Former Port Loyola Area Representative Anthony “Boots” Martinez is back and is gearing up for a showdown with his successor. After failing to trigger a recall of sitting area rep, Gilroy Usher Senior, the seasoned politician has decided to come out of retirement and run once again for the United Democratic Party. According to Martinez, he is back by popular demand and is ready to take out his political opponent. This afternoon, we caught up with Boots in his former stomping grounds and here’s what he has to say about his comeback.
Anthony “Boots” Martinez
Anthony “Boots” Martinez, Former Area Rep, Port Loyola
“I retired in 2018 from elected politics overall, and especially as the area representative for Port Loyola. In 2020, two months before the election, Sedi Elrington stepped aside and I was asked to fill the vacuum as a party man. Ah need fi clarify that because even fi the people of Port Loyola, even dealing with the petition that was the question that was asked, “Why yoh mi leff we?” Of course, I had a long time as the longest serving area representative for Port Loyola and I worked hard. It is about service, it is about wanting to see better for the constituency. You wah tell me, my God, eena five years’ time, by his own admittance, the area representative is saying that at the rate ah weh house di gih weh and how dehn di build house, he only wahn get two and a half house fi five years. Furthermore to that, I will say that to me, as an area representative, he has neglected his duty because I think, moving across the constituency and he inherited a constituency that was properly balanced. To that end, I will say to Gilroy Usher, this is my slogan, “It’s over now, sir.” And to use Steph Curry’s symbol, “night, night.””
Martinez’s effort at ousting Gilroy Usher from his office as Port Loyola area rep may have been frustrated by all the hurdles that he says were intentionally placed before him, but he is intent on mounting a challenge to take back his seat in the next general elections. According to Martinez, the matter of the failed recall petition is presently before the High Court where it will likely undergo a judicial review.
Anthony “Boots” Martinez
Anthony “Boots” Martinez, Former Area Rep., Port Loyola
“That is going to judicial review, but also, too, what is holding that back, in my view, I think that won’t be able to materialize based pan what the law says. The law says that one year before the election, ih cyant happen and eighteen months after, so I think that to me, that will be like an exercise in futility eena my view. But furthermore to that, the main objective is that Mr. Usher’s test is coming up. And let me say this, for the record, I have beaten Mr. Usher two times in a row, and yoh sih, when yoh play softball, baseball, dehn she three strike you are out, and it will be fortunate for me to strike him out.”
The endorsement of former Area Representative “Boots” Martinez and two otherU.D.P. standard bearers, amid a division within the United Democratic Party, has been met with criticism by the Alliance for Democracy, a faction within the U.D.P. But what role, if any, will he play in the reconciliation process that is so desperately needed in the fractured opposition? That’s what we asked Martinez this afternoon when we caught up with him in Port Loyola.
Anthony “Boots” Martinez
Anthony “Boots” Martinez, Former Area Rep., Port Loyola
“I will be joining in with the leadership of the party to see of there could be some impasse, to see where my advice could count politically, and so I will be involved as a party because [there’s] nothing like a united front. But also too, da like ah seh, in my humble opinion, I think that on both sides of the coin, I think that you must not lose focus of the prize. The focus of the prize are the people, your constituency and the country and especially the country which wants a viable opposition and I think the infighting is not helping at all. And so the national issues are being put on the backburner. And so I believe that we must get our act together.”
Indian Creek Village is a quiet Maya community situated along the Southern Highway in the Toledo District. The village has roughly one thousand five hundred villagers, comprising about two hundred households twelve miles out of Punta Gorda Town. But there is an unease in the village, brought on by different ideals. One is enforced by a Caribbean Court of Justice ruling in 2015 which stipulates that the traditional Maya system of governance remains in effect, and the other falls under the Village Council Act. Both systems have been around for centuries and while both have worked together seamlessly in the past, some residents of Indian Creek want to move away from the traditional way of life and towards the constitutional way that affords them to keep up with development. To move towards that goal, in November of last year, the villagers decided among themselves to vote out the alcalde, Jose Choc and his deputy, Felipe Sam, who they say were using the 2015 C.C.J. ruling to prohibit them from developing their village at the pace they want to go. They replaced Choc and Sam with Manuel Ack and Nicolas Choc, a decision that was approved by the Attorney-General’s Ministry. The Maya Leaders’ Alliance and the Toledo Alcalde’s Association, which adheres to the C.C.J. ruling, got an injunction in the High Court, however, and the villagers are now at a crossroads as to who are their village leaders. News Five’s Marion Ali was in Indian Creek for a meeting the village council called on Tuesday to discuss the matter with the residents. Here’s that report.
