Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
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The World’s Two Most Powerful Leaders will meet August 15th, 2025 in Alaska
By Bill Lindo
Belize City, August 13th, 2025: This coming weekend, August 15th President Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States will meet in Alaska to discuss the Ukraine War and other geopolitical tensions in the world. These two men are the two most powerful men on planet Earth because both nations have nuclear weapons, in fact, Russia has the largest and best arsenal of nuclear weapons, followed by the United States in a close- second. Anyone of them has enough nuclear weapons to destroy all life on Earth within one hour — yes one hour.
Will there be an end to the conflict in Ukraine after the Summit? We don’t know, but I really don’t think so because Russia cannot be bullied by the United States, and Trump cannot change US Foreign Policy. Long before the United States, the Europeans, starting first with France, then United Kingdom and then, Germany all tried to destroy Russia — to conquer Russia — to make Russia subservient to them, and all of them have failed.
The French around 1810, had the greatest army in Europe under Napoleon Bonaparte, but messing around with the Russians caused the destruction the French Army and Bonaparte ended up in jail for the rest of his life. The British around 1843 went after the Russians trying to take Crimea from Russia and nearly ended up losing the crown jewel of the British Empire, which was India at the time. And then between 1941 and 1945 Germany which then had conquered Europe under Adolf Hitler went to the East and within three years the Russians not only defeated the Germans, it totally destroyed them, in fact, the Germans in 1941 had 240 divisions it was the largest army in the world at the time, but by 1945 the Americans and the British defeated 30 German divisions in Western Europe and on the Eastern Front the Russians destroyed 210 German divisions.
The price paid for that victory by the Russians (at that time they were called the Soviet Union) was the loss of 27,000,000 Russian lives. The Americans lost less than 300,000 the British less than 1,000,000 and the Germans themselves lost about 3 or 4 million combatants, but Russia paid the ultimate price – 27 million lives for that victory over Nazi Germany, over Adolf Hitler. Nobody has conquered Russia for the last 1,000 years of human history.
Even before the Second World War had ended in May 9th 1945, Winston Churchill, the then Prime Minister of UK had concocted a plan (codenamed “Operation Unthinkable”—check Google) to invade Russia or the Soviet Union using defeated German soldiers, but the Americans said no-way as they didn’t think it would work, but that plan never went down in the dustbin of history. Later Churchill steered U S President Harry Truman with his Fulton speech about an Iron Curtain over Europe to try and get the Americans to fight and destroy Russia (Soviet Union). In 1989 the Soviet Union fell apart and what was one country, the country splintered more than 15 different independent countries emerged, the largest, and most powerful being the Russian Federation.
However, the British and the other European oligarchs continue to try to defeat Russia to break Russia into at least five new countries, according to President Biden of the United States. WHY? Why are the Anglo-Americans and European Oligarchy so eager, so salivating, about ruling Russia. Well, Russia has the largest landmass on Earth — it is larger than all other countries including India, China, the United States and Canada. In early 2022, The United States and the Europeans under the banner of NATO sanctioned Russia because they said Russia had illegally invaded Ukraine. What the mother of all sanctions revealed was the vast natural wealth of Russia. Of the fifty most important minerals/raw materials in world trade, Russia was either the leader in some forty, and no less than third in the other ten. Russia was also the largest producer in grains, other foodstuffs and fertilizers.
When President Trump was inaugurated as the new President of the United States last January 20th, a look at the special invited guests revealed who are the rulers of the United States – all of the American Oligarchy were there.
President Trump is a politician and on Earth, the Oligarchy have always ruled. Less than 10% of the population are the real rulers of countries. China and Cuba are no different, except it’s not wealth nor money, but connections to the Party, the political party and who is your mentor that counts. In the United States, you saw them on stage, the billionaires of Banks, Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and of course AIPAC.
As long as these people don’t change US Foreign Policy, then Donald Trump cannot get a deal with President Putin of Russia. In order to stay in the driver’s seat the west must destroy Russia and take control of the vast wealth of that country. The Ukraine War, the Isreal – Iran conflict, and all the other conflicts in Asia are the same. The West is determined to control the wealth of the planet. Now they are losing this fight, but they will not stop trying to get back their control. Russia will not yield, and neither will China, neither will India, nor Brazil.
The 500-year rule of the West, the G7 is over. But as one prominent American economist, recently remarked, we (the Americans) are in denial that we no longer control the World. The expanded BRICS are the new rulers of the World. And in the new pecking order, according to the World Bank “Purchasing Power Parity” (PPP), China is number one, USA is number two, India is number three, Russia is number four, Japan is number five, Germany is number six, and Brazil is number seven, followed by Indonesia, France and United Kingdom.
And here in our neck-of-the-woods, President Trump is having a field day showing the reality of America First. He is not a President of Latin American nor any Caribbean country, but the President of the United States of America, so whose interest comes first? Thus, if Belizeans are working while Americans are not, because some US company runs to Belize for cheap wages, then he will stop such interests. Tariffs are a good way to punish wrong-headed people and make nations strong and Independent. Every single powerful nation-state has used tariffs to protect local manufacturing and strengthen itself. But the United States has a problem, because it wishes to make the US Dollar the universal currency of the world, then the US must run a trade-deficit, or else investors will run away from the US greenback. Wall Street cannot have its cake and eat it. The world is not like that.
But Belizeans have other options. It’s good news to hear that the President of Mexico, the Prime Minister of Belize and the President of Guatemala will meet this Friday August 15th.
