Mark Espat, Belize politician appointed to reduce Belize's debt load.

Belmopan, Belize, 19th March, 2012. Following the appointment of the new Cabinet last week, the Government of Belize has today announced the commencement of a review of its external public sector debt and related liabilities. To conduct the urgent review, Prime Minister  Dean Barrow has appointed a Debt Review Team led by former People’s United Party politician Mark Espat. The other members of the team include Minister of Government Godwin Hulse, Financial Secretary Joseph Waight, Central Bank Governor Glenford Ysaguirre, Central Bank Deputy Governor Christine Vellos, and Advisor in the Ministry of Finance Alan Slusher.

A government press release says that the Belize government has retained external advisors to “..support the process of preparing comprehensive fiscal and macro projections, and identifying debt management alternatives.”

The press release quotes Mr. Barrow as saying that “A pre-eminent priority of our recently re-elected Government is to examine thoroughly our country’s debt dynamics, with a resolute view to placing the nation’s medium and long term finances on a sustainable footing. We are keenly conscious of the effects of the great recession, a historic downturn from which Belize has not been insulated. The review of our obligations must therefore take into account the realities of the new regional and global economic landscape, as well as the likelyimpact of the contingent liabilities facing the country.”

Chaired by the Prime Minister, the Debt Review Team held its inaugural meeting on Friday, March 16, 2012. Prime Minister Barrow won a narrow election victory at General Elections on 7 March 2012. His mandate, previously a super majority in the Belize parliament, has been severely eroded to just two seats in an election fraught with alleged irregularities, the results of which are being contested in election petitions filed by the opposition Peoples United Party.

Office of Belize Prime Minister and Cabinet, City of Belmopan

Belmopan 13 March 2012 – Reelected Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow today unveiled his 2012 cabinet following the narrow victory of his United Democratic Party achieved in General Elections on 7 March 2o12. The new Belize Cabinet is remarkable for the record appointment of unelected party supporters – a total of four – to be full ministers of government sidelining elected parliamentarians that slogged it through a grueling electoral campaign.

The four appointed minsters are all close allies of Mr. Barrow and include a former automotive mechanic turned farmer, two women environmentalists and a former government archivist. Answering questions today at a press conference to present his new government, Mr. Barrow justified bringing in unelected parliamentarians to form one fourth of his cabinet by saying that he was looking for talent, diversity and brainpower to give Belize the best cabinet it has ever had. The unelected ministers were first appointed senators by Mr. Barrow, then appointed ministers – the only device available to him to bring in unelected parliamentarians into the cabinet. The following is the full list of ministers in the Belize Cabinet 2012:

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow – Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Development
Minister of State Santiago Castillo (with special emphasis on Economic Development)

Hon. Gaspar Vega – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources and Agriculture
Minister of State Hugo Patt (with special emphasis on Agriculture)

Hon. Erwin Contreras – Minister of Trade, Investment, Private Sector Development and Consumer Protection

Hon. Senator Liselle Alamilla – Forestry, Fisheries, Sustainable Development and Indigenous People

Hon. Senator Joy Grant – Minister of Energy, Science and Technology and Public Utilities

Hon. Wilfred Elrington – Attorney General and Minister of Foreign Affairs

Hon. John Saldivar – National Security, Police and Belize Defense Force
Minister of State Elvin Penner – with special emphasis on Immigration and Border Protection

Hon. Michael Finnegan – Minister of Housing and Urban Development

Hon. Rene Montero – Minister of Works and Transport
Minister of State Edmond Castro – with special emphasis on Transport

Hon. Manuel Heredia – Minister of Tourism and Culture

Hon. Pablo Marin – Minister of Health

Hon. Senator Godwin Hulse – Minister of Labour, Local Government and Rural Development

Hon. Senator Charles Gibson – Public Service and Elections and Boundaries

Hon. Anthony Martinez – Minister of Human Development, Social Transformation and Poverty Alleviation
Hon. Mark King – special emphasis on the Conscious Youth Development Programme and the Gang Truce Programme

Hon. Patrick Faber – Education, Youth and Sports
Minister of State Herman Longsworth (with special emphasis on Youth and Sports)

Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow

Belize City, Belize 8 March 2012 – Newly reelected Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow has said he will turn to Hugo Chavez for assistance in providing low cost fuel as part of his plan to reduce the cost of living in Belize. Mr. Barrow was speaking at a press conference in Belize City after narrowly escaping defeat in general elections held yesterday. His United Democratic Party won 17 seats versus 14 seats for the opposition Peoples United Party in the country’s 31 seat parliament. It had previously enjoyed a super majority of 25 seats  in parliament.

Mr. Barrow said that his government will continue its pro-poor agenda and that by importing fuel direct from Venezuela, he will cut down on high priced  imports from traditional fuel suppliers. He said that while the plan was not divulged in his party’s election manifesto, he would immediately open a dialogue with Venezuela to obtain fuel under the Petro Caribe plan promoted by Mr. Chavez. Currently Exxon, Shell and Texaco provide fuel imports to Belize. Mr. Barrow further promised to establish a government oil refinery within 18 months to process the country’s crude oil which is currently exported, in an effort to further reduce reliance on fuel imports. Mr. Barrow added that his government will look at producing its own bio-fuel and other fuel alternatives.

