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In The Aftermath Of The Greek Blue Light Precedent: Belize Demands Half Off On Its Debt... Or Else
"Greece set a precedent for 'Here's what you're going to get, take it or leave it'" is how the WSJ summarizes an analyst's 'shocked' thoughts on the growing game of 'call my bluff' being played among beggars being choosers. Belize, a Central American nation with an economy the size of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, is surprise surprise running out of money to pay its debts and is insisting that creditors forgive 45% of what they are owed - OR allow it to delay any debt payments for 15 years (yes, seriously, read that again) - leaving a default on the country's $543.8mm almost inevitable.
Three things stand out to us: 1) the nation's government simply posted a note on its website that it would be 'skipping a payment' as opposed to telling creditors directly; 2) none other than 'Long GGBs are the slam-dunk trade-of-the-year' Greylock Capital are "mystified" that yet another trade has gone pear-shaped adding that they are "sure every country could benefit from not paying their debt but this isn't the way to do it!"; and 3) this would be one of the worst restructuring terms ever as the "Greek effect" could inspire other countries to pursue restructurings on more favorable terms - especially given that: "Even if you don't need a restructuring you can force one upon bondholders because it's so hard to recover money from a sovereign who won't pay,"
With the Belize 2029s trading at $37.375 (against a $55 'offer' of restructuring from the government), the market is obviously saying that a restructuring event will occur and be somewhat rapidly followed by a REdefault...
From the WSJ:
...
Prime Minister Dean Barrow in a March television interview said the global 2029 bonds, issued by a different administration, had come at too high a price.
The bond's interest rate rises over the course of its life, reaching 8.5% for the August payment, from 4.25% in 2007, when several loans were consolidated into a single bond.
...[preventing] the current government from using "our recurring revenue to do more for the people, to push employment and to push job creation,"
... triggered a sharp selloff in Belize's bonds, driving yields higher. The yield peaked at 30.2% after the restructuring proposal earlier this month, from 16% at the start of the year. The bond yielded 26.3% on Friday.
Roberto Sanchez-Dahl, an emerging-market portfolio manager with Federated Investors, said...
"We thought that the probability of the government being bond friendly was going to be low, given [Barrow's] rhetoric of pushing against foreign holders [that] resonated very well domestically," Mr. Sanchez-Dahl said. "They would definitely not give priority to foreign investors, or put them in front of domestic needs."
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Funny thing is, belize got all its money from tory boss, lord ashcroft, in the uk.... damn guess hes broke now? only got 1 billion left.
It's a GOOD thing that Reshma Kapadia ("Emerging Markets" writer at Barron's) did not suggest buying banks in BELIZE!
"Review of Barron's -- Dated 20 August"
http://tinyurl.com/9qq6k4e
Oh fuck another country Bernanke will print for. Bend over.
The Greek parliament is facing a difficult fiscal decision: Twitter or butter.
So, WTF happened to the 'risk free' rate?
It's time to sell your silver, your moms silver, your brothers silver, and get into rock solid high denomination zimbabwe (or Belize) bank notes! /s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGnDXdI67ms
As soon as more countries start to figure out that instead of adding to their already unpayably large debt that they are better off by just defaulting on the debt they already have, then things will really start to get fun.
Me, I'm just one of them dum bad ass 'speculators' that's selling gold at the moment to buy... er, silver, for the bounce that is.
When silver tops $75 I'll sell it and buy back into gold for the lesser volatility.
and then when I'm really rich I'm going to pile it all into a basket of European and US T bills for that elusive 'risk free' diversified return.
Hang on, do I detect a flaw in there somewhere?
Of course I do, if I had any sense at all I should just pile it all into US T's, just for safety, you know...
Condos around Disney, Orlando, are going for 25 cents on the dollar.
'risk free' - LOL
A beggar with a gun is no longer a beggar.
We talked about this YEARS ago.
Once they allowed one country to do this, the floodgates would be open, and ALL the beggar nations would want their free money.