When the Peoples United Party (PUP) in 2018 was putting together its Manifesto for 2020, I lobbied for Belize to establish a railway link between Mexico, Belize and Guatemala to the Pacific Ocean for both passenger and cargo traffic between the three counties. My thinking is the way to solve the Guatemala-Belize dispute is to create a win-win situation. A railway cargo link between Dangriga in Belize and Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala will create a land-bridge between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea opening trade to the Caribbean, to Central America and to Asia. This will solve the dispute, while the railway link to Mexico will allow tourism in the region to blossom.
I believe a railway connection between Mexico, Belize and Guatemala will be on the agenda this Friday.
We should pray that Prime Minister Briceno has a wonderful Summit this Friday. And in the meantime, we keep watch on the other Summit.
Long live Belize!
President Trump of USA with President Putin of Russia.
President Arevalo of Guatemala, PM Briceno of Belize, and President Sheinbaum of Mexico will have a Summit this Friday, august 15th 2025.
To Be or Not to Be Independent
By Bill Lindo
Hong Kong, April 27th 2025: I’ve traveled to Asia for decades. On every visit I learn something new. As I sit in a hotel room here in Hong Kong, I am thinking of my recent trip to Taiwan, to the Northeastern area – Yilan county. I used to visit Taiwan frequently. About 20 years ago I visited Taiwan at least 15 times, but I never saw what I saw on this last trip with Mei Lin.
We stayed in Jiaoxi, with the famous hot springs. Tourism is big business here because of the hot springs from the mountains, but outside the high-rise windows there are lots and lots of rice being grown, especially sticky rice. The fields are grown right up to the houses, perhaps 4 ft away and the fields are all leveled with irrigation drains, and canals all of concrete. They are built by the government for the private sector. And next to the miles of rice fields are the miles of fishponds for crabs, shrimp, and expensive fish, like grouper.
Yilan is also located along the sea. We visited three man-made inlets made by the government to protect the thousands of fishing boats that catch fish from the sea and giant shrimp from near a high stone island called Turtle Mountain (Guishan Island). And on the highway between the sea and the hot spring mountains, there are several cement and steel factories.
So, what is happening here? In this rural community (about one hour by car from Taipei, the capital and large modern metropolitan city of some 2.5 million people) of about 450,000 people, close to the size of Belize’s entire population, exists tourism, agriculture, heavy industry, fishing and aquaculture, giving its citizens about USD $ 29,450. income per capita. A lot of people farm rice or aquaculture and work at the same time in heavy industry or tourism, since while the rice or fish are growing, there is extra time to earn income from another venture.
All the roads, including the farm and aquaculture roads, are all paved with either concrete or hot-mix – made in Taiwan. Thus, it is easy to move and transport goods and supplies and people. The high standard of living in Yilan county resonates with the Creed of George Price’s Peoples United Party (PUP).
Article Six of the Constitution of the People’s United Party details the Aims and Objectives. It is in this article that the support for the principle of the General Welfare/Common Good is based. It provides the foundation for the crafting of a Political-Economy for the PUP and any future PUP Government.
The PUP from its beginning (1950) was a Party whose fundamental belief or creed was Belizean nationalism dedicated to social justice based on capitalism with Belizean characteristics. The PUP was never a cosmopolitan or neo-liberal party. The father of the nation, Hon. George Cadle Price, called the PUP’s policy — the “Peaceful Constructive Revolution” working the mixed economy, which was firmly of the belief that full Independence (political + financial + economic independence) can only be achieved by pursuing a national policy that simulates higher economic productivity and development and that eradicates poverty through self-reliance and full employment.
This is the example of Yilan county, Taiwan – self-reliance and high economic productivity based on unity.
To move forward, it is imperative that Belize adopt and implement a well-designed, comprehensive and pro-active strategy, grounded in the Political Creed of the PUP — “That it is the sacred duty of government to intervene actively in the economic life of the nation in order to achieve full employment and the eradication of poverty and secure a better life for all Belizeans.”
The new BRICS grouping coupled with the election of Donald Trump has now left Belize with only one choice if it wishes to survive as a nation-state. The neo-liberal age is over – finished. Belize must now adopt George Price’s nationalism of self-reliance or perish as a nation-state. The begging has to stop – time to work, with our God given brain.
Only industrial manufacturing can pay workers $ 150 per day ($ 39,000 per year) or more and be competitive. Therefore, if Belize wishes to eradicate poverty, it MUST become an industrial manufacturing nation-state to be able to pay high money-wages. Today’s Belize cannot successfully industrialize unless it educates its population to at least a high school level. And that education MUST be grounded in science and engineering. Only government, for various reasons, can cause manufacturing of the scale necessary to occur. And along with manufacturing industries must come the high tech modernization of agriculture. In an economy devoted to manufacturing the key is machine tools – the machines that make other machines. Belize needs new state-of-the-art CNC machine tools from say Taiwan, who is a global leader in high-tech machine tools. These CNC machines need operators with at least a sixth form education, and engineers to repair and construct them. Belize needs to “leap-frog” to high-tech manufacturing – automation, robotics, and AI if we want to be competitive in today’s world. Any machines we buy must be of the latest technology.
The current government and previous governments hallmark is/was infrastructure building, spending millions of foreign loan dollars. Yet poverty continues to grip our people. Why? Our decision makers have forgotten two main concepts. First, importing cement, asphalt, steel, etc. does not create innovation in our local economy. And second, non-challenging infrastructure does not create innovation. Modern agriculture and high-tech manufacturing can only work along with the glue. The glue is infrastructure. The crux of building infrastructure is because “The building of new challenging infrastructure is how new methods of production are introduced into the economy to create productivity which enables high money wages to be paid without ruining an economy. (Lindo, 1995) An example completed a few years ago, is the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau 55 kilometer bridge – tunnel system consisting of a series of three cable-stayed bridges, an undersea tunnel, and four artificial islands. It is both the longest sea crossing and longest fixed link on Earth. It cost some USD $ 20 billion dollars and was opened in September 2018. China had to invent many items including new steel alloys for the bridges and tunnels. Over 1,265 patents were granted to Chinese companies and some 200 research institutions for the new production methods and materials invented to make this project happened. This is how infrastructure causes a nation-state economy to innovate and able to pay high-money wages to its citizens.
