March, 2024 - Channel 5 Belize

High-Ranking U.D.P.’s Boycott NPC

We now turn to politics….The United Democratic Party (U.D.P.) held its National Party Council (N.P.C.) meeting to evaluate its performance in the 2024 municipal elections. However, a group of high-ranking members, including John Saldivar and Patrick Faber, boycotted the meeting and held a separate gathering at the Biltmore Hotel. They refused to comment on their absence or the purpose of their meeting. Meanwhile, U.D.P. leader Moses Shyne Barrow remained at the headquarters, emphasizing that the majority of members were present and reaffirming his leadership. News Five was at both meetings and Hipolito Novelo reports.

Hipolito Novelo, Reporting

At its headquarters at the foot of the BelChina Bridge, the United Democratic Party held its National Party Council meeting on Saturday. On the agenda: an assessment of the party’s performance in the 2024 municipal elections.

Michael Peyrefitte, Chairman, U.D.P.

“Well, it was an NPC meeting for the parties, internal party matters that we discussed. But, you know, one can imagine that a big part of it was an assessment of the March 6th elections. What we did wrong, what we did right, and how we could improve. Pretty much that’s it.”

But three miles away, inside the Black Orchid Room at the Biltmore Hotel, a private meeting- an anti NPC meeting . Inside high ranking senior members of the UDP including John Saldivar, Patrick Faber, Edmond Castro and Beverly Williams. They spent about two hours meeting. They then emerged saying No comment.

Hipolito Novelo

“Mister John Saldivar, sir”

John Saldivar, Member, United Democratic Party

“No comment.”

Hipolito Novelo

“They are claiming that this group boycotted the NPC. How do you respond.

John Saldivar

“No comment. Please respect me. I said no comment.

Hipolito Novelo

“Miss Dianne Finnegan says that you are all following negativity.

John Saldivar

“No Answer”

Hipolito Novelo

“Mr. Saldivar, are you able to say whether you are happy with the leadership of the UDP?”

John Saldivar

“No answer”

Hipolito Novelo

“Was this meeting to oust Shyne barrow as the leader of the UDP?”

John Saldivar

“No answer”

Hipolito Novelo

“Mister Faber are you able to say why you boycotted the UDP NPC meeting at the headquarters?

Patrick Faber, Area Representative, Collet

“No answer

Hipolito Novelo

“How do you feel at the end of this meeting today?

Patrick Faber

“No answer.”

Hipolito Novelo

“Do you feel that the goal was met today with the other UDPs?

Patrick Faber

“I will not comment at this time.”

Hipolito Novelo

“Miss Bev, are you able to say why you boycotted the NPC meeting?”

Beverly Williams, Member, United Democratic Party

“I don’t have any comment at this time.

Hipolito Novelo

“How do you feel about the meeting today? “

Beverly Williams

“Very positive.”

Hipolito Novelo

“Its goal was met? Was the goal to remove Shyne Barrow as the leader of the UDP?”

Beverly Williams

“I don’t know of any such goal. No comment.”

Hipolito Novelo

“Mister Castro, if I could ask you why is it that you boycotted the NPC meeting with Shyne Barrow.”

Edmund Castro, Member, United Democratic Party

“No man, no man you can’t ask me about…there is nothing to say.”

Hipolito Novelo

“But there was an NPC meeting scheduled today. You didn’t show up.

Edmund Castro

“I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.

Hipolito Novelo

“Mr. Barrow and the chairman are still at the HQ.”

Edmund Castro

“There are they? Maybe I go look for them.”

Hipolito Novelo

“Maybe we go there.”

Edmund Castro

“Maybe I’ll go look for them.”

Meanwhile, Party Leader Moses Shyne Barrow, Party chairman Michael Peyrefitte, along with UDP caretakers and officials were still meeting. The NPC meeting lasted about five hours, and during those five hours Barrow says he wasn’t aware of any other meeting. But one thing he was aware of is that he has the majority.

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader, U.D.P.

“I don’t know where people are as far as who did not attend. I know Hugo, um, had a family emergency with the death of his family. He’s still mourning. Um, he had his representatives here. The majority. The far majority of constituencies were here and that is all that matters.”

John Saldivar

“People are always absent from NPC meetings. it’s not news when anybody is.”

Hipolito Novelo

“I mean, in this case, they boycotted the NPC meeting. John Saldivar, Patrick Farber, Mr. Guerrero from San Pedro, Mr. Denny Grijalva from Orange Rock, Mr. Ms.Beverly from Belize Rural.”