This is just another case of "Hear me now, believe me later"....
and if they don't print they default, and if they default poof goes your pension fund and then everyone who ever dreamt or actually did try to retire will sell their next biggest asset for liquidity, and then the entire retail housing market heads very swiftly in the general direction of the earth's core...
oh dear, never saw that one coming. Why not just print and be done with it?
the core of the issue is not "allow" the default or discount but a recognition that the debt shouldnt have been extended to begin with
it is NOT the borrowers problem - loans are extended (provided) not by borrowers but by LENDERS - borrowers cannot "demand" someone extend them a loan - the lender does it out of his own free will
the reality is the lender wanted "fees" and created a "scheme" and sold the loan because of the greater fool theory said they could find a home for the paper - the Fool!
fucking the lender is what belize should do - why? - because that what the banks do themselves to begin with - all belize is doing is picking up existing banking practices - when citi lies /falsifies about a syndication in its representations and Judge Rakoff calls them on it - it is prima facia what Belize should do as well
where is the logic not correct?
But...but...but my broker said 'Government Bonds are Safe...No chance of loss...... !!!'
He also told, "there's never been a better time then now to buy a house."
I should have known better then to buy Debt backed by more debt.....
At least he was nice enough to put me in a "balanced allocation" style investment to spread my roisk around:
25% Belize bonds;
25% Greek and Italian bonds;
25% FB, Zynga and Groupon
25% in California municipal bonds.
Reminds me of this SNL clip:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/10310
Very clever. The comment writing here is superior. Enjoying it.
Gee, this really got me thinking. It was so simple, are world bond, perhaps a New World Order Bond. Fully backed by the UN. All 140 odd countries could borrow, just what they need for social harmony, fund grand projects to capture all our imaginations and other miscellaneous good works. Of course an elite team of our intellectual betters would be necessary to make these judgements.
The 10 year would be -0.03455. What could go possibly wrong and why has no one suggested it.
Someone call the squid or at least put up a facebook page... see how many likes this gets.
'......a New World Order Bond.'
That's it! The obverse of the bond could feature a picture of the all-seeing browneye.
SUCK IT DOWN!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8SC7z8W134
We're going to discover the true price of interest if this trend continues.
Yup. Zero. Free interest, but partially guaranteed return. Good enough? Then I've got some Treasury bills for ya.
You didn't default on that bond
The "You didn't..." meme has got to be the meme of the year.
Mom: What happened here?
Kid: I didn't do it.
You didn't make it the meme. Somebody else did that.
Well if you are giving stuff away......
I would not be looking at Greece to set any precedents. Maybe Iceland.
As for Federated, at least they have that money market fund....oh wait.....
Excellent point. The smart debtor would default the most, the earliest, and drive a hard bargain.
If I were a Brit, which I'm not thank God, I'd say, "quite right".
Other than the fact that Iceland didn't default on sovereign debt at all, but simply opted not to bailout their banks. Also, defaulting is great if you never plan on borrowing again, but probably not so good if you are planning to borrow immediatly afterwards.
aregentina was back into the bond markett quite quickly
bs, wtf are you talking about ? you mean Boden2012 that where restructured AGAIN, they will never pay.
Personally i got 33% three years later and put it into apple , you do the math. Some still have not seen a penny, and i.,m talking Paris Club here...
What i also learned is that 3-6. month after a default it,s a great time to buy EVERYTHING. Who wants to partner up and buy a mini resort in Belize?
bs, wtf are you talking about ? you mean Boden2012 that where restructured AGAIN, they will never pay.
Personally i got 33% three years later and put it into apple , you do the math. Some still have not seen a penny, and i.,m talking Paris Club here...
What i also learned is that 3-6. month after a default it,s a great time to buy EVERYTHING. Who wants to partner up and buy a mini resort in Belize?
Uh Matt, how about a little dose of reality. plenty of folks line up pretty quickly to loan to folks not long after a BK. Iceland did the right thing by not bailing out their banks. Where would Ireland be today if they had been Allowed to do the same?
Cash-strapped Municipalities in the USA, take note.
+1
If you were dumb enough to buy Belize debt then you get a crewcut. It's a global debt crisis stupid.
Anybody who buys sovereign debt is a slave trader.
Anybody who buys sovereign debt is a fucking idiot...
A slave trading fucking idiot at that.
Yup, you are buying a slave with a couple of gatling guns instead of arms, and laser beam eyes. Also, he's very lazy, and will force other people to do his work for him, if he can be bothered to force them to do it, and if they CAN do it, and if they are WILLING to do it.
