Crime down in Belize but corruption is a different story

Crime rates have undergone a particularly significant decline with murders, rapes, robberies, and burglaries all down between January and the end of October 2013. National homicide statistics have fallen 26 percent while Belize City homicides are down over 50 percent.

“That is a huge come-down, but not as significant as the Belize City situation and, of course, in addition to commending the security forces, I make [the] point that Government’s infrastructure program, especially with respect to the Civic Center and Chetumal Street/Lake Independence Boulevard, has succeeded in creating huge employment. That’s as well responsible for the tremendous progress that we are making on the anti-crime front,” Barrow said.

At the same time, Belize has once again been excluded from Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index for the lack of data.

What’s astonishing is that Belize has been excluded from this year’s index, despite the number of scandals—that is, we are told, because government has not submitted any report to the organization. The only other country that has no ranking in the index is Western Sahara. The Chair of Transparency International, Huguette Labelle, has gone on record to say, (Quote) “it is time to stop those who get away with acts of corruption.  The legal loopholes and lack of political will in government facilitate both domestic and cross-border corruption, and call for our intensified efforts to combat the impunity of the corrupt.” (Unquote)

Click here for the latest on Belize's immigration scandal. I wrote about the situation at the end of October as well.