friday, february 2, 2007 the independent reformer page 1...

Friday, February 2, 2007 The INdependent Reformer

INdependent for the People

Vol. 2 No. 5 Friday, February 2, 2007 $1.00

Inside this Issue

The

(Please Turn To Page 13)


How Stupid CanWe Be? PART II

pg 3

Dis Da Fu We...Addiction

pg. 4

Slash and Burnpg. 5

World of Richespg. 7

Reformer

by Des ParrettFollowing some excitement over a

previous article on oil in Belize, (FridayJanuary 19th edition) INdependent Re-former Weekly spoke with SpanishLookout oil consultant Jim Cavanaugh.

We met at his home and noted he hasfour computers on desks around theroom and charts, degrees, certificatesand documents on the walls, and in neatpiles on chairs and filing cabinets. Heobviously lives with his work.

IW. How was it possible for a smallcompany like Belize Natural Energy todiscover oil in Belize?

JC. “Let’s get the perceptions cor-rect. BNE did NOT discover oil inBelize. They discovered a new fieldat Spanish Lookout. We have knownfor many years that there was oil herein Belize.”

IW. But I understood that there were50 dry holes before the BNE discov-ery.

JC. “That is not true. They were

Belize Oil - Boon or BaneBelize Oil - Boon or BaneBelize Oil - Boon or BaneBelize Oil - Boon or BaneBelize Oil - Boon or BaneNOT all “dry” holes; some did indeedhave oil, but could not be producedprofitably. A number of wells weredrilled near Belmopan years ago thatfound oil. With low oil prices, and nooil infrastructure, it was not economi-cal to produce them, so they were shutin, but they are still there and so isthe oil. These wells clearly establishedthat we had oil in Belize.”

IW. Isn’t it unusual though for a smalloil company like BNE to drill in a re-mote place like Belize?

JC. “More than unusual. It was dueto the excellent geology studies ofSusan Morrice plus tremendous cour-age on the part of the company in-vestors to tackle such a high riskwildcat. Many of us petroleum ge-ologists were taking “vacations” toBelize checking oil prospects rightafter the OPEC oil embargo in 1972-73 when oil shot up to $40 a barrel. Icame here with ARCO and there werealso geologists from Marathon, Gulf,

Phillips, Anschutz and others check-ing out the oil potential. We had ourchance but our companies did nothave the courage or conviction todrill. In their defense, though, theeconomics were pretty borderline asthe price of oil dropped steadily tounder $10. The key factor is thatmajor oil companies lost interestwhile Susan Morrice didn’t.”

IW. How did BNE know where theoil was?

JC. “They didn’t. There is no tech-nology that tells us WHERE the oilis, only where it might be. BNE usedseismic studies to identify structuresin the subsurface that could possiblystore oil if it were present. Theydrilled on one of these structures andthe result was a Cinderella story ofsuccess. It wasn’t due to a FairyGodmother though, it was due togood geology coupled with intelligentuse of complex petroleum technol-

Last week the government announcedit was lowering pump prices by a shilling.What they didn’t tell you was they weresimultaneously raising the tax you pay forthat fuel.

They do it all the time. Whether acqui-sition prices go up, or down, worldwide.Jump high, jump low they pump us somemore. We see on international news whereoil has gone from $70 to $50 a barrel overthe past few months. Have you seen amajor drop in your expenditure at the gasstation? I didn’t think so. Please don’tforce me tell the pol-lies where to put thatshilling….

Belize has what is the clearly the undis-puted highest rate of energy taxes in theentire western hemisphere. And we aresupposedly an oil producing and self suf-ficient power generation country. But,where are the revenues from that oil weexport? Government has not collected apenny from the exporters who extract ourhydrocarbons; yet, we tax imported hy-

Belizean consumer!.There is layer upon layer of taxes, fees,

and commissions on imported fuels: RRD,import duty,environmental tax, distributiontax, safety fees, storage fees, and aboutthree layers of government price-con-trolled commissions based on a less thantransparent formula. The formula is ad-justed every time a new shipment comesin too with a new law called a statutoryinstrument or SI that no one ever gets tosee. We tried repeatedly.

Belize imports approximately 11 milliongallons of regular gasoline a year and iscurrently paying the importer $3.62 BZdollars a gallon (or US $1.81 a gallon).Bizarrely, prices at the pump after the vari-ous layers of taxes is a whopping BZ$9.33a gallon (or is US $4.665)! That’s almostthree times the acquisition cost in de factoconsumption taxes. Why?

The rich people of Belize have all sortsof avenues to avoid the excessive fuel taxes:free zones qualification (the green placason their SUV’s), honorary consuls (red

placas), non-resident Belize ambassadorsto far away places, statutory boards (yel-low placas, including Lucas’ port-o-let),special epz’s to the favorite few, and de-velopment concessions to the other folksincluding the airport. No, the treasury-raiders pay no taxes on fuels, no importduty, no taxes on their containers—insome cases no taxes period. These preda-tors get government to pay and protectthem at the same time, in return they findways to channel resources to the minis-ters’ private collection agencies.

Despite their sins, they and their col-laborators remain in a state of grace, if thelong lines receiving communion at Massare any indication. They also have the au-dacity to announce “poverty alleviation strat-egies” while pumping the poor and middleclass for all they are worth when they try tofill their car, boat or ride the bus or take a taxi.

Yes, GOB, in case you have not noticed,the beggars on the street you just deigned togive wa li shilling to, are taxi drivers, fisherfolk, bus riders, the small family businesses,

RAM PUSS TRAM PUSS TRAM PUSS TRAM PUSS TRAM PUSS TAAAAAXXXXXGOB’s Rake n’ Scrape Energy PolicyGOB’s Rake n’ Scrape Energy PolicyGOB’s Rake n’ Scrape Energy PolicyGOB’s Rake n’ Scrape Energy PolicyGOB’s Rake n’ Scrape Energy Policy

drocarbons in excess of 250% up front.They are supposed to tax the extractorsat 40% of a very flexible net revenue ratewhile imports are taxed on their CIF grossvalue. Yet instead they take 250% off the


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Conflict of interest atthe Bar

At the Crossroads!Dear Editor,

The signed May 31st 2006 Invest-ment Agreement selling 46.59% of theGrower’s wholly owned assets in CPBL(Citrus Products of Belize Ltd.) to aStrategic Investor BWPL (Blue Waters)is at the heart of a controversy. This is-sue has to come to a head.

The Committee of Management of theCitrus Growers Association (CGA) arethe architects of this crisis themselves:rather than convene a Special Generalmeeting to inform citrus growers as tothe details of the Investment Agreementsigned, the CGA Committee of Man-agement chose instead to use such anoccasion to oust a sitting Director, DenzilJenkins.

Grower’s instructions for the Com-mittee of Five to oversee the processof incorporating recommendations intoa supplementary agreement were ig-nored.

These epic failures in procedure areamong others and could rightly be de-scribed as corporate arrogance in thiswhole affair. However, the CGA Com-mittee was duly authorized to act by itsmembership. to second guess this in-struction is now secondary to this fact.Notwithstanding, these actions haveeroded CGA’s moral authority to gov-ern.

The industry is at a crossroads! It re-quires logical and rational reasoning todetermine how best to proceed fromthis juncture.

To pursue an agenda at this stageseeking “to set aside” the May 31st

2006 Investment Agreement will, in myopinion, move the citrus industry fromconfusion to chaos. I will not partici-pate in this. I stand by the recommen-dations of the Committee of Five and

General meeting and an Annual Gen-eral meeting on the same day. This iswithout precedent and can only be con-sidered frivolous and not in the best in-terest of seeking a solution to ending thecontroversy.

The Machiavellian theory speaks tothe importance of the end game. At thisjuncture, we must choose to put the bestinterest of our citrus industry first andforemost. To do otherwise is to put iton a course whereby this 93 year oldindustry as we know it to exist today,will self-destruct. Perhaps it is time forthose of us in the old guard to step back,and allow some of the bright, freshminds clearly evident within the rank andfile of CGA’s membership, to step upand be allowed to make their contribu-tion.

This process must be guided by fruitsof the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5-22) and tonot rely on the shallowness of our wis-dom as the flesh is too anxious to prac-tice strife, jealousy, and outburst of an-ger, disputes, dissensions, envy, factionsand discord.

I appeal to the Committee of Man-agement to work with the petitioners ofthe Special AGM and agree on the oc-casion of our Annual General meetingand not confuse the two.

Sincerely,Anthony Chanona JPCitrus Grower

believe all recommendations should beexecuted in its purest form by a newlyelected Committee of Management.The signed supplementary needs to beverified; CPBL must submit its valueadded plan and the principle of 51%control must be firmly established.

The fact is that some members of theCommittee of Management participatedin procedural wrongdoing. These per-sons are Messers. Raymond, Bowman,Scott, Polack, Donnard and Willacy.Others are accused of pursuing a hid-den agenda; Denzil suggested at the lastAGM that growers would be better offselling 100% of CPBL for $20 milliondollars so why the issue now of 51%for $25 million. In order to clear the airof all these perceptions, all Directorsof CGA Committee should agree tocompromse and resign and seek to re-new the trust and credibility of the grow-ers. Let the industry find a way to washitself with the transparency of a freshmandate to govern and deal with the is-sues; real or perceived.

We must encourage our strategic in-vestors to continue to act in good faithand harmonize this partnership. Theyhave, after all, agreed to amend a signeddocument. CGA must demonstrate andeducate the membership to the eco-nomic benefits of this arrangement.

The citrus industry needs to be ableto take full advantage of current highworld market prices, benefit growersand garner desperate foreign exchangefor our country. It cannot do so in ahostile and heightened environment ofuncertainty that could damage our mar-kets.

The current Committee of Manage-ment has the responsibility to exhaustthe process of dialogue and manage thesituation. It is unreasonable and not ra-tional to attempt to convene a Special (Please Turn To Page 15)

Dear Editor,I find it laughable that the Bar Asso-

ciation was recently used as a good ex-ample of a self-policing regime. I havepersonal knowledge of one instancewhere a MAJOR Belize City law firmwas representing an individual facing

Letter to the EditorLetter to the EditorLetter to the EditorLetter to the EditorLetter to the Editor


How Stupid Can We Be?How Stupid Can We Be?How Stupid Can We Be?How Stupid Can We Be?How Stupid Can We Be?PART II(Continued from last week)By Cornelius Dueck,Chairman,National Reform Party

“Any way you look at it, we will bepaying more than BZ $ 2.6 BILLIONfor this new loan that will not provideus with any benefit or relief whatsoever.”

The UDP and the PUP are no differ-ent from each other, except that one isin power, raking it in; and the other oneis expecting to get in power to rake itin. Neither one have proved to be goodto us, to their native country.

