During the presidency of Abraham Lincoln and the United States Civil War (1861- 1865), the Republican Party in America actually represented what the Democratic Party is today, a more populist organization, while the Democrats were the equivalent of today’s Republicans, featuring big business. In other words, the Republicans have become the Democrats, and the Democrats, the Republicans.

In Belize City, the population, financial and media capital of the nation, the political issues are crime, the economy, corruption, education, health care, and the ICJ, not necessarily in that order. None of these issues figured in Wednesday’s municipal elections, hence there was manifest disinterest on the part of many voters.

The grenade attack on the home of the Comptroller of Customs, Greg Gibson, on Tuesday night, is a very serious development. The evidence is strong that this was a case of narcoterrorism, because Gibson had been warned before by certain people.

For 40 years the Jesuits in Belize have been waging an undeclared war against Amandala, and their biggest issue is African and Mayan history. Belize’s first Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. George Price, was a darling of the Jesuits. Under his rule, Landivar took over control of this country’s educational system between the 1950’s and 1960’s. When Mr. Price forged an alliance with Amandala in 1975, it was a case of his becoming desperate, because of pressure from the UDP. As soon as Mr. Price won the pre-independence general elections of 1979, that alliance was doomed.

This was an interesting week on Partridge Street. For the first time ever, the United States Embassy in Belize co-sponsored a program along with the UBAD Educational Foundation (UEF). On the UEF side, Virginia Echols, a board member of UEF, was the prime mover in the initiative. Virginia is an American citizen who has served in the Peace Corps. She is also a black activist who has lived and worked in West Africa (Liberia).

There are political campaigns going on in all six districts of Belize, as well as in San Pedro Ambergris Caye, for City (Belize City; Belmopan) and Town (Corozal; Orange Walk; San Ignacio/Santa Elena; Benque Viejo del Carmen; Dangriga; Punta Gorda; San Pedro Ambergris Caye) Council elections on Wednesday, March 4.

In October of 1839, an American lawyer by the name of John L. Stephens took a sailing schooner from New York on his way to Belize. Between 1839 and 1840, Stephens traveled south from Belize to Honduras, then through Guatemala, through Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, then back up through Chiapas and other parts of southern Mexico before he returned to the United States.

On Sunday afternoon, ESPN aired a documentary on Tommie Smith and John Carlos which featured their revisiting Mexico City last year to mark the 40th anniversary of their black power demonstration at the 1968 Olympics. American sprinters, Smith and Carlos, who won gold and bronze, respectively, in the 200 meters, raised black-gloved hands in protest when the U.S. national anthem was played during their medal award ceremony. This was October of 1968, and just two weeks before, hundreds of protesting Mexican students had been machine gunned by the Mexican government in order to ensure that the Mexico City Olympic Games would not be disrupted. 1968 was the craziest year planet earth had seen since World War II had ended in 1945.

Natural resources wise, Guatemala is one of the most spectacular countries in the world. The problem in Guatemala, as it was in South Africa, is greed. A neo-European minority, using violence, and the support of the dominant Roman Catholic Church, seized an excessive amount of Guatemala’s land and resources, leaving the majority, indigenous population little on which to survive and grow.

There are two reasons why it is important to note the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the United Black Association for Development (UBAD). The first reason is that UBAD laid the foundation for Amandala (1969), Belize’s leading newspaper; KREM Radio (1989), Belize City’s leading radio station; and KREM TV. The second reason is that UBAD’s story is tied in with that of the late Philip Goldson, and it is nationally felt that Goldson’s position on the Guatemala issue was a position of principle and integrity. In addition, Goldson’s position on Guatemala is simply not going away. It is not going away because Goldson remained the choice of the Belizean people even when he was being replaced as the Leader of the Opposition. He was, and is, The Man

These are delicate days for the ruling United Democratic Party, because they have essentially, this week, failed their first critical test. It is important to note that the things we say in this editorial do not constitute a declaration of war against the new government. If, however, the idiots whom the UDP sometimes have speaking and writing for them, wish to interpret our thoughts in a hostile way, so be it. Who bex, bex.

Reports from Orange Walk on Monday morning were that dissatisfied cane farmers had put up blockades on the highways leading to the Tower Hill sugar factory. What this amounts to is a temporary end of the conversations being held between Belize Sugar Industries (BSI), the owners of the factory, and the cane farmers of the Corozal and Orange Walk Districts.

For many months now a conversation has been taking place in the pages of this newspaper between two writers – Clinton Uh Luna from Finca Solana (outside of Corozal Town) and Colin Hyde from Camalote (a few miles west of Belmopan). This is a serious conversation. Sometimes, it is so heated it becomes close to personal.

Over the forty years since the United Black Association for Development (UBAD) was founded on February 9, 1969, attempts by this newspaper to discuss UBAD have often been rebuffed. There are different reasons for this, but one of the problems is that the story of UBAD is, ultimately, the story of Evan X Hyde, because he was the only one at the beginning in February of 1969 who was there at the end in November of 1974. (The next closest in UBAD longevity was Ismail Omar Shabazz, a foundation officer who left UBAD in November of 1972 to work full time for the Nation of Islam.)