May and June hot day and night temperatures hurt lettuce and tomato production in Belize

* The tomatos are few and far between and are being picked green and are ragged and small looking.

* They didn't look good like this. Lettuce were barely growing, with a lot of brown burnt leaves.


May and June were very bad months for lettuce and tomatoes in Belize. I guess it is the high temperatures during the days sometimes and the high temperature at night? Without a temperature differential between night and daytime, some vegetables do very poorly.

photos and articles on Western Belize here

http://westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com

Cayo District of Western Belize holiday photos.

* You have to swim to get into this underworld cave.
* Mennonite farming family cross river bridge in horse and buggy.
* Cayo District horseback riding.
* Cayo District, Western Belize valley.

PRIME MINISTER OF BELIZE, Dean BARROW HOODWINKED BY OAS SECRETARY GENERAL

* Suspected Leftist Block, Fifth Column leader in the OAS.
* Prime Minister Dean Barrow from Belize, BIG FISH in a little pond. Got eaten alive as CARICOM Chair, by OAS Insulza Secretary General, the puppet big SHARK, representing interests of ALBA Block in recent HONDURAS fracas.



Prime Minister, Dean Barrow of Belize got hoodwinked by Secretary General of the OAS.

REPORT FROM BELIZE, JUNE 10TH, 2009

Turns out our DEAN BARROW our lawyer/Prime Minister and big fish in a little pond, thought he was a big fish in a big pond, when he was Chairman of CARICOM. Seems INSULZA, Chairman of the OAS, had his own agenda when he went charging into Honduras like a dictator demanding his terms. Chavez threatening military invasion, except it is too early in the WAR GAME yet for Empire, as his military weren’t ready yet. The whole bunch of country bumpkins in CARICOM got taken for a ride on the vote by the OAS.
Unfortunately, our CARICOM members are naïve Provincial country bumpkins and not a single government among them have a SECRET FOREIGN SERVICE, or are aware of the backgrounds of the members of the OAS. Nor is their any National Interest foreign policy department in the Foreign Affairs of Belize keeping any tabs, or historical profile files on the OAS representatives. The general public knows OAS members are dumped by their countries to keep them from making trouble at home. Turns out on the internet, that research shows SECRETARY General of the OAS, INSULZA is a member of the Chilean Socialist Party and a member of the SAO PAULO Forum, so it says on the internet. An alternative organization to the OAS, which was formed by FIDEL CASTRO. Tyrant of the prison island of CUBA, designed to counter the USA democratic system. INSULZA works for Emperor Chavez and the rest of our wanna-be TYRANTS, –President for Life CLUB all indicators say. If you don’t recognize and smell EVIL when you meet it, you probably are the wrong generation. Too bad! I’ll repeat, this is a copy cat of STALIN of Russia take over, of EAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES during and after World War 11. The only missing ingredient is the military force. Though the internet chatter says EMPEROR CHAVEZ is building up a mobile rapid reaction military force in Venezuela for just that purpose, with new weapons and planes, etc.
Wheels within wheels and our Prime Minister Barrow of Belize got suckered real bad over Honduras by the OAS. We don’t have communists anymore, today the labels have been changed. They call themselves SOCIALISTS and NEO LIBERALS. Same animal different name. We call them SHARKS! Barrow is but a minnow, food for the SHARKS, even though he got his photo taken with BUSH and OBAMA.
The interesting thing about this TYRANTS CLUB are the multiple levels they are playing serious games at. The OAS, it is now obvious, has been penetrated by a FIFTH COLUMN of saboteurs, or agent provocateurs. There are at least seven and maybe more. The problem with such a fifth column is the blasé indifference of the other country Ambassadors to the OAS, who think the debates and actions they are deciding on in committee and conferences, are from a free democratic debate. Nothing can be further from the truth. In CARICOM, we have lost four International votes to ALBA and Emperor Chavez. The thing is; if the four small island nations get used to free oil, food and other goodies, pretty soon they will not be able to live without them. There is the old saying. HE WHO PAYS THE PIPER CALLS THE TUNE! Those four ex-CARICOM leaders cannot vote on CARICOM issues anymore, it is a conflict of interest ! They have SOLD their voting rights over to EMPEROR CHAVEZ when they signed on to ALBA. From now on they are in the SOCIALIST BLOC and have sold their freedom for slavery. They are not slaves yet, but it is coming fast. Done with their eyes wide open and not realizing it. The COLD WAR is getting really serious in the AMERICAS. OBAMA is not an action type President, he is a negotiator and talker. Unfortunately that is a weakness, when dealing with the new socialism coming from the TYRANTS CLUB. Lying and deceit and charades and front organizations are par for the course, right out of STALIN’s era. CARICOM leaders need to wake up and face reality. They are in a WAR with both the European Union and the ALBA group in the Americas. Hard to tell who is more dangerous? Though I would say the ALBA group. This ALBA group is not what it proclaims. That’s all camouflage. Trouble with the Caribbean island nations, they have never been in a war so close up and personal. They don’t even know they are being targeted for Empire building. With Empire come troops and fifth columnists, spies and soldiers with guns, secret police and block captains. Exile, disappearances, torture, murder and imprisonment included. Nobody in CARICOM have any experience with this. STALIN KILLED TENS OF MILLIONS, MAO KILLED TENS OF MILLIONS, CASTRO BROTHERS AND CHE’ KILLED OR EXILED, IF NOT A MILLION, CERTAINLY OVER A HUNDRED THOUSAND. The middle and upper business classes already fled Venezuela. Bright people that!

