Mayoral candidates from the west say “vote for me”
As part of our coverage leading up to the March fourth municipal elections, this week, mayoral hopefuls from the twin towns of San Ignacio and Santa Elena and Benque were guests on the Open Your Eyes morning show. The four candidates all spoke of their plans for their towns once elected into office. Looking to retain his mayoral seat in the twin towns is John August Jr. of the U.D.P. His challenge comes from political newcomer, Jose Mendoza, an environmentalist who says that after trying to work with the past two municipal governments, he is now seeking to fulfill his vision for San Ignacio/Santa Elena.
In Benque, both candidates are looking to make their mayoral debut. On the blue side is Shelly Pacheco Hernandez, who has been working behind the scenes as a campaigner and is making the move to the forefront. Across the isle is current U.D.P. councilor Nicholas Ruiz who is looking for an upgrade. Here’s what they all had to say, as well as what some of their constituents feel should be their priorities.
San Ignacio Resident #1
“They said last year they are gonna have more schools for mothers and so they can continue their education. So we’re looking forward to see if they’re gonna come like what they promised us last time.”
San Ignacio Resident #2
“I think they should cooperate with the Police Department fi mek di crimes thing stop inna Cayo because ih di become wah practice right yah dah Cayo fi crimes and murder and stuff like dat. There’s a time that ih neva used to be like that and ih di get worse and worse. I just think dehn should ah put things fi di youths, mek dehn play football, basketball and things like dat fi keep dehn distracted from di things weh dehn di do out yah because when we noh got nothing fi do, dat dah di time when things like dat come inna wi head.”
John August Jr., U.D.P. Mayoral Candidate, Santa Elena/San Ignacio
“The towns have grown tremendously, San Ignacio and Santa Elena, over the last fifteen, twenty years. One of the main things that were lacking is the infrastructure work, especially in the new areas of San Ignacio and Santa Elena. We have a lot of new areas that were non-existent fifteen, twenty years ago that are there now. The burden has been left to the council to the councils to put in the necessary infrastructure and that has created a problem in that the council in San Ignacio and Santa Elena has not had its own equipment to upkeep the streets and upgrade the streets. Our focus now over the next three years will be to acquire our own equipment, our own heavy duty equipment for the continuous maintenance of our streets. During my last three years I have learnt a lot. I came into it new to it but I have learnt a lot and I have realized what is achievable, what the councils can achieve; what are achievable goals for a council. When you’re in there you learn the nitty gritty, the money that you have and the money that you can use for projects and over the next three years we will be concentrating heavily on the infrastructure part of our town, especially the streets and drains because, as you know, that’s one of the main issues that is affecting everyone and we are focusing entirely on that. Like I mentioned earlier in the show, we want to acquire our own equipment so that we can maintain our streets. I think it is possible, it is something that can be a reality and we know that we will be doing it once we are elected on the fourth of March.”
San Ignacio Resident #3
“I noh matter who win, P.U.P. or U.D.P. All I want mek dehn do dah clean di streets and try put wah law fi mek people stop di throw weh garbage because di drains dehn too dirty and mek dehn go check round di drains, di streets, weh need fi fix and thing because Cayo pretty and we supposed to be proud of Cayo.”
Jose Mendoza, P.U.P. Mayoral candidate, San Ignacio/Santa Elena
“My vision is that I want it to be clean, have good streets, especially the main areas in San Ignacio Town. As you enter San Ignacio, especially at night, it’s not very welcoming. It’s dark and yoh noh know nothing di happen dah Cayo and everything look gloomy. I want to see it transformed into a better place, uplift San Ignacio Town. Put more lights, more activities di happen. Example, on weekends nothing happen dah Cayo. Every once in a while wah lee dance but that’s about it. I want si wah Cayo weh every weekend something di happen, people di benefit from the tourism, local and international tourists especially by the river. My vision for the river because right now you go dah dah river nothing noh di happen. Di river just di flow, pretty river and I believe that by having activities there on weekends, you have sports in that big area there. On Santa Elena side you have a big green area, we could do mini golf, swimming competitions, you have activities which people can sell their products. Ih could be wah welcoming place, everybody could come from all bout. I want it to be that on weekends San Ignacio dah the place to go.”
Benque Resident #1
“That they focus more on family, family issues concerning youngsters and a priority would be single parents raising their youngsters. It’s pretty hard to be a single parent and it’s pretty hard dealing with the issues we are dealing with now with the youngsters you know.”
Benque Resident #2
“We need more police patrolling the streets since we see a lot of young men drinking and causing problems on the streets.”
Shelly Pacheco Hernandez, P.U.P. Mayoral Candidate, Benque
“We have seen our town neglected for nine years and I think it’s time for us to say enough is enough. This is it and find somebody that is willing to do as much as it takes to work for that town. My vision is we need to work on the parks, especially—well we have different parks in Benque Viejo Del Carmen, but what really comes to me is to Coronation Park right in front of the municipality. It’s the part that is very historical for Benque Viejo. We saw that the trees were cut down, the water fountain take out, no lights and that specific park. We’ve seen all the parks around it as well. I would like to show and see that park as a pretty park, not only that one but all the other parks. As well, we need a market because when have a lot of farmers in Benque Viejo that work and what they have to do is go all the way to San Ignacio to sell it and to retail it for whatever price they will give to them. Also we need, like is saw on the clips, the clinic. We feel sometimes you go, no medicine, no especially if you need delivery, you have to go all the way to San Ignacio and Benque is getting so big.”
Benque Resident #4
“We need to work on the streets. We have streets abandoned for over ten, eleven years that we don’t see a tractor pass on top of it.”
Nicholas Ruiz, U.D.P. Mayoral Candidate, Benque
“Our manifesto is very clear, ‘Continuamos el progresso’ which means let’s continue with the progress. People are right in clamoring for better streets, we deserve that. But as I said, for the last ten years I believe that we have been ignored in terms of infrastructure. I’ve always claimed that direct government investment was absent in Benque only because of the fact that we voted for a U.D.P. representative while the national government was P.U.P. So we didn’t have that investment flowing into Benque. So the streets of course have been neglected; we all agree on that, I think even my colleague running for mayor would agree that the streets were terrible but work has begun. You went to Benque, you saw there is a massive drainage project underway. Benque is, some people say it’s a bridge for you tourism, we want to make it a destination and we have a lot of things that can make it work in terms of as a tourist destination. We have an archaeological site in Benque that perhaps with proper funding, which I intend to lobby for, maybe not only with government and maybe international institutions, we can clear it up and make it a tourist attraction. The Caracol Road, if we open the twenty miles that we need to open, that will save us one hour going through the roads we have now. So all those things we need to get in place so that first, we bring tourism, also we need to shore up and invest in the private sector by accessing loans, hopefully from the D.F.C. As a finance major, I intend to use those skills for people who want to open up their business and that’s part of the advantage I have as a candidate, I think.”
