BELIZEANS REJECT GUATEMALAN/OLD SPANISH CLAIM FOR 50% OF NATION

Guatemalan Foreign Ministry
Belize Foreign Ministry
BELIZEANS REJECT GUATEMALA CLAIM AND IDEA OF GOING TO THE ICJ

The consensus among the Belizean public is that the UDP CABINET and Foreign Ministry made a darned fool mistake by even considering the Guatemalan NEW CLAIM to half of Belize, based on the fact, that centuries ago, SPAIN and PORTUGAL divvied up in theory, the AMERICAN Continent for invasion and conquest, by a declaration by some feudal religious Catholic POPE in Rome, by a line of longitude, during the early centuries of Imperialism by Europeans.
Modern day Belizeans do not relate to this antique argument. Guatemala who in turn wrested their INDEPENDENCE from Spain more than a hundred years ago, has some weird idea that they inherited the POPE in Rome’s, right of conquest and declaration of ownership of all of the AMERICAS. Pure nonsense of course and what our BLACK port town politicians were thinking, in their FEARS and MEMORIES of sixty years ago or more, of the Guatemalan Military Mafia style dictatorships, when the Catholic Church of the Americas along with military ruling Generalismo dictators slaughtered their own BLACK populations, has lent an ancestral memory of fear, to any overtures by modern day democratic Guatemala. I certainly remember when you could not travel in Central America, unless you had the outward appearance of religious conformity to the CATHOLIC - military dictatorship partnership of the old conquistador system, by wearing a cross around your neck, for fear of being persecuted.
Needless to say, Belizeans are rejecting any concept of any claim by Guatemala and their arguments of European WARS and TREATIES between the old enemies of Spain, England, Holland and FRANCE a couple of centuries ago. The facts are; that BELIZE became an INDEPENDENT country under the auspices of the WORLD GOVERNMENT of the United Nations, in 1981.
The Guatemalans profess they are stuck, because some old Generalismo Dictator injected a clause into their Guatemalan Constitution, laying claim to half of Belize territory and it is a treasonous act to reject, or eliminate this clause from their CONSTITUTION. Pure nonsense of course! Grow up Guatemala, we are not going to the ICJ for your benefit. Furthermore, our UDP dominated BLACK current government will LOSE the next election if they do go to the ICJ. Belize is an independent and sovereign nation and our BLACK members of government better stand up like men and quit playing the game of wishy washy feardy cats. Gambling with the territorial integrity and destiny of Belizeans is not allowed. BE WARNED!

CABINET MEMBER FOR SECURITY VISITS CAYO WEST BELIZE

POLITICIAN POLICE MINISTER FROM THE NATIONAL CABINET, VISITS CAYO WEST DISTRICT FOR THE SECOND TIME SINCE BEING ELECTED A YEAR AGO.

