The Christmas holidays have ended, but for several families in Belize who lost loved ones during the holiday to the murderous violence that seems to have enshrouded the country, it was a Christmas, not of giving, but grieving.
In Belize City, the nation’s largest metropolis by far of approximately 70,000 (66,000 in 2007), and a country of approximately 333,000 (2009), the deadly violence, by any standard, is excessive.
After the gruesome double execution of Edgar Ayala, 42, and David Longsworth, 39, during an attack at a Belize City gas station at the end of November, Belize entered a thirteen-day period in which there was a pause to murders across the country. At that time, the murder count stood unofficially at 121 for the year, the record of 103 being eclipsed in mid-October.
Then there were the deaths of Argentina Garcia Arevalo in Ladyville (allegedly at the hands of Peter King Contreras, who has been charged), CGA financial controller Herman Morris in San Ignacio, American retiree Miriam Shimi in Sittee River and Anthony “Break Dance” McDonald in Belize City.
The circumstances surrounding these tragic deaths were all different: an apparently jealous and jilted ex-boyfriend exacting revenge on his former lover by killing her mother; a hardworking professional going home to be surprised by his killers; a man of very modest means being killed for no apparent reason while on a food delivery; a woman who lived alone being apparently bludgeoned by someone she knew.
And while it is reported that police are taking credit for clamping down on gang-related violence, particularly in Belize City, it is random violence which was responsible for the seven deaths reported across the country in the seven days stretching from last Tuesday, to yesterday.
On Wednesday morning, December 22, news broke of the death of Justin Jones, stabbed while attending a wake for his mother-in-law, Joan Sutherland’s mother, in Ontario, Cayo. Mrs. Sutherland is active in the organization Belizeans for Justice, and several years ago had lost her son Allen to similar random violence after he was killed in a dispute over a video game. Godwin Santos has since been charged for the crime.
Later on, it was reported that Cesar Cak, 18, of Medina Bank, Toledo, sustained several gunshot wounds after being mistaken for a marauding jaguar and shot to death. Cak and his two brothers were hunting for a predator jaguar in the bushes. Police are still searching for Ricardo Cak.
Then, on Friday, December 24, Christmas Eve, there were reportedly three murders – two occurring in Orange Walk and another in Belize City. In San Jose, Orange Walk, Reynaldo Rowley, 72, a former taxi operator who was visiting with family in the village, was left at home alone with his stepson, Amir Glen Dominguez, 21, while the family went out to Orange Walk Town to shop. The two men reportedly had an unpleasant exchange of words and Rowley was punched and beaten unconscious. He subsequently died in the hospital and Dominguez has been charged with murder.
Patrick Kerr, 31, was with a younger man on the verandah of a food stall in front of the Special Education Unit compound on Freetown Road two hours later when a dark-skinned man attacked from behind with a 9mm pistol and shot at them. Kerr died three hours later at the KHMH; no arrests have been made.
At about the same time as Kerr’s death, Gregorio Bol, 43, of Carmelita, Orange Walk, also died, after being chopped in the head by Fidel Ocampos, also of Carmelita, after Bol and Fidel’s brother from Belize City, Anastacio, apparently got into a fight near the sports complex in the village. Anastacio is stable in the hospital; Fidel is behind bars in Hattieville.
Early on Christmas morning, Leon Ebanks, 19, was socializing with men he thought were friends at a bar in his home village of Hattieville, when he was suddenly stabbed in his chest. Police have detained one man.
And on Boxing Day morning, taxi operator Francis Chukwu, 37, was found dead in his vehicle on Pitter Street in the St. Martin’s area, leaving three children fatherless.
Seven murders in seven days – these raise the murder count for the month to eleven, and for the year to date, to 132.
According to our statistics, Belize’s murder rate, which at last check stood at 32 per 100,000, is currently at 39.62 per 100,000, well above the internationally accepted benchmark of 30 per 100,000 in average nations.
The Belize District has recorded four times as many murders (86) as the next district, Cayo (19). Belize City has reached 70 murders for the year, the most of any jurisdiction.
Let us all hope for a new year that sees a reduction in our murder rate. How much more of this killing can the Old Capital take?