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Wolves howl at Johnny?s door

EditorialWolves howl at Johnny?s door


So. The real ?national? convention of the ruling People?s United Party will be held on Saturday, February 19, at Independence Hall. The PUP convention on Sunday, February 20, at Santa Elena will be for show and for fun. The work of choosing certain party executive positions will be done on Saturday, behind closed doors. The Central Party Council, comprised of delegates from each of the 29 electoral divisions (4 delegates from ?unelected? divisions; 5 delegates from divisions with area representatives), plus 12 or 15 various party officials, will decide on a few party posts for which two or more candidates have been nominated.


The high profile posts to be chosen are the two Deputy Party Leader positions. Five Cabinet Ministers have been nominated for two Deputy Party Leader posts. The two incumbents are Deputy Prime Minister Johnny Brice?o (Orange Walk Central) and Belize Rural North area representative Max Samuels. The five 2005 nominees are Mr. Brice?o, PUP Chairman/Health Minister Vildo Marin, Works Minister Jose Coye (Caribbean Shores), Tourism Minister Godfrey Smith (Pickstock) and Fisheries Minister Mike Espat. (Human Development Minister Sylvia Flores was briefly a candidate, but has settled for a different party executive post.)


Our sources say that as the race enters the last two days, Vildo Marin (Corozal Bay) and Mike Espat (Toledo East) are a joint entry, and our sources also indicate that this Marin/Espat slate is being supported by Corozal Southeast area representative, Hon. Florencio Marin, and Home Affairs Minister Ralph Fonseca.


The interesting aspect of the Vildo Marin/Mike Espat slate, insofar as the nation of Belize is concerned, is that this slate likely represents the hard line faction of the party, those who would like to return things to the pre-August 12 party stability, those who seek to discipline all those who have dared to disturb the status quo since August 12.


It must be that Vildo Marin, who became party chairman when the reform-minded Jorge Espat abdicated the position in August of 2001, is assured of high level support, because why else would he abandon the chairmanship to run for the higher position? Why else would the safety first Vildo roll the dice so recklessly?


The man who is fighting for his party position, his prestige and his credibility, is Deputy Prime Minister Johnny Brice?o, who is in danger of becoming a Deputy Prime Minister who has no executive post within his own party.


Our sources say that the Party Leader/Prime Minister, Hon. Said Musa, has verbally committed to supporting the Deputy Prime Minister in Saturday?s convention. But party consensus is that the wolves are howling at Johnny?s door.


As we look back, we can see that Mr. Brice?o placed himself in party jeopardy by becoming a part of the G-7 initiative, but he did not assure himself the political benefits he could have by playing his cards well where the G-7 role of reform/rejuvenation was concerned.


The last time the PUP was this agitated internally was in 1994. Both Johnny Brice?o and Vildo Marin, under the de facto leadership of Florencio Marin, were part of a dissident faction which had ?issues? with Ralph Fonseca?s role in the previous PUP government administration (1989-1993). At that time, Mr. Price was still Leader of the PUP, and there was essentially a troika defending the party status quo ? Mr. Price, Mr. Musa, and Mr. Fonseca.


When that disturbance was settled at Independence Hall in November of 1994, the day before the ?show? national convention at Baker?s Ranch, Johnny Brice?o, who had become an area representative for the first time in June of 1993, became a co-Chairman of the mighty PUP, along with Max Samuels.


At a Central Party Council meeting held a few months earlier in 1994, when almost half of the 29 constituencies had boycotted the meeting, Said Musa had been chosen Deputy Party Leader, to replace Florencio Marin, to go along with the incumbent Deputy Party Leader, V.H. Courtenay. (Florencio Marin had resigned his party DPL post in protest.) At the November settlement in 1994, Musa remained a Deputy Party Leader, but Marin was not reinstated.


The point is that Johnny Brice?o, the son of former Cabinet Minister Elijio ?Joe? Brice?o, a Cabinet member from 1969 to 1984, had risen like a meteor, and Johnny had benefited greatly from membership in the 1994 ?reform? movement insiders refer to as ?May 15.?


The danger for Johnny now, however, is that he may be punished for membership in the 2004 ?reform? movement, widely known as G-7. If he is punished on February 19, then we will have to conclude that his vulnerability really began on December 28, 2004, when he, as the senior member, constitutionally speaking, of G-7, allowed G-7 to collapse without realizing the predicament he himself would then face.


This weekend?s other two Deputy Party Leader candidates, Coye and Smith, were both members of G-7. Our sources say that the Albert and Lake Independence committees/delegates are thirsting for revenge on all G-7 ?traitors.? The Deputy Prime Minister, we therefore repeat, is in a dangerous situation. If he had played his political cards correctly, Albert and Lake I, at least, would have been fighting hard for him.


Between Saturday and Sunday, other issues will be clarified, such as the political credibility of the four Southside City standard bearers ? Dickie Bradley (Queen?s Square); Philip Brackett (Mesopotamia); Dolores Balderamos-Garcia (Port Loyola); and Remijio Montejo (Collet), who have behaved like mutes and minions since August 12. These four, it appears, stand to be protected by the Marin/Espat slate.


Needless to say, things can change dramatically between now, Thursday morning, and then, Saturday afternoon. This is the PUP version of democracy. They call it ?guided democracy?. It takes place behind closed doors. Que viva.

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