Another aspect of US public policy that could interfere with Belize's COVID status is its policy on deportation. For example, if the US sends back Belizeans from US Deportation centers and they have COVID, it could cause chaos. If it sounds far-fetched - it might not be.
That's what Guatemala says happened over there with what is being called the "vuelo maldito" which deported sick migrants to Guatemala from the U.S. on March 26.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei has blamed the US for deporting people knowing they were sick.
Yesterday, the Charge said that is not the policy, and not his expectation:
Jules Vasquez
"What is the status of deportees from the US into Belize at this time with the Corina virus threat?"
Keith R. Gilges, Charge d'Affaires
"Our policy is that people will not be deported if they have the virus. Has that been perfectly implemented? No. As anyone knows in a large bureaucracy what you say at the top and what gets implemented down below sometimes it takes a while for that message to filter down and for that training to be in place. But the effort is to say listen if folks are testing positive they board flights. Its dangerous for everybody, certainly the government of Belize is putting procedures in place and we are going to work to make sure that we can have that kind of transport back and forth, that's fair and safe."
Email
Print