BELIZE CITY, Mon. Sept. 27, 2021– Following the fatal shooting of innocent 15-year-old SJC student, Dwayne Gabourel, the grieving public expressed their sorrow and outrage through the platform most accessible to them — social media, and in their social media posts they condemned the country’s security forces and the methods currently being used to address the crime situation in Belize.
Fresh in the minds of many Belizeans is the newly forged gang truce between two rivaling groups in Lake Independence— the PIV and BLC, which was the result of an intervention that involved the conducting of group sessions during which the men aired their grievances and resolved their differences while they were incarcerated for a 30-day period as part of a Southside State of Emergency. Following the upturn in crime over the weekend and the senseless murder of Dwayne Gabourel, however, those members who had been part of the truce, as well as the Police Department which facilitated the intervention, came under attack from the public, who attributed the incidents to those recently released detainees.
In his address to the nation this morning, however, the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams told the public that the recent incidents did not involve those persons who signed on to the truce last week. His address was not the only public statement that would be made to make it clear that those persons were not responsible for the recent violent incidents. The Belizean public would witness something quite remarkable— am impromptu press conference on the Kremandala compound in Lake Independence, at which a coalition of leaders from both the PIV and the BLC gangs in that area called for their younger subordinates to stop the killing of innocent city youths.
The men, who all appeared on camera, condemned the killing of young Gabourel and begged other gang members and criminals to desist from aiming gunfire at Belize City children.
A reputed criminal figure from the area, Brandon Baptist, took to social media following the shooting, to condemn the senseless murder. He was also present during the joint press conference today and stated, “I think the individual weh do they simple shooting, them with they lee young bwai dey they stupid. They need to get penalized for that, cause we don’t condone that. First thing, I never ever mess with a child.”
The men said that while this truce is the ninth of its kind within the last 20 years, the will to see peace within these poverty-stricken areas has not been demonstrated by the various
governments that have headed the country, which oftentimes offer nothing to back the gang truce but empty promises.
Jermaine Garnett remarked,”We di try mek ih work, but weh bally di tell yo, ih hard fi yo make it work if nobody nuh di eat. We di beg they people long time, if they, even if yo gat 10-15 acres of land and tell yo bwai ker 30 man out deh, dat da 30 man out ah the city. At least they gwine out deh, cut down the place, grow some vegetables, do a lee thing, but they nuh want give yo nothing.”
He added, “‘This right yah between we and them wah be at least bout 9, nothing nuh di come out of it, cause di people deh only dih say thing. All weh dey di do da set state of emergency, set it, set that, and send we da jail. When you come out ah jail, you just turn more monster; nothing else deh fi do; yo come out broke, yo know. Memba everytime they send you da jail you come out broke, yo nuh have no money, no nothing; so yo monster they have to loose, cause yo need fi eat. Everything need fi balance off back, and the scale need fi set back straight.”
The men shared that their truce is still intact, and that peace in their area may result in acts of aggression by other criminal elements within the city.
Brandon Baptist pointed out, “Other gangs take the opportunity to do simpleness out yah and make they blame we, and the police they go on simple information, cause one stupid police weh nuh like we wa hurry go tell his superior them, ‘Da Baptist dey’ or ‘Da backa Martins’. Ih nuh goh soh. We wa they do they job the right way and find the truth. Because we nuh into no chance no pickni. We nuh chance pickni, mi breda. People take the opportunity fi do they [expicit] and they want blame we. They say da because da PIV and Martins di go through it, that wrong, dat lie.”
The men stated that since the mediation both groups have been trying their best to refrain from criminal activities and to set an example within their ranks, but Garnett admitted that even though they take many of the youths under their wing, those young ones lean towards carrying out these pointless acts of crime without any direct order from a senior gang member, since they have direct access to their own firearms.
The men engaged with the media without any intervention from the Police Department or the current administration. They said that they came to the media of their own free will.
“We come yah pan we own free will together; say make we come together, hands and heart and make we come together, we do this pan fi we own. Nuh wa police, nuh wa nobody deh yah, yo know, because we say we tired of it, and we tired fi they di blame we for a lot of stupidness weh di happen too,” Baptist said.
He added, “I know people need fi get locked up, right, find they one deh weh di do the stupidness and lock they up, make them go, you understand me. We tired ah this, we want all the bad seed they get pick out now, after this and put they away, simple as 1-2-3, just put they weh. And unu wa see ah different, unu wa see for unu self that they police they know exactly who di do di simpleness too.”