Rejection -it's not easy for any of us to deal with - and just so for Jules Vasquez who made a second Freedom of Information request to the Belize Airports Authority two weeks ago.
They had answered the first request back in May with information that blew open the whole story of those secret contracts - and we dug so deep - that we even showed the Airports Authority a way out of the contracts.
But, where's the gratitude!? Yesterday in response to a second FOIA request - they kind of slammed the door in Jules' face. Here's his story about that response:
Channel 7's Freedom of information request asked for many things - but, principally, to see the minutes of the meeting where the decision was taken to award the contracts to Four Diamond and ISECURITY, That would give a major insight into how and why these companies were selected.
We also asked which companies were invited to tender - reportedly that group of 3 did not include Four Diamond.
In total, the FOIA request is a list of 10 specific inquiries of the BAA, a statutory board that the Freedom of Information Act calls a "Prescribed Authority".
But the response from the Belize Airports Authority totally ignored its statutory duty to make information public and just shut us down.
Their letter says "the former board of directors of the BAA chaired by Mr. Ricardo Martin (did not seek) the approval of the terms of the two contracts awarded to ISECURITY LIMITED and FOUR DIAMOND SECURITY LIMITED, from the Prime Minister and Minister of...Civil Aviation. The BAA's board is currently seeking legal advice relating to the validity of those contracts. The newly constituted board of directors of the BAA is also presently investigating the award of those contracts, and we believe that disclosure of any of the 10 items would prejudice that investigation."
Considering that the co owner of Four Diamond, Nigel Bouloy sits on the BAA board and presumably has access to the minutes - while the attorney who wrote up the contract - was also invited to sit on the board - it is unclear how a request for public documents would prejudice any investigation.
AND on the same day that the BAA sent this newsroom a letter referring to "seeking legal advice about the validity of those contracts" and "investigating the award of the contacts," it issued a press release saying all was well that the BAA has been amicably released from the contracts.
And, we note, the law says that the public has a right to access the documents and that prescribed authorities are required by law to release such documents.
Also, the law they invoke about the Prime Minister not approving the contracts was one 7NEWS first highlighted 17 days ago - because before we did, the Prime Minister professed no knowledge of such a law:
(May 28, 2025)
John Briceno, Prime Minister:
"Was I involved in the process? No. Had I known, I would have probably given advice that we need to go a different route."
This letter from the BAA is signed but with no name affixed - consistent with an authority whose board members have still not been publicly disclosed.
Just as he did the last time, Jules plans to appeal this BAA decision to the ombudsman as is stipulated under the law.
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