And one illicit trade that follows right behind the drug trade is human trafficking - and like Guatemala, Belize is ripe for it.
Belmopan police thought they had found just such a case when they searched a Chinese businessman who held 29 Chinese passports for 22 individuals.
The first suspicion was that the visas may have been fake but the Director of Immigration Ruth Meighan this evening confirmed to us that her office has reviewed all 22 visas and there were no irregularities: they were all legitimately and officially issued. She said the only omission is that one of the visas had expired six days ago.
As regards the human trafficking aspect - which is often the case when a single individual holds the passports of many others - police are not saying anything about their investigation.
But sources close to the case tell us that there doesn't appear to be any type of coercion - which is a key element in establishing human trafficking
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