Division inside the Opposition People’s United Party, the oldest political organization in Belize, reached a peak in this Corozal District village on Sunday afternoon when the Marins – Florencio, Sr., and Florencio, Jr., held an unauthorized standard bearer convention for the Corozal Southeast constituency. The party’s national executive, before the fact, had declared Sunday’s proceedings “null and void” in the issue of The Belize Times published on Friday morning, November 21.
The Marins’ guest speaker was former PUP Leader/Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Said Musa, while their special guest was PUP Leader Emeritus, Rt. Hon. George Price. Also prominent Sunday afternoon at the San Joaquin gathering were Freetown area representative, Hon. Francis Fonseca; former Corozal Bay representative, Vildo Marin; and former Toledo East representative, Mike Espat.
Notably absent were the other Corozal District standard bearers of the PUP – Corozal North’s Valdemar Castillo and Corozal Southwest’s Dr. Greg Garcia.
Florencio Marin, Sr., won nine consecutive elections in this area (previously known as Corozal South), beginning in 1965 when he received 83.4 per cent of the votes. His margin declined with successive elections, until 2008, when his son, Florencio, Jr., replaced him as PUP candidate and won by just 16 votes.
In their speeches, the Marins claimed that it was their constituency committee which had insisted on the convention.
In their Monday evening newscasts, Channel 7 judged Sunday’s crowd to be about “400 adults,” while Channel 5 estimated 200.
The national executive of the PUP will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday morning in Belize City to decide on their response.
The PUP’s Northern Caucus today issued a press release saying that it will seek to replace the Hon. Florencio Marin, Jr., as treasurer of the Caucus. States the Caucus release, “He will no longer stand as an officer of the Caucus as he has openly and actively participated in the noncompliance with the directive of the Northern Caucus and of the National Executive.”