The following explanation is a verifi-able truth, down to the penny. It is anexample of how bad this deal is, andhow secretive they both (the PUP andthe UDP) have kept it from all of us.But no longer, the NRP is hereby dis-closing the real deal:

This loan is being sold to us as a newloan to pay back some of the oldmoney. There is no room to use any ofthis money to invest anywhere for theBenefit of Belize. We are at the end ofour rope!

The US$565 Million is to be usedonly to pay off interest owed for justpart of the previous loans, and to buyback principal of US$ $516 Million forsome of the previous low-interest loans.Basically refinancing less than one halfof our total debt, but sinking all of usinto a debt for the tune of US $ 1.305BILLION.

The fact is that Musa is buying backless than half our debt for almost threetimes as much. Of course, the pay-ments for the first few years will be veryaffordable, but he is throwing us frompoverty to perpetual misery, and theUDP is perfectly fine with it!

Clearly, you can see that Musa is bor-rowing, on our behalf, a lot of money,at much higher interest rates,to pay offlower interest loans. This will soon bringabout a “state of public emergency”blatantly violating the “protection of thefundamental rights and freedoms” as setforth in our Constitution… And theUDP is perfectly fine with it!

On the surface, it appears that the in-terest rates for this new loan are ad-vantageous to Belize, but not so!

While during the first ten years wehave to pay just interest, we will pay atleast US$ 488 Million in interest aloneand we will still owe the entire US$565Million.

As you can read in the chart (avail-able at www.nationalreformparty.com)the first interest payment will be due onthe 20th of August of this year and itwill be only for US $ 12 Million. Weneed to make a payment every sixmonths. Then, on February 20, 2009,the interest payment goes up to US $16 Million every six months, and upagain on February 20, 2012 to US $24 Million, until August 20, 2019. Sofar, we would have paid the US $ 488Million, and we still owe the entirety of

the US $565 Million. If you follow thechart, you will realize that on August 20,2019, the payment jumps up to US$52.2 Million, and goes down to theend of the loan for a final payment ofUS$ 29.5 Million.

We would have paid US $ 740.15Million in interest. When you add theinterest and principal payments for thisloan, it amounts to a total of US$1,305,150,000; this is well over US$1.3 BILLION… and the UDP is per-fectly fine with it!

Any way you look at it, we will bepaying more than BZ $ 2.6 BILLION

vestigative process, Musa and his teamshall be held accountable for all theircriminal negligence toward our coun-try and charged with treason, not cor-ruption.

Currently the Belizean Bonds aretraded at around 50 cents on the dollar,that is at about half their original price,but Musa wants to buy them back pay-ing more than twice their market price.On the Bond Exchange chart, you canread the details of the bonds that Musaintends to purchase back at their fullprice. Adding insult to injury, Musa andhis “friends” are giving our money away,

has taken us back to slavery, but of themodern kind, slaves to the creditors…and the UDP is perfectly fine with it!

The entire parliament and the mediain Belize, and those who have writtenmany times about this issue, have basedtheir facts only on bits and pieces ofconfusing information released by theGOB. The GOB would never releasethe level of information the NRP is re-leasing, because anyone with a simplecalculator would discover how bad ofa deal this one is. The UDP has neitherthe brains nor the will to understand orto analyze this deal as we have done,much less to care about it.

For the first time, the parliament, theBelizean people, as well as all the me-dia in Belize, can read the actual facts,figures, and the terms and conditions ofthe US $ 565 Million bond issue. Withgreat pride we, the NRP, bring this toyou, for the benefit of us all. Dubiousand shady business-dealings by ourGovernment has to stop. We must, to-gether, make it stop and reverse the di-rection in which Musa and his cronies,and the UDP have lead Belize in the pasteight years!

I am basing this writing on facts andfigures never before available to any-one in Belize, to individuals or even toour Parliament. These figures are onlydisclosed by Musa’s bankers to theirinvestors and bondholders, to benefitthem in detriment of Belize… And theUDP is perfectly fine with it!

The entirety of the bond issue in theofficial Offering Memorandum can beread or downloaded from our officialinformation web site atwww.nationalreformparty.com.

The NRP is committed to fully dis-close any and all transactions during itsadministration. The insults have got tostop. The Belizean people shall betreated with respect, and from nowown, we need to hold the administra-tions accountable for everything theydo.

for this new loan that will not provideus with any benefit or relief whatsoever.Musa pretends us to pay back his be-trayal to the country by taking out ofour pockets Bz $ 52 per month perevery man, woman and child, from nowuntil February 20, 2029. If you have afamily of 5, your load will be about Bz$ 518 per month! This is the madnessof Musa and his team… They left cor-ruption far behind, they are now in tothe level of high treason… And the UDPis perfectly fine with it!

We have witnessed many times in theprevious administrations, whether UDPor PUP, that they soon become em-ployees for foreign interests, they turninto exclusive agents for the bankers andtheir friends to rape Belize. Both, thePUP and the UDP have offered nothingtangible to rescue the country from ourincreasing poverty, deep ignorance, le-thargic attitude, and worst of all, theyhave neglected to respect us as indi-viduals as well as the people for whomthey work.

As corruption requires a lengthy in-

as cash incentives, to lure the brokers,advisor, and consultants to take the dealas if this deal would be detrimental tothem. The net increase in our currentdebt is US $ 35.9 Million, and whileMusa tries to sell us big savings, he isgiving away US $ 50.7 Million in cashincentives and commissions. This is un-acceptable! … And the UDP is per-fectly fine with it!

Musa could care less, he will be outto pasture in 2008, leaving Belize in thedark ages, poorer than before, withouthope or a chance to recover, ill andsick, ignorant and surrendered to hisgreed, plainly said: in deep misery. Thiswill be his legacy and that of his team…and all the people working for him willbe left with a dirty and turbid con-science for generations to come.

Musa, as Prime Minister and as anindividual, and his friends in power,along with the foreign bankers andcreditors not only continuously insult ourintelligence but have placed Belize, andits noble people, at the top of the list ofthe stupidest people in the world. Musa


Dis Da Fu We - addictionDis Da Fu We - addictionDis Da Fu We - addictionDis Da Fu We - addictionDis Da Fu We - addiction


“I know the odds of damage tolife and rim are high, as high asthe crackheads who will greet me

at my destination…yet I press on..”

By: Karla Heusner VernonMy windshield wipers are working

overtime in the pouring rain and the de-froster is on high. I glance at the clockon the dashboard: 10:30 pm. Defyingall reason, I have left the comfort of mywarm, dry home to drive ten miles ofthe darkest, most treacherous strip ofroad in all of Belize.

I know the possibility of death is real:I have passed more than one potentialmurderer already. They drive, not withdue care and attention to your head-lights, but veer unexpectedly, even ag-gressively, into your lane in a futile at-tempt to avoid portions of the highwaywhich has broken off and floated down-stream or mysteriously sunk from viewtaking—it is rumored—a number ofcompact cars and motor scooters withit.

I know the odds of damage to life andrim are high, as high as the crackheadswho will greet me at my destination…yetI press on..

I have to. I have to get my fix.

Good, they are still open. I pull up tothe curb and approach the window. Theproprietor peers out suspiciouslythrough the bars. I put my money onthe counter and lean forward so onlyshe can hear, “Five dollar chicken,breast. Catsup on the side.”

She looks at me, the slightest hint ofsorrow in her eyes. I can see her own

family at a table in the background.They wield their chopsticks with dex-terity, quickly and efficiently picking upmorsels of steamed rice and a greenstringy vegetable of some sort. If thereis meat or chicken or fish on the table, I

can’t see it. The whole family is slimand healthy looking. They’re probablydrinking anti-oxidant green tea to spiteme.

I order a soft drink, the non-diet kind,just to be defiant.

I get back in the car and head up theroad, tugging at the plastic bag with onehand to try and free the food. The heat

of the contents radiates from thestyrofoam container onto my lap.

I fumble in the dark, trying to get atthe food without getting catsup on myclothing— give myself away when I gethome. With luck, the family will be

asleep and never know, or even sus-pect, what I had done.

Damn, I hope there are some babywipes in the glove compartment; thegrease on my hands might affect mycontrol of the car. Images of the acci-dent scene flash before me, the newsreport: “An open container of chickenwas found in the front seat, the food ap-parently scattered on impact.”

Reaching down with one hand, I ripoff a piece of breast meat and raise it tomy mouth. The crispy skin crunches al-most audibly. Gosh I love skin. I knowI am not alone. A man ahead of me inline once ordered “Five dolla skin! Lottapeppa!”

At least I have not reached that pointof no return. When not even the chickenturns you on, just the outer covering.

Don’t get me wrong, like so manyBelizeans, perhaps even some of youreading this, I have tried to quit. Go coldturkey. Or even eat turkey instead ofchicken. Make a healthy choice by or-


I am mot i -vated to write insuppor t of“Belize’s FamilyFarms” but wantto make it pain-fully clear that,in this global-ized world, I do

Get ready to Slash & Burn”Get ready to Slash & Burn”Get ready to Slash & Burn”Get ready to Slash & Burn”Get ready to Slash & Burn”By: Trevor Vernon

not wish to advocate for the deathof the ADMs of the world…the“supermarkets of the world” amongus. There is a need for both “familyfarming” and mechanized farming. Itis government’s role to strike thatnot-so-delicate balance and ourrole, as citizens, to become advo-cates of it.

I learned a little about “slash &burn” farming, as it were, from Brit-ish textbooks at St Mary’s Primaryin Belize City. Only, the clear infer-ence was that this practice was lessthan noble. For the longest time Icouldn’t bridge the gap and iden-tify with this traditional practice.You see, farming hasn’t been partof my consciousness other than be-ing raised the son of a gentlemanfarmer. Farming is not fun but itbrings great pleasure to watch apiece of raw bush being turned intoa beautiful cash generation or food-for-the-table machine, I hear….

So what I have to say will focusless on technical correctness andmore along the lines of much neededlong term-survivability plans of aloose grouping of people as op-posed to a specific cultural heritagegrouping. For the purpose of thiswriting, all forms of non-mecha-nized, non-chemical traditionalfarming will be labeled: slash &burn (since there is more to slash& burn than Milpa alone).

I just happen to be more familiarwith the “plantaish-style” slash &burn of the Belize River Valley ex-perience. The Garinagu have aword they use for the farm, too:arab. But it’s the same basic selfsufficient farming practice thatdoesn’t use heavy equipment or toomuch chemicals or genetic modifi-cation of the product. Slightly dif-ferent fruits and veg production butsame basic self sufficiency concept.Since, the time may well come whenall Belizean families will need to de-velop our own productive gardens,I cannot in good conscience con-done the “demonification” of thisway of life. Hell, I just had a piglet“smoked” for the holidaze and itdoesn’t get any better than that.

