BELIZE CITY, Wed. Sept. 25, 2019– On Saturday, September 21, Belize City’s Memorial Park became alive with the raising of the Belizean flag at midnight and then in the early morning hours, just as the sun began climbing, thousands of students dressed in their various school uniforms began to assemble for the annual uniformed parade which went through the principal streets of the city and ended at the ‘Yarborough Green’.

Before the parade got underway, Belize City mayor Bernard Wagner inspected a BDF guard of honor before delivering his Independence Day address to city residents.

“The late Right Honorable George Cadle Price, the Father of our Nation and the figure that led us to freedom, did not perceive independence only in terms of transfer of political power, but rather he considered it a stepping stone in a longer and larger process of nation building and national repairing,” Mayor Wagner said as he opened his address.

Mayor Wagner said that for those of us born between 1965 and 1980 “… attaining independence thirty-eight years ago brought significant change to our once modest way of life.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, our National hero hoped that his legacy would inspire us to always take care of our own, but things have not exactly worked out that way. Millennials are being raised in a different ‘independent Belize’. They are being faced with challenges that go beyond our comprehension. They see affluent politicians, but penniless residents. They have witnessed the emergence of a payday culture that degrades our election process and our Belizean human dignity. They ask questions and receive illogical excuses. Yet we expect them to be nationalistic voters,” stated Mayor Wagner.

“My Belizean family, for thirty-eight years we have been declaring ourselves independent, and I repeat that independence means free from outside control. But what about internal control? What about monopolization? What about social stratification? What about poverty, crime and frustration? After thirty-eight years of celebrating, do you feel independent yet?” the Mayor asked.

Mayor Wagner said that government officials carry more than just titles and portfolios on their shoulders, they carry dreams. He said that we are young as an independent nation, but our elected body is maturing, as evidenced by the recent municipal paper that was passed through both the House of Representatives as well as the Senate, and was supported by both sides of the aisle. The mayor said this is a great trend that our residents long for, a culture-shift where important bills are debated and passed in a spirit of cross-party cooperation and constructive debate.

“This is only one of the primary steps that we have taken to become unified for the betterment of our people,” the Mayor said, “and while it seldom occurs, it tells me that we have hope. If we retain this approach, to treat our people’s lives as assets, we will rewrite the book of Independent Belize.”

The Mayor said he hoped that in the next general election voters exercise their “God-given right in large numbers with much enthusiasm, and with less monetary persuasion.” He said that every election marks a new beginning, that it is a “renewal of Belize’s collective hope and optimism”, similar to what “we experienced on September 21, 1981.”

“Mr. Eloy Escalante, Sr., said it best: we have come from Mayan grandeur to modern glory and we will continue to shape the Belizean story,” the Mayor said. He said that that story, “with all its peaks and valleys, is truly a beautiful one.”

“I am proud to be a member and a representative of this family, the Belizean family, and I wish all of you a Happy Independence Day,” the Mayor said.

(The Mayor’s speech appears on page 13 of this issue.)