Everyone is a victim
Everyone Thinks This of Trafficked Women
Over the last four months our campaign to expose the human trafficking tragedy in Belize has been challenged by some. I have been called an opinionated blogger. I can assure you I offer a great deal more than opinion. I have deep information, facts that support my position that Belize is a human trafficking kingpin.
Over the last five years, I’ve been in and out of Belize helping to hunt and recover the victims. Years like that make me a victim too. Experts who study human trafficking tell us that anyone who tries to do something about this crime becomes its victim. I can tell you that is true. Information I’m about to share with you is hard earned.
I’m posting this blog to address those who claim I am opinionated without knowledge. This post explains how we gained the knowledge we use to guide our campaign. Also, what follows is some hard information on the human trafficking situation, which many of you may find useful in understanding Belize’s role as the major human trafficking walkway in Central America.
Over the last five years we have developed a system for tracking and monitoring human trafficking activities throughout Central America. As a result of our information collection, we had no choice but to conclude Belize is the consistent point of entry for trafficked women. It is a supply corridor for victims in transit from other countries. Demand is fed by tourism.
First, I’ll share our research method. Every two months for five years we sent observers into Belize. They traveled the country and collected information. They checked bars throughout the country, observing the number and kinds of women working in bars. This allowed us to determine the trafficking process and learn how many women were actually working in bars, the number of bars and the level of turnover.
Our research indicates the following facts about Belize.
In southern Belize human trafficking is limited, if in existence at all. Toledo District is the southern most area of Belize, with Punta Gorda the largest southern city. The prevailing culture does not tolerate open or hidden prostitution in ficha bars. The women in this area ensure that women are not available in the bars their men frequent. Another hard-bearing factor is the lack of tourism. These two factors definitively deter the growth of ficha bars with women offered for sale.
As you travel the coast north from Punta Gorda, the small villages maintain limited use of women as a draw for men. You will find on the large farms throughout Belize bars within the central compounds of the farm operations. There are 169 farm operations, all with their own ficha bar. Each has at least two trafficked women to serve drinks and sex to the farm workers. Having a bar within the farm compound encourages the male workers to stay on the farm and work.
Placentia can be considered the next largest tourist area in Belize heading north from Punta Gorda. A highly developed tourism area. Scattered over a large area, the resorts and the bar operations are very conducive for ficha bar operations, though it may not appear that way on the surface. The number of expats and volume of foreign ownership appear to be the driving force.
Belize City has some 15 ficha bars. They are scattered throughout the city with no central concentration. The bars are small with operations appealing more to locals than tourists. Belize City is mostly a stopover and leave destination for tourists. Tourists’ attitudes are driven by media reviews pointing out the danger in Belize City.
Leaving from Belize City to the west of the country, the first well-known ficha bar is the Beaver Dam Bridge. Just before the bridge make a left turn into a bar tucked in the back of what appears to once have been a hotel of some kind. It is well known brothel, once one of the biggest in Belize.
Belmopan’s relocation of the capital and transplanting of embassies meant a ficha bar cleanup and revitalization of the city as a diplomatic capital for the country.
Continuing west to the border of Belize and Guatemala, you head into the Mennonite area of Belize. This community makes up almost one-third of the population of Belize. The strong Mennonite influence keeps prostitution bars nonexistent.
Outside of Cayo, the gateway to Guatemala, eco tourism is prevalent. Just before reaching Cayo, on the left-hand side of the road, are the remains of one of the most famous brothels in Belize. Run by a German in its day, this was the country’s western stronghold for prostitution and human trafficking. The owner fell out of favor with the Belize Government, was setup and charged with human trafficking and prostitution.
Between Cayo and the Guatemala border a few ficha bars exist, however, with the Mennonite influence in the area and absence of sex tourism, options are limited. Those who want the company of trafficked women simply go across the border at Melchor, an area rife with ficha bars.
North from Belize City, on the northern highway, the first major city is Orange Walk, a city with a large number of ficha bars. The bars mostly serve the needs of local area men and the thousands of truck drivers stopping en route. Orange Walk can be considered more industrial than rural. It features a prominent sugar cane plant and run plants at its entrance, thus attracting truck traffic and a steady stream of customers for the busy ficha bars. Most of the women working the bars are not Belizean.
The next city is Corozal, the gateway to Mexico. During high season, tourism in this area populates the ficha bars. Cheap Corozal-Mexico flights make this a stopover for tourists heading further south in Belize and the outer islands of San Pedro and Caye Caulker. A regular boat service from this area offers travelers a cheap means to reach San Pedro.
Going east from Belize City, the outer Cayes offer travelers the Caribbean beach experience many tourists look for. San Pedro is the gem of the Belize tourism industry. The town of San Pedro is a few city blocks. To the north of San Pedro there are 17 miles of attractive beach resorts, time-shares and condos. All transportation services to the island from points outside deposit tourists in downtown San Pedro. Sex tourism is the driving force for the high concentration of ficha bars in San Pedro.
Those calling me an opinionated blogger are correct. My views, however, are based involvement in an organization that has taken over 100 women out of Belize to a safe haven in Honduras
I ask those who challenge our efforts to consider the following.
If your sister or daughter just vanished, how would you deal with the situation? Most people reading these blogs are educated, have money and many other resources. The kind of Guatemalan or Salvadoran family who loses their loved one is almost always poor with few advantages. That is why their daughters, thinking they are leaving home to work and send home money to their families, are deceived into a life of forced prostitution in ficha bars.
Eventually, most trafficked victims are picked up by police, sent to Hattieville and then deported. Often they are forced to run into the night alone. Lost forever.
If you’ve read this far, you have become a victim too.
We are all Victims
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