I wish more people spoke the truth like you just did. The sad thing is most people don't know that a bond = BONDAGE, and if they ever did make the mental connection they shrug it off as just coincidence that they are the same word.
Forgive me, I'm just a Daydream Belizer.
OUCH! Stop it, Crokett, that one really hurt!
You get what you pay for. I imagine that Belizean debt is very cheap, given the high interest rate.
It was Dubai World that kicked it off in Nov 2009 when they unilaterally 'recommended' a ten-year suspension in it's debt repayment schedule.
a surreal spectacular!
did michaelJackson moving to one of the islands after his santaBarbara trial; remember when he showed up @ the courthouse late, in his pajamas with the umbrella so his nose wouldn't melt? and told the damned judge he had a cold? was that the time he got up on the limo?
anyhow, dubai had that great indoor skislope and indoor snowmaking & snowstorm extravaganza
in fairness, lasVegas has had some pretty tough sledding also tho...
Oh Belize as much as I enjoy seeing the bankers get screwed , didn't you learn anything from Ben? Just print a bunch of money and pay down the debt. Ben is going to screw you when he prints with your dollar peg . Beat him to the punch.
Is Belize on the USD? Why don't they just hike the price of their pina coladas? Those rich dudes will pay it.
Belize has their own central bank. They can print at will. They keep their currency pegged with the U. S. dollar. I prefer a Margarita, Pina Coladas are disgusting in my book.
Wait a minute....hold on and just wait a minute....Are you telling me that a country that has the ability to print it's way to solvency is instead choosing to default on it's obligation? I need a minute.
Yeah. It doesn't make much sense to me. It would be much easier if they changed their dollar peg and inflated the the bond market wouldn't be so vicious on them. With an outright default the bond market will cream them. Either way it's not pretty.
If the Belizeans, or Belizians, whatever, decided to drop the dollar peg 6 months from now, what do you think a Beliziean dollar would be worth even now? I don't want one.
I recall Panama tried loosening their dollar peg but they ended up with a lot of inflation. I don't know what has happened there since that time.
Dr. Engali: Belize can print Belize dollars, which doesn't help since the bonds seem to be USD denominated. Also, you know you're in trouble when Standard & Poors lowers you to CC. Would love to see the Egan-Jones rating.
http://www.caribbean360.com/business/607491.html
duh - lots of inflation, of course
They can print, but they have this small problem that they don't have the world reserve currency. Only one printer in chief has the ability to export much of the inflation created by his Ctrl P fetish.
Ahhh thank you LTER I knew I had to be missing a piece.
This is the problem of emerging market economies pegged to the U.S. dollar. They can't inflate to promote growth, if they ever could of course.
Germany needs to say "Good luck with that, we're out of here."
This is what ARMIES are for.....
Careful, Belize is a de facto protectorate of the UK.
The British army is tied down at the embassy of Ecuador in London.
Let the handouts begin! Merry Christmas everyone! You all get a free " color laser printer"! Coupons will be in " http://www.spiegel.de/international/ " until further notice.
Me: I'm skipping my payment this month bro.
Banker: Cool enuff. Love Ya!
LOL
How can I get in on this action? D'oh! I haven't had any debt for the last twelve years. Guess I'm just a dope. I think there a name for this ... some kind of hazard.
"Dooks of Hazard?" LOL!
'Mooks' is more like it.
Goldman will be in there tomorrow with a Bridge loan.
Making one's living off of debt is grand...until its not.
So far, "not" is never. Our global economic collective cannot survive unless failure is impossible. The idea of individual responsibility cannot be reconciled with socialism.
Hold on , Goldman says buy ........
Belize is broke? Leapin lizards, a banana republic having money problems? What up?
You're supposed to be chasing pussy down there, not yield.
the pussy chases you.
In Soviet Russia, Pussy Riot goes to jail.
Yeah, the pussy chases you. 50% has some type of STD, 1 in 10 has HIV. YEEHAW!
Are there any 50 year olds?
Hot ones, I mean. Yeah, there aren't any here either.
Welcome to the new normal. It starts with countries, then states, then municipalities. The final blow will be when those with underwater mortgages will demand, en masse, that the banks restructure loans or else they will walk. It'll be an interesting game of poker on a global scale. Let's see who has the better poker face, the creditors or the debtors.
At this rate, it will be free houses for everybody.
