Photo: Minister Oscar Requena (left) at the scene

by Kristen Ku

TOLEDO DISTRICT, Wed. May 3, 2023

On Sunday night at around 8:00 o’clock, Hon. Oscar Requena, Minister of Labor and Area Representative for Toledo West was reportedly driving after attending to official duties when he swerved off the road and into a lamp post near Mafredi Village. Hon. Requena told local reporters that he reacted to an oncoming motorcycle that was in his way, which he wished to avoid at all costs.

“Yes, over the weekend, unfortunately, I was, you know, carrying out my constituency duties. And on my way back, unfortunately, there was a cyclist that came into my way, you know, right where I was coming. And to be honest, I had to decide between having the potential of knocking down someone or diverting away from that individual. I chose to do the latter. Praise God, you know, it was a very close call. I had to really maneuver the vehicle,” explained Hon. Requena.

The minister exited the accident unharmed, but his government-issued Chevy Silverado did not. It received extensive damages. Minister Requena shut down media speculations that he was on a joy ride, assuring that he was on work business. He didn’t quite clarify whether or not rumors of him leaving the scene before the arrival of the police were accurate.

Chester Williams, the Commissioner of Police, had reportedly told reporters that the minister was met by police after the RTA. Hon. Requena reportedly said that he was actually asked to leave by the first responders following the incident.

“What happened is that the persons who reached to, you know, to check on me, asked me to leave because obviously I was shaken. Yeah. And I left. And, you know, thereafter, I had people who came to support and they moved the vehicle … I went home, you know, I went to rest because I was shaking. I didn’t see the police,” said Hon. Requena.

In regards to the lamppost, the hit was significant as it caused it to break in half, and that created a power outage for six hours throughout multiple villages in the Toledo District. After the accident the Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) notified the public of the unplanned outage via a Facebook post. In the post BEL told villagers of Mafredi, San Antonio, Crique Jute, Blue Creek, Jordan and Aguacate that the power supply was “expected to be restored by 2:00 a.m.”