Going on a year and a half after the PUP got a major (deserved) dust-off at the polls they still haven’t recovered from the shelling. They were darn hoggish when they ran the place and they probably earned their ten years in the wilderness. Yes, darn hoggish. But only a sadist could revel in the woes of this mighty party gone feeble. It’s really pathetic. It’s so pathetic that the present PM, their enemy, went all the way to the House and pleaded with them to try and fix dehnself …for the good of the nation.
Ai, every week the two PUPees shamelessly beg the media to do their work. They are pointing their fingers at Amandala, of course. Hn.
In this state of the nation, when the only enemy of the government is the government, we would expect the wannabe party to step to the plate. No hope there. It’s not going to happen. The bright yellow party has taken their “victory” over the PUP in BMP CitCo 2009 and run off to lick their surprise paletas. Oh, love their voices, their strengths, their hearts, and their belief in tomorrow. But remember, we strugglers fret about the here and now. They are projecting 2020 something, or other. So.
Ai, as has been said by others, the problem with the PUP starts with the “buen chiclero.” Like former PM, RH Manuel Esquivel (may he get well soon because Belize needs tough men in these tough times), who took the UDP down with him in 1989, Mr. Ralph Fonseca took the PUP ship down Davy Jones way with him. Politics seems to be different from the shipping business. On the sea a captain will sell his soul to keep the ship afloat…
What his party must figure out is not why Mr. Ralph Fonseca decided to take the party down with him (you can read that in the Esquivel ’89 blueprint), but why he decided to take his good friend, the former PM, down the creek too. Yes, once he refused to accept the blame the mud was all over Honorable Said.
My opinion is that he put his legacy before that of the PM. It is unusual for a ship’s mate (put aside what he might be (or thought he was) behind the curtain, that’s what he was in the public’s eyes) to put himself before his captain. It might be that Ralph’s story is complicated by his lineage. He might have seen himself as an extension of his famous father, Mr. Rafael Fonseca. Somebody should have told him that when the father leaves such a firm legacy behind, the “sins” (real, perceived, whatever) of the son are the son’s alone.
In a capitalist world (I am not one of them) Mr. R. Fonseca has some very good points. I believe so. Some say never mind that, the man is a scamp, a crook. To each their own thoughts. The overriding fact, though, is that he was the perceived primary architect of some spectacular failures. Intelco was bad. Mahogany Heights was worse. That last one not only hurt us in our pocketbook; it hurt our belief in ourselves.
The parts of the PUP must come to grips with the fact that they should not have won…in 2003 (by 2002 their ship was already listing badly). Really, it is only a fighter’s heart that could have made them believe they could have gotten over in 2008. The brilliance of the bold G-7 plan to scapegoat Mr. Ralph Fonseca in 2008 quite likely would have borne fruit in 2013. Now, barring minor miracles, they, and their suffering faithful, will be a long time out in the cold. In the meantime, Belize is without a real opposition party. If unu love this country, go fix unuself, PUP.
Fateful trip on Honey Camp Lagoon
We expect that responsible parties are sweating after the fact, so it is hard to come down hard on them, but when lives are lost we must be tough…so as to prevent bad history repeating itself.
Assuming that the laws of the sea cover traffic in lagoons, who pays for an overloaded dory, no life jackets (apparently), and two persons onboard who couldn’t swim?
Two beautiful young lives were cut short. A tragic story like this cannot be let go without full public exposure. Is this routine procedure in lagoons to ferry people who can’t swim in dories? Accidents will happen. Some people go looking for trouble.
Honest cop should close his eye
An honest cop wrote to the editor of the Reporter last week complaining that it is hard for him (her) to do his job because there was so much corruption at the top. Well, it is not his business to let corruption at the top interfere with the execution of his job. I recommend Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade for this young fellow.
Yours “is not to reason why” (too much) there are wicked people in the world, Bo! Know the law so that the evil ones don’t use you to do any mischief. Do your job to the best of your ability. Check it, the names of men like Cassa, and Tablada, and Straughan, and Thimbriel are still revered by this nation. You can bet that bogus ones were about in their day too.
Come on, youth, one good, vital officer is worth twenty, even forty wishy-washy types. You possess the first requisite…honesty. Be strong, and try not to fret too much about those frauds. They, like political leaders who aren’t worth their salt, will always be with us.
Laughing Bertie on Plus TV
I don’t know about cold so-and-sos but I find something very refreshing about a human being who is happy. My, did you see Brother Doctor Bertie Chimilio’s grin so big his mouth almost touched his ears on Plus TV with host Mr. Reynard Garbutt on his sports show? Only a cold heart couldn’t feel the camera-friendly Doctor’s pain when he counseled that things would really work out for the good of all of us in the beloved football family…if we only followed the (his) rules. Please, follow the man with the bag of FIFA money!
I didn’t have the stomach to wait around and find out if Reynard was on the up when he gushed his gratitude to the Doc for being on his show. Yap, it might have been basic courtesy, but it might well have been soft pop questions to follow to fluff Bertie’s feathers.
I know, I know, we are sadder than the little boy that Santa forgot when we think about how this man and his gang of crooks punctured the children’s football. But remember, God promised not to destroy the world again if he could find ONE honest man. A man who is so happy must have a pure heart, don’t you think?
We’ll get those Mexicans yet
In the midst of a national cycling disaster Camalote’s Elston Coleman did Belize proud, rolling in 7th in the historic Cross Country ride. The Ministry of Sports must identify the young cyclists who have the potential to settle the Mexicans hash, and help to nurture them.