Under Belize law, bar owners are supposed to be penalized if prostitution is found on their premises. This law is never enforced in Belize.
The following is taken directly from BELIZE INTOXICATING LIQUOR
LICENSING ACT, CHAPTER 150, REVISED EDITION 2000 (SHOWING
THE LAW AS AT 31ST DECEMBER 2000):
This is a revised edition of the law, prepared by the Law Revision Commissioner under the
authority of the Law Revision
If any license holder knowingly permits his premises to be the habitual resort of or place of meeting of reputed thieves or of reputed prostitutes, whether the object of the meeting or resorting of such prostitutes is or is not prostitution, he is, if he allows them to remain longer thereon than is necessary for the purpose of obtaining reasonable refreshment, guilty of an offense and is liable to a fine not exceeding for the first offense fifty dollars, and any conviction for an offense under this section shall, unless the magistrate otherwise directs, be recorded on the license of the person convicted.
Iris owns two ficha bars in San Pedro, Belize. One of her gems, Amigo’s Bar, is off the main street beside the Belize Bank. She has a second bar on the backside of town, toward the lagoon area. At any given time, she has a number of illegals working for her. She is a trafficker in humans. Every month, she leaves Belize and goes hunting for girls, mostly in Guatemala. She returns with as many as ten girls at a time.
Most of these girls come from situations that are far harder than a life in a bar. Iris controls, maintains and manages her girls with an iron hand, yet fair. The girls are paid, housed and protected. While I may appear to respect Iris she is a clear part of the human trafficking and human rights violations problem.
She operates her business in plain sight of Government of Belize officials who have a duty to enforce the laws to protect women from this life we talk about. Iris maintains payments to the police and in her way actually manages immigration. She seldom is checked or even visited by immigration officers.
This is a small Island with everyone knowing everyone’s business. So when Iris returns with new girls, the word spreads quickly and her bars are packed with men looking at the new arrivals. Having a bar like that, one block from the immigration office, it’s fair to speculate as to how and why she is not raided.
The long-term girls Iris manages are ones she has, in her way, adopted. Even these ones still work in a day-to-day life of prostitution. A life in forced prostitution is a result of starting life in San Pedro as a trafficked victim.
Belize prostitution laws are not enforced on the Island of San Pedro. This is the core of human trafficking development and growth in Belize, and in most obviously, on the Island tourism gem known as Ambergris Caye, Belize.
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