Andre Perez Goes Candid with News Five Several Months After Sex Scandal

Disgraced parliamentarian Andre Perez has broken his silence, following a sex scandal that forced him to take a leave of absence from Cabinet a few months ago. Perez, who held the portfolio of Minister of Blue Economy and Civil Aviation, has flown below the radar in the wake of public humiliation. But today, he spoke with News Five candidly about what has transpired in his personal and professional life since the incident. He says that his time away from Cabinet has resulted in him spending more time attending to the needs of his constituents.

Isani Cayetano

“Mr. Perez, where do you stand in the wake of this entire that befell you a few weeks ago, and how are you moving on in your professional life as an elected official?”

Andre Perez, Area Rep, Belize Rural South

Andre Perez

“It’s a few months ago, that’s what it is.  Listen, the most important thing is that I continue to work.  The most important thing is to go back to the people that elected [me].  I was elected by over ten thousand people in this area, as the area representative and I won overwhelmingly, and it’s going back to them, reaching out to them and once you have the support of them and saying, “Listen, carry on,” that is all that matters.  But I don’t want to leave out as well the important factor which is my family.  That’s important, the support of my family.  They understand that we’re all human beings and we make errors.  So, with that said, having those two factors, continue doing the work and that’s what I am doing today, coming here to the police department to reach out to the commissioner who is here and working on a daily basis and reaching out to my community.  That’s what I’ve been doing.  Last week, I was in Caye Caulker and did some work.  Thursday, again, I will go there.  So there are lots of ways how to serve the community, not only at the cabinet level is the only way you can do work.  Being there on the ground right now is a big form of, I get a lot of it, I do get a lot of it because being a minister, there’s always the concern of two jobs.  They tell you on one side, “You’re a good minister, but yoh da wah bad area rep.”  That’s always the case because you are engaging in national issues, but for the moment, temporarily right now, I am engaging fulltime with my constituency and I am enjoying every bit of it.”