Augustine Sam
Augustine Sam, Resident, Indian Creek, Village
“Do you want the current alcalde to stay?” (Crowd cheer and clap)
Marion Ali, Reporting
The fifty or so residents of Indian Creek Village who cheered on their current alcalde, Manuel Ack and deputy alcalde Nicolas Choc on Tuesday, did so in defiance of a motion brought forward by the Maya Leaders’ Alliance and the Toledo Alcalde’s Association to seek the court’s intervention to restrain Ack and Choc from carrying out alcalde duties. It comes in the face of a dual system of governance that has existed for centuries. The villagers, however, are torn between tradition and development.
Anselmo Cholom
Anselmo Cholom, Member, Indian Creek Village Council
“What customary practice are we talking here? Are we talking in the 1200 BC when the ancient Mayas begin their civilization? Or are we talking when the Spaniards conquered the Maya people in the 17th, 17th and 19th, or 1502? So what tradition? I’m confused. So if we want to go back to tradition, are we going to build temples, Mayan civilization, like how we, like how we know about? Is that what we want now? Do we want our children to be slaves? We need to get an education. We need to get out of these things.”
Avelina Coc
Avelina Coc, Chairlady, Indian Creek Maya Arts Women’s Group
“We remove the past Alcalde, Jose Choc, and Felipe Sam, because they have done many things. They rejected our digital power. They even signed a letter without the consent of the village council and the villagers of Indian Creek. They wrote a letter to the CEO. That same letter bounced back to the village council and there the problem arises. And then we voiced our concern that we need a change of the Alcalde because he is not doing development. He’s just rejecting whatcomes to the village and because we need development in our community.”
Avelina Coc was emphatic about her wish to have their November vote for Manuel Ack and Nicolas Choc remain as is. Several others from the village shared her sentiment.
Miguel Ack
Miguel Ack, Elder, Indian Creek Village
“(Talking in Kek’chi Maya…translated) The past alcalde doesn’t agree with the chairman. How can they work together if they’re all divided?”
Avelina Coc
“Now with our present alcalde village councils are working together and then we see improvement streets being fixed. Things are happening in the village.”
The MLA and TAA want the previous alcalde leaders, Jose Choc and his deputy, Felipe Sam, to be reinstated. Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith told the media in June that they just want what the CCJ ruled upon to carry through.
Godfrey Smith
Godfrey Smith, S.C., Attorney for T.A.A
“The government is saying, listen, you come here to court arguing about Alcaldes having customary rights. Practices and rights. No such thing exists in the laws of Belize. You won’t find anything about Alcalde’s customary practices in Village Councils Act and the Inferior Courts Act, and the state has the sovereign right to legislate, and it has, and this is the law of the land! And our response to that is, and will be developed, that in the same way that way back when the Maya first advocated for protection of customary land tenure, it wasn’t recognized in the laws of Belize, so too, we’re saying, that the right of their villages to exclusively determine who will be their alcaldes, and the right to remove them, vests in the village. Not by virtue of any. Written law of the land, but by a process of constitutional interpretation, utilizing international treaty obligations and international customary law.”
FILE: Jun 30, 2010
In 2007, the villages of Conejo and Santa Cruz in Toledo claimed their right of ownership over their communal lands in the Supreme Court of Belize. The Supreme Court agreed and decisively acknowledged that the two villages’ customary land rights are protected by international and Belizean law. In 2010, the Supreme Court of Belize extended the judgment to include the remaining thirty-six Maya communities in the Toledo District.
