Benque Customs chief receives death threat

By William Ysaguirre (Freelance Writer)

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Sept. 28, 2026

   The Chief of Customs at the Benque border, Luis Betancourt has come under attack from a secret enemy who posted a large white banner on the gate at the Western Border Management facility on Sunday morning, September 27, prompting the Benque Viejo police to investigate who posted the banner.

   Customs officers and other border workers found the banner hanging from the gate with the words, “Te vas o te mueres, Betancourt,” painted in red letters on the banner, which translates to mean, “Begone or die, Betancourt.”

   The investigators now seek to determine who posted the banner and what was their intent.

   Authorities have long been concerned about contraband activity in the Belize-Guatemala border area, especially cigarettes and other commodities through the region, and this latest incident has put them on high alert. But they have not definitively established any connection between the threat against Betancourt and Customs enforcement operations against smuggling or any particular criminal gang.