Longtime Vendor Challenges CitCo Lockout at Finnegan Market

After more than two decades of doing business at the Michael Finnegan Market and helping it grow, the owner of Jun’s Meat Shop says the Belize City Council locked him out without warning. He received immediate notice to vacate his two booths, and enforcement officers changed the locks the very next day. The emotional businessman showed us receipts indicating that he made payments through July, and while he still owes trade license fees for 2026, he believes the council should have given him a fair chance to settle the debt.

 

Aaron Castillo, Owner, Jun’s Meat Shop 

“They come day before yesterday. After the accident what happened Monday, the next day they come and they have to close me down because the trade license. I no pay my trade license, but we mi have a agreement that make I got to pay through the court. We will leave it till and then I agree with the agreement. I got some receipts that we did pay for the two shops, ’cause the two Jun’s da for me, you know, but my brother the run over the next side and I deh this side. So they just come by force and lock me down. They just call me that they the come, they lock me down. And they never give me a lease because I tell them we done have an agreement. Why you wanna lock me down for? Now, you the see I the make payments still. So then they decide they still wanna lock me down for no reason. So they just – , I tell them I got bills to meet. I got kids to feed. And then school the open right ya so. Then just take away my food from my mouth right so and close me down.  So I no see that fair for the for the people. I no see that fair for weh they the do me so I want the government do something about this.”

 

Shane Williams

“Now how long have you been here?”

 

Aaron Castillo

“I de ya like twenty years now, from they turn to Finnegan Market. My old boy used to deh ya before that when they used to be before they change to Finnegan Market but we de ya years aback. So then just fi mek they do me this. I build that place. That place used to be a lee small place they say mi wa be a fish market but nobody mi want it. A lee small thing. I take my money from my pocket and I build it big like that.”

 

Jun’s Meat Shop Is Just One of Thirty-Nine Stop Orders

 

The Belize City Council says this is not a personal fight. It is an enforcement issue. The council locked Jun’s Meat Shop out of its booths at the Michael Finnegan Market, claiming owner Aaron Castillo has operated for eight months without securing a 2026 trade license. Officials say they gave Castillo ample time to comply, but eventually decided to act. Market Manager Delroy Herrera and Municipal Court Manager Jermaine Hyde explain why the council finally drew the line.

 

Jermaine Hyde, Courts Manager, Belize City Council

“It’s a stop order. He was issued with a stop order to operate due to him not having a valid trade license. And so it’s an operation that we did from the Trade License Board. We have a total of thirty-nine stop orders that were issued. It just so happens that he is one of them who got a stop order for not having a valid trade license.”

 

Shane Williams

“Now, he claims that he does have a trade license. He showed us a bill that he’s paying for the 2026-2027 trade license that he claims to have made a payment up till last month. What’s your response to that?”

 

Jermaine Hyde

“A payment, yes, was received, but it’s not for the amount that is currently outstanding. And so he still is not in possession of a trade license. And there’s currently no application before the Trade Board for any trade license for Mr. Aaron, Mr. Aaron Castillo.”

 

Shane Williams

“Now, for someone who operate in that market area for over twenty years, should consideration have been made to keep him there while this is sorted out?”

 

Jermaine Hyde

“We have to look at the fairness of it. We have many businesses throughout the city who struggle to make their trade license payment. And so it wouldn’t be fair to the other license owners who have been compliant and have met their payments and received their trade license. Yes, while I understand that he has been there for years, we expect that there be some compliance on his part, especially that he’s been there for years. He knows what is required to operate.”

 

The Council’s Trade License Board meets quarterly to consider new trade license applications and review licenses with compliance issues. Jun’s Meat Shop is one of thirty-nine businesses operating without a trade license.

 

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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