I just heard an American university student who was volunteering in Southern Belize was raped on Caye Caulker over the weekend while her group was visiting the island for some R and R.

Caye Caulker has always been one of my favorite places to go, but with all the incidents recently I'm not so sure anymore.

Haven't seen or heard anythinh about it.

I haven't seen or heard anything on the news, but a couple of people say it is true that a rape occurred and that there was an arrest the same night. However, I don't have any details and haven't tried to confirm it. So perhaps it should stay in the category of widespread rumour, until confirmed.

--Lan Sluder

Havnt heard anything about that but I did witness some very unladylike like action's of several young women during lunch over the weekend..absolutely raunchy...for such young lady's..hope the story is not true..

Debbie, um, raunchy behaviour doesn't mean that rape is deserved. I'm sure you mustn't have meant it the way it reads.

when young, single women (IN GENERAL)are here, they hang around the hustlers and drink with them and also give them the confidence for the hustlers to hang around; so now when these things happen it makes the island look bad when they are the same ones who ask for it..people warn them about who to socialize with but even so they don't care. In regards to what Debbie said it definitely doesn't mean what you want it to mean.

Obviously rape is never justified, but "raunchy" and probably drunken behaviour in the wrong company can increase the odds of something unpleasant happening. Explanation (which is what I think Debbie was referring to) is quite different from justification.

I certainly did not imply that rape or any type of violence is EVER justified. I did alot of traveling in my 20s...hitchhiking through Europe..Africa,,Asia..and it amazes me I had no incidents...but I find it disrespectful and alarming to hear young girls talking to vendors saying they want their coffee strong and black like their men...to say they dont want white rice because they are here for only black fun..to sit on the wall at the split with legs spread while 5 locals get to hang in the water and talk to them and get an eyeful as these girls did over the weekend. It offended me and worried me about the action of these girls..I have no ideal if any harm ever came to them...I wasnt going to mention this cause I just thought it rude and crude...and dangerous....

I have learned from my own experience that "seashell" really likes to stir shit and create chaos out of nothing....how in the world could you gather or assume that Debbie in anyway meant that raunchy behavior merits rape......Seashell....get a life...please and leave people alone....

These small time "gangsters" seem to have no interest in legitimate work and spend idle time on the beach waiting for something to happen. They aren't dressed in beach clothes, don't want to buy food or drink, don't take tours, never shop in stores. Nobody clears them from the beach, and they eventually commit crimes of opportunity - a break-in, burglary, robbery or rape. They also murder people. Government expects stores and saloonkeepers to clear them away with "No Loitering" signs and private security. It doesn't work, crime increases, and more people like the original writer avoid Belize.