COLA Speaks on Parliamentary Conduct

Marco Tulio Mendez

COLA has issued a release on the formal arraignment of P.U.P. Orange Walk Area Rep., Doctor Marco Tulio Mendez, in which it has called on Mendez to make a public statement. Mendez has been charged with six counts of aggravated assault of an indecent nature and common assault of two minors. Today, President Geovanni Brackett reiterated that call, but he also lashed out at other parliamentarians who engage in improper behaviour, even if there’s no proof to bring them before the Court.

Geovanni Brackett

Geovanni Brackett, President, COLA

“Unlike other cases where COLA has been leaked documents for us to see the nature of the statements against individuals or the scenario, this has been quite different. We have not seen any statements. And what makes it a bit peculiar is that it involves minors. And as you would know in the media that we are commanded to be very sensitive under the different laws and we have to be very careful not to put children’s identities out there. But we want to make it very clear that COLA by no means has any tolerance for any act against children, and we’ll go even further. We not only find this allegation serious and disheartening, but when we hear stories of men in parliament who beat women, or men in parliament who use their position in ministerial posts to seduce young women for scholarships or for jobs, we find those things very disgusting and its left for the public to decide how much they will tolerate from men in parliament. There are numerous allegations of men in Government, who have impregnated minors, but we don’t have any evidence, and if we were to run all those allegations we would be filled with lawsuits. Whether it’s true or not, we can’t prove it. But we want to say that acts against women and children…we take them very serious and we have zero tolerance for it.”

Mendez gave an exclusive interview to this station, but could not go into details because the matter is now before the court.