Tonight, there are reports that Belize has granted refugee status to 15 refugees. This is after 21 years where hundreds of refugee applications were either denied or not considered at all. In June of 2017, the Minister of State Beverly Williams told us why:
Hon. Beverly Williams, Minister of State - Immigration
"Somewhere in the 1980s I believe was very instrumental in looking at a refugee program. We have the birth of Salvapan, Las Flores and all those Salvapan communities. At this juncture I believe we are impacted by the surrounding nations and the challenges in there as it relates to gang violence and so that is what we are saying for Belize. We have to be very careful when we look at what it is we are introducing to Belize. And so for us in Belize, we have to ensure that we strike a balance in terms of how we serve our Belizeans persons and how we meet our commitments as it relates to the 1951 convention."
And while that was the position - reports to our newsroom say it has changed basically because government came under international pressure to live up to its treaty obligations.
We tried to reach Minister of State Williams today - but she did not return our requests for comment.
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