WARNING GOB WILL Monitor Your Calls

As we go to press, the Belize Times has been able to confirm that there is a team of Israeli experts in Belize who have been brought in by GOB to ‘train and equip the Belize Police Department to eavesdrop on phone conversations and text messages for national security purposes.’ The paper has also been able to confirm that the software which will enable GOB to eavesdrop on private phone calls has already been installed at BTL and is ready for use.

Sources tell the Belize Times that the group of ‘experts’ had also visited Smart headquarters and requested access to information about frequencies used by that company, along with other technical information. We have been told that they were turned away and told to come back with the section of the law which allows them to make such a request. Since that time, they have not returned.

The Belize Times has also received information that the vehicle in the picture on this page (parked at PUC headquarters) was brought in as part of the Israeli ‘package,’ and costs some $2.3 million with equipment seen here. We were unable to receive any official confirmation from the PUC or from the Police Department, but an unofficial source has told us that the vehicle in question features equipment which can jam cellular transmissions as well as monitor phone conversations and conduct audio and video surveillance.

A search of the internet confirmed that similar vehicles have been used in surveillance and monitoring and that all the equipment to do so is readily available.

This is not the first time that the Barrow administration has brought up the issue of violation of privacy in terms of eavesdropping on conversations. Back then the suggestion had caused a public outcry rooted in a distrust of the Police Department and the Government of Belize. The situation is even worse now but the UDP Government seems to not care. Bolstered by their hijacking of BTL, Barrow is moving full speed ahead under the guise of a threat to national security. But who will police the police/GOB?

The entire project with the Israeli team has been kept hush-hush, but as it nears its completion, Belizeans will no doubt want some sort of clarification on what happens next, to what lengths their privacy will be invaded and why.

Sources inside BTL have told us that lists of ‘numbers of interest,’ many of them belonging to political players, have already been compiled. But it does not stop there. Using the new technology and with the new training and equipment, the Barrow administration will be free to do what they will and use information gathered in any manner they wish. With firsthand experience of the victimization at the hands of this administration, many Belizeans are far from comfortable with this power held by this government.

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