Dear Editor,

The Government of Belize found it in the best interest of the people and the economy of the country to nationalize the national telephone system. As they took possession of management, the directors offered a new issue of common shares to the public.

While there were no specific guarantees offered, there also was no warning that the new management would find it necessary to reduce the dividends that previous management had paid to shareholders, leaving the investing public to assume that the rate of dividends would be more or less equal to what had been paid in the past.

Since the government takeover, however, the rate of dividends has been cut by over 60% and there are no buyers for the shares.

We bought these shares to finance our daughter’s college expenses, and now that she has been accepted by a top college in London, we find that there are no scholarships and we cannot access the money we have saved for this purpose.

Our trust in government to protect the citizens that trusted them was misplaced, and we learned that loyalty without reciprocity is self-destructive.

Sincerely,
Doug Fox