2024 Belize Poll Shows Growing Concern Over Cartel Crime

Earlier we told you about the Belize Poll 2024 commissioned by Lord Ashcroft. The poll surveyed almost one thousand people and got their views on several of the country’s indicators. As crime corruption, and the cost of living remain the most relevant topics, the data showed that Belizeans are now worried about a new type of crime in the country. For the first time in its fourteen years, the survey recorded persons having a great concern over ‘cartel crime’. The perception is that more people are worried about the negative impacts and presence of organized crimes operating in Belize. Unfortunately, President of Viking Strategies Trygve Olson, wasn’t able to say what part of the country these concerns were raised. 

Trygve Olson, President, Viking Strategies: “Crime, crime steadily risen as a top issue. 33% of respondents cited as their primary concern in 2024. So that’s up almost 10% since 2017. How do they describe it? Well, out of control 26, 52, a lot of crime, 21 some crime, and the remainder which is about 3% say there’s no crime in Belize. I’m not quite sure who those people are or where they’re based but whatever. How much does it impact people’s lives? It impacts people’s lives a lot. That’s the bottom line. It is a real issue that Belizeans think about just that I got to see in my own experience. So we ask people, how many people have had experiences with crime? Robbery being the biggest, gang-related murder. I mean, the fact that 16% of people know somebody personally, because we ask questions, you know somebody personally who’s been murdered is crazy. This one is interesting to me because I think there is a dynamic in the rape question. So the people who feel in Belize least heard are sort of the emerging people that are fed up tend to be younger and female. And I wonder about this issue because that number strikes me not just for Belize, anywhere in the world as being kind of low. So a few thoughts on crime as a top concern. 33% cited as a primary issue. Increases in crime worries it rose 10% since 2017. It’s connected to the economic issue of rising prices, at least the petty crime.”

Another key finding from the survey is the decrease in poverty, which decreased significantly from 57% in 2019 to 26% this year. The survey indicates that a majority of people are satisfied living in Belize, but their views on corruption have remained the same over the years. Olson delved into more details about the participant’s views on the country’s economic standpoint.

Trygve Olson, President, Viking Strategies: “People are feeling pretty good and that manifests itself also in this standard question that I ask everywhere that I do surveys around the world. Right track, wrong track. And I heard the prominent Belizean use this. Maybe the prime minister, actually. 49% say right track. That’s the highest it’s ever been in any survey we’ve done. In fact, Belizeans have been generally pretty pessimistic about the track of their country throughout even when they’ve been re-electing governments. The fact that they’re feeling good. They’re really feeling pretty good. So that’s the point, 49%. And we’ve had times where it’s down almost 10% was all it was in pandemic. Come out of the pandemic and Belizeans are pretty happy with Belize. What do they not like about Belize though? So again, crime cost of living, obs when we were here in 2011, crime cost of living corruption in 2023. What is it this time? Crime, economics and corruption. There’s kind of this natural flow to it. So this line is economics. This line is corruption. And this one’s no, this one’s corruption. This one’s crime. So what you see is there’s a pattern here. Economics bad, crime grows up, economics gets better, then corruption starts to arise. Where does corruption tend to arise? Well, one of the things, and I’ve got some slides and you’ve probably seen this, one of the things that we see is there’s sort of a natural cycle to the politics in Belize. So corruption gets really bad, they throw the government up. New government comes in, economics gets a little better, crime gets worse, corruption starts to rise. They usually get reelected because they fix, you know, some of the economic problems. The next term comes in, corruption becomes a huge issue maybe they get reelected, maybe they don’t. If they don’t, they get thrown out en mass. They get… because it’s like they’re all putting their fingers in the pie we’re going to go with the other guys. They go a couple of cycles it changes.”

Notably, the survey suggested that the majority of participants believe “Rich Belizeans” are the most powerful group, and Asians are the second.