As it was explained to me, that's practically the case in Belize already. When a citizen is ready to start a family, they apply for a 50' X 100' lot and when a new area is designated, they get assigned one. Then, they can get a mortgage (possibly government backed) to build the house.
Where does this land come from? Confiscated farmland. They take the developed farm and give you a piece of jungle further away of equal size.
The housing programs, infrastructure programs and buying electricity from Mexican hydrocarbon power plants then reselling the power at a lower price to residences are likely big factors as to why they are broke.
Just what do you think all those hollow point bullets are for?
http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/17/who-does-the-government-intend-to-shoo...
The creditors in this poker game have blinked more times than I can count… always backed up by the sovereigns. And the sovereigns always say "we’re not going to back you up any more. No, really, we really mean it this time! Get your house in order."
Right.
Yes, it’s on like Donkey Kong.
Most asute syopsis with humor and irony in condensed form I've ever seen. Wow.
the debtors will. Gonzalo Lira has a great piece on the coming middle class anarchy. if you live in a non-recourse state there are only two things keeping underwater borrowers from mass strategic defaults - their sense of morality and a potential hit to their credit rating. the threat of a credit rating hit is diminishing rapidly since there's now so many people with adverse credit events on the horizon. you'll just be one of millions, no longer a risk outlier. and the morality play, as detailed by Lira, will collapse rapidly once everyone who's bothered to play by the rules, people who were never leaches on society, who didn't cheat and didn't suck on the govt teat, realize that they're being played for suckers.
That is a completely absurd theory, and I mean that in the nicest way.
In my experience, there is no relationship between integrity and money. Corollary: If you believe people will act without integrity when money is involved, you will be right almost all the time.
Especially the ones that find they've been played for suckers.... that was his point!
your experience has obviously never led you to meet a middle class homeowner that took out a mortgage.
they are "sure every country could benefit from not paying their debt but this isn't the way to do it!"
Unintended consequences sure suck.
from marketwatch....yup
A whopping 62% of the Brits don’t trust the banks and more than a third admit they haven’t trusted them since the U.K. slipped into recession, according to research published by Currencies.co.uk on Friday.
Recent controversies about the country’s leading banks have fueled mistrust among the British population and 40% have started to move their business away from banks to peer-to-peer lending companies, personal loan providers and currency specialists, the study said.
If people do p2p lending at lower costs, higher profit, low overhead....were do old style banks fit in? They go the way of record companies, snail mail, dead tree media. How will central banks keep fiat with out banks having deposits to print 20-30 times more?
Cool.
Yup and as p2p lending increases and people withdraw funds fractional reserve banking is standing there naked with the tide receeding.
Banks will see to it that regulators drive P2P lending into the ground.
I hope P2P still survives Underground. Less inter<net>working and more pencil & paper might do it.
For person-to-person lending to have any economic impact, we would need 3 billion fewer people or a complete breakdown of the global socialist state.
Come to think of it, I'm betting on the latter.
"...just walk away...." is carried to a new level.
<--- Productive society prevails
<--- Bloated global financial system prevails
I'm struggling with the peer pressure.
Could you please change the psychology of your question? What if noone prevails? We all lose, and humanity isn't up to the task? That's what I worry about.
That sounds more like Keating than Roark.
Survival of the fittest sometimes means everybody dies. Just sayin'. Economics in particular is not always win-lose. Sometimes it's lose-lose. A lack of economic activity will impoverish us all.
Couldn't fit 'none of the above' into the two-choice selection set (the up/down selection wasn't meant for this type of voting comment).
Reversion to the mean is inevitable; financial systems will always exist and thrive, but not when they've outpaced productive capabilities. That's the point; they will revert to the mean.
I'm quite sure we'll be growing food, building homes, producing clothing, etc. going forward. Similarly, I'm quite sure the current financial system is going to change to reflect the productive economy that it's intended to serve. Right now, there's a massive disconnect.
I saw a movie years ago and it seems to be becoming popular on DVD of late. Worth watching, as the end describes the shedding of complexity that's occurring right now.
Laputa (Castle in the Sky)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092067/
Welcome to Zero Hedge.
The world would be a much better place if no government was allowed to issue debt.
The world would be a much better place if no government was.
Personally I kind of liked Iceland's approach...Fuck off Bitchez!
