THIS NEWS ITEM WAS TAKEN FROM CHANNEL 5 IN BELIZE. Jun 17, 2013 Brother of Ministry’s Secretary detained with Chinese Passports ALEXIS ROSADO A Belizean was detained in Cuba when he landed at the Jose Marti Airport in Havana with what we have been told are as many as five Chinese passports with Belizean visas. The man, Carlos Murga, has been held for a week giving some semblance of credibility to long circulating rumors that there is an ongoing operation in which visas for Chinese nationals are illegally secured here at the Ministry of Immigration and then flown to Cuba by persons working at or connected to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The passports are allegedly then handed over to the Chinese nationals and agents who are paid thousands of dollars in the get-rich scheme which can fetch as much as twenty thousand dollars per visa. In the case of Murga, it is known that he has given a statement to Cuban authorities calling names of persons involved saying that he was to hand over the passports to a Cuban taxi-driver who would have met him at the airport. Today, C.E.O. in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alexis Rosado, flatly refuted that there is any corrupt connection at the ministry. Alexis Rosado, C.E.O., Ministry of Foreign Affairs “I am concerned that people would be making any kind of connection, you know. At the end of the day what a person does, or is believed to have done or is alleged to be involved in has nothing to do with anyone else. It’s very unfortunate but sometimes that’s what people do. As far as we are concerned the staff in this ministry has been very upright and have always behaved themselves very well both professionally and also in their moral and ethical standing. So in that respect we are not aware and we do not know of any reason that we should be too concerned about any involvement of our staff members.” Reporter “So just to clarify, at this time there is no thinking that there is a connection between that action by that certain individual and any aspect of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?” Alexis Rosado “Well the thing is when it comes to visas and passports, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is only involved in so far as our embassies and consulates are our front line when it comes to the application for visas. But in respect of the Embassy in Cuba for example, for some years now they no longer process any Chinese visa. So in this case that is what we understand was the matter here that the individual was detained with some passports carrying visas. But I don’t know or we don’t know the reasons behind whatever stories you may have heard. In fact I am not aware of the stories you have heard.” Reporter “So as of now this matter, as far as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is concerned, it’s an immigration matter…this matter is closed with your ministry?” Alexis Rosado “Well it’s not that it’s closed. It hasn’t been opened in the sense that we don’t know what the Cuban authorities are thinking in this case and we don’t know that any of our ministry personnel or as an institution there is any connection that I’m aware of. Of course people will talk, but that’s the unfortunate part.” There are two items of note. One – News Five has been very reliably informed that Murga has been talking to authorities and one of the first things he told them is that he was given the passports by a driver from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to hand over to a Cuban taxi-driver. Two – we have also been reliably informed that a plane arrived in Belize over the weekend and two nationals were turned back because they did not meet all the visa requirements. News Five also spoke to Minister of Immigration, Godwin Hulse, but he told us that the investigation is not complete and would make comment until it is.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:44:52 +0000
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