An Independent Belize: what does it mean?

By Bill Lindo

Belize City: Feb 4^th 2023:  We say that the country nestled between Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the west and south, and the Caribbean Sea on the east is independent, and has been so since September 21^st 1981. But I would say that Belize is on the road to Independence. It is not yet there.

I would suggest that the word independence as applied to a country and especially a nation-state means political, financial, and economic independence. There is no doubt that Belize has political independence.  The National Assembly, seated in Belmopan makes “laws” that instruct the citizens of Belize on how to conduct themselves and with each other.  The executive branch of government headquartered in Belmopan, runs the day-to-day business of government by collecting taxes, and spending those funds through a budget that the National Assembly approves each fiscal year based on decisions made by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet. Importantly, like in other independent societies, the Prime Minister controls of the police and army, which he can use against internal and external enemies of Belize.

When Belize got its independence in 1981 it didn’t get neither financial nor economic independence.  In 2013 the National Bank of Belize opened its doors to the Belizean public as a commercial bank to be owned and controlled by Belizeans.  Today, Belize has four commercial banks. Three are foreign owned and control $ 3.6 billion dollars’ worth of deposits versus a measly $ 79 million (2%) in deposits in the locally owned commercial bank. The real power of the foreign banks is the loan portfolio; the foreign banks issued some $ 2.3 billion dollars (97.1%) versus $ 68.8 million dollars by the only locally owned commercial bank. The other financial institutions – the credit unions, as of September 2022, had issued to their members some $ 645.7 million dollars in loans. In addition, the four commercial banks possess some $ 665 million dollars in excess liquidity and the credit unions have about $ 296.5 million dollars. So, about $ 961.5 million dollars or close to one billion dollars exist in excess liquidity which can be loaned out to Belizeans, but are not because as one banker said, “there are no bankable projects” in Belize.

Looking at Belize’s economy, a small country with a population of 440,000 persons, growing at an average of 2.6% per year, with some 52% of the employed workforce living above their means, an astute observer will comment that trouble is in the making.   According to the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB), the merchandise trade of Belize for 2022, imports increased by some 30% to some $ 2.76 billion dollars, a large portion of which was imported fuel and lubricants. Meanwhile, exports and re-exports also increased by 11.4% to some $ 587.3 million, leaving a negative trade balance of $ 2.17 billion dollars. This is the largest negative trade balance in the history of Belize and is clearly unsustainable.

The decision on January 1^st 2023, by government of Belize to institute $ 5.00 per hour as the minimum wage, means that some 30,000 workers are now below the poverty line. This has reduced the amount of poverty in Belize to 42%, which is still too high for a country with a population of only 440,000 persons.  It is expected that the GDP of Belize for 2022 will turn-out to some $ 5 billion dollars or so.  Any country that imports more than 30% of its GDP cannot have a sustainable economy. NONE. Belize is now at 53%. (Look at Sri Lanka today or Lebanon, or Pakistan.) NO country can import 75% of goods that are consumed locally for a long time. Someday it must stop.

Independence is not easy to deal with. In fact, it was George Price and the militants within his People’s United Party (PUP) who insisted with the threat of force that Belize will get its independence in 1981. Make no mistake — Belize owes a great debt to Cuban Leader Fidel Castro for our independence.  The British were opposed to Belize’s independence unless the government of Belize go along with theirplan to “balkanize” Belize by giving all or at least half of the Toledo District to Guatemala as settlement for the Anglo-Guatemala Dispute. (As a side – this is why the Mayan Land Rights Issue is so full of thorns – some sectors of Belize want to “balkanize” Belize in deference to the Anglo-Americans).  George Price approached the Cubans for assistance and got a personal commitment from Fidel Castro that Cuba would station troops in Belize to guarantee Belize’s Independence from Guatemala.  The Americans went ballistic and instructed the British to station troops in Belize to deter Guatemala for “an appropriate time”.  Why?  The Americans were afraid of Cuban troops on the mainland of Central America, because it was Guatemala who help the Americans train and house rebels from the failed “Bay of Pigs” invasion of Cuba.

Some 2,390 years ago, the Greek, Plato wrote, “Ruin comes when the trader, lifted up by wealth, becomes ruler.” And American President Thomas Jefferson, who wrote its Declaration of Independence wrote, “merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.” The great German-American Friedrich List the economist who created modern Germany, wrote in 1845, “The merchant imports poisons as readily as medicines. He enervates whole nations through opium and spirituous liquors… In the time of war he provides the enemy with arms and ammunition. He would if it were possible, sell field and meadows to foreign countries, and when he had sold the last bit of land would place himself on board his ship and export himself.”  Neither George Price, nor any subsequent Belizean government has been able to “discipline” the merchants and bankers of Belize – and so, forty-one years later, Belize still has no financial nor economic Independence.

