Dear Editor,
There is a battle raging here in Belize and it is not The Battle of St. George’s Caye or The Battle of Orange Walk or San Pedro Siris. It is a war amongst ourselves about who is the rightful and sole heir in this little multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and multi-cultural gem.
The victory of Belizean Independence belongs to each and every one of us Belizeans who has written a petition, demonstrated, rioted, spoken out, fought, died, built, or in whatever way made Belize better…in health, education, culture etc. etc. etc.
All a we mek Belize. There was Nachancan in 1531 who responded to the Spaniards when they demanded tribute:”turkeys in the shape of spears and corn in the shape of arrows”.
There was the renegade Spaniard, Gonzalo Guerrero, who sided with the Maya and helped keep Spain out of Belize. ]
There are the Maya who fought for their land when mahogany magnates infiltrated the interior in search of mahogany, and what about the Africans who staved off the Spaniards in 1798. The same African/Creoles then revolted in 1765, 1768, 1773 and in 1820.
These African/Creoles were standing up for their freedom. The Garifuna had already fought the French and British in St. Vincent. It was Paramount chief of chiefs, Joseph Chatoyer, who fought the British and was defeated by them, who inspired the Garifuna to fight for freedom despite the trials of the exile from Yuremei.
The people who populated our northern districts, the Yucatec Maya and mestizos also played a role in forming Belize. They, like many of us, wanted peace and security for themselves and they found it here in Belize.
Later on there was Alexander Tom who petitioned for increased wages after a devaluation and then the ex-servicemen who rioted when they returned from World War 1, realizing that racism that was rampant in Europe was right here in British Honduras.
As a result of British colonialism, we were described in the 1940s by a British journalist as “a shocking, depressed spot in the whole British West Indies, perhaps in the Commonwealth, hunger, filthy conditions under which the people exist are incredible.”
So who stepped up to plate to change the system?
Antonio Soberanis, Clifford Betson, John Smith, Leigh Richardson, Nicolas Pollard, Philip Goldson, George Price and many, many more, including the women of Belize and those people living in the districts!
Lita Hunter Krohn