Vendor Says CitCo’s Decision Ripples from Market Stall to Farm Fields

For years, buying fresh produce at the Michael Finnegan Market came with certainty, customers knew exactly which stall carried vegetables straight from Little Belize. That certainty is now gone. A sudden decision by the Belize City Council has forced a longtime vendor to scale back and move, disrupting a business built over more than a decade. The fallout has been immediate: fewer customers, lower sales, and growing worry about what comes next. Herman Freisen says the impact goes far beyond his stall, because when one market vendor stumbles, entire farming families back home feel the strain.

 

Herman Freisen, Wholesaler

“We were selling there for years. I know on Tuesdays they will not allow that we can sell much retail, they want us to sell wholesale. Then on Saturdays we use to come and sell retail to the people. But now they cut it and said we cannot sell anymore retail to the people at the market, or the people that come and buy at the market. Now, we found a new place at Pound Yard Market and we will no longer be at that market. We use to be there at the second gate. If we are relocated in that market we can sell retail, we can sell retail and wholesale because that is a private property or a private market. That is not government market. There we can sell retail and give good prices. In the next market we try to be fair to the market people. We give them a good price and if we sell retail, we do the same price they do, but they still don’t want us to sell retail anymore over there. I was Friday asking if we at least have one more chance to let our customers know and they did not give us a chance, so last Saturday we moved already.”

 

City Council Denies Issuing Orders to Market Vendor

 

The Belize City Council is pushing back. Responding to complaints from wholesaler Herman Freisen, they say no official orders have been issued. Market Manager Delroy Herrera explains the issue is complicated. Retailers are selling on wholesale days, forcing wholesalers to drop prices. At the same time, wholesalers are selling on retail days and undercutting retailers. Herrera says the council is still discussing the problem and has made no final decisions. As for Freisen’s claim, Herrera insists the council never told him to relocate.

 

Delroy Herrera, Market Manager

“What happened is that the Belize City Council under Chapter 85 of the Belize City Council law is that the council regulates what are market days. We have Tuesday and Fridays for wholesale and Saturday for open market retail day. Mr. Freisen, based on the meeting we conducted on the fifteenth, vendors mentioned that the Mennonites are coming in and underselling.  What was discussed is that this will have a domino effect because wholesalers are out on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I don’t know what administration gave the permission for retailers to come on Tuesday and Fridays to sell. So, wholesalers are there selling in bulk at retail price and retailers started coming on their day and demanded they sell at a specific price cap. After that meeting happened, I guess there was talking inside from the vendors. But Mr. Freisen is a wholesale vendor and wants to sell Tuesday, he skips Friday, goes to deliver and wants to make up on a Saturday, which is out of his scope. He is a wholesaler. He needs to capitalize on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the regular small vendors who are buying to make a profit on that day, they are the ones who are designated to come out on Saturday. Mr. Freisen is adamant that he wants to come out on Saturday because he skipped Friday. So he wants to make up on Saturday. The mayor and the councilor has vowed they want to protect wholesalers so they can make their money and also the retailers, the small people that comes from Bomba and so forth. But it was gossip, not a council issued ticket or letter or anything like that. It was a back and forth between the vendors outside and the Mennonite communities inside telling them that they won’t be able to come out and things like that.”

 

Councilor Evan Thompson says the Belize City Council is not blocking anyone from selling at the Michael Finnegan Market. He told News Five that no such instructions have been issued, and anyone claiming otherwise is being dishonest.

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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