By Zoila Palma: Historian and Former Mayor, Senator and Minister of Government Hector Silva has shared a bit of the history of El Cayo’s business boom and the shifting landscape of local commerce.
Today, Silva said that he recalls the vibrancy of the business community in the Twin Towns with local shops in San Ignacio, Santa Elena and all along the villages.
Silva says that in 1986, the Government of Belize under the administration of then Prime Minister Manuel Esquivel opened the sale of passports for economic development.
“By 1993 under the Same Esquivel Government the FIRST GROUP of Chinese began to buy these Economic Citizens Passport.
In 2002, the new PUP Government closed this program and introduced a streamlined program OPENED TO THE WORLD.
The 1993 Chinese got disenchanted and left for the Republic of Honduras. Suddenly, the flood gates of immigrants were opened and the Chinese and Hindus took over the Commerce of Belize,” Silva explained.
Silva says that he has noticed that many businesses owned by local ‘Cayoans” began to close.
“When I inquired they claimed that the COMPETITION WAS UNFAIR, disadvantageous to them
As A Former Mayor of the Twin Towns I asked then Mayor Landy Habet what was happening. Why allow our people to be displaced, his answer was that Belmopan began issuing licenses for shops,” Silva said.
In recent years, mom and pops shops in Cayo have continued to close their doors as the market seems to be saturated with Chinese-owned grocery shops in San Ignacio and Santa Elena Town.
The post Historian and Former Government Minister Hector Silva reflects on El Cayo’s business boom and the shifting landscape of local commerce appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Zoila Palma: Historian and Former Mayor, Senator and Minister of Government Hector Silva has shared a bit of the history of El Cayo’s business boom and the shifting landscape of local commerce. Today, Silva said that he recalls the vibrancy of the business community in the Twin Towns with local shops in San Ignacio,
The post Historian and Former Government Minister Hector Silva reflects on El Cayo’s business boom and the shifting landscape of local commerce appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
