PM Briceño Condemns Senseless Killing of Dwayne Gabourel

John Briceño

Prime Minister John Briceño returned to Belize on Saturday, following a trip to New York where he addressed the United Nations General Assembly on a range of issues, including climate change as well as the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will have more from his UN speech elsewhere in the newscast.  This afternoon, however, the PM addressed the nation in a recorded statement on the relentless gang violence that has claimed the lives of many in Belize City.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“The tragic shooting of young Dwayne Gabourel once again has our nation saddened and outraged. As a Belizean society, we have suffered too much at the hands of gang leaders and their surrogates who, for more than two decades, have terrorized and plagued our once peaceful communities in Belize City and in the past ten years, all urban areas across our country. Already this year, twenty-six persons have died because of gang violence.  Less than five hundred gang members have been terrorizing neighborhoods and communities, particularly on the south side of Belize City. Gang violence is festering in part of what has become a careless culture of silence and hopelessness, especially in our poor and vulnerable communities. The violence has to stop. The terror on these communities must end. While no law or set of laws alone will end the fear and senseless violence, it is clear that immediate action is needed. My instruction to the Minister of Home Affairs and to the members of the police department is that now is the time to use all necessary resources to save our children, our communities and our countries from the senseless killings. In this regard, I have asked Minister Musa and the Commissioner of Police to provide as much information to the public and to reach out to everyone to join our efforts to combat the crime and violence and to get the gangs off the streets.”