Market Vendor and City Council Trade Blame Over Rotting Meat

Who is responsible for the spoiled meat inside Aaron Castillo’s booth at the Michael Finnegan Market? The Belize City Council says Castillo failed to pay his electricity bill, causing his freezers to shut down, and is now threatening to enter the booth and remove what it calls a serious public health nuisance. But Castillo tells a very different story. He says the council locked him out more than a month ago, leaving him unable to save his products. His attorney, Orson Elrington, calls the council’s position a slap in the face. Here’s what he had to say.

 

Orson “OJ” Elrington, Attorney-at-law

“ It is utter nonsense, stupidity, idiocrasy, and it just shows the brazenness of this city council. They illegally, unlawfully locked my clients out of their businesses. They did that. Despite us demanding that they properly return back the occupancy of the property to the clients, they ignored that and in fact sent us a letter and said that they would respond to us at some point whatsoever. It is such an egregious violation of the rights of our citizenry by a public authority. It is ridiculous. It is the city council trampling on the small man.” “The council who created this disaster… You know, this is one of those moments that we wish that we had smell-o-vision, so that they could understand the stench and the, and the gravity of the losses which that have been suffered by my clients in this situation. They have lost over $75,000, at least $75,000 worth of goods because of the unlawful actions of the Belize City Council. So- Yet the city council wanted them. You see, this is, it’s a level of arrogance, a level of disrespect. You see these people? They don’t worry about no court. They’re above the courts. They’re above the law. They don’t worry about no court or no law. They don’t need to go to court for take out anybody out of any property. They said, “You know what? Go. Leave now. We are the gods.”

 

CitCo Claims Castillo Ignored Payment Commitments

 

The Belize City Council says Aaron Castillo had several chances to settle the dispute but repeatedly failed to follow through. Council Courts Manager Jermaine Hyde says officials tried to work with Castillo, even reaching a consent agreement. But Hyde claims Castillo continued to fall behind, particularly on his bills.

 

Jermaine Hyde, Courts Manager, Belize City Council

“Today,  we’re here simply because Mr. Castillo did not pay his electricity bill, and BEL disconnected his electricity. So he left all his goods, his perishable goods at that, in the shop, did not pay his electricity bill, was disconnected, and so all the, the, the meats that he left there began to rot. It became a public health issue, and the council did the most responsible thing to notify him that it has created a nuisance, a, a public health issue. He figured he could have done the same thing to BEL that he did to the council, which was to not pay. And he learnt a hard lesson that when you don’t pay for services, this is the result.”

 

Shane Williams

“But how was he expected to pay a utility bill for a premises that he was evicted from?”

 

Jermaine Hyde

“He was never evicted. He was given a stop order to stop operating because he did not pay his trade license. Right? One flows right into the other. If it is that he, he wanted to operate, he could have made good on his, on his trade license, which he didn’t.”

 

Shane Williams

“We are here at the Michael Finnegan Market, which is a symbol of the small man entrepreneurship spirit. Is there a concern that the council is trampling upon the dreams of a small man?”

 

Jermaine Hyde

“Which is outright Ludicrous. Because if we went to the point of allowing him to do a consent to make monthly payments towards his fee, and he defaulted on that. So it is on, it is on him. He obviously has an issue with, with meeting his financial obligations, or else we would not be here today with BEL disconnecting his electricity.”

 

Aaron Castillo has been a vendor at the Belize City market for over twenty years. His attorney, Orson Elrington, says they have already commenced legal proceedings to recover losses incurred as a result of the shop closure.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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