By Wellington C. Ramos, Adjunct Professor in Political Science and History

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Since the People’s United Party won the General Elections in November of 2020 by a landslide with a margin of 26 seats to 5 UDP seats, many Belizeans were hoping that they were going to bring about fundamental changes in their lives. Instead, after three years of the PUP in office, most Belizeans are witnessing more of the same that they experienced under the UDP, and the rich people are getting richer while the poor and working-class people are getting poorer.

Many Belizeans are already convinced that whether it is the UDP or PUP governing our country, it makes no difference, because for decades most of our economic, social and political conditions have not changed. Belize under these two political parties is being governed by a few families, relatives, friends, supporters, businesses and a small ethnic group over the majority of Belizean citizens.

The governments we have in Belize cannot be classified as democratic under this current system but more like an oligarchic plutocracy. This is a government for a few families and wealthy individuals. When we look at most of the Ministers that we have today, they make up the minority in Belize’s population, and a majority of them are related to each other and come from the same ethnic group.

There are a few Creoles, about one Maya, many Mestizos (mixed with Maya and Spanish), many people of Arab descent, and no Garifuna or East Indian person in the National Assembly. The Belizean people are not happy with this, but are afraid to speak out due to their poor economic conditions and fear of retaliation and vindictiveness coming from government officials against their family members and themselves.

In political science there is a term called “Representative Democracy” — which results when each and every ethnic group or groups has a representative in the National Assembly to speak on their citizens’ behalf. There is also a term known as “Proportional Representation,” where each ethnic group is given the right to select their own representatives, to be a part of the House of Representatives or Parliament. This is what is known as “Real Democracy”. Are the people, leaders, members of the political parties and the businesses in Belize aware of this?

I can safely say that not many of our people are aware of this, but some of our people who know are keeping this information away from our citizens. Why? Because the people who control the Government of Belize from these few families, want to continue to maintain and retain power forever at the expense of our poor and working-class citizens. Now, how can Minister Dolores Balderamos Garcia expect to have “respect, unity and cooperation” among our ethnic groups in Belize under this type of undemocratic system? Below is an extract that I gathered from her recent interview with News5:

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs

“Through the court ruling, the Government of Belize recognized customary land tenure of the Maya people. Now, that doesn’t mean a sort of a full extensive ownership to the total exclusion of everybody else. It is now a matter of our government being able to balance competing interest and private land with the communal land tenure of the Maya people.

“So, I wouldn’t want us to go too far that they want to claim everything. I don’t think that is true. What the Maya people quite rightly are asserting is that customary land tenure and the communal right to land. As Belizeans, let us respect one another. Respect has to be a two-way street.

“Regardless of where we are, regardless of what ethnicity we are, regardless of what part of the country we come from – that respect. And then, of course, unity. We must have one Belize. What George Price and his people back then, the fathers of our country and mothers of our country, what they fought for was a Belize.” (End of quote)

Her PUP Belize government is disrespecting the Maya, Garifuna and all the indigenous people in Belize by not abiding by the CCJ ruling. Also, by not passing laws in the National Assembly to allow the Indigenous peoples of Belize to have autonomy and control over their lands. Since Shyne Barrow became the new leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP), I have not heard what is his and the UDP party’s position on the Indigenous people’s lands in the country of Belize.

I strongly urge him and his party to state their position on this issue, because this will be a major issue in the upcoming Municipal Elections, the next General Election in 2025, and all subsequent elections in the country of Belize. The Garifuna Nation and its citizens are monitoring all the political parties and the Government of Belize’s policies and actions and how they affect our people’s lives in that country.

Since 1802 when our Garifuna people first arrived in the country we know as Belize today, our people have been experiencing racism and many other types of human rights abuses, especially as it relates to our land rights, but we remained quiet.

Our younger generation of Garifuna citizens are demanding that we confront these issues head- on, and we are honoring their requests. Before the Maya people went to court against the Belize Government, they were negotiating with both PUP and UDP to reach an amicable solution with their land problems. It took the Maya people many years to come to the conclusion that both the PUP and the UDP had no intentions to grant them their rights to their lands. I think that the PUP and UDP are united in their stand to deny the Indigenous peoples of Belize their rights to their lands. They see the Indigenous peoples’ lands as the source of their wealth and political power. They also believe that they are entitled to these Indigenous peoples’ lands. The failure of the PUP and UDP governments to comply with the court judgments is saying it all.

To be continued