Obviously distraught over a frightening ordeal, Belize City bus operator Carlos Lopez visited Amandala this morning to tell a shocking tale of ambush in a secluded part of Cayo, near San Ignacio, to which he said he was lured on Monday evening, gagged and tied up on a feeder road about four miles off the Western Highway, and left for dead. Lopez had to spend the night alone under the stars in the middle of no man’s land, but fortunately for him two Amish people rescued him the following morning when they heard him crying out for help, after he had managed to use his saliva to slowly slide the gag off his mouth.
In recounting the tale, Lopez said that he was accosted by four masked and armed men dressed in camouflage military fatigue who ordered him off his bus.
He said that a well-dressed, Maya descent man, named either Coc or Choc, had hired him to pick up some people in Cristo Rey on Monday. He took two of his best buses, leased from Belize Diesel and Equipment, and when he and his driver arrived near Georgeville, the man called him and told him of a change of plans. Lopez said that he directed him to go to an area near the Amish community, close to San Ignacio Town, where he was told his passengers were waiting.
Lopez said that when he arrived where he was instructed to go, the only person he found told him there was no one else there, and he immediately realized he had been set up, so he made a dash for it, full speed ahead.
About three miles back into his journey, a masked man emerged from the bushes with what appeared to be a 16-gauge shotgun and ordered them off the bus, Lopez added. He said that he told the driver who was in the bus ahead to make a run for it, which he did. Lopez said that he does not know how his driver escaped, but he managed to make his way out of the area, and has given his statement to police.
Lopez said that he tried to escape when the man attempted to pursue his driver, and three more men with big guns emerged from the bushes. One of them grabbed him in the back of his shirt, and tore it apart, using the parts to gag him and tie him up. One of them punched him on the left side of his face, and to make sure Lopez could not get away, they used some thick rope he had inside his bus, he also told us.
According to Lopez, the men also robbed him of almost $600 in cash—the down payment he said the Mayan man had given him for the excursion—as well as his footwear, watch and cell phone. Before they abandoned him in the bushes, they told him in their thick Spanish accent to get out of the bus business.
Lopez said that the men spoke like Guatemalans, and probably made their dash over the Belize-Guatemala border in one of his busses, after torching the other bus he had taken to Cayo, believing he had a legitimate job.
He said that two Amish people who were passing in the area on horse and buggy rescued him, and stopped a school bus from the area to take him to San Ignacio, where he was able to file a police repor.
To date, the police have given no formal report to the press on Lopez’s case, even though we have confirmed that he did file an extensive police report at the San Ignacio Police Station on Tuesday. Officials say that even though they have no leads as to who was responsible for Lopez’s ambush, his story has checked out, contrary to suggestions from others in official circles that his story was a hoax he orchestrated to avoid the creditor from whom he leased the buses.
In speaking with us about his ordeal, Lopez has not accused anyone in particular, but only said that it was done by someone who wants him to retaliate – which, he said, he refuses to do.
Lopez last spoke with our newspaper in April, when he complained of continued conflicts with the Novelo family, who also operate a prominent bus service in Belize City and along the major bus routes across the country.
Lopez had complained of bus route intrusion by Novelo’s new Belize Metro, and continued confrontations between his camp and the Novelo camp.
We note, however, that Lopez did not accuse the Novelo family of orchestrating his ambush.
When we told Lopez of suspicion that was bound to arise over his story, he said that he has no reason to make up anything, because he has not gained anything from what has happened to him, but instead he has lost a lot. The bus that was burned and the other that is now missing were rented for a weekly fee of $1,000, and Lopez says that he still has to pay even though he does not have use of the buses.
When we contacted Police Press Officer, G. Michael Reid, today, he said that the police had decided not to report the Lopez story to the press yet, because they wanted to check out Lopez’s story first, because they don’t want to raise false alarm and “give people ideas.” He said that the Lopez story, on top of the kidnapping report of businessman and political activist, Derek Aikman, was creating panic among people in the business community.
When we last spoke with Lopez on Wednesday evening, he said that he has heard nothing yet from police, but was intending to contact them shortly to follow up on his case.