The Cabinet Minister of National Security, Carlos Perdomo was elected to office in February 7th, 2008 and then duly appointed as Cabinet Minister for National Security by his winning party leader Dean Barrow, who had automatically became Prime Minister from the election.
Minister Perdomo accompanied by the Commissioner of our National Police, Gerald Westby Esq., arrived on the morning of January 22nd., 2009. The small detachment of police at the San Ignacio police department, a district headquarters, formed an honor guard to receive these distinguished visitors to our Western Belize area. The officer in charge of the honor guard was Sr. Superintendent Paul Wade. The police station has recently been refurbished and repainted with donations from the community of the TWIN TOWNS, merchant center of the Cayo district. The Belize Government is broke and operating on a recently re-newed, by the UDP newly elected government, using a deficit foreign loan borrowing budget operating system. So many government departments including the police are under funded. The government revenues are adequate on an austerity well managed budget system, but as usual with a new political party in power, they want to spend more than is available, so after six years of PUP austerity ( the PUP lost the election ) the new UDP government are putting the nation in increased foreign borrowing debt. Will this help policing? Very unlikely. Some $200 million of borrowed money is going to be infused in the productive sector infra-structure over this year of 2009. Mostly road repairs.
The Cayo District has a number of outlying small police stations, usually in smaller towns and occasionally in villages. The most frequent crimes are theft of goods left in cars by people shopping, some burglaries, hold ups by armed masked men of stores and businesses, drunken quarrels and machete and knife fights. There are a number of drug arrests, usually to do with marijuana, which is a back country sideline business for some farmers and these are usually caught by public tip offs, or road police check points search teams. Guatemalan bandits periodically, every couple of years, come through the jungle from over the border and set up a type of stage coach robbery road block, for people traveling in cars on back roads. These are normally dealt with, not by the police but by the small 800 man Belize Defense Force army, on patrols. There is growing cooperation between Guatemalan and Belize police forces and army personnel of both countries. Life in Western Belize is for most people, quite tranquil. Every few years some horrific murder occurs, which distresses the Western population and the cries for police action are loud and very vocal. Police response is usually swift. The methodology most favored, is to figure out who did it and then beat a confession out of them.
The police force of Belize is the inherited BRITISH COLONIAL MODEL and is distorted sometimes by whichever political party is in power, who use promotions as a seduction of the professionalism of the force to political victimization ends. Most policemen do not have high school diplomas and the methodology of police work, especially in rural areas is rough and ready. Torture, beatings and temporary incarceration over the weekends for a few days is common enough, if you read the complaints in the newspapers. There has been many attempts in the last few decades to lift up the evidence forensic gathering, abilities of the police, but to no avail so far, according to the newspapers. Witness intimidation is common. There is absolutely no success by the police to deal with the crimes of politicians, plundering the government treasury. Rarely if ever, do the police attempt such a thing, as the political party in power is their boss. Since the police fall under the control of the political party in power, as favored by the aristocratic Empire building British Colonial model, this is an unfortunate price to pay in the system we use. Most low level ordinary police work is fairly good and deals with the nitty gritty details of common, low class crime, by criminals and drunks. The crime of most annoyance, is opportunistic crime, not necessarily pre-meditated crime. Usually by thefts of equipment.
That said; you are safer in Cayo West than in Miami, Florida, or Denver, Colorado. For the circumstances, we have mostly ordinary crimes, and the police force is effective.
The two man inspection team of higher ups, visited the villages of Georgeville, Santa Elena Town, San Antonio town. Many of the larger villages and a couple of small towns were skipped.

BELIZE PREPARING FOR WORLD DEPRESSION

PREPARING FOR THE BELIZE DEPRESSION OF 2009 – 2012

There is an old cliché, that says when you prepare for the worst, the worst NEVER happens! The outside world is already in a confirmed RECESSION now two years old and in Belize the effects are just starting to be felt. We seem to be running about a year behind the outside world schedule. That said, there is definitely a DEPRESSION coming in 2009 for the outside world and we can see vast industrialized economies, who are our biggest markets and sources of tourists unwinding into DEPRESSION.
It is something to do with psychology I suppose, but if our UDP CABINET prepares for the worst it probably will never happen. We lost a big chunk of our productive economy during 2008, which has been replaced by increased oil exports, even at a third lower prices. Tourism is going to take a big hit during 2009, the early visitor indicators show. Since tourism is one of the pillars of our government revenues, then that presupposes projections for general tax revenues for 2009 will drop drastically. It makes sense for our UDP CABINET to revise the projected government revenues for 2009 and 2010 downwards, from expectations.
What then are the WORST CASE SCENARIOS for our UDP CABINET during the 2009 and 2010 period, during the effects of the world depression?
Probably, the UDP CABINET should revise government budget spending downward a third? Since we are talking WORST CASE PREPARATION, then perhaps it would be smarter to drop revenue estimates by 50%.
We have had two hurricanes in ONE YEAR before, so let us estimate two hurricanes for 2009. At a cost of $150 million each in government costs.
We are getting more and more floods and have had two floods in one year, so let us throw two flood disasters into the WORST CASE SCENARIO pot, and plan for that as well, along with associated economic losses and costs.
ECONOMIC LOSSES FROM REDUCED TOURISM ACTIVITY looks like tourist revenues may actually drop over 50%, perhaps 75%? There is a lot associated economic activity with loss of tourism activity, in the general community.
Lastly but not leastly, with NEW reduced government tax revenues and lower expected local economic activity, then our fixed FOREIGN LOAN REPAYMENT SCHEDULES are going to effect the amounts of money available to maintain the government of Belize activities. For 2009, the $150 million borrowed in 2008 by the UDP Cabinet, can be spent and will create an articial blip on our GDP figure. It is not productive directly as a spending, but will create local internal economic circulation activity.

