Opposition Leader Says PM is Flaring Up Ethnic Tension Following Santa Cruz Fiasco

Francis Fonseca

That stance has been criticized in various sectors as premature and one-sided, and today the Opposition finally weighed in, from outside the House. According to P.U.P. Leader, the position expressed by Barrow can be regarded as no less than an attempt by the government to flare up ethnic tensions in the country.

Francis Fonseca, P.U.P. Leader

“Dean Barrow is the opposite of George Price. George Price was a nation builder, a uniter. Dean Barrow is trying to divide this country and tear us apart. And he was the one; he got up and made some grand statement in there today. He was the one who jumped to conclusions on Monday because he was under fire with the Melvin Hulse tape. He sought to use this as a dist5iaction and sacrifice the unity and love that we have in this country for each other. The Mayans and the Creoles and the Garifuna; we all have a long history of loving each other and the Mestizo, everybody. That has been the fabric of Belize; that has been the history of our country and this man now comes along wanting the flare up. As Mose Hyde has said, on their very radio station and television station—Wave Radio and Wave Television—they are exciting violence, calling on people to go down there and take up arms against the Mayan people in Santa Cruz. How disgraceful? How disgraceful under this prime minister, under this U.D.P. government tearing our country apart? Another act of tyranny and dictatorship.”

We’ll have more on Santa Cruz later in our newscast, as P.U.P. Toledo West Area Representative Oscar Requeña explains the Alcalde system as well as on other issues that were dealt with today in the House.