Former Secretary General of P.U.P., Carlos Espat, murdered
carlos espat
Forty-seven year old Carlos Espat was found dead this past Saturday morning at his home at the corner of Albert and King Streets in Belize City. Late this afternoon, the investigation of his death shifted to murder. The tragic news spread quickly about the man who was well known but kept his private life under the radar. Except for his family, Carlos had few friends but a large number of acquaintances recalled his savvy and grasp for politics. Carlos came from a political family; he was considered the chief strategist in the successes of his two brothers: Jorge, a former Minister of Defense and Mark, the deputy party leader of the PUP and the once powerful Minister of Tourism. He is also a former Secretary General of the People’s United Party who earlier today lauded his work in the 1998 elections. Aside from his political life, Carlos was an educator. It is Mark and his other brother, Phillip who found him lifeless in his bathroom on Saturday morning. Police first reported the matter as a sudden death but a post mortem confirms Carlos died from head and chest injuries due to blunt trauma. News Five’s Marion Ali has the story…
Marion Ali, Reporting
When News Five arrived at the scene close to noon on Saturday, the police were scouring for any type of evidence that would give them a clue as to what happened to forty seven year old Carlos Espat. He was discovered in his bathtub with obvious signs of violence and the post mortem today certified that he died of trauma to his chest and head. Police also returned to his home at the corner of King and Albert Streets as their investigation has now been upgraded to murder. The news of his death came as a shock to people in the political and teaching professions because Espat is the former Secretary General of the People’s United Party and a former educator. P.U.P. leader, John Briceno shared his thoughts on the late Espat with us today.
john briceno
John Briceno, PUP leader
“The entire Espat family has been involved in the work of the People’s United Party and involved in the development of this country. Carlos Espat was our Secretary General in the early 1990s and was part of the rebuilding process of the P.U.P. between 1993 going up to 1998 as the Secretary General. We in P.U.P. always remember him as this very quite, unassuming, but very strong, highly disciplined, focused intelligent individual. Somebody that you could always approach, was always willing to go the extra mile in his work and in the work of the People’s United Party. Carlos was an educator, he was a great Belizean and his untimely death is a loss not only to the P.U.P. but a loss to the entire nation of Belize.”
Former Principal of the Anglican Cathedral College, Derek Satchwell, is now at Sacred Heart College in San Ignacio, but he says Espat displayed exemplary leadership skills when he was an English teacher at A.C.C. in the nineties.
Deryck Satchwell, Former Principal, A.C.C. (via phone)
deryck satchwell
“I remember him as a very thorough teacher; he did his work very thoroughly. He got on well with his students; he had excellent relations with his peers, the other teachers in the staffroom. I believe he was the faculty representative to the Board of Governors for most, if not all of his years on faculty there and very involved and interested in the welfare of his students outside of academics as well.”
John Briceno
“He was a very talented individual, very intelligent, quite focus and had a keen political mind and skill—something that is not easily found in Belize—and he had that from a very young age. If you were to look at his brothers, they have been involved in politics from in their teens. That’s something that they love, it’s their passion to serve not only the P.U.P. but to serve this country and Carlos was no exception. He served our party and he served Belize honorably.”
The late Carlos Espat will be laid to rest at Homeland Memorial Cemetery after serves at two in the afternoon on Tuesday at Holy Redeemer Cathedral. Marion Ali for News Five.
In belize you don’t even need an enemy for someone to murder you these days, it has to be something in the air there.
It seem that he was murdered inside his home, maybe a friendenemy, or a thief commited this crime.
The news is not revealing any other evidence of this senseless muder today , suppose we will just have to wait till tomorrow.
It is obvious that money does not make anyone immune to the violence that has taken over the country.Junior Williams was almost killed & now one of the Espat’s has been taken out. Whether or not this involved his personal life, we need to address the simmering rage that has become a part of our cultural norm.
Can all of you who were elected to office sit down & do some brainstorming & continue to seek help even if you need to look outside the country to find a solution to this madness, do so.
I am so sorry. Mr. Espat might have been a good person and everything. I think that the Belizean people are getting very tired of this politcs B.S. I am sorry that It ha to be a good person like Mr. Espat. I think they just made an example out of him. If they dont see improvement then they will make another example until they see a change. These people are the ones that are responsible for the suffering of the Belizean people.