Michael Peyrefitte

“Is that what they said? I don’t know. I don’t know. We just talked.

Hipolito Novelo

“They were invited to this NPC.”

Michael Peyrefitte

“Well, all members of the NPC are invited.

Hipolito Novelo

“They had their own meeting at Biltmore.

Michael Peyrefitte

“But I don’t know about that. We have an NPC. All members of the NPC are invited. And who comes? Comes, who doesn’t come come. It’s a free country.”

Moses “Shyne” Barrow

“You need a majority. And I have the majority here at the National Party Council. I have been re elected by the National Convention. So obviously we know the history of the party and we know the individuals who have their ambition to lead the party. And that is what it is, but I’m more concerned with the majority that was here.”

Michael Peyrefitte

The National Convention has taken a position on the leadership situation of Shane Barrow, so I don’t see how any meeting at the Biltmore can change that. The National Party Council meeting, the only meeting recognized by the party, happened at the party headquarters. Today, that’s the only meeting I know about. The national convention said that the honorable shine borrow is the leader of the UDP until the 2025 general elections. I don’t, there’s no higher body than the national convention. So any so called meeting to discuss that is mute. Nothing changed that. I don’t know what’s the purpose of that.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Hipolito Novelo.

Beverly Williams Replaced in Senate

As you saw in the story, one of the persons who boycotted the U.D.P.’s National Party Council meeting was Beverly Williams, the party’s standard bearer for Belize Rural Central. She was also a U.D.P. senator. We say “was” because Opposition Leader Moses “Shyne” Barrow has replaced her. In a letter dated March twenty-fifth, Opposition Leader Moses Barrow informed Governor General Dame Froyla Tzalam of the appointment of Mark O’Brian as U.D.P. senator. The letter says, in part “I write to you on this occasion…to declare the seat of Senator Beverly Williams vacant… I hereby nominate Mister Mark O’Brian to fill the seat left vacant by Beverly Williams.”

U.D.P. Leader Accuses ‘Yellowman’ of Theft

Tonight, Moses Shyne Barrow is also facing opposition from Brian “Yellowman” Audinette. Audinette reportedly filed a police complaint against Barrow on Friday and has been posting defiant messages on his Facebook page. For instance, he posted, “The P.U.P. are happy with Shyne Barrow at helm of the U.D.P. because they will continue to win…Shyne needs to go and go now”. When we asked Barrow about Audinette on Saturday, he told us that two police reports have been filed against Audinette.

Hipolito Novelo

“Are you from, are you aware as we reported last night that “Yellowman” filed a police complaint against you?”

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader, U.D.P.

“No, I have not been notified of any such thing. I know that the police, two police reports were filed against him, one for stealing and one for threatening one of our party officials.”

Hipolito Novelo

That stealing happened when?

Moses “Shyne” Barrow

“Monday the 18th, I believe. Yes, Monday the 18th. He stole a fridge and a TV and a microwave from our property, which is why he was terminated.”

Hipolito Novelo

And threatened who?

Moses “Shyne” Barrow

“He threatened one of the party officials.”

Yellowman Says He Did Not Steal from UDP HQ

Well, today we heard from Brian “Yellowman” Audinett. He invited the media to the U.D.P.’s Queen Square office, where he refuted claims that he was fired because he stole appliances from the U.D.P. headquarters. Audinett says he took what was rightfully his. Here is how he puts it.

Brian “Yellowman” Audinett, Former U.D.P. Councillor Candidate

“I take two refrigerator, a TV and a microwave to the United Democratic Party when Ms. Carol Babb was the secretary general of the party. On Monday March eighteenth I went to work and received a letter. I want to read that letter which was sent to me by Ms. Sharry Obano which was sent to her by the Leader of the Opposition, soon to go, Shyne Barrow, I forget his name and all. Dear Mr. Audinett pending review of your overall job performance and in keeping with adjustments necessary in order to position the party for victory in the next general election, it has been decided it is best to discontinue your employment at the UDP secretariat. Nothing fih do with theft, nothing fih do with me carry any fridge, microwave and TV. The thing is, when I moved my stuff out the building is when this letter was sent to me and I told Sharry and Michael Peyrefitte that since I can’t come back to the party office, the party I fought for all my life while Shyne sat down in a prison in America that I will take my stuff from the office. This is after receiving this letter. That is an absolute lie.”

Reporter

“Do you have a receipt for it?”

Brian “Yellowman” Audinett

“Yes, I will present my receipt. If I knew you all would have asked me for a receipt, I would have gotten it for you. I think I have one for the fridge. I have two for the fridges. I don’t know for the TV.”