Two examples of challenging infrastructure for Belize are agriculture and a railway network. Agriculture cannot work without water – on/off, so many permanent canals and drains need to be built in Belize using our own steel, cement, sand, workers, etc. with the necessary innovation to complete this monumental task, so our agriculture can prosper. No modern economy can exist without efficient movement of people and goods. Belize will need a high-speed rail system for both passengers and freight to link Southern Mexico (Mexico’s new Maya Rail System) to the South and the West with Guatemala, passing through Belize City and Belmopan.
In 2018 in preparation for the 2020 general election, the Research & Development Committee of the PUP National Executive submitted the following to the Party:
“By-the-way no judicial solution will solve the Guatemalan claim. Judicial is win-lose. It must be a political solution. And the only way must be win-win. Each side must benefit. So our idea is to connect Belize and Guatemala – Atlantic Ocean connect to Pacific Ocean through Belize (Commerce Bight) and Guatemala (Puerto Quetzal) via a high-speed railway for both passengers and cargo. A perfect win-win for both. The railway cost for the 450 kilometers route is about Bz $ 38.5 billion dollars. Such a project will benefit not only Belize and Guatemala, but the entire Caribbean with cheap access to Asia.”
In our High Schools every student must learn the sciences. Rote learning is for students up to about 7-8 years old; after those ages students MUST learn to think. No thinking = no innovation and no creativity = doom and destruction. Memorization for exams is not learning it’s acting like a robot and that person is of no use to society. Belize’s politicians need to understand that the future of the World is what is now called high-tech manufacturing. It is Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Automation. These need high-level research labs which only the government can finance. But not all students will be scientists and engineers. So, what options can we offer the others? They need to be trained as both technicians to work with the engineers and scientists, and Belize needs plumbers, carpenters, metal workers, welders, etc. Never forget that education is the key to wealth – “the sole source of wealth is the rise in the productivity of human labor effected through technological progress” — (Lindo, 1995)
None of the above can work unless government protects the local markets in the national interest and from those who wish to import unhealthy and other dangerous goods. Belize is a developing country so WTO rules are different regarding protectionists measures for Belize. Belize is not the United States. Protectionism worked for the United States from 1862 to 1946, but then the US Dollar became the global currency, which meant that the United Stated had to run a trade deficit in order for foreigners to earn the income to repay loans/debt made in US Dollars. President Trump knows that he cannot have a trade surplus plus have the US Dollar as the global currency; but he’s playing bluff poker, especially with the weaker nation-states.
Government MUST practice the policy of capitalist dirigist methods to create the conditions to end poverty, defend Belize and create full employment for all citizens at high money-wages, thus making our Constitution’s Preamble true – Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
As good Christians, who just celebrated Easter, we need to remember that man is made in the image of the Creator, and we can always think our way out of any situation.
Bill admire Taiwanese Fishing Boats at fish market
Bill at Taiwanese Shrimp Farm
View of Yilan County, Taiwan from Hotel with rice fields and Turtle Mountain in Sea
Irrigation Control Gates for Aquaculture, Yilan County, Taiwan
Some Taiwanese Fishing Boats
Rice is grown right up to houses because land is a premium
The Majority vs the Oligarchy
By Bill Lindo
Belize City, Nov 17th, 2024: Human civilization has existed for over ten thousand years, and during this time there has been a never-ending struggle – a fight still very much alive today on our planet.
This epic fight is between the majority and the oligarchy – between the poor and the rich, between debtors and creditors, or as some say, between the have-nots and the haves, or others say – the people versus the elites or big-boys.
Today this fight is between the promoters of industrial capitalism and against financial capitalism where the BRICS represents industrial capitalism, and the G7 represents financial capitalism.
Recently, on November 5th, 2024, citizens of the United States voted in a land-slide election victory for Donald Trump, very much in opposition to what the polls, owned by the oligarchy faction opposed to him, predicted as a neck-and-neck race. But every political-operator knew that the Americans were in revolt-mood against the greed of the oligarchy — against the 1%.
With the advent of neo-liberalism or globalization and the death of American industrial capitalism over the last 40 years, the rent-seekers triumph was complete – Wall Street was the boss. Or so they imagined.
Financial capitalism in America not only controls the economic sphere, but the political as well through their control of the major political parties, the universities, medical institutions, and over the last few decades, the American oligarchy started to push their radical cultural agenda down the throats of the American citizens – the woke ideology, the anti-Christian agenda, along with the moves to legalize drugs which is used to keep the population in a stupor – a people who are forever “high” cannot rebel against the oppressors, against those who steal your wealth.
Most Belizeans hate Donald Trump because of lack of knowledge. We are too quick to accept the narratives of the oligarchy. A quick history of the United States of America (USA) is important to understand the results of November 5th 2024.