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It's a jungle out there! Prince Harry in the Belize jungle during his royal visit.

By M.A. Romero

Belmopan, Belize 3 March 2012 – Prince Harry concluded his one-day visit to Belize with a tour of the Xunantunich Maya temple in western Belize. The prince toured the ruins of the ancient Maya civilization and climbed to the very top of the 135 foot El Castillo from whence a panoramic view of the surrounding jungle and El Peten in Guatemala can be enjoyed. The day was hot and humid and the prince came down from the summit drenched in sweat but taking the local clime in good stead as he was entertained by Maya dancers who played the marimba and performed their traditional deer hunting dance. To top off the visit to Xunantunich, a marching band complete with cheerleaders from the nearby San Jose Succotz high school livened up the morning event. Photo by Chaa Creek.

The third in line successor to the British throne started off his day early with a visit to the adjacency zone at the western border between Guatemala and Belize and was entertained by schoolchildren from both countries who performed songs of peace waving the flags of Belize, Guatemala and Britain. Belize has a centuries old territorial dispute with Guatemala inherited from the time it was British Honduras.

Harry spent the night at a splendid jungle resort, Chaa Creek, owned by British expats Mick and Lucy Fleming. For security purposes the location of his night lodging was not revealed until today. The Prince visited an on-site tropical butterfly farm, explored medical plant trails and wondered around the extensive rainforest on which the resort sits. The Flemings are a rags to riches story having come to Belize as broke newlyweds who ended up living in the jungle and eventually building a world-class resort.

Prince Harry was a quick study in picking up the dance movements from a local Belize girl at the Belmopan Street Festival.

Last night the prince drank Belize rum and danced with local girls in the streets of the City of Belmopan, Belize’s capital.  A street festival was held by city fathers during which he dedicated a new street named in honor of his grandmother and British monarch Queen Elizabeth II. Prince Harry’s ebullient nature even had the country’s stuffy Governor General briefly take a  quick dance on the street with a local Garifuna performer.

Thousands of Belizeans turned out to line the streets and public events to get a glimpse of the prince. Dozens of reporters flew in to cover the royal visit. The Belize Tourist Board provided free accommodations, food and transport for the foreign press. The street festival in Belmopan was well covered by the press but today the local government press office authorities restricted movements of the media at the Maya ruin and kept them at a distance. In his last television interview before leaving the country the Prince was asked him what stood out the most for him when in Belize. He promptly replied, “Without a doubt, the people.”

In a letter written to Belizeans while flying to the Bahamas, Prince Harry said:

“Thank you for such a warm and friendly welcome to such a beautiful country.

“In only 23 hours, I feel as though I have seen so much of Belize through the thousands of people who lined the way.

“I am hugely grateful for the very happy memories, and I’m very sad to leave. I will pass on your good wishes to my grandmother, our Queen, on her Diamond Jubilee.

“Tenk yu,

['Thank you in Creole]

“Harry.”

See Prince Harry Dancing in Belize and then snooker the Belize Governor General Sir Colville Young into dancing:

Interview with Prince Harry by Belize Tourist Board:

Tourism is one the better sources of employment for many Belizeans

The record high unemployment figures have become a factor in the political campaign leading up to the 7 March Belize General Elections. The government’s Statistics Institute has today issued a press release attempting to reframe the figures that show that one out of four Belizeans is out of work:

The Statistical Institute of Belize, as the only official source of unemployment statistics for Belize, wishes to explain the difference in the last two unemployment rates that it has published which show a 12.5% rate in 2009 and a 23.2% rate in 2010.

The reason for the difference is that labour force surveys provide only a snapshot of the unemployment situation at the time the survey is taken. As further explained below, the 12.5% rate was based on a labour force survey taken in September 2009 while the 23.2% rate was based on data collected during the 2010 Population & Housing Census. While the two studies asked the same questions to determine who was employed or unemployed, the difference in the time the surveys were taken accounts for much of the variation between the two rates. This result is similar to 2000 when the census produced a national unemployment rate of 20.3% while the two labour force surveys done in April of the two years preceding the census year, showed rates of 14.3% and 12.8%.

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Visitors ascend the Xunantunich Maya Temple in western Belize

Prince Harry will set foot in Belize on March 2, 2012 and will be in the country just short of a full day – 23 ½ hours to be precise. But according to a press release from the Belize Foreign Affairs protocol office today, it should be the best stop he makes on his Caribbean Tour of the Bahamas, Jamaica and Belize in celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee.

He is the second child of Prince Charles and Lady Diana and he is visiting Belmopan and San Ignacio during his whirlwind visit to Belize which his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II has set up for him; she picked Belize for Harry because of his free and adventurous spirit and humanitarian heart. So the government of Belize, along with the Belize Tourism Board, is organizing a packed schedule for the Prince to maximize his visit to the country. The good part is that the visit will be a less formal one which will engage him much more with the people of Belize and focusing less on a state level visit with more official ceremonial activities.

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