Belize Cruise Port -$100 Million Pile of Rock

A funny thing happened on the way to getting the Carnival Cruise Lines’ Port of
Loyola built. It didn’t get built. Why? Because former Prime Minister Said Musa
and cronies stole the money. And he’s laughing all the way to whatever bank is
closest to him now. “Ja ja ja,” says Musa who got away with $40 million (US)
With great fan fare a $100-million project to build a cruise ship terminal for t
he Carnival Corporation in the Port Loyola area was launched in 2004. It was sup
posed to dock 250 ships and disgorge 535,000 passengers a year into the Belize e
conomy.
The partnership between Carnival Cruise Lines and Belize Ports Ltd. led to an ag
reement with the then Musa government. Result: Six years later, the planned 30 a
cres of port-of-call utopia is still nothing but dream and rubble, with Carnival
out of pocket to Musa et al for the a fore mentioned $40 million.
Current Belize Attorney General BQ Pitts: is this something you could look into
when you are not dosing gently in your Belmopan hammock? Or, are you one of the
cronies in the old Musa regime also laughing at on your way to the bank? .
Contrast the Belize model of corruption with the success Carnival Cruise Lines h
ad in Honduras. In spite of the June Honduras military coup, Mahogany Bay Cruise
Center at Roatan opened in December 2009.
It appears that a military coup that throws a country into severe political unce
rtainty is still a better bet than a corrupt Musa-backed regime if you want to g
et a tourist cruise port built. Musa’s old pals in the current Belize Cabinet do
n’t seem interested in sorting this out for its venerated business friends at Ca
rnival Corporation.
Odd.
Honduras’ Mahogany Bay Cruise Center, a $62-million project, was built in partne
rship with Carnival Corporation and a local Roatan businessman. It brings 500,00
0 passengers annually to its 20 acres of waterfront property that features retai
l stores, bars, restaurants and shore excursions.
Also not featured at the Honduras Mahogany Bay facility are routes to ficha bars
with human trafficking victims trapped in forced prostitution. Also not in evid
ence is Belize-style tolerance of human trafficking ficha bars, like those found
in concentration in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize.
That’s why the Organization for Responsible Tourism maintains a Belize tourism b
oycott.
Another reason, from a tourist’s point of view, is just using Honduras vs. Beliz
e Carnival Cruise Line ports. While Honduras enjoys a sparkling new and ably fun
ctioning cruise port at Mahogany Bay, Belize celebrates a rock pile that was sup
posed to be Port Loyola near Belize City. There’s genuine Belize-style corruptio
n for you.