Unapologetic Raymond Rivers Meets With Police; City Councilor Claims He Threatened Him

On Wednesday night, you heard ACP Chester Williams say that he wanted to meet with local activist Raymond Rivers. Police were looking for Rivers because of some threatening Facebook posts he had made. Well, Rivers responded to Williams today by showing up at the Raccoon Street Police Station with an entourage of grassroots proponents. The meeting lasted less than thirty minutes and Rivers said that it was a cordial and professional one. Rivers told the media that he doesn’t believe he is inciting violence and that he thinks he is being singled out because of his activism. He claims that a threat has been made on his life and that men dressed as officers showed up at a house looking for him. He says the order for the threat allegedly came from City Councilor Phillip Willoughby. Here’s what Rivers had to say:

Reporter

“Will you tone down your rhetoric on Facebook?”

Raymond Rivers

Raymond Rivers, Activist

“Well, most ah the thing weh I post dah I repost it. Freedom ah speech dah freedom ah speech. We cannot give that up because anything after that dah dictatorship. We done the face dictatorship, brothers and sisters of this nation. We can’t even rise up without even a thousand police deh with the teachers at Belmopan. It is dictatorship. Where can we go now and voice our opinions?”

Reporter

“What are some of the Facebook posts that they took issue with?”

Raymond Rivers

“I can’t even remember. Mussi over wah thousand but most of them are the truth about this Government and the evil things they do to people. Look at Mister Lucas, real talk, come on.”

Reporter

“But, real talk, you have issued threats on Facebook?”

Raymond Rivers

“Threat? That ain’t no threat.”

Geovanni Brackett

Geovanni Brackett, President, COLA

“A well-known politician within one of the city councils who he had confrontation with or some sort of back and forth  through Facebook or stuff, may have put a hit on him as well.”

Reporter

“A real hit?”

Geovanni Brackett

“A real hit. A real hit. So, those are some of the things that have come on to this. In all fairness to Mister Sanchez and Mister Caliz over at the GSU, I did give them a call to ask if they had done a search. That day they told me that they had never instruct any search. So, then, we are left to puzzle, who then came in police uniform for Mister Rivers? And this came after a heated debacle between the Government and us ourselves as activists.”

Raymond Rivers

“Weh I di the try do dah just wake up the people that how something newand betta deh inna this country. And if we have to fight fi it and blood have to shed fi it,  dah that. That dah how this world change. Nobody nuh get nothing easy all inna slavery.”

Reporter

“Speaking of bloodshed, you say that there is a hit on you. Is that for real?”

Raymond Rivers

“Well, it is for real because last two weeks, Mister Willoughby send a young man to my house on Antelope Street to tell me mek I cool it down and left Mister Willoughby alone. But he came from another big gang leader member in this country and that big gang leader sent him and Mister Willoughby send dah one deh.”

Reporter

“So, are you concerned for your safety?”

Raymond Rivers

“Well, I always say I rather die today the fight fi my pickney suh they could live inna peace tomorrow. That dah the way how I see it.”

Reporter

“Will that continue to include Facebook advocacy which you have been very active in, which Mister Williams, I am sure has cautioned you about. Will you take a Facebook hiatus?”

Raymond Rivers

“No, well Facebook dah my life. That dah weh Jah send yah fi uplift the people deh mind quicker. I could send one post way to England, way to China. Who could stop me? But the world need fi know weh the happen dah Belize.”

So, in that interview, Rivers called out Phillip Willoughby as the man who has ordered a hit on him. The Belize City Councilor hasn’t responded directly to the allegations, but he did forward two documents to us. The first is a police statement where he made a report that he was walking near Memorial Park on September twentieth when Rivers threatened him, yelling “Yuh wah dead bwai.” In the statement, Willoughby also alleges that Rivers has since sent him messages on Facebook. The second document is a letter from Phillip Willoughby’s attorney asking Rivers to refrain from harassing Willoughby and from making further contact online.