Elsa Paz, OCEANA and Hollywood celebs say no to offshore drilling
The massive British Petroleum oil spill in the golf of Mexico has affected numerous states in the US and threatened environmental disaster. The economic impact has not yet been fully determined but BP has paid out three hundred and ninety-nine million US dollars to residents and business in claims for damages. The Vice President of OCEANA earlier this month headed to the area for a first hand assessment of the damages. Audrey Matura Shepherd was joined by San Pedro mayor, Elsa Paz, who has distanced herself from the government’s stand on the offshore drilling. Paz says she hopes to enlighten those that are blinded by the greed of oil. News five’s Jose Sanchez reports.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
The Coalition to Save our Natural Heritage has found an important political ally in San Pedro’s Mayor Elsa Paz. Paz is aboard the vessel chartered by OCEANA to tour the areas affected by BP’s Deep Horizon spill. She is joined by Hollywood celebrities on the gulf tour. At a brief press conference in the U.S. earlier this week, Paz was introduced by Ted Danson, actor and OCEANA Board member.
ted danson
Ted Danson, Actor
“Elsa Paz from Belize. She is the mayor of San Pedro, which is the largest city on Ambergris Caye and she is very interested in what’s happening here in the gulf because her country is also starting to have to deal with people wanting to do offshore oil drilling in their waters and like this area also, the economy of Belize depends heavily on a clean, vibrant, vital ocean. So Mayor thank you for joining us.”
elsa paz
Elsa Paz, Mayor of San Pedro
“I bring greetings from my people of Ambergris Caye, Belize. I stand before you as a proud Belizean who today joined forces with OECANA with one common goal; to bring awareness about the harmful effects to our natural resources caused by oil exploration. My country, Belize, has the second largest living barrier reef in the entire world. This provides me the opportunity to learn from the experiences of those living with the impacts of oil drilling. With this firsthand information, I can relay it to my constituents, the realistic negative effects surrounding oil exploration. Unfortunately, the current situation regarding oil exploration in our country is being entertained by the government and my people are concerned about the impact this may have on our natural resources. San Pedro Town on Ambergris Caye is my hometown. It is the place that saw my parents grow and that has seen me grow. We have come a long way from a humble fishing village to a number one tourist destination in the country of Belize.”
One person with whom Paz will share her firsthand look of the experience will be Tourism Minister and San Pedro resident, Manuel Heredia. Heredia is in a tight spot as he owes allegiance to his pro-exploration party and also to the voters of San Pedro who are calling for the ban on offshore exploration. However, Heredia is not yet ready to join the celeb led OCEANA and the NGO’S that form the Coalition to Save Our National Heritage.
Jose Sanchez
“She strongly believes in it. Do you think there is a possibility that you would also show solidarity to that cause along with the mayor or that can go against what the government is promoting in terms of business.”
manuel heredia
Manuel Heredia, Tourism Minister (August 20,2010)
“Not really, I respect my mayor, I respect miss Matura a lot. As a government we can’t jump right away and aim into anything. If it is something that will affect the livelihood definitely we will not go with it. Even though I am a part of government I am a fisherman. I see how beautiful the reef is. We have been looking at all the options, agreements, contracts, internationally with the issue in the gulf and I can assure you at the end of the day we will come up with a solution in the best interest of the tourism industry. If it means to say that there is anything to cause damage to our reef, I will be the first person to say I will ride with that.”
Morgan Freeman, Actor (August 25, 2010)
morgan freeman
“I saw the map, it’s dreadful, it’s awful. There is no government oversight in Belize. The government officials just say okay go ahead and do it and as you can see from this experience here, that could work out to be very, very bad for Belize. You have wonderful waters around Belize, you’ve got that reef, you’ve got that wonderful ecosystem there. It’s too fragile.”
Elsa Paz
“The residents of Ambergris Caye and Belize on a whole are distressed about this due to our dependency on tourism and the vital role the reef contributes to our economy. The people are alarmed about the current situation of all waters being concessional for oil exploration plus the lack of governance, transparency and consultations regarding the future of our most valuable resource. This visit allows me to carry the message back to my country with the hope of enlightening those who have been blinded by the greed of allowing oil exploration to develop freely in our country.”
Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.
deh seh ,”weh sweet yu sour yuh.” Come on Belize, disasters are easily created but impossible to fully restore. The more we look towards technology and state of the art technology for oil drilling new problems arise. If its miles under the sea leave it there. Like the moon, they invest all this money to go there and no one will be able to live on it. Money needs to be invested on earth for the human beings living here. When the earth is destroyed so will we.
The prime minister need to do some serious calculating thinking about drilling in Belize waters, The reef is already dying, and it should be preserved at all cost.
making international friends with the americans and the british is expected, but drilling in the waters is nothing compared to testing unmanned helicopters in Belize.
Kudos to the Mayor. Elsa shows that she has balls, balls to fight for the best of her Island, Town and Country. She was elected to do just that and she is doing it. CAN THE SAME BE SAID FOR AREA REPRESENTATIVE “Manuel Heredia”. I think NOT. See on one side he has to show solidarity to his party which seems to be for oil drilling and on the other side he has said that he will do the will of the people. Well Minister in San Pedro most residents “DO NOT WANT OFF SHORE OIL DRILLING” Who will u side with Minister? You cannot choose both sides. Did you see how he nevers gives you a straight answer when he gets asked the question. Again, the mark of a true “Politician”. Minister i will send your well earned Politician Diploma to your office.
Mr Barrow need to respect the Belizean people opinion on this issue.
The PM doesn’t even have the logistics for something as simple as garbage collection around Belize City.As a result how would this lame duck deal with an oil spill.You must be out of your mind Mr Barrow.
This oil greed is very serious. Just imagine a country like the US that have all the necessary oversight and respect for science and still such a disaster can happen in he gulf. Just imagine what will happen in Belize when such a spill happens within our reef. Think tourism is down now let that happen it would be gone!
We have no oversight in Belize and no knowledge or equipment to even start to handle such oil spills!
Please MR Barrow as a Belizean I make a cogent appeal to you: cancel the permits already issued and do not issue any more! You work for us and we say NO!
Mr. Barrow please don’t be ignorant to our comments, think for us the belizeans, i mean as rich as you are you might have a tendency to leave our country for good later in life in the u.s or any other country but US depend on what our jewel have and lets protect our pride which is the reef not forgetting that from this tourism counts alot and imagine no reef no tourist how many belizeans would be unemployed? come on get your self a second thought and rethink as a P.M should do.
if somn like dis ever happen we no even wah hav bee pee fu bail we out with millions of $ all a them concession owners broke now heil