BELIZE FINANCIAL CENTER TRADING FLOOR UPDATE!

Shooting pigeons with a sling shot. This is Ray today in summer of 2009. Creaky, but still kicking.
*** My kind of yachtie adventurous crowd, down in the Rio Dulce marina bars of Guatemala and Lake Izabel on this Spring's trip ( 2009 ). Going back Silvia and I, in September, on the 69 ft Winnie Estelle, my old boat now at the marina in the Rio Dulce. Traders know how to have fun!
Rio Dulce sailing has REAL pirates, not fictional stuff. This year's trip in the Spring of 2009.
One of Ray's experimental tropical vegetable nurseries.


Ray and Silvia on 30 ft sailboat yacht in the trading years. Went through a dozen boats or more in my life. Remember the old joke, that only BROKERS had yachts. Not true!


Ray and Silvia Auxillou in the earlier trading years. Oh to be young again! ( sigh! )


BELIZE FINANCIAL CENTER TRADING FLOOR UPDATE!

By Ray Auxillou, June 11th, 2009

Things are progressing steadily with the Financial Center. We have the floor space, and building, rent free, ( we own the building ) but none of the infra-structure yet. Was thinking of running an ad in the STAR newspaper.

We need a backup electric supplier for when BEL turns off the electricity. Was thinking of running an ad in the STAR newspaper locally, for such a person, or company to supply electricity.

Back 15 years ago when we did this on Caye Caulker, the electricity would go off and cut off my data feed. We would be left with open contracts, that were being traded by the 5 to 15 minutes time frame and exposed to thousands of dollars and not knowing what the markets were doing. Volatility and a reversal can wipe you out in a hurry that way. The lack of reliable electricity killed it back then. We lost about $10,000 usa and that was the end of that experiment, of living on the beach in paradise and trading the financial markets. I went to Miami and did it from there where they had the telecommunications connections.

Another infra structure newspaper advertisement would be for seeking an INTERNET PROVIDER for the FINANCIAL trading floor CENTER. We cannot get internet here, for a data feed and trading by computer programs. At the moment we have feelers out for seeing if we can get somebody in the USA to pay the monthly fee, for a Hughes satellite service, then we would reimburse them here, or in the USA. We don’t deal in credit cards, only cheques. If this problem can be resolved, we will go for the satellite system. Or we put an ad in the STAR NEWSPAPER for an internet supplier. We are about a quarter mile from the Western Highway.

At first we were thinking of two floor traders and one supervisor for a pilot project startup. Been running the numbers and start up capital is a big thing. This is my personal RISK VENTURE CAPITAL and while in financial jargon we call it investing, or speculation, my wife calls it gambling. She of course is quite right. The trick in cash instrument speculation is to go ULTRA CONSERVATIVE, which is not so financially rewarding as more volatile higher leveraged systems. You need to put all the odds in your favor. Returns on an ultra conservative methodology system is around 265 % maximum a year per trade type amounts used. Not backup base capital available. There are a lot of things involved like MONEY MANAGEMENT, trade size, entry and exit theory. One loss can wipe out seven WINS and the idea is to avoid losses by being ULTRA CONSERVATIVE in system trading. Currently doing hypothetical paper trading this past week and for next 90 days, to refine a couple of conservative systems I’m well familiar with from 20 years ago. No matter what you do though, it is always a directional play and there is always a possibility of loss. Mechanicizing a trade can at least minimize losses. Hence I need floor traders to remove myself from the emotional involvement using my money. Floor traders are only dealing with numbers, and computer screens, not using their own money, which makes it easier for a mechanical system to work. The EXIT when you have a dicey losing trade is the hardest thing, which the floor trader is supposed to do mechanically. I’m weak on EXITS, when losing; as fear and hope interfere with the habit of second guessing, which is normally fatal to a bank account.

Right now am doing a refresher 90 day course on what I want to do. Or part of it anyway, for the initial startup. We are choosing options for starters for the first year of operation. Then we would move into S&P500 futures, then currencies and commodities. Thankfully I wrote a few books on option trading 16 or so years ago, and re-reading my reference library of the books I wrote, is bringing it all back to me. Of course, if I lose my shirt, paper trading in the next 90 days, then the whole operation is OFF.

