The name Hezbollah has been in the local news more than once - always in reference to Arabs, mostly Lebanese who are accused of some illicit involvement. The most notable was the famous Rafic Labboun who used bogus documents and corrupt officials to get a Belizean passport in the name of a deceased Mennonite, Wilhelm Dick. US intelligence chatter said he could be associated with Hezbollah - and that may have started the whole ball rolling.
The Hezbollah connection came up again this weekend when Por Esto newspaper in Quintana Roo reported that another Lebanese Belizean had been intercepted in Tulum, Mexico on Thursday, August 28th and that he was part of a Hezbollah cell in Belize.
Now, that's really bad news because Hezbollah is one of the most feared militant groups in the Arab world and the US and Europe consider it a terrorist organization.
But, what if the entire narrative was wrong - what if the Belizean Lebanese man allegedly named Hacsam El Sayeed was never stopped in Mexico? That's what his fellow Arab Amir Zriba says. He says the whole story is a fiction, and a symptom of a baseless Hezbollah hysteria:..
Amir Zriba, Arab Community Spokesperson
"El Sayeed wasn't stopped by the police. He was never detained. He was with his family, when we came back to Belize he was okay, they didn't stop him at the border. When you look at the news it says that he is being detained in the newspaper Por Esto. We have a new lawyer right now and we will start to sue and we will sue big because the community has really become afraid. In the Arab community the majority feels victimized and harass by police by names just because of Hezbollah. I want to clarify something, today the community really upset, some of us lost our names, our reputation, even respect because of a group Hezbollah. There is no Hezbollah in Belize my brother. Hezbollah is not interested in Yarborough, is not interested in Jane Usher - Hezbollah has nothing to do with Belize. Because of this issue, we have some businessmen and some names that the embassy cancels their visas. Because of this issue on the news and the media we can't board on the plane, we can't travel to Mexico because of wrong news."
We did that interview this evening, and we'll air the rest of it tomorrow when we challenge Zriba with a few tough questions about the Lebanese community in Belize.
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