Mexican Ambassador to Belize Carlos Quesnel has been in Belize for three years - and today, on the eve of his third anniversary in the country, he held his annual media breakfast.
We asked him about the outlaw behavior we saw at the Subteniente Lopez bridge one year ago. That’s where Mexican gangs confronted Belize and Mexican customs - demanding that they be allowed to smuggle contraband from the free one.
Ambassador Quesnel said they have worked diligently to crack down on those gangs:./..
Jules Vasquez
"So underscore that is a criminal gang, is this something that the Mexican authorities are trying to eliminate or to crack down on or remove from the border because they seem to have some level of entitlement. Only people who have entitlement would act the way we have seen them acting on the various social media videos"
H.E Carlos Quesnel - Mexican Ambassador to Belize
"We have meetings often between the authorities in Mexico and the authorities of Belize to try to find the best mechanism to fight this kind of criminal activity. Its not easy, they are still there working but we have taken measures and certainly we have to take harsh measures and that case the case of Subteniente Lopez sometimes you have to take difficult decisions that you will affect some people."
And on the other side of the criminality coin is the drug runner from Belize. Robert Gentle was allegedly driving a cocaine - carrying Lincoln Navigator that got pulled over on the Mexican side of the border crossing. Right in the customs area - he pulled a U turn and hightailed it out of Mexico. The Mexicans shot out his back tires and he crashed into the customs cargo fence on the Belize side. 14 pounds of cocaine were found in a hidden compartment in the SUV’s dashboard.
We asked Quesnel is that incident will force the Mexican’s to tighten up their border operations - and make life difficult for law abiding Belizeans trying to go across:
Jules Vasquez
"Will there be any changes in the protocol for how Belizeans are handled going across the border?"
H.E Carlos Quesnel
"Well this kind of cases make us aware that we have to be more careful and to be more... to take more measures to try to take some control of this but it has not change, I will say that change the patrol or protocols. We are trying to be more flexible to allow people from Belize to come to Mexico so it is important for us that Belizeans know that the Mexican government is starting to attract and to make it easy for Belizeans to come to Mexico."
And of course the Mexicans want Belzieans on that side of the border because it is a boost to tourism:
Jules Vasquez
"How much does Belizeans spend in Chetumal annually?"
H.E Carlos Quesnel
"I got 2015, if I recall correctly, if I'm not wrong that was statistics from Quintana Roo state 48 million dollars that came into Chetumal from Belizean tourism which is US dollars and that's very important for a small city like Chetumal and we are aware of the importance of Belizean tourism."
Quesnel also commented on his country’s continuing support for the Belize - Guatemala territorial resolution being sought at the ICJ. His country is one of the Friends of Belize and Guatemala and offers moral and monetary support:..
H.E Carlos Quesnel
"As part of the group of friends we have been very supportive and we have given some money and we will be keeping... trying to give more money. It’s a difficult moment not only for Mexico but for many countries we go through authority problems, very strong authority problems but we will also support all the mechanisms and we will bring this issue to the group of friends meetings to try to find mechanisms to get more funds for the peaceful fund for the Belizean Guatemala issue."
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