Self sufficiency farming not onlyheld rural families together acrossthis land, it ensured that the cultures

were strengthened in contributing tothe search for a common identity ofBelizeans, wherever they may haveroamed to, or from.

So I say a little “slash and burn”in whatever language isn’t all bad ifit:

1) strengthens the family unit inrural areas

2) eases the pressure on urbanmigration

3) strengthens and seeks topreserve the cultures: Maya, MayaMopan, Yucateca Maya, Garifuna,Kriol, others

4) gets us away from the GreatSaid Tax (GST)

5) provides for a healthierlifestyle

6) gets us away from the ex-cessive world of imported pro-cessed foods

But how do you compete with thepowerful images of the flashy andcushy lifestyles our people see ontelevision? How do you tell a young(wo)man from any rural area thatthe imported processed productsthey see on TV are inferior to ourhome grown products? They wantthe good life they see on TV too, atany costs, and Milpas not cutting it.Every young teen wants to smell

like Calvin Klein, not like burntcow-horn...if you can relate.

To be forced on a farm withbearing fruits is to be fed to the bit-ing and blood sucking insects. Noteveryone’s cup of tea. Traditionalfarming is hard and oftentimes

thankless, fruitless work… espe-cially since the crack cocainescourge descended on Belize andrefuse to leave us alone. I hear thisregularly from a “conocido” inXaibe. That crack scourge has ap-parently been a key factor in de-stroying the Milpa way of life. Healso blames Mexican Novelas andaccess to regular television viewingin general too. But most of all, heblames the environmentalists, the“greenies” as he calls them withscorn, the most… I don’t think it’sjustified.

Today we can’t get our people todo any kind of self sufficient farm-ing and that ought to be a greatchallenge to our leaders. All ourleaders: political, spiritual, and busi-ness leaders. And let’s not forgetthe media. Thank God they don’tplay that “Ganja Farmer” song asmuch on the radio anymore, be-cause the youths do need to learn alittle roots tradition, and learn some

survivalist skills in the slash & burn.The Agr icul tura l Show in

Belmopan is only once a year, andthe promotion of subsistence farm-ing underemphasized totally. Weonly seem to have the shows be-cause we are accustomed to hav-ing them; but, lamentably it hassurely lost its soul. And, yes, I amaware there are other agriculturalshows in different parts but they arenot national and not focused on pro-moting farming traditions.

Yes, we cannot rely on “slash &burn” family plots to provide uswith any trading advantage on anycommercial stage, at the macrolevel; but we sure can encourage itto strive for the six point objectivelaid out above.

One of my favorite restaurants inWashington, DC that served Presi-dents and Princesses and PrimeMinisters, boasted of having their“garden” on top of the restaurantfrom where some of their veggiescame. They didn’t have to slash andburn but they had their own self suf-ficient garden, in the middle of thatconcrete jungle.

That’s why I loved the place: so-phisticated but with a touch of downhome family value reality. I tookmany important people there to eatand to this day, they don’t knowwhy. They think it was for the booksand the beautiful people. Little dothey know.

So, there ought to be a place inthis new Belize for the “slash &burn”. What are our leaders afraidof: a national revolt? We knowPanama’s Nore iga made the“Collins” (machete) unpopular butwith the right images we can turnthat around.

So, there ought to be aplace in this new Belizefor the “slash & burn”.


Shrimp questions begging answersShrimp questions begging answersShrimp questions begging answersShrimp questions begging answersShrimp questions begging answersBy Mary Toy

In response to Minister GodfreySmith’s column, “Flashpoint” in theBelize Times two weeks ago on Belize’sshrimp industry, I don’t know how any-one can make an intelligent and in-formed decision about the benefits andadvisability of subsidizing aquaculturewithout the following information:

1. Employment at shrimp farmsand other aquaculture operations.

a. How many employees make mini-mum wage (or under minimum wage)?

b. How many employees are techni-cal staff and how many of the technicalstaff are Belizeans?

c. How many employees are sea-sonal and/or part time?

d. How many employees are pro-fessionals, and how many are Belizeans?

e. What are the wage scales for eachcategory of employee and how manyemployees are in each wage scale divi-sion?

What is the average wage of the low-est tier and seasonal employees?

f. How many of the minimum wageand seasonal employees receive anyemployee benefits?

g. How many days per year on theaverage does a seasonal worker workon shrimp farms, other types of aquac-ulture operations, shrimp processingfacilities and shrimp hatcheries? Whatdo they do the rest of the time?

h. How many of the minimum wageand seasonal employees are women?How many women are technical andprofessional staff?

i. How many employees are underthe age of 16?

j. How many employees who workat shrimp farms, hatcheries, processingplants and other aquaculture operations

are Belize citizens and how many are ille-gal immigrants?

2. Aquaculture training and educa-tional programs.

a. What kind of educational programsare available for in-house training for tech-nical and professional positions?

b. Do the shrimp farms/aquaculturefacilities have programs to send Belizeansfor training outside the country?

c. How many Belizeans have beentrained and promoted as the result of anysuch programs?

3. Environmental aspects of shrimpfarming and other aquaculture enter-prises.

a. What kind of testing is done to de-termine effects on local

ecosystems (such as the Placencia La-goon)?

b. Who does the testing, how often isit done, and where are the test resultsavailable?

c. Have the effluent regulations for theaquaculture industry been changed so thatan adjustment is made for the smallamount of effluent in a gallon of waterwhen multiplied by millions of gallons ofwater that is channeled back into localrivers, streams and lagoons? (This wasalways one of the problems with watertesting regulations in Belize with respectto the aquaculture industry. The amount

of effluent from a farm is low in smallquantities of water, but the amountof effluent dumped into local water-ways can be very high because ofthe massive amounts of water thatcontain the effluent.)

b. What is the cost to the local andnational government to provide servicesto aquaculture facilities and their em-ployees - such as medical care, hous-ing, schools, police, fire protection, roadmaintenance, etc.?

Caribbean Netnews.comby Watson R. Denis, Ph.D

On December 20, 2006, the UnitedNations General Assembly adopted aresolution entitled: “Towards the Sus-tainable Development of the CaribbeanSea for present and future generations”(A/C.2/61/L.30). This resolution differsfrom previous resolutions (54/225, 55/203, 57/261 and 59/230) adopted bythe UN in that its declared objectivesare unequivocal. Upon careful exami-nation, the resolution is an achievementin light of efforts made almost a decadeago by organisations in the region in-cluding CARICOM and the Associa-tion of Caribbean States (ACS) to se-cure the recognition of the CaribbeanSea as a special area in the context ofsustainable development by the inter-

national community. It is timely to high-light the main points presented in this newresolution.

First of all, in its preamble and intro-duction, the resolution refers to the inter-national instruments (reports, conferencesand declarations) regarding environmen-tal issues as well as conventions on theprotection and enhancement of the ma-rine environment of the Caribbean regionand the United Nations Convention onthe Law of the Sea. Indeed, it makes ref-erence to the major issues regarding sus-tainable development discussed by the in-ternational community in recent years.

Moreover, among the natural phenom-ena that compelled the members of theUN to adopt this resolution, they cite thefragility of the ecosystem of the Carib-bean space and the economic vulnerabil-

The Greater Caribbean this Week:The Greater Caribbean this Week:The Greater Caribbean this Week:The Greater Caribbean this Week:The Greater Caribbean this Week:New UN Resolution on the Caribbean SeaNew UN Resolution on the Caribbean SeaNew UN Resolution on the Caribbean SeaNew UN Resolution on the Caribbean SeaNew UN Resolution on the Caribbean Sea

ity of the region. The resolution thusunderscores the importance of climatechanges and variations, the intensityof natural disasters, primarily drought,hurricanes and volcanic eruptions.

And among the human phenomena,they make mention of the intensive useof the Sea for transportation, as wellas marine pollution, both land-basedand from vessels, which, out at sea,sometimes release waste and waste-water, not forgetting the accidentaldischarge of dangerous and toxic sub-stances.

The adoption of the resolution is alsobased on efforts undertaken by theStates and countries of the region topreserve the coastal and marine re-sources of which they are guardiansand their expressed will to improve

the management of the Sea in the con-text of sustainable development. In thisregard, the resolution salutes the workand initiatives undertaken by the ACS,including the establishment of the Car-ibbean Sea Commission and the adop-tion of a definition of the concept of theCaribbean Sea as a special zone, whichwere hitherto lacking.

In view of the foregoing, the resolu-tion highlights a number of reasons whythe Caribbean Sea deserves to be pro-tected and preserved for present andfuture generations. In this regard, envi-ronmental motives are added to the so-cial and economic realities. Mention ismade of its exceptional biodiversity andvery fragile ecosystem. This is coupledwith the fact that it is a source of eco(Please Turn To Page 7)

d. Has the shrimp farm industrycontributed anything to environmen-tal programs in areas in which theshrimp farms/aquaculture facilities arelocated?

e. What happens to the waste fromthe shrimp processing plants?

f. What measures are in place toclean up bodies of water that havebeen adversely affected by shrimpfarm/aquaculture effluent? Are shrimpfarms/other aquaculture facilities re-quired to contribute to any fund so thatmoney is available for clean-ups? Ifso, how much is in this fund? If not,where does this money come from?

g. What is the effect of self-regula-tion on Belize’s certification of shrimpby the European Union?

4. Aquaculture’s effects on lo-cal/national economies.

a. What effect do shrimp farms haveon the economies in the areas in whichthey are located? We know that theypay no taxes to local taxing authori-ties, so what do they contribute to thelocal economies?

5. Shrimp farm and aquacultureenterprise ownership.

How many cabinet ministers, senatorsand area representatives have a finan-cial interest in shrimp farms and otheraquaculture enterprises? How much?(And don’t say that’s none of our busi-ness. This is the type of informationthey’re already supposed to be disclos-ing under existing law.)

6. Aquaculture economics.a. How much of a subsidy will it take

to make Belize competitive in a worldmarket?

b. How much of a return will the gov-ernment get back for any subsidies ortax holidays granted to the aquacultureindustry?

c. How long will these subsidies ortax holidays be sufficient to remain com-petitive?

d. What are the alternatives, e.g., arethere other industries that have less ofan environmental impact and a greaterreturn on investment that would be abetter investment?

Farmed shrimp for processing

Shrimp farms use a lot of water and effluents into a watershed can be a problem.


By Meb Cutlack

Opening HoursMonday - Saturday 6 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.Sunday & Holidays 7 a.m. - 7:30 pm.Breakfast Lunch and Diner

A World of Riches awaits Belize

(Continued from Page 6)nomic and material well-being for a

number of countries in the region. In thisregard, the resolution invites MemberStates to become Contracting Partiesto the relevant international agreementsaimed at strengthening maritime secu-rity and promoting the protection of themarine environment of the sea againstpollution, as well as implementing sus-tainable management programmes forfish stock and implementingprogrammes to counter the impoverish-ment of marine biodiversity.

