BSI remains closed; funeral for Atanacio Gutierrez Friday

Tension has cooled down and things were quiet in Orange Walk today even though the thousands of cane farmers continue to strike. Belize Sugar Industries have remained mum and we have not been able to contact Financial Director Belizario Carballo to get a comment on the demand that the core sampler be removed… but we do know that there was no smoke billowing from the factory at Tower Hill as the company remains closed. Speaking today with C.E.O. of the Cane Farmer’s Association, Carlos Magana, it appears that some inroads in communication have been made as News Five was told that S.C.F.A. is looking at methodologies for quality control that does not include core sampling. Magana declined to say with whom he was discussing those methodologies, but sounded optimistic that a resolution to the strike can be reached.

On the criminal side, a man who was allegedly detained for the incident involving the torching of a Ministry of Works trucks was released from custody on Tuesday. Police in the north report that no charges have yet been levied against any of the protestors as they are still reviewing the footage they have. An internal investigation is also on going into the death of thirty-six year old Atanacio Gutierrez, the cane farmer who was killed on Monday during the violent confrontation between security forces and farmers at Tower Hill. Gutierrez’s body was transported to the K.H.M.H. morgue this morning with the post-mortem to be conducted on Thursday afternoon. After the examination Gutierrez will be transported to the Corozal Town in preparation for his funeral on Friday. The ceremony and burial will take place in his home village of San Victor at four p.m. At Tuesday’s general meeting, Gutierrez’s fellow cane farmers contributed financially to his wife and set up an educational fund for his six children. They also passed a resolution that February second be a holiday for cane farmers in his memory. Aside from Gutierrez, eleven others were injured on Monday. All have been treated and released from the Northern Regional Hospital except for one man who received a gunshot wound near the hip. Doctors report that he is in stable condition.