Fair Warning

By Bill Lindo

Belize City, December 12^th, 2023: A few weeks ago, angry unions in Belize announced that they were giving the current government fair warning.  Few people understand that these unions are inside the government. These are not outsiders, but instead the heart and soul of a functioning government – the front line workers at the borders, the revenue collectors at Customs and Tax Service, the technical workers at Natural Resources, and the teachers of our future and posterity.

These government workers know exactly what the so-called PUP policy makers are doing, not what line they are feeding the public. Make no mistake, they, the unions, and a lot of ordinary people, and especially the generals of the PUP are angry with the government. WHY?

A few housekeeping definitions first. A political party is an organized group of people who seek to capture political power through an election to run the affairs of a country.  A political party is similar to a faction and can be the same thing. In Belize’s system, members of one party in the legislature are all expected to vote the same way. The laws written by the party or faction with the majority of votes become adopted by the country, so this means whatever party is elected to over half the seats, gets to run the government. The next largest party is often called the “opposition”.  Some parties are formed around a single issue or interest group, but in Belize parties form policies to address all matters of government, known as a “Manifesto”.  Many political parties have a set of ideas and beliefs (called its “ideology or creed”). People often describe these ideologies using words such as “conservative”,  “progressive”, and “nationalists”. Definitions from Wikipedia, with a Belize context.

When a particular political party in a democratic system wins the majority of seats in the legislature, the members of that party not only become ministers of government and chief executive officers (CEO) but heads of government bodies, and statutory firms.  They have oversight over everything where the public purse is shared-up, and including the major contracts for infrastructure works, machinery and equipment, and services in general. In all democratic systems this is the way things worked. England, Germany, Canada, Jamaica, and in Belize from the first George Price PUP government in 1964 to the last Dean Barrow UDP government in November 2020.

In November 2020 the PUP won the majority of seats in the legislature, but upon forming the new government something strange occurred.  A lot of PUP’s got the shock of their lives. For some 12+ years before they have been in the political wilderness, since their party had lost three straight elections. But little changed with that 2020 election.  Bewilderment, unbelief, and shock have now set in, and after three years, it resembles anger and resentment. Suddenly the talented and intelligent PUP’s who built Belize under George Price and Said Musa were thrown away – to the dustbins of history.  The victory of Capital was supreme. Politicians win and talk, but Capital Rules.

As a footnote, Belizeans must understand that for the last ten thousand years of human history, the vast majority of societies have been ruled by oligarchies, by what the street calls the big boys. Make no mistake, Belize has always been the same – the same twelve families along with foreign interests have ruled for the last 75 years in Belize.  And these oligarchies have never ruled in the interest of the common man or woman, but always in their own selfish interests – never in our posterity. So, the question arises, if this is so, how has human progress occurred? Your see, every now and then a leader comes into political power and shocks the oligarchy by doing the right thing – by ruling in the interest of the common man and woman. These leaders curb the power of Capital – they discipline the oligarchs. Humanity’s problem is that these rulers are few and far between in human history. In the last 250 years this happened first in England, then the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, India, Korea, Taiwan, and in the last 20 – 40 years, China, Russia and Iran and Saudi Arabia.

In Belize’s short history, we have only had five leaders. The first, and our founding father, George Cadle Price tried for a while to discipline the merchants and the foreign interests who ruled over Belize both in finance and economics. George tried and failed with his mixed economy (the American System of Hamilton, Lincoln & Carey, Roosvelt -FDR) and when he tried again in 1995, he and his main supporters were removed from leadership roles within the PUP by the oligarchy, and with the complicity of his party colleagues.

And since we are on this subject, I will now make a public warning to Senator Eamon Courtney. Do not make the mistake that Ralph Fonseca made in 1993. I had warned Ralph that the PUP would have trouble in the Belize City Council election in March 1993. I predicted it would be close and if we (the PUP) won, then he, Ralph would force the party into an early election in 1993, which we would lose, because the citizens were angry with us and our ‘Belizeans first’ mantra.  Well, the PUP had a resounding victory in the Belize City Council elections of March 1993. And my good friend Ralph convinced the party to call early election in June 1993. Yes, Ralph Fonseca is my good friend. And I am sad that we have allowed the oligarchy to smear his name – as Belize’s first Minister of Finance, who was not also the PM, he tried to discipline Capital to pay its fair share, especially on land taxes. G7 was used to destroy Ralph because the big boys refused to pay their rightful share of taxes.  But I digress. The United Democratic Party pulled out a surprise and won.  I know Eamon is planning for an early general election next year depending on the results of the March 2024 municipal elections. My brother be careful. People, especially our own, are not happy with us.

Our current government is ruling solely in the interests of the oligarchy – the big boys.  Look at the facts!  After any general election, the losing party supporter’s clear-out their desks at government offices. In November 2020 three lawyers who did not put their names on any ballot sat down with the party leader at his office on Philip Goldson Hwy and decided all — from who will get which ministry, to CEO’s, to head of departments, heads of statutory firms and who would sit on the boards. As for ambassadors, only two politicians were appointed by the new PM, even though the practice is for the PM to appoint ambassadors from his political party. Instead, people who just served in the outgoing government were appointed to serve in a new PUP government. People who hate the PUP. People who punished PUPs for 12+ years were now their bosses again?  Tell me what is wrong with this picture?  A man who changed political sides in 2012 is now one of the leading financial negotiators on behalf of a PUP government. WHAT?  The contracts for infrastructure works are mostly given to the same contractors who made hundreds of millions under the last government. The PUP contractors are no longer qualified. This is why Winston died a broken man. Neglected and thrown aside by the PUP he has followed and gave his all for over 60+ years.

