USA NEWS MEDIA REVIEW the SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS!

Prime Minister Dean Barrow arrives at Summit of the Americas with small entourage.
Foreign Minister of Belize Elrington



USA NEWS MEDIA REVIEW SUMMIT OF AMERICAS- THE BELIZE VIEW!

by Ray Auxillou ( Belize )

Was watching the USA television cable news reviewing the Summit of the Americas from the viewpoint of the USA cabel media . What seemed to bother them ( the USA media ) the most, was the rhetoric and anti-Americanism coming from our seven American elected Communist leaders trained in their youth by the COMINTERN.

My thoughts on that were that the USA has been pretty much disengaged with the American Continent 34 countries for about 20 years now, running through the CLINTON , BUSH and currently OBAMA years. For the leftist group of ALBA to castigate the USA at THIS summit of the Americas was ridiculous. LEADERS with policy failures always point the finger at somebody else, as excuses for their failures. Each leader, or leaders over the past 20 years in the Americas of our 34 countries should, and are responsible, for whatever success or failures they have had in the past 20 years. The USA has been ignoring us all that time, pretty much. If Ortega of Nicaragua is complaining, he should look to his own government leadership and country and solve his own problems. I heard yesterday that President Chavez of Venezuela since being in office has just completed a 1000 % INFLATION rate for his country. ( doesn't sound true - will check ) Obviously then, using inflation as a measuring yardstick for success or failure, Chavez has destroyed Venezuela with his policies, if this 1000% inflation rate is true. His country is now on a par with ZIMBABWE and President MUGABWE. Not only does inflation destroy the economic capabilities of a country, it also wipes out the middle class aspiring leadership and destroys the next two or three generations of newer young people who could build up a country, some yet unborn. You destroy peoples bank savings, the repercussions take several generations to recover for a nation. Megalomaniac power mad dictators, who have a lust for power at any cost, are the ones who destroy their countries through policies reflected in an unmanageable inflation rate. You can identify many of the causes. Such as CENTRALIZATION, or POLITICAL VENDETTAS, which are no more than the use of government institutions to wage war on your own population. Tyrants and autocratic leaders also ignore the power of greed for material goods and profit as a motive to inspire new generations to innovate and lead with new ideas and methods to achieve the rewards of the good life materially. Socialism saps these motivations and only makes everybody poor, except the tyrants and their minions.

I looked up the inflation rate from Venezuelan Central Bank today at the internet cafe, it is about 29% officially. Not as bad as 1000% quoted to me, but still not good. For an oil rich and resource rich country that is strange.

In Belize , this past year, inflation reached as high as 12% under the UDP, much of which reflected the imported cost of goods, out of our control, dictated by the surge of oil prices by speculators. Inflation in our country of Belize quickly identifies the policies of correction we must do. These are; more import substitution, self sufficiency in food, a need to create light manufacturing policies quickly, increased emphasis on entrepreneurs, our education system has satisfactorily already re-organized. Our only problem of any note is an inherited one from the past PUP administration, which is the size of the NATIONAL DEBT, which is $2 billion Belize currency. Those responsible for this disaster were the autocratic leadership of Musa, Fonseca and Godfrey. It will take another 30 years probably to work our way out of debt caused by the PUP.

Energy is a problem in Belize at the present time, but it does not have to be. We import most of our energy, so the solution is to produce our own energy in some sort of self sufficiency policies. Off hand, the two immediate easiest sources of energy reduction costs, are probably dual flex vehicles using gasoline and butane, or gasoline and ethanol. Fuel energy studies done by the Belize Development Trust volunteers show that BUTANE is already making inroads into the cost of operating vehicles, ($1500 Bz conversion cost per pickup truck) by reducing energy fuel costs roughly 33% are reported. Ethanol is easily produced in Belize and we have all the ingredients to make a big dent in the cost of operating vehicles by ethanol. Nobody is doing it yet, and you cannot build home or farm, 3 stage stills for production of ethanol yet, ( they cost about $1500 Bz in materials and labor, for a 5 gallon a day production capacity ), but the research has been done and it looks like as world oil prices start to rise again, people will do so. We need associated fuel policies that will favor expansion of our current butane engine conversions and we need a merchandise importer to bring in the copper tubing ( 5 inch or 6 inch diameter and ½ inch and 1 inch copper tubing, along with the correct type of solder for brazing copper pipes for local manufacture of small farm back lot type, 3 stage 200 proof ethanol stills. ), accompanied by favorable policies ( mostly hands off by the bureaucrats and regulations and politicians with their licenses, permits and taxes ) to get such a changeover in energy import substitution into the mainstream mix of energy IMPORT SUBSTITUTION for Belize. Studies already show that ethanol is marginally competitive at current fuel prices, but will become more so as OIL WORLD STOCKS shrink, due to more countries demanding a piece of the OIL SUPPLY. We import BUTANE, so our oil wells need to produce this locally if it is feasible, otherwise ETHANOL small backyard farm lot stills are the proper short term (30 years ) answer, as that is a totally SELF SUFFICIENT BELIZEAN capability. It would take some years to get cottage industry ethanol production meaningful as a saving in imported fuels, but is entirely practical if the government regulators keeps a hands off policy.