It looks like revising government tax revenues for 2009 and 2010 downward from previous estimates, by a third would be appropriate? This can be refigured in 2010 as projections and performance unfolds. We are not looking at rosy estimates of economic revenues here, but at what we consider to be the WORST CASE scenarios. This means the government budgets need to be re-adjusted to fit the revised situation as we MIGHT experience it. Go to it, UDP CABINET, do your job.
Generally speaking, it is times like these; that the National Debt looms more and more, like a chain and ball tied around our neck, as these FIXED REPAYMENT COSTS become larger in proportion to the much reduced expected available government tax revenues. We await with much interest the UDP Government delayed STATE OF THE NATION speech, for not only the economic figures the private sector needs for proper annual planning economic activity, but also the budget presentation for government size and activity. The question in my mind is; will the BARROW government prepare a budget for a DEPRESSION year WORST CASE SCENARIO, or will he let his civil servants prepare a budget based on more favorable, over optimistic artificial figures, as is usual, and which always get our governments in trouble.
The thing to remember is; if you prepare for a WORST CASE SCENARIO, the physcology of doing so, will actually prevent you from making stupid mistakes if these things happen and if not, then you end up looking like roses at the end of 2009 going into 2010 with a darned surplus in a GUARANTEED WORLD DEPRESSION YEAR. That is a pretty good economic and political outcome to be desired, I would think?

THE USA DEPRESSION EFFECTS BELIZE

THE USA DEPRESSION OF 2009-10 and HOW IT EFFECTS BELIZE?

