G.O.B Contracts Former Deputy Prime Minister Florencio Marin Sr. in Agriculture

John Briceño

Prime Minster John Briceño confirmed that the Government of Belize is contracting former Deputy Prime Minister Florencio Marin Sr. as an advisor in the Ministry of Agriculture. PM Briceño justified the decision by arguing that Florencio Marin Sr. is one of the most knowledgeable persons on the ever-tense relationship between sugar cane farmers and A.S.R./B.S.I. As a result, Florencio Marin Senior is being tasked with representing the government in ongoing negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement between both parties. Here is how he puts it.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“When Jules Vasquez father, the late Net Vasquez was hired as the chairman for B.T.L. and was paid close to a quarter of a million dollars, imagine a quarter of a million dollars to be the executive chairman of B.T.L., I did not hear Jules Vasquez criticizing it. I did not hear Michael Peyrefitte criticizing it. I did not hear anybody in the U.D.P. criticizing it and he was in that position for nine ten years. So, you could imagine the amount of monies that the late Net Vasquez collected and he was about eighty five years old, almost ninety years old. Again, when it comes to former Deputy Prime Minister Florencio Marin, this is a man that gave his entire life, all of his best years to Public Service. He represented the people of Corozal South East for almost fifteen years and he worked with government for as much as forty years. Now, everybody knows that Florencio Marin is one of the most knowledgeable persons when it comes to relations between the cane farmers and A.S.R./B.S.I., We had in 2021 in December we had a strike by the farmers and they shut down the mill for almost a whole week. The factory claims that they lost about a million dollars, farmers lost probably the same. We believe that at this critical moment when the farmers and B.S.I. continues to negotiate for a commercial agreement that it is important that we can have someone that is able to speak to both parties and to keep them together without fighting. We are investing thirty six thousand dollars for the entire year in paying Florencio Marin. We are not paying a quarter of a million dollars the way the U.D.P. did to the Nestor Vasquez who was about ninety years old.”