After the USA fought and defeated the mighty British Empire in 1784 after 8 years of bitter fighting, the first president, George Washington appointed his brilliant Aide-de-Camp, lawyer and America’s first political economist, Alexander Hamilton as the first Secretary of the Treasury. It was Hamilton who mostly wrote the Federalist Papers which convinced most States of the Union to adopt the US Constitution. Hamilton also set out the path that the young Republican Republic would or should follow – Report to Congress on Manufacturing and Industry; Report to Congress on National Bank; Report to Congress on Public Debt. He formed the Federalist Party which after his assassination became the Whig Party (Henry Clay) and later today’s Republican Party of Abe Lincoln and Henry Charles Carey, America’s famous political economist. Alexander Hamilton was a firm supporter of the Haitian Revolution and wrote their first Constitution, as well as a firm supporter of Simon Bolivar, the freedom fighter, of South America.
After Hamilton was assassinated by Arron Burr, the new Republic forgot its roots and followed the instructions of the British, until the Whig Party was dissolved, and the new Republican Party was formed in 1854 by Carey and his allies. The other major political party is today’s Democratic Party. In 1860 the Republican Party won its first Presidency, with Abe Lincoln as President and Henry C. Carey as his economic advisor. If one reads the biography of August Belmont, the American financier who worked for the Rothschilds (who started Belmont Stakes –thoroughbred horse racing) who for over 14 years was the actual leader of the Democratic Party, maintained that the main reason for the Civil War of 1860, which up to today has claimed the most American lives in war , more that both the First World War and the Second World War, was not slavery. The war was fought not so much to free the black slaves as it was to install the Morrill Tariff (1861) of Henry Carey who was determined to make the United States the world leader of industrial capitalism which would then ensure a harmony of interests between capital and labor, Carey’s dream.
Otto von Bismark, first Chancellor of the German Reich, after 1890, wrote that the elites had to assassinate Abe Lincoln because the eight principles of the economic system adopted by the Lincoln/Carey axis (called at that time the American System) were too dangerous to the financiers, the landed aristocrats, slaveholders of both America and Europe. Under Lincoln and Carey, in just four short years, America fought a major war; developed the first continental railroad (joining The Atlantic and Pacific oceans); issued the Morrill Act of 1862 (the establishment of Land-Grant Universities to teach industrial capitalism); issued its own sovereign money (the Greenbacks, free from bankers control); developed the new Department of Agriculture which in ten years made America the bread-basket of the world; and, developed the steel industry into the world’s largest and most productive by 1876.
And when the Americans continued this tradition by electing James A. Garfield a Republican, as the 20th President he too was shot and killed after 6 months in office in 1881. He was known as a leading mathematician. He published his proof of the Pythagorean theorem in 1876. In political circles he was known as Henry Carey’s mouthpiece in Congress pushing the eight principles of the American System.
Some twenty years later, the 25th President, William McKinley, also a Republican and strong advocate of the American System was assassinated by the elites. His crime was to state that he was going to export the American System to Latin America. The programs and policies McKinley’s Vice President, Teddy Roosevelt, and the new President were completely opposite to his former boss, McKinley. From the death of McKinley in 1901, the elites were in control of America.
By 1923 the joke in polite circles was who would appoint as the next president – will it be J P Morgan or John D Rockefeller? But the greed of the elites in the roaring 20’s was so great that by 1929 the bottom dropped out of the economy. By 1932, more than 28% of Americans were unemployed and suddenly industrial capitalism was replaced by financial capitalism. And the Republican Party of Lincoln, Garfield and Mckinley was completely under the control of John D Rockefeller, J P Morgan and the lesser oligarchs of America.
A few from the oligarchy class went into panic mode over the collapse of the economy and drafted their fellow member Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR) to run for the US Presidency in 1933 as a Democratic Party member. Europe was in turmoil after the First World War, Russia had gone Communist and in acts of revenge killed all those from the ancient regime. The industrial heartland of Europe, Germany seemed ungovernable. The Nazis/Fascist were poised and supported by the elites to bring order to the German nation. In this global situation, some members of the American oligarchy were willing to go back to Hamilton’s American System or return to industrial capitalism to prevent a dangerous revolution occurring in America.
Make no mistake, since the beginning of human civilization, ALL human societies have been ruled by oligarchies using different methods of government. Globally, none, NONE have been governed by the people. That is just a myth. The ancients, before Rome or before the birth of Christ, antiquity had what were called Jubilees. The never-ending problem of human society is debt. Loans must be repaid and usually with interest. In antiquity loans which could not be repaid meant land were foreclosed, children and wives became slaves and sometimes the borrower was sold into slavery. The solution, in order to prevent revolts was to grant a Jubilee. Debts were written off, land was returned, wives and children were returned – a clean slate, a new beginning was established, especially when a new king was crowned. In Western Europe this stopped with the assassination of Julius Caesar. Brutus and other members of the Roman Senate murdered Caesar to prevent him declaring a Jubilee on his Coronation as Emperor of Rome.
Adam Smith and other classical economists were opposed to the rent-seekers (the landed aristocracy), the banking class, and other monopolies or cartels. Why? These oligarchs always lead society to doom and destruction – violent revolutions. Note, that the first act of FDR as America’s new 32nd President was to declare a bank holiday and pass the Glass Steagall Act which for 66 years prevented bankers collapse of the US economy. Bill Clinton repealed Glass-Steagall in 1999 and within 8 years we had the global financial collapse of 2008. FDR disciplined both J P Morgan and John D Rockefeller and his son, Junior. You see, under industrial capitalism, no single individual nor family is more powerful than the State – the nation.
Today’s China learned the American System from the first President of China – Dr Sun Yat-sen, who led the 1911 successful overthrow of the 2,000 years monarchial rule in China. Yat-sen was educated in Hawaii by a protege of Henry C. Carey – Frank Damon and his brother Samuel Mills Damon. The man credited with the last 40 years of China’s development, Deng Xiaoping, wrote in 1985, that the system that China follows is socialism with Chinese characteristics. His current successor, Xi Jinping has also written about China’s approach, but the reality is that China follows the eight principles of the Mixed Economy of George C Price or the old Hamilton/Lincoln/Meiji Restoration/FDR/Sun Yet-sen’s American System.
