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Feb 8, 2021

Meet the P.U.P. & U.D.P. Slates for Corozal Municipal Elections

Things are heating up in the north in Corozal, where on March third voters will simultaneously select a new area rep for the Corozal Bay division and town council. That northern town currently has a P.U.P. council; led by Rigoberto Vellos. Vellos says their goal is to retain control over the local government, forging political alignment with the new P.U.P. central government.  But the U.D.P. slate is not giving up so easily; former U.D.P. councillor Roger Arana has created a team that he feels can unseat the P.U.P. seven.  As the municipal elections are less than four weeks away, we headed north to follow both teams on the campaign trail in Corozal Town. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.

 

Duane Moody, Reporting

Incumbent P.U.P. Mayor Rigoberto Vellos has a new slate heading into the municipal elections on March third. Along with Vellos are three returning councillor candidates, and three new faces are taking on the challenge. For fifteen years, the town was under a U.D.P. council until 2018, when Vellos and his P.U.P. team broke that trend. But will the new P.U.P. seven under the leadership of Vellos be returned to office? 

 

Rigoberto Vellos

Rigoberto Vellos, P.U.P. Mayoral Candidate, Corozal

“We are not trying to keep the P.U.P. – we did that in 2018 and we have been doing our work since then. So I am very confident that the P.U.P. will remain as a town council. The campaign trail has been going very positive. People are very happy that we got a change of government in November, and people are more happy that Corozal will finally get what they have wanted ever since, which is a P.U.P. town council with a P.U.P. central government.”

 

Former two-term U.D.P. councillor, Roger Arana of Altamira is contesting the 2021 municipals, this time as the mayoral candidate seeking to unseat Vellos. He believes his slate of men and women is the best fit to take the town back to its glory. 

 

Roger Arana

Roger Arana, U.D.P. Mayoral Candidate, Corozal

“I am privileged to have worked at the Corozal Town Council before, along with three of my other candidates, so we have that experience on how the council functions. So we are sure that we can bring another way, another victory to the party.”

 

Since last year, both slates have been on the campaign trail, meeting with residents as best they could during these COVID-times to get a sense of their concerns and share their manifesto ideas and plans for the municipality if selected as the new local government. Joblessness, infrastructure, and garbage remain among the issues plaguing the town. 

 

Roger Arana

“Much of it has been infrastructure, the conditions of the streets, picking up of garbage. It is not for me to criticize, but the people have seen it themselves; this present administration has practically neglected Corozal. Corozal has always boasted to be the number one cleanest and safest town in the country. So we definitely will do our best to work on that.”

 

Rigoberto Vellos

“What we are planning to do now after March is making sure that we hit the grounds with infrastructure, with drains. And then be creative in making sure that it creates job opportunities for our young people – creative like the water park, a new water taxi. Those things give life to the economy again, and that’s our vision; fix infrastructure and create job opportunities for our people.”

 

Duane Moody for News Five.


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