Leader of the Opposition Repeats Call for National Unity on Crime

John Briceño

The murder of seven-year-old Tyler Savery and his twenty-one-year-old cousin, Porshan Pipersburgh, has broken many Belizean hearts. A simple outing to get a milkshake at a neighbourhood establishment on Friday evening ended in senseless death by drive-by. On Monday, you saw the plea made by Tyler’s mother. Today, she was joined by the Leader of the Opposition John Briceño. During his press brief at Independence Hall today he lent his voice to a call for a united front to address crime head-on, stating that Tyler’s loss is a loss to us all.

John Briceño, Leader of the Opposition

“I think that it’s not only an issue of the Government, but we as a people need to be outraged – what is wrong with us? What is wrong with us? And then we need to look at his young mother as a great example and comfort; that where she has articulately stated that  this is not just about her and the loss of her child but it is a child that all of us have lost. And until we start to feel that way – that the loss of this child is not only the loss of the mother, of Shakira; but also not only Shakera’s loss, but even us have lost a child. Now for me as a politician, it would be easy to lash out at the U.D.P., at the incompetence of the Government, because of the poverty – we have to stop for a minute, and think. And we need to reach out – I think both political parties need to get together and put their best minds to see how to solve this matter. And we need to get the churches, and the private sector, and the N.G.O. community – we have to get everybody together to be able to address this matter.”

According to Briceño, more than one thousand persons have lost their lives in Belize by violence during the last eight years and more. In comparison, he said, about twice that number of soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, which is in the midst of a brutal civil and international war.