The following are George C Price eight principles of the Mixed Economy,
- Exploiting nature rather than men.
- Tariff Protection of local agriculture and manufacturing
- High wages to workers
- Money creation is a public utility
- The theory of Diminishing Returns is not valid to physical reality.
- A view of soil fertility and agricultural productivity as a product of capital investment.
- Public infrastructure as a means to lower costs in an industrial society
- Government intervention in the economy.
Recently in Africa, especially in the former French colonies, the military has overthrown democratic elected governments. Take the case of 35-year-old, Captain Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso, a country that produces zinc, gold, manganese, copper, nickel and several other minerals. According to the World Bank, Burkina Faso is ranked 185th of 193 countries, in other words – poor. Two years ago, Captain Traore overthrew the government and established military rule. Some 64 years ago the country had gained its independence from France, but nothing changed over the years as leaders looked to France for help and guidance. In the two years since he gained power, Captain Traore has set his country on a development path by industrialization and tariff protection for local producers. Gold is no longer exported raw, but a new refinery is being constructed to only export refined gold. A nuclear power plant is being built with Russia’s help to enable solar and hydro-electric power generation to make the country self-sufficient in energy, so the industrialization program can be successful. Some 18 billion dollars are being invested in the industrialization program with help and technology from Russia, Iran, India, and China.
As for Trump in his first Presidency he spoke about using the American System to make America great again, now he says he is fully committed to this uniquely American idea of political economy. Here in Belize, we know this economic system as George C Price’s Mixed Economy and I have been promoting it in my writings since 1974, and in my 1995 book – ABC’s of Economics. The ruling faction of the oligarchy is and has always been opposed to industrial capitalism. They hate it more than socialism or communism. WHY? Because it’s the only form of rule that creates a HARMONY of interests between labour and capital. Look at what the World Bank calls a miracle – China’s has raised itself from 160th of 190 countries in 1976 to today’s first or second country depending on how you measure countries.
Will President Trump be able to transform America from financial capitalism back to industrial capitalism that had made America the greatest nation-state on Earth? I wish it would happen, because it means that our Belize will no longer be prevented to go the route of industrial capitalism which means the end of the 38% poverty rate in Belize, and an increase in the standard of living for our Belizean citizens to a level of at least USD $ 45,000 per annum.
The government of Belize must follow the Creed of the PUP Constitution and make money a public utility and discipline the oligarchy so we can create industrial capitalism in Belize.
Time to stop being the People is a Beast of Muddy Brains (by Tomasso Campanella – 1598)
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!
The Promoters of Industrial Capitalism –
Franklin Roosevelt George C Price Sun Yat-sen
About Mike, Bankers and the New World Order
By Bill Lindo
Belize City, May 5th 2024: On March 9th my second daughter, Stephanie was killed, and then, on April 22nd Steve called me to inform that my cuz, friend and political colleague, Mike Espat had died.
Both deaths hit me hard. Stephy’s death still seems unreal … like I am in a daze. Stephanie was the City Administrator at the Belize City Council where she helped engineer a massive political victory for the PUP on March 6th, 2024. The leader of the massive PUP victory was Hon. Cordel Hyde. Then Hon. Mike Espat’s sudden death has me thinking what future does Belize have? Mike was no ordinary politician. He was the last of the George Price Mixed-Economy advocates who was still active in politics. Most Belizeans, especially the young voters have no idea about George Price’s Mixed-Economy. I will again recount the eight principles of Price’s ideas for Belize based on a mixed economy. These are,
- Exploiting nature rather than men. Most important for a Christian nation-state, that the use of technology is used to exploit nature rather than men.
- Tariff Protection of local agriculture and manufacturing as free trade should not benefit the strong at the expense of the weak.
- High wages to workers, because as E. Peshine Smith (the American behind Japan’s economic miracle), wrote “in order to make labour-cheap, the labourer must be well-fed, well-clothed, well-lodged, well-instructed…”
- Money creation is a public utility and should be under the control of elected representatives of the people, not controlled by private individuals for private gain and control.
- The theory of Diminishing Returns is not valid to physical reality. Technology and innovation always causes new methods to enter production and thus profits and wages don’t diminish but instead lead to higher productivity and thus higher wages to workers.
- A view of soil fertility and agricultural productivity as a product of capital investment. British “Ricardian rent and trade theory” assumed that the addition of chemical fertilizers to stop the “mining” of the soil by plantation agriculture was of no consequence. As a note of history, it was not the farming sector that supported the creation of a Department of Agriculture in United States of America. Rather, it was industrial protectionists who argued that the dominant form of market crop production being done in the United States – plantation export agriculture – was economically destructive. The new Department of Agriculture reached its high point under Abe Lincoln and Henry Carey, and again under Franklin D. Roosevelt and Henry A. Wallace.
- Public infrastructure as a means to lower costs in an industrial society by introducing new methods of production, and the public support for research and development.
- Government intervention in the economy. Government must put a bridle on corporate bodies, and must establish the pursuit of happiness as a natural right of citizens. In Belize this principle is enshrined in the PUP Constitution as a sacred duty of government to create full employment and completely end poverty.
Yes, Hon Mike Espat was a firm believer in George Price’s eight principles of the Mixed -Economy. This is evidenced in his firm support of the banana workers, his insistence of free-hold title for lands for the less fortunate, his determination that all his villages in Toledo East must have access roads, electricity and potable water, and his fight to the end the balkanization of Belize over the “Mayan land rights issue”. Hon. Mike Espat was the first to organize the PUP Southern Caucus to oppose the ICJ Referendum in May of 2019 and later led the opposition within the PUP eventually getting the PUP to oppose Belize going to the ICJ, since Belize cannot gain, but may lose land or sea or both to Guatemala. Mike organized the back benchers because he knew that as elected officials they too had a responsibility to the voters.