The resolution also encourages theinitiatives embarked on by the Statesand countries of the region to createconditions favourable to sustainabledevelopment and to fight against pov-erty and inequality. It also salutes thework undertaken thus far by the ACSin the areas of sustainable tourism,trade, transport and natural disasters.

In view of the immensity of the taskahead, the Parties to the resolution re-quest the support of the United Nationsorgans, including the Global Environ-mental Fund and the international com-munity, for the work of the countries ofthe region as well as environmental pro-tection organisations. In fact, a general

The ups and downs of cruise shiptourism will, no doubt, be with us fordecades to come. The one sure thing isthat, while putting direct cash everyweek into the government’s bottomlesspockets, the business does little finan-cial or philosophical good to the ma-jority of Belizeans and is both intrusiveof the life and living of Belizeans.

Ecotourism, and the sustainable useof our natural resources, however, is away in which Belizeans can be enrichedtoday and tomorrow and the secretsof their well-being safeguarded far intothe future.

Natural healing is a huge and lucra-tive market which is a part of this vi-sion. Nurtured, it can enrich all the dis-tricts of Belize, as well as the citizensof Belize City.

Throughout Belize today there aremany natural healers. Their work andtalent, practicality and usefulness are anaccepted way of healthy living amonga great many Belizeans.

They practice their art with an easyand deceptive familiarity but, it comesfrom lifetimes of wisdom gatheredthrough personal experience, passeddown through generation via demon-stration and oral tradition and inte-grated as part of the daily lives of many

Fever. Below is a list of many other ill-nesses which healers claim are treatedsuccessfully, naturally.

Asthma, Blood Poisoning, Bronchi-tis, Cholera, Colds, Colic in Children,Constipation, Chronic Cough withPhlegm, Whooping Cough, Dementia,Diarrhea, Earache, Eczema, Fever, In-fluenza, Gout, Headache, Indigestion,Insomnia, Menstrual Irregularities, Ner-vousness, Night Sweats, Enlarged Pros-tate, Ulcers, and hundreds more con-ditions.

Among the many practitioners of natu-ral healing in the Cayo region there is abody which already specializes in

their own inner guidance. Some of theirmethods have been handed downthrough generations; others are blendedwith their own artful innovations.

“Participants will:• Learn about the healing resources

of the rain forest• Meet traditional healing practitioners

of Western Belize• Learn about the role played by natu-

ral healing in Belizean culture.“Some participants come strictly for

the experience. Others receive schoolcredit. School affiliation is not neces-sary, and all participants receive a Cer-tificate of Achievement. “Nine hours of

Spanish language instruction are in-cluded in the program.” and Corner-stone invites, “if you would prefer notto attend Spanish language classes,please let us know when you submit yourapplication.”

In the West of Belize this could thisbe, along with Rosita Arvigo’s ownhealth program, the start of a healthyindustry for Belize; an industry spread-ing knowledge and healing techniquesto reach hundreds of thousands ofpeople worldwide who are lookingmore and more to natural healing to goalong, and even replace, the pills thathave bound them to the chemical giantsfor so long and expensively.

As one healer has noted on theinternet: “The big problem is that peoplewho suffer from many of today’s dis-eases have been fed the myths by thebig drug companies in order to makemoney. The drug industry is a really bigbusiness. None of these companies careabout treating any disease. All they careabout is to develop drugs for sale andbring in billions of dollars each year.That’s why none of them want you toknow about natural remedies and justhow good they work. The main reason?No natural remedy can be patented!This means they cannot make evenclose to the amount of money beingmade with prescription medications.

villagers and townspeople.There are no short cuts to the amount

of time it takes to gain this wisdom butthe wisdom is there. It is a treasure withinour boundaries which can be accessedwithout harm to either time honouredtradition or the effectiveness of the rem-edies themselves.

Not only have healers in Belize curedcancer, but also AIDS and Rheumatic

spreading natural healing as anecotourism attraction. It is the Corner-stone Foundation. This foundation isencouraging ‘healing workshops’ forvisitors to the country to experiencenatural healing for themselves. Theystate: “This program introduces you tothe wisdom and practices of traditional,indigenous healers who combine theenvironment’s natural resources with

appeal is launched for everyone to pro-vide assistance and support for the man-agement, protection and sustainable useof the resources of the Caribbean Sea.

There is no doubt that through theadoption of this resolution the commu-nity of Greater Caribbean nations hasresolutely advanced toward the funda-mental objective of having the Carib-bean Sea declared a special zone. On

three occasions the resolution makesreference to this concept, which is dearto the adherents of the InternationalConference on the Sustainable Devel-opment of Small Island DevelopingStates (1994) and the Mauritius Dec-laration and Strategy (2005), which ad-vocate for the principles and intents de-clared at the summits to lead to con-crete actions. Resolution A/C.2/61/

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L.30, like any other resolution, ex-presses wishes. It is important to en-force it and to adopt new projects andactivities with a view to strengtheningthe Caribbean Sea Initiative and achiev-ing its final objective.

Dr Watson Denis is the PoliticalAdvisor at the Secretariat of the As-sociation of Caribbean States..

Natural healing is a huge and lu-crative market... Nurtured, it canenrich all the districts of Belize


TOPICAL TIDBITSTOPICAL TIDBITSTOPICAL TIDBITSTOPICAL TIDBITSTOPICAL TIDBITSGodfrey Smith’s challenge to the

Belize City Council and open contemptfor the UDP’s meditation with the BTB,and his, “it ain’t gonna happen,” is pour-ing hot oil on an already inflammablesituation. Even the Belize Chamber ofCommerce has entered the picture atlast, urged dialognue and warned thatbusinesses are being affected by thecontinued deterioration of the city’s in-frastructure and that any public con-frontation on the streets will irrepara-bly damage the cruise tourism industry.Mr. Smith should reexamine his respon-sibilities and priorities as Minister ofTourism or else resign.

as long as they are hamstrung bygovernment’s lack of cooperation andlack of finance. My advise to both or-ganizations is disband and don’t letGovernment pretend anymore that youhave teeth and are doing anything tosafeguard the rights of Belizeans!

A Boost for Belize!They look at places where they can

lay back, take off their shoes and settlein for a long time,” says Tom Kelly, whohas written a series of books about theins and outs of buying in foreign mar-kets, including, “Cashing In on a Sec-ond Home In Mexico.” He adds: “Theirlocation choices have always been af-fected by costs as well. In the past,cheap living have driven and sustainedstrong expatriate movements. Membersof the “Lost Generation” in Paris duringthe 1920s, for example, were able tosurvive there on a song. That may notbe as true as in the past, but the costfactor is still a major determinant ofwhere a lot of Americans choose to buy.So where are the prime up-and-com-ing markets for second home buyers?Kelly says the top six hottest marketsfor 2007 will be The Bay Islands ofHonduras, Belize, the South Coast ofMexico, Croatia, Turkey, and Panama.

Musa take note!From the web: “The Venezuelan army

will help Nicaragua build a road to con-nect the swampy Caribbean coast withthe rest of the country, in the latest ef-fort by President Hugo Chavez to bringManagua into his bloc of leftist allies.Nicaraguan Transport Minister PabloFernando Martínez said in a newspa-per interview published Monday that aVenezuelan general visited Nicaraguatwo weeks ago for talks on the plan toconstruct 310 miles of road at a cost of$350 million. Martínez told the ElNuevo Diario daily that “the Venezu-

elan army, together with the Nicaraguanarmy and as far as possible the minis-try” would build the road from PuertoCabezas on the coast to the town ofRio Blanco in the interior. Venezuela’said will be free, he said.” Better a newroad network in Belize than phoneycheap oil and so called interest ‘debt’relief!

100 guests and employees fell ill. Thehotel stopped taking reservations onWednesday and started relocatingguests. After a top-to-bottom cleaning,the property plans to reopen Tuesday.According to the Centers for DiseaseControl, most cruiseship outbreaks startwith infected food, then spread person-to-person. The medical advice is, ‘don’tshake hands’ - and so be friendly butdistant with those cruise ship passen-gers.

Does Belize need a jungle girl?A Cambodian girl who disappeared

aged eight has been found after livingwild in the jungle for 19 years, policesay. She is believed to be RochomP’ngieng, who disappeared while tend-ing buffalo on the edge of the jungle inremote northern Rattanakiri province.Her father says he has identified herthrough scars and will have DNA teststaken to prove she is his daughter. Butwhatever, the girl has already broughtenormous international publicity andwealth to the tiny village where she wasfound!

Sharon Matola, the Belize ZooDr. Gil Boese, Foundation for

Wildlife Conservation

The Runaway Creek Nature Re-serve, under ownership and man-agement for the Foundation for

The Magical Biodiversity of theRunaway Creek Nature Reserve

dine on a variety of fruits such assapadillo, fig and ramon.

Field researchers from BirdsWithout Borders witnessed a spidermonkey in Runaway Creek natureReserve giving birth! Consideringthat the female breed every 2 to 4years only, this was quite a specialand rare sighting.

This exciting “birth event” under-scores that the Runaway CreekNature Reserve, in our Belize Dis-trict, is alive and kicking with vibrantbiodiversity.... Spider Monkeysand much, much more!!!

found between Belize City andBelmopan!! This is the magical Run-away Creek Nature Reserve.

Mammal experts note that the spidermonkey is either “usually locally extinctalthough common in some protectedareas”.

Taking this statement into consider-ation, The Runaway Creek Nature Re-serve stands as a vital forest sanctuary,poised to secure the survival of this rarespecies into the future.

The Runaway Creek Nature Reserveprovides these fast-moving spider mon-keys with an expansive area where theycan swing from branch-to-branch and

Wildlife Conservation, FWC, andBelize’s own Birds Without Borders,BWB, provides a forest sanctuary formany rare species of plants and animals.

For instance, the spider monkey is ahappy inhabitant of this important tractof tropical forest.

This is a monkey known to occur intall, continuous tropical forest. Here inBelize, spider monkeys are known fromthe Bladen Nature Reserve, in the south,and in and around the Rio Bravo Con-servation Management Area, in north-western Belize.

But surprise!!! A healthy populationof spider monkeys lives in the forest

Ombudsman & IntegrityCommission

Both these organizations were createdto help safeguard the people of Belizeagainst crime and corruption. Neitherbody works and both are impotent forthe same reason. Government gavethem their task with great ballyhoo butdid not give them the tools or finance toachieve even modest advances againstofficial crime and corruption.

In a recent case in Northern Islandthe Ombudsman (woman) has exposedyears of officially sponsored crimecover-up and even murder against highpolice officials and their politicalbosses.

