The Corozal Free Zone has been ordered shut during the national state of emergency, but reports reaching our newsroom is that it is still being used to smuggle goods across the Rio Hondo to Mexico. This is because a large part of what comes out of the zone does so through means of informal trade - in other words, it goes through the back.

And now that the zone is officially closed, reports say that informal trade has stepped up sharply. - with Mexican "pasadores" as they are called slipping into the zone to smuggle the items across.

Today, via phone, we asked the CEO Hilberto Campos about it:

Campos says they may soon stop few companies still clearing containers from the Port.

Public Officers Mid Month Pay Delayed

Public servants will not be paid until after easter. It's an unprecedented 6-day salary delay and one that Financial Secretary Joseph Waight says only became necessary quote: "As the economy grounded to a halt, and revenues dried up." The salaries which had been set to be paid today, April 8th for the 15th pay period will not be paid until April 14th.

GOB is legally obliged to pay salaries twice a month but there are traditional convenience paydays that public servants have come to expect shortly before the Christmas and Easter holidays. Waight told KREM news that salaries will be paid on the 14th and that quote, "Nobody will be short a dollar." He added that "It's an inconvenience to some but we are all in difficult times together." and that he is sure that "the rank and file of public service will understand."

NICH Helping Health

As you probably know by now, the Ministry of Health has a hotline set up to take calls from the public during this COVID-19 crisis. They have advised persons not to show up to the hospital if they suspect that they may be infected with the coronavirus. That can cause those patients to put other Belizeans at risk of contamination. Instead, the Ministry wants them to call the hotline and seek advice on how best to address the situation.

As you would imagine, the staff at the Ministry of Health is stretched thin as frontline workers against this pandemic. So, this week, they're getting much-need help from the staff at their sister government agency, NICH. Since NICH's office is closed due to the curfew and the State of Emergency, a group of their employees has decided to aid the Ministry of Health by manning their hotlines and taking the flood of calls from the worried general public.

This evening, we spoke with one of those NICH employees via telephone about that decision and the experience to temporarily join the frontlines:

Yadira Argueta - Finance Officer, NICH

"Most of us started to work from home, and for some of us, we have our assigned duties. While some people can access some information from home, others are tasked to do other things. We were asked by the president to assist the Ministry of Health since they have been receiving a lot of calls over the past weeks, I believe. So, it was 3 of us and being there, honestly - yesterday. I can talk about yesterday since I started with them yesterday. We received like almost 200 calls, and it's just basically the general public calling to ask certain questions. Most of them are about the relief aid that they are receiving through the government. Some are to report suspected cases, and others just call about the different emergency office center contact number, and to find out where they can receive certain access to healthcare, in the event that they feel that someone is a suspected case. They said that - I think - on Monday, they were receiving like a lot of calls, and since they didn't have much staff there to take the calls. With assistance, it has been quite helpful for them."

According to Argueta, the Ministry of Health staff should need less help from them next week.

The Borders to A Homecoming

If you've ever returned to Belize via Cancun you'll know the feeling of relief experienced at the sight of the welcome to Belize signs as you cross the Rio Hondo.

But if you were to try to come back right now you wouldn't be welcome, because as of Sunday, April 5th Belize's borders were closed, even to nationals. And in the second part of Cherisse Halsall's chat with three Belizean students abroad she asked them how it felt to hear that, at least for now, they can't come home:

And coming back to the closure of Belize's borders. I wondered how these nationals responded to being told that they couldn't come home.

Christine Coc - Chevening Scholar

"I'm very happy that the government has taken the necessary steps in this regard put them at risk. I do agree with the government closing the borders to students and ensuring the rest of the country is safe."

Jane Salazar Mcloughlin - Erasmus Mundus Scholar

"Honestly I did, and this might come off kind of strange but I did think it was a good idea because if we had enough time to plan to get home if we wanted to get home. And I know everyone's circumstances are different. Fortunately, I am on a scholarship and I'm still receiving my scholarship so I can afford to be here. And I know not everybody's like that and I know some people really want to get home especially to be with family, you feel safer with family you feel safer home. You have to think big picture too because if you're coming from a place where the pandemic is at a greater risk that Belize you are going to be a carrier and when you get home you do need to take the preventative measures that government has put in place."

Cherisse Halsall

"On April 5th which was Sunday it became official that the borders are closed even to our Belizean nationals, what are your emotions around that?"

Dino Guitterez - Student, Seoul, South Korea

"I understand why they have implemented that policy I am fully aware of the risk that I pose to the country. But it's still very tough knowing that there really is no possibility for me to be close to my family at this point. I did upload a screenshot of it to my IG story and all my friends from other countries were like what you can't be serious like, what? I just said I understand why it's been done this way. We are a small country and it's just hard for foreigners to understand the reality in Belize and this the way I look at it is a type of war and sacrifices must be made during a war."

The closure of Belize's borders to nationals is expected to last for the duration of the state of emergency.

The Warpspeed "Wop"

And turning now to much lighter news - we have to laugh after what may otherwise might make us cry.

The Belize we are all living in today seems to many of us like it's out of some dystopian novel.

Indeed, if we had told you one month ago that in Holy Week, you'd have to be locked up in your house by 4:00 pm or face arrest, you would have laughed. But, such are the times we are living in - and dying by with COVID 19. All over the world, personal liberties have been abrogated in the legitimate interest of public health.

It's very necessary, and we cannot argue with that, but what we can argue with is the abuses by the police during this time when they have sweeping powers to detain, arrest and, apparently harass.

That's what they did on Faber's Road a few nights ago, and it led to a scene that seemed to Jules Vasquez like it was form a science fiction movie. Here's his take:…

Fear No More

And Finally tonight, a faint glimmer of hope from the City that became global ground zero of the Coronavirus has ended its lockdown after 11 weeks.

Just after midnight on Wednesday, March 8th, the City's 11 million residents were told that they are finally free to travel in and out of the City.

The occasion was marked with a light show on either side of the Yangtze river, with skyscrapers and bridges radiating animated images of health workers, and displays of the words "heroic city" a title bestowed on Wuhan by the president Xi Jinping. Along the river banks and bridges, people waved flags, chanted "Wuhan, let's go!" and sang China's national anthem.

And those lights are a beacon of hope to the rest of the world still battling through a dark, dark, time. A beacon that tells us that there is hope for an end to this frightening and crippling global pandemic.