Photo: Snapshot on Cuello’s website of its Caribbean Rum line
ORANGE WALK, Thurs. Nov. 23, 2023
Cuello’s Distillery Limited has now joined Travellers Liquors Limited in making objections to the proposed BZ$9 million loan by the Social Security Board (SSB) to Belize Premium Spirits and Liquors Ltd. (BPSL). The purpose of the 12-year loan would be to construct a new distillery, purchase equipment, and working capital.
The deadline for submissions of concerns or objections from the public was today, and the SSB will now proceed to make its determination on whether the loan will be approved or not. Cuello’s filed its objection on November 15 via a lawyer-letter signed by Senior Counsel Magali Marin-Young. The letter explains that a director/shareholder of BPSL, Waldir Atilano Cuello is a director and shareholder of Cuello’s.
Marin-Young explains that Cuello’s intends to take legal action against Waldir Cuello and BPSL’s intended project based on the fact that “he owes fiduciary duties” to Cuello’s. Outlined among those duties is that Waldir Cuello has “the duty to act bona fide towards our client and its businesses and not to place himself to be in a conflict with the well-being of our client.” Cuello’s concern is that Waldir Cuello has insider knowledge of their distillery and its operations including, but not limited to, their blends of rum and liquor.
The objection letter concludes with the affirmation that “the construction of BPSL’s new distillery, which is to be financed by your board, will place BPSL in competition with our client to our client’s financial prejudice.” Cuello’s, which operates out of Orange Walk Town, is the producer of the Caribbean Rums line under the emblem “Rums of Belize” and established itself as a formal company in 1986. The enterprise started out as a family partnership named Cuello Brothers in 1968. It was initiated by patriarch, Ignacio Cuello who started producing strong rum in the 1950s. He was joined in the partnership by his 5 sons. According to Cuello’s website, the next generation of Cuellos took over the business in 2009.
This latest SSB investment proposal has led to intensified criticism from the Opposition United Democratic Party which accuses that under the Briceño administration, less than “grade A” investments are being favoured for financing out of the Social Security Fund. An article in this week’s UDP mouthpiece, The Guardian, makes the charge that the SSB is entertaining loans that would not see the light of day in the commercial banking system.