Documents of British Honduras reveal startling facts
They cover a tumultuous period of our colonial days and normally we would not report on these but classified and secret documents have just been released of incidents that date back to 1967, 68 and 69. Some are by hand, others by typewriter and there are some in the form of telegrams. News Five today got copies of the documents and found some rather startling and interesting information on the state of affairs back then. Belize, then British Honduras, was under colonial rule and reporting was done to the Commonwealth Office. The Governor General was Sir John Paul. The voluminous documents cover a number of issues, some mundane and routine on finances, trials etcetera. But there is one confidential report that caught our eyes. It refers to the climate between 1967 and 1968, in which twenty incidents involving explosive devices occurred. According to the report dated August twenty-ninth, 1968 “it was a period of great tension and internal unrest in the territory with both political parties awaiting the outcome of the U.S. mediation and the Opposition party in particular, exacerbating the tension by spreading rumors that the British Honduras Government were planning a sell-out of the Guatemalans. “
That particular report describes two bomb attacks directed at the then Vice President of the Senate, Senator Courtenay, and the Minister of Internal Affairs, Lindy Rogers. And according to the report, the attack on Courtenay was the work of prominent N.I.P. officials and in respect of Rogers, the colony asked for help from Scotland Yard to solve the matter and the recommendation made was that because of the political ramification it was best to have the prosecution of the case carried out locally. In the Courtenay bomb incident in December 1967, two persons were named: Sabino Savory and Dean Lindo of the N.I.P. And in the Rogers incident, Anthony Meighan from the P.U.P. was identified.
There is also one telegram sent second September 1966 from the Commonwealth Office to Sir John Paul in which the Mexican Government refused to meet with a group of four NIP officials who were in Mexico City quote “seeking to buy explosives with which to carry out terrorist acts in British Honduras”. There were other explosions at Holy Redeemer, the Guatemalan Consulate, the homes of Gwen Lizarraga, the Premier, and others, to name a few. And as we said at the top of the story, the documents provide an insight in the state of affairs more than forty years ago but had not yet been seen because they were classified top secret and kept far away by the Commonwealth.
