Is Gaspar Vega Stepping Down?

Gaspar Vega

Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega was not at Tuesday’s Budget Presentation in the House. And there is word that the DPM has dropped a bombshell. News Five has been reliably informed that Vega has informed the Prime Minister and U.D.P. Party Leader Dean Barrow that he will not be seeking endorsement at the upcoming party convention on March twentieth nor will be seeking re-election in Orange Walk North. Vega, we are told, is still outraged at the ascension of unelected Godwin Hulse to his former Ministry of Natural Resources. Insiders say that Vega has tried to get support from colleagues to have Hulse removed, but he has been unable to convince them to make a move against Hulse. If this is all true, then it is the first major squabble that the Prime Minister will have to deal since Vega has been a faithful ally. His removal from Natural Resources dealt a blow to him and he was reduced to having to fight for office space. Vega, however, has said that he will continue to support his party. It is not sure now if the second deputy party leader Erwin Contreras will move up or if the vacancy will be contested by aspiring party leaders, Patrick Faber and John Saldivar, at the upcoming convention.