Have been reviewing potentials and drawbacks and think we are going to start very, very, very, VERY small and treat this as a hobby, which after one year could expand if the trial operation succeeded. Startup trades will be in the $2000 to $3000 USA range. $2000 usa should increase to $8000 usa in one year. A lot less than working for the Belize government as a department administrative head. So nobody in Belmopan should be thinking in terms of millions of dollars. ( grin! ) Jealousy we don't need. I might even just do the first year alone. Though I have been thinking of running an ad in the STAR NEWSPAPER EMPLOYMENT SECTION.

WANTED: trainee floor trader, with high school education, quick with mental calculations doing percentages, decimals, long division to four places. Decimals and percentages to two places of decimals. A test will be given. No paper, pencil or calculator allowed. Time per test question allowed is ten seconds. Trainees are independent contractors and get paid a DRAW on expected earnings and a bonus at the end of the year on performance of their account. If I get more capital coming in, we would expand of course if things were going well, into more trades being carried.

Don’t know if Sacred Heart College out Western Belize here, or Eden High School teach this arithmetic skill? Computer savvy of course.

Got to set up an account on the Chicago Board of Trade and will do that over next few months. Back and forth mail is slow. Though it may be possible to re-activate my old account cutting short the slow international mail business.

The question of RISK is very high on the agenda. Due to limitations of start up risk capital we shall probably start with $2000 straight directional simply buying of PUTS or CALLS. The goal would be to have no losses until we can go over the $5000 usa mark and then re-invest that $5000 usa into SPREAD TRADING. Simple BULL SPREADS and CALL SPREADS. Not figuring on doing ratio spreads, channel spreads, or vertical spreads. Spreads are the options traders ultimate in; risk free, conservative trading and about 15% less risky than a straight directional trade on which we will start. It takes however about $7500 usa to do a single spread trade. There are a lot of different strategies in using SPREADS, but we intend to keep it simple. Will start the first paper trades in SPREAD TRADING this week using the Internet Café down town. Already have long PUT options running in a test of the methodology. Trouble with paper trading is that without the emotional involvement of real money, you never really know how you are going to react in a trade fluctuation. It’s still fun of course without the money reward gratification, and mentally stimulating. During retirement it is something interesting to do.


You can of course increase total income revenue by parallel trading, staggered trading and alternate strategies. That is why I would need floor traders to be able to run different stuff at the same time on different market conditions. However, I think I’ll start off very small, as I’m 72 years old and don’t need money. Don’t want to throw it away either, but I can sure blow $3000 usa without any trouble. If any of you want to give it a try, let me know, and for $3000 usa invested, we shall run your money in parallel with mine, with your own floor trader. Mind you, don’t send money you cannot lose. There are no guarantees in this business. I feel excited about all this, so that is a positive win-win situation, without any viagra. ( grin! ) What else you gonna do when you are 72 years old?

Beginning food export industry of Belize

We can make foods to export in Belize, will the 5000 graduates of this year 2009 get started?
Grace Kennedy exports from Jamaica internationally.
Grace Kennedy food exports international


EXPORTS AND GRACE KENNEDY (BELIZE) LTD

Grace Kennedy of Jamaica is a well run operation, for promoting Jamaican food products and also for finding sources of food products in other countries world wide. There is a tremendous lot of expertise in the company and their brand name is known quite well internationally. Grace Kennedy ( Belize ) Ltd. a franchise operation, or a subsidiary, is a good thing for Belize.
What struck me most the other day in an email from them here in pioneer
Belize, is that they are having a difficult time in finding producers of products locally, that they can market under their well established international brand name. They buy cheap, label and repackage and quality control mostly, plus of course the marketing and advertising involved with such a thing. Needless to say GRACE KENNEDY LTD. has a lot of experience under their belt. We need that in Belize to start micro manufacturing and exporting, to build our small economy.
I wonder how one would disseminate the information to small rural village women, that there is a market locally for properly prepared produce such as; jams, sausages, meats, fruit pulp blends, and other international foods? The village women of course if interested, would probably have to consult with GRACE KENNEDY in Belize City, if they can produce something from locally available fruits, or other ideas in food processing. A lot of small producers can make a seasonal product to fill a container full any day. It is GRACE KENNEDY’s ( Belize ) Ltd., chosen role to be the middle man organizer of it all and an excellent industry with great potential. I would guess Grace Kennedy (Belize ) Ltd. would have to provide the containers, or packaging style, to be uniform in an established brand name?

I wonder if BIG H are coming along also? Maybe they are having the same problem in finding producers of food products? Such a business relies on a lot of little people doing just a small part in the process of developing a big export industry with a world wide reputation. I wonder if our 5000 graduates this year of higher education in Belize have the smarts to create a niche for themselves in this business world? Somehow I doubt it? Wonder why? I do hope so though and wonder if the education they have received in Belize is relevant to this opportunity? I don’t get to talk to my grandchildren very much, to even find out what kind of education they are getting, which I miss.

