Crises are not things you can really plan for, and crises are not things you can really control. This is why they are crises: they happen. There is presently a crisis in the Government of Belize, and it is because of greed. There is a demand for rosewood in the People’s Republic of China which has become almost obsessive. The price for Belizean rosewood became very high in China, and there are greedy Belizean elected officials and their cronies who decided, in the first instance, to break the law, and, in the second instance, to circumvent it. The money was there to be made, and they had to have it.

For us, this is a situation quite similar to the passport scandals of the eighties and the nineties. There was a demand for Belizean passports, especially in China and Taiwan, and Belizean officials and their cronies could not resist the money, even though the people of Belize made it clear to government after government, UDP and PUP, that they considered the sale of Belizean passports to be an unacceptable insult to our national dignity.

Because of the sale of passports by government after government, UDP and PUP, the people of Belize first became skeptical of our politicians’ integrity and honesty, and eventually we became contemptuous of our politicians, their cronies, and their attorneys. We saw that if it were left up to them, they would sell out Belize and Belizeans for whatever was the market price.

We are writing this editorial on a Thursday morning. A lot of things can change by Friday morning when you read this: a lot of things can change in twenty-four hours. So, you may have to account for the time lapse. Here goes. Prime Minister Dean Barrow better understand this right now: this is the biggest crisis of his new second-term administration. The Belizean people are very, very angry, and we feel violated by those we have elected to tax and govern us.

We do not believe Mr. Barrow is personally involved in this violation. That does not matter one whit. The Belizean people are very, very angry, and Mr. Barrow is the man who said that he could do the job. We gave him the power, and so power is not Mr. Barrow’s problem: political will is.

Even if we, the Belizean people, are hypocritical in our personal lives, even if we, the Belizean people, are more dishonest individually than the rosewood criminals, it matters not one whit. As a people, we have said that we do not condone the exploitation/exportation of Belize’s rosewood under these circumstances, and we meant that. We, the Belizean people, have a sovereign will: that was etched in stone on September 21, 1981. Any “dibby dibby” politician who thinks otherwise, sooner or later will get the sense.

One of the problems with Belize’s electoral politics and the political parties is that there are no laws which cover certain types of behavior during political campaigns. Individuals who are willing and able to perform tasks of questionable morality/legality rise in importance in political parties, especially during campaigns. Such individuals have to be rewarded when the political party achieves power, if that political party wishes to return to office in future elections, and all political parties always wish to return to office in future elections. That is written.

The two dominant political parties have competed in seeking to convince us that the one is better than the other, and vice versa. This is what is described in Belize as democracy. It is not. What it is, is a very cleverly and successfully disguised Belizean theocracy, which operates in the service of international white supremacy. Politics in Belize is controlled by the Roman and Anglican Churches. Belize’s first two Prime Ministers were Roman, and our last two have been Anglican. When the Prime Minister is Roman, he must have an Anglican next to him, to balance things. When the Prime Minister is Anglican, then a Roman sits next to him, to balance things. There is a Roman next to the present Anglican Prime Minister. Add one and one …

You don’t want to hear these things. Some of you want to continue with things the way they are. Others of you want to change the red for the blue. We’ve been down this road before, several times. Some of you are Roman, and some of you are Anglican. A lot of us, however, are neither. We are Belizeans. We’re not happy.

Power to the people.