Teachers Say No to Return of John Saldivar

John Saldivar

The Belize National Teachers Union today spoke about the new Ministry of National Security. The union says it is not happy with the appointment of John Saldivar.  The B.N.T.U. says there has not been a full discussion on the matter – but preliminary feedback indicates that the membership is not satisfied because of Saldivar’s performance in that very same ministry as well as his alleged connection to accused murderer, William ‘Danny’ Mason. Back in 2016, the B.N.T.U. called for an international investigation into the beheading of Pastor Llewellyn Lucas after his head was found in a bucket in Mason’s vehicle. The union placed the investigation in their list of demands at the time of the strike. And now that Saldivar is back as the Minister of National Security, the B.N.T.U. says that they must formulate a full position on the matter.  Here’s how President Elena Smith puts it:

Elena Smith

Elena Smith, National President, B.N.T.U.

“Based on feedback that we are getting from our members, that they are very disappointed in the fact that the Prime Minister has chosen to do a 360 if you will, and put back, at the helm of this Ministry of National Security. He has chosen to put back somebody that we believe was not doing the best in that position. And so, if I may, if as a teacher – you have been teaching, say, Standard 6 and your students fail P.S.E. They fail every year. Why would I, as principal, leave you to teach them in Standard 6 another year? When you have shown that you are not able to deal with that class and get them to another level? It makes no sense. It is the same with this. If you’ve been placed in that position and you’ve not made any decision that is not good or better for this country as it relates to crime and the actions of the Police, why put you back there?”

Reporter

“So, the B.N.T.U. will formulate a position on this most recent Cabinet appointment?”

Elena Smith

“We will have to because as you said, that was a part of our 8 demands. So we cannot just – and we can say at this point in time that we are not happy with that decision and we are surely going to be looking at that and see what it is that we can do to follow up on that. You can’t put the rat fi mind the cheese.”