The situation was dangerous because the drivers of the Cabinet Ministers are also considered bodyguards, and one assumes they are armed. In fact, when a ruckus was raised a few years ago about the huge salaries of Ministerial drivers, including large overtime benefits, Government of Belize spokesmen pointed out the fact that drivers doubled as bodyguards, in an attempt to justify their inflated incomes. The situation at BTL headquarters involving Minister Fonseca could have become ugly, violent, or even bloody if Mr. Fonseca?s driver/bodyguard had attempted to intervene.

The People?s United Party is the biggest and richest organized gang in Belize, and their size and wealth give party officials a traditional sense of confidence. There are a few well-known PUP operatives who are, to tell the truth, notoriously arrogant. If PUP street confidence wavered any during the popular protests against their government between January 21 and February 4 of this year, the PUP national convention on February 20 in Santa Elena would have provided a timely injection of political steroids for the more macho party faithful.

Minister Fonseca is known to be aggressive and bold. Was there no one to counsel caution to the Hon. Ralph on a visit to a compound where hundreds of BTL workers had been publicly demonstrating in the heat less than 24 hours before, a compound which had been responsible for taking out Belize?s telecommunications for three hours just a day before?

The mood amongst the people of Belize, especially in the old capital, has become more angry. There are many workers, and they have the support of the masses of the old capital, who have lost trust in the Government of Belize. These workers believe that the Government of Belize?s leaders do not care for them, and, worse, do not respect them. There are many people in the old capital, as in the rest of the nation, who believe that the Government of Belize is actually laughing at us.

In the ideal situation within a parliamentary democracy, it should be the ruling party versus the party in Opposition. The fact that in Belize it now appears very much to be a case of the ruling party versus the people of Belize, is not an ideal situation. It is, moreover, a dangerous situation.

So dangerous it is, that we do not consider it wise to attempt to predict what will happen in Belize. To begin with, we at this newspaper cannot prove conclusively that the Government of Belize is as unpopular as it appears to be. The way that governments in Belize have behaved since self-government in 1964, they never concede, once elected to their five-year terms, that they may have lost their mandate. That is considered a no-no. What we can say with certainty, then, is that the Government of Belize will play hard ball.

The big problem for GOB is that the trade unions of Belize, as presently organized, have awesome power. They can disrupt the normal life of Belizeans, make daily life extremely uncomfortable, and they can cripple the economy if they become desperate. The trade unions of Belize who have been expressing their unhappiness for months, control the electricity, telecommunications and water of Belize. Notice we did not even mention the teachers, and they were the section of the unions which led and carried the protest torch between January 21 and February 4.

Belize did not reach where we are today, Thursday, March 17, 2005 in any hasty or unexpected manner. There has been a gradual build up to this. Where we are today is: we Belizeans are in a decided rejection mode where the ?borrow and spend now ? pay later? policies of the present government are concerned. The ruling faction of the ruling People?s United Party is locked into the ?borrow and spend now? mode because this is how they maintain their power within the party itself. So we believe we can say that from here to wherever, it is the party versus the people.

All power to the people.