with the press that showed up at the station to capture the processing of the minister. Members of the press threaten that they would make a complaint against Mrs. Cardona for her aggressive behavior, and that they had a video to back up their claim. The Mexican authorities attempted to deflate the situation. According to the reports, the Minister and family were finally released when he paid for damages and a fine for traffic violations.

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=21825