A Guatemalan man who failed to get an extension to his visitor’s permit to Belize was remanded to the Belize Central Prison after he pleaded not guilty to the immigration offense of failure to comply with the condition of a visitor’s permit.

Mauricio Daniel Gutierrez Perez, 35, who has been residing at 4350 Fabers Road, appeared before Magistrate Dale Cayetano this morning to answer to the charge brought against him by the Immigration Department.

After Perez pleaded not guilty, Cayetano remanded him to prison until his next court date on August 21, 2014.

The Immigration Department alleges that Perez entered Belize on January 16, 2014, at the western border and was granted a visitor’s permit to remain in Belize until July 14, 2014, but had failed to obtain a further extension to his permit to remain legally in Belize.

Perez, who was unrepresented by an attorney, told Magistrate Cayetano, “The police have my passport; that is why I was unable to get an extension.”

According to Perez, he has a criminal case before the Belize City Magistrate’s Court for a bullet that he was allegedly caught with, and that was why he had to surrender his passport as part of his bail condition.

Before leaving the court, however, Perez exclaimed, “Dios me va ayudar.” In English, this is translated as, “God is going to help me!”

As he left the court and took his seat in the prison van, Perez indicated that he really needed to have his Bible.

Perez’s immigration violation was discovered when he went to the police station to inquire about a friend who was in custody.

Apparently, his accent led police to question him about his status in Belize, and since he could not produce any document to prove that he was legally in the country, he was detained and handed over to the Immigration Department.

The Immigration Department has still not been able to get their hands on Perez’s passport.