BELIZE BUILDING ACT TRACED TO CARICOM FIASCO.

BELIZE BUILDNG ACT NEW REGULATIONS EXPLAINED BY THE BIG PICTURE!

Well we finally found out how the Building ACT regulations came about. It seemed ridiculous in a small scattered population of a country like Belize. At first we thought it was from media articles, an attempt to create a monopoly by big contractors, architects from Belize City and Civil Engineers ( the few they are ) and create a monstrous inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy in Belize. It probably is going to work out that way? Seems from recent articles and the ability now to get CARIBBEAN TELEVISION NEWS in the evenings, this is a CARICOM thingy. Created by intellectual political dimwits over in the Eastern Caribbean. Our own current Belize government is dominated by the port town, primarily Caribbean orientated black people and so the thrust of the UDP CABINET under Prime Minister Barrow has been for ever more bureaucratic and regulatory similarities to the CARICOM agenda, which it is now obvious he ( our PM ) himself is deeply enamored. In lieu of practical things like Caricom economics and trade infra-structure. He was recently Chair person of CARICOM, so that must have given him some good times and an ego boost He got a lot of gratifying personal attention internationally through it. Irregardless of the facts that CARICOM in all it’s disguises doesn’t work and has never worked for the last 45 years or so. I’ll believe in CARICOM when they have internal airline transportation on a regular schedule. Right now we cannot fly from Belize to anywhere in CARICOM. Or go by ship either. Anyway, to make a long story short, PM BARROW and his CARIBBEAN orientated fellow travelers down on the coast of Belize are pursuing an agenda in the name of Belizeans as a nation, for more legal and regulatory bureaucratic controls through the CARICOM ten countries. Hence this BUILDING ACT. Sort of as a political braggadocious propoganda substitute for more practical things, like an airline serving Belize and other CARICOM countries. Hence this ridiculous Building Act new bureaucracy for our very small frontier pioneering population.
CARICOM itself is breaking apart. Recently a bunch of the islands on the Eastern side formed their own grouping called OECS or something like that. Can’t remember all these myriad acronyms the politicians and bureaucrats dream up, to make us believe they are worth their salaries, travel allowances, per diems and perks. Then Dominica I see by the news, has now made it four countries to defect from CARICOM, making our number now, only ten countries from the previous fourteen countries in the Caricom block. ALBA the Venezuelan totalitarian state concept, run by President for Life, Hugo Chavez, has recently passed CARICOM for country memberships, in that the ALBA bloc now has eleven countries with Dominica now added. At least the leader of Dominica is economically pragmatic in foreign policy decision making. More than you can say for our Prime Minister. Chavez is seducing our Caricom members away; with oil, food and infra structure using his oil wealth. Chavez now controls more international country votes than Caricom. Most of CARICOM countries are so mismanaged and so far in national debts, that they can NEVER EVER get free of the debt load.
In the meantime, the United Kingdom has gone broke, about the same as Belize or in worse condition financially. The USA is expecting inflation with gargantuan spending and government printing presses making money 24 hours a day, and countries like Japan who kept their treasury reserves in US dollars, are recently in the news with a smuggling operation by Japanese Treasury personnel trying to take 800 BILLION or so BEARER BONDS of the US treasury notes to Switzerland, to get out of the US dollar situation. Many countries like Venezuela now only take money in International Euros. I digress forgive me! – FINI -

Freedom of speech and democracy very much alive in BELIZE

Location of Belize in Central America and Caribbean



DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS VERY MUCH ALIVE AND WELL IN THE COUNTRY OF BELIZE

Ray Auxillou, June 11th, 2009

Just watching the television news on cable tv in rural Belize ( we can get cable tv, but not reliable telephone service, internet service ( none in my town ) and electrical service, from the half dozen newspapers and sometimes more each weekend. ( Belize has no daily newspapers, except those imported from Guatemala. ) From the media you can be thankful that Belize is such a vibrant, robust and lively discussion place on all kinds of issues and disagreements on how the country is being managed, by who, corruption and every other subject under the sun. Belize is definitely not like CUBA under the murderous CASTRO tyrants, or Venezuela under President for Life, Emperor Chavez, or Ecuador under wanna be President for Life, Correa with their growing totalitarian societies and governments.
We should be thankful for our tolerant small, but lively country. People are very patriotic and debate the court cases continuously, as people try to settle their differences in a peaceful logical manner. In one newspaper alone this weekend, you can find lawsuits by Indigenous Mayan Indians suing the government over land rights, people with hearing disabilities contesting the government over the right for deaf people to have a drivers license, labor issues are frequent, immigration and citizenship programs constantly debated, civil organizations suing about hydro electric dams electricity rates and compliance issues, supposedly mandated by law, but not enforced by the government in some kind of preferential treatment. You name it, you can find it in the media of Belize. There is even an article and photo this week in the newspapers of a vetinarian dentist doing an annual treatment of captured problem Jaguars, turned over to the care of the small Belize Zoo, of which every Belizean is VERY PROUD. These problem wild jaguars are even getting root canals for broken teeth. I myself regularly criticize the politicians in charge and government performance. No politician in Belize can survive if he or she has a thin skin. For all the problems one has in living in a frontier society; that is multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, that is very much a pioneering sort of place, and with the usual incompetent, financially bankrupt political management process, riddled by corruption ( sometimes I think only crooks run for political office ), Belize is a very open and free wheeling society of the majority of people trying sincerely to do the best thing and listen to all sides of an argument and be fair and helpful to one another. Yup! It is hard to find a better place to live! There is a lot of satisfaction in trying to build a new nation from scratch, in which a single voice can be heard and make a difference. Plus we don’t have any winter weather either. With 300,000 people scattered over 6800 square miles, most of which is preserves of jungle in the mountains, we certainly have our problems. They are however, good problems and Belize is a place for those immigrant pioneers who love challenges.

