Belize declares state of emergency after seven weekend murders

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Gang Chaos in Caribbean Tourism Hotspot: State of Emergency Takes Over Belize breitbart.com

Belize declared a 30-day state of emergency on Sunday covering 19 areas of Belize City and the villages of Ladyville, Cottontree and Unitedville, after seven murders over the weekend. Four of the victims were shot dead on the Coastal Highway in what police attribute to an internal gang dispute. The decree, announced by National Security and Energy Minister Michel Chebat, took effect on November 1 and can be extended by the National Assembly.

October had already produced 16 documented murders, by the count of the local outlet 7 News Belize. It is the second state of emergency this year, after a similar decree in May. Prime Minister Johnny Briceño was in Antigua for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting and addressed the nation by video on Tuesday night, saying events were too important to wait for his return. "The police know who most of these gang leaders are, and it is time that we go after them and get them off the streets," he said, adding that "the best social program a government can have is to give you a job."

The model on offer in the region is El Salvador's. Chebat says Belizean officials plan to visit El Salvador to study Nayib Bukele's crackdown — the same blueprint Costa Rica used for the 5,100-capacity prison it inaugurated last month, and that El Salvador is exporting to Haiti with thousands of troops. At home, Police Commissioner Richard Rosado is assembling a unified command to address a problem that precedes any gang war: police, customs, migration and transport agencies each maintain separate databases for criminal records, fingerprints and crime management. The stated ambition is to "anticipate crime rather than simply react to it."

Belize appeared in September on a US presidential proclamation listing major drug transit and producing countries. The murders of October were documented by a local news outlet, which notes that the Belize Crime Observatory it draws on has not been updated since March.