Obviously the coming World Depression is going to effect Belize in some way? What way exactly we cannot know. Since our currency is fixed to the US dollar, we essentially have a US DOLLAR economy, even though we print our own money in Belize. Our money is not tradeable on the international markets and is basically used for internal circulation. This gives our Belize dollars a certain strong validity for a country like Belize that is self-sustainable. The fact of our own money valuation is a STRENGTH. This presumes our politicians (the UDP party controlling the government of Belize ) has the SMARTS to control the size of government, be frugal and wisely spend the government revenues in a tight fisted manner, and more particularly, keep a strong rein on the money supply. ( printing of money )
Generally speaking, we are a country with a small population and can feed ourselves. To some extent, we can if needed, even supply our own fuel, from diesel made here and E-85 200 proof ETHANOL. We seem to be in good shape for a world depression? Some curtailing of the materialistic life styles might be experienced from importation of manufactured goods. Being an agrarian society, this is unlikely to really prove a hardship. Much of our population already live DEPRESSION style anyway. 20% of our population in my Hillview Community, of Santa Elena Town of the Cayo District, continue to cook using fire hearts. A system of wood boxes filled with sand, and the burning of firewood. This is a method used in the USA during the 1700’s and 1800’s but still used in much of Latin America. About 10% of our community do not use electricity, because they cannot afford the service and rely on kerosene lamps and candles as in colonial days, when our population was smaller. Cost is the factor here, versus incomes. There is going to be some hardship as our population has grown and in the larger district towns, water supply has shifted from the old pioneer days of creeks and rivers, water vats, for the collecting of rain water and in a few cases of water wells, to a National Water Service, supply of water via PVC pipes under chlorinated pressure. The BWS company recently exchanged my water meter, and my water bill has jumped 400%. So the cost of water looks like it will effect larger communities with newer housing suburbs, now relying on pipe water systems. We will probably in a depression, see a return to rain vats, which are still sold around the nation of Belize anyway and quite common.
The biggest danger in a world depression is the fact our nation is so small, the population also small, that economies of size and ideas and plans of politicians in our UDP Cabinet for spending, will tip the balance and send us into a situation where our internally circulated money becomes devalued, either through inflation, or devaluation. The latter caused by our Cabinet borrowing, of foreign loans. We have to watch our national debt to GDP ratio here! The massive borrowing in proportion to the size of our government revenues is a worrisome trend by our UDP Cabinet. They borrowed in our name $150 million during their first year in 2008. Against revenues of around $750 million and a debt load already crippling our government financial operations, with debt payment obligations of around $250 million this year, of those government revenues. Debt payments are scheduled to double in three more years because of BOND interest agreements. Financially speaking, because of the small size, vulnerability to outside disasters out of our control, Belizean governments live continuously on the knifes edge of fiscal disaster. One simple emotional, amateurish political mistake in handling our government revenues, can ruin us for decades to come.
That said, there has been some reason for HOPE in the first month of 2009, as I watched Attorney General, Wilfred Elrington, on television, tell Justice Conteh in a seminar meeting of magistrates, Supreme Court Justices and lawyers of the legal profession, that the plea by Justice Conteh for more money for the legal division of government is DENIED. In fact, the Attorney General, Elrington, went on to say the Government of Belize is not getting value for the money they are spending on the government legal justice system. Judges are careless, lazy and lax in submitting court case judgements in a timely manner, even as the majority of the court cases are simple ones, with rote solutions. I must say, Elrington has made some foolish mistakes, such as over the BRAND NEW GUATEMALAN CLAIM, be even considering going to the ICJ over it, but in that pronouncement against Justice Conteh and our legal system, he vindicated himself handsomely. Another good sign is the recent spurt in GRANTS coming into our government for various government institutions. I note here, the GRANT for $350,000 from the World Bank, for stricter financial controls establishment of the government purchasing system, which is a proper way to go for our small country. This is the correct path ( GRANTS ) to follow, in my opinion.
The danger to Belize in a World Depression is primarily in our money supply situation, the printing of money by our government and the possibilities of DEVALUATION caused by too high a National Debt load to GDP ratio. With the economies of the world rapidly shrinking and winding down, our own situation in Belize is primarily effected by reductions in tourism revenues. The possibility of people losing all their savings and our banks going into crisis is very real and we are but ONE POLITICAL DECISION MISTAKE away from this happening.
In a depression and particularly in a small country like Belize, the DEBT load causes many unforeseen conditions. Almost always causing DEVALUATION. Devaluation and Inflation our our biggest worries for our small nation. These effects can cause more ruin than a WAR, or invasion by a neighboring country, to our population and economy.
It behooves our academic intelligentsia to learn how to live in a COLLAPSING ECONOMY, which could happen in Belize, through just one or two fiscal, amateurish mistakes done by our Cabinet and Financial Minister. We do live on an economic knifes edge here, in such a small population. The BARTER system, and parallel market system is common to collapsing economies, rendered worse by amateurish politicians, mistaken policies. When the value of the government national money collapses, then barter takes over. I have some experience as a young boy in Vienna, Austria in 1945, a conquered city, in which for about a year, cigarettes were the barter system money. Soldiers could get cigarettes and six British cigarettes were worth about five Yankee cigarettes and 20 Russian cigarettes worth five British cigarettes and the French occupation forces didn’t even have their own French cigarettes but had to rely on the English and Americans to supply their occupation soldiers with cigarettes. Six British cigarettes bought me the use of a rowboat on the lake in Vienna for the summer and Fall, every day, for recreational purposes. You could buy a huge valuable stamp collection of hundreds of stamps for a pack of cigarettes and I remember my father buying a 35 mm minature spy camera, which shot photos through a button hole for a pack and a half of cigarettes, for example. The cigarette barter money system eventually was replaced in late 1946 by an Allied Commission issuance of plastic made money. You need something to value the exchange of different goods.
That said, if our academic intelligentsia feels the UDP CABINET are ruining our economic money valuation system internally in Belize, through INFLATION, or DEVALUATION, then they should know and study the effects of the DEPRESSION during the 1920’s and 1930’s in Germany. This was post World War 1. There are articles on the internet to assist them to study. To make a long story short, each village and town in Belize should then create it’s own system of barter, or money exchanged. A private business, or town council can print coupons after the Belizean currency collapses and becomes virtually valueless, like currently in Zimbabwe under Mugabe. Each community requires it’s own money and the most successful villages and towns in Germany, were those that made their own money system, separate from a central government authority. I remember the MARK becoming worthless, and the coins, like the Groshen useless. The national currency quickly becomes worthless as politicians tend to make many mistakes in times of economic stress. A local currency, or exchangeable coupon, for say the Twin Towns, allows people to buy food at the market, gasoline from the gas station, get your shoes repaired, within a very small tight situation in which people band together to help each other. BARTER is improved by having a common system of exchange on the local internal economy of a village, or town. In the meantime, the Central Government is usually declaring all bank notes and coins printed before certain dates worthless and your savings are so wiped out. The Central Government then goes on to print new types of money, which due to bad political policies also becomes worthless quite rapidly and this cycle is repeated. Our intelligentsia need to study this DEPRESSION phenomena of the barter system, that MAY BE required soon in Belize. In so studying, perhaps our politicians will also learn the basics of controlling money borrowing and spending desires they wish to get rich quick, or do things that cannot be done within the reduced fiscal circumstances. It pays to be PREPARED and the DEPRESSION is soon here, for sure, this year of 2009, I have no doubt. Learn how to deal with it, to minimize the effects on your local village or town in Belize. Prepare to lose all your SAVINGS and have the local banks get into trouble. When you are prepared NOTHING ever happens.