Yes, if they follow through as Iceland did, they will be in much better shape. Even more so if they manage to cut their spending to match their expenditures.
Accident or not, Iceland scored as many points as possible in being a completely irresponsible country full of entitled people while not paying for it.
Why should the people of Iceland pay for mistakes those banks made. I hadn't heard that they were collectively owned by the people of Iceland. I don't suppose the people of Iceland were individually going to get a cut of the profits. Why should they allow themselves to be enslaved to pay for the failure of those banks. Good for them. They have a small population and were able to enforce their will on the Government. Good for them.
Obviously the people are never responsible. They only elect people like Barney Frank and Chris Dod to run the worldwide economy into the ground.
That's a mighty wide and generalized brush you paint with there, AynRandFan, ZH member for 6 days and 4 hours.
This is Fight Club ... no rules, no longevity
Maybe people will finally realize that states don't pay their debts and stop buying "sovereign" bonds.
That's the next unintended consequence in the sequence.
How long until Belize is "liberated". GS, JPM financed freedom fighters should be arriving there to "free" the people from their gov't any day now.
No shit...they can write the whole thing off.
I hear this a lot. GS is the headquarters of some global financial cabal. Sorry, I don't read comic books anymore.
Have you dropped the Comic Books for Romantic Novels, about getting T-bagged by bankers in your moms basement. 50 Shades of Goldman's hairy Sack? Your an Ayn Rand fan so i figure thats the way you gotta roll.Are you bitter because Bwarney Fwank won't have you?
What do you read? Wall Street Journal? The whole world took a hit based on the actions of a small group of people in Wall Street, it doesn't matter what you call if they are powerful and fucking people over.It Has nothing to do with Iceland's "Entitlements" ,Barney Frank, or this 20 percent of the population that you think might need to die. I don't usually comment much but you are the creepiest troll i have ever come across here, the little compliments here and there, subtle hints approving genocide, Ayn Rand fan. Do you give out ice cream to disabled kids out the back of your unmarked van?
Actually it is the US which is the biggest beggar with all it's guns threating all those who desist from using their dollars and their banks and banking system.
It's time other countries realised that it is best to forego their dollar reserves and regain their economic and individual freedom.
Just like people that trade through US brokers, those that buy any soveriegn debt are idiots. In today's global environment of Cntrl-P, the only asset class that will preserve wealth and purchasing power, over the next 10 years and beyond, is gold. No, not bullshit CME paper futures that will eventually default, but physical bullion you own. Who the fuck would seriously buy Belize paper and not expect to get screwed? Might have better luck with those Nigerian emails.
http://vegasxau.blogspot.com
Completely short on sovereign bonds is a bad call. There's so much cash in the world, everything is worth more money, as long as it's a liquid asset. Bonds are liquid, real estate ain't.
Like the Fed isn't doing anything different with easing, monetization of the debt, and manipulation of inflation statistics.
ehhh......I'll just make my next mortgage payment in 15 years. We cool?
Save your money and lease from me.
Once again. This is why the big distressed players stay away from sovereign and stick to corporate - mostly us corporate
Maybe Governor Moonbeam ought to take notes as well? Oh but that's right, they got a 18.3 BILLION dollar hole to fill! I got ridiculed by some saying the # was going to be 18 BILL but here we are. And while the debts and obligations keep piling up, there seems to be a serious problem with revenues to the tune of -33.5%...BAWAHAHAHA Fricken Libtards on steroids. Not only has the tax revenue dried up by the tune of 33.5% but check out the increase in outlays in Chaing's report.. Looks like a 54% swing to me? California is truely fucked, meanwhile all the focus is on Greece and their 450 billion eu problem, looks like things are heating up closer to home. California has had to borrow some 30 billion over the past 3 years to end the fiscal year.Read it and weep Bitchez, doesn't look very pretty to me.
http://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CASH/fy1213_jul.pdf
"With tax revenue plummeting and the state already the second lowest rated credit in the country, if the independent credit rating agencies downgrade the state to “junk bond", California will be short up to $18 billion and default."
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/18/CALIFORNIA-SALES-TAX-...
Oh, don't be so melodramatic. They'll make it all up on taxes on the new Facebook millionaries and the LA/SF high speed rail.
If am looking forward to my $500 ride sometime in 2037
At least Californians are still proud of their belief in a redistributive society. At least they still have that.