Reporter

“Is it for you or Ms. Carol Babb?”

Brian “Yellowman” Audinett

“It is mine, not Ms. Carol. I went and got those, and I bring those. At the time the office had no fridge and nothing.”

Yellowman Says He Was Fired for Speaking Against Party Leader

And as we mentioned, on Friday, Brian “Yellowman” Audinett, visited the Belize Police Department to file a report against his party leader, Moses “Shyne” Barrow. Police are reportedly investigating the allegations that Audinett raised in that report against Barrow. In the meantime, Audinett contends that the real reason he was fired from the U.D.P. is because he told Barrow that he was not fit to be party leader.

Brian “Yellowman” Audinett, Former U.D.P. Councillor Candidate

“This party belongs to the people and there is no way “Shyne” Barrow or anybody would stop me from going to the office.”

Reporter

A settlement deed was proposed, did you sign it?

Brian “Yellowman” Audinett

“Absolutely not. Shyne believes that everybody is chasing money, and that people are desperate. We get here because the election happened on the sixth of March. The Monday after the election when we lost, we called a meeting with the Mesopotamia executive and so. When we called that meeting, I told everybody we needed to speak up. I said, you can’t the talk behind that man back and nuh tell the man the truth. I said, you wah hear right now, because the man deh wah tell yo how deh feel. Well, I speak out and I said Shyne, I am going to be honest with you, from the first time you run against Tracey, cause the first time ih run against Tracey I told him personally, I don’t believe you are fit enough to represent the party as the leader of the party. In that very same meeting, I said Shyne you are not fit. We have been in opposition for the last three years and we make absolutely no gain. Our numbers in Belize City were up and went down. While we were on the campaign trail the people were saying we will not vote for unu if you don’t get rid of Shyne. It is not that we don’t respect Shyne, but I be honest with him, the people in Mesopotamia are upset. Our numbers dropped drastically in Mesop, why because the people don’t like how he speaks to them, how he talks to them. He disrespects the people and I being the one weh nuh fraid fih speak out tell him and because I speak out, he fired me. What he needs to tell the media is the absolute reason why he fired me is because I told him he is not fit to lead the party. And there is no joke about that. He is not fit.”

U.D.P. Mesopotamia Chairman Refutes Yellowman’s Claims

Rodney “Files” Lord, Audinett’s brother, invited the media to speak with him at the U.D.P.’s Mesopotamia constituency office late this evening. Lord is the U.D.P. Chairman of the constituency. He says he was the one who called the meeting that Audinett claims led to his termination. And, according to Lord, Audinett barely even spoke in the meeting. So, he is refuting his brother’s claim against Opposition Leader, Moses “Shyne” Barrow.

Rodney “Files” Lord, U.D.P. Chairman, Mesopotamia Constituency

“There is a member in this party, you know weh you call deh caucus? I don’t know nothing about that. I know about UDP. Deh could seh all kinda thing. The party leader been the tek lick from all over the corner and it is never true. So if I am to either compel if Yellow is telling the truth or a lie, if it is left up to me, it is a lie. The UDP gawn through how many leaders so far, two since 2020, Mr. Faber and Mr. Barrow. We make a change from Mr. Faber due to all kind of allegations. The party make their fight, and that had to do with the Caucus of Change to nuh? Yellow man saying that the party leader needs to go as leader of the party? Who will be the next leader of this party? Everybody try, Ms. Tracey tried and failed. I don’t know what my good brother, my beloved brother gets his story from or what he is trying to do. I am the one who caused that meeting to happen because there were things that needed to straighten out and it had nothing to do with the party leader, if anybody do something wrong, if anybody take any money from him or do anything that has to do with the election. We had that meeting based on a postmortem, what went wrong. We nuh loose eena Mesopotamia. I could have been better, but that meeting had nothing like that. That was a positive meeting.”

Immigration Officer Arraigned for Extortion

This morning, a junior immigration officer from Corozal Town was arraigned for extortion. Allegations are that on Friday, March fifteenth, thirty-one-year-old Monique Escalante demanded three thousand U.S. dollars from Jamaican national Janhoi Richards while he was at the Philip Goldson International Airport. Escalante claims she was legally authorized to do so as an immigration officer. Escalante was offered bail in the sum of eight thousand dollars and a surety of the same amount, which she met. As a part of Escalante’s bail conditions, she is to surrender her travel documents to the court, abstain from contacting Richards, and report to the Racoon Street Police Station every Friday, effective this week. In an interview with Escalante’s attorney, Audrey Matura, she claimed that the arrest of her client is merely a scapegoat for other immigration officers taking advantage of their position, but she also maintained that her client is innocent.

