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Take all this energy and fly to PG and help look for the children.

I have spoken to people in PG who are not from the Mayan community and there is some real concern that these kids are part of the human trafficking ,crime. It sinus as though police and bdf are taking this very seriously on a lot of levels. I am horrified to think what these kids may be going through

Sorry it seems as though police.......

They are only taking it seriously after all the media hype. Maya and Ketchi peoples are on the bottom of the social structure here and treated like garbage. We have taken Ketchi friends to the hospital in PG and they are treated like dirt until we scream at the staff to treat them. I hate what the people have done but when you are ignored by police and politicians you have to do something.

Belize is such a young country !

Good for media hype if it causes these issues to be taken seriously

The police were not very caring as they are not from that community and have no ties to it. Some of my previous articles have dealt with our Colonial police system and the need to change to a community based system where the officers are part of the community. This is a prime example. I believe that this situation could have been defused easily by the police and by a different initial reaction by the Roses. I doubt the Roses realized the seriousness of the situation or would have acted differently. It would have been politic to allow a search as an act of goodwill toward your neighbors. They could have been shown how the kids could not have gotten in and let everyone look around. I have no interest in casting blame on the Roses or transferring blame from where it belongs. The police certainly knew the seriousness of the situation. This was allowed to build and build until it exploded.

In a different discussion about crime control in Belize I had a prosecutor recently suggest that people should sue the GOB for failure to provide protection. This case would seem to be a great place to start. The police surely knew what was going to happen and did nothing. The villagers and the Roses both depended on the police and were let down miserably. The villagers as good citizens went to the police who were unresponsive and then took matters into their own hands (apparently). The Police were clearly supposed to protect the Roses property and deal with the villagers with missing children in a respectful manner.

Note that the entire Indian village was involved over two missing children, not just the parents and immediate family. Any implication that they were bad parents is not appropriate or accurate. It seems they tried everything including going to a "seer" to find Benjamin and Onelia and tried to follow any lead.

Until we can revamp our police system the courts are the only legitimate way to address this police problem and thats what this was, a police problem that was not dealt with correctly. It would have been easy to accompany the villagers to the compound to protect the Roses property while calling for back up. The villagers would never kill the police or burn the place down with them there. They went to the police for help. The Roses should most definitely sue the GOB for their loss.

Another interpretation is that it happened because the villagers felt they could get no response or help from the police or Roses and felt that if they did nothing, nothing would ever be done as they were only Indians and no one really cared if they found their children or not. I believe the children went missing 30 Aug, reported 31 Aug and the compound burned on 5 Sept. They were frantic by that time and were sure something bad had happened and it looks like they were right in that respect as each day passes.

We need discus the effort to find the Indian kids. If someone is more computer literate than I "we" could make up a Missing Persons Poster to email around to every email we can get, starting with law enforcement and various immigrations and police departments in all surrounding countries and US.

Had this not happened there would be no K-9 in PG or any effort at all expended except for locals who care. Shame. Shame. Shame.

You are wise Mike. Much shame to go around. It seems the police did a poor job..from what we know. But they are under assault..no excuses but Belizeans usually know they can agitate but police try not to interfer too much when gringo vs local tension is involved. Very difficult in appearing not to choose some side until specific acts of lawlessnes happen. Touchy. I imagine they were seeking further direction from higher up. They were already asking for help in searching for the children and not playing private security guards for a gringo compound. BDF is now involved and was contacted at the time. This is very serious. Seems if you invest a million dollars you should get insurance on your property. Seems they do not employ many locals and encourage indigenous participation education. Starting with children. Seems many things went wrong here on many levels for a professionally run conservancy center. Now talk of suing Government of Belize??? Police have arrested the crazy 'psychic'.People are accountable for their words and their actions. When a whole village is so hostile toward a neighbor something is not working very well at this conservancy center. If ketchi/mayan are not well thought of by segments in Belize it seems that Mr Rose set a very poor example by calling them a bunch of 'savages'. Again, a time to educate and heal but much shame on many in these acts and words of distrust and ignorance. I hope my neighbors would help if children were missing and assist my village in using their media contacts and police and government contacts to help instead of threatening to hurt Belizeans with international media/finance...like Mr Rose said he would do to our Government. He should have used his powers to help his neighbors and showed as much concern when they went to him initially. Strange he has so little staff when away and so little goodwill with his neighbors. Like you said this whole thing is shameful and reflects not on our better angels and real concern for our fellow beings in trying circumstances. As we all bow our heads in shame let us bow our heads in prayer for the safe return of these innocent children and pledge to love, help and better understand each other.

" if you invest a million dollars you should get insurance on your property ."
- The house isn't worth a million dollars. He invested a million to get the whole sanctuary up and running. Have you tried to insure a wooden house here in Belize? Not exactly an easy feat.

" He should have used his powers to help his neighbors and showed as much concern when they went to him initially. "

- He was in San Pedro when the search for the kids went public. How was he supposed to help?

" Strange he has so little staff when away and so little goodwill with his neighbors."

- When your property is 36 acres, your neighbors are few and far between. What are you suggesting? Yes they have little staff because they mainly work the sanctuary themselves and contrary to what some believe, a Crocodile Sanctuary is not a gold Mine!

I have been reading all the posts on this forum, Belize Forums, Facebook and I have to say that some people are making very wild and uninformed accusations. It is quite sickening.

By all means We all should join with the Roses in mobilizing an international concerted effort in trying to find these children and make sure human trafficking is not preying on the youngsters in our country. These criminal elements at all levels must be exposed and prosecuted. No one should tolerate this in our country and no one should be indifferent to the well-being of our children. All the talents and resources should be brought to bear by all who live here to stop the exploitation of our childdren. I remember when Guatemala thought foreigners were harming their children. Crazy things over there happend. We all need to show our good efforts to help and not let anger,fear,indifference and ignorance rule our better selves at all levels in our country. Who can take the first step in getting the Roses to be leaders at these turn of events and show how they want to change things and enlighten people throughout the country by turning this into an opportunity to understand and educate and respect each other in compassion and genuine care for our neighbors. Lets show the world how different we all are toward each other by taking back our country and the rule of law and civilization toward each other. Let's all help turn this ugliness around. We should challenge each other in asking how we can help down in PG and Belize generally. Give the media a real positive story of our heartfelt efforts and do not let this end on the last story told. Lets show what we all can really do to really help and quit the funnel vision.