GOB need to start hanging or more of them are going to become victims of their incompetence to deal with the present crime situation.First it was Mr Williams now it’s MR Espat .Mr Barrow better start doing something real quick.This crime situation is way out of control.With that said my deepest condolence goes to the Espat family.
see now they are killing anybody not gang members just anyone and this gov. is to blame who knows maybe this guy was killed by the udp and this gov. after all you only have to pay somebody with wa fry chicken and they kill sombody fu you i would say to anyone whos family has been killed or will be to sue this gov. and in particular this pm because they are both to blame for the murders this gov for being useless and this pm for not being oliver twist but for being oliver barrow who is ashamed to beg for help for all these crimes sue them sue him .
RIP MR. C—-we were cool buddies back at Wesley. I cant see you as an enemy dude–
Somebody
or some bunch of criminals must have gotten the advantage—Police should look into
relationships–who had access to your crib–any surveillance camera around?–thats gonna
help..I
was hoping to chat with you when I get down in the fall–see you in another life or on the other
side.—-respect and love
How sad. My condolences.
Really sad. Hope they pin down the killer….and give him a share of his own medicine. My condolences to his family.
Deep condolences to espat family. Nothing has been done to tackle criminal. They get busted, they go to jail and come back do the same crime. Very SAd situation!
Could this be politically motivated violence. Unfortunately Belize is going there.
now we have the PM criminal pu.. as. son promoting gangs in bz. we need to get both of them out of the country or in jail.. not even America whats his a.. there.. instead they send there garbage to back to bz. then we have some stupid bzean thinking that its a good thing he is in bz.. if amirica would allowed to go back he would start running yesterday..F……. PM and his family.
sorry for the Espat family ,may they find peace in this time of grief
Regardless of your political affiliation, I would hope you all agree this is about a very humble, respectable and outstanding citizen who has been brutally murdered. He dedicated his life and contributed so much to our society without assuming the arrogance so many of the other politicians (of both sides) take on once in office.
My sympathy goes to both Mark and Jorge and the Espat family.
this is shameful for the wannabe gov. and p.m that afterso many crimes and killings they haven’t sit for a thirty minute and ask they selves what can we do for this country with the crime so high? or ask themselves it’s time to bring death penalty either by electrical death, lethal injection or hanging lets make it more realistc and say let copy the muslims and have the murders stoned to death by all the people in the gathering. but the p.m and gov. are just too ignorant as to bring a stop to this matter, once he aply the death penalty for any murder this will have to stop and make it public, but they sit in the office collecting pay every end off month and with safe security guards in their house they don’t give a sh!# about us the low class belizeans.
mr. johnny if you win next election, please bring the death penalty since this barrow can’t handle it, at least you make the change that we are expecting for so long.
This is not even about politics.This is about the incompitence of GOB to tackle the crime situation in the Jewel.I’ve said it numerous times and i am going to say it again.No one in the jewel is safe anymore.You can become a statistic sitting in your home.Mr Barrow you need to address this situation.You’ve got an obligation to the Belizean Citizens to defend them from foreign and domestic enemies.
I hope that the authorities and citizens of Bze group themselves create neighborhood watches and take care of each other because this should not be happening in our country, I would not wish this upon someone even if I voted or not for them. On the contrary this is what we enjoy democratic freedom and any threat to same I encourage govt and parties to form a coalition and say no to this violence. But follow up on it your honor and that of your families, this violence so common in today’s youth is transcending to our older generation, but together we can wipe out them bad cruffies…peace and blessings to everyone.
Well……… IT WAS SOMEONE THAT HE TRUSTED AND LET INTO HIS HOME.
There were no signs of struggle and the professional nature of it, suggests that it may have been a hit. The blunt objects were used because gun-shots would have been heard and neighbors would have been alerted as to the time of the crime.
We are waiting for the REST OF THE STORY………
Condolences to Mark, my former school mate, and Jorge, my former teacher at SJC. sorry for your loss. Please be strong and work to end the violence and corruption in Belize, no matter which party is in power. I have always respected you both for standing up to your own party and wish you both all the best.
As a former classmate of Carlos’ at SJC, I am deeply saddened by the news. Carlos was always a hard worker and a decent, honorable person. If anyone remembers the validictorian speech at SJC in 1981, Carlos exhorted us to stay in Belize and use our talents to improve the country in any we we could. He certainly practiced what he preached.
R.I P. Carlos.