It is time that Belize’s Ombudsmanand members of the Integrity Commis-sion went public and declared that therewas no point in continuing their work

Cruise ship bug!Recdently, the highly-contagious

‘cruise ship’ bug shut down the HiltonWashington Dulles Airport hotel after

Visit TheBelize Zoo

The Best LittleZoo In The World


By INdependent Weekly’s ToledoCorrespondent

“Nothing for We” say Toledo“Nothing for We” say Toledo“Nothing for We” say Toledo“Nothing for We” say Toledo“Nothing for We” say ToledoConserConserConserConserConservation & Cultural Groupsvation & Cultural Groupsvation & Cultural Groupsvation & Cultural Groupsvation & Cultural Groups

Mr. Kenneth Williams and Ms. C.Ross of the Belize Tourist Board metthis last 17th and 18th of January atNature’s Way in Punta Gorda Townwith executives of the Toledo EcoTourism Association, Mr. VicenteSacul, Mr. Mr. Candido Coh, Mr.Reyes Chun and the urban part of theTEA. The Punta Gorda ConservationCommittee Chairlady, Ms Leela VernonMBE, also president of the Toledobranch of the National Kriol Council,Mr. Roberto Echeverria of the ToledoTour Guides Association, Mr. OscarCal Chairman of the Toledo Rural BusDrivers Association, Ms. Cordellia Shalof Earthwatch Institute, Mr. OscarBurke Chairman of Rosewood Studioand, members of these associationswere present.

Mr. Sacul and Mr. Reyes began themeeting explaining how the programsthey are promoting are the tourism partof the proposed Toledo People’s EcoPark Plan, and that they were designedto benefit all sectors of the Toledocommunity. The private businessowners, hotels, restaurants, taxi drivers,tour guides and operators, localbusiness, the major community-basedcultural groups, the arts and craftsproducers, and the non-governmentalorganizations working for conservationand sustainable development in ToledoDistrict.

After a very informative meetingthe group visited Laguna Village andSan Jose Village TEA groups. Theychecked guest houses, enjoyed a craftsmaking demonstration, music, dance,and dinners with the members families.

Early Thursday morning, the tourcontinued with breakfast with familiesin San Antonio, and a visit to SanMiguel and Medina bank guesthouses.

After lunch in Punta Gorda, thegroup met with the Punta GordaConservation Committee. Theydiscussed the plan for a small cruise shipto visit Toledo, (see INndependentReformer Newspaper, January 19th formore information) and the plan for asix day eco cultural nature conservationtour package, including a day for theEast Indian, Garifuna, Mestizo, Kriol,Maya, and others in Toledo.

Ms. Vernon, “While I’m thepresident of the Toledo Kriol Council,I’m speaking here as Chairlady of thePunta Gorda ConservationCommittee, representing all our peoplesin Toledo. We need Belize TouristBoard’s help, our youth are going intocrime because there is no employmenthere for them, we have designed these

plans to create employment, but thegovernment has continued to ignore us.We have one of the richest districts, butwe get so little help to develop what wehave.”

Edwin, representative of theGarifuna group, “It’s not, that we havenot been planning, we have, but our

won’t the government support himand us in our efforts to help ourselves?

Leela, “if the Belize Tourist Boardwill really support and help us we canmake it. Mr. Ramclam is right, youare the key people, you are in productdevelopment, we are expressingourselves fully and clearly, you areBelizeans, you are part of us, you havechildren, you know what we aretalking about. We need your help. Iknow you have people above you,who might want to continue to put usdown, but we ask you please, don’tlet them.”

Edwin, “Many things have beentaken from us here, and used andmade big up north. We had the firstvariety show, it started here, but wastaken and made large in Belize City.We had the first tourism village forsmall cruise ships, the HabibaraGrinigu Cerro Project, butgovernment refused to support it, andnow the only one is in Belize City. Somany things have been taken fromToledo. What we are asking issimple, we want you to help us tocontinue to work on these projects

here and make something good forour people out of them. Then maybewe can say, we aren’t forgotten afterall.”

Mr. Williams, “We will need amore detailed plan for the cruise shipand other projects you are proposing,so we can properly lobby for them, Ihave asked Mr. Schmidt for this. “

Edwin, “Sir, you ask that we giveyou more detailed plan. We are willingto send you this, but as I said, wehave done this before and it has beentaken to be used somewhere else, byand for someone else. We will sendthis, but I ask you not to forget us.

Leela, “Yes, this is true, I alsohave known Mr. Schmidt, ourconsultant for many years now, Iknow he has gone to our PrimeMinister, Minister Briceno, MinisterMark Espat, and other Ministersmany times on our behalf, they allknow him and that this is true, and thatthey have refused to help. We haveall tried and spent so many yearstrying. I have even written a song and


The Toledo Correspondent for theINdependent Reformer wishes on behalf

of all his many admirers here in Toledo, towish the Right Honorable George C. Pricea belated Happy Birthday and our wishesfor many more, in gratitude for all he hasdone and continues to do for our beloved

Belize.

I would also like to thank Senor FidelCastro for the more efficient light bulbs hegave to our family and hundreds of otherfamilies in Punta Gorda Town. With them

our family’s light bill was cut in half!For many years now are people in the

rural villages have received free medicalattention from Cuban doctors. Now theurban people are also assisted to help

reduce their cost of electricity, which isthe highest in all of Central America!

Viva La Revolution Cubano.(A Paid Advertisement)

plans have not been endorsed by ourgovernment”.

Leela, “That’s right, I have been inthis group for over 10 years, (the PuntaGorda Conservation Committee wasfounded in 1995 and registered in2000} and I have gone on the radio,written the newspapers, and a group ofus even went to protest this neglect. InBelize City we met with Paul Rodriguez,Belize’s Ombudsman, went on nationalTV, and still nothing happened. I’ll tellyou truly, I’m so disappointed andI’m angry. I’m beginning to think it’stime we really make a big protestto try and encourage thegovernment to recognize and helpus, nothing else has worked.”

Tony Ramlam, of the East Indiangroup, “we have a lot of youths whoreally need help, we are reallypunishing down here. My father leftme some good land that I want topass on to my son. But now I’mforced to sell it to someone fromoutside who is paying less than it isworth, but I have to, so I can pay formy children’s education. I’ve been alicensed tour guide since 1988. I’mnot renewing my license becausewhile we have these goodprograms to attract the tourists,but the government won’t help usto further develop them. I haveknown Mr. Chet for over 30 years,and he has been trying to help us foras long as I can remember, he knowsus and we know and trust him. Why

Leela Vernon ( Photo by richrd Holder)


What Happened to the UDPWhat Happened to the UDPWhat Happened to the UDPWhat Happened to the UDPWhat Happened to the UDPand Political Reform?and Political Reform?and Political Reform?and Political Reform?and Political Reform?

Trinidad ExpressThe story is told that when Albert

Einstein died he went straight to heaven.There he was told that his room wasnot ready and he had to wait in a dor-mitory which he would share with otherpeople. St Peter then introducedEinstein to his room-mates. “Albert, thisis Jim. He has an IQ of 180!”

“That’s wonderful,” said Einstein,“we can discuss mathematics.” Then hewas introduced to his second room-mate. “This is Harry. His IQ is 150.”“Fantastic,” Einstein remarked, “wecan discuss physics.” Then St Petercalled the third room-mate forward.“This is Eddy. His IQ is 100.” “Great,”replied Einstein, “we can discuss thetheatre.” Just then a fourth man steppedforward and explained, “I’m Norm,your fourth room-mate. I’m sorry butmy IQ is only 70.” “No problem,” saidEinstein with a smile. “Tell me, where

ContributedWhen the UDP was in office, with the

Rt. Honorable Manuel Esquivel as PrimeMinister, the UDP was the champion ofPolitical Reform. It was the Rt. Honor-able Manuel Esquivel who first pro-posed a Political Reform Commission.At that time, it seemed the UDP wantedgood Government.

The Commission was to be a joint ef-fort and was set up with the then Attor-ney General, Dean Barrow, as its chair-man. We believe the Commission failedbecause the PUP objected to his ap-pointment.

During the 1998 campaign the PUPcapitalized on the promise they madeto the people that there would be Po-litical Reform if they were elected tooffice. They did win, however, 9 yearshave passed and there has been no Po-litical Reform despite the fact the Politi-cal Reform Commission worked hardand presented its report with great rec-ommendations. The PUP went back onits promise. The PUP turned its backupon the people and has refused makethe recommended reforms into law.Corruption that the Reforms would havehelped eliminate grew bolder andParty’s cronies grew richer at the taxpayers’ expense.

When the UDP lost the 1998 elec-tion, Prime Minister, Manuel Esquivel,as a true statesman, stepped down ashead of the party. Hon. Dean Barrowthen became head of the UDP. Did theUDP’s hope for Reform and GoodGovernment die when the Honorable

Manuel Esquivel stepped down?The UDP now appears to be against

Political Reform and an elected Senate.During the past 7 years since the Politi-cal Reform Commission made its rec-ommendations the UDP has not madeany effort of consequence to have therecommendations made law. The UDPleaders stepped back and let the statusquo remain. UDP Party heads have notproceeded with Reform and have beenagainst an elected Senate.

An elected Senate would be answer-able to the people, not to a politicalparty. It is one of the best means ofstopping corruption. One the reasonsthe post-Esquivel UDP has offered fornot supporting an elected Senate is thatthe UDP is entitled to their turn in of-fice, too!

The UDP gives the appearance thatthey want to enter into power with thesame laws that have, since Indepen-dence, provided means for political par-ties to administer the Government andgain personal wealth through corruption.

The fact that the UDP and PUP do notwish to usher in Political Reform with anelected Senate clearly shows that theyknow and realize that Political Reform and

an elected Senate would prevent thepresent dictatorship from continuing, curbcorruption and provide penitentiary sen-tences for the ministers who attempt toengaged in it. It appears that they areaware that there would be no free ridesand are afraid of the consequences thatwould be created by political reform andan elected Senate. Afraid they would thenbe subject to prison in the same manneras the poor.

Belize does not need more ministers inoffice who wish to obtain their retirementfunds through the issuance of bloated con-tracts, spurious loans or other forms ofchicanery. Such activities have broughtabout staggering Government debts andfinancial distress that has required increasesin taxes. Such tax increases have now pro-ceeded to the point where they are hardto maintain and are creating a downwardspiral in the economy.

Efforts to stop bad judgment or cor-ruption have failed. Seven good and well-intentioned Ministers formed an alliancein an attempt to prevent further abuses bythe Government. All they gained was thetitle of G-7. The Prime Minister, SaidMusa, quickly dispatched them. Theysoon learned that Belize’s Governmentwas a form of dictatorship, that it was nota dictatorship of the proletariat, and thatthe Prime Minister was and is the dicta-tor. He dictated to them and most had toget in line or be left out.