Actually, we Californians are well over 28 billion in the hole. But BO promised us more dollars if we vote for him again.
many years ago when I was a small boy , my family got a new car. One of the options was a cigarette lighter. It worked by first depressing the button and then pulling it out and the end of it glowed red hot and one lit their cig off that. I knew enough NOT to touch it when it red hot BUT I wondered "Could it still burn me if it was NOT glowing?" Only one way to test it - touch it. Predictable result - one cooked fingertip and two angry parents who said " How could you be so stupid". "I wanted to see if it was hot" I said while crying. "You idiot! Of course it's hot. It's a damn cigarette lighter" said my dad. So I got some axle grease for my finger (no trip to the ER back then. why waste the $$ on an idiot) and a whack on the behind and was banished to the back seat and told to shut up. I never touched another car cigarette lighter. Once burned , twice shy. Sadly , it appears that Hans Humes never got his finger burned as a small child.
IMO they should lose all their money. You made a bad investment? TOO FUCKING BAD.
And therein lies the rub.
When the banksters issued the debt, they then sold it to pension funds and other entities to whom you've entrusted your savings.
A classic Mexican Standoff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ3ujsh_xC4
Bargain sale before the crash. Who is buying ?
The thing was a great ploy.
Belize can purchase their bonds back at a huge discount without ever having to formally restructure.
Of course they will need cash for the purchase.
Or just issue more bonds for more suckers to buy
"Goldman will be in there tomorrow with a Bridge loan."
Sign here Bitchez.. Thank you.
And now all your wonderful natural resources are belong to us.
Handing out greenies like M&M's in this thread. Hats off to all.
Greece, Belize ... all childs play ..
The day the US is going to demand haircuts from its creditors is coming.
+ 100% debt/GDP can only be "twisted" so much longer
It would be remarkable to see how creditors are likely to give in when the argument of 'damage to human health' would be used. Just like Stalin said to his industrial managers when he ordered them to move heavy industry eastwards in 3 months time when the Germans invaded in WWII. "We can't do that", they told Stalin. Stalin's reply: "meet Mr. AK-47"
But America's creditors are next to financial institutions countries such as China. Will the US say to China "meet Mr. nucleair ballistic missile"?
Hmm, expect a Granada-like liberation action in Belize, sponsored by the IMF.
With the advent of the summer, cheap oakley sunglasses carry essential items. But soon, many people wear oakley sunglasses cheap is wearing sunglasses does not suit your requirements, especially outdoor activities such as drivers, are sensitive to light or the crowd who had eye surgery, ordinary sunglasses. can no longer play a good role. oakley store polarized sunglasses at this time became more than the population of choice for sunglasses.
Takes the meaning of "dash for trash" to a totally different level. :)
Que Passa in Europe burning...Is the Squid getting optimistic in run up to Obammy election period?
GOLDMAN: Time To Bet On A Big Comeback In Europe - Business Insider
That and this : Spanish 2 Year August 20 - Business Insider
After this yesterday : ECB Interest Rate Spread Caps - Business Insider
All this is the MSM financial blogs ramping up optimism in Merkel's ultimate cave in to ECB's demands. Pressure on to force Karlsruhe's and Bundes bank to melt their intransigeant stand!
If this rally confirms itself it will for sure help Obammy in November. Making Eurozone safe from market mayhem for the next three months is vital for Potus.
Having said that; as ZH has clearly shown, the Squid is aiming at year end S&P at 1250...as they feel that the fiscal cliff will be ominous; all the more so if Bush tax stimulus packages are prolonged in January 13.
Belize.
been there, done that, got the baggage claim ticket.
Six separate races, all getting along with each other; blacks, indians, spanish, chinese, Jimmy Buffets, and Mennonites.
The only ones who work are the Mennonites. They are German, speak low German, escaped from Germany in the late 1930's.
http://chistletoe.net/photos/Belize-ethanol.JPG
Once upon a time in Latin America, Africa and Asia, this sort of behavior resulted in the imminent arrival of gunboats and the collection of port revenues (at least) by the Powers until the debts were paid.
The Great Blue Hole of Belize has new symbolic meaning.
Got paper?
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i7IqN0dMk7g/SKEOcU9L8hI/AAAAAAAACOc/zi6rcVWf10...