That same day, the Maya Leaders’ Alliance, led by Cristina Coc, celebrated the ruling in Indian Creek Village. Coc told the media then that the MLA supported progression, just in congruence with the Maya people’s standards. She said quote, we have never denied development, we have only asked for a development that is defined by our identity; a development that we define as a Maya people. Not a development that is imposed on us, not concepts and projects and programs that are imposed on us. We have seen many development projects come to Toledo and it has done more damage than good to our people so we are at a very important point where now we can define our development. Now the management of these lands are left in our hands and certainly we’re not moving backwards, we’re moving together with our country Belize, end quote.
Situated not far from the Nim Li Punit Maya Temple, an archaeological monument that whispers the Maya tradition of past centuries, the way of life and the system of governance for Indian Creek residents rests on another court judgement. When that is determined, the people will be governed by what the collective wanted back in 2010, or what they say they now want for their children’s future. Village Council Member, Anselmo Cholom told News 5 that development does not mean departing from tradition, but they feel their previous alcaldes were imposing that.
Anselmo Cholom
“We’re not saying that we want to give up our tradition or move from the communal land system. But the people, the people that are leading the Mayan people is dividing us in a way where they did not respect the decision of the community. I practice traditions. That doesn’t mean that I cannot do it. Get development. That doesn’t mean that I cannot get a concrete building. And if we have to get out of a communal system because of that, then we have to change.”
While the number of people that showed up at Tuesday’s meeting represented only a fraction of the village, Cholom said that they speak on behalf of the majority of the residents who want development. Whether the villagers’ wishes will mean they have to return to the courts in the future to fight for an adjustment of the 2015 C.C.J. ruling to have their wish materialize remains something to see. Marion Ali for News Five.
Former President Barack Obama delivered a vigorous address at the Democratic convention on Tuesday, August 21, endorsing Kamala Harris and criticising Donald Trump.
Obama declared, “The torch has been passed” and praised President Joe Biden’s decision to step aside for the sake of the country, who was absent from the event. He described the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, as “a 78-year-old billionaire who hasn’t stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago.” Obama described Trump’s approach as outdated and likened him to “the neighbour running his leaf blower outside your window every minute of every day.”
Obama portrayed Harris as a supportive and capable leader, stating, “Harris is not the neighbour running the leaf blower — she’s the neighbour rushing over to help when you need a hand.” He referenced Harris’s experience and her alignment with the values of the Democratic Party.
In his speech, Obama framed the election as a choice between a vision of collective responsibility and a more divisive approach.
Harris, who was campaigning in Milwaukee, was absent from the event.
As the United Democratic Party (UDP) loses its standard bearer for Belize Rural South, Ramon Vasquez, it gains another three for the areas of Caribbean Shores, Port Loyola, and Freetown for the upcoming general elections.
This afternoon, the party officially announced Dr. Nelma Jones-Mortis as the party’s standard bearer for Caribbean Shores. Dr. Jones-Mortis, a career educator and former mayoral candidate in Belize City, will now challenge the current Area Representative, Kareem Musa. Previously, she lost to Bernard Wagner in the Belize City mayoral race.
Dr. Abraham Flowers has been selected to represent the UDP in Freetown and is expected to face off against Francis Fonseca.
In Port Loyola, former Area Representative Anthony Martinez has reemerged to challenge current PUP Area Representative, Gilroy Usher Sr.
The People’s National Party categorically condemns what it describes as the shocking decision by the People’s United Party to authorize a staggering payout of $6.9 million in taxpayer dollars for land, a sum grossly inflated compared to the Belmopan City Council’s valuation of merely 1/20th of the sale price.
A release from the party says, “This is an outrageous misuse of public funds, especially given that the proposed national referral tertiary care hospital was intended to be constructed on the grounds of the University of Belize, Belmopan – at no cost for land use. We implore the Government to urgently reconsider this decision. The selected property is not suitable for such a critical healthcare facility, and the excessive cost is an affront to prudent fiscal management.”
