… And Opposition Leader voices remorse over tragedy
The deadly shooting and the strike at the Tower Hill have presented the greatest challenge by far to the present government. And while the PM today expressed regret for what unfolded, the opposition leader has also voiced his share of remorse over the tragedy and the situation that the sugar industry is currently facing.
John Briceño, Leader of the Opposition
“I need to start off by expressing our deep regret at the loss of life, passing our sympathies to the family of Anastacio Felix Gutierrez of San Victor, Corozal. The loss of one life is too much and yesterday’s incident is going to go down in the history of Belize as a sad day where the cane farmers for almost seven days were protesting and within their right in trying to get the government to understand the issues that are in front of them. Unfortunately, the government refused to listen.”
“How is it going to affect the north? Well, it’s certainly going to have a direct impact economically. If you were to look at the numbers, just using at fifty dollars per ton, the factory receives six thousand tons per day. If you were to take off seven days you’re already looking at two point one million dollars that has been lost. Nobody wants to destroy the sugar industry. The cane farmers don’t want to destroy the sugar cane industry; they live off the sugar industry. How can we in the north go out there and say we want to destroy this industry? It is in our interest. And for the Prime Minister to go again today and try to blame the cane farmers, I find that totally unacceptable.”
Duane Moody
“What would you have done if you were faced with this situation?”
John Briceño
“Well, the first thing I would have done is to have sat down with the cane farmers and have a meaningful dialogue and to empathize with what they’re going through, understand what is it that they’re going through and to find ways how it is that we can solve this. And if it calls for the suspension of the core sampler for a time then we may have to do that. These six thousand families that depend on the sugar industry directly, of course they want to be able to increase their productivity. They want to be able to increase the quality of the cane that they’re delivering; it’s in their interest. So certainly we would have had meaningful dialogue with them and if we had to suspend it a little more because of the problems that they’ve been having over the past two years I think anybody can understand.”
“The sugar industry continues to be one of the most important industries in this country and as a responsible government it is the responsibility of all of us, even us in the opposition, to be able to do everything to save the sugar industry in Belize.”
The P.U.P. late this evening issued a release condemning the loss of life and said “the refusal by the Prime Minister to meet the cane farmers in Orange Walk and his incendiary remarks during his press conference, including the setting of wholly unrealistic deadlines and preconditions, all led to the tragedy that unfolded yesterday in Orange Walk”.
