Saldivar Says He is Focused Mainly on Winning Belmopan Convention
Can embattled politician John Saldivar mount a legitimate legal challenge against the United States government and what would it take for him to be successful in court? It’s a question that many are asking in the face of his designation, notwithstanding the absence of evidence from the U.S. State Department. But Saldivar told the media today that he is primarily concerned with the upcoming convention and convincing voters in Belmopan that he is still the man for the job.
John Saldivar
John Saldivar, Former Minister of Government
“There is the possibility that the designation can be removed and if I decide to explore that possibility, that is an option for me. What I do now, what I say now is directed to my people in Belmopan, especially, since I don’t aspire to any national office. My people in Belmopan are the people that I appeal to in terms of saying to them [that] no evidence has been brought against me and unless and until that is done, my people in Belmopan will respect my right for due process and for natural justice and I am confident of that. I have been on the street already for the last few days talking with my people and they are not unfair, they are not people that will tolerate injustice and this is injustice. This is political persecution.”
Isani Cayetano
“What strategy, what approach do you have to climb up from underneath this rock, because if you are to offer yourself for any meaningful public position, this continues to hang over your head as a nightmare. What do you do to remove yourself or rid yourself of this dark cloud?”
John Saldivar
“I think my troubles with respect to these things that dogged me or haunted me started perhaps, if I recall, in 2015 with the Danny Mason saga. This is six years later and I am still a major player in the politics of Belize and there’s a reason for that, because the people who know me best, whether they be from Belmopan, my constituency, or whether they be my colleagues in my party who know of my innocence, who know how I behave, how I carry on my self with utmost care. Those are the people who still have me as a viable option in politics. There are those who would want to see, I think I was declared dead many months ago by my friend, and recently it was declared that this is the final nail in the coffin. There’s a convention that will come up in a few weeks time, that is where the empirical evidence, not the perception that many are being guided by, that is where the empirical evidence is going to come out as to my reputation and whether I could crawl out from under all of this controversy and I have said it earlier, I am confident that once I am allowed to participate in that convention, I will defeat all those who come against me.”
