Retail Farmers Claim City Council Pushed Them Out

The standoff at the Michael Finnegan Market is intensifying, with small retailers now raising fresh concerns about how new rules are being enforced. Just days after the mayor insisted the issue was about compliance, not confusion, vendors say enforcement officers showed up with strict new limits, telling them they can only sell on Saturdays. For some, that could mean losing their livelihood. We spoke with one small farmer who said these changes could push him out of business.

 

Placido Cunil, Retail Farmer

“The manager of the market come here today and tell us that we can’t sell no more until only one day during the week, which is Saturday. My product is only Chinese vegetables. Mostly Belizeans don’t know about it. Only Chinese buy that product, and they come on Tuesday and Friday to the market. Because they buy wholesale, and they buy this product too, because only a few farmers plant it.  And that’s my concern today, that I can’t come sell no more again. So if I come on Saturdays, mostly Chinese no come out on Saturdays. Only on Tuesdays and Fridays. So how I gonna sell my product? And they say that the government, they do this, Johnny Briceño . So I don’t know if that’s true or what’s happening, you know? Because when they come to me, I wanted to record them, and they say that I can’t do that. And they just tell me, “You can’t come sell no more,” and they, they gone. And talk to all those guys over there who are doing retail also.”

 

News Five reached out to the Belize City Council for comment.

 

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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