Wife of Mexican President Visits Belize Bearing Gifts
Belize just recently welcomed and hosted the President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Doctor Tsai Ing-Wen who was on a state visit to the Jewel and today, exactly two weeks after the president’s departure, the wife of the President of Mexico, Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller (Mew-ler) arrived in Belize bearing gifts. The visit from Müller comes almost a year after President Andrés Manuel López Obrador made an official visit to Belize and met with Prime Minister John Briceño and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During that visit, agreements on trade, education, agriculture, infrastructure and transport were forged. Despite the huge population gap, Belize and Mexico share many similarities in history and culture and today, equipment and books were handed over as part of a project to preserve historic archives in Latin America and the Caribbean. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Traffic was blocked off for miles as a motorcade from the Philip Goldson International Airport escorted Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller to the House of Culture in Belize City. Müller is the wife of Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. It’s a country with whom Belize shares diplomatic relations and agreements in trade, agriculture, cultural exchanges and more. But her visit today was to deliver a Bookeye 5 Overhead Book Scanner and books to the country of Belize. During a ceremony today, a letter of intent was signed between both countries.
Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller
Dr. Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller, Wife of the President of Mexico
“The best relations we have to have is with our neighbours and we have three at least – United States of America, Guatemala and Belize. But the rest of the Caribbean and the South American countries are also our friends. We belong to a community that has similar history. Historical events are very important in our shared history – the native ones and those who came to America to conquest, to live, even to spoil. So the heritage we have in this continent is very long. La Cultura Maya developed from the Gulf of Mexico to panama so we have in common the same history of our native ancestors and of course the immigration that has to deal with the opportunities of job. For example in Mexico, mining, exportation and many other reasons that all the people decided to travel and establish in Mexico and also in Belize and that’s our common history. History is not only a social discipline. History is a teacher; don’t forget that.”
The visit serves to reinforce over four decades of relations between Belize and Mexico. But the handing over is a first step for Belize in the Recovery of Historical Records in Latin America and the Caribbean Project. Wife of the Prime Minister of Belize Rossana Briceño says that historic preservation is critical for Belize’s development as a people.
Rossana Briceño
Rossana Briceño, Wife of the Prime Minister of Belize
“Even though this is a very short visit, it is a significant one. Historic preservation is a deep and meaningful conversation about our past which in turn influences key aspects of our future. It is an opportunity for future generations to understand and appreciate the significant events, people and stories that shape Belize’s history. Staff at the National Institute of Culture and History, the Belize Archives and Records Service, the National Library Service and the Museum of Belize are tasked with responding to the significant question: what is important in our history? They grapple with decisions about ensuring that important parts of our parts are preserved for the future.”
C.E.O. in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology, Dian Maheia says that the project recognises the importance of protecting and preserving Belize’s textual history and culture.
Dian Maheia
Dian Maheia, C.E.O., Ministry of Culture
“A gift like the scanner is going to go a long way. The archives has so many documents, documents from the 1800’s that need to be scanned and properly preserved. A donation like this is well over thirty thousand dollars for the machine itself. To have the training, the technical capacity building that goes along with it is really important. Just now, our museum of Belize has five projects that they can think about that they need a scanner for right off the bat. So the areas of our Ministry of Culture will definitely need to be working together here and yes it is going to be difficult to share a scanner, but this is a scanner that we didn’t have before. So we are grateful for this and we now have on our – not our wish list, but our things to do list for this year is to get another one.”
During today’s handing over ceremony, there was also a musical presentation by a mariachi band from Mexico.
Dian Maheia
“I think that the mariachis were really symbolic because that was the exclamation point to why we have to recognise history, why we have to preserve history and why we recognise culture.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
