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It has the trappings of human trafficking, but that is not confirmed because there is no hard evidence to confirm that. We asked the Western Regional Commander is they are charging Cubans for illegal entry when they are actually victims of human traffic:

ACP Aaron Guzman, Western Regional Commander
"Okay, there were two instances where Cubans were detained. I believe in both instances there were 5 persons and this was done in the area of Benque Viejo. The matters are before the court. It has become an immigration matter. Initially it started as a police matter because we were the ones who were doing the patrol when they were found and they were found in Belize. They obviously came from Guatemala. Exactly where they were heading we don't know. It is left for speculation. But they were detained, they were taken to court and then the court will decide will be done to them if they are deported back to Cuba or they will return to Guatemala. However our patrols keep up in Benque Viejo, in San Ignacio and Belmopan, Roaring Creek area and only this morning, a person were detained in and he was going back that direction from Belmopan. We have suspected that he has burglarized a place in Belmopan and Benque check point held him for us. So, it is just showing that the 3 sub formations are working together and we also work in conjunction with BDF, Customs and Immigration and so it did net us the Cubans. If in the future we see some more Cubans coming we will have to probably take a different look at it and see if it was only these 10 people or there were more, because the two groups of them were caught within 3 days apart. So it could be that they were traveling together, we don't know."

Daniel Ortiz
"Do police consider when decided to take action that there may be an element of re-victimizing persons who are already victims being traffic through a particular location?"

ACP Aaron Guzman, Western Regional Commander
"That is twofold, because remember now it depends, because these persons were not children. They were no underage. It could be that they had made decisions for themselves to take the risk. So it is a case by case scenario. We have to deal with every case individually and look at the circumstances that we don't victimize those persons. However, if they have chosen to come this way and this far, then we have to go through the legal course that it takes in Belize."

The Magistrate's Court case with the Cubans is still unresolved, and as you heard, the Immigration Department is now in charge.