Briceño Says Guatemala Issue is a Distraction from Other Crises

John Briceño

Earlier, Briceño spoke about Guatemala using its unfounded claim to distract from the crises affecting its people. But here’s the thing – he says that to some extent that’s the same thing happening in Belize. According to the Opposition Leader, while everyone’s focus has been on Guatemala and related issues, Belize continues to experience serious social and economic woes.

John Briceño, P.U.P. Leader

“I’m not in any way suggesting that the government is happy about what has been taking place there, but it certainly has afforded them an opportunity to divert attention from the other pressing problems that we have in this country. We in the Opposition have not forgotten those issues. Pretty soon we are going to have a press conference where we are going to talk about these issues. We have the issue of B.T.L. where because of the folly of this government or their hubris or their arrogance or their pride, it’s going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars to the Belizean taxpayers, money that we cannot afford. Let’s not forget they blew away three hundred and twenty-five million dollars in two years. In the last month of the election it was forty four point seven million dollars that they just blew away for them to win the election. So now the Treasury is broke and now we have to find hundreds of millions of dollars to pay because the agreement that the Prime Minister signed on behalf of the country was pretty much that whatever the courts decide he is going to live by that. We have the issue of crime where once again it’s rearing its ugly head where constantly our young people are killing one another. It’s really a major concern in this country. We have the issue of the economy that’s slowing down. All of that Petrocaribe money that was just thrown away on a wild binge before elections has been working its way through the economy. That money is drying up and the economy is starting to contract. People are starting to see that there is no money in the economy. Yes we have it in the banks but it’s no good in the banks if people don’t have some in their pockets. That is becoming a problem. All our major industries are in problems from sugar to citrus to bananas to shrimp…the Free Zone is on its knees, at the verge of closing down and nobody is looking at these issues. The government is not providing the leadership that this country needs especially at such a critical juncture in the history of this country.”