It didn’t come to the attention of the media immediately, that a 13-year-old boy had been caught in the SOE (State of Emergency) net the Ministry of Home Affairs cast on June 24, after individuals in the society who think that murder is no terrible crime, had traumatized the nation. When the gangs are at war over turf or about exacting revenge, no one is safe. Earlier this year, a police station and the ComPol’s house were shot at, and a beloved police officer, on his way home one night with food he had bought at a fast food shop, was fatally shot by individuals who mistook him for someone they had set out to murder.
Last year there were 26 fewer murders than the year before, and there were hopes in the society that in 2024 murders would continue to trend downward. But at the end of June this year, there were 13 more murders than in the same period last year, and the police ministry was scrambling to maintain the peace. The overwhelmed police ministry has already resorted to SOEs twice in the first half of this year.
The SOE is a desperate tool by government which always causes a divide in the society. Those in support welcome the breather, for while the net sweeps up some innocents, the majority of those caught are not fitting in well in the society. Human rights activists and criminal lawyers lead the charge against SOEs.
When it was learned that a 13-year-old boy had been caught in the SOE net and was being held at a facility on the Kolbe prison compound, the anti-SOE ranks swelled greatly, and there was no let-up until the boy was removed on August 2 and placed at the New Beginnings Youth Development Center (NBYDC), the holding place for youth who have gone astray or are at risk. The story of the boy in the SOE net made the headlines in the Caribbean, and the mighty UNICEF stepped in to put the government right.
Actually, a 15-year-old was also swept up in the net, so there were two minors being held on the Kolbe prison compound. LIU (Leadership Intervention Unit) spokesman, Brother Nuri Muhammad, who has invested his life in the rehabilitation of wayward youth and young men, explained that the boys were housed in an area at Kolbe’s prison called Wagner’s Youth Facility (WYF), and the only time they had contact with hardened criminals was when they were brought out and made to participate in interventions, sessions designed to rehabilitate those who were being held at the prison under the SOE.
The Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, who is a lawyer and aspiring politician, and has had the frightening experience of being shot at by a dangerous, lawless fellow, told the media that he knew the 13-year-old. The Commissioner said he believed the minor “had been shot once”, and that just prior to the SOE “he was accused of chasing” someone with a gun. The Commissioner explained that the youth had been detained for his own good, that incarcerating him and putting him in a mentorship program administered by the LIU were to his benefit.
Virgilio Murillo, the CEO of the Kolbe Foundation, said the boy was monitored while he was on the compound, that while there he was in a safe environment where he was among other minors. In a recent interview aired on XTV News, Home Affairs Minister, Hon. Kareem Musa said there were some advantages to holding youth at the WYF, and that while it is an unfortunate situation, the 13-year-old might face charges for crimes the police believe he committed. XTV News said Home Affairs CEO, Sharole Saldivar said bureaucracy was to blame for the more than a month it took to transfer the two minors to the NBYDC.
Education Minister, Hon. Francis Fonseca, and Human Development Minister, Hon. Dolores Balderamos Garcia, from ministries that are highly relevant to the situation, also spoke on the matter. Fonseca said he thought holding the youth at the WYF was inappropriate, even though it was in a separate space at the prison, but he recognized the challenges being faced by law enforcement authorities with this phenomenon where criminal gangs are recruiting youth to commit serious crimes.
Prior to the youth being removed from the WYF, Love FM said Hon. Balderamos Garcia “said her ministry is considering relocating the minor, but is having difficulties due to the minor’s criminal behavior.” The Love FM report said Balderamos Garcia said her ministry considered the 13-year-old youth’s “tender age”, and their responsibility to protect children. She said they were looking to relocate him, but noted that “we have to balance the rights of children with the good of the community … [that if] at the tender age of 13 someone is involved in gang activity, maybe have a gun in their possession and that kind of thing, then we have to balance that.”
Most countries in the Americas are signatories to UNICEF’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, but the wealthiest, the USA, lives by its own rules. Equal Justice Initiative said “the U.S. is the only country in the world where kids as young as 13 have been sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.”
Belize has a problem. Ever since we decided that minors were to be handled with kid gloves, unscrupulous older persons have used them to do their dirty work, even commit murder. There will be 13-year-olds who are too difficult to handle. What does a police officer do if they encounter a 13-year-old boy with a gun and he points it at them?
We need to do more to prevent our youth from falling into the orbit of unscrupulous older persons.
Stepping forward to SAVE the youth when he was held at the facility in Kolbe’s yard, the lawyer fraternity brought a civil suit against the government. They said holding the youth at Kolbe violates our Constitution. Much of our problems are rooted in government’s limited finances. Some in the lawyer fraternity have good talk. If they really want to SAVE our youth they need to put their money where their mouth is. The few who have done so deserve to be congratulated.
Our political leaders have denied the teaching of African and Mayan history in our schools, education that is especially critical to black youth who, by far, are the most endangered group in our country. On Emancipation Day 2022, Education Minister Fonseca recognized the “psychological trauma and socio-economic inequities” in our country which are rooted in “the indignity and injustice of slavery”, so it’s not ignorance that blocks the path to more meaningful education.
It’s incredible that our leaders don’t seem to fully grasp the importance of organized sports as a tool to develop youth. If they did they would NEVER have let the MCC fall to ruin. Even the “devil” British colonial masters did not ignore our youth so terribly. Under “their” rule, our youth were engaged in organized sports; physical education was not an afterthought in schools. In the past, music and art were major subjects in our schools, boys and girls who weren’t involved in sports joined the Scouts and Guides, and many young men joined the Volunteer Guard.
Our leaders haven’t covered themselves in glory. The wealth gap in our country increases daily. Since 1984, Belize has been following a path that produces 13-year-olds who are fodder for unscrupulous sorts, unscrupulous sorts who themselves have been victims of a country which pampers a selfish class. Now, the LIU is focused on reforming those who have risen through the ranks to become leaders in criminal gangs; but perhaps more attention needs to be given to the yet undeveloped breeder class of minors who would become the LIU targets of the future.