Guillermo Foreman now becomes a vivid example of the Government's strict enforcement of the State of Emergency Regulations connected with the closure of the country's borders. But, there are other Belizeans, including students studying abroad, who have been unable to return home for more than a month - since the airport and border closed in late March.
Today we asked Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington about them. Those stranded Belizeans have been in contact with the embassies of diplomatic missions abroad that fall under his Ministry, and so, we asked him about his message to those who are stuck out in the cold.
He told us that everyone has to hold tight and wait for the National Oversight Committee to decide on a date when the borders will be re-opened:
Hon. Wilfred Elrington - Area Rep., Pickstock
"The Oversight Committee, which is responsible for the health and wellbeing of the citizens of the country at this time will determine when the airports will be opened, and when anybody can come in. Remember, the first two cases that we got from this COVID thing came from abroad. The people who came from abroad caused us to be infected and put us in all this problem. And, all the evidence that we have is that countries abroad are doing much worse than us: the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, even the Caribbean, some of them. So, we have got to make sure that the citizens here remain safe, and if that requires that some of our citizens who live abroad can't come for the time being, so be it. We can't do anything about that. We can't run the risk of having an outbreak of this virus in our country."
"It is not only students who want to come in. I can tell you that. You have business people who have serious business interests, who want to come into Belize and continue their business. But, everybody is being halted."
Reporter
"So, everybody has to wait in limbo until further notice."
Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"Everybody has to wait until further notice."
This issue is also expected to be addressed by the Prime Minister tomorrow.
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