It appears that both political mass par-ties want to maintain the dictatorship, theydo not want a democracy, and they donot want to stop corruption. They want

to use, not help the people. Promises tostop corruption—sometime in the fu-ture— have no value. Promises that theydo not intend to perform are a politician’sbread and butter, they are not sincere andthe promises are forgotten as soon as thevote is in.

In 1998, to gain votes, the PUP prom-ised Political Reform. They received thevotes, however, 9 years has passed andreform has not passed. In 2003 the PrimeMinister, the Right Honorable Said Musa,publicly recognized the devastating cor-ruption that existed and promised to putan end to Ralph Oranges’corruption.What happened? Can’t the HonorableSaid Musa overcome internal opposition?The Honorable Said Musa was the cham-pion who called for and put together thePolitical Reform Commission: he in-structed them, supported them, gave themdirection and their marching orders.

One should not consider voting for acandidate who does not, or has not, putthe country first ahead of the personal gainthat he can obtain by abuses of office. Oneshould not support a Political Party thatrefuses Political Reform and wants to con-tinue corruption that has transpired for25 years. The political parties are not en-titled to and should not have turns at cor-ruption.

Did the change of party leaders changethe good Government goals of the UDP?If the change did, the change was not goodfor either the UDP or the country of Belize.If the change of leadership changes theUDP goals for good Government then itis time for another change.

RBTT loses big in Belizedo you think interest rates are headed?”

You don’t need to be Einstein to won-der about the bankers at RBTT. Whilethe basis of the bank’s expansion intothe region is Trinidad’s liquidity, in otherwords the money Trinidad-basedpeople and businesses pour into thebank, there are increasing concerns ofhow that money is used. Customerscatch their royal while two law firms,the heads of which are Directors of theBank, get all the bank’s business andanyone who wants a mortgage or anyother legal instrument has to go to oneof these two firms otherwise no deal.Most other organisations tend to havea conflict of interest policy regarding itsDirectors. Not RBTT and the otherTrinidad banks.

Recently, RBTT lost a bundle inBelize. Essentially there is a man namedProsser who was at the time beingforced to pay a huge amount by the US

Courts for gutting a telephone company.He is a banker and investor from theUS Virgin Islands whose reputation forsharp practice is legendary. While hewas being forced by the Court to repaymillions in the US, RBTT lent him moneyin return for useless paper in the Belizeantelephone company. First of all, RBTTshould have done a due diligence. Sec-ondly they should have asked whywould a man with a bank want to bor-row money using security that was nothis bank but paper in a company in whichhis role was disputable to the extent thatall the parties including the Governmentwere in litigation. The RBTT bosses whodid that should have been forcefully ini-tiated in the mobile business - theyshould all have been in a cell. Nothingcame out of the incident and nobody’sposterior was on the line, whether tele-phone or firing, as a result.

Now one hears that RBTT is thinking

of literally pouring money down thedrain by investing it in a canal some-where else in Central America. It is dif-ficult to understand the Pizarro or evenBizarro fascination with that part of theworld. Is it that there are no investmentopportunities in the Caribbean? Or is ita deal of the sort that bank managersare reputed to score on the sale of re-possessed property? One hears abouthouses that have been seized by theBank for default on mortgages then be-ing sold at ridiculous rates because ofunderhand payments to the bankers.Certainly, an upstanding organizationlike RBTT will never indulge in that kindof illegal practice and this is what makesits Central American adventures evenmore mysterious. Why are they invest-ing in Banana Republics? Is it becausethey don’t give a fig? Or is it becausethey are all slippery?

-Tony Deyal

Former Prime Minister Manuel Esquivel


have it on a CD, I call it “NothingFor We” it goes like this:

Nothing for We! Come to Toledo,Come to Toledo, where all the actionis. We got the tourist attraction here.We got Maya culture, Garifunaculture, Mestizo culture, and no forgetme, Kriol culture. Money de flow,money de flow, all around the country.But nothing for we, nothing for we.Not only Leela de see this. Open thedoor, open the door, make the moneygo into this here district. Stop theneglect, show some respect, so wecan live in dignity!

We want our leaders to listen tous. We are the ethnic leaders and wewant respect. We are the poorestdistrict and the most in need but it’snot because we don’t have theresources or that we haven’t tried, it’sbecause of the lack of support fromour government.

“What we are on our knees for,and begging for, is simply anendorsement. There are funders andwealthy people who want to help us.There has been offers, but becausewe don’t have government supportwe can’t accept them. Mr. Chetfound one who only wanted a letterfrom our leaders saying they supportedus.”

Chet:, “That is correct, I had awealthy woman from the States whooffered US$37,000 to help us withthe six day Eco Cultural tour and torestore the old rice mill plaza andbuilding to use as a temporary Toledohouse of culture. Ms Vernon and Imet with our area representative,Honorable Michael Espat, and he didmeet with the lady who said she wouldbe happy to help, and only wanted aletter showing government support.Honorable Espat said Toledo has notreceived a fair share, and if a foreignercould give this to help us, he wouldask our Prime Minister for matchingfunds, so we could really makeprogress with this good plan. But afterchecking with those higher up herefused to provide the needed letter.I personally went to see PrimeMinister Musa, who said he hadlooked at the building while meetingwith Minister Espat in PG, and thathe thought it would be a good placeto start the program. The PrimeMinister had previously sent twoletters of support for the Punta Gorda

Conservation Committee and the ecopark plan. Prime Minister Musasuggested I see his son, Yassar Musa,head of NICH to tell him of hissupport and the plans. I waited inBelize City for two days for anappointment with Yassar Musa, andlater wrote him several letters. Herefused to see me or answer theletters and phone calls. (for furtherinstances of this see Mr. RichardHulse’s Independent Reformer article,“Culture of Exclusion: BelizeanTheater and Art, a view from thestreet” January 5, 2007)

If one looks at the annual budgetfor NICH over the years, and how muchhas actually been allotted for Toledo, itwill be obvious that Toledo has notreceived their fair share, as our arearepresentative said. even though theyare always sending for Paul Nabor,Leela Vernon, our Maya groups andAndy Palacio hails from Toledo. Ourgovernment likes to say the people ofToledo are not forgotten, if this is true,does it mean that they are aware of ourneeds but choose to neglect us?

Mr. Coc, “I’m from the Maya DayGroup, we want to make areproduction of a pre Hispanic Mayacoastal village. We have the help ofDr. Heather Mckillgs, the worldsforemost archeologist on the Maya ofSouthern Belize. Our arearepresentative, Mike Espat said hewould help us once we had a piece ofgovernment land surveyed, we didthis, and now he says he would liketo help us but he can’t make theMinister of Lands Briceno help us ifhe doesn’t want to.

Mr. Schmidt, “we wrote PACTfor funds to help us develop thisproject but they told us that unless thegovernment shows some interest inprotecting this land, they can’t help,so far the Minister says he will help,but when the group traveled toBelmopan to meet with those incharge, they aren’t there, even thoughthey gave us an appointment.”

Mr. Chun, “We have gone overour plans and shown what we haveto offer. Now it’s up to ourgovernment to open the door and letthe money flow in.” Mr. Williams, “Wewill try our best .”

Oscar, “This visit might just bepart of their job, they’re getting paidto be here, we don’t know what willhappen. But we hope these people

are in a position to make a difference,that someone will listen to them, andthat we have opened their eyes.”

While we have expressed ourdisappointment with the discriminationwe all in Toledo have experiencedfrom Toledo Tourist Board and theMinistry of Tourism Mark Espat in thepast, the fact that Toledo has beenforgotten may not be all that bad,because now that we have seen whatkind of problems the big cruise shipsand mass tourism has brought ourpeople up north, we have been ableto design our programs to hopefullyhelp us to prevent them. The PuntaGorda Conservation Committee hasasked those of us at RosewoodRecording Studio to help organize amusical presentation in support ofthese plans, and the Toledo People’sEco Park for the Baron Bliss week-end, 10th of March, where Nabor,Leela and many of our local artists will

perform. I hope by then the BelizeTourist Board and Ministry ofTourism will have supported us bythen, so the event will be a positivecelebration of our government’s help,instead of a demonstration in protestof their continued lack of help.”

Pastor Tony Ramclam delivereda prayer thanking the Lord for the visitfrom BTB representatives and askingthat they be strengthened in theirefforts to communicate to the head ofthe BTB, Mrs. Tracy Tegar/Pantonand our Minister of Tourism Hon.Godfrey Smith, the great need for theirhelp and support for the plans that thepeople of Toledo have worked sohard to develop. Everyone partedwith a good feeling, and high hopesBTB will lobby the Government ofBelize for support of a small cruiseship, and the Six-Day Eco CultureTour for Toledo. That they will walktheir talk!

Fly Tropic Air - Fly Tropic Air - Fly Tropic Air“The Airline Of Belize”

(Continued from Page 9)

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Friday, February 2, 2007 The INdependent Reformer 13

(Continued From Page 1)

ogy.”IW. BNE said they had the help of a

spiritual advisor in locating the oil. Any-thing to that?

JC.”Utter bull sh… ah, hogwashThe oil business is a game of hightechnology Ouija boards are fordreamers and crystal balls belong oncrystal monkeys .”

IW. So you are impressed with theBNE technology?

JC.”The discovery was definitely bril-liant!”

IW. But there seems to be a lot ofproblems now.

JC.”Ben Franklin flew a kite intoa rain cloud and found electricity, butcertainly you can’t credit him for theelectric light or the electric chair. Thediscovery of oil at Spanish Lookoutwas a completely separate actionfrom the production of that oil. Thediscovery was a matter of competenttechnology, while the production hasbeen a comedy of errors fuelled byarrogance, incompetence, ignoranceand an integrity vacuum. Differentpeople-different results.”

IW. The same company though, isn’tit?

JC. “Yes, and maybe even some ofthe same people, but a super scien-tist can be an awful accountant. BNEpeople arrived in Belize with one ofthose dim-witted “new Gringo inBelize” attitudes where they had allthe answers, even claiming theycould control the corruption in ourgovernment. They patronizinglytalked down to all of us. Such arro-gance has destroyed a lot more newarrivals than have survived it. BNEwas not only a disaster at public re-lations, but both the oil people andgovernment employees were ignorantof oil production issues. The govern-ment had no experience and insistedon fumbling ahead instead of acquir-

ing the necessary specialists to pro-tect our national resource interests.You just don’t put a young inexperi-ence employee in charge of a multi-million dollar (perhaps billion dollar)enterprise, but GOB did. BNE’s ig-norance splashed all over the placewith their blatant misinformationabout what we could expect duringproduction. It was because of thisinformation that Spanish Lookoutcontacted me. And the whole situa-tion was complicated further with alack of integrity in both camps. GOBdecided to arbitrarily increase theagreed upon tax some 60% as soonas commercial oil production wasconfirmed with no regard to the sanc-tity of original agreements. Atrociousand shameful act! BNE talked aboutthe purity of their actions and goalswhile making compromising dealswith politicians as they were tryingto screw the Mennonites. It is an uglyscene of Greed Monsters gorgingthemselves until they find they areeating their own tails.”

