“Stand Up, Belizean!” – Bredda David & Tribal Vibes
Monday, October 24, 2022
Minister Louis Farrakhan declared that, “You’re small, but you’re powerful!”, referring to our little Belize in a strong message delivered at Bird’s Isle back in 1975. Indeed, this little Jewel keeps “punching above our weight,” though often in the wrong categories. On the bright side, we have blazed a trail now being followed by other countries with our Blue Bonds debt swap for environmental conservation; just last week our Belize High School Robotics Team returned with Gold from the First Global Challenge 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland; Belize remains the undisputed 3-peat world champions in Pok Ta Pok (Mayan ball game); and our wonderful climate, beautiful people, excellent sport fishing and amazing tourist sites and resorts make the Jewel a top destination for visitors from across the globe. But we have our down sides, too many, in fact. One day soon, hopefully, our national football team will begin gaining serious respect from the rest of Central America and the Caribbean. Our country’s image suffered for a number of years while our flag (“of convenience”) was being flown all over the world on foreign vessels guilty of major international fishing, labor and human rights violations. And, as small as we were, and once proud of our “peaceful haven of democracy” at our Independence in 1981, in a matter of two short decades following the introduction of crack cocaine, television and a massive influx of refugees from war-torn Central America, by the turn of the century Belize was, and remains among the most murderous states on the planet. Worldpopulationreview.com lists the “10 countries with the Highest Murder Rates (per 100k people) in 2017,” and our little Belize was listed at #7 in the world with a rate of 37.8, for 142 murders that year.
But we will get back to those depressing numbers another time. Right now, we want to look more closely at how we handle ourselves as a people, and specifically how our elected leaders handle our affairs when dealing with large international entities looking to do business in Belize, especially in cases where the impacts of their particular endeavour, good and bad, may rest with us for generations to come. In that regard, we would want our country to be among the top performers in the world, when it comes to protecting our patrimony while getting the best possible outcome for the citizens of Belize. So far, after the nightmare of the Super Bond, the negotiated deal with the Nature Conservancy looks like a big plus for Belize; not perfect, but a big plus still, compared to where we were before. Kudos to our government leaders who navigated us through that process, but we must “keep watch with the angels” to ensure that they don’t get careless and spoil the Blue Bond deal in the future, or we might find ourselves back at “square one”.
With the spotlight recently on the drafting of a Marine Spatial Plan (MSP) for Belize, it does appear that we may be on the right track; but there is still a worrisome measure of doubt and pliancy revealed in the language used by P.M. John Briceño when discussing the decision- making process in regards to the latest E.I.A. submission for the Port of Belize’s Waterloo cruise tourism project.
(See “Belize starts drafting its Marine Spatial Plan” on page 46 of Amandala for Friday, October 21, 2022.) In joining hands with The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Belize Program Director, Julie Robinson at the launch of the “Marine Spatial Plan design process” at the Belize Best Western Biltmore Plaza in Belize City on Wednesday, October 19, Prime Minister John Briceño sounded the right notes, declaring his “government’s commitment to ensuring the wise use of the blue natural capital for the benefit of all of us.” The TNC program director had explained “in a letter sent to the CEO in the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management last month that the creation of the plan, which is to be spearheaded by the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute (CZMAI), is a ‘public, participatory process… that is based on science, information and local knowledge’… and ‘can be used to decide the best locations’… for ‘industrial and large commercial developments such as cruise and cargo ports.’”
The TNC director had also noted to the CEO, “that it would be best that an MSP be completed before decisions are made about such high-impact projects.” Moreover, she added that, “An MSP can be an important asset for Belize when applying for large grants or loans, as it demonstrates that there is an integrated plan for the coastal and marine waters for uses and activities.”
In an interview earlier in the week (See “No cutting corners for Waterloo, says PM” on page 36 of Amandala for Friday, October 21, 2022), P.M. Briceño had assured citizens that, “We must follow the process, and that applies for somebody that’s investing 1 million to one that’s investing 300 million,” and that “… we’re not going to cut corners, because even if we were to attempt to do so, other people are going to sue, and it’s going to end up in court.” He maintained that “… We are going to abide by what the EIA tells us, and if the EIA says yes, it’s a good project under whatever conditions, it will have the full support of the government; but if the EIA tells us that it should not be done for X, Y, Z, then we as a government will abide by that.”
Meanwhile, it is noted, as the article mentions, that “The company has made its own legal threats, claiming that the Government of Belize could be in breach of the UK-Belize investment treaty and that they could resort to international arbitration if the company is denied approval of the project.”
Having recently been on the losing end of a lawsuit, our prime minister may be a bit tentative in dealing with this financial Goliath who has yet to lose an international arbitration case against the government of Belize. Dodging a clash with the banking mogul whom many consider to be a past sponsor of the PUP, Hon. Briceño alluded to the nature of the marketplace to work itself out, while remaining cautious with the government’s position: “So, a part of it has to be where the private sector decides which way to go, as opposed to the government deciding, well, oh, this is the one that we want to build; because should we do that, then we are going to end up in court also. We need to follow the law.”
There are members of his own Government who have come out strongly in support of Waterloo, because of the supposed $400 million to be invested; but likewise there are many other considerations and possible repercussions with generational impact that are being weighed by environmental, social and financial experts. Buying some time, the P.M. also remarked that the first draft of a National Ports Policy, which should be a prerequisite before any cruise port project is considered for approval, has been completed, but it has not yet come to Cabinet.
When the first draft of the Waterloo cruise project E.I.A. was rejected by the National Environmental Assessment Committee (NEAC) in December of last year, it was reported that Waterloo officials claimed they had been approached for bribes, but they have never given any evidence to back up that claim. All are humans: members of the NEAC, the National Ports Authority, and all those involved in the development and design of the Belize Sustainable Oceans Plan (BSOP) – namely, officials from the Ministry of Blue Economy, representatives of the Fisheries Department, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute (CZMAI).
When all is said and done, if the process works as it should, P.M. John Briceño and his Cabinet will still have to make the final call after reviewing the recommendations of the “experts.” They may also be guided by the words of Minister of the Blue Economy, Hon. Andre Perez, who noted that “challenges, conflicts, and controversies may arise, but the MSP will be viewed as a guiding document to protect the country and will enable all stakeholders to stick to the principle of developing the nation sustainably.” Stand up, Belizeans!