Few Belizeans know or remember that Mike Espat was a firm supporter of money as a public utility. He was right there when the PUP in 2010 (under the Leadership of John Briceno) amended its Constitution to include the following clauses:
(e) Further that policies of state must promote the economic independence of Belize by pursuing strategies and programmes of self-reliance, greater production and innovation; which stimulate a dynamic partnership between the government, the private sector and all the social partners, so that the ownership and control of our natural resources and national treasures are so managed as to secure maximum ownership and benefit for the Belizean people;
(f) That the creation of money and control thereof in all its form, including the national currency is, and remains the sole responsibility of the people through their duly elected representatives;
(g) That it is the sacred duty of government to intervene actively in the economic life of the nation in order to achieve full employment and the eradication of poverty and secure a better life for all Belizeans
But the big boys/elites who own most of the politicians has not allowed a change in policy in Belize regardless of the philosophy of the Party. There will be no local manufacturing unless it’s done by foreigners, what the former PM Esquivel used to call roots Belizeans will never be allowed to do any substantial local manufacturing because it will lead to independence and end inflation. No roots Belizean will be allowed to be independent of the big boys. No heavy industry will be established by roots Belizeans. Belize is owned by the foreigners.
I need to remind those politicians, that Rome fell because of inflation, Hitler came to power because of inflation, and both Mao and Fidel came to power because of inflation. Do not let history repeat itself in Belize.
Let’s put it another way. In 2000 in Belize a worker had to give 200 weeks of his time to own a pickup truck like the Mitsubishi L200. Today to own the same truck, he must work 380 weeks, even though his wages have increased. And a three-bedroom concrete house in the city used to cost him 345 weeks or 6.6 years of time. Today, 24 years later, the same house will cost him 750 weeks or 14.4 years of his time. This is the evil of inflation. Mike spent his life fighting these injustices.
On the subject of money, we are mostly brainwashed by the elites – the big boys. First, there are no depositors. When you put money in a commercial bank you have loaned your money to the bank. You are an un-secured creditor. There is no security from the bank so they do NOT have to repay you. Secondly when you borrow from the commercial bank the bank purchases a security from you – your promissory note. And they put in their books an entry that they either owe you or you owe them. In other words, money which is a debt, is created from the thin air when they purchase your promissory note and is credited to your account in their books.
And remember if this fictitious money-creation is used for productive purposes such as building highways, dams, machinery purchases and production, the existing stock of goods are increased, and citizens thrive and become happy citizens. But when commercial banks create money out of thin-air for speculation, to purchase existing assets, the result is inflation — stealing by the rich from the poor – the worker must work more hours to obtain the same house or goods. Note: Credit Unions do not work this way.
The good thing in all of this is that those who come to exploit us (today in the form of investors) have not changed in 500 years. Witness what they are doing in Gaza to obtain a small strip of land. Interestingly, this land is supposed to have large petroleum deposits under the sea some 4 miles offshore. In some 6 months over 37,000 Palestinian peoples have been murdered, mainly women and children so that the Zionists can have free access to someone else’s land.
Meanwhile, Iran showed on April 13th that it can completely destroy Israel if it wants, while both Russia and China have warned the United States of America that if tries to destroy Iran there will be war as they will protect Iran. The world has changed. BRICS are the leading nation-states today. The glory days of the G7 are over. In fact, the IMF a few weeks ago published a report which states that in the next 4 years or so, both France and the United Kingdom will be out of the top ten nation-states globally while the USA will be relocated to second-place behind China. India will be fourth and both Brazil and Saudi Arabia will be in the top ten. Therefore, my Belizean politicians please get with the times; BRICS is in. The government should be buying from BRICS and stop wasting time with the past, with the people who colonized you and made you slaves and subjects. We can now break-out of the colonial mindset and start to make Belize’s economy the envy of the region if we institute George Price’s eight principles of Political Economy.
Both Stephanie and Mike lived their lives in pursuit of a better Belize. Belize’s true independence is the only way to rightfully honor them.
Long Live Free Independent Belize!
Stephanie Nicole Merle Lindo, CA Belize City Council — A Good PUP
Hon. Mike Espat, Toledo East Representative — the last of an era
Rt Hon George Cadle Price, Founder of Belize
Inflation — The Curse of Politicans
By Bill Lindo
Jan 15th, 2024, Belize City: The recent statistics from the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) states that inflation in foodstuff for the month of November 2023 rose some 12%. One item, cilantro rose a whopping 165.3%. This constant rise in consumer prices, especially in food which humans must consume to stay alive, has been going on for the entire year of 2023 as well as 2022.
Here in Belize, the elites realized that the inflationary crisis since 2020 has provided them with the perfect opportunity to deal a deadly blow to the post-George Price (PUP full employment regime) era, which in their view had led to the working masses becoming too powerful. They concluded that it was time to strike back — to break the back of organized labour and reassert the unfettered power of capital over Belizean society – time to put workers in their place. This is the reason for the breaking of the power of the Christian Workers Union (CWU) by the Ashcroft Alliance and the attempt to destroy Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association (BSCFA) of the North by the giant BSI/ASR/Tate & Lyle.