IW. Maybe we can coversome of these problems later, but a bigquestion in everybody’s mind is if theoil is going to be good for Belize. Thesize of the discovery seems to getsmaller with each report. Just howmuch oil is there?

JC. “It is a major discoveryand the revenues could have a sig-nificant impact on Belize. The totaloil reports are inaccurate and under-valued for some unstated agenda.When we were evaluating Belize backin the 70s it was generally agreedthat there was one definite oil prov-ince from the fault controlled BelizeRiver northward. There should beseveral oil fields discovered in thisquadrant north of the Belize River. Itwas also a consensus that the To-ledo area had good potential andOrange Walk was promising, al-

though exploration and drilling therewould be expensive because of themarsh lands. Offshore was not evenconsidered because the environmen-tal aspects of our barrier reef werejust too sensitive. Also, ChetumalBay looked promising for gas exceptthat the Mexico/Belize boundary wasin the middle of it and there was noway to deal with Mexico on petro-leum.”

IW. But don’t you believe that theoil will eventually be a great benefit toBelize?

JC. “No, not necessarily. I knewa man who bought his son aworkover rig and set him up in theoil well service business. Businesswas very good, but the son wentbroke anyway. He sent his son tocollege and then turned over a goodenvironmental company to him. Twoyears later, the business had in-creased ten fold and things lookedgood, but the following year it wentbankrupt with an overwhelming debt. Our government has the same trackrecord, perhaps even worse. If theoil revenues are allowed to go intoour political general fund, they willbe pissed away through the same in-competence, corruption and dishon-esty that has resulted in our govern-ment increasing our national debt tomore than two billion dollars with notangible benefits going to our citizens.The man I spoke of above did not fi-nance his son again in a new venture,nor should we place even more of ourprecious national resource revenuesin the hands of such gross incompe-tent spendoholics as our politicalleaders. It is well known that it is follyto hire an alcoholic to run your bar.If our politicians get the revenues, infive years our national debt wouldprobably increase ten fold and we willfind that whatever revenues we ex-pected from our future oil would al-

ready have been hocked as collateralfor more loans.”

IW. That’s a pretty bleak assessment.Are you saying that our oil revenuescould be good for Belizeans if handledin a better way? And if so, what wouldbe a better way?

JC. “It is fascinating to me that noone asks where the Hell the two bil-lion dollars went because we cer-tainly have nothing to show for it. Itis obvious that if that money had beeninvested better the benefits wouldhave been better. And yes, there is abetter way to handle our oil revenues.

“The Shetland Islands, althoughpart of Scotland, were always treatedas a bastard stepchild, and seemedto be last on the list whenever par-liament doled out any funds. Then oilwas discovered in the East ShetlandBasin and the oil was handledthrought the Sullom Voe terminal inShetland. The Shetlands had the oiltaxes directed to a special trust fundto be spent exclusively on education,health, art, sports, and financial de-velopment. Today they have the bestschools and hospitals in Scotland.Education is free and it is compul-sory that every child attend school.Qualified students have scholarshipsfor college. Theater groups andsports competitions are active oneach of the islands. New businesseshelped from the trust have droppedunemployment to less than 3%. Theyalso have the rest roads in the BritishIsles.

“ Belize can have the same resultsif the 7.5% oil royalty is placed in thesame kind of trust beyond politicalcontrol to be used exclusively for edu-cation, health, arts. sports and jobdevelopment. The taxes, which areseparate from the royalty, could con-tinue to disappear down the bottom-less pit of our general fund.”

More of this interview next week…

Belize Oil - Boon or BaneBelize Oil - Boon or BaneBelize Oil - Boon or BaneBelize Oil - Boon or BaneBelize Oil - Boon or Bane

dering vegetable chop suey, even veggiechow mein.

I almost succeeded. Once. I had ac-tually ordered wonton soup and satthere feeling quite good about myself.Until I got a whiff of the sweet and sourchicken being served at the next table.I called the waiter back and changedmy order.

But I didn’t enjoy it. And I couldhardly look at myself in the mirror bythe hand wash stand when it was over.

Next time, I told myself, I WILL eatsomething good for me. I will.

I held out a whole week. Seven whole

days. Until tonight.Those were the thoughts running

through my mind as I reached down fora French fry. It’s hard to tell, in the dark,exactly what is fry, and what is friedchicken bits.

I had a sudden flashback to the dayswhen my friends and I used to go eatTux Fried Chicken and sit by the sea-wall across from Animal Park after go-ing to La Femme or Legends. Of acci-dentally biting into a jalapeno pepper,thinking it’s a fry. Of us all laughing, andholding them up to the street light tryingto tell the difference. Except the peoplewho don’t like pepper. I find some of

them have very little sense of humor.Those were fun times, sharing chicken

with friends.Only tonight I am eating alone. Again,

unnaturally.When did such an innocent meal turn

into a secret, solitary pleasure?Perhaps its connected to the collapse

of the economy, being the only thingpeople can afford when they feel likegoing on a little spree...No three dollatonight, gimme five, or better make thata seven-fifty. With fried rice, no fries.What the hell, wan li side a sweet andsowa too, dah pay-day my gyal/bwoy!Live a little.

Once upon a time we usta go to YinKee for steak or shrimp or, what wasthat thing called we used to eat some-times when we really felt special orwanted to impress someone…ubster,wobster, no. no, lobster! Do you re-member eating that? It’s kinda likeshrimp but bigger and juicier. They havethese pinchy things on the front like acrab?

But maybe you are too young. ..Maybe you are of the generation that

only knows about Li Chee or KickDown Fence or Shirleys or BelizeanFried Chicken. You wouldn’t remem-

Dis Da Fu We - addictionDis Da Fu We - addictionDis Da Fu We - addictionDis Da Fu We - addictionDis Da Fu We - addiction(Continued From Page 4)



Hunt for good foodWith Anthony Hunt

The most famous and most frequently visited of all Chinese restaurantsin town, Chon Saan does not disappoint. Apart from the usual Chinese fare,they have an extensive menu of more adventurous items in addition toJapanese food such as sushi. I must say that their Beef in Black Bean sauceis extraordinary. As is their unique and truly amazing Singapore Style CurryChow Mein. If you are in the mood for something lighter, their Hot and SourSoup and Roast Pork Fried Rice are excellent. And the kids will love thecrabs, fish and lobsters in the tanks...just don’t tell them that they are actu-ally for eating! And the waiters, the most pleasant in town. Mi done talk!!!!!!

$6 and up. Open Daily, Lunch & Dinner

Chon Saan PalaceKelly Street, Belize City

ARIES (Mar. 21- April 20)You may get upset with peers or rela-

tives. Look into alternate means of supporting your financial burdens. Roman-t ic encounters are evident throughtravel or educational pursuits. You willbe able to pick up on future trends ifyou keep your eyes peeled for uniqueideas.

Your lucky day this week will be Fri-day.TAURUS (Apr. 21- may 21)

Your creative imagination will help youin coming up with unique ideas. You candiscuss your intentions and ideas withyour colleagues or friends this week. Getinvolved in creative projects that couldturn into moneymaking ventures. Youcan make alterations to your appearancethat everyone will admire.

Your lucky day this week will be Mon-day.GEMINI (May 22-June 21)

Make those phone calls and pay yourbills. You are ready to blow up and yourstress level has gone into over drive.Your philanthropic contributions willbring you praise. Don’t let your emo-tions interfere with your professional in-tegrity. Your lucky day this week will beTuesday.CANCER (June 22-July 22)

You can offer your help to others butback off if they appear to be offended byyour persistence. If you join intellectualor cultural groups, you should meet indi-viduals who stimulate you. Trips will bemore than adventurous. Lovers may proveunworthy of your affection. Your luckyday this week will be Thursday.LEO (July 23-Aug 22)

You will learn a great deal from the for-eigners you meet. You can have quite theromantic ad venture if you take time to getto know your mate all over again. Rela-tionships will be emotional this week. Sitback. Your lucky day this week will beMonday.VIRGO (Aug. 23 -Sept. 23)

Watch for empty promises that may giveyou false hope. Spend time getting into

lucky day this week will be Tuesday.LIBRA (Sept. 24 -Oct. 23)

Put aside any decisions concerningyour position at work. You need to pam-per yourself for a change. You can makechanges that will enhance your appear-ance. Help if you can, but more than likelyit will be sufficient just to listen. Your luckyday this week will be Friday.SCORPIO (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22)

You will be emotional about family mat-ters. Those close to your heart may be dif-ficult to reason with. Go after your goalsand don’t be afraid to ask for assistance.Spend time with friends or family.Your lucky day this week will be Saturday.SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23 -Dec. 21)

Organization will be the key to avoidingdiscord and family feuds. Don’t count yourchickens before they hatch. Residentialmoves will be favorable, and larger quar-ters the most probable direction. Organizeyour day to avoid any setbacks that mightignite temper flare-ups. Your lucky day thisweek will be Sunday.CAPRICORN (Dec 22.- Jan. 20)

Look into physical activities that willhelp get rid of some of that tension youmay be feeling. Pamper yourself; you de-serve it. You would be wise to socializewith as many people as possible. Lookbefore you leap. Your lucky day this weekwill be Tuesday.AQUARIUS (Jan. 21 -Feb. 19)

Make plans to meet again in the nearfuture. Real estate ventures will be to yourad vantage. You should consider gettingyour whole family involved in a project athome. Your self esteem will come back ifyou take part in organizational functionsthat allow you to be in the lime light. Yourlucky day this week will be Friday.PISCES (Feb. 20-Mar. 20)

You can get others to do things for youbut be sure not to overpay them or lendthem money. Electrical problems may bean issue. Get involved in groups that canoffer intellectual stimulation. this week isnot the day to try to comer people by giv-ing them ultimatums. Your lucky day thisweek will be Sunday.

physical activities with your lover. Jeal-ousy may be a contributing factor to youremotional ups and downs. Do somethingthat will be stimulating and creative. Your

THINGS TO MAKE UR PARENTS THINK UR IN-SANE!!1. Follow them around the house everywhere.2. Moo when they say your name.3. Run into walls.4. Say that wearing clothes is against your religion.5. Stand over them at four in the morning with a huge grin onyour face and say, good morning sunshine6. Pluck someone’s hair out and yell, “DNA”7. Have 20 imaginary friends that you talk to all the time.8. In public yell, “No Mom/Dad, I will not make out withyou!!”9. Do what they actually tell you.10. Jump off the roof, trying to fly.11. Hold their hand and whisper to them, “I see deadpeople.”12. At everything they say yell, “Liar.”13. Try to swim in the floor.14. Tap on their door all night

Quotes from real teens“Last night I was looking at the stars and I wondered...

where the heck is my ceiling?”

