Former B.T.L. Chairman Net Vasquez is Laid to Rest
Net Vasquez
Founder of Tropical Vision Limited and former B.T.L. Chairman Nestor Vasquez was laid to rest on Tuesday. A host of close family and close friends gathered to honor him during a virtual ceremony. Among the attendees were Prime Minister Briceño and former Prime Ministers Manuel Esquivel and Dean Barrow. Eulogies were given by his son Jules Vasquez and former Prime Minister Barrow.
Dean Barrow
Dean Barrow, Former Prime Minister
“I first got to know Net Vasquez through politics, of course. He was, by the time I finished law school in 1975, a well-known accountant who numbered some important and wealthy business persons among his clients. He had helped to found the fledgling party of Manuel Esquivel, Curl Thompson, Harry Lawrence and Paul Rodriguez in 1972. The liberals then joined with the traditional opposition NIP of Philip Goldson and Dean Lindo’s breakaway P.D.M. to form the United Democratic Party in 1973. It was Manuel’s ascendancy that fixed Net in what became his undisputed role as consigliere to the U.D.P. Net had been Manuel’s best friend even before the latter’s entry into politics. By the time I first stood as a candidate in 1983 then, Net’s influence over the U.D.P. was enormous. He was both principal fundraiser and chief strategist. He cast such long shadow over the U.D.P. Net was without a doubt the most outstanding public servant who was never officially in the public service. He served from early days on almost every board and statutory body imaginable, including the utilities, not just B.T.A., but also B.E.B. And later on he was a towering figure as chair of the privatized and nationalized B.T.L. I want to say something now about the misfortune that overtook him towards the end; it was a physical fall that took his life but before that there was the moral stumble that finished his B.T.L. chairmanship. When that occurred, there was despite the Biblical caution, there were many that lined up to cast the first stone. While I am not here to gloss over what happened, that is because Net, though he was fervently religious, always knew that he was like all of us a sinner and no saint. He readily admitted his failings and that is why I am here to say that when everything is weighed up in the balance Net surely comes out massively on the plus side of the ledger. His one known public service lapse consequential though it may be cannot erase the lifetime of all consuming commitment that resulted in such giant historic achievements.”
Vasquez’ passing has raised the question of what will happen to his unsettled Belize Telemedia debt that is still before the court. Legal sources tell News Five that around three hundred thousand dollars has been paid off, but that there is still an outstanding balance of over three hundred and eighty-four thousand dollars owed to the telecommunications company that Vasquez chaired up until his resignation last September when the news of the outstanding bill broke. The matter is still a live legal issue in the court and it is believed it will proceed, but with Vasquez now deceased, there will likely be an adjustment to the legal papers to reflect that the matter is now against Vasquez’s estate.
