8/9/2019 Vivian Trill Human Trafficking Belize San Pedro, Ambergris Caye

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Vivian Trill Human Trafficking Belize San Pedro, Ambergris Caye

Word in from our contacts in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize. Looks like itsbusiness as usual there for Mayor Elsa Paz. She co-owns with her brother Georgea bar called Big Daddys Night Club. This is corruption on steroids. And Mayor Paz is a symbol of the kind of corruption that continues to let young women get trapped, through human trafficking, into forced prostitution in Belize ficha b

ars.

Our Appeal: How to Stop Human Trafficking in Belize, sent to Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow, asks him to investigate and crack down immediately on ficha bars and enforces liquor license laws. Prime Minister Dean Barrow, should start inSan Pedro Ambergris Caye, Belize and have investigators make their first stop Mayor Pazs Big Daddys Night Club.

Enforce current laws. Current liquor license laws prohibit prostitution in bars.Penalties are fines not exceeding $50 (Belize) and convictions, possibly recor

ded on the licensees record. These laws are inadequate and they are rarely enforced. Big Daddys have found the ways to get around these laws to be enforced

by the local Police. Hire Police to act as security for your nightclub. Pay thePolice Chief money and everyone looks the other way. Including the local PoliceChief.

Mayor Pazs bar Big Daddys is a depot for off-loading human trafficking victims. The sheer number of girls transported to this ficha bar through the human trafficking underground is staggering. It is among the worst offenders in the country. This prostitution and drug center is allowed to operate freely and openly.

Recently we reported one instance of human trafficking involving a Big Daddys employee who kept a young Mexican woman imprisoned for six months, trading her for prostitution profits and drugs. Some nights she had forced sex with up to 15men. When the woman was able to free herself and report the crime, there was no

help because the authorities in this case were Mayor Paz and her brother. TheMayor also has an understanding with local police, to the point where officers provide security at Big Daddys.

Mayor Pazs and her brothers ways have been well known for some time.

In January, the Mayor appointed her brother to the resort islands five-member liquor board, which is authorized to issue and enforce liquor regulations locally. After her brother board approval a financial deal was made to allow Big Daddys terms to pay back license fees. Fees yet to be paid. The liquor board approvedover 390 licenses in 2010. Ninety of those licenses were awarded to known fichabars.

However, given its outstandingly large number of ficha bars, San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, should be the example to other offenders. First on the investigation lists should be the following bars: Tinapa, Black & White, Back-A-Town, Riverside,Big Daddys, Mings, Las Amigos, Pedros, Sport Bar, Jovinies, and Tackle Box.