by Kristen Ku
BELIZE CITY, Mon. Apr. 22, 2024
Reports late tonight have confirmed that Hon. Michael “Mike” Espat, Minister of State for Finance, Economic Development and Investment, has passed away. He succumbed today due to heart failure while at home in Belmopan.
According to reliable sources, the 76-year-old had been undergoing health complications for some time now. Around the year 2000, he was involved in a traffic accident following which he was hospitalized in the U.S. for four months, one month of which he was in a coma.
Minister Espat won his first election back in 1989, and since then he has only lost in 1993 and 2008.
As Area Representative for Toledo East, under the People’s United Party (PUP), this loss for the party would call for a by-election.
He is the second PUP area representative in the current administration to pass away during his term in office, the first being David Vega for Corozal Bay who passed away due to COVID-19 on the day of his swearing-in in December 2021. His sister, Elvia Vega Samos became his successor after winning the by-election.