As in the 1970s, inflation is surging globally, threatening the post-pandemic recovery and raising once again the prospect of stagflation — the simultaneous incidence of stagnant or negative growth and accelerating inflation. And as in the seventies, establishment economists and commentators have been quick to blame the surging prices on excess demand (they say people had too much money to spend), fueled by excessive wage increases (the recent minimum wage increase by the PUP) and over-expansionary fiscal and monetary policies during the Covid-19 crisis (printing of money by central bank).
Their proposed solution is the same as that adopted in the seventies: central banks must hike up interest rates and cut back on fiscal spending — austerity. Look at the US Fed or European Central Bank or the Bank of Japan, where high interest rates and cuts, especially to social programs reign.
The problem with all this is that — again, just like in the seventies — the recent inflation has relatively little or nothing to do with excess demand and excessive wage growth. In fact, it has mostly supply-side origins, triggered by the Covid-19 crisis. These foreign supply-side bottlenecks, which in turn were made worse in several countries by domestic supply-side bottlenecks — such as a shortage of long-haul truck drivers and dock workers in the United States and England — are the reason prices were raising long before the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine.
In other words, useless/foolish lockdowns are to blame — not the fiscal measures adopted to contain their effects. Over the last eighteen months, the Ukraine war and the sanctions on Russia have caused inflation, especially energy and food prices, to grow at an even faster pace. These price rises have several self-reinforcing causes. On the one hand, the conflict has directly disrupted exports of crude oil, natural gas, grains, fertilizer and metals, pushing up energy, food and commodity prices. These supply-side problems have been further exacerbated by the West’s utterly self-defeating sanctions against Russia, which have left European countries scrambling for more expensive alternatives to Russian oil from America and Africa — as well as by speculation in commodity (futures) markets.
This is why, as more and more people struggle to make ends meet, global energy giants such as Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP and Chevron have raked in record profits in 2022, far exceeding their revenue during the same period in 2021 — all because they are passing on ridiculous mark-up prices to consumers. As United States President Joe Biden recently put it, oil companies have “made more money than God this year”. At the same time, speculative activity by hedge funds, investment banks and pension funds, fueled by central bank “QE-induced cheap credit”, rather than “supply and demand”, is also helping to drive up wheat prices, despite comfortably high global wheat stocks, raising the prospect of an unprecedented global wave of hunger. This is what American Economist, Michael Hudson calls “speculative inflation”.
This is the situation in the Western world. Our political leaders say that inflation is imported into Belize and thus the consuming public must accept that reality as nothing can be done. But is this the truth? Before I answer this question. I will quote from one of the economic geniuses of the last century – Jacques Rueff the man who designed and implemented the French miracle of General Charles De Gaulle in 1958. That year General Charles de Gaulle returned to power in France as the Fourth Republic faltered under the weight of the Algerian War for Independence but also deteriorating economic conditions. By the middle 1950s, the French economy had become Europe’s “sick man.” It was burdened by currency problems, high inflation, uncompetitive industries, feeble capital markets, and low productivity. In 1963 Rueff wrote a new book — ”The Age of Inflation” to explain how inflation worked. One of the salient points of his book is the following:
“In reality, only one man succeeded in coming to terms with inflation – Hitler. He understood that inflation destroys the ties that bind men’s desire to reality and in so doing, transform their freedom into a terrible menace to the social order. To save the social order, he sacrificed freedom. By subjecting the individual conduct to strict control, he restrained people from utilizing that part of their purchasing power which exceeded the value of purchasable wealth. In this way he was able to distribute generously the means of buying goods which did not exist. He turned this lie into a system of government…In his system, however, men, manipulated from without as the machine is manipulated by the mechanic, has ceased to be human beings. We must say with all gravity that whoever tolerates inflation but rejects disorder is a protagonist of dictatorship.”
In other words, inflation in religious terms is the same as Satan – evil because it destroys the ties that bind man to man. The rich use it to steal from the poor. And it destroys the social order. But there is another way to deal with inflation, especially imported inflation.
My assumption is that the small open economy of Belize will not change, and that human freedom will prevail in Belize. To answer this burning question on inflation, I will digress for a moment.
Many years ago, my cousin Josephine Coye-Young’s (Fina) husband Junior Young (Horace Young’s younger brother) and then Deputy Financial Secretary to Mr. Fonseca told me something I have never forgotten.
He said, “Bill, you keep complaining about the people who make policy in Belize, especially in government but you forgot that they were trained by the people who subjugated us Belizeans to slavery, humiliation, destitution and poverty – the lack of freedom. These people are trained to continue Belize’s subjugation. A few rebels like yourself managed to break from their indoctrination in their schools. The vast majority will never be like you. Belize needs to re-educate its leaders like what Mao did in China and Fidel did in Cuba. Those two leaders after taking power did not kill the “old guard” like the French or Russian Revolutions. Instead, people were taken to desolate mountains and got a complete re-education.”
In 40 years, China went from having an average income of USD $ 84/year to some USD $ 36,000/year today. Today the United States’ average income is about USD $ 63,000/year. In Belize the average income is some USD $ 6,800/year. And in those 40 years, China has removed over 800 million of its citizens from poverty which the World Bank calls a miracle.
With the complete re-education of its leaders, China now has a unique system of governance. They call it socialism with Chinese characteristics. George Price promoted the Mixed Economy. A 100 years ago, it was called the American System of Political Economy of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Abe Lincoln, Henry Charles Carey, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Wallace. In China the political class is chosen from members of the Communist party of China. The party never changes, but policy always changes. China is very conscious of its public opinion. If a policy doesn’t work, it changes immediately. In China, no individual is larger than the State or the Party. However, in the West, including Belize, individuals, especially if they are rich, are bigger than the state and government. And here the policy never ever changes. Faces (politicians) come and go but the policy remains. This is why poverty is so insidious in Belize.
