by Colin Hyde

So, the judge decided that Mister Selgado should spend the next 10 years, that’s 3,652 days, as a guest of Mr. Murillo at the prison. Mr. Selgado is the most high-profile prisoner since the highly respected and well-liked Mr. Cirilo Mahung fell from grace. No situation in this world is all bad. The report is that while in prison Mr. Cirilo, who was a top mathematician, gave lessons to fellow inmates to help them pass their school exams. Mr. Selgado will keep his sanity and do great service to God’s children who are in prison if he does some teaching too.

I’m not stingy with the advice. I’ve got something for the prison boss too. I suggest that he change the dress code for women to jublung. It’s certain that a sexily clad sexy lady appearing on the scene gives hope to prisoners, reminds them of what awaits when they leave the confines. But if the game there is about keeping the excitement level low, they should wear jublung.

XTV News said “the court found that on February 7, 2019, and several times thereafter, he [Selgado] asked street figure Giovanni Ramirez to kill Barnes [a woman] to stop her from testifying in a disciplinary hearing against him, which could have potentially led to him being disbarred.” It’s a grievous crime to plot someone’s murder.

Early in his career, Mr. Selgado rubbed many of us the wrong way when he boasted that he hadn’t lost any murder case. The best we can do to determine guilt or innocence is a court which, after hearing the arguments of those who prosecute and those who defend, decides which side did a better job based on law. We know the law isn’t God. We know that much depends on the evidence and how it is presented. We know that in democratic states the accused gets the benefit if there is doubt. We know that in murder cases many guilty people go free. Boasting about your ability to win murder cases wasn’t nice, Braa.

For his mitigation plea Mr. Selgado’s defense team cited the many pro bono cases he had done and his value to his family. This brother invested much in his future, and his ending up behind bars is his loss, and a great loss to many, primarily his loved ones.

The woman who was targeted for death was unforgiving. One report said she expressed that the threat on her life plagues her up to today. I don’t know of a person who wouldn’t be traumatized in such a situation.

Mr. Selgado is experiencing trauma magnified with the punishment the court served him. In this high-stakes case, it appears that what provoked Mr. Selgado to conceive the dastardly action never came up as part of the defense. The XTV report said Selgado wanted to stop Barnes “from testifying in a disciplinary hearing against him”, but in none of the lengthy discussions that were aired did I hear the defense lawyer mention the spot his client was in. Ms. Barnes feared for her life. Mr. Selgado feared for the destruction of his business and all that he had worked for, and jail, and because of that he decided to have Ms. Barnes murdered.

We know the allegation that Selgado wanted to put a halt to. We know that men who are 100% innocent of murder, men with an airtight alibi, have gone to the gallows rather than talk. I say, it’s possible that many gentle men have had murderous thoughts flit through their head. I wonder how many of us would have contemplated horrible murder if we saw everything we worked for about to go up in flames.

The fall of Mr. Selgado is a terrible tragedy. I don’t question the judgment or the penalty. I wonder only about the choices.

Disbelief over alcaldes’ choice of lawyer

Every man has a place in this world, a niche. It’s important for a man to know his place, and for people to know a man’s place. I don’t understand how roots Maya can go to court in tow of the multimillionaire corporate lawyer, Godfrey Smith. Bah, who cares about the soul, it’s about winning this war against the government.

The way the story goes in our system, the higher the price for the lawyer, the better your arguments will be presented in court, and the prize goes to who presents the best arguments. This Mr. Smith has racked up victory after victory under the Ashcroft banner. The fat paycheck for Smith doesn’t come from the Bank of England. When Lord Ashcroft sent donations to Ukraine it came from the nickels and dimes his bank collects from the ATM. Not that I mind money that originated from us going there to help those people who are under such terrible siege. When we forked over, what was it, $600 million to buy back BTL, we were told we overpaid. A story about was that none of that money ended up in Mr. Ashcroft’s account, that it went to some trust; but if we are allowed to guess, well, we know how roundabout money can be until it lands in the bottom of the pockets of the one who is smartest.

Kristen Ku, in the Amandala, said the alcaldes are in court as “a response to actions taken by the Attorney General six months ago when the AG intervened in the village of Indian Creek, replacing the alcalde and deputy alcalde based on the recommendation of the Village Council rather than the village community.” I’m not going into the innards of the case, not now. At this time, I’m only about expressing my disappointment with the alcaldes’ choice of lawyer.

Smith might be working pro bono, or on futures. I expect he and his boss are angling to be first in line when the pumping of oil from the earth begins. Aha, that’s the time when the fun for the corporates really peaks.

Andre Perez’s NEMO scares the daylights out of Belize

From Consejo to Barranco, Belizeans emptied their little savings to purchase supplies when they learned of a monster storm out there, with the potential to destroy us. We were trained to ignore all the wannabe meteorologists, to follow only the accredited sources. We should have known better. June is always too soon. It looks like Andre and NEMO didn’t get that memo.

XTV News, in a story titled, “NEMO explains alarmist Facebook post”, said NEMO announced on its Facebook page, “a hurricane watch with conditions possible within 48 hours”, and the message “was shared over 200 (sic) hundred times [by frantic Belizeans] before NEMO made a subsequent post apologizing for the gaffe.” After the absolute boner, Andre’s NEMO apologized – a proper sorry would be to repay people for their unnecessary expenditure. What about all the people who packed up and left San Pedro to scurry to high land? What about the anxiety? Yes, NEMO apologized, said it was only a demo, a trial run of educational messages to get us prepared for when we face the real haymaker.

You know, the lady warned us that that brother is a high-risk man. Well, this time he went too far. You know the repercussions here. No one forgets the little girl—or was it a boy?—who loved to cry wolf, to frighten people. And when a wolf heard about all the bad press he was getting, he visited that little girl, or boy, the intent being only to have a discussion. But when the little girl, or boy, hollered wolf in front of his/her face, the wolf lost all his self-control. And would you know, nobody came to the rescue, because they were tired of being played for fools.

For all of our sakes, we have to hope an apology is enough to restore the credibility of NEMO. We would be happiest if they don’t have the need to warn us about any hurricane again this year.