Will the Port at Belize City look like this modern container Port, or just another hustle for the big boys?

On 7^th December the PM announced in the House that for the sum of $ 197+ million dollars government would acquire from the Ashcroft Alliance the Port of Belize and some 500 + acres of land and settle the outstanding legal claims. This is the result of Senator Courtney and his team of Mark Espat and Magali Marin-Young. On paper it looks good. Belize will own again what it should never have lost.   It seems like a coup for this government. But many questions remain. My friend, yes, the PM, John Briceno has been my friend for 30+ years. He is a good man. But he needs to stand up to the oligarchy. He needs to discipline them, or they will in the end give him a bad name for “history” like what they have done to many others.

I have a few questions for the team. Will the National Executive of the Peoples United Party recommend names to Minister Chebat for the board and management team, or will the special lawyers run the new port owned by government and the people of Belize? As an update, we already got part of this answer yesterday.  The new board are mostly servants of the oligarchy.  Simple persons, like myself believe that it was the PUP who won the November 2020 elections – not the big boys. Which of their names was on the ballot? Which professional manager’s name was on any ballot? The PM says major infrastructure works, machinery, equipment and buildings will commence shortly at the newly acquired port. Who will decide? Will public tenders be issued? Or will we use the World Bank standards to qualify contractors so that only the same crew who has, in the language of the street, “eaten” for the last 12+ years continue to “eat”? The coming weeks will be interesting. I will tell you a little secret. When you hear politicians tell you that control will be in the hands of “professionals” it means the oligarchy, the big boys, are in control and all the benefits will go to the big boys. The people, the common and woman will get nada… nothing… just talk and pay the bills for the big boys.

Senator Courtney, I forgot to also mention that the average man and woman in Belize (not only the PUPs) are very angry because of the stealing by the big boys, wrapped up in inflation. People should understand that the word Inflation is a fancy word used by people who want to deceive you, who wish to take your money and give nothing in return. 

And in a small, open economy like what we have here in Belize, competition and local production are the only way to fight inflation and curb the stealing of the little the people have. Whenever anyone who the big boys don’t bless try to make any product in Belize, they never ever make a successful venture. All the talk about SMEs is just that, talk. By the way, this lack of local production is why we as a country are beggars. We have no shame. The government will renovate the National Assembly building and we are getting money from Taiwan to do it. SHAME! 42 years of Independence and we have no local manufacturing industries in steel, aluminum, or cement. This is why we must beg. Will we allow the group of local Belizeans to establish local, high-tech manufacturing of steel, cement, aluminum and pvc plastics and create 24,000 new jobs paying a minimum of $ 12.00 per hour?

Name any country who does not beg – the United States of America, China, Japan, Germany, and they all locally produce machines, cement, steel, aluminum. And they are all proud people. When I travel these days, especially to Asia it feels like the old days when I use to go to the United States. The people are happy smiling people because they know they and their children have a future.

I will put it another way. In this world there are two kinds of people. There are those like me who insist that man is made in the image of the Creator; and the opposite – those (oligarchy) who define man as a destructive force in the universe. The problem for people like me, who by the way, are in the minority today, know even when I want to refuse to believe that the implications of the majority view are too terrifying even for me who can stomach much. The most powerful political, financial, religious and cultural institutions in countries throughout the world are now under the control of people who have defined man as a destructive force in the universe.  This is the case in Europe and America, but we have reached a point where this sickness is no longer limited to the “advanced” nations. The oligarchs proclaim: “Mankind is destroying the planet through our greed and sinful appetites.  It is in our nature.”  Human upward progress, human creativity, higher rates of what Lyn LaRouche called Potential Relative Population Density—which can be achieved only through increased human consumption, increased energy usage and new scientific breakthroughs, but these have been defined as evil by the oligarchical elite.

This is not new in human history.  Remember the role of the oligarchical priesthood in ancient Babylon, the role of the mystery cults in the Roman Empire or the Papal-Venetian alliance of the Middle Ages.  Today, however, the intention is to impose an anti-human oligarchical system world-wide and to kill hundreds of millions.  Their future is a future of scarcity, suffering and death.

The issue before us is not to prove that solar and wind energy is more expensive and still less reliable than fossil fuels or nuclear.  We confront not an accounting problem but one of mankind’s future.

We must shout from the roofs, we MUST proclaim, “We are human beings made in the image of the Creator.  We contain within us the spark of Prometheus.  We can build thousands of fossil fuel and nuclear power plants.  We can develop fusion energy.  We can move rivers, turn the deserts green and provide every human with a protein-rich nutrient-dense diet.  We can unlock the secrets of the universe.  This is not arrogance.  It is what God intended for us – the Word Became Flesh.”

We live under oligarchism.  We must break out.  We must shatter the oligarchical culture.  We must proclaim the as yet unrealized potentials of the future.  We bequeath that to our posterity as our gift. Remember the wise words of Archbishop Vigano, “Globalism and Oligarchism are Satanic”.

“And I looked, and behold a pale horse:  and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”—Book of Revelation

Allow me to digress again.  As I write this blog, I am watching Domingo in Puccini’s La Boheme at the Met in New York City on YouTube.  On the surface, “love”, is the issue in La Boheme, but the real meaning of Puccini is the curse and waste of poverty – how it destroys humans unnecessarily. I had the pleasure recently of attending the Met for Verdi’s Un ballo in Maschera.  Live opera is unmatched.  At least in America the oligarchy spends on culture. The Met production was paid for by Betsy and Edward Cohen and Daisy and Paul Soros.