Fewer Belizeans are traveling to Chetumal - and it's because of a bus situation which has emerged ever since a Mexican bus driver for ADO was arrested in Belize earlier this month.
As a result of that, since last Wednesday, Belizean buses have no longer been allowed into Chetumal without insurance coverage from a Mexican insurance company. None of them have that, so no bus has been able to take Belizean passengers directly into Chetumal.
Those travelling to Chetumal by bus must now disembark in the Free Zone area, and hire a taxi into Chetumal. It's a frustrating and costly process which has discouraged Belizeans from the travelling. And it has begun to show in the numbers.
CTV-3 News quoutes Belize's Honorary Consul to Quintana Roo, Luis Montero Maldonado, as saying that there has been a 30% decrease in the number of Belizean visitors to Chetumal, and he says this is the direct result of the buses not being allowed into Chetumal.
In comments to the press in Chetumal, Maldonado called it a shakedown of Belizeans, and said that the move will hurt tourism and relations between the two countries.
All this comes after the arrest of Eider Tun, the ADO driver, who was driving an ADO bus that did not have Belizean insurance. Tun was held at the Police Station for an overnight and charged for driving a motor vehicle without insurance. He pleaded guilty and was fined $105 dollars. This seems to have angered Mexican authorities who are now saying Belizean buses now need to comply with their rules.
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