Attorneys Hired For Mennonite Lawsuit

Francis Fonseca

On Thursday, we reported that perhaps at least two Mennonite communities had hired the services of attorneys to challenge the government on the COVID regulations.  Today, attorney Dickie Bradley confirmed that report with News Five.  Bradley informed us that Arthur Saldivar is the lead attorney in the lawsuit, while a British lawyer is being hired to assist with the legal arguments and, he, Bradley is asked to be a consultant for the Mennonite communities. As we had reported, the communities, through their business partners, are raising funds to defray the costs and are also encouraging that there be multiple claimants to bring about the lawsuit. Today, Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Technology, Francis Fonseca weighed in on the refined Statutory Instrument that the Mennonite communities are challenging, and said that the Prime Minister has met with the leaders of these communities. 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Technology

“It’s not a vaccine mandate; two, let’s wait to see the final product of the S.I. before we make any assumptions; and third, in terms of the Mennonite community, they are citizens of Belize. We understand some of their concerns, but again I would say, let’s be careful that we are not making assumptions about the position of the Mennonite community based on a few individuals who obviously feel very strongly about this issue. We have the same thing in our communities; there are pockets of people who feel strongly, but that does not reflect the views of the entire population of our country or the residents of Belize City or anything. So the same approach applies to Spanish Lookout and the Mennonite communities. There are pockets of resistance, but generally as you know the Prime Minister met with the leaders of the Mennonite community along with the minister of health and the minister of home affairs and I think they have a good understanding of where the government stands on this issue and what we expect of them. We expect them to be responsible.”