Amandala learned just after one o’clock this afternoon that a meeting was to be held at Old Belize Adventure Resort at Mile 5, Western Highway, Belize City, between incarcerated individuals from the Hattieville Prison and youths specially invited from Belize City.
After attempting to confirm with various sources and learning that CEO of the Kolbe Foundation John Woods was not in office, and failing to ascertain from Old Belize staff if the meeting was indeed to be held, we went to see for ourselves.
Just after 2:00 we arrived and attempted to access the Jungle Pavilion area. We were initially informed that no such meeting was taking place; however, after a visit to the restaurant section of Old Belize and on our return to the front, a worker informed us that the meeting in question was being held at the Jungle Pavilion.
At this point a young man of Hispanic descent (who did not identify himself) standing with three or four other men in front of the Pavilion building approached and asked us where we were from. After we identified our affiliation, he stated that we would not be allowed access to the meeting per “strict orders” from his higher-ups, because it was a “private meeting.” When we asked if anyone in charge would be available for interviews after the meeting, he said no.
Amandala settled down to wait. At about 3:00 p.m., we were approached by an individual who identified himself as a thirty-year-old Belize City resident and a leader in the “Back-A-Town Posse” (he would not give us his name). He told us that he had been in the meeting and that the purpose of the meeting was to allow the prisoners and the City youths a chance to “communicate” with each other as a means of stopping the spiraling violence that has so far claimed over 30 lives in the City this year and hundreds in the last decade.
The individual, who claims to have been involved with Back-A-Town for 17 years, from 1993, said that prison officials and police present took a back seat as the group interacted, and a plea was issued to cut back on the violence.
We were later told that Kolbe officials are worried that the violence in the streets could lead to unrest at the prison in Hattieville, as there have been two minor revolts in recent weeks.
Soon after he went back inside, and thereafter, there was no activity until about 4:00 p.m., when Police Commissioner Crispin Jeffries exited the building and walked in the direction of the parking lot.
Half an hour later, a bus belonging to Kolbe reversed toward the Pavilion building and the prisoners transported from Kolbe came on, while their fellows from the City dodged Amandala and went to their transports and exited.
Woods, coming out at the same time, waved us away with a “no comment” when we asked about what had transpired inside the Jungle Pavilion.
We understand that prison officials may be working toward a City-wide gang truce with this meeting as the basis. In January, the City noticed a short lull in activity following a deadly Christmas season punctuated by a grenade attack on December 28, but the break from the violence was interrupted by another grenade attack on January 11 at the home of Andre Trapp on Caesar Ridge Road. (Trapp, reputed leader of the SSG gang, was struck down in a hail of bullets in the NICH parking lot next to the Magistrate’s Court building six months later.)
In the days leading up to the Caesar Ridge grenade attack, there had been meetings spearheaded by Prime Minister Dean Barrow with City gang leaders, and Commissioner Jeffries had indicated to the press at the time that these would continue.