Photo: (l-r) Elvis Reyes, Chairman, BSCFA; Prime Minister John Briceño; Shawn Chavarria, Director of Finance, BSI hold up signed addendum to Commercial Agreement
After much gamesmanship and some intimidation from BSI/ASR, stalled negotiations, and frustrated cañeros resorting once more to road blocks to stop cane trucks from delivering to BSI.
ORANGE WALK, Mon. Jan. 8, 2024
It didn’t happen as smoothly as anticipated from last week, when Amandala’s headline reported that “Sugar is sweet again!” Words of caution from BSCFA Vice Chairman Alfredo Ortega proved prophetic and prepared their members to stay focused and engaged until the agreement was actually signed. Verbal agreement was one thing, but the legal strategists of BSI/ASR were up to their game with a new proposed TOR (Terms of Reference) that BSCFA firmly rejected; and when Friday, Saturday and Sunday passed without a signed agreement, it was back to agitation on Monday to press BSI/ASR to sign an acceptable draft agreement with BSCFA that had no visible booby traps attached for cane farmers. It was a long, hard negotiation battle, with PM Briceño as mediator, and when the situation looked bleak again, the unity and resolve of BSCFA members once more was in evidence, until finally the two sides acknowledged the wisdom of ending the dispute with pen on paper for a signed agreement.
Thursday, January 4
When we went to press on Thursday, January 4, members of the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association (BSCFA) had passed a motion at the SIRDI compound in Buena Vista Village to accept the proposed addendum to the commercial agreement with Belize Sugar Industries (BSI)/American Sugar Refining (ASR), which had been brokered by the Prime Minister at the Yo Creek Agricultural Station. At the end of their victory laps, amid the euphoria that evening, Alfredo Ortega, Vice Chairman of the BSCFA, cautioned that they needed to remain vigilant until they had a signed agreement in hand. He called on those cane farmers who could remain camped out into Friday to stay back. He himself has been conducting night vigils since after Christmas when the Prime Minister re-joined the talks between the largest cañero Association, which represents about 60% of cane farmers, and the American multinational.
Friday & Saturday, January 5-6
Ortega turned out to be right on the money, as ensuing developments would see cane farmers in numbers back on the ground today protesting a delay in the signing of the addendum. It all began on Friday, January 5, when BSI/ASR sent a draft document that contained terms of reference (TOR) for the assessment to be conducted by Hugh O’Brien of throughput fees and terminal charges at the Big Creek Port. At the time of the agreement between the leadership of the BSCFA and BSI/ASR on Thursday, January 4, there was no talk about such TOR. BSI reportedly immediately sent a letter saying the TOR would be removed, agreeing that it should not have been in the draft addendum. Discussions continued into Saturday when Ortega told the media that during the day, the BSCFA along with O’Brien had cleaned up the agreement which was being sent to the PM for subsequent referral to BSI/ASR for their approval. The hope of BSCFA was for the agreement to be signed by the end of the day Saturday, but that did not happen. There was no advancement either on Sunday, and so, the BSCFA urged its membership to refrain from burning cane.
Sunday, January 7
On Sunday evening, the BSCFA shared in a Facebook post, “It has been three days since January 4 when the agreement was reached with the PM which ASR/BSI had also accepted. We hope this is the last night. If not?!!!! Let us stand firm and be patient.” The BSCFA also wrote Prime Minister John Briceño calling on him to issue a directive for the suspension of the 2023/2024 sugar crop season until an interim agreement has been signed.
Monday, January 8
This morning, Ortega called on the membership of the BSCFA to come out in full force at the SIRDI compound, and they gave the Prime Minister a 2:00 p.m. deadline to receive a favourable response about signing. When 2:00 p.m. came, the leadership reported on some progress, but asked members to wait another hour until 3:00 p.m. as their attorney needed to review another draft. At the same time, they reported that the Prime Minister was headed back to Orange Walk to resume mediation.
When 3:00 p.m. came, Javier Keme, the Chairman of the BSCFA’s Committee of Finance, reported that moments after Vice Chairman Ortega exited their meeting room, they got back another draft sent from BSI/ASR proposing that the TOR be left out of the interim agreement, but it would stipulate that the TOR would be placed in a separate document to be worked out within 14 days. According to Keme, the Prime Minister asked for patience until 4:30 p.m., as they considered this would be the final correspondence exchange between the two parties.
On the mention of that extension to 4:30 p.m., the cane farmers raucously voiced their objection; so, when Vice Chairman Ortega came behind and told the cañeros, “First we said two, and then we said three. So, they can continue negotiating; so, let’s go!” the cane farmers headed for the Philip Goldson Highway with the intention of making their way to the entrance of BSI at Tower Hill. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Dr. Richard Rosado appeared to get through to the membership when he indicated that a 4:30 p.m. deadline had been agreed by the parties. He told the crowd that if nothing had happened by then, they would be okay with cane farmers moving. That first blockade today lasted only a few minutes; but by 4:30 p.m., with no response, the deeply frustrated and antsy crowd moved to block the highway again, this time only blocking the passage of cane trucks. Another crowd moved to the San Luis Junction in Orange Walk where they also blocked passage of cane trucks. By 6:00 p.m., cane farmers were blocking the entrance to BSI and the San Estevan Bypass.
On a related note, last week Thursday, BSI’s lawyer wrote a letter threatening a lawsuit against the BSCFA. The company made the point that BSCFA’s “unlawful” blockade prevented cane farmers and sugar associations from delivering sugar cane to the mill. Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith told BSCFA Chairman Elvis Reyes that the blockade was contrary to Section 42 (1) of the Public Roads Act regarding the willful prevention of vehicles or persons from passing along any public road. Vice Chairman Ortega over the weekend called the letter one of intimidation.
This afternoon, the Belize National Teachers’ Union (BNTU) issued a second press release expressing support for the BSCFA. The Union insists that cane farmers, “who contribute so much to our economic stability deserve nothing less than immediate, fair and just resolutions to this ongoing matter.” It therefore called on the Government to ensure it fulfils its signed commitment to the BSCFA. At the same time, the BNTU expressed dissatisfaction with the way in which the Government dealt with the situation. It stated, “in no way do we support the use of a million dollars of tax payers’ dollars as bargaining power for a band aid fix to the issue of the fair-trade dispute between BSI/ASR and BSCFA.”
Tonight, as the PM remained at Yo Creek, the BSCFA was making a presentation to members of the National Trade Union Congress of Belize to provide a status report. By 7:30 p.m. cane farmers had blocked all entrances to Orange Walk and another blockade had been erected in San Pablo. At BSI, the report was that they were only blocking cane trucks but allowing private vehicles to pass.
Finally! Cañeros sign agreement with BSI
Finally, after 10:00 p.m. tonight, with representatives and attorneys of the BSCFA and BSI in the same room with the Prime Minister, the signatures were appended to the document and everyone can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Signing on behalf of the BSCFA was Chairman, Elvis Reyes and on behalf of BSI, Director of Finance, Shawn Chavarria. The signing was witnessed by Prime Minister John Briceño.