Deputy Party Leader Cordel Hyde Says There Were No Boats

The revocation of the Sarstoon Prohibition SI comes only four days after it was challenged in Court by the People’s United Party, and three days after the P.U.P. planned an educational trip to the Sarstoon to protest the SI on the ground, so to speak. The expedition was cancelled at the eleventh hour, and today Deputy Leader Cordel Hyde told News Five that in the end it came down to boats, or more accurately, no boats.

Cordel Hyde, Deputy Leader, People’s United Party

“I think we first have to apologize to all those Belizeans who supported us going to the Sarstoon on Saturday. We can assure them that it wasn’t a decision that was taken lightly. We belabored over it heavily but at the end of the day we weren’t going there to go to PG. We were going to the Sarstoon and to go to the Sarstoon you need boats, and boat owners and boat captains were nervous, fearing repercussions from the government. One boat owner said to us well if you can give us a latter of assurance that nothing will happen to us we can go. Another boat owner wanted a sizable sum of money to ensure that in the event anything happened he had some security. It was very difficult. We had some last minute cancellations, and as I said the trip was about going to the Sarstoon, not about going to PG. So we needed boats. Without boats the trip was impossible.”

Cordel Hyde

Mike Rudon

“There will be some people who say that the Opposition is playing games, that you are the government in waiting and can’t even make it to the Sarstoon.”

Cordel Hyde

“Absolutely not! Remember we are four and a half years removed from general elections, so at this moment people are still very much afraid of the government and understandably so. This has been arguably the most vindictive government on record, so we have to understand when people say we can’t do it. It’s not a lack of effort on our part. We did a lot in terms of trying to convince people to make the trip. In one case a guy from Belize City said he would take his boat to PG. But it’s a sizable boat and he couldn’t find a captain that he was comfortable with and he could not find someone who was familiar with the territory because the water in that area is not ordinary water. We tried. It’s not that we didn’t try. We made a lot of effort and we really wanted to go, because we really wanted to send a message to the government and to our people that we can’t sit idly by and accept these things. We have to stand up against things that we consider to be unjust and against laws that we consider to be untenable.”