“A Mother’s Dream”, A Sharon Palacio Tell-All

With the municipal elections only days away, the current term of office comes to an end on Friday. But, most P.U.P. mayors are not packing up and cleaning their offices until Thursday when the city councils and town councils are dissolved. That is with the exception of one, Mayor Sharon Palacio. She was elected in March 2021 and made history as a woman in politics. But, since taking up office, the tides have never turned in her favor. Whether it was disharmony within her council, a rift between her and her area representative, questions concerning her motivations, or a public feud with the prime minister, Mayor Palacio has spent a lot of time in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. But, she believes that half the truth has not been told and she says that she will do just that in a tell-all book, soon to come. We caught up with Mayor Palacio in her Belmopan office today, ahead of her exit. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Mayor Sharon Palacio made history in March 2021, when she became the first woman mayor in Belmopan’s history. But on the last week of her three-year term, Palacio is not receiving high praises for this accomplishment. Today, we met her in her city council office packing up her belongings with not a single one of her councilors anywhere in sight. Despite being elected as a People’s United Party mayor, she remained at odds with the city’s area representative, Oscar Mira.

 

Sharon Palacio, Outgoing P.U.P. Mayor, Belmopan

“Personally as far as I am concerned the area rep and I we have some type of togetherness. So if you go way back you’ll see how the relationship started there is a history. But there comes a time if you say or do something I do not agree with then I will stand up. My standing up to the area rep has been for some time. So, if anybody want to interpret how they want that is there issue, but if they come to me and listen to the genesis of the truth of the disorder, the whole world will jump on my side.”

 

 

The People’s United Party did not endorse Palacio as its mayoral candidate for the March sixth elections. They also disqualified her from contesting the party’s municipal convention. She has accepted her fate, but says that is not the last Belmopan residents will hear from her.

 

Sharon Palacio

“There is lot things I haven’t said and I will not say to you Paul, forget about it, but it will be written in my book. There is a lot of things I have to say, because there are other women who I want to support because in this country I am a proud mayor, I am the only female.”

 

 

 

 

Paul Lopez

“This book you are speaking off, I would imagine you are speaking of literally writing a book?”

 

Sharon Palacio

“I have written and I am only waiting for elections to finish before I publish my book, because my journey ends on election day and as soon as election is over that book will be published. The name of that book will be called a mother’s dream.”

 

Paul Lopez

“What will the chapter that speaks to your political journey say in this book? Will it speak to lost time, unwanted leadership perhaps?”

 

Sharon Palacio

“No, it will highlight a beautiful journey, a journey whereby Sharon Palacio came in and my ethnicity is always being discriminated against in this country. That chapter will reflect the truth, it is going to speak about everything and I think there are things a lot of people don’t know they will read and find out and if they want to say that racism doesn’t exist in Belize, that is a lie, a big lie.”

 

 

 

But, perhaps there are not enough pages in any book to tell the story of how divided Mayor Palacio and her councilors were. Neither would that story have a happy ending because, with the exception of Councilor Sanie Cal, Palacio and her councilors have been shelved.

 

Sharon Palacio

“When it comes to the actual convention, if you were studying how everything went, all these mayors got endorsed. People would need to ask why Palacio didn’t get endorsed. That is a part of the book. Oscar Mira, the councilors are just a mini part of the entire story. The big picture is all the way at the top, all the way at the top. So, let’s leave it for the book.”

 

Paul Lopez

“How upset were you went this idea was projected upon you that you spent more time focusing on Africa and pushing forward that agenda than on the city and the works of the city and do you believe you could have done things differently in that respect?”

 

Sharon Palacio

“That is a perception. The whole thing about Africa would have been a therapy, because the racism started from the very beginning, whereby, let me tell you something since you want something and I don’t care. The first breakdown was when I fired a corrupt traffic manager. The powers that be wanted me to take that man in and I said hell no. Who am I, a person from down south to tell these people no. They would have never accepted that and that is where the trouble started. And the councilors became victims themselves.”

 

And so, as she clears her desk and says her final goodbyes, there are some that still see Mayor Palacio as an influential figure in the city. But, will her influence play a role in who wins the Belmopan municipals on March sixth?

 

Sharon Palacio

“I will not go out there and say vote for this one or that one, I will never say that, but my people will know what to do. My people are more annoyed than myself. Remember I have big family and when you spoke about Sanie Cal surviving, he escaped. Who is Sanie Cal, who the nephew of Moises Cal. If people put that together do you think Sanie Cal would have any kind of position here?”

 

Paul Lopez for News Five.