But Dr. Fausto Alvin Pineda - who works at the San Ignacio public Hospital wasn't charged for being out after curfew, or failing to wear a mask in public; he was charged for practicing medicine privately during the State of Emergency.

Now there's no law against private practice, but during the state of emergency, a regulation was put into law which states, quote, "for the purposes of preventing, controlling, containing and suppressing the spread of the infectious disease COVID-19, no medical officer employed by the Government of Belize, during the period of public emergency declared by Proclamation, shall engage in independent private practice."

Well, Dr Pineda is accused of doing just that. San Ignacio Police say he gave sick leave papers to to three police officers and stamped the social security claim forms and the police leave forms, with the stamp from his private practice, "Fausto Pineda Home Clinic" in San Ignacio. We are informed that Pineda's boss, the medical chief of staff at the San Ignacio Community Hospital, has also given police a written statement confirming that Pineda is a public doctor at the town hospital.