The former British colonial masters have done a good job on the minds of most Belizeans. We as a people look down on our own. We do not believe that Belizeans, especially roots Belizeans are capable.  We look to foreign experts to guide us, to instruct us. Even in the matter of justice we look to foreigners to dispense justice because Belizeans cannot be trusted. Shame on Belize!  In 1980, two countries of the United Nations voted against Belize, while over 180 nations voted for Belize to be free – to take its place on the international stage. But what did we do with our freedom/independence? We, in 2019 voted by some 55% to let the Anglo-American International Court of Justice (ICJ) decide how much (or if any) of Belize’s territory will be turn over to Guatemala to settle the Anglo-Guatemala Dispute.  The local elites and most of the middle-classes supported letting the ICJ decide Belize’s future. Belizean act “like crabs-in-a-barrel” towards each other but adore the “bacraman” like a god.

Last Wednesday, on February 1^st, 2023, the government gave out the keys to some 50 new home owners. The PUP government in its PlanBelize Manifesto commits to building 10,000 new concrete houses in five years or some 2,000 per year. So far, some 260 houses have been built.  During 1998 – 2008, the PUP government had built close to 11,000 houses, which cost the government close to $ 255 million dollars over eight years. Two problems emerged from that experience – the roots Belizeans could not afford the new homes, and the country lacked the foreign exchange to adequately pay for the imports of materials to construct the homes. A large part of it ended-up in the Super Bond.  Currently, government is providing a “starter-concrete – 500 sq. ft.” house for $ 100 per month or annual payments of $ 1,200.00 per year.  According to the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Hon. Julius Espat, the new homes cost about $ 45,000.00 each. Therefore, government is providing a subsidy of some $ 30,000.00 per house. This is social justice – the mantra of the Peoples United party (PUP). 

Following the two-year global lockdown, the global elites and their greed led to provocative action against Russia, ending in Russia’s special military action against Ukraine which has caused monumental problems for the global economy. Inflation surged to heights not seen in fifty years. In addition, the G7 sanctions against Russia resulted in many supply shortages of industrial and consumer goods.

Today in Belize, because of inflation a new starter house of 500 sq. ft. will cost about $ 58,000.00 each. The imported items in that house costs $ 35,000.00. If government causes 2,000 homes to be constructed, Belize needs some $ 70 million dollars per year in foreign exchange.  Further, Belize has a housing deficit of some 5,000 houses per year which would require some $ 175 million dollars in new foreign exchange each year.

In addition, Belize has about 60,000 workers who earn between $ 800.00 per month and $ 1,400.00 per month. They can never get a loan from any financial institution in Belize.  In addition, 58,000 of our sisters and brothers make up the unemployed and the so-called structural unemployed – the car-washers who catch-and-kill for instance, but they are human beings made in the image of the Creator.  What should we do with them? Throw them away?  

Belize has been politically independence for some 41 years, yet every day we beg foreigners to give us freebees. Have we not learnt yet?  The world owes no one and no people anything. God made you in his image. You have a brain. Open your mind, as Hon. Henry Usher keeps saying.   THINK.  No one will come to save you. Remember the wise words of Shakespeare in Julius Caesar, “Men are masters of their fates. The fault dear Brutus is not in the stars, but in ourselves.”  Belize has many talented citizens. Belize must get out of its colonial mind-set. If we are ever to develop, we need large-scale transformation. Never forget – the whole is always bigger than the parts.  And most importantly, human skills are learned – no one is born with skills.  Alexander Hamilton invented a new theory of economics, and US President Abe Lincoln and his economic advisor Henry Charles Carey applied it in the United States of America, causing it to be the most powerful nation-state on Earth for over 145 years.  Hamilton’s theory is based on eight principles called the American System of Economics.  One of the most important is that nations are not individuals, while an individual may learn by repetition of processes, nations do not have that luxury – nations in order to advance must leap-frog to the latest technology (know-how). Creeping leads to failure.

Therefore Belizeans, let’s start to do the opposite of what the “experts” have told us for 41 years cannot work. Let us build some five or six manufacturing industries, where we would use the country’s raw materials and produce the items that are used to construct homes for our citizens. We can then stop the importation of $ 100 million dollars, thus saving foreign exchange, employ at least 500 workers at a minimum wage of $ 15.00/hour or $ 2,400.00 per month, immediately giving 500+ persons access to the financial system – they are then bankable.  Moreover, if we then use those finished goods and construct about 3,500 houses per year, Belize can then cause some 8,000 individual workers to earn at least a minimum of $ 10.00/hour or some $1,600.00 per month. 

Remember, some $ 961.5 million dollars are sitting in the banks and credit unions doing nothing. By giving Belizeans a living wage, they can then have access to about $ 170 million dollars in the banks and can afford to borrow and repay their loans. Over 8,000 individuals will immediately become bankable.  Crime will decrease. Higher education will boom. Health will become more affordable. Others will follow and make the transformation even more pronounced.

Belize will become the go-to country in the region. But the people of Belize must demand that the government break the power of the local merchants, bankers, and their global elites so Belize can finally have financial and economic independence to develop Belize for ALL Belizeans.  Belizeans must decide, once and for all, that we are capable; we can build the Belize we want for our children and grandchildren.

Let’s remember the wise words of George Price, “Development is a task for giants, little people have tried and turn away.”

Long Live Belize!

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