By Belize Live News Staff: The search happened on a Saturday morning street corner. The communication took a little longer, and to their credit, police made sure it happened properly.
The Belize Police Department reports that officers patrolling Staines Alley in Orange Walk Town at about 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 25, 2026, stopped a man whose behaviour drew their attention, advising him he would be searched for drugs or firearms. It was during that exchange the officer realised the man could not speak.
His pockets held nothing. The orange nap sack on his back held a green transparent plastic bag of suspected cannabis, and the stop became an arrest.
At the Orange Walk Police Station, the process slowed down for the right reason: police brought in a sign language interpreter before going further. Through her, the man was identified as Sergio Betancourt, 57, a Guatemalan labourer of Douglas Village. The suspected cannabis went on the scale in front of both of them, 76.1 grams, well beyond any personal-use threshold, and was sealed and labelled as evidence. His constitutional rights were delivered in the language he understands, and he signed his acknowledgement and kept his copy.
On Sunday, July 26, Betancourt was formally charged with possession of controlled drugs with intent to supply to another. He answered the final caution the only way the record shows: silence.
The charge is serious, and the courts will weigh it, with Betancourt holding the presumption of innocence unless and until proven guilty.
But the procedural footnote deserves its moment. A deaf man arrested on a Belizean street was given an interpreter before the state took another step, rights read in his language, evidence weighed before his eyes. That is how it is supposed to work, every time, for everyone. On this occasion, it did.