BELIZE GOVERNMENT FLUBS ALBA TRADE EXPORT OPPORTUNITIES

ALBA TRADE WITH VENEZUELA STILL STAGNANT BECAUSE OF BELIZE GOVERNMENT LACK OF INTEREST

I'm still waiting for the Minister of Agriculture, Rene Montero, ( photo to left ) to call a seminar, or conference with the Venezuelan Embassador, the Chief of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, BELTRAIDE head, Reimer of Spanish Lookout or other interested parties including myself, Port Authority and Marketing Board head. Plus media reps to observe. To discuss opening this government to government ALBA TRADE with Venezuela. If I wanted to ship 10,000 bottles of Marie Sharps Hot Sauce for instance, who pays and how and when? How do the mechanics of a barter system for oil work? How does the private sector build up processed goods for export to ALBA and get the money up front, to grease the wheels of transportation and bureacracy?

Nobody in the UDP CABINET seem to have a clue how to organize this thing. I would put my money on Edmund Castro to be the most leadership and innovative cabinet person for this. But he lacks the organizational smarts, to crack the bullwhip and get the bureaucratic system organized and working. Rightfully it is Rene Montero's job to do this, but obviously he is not going to do anything as he lacks the ambition and drive.

--- On Fri, 11/14/08, Wendy Auxillou <wendy_auxillou@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Wendy Auxillou
Subject: Bz-Culture: FW: Release-Mexico-Belize meeting to enhance agricultural trade
To: bz-culture@psg.com, belize@lists.belizeculture.com
Date: Friday, November 14, 2008, 12:51 PM

EMBAJADA DE MÉXICO EN BELICE

P R E S S R E L E A S E

No. 50

MEXICO-BELIZE MEETING

TO ENHANCE AGRICULTURAL TRADE

Belmopan, 13 November 2008.- The Embassy of Mexico informs that on 12 November 2008, a meeting was held in Chetumal, Mexico, between Belizean officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and the Belize Livestock Producers Association, as well as Mexican officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food of Mexico (SAGARPA) and the Embassy of Mexico to Belize.

The purpose of the event was to explain in detail the sanitary and phytosanitary procedure and regulations that need to be met for the entry of animal, vegetable and fish products into Mexico. The Mexican requirements on imports are the same as those established by international organizations and which Mexican products need to comply with in order to export to other countries.

Mexican officials highlighted that Belizean livestock and other agricultural products have high probabilities of being exported to the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, where most of the local demand is supplied by products from Northern Mexico and from third countries. In this regard, exports of Belizean products to Mexico should fulfill two basic requirements. The first is that Mexican and Belizean agricultural health authorities need to be recognized by each other. The second one is to set a risk map which would allow a reciprocal recognition of disease-free areas.

The Government of Belize agreed to formally submit a request before SAGARPA in order to register BAHA as the official agricultural health authority of Belize. Both countries also agreed to meeting again in Belize on February 2009.

The meeting was led by Mr. Arturo Bolaños, SAGARPA’s representative to Quintana Roo, Mexico, and from Belize, Dr. Victor Gongora, Animal Health officer of the Belize Agricultural Health Authority (BAHA). Participants at the meeting included Ambassador of Mexico to Belize, Luis Manuel Lopez-Moreno, and Ambassador Adalbert Tucker, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Belize.

________________________

EMBAJADA DE MÉXICO EN BELICE

C O M U N I C A D O D E P R E N S A

Belize Marketing Board hindering economic development.

BELIZE MARKETING BOARD HINDERING DEVELOPMENT BECAUSE OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN AGRICULTURE.

The same thing happens with potatoes. I agree! The Marketing Board is in a conflict of interest situation with the private producers. Not sure if they are required to be fiscally self sufficient, but if so, then they should be closed down. They are no longer helping the local economy, but obstructing, or destroying it. THINK I'LL PUT THIS ONE ON OUR INTERNATIONAL READERSHIP NEWS BLOG. http://westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com

--- On Thu, 11/13/08, Wendy Auxillou wrote:
From: Wendy Auxillou
Subject: Bz-Culture: Blue Creek rice farmers to get chanced again...
To: bz-culture@psg.com, belize@lists.belizeculture.com
Date: Thursday, November 13, 2008, 12:05 PM

Edward Reimer,
“There is a high level ambition always with unfortunately the Marketing Board is part of agriculture and their income level is directly affected when local production is sufficient they can’t import and that affects their income level and so their ambition is to always try and import and it is really a conflict of interest because they have the responsibility to run the Marketing Board and to run some kind of support system that will help producers produce more rice and you can’t do both."

Channel 7 New quote by Edward Reimer when it was announced that the Marketing Board would be importing rice, even though the Blue Creek farmers produce enough locally to meet demand.

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