“Never miss a good opportunity to shut the heck up!”

“They say to reach for the moon, even if you miss, you’llland among the stars. Do they not know the laws of gravity?If you miss, you’ll come crashing back to earth...”

Totally

Teens



serious charges by an administrativeagency and the police. This law firm,Firm X, had represented this individualover the course of several months, andconsequently, had much confidential in-formation about the matter in their filesand in the heads of their attorneys. Theadministrative agency issuing the chargesdecided it wanted to be represented byFirm X. Firm X accepted the govern-ment representation and told its client,the individual about whom it had all sortsof confidential information, that Firm Xwas giving up its representation of him

— and then took the administrativeagency on as a client in the same mat-ter!!!!!!

This is one of the most egregious con-flicts of interest I have ever seen.

Heads should have rolled, followedby a number of disbarments by the BarAssociation. I tried to get the individualto bring a malpractice action against thelaw firm, but he wouldn’t, and even ifhe had been willing, I’m not at all cer-tain that he could have gotten any com-petent attorney to represent him.

Signed,Mary Toy

Letter to the EditorLetter to the EditorLetter to the EditorLetter to the EditorLetter to the Editor

Senior Minister Emeritus George Price joins Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister BrunoRodriguez Parilla in a toast.

Social Page

Fr. Smalls of Our Lady of the Way Church, kisses the ring of newly installed Bishop ofBelize, Dorrick Wright at ordination ceremonies at SJC on January 20th.

University of Belize students got a les-son in “Citizen Oversight: PromotingEthical Conduct in Government” onJanuary 25th at their Belmopan campus.Guest speaker was Ken Kellner, Se-nior Counsel in the United States HouseCommittee on Standards of Conduct.Kellner, who also lectures atGeorgetown University in WashingtonD.C. in administrative law for parale-gals, has extensive experience investi-gating cases of alleged misconduct byMembers of Congress and staff.

He also served with the US Depart-ment of Justice Environment and Natu-ral Resources Division representing theUS government on federal courts in ad-ministrative and environmental lawcases involving endangered species.

According to the U.S. Embassy, dur-ing his three day visit, he met with gov-ernment officials, business leaders, stu-

dents, and other members of civil soci-ety to discuss the importance of ethicalbehavior in elected officials.

Kellner’s visit was co-sponsored bythe U.S. Embassy and the University ofBelize.

Citizen OversightCitizen OversightCitizen OversightCitizen OversightCitizen Oversight

Ken Kellner

ber Archies on Euphrates before goingclubbing downstairs at Scruples.

But enough nostalgia, this thing might notjust be my problem but a national trend.The slow, greasy sliding away of rice andbeans and chicken and salad as the na-tional dish. The death of Meegan beansand the rise of Friendship Fried Chicken.

The raising of the collective cholesterollevel and de-creolization of our culturalconsciousness. Ahhhgh! Enough.

I am home. Safe and sound and satis-

fied. No one will ever know.Suddenly a car pulls up next to me as I

get out. One of my neighbors, looking har-ried yet determined. “You just coming intoo? I ask.

“Yes, I ah, just run da town fi sonting,”he mumbles evasively.

“Oh, okay, well goodnight.” I tell him.I didn’t tell him he had catsup on his

chin.Guess I am not the only one.But tomorrow, its veggies and steamed

rice. I mean it this time. Really.

Cuban Deputy ForeignMinister visits Belize

Belize City, January 24, 2007.On the occasion of the III Meetingof Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Cu-ban First Deputy Foreign MinisterBruno Rodriguez Parrilla paid anofficial visit to Belize betweenJanuary 23rd and 24. During hispresence in Bel ize Minis te rRodríguez paid a courtesy call toRt. Hon. Said Musa, Primer Min-ister and Minister of Finance andHon. Francis Fonseca, Minister ofEducation, Labor and AttorneyGeneral.

The meeting was considered afruitful opportunity to exchangeideas on the bilateral relation andinternational issues, particularlynow when Cuba is the President ofthe Non-Alignment Movement andBelize of SICA.

As part of the program, bothcountries signed a health agreementthat will improve the level of coop-eration between Belize and Cubain this area.

Minister Rodriguez stated that “therelations between Cuba and Belizeare a model of a new set of interna-tional relations, with emphasis incooperation and solidarity”. Onsigning the agreement the Cuban of-ficial said that it “would be very ben-eficial to improve and expand thehealth services provide by the Cu-ban medical brigade rendering ser-vices in all districts of Belize”.

The Embassy of Cuba hosted acocktail where the Cuban delega-tion socialized with representativesof the Government and Belize soci-ety. Among them, the Cuban offi-cial had the honor to meet with Fa-ther of the Nation George C. Price.

The Cuban delegation was com-posed by Ambassador Rogelio Si-erra, Chief of the Latin American Di-vision at the Ministry of ForeignRelations of Cuba, H.E. EugenioMartínez, Ambassador to Belize andOmar Pereira, Advisor to theDeputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.


Dis Da Fu We - addictionDis Da Fu We - addictionDis Da Fu We - addictionDis Da Fu We - addictionDis Da Fu We - addiction

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Vision Inspired by the People1 Cardinal Street, BelmopanTel: 802-2926e-mail: [email protected]://www.vip.org.bz

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As Belizeans we are each responsible for the welfare of our beloved country. Yourparticipation in building Belize is therefore a civic and patriotic obligation.

VIP through this survey gives you the opportunity to input into the planning of ourcountry’s future by sharing your inspired vision and commitment.

Your response will be treated with the highest confidentiality and any published resultswill be aggregated in order to reflect only collective opinions.

Please write your answers and return it to us by post or electronic mail using ourcontact information above. Every idea is important to us. Please feel free to also callour office.

Questions: To make Belize a better country to live, work andplay:

1. WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE THREE PRIORITY AREAS THAT THENEXT GOVERNMENT MUST FIX?

2. WHAT SUGGESTIONS CAN YOU OFFER TO FIX THESE PROBLEMS?

3. WHAT COMMITMENT AND SACRIFICE ARE YOU WILLING TOMAKE TO HELP FIX THE PROBLEM?

“VISION WITHOUT ACTION IS ONLY AN ILLUSION”We thank you for acting now to SAVE BELIZE!

“Stand Up, Save Belize”

lower ranking civil servants and teachers(those without permission to sign vouchersat the gas stations) retirees, pensioners, singlemothers, and the tourism sector.

Sirs, there is no hope for meaningful de-velopment when taxes on energy approach300% or three times acquisition cost to thepeople of Belize. You know it and we knowit. And soon the outside world will know whatthe Belizean government is up to.

Bear with me as I work through some re-lated developments in the hemisphere, as it isunfolding before the Organization of Ameri-can States. We must start paying closer at-tention to the developments at the OAS asmany decisions there will continue to affectyou, the Belizean reader personally, and thecountry as a whole.

Officious Belize will be participating shortlyin the General Assembly (GA) of the OASin Panama in June, 2007. The theme for theGA will be “Energy for Development”. Thedraft declaration, which we’ve seen, says:ALL MEMBER STATES MUST BE-COME AWARE (of the theme) AND ACTON THIS CONCERN IN A TIMELYMANNER”. Visit www.oas.org (its in Span-ish, English, French, and Portuguese)

Last week, Panama’s Ambassador/Per-manent Representative to the OAS, His Ex-cellency Aristides Royo, submitted the DraftDeclaration of Panama entitled “Energy forDevelopment” for consideration by the Pre-paratory Committee of the General Assem-bly. He said the initiative represents hisgovernment’s effort to acknowledge themajor concerns of countries regarding the es-calating energy problem in the hemisphere.Royo warned, “All our member states mustbecome aware and act on this concern in atimely manner.”

The way it works at the OAS is which-ever country is chosen to host the next GA,sets the theme of that GA. And, basically,after consultations and at the end of the GA,there is a declaration of that chosen countryencapsulating the tenets of the theme. So therewill be a Declaration of Panama that all coun-tries will accede to. Declarations have noteeth, per sey, but try to set an “ubuntu-ized”(general consensus) tone for the work of theorganization for the next year.

Anyway, the soon to be finalized draft, inthe preparatory committee that Royo chairs,warns that high energy costs are putting asevere financial constraint on resources thecountries of the Americas need for their de-

velopment programs.The Panamanians argue that economic

development and environmental conserva-tion are complementary and form an integralpart of the basic goals of the OAS. Theyalso accentuate public-private sector alliancesas vital to the promotion of the energy sectoragenda in the hemisphere, and touch on the

effects of climate change and the need forresearch, promotion, development and in-creased use of renewable energy forms. TheOAS Department of Sustainable Develop-ment is providing the working group and thePanamanian delegation with technical sup-port.

What the documents don’t reflect are thereasons for the high costs of energy. TheMost Honorable Panamanian Ambassadorto the OAS, as chair of the PreparatoryCommittee of the 2007 OAS/GA, needs tobe sensitized to the excessive taxes, con-sumption taxes that hit the poor the hardest.You cannot reach those lofty millennium de-velopment goals, Mr. Ambassador, unlessyou collectively back off from taxing the poorof this hemisphere, in such a brutal mannerwith all these consumption taxes. It is inhu-mane and dastardly, really. They don’t pun-ish governments, they do the opposite: theypunish the poor.

And, what will be Belize’s excuse for tax-ing the poor in excess of two and half timesof costs in fuel taxes when they get to the GA

in Panama? You really would not want toknow. Trust me. North Americans complainwhen gasoline gets above US$ 2 a gallon.Well, Belizeans are paying almost US$ 5gallon, in spite of President Chavez’s largessesupposedly to the Government of Belize.

We, the working class people of Belize,pay two and a half times what you pay,America, (and make five times less a year insalary) a thousand times what Venezuelanspay, and we are really getting tired of thisabusive arrangement. Mr. Chavez needs tounderstand, if he doesn’t already know, thathis foreign policy petro-diplomacy efforts arehurting us in Belize when he props up thismorally, financially, and ethically bankrupt gov-ernment here.

Authoritarian Rule by decree is not for us,Sir. Please leave us with what’s left of ourcommon law traditions to sort out our ownmess. Keep your fuel, its not helping us. Atleast not right now.

Ed. Note: the author served two sepa-rate tours at the OAS (7years cumulative)under four Belizean Ambassadors.


RAM PUSS TRAM PUSS TRAM PUSS TRAM PUSS TRAM PUSS TAAAAAX ...X ...X ...X ...X ...

Whether acquistion costs jump high, jump low, GOB just pumps us some more.

friday, february 2, 2007 the independent reformer page 1...

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