Jorge ‘Milin’ Espat Confirms He Holds Belizean Nationality

Jorge ‘Milin’ Espat

There is more tonight from the P.U.P. standard bearer Jorge “Milin” Espat whose trouble started on Thursday when it came to light that he had not registered to vote.  But Espat is fighting back.  Espat who is running for Cayo West says that the U.D.P. is desperately trying to attack his campaign and is being accused of not holding Belizean nationality.  But he has provided a copy of his Belizean passport to show that is a Belizean.  In a press statement titled, “Setting the record straight,” Espat explains that he was “born, like so many other Belizeans in Benque in the Cayo District, in the small border town of Melchor.” He says that both of his parents are Belizeans, but at the time of his birth the medical care in Melchor was superior to that in Belize and so his parents chose for him to be born in Melchor instead of Belize. He says he has done nothing wrong and is not ashamed of anything. Espat says, “I have lived most of my life in Benque, and all my life in Belize. This is my country, this is my home, and I have no other.” According to Espat, the U.D.P. is on a mission to destroy his campaign by capitalizing on his place of birth.  He says that what the U.D.P. does not know is that he has renounced his Guatemalan nationality. He says that, “It is regrettable that the United Democratic Party, obviously threatened by the massive swing in support in favor of the P.U.P., has chosen to attack me just days before an election.” Espat was nominated on Wednesday to run and remains a candidate. The matter of politicians being born in Guatemala, the U.S.A., or other countries has surfaced from time to time.  Espat’s circumstance is not unique. In 2014, it was reported that the U.D.P.’s current candidate for Orange Walk Central Denny Grijalva held a Guatemalan passport. Like Espat, Grijalva explained that “there are certain things that you can’t do anything about.” It has also been reported for some time that one of the U.D.P. candidates in Cayo was also born in Guatemala, but that has not been confirmed.