Category: Social Issues

Dean Flowers, President of the Public Service Union, shared similar thoughts as he reflected on the sale of the hilltop property back in 2018 that the union once owned. This is the same year when this fifteen-acre property was sold to these Asian nationals. It’s also the same year that a portion of what had been designated as Las Flores Primary School property was sold to private investors. Flowers contends that it all points back to some very questionable transactions within a short time span.

 

Dean Flowers, President, P.S.U.

“In 2018 we were confronted with that hilltop situation with an Asian businessman form Corozal. We know the minister of land was also from Corozal. The las flores primary school, the children were deprived of their land, that was in 2018, again under the same group, the Belmopan City Council, RECONDEV, Ministry of Lands. We are here today, another Asian from Corozal. So, it would appear that between 2017 and 19 there was some very corrupt selling of land in Belmopan. Now, fast forward to today. It shows there is absolutely no difference between the quality of the type of people we are putting into office. This is a spinoff effect of what happened there. I always challenge this administration. You came into government on a platform of good governance. But nothing you are currently executing and doing is proving that you are committed to investing in the lives of Belizeans and addressing he issue of corruption.”

Ashley Longford, the president of the National Student Union of Belize spoke frankly with the media about the lack of support for today’s demonstration from students. Longford was one of two executive members from her union out at the demonstration. But aside from them, there were no signs of representation from any tertiary level student body. She referred to the lack of support from students, especially those from the University of Belize, as a disgrace.

 

Ashley Longford, President, N.S.U.B.

“I am the only one out here, where are the U.B. students, where is the U.B. student government, where is the U.B. student body? Where are they? It is a disgrace that they are not out here right now. That hospital was to go on U.B. land. Look at what the government did, pay six point nine million dollars. Where is the U.B. students? Where are the youths of the country? We are the future of this country. I am twenty-four years old. They are suppose to stand up for us right now, stand up for our future man.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Do you think they don’t care?”

 

Ashley Longford

“I care. The students have to care. That hospital was to go to U.B. land. The government said to U.B. that land was to be accessible to U.B. medical students. Where are U.B. medical students. We are in Belmopan right now. The university is here. Where are the students of this country? I tried to mobilize students. I called every student government in this country, every tertiary education student government. Some said it is too short notice. You can’t tell me U.B. student government can’t come here. You can’t tell me Galen can’t come here.”

A protest is being organized for Friday morning in front of the Prime Minister’s Office in Belmopan. Activist Nigel Petillo has sent out a call for Belizeans to join him and others in demanding that government reverses the six-point-nine-million-dollar land transaction in Belmopan to construct a new university hospital and to go back to its original plan. That initial plan which was tabled before parliament requires that the hospital be built on U.B. land.  We spoke with Petillo today about the planned protest.

 

Nigel Petillo, Community Activist

“For many times these things happen and all we do is complain and discuss it amongst our peers, spouses our neighbors, but we never really direct it where it needs to be directed. And, in this specific case this has to do with land. This touched me a lot being an activist for almost fifteen years trying to equip poor people with land. It is frustrating to see that the government was able to allocate almost seven million dollars on such a small parcel of land when we could have been doing things like this for a long time now. With seven million dollars I could have almost built a whole village facilitating over a thousand people. Yet when you go to the land department, they tell you there is no land. So, I thought to myself, you know what, I won’t be one of those Belizeans that will just complain. I have always been a man of action. I saw it fit to put together this demonstration. Who come, come. That is how I see it. I can do it by myself. I can go out there and just demonstrate on my own, but I think it is stronger when we have a body of people directing their frustration and anger to the government. Hence the reason why I thought it was very important for us to do a demonstration inviting different members of civil society, individuals, organizations, businesses, anybody who understands the importance of standing up. That is the main reason for this protest.”

Opposition Leader, Moses “Shyne” Barrow has responded to Nigel Petillo’s call. On Tuesday, he told us that he will join the protest in front of the Prime Minister’s office to add his voice to the cause.

 

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“Nigel Petillo has reached out to me to get on board, as well as other civil society members. So, we will be having a protest at the prime minister’s office on Friday. So I invite everyone. No partisanship. The same way I can support the minister of tourism with the music festival and in welcoming superstars to Belize, we have to hold the government accountable when they are doing wrong. And this is absolutely outrageous. I call on the minister of finance to go back to the original plan. There is no way. Now, if, I don’t even see how they could explain the fact that this makes sense. You want to say if they could show how financially this saves them money, how did you save money by paying thirty-nine time the amount. Now if they paid two hundred thousand dollars, let us say the property was three hundred. If you pay six hundred thousand. They paid twice the amount for it. You could say it only cost six hundred thousand, we paid twice and maybe the entire presentation as to the justification might have passed the smell test.”

