by William Ysaguirre (Freelance Writer)
BELIZE CITY, Mon. June 9, 2025
The Government of Belize, the People’s United Party and the wider nation are mourning the passing of one of its most powerful movers and shakers, Hon. Ralph Fonseca, who died of complications due to cancer in Belize City around 3 o’clock Friday morning, June 5.
He will perhaps be best remembered for the economic impact of his policies during his tenure as the Minister of State in Finance, when the Father of the Nation, the Rt. Hon. George Price appointed him a Senator and the Leader of Government Business in the Senate from 1989-93.
He had first ventured into electoral politics in December 1984 in the newly created constituency of Queen’s Square, where he lost to the UDP candidate Dean Barrow. He returned to the polls as the PUP candidate for Belize Rural Central in 1993, and won three terms until February 2008. He served under Prime Minister Hon. Said Musa as Minister of Budget Management, Investment and Home Affairs in the period 1998-2003.
Fonseca had a good head for numbers, and his recognized ability for shrewd financial management led him to serve as chairman of the Belize Electricity Board and Belize Telecommunications Authority, and he served as a consultant for a number of other industries, including mining and aviation. He believed in privatizing public assets to invite foreign investment, thereby freeing capital to invest in housing, education, infrastructure, and to be channeled through the Development Finance Corporation for lending to farmers, to create economic opportunities for hard-working Belizeans.
He served as Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment from 2003 – 2004 until his economic policies, “Ralph-nomics,” came under fire from 7 Cabinet Ministers, the “G-7” who demanded his resignation. The then Deputy Prime Minister Hon. John Briceño was among those who formed the G-7, along with Ministers Hon. Jose Coye, Hon. Mark Espat, Hon. Eamon Courtenay, Hon. Cordel Hyde, Hon. Servulo Baeza and Hon. Godfrey Smith, who all resigned from Cabinet to allow Prime Minister Musa the freedom to appoint a Cabinet of his choosing. As Briceño later recalled it, Ralph had been playing the money markets with $40 million of the government’s money, betting that the Japanese yen would rise against the U.S. dollar; but when the yen fell, Ralph’s investment lost $5 million overnight!
Fonseca retired from electoral politics after he was unseated by UDP new kid on the block, Michael “Hutchie” Hutchinson, when the UDP won a landslide 25-6 victory in the 2008 General Elections. No longer wielding ministerial authority, Fonseca and the former Prime Minister created further division within the PUP, when they demanded the return of the PUP’s assets, which included Positive Vibes Radio and the Belize Times, both housed at PUP headquarters, Independence Hall in Belize City. They reportedly had agreed to sell these assets to the PUP for $700,000, but demanded their return when Opposition leader John Briceño begged off, saying the party did not have funds to pay the outstanding balance of $400,000.
With the change of government in February 2008, the new UDP administration also accused Ralph jointly with former Prime Minister Said Musa of the misappropriation of funds from a USD$20 million grant from Venezuela, which was intended to finance the construction of low-income housing. The money somehow was used to pay off a debt which the Universal Health Services owed to the Belize Bank, but the courts dismissed these charges by March 2009.
No father should have to bury his son, but Fonseca experienced great personal tragedy when his son, Ralphie, Jr. was killed in a traffic accident near Orange Walk Town in September 2007. Further tragedy struck Ralph in 2015, when his baby brother, two-term Belize City Mayor David Fonseca, died of what is believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Even his political opponents recall Ralph Fonseca as a man with the common touch, who treated everyone with respect, kindness and dignity.