Opposition Leader Responds to Royal Caribbean Group
Opposition Leader Shyne Barrow has written to Royal Caribbean Group in response to a letter from Vice President Josh Carroll two weeks ago. In Barrow’s letter, he raises several concerns, including the legal opinion presented by Doctor Ben Juratowitch, the minutes of the meeting from the 2021 NEAC meeting, as well as the proposed use of the seabed which has not received clearance from the Ministry of Natural Resources. Tonight, we look at Barrow’s response and how it ties in to the ongoing issue of cruise development in Belize. Here’s News Five’s Isani Cayetano.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
A series of letters between the Royal Caribbean Group and the Leader of the Opposition have drawn another response on the subject of a recent memorandum of understanding signed with Portico Enterprises Ltd. and Boskalis International. On Monday, Shyne Barrow wrote to Joshua Carroll, Vice President of Destination Development for RCG, raising environmental concerns regarding Antillean manatees within the area of the proposed Port of Magical Belize development. In respect of this issue, the Opposition Leader referred to the minutes of a meeting held by the National Environmental Appraisal Committee, NEAC, in February 2021. During that meeting, over three years ago, members of the conservation community expressed serious concerns about the impact of the project on the large sea mammals found near that location.
Last year, Vulcan Materials Company, the largest producer of construction aggregates in the United States, expressed an interest in conducting mining activity in the general area. Everyone, including residents of Gales Point Village, the environmental community, and the Government of Belize, objected to that idea.
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
Shyne Barrow
“When Vulcan tried to go to the same Gales Point Manatee, they were dismissed, they were exiled from Belize because of environmental concerns. Now you have Portico building on a manatee reserve and Royal Caribbean is going to talk about environmental considerations? I just cannot fathom it.”
Back to Barrow’s response to RCG, he then goes on to say that local manatee experts have also expressed concerns about Portico’s Manatee Management Plan. During Friday’s house meeting, the Minister of Sustainable Development stated that the Department of Environment received the manatee management plan earlier this year.
Orlando Habet
Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development
“On April 11th, 2023, the company also submitted to the DOE the management plan for the Antillean manatee which was been shared with the Fisheries Department. The company is responsible to implement the plan with the Fisheries Department and local NGOs.”
Of note is that the management plan for Antillean manatees was prepared by Wildtracks, on behalf of Portico Enterprises Ltd. That document, one hundred and eighteen pages in length, was put together by Paul Walker in 2022.
Barrow then shifts attention to Carroll’s initial response in which he wrote, “RCG takes great pride in achieving these goals through a collaborative engagement with various stakeholders and by strictly adhering to the laws and processes established by each destination we serve.” To that end, the Opposition Leader proceeds to describe Portico, RCG’s partner in the Memorandum of Understanding, as, “an utterly discredited company that executed a fraudulent agreement with a government official, continued their fraudulent conspiracy with the current Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance who embraced the illegal Portico Agreement, despite the bombshell revelation that preeminent King’s Counsel Ben Juratowitch told them was invalid, illegal and therefore not binding.”
In the wake of that surprising news, the Briceño administration issued a statement on Monday reaffirming its position on Portico. That release goes on to say, quote, Cabinet further determined that the government should proceed to meet with these parties with a view to negotiate or develop a new arrangement in an open and transparent manner that would serve the best interest of the people of Belize, end quote. We know that Minister of Tourism Anthony Mahler and Minister of State for Finance, Chris Coye, have been tasked with engaging Royal Caribbean on this matter.
Dean Barrow, Former Prime Minister
Dean Barrow
“I do wonder how it is that the prime minister can dispatch Chris Coye and Anthony Mahler to go to Royal Caribbean to ask them to agree to a renegotiated agreement, to a renegotiated position. First of all, the Definitive Agreement was not with Royal Caribbean, it was with Portico. Clearly, Portico has a Memorandum of Understanding with Royal Caribbean, which is not binding but that gives them some sort of comfort in terms of trying to raise the money to continue with their project. So Royal Caribbean is important.”
But is RCG’s involvement in this tangled web that important that the company would place its reputation on the line for Portico? That’s what the Opposition Leader Barrow asks at the end of his most recent letter. We quote, Could the claims of misfeasance in public office against a former minister who signed the dubious Portico Agreement and the current Prime Minister and his Minister of Finance who recommended said agreement to Cabinet with requisite legislation, despite a 51-page legal opinion denouncing the legality of the Portico Agreement expose fraud and corruption and what are the implications of this for RCG, end quote.
Isani Cayetano
“Is a charge of misfeasance in the case of Erwin Contreras signing on to this document on unbeknownst to your government at the time, a fitting claim to bring against him in court?”
Dean Barrow
“In principle, the bringing of an action for damages by way of that claim, by way of that tort, is perfectly valid, perfectly acceptable in terms of the law. Whether there is the kind of evidence that can make out the tort is another matter. Whether the Port [of Belize] people who have served notice that they are going to be bringing this claim against Mr. Contreras can show that what he did caused them damage, so as to entitle them to damages is again another matter.”
Isani Cayetano reporting for News Five.
