Fred Ortega: “PM Briceno is Behaving Very Weak.”

Following our newscast on Wednesday night, another round of interviews was conducted with executives on the Committee of Management of the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association.  Among them was Alfredo Ortega.  Not only has Ortega established himself as a stalwart member of the B.S.C.F.A., but he’s also a levelheaded advisor to the association.  Last night, he candidly expressed his disappointment with the manner in which Prime Minister John Briceño has handled the sugar crisis.  His sharp criticism of the Orange Walk Central Area Representative and head of government began with the aborted trip to the Vatican and the failed negotiations that PM Briceño was engaged in with A.S.R./B.S.I. prior to leaving the country.  Here’s that interview with Ortega.

Alfredo Ortega

Alfredo Ortega, Committee of Management, B.S.C.F.A.

“From Thursday last week, the negotiations got more intense where we have the participation of the Minister of Agriculture, his team, our team, including the prime minister.  We thought that things would be resolved because having the maximum leader of the country, things should have been solved.  Nevertheless, we are here, Wednesday.  Tomorrow will make eight days since we are negotiating and our prime minister has been there and nothing has been resolved.  We heard that he stopped his vacation visit to Rome and he came back today.  We thought that with his coming back that we’ll have a resolve today, this afternoon, and we are back to square one.  It’s a pity that our prime minister is really not looking forward into the cries of the farmers.  We that voted him in as our prime minister, we are calling his attention, that he needs to really look upon the people that voted for him.  It’s not only the cane farmers, because this is not only affecting us as cane farmers.  Directly, yes, but indirectly there are other people involved and those other people are voters.  How the hell is it that our own prime minister cannot come and help us resolve one issue, one issue.  He prefers to leave his people, to leave his voters to the ditch and giving the multinationals the respect that he should give to his own people.  That is what we are looking for, that our prime minister and ministers in government really look upon our farmers, really look on what the need is because the way he is behaving, he is behaving very weak.”