Audrey Matura, Attorney For Defendant

“The first thing I’ll say is that it’s interesting what is happening. If the department believes there’s a problem up at the airport, They need to locate it beyond trying to use my client as a scapegoat and I say that because the second thing is that, the facts as is being stated is very questionable because according to the records that they will have there is that Mister Richards who’s making these allegations, came into the country of the fifteenth of March. And I saw the report gave the impression that as this. alleged incident happened; he ran to the police to get help. That’s not true. He went to the police the twentieth of March and what the department and people who are concerned are not saying is that he only made a report after he tried to leave Belize through the Belize Mexico border and the immigration officers there stopped him and then he came up with this story. A very important thing on the point of this person, mister Richards, that made the allegations, when he came into this country, he said that he would be staying at Belcove Hotel, that he would leave Belize the twenty-second of March via the same airline going to Panama. He attempts to leave Belize to Mexico border, Belize Mexico border. What the senior officials need to tell us the public is where is he? Where’s the record that he left? Because the real scam is not what they’re accusing my client of doing. The real scam is who in the department is running the rocket to help people to get through to the border, to leave this country and transit to Mexico. That’s where the real issue is. Like I said, my client is just the scapegoat. So I think they need to account and give proof if this man has left the jurisdiction And if he hasn’t based on what he declared as the reason he’s coming in where are the charges against him?”

Trial Against Bladen 12 Adjourned, Again

The men accused of facilitating the landing of a drug plane in the south in 2021 appeared in court today. They are known as the Bladden Twelve, and today the trial judge adjourned the proceedings. That’s because the attorney for some of the accused, Oscar Selgado, is incarcerated and unable to represent them. Attorney Richard Bradley explained.

Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney for Defendants

“We are a bit taken aback, but it is unavoidable, at least for this morning, if not for the rest of the day. Four of the accused in the Bladden drug plane, drug trafficking, landing of a plane without permission case, those four persons had the illustrious Oscar Selgado as their attorney. He is unable to make it this morning because he doesn’t control his time. So, the four persons have asked and one of our colleagues attorney is going to represent them. And of course that only came up this morning when they all came to court. So, the Magistrate quite rightly said that they are entitled to be properly represented and so she agreed to the request for adjournment in relation to that matter. Hoping that we would then come bright and early on Holy Thursday to try and get a full morning but like bad luck Mr. Jones has also received a last minute notice that he has been appointed by the high court to represent a person in a murder trial so he’s going to try and see how he could get that sorted out this afternoon. And in relation to Thursday that is not going to work. So we are going, God willing, on the third day of April to get a full day and thereafter if things remain on track, I repeat on track, then the 8th of April we will continue and between myself and the others we’ll try and see how far we could get before a day advanced by the 9th day of April.”

Ashton Myers Shot in Belize City

Two men survived separate shooting incidents over the weekend in Belize City. One of them was Ashton Myers. He was shot at on Sunday evening while at his residence on Freedom Street. Investigators say that Myers was shot several times. The victim was rushed to the K.H.M.H., where he remains in a stable condition. ACP Hilberto Romero shared more details.

A.C.P Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander, Eastern Division

“Information is that he was sitting in front of his yard when a vehicle came in the area and a person came out and fired several shots towards his direction. Again, several persons are detained and are being interviewed in regards to this report.

Hipolito Novelo

The person’s being interviewed and in detention, they know the victim?

A.C.P Hilberto Romero

“We have information that, it is over some rival that they have in that area. And yes, they know each other.”

Hipolito Novelo

The victim has provided an official statement to police.

A.C.P Hilberto Romero

“Not as yet. He receiving treatment as soon as he recovers, that will be done.”

Someone Wants Fredrick Garbutt Dead

Later that Sunday night, Belize City police were called out to an area near Jane Usher Boulevard. There they found Fredrick Garbutt, suffering from several gunshot injuries. He was rushed to the K.H.M.H., where he is in a stable condition. ACP Hilberto Romero says that several persons have been detained.

A.C.P. Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander, Eastern Division

“His presently still listed in a stable condition at KHMH. Several persons have been detained and are being interviewed in regards to this report. Yes, he’s from that area.”

Reporter

“That area seems to have been heating up recently. We had the Troy Hyde area not to far from where this happened. Are you guys taking any special focus on the genocide?”

ACP Hilberto Romero

“Yes, there are several patrols and specialized units in that area, uh, covering the various gang bases. This person was walking on Jane Oshawa Boulevard and he was targeted.”