“The time to end child marriage in Belize is now.” That is one of the mottos of the End Child Marriage in Belize Campaign that was launched by the Ministry of Human Development and its partners. The campaign seeks to increase the age of marital eligibility from sixteen years to eighteen. Today, the key stakeholders of the campaign gathered to discuss the proposed changes to the legislation that permits children to marry and the importance of acting on the matter. News Five’s Britney Gordon was there to learn more about this issue in Belize. Here’s that story.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

If you are asked whether you know any minors currently married to or in a union with an adult, would the answer be, yes? Chances are it is, because one out of every five girls aged fifteen to nineteen in Belize is in the very situation. As of sixteen years old, teenagers are legally allowed to get married with parental consent. That is the law the Ministry of Human development and its partners are seeking to change by raising the legal age to at least eighteen.  Shakira Sutherland, Executive Director of the National Children and Families Commission, explained that this campaign was born from a call to action from participants of the National Children’s Parliament last year.

 

Shakira Sutherland, Executive Director, N.C.F.C.

“So the campaign is to showcase the information that we have in regards to the legal aspect of it. So what we’re trying to do is that we’re trying to increase the age of marriage, the legal age, from sixteen to eighteen. And this stemmed from the National Children’s Parliament last year. So the bill from the children was that they wanted to end child marriage and the objective was to increase the age. Not only last year’s parliament, but the year before. Talks about vocational studies and then the previous year about child justice and so it is just a showcase that we at N.C.F.C. are working diligently to allow the children’s voices to be heard working with other stakeholders.”

 

The campaign is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Human Development and is supported by partners such as the National Women’s Commission. Minister of Human Development Dolores Balderamos-Garcia says that she is also grateful for the support of the church.

 

 

 

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Minister of Human Development

“As I mentioned today, we are very happy that many of the church leaders have joined us this morning. I mentioned that no disrespect at all to the sanctity of marriage from the religious perspective, but that you are married not because you might go into a church, but you’re married because you sign a contract. Signing a contract is when you’re married because you go to church, but it is the signing and the sending of that marriage signature to the vital statistics unit, and it is recorded. That is when you’re married and I don’t believe that anyone under the age of eighteen should be allowed to sign a contract.”

 

 

The campaign emphasizes the belief that child marriage is a human rights violation and a form of gender-based violence. Beverly Lemoine Castillo is a survivor of several forms of violence, including child abuse and rape. She uses her story of overcoming such trials to empower children and adults. Castillo shares her observations from working with children in similar situations.

 

 

 

Beverly Lemoine Castillo, Child Abuse Survivor

“Most children just keep it in, and then they go out there in the streets and do just things that is not appropriate. Or things that, I wouldn’t say they’re doing, It is bad, but it is things that they’re doing that they’re not aware of, because that’s normal for them. A lot of children do what is normal for them, and I talk about rehabilitation and habilitation. Rehabilitation is return to your normal state of being. Habilitation is to use give the tools necessary to function in everyday life. See, I can’t be rehabilitated because rehabilitation, I can’t, I don’t want to go back to my normal state of being. My normal state of being, like I said, is drugs, alcohol, but you can habilitate me. You can give me the tools necessary to go forward in life.”

 

The campaign is sending a message that the protection of young people is a priority for Belize and that the time to address these issues is now.

 

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia

“In other words, the younger you marry, the more likely you are to maybe have a bad pregnancy, the more likely you are to maybe stay out of school, stay out of a job because the earlier you marry, especially it affects young girls, the earlier you marry. You’re taking away your chances of being in school and graduating and having a good career, having a good background, and then having a good career.”

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.

Last month, Cabinet approved the Revised National Gender Policy 2024-2030. This updated policy sets out to achieve gender equity, and equality, and eliminate discrimination against women and girls in Belize. A 2021 document outlining the National Gender Policy Framework highlighted several issues within the Belize Police Department’s response to domestic violence. Despite the establishment of a Domestic Violence Unit a decade ago, trained officers often rotate to other units due to a lack of career advancement opportunities. Disparities in operational hours were noted, with the unit in Belize City operating around the clock, while units in other parts of the country only operate during regular business hours. The report also underscored the limited availability of shelters for domestic violence victims. In response, the latest revised version of the policy prioritizes enhancing police response and victim recovery services. Today, we asked Minister of Human Development, Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, about these crucial areas.

 

Dolores Balderamos- Garcia, Minister of Human Development 

“I think the improvement will come with collaboration. The policy assists us in terms of the direction we want to go. And, because we have come a long way in combatting gender-based violence then what we have to do is work much more with partnerships. So, the policy will inform the actions that will be taken and thank you for raising the issue that the Domestic Violence Unit and the Police Department is understaffed. We will certainly be having discussions with the minister and the commissioner of police to see if we could provide more assistance there. I do know there have been many good interventions, even though in March we had some very sad and tragic occurrences. We had two murder suicides, and then we had other things that have happened, other incidents, a high-level officer of the BDF being accused of severe domestic violence. The message we have to send is that there will be zero tolerance and yes we need more facilities of shelters for people seeking help. Sometimes it takes as many as five to six tries for a woman to come out of a domestic violence situation, because she is so invested in the home, the children and the life she has that it is difficult to walk away when somebody is beating you. But we have had some good successes, and the policy will inform the actions going forward.”