The hair braiders say they are the ones feeling the brunt of it. They say they have been pushed the furthest back and today they told the media that they are making major losses:
Vanessa Zuniga, hair braider
"We can't even go inside where we were at terminal 2 to get our job, that's where we would get our jobs and all that. Now we have to stay outside."
Kizzy Petillo, hair braider
"We don't want to be at the park, what will we do at the park? We have to be one and one with the guests - we talk to them. Mr. Longsworth try pleasing us a little bit by having us talking to the guests but with the quick space of time, none of us make any money. There are 16 braiders and he told us that we cannot separate, we are still together in a bombarded way - it's really bad, you guys need to be out there to see the situation."
Vanessa Zuniga, hair braider
"In two weeks I only make US$3, only that and I have kids going to high school and primary school. What can US$3 do for me?"
Jules Vasquez
"How about you Kizzy?"
Kizzy Petillo, hair braider
"I made US$64 for 2 weeks."
Jules Vasquez
"You've been doing this for a long time. How does that compare against other weeks?"
Kizzy Petillo, hair braider
"As you guys remember, I told you about the $26 with the changes that they did and it played the night on the lottery. I will tell you that the 64 hasn't played but I wish people would buy it because it will play in the lottery because this is terrible $64 for 2 weeks. I can't even pay rent out of that."
This evening, Director of Tourism Laura Esquivel told us that the changes were proposed two years ago, three meetings have been held with stakeholders recently, and there was a meeting this morning as well. She says the BTB remains open and available to dialogue with all the stakeholders.
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