Nearly three years after nine Haitian minors were brought into Belize, a former top government oversight official is escalating demands for public clarity around the stalled probe into the children’s circumstances, launching a formal legal push to unearth details about the case’s current status.
Retired Major Gilbert Swaso, who stepped down as Belize’s Ombudsman in December 2025, has submitted an official Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to uncover how much progress has been made on the investigation following his departure from the independent oversight post, which remains vacant. Swaso’s new push for answers comes as the country’s Ministry of Immigration has formally joined the probe, which centers on multiple serious allegations: irregularities in the children’s immigration status, unregulated guardianship arrangements, gaps in refugee and social welfare protections, and suspected ties to human trafficking linked to the local nonprofit Beauty Out of Ashes.
In comments included in the original broadcast transcript, Swaso explained that the case reached his office only after a full two years of inaction from other branches of the Belizean government following the initial complaint. International stakeholders, frustrated by the lack of movement, turned the case over to the Ombudsman’s Office in June 2025 for independent review. When his team launched the probe, however, Swaso said key government agencies offered almost no meaningful cooperation. Staff at these agencies refused to share critical information, citing fears of professional retaliation and job loss for speaking up about the case.
Despite the roadblocks, Swaso noted that his independent team made limited progress during his tenure, working within the authority granted to the Ombudsman’s Office under the Ombudsman Act. The investigation had identified critical procedural gaps in how the case was being handled, and the next planned step before Swaso left office was to issue legally binding summonses to compel testimony from uncooperative stakeholders, with contempt charges on the table for those who refused to comply.
Swaso emphasized that with the Ombudsman’s seat empty for more than six months, the public has a right to know whether the probe has advanced at all since he left office, and what measures the government has put in place to guarantee the safety and well-being of the nine vulnerable Haitian children. The FOIA request was first submitted via email Tuesday, with a formal hard copy hand-delivered to government offices Wednesday to ensure it received official processing.
This report is adapted from a transcribed evening television news broadcast, with all quoted statements preserved for accuracy per original transcription standards that include standardized spelling for Kriol language speakers when they appear in the original segment.