Belize comparative electricity rates for region. Highest of all!

Chalillo hydro dam has backed up a beautiful lake.


ELECTRICITY RATES IN BELIZE AND COMPARISONS

A recurring problem in Belize is the high rates for electricity. We have two hydro electrical dams and also a third one soon to come online. Private sector financing will supply all the electricity the country needs in private ventures. Lacking are the legislated incentives in some sort of guaranteed purchasing agreements for private sector electrical power producing investments. The REPORTER NEWSPAPER this week published the comparative costs of electricity around our region.

Mexico .12 cents a kw
Honduras .18 cents a kw
Guatemala .40 cents a kw
Costa Rica .16 cents a kw
Nicaragua .28 cents a kw
Belize .42 cents a kw

As you can see by the table, Belize has the highest electrical rates in our region of Central America and Mexico.
The management company for electricity in Belize and the distribution system is FORTIS a Canadian company and while they do a good job in supplying electrical service, are widely believed by the general public, to be cheating on the way they charge and make their profits. The Public Utilities Commission in this UDP government finally made them cough up for some (hic! ) accounting errors, last year. They squealed like a pig going to slaughter.
What is believed generally, is that the electricity produced from HYDRO power is over priced and that the system of separate entities, allows hydro power to be overcharged from BECOL to BEL the distribution company. Both controlled and run by the Canadian company of FORTIS, of Canada. What we have is a climate of proven mistrust between the public of Belize and the company of FORTIS.
Under the past PUP administration, again it was widely believed that a CABAL of senior political party members in the previous CABINET were on the TAKE from FORTIS in some manner of form. When the current UDP won the election, they promised to rectify the past ROBBER BARON mentality of the corruption under the PUP administration. This they have failed to do across the board. Nobody has gone to jail from the big ROBBER BARONS for smuggling out foreign exchange in the millions from Belize. Nobody from the previous administration has even been prosecuted, other than to do with some banking and GRANT money disbursements from foreign countries in foreign aid. It is all very disappointing and generally speaking the public is sick to death of the sanctimonious utterances of politicians in Belize.
Generally speaking, BECOL the hydro dam electricity produced here, is believed to be valued at .08 cents a kilowatt, to BEL the distribution system for electricity and the FORTIS managers. BEL however, are charging the consumer .42 cents a kilowatt. A differential of .32 cents a kilowatt. The PUC does not seem to have the technical expertise, or accounting skills to decipher the real costs involved with loans for the dams and production and operating costs. Nor for the differences in costs once it reaches the distribution system of BEL, the company next layer up in the system.
BECONGO, a local NGO is protesting and demanding that our UDP government and Public Service Commission present facts on the costs of electricity between BECOL at the hydro dam and BEL and give us the public, the break downs and justifications for such a high cost of electricity in Belize. The PUC are not doing their job.
The closest high price of electricity to us in our region is that of Guatemala, but that nation is a heck of a mountainous region with many mountain ranges, volcanoes, steep valleys and many remote towns and villages with a population of 7 million people. Guatemala could swallow Belize two dozen times over and more, inside their geographic area, yet while Guatemala rates are high, they are lower than ours. While our small country has the highest rates of electricity in the region.
Something smells here BACONGO keep saying, like dead fish in the bilge water under the floor boards of a fishing skiff after being out in the sun for a day or two. Where do we find politicians that would do something about transparency and accountability in Belize?

GRACE KENNEDY OF (BELIZE) LTD. imports products as a Merchant importer supplier

Jamaican jerk sauce
Grace Kennedy Ltd jerky pork chops.


GRACE KENNEDY OF BELIZE LTD.

