7 News Belize

Saldivar's Documents Re-examined
posted (October 16, 2013)
And, as you saw, lost in the mix of political gamesmanship leading up to a possible bye-election was Arthur Saldivar and his Immigration documents. Last week he strutted across the public stage, a louche whistle blower with not just horse-hair, but the entire horse-hide in hand, making glib promises about "a document a day" and sponsoring a media worker to go to South Korea to talk to Citizen Kim.

And then, suddenly, he was a fugitive on the run, and then…he fell off the radar; "to be continued…" he said. But yesterday the Saldivar mini-series came to a too-abrupt end: he posted a few documents on facebook, flashed them before the media, and handed them over to police. He was, in the end, it appeared, beleaguered by the burden of the documents. Tonight we take a look at those few documents that Saldivar has posted online:


Jules Vasquez Reporting

Commissioner of the Supreme Court Winston Smiling carried the bag full of immigration files, along with an entourage of sorts from the PUP Headquarters down the street to the Queen Street Police Station.

Jules Vasquez
"Why didn't you share it with the media first and then with the authorities? We may never see these again."

Arthur Saldivar
"But I did. I did; it's on Facebook. Go on Facebook; it's there."

On Saldivar's page we found pictures various nationality documents - 15 of them in total - including pictures of the green ledgers - complete with file numbers, the nationality files he promised. The documents do appear genuine, but they are incomplete.

There are nationality certificates signed by Penner but missing the seal, more than one like that police records without signatures of the applicants.


Taken in totality, the documents including American, Cuban, and Taiwanese passports - look like works in progress gathered from someone who was running some kind of backdoor operation out of the Immigration office and putting files together piece by piece. They certainly speak to corruption and from the fact that they are not in the Immigration Office means something is very wrong. But with only these scraps of data really that's all that can be said. Saldivar says he got them from parties who were setting to destroy them.

And while he posted 15, from what was flashed before the media there are more in the files, but it is now a matter for police.

Arthur Saldivar - Handed Files Over
"It's out of my hands now, Rowland. It's out of my hands now."

Rowland Parks - Reporter Press
"Why do you say that it's out of your hands now?"

Arthur Saldivar
"It's time for it to go where it needs to go."

So what will police now do with the documents? That's what we asked the police commissioner Allen Whylie via text this afternoon. Commissioner Whylie sent us a response a few minutes ago saying, quote, "(the files) were brought by the police from Belize City today and hand delivered to the investigator. (They) will be utilized by him in his investigation." End quote

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize