Friday, March 2, 2007 The INdependent Reformer Page 1 IN ...belizenews.com/independent/independent29.pdf · Friday, March 2, 2007 The IN INdependent Reformer Page 1 dependent for

Friday, March 2, 2007 The INdependent Reformer Page 1

INdependent for the People

Vol. 2 No. 9 Friday, March 2, 2007 $1.00

The

Reformer

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An avalanche of anger is building inthe country. The Trade unions, mostyoung people and the entire media (ex-cept two government outlets) are sol-idly against the present Musa/Fonsecagovernment.

Amandala has gone as far as to de-clare its support for third parties:“...And what we mean by “third party”in this context, is any initiative which isnot beholden to Lord MichaelAshcroft.”

Commenting on the Union march

Amandala amplified its statement: “Atthe core, the demonstrators were dem-onstrating against Lord Ashcroft’s he-gemony – directly in the case of BTL,and indirectly in the case of KHMH.UDP Leader, Hon. Dean Barrow, con-veniently absented himself from the oldcapital on Saturday, because his lawfirm represents Ashcroft’s interests atboth BTL and at the Belize Bank, thebank which is prominently involved withThe Universal Hospital deal, which isthe direct cause of the KHMH staff pro-test.

Avalanche of AngerAvalanche of AngerAvalanche of AngerAvalanche of AngerAvalanche of AngerBy: Meb Cutlack

Inside this Issue

Diplomatic SNAFU -pg 3

PNP plants seedsinToledo

pg. 4

Belly of the Beastpg. 9

Ara Macao Updatepg. 11

Businessman Cornelius Dueck hasstunned Belizean voters by announcinghis new political party has enough can-didates at the ready to contest EVERYdivision in the country, all 31 of them,should General Elections be called to-morrow. He also claims they have theresources to match the PUP and UDP

tributing Bibles in Honduras. He sayshe has enough money in his own bankaccounts, support from the Belizeanbusiness community and donors abroadto spend around $50 to $100 MIL-LION Belize dollars if necessary toconvince voters the NRP should formthe next government.

Nine candidates were introduced atthe launch but the party claims they haveothers standing by, some of whom cur-rently work in the public service. Sofar there is only one woman, DarleneGraham on the ticket, but Dueck saysthe party is seeking additional female

candidates and welcomes all Belizeans,regardless of sex, ethnicity, religiousdenomination or past political affiliation.

Campaign Coordinator EstevanBerejano says it is a diverse, but uni-fied group: “The National Reform Partyhas one goal, and only one goal, andthat is to see this country rise from thepoverty state we are in and to moveinto a place of economic stability to ad-vance this nation into a first world na-tion.”

Dueck, hails from Spanish Lookout,a Mennonite settlement which has yetto collect any royalties from GOB for

the discovery of oil on their communallands. He says it is crucial that Belizeuse its oil revenues wisely, citing the caseof Nigeria, a national rich in natural re-sources, but whose corruption level has

MoralitMoralitMoralitMoralitMorality vs Moneyy vs Moneyy vs Moneyy vs Moneyy vs MoneyNRP promises Belizeans bothNRP promises Belizeans bothNRP promises Belizeans bothNRP promises Belizeans bothNRP promises Belizeans both


“As a result of Barrow’s absence andthe UDP’s practical ambivalence, theleaders of the demonstration foundthemselves effectively isolated by thetwo Ashcroft-influenced major parties.On the one hand, they had been con-demned by the PUP as UDP, and onthe other hand, the UDP itself had cho-sen to confine its support to tepidity.

“In conclusion, then, we repeat,whether the Leaders intended it to beso or not, Saturday’s Demonstrationwas a third party

machineries, combined.The starting revelations came during

ceremonies broadcast live from theNational Reform Party Headquarters inBelize City on February 21.

Dueck, a Belizean Mennonite, whoowns a truck parts store, is a pastor inthe “Streams of Living Waters Minis-try” and spent the last two years dis-

NRP leader Cornelius Dueck addressesthe nation.

The NRP candidates Manuel Avila, George Boiton Jr., Fermin Choc, Alden McDougal, back row Enio Lopez, Hilberto Nah,Charles Selgado and Derick Stuart, each addressed the electorate via live radio broadcast.


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General Manager

Trevor Vernon

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Letters to the EditorLetters to the EditorLetters to the EditorLetters to the EditorLetters to the EditorVIP-Public

Consultation update:The People Speak

Out!!

Dear Editor,Since the launching of our Party’s

National Direction, we have been re-ceiving much response from theBelizean public. VIP appreciates andtakes very seriously such advice. Pleaseallow us to share with the public a fewinputs to date. We have picked thosethat capture the general mood of re-sponses we are getting.

1. Dear VIP, I first voted in 1979and have witnessed the first time theUDP and PUP governed our belovedIndependent Belize. What they haveboth done is run down our country intothe mess we have today. I advise theVIP to work as a team with the publicservice. The day to day running of ourcountry is really in the experienced andprofessional hands of the public servicebut the parties have instead retrenched,manipulated or totally bypassed them.

2. Dear VIP, I am a Belizean liv-ing in the US and have maintained myclose ties with my family and homeland.I fully support VIP’s initiative to allowBelizeans abroad to vote. Like me,most of us own property and pay taxes.As a Tax paying Belizean, I believe Ishould have the right to vote no matterwhere I am in this world. Thank youVIP for championing our constitutionalright to vote.

3. Dear VIP’s, I think that fixed,land purchase values need to be estab-lished and a law passed so that it can-not be reduced by politicians. Offer softterms including interest free paymentplans for Belizeans to purchase their firstlot.

4. VIP, I am a resident of SanPedro and strongly object to (namewithheld) owning 9000 acres of PrimeIsland property or (name withheld) own-ing 1500 acres of southern coastland.VIP should set a limit on the amount ofbeachfront land Belizeans can own. Ialso believe that no foreigner or for-eign owned company should own morethan 200 feet of beach front propertyor ten acres on any island or along seacoast. VIP should set up a reviewboard to look at all land sold by the PUPin the last two terms and take appro-priate action.

5. Remove land distribution fromthe hands of the Politicians of all shapeand color. Implement a system thatwould empower wide spectrum districtcommittees to recommend all or anydecisions regarding land allocation.

6. Dear VIP, I will support yournew party simply for your humility andopenness to publish your municipal cam-paign financials. I look forward to see-ing your national campaign financials. Idon’t ever expect to see financials fromthe PUP or UDP who will always danceto the tunes of the First Belizeans:(names withheld).

VIP will continue to update the pub-lic on all inputs that will be compiled intoour final National Plan 2008.

Yours in Service to Country,

Bobby LopezVIP Public Relations

Congratulations tothe Minister of

Education

Dear Editor,

The Hon. Francis Fonseca, Minis-ter of Education, should be com-

mended for his efforts in the enforce-ment of the Education Rules that pro-hibit a school from denying atten-dance to, or discriminating against, achild of compulsory school age, whenthe child’s parent or guardian is un-able to pay the schools fees.

Under the present rules it appearsthat the compulsory school years arenow through Standard 6. Previouslytruancy laws and their require en-forcement included secondary educa-tion. But in 2005, the Governmentcanceled the truancy programs. It iscertainly more than arguable that priorto the canceling of the truancy pro-grams that education was to be pro-vided through the fourth form.

In similar respect, prior to the can-cellation of the truancy program, theunanimous recommendation of thePolitical Reform Commission was thatChapter 11 of the Constitution beamended to expand the rights of thepersons of Belize to include “Protec-tion of the Right not to be denied Ba-sic Education”. With modern day ad-vances and requirements, a “BasicEducation” would, by necessity, in-clude the right to an education throughthe fourth form. Anything less wouldnot be basic.

If the schools elected to do so, sucheducation could be provide in the man-ner that was successful in the SovietUnion. That is, those who intended tocontinue on to college proceeded witha course of studies that provided allof the college preparatory subjects.Those who did not intended to pro-ceed to college could elect a courseof studies that would also teach thema trade or craft.

There are thousands of children an-nually that are being denied second-ary education. Such denial is the re-



Fly Tropic Air - Fly Tropic Air - Fly Tropic Air

A lot of people are expecting me towrite about the Moises Cal situation asreported on in both the local and for-eign press. They ask me what I knowfrom my interactions with him 2000-04, my second stint with the ForeignService. I don’t want to write aboutCal. I am uncomfortable, I must admit.I see the Foreign Service as sacrosanct;so, I am terribly disappointed with Cal’spurported behavior as it serves, to mymind, to taint everyone else’s past ser-vice in the foreign service, and GOB’scurrent leadership role (rotating) in theSICA.

Moises Cal, for those of you whodon’t know, was a staunchly loyalShoman man when I knew him. TheAmbassador Cal I knew was willing totake a hit for Show-Time, anytime.Now Show-man isn’t known to bewrapped up with big time funny money;so, the news of Cal being busted inPanama with a million USD$ in a suit-case doesn’t add up to my mind.Show-time is the known sponsor of theCals’ entry into elected politics in Belize.

Money, they say, is the root of all evil

By: Trevor Vernon

Diplomatic SNAFU: Cal violates the SerDiplomatic SNAFU: Cal violates the SerDiplomatic SNAFU: Cal violates the SerDiplomatic SNAFU: Cal violates the SerDiplomatic SNAFU: Cal violates the Serviceviceviceviceviceand Ambassador Cal has always beenambitious. But I can’t see the man get-ting wrapped up with the kind of folks“DEA wants to talk to”. The man I knewwasn’t that desperate. He was closelyallied with Chief Pharisee Assad, thebrain of many officious operations. Hedid whatever Assad wanted,anytime...not unlike quite a few otherPUP insiders. Worshipped himunapologetically, without reserve. I usedto shudder at Moises’ knee time bothin front of and behind Assad’s back,given the latter’s reputation.

Now, there is a lot of speculation asto what the Show-man is/was doing inLondon. A lot of speculation. Put to pas-ture, some say. Not the Assad I know;he’ll never be put to pasture. The smartmoney says he is raising money forRigoberta’s Presidential bid in Guate-mala. I mentioned this in a private con-versation to a player and he chucklednervously. He knew I was deadly seri-ous but his intelligence was telling himotherwise, apparently. Besides, his eyeswere focused elsewhere…apparentlyon Dueck’s political ascendancy, givensome of the statements Dueck made athis launch.

I can’t see Cal doing the dirty workfor the PUP Risk element where one’salmost expected to be a mule in or-der to be inducted into the fraternityand become a made member. Thepressure has always been on the dip-lomatic corps worldwide to use thosediplomatic pouches to bag underworld

interests. And, stranger things hap-pen in politics, especially Belize poli-tics, where the Risk Analyst still rulesmoney matters (Red & Blue), no mat-ter what.

So in many ways, this is not aboutAmbassador Cal and his wild ambi-tions in as much as it is about other,larger underworld forces. What inter-ests me right now is the big moneythe NRP’s leader talked about beingprepared to spend. The mass partiesare expected to blow $50 to $100MILLION on the next general elec-tion, Cornelius Dueck—a truck partsdealer and pastor from SpanishLookout— stated in the launch lastWednesday of the National ReformParty he doesn’t plan to be left be-hind or be outspent. Choice exple-tives came to my lips as I heard Dueckmake his statement in response to atough question from the Editor of an-other local paper. Like most observ-ers have been whispering, I too won-dered about the gargantuan mysteri-ous financial backing.

Big money circulating in our littleBelize and here I am struggling to meetpayroll and printing costs on a sub-sistence basis...while fighting withGST to get registered. Obscene sumsof money from supposedly cleanmoney sources.

And, the tainted money is here, nodoubt about that. Mr. Risky Businesshimself called it “parallel market” for-eign exchange outsourcing when the

laundering scheme was blown wideopen at BTL a few months ago. Ishudder to think of all those who havebeen lured in. It seems like it’s be-come the norm in business circles andsocial clubs. It’s kosher in Belize totake cocaine money and becomeapart of the rinse cycle. Even cool.

Some people here worship thelavadoras unreservedly. All the sup-posedly big name social elites areswimming in the stuff while their veryown kids, siblings, and spouses arehooked on some form of the realdevil’s excrement: powdered cour-age. It’s simply too bloody incred-ible.

We at this paper are not interestedin the blood money machinations.They can keep it and keep worship-ing it. We will keep our sanity andour focus. Moises apparently lost hisand I hope to God Chief Negotiatorwasn’t behind it, for the country’ssake. Not that he’ll suffer in Hell forit, or anything. He can always go toconfession, too.

Moises will live a full life, no doubt;and, as a good Catholic will receiveabsolution. But he has lost all the re-spect people had for him, no matterhow much money he has been ableto amass. You can keep your bloodmoney, your fancy cars and materialwealth. I’ll keep my sanity, self re-spect and respect for my fellow man.I am not a predator or preacher, andI rather like the simple life.

(Continued From Page 1)

Avalanche of Anger Avalanche of Anger Avalanche of Anger Avalanche of Anger Avalanche of Angerdemonstration. At Kremandala, we sup-port third party initiatives. But they haveto be serious. We are not here to be thebutt of Lord Ashcroft’s jokes.”

It was interesting to see TheReporter’s recent editorial reflecting onan old ‘crime’ carried out by Musa.“Nine years ago” wrote HarryLawrence, “ a Commission of Inquirysimilar to the one now looking into alle-gations of irregularities in the Develop-ment Finance Corporation, published areport of its findings into allegations ofmisdeeds against Minister of ForeignAffairs, Hon. Said Musa. He went on“The two Commissioners found thatdespite some stonewalling from govern-ment officials who could not producetwo requested files, and despite the re-fusal of the Minister of Foreign Affairsto assist the Commission with his testi-mony, it had sufficient information to

determine that the Minister of ForeignAffairs, Said Musa, was ‘responsible’for the loss of $7,535,833.38 of gov-ernment revenue.” Mr Lawrence noted“The Commission in its published re-port went on to say: ‘We are also of theview that he knowingly and deliberatelyacted in contravention of the require-ments of the Economic CitizenshipProgramme, and therefore may havecommitted a criminal offence.’”

That is strong language; and if you addto this indictment the recent extraordi-nary and hard hitting Guardian exposé

of the PUP government’s ugly and un-limited give away of some of Belize’sbest land (and huge chunks of our cayes)to cronies and foreigners, you have thebuilding of a huge media swell againstthe Musa Government.

Where does that leave the third par-ties? Well, it is the two party system,the status quo in politics, which has got

us to where we are today. The fact thatthere are now 5 different third parties –representing a huge tide of Belizeansthroughout the country -means that thestatus quo is now quite likely brokenforever.

The new third parties have emergedBECAUSE too many people cannotsee enough light between the PUP andthe UDP. It is not that there is not a largespace between the philosophies of thetwo main parties, there is.

It is just that, for whatever reason, theUDP continues to refuse to actually re-veal how the UDP would be different,from what it used to be or from the PUP,when it comes to land reform and anelected Senate.

In a small start to answering elec-toral concerns, Opposition LeaderDean Barrow has declared that aUDP government would cancel allleases involved in the scandals the

Guardian have exposed. The UDPgovernment would also re-acquireany lands that have been titled to whatMr. Barrow’s letter calls ‘cronies’.Barrow’s letter also advised thirdparty buyers of those lands shouldbeware before they buy.

But for the most part, the wholecountry is crying out for a break up ofthe tremendous power of the Execu-tive branch of government, by empow-ering an elected senate to monitor gov-ernment corruption - and actions. TheUDP is just not listening.

There is a sense arrogance in the man-ner in which they presume they will bethe next government and see no rea-son to bother to address the electorateon issues which are screaming to beaddressed.

They should wake up before they tooare swept away in a tsunami of disgustand distrust!


By: Karla Heusner Vernon

Calling all BelizeansCalling all BelizeansCalling all BelizeansCalling all BelizeansCalling all Belizeans


There is nothing new about Guate-malans, Hondurans, perhaps evenMexicans, being imported to vote inBelizean elections. In fact, the practicemay be as old as “free and fair” elec-tions. Yes, there are regulations to pre-vent it, but there are ways around resi-dency requirements, officials and doc-tors willing to sign documents, fake testresults. The most recent innovation wasthe former head of the immigration de-partment personally ordering stampsfrom Angelus Press to allow people tobegin entering Belize at a southerncrossing without having to go throughthe official border at Benque..

Selling citizenship and residency cardsis big business in this country, even ifthe recipient pays, not with cash, butpolitical support.

To be fair, not all the illegal voterscome in under the wire unchallenged.In every division there are vigilantpeople (most often campaign workers)who challenge the names on the voter’slists, even take the matter to court.

Some stand, some are thrown off.You win some, you lose some. When

democratic process, steal our electionsout from under us.

Recently a gentleman from BurrellBoom called a morning show regardingcertain divisions and Guatemalans be-ing given residency and registered rightnow. He also claims that if you checkthe numbers in the last election, certaincandidates in certain divisions lost bythe EXACT number of people broughtin. Or should we say certain peopleWON by that number of votes.

to offices that real Belizeans wanted tocast out, by casting their ballot. Howmany Belizeans might not go to the pollsthis time around because they feel theirown vote will be canceled out by a paidforeigner?

What can we do about it? Clearly thechallenges are important, but are theyenough and will they not simply be cir-cumvented once more? When askedabout illegal registrations, the VIP re-sponded, “We will leave that one toGod.” (They don’t have the resourcesto monitor and they don’t have $50million to hire people to do it.)

Hmmm, well if it is true God helpsthose who help themselves, maybe wecan do something. One suggestion,made to me by the General Managerof the Independent, is that Belizeansshould demand a moratorium on newregistrations with naturalization certifi-cates. Set a cut off date and that is it.No more newly naturalized Belizeanvoters can be added to the lists.

In addition, I propose that we try tocounter the influx with an influx of our

These allegations should cause us to won-der just how many “false” Belizeans wereresponsible for returning people to officereal Belizeans wanted to cast out, by cast-ing their ballot.

you lose some, they just bring in somemore…

But aside from a few blips on the elec-tion day reporting radar, I don’t knowthat the Belizean public has any realtabulation of the numbers of people en-tering this country to destabilize our

This gentleman seems convinced somany Guatemalans and others will becoming into Belize for this election, thePUP has already won it!

These allegations should cause us towonder just how many “false” Belizeanswere responsible for returning people


Belize City , Belize – River sedimentsand pollutants are badly affecting theMesoamerican Barrier Reef System(MBRS). To help conserve the reef sys-tem, John Briceño, Belize Vice PrimeMinister expressed support for IUCN’sefforts to work with partners on the‘Ridge to Reef’ approach, which aimsat integrating watershed managementupstream with marine environmentsdownstream.

“We now know that we cannot man-age the reef system sustainably withoutaddressing the problems originating fromland-based activities.” said Briceño.During a meeting last week in Belize withthe Head of IUCN’s Water Programme,Ger Bergkamp and the MesoamericaWater Coordinator, Rocio Cordoba,Mr Briceño expressed his commitmenttowards engaging with IUCN on safe-guarding the reef, stressing the need towork together on a ‘Ridge to Reef’approach.

The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef is in-creasingly under pressure from indus-trial impacts such as oil spills, irrespon-sible tourism development and over-fishing. In addition land-based activitiesare increasingly threatening the reef eco-system. Unsustainable agricultural prac-tices, deforestation and inadequate solidwaste disposal are among the manycauses of excessive sedimentation andaccumulation of pesticides and nutrientsin the Gulf of Honduras . The pollutionand degradation of the reef’s water-sheds not only harm natural ecosystemsbut also put at risk people’s health, theirlivelihoods and living standards.

The current IUCN mission to Belize,Honduras and Guatemala is to designIUCN’s support to the 2nd phase ofthe MBRS project. During this phasethe MBRS Commission and Marine Re-search Centre will be established inBelize City. Over the next 6 months,under the presidency of Mr. Briceño,Belize will also lead the Central Ameri-can Commission on Environment andDevelopment (CCAD). A major em-phasis will be given to establishing sus-tainable watershed management in therivers flowing into the Gulf of Hondu-ras.

The governments involved have re-quested IUCN to support their effortson watershed management in the yearsto come. Noel Jacobs, Director of theMBRS Project, stressed that IUCN’sinvolvement was sought “because of itstrusted relationship with relevant gov-ernments and ministries, its extensivemembership and partners’ network inthe region, and its strong technical ex-pertise in watershed management.”

The IUCN Water programme is cur-

Belize Vice Prime Minister commitsBelize Vice Prime Minister commitsBelize Vice Prime Minister commitsBelize Vice Prime Minister commitsBelize Vice Prime Minister commitsto IUCN’s Ridge to Reef approachto IUCN’s Ridge to Reef approachto IUCN’s Ridge to Reef approachto IUCN’s Ridge to Reef approachto IUCN’s Ridge to Reef approach

rently working with over 150 memberand partner organizations in more than30 countries worldwide on river basin

management. During the meeting MrBergkamp stated that “IUCN has gainedsignificant experience in sustainable wa-

ter and watershed management in recentyears. It is well placed to work with itsmembers and partners to address theproblems in the river basins around theGulf of Honduras”. Rocio Cordoba em-phasized that “the current involvement ofIUCN in the Mesoamerican Barrier ReefSystem follows years of work by a largenumber of IUCN members and partnersworking on protected areas and monitor-ing of marine ecosystems”. IUCN sup-ports sustainable watershed managementin the region as part of the activities de-veloped under the 2nd phase of the Wa-ter and Nature Initiative, due to start inthe second half of 2007.

(IUCN Press Release)


The approval by Government to im-port GMO corn raises a red flag for thehealth of the nation. The circumstancesleading up to the approval raises a num-ber of questions. The issue of importedfoods and planting material containingGMO is not new to Belize and the rel-evant ministries have been long in dis-cussions (public and internal) on the is-sue.

As recently as last October BAHAheld public consultations countrywideon the issue of GMO’s in Belize. Infact this Government agency made rec-ommendations for policy guidelines toGOB. An underlying fact is that Belizeratified the Cartagena Protocol onBiodiversity which obliges the countryto implement and develop its own na-tional regulatory framework “for thesafe transfer, handling, use and releaseof genetically modified organisms,GMO’s and products resulting frommodern biotechnology”

It is the responsibility of Governmentto protect the health of its people andthe environment from the adverse ef-fects of modern biotechnology espe-cially when the products are managedby unscrupulous businessmen. We arereminded how GMO corn importedfrom the United States ruined the cornindustry in Mexico driving thousands ofits farmers into poverty and dependency.Farmers of Belize have also suffered theconsequences of biotechnology whenthey replaced their traditionally selectedcorn seeds with synthetic seeds (result-ing in loss of germplasm) in that theywere not prepared for the technologypackage.

It is reasonable to appreciate the ur-gency of the situation given the casepresented by the importer and the situ-ation with the usual suppliers. But thequestion remains: were other optionsexplored? The potential risks associ-ated with the permit for the 3,000 tonsof GMO corn on our chicken meat (themost consumed meat product in Belize)is yet unknown.

In such a situation Government is welladvised to follow the precautionaryprinciple rather than put the health ofthe people at risk. This serious prece-dent can open the flood gates to the im-portation of unregulated GMO prod-ucts into Belize.

By: Godsman Ellis

PUP Standard Bearer wantedPUP Standard Bearer wantedPUP Standard Bearer wantedPUP Standard Bearer wantedPUP Standard Bearer wantedby Panama Policeby Panama Policeby Panama Policeby Panama Policeby Panama Police

According a report published by thePanama press, the Panama police areseeking a Belizean diplomat whobrought an undisclosed amount of USdollars into the country by paying off agroup of Customs agents who, officialsources say, are now in custody.

In a release to the media, the Direc-tor General of Customs, Daniel DelgadoDiamante, announced the separatecharges on Friday, while intense inves-tigations of these four officials of thisdepartment of the Ministry ofEconomícs and Finance continues.

The agents are “presumably involvedin an act of corruption at the TocumenInternational Airport. The part playedby a Belizean citizen who presented a

diplomatic passport upon entry, is alsounder investigation,” he indicated.

The sources also confirmed that theBelize government reported that theunindentified individual is not a memberof its diplomatic corps.

Delgado Diamante said that in the weehours before dawn last Saturday, fourCustoms officials detected a suitcase fullof money passing through a an x-raymachine in the baggage area of theTocumen International Airport,whichbelonged to a pssenger who identifiedhimself as a Belizean diplomat.

“Upon detecting the cash, which hadnot been declared as required by Pana-manian law, the purported diplomat of-fered and handed over sums of money

to the Customs offcials, to avoid thetotal confiscation of the cash,” he ex-plained.

Only $130,000 was reported as un-declared, while the officials allowed theentry of an undetermined quantity ofcash.

Delgado added that the Ministry’s in-vestigations indicate the guilt of the Cus-toms official, Gregorio AnselmoVillarreal Cedeño.

He was detained last week in the vi-cinity of the San Miguel Archangel Hos-pital in possession of $88,000 in cashand another $15,000 were later foundat his residence, which at first he saidwere “his savings.”

Villarreal Cedeño, who has workedin Customs since 1990 and had risen to

head his unit, confessed that he hadparticipated in the illícit business anddivided the money with his three co-workers, two unidentified young menand a lady, who have been employedby Customs since 2003, 2004 and2001, respectively. The four Customsofficials remain in custody.

Sources say the Ministry authoritiesare looking in Panama for the purporteddiplomatic, who was ordered to be re-strained from leaving the country.

The source adds that this latest inci-dent adds to a series of other incidentsat this body last year, such as feloniesinvolving the altering of official docu-ments, the fraudulent introduction ofused cars into the country and other actsof corruption.

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On Sunday, February 18, a new po-litical party was launched in San Anto-nio, Toledo. They have two candidateswho have offered to run in the nationalelection, Wil Maheia for Toledo Eastand Dionicio Choc, for Toledo West.

Independent Weekly’s PG corre-spondent was there… Bartolo Teul,Master of Ceremonies, opened themeeting by welcoming the people to“history in the making”. He did this inEnglish and then Q’etchi. GleniseLocario sang the national anthem, andpastor Dionicio Choc, PNP candidatefor Toledo West, led in prayer.

Mr. Teul, welcomed the people whocame from Orange Walk, Belize, Cayo,Stann Creek and Corozal District. TheChairman of San Antonio, Theodoro Ohand Alcalde, Inoscio Cho, welcomedeveryone personally. Mr. Cho gave hisremarks in Mopan Maya saying“change will only come if we all worktogether and make it happen.”

The PNP was endorsed as the new-est member of the Belizean politicallandscape by Hipolito Bautista from“We the People” based in Corozal. Heurged the gathering to “do away withthe two-party system, and welcome anew multi-party system. This is the mes-sage of today. A multi-party system willhave more people in the system, watch-ing to see that the money and otherthings are not lost. We have been livingtoo long between the red devil and adeep blue sea. Thanks to the People’sNational Party, We the People’s Party,and the Vision Inspired by the PeopleParty, we are going to change things! Itis up to all of us to take personal re-sponsibility for what happens in thiscountry.”

Felipe Tzul, also of “We the People”spoke in Yucatec Maya, “let us worktogether, we have to work together ifwe want to make change, we have tosupport the National People’s Party.”

Vision Inspired by the People, VIP,also sent representatives to the PNPlaunch. Mateo Polanco of StannCreek District: “For to long we havesuffered from these two old politicalparties, who have misrepresented us”we have experienced that these twoparties have only given us misery andsorrow. This is why I’m offering my-self for the Vision Inspired by thePeople Party. I’m here to support WilMaheia and Dionicio Choc of thePeople’s National Party. Let us moveforward in peace and unity for ourbeloved beautiful country.”

Ivan Roberts from Cayo District:

PNP Plants Seeds in SanPNP Plants Seeds in SanPNP Plants Seeds in SanPNP Plants Seeds in SanPNP Plants Seeds in SanAntonio Village Toledo DistrictAntonio Village Toledo DistrictAntonio Village Toledo DistrictAntonio Village Toledo DistrictAntonio Village Toledo District

“It is an honor and privilege to comehere to give my support for fellowBelizeans who are against the presentsystem. I hope that all our people willjoin together to make sure we makea new and better Belize, a reality. Ihave been telling my fellow Belizeanssince 1998 to change our government,don’t be doing the same thing, goingfrom one party to the other, from redto blue, and back to red. This timejoin together and elect a new party.”

Dionicio Choc, PNP standardbearer for Toledo South was intro-duced as one of the founders of theToledo Eco Tourism Association someyears ago who believes Toledo hasgreat potential for eco-tourism in thisdistrict, is very active in his church.

Mr. Choc: “I pledge to you to bringjustice, hope and integrity back to youin my district. We must stop the crimeand corruption, we need a new party,and that Party is the People’s NationalParty. Millions of dollars have beenwasted, who is going to have to paythis debt, it is us and our children”.

Bartolo Teul introduced the Stan-dard Bearer to Toledo West: “WilMaheia has founded an organizationthat has been working to protect ourbeautiful natural environment for manyyears, it is now the biggest in Toledo,TIDE. He has decided that TIDE canmove on without him. He is offeringhimself to continue to work for To-ledo by running for the national elec-tions.

When it was his turn, Maheia be-gan by saying, “let’s hear it for theMaya Mountains”. People ask me ifI’m nervous to be speaking to such abig crowd, I say no, why should I benervous, I’m among my friends andfamily today. We are planting the seed

for the National People’s Party. Youare here today because you’re tiredof the crime and corruption that hasbeen happening in our country for toolong. Today the winds of change areblowing out of the South and thereblowing up north.

“The reason why we are launchingthe party in San Antonio is becausewe are going to focus in on the centerof this district. Since 1998 the gov-ernment has been robbing us, theyhave been getting millions of dollars,and we can’t collect one penny fromthem.

“People ask me why I left a goodjob at TIDE, I was in a comfort zone,I had a good salary, but I asked my-self, what about the poor of our coun-try? Why do I want to get into poli-tics? It’s because I want to make areal change. I’m tired of seeing the bigones in our country ripping us off.Many of our leaders are making mil-lions and millions of dollars, and stillthey can’t even pay those of you whoare the rice farmers, who they still owemoney. We can’t properly run thiscountry while these people continueto rip us off.

“I promise you that within the firsthundred days of our party, we willhave a collection agency that will be-gin to collect the money for the people,and we will use it for the people! To-day Belize is an oil-producing coun-try, so why is our gas costing $10 pergallon? It is a crime that poor peoplein Toledo have to take a bus or planeup north to get medical attention.

“I went up the Moho River the otherday and I almost cried to see theamount of survey lines, and the chair-men of the villages there tell me theydon’t know anything about them. The

minister is giving out land to peoplewho don’t even live there. How manypeople here have traveled toBelmopan to try and get your land andthey won’t even see or talk to you?We are going to change that, when weget into power. I want to thank allthose people who came from up northto support us.”

INdependent Reformer’s corre-spondent took the opportunity to ask,Mr. Maheia what the People’s Na-tional Party will do about the ToledoPeople’s Eco Park Plan. Wil Maheia:“We will endorse that, I have alwayssupported it, and we will continue tosupport it.”

Correspondent: “Mr. Bautista, Wilsays his PNP Party will support theeco park, what about We thePeople?”

Mr. Bautista: “We will support anyplan that will protect the pristine en-vironment, and we will support theeco-development of the district’s eco-nomic potential.”

Mr. Andre Price, closed the meet-ing by saying thank you all for beinghere today at the dawn of a new po-litical party, a new age, together wecan work to make Belize a betterplace. We stand for a responsibleparty, that stands for all our people,not just the chosen few. Thank youall, welcome to the People’s NationalParty, “give change a chance, no mekdem chance you”.

The PNP launch had a good turn-out and was a lively event with plentyof Rice and beans, chicken, tamales,and chicken caldo. Entertainment wasprovided by the Punta Rebels, PaulNabor and his group of Garifunadrummers, and the Shaka Shakersand singers followed.

By: INdependent WeeklyP.G. Correspondent


ARIES (Mar. 21- April 20) You need to take a long, hard look

at yourself and your personal situa-tion. You need activity. It’s time to getyourself back on track. Your lucky daythis week will be Thursday.TAURUS (Apr. 21- May 21)

Your charm will be captivating. Youmust consider yourself for a change.You can anger others quickly thisweek. Avoid overspending on itemsfor your home. Strength will come fromyour ability to overtake just about anyone. Your lucky day this week will beWednesday.GEMINI (May 22-June 21)

Opportunities to make advance-ments through good business senseare apparent. Opportunities for ro-mance will develop through activitieswith large groups. Don’t let cowork-ers get wind of your ideas or theymight try to take credit for your hardwork. You could be blind to the de-fects of those you love. Your lucky daythis week will be Tuesday.CANCER (June 22-July 22)

Curl up with a good book or go fora drive in the country. Try to under-stand both sides of the issue beforetaking sides. Old friends may not likeyour choices. Take a close look at anycontracts you’ve signed in order to besure exactly where you stand. Yourlucky day this week will be Tuesday.LEO (July 23-Aug 22)

Someone you live with could befrustrated and upset. Get promises inwriting or you will be disappointed.Your devotion will be persuasive. Take

time to catch up on gossip and makeplans to do a little adventure travel.Your lucky day this week will beMonday.VIRGO (Aug. 23 -Sept. 23)

Problems with fire, gas, or oil maycause disruptions and annoyances.Advancement can be yours if you putyour efforts into work related matters.Opportunities to get ahead will beevident. Join humanitarian groups andlet your leadership ability take over.Your lucky day this week will beThursday.LIBRA (Sept. 24 -Oct. 23)

Now is the time to concentrate onbuilding a strong financial future foryour family. You will be extremelysentimental, and if pushed by oth-ers you may hold a lasting grudge.You may find that you are a littlelucky this week. Emotional decep-tion will cause friction on the homefront. Your lucky day this week willbe Friday.SCORPIO (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22)

Don’t let relatives make demandsof you. Major job changes or op-portunities to get ahead profession-ally are apparent. Someone youwork with may be withholding valu-able information. You will find thatunfinished projects at home will bemost satisfying. Your lucky day thisweek will be Wednesday.SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23 -Dec.21)

Be careful how you handle friendsand relatives, they may take thingsthe wrong way. Too much talk will

Totally ly

Teens

lead to disputes. You will get drawninto groups that are not favorableto you. Much knowledge can beobtained through the experiencesyou have. Your lucky day this weekwill be Thursday.CAPRICORN (Dec 22.- Jan. 20)

You may be overreacting to a situ-ation at hand. Your ability to charmothers will put you in the limelightat social functions. Your partnercould make you angry if they stealyour thunder or embarrass you infront of others. Talk to those in aposition of power about your inten-tions. Your lucky day this week willbe Friday.AQUARIUS (Jan. 21 -Feb. 19)Organizations may cost you morethan you can afford. Don’t let

someone you work with put wordsin your mouth. You should focus onmoneymaking matters and stayaway from emotional disputes. Itmight be best not to spend yourmoney on luxuries this week. Yourlucky day this week will be Thurs-day.PISCES (Feb . 20-Mar. 20)Put your efforts into making con-structive improvements to your en-vironment and to your state of mind.Realize that you don’t have to doeverything yourself. However, youmust not neglect your family. Youwill meet some interesting people ifyou at tend promotional functions.Your lucky day this week will beTuesday.

Your friendship means so much to methat... When you cry... I cry. When youlaugh... I laugh. When you jump out awindow... I laugh some more.

********You are just jealous that the voices

talk to me and not you.*******

You say “Psycho” like its a bad thing.*********

If you could read my mind you wouldn’t be smiling.*********

“Smile... it confuses people”*********

I’ll be nicer if you give me chocolate.Sometimes, I have dreams, and in those dreams, THINGS happen to you...I do whatever the voices in my head tell me to do

********S T U P I D = Smart Talented Unique Person In Demand

********One bright morning... in the middle of the night, two dead boys came out to fight.

They stood back to back and faced each other drew their swords and shot eachother. The deaf policeman heard the noise and came to kill those two dead boys.If u don’t believe my story, it’s true. Ask the blind man, he saw it too!

You’re so stupid you threw a rock at the ground and missed.


SlaverSlaverSlaverSlaverSlavery for the Children of Belize?y for the Children of Belize?y for the Children of Belize?y for the Children of Belize?y for the Children of Belize?Slavery was abolished in Britain and

its colonies in 1833 by the Slavery Abo-lition Act. But Belize has taken a stepbackwards in promulgating a situationthat has burdens of slavery. Such at-tributes that are a creation of theFonseca – Musa duo which is lockingtheir yoke onto the people of Belize,their children and the children’s children.

The Fonseca – Musa duo’s machi-nations have resulted in a massive defi-cit that has resulted in an incredible in-crease in taxes. The taxes place a stag-gering burden on the people of Belizeand the future lives of their children. Thechildren’s position is tantamount to be-ing shackled to a debt that they willhave to labor hard and excessively topay off.

When the PUP went into office in1998 the country’s external debt bur-den was $338 million dollars (see CIAWorld Fact book). However, presentlythe country is broke and indebted in thesum of over $1 Billion and growing!

The increases in the tax burden is de-stroying Belize’s economy. The presenttax structure can bring the countrydown. Tax increases beyond a certainlevel do not result in increased revenue

vided an immediate tax write off forequipment purchased for less than$100,000. As a result of the Bush taxreductions, during the Presidency of BillClinton that followed, the economyboomed. Annually, the country receiveda greater revenue from taxes than it col-lected during the earlier period when thetax rates were higher.

A country cannot borrow its self outof debt. But such a fact does not seemto bother the Fonseca - Musa duo.Belize, under their auspices, have madea practice of guaranteeing debts of pri-vate persons or non-governmental en-tities and then having the country paythose debts. In other countries such aprocedure would not exist, it would beconsidered illegal.

Such guarantees are basically a giftof national monies to a crony or a non-government entity. One would wonderwhether such a gift is shared and if sohow? There can be no rational basis ofproviding $45 million to UniversalHealth Services.

Where did such a large sum of moneygo? It certainly didn’t all go for the fa-cility and its equipment. Politicians donot have a right to give the people’smoney to their friends.

No problem for the Fonseca - Musa,

to the country. To the contrary suchtaxes can cause the Countries revenueto decrease and the economy to fail.

The economists explain the phenom-ena by the process commonly referredto as “Supply –Side Economics”. Sup-ply – Side Economics is a process thathas served many countries well. Brieflyput, higher tax rates, beyond a point,do not result in higher revenue. The rea-son is increased taxes discourages in-vestments and as a result production andsupply decrease. With less output to tax,less revenue is collected. The reverseoccurs when taxes are reduced becausetax cuts are favorable to larger invest-ments which result in increased produc-tion and supply that in turn bolsters theeconomy. This leads to more jobs anda greater revenue from taxes than werereceived prior to reduction of the taxrate.

The effects of such tax reductionswere clearly shown in the US at the endof the Ronald Regan Presidency andduring the Bill Clinton Presidency.Ronald Regan brought about a reduc-tion in tax rates that resulted boostedthe economy and thereby increased thetax revenue to United States treasury.

President George Bush brought abouta reduction in tax rates and also pro-

contributed though, as the tax payer will directly orindirectly pay the debt, not the crony.The Government does not appear towant to be reimbursed from the cronyfor the country’s loss. There are thosewho believe that if the Government at-tempted to collect the debt it would beshown, in court, that the crony debtordid not receive all of the money, thatothers shared portions of the money andshould have to pay their portion of thedebt to the Government. Are there Gov-ernment officials that should have to payportions of the delinquent debts attrib-uted to the cronies?

The important question is, has the duocreated a debt and resulting tax burdenthat is so great that tax relief is not pos-sible? Currently, the tax burden is sobroad that if a Belizean becomes ill heor she will have a tax added to theirhospital bill. Is it cheaper to just die, oris that taxed also?

It is shameful that the rich get richer,through the misuse of Governmentfunds, while the poor get poorer andthe middle class becomes smaller. It isnear criminal that the poor and middleclass are required to pay off the im-proper indebtedness that was createdto make the rich richer.

The expression in the ‘belly of thebeast’ has been variously used to de-scribe the continually warring conflictbetween various aspects of ‘self’.

Take the PUP as The Beast - andthe present fight going on in its belly!More and more it appears to be a fightto the death not just of one or other ofthe warring factions but of the beast it-self.

There is the spectacle of Jose Coye(on Channel 5) discussing the ongoingdiscrepancy in the takeover of the Uni-versal Group concerning its debt (somethirty three million dollars to the BelizeBank and an additional twelve millionowed to the Development FinanceCorporation). He could offer very littleas far as the financial details of the trans-action.

Jose Coye -”Whosoever is dealing,which is the Ministry ofFinance, I wouldexpect that — well they should be deal-ing with that, that’s not the health mat-ter for us. I’m certain the D.F.C. willhave their figure and I would expect thatthe bank would have their figure, and Iwould expect indeed that when they arefinalising the debt with the bank that theywould be able to see that figure andsee how they arrive at it. I would ex-pect that would happen.”

Janelle Chanona - “Who is yourcounterpart at the Ministry of Financesince, obviously, you are taking care ofthe Health aspect of it?”

Jose Coye – “I don’t (know) who allare involved with the Ministry of Fi-nance. I would expect that—I don’tknow who all are engaged in that exer-cise. I have tried to deal with the healthside of it and although I try to...”

Adele Ramos, Amandala - “Sir, don’tyou discuss this at Cabinet?”

Jose Coye - “Yeah but what I’m try-ing to do is that I cannot be wearing thetwo hats at the same time and at thesame time. I am taking up with the healthaspects of it and at the same time I amtrying ...”

Adele Ramos, Amandala - “So youare not in discussions?”

Jose Coye - “No, I have not beendealing the debt side of it. I have not.”

Adele Ramos, Amandala - “That’s aserious problem, sir.”

Jose Coye - “You’d like me to dealwith both no? … but what I’m tellingyou there is a — there are progress.They are dealing with the debt. I can-not also deal with that.”

Adele Ramos, Amandala - “But youdon’t know who they are?”

Jose Coye - “The Ministry of Finance.I don’t know exactly who it is, the

Prime Minister with the F.S. and who-soever they are; I’m not really into that.”

It’s a matter, not of substance, but onlyof how quick to make a deal! Grab andsell and grab an sell again! That’s theroar in the PUP’s belly; ‘Quick fix!Quick deal…and damned be all whohave to and accept these deals andsuffer the consequences.’

It is getting to the point that not onlydo the warring factions within the PUPhave very little idea of what their otherhalf is doing but often enough no idea atall of what they themselves are doing.

Godfrey Smith Minister of Tourism isa case in point. He lauds the “success”of the tourism industry as he allows it todie; under resourced, over taxed andbrutally under attack from the cruise shipindustry.

The disintegration within the ‘belly’of the PUP is nowhere better illus-trated than in the enormous contra-dictions and existing hatreds betweenthe‘executive’ (containing the PM,Said Musa and Minister of ‘what-ever’, Ralph Fonseca) and the eight‘might have been’ rebels. This hasbecome a disease in the belly, a poi-sonous substance which the PUP isunable to get rid of and which will, nodoubt, lead to the beast’s agonizingdeath.

In the Belly of the BeastIn the Belly of the BeastIn the Belly of the BeastIn the Belly of the BeastIn the Belly of the BeastBy: Meb Cutlack Of course, you can also look upon

the expression, ‘the beast in the belly’with a less jaundiced and more hope-ful view– as expressed by the famous,and often much maligned AfricanAmerican writer, W.E.B. Du Bois:“..this double consciousness, thissense of always looking at one’s selfthrough the eyes of others. . . . [O]neever feels his twoness ... two souls,two thoughts, two un-reconciledstrivings; two warring ideals in onedark body….”

Du Bois imagined a united frontpeople of persons of African descentwherein exiles could use their loca-tion “in the belly of the beast” to trans-form the international system for thebenefit of all.

There is certainly not a ‘united front’in the “belly of the beast” in Belize toreform anything. There is in fact a to-tal inability among the PUPs to in anyway transform the reign of incompe-tence and financial folly exercised to-day from the Prime Minister down!

And Du Bois? He gave up and, in1961, he became completely disillu-sioned with the United States. Hemoved to Ghana, joined the Commu-nist Party, and a year later renouncedhis American Citizenship. He died inAugust 1963 at the age of 95.


One of the things that strikes meabout our parliamentary model, is thatwhile the idea of a national assemblyelecting a cabinet, or a federal coun-cil by any other name, in our modelof government is democratically cor-rect. The difference is mainly in thatthe role of electing a PARTYLEADER destroys the very demo-cratic principal behind the system.

To make a genuine democratic gov-ernment, the national assembly shouldby rights elect seven members to bethe cabinet for one year of their fiveyear term. This cabinet then in turn bysecret ballot should elect the PrimeMinister from among the seven mem-bers, for the one year term, of the fiveyears that the party is in office. Eachyear the Prime Minister is changed andthe position is non-repetitive and of-ten some of the actual Cabinet mem-bers by the national assembly also.This only requires internal party elec-tions. It does however serve to stopa repeat of abuse of authority and thatof the government finances by a dic-tatorial party leader, over a party,which in turn rules over the nation asin our current case.

The act of making the party leaderautomatically the Prime Minister forthe whole five years is subversive andcorrupt. Of course in England wherethis originated it was intended to beso, by the get rich quick Lords fromthe aristocracy who were running foroffice.

The power of the people, takenmostly from the California model isexercised in direct initiatives and byreferendums sorted out by people led,petition referendums. Referendums inour system currently are only to ex-press political power, but the Califor-nia model gives actual power to thepeople to disagree with political powerand acts as a check and balance ontotalitarian power. The whole idea isto follow the will of the people andnot that of the alleged managers,which, in our current parliamentarysystem are dictators for five years--under the biggest dictator of all, theparty leader. To pass such constitu-

tional changes there would of neces-sity have to be penalties spelled out,such as automatic loss of parliamen-tary seat for violations.

How does the population of our cur-rent state throw out the dictatorialsystem of our parliamentary model ofrule by a party leader, who in turn usesthe party as a second level set of rul-ers, instead of them being managersof government policy subject topeople?

Belizeans are wrestling with theseideas for the past twenty years.Well, the populace must organize!One way uses petitions and strikes,as is currently being done, to tryand obtain the keys to the treasuryrevenues and power of MinisterialDiscretion ( another bad thing).

Multiple parties must learn to unitefor common goals against the en-trenched incumbents who wish to pre-serve the GREED aspects of the loot-ing mentality of the current model.Greed is natural, self interest is also.So the constitution has to be changedto thwart the effects of greed andself interest and substitute laws in-stead. Opponents of the currentparliamentary system need to studyhow they can and will use mediarelations, arbitration techniques,and so on to elect their smallergroup leaders, to form cells, andcommittees. People who don’tlearn these things will remain slavesin everything but name by their rul-ers.

One technique of ruling dictatoriallyis to educate young people and makethem apolitical, passive and dependenton government jobs. This makes themmalleable putty in the hands of deter-mined power mad and greedy rulers.Another technical name for this pro-gram is co-opting. To be educatedthen in a small society like ours, meansyou lose the organizational skillsneeded to build a genuine democracyfrom those party people whose primeaim is greed and self interest. The po-litical parties themselves have theircells and secret conference systems,though they go by different names,like block captains and such.

For an online version of theINdependent Reformer

visit us at

http://www.belizenorth.com/

independentreformer.htm

Our Government & Changes!Our Government & Changes!Our Government & Changes!Our Government & Changes!Our Government & Changes!By: Ray Auxilou WELCOME TO

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22 BURNS AVENUE SAN IGNACIO TOWN

BELIZE, CENTRAL AMERICA

WEBSITE: www.evasonline.com E-MAIL: [email protected]

A D V E N T U R E B E L I Z E

ghe hâu oy ftÇ \zÇtvio goãÇghe hâu oy ftÇ \zÇtvio goãÇghe hâu oy ftÇ \zÇtvio goãÇ


“The Airline Of Belize”

Press Release f rom ThePenninsula Citizens for Sustain-able Development

The Environmental CompliancePlan (ECP) for the Ara Macao de-velopment was signed by the BelizeDepartment of Environment (DOE)and Ara Macao Development Ltd.on 3 January 2007. A copy of theECP is available for review at http://www.destinationsbelize.com/ara_macao_ecp.htm

Now that the Ara Macao devel-oper has a signed ECP in hand, itcan legally begin construction un-der the timetable set-out in theECP. However, no work appearsto have started.

Unfortunately, whether AraMacao Development, Ltd. does ordoesn’t continue is irrelevant be-cause the ECP does not prohibit as-signment of the development rightsgranted by the ECP. In plain En-glish, this means that the AraMacao developer can sell the landAND the ECP, and some other de-veloper can come in and do what

the original Ara Macao developerreceived permission to do — withany such new developer certain tohave LOTS of money, perhaps acruise line or a casino, to name buttwo ofthe possibilities.

The ECP also does not includeany deadline by which work mustbegin. Therefore, the original de-veloper has plenty of time to find asuitable buyer, while the land andthe development approval appreci-ate in value - meaning developmentcould theoretically start years downthe road.

Because immediate concertedaction is so important, a request forjudicial review of the DOE approvaland the DOE approval process forthe Ara Macao development will befiled during March 2007, and thePCSD has retained Belize attorneyAntoinette Moore to representPCSD in the litigation.

A meeting was held with Ms.Moore and Candy Gonzalez fromBACONGO (Belize Association ofConservation NGOs) early this

week to discuss litigation strategyand grounds for the request for ju-dicial review. The meeting was veryencouraging, and it seems that theremay be issues stemming from AraMacao that could significantly af-fect the approval process for de-velopments throughout the country.Legal research is currently under-way.

However, legal research resourcesin Belize are limited and PCSD doesneed assistance with this legal re-search. Therefore, please contactPCSD if you have any Common-wealth legal contacts who might bewilling to help.

Nadja Chamberlain from theSittee River area has volunteered toassist in the litigation by reviewingdocumentation from DOE and theAra Macao developer in connectionwith the validity of the DOE ap-proval process.

PCSD currently has pledges anddonations totaling a little overBZ$16,000, with an additionalBZ$1,000 in donations received to-

day. The legal fees for the AraMacao judicial review process areestimated at BZ$25,000. However,copying, document delivery andtransportation could very well costanother BZ$5,000 to BZ$10,000given the number of possible par-ties to the lawsuit and the widelydispersed geographic locations ofthose parties.

Therefore, donations are needednow more than ever, and may bemade by deposit directly into thePCSD account at Atlantic Bank, orby check or wire transfer. For de-tails of these please email PeninsulaCitizens for Sustainable Develop-ment P lacencia , Bel ize a [email protected] orcall 501-610-4718

The (PCSD) is now officially a not-for-profit corporation under Belizelaw. A meeting will be held in the nexttwo weeks to elect a board of direc-tors, and notices of meeting date andtime will be sent out shortly. Pleaseemail PCSD if you’re interested in be-ing on the Board.

Ara Macao Development update-Ara Macao Development update-Ara Macao Development update-Ara Macao Development update-Ara Macao Development update-PCSD needs funds and experPCSD needs funds and experPCSD needs funds and experPCSD needs funds and experPCSD needs funds and expertisetisetisetisetise


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Beware CorozalA Supreme Court ruling in Mexico

has revalidated controversial gamingpermits that were issued in 2005, forremote betting centers (offsite books)and numbers parlors. This means per-mit holders with gaming establishmentsalready in operation will stay open, andothers who may have hesitated due tolegal doubts can now forge ahead. Aban on casinos could also soon be lifted.Senate Members of the Party of theDemocratic Revolution (PRD) ex-pressed their support for the installationof full-fledged casinos in Mexico. Theysaid that the time has come for clan-destine gaming activities to end, and fortaxes that should exceed US$800 mil-lion annually to be paid. On February13 the Mexican Senate sent an“excitativa” to the Chamber of Depu-ties - a formal request urging the otherchamber to move legislation that wouldreform the 1947 Law, and allow casi-nos.

TOPICAL TIDBITSTOPICAL TIDBITSTOPICAL TIDBITSTOPICAL TIDBITSTOPICAL TIDBITSbeaches and pension checks stretch fur-ther ‘“The retirement segment is onething, but then there is the whole over-seas lifestyle segment,’’ said Avirett, whois spearheading a ‘baby boomers’

The United States is one of the fewcountries that has refused to sign an in-ternational convention for the abolitionof child labor and forced labor. This po-sition stems from the child labor prac-tices of U.S. corporations throughoutthe Third World and within the UnitedStates itself, where children as youngas 12 suffer high rates of injuries andfatalities, and are often paid less thanthe minimum wage.” Parenti also allegesthat, “U.S. foreign aid usually workshand in hand with transnational invest-ment. It subsidizes construction of theinfrastructure needed by corporationsin the Third World: ports, highways, andrefineries. The aid given to Third Worldgovernments comes with strings at-tached. It often must be spent on U.S.products, and the recipient nation is re-quired to give investment preferencesto U.S. companies, shifting consump-tion away from home produced com-modities and foods in favor of importedones, creating more dependency, hun-ger, and debt. A good chunk of the aidmoney never sees the light of day, go-ing directly into the personal coffers ofsticky-fingered officials in the recipientcountries.” Sound familiar Belize?

viding an alternative to fossil fuelsblamed for global warming, experts say.Miscanthus, a perennial grass native tosubtropical and tropical regions of Af-rica and southern Asia, is the ideal plantfor producing ethanol at a lower costthan corn, currently the most widespreadsource for the fuel. The grass, which isused as an ornamental plant in theUnited States, produces yields betweenfive and 10 times greater than corn, ex-perts said.

Jamaica sugar lossesLosses by the Sugar Company of Ja-

maica (SCJ) from the 2006/2007 cropare expected to be in the region of$500 million. This however is a big im-provement over last year’s losses of ap-proximately $1.2 billion.

Baby boomer wave!There is evidently a growing wave of

baby boomers planning to retire abroadin hot spots such as Belize, Nicaraguaand the Dominican Republic – where

website from his home in Fort Lauder-dale . ̀ `We are creating a website forboomers going abroad whether it’s fora visit or for a lifetime.’’ By some counts,there are 75 million boomers in theUnited States making the slow marchtoward retirement. According to mar-ket research commissioned byBoomerscape, 70 percent say theywould like to spend most of their timetraveling.

How Wealth Creates PovertyMichael Parenti writes that by dis-

placing local populations from theirlands and robbing them of their self-suf-ficiency, corporations create over-crowded labor markets of desperatepeople who are forced into shanty townsto toil for poverty wages (when they canget work), often in violation of the coun-tries’ own minimum wage laws. “InHaiti, for instance, workers are paid 11cents an hour by corporate giants suchas Disney, Wal-Mart, and J.C. Penny.

At long last!Leaders from 20 countries, including

China and the US, have signed a reso-lution that paves the way for a replace-ment to the Kyoto protocol, set to ex-pire in 2012. Although the resolution isnon-binding, it is being viewed as a “tip-ping point,” that finally sees the US andChina take full responsibility for helpingto combat global warming. The forum’sclosing statement said man-made cli-mate change was now “beyond doubt”- bringing it in Line with the stance heldin the scientific world.

Meanwhile, wild grass!A wild grass found in Asia and Africa

could hold the key to dreams of pro-

The Real Cost of Bottled WaterNow a report from the USA: “San

Franciscans and other Bay Area resi-dents enjoy some of the nation’s high-est quality drinking water, with pristineSierra snowmelt from the Hetch Hetchyreservoir as the primary source. Everyyear, the water is tested more than100,000 times to ensure that it meetsor exceeds every standard for safedrinking water. And yet San Franciscansstill buy bottled water. Why?”

The report adds that in fact federalstandards for tap water are higher thanthose for bottled water. And the reportstates “Clearly, the popularity of bottledwater is the result of huge marketing ef-forts. The global consumption of bottledwater reached 41 billion gallons in 2004,up 57 percent in just five years. Even inareas where tap water is clean and safeto drink, such as in San Francisco, de-mand for bottled water is increasing –producing unnecessary garbage andconsuming vast quantities of energy. Sowhat is the real cost of bottled water?”


We The People throws its hat into the ringWe The People throws its hat into the ringWe The People throws its hat into the ringWe The People throws its hat into the ringWe The People throws its hat into the ringIt is time for the W.T.P, the We The

People Reform Movement, to make itsintentions known now that the V.I.P, theP.N.P, and the N.R.P. have declaredtheir individual entry into the generalelections.

From last year, the W.T.P. announcedthat it is contesting the general elections.This announcement was made in themedia without celebration and withoutglossy brochures and dinner afterwards.We want to win this election strategi-cally, with our brain, not brawn or mil-lions and millions of dollars.

For a political party to say that it willspend $50M - $100M on a generalelection in a small country like ours withless than 140,000 voters and 44% pov-erty is nothing short of vulgar. In fact, itsends the wrong message. It says to44% of poor Belizeans that more free-bies are on the way and by extension,more disrespect and more dependencythan we already have.

We do not wish to be a political partythat buys elections. We have great re-spect for our Belizean people. How willwe get them to grow and be agents ofgrowth in our society if we continue totreat them like underprivileged men,women and children at Christmas par-ties feeding on free food, drinks,“caliente” dancers and mind-numbingmusic? Afterwards, we will complainlike others that our society has becomea society of beggars and thumbs still intheir mouths.

Over the six years of our existence,and having contested general electionsand municipal elections, the W.T.P haslearnt that more “election-stealing” than“election-winning” goes on. The Blueand the Red have large armies of orga-nized political campaigners, millions andmillions of dollars and bags and bags ofpolitical tricks which they use to stealelections. It is important that new po-litical parties face these two parties withcombined resources, especially politi-cal intelligence. Otherwise, realisticallyspeaking and despite good intentions,we will become no more than cannonfodder for the Red and the Blue mon-ster parties.

At present, the Blues are badlywounded and desperate, especially thePrime Minister; and as we know,wounded and desperate individuals areusually at their most dangerous and un-predictable. We are already seeing theBlues at work with “no holds barred”.At present, the offices of area repre-sentatives and political officers haveevolved into branches of the immigra-tion office, obtaining nationality for aliensand registering them like crazy. Withouta transparent land distribution system,and to quote Minister of Natural Re-sources, John Briceno, thousands of lotshave been given out across the country.The fact is that as usual, they are being

given away as an election gimmick, andmany people with land are getting morewhile those with genuine need are get-ting none. Watch out too. Expect thatblue and red notes in envelopes will beslipped under the door of undecidedvoters on election-day itself!

The Reds themselves, consumed withthe euphoria of being the next govern-ment and intent on not missing this op-portunity are not too far behind withtheir preparations, illicit and otherwise.They are keeping their war chest replen-

tions for the Red and the Blue. Thoseparties promise free this and free that,like free education, another Cancun, tenthousand (free) homes, lower power,telephone, and water bills, knowing fullywell they cannot deliver, grandiosethings like that. And people fall for it andvote them in, overlooking their secretschemes and dreams to become pow-erful Ministers and representatives, in-tent on securing their retirement pack-ages.

Today, the Belizean voting public,

children will pay up to 2029 is one ofthe many children of this uncheckedcorruption.

The purpose of the BelizeWhistleblowers Protection Act pro-posed by the WTP is three-fold:

· First, it is to encourage and fa-cilitate disclosures of improper conductby public bodies and public officers.

· Secondly, it is to provide pro-tection for persons who make these dis-closures and for persons who suffer re-prisals in relation to these disclosures,and

· Thirdly, it is to provide for mat-ters disclosed to be properly investi-gated and dealt with.

There will be penalties of up to twoyears imprisonment for anyone or anyinstitution that causes persons to sufferreprisals in relation to their disclosures.It also carries fines and imprisonmentfor mischievous and irresponsible dis-closures.

Who can make these disclosures?It is a person who believes on rea-sonable grounds that a public bodyor public officer has engaged, is en-gaging or proposes to engage in im-proper conduct as a public body orpublic officer. It is a person who be-lieves on reasonable grounds that apublic body or public officer hastaken, is taking, or proposes to takedetrimental action against the publicas a public body or public officer.

Who are these public bodies orpublic officers? Certainly the DFC,the Social Security Board, the SmallFarmers Bank, the Free Zones, andany government department oragency, any government hospital,contractor or sub-contractor. Publicofficers include members of the Houseand Senate, Mayors, Councilors,members of the Police Force and per-sons appointed by the Governor Gen-eral, the Prime Minister or anotherMinister.

We will provide more details to thepublic in the form of a pamphlet we arepreparing to circulate.

Hipolito Bautista - National WTPParty Coordinator

Lucilo Teck - National WTPDeputy Party Coordinator

Comments? Suggestions?or want to share your

thoughtsEmail us at

[email protected]

ished by staying cozy with the LordAshcroft’s and Santiago Castillo’s com-panies, among others, not to mentionfund raising groups in the USA. Theyare also meticulously registering voterson the very day they turn eighteen. Theyare not missing anyone. And like theBlues, their freebees flow in terms offood, paid bills, and chaperoning bypolitical candidates.

The best chance for Alternative Par-ties to win this general election in thebest interest of the Belizean people isto form an Alliance of Alternative Par-ties and vie for the “balance of power”in this coming election. We will win thiselection through education of the votingpublic and through real, practical re-forms. We will win this election by en-suring we have winning candidates inareas where neither the Blue nor the Redare strong. This can be determined bypolls. We will win by raising as quicklyas possible an army of organized andexperienced campaigners to hit thestreets and the homes in everyneighbourhood. Persons like DerekAikman who offer election campaignconsultancy should be brought in assoon as possible to head the overallAlliance election strategy. It is to be re-called that Derek Aikman through sheerdetermination and dogged dedicationdid what was viewed as impossible,defeating serving Prime Minister GeorgePrice in his own constituency. We willwin by ensuring that neither the Red northe Blue obtain an outright majority ofseats in this election. That way, they willhave to include elected alternative partyrepresentatives in any new government.There are many ways to victory.

What alternative parties must alsounderstand is that presently pork barrelpolitics (giveaways), election trickeryand lots of money is winning the elec-

deceived so terribly over the past 25years, expect substance, no more rheto-ric. If Alternative Parties say they willstamp out corruption, they must not belike the Red and the Blue. They mustshow the Belizean voter how they willeffectively do this. Moreover, there aremany searching and intelligent minds inBelize today, plus an emboldened me-dia, who are showing a propensity tofiercely defend the Belizean people frombeing conned by political parties thatmake promises they cannot deliver andwho are in fact, empty drums andfrauds.

The sixty (60) reform ideas of theWTP to transform Belize society into anew and safe haven include an electedSenate and a Belize WhistleblowersProtection Act.

The WTP has already presented its“Reformed Senate” proposal. It callsfor a People -elected Senate which willsupervise Cabinet and not be controlledby it, a Senate that can say no to newtaxes and their “no” sticks.

The Belize Whistleblowers ProtectionAct proposed by the WTP is designedto smother rampant corruption that hasenslaved us and our country today. TheUS$565 million bond which we and our

For a political party to say that itwill spend $50M - $100M on ageneral election in a small coun-try like ours with less than140,000 voters and 44% povertyis nothing short of vulgar.


BTB hosts Tourism Summit 2007BTB hosts Tourism Summit 2007BTB hosts Tourism Summit 2007BTB hosts Tourism Summit 2007BTB hosts Tourism Summit 2007

BTB Vice Chair Teresa Parkey, James Nisbet of Fort Street Tourism Village and CTOSecretary General Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace discuss managing the cruise industry.Vanderpool-Wallace emphasized that what hurts you most are the “Things you know

that just ain’t so!”

Director of Archaeology Jaime Awe, Environmental leadership expert Jamie Sweetingand PACT’s Valdemar Andrade discussed “Green & Gold” - how to reap the profits

from tourism while preserving the environment and Belize’s cultural heritage.

Bird’s the Word! That was the themeof the day for 21 pre-school childrenfrom La Democracia Governmentschool.

The children had been studying theirbirds and were well aware that the birdsof Belize ARE special!

The Belize Zoo continues to workwith schools and communities through-out Belize to draw attention to our“feathered Belizeans”.

In early February, BIRD DAY wascelebrated at the zoo and the childrenmade visits to view their national bird,the Keel Billed toucan, and a list of otherfeathered friends including the Scarlet

sult of the high cost of and often un-availability of books. Such high costand unavailability are the result of thefailure of the countries schools tostandardized the text books utilizedin the First through Fourth Forms.

Such failure to standardize, in ad-dition to driving up the cost of bookshas placed an additional unnecessaryburden on the parents. Many of themothers have to travel great distancesto Belize City in an attempt to pur-chase the required books for theirchildren. They often have to go to atleast 3 book stores to obtain thebooks. Frequently, the requiredbooks are not available at any price.The mother’s child is therefore pro-hibited from attending the class thatrequired the unavailable book.

If he put his mind to it, the Hon.Francis Fonseca could assist the Rev-erend Canon Flowers, President ofBelize’s Council of Churches, in Rev-erend Cannon Flowers’ efforts tohave the school text books standard-ized. Such standardization would re-duce the cost of books to where thou-sands of Belizean children, who couldnot otherwise attend, would be ableto attend the first, through fourthforms.


Congratulations to the Minister of EducationIt is time for both the Churches and

the Government to show greater re-spect for the poor and give them theassistance that they are entitled to.

Such standardization would not costthe Government or the schools onepenny. It would reduce the cost ofbooks to where thousands of theCountries children, from less fortunatefamilies, could afford to attend thefirst through fourth forms.

