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Tonight, we have both sides of the dispute:..

Chad Eckert, Belize Sea Island Cotton
"You will terminate them just like you would terminate any employee if they aren't working out well. We did that."

Gustavo Cardenas, Cotton Farmer
"I can tell you that at no point in our relationship did he come to be and said 'you know what Mr. Cardenas, you are failing here and there and because of this you need to take certain actions'. At no time did he come to me in that regard. I was under the impression that we were going to conclude this matter."

Chad Eckert, Belize Sea Island Cotton
"The fact is that he was arrested in Orange Walk. The police don't just go around arresting people for no reason. Usually there is a claim set against you. They investigated it and found out it was true then they arrested him."

Gustavo Cardenas, Cotton Farmer
"However when Chad came along with his lackies and his political minions. They went to the police, and detained me for a whole week Mr. Vasquez. I ended up 3 days in Hattieville. For theft of my own product. All I want is for him to rightfully pay me what is mine. I don't want the seeds anymore, they aren't good anymore and they're going to compensate me for my seeds."

Reporter
"What is the compensation roughly?"

Gustavo Cardenas, Cotton Farmer
"Well we're working on that."

Chad Eckert, Belize Sea Island Cotton
"He knows what he's doing. Farming has been his business, he knows how to do it and how to manage things or so I thought. It's not as people are saying. A big US guy came over and took advantage of a small innocent farmer. It's not that way at all."

Gustavo Cardenas, Cotton Farmer
"It was the worse production for me as far as dealing with a foreigner, because I have dealt with many investors. To me this is the nightmare and he is not a fair guy, nor genuine in my opinion. That is why I'm suing him and demanding that he compensate me for my seeds because at this point in time, the seeds, in the condition that he has them and has subjected them up to this point in that condition, is no good. It has lost its vitality."

As you heard, the matter is before the court for arbitration.

US Says Belize Is Major Illicit Drug Producing and Major Drug-Transit Country

The US State Department has released its 2018 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report - and Belize is designated as one of 22 major Illicit Drug Producing and Major Drug-Transit Countries, along with all other Central American Nations - and three Caribbean nations.

Belize is also designated as a Major Money Laundering Country - in a very long list of those.

The report finds, quote, "Belize is a transit country for illicit drugs destined for the United States from source countries in South America. Belize is susceptible to the transshipment of illegal drugs due to its position along the Central American isthmus, relatively uninhabited terrain, and the hundreds of cayes off its coast….Belize is bordered by countries where the drug trade is controlled by well-organized and violent drug trafficking organizations. A concerted effort by those organizations to establish themselves in Belize would present serious challenges to the country's law enforcement and justice institutions."

The report adds, quote, "Belize's drug control efforts are hampered by the same challenges faced by the rest of the country's security sector - corruption, insufficient investigative capacity, an ineffective judicial sector, and a lack of political will."

It concludes, quote, "The United States encourages Belize to strengthen its public security and law enforcement institutions through more effective anti-corruption legislation, comprehensive background checks and vetting of new and existing personnel, enhanced training, and continuing education programs."