There’s a benign practice in the media industry called bartering. For
example if Channel 7 flies to Punta Gorda, we might ask Maya Airways to barter
the plane tickets with us: meaning we’ll settle the price of the plane
tickets with an equivalent value in advertising on Channel 7: no money is exchanged,
but the debt is settled through a trade of equal value.
It’s quite common in the Belize media, as media houses barter for all
kinds of things – but now the Ministry of Natural Resources has taken
it to another level: they’re bartering with one of the richest media owners
in the world to settle the fine for damages he did to the reef!
Remember the Azteca, the boat that ran aground on the reef outside of San
Pedro in April? It was owned by Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego –
the owner of TV AZTECA one of the largest Spanish language networks in the world.
He reportedly agreed to pay the damages which were assessed at seven hundred
and eighty seven thousand U.S. dollars.
But today, we found out that he’s bartering his way out of it! Or it seems
he is doing so partially, at least. The Ministry of Natural Resources and the
Environment today announced that it has agreed to a settlement with the owners
of the luxury yacht. It calls for the payment of US$400,000.00 to be paid in
hundred thousand us dollar installments. The first installment was received
on the 24th July, when the agreement was signed.
A government release says that separate and additional to these funds, the
Ministry has secured commitment from the Mexican-based Fundacion Azteca to assist
in activities to promote Belize on TV Azteca along with a technical corporation
to give assistance relating to the environment and forest conservation. Sounds
like a barter to us, but the ministry’s release alludes to no such arrangement.
We note that, generally, the practice is that fines for vessels that damage
the reef are set at one amount and then usually settled for a lower figure.
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