by: Wellington C. Ramos
Friday, November 1, 2024
Many people believe that the United Democratic Party’s (UDP’s) division is something new for the party, but I disagree with that trend of thought. The problem started when their 1st Deputy Leader and then Deputy Prime Minister, Gaspar Vega stepped down in March of 2016 and did not seek reelection in 2020; and also when their former leader and then Prime Minister, Dean Barrow announced in 2018 that he would step down as the leader of the party and would not seek reelection in 2020.
When Gaspar Vega stepped down, he did not publicly give a reason or reasons why he was stepping down. There was a rumor that he had some disagreements with the then Prime Minister, Dean Barrow, over his removal from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources; but if so, we do not know if there was any truth to the rumor. There was a convention coming up on March the 16th of that same year, and he was going to be endorsed to serve as 1st Deputy Leader for another term, and he refused. A party convention was held on the 16th of March 2016 as was scheduled, and Patrick Faber was elected to be the new 1st Deputy Leader of the party and Deputy Prime Minister. It was known to all the members of the UDP that Patrick Faber was always preparing himself to be the leader of his party and the Prime Minister of Belize.
Patrick Faber and Gaspar Vega were both preparing themselves for those same roles, and because of this they became party rivals. This led to the party having three factions, namely: the Dean Barrow faction, the Gaspar Vega faction, and the Patrick Faber faction. Only Dean Barrow had the power to keep these factions under control. When Dean Barrow announced that he would be stepping down as the leader of the party, and that he would not be seeking another term in 2020, Gaspar Vega decided to throw his support behind John Saldivar along with all his elected representative supporters.
That led to a new faction with John Saldivar. Technically, John Saldivar was not the person with the most support; it was Gaspar Vega, but he threw his support behind him. A convention was held in 2020, and John Saldivar won it and became the new party leader; Patrick Faber resigned as 1st Deputy Leader and Deputy Prime Minister shortly after the convention. If Gaspar Vega had run in that convention against Patrick Faber, he would have won, because he had the same supporters John Saldivar had.
Due to the Lev Dermen scandal, in which John Saldivar’s name came up for receiving money from him, Dean Barrow asked John Saldivar to resign as the elected leader of the party, and suspended him from the Cabinet. A convention was scheduled in July of 2020 to elect a new leader. Despite John Saldivar’s problems, he was allowed to run for the party leadership against Patrick Faber, and he lost the convention.
From the time Patrick Faber became the new leader of the United Democratic Party, he did not receive the overwhelming support from his party colleagues. The Gaspar Vega and John Saldivar factions remained loyal to each other. Patrick Faber’s domestic problems would later lead to him stepping down from the leadership position in 2022. This left only the Gaspar Vega and John Saldivar factions. Still, Patrick Faber maintained support from many people in the UDP because he is seen as one of their formidable leaders. After the stepping down of Patrick Faber, a UDP convention was scheduled for March of 2022, and none of these two men decided to run for the leadership of their party.
Tracy Taegar-Panton, a Patrick Faber ally, and Shyne Barrow, the son of the former Prime Minister, Dean Barrow, with support from some members of the Gaspar Vega and John Saldivar factions, decided to run. Shyne Barrow won the convention with a slim margin of three (3) votes. Due to the margin of victory that Shyne won by, it was clear to see that he did not have a lot of support in his party. He had to work hard to gain the support of his party members and colleagues. In the two years of Shyne Barrow’s leadership, he has failed to gain the support that he needs to maintain his leadership.
Now, the members of his party and his colleagues are aggressively challenging his leadership. This challenge is headed by his former convention rival, Tracy Taegar-Panton, who has a lot of support because she only lost by three (3) votes to him. It seems as if after she lost the convention to Shyne, she was building a grassroots coalition to be prepared for the next leadership convention. Meanwhile, Shyne Barrow took it for granted that he is the leader of his party, and that the members and his colleagues would rally around him. Most of what I have seen in the media brings me to the conclusion that the differences the Shyne Barrow faction and the Tracy Taegar-Panton faction have in interpreting their party’s constitution, will end up in the Belize High Court and possibly the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). All the UDP internal attempts to mediate their conflict have failed. No one knows, including myself, what will be the final outcome of these court proceedings.
My best thinking is that the court rulings might force them to take one of the following options: (1) reach a compromise among themselves; (2) return to mediation with a Court-appointed mediator; or (3) go separate ways and form a new party. The worst of these three options is the third one, which I do not think they will choose, because that will definitely work to the PUP’s advantage. The General Elections will be called soon, and the UDP does not have enough time to remain fragmented. Pressure will be made by the members of their party and their supporters, to end their differences now. This party has many accomplishments and has come a long way since its birth in 1973. I do not think they want to, “Start All Over Again From The Bottom Up”.