Electrical supply costs are largely imported as well, and we need to save FOREIGN EXCHANGE in any manner we can, as a small country. This will become more important as world oil prices keep rising. Policies need to recognize that vulnerabilities to the cost of importing, versus the trade offs of taxation for short term government revenue income on energy supplies. In my personal view, politicians and bureaucrats should always go for the saving of FOREIGN EXCHANGE costs as the dominant factor in policy making, because cheap energy enables higher production and the ability to expand production in new commercial fields of economic endeavor. NET METERING has not yet been tried as a policy and it should be done also, in my view. In a nutshell, if a small homeowner, or small scale cottage electrical supplier can produce electricity, then policy should be directed at encouraging this trend. The name of the game and for the future success of Belize is not measured in short term political goals of revenue taxation gain, but long term SELF SUFFICIENCY in electrical supply and all energy usage. Don’t think BIG, think SMALL solutions for Belize , if you are a politician or bureaucrat.

Our relationship in Belize with the USA to the North, is unchanged. We recognize they are our major market and major supplier of technical goods, as also our largest TRADING PARTNER. The USA has been involved in the past 20 years with the 34 countries of the AMERICAS , mostly in a selfish manner. The FREE TRADE agreements and the war on the FARC, ELN bandit, terrorist criminal groups in Colombia come to mind. These were all GOOD things for the Americas . What we need is a version of the European Union, but of the 34 American countries. Since we buy and sell mostly with the USA , then whatever problems they are having with the DOLLAR should not concern us. TRADE will continue, however adjusted by the USA currency problems because of our linked dollar backing. We need to widen our Chinese commercial connections for sure. China is the next major power.

The big thing from studying the Communist Comintern new elected presidents in the Americas ( over the past 20 years of non interference by the USA ) is that their Communist policies and idealogy are contrary to raising the standard of living of everybody. Instead of increasing a middle class by encouraging greed for material things, profit and innovation, they lower the standard of living and basically enslave their populations into a large lower class, in some cases like SERFS of the past centuries of history. Instead of widening the HAVES in their society, they are reducing their populations quality of life issues, and building a society of HAVE NOTS! Their mistaken ideological policies are creating a super class of poverty in some of their Latin countries. Centralization is part of the blame in their misguided ideology.

A recent 900 mile tour through Eastern Guatemala, showed the difference I know in my life time, from military dictatorships and centralization in that country, for an example, and of ten years of democracy in Guatemala and the startling results in living standards, paved roads, schools, clinics and medical treatment. Practically every Guatemalan rural indigenous child had his own cell phone for example. Every village and rural town has clinics, schools and brand new asphalt paved roads superior than those in Canada, or Belize. ( Oil money I guess? ) That is not poor by any means. Indeed Guatemalans on a whole are richer in material things and quality of life issues, than Belizeans was my impression and we in Belize are pretty well off. Mostly we seem on a par with the living standards of Guatemala . Life is a struggle for ALL young people as they start life and have families. That is the fun in life is solving and meeting the challenges, as you learn new trades, build a home and raise a family, then look back after you get old.

In summary, for Belize at the Summit of the Americas , our Prime Minister had to present the views and needs of CARICOM and those of Belizeans individually as a country of Central America . We need to fight the dominance of the G7, G14 and G20 as much as we can collectively. We could start by joining CARICOM and CENTRAL AMERICA institutional organizations in joint policy forums and meetings. There is power in cooperation and it looks like Belize needs to put some 'meat in the bun,' by creating, or encouraging a joining of Central America and Caricom interests on the political and other institutional stages. We need to make our cooperation wider with more members. How do we do that? What common foreign political and trade economic grounds can we find for our 20 countries of Caricom and Central America ? Caricom is too small. Central America is slowly maturing. Can we join them all and have Belize lead the way? We should, because it is in our foreign policy interest. Divided we fall, United we stand. Let us form a C20 group? That for me was the important lesson and conclusion of this Summit of the Americas .

Exploring the potentials, could a C 20 group of Caricom and Central American countries devise rules for offshore tax havens? Could we fight this war for world market share for financial services against the interests of the G7 Robber Barons? Can we then sue in local courts G7 applications of breaking OUR C20 group rules and regulations? Or even in their own countries for violations of behavior with our laws? Can we create a banking exchange transfer system in the Caribbean, or Central America? Maybe Panama, or Cayman for example? Avoid dealing with a crooked deck as run by New York for the USA and Belgium for the EU. The possibilities are endless.