BELMOPAN, Belize, Mar 25, CMC – The Belize government says it is “actively working to ensure the safety” of nationals travelling to or through Mexico, as Prime Minister John Briceño says United States assistance is needed to deal with the rise of cartel influence in the region.
“You can play your part by reporting any instances of extortion, bribery, or other illegal activities, avoiding calls from unknown numbers, and maintaining a reliable way to stay in contact with your loved ones at all times,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade said in a statement.
Tensions at the Belize–Mexico border are reported to be easing after several tense days in which cartel activity on the Mexican side brought cross border trade to a crawl.
Media reports said that for most of the week, criminal groups reportedly held the northern trade route hostage, blocking shipments, demanding payments, and threatening anyone trying to move goods through the corridor.
Mexican customs brokers were warned not to process cargo, leaving Belizean importers unable to transport goods as trucks remained idle.
Prime Minister Briceño said his government has reached out directly to top level Mexican officials, including the Office of the President and that these discussions led to rapid intervention, with Mexican authorities deploying additional security forces to stabilise the corridor and get trade flowing again.
“ We are very grateful that it has opened and it’s very concerned. We’ve been dealing this at the highest level from, we’ve been dealing with directly with the government, but also I have direct contact with the Office of the President to be able to adjust these things,” Briceño said, noting that sometimes in the bureaucracy things get stuck there.
Briceño said a few months ago he sent a delegation including Ambassador Oliver Delcin to meet with the Chief of Staff in the president’s office “for them to be able to give him a firsthand view of what really is taking place at the border.
“When in bureaucracies we give a report and it goes up the channel, it’s always being sanitized that by the time it gets to the highest channels, probably you do not get the full understanding of what’s really is happening.
“And to me, for me, it was important for us to be able to get directed to the President. That’s when they sent in, I think about 10,000 troops then came in, federal and state and they went and they managed to go after a lot of these people.
“Of course, as soon as they left and these guys come back again. We have been talking again to the officials at the border and we felt that we’re not getting anywhere. And so we again sent a message directly to the President’s office a few days ago.
“So I’m happy to note that this is been cleared up. But I think that sooner or later I would probably have to try to see if I can have a meeting with the president to say that this matter is getting really out of control and that they would probably see if I, we could urge them, if they could put a permanent presence at the border to ensure that trade can be facilitated in and out of Mexico,” Briceño said.
Prime Minister Briceño says the rise of cartel influence in the region is weighing heavily on his administration, describing it as one of the issues that literally keeps him up at night.
He said while Belize continues working with Mexican authorities to keep the northern border stable, he is of the opinion that this is not a fight the country can handle alone and now needs stronger backing from the United States to help confront the expanding reach of organized crime in the region.
“We have to continue to engage the American, the American government. I remember way back when I became Prime Minister in 2020 when at my first meeting with the people -the officials at US Embassy their question to me was, what is it that keeps you awake at night? “And I told them the cartels because we cannot afford to get them into this country, because the minute they get in, it’ll be very difficult to get them out.”
Prime Minister Briceño said Belize has been appealing to Washington for help and “I hope that pretty soon they’ll be able to give us, they’ve been giving some help, but we need some serious help with equipment, with intelligence, with transportation, mobility to be able to go from the north to south, in, in a very short time.
“And so that is the real help that that we need. And on the Mexican side, we need to be able now to from the President’s office, for them to put the pressure here at the border. And also probably the Americans can help put pressure on the Mexican government to, to say that whilst you are looking at the north, you have to ensure that you could keep the south clear from these people because once they get in, it’s difficult to get them out.”
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader, Tracy Taegar-Panton, uis calling for a united approach to the problems posed by the cartel, saying the problem is bigger than politics.
“If there is something that keeps me up at night it has to be the what I see as the infiltration of a criminal element from Mexico in our border communities. We refer to them commonly as the Mexican cartels. They are seem to have seized or operations at the border and the functioning of our free zone, Corozal Free Zone in the Santa Elena border.
“They dictate when goods come in. They’re charging arbitrary fees for containers to be moved. Importers of necessary food items, including fruits and vegetables, have been threatened directly that if they move those containers without the clearance of the cartels they will be killed. And so it is seriously disconcerting what is happening there.”
Taegar-Panton said she has received reports from members of the business community who are very concerned now about bringing goods by land.
“So it’s a big deal. It’s a big issue. And it needs to be addressed. There has to be a national response. There are certain things you don’t play politics with,” she said.
Both Prime Minister Briceño and Taegar-Panton are urging Belizeans against travelling to Mexico for the long Easter weekend.
“ I think, if you really have to go, then make sure that you go and be careful. Don’t be out in areas where you don’t think you should belong. Keep into the tourist areas. Those tourist areas are more safe than the others, than other areas. So just keep where you think it’s, where usually is safe. And I think generally you, I’m hoping that you’ll be fine,” Prime Minister Briceño said.
The Opposition Leader says she does not know “who in their right minds with the conditions that now exists at the border would want to cross the border, leave the freedom and peaceful land that we have here to vacation in Mexico”.
CMC/ak/ir/2026