“We are here to get rid of … Evan X Hyde …”

– UDP Minister of Gangs, Hon. Mark King, August 12, 2015.

I will be watching closely to see how the police deploy on election day in the Lake Independence constituency. This is because Lake I is where one of the candidates, the UDP candidate and incumbent area representative in fact, made public threats against the press, against the private sector, against myself and my sons, and later refused to withdraw these threats when challenged on national television.

Hon. King went “ballistic” on Wednesday, August 12, I would submit, because he must have been hearing conversations like that in Cabinet. A couple UDP standard bearers have personally expressed their disgust with his comments, but the UDP’s Maximum Leader, Hon. Dean Barrow, has repeatedly refused to disassociate himself publicly from his Junior Minister’s threats.

This was a mistake, possibly hubris-induced, on Mr. Barrow’s part. Our sources tell us that King is now preaching election day violence to his campaigners. If the police want to find out if what I’m saying is true, all they have to do is deploy some of their Special Branch agents and informers to the King campaign camp.

In the meantime, Mr. King has apparently been using government money and resources to influence Lake I voters when he no longer holds an official government position. He should not be handling government funds and resources. Once a general election is called, area representatives are no longer area representatives as such, and the government is no longer the government. The government in office which calls the general election now serves in a so-called caretaker capacity. Financial assistance, assistance in kind and the various charitable handouts should be handled by humanitarian bodies. Once these are being distributed by a candidate for political office during the relevant campaign, they amount, technically speaking, to bribes.

And this is where the role of the police requires scrutiny. The police handled King with kid gloves a while back when he starred in a late night fracas at a Corozal casino. Police officers know that their careers can be ruined if they run afoul of ruling politicians and governments. On election day, the function of the police is even more important than usual, because the police will be acting on their own discretion. They will not be taking orders from politicians, and should not be taking sides with candidates.

You may be wondering why Mark King appears to be in control of unlimited finances and resources. He is the candidate of the national oligarchy of Belize, and ours is an oligarchy which is represented in both the UDP and the PUP, and also business/industrial circles. The fact is that King, originally from Ladyville, was “brought out” in 2005 by the national oligarchy’s PUP favorite in Belize Rural Central, and I don’t have to call names. Just do the math.

There are people in Belize who think the exact same way the oligarchy thinks in Guatemala and the way the oligarchy thinks in Honduras. If such people had their way, Belize would become like Guatemala and Honduras – places which are a rich man’s delight and a poor man’s hell. I think Belize has moved substantially in the direction of the republics to the west and to the south of us. Kremandala is the institution which has been most opposed to such a movement, and we have been so opposed for 46 years. Anyone connected with Kremandala attracts the hostility and hatred of the national oligarchy, and Cordel Hyde is so connected.

In closing and possibly as an aside, I want to say that I am impressed with the job Senior Superintendent Chester Williams has been doing on the Southside during the few months he has been top cop in our neighborhoods. As many of you know, there was a murderous gang feud just a couple blocks east of Kremandala which involved family members fighting against each other. Chester did a great job with that, and I hope he continues to monitor the situation.

Power to the people! Remember Danny Conorquie! Fight for Belize!