Grace Kennedy of Belize Ltd sent me a very nice announcement of all the food products they sell in Belize. They had some advertisement and celebration for their employees, to do with their supplying the Belizean market with processed food stuffs down in the port town of Belize City on the Eastern coast.
I apologize if I am wrong in my impressions. But my impression is that; Grace Kennedy in Belize is a subsidiary of Grace Kennedy of Jamaica and imports all their products from Jamaica and Trinidad to sell in Belize? As a growth industry using the Belize market for CARICOM products, there is nothing really wrong with that. I buy their stuff because it is cheaper and good quality and even buy it when up in Florida where it can be found on supermarket shelves.
My impression though, rightly or wrongly; is that GRACE KENNEDY LTD of Belize is nothing more than a repackager over in the CARIBBEAN and in Belize simply is an old fashioned colonial style merchant middleman importer. I notice some of their products are probably mass produced in both Chile and Singapore in plastic bottles and cans, that are simply BRAND LABELED and imported first to Jamaica and then distributed to Belize. I appreciate they are successful and establishing a CARIBBEAN BRAND NAME internationally. However I cannot respect the local company.
Economically they do not contribute to Belize for industrial food processing growth is my impression. I forget the name of the firm out Western Belize here? Harrison H, or BIG H, or something like that, but they at least are creating the economic business like Grace Kennedy, but doing it here in Belize, whether it is producing, or repackaging. This to me is what Belize needs, not necessarily building the economy of Jamaica or Trinidad, even though there is a lot of talk of FREE CARICOM MARKETS. What Belize needs is jobs and to get that, we need to produce this stuff here. Then our companies can grow to EXPORT Belize products to places like Canada, Taiwan and China and the USA and Europe. Should the GRACE KENNEDY LTD branch do that here, then they get respect. Any idiot can import, wholesale and retail imported goods. For me in my uninformed opinions, BIG H is superior to Belizean economic development than GRACE KENNEDY. Though GRACE KENNEDY is bringing ideas and expertise which is good for Belize.

On a late note as I print this, Grace Kennedy ( Belize ) Ltd. said so far, they are only packaging, vinegar and bleach locally in Belize, but they have recently hired a Development Advisor to see what they can do with Belizean producers.

AFTER 18 MONTHS OF GOVERNING, THE UDP IS FAILING BELIZE?

The failing leadership of Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize, after his first 18 months in office of a five year term.