There is no logical reason why thetext books should not be standard-ized. The greed of the unscrupulousfew who profit from the present situ-ation is not a reason to prevent chil-dren of Belize from acquiring theirright to a basic education that includesthe first through fourth forms.

There is certainly no reason why theother Church officials should not joinin and assist the Reverend CannonFlowers in his attempt to have ofschool books standardized. Their fail-ure to do so will continue to preventthousands of disadvantage childrenfrom receiving a secondary educationand be contrary to the teachings ofChristianity and all other religions.

Signed, Belize’s largest school bookpurchaser for the less fortunate

Letters to the EditorLetters to the EditorLetters to the EditorLetters to the EditorLetters to the Editorown. Literally.

For every “alien” willing to come toBelize to vote, there must be a Belizeanabroad who would do it too. There arethousands who left within the last tenyears and are still on the voting lists, orwho maintain enough ties, help to main-tain residences here that they are (orshould be) eligible to vote. Add them tothe hundreds of university students awaystudying and growing number of retir-ees/returnees coming home to retire andwe could muster enough reinforcementsto outnumber the fraudulent voters.

Most importantly, these Belizeans arepeople who have Belize’s best interestat heart. People who are literate, mo-bile, and paying keen attention to re-cent economic and political develop-ments. Hard working men and womenwho are providing tens of millions ofhard currency dollars in aid to their fami-lies back home through remittances,making donations of supplies to schoolsand hospitals and helping Belizeans whoemigrate get situated, get jobs and feelwelcome in the Belizean communitiesabroad.

We must encourage these Belizeansto register, and to pull other relativeshome to do the same. We must, at hisjuncture, get over any bitterness overthose who “left” while we stayed, thebrain drain and all the rest of it and bandtogether in a common cause: saving thiscountry from further “ruination”. Wemust put aside any sibling rivalries and

put our Family –as extended as it is, asfar flung as it is—first.

Granted it is an expensive proposi-tion. But how much of their electioncampaign funds will the parties devoteto importing the imposters? To stuffingthe ballot box?

Surely once the election date is set,those Belizeans who do come home onvacation would consider timing their visitto coincide with going to the polls….We could even ask hotels to offer themspecial packages in conjunction with anairline or two. Don’t you think? Showthem we need them more than ever atthis time.

It is not impossible; it is infinitely do-able given the time frame before us. Thelonger the Prime Minister takes to callelections, the more time Belizeansabroad have to prepare and plan. Andif a political party should offer to fly themhome…all the better, as long as theyremember their vote is sacred, and se-cret and they owe it to no one.

We must pay attention to the grow-ing number of reports and allegationsof illegal registration. But we must domore than just be outraged and upsetthis time.

We must turn the tables on thosewho would try to use our apathyagainst us and sneak in people whohave no right to be here.

We can fight both our apathy, andtheir subterfuge, by bringing in ourown people. People who have everyRIGHT to be here. Still.

Calling all BelizeansCalling all BelizeansCalling all BelizeansCalling all BelizeansCalling all Belizeans(Continued From Page 4)

Bird Day at the Belize Zoo!!!Bird Day at the Belize Zoo!!!Bird Day at the Belize Zoo!!!Bird Day at the Belize Zoo!!!Bird Day at the Belize Zoo!!!

Macaw, King Vulture, Jabiru Stork andof course, Panama the Harpy Eagle.

Zoo Director Sharon Matola broughtout Alvin, the Roadside Hawk, and thechildren got “up close and personal” tothis happy raptor, learning about thenatural history of the Roadside Hawkhere in Belize.

After a lunch of “bird sandwiches”(chicken salad), the children sang a con-servation song, “Bird’s the Word” andYES!!!!! It was Fun, Educational, andUltra Cool!!!

The Belize Zoo: Keeping true to itsreputation of being The Best Little Zooin the World!!!!

Zoo Director Sharon Matola introduces the children to Alvin, the Roadside Hawk.


Guatemala strikes gold at 1st Central AmericanGuatemala strikes gold at 1st Central AmericanGuatemala strikes gold at 1st Central AmericanGuatemala strikes gold at 1st Central AmericanGuatemala strikes gold at 1st Central AmericanCross CountrCross CountrCross CountrCross CountrCross Country Track & Field Championshipsy Track & Field Championshipsy Track & Field Championshipsy Track & Field Championshipsy Track & Field Championships

The quiet bedroom community ofLord’s Bank was a beehive of activitySaturday morning, Febraury 23 assome 80 athletes from Costa Rica, Gua-temala, Salvador and Nicaragua con-verged for the first ever Regional CrossCountry track and field competition.

The Central American Isthmus Ath-letic Confederation (CADICA)awarded the Belize Amateur AthleticAssociation the privilege to be the firstto host of this historical event.

A 2 kilometre course was mappedout over pristine terrain within theLord’s Bank area. The Guatemalans,accustomed to training in the moun-tains, had a decided advantage with

more oxygen in their system whenthey came down to the flat terrain atsea level. They swept five of the sixgold medals, including both the Fe-male 8,000 metre Open and the Male12,000 meter Open. They also wongolds in the Junior A Female 6,000meters, Male 8,000 meters and Jun-ior B Male 6,000 meters as well asfour silver and 3 bronze medals.

The El Salvador contingent won onegold and a bronze in the Junior B fe-male 4,000 meter and two silvers. TheCosta Ricans won one silver in themale open.

Team Belize won no medals butmight easily have won the award forGood Sportsmanship, if there wereone. Part of the reason for the lack ofBelize success in this event is the factthat the Belize Amateur Athletic As-sociation has no long distance devel-opment programme for our athletes;they tend to focus on developing ath-letes for the sprints and shorter dis-tances.

The girls from El Salvador won one gold and a bronze in the Junior B female 4,000 meter.

The Guatemalans took 5 of the 6 gold medals, including both the Female 8,000 meter Open and the Male 12,000 meter Open, theJunior A: Female 6,000 meter, Male 8,000 meter and Junior B Male 6,000 meter, 4 silvers and 3 bronze medals.

BNE Canoe wins Boom to CitBNE Canoe wins Boom to CitBNE Canoe wins Boom to CitBNE Canoe wins Boom to CitBNE Canoe wins Boom to City racey racey racey racey raceB

The Belize Natural Energy canoe,paddled by Elmer, Efrain and Felix Cruz(formerly the Pine Lumber team) finallytriumphed against their arch -rivals, theBelize Bank team - Armin Lopez,Amado Cruz and Daniel Cruz in theBoom to Belize City canoe race onSunday, February 25.

The Belize Canoe Association(BCAnoe) organized the race as a sortof dress rehearsal for the annual La RutaMaya River Challenge race, coming up

for the March 9 weekend.Some 20 canoes had begun the race

in Burrell Boom and when the first ca-noes came in sight at the Belcan Bridgein Belize City, the Belize Bank team wasleading with the BNE canoe diggingpaddles in the sprint to the finish.

By the time they reached the bridge,the BNE canoe had overhauled, theBelize Bank team to finish in 2:51:15,one second ahead of the Belize Bankteam.

The BNE canoe (right) overhauls the Belize Bank team.

The BNE team receives their $800 prize and trophy from Elvin Penner of BCAnoe.


made its people among the poorest in theworld.

He said he “almost cried” on a recent trip toChetumal when he saw all the new stores, high-way expansions and standard of living of thepeople compared to Belize which he termeda “disgrace.” He said he had to “drive overpiles of garbage to enter Belize City, that tome is a sign our leaders have lost hope.”

Dueck dismisses the current oppositionUDP saying they have “nothing to offer” andthat while the PUP newspaper’s motto is“The truth shall set you free, the lies beingtold to the Belizean people have done justthe opposite of setting them free.”

Dueck challenged the independence ofBelize’s judiciary, “You just have to see theperson charged last name to know the ver-dict… This diplomat that came fromPanama, we know already the outcome forhim.. That no justice will be served as longas this government is control.”

The NRP platform is decidedly pro-fam-ily and a stable home life is a requirementfor candidacy. The party leader introducedhis wife and children and Bejeranoundescored the party’s position on the opendisplay of sweetheart relationships by mem-bers of the government, “We believe ahealthy family structure is the foundation fora strong nation. We believe in the principleof a leader being faithful to ONE partner…ifa leader cannot lead or rule his house well itwill be difficult for him to lead a nation.”

In terms of foreign policy direction forBelize, Dueck was unequivocal: “I don’tthink we should look to Chavez for help. Idon’t think he has the solution for Belize. Idon’t think Cuba has the solution for Belize.I don’t think China has the solution forBelize, but the United States has the solu-tion we need.”

The Israeli flag was displayed prominentlyat the launch and when asked by a memberof the press why, Dueck said, “The Biblesays anyone who blesses Israel shall beblessed and anyone who curses it shall becursed.” But the party is not connected inany way to the State of Israel. Dueck claimsnumerous regional governments and friendsin Washington want to see Belize become a“praise” for God.

Dueck urged anyone so frustrated withthe current situation who may be contem-plating leaving the country “to hang on” awhile longer and have courage because “ achange is coming to Belize.”

He was reluctant to name his backersbefore consulting with them. But he did sayhe has significant backing from Belizeanbusinessmen....leading many to speculateabout just who these big “investors” are.Who else has a private plane to fly him toPanana? The Lord? Susy & Sally? Arethey providing, and will they continue toprovide come election time? The peoplewant to know not just who will be fundingNRP’s campaign but all the other parties’campaigns.


MoralitMoralitMoralitMoralitMoralityyyyy vs money vs money vs money vs money vs money

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