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And while that ended in remand, we hope the other embarrassing event at the conference ends in reform - specifically, reform of the manner in which the local press is treated at these major international meetings. The media was basically shut out of the conference venue at the Grand Caribe - with the exception of most favored station, Channel 5 - which was contracted to do the coverage.

Channel 7 News Director Jules Vasquez got to San Pedro hours after Cherisse Halsall got thrown out - and he was there for two days. Here's his assessment of the media blockade and what's really driving it:

Cherisse Halsall - Reporter, Channel 7 News
"A few minutes ago I was forcibly removed from the Grand Caribe Property

It's a moment that made the biggest headline in a week that should have been about diplomacy - but it opened a discussion about who gets preferential access and the freedom of the Belizean press to operate as professionals in a space where they don't feel like thieves in the night.

The fact is while the Belizean media was confined to this little room at another hotel one thousand feet away from the main hotel and conference centre - we saw the regional media moving freely and without fetter all around the Grand Caribe party. Yes, some of them were regional press officers - but not all of them.

And that's what triggered Cherisse Halsall to go get hers:

Cherisse Halsall
"Because there is a reporter form the Caribbean here literally 5 minutes before I was kicked out, did a standup in front of the Grand Caribe sign right where I wanted to do it for obvious reasons, he was allowed but I was not and honestly, I think that the altercation that resulted came from this officer that when I saw that Caribbean reporter there, I decided I no longer had to tip toe around government press director Mike Rudon."

Cherisse Halsall
"Ok, so why he could get his stand-up and I can't get mine?"

Mike Rudon - Director of Government Press Office
Cherisse, the media is not allowed, you see where the cordon is? That is the media should be, outside of that."

He means the Belize media - and that cordon is about 500 feet away OUTSIDE the sprawling property

And while Rudon made it clear that this was a no-access area for the media - that is clearly false based on al the media we saw moving about - so, in place of that spurious argument - there is now a distorted narrative to say the 7News team was ejected because they had no ID's:

Chester Wiliams - Commissioner of Police
"The channel 7 reporter did not carry the badge and it was on that premise that the officer had disallowed her."

And indeed she did not have an ID because Rudon's Government Press office had not given one to the 7News team when they arrived at the media enter for the conference the day before. It all adds up to a systematic and oppressive denial of access reserved only for the Belizean media:

Cherisse Halsall
"These are absolutely not CARICOM protocols, CARICOM did not make these decisions, these decisions were made within the Belizean government by people who have alternate interests."

And now this sets the stage for the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in two weeks time - who will be followed by a throng of international media - it will be interesting to see what kind of access the Belize media gets.

Channel 7 will be calling for a meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government Press office before the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on March 19th...