BELIZE UDP GOVERNMENT- 18 MONTH REVIEW

So where do we the public see things from the outside looking into government performance under the UDP? In a general sense this is A FAILED UDP GOVERNMENT, after 18 months. Leadership is sadly lacking. Barrow the Prime Minister and party leader is saddled with a bunch of elected representatives that would not even get hired as drain cleaners in San Ignacio. They lack experience, business sense and some sort of cosmopolitan travel experience. For all that, ex-PUP leader Said Musa was mostly regarded as a crook and swindling double crosser, at least he LED the country as best he could on an active weekly basis. Not like this party leader of the UDP. PUP Musa at least did not hide the bad news, or hide statistics. He was not afraid when things were going wrong and explained as best he could and came up with PUP team new ideas.
Dean Barrow is our new leader of course and he still has 44% on his report card, a failing grade. Mostly to do with his using the government machinery to blow smoke and mirrors and deceive the public on the prosecutions against his enemies in the Opposition party. Both Fonseca and Musa, arch alleged criminals of the previous PUP Musa administration have been prosecuted. It doesn’t look like the prosecutions are going anywhere? Musa is not expected to go to jail and neither is Fonseca. Without jail terms, the prosecutions look more like political vendettas and smoke and mirrors, to make believe Barrow is doing something for the gullible public consumption and party propaganda. This plays better down in the port town, where they like courthouse soap opera, but the townies don’t decide elections anymore. In the districts we are not so easily fooled. On the prosecutions of Musa and Fonseca, Prime Minister Dean Barrow and now considered publicly, a ‘failed lawyer’, gets a report card of F – ( minus ). What it looks like and the newspapers are reporting this, that while we the gullible public taxpayers are being snowed with a con job of court cases down in the port city, by Dean Barrow and his UDP party government, against Musa and Fonseca, he himself and his extended family, most particularly Louis Young his ex-wife the newspapers claim, are into self enrichment schemes at government expense. The country of Belize is loaded with capable lawyers, but only his ex-wife and fellow townies are getting all the government court cases it seems like, according to weekend newspaper reporters. The numbers are probably not accurate but legal fees for the Barrow and Young entourage are being quoted as around $12 million over the past year, for us public taxpayers to pay in increased taxes. For a report card on self enrichment schemes to do with legal shenanigans I would give Dean Barrow, our lawyer/Prime Minister a report card score of A +++.
All I know is what I read in the many weekend newspapers.
There is the very mysterious and suspicious cases of self-admitted embezzlements and fraud by Nadia Garcia and Glen Godfrey of the last PUP administration. Supposedly over $120 million that disappeared offshore in one scam, or another. Many minor types of frauds also using the DFC were committed of which there have been no court cases. The most serious and most blatant were done by Nadia Garcia who admitted in Senate Hearings that were televised, she signed illegal fraudulent documents, and Glen Godfrey who has been cashing out his assets in Belize and gone into exile abroad someplace with his alleged millions. The most alarming thing about Nadia Garcia and Glen Godfrey, and what looks like open and shut criminal cases, have not been prosecuted by this UDP government under our LAWYER PRIME MINISTER, Dean Barrow at all. In this case then, the accusations on television by ex-Prime Minister Musa claiming political persecution seem factual. At least in this one case he is being prosecuted on?
What we get as a picture of 1 ½ years of UDP government under Dean Barrow the leader, is a perception that he himself is almost as crooked in dealing with us voters and taxpayers as Musa was, and that when Musa claims these court cases are smoke and mirrors, to blind us public voters of what is really going on, one has to believe the words of the alligator, when he tells us what is happening on the river bottom in the mud. As an honest leader, Dean Barrow as Prime Minister gets a failing grade of 44% out of a 100 so far.
There are the case of increased national debt by this UDP government, led by Dean Barrow the Prime Minister. The ratings are mixed on this, but while debt wise, we consider the additional borrowing to be stupid and worth a failing grade, on the other hand going into three years of 2008, 2009 and 2010 where the predictions were for a declining GDP and reducing government revenues, due mostly to outside world circumstances; the fact that he ( Barrow ) is seemingly spreading out the disbursements and activities to do with spending the borrowed money over 2008, 2009 and 2010, would give him a passing grade. I would do the same myself knowing what we can expect from outside world economic shrinkage. I would give him a passing mark on this, probably worth about 75% right now, but higher marks if he succeeds in stretching the $200 + odd million borrowed money into 2011, when a recovery of sorts in tax revenues is expected to start rising again. For a report card I would say a balance of 50-50. Mainly because the game has still to be played out.
The most glaring failure are the prosecutions of Musa and Fonseca. This because without a jail term for either individual, then the whole government expense and exercise looks like just poppy show to distract the public voters and taxpayers from the economic situation. The worst part is that the so called $10 or $20 million Bz or USA, the court cases are about, are to do with Belize Bank, and the bank has already announced that the debt clock is running and the interest is mounting and if not this UDP government, or then the NEXT government will have to pay the bank a second time. Because of interest charges, this is expected to double, or triple the amount we THE TAXPAYERS are going to be dunned for, to cover the private games that the current Prime Minister is playing with his court cases and self enrichment schemes allegedly for his extended family. This makes Barrow’s decisions look ineffectual and stupid and EXPENSIVE for us voter/taxpayers. Great for getting personally rich, but lousy from our public viewpoint.
On the UDP good side, the Agriculture Department is doing well. Foreign GRANTS are doing well, whoever the writers are? Most of the government bureaucracy seems in chaos and dysfunctional. This probably is to be expected with reducing government revenues for the next couple of years, adding in the government job switches for party hacks and relatives. The only department I have had anything to do with, that seems to work, is the traffic licensing department.
Generally speaking government operations are about even on the score card expectations, because of the world economic downtown and the ripple effects. The UDP government would look a lot better if they explained things and the realities of money and capabilities. They have however seemingly put a freeze on statistical reporting? The real BAD spots are the mis-information we are being fed on Barrow’s personal vendettas to do with legal cases. He sure looks like a dumb lawyer? You wouldn’t want to hire him to represent you for sure. As a politician he is in his prime, on top of his game. As a lawyer he looks very poor. As an actual business leader for developing Belize he seemingly lacks ideas. Doesn’t seem to have a clue?
Do the PUP stand a chance to come back next term? Probably not, but you never know? Briceno the new PUP party leader has public suspicions against him, about taking oil lease bribes when he was in office and we will not know how that turns out until the campaigning for next term gets closer. Unless Briceno is squeaky clean in the bribe department, I don’t think he will stand a chance and nor in extension his PUP. A third party would stand a good chance under the leadership of that Belmopan crowd, but the independents can’t seem to organize themselves on a national scale. I think if there was a viable third party, us majority swing voters would throw the bums out of office of both existing national political parties.
UDP Edmund Castro came into publicity again. Seems he has rebuilt the $4 ½ million dollar taxpayer cost causeway in his constituency again, but with private sector funds at a cost of $1 ½ million or so. What we taxpayer/voters want to know is, where did the money come from? Does the income tax department know? How does he legally block the drainage of a wetlands? While you wouldn’t want Edmund Castro to build you anything, because he doesn’t plan properly the foundation work, you have to admire his desire to do well by his constituency come hell or high water. The PUP are claiming that the new causeway will wash away, as it was built with mud from the lagoon and has no culverts. Should be an interesting thing to watch this rainy season? The UDP supposedly built Hillview suburb out here where I live. We don’t have street culverts here either. Well we do in one or two places, but we probably need six or so more for rainy season.
UDP Rene Montero my area representative continues to do his best in the agriculture portfolio. I’m pleased with his performance there.
UDP Melvin Hulse has yet to prove himself out in Western Belize with his Transportation portfolio. We only got on his case a month or so ago, about the failure to provide public bus transportation to the border immigration post from Benque Town is detrimental to tourism development. Usually it takes politicians three years to do what a private sector person can do in three days. So he has time yet to perform in his portfolio. The thing is, in the tourist business, we note that things are picking up for the Summer High Season and the tourist season here is already starting. It is URGENT we get public bus transportation to the Western Border somehow for our tourism industry. From now ( mid June ) to the end of August is our summer HIGH SEASON. We hope UDP Melvin Hulse can do something more quickly than normal. We will judge him by performance, which will reflect on his UDP. If the lack of bus service continues through our mini summer tourist HIGH SEASON, then come the DEAD FALL months, we shall come down with unrelenting bad publicity for the UDP prior to the Winter High Tourist Season, starting December. This will be in the international and local media. We need prompt results to build this country, leadership examples, not a lot of talking and excuses. Watching and waiting for the next ten weeks of our summer tourist high season, to see what the UDP do, or do not do.

