In 2013, Belize and the USA signed a Memorandum of Understanding to stop the illicit looting and trafficking of Belize's cultural property. Today, a follow up workshop was held in Belize with cultural experts from both countries. The US facilitators want to share lessons with their Belizean counterparts on the very shady world of trafficking in antiquities. We found out more:..

Greg Borgstede, Cultural Analyst - US Department of State
"Belize has a very rich cultural heritage which includes obviously the archaeological heritage, the colonial heritage and we are talking particularly about the tangible or the objects. Those objects are being stolen from Belize, looted out of archeological sites, stolen from under water cultural sites and then trafficked, sent across international borders to markets in other countries. The United States recognizes that we have a market. There is demand in the United States for these kinds of objects and we recognize that this is a problem in that it's robbing Belize of its cultural patrimony and cultural heritage. UNESCO (United Nations Education and Scientific and Cultural Organization) has estimated that for Maya objects in particular throughout obviously Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala - there is about a thousand illicit objects a week are entering the market."

Dr. Alexandra Jones, Exec. Dir. - Archaeology in the Community
"When you take something, you are taking it from the country as a whole. You are actually destroying the cultural understanding by taking one object. That one object in the context it was in could give us a better understanding of what took place at that site and constantly taking one piece here and one piece here which leave us with nothing at the end of the day. So basically just think about the greater good of the people of Belize before think that no one cares or no one paying attention and it's not that important. It is that important."

Silvia Batty, Archaeologist - NICH
"We cannot to the number of materials that have been exported or taken out of the country during our colonial period as both private collections or modules that were exported - you could say at that point legally to museums and stuff like that, but I can say that we have been very good partners with the US both in strengthening research and collaboration and we with the repatriation of quite a few artifacts from their national museums. Private museums is a bit more challenging and a bit more difficult, but we've been working on that."

Belize has no agreement with Canada but a number of well-known Mayan antiquities are also held in that country.