“And while Pizarro preached Christianity to his chained captive, his soldiers were out gold-gathering, desecrating the Peruvian temples, killing the men, and outraging the women. It was quickly discovered that the wealth of the country far exceeded the wildest dreams of the conquerors, and soon gold and silver ornaments and utensils to the value of one hundred thousand castellanos were heaped up in the plaza. Atahualpa was not slow to perceive that neither loyalty nor their vaunted piety was the ruling passion of his captors, but the love of gold.”
– pg. 32, Bancroft’s Works, Volume VII, History of Central America Vol II, 1530-1800, by Hubert Howe Bancroft, San Francisco, The History Company Publishers, 1886
El pulpo is what the Guatemalans and other Central Americans began to call the United Fruit Company which ruled and ravished them in the last century. El pulpo is Spanish for “the octopus.” The word applies perfectly to Lord Michael Ashcroft where the Belizean economy is concerned. In the sixteenth century, the Lord would have been a conquistador, like Francisco Pizarro. Their common and salient characteristic is greed, insatiable greed. This insatiable greed is what fooled the Inca king, Atahualpa, in 1532. He offered Pizarro a roomful of gold for his freedom. Pizarro took the gold, and still killed him. Francisco wanted everything. So does Lord pulpo.
In the case of Belize, the worst is yet to come. Next year the United Kingdom will have national elections. El pulpo’s party, the Conservatives, are expected to win those elections fairly easily. What this will mean is that the massive power of the British government will be at the behest of el pulpo, who is a very, very big man in the Conservative Party. The implications for the Belizean government and people are troubling, even alarming.
The one thing we now understand about Lord pulpo is this: he is a man who, above all else, does not wish to pay taxes – anywhere, anytime. With the cash which he accumulates by refusing to pay taxes, pulpo hires the very best of lawyers, accountants, and yes, politicians, to muddy the waters. Pulpo’s lawyers, accountants and politicians are paid top dollar, and in Belize they have become like a nation within a nation.
On Wednesday this week the faculty, staff and students at the University of Belize began demonstrating against a UB board decision to freeze faculty/staff increments for three years, and against the board’s intention to implement huge increases in tuition fees. The University of Belize is an institution owned and financed by the government and people of Belize. When the national university experiences financial problems, it is partly because people like el pulpo not only refuse to pay their taxes, but also embroil the government and people of Belize in multiple, expensive lawsuits in Belize and the United Kingdom. Since Lord pulpo makes more money in Belize than anyone else, then he should be paying more taxes in Belize than anyone else. No? Not so.
The absurdity of the present situation is that the spokesmen of the Opposition People’s United Party have already begun to blame the UB board, the Ministry of Education and the Government of Belize for the present university crisis. Lord pulpo will get a free ride while the stupid and hysterical party politics distracts and confuses the people of Belize. The University of Belize was founded by a People’s United Party government in August of 2000. The then Opposition United Democratic Party spent years and years attacking the national university in their newspaper and on their radio station. During those years, the UDP was on Lord pulpo’s payroll. So, they attacked Evan X Hyde, a Belizean taxpayer who was the first UB board chairman. Foolishness, but a calculated foolishness in the service and to the benefit of el pulpo. This is how the octopus exploits the PUDP two party system, subverts it in Belize so that Belizeans attack each other instead of confronting the real enemy – pulpo.
Once pulpo’s party wins in Britain, Belize will become an even more agitated nation. Our speculation is that the survival of Belize will then depend on our breaking openly with the British. This has never happened before. The PUP, in their fighting for independence, disrespected the British once or twice, but they never broke with the British. They didn’t dare. This guy pulpo intends to turn Belize into his personal plaything. This will become even more obvious once David Cameron enters number 10 Downing Street. Belize will then be forced to become a republic. Zapata and Villa type leaders will begin to emerge, and they will receive support from desperate Belizeans. This is because el pulpo will have exposed Belize’s two-party democracy for what it is – a tool of Her Majesty and the British government.
As nationalist Belizeans, we do not wish for the turmoil which is coming to be visited upon Belize. This is pulpo’s doing. Since his re-colonization invasion in 1985, Lord pulpo has sucked us dry. If Mr. Barrow is too much of a British gentleman to lead the real resistance, then, as we said before, there will be Zapatas and Villas who will come out of the Belizean woodwork. And, by the way, these Zapatas and Villas will not come from behind the zinc fence. They will come from the streets of Belize City and the villages in the Belizean countryside.
Power to the people. Power in the struggle.