Rumor has it BTL to be nationalized??? A la Chavez method.

Santa Elena Town now has three fruit and vegetable stands and it has been several months since I have bothered to even visit the Macal River market. We are now self sufficient for fruits and vegetables in the mile long Western Highway main street. The most common one from me is across from Agro Tech store, as it is two buildings over from my daily visit to the Internet Cafe.
The only thing I go to San Ignacio Town, across the river for anymore, is to visit Atlantic Bank, the Post Office and Angelus Press when I need photocopying or stationary supplies. Otherwise in the last three or four months, we no longer go across the river to San Ignacio Town at all. Santa Elena Town is getting more and more stores and public services all the time. Most of the time, the San Ignacio Town side of the river stores never have what you want to buy anyway and with new stores like an extra Three Flags ( which is packed daily ) and A & R most things of the odd ball sort can be bought right here. The wife went across to Melchor town, the other day on the Guatemalan side to buy sheets for a double bed we needed for tourists, as we did not have enough and bought a few things, we cannot get on this side of the border.
We are waiting for Atlantic Bank to open an extension office on this side of the river. We also are waiting for a local post office. Or at least a mail box corner setup in Hillview. We of course are still waiting for both telephone and internet service up in Hillview and been waiting for over ten years, complaining each year and receiving NEXT YEAR promises from BTL.
RUMOR BTL TO BE NATIONALIZED FOR $50 MILLION - ASHCROFT ALLEGEDLY ASKING $300 MILLION USA
Rumor mill has it, that BTL will be evaluated as to worth, by an independent foreign valuator and then GOB will nationalize the company? Ashcroft will be paid in 1 - 1/2% interest paying GOB Bonds. The profits are expected to pay the interest and buy back somewhat on the Bonds over time.

Western Rodeo in Belize annual event at Belmopan Show Grounds

We have a lot of fun in the Western Belize Recreational Area, this is the annual rodeo held at the Belmopan Show Grounds. The second photo is the rodeo held in the more Northern Heartland area of the Belize agriculture and industrial area at the Mennonite community of BLUE CREEK, of the country of Belize.

Hostel dormitory accomodations and one bedroom furnished overnight tourist apartments in Santa Elena Town, a horse riding community. http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/adventuresinbelize/

Santa Elena Town Library in Cayo District,

SANTA ELENA PUBLIC LIBRARY
This is a two story building. Some volunteers came down from the USA about six months ago and tiled the floor in the bottom of the library. There are two librarians and this one is Beatrice. The bottom floor is the childrens library and the top floor is the adult section. We just donated some books this morning, brought down by Charlie Trew from Washington, D.C. where he is a librarian for the library of Congress. This library government budget, is salaries for the two librarians ( $150 usa a week ) and a monthly budget of $35 usa per month for the library. What Beatrice wants is some computers and a bigger Belize Government budget so they can supply internet service to school kids and the public FREE. The government tried this idea nationwide a few years ago, but since the libraries have literally no operating budget funds, they are all the time scrounging paint and holding bake sales and other things to keep the library maintained. What happened; libraries had to charge a bit for the computer internet access in competition with internet cafes found in town centers in the districts. This was self defeating for boosting the economy and education. Rural parts don't get internet service in the villages. Particularly in the bottom half of the whole country. People drive, or catch a bus to the district town centers and have to pay an internet cafe to use the internet. Townies get good internet service inside their town centers, but the rural populations none. Without internet, Belize is ahead of some countries like in Africa for our district towns, but behind nearly all countries in Latin America, or the Caribbean. Development and education is hindered by lack of internet service at affordable cost. If you can donate some reading fiction books, please bring them down to Falconview Hostel, we will see the library gets them. ( I get to read them first - grin - ) Please, no gothic romances. Sci - fi, how to books, and that sort of thing are appreciated. A brand new set of the latest, WORLD BOOK Encyclopedia would be appreciated. Childrens encylopedia would be good too.

http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/adventuresinbelize/