AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Weather Tropical Storms & Hurricanes GET THIS!!!

What does it take to get these supplies to
those who are in need, perhaps a few bribes!!! Hopefully Belize Customs are not
like customs in Mexico.

Customs in Belize are a bunch of greedy, blood-sucking bastards who have no written rules.

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...okay...let me try and make this simple...I am sitting on what was left of my front porch because a big wind came and blew my house down and poured rain all over... still with me? Then YOU come by and drag up a couple of broken chairs, we sit down and eat food that YOU brought to share with me, and then I charge YOU for bringing ME food. Simple enough for you?

TONYP

Don't call the government officals - Call the radio station - they will get the attention of the officals.

Don't get agree with the gov't of Belize they have a law it is to protect the country from people who cheat and believe me alot of people would use this diaster for their own chance to get things through customs without paying.

How about asking Jackie Woods to do a story on this problem? I remember that the two TV stations are ususally diametrically oppsed, with one biased towards the PUP and the other towards the UDP, so at least ONE of them should address this problem.

It is better for a few people to get away with "cheating" than for relief and reconstruction to be delayed -- or made prohibitively expensive -- for thousands of people, and for the whole economy to be damaged. There will always be a few people who "cheat." You don't damage the economy of a whole country simply to make sure that this does not occur.
Simple cost benefit analysis is all that is necessary here.
The money lost by putting a moratorium on ALL customs duties for a limited period of time will be far less than the amount of income that will come into and circulate within the economy from the quick rebuilding.
The whole country suffers if tourism is delayed because of the domino impact of people financially unable to rebuild or repair. The people whose homes are destroyed are the people who work in the tourism industry. The people whose boats are damaged or destroyed are essential to the tourism industry.
Then there is the MORAL issue: There is no way that taxing people for the privilege of rebuilding their homes and businesses, let alone taxing people who DONATE RELIEF SUPPLIES can be morally justified.
Put the customs people who may be laid off to work doing something else...like claims adjusting, for instance. There are other things they can do to earn their salary.

We know where the Duty charging peoples head is, -- ----- ---! But wonder where there hearts are, the same place?

The politics of disaster:

I am not Belizean but I have many years experience as a grass roots political activist in the US, and I have watched Belizean political campaigns from afar and I know a campaign issue when I see one.
In any country that has a democratic political system (and Belize is one of them), there are certain kinds of issues that get citizens riled up and there are issues that don't. This is one that does and will.
This customs duty moratorium issue is the kind of thing that can easily backfire on the current party in power and result in change in government. It's the kind of thing that affects ordinary citizens and the kind of thing that voters remember. Whoever acts first and fast will be the hero and the other guys will be the goat.
If I were an opposition politician, I would be squawking bloody murder about those relief supplies sitting in customs, and I will bet you that it is only a matter of days before that is precisely what they do. The PUP has limited time to act or the other guys will do it.
I predict that should it come to be, the TV footage of Patty Arceo marching into the customs office demanding the release of the supplies and joining the Prime Minister for a reading of a duty moratorium declaration will be worth its weight in political gold some day.
(And vice versa...)
Of course I could be wrong (as Dennis Miller says)...but I don't think I am.