Turning now to a story we covered a few days ago, you might not know it but Belize is the biggest importer of cigarettes in Central America. But it's not because Belizeans are such heavy smokers. It's actually owing to the fact that Belize's Free Zones have large business operators who export these mostly Chinese cigarettes to Central America. One of their shipments was intercepted by Honduran Authorities one week ago - and it led Jules Vasquez to look at this trade with so many dark avenues of distribution:
These 574 boxes of Modern brand cigarettes originated at the Big Creek Port in Belize. The Chinese smokes are legal in this country, but smuggled in large quantities into Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, fueling a robust contraband trade in those countries.
The cigarettes come out of the northern and western Free Zones according to our sources and are shipped out of Big Creek and Punta Gorda for Guatemala and Honduras.
In 2023, 91.2 million Belize dollars worth of cigarettes were imported into Belize's Free Zones - that makes it among Belize's top 5 most imported products. But the Statistical Institute has no record of exports. Online sources - like this World Bank website says that in 2023, Belize exported 14.1 million US dollars worth of cigarettes to Honduras.
Since most of the trade is "informal" that's probably a gross underestimate.
This shipment of Modern Cigarettes recently intercepted near Puerto Cortez Honduras - according to Honduran media - was valued at 10 million lempiras - which is about 800 thousand Belize dollars.
But who benefits from all this tobacco moving?
According to this 2010 court case, Ken Zheng - yes that same Kenny Zheng - through his company "China Tobacco" is the owner of the "Modern" brand name in Belize. He presides over a huge import enterprise that makes Belize rank as one of the top cigarette importers in the region, despite being one of the smaller countries.
Plaza Publica, an investigative magazine says cigarette smuggling (in Central America) generates a huge cash flow that serves to finance organized crime.*. the article also found that "the route of entry of Asian cigarettes to Central America is...Belize."
Because the trade is informal, the cigarette trade is said to be a cash business - creating a surplus of cash that is difficult to bank.
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