The PNP says that public monies should be spent judiciously, particularly when funded through a US$45 million loan from the Saudi Arabia Fund for Development. it says that it is time for the Government to demonstrate true responsibility and redirect this vital investment to better serve the people of our nation.
Chairman and CEO of Belize Broadcasting Network (BBN), Ramon Vasquez, stepped back from his role as standard bearer for the United Democratic Party (UDP) in Belize Rural South for the upcoming General Elections.
The announcement was made on August 20, 2024, in a statement issued on BBN’s official Facebook account. The statement explained that the decision followed “extensive discussions with the board of directors” at BBN. The statement emphasised that the move was made to maintain the television station’s “identity, neutrality, and independence.”
Vasquez’s departure comes after other candidates, including Jazelié Azueita and former Mayor Daniel Guerrero, were removed or withdrew from the race due to internal conflicts within the party.
BBN stated that Vasquez and the network will continue to provide news, entertainment, and daily programmes to the public.
Official Statement:
“August 20, 2024
RE: Withdrawal of Candidacy for Belize Rural South
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
After extensive discussions with the board of directors for BBN Tv,
(Belize Broadcasting Network) Ramon Vasquez of BBN Tv has agreed to withdraw his candidacy for Belize Rural South for the upcoming General Elections. This is in regards to maintaining the integrity of the Media Station’s Identity and Core values of Neutrality in Politics and its Independence in the public domain.
Ramon Vasquez and BBN Tv will continue to serve the General Public in its Capacity of providing News, Entertainment and Daily Programs.
Last week, we told you about a group within the United Democratic Party calling itself the Alliance for Democracy. Well, the Leader of the United Democratic Party, Moses “Shyne” Barrow, says he does not acknowledge any factionalism or division within the party, including the alliance. As we reported, the alliance was formed by a group of U.D.P. faithful intent on seeing Albert Area Representative, Tracy Panton, replace Barrow as party leader. Well, Barrow says that according to the party’s constitution, any such alliance is prohibited.
Moses “Shyne” Barrow
Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
“Internally we will address our matters. I just put on record though that any alliance is illegal according to our constitution. I see that, or I have heard there is a campaign going on and people are going to media houses every week talking about the constitution. But the fact of the matter is, the constitution. There is a part of the constitution that totally prohibits factionalism, prohibits any type of alliances, any party within a party, it is prohibited by the constitution. They call it factionalism and division. It is totally prohibited by the constitution and furthermore the constitution gives the National Convention the highest authority of the party. I said that the last time and I will say it again, I was elected by the National Convention, not once, but twice. And the second time I waws elected, the National Convention elected me to serve until the general elections. So, there is nothing anyone can do about that, and my urge is for people to put their selfish ambitions aside and focus on the national issues that are hurting our Belizean citizens. There is no such thing as an alliance within the U.D.P. So, I don’t acknowledge any factionalism or division. I don’t acknowledge anyone other than a U.D.P. and the party chairman will deal with whatever letters he has to respond to.”
Paul Lopez
“Do you vouch for the character of the party chairman who is being attacked personally as well, accusations that he is bias.”
Moses “Shyne” Barrow
“The party chairman is an extraordinary person. All my colleagues that are focused on the next general elections, that is all we want to do, focus on our constituencies.”
Former Party Leader Dean Barrow, who led the U.D.P. from 1998 to 2020, shared brief thoughts on the chaos that has erupted within the party. While he refrained from casting blame, Barrow says that the internal strife that continues to plague the party does not bode well for a healthy opposition.
Isani Cayetano
“What are your thoughts about what’s been taking place within the United Democratic Party as of late? We’re less than a year or so from the next general elections.”
Dean Barrow
Dean Barrow, Former Party Leader, U.D.P.
“I prefer to not even think of it. It is extremely upsetting to anyone in this country who believes in democracy. I am not, of course, going to get into why the U.D.P. is in the state it is in or who is to blame. What I will do is to express the sincere hope which seems ultimately to be nothing more than a kind of pious wish that somehow the party would get its act together and find a degree of unity that can restore some confidence in people that at least we have a functional opposition party which is an absolutely essential requirement for a democracy.”
