7 News Belize

Developer’s Spotty Background Raises Questions About 100 Million Dollar Airport Project
posted (December 18, 2017)
Last week we showed you the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the Efrain Guerrero International Airport - on northern Ambergris Caye. It's pitched as a hundred million US dollar project and the front-man is Miami native, Jorge Abraham Jaen who signed on behalf of International Airport Alliance Belize Limited.

Well, a lot has emerged since then to undermine Jaen's credibility as a developer, and bring into question the legitimacy of the entire project - with some speculating whether it is another "dead raise" like Puerto Azul.

It all started with Jaen's Facebook page which shows that he's a real estate developer with no background in airport development. And then that led to the unearthing of documents from the Miami-Dade county Office of the Inspector General - where he was accused of major fraud back in 2006. Add to that allegations of Conspiracy to Commit Extortion and voter fraud, and, by weekend, the social media wheels were rolling all over Mr. Jaen's name.

Well, on Sunday, the company he represents, International Airport Alliance sent out a release saying, quote, "IAA was aware of this personal issue Mr. Jorge Jaen had in the past and still elected to allow him to join the Company. Our decision was based on factual documents the Company obtained showing that the allegations mentioned in the OIG's memorandum were unfounded and therefore, Mr. Jaen was never prosecuted. In addition, he is licensed by the State of Florida to transact in real estate and development." End quote.

The statement adds, quote, "International Airport Alliance is committed and strongly believes in the Ambergris Caye Airport project for which it has diligently worked on for over 14 months, and wants to assure the Citizens of Belize that we remain fully confident and transparent that our Company will not only fulfill its professional obligations, but will also do it in a way that Belize will be proud of."

Nice words, but we note that International Airport Alliance is a company with a letterhead, but little else. There's no address or telephone number, and no website, plus no track record of development that we could find.

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