P.U.P. candidates trade nasty press releases

Two of the three candidates vying for the leadership of the Peoples’ United Party have issued press releases casting aspersions on their opponents. John Briceño reacted to reports carried on this newscast last night regarding concessions made by the party secretariat, calling them contrary to the P.U.P. constitution, presumably because the constitution has not yet been amended to incorporate the changes. The release went on to deride Francis Fonseca’s claim to be a reformer, saying he is not committed to real change.

For its part Fonseca’s camp attacked the Amandala newspaper for being “biased and disrespectful” in tying Fonseca to the policies of his cousin Ralph Fonseca and former prime minister Said Musa. After chiding Mark Espat for being anti-Amandala until he married the publisher’s daughter, Fonseca’s release said that of the three candidates Francis had the best claim to personal integrity.

And finally, in related news, the Ministry of Finance has yet to release any news regarding its investigation into the claim by the Venezuelan government that it gave Belize a grant of twenty million U.S. dollars, when the previous government said it only received ten million.