When George Price wanted to return Belize to the Mixed Economy in the upcoming 1998 general elections, he was forced into retirement in 1996 along with his supporters in the PUP.
Now to the question of solving inflation. If we do not wish to solve inflation by the method employed by Adolf Hitler, then there is only one way to do it – production or through the capital account. Monetarist tools are doomed to fail. But our political leaders, because they were trained by the elites and the former slave-masters and have not rebelled against the indoctrination, will shoot a lot of bull. And since we do not wish to change Belize from an open economy then only local production, or self-sufficiency can cure the evil inflation.
But the big boys/elites who own the politicians will not allow a change in policy. There will be no local manufacturing unless it’s done by carpetbaggers or the bacra-man, what the former PM Esquivel used to call roots Belizeans will never be allowed to do any import substitution – no manufacturing because it will lead to independence. No roots Belizean will be allowed to be independent of the big boys. No heavy industry will be established by roots Belizeans. Belize is owned by the bacra-man and the carpetbaggers.
I need to remind the politicians, that Rome fell because of inflation, Hitler came to power because of inflation, and both Mao and Fidel came to power because of inflation. Do not let history repeat itself in Belize.
Let’s put it another way. In the year 2000 a worker had to give 200 weeks of his time to own a pickup truck like the Mitsubishi L200. Today to own the same truck, he must work 380 weeks, even though his wages have increased. And a three-bedroom concrete house in the city used to cost him 345 weeks or 6.6 years of time. Today, 24 years later, the same house will cost him 750 weeks or 14.4 years of his time. This is the evil of inflation. But this writer along with other roots Belizeans have come-up with a plan to reduce the time to some 450 weeks or 8.6 years for that worker time to cover the cost of his new home by local manufacturing using our own raw materials that God gave us Belizeans. More on that another time.
The next 35 days will see if the current government is serious about destroying inflation in Belize, or if it is all bull. Today, on January 15th, 105 years ago Belize’s founding father, George Price was born. What better way to honour him than to start implementing his Mixed Economy and create 24,000 new jobs with an annual wage of $ 41,600/year. Achievable things if we only believe in ourselves.
Long Live a Free Independent Belize!
Let’s Make George Price Dream Real — modern Industrial Belize. (Photo of Belize’s Founder — George Price and a modern steel factory above)
Fair Warning
By Bill Lindo
Belize City, December 12th, 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 7th 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.
The New World We Live in Today
By Bill Lindo
November 14th, 2023 – Our world has changed over the last two years. This change is occurring in real time because of television and the internet. It seems that for the first time, we are experiencing change like never seen before.
Earlier this year Chinese President Xi when leaving the Kremlin after his visit with President Putin of Russia, on exiting the door to enter his car, turned around and said to his host, President Putin – “Because of you and me, the world is changing to an extent never seen for the last 100 years.” And last month in Beijing, (at the Belt & Road Forum) President Xi looked at his honored guest President Putin of Russia and said: “You and I will bring justice to an unjust world.” These two remarks by Chinese President Xi tells why change is occurring in our world, and who is at the center.
Five world leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa attended the BRICS summit in South Africa a few months ago. On the side-line there was a meeting with the Chinese President and over 24 leaders of different African countries to prepare for then upcoming Belt & Road Forum. According to news reports President Xi was surprised by the calls made by the leaders of the various African countries. The African Presidents and Prime Ministers told him they did not want the future to be about China coming to build infrastructure in their respective countries, instead they wanted China to help them to industrialize – to become industrial economies, where machinery controls the manufacturing process. By making their own steel, aluminum, copper, plastics, cement, and machine tools they would be able to build their own infrastructure.
Last month when the African delegations went to Beijing for the Belt & Road Forum, China gave them their answer – YES, China would help them to become industrial nation-states. Russia also promised to help Africa in this venture.
This past Sunday, Bloomberg published a report which said that the expanded BRICS are already larger than the G7. In 2022 the bloc accounted for 36% of the global economy, versus 30% for the G7 economy group.
“Our forecasts suggest an expanding workforce and ample room for technological catch-up will boost the BRICS+ share to 45% by 2040, compared with 21% for G7 economies. In effect, BRICS+ and the G7 will have swapped places in relative size between 2001 and 2040,” Bloomberg wrote.
BRICS trade surges ahead of enlargement – Bloomberg
The Bloomberg Report also pointed out that the expanded BRICS economic group will contain some of the world’s largest oil exporters, namely Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran, as well as some of its biggest importers – China and India.
“If it [BRICS] succeeds in shifting some settlement of oil transactions toward other currencies, that could have a knock-on effect on the share of the dollar in international trade and global foreign exchange reserves,” the report added, noting that the BRICS members have been working actively to abandon the greenback in their trade.
Then on October 7th soldiers from the military wing of the Hamas group crippled the Israeli army. Israel cannot admit they were outsmarted by a Palestinian army and has instead resorted to lies – calling the Arab army a group of terrorists. The Hamas attack of October 7th has saved the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and having a State of their own. Just in September of this year, President Biden of the United States had convinced Saudi Arabia to reach an accommodation with Israel, but Hamas, knowing Ben Netanyahu and how he would react to the Hamas attack — the continuous slaughter of Palestinians, now amounting to 11,000 + persons since October 7th, to the horror of the world. Now because of Israel actions in Gaza, a State for the Palestinian people has become a war cry by the vast majority of the world, even the United States.
We also know that for the last six years Prime Minister Netanyahu has been trying to start a war between Israel and the United States against Iran. But things have changed. According to Scott Ritter, a former US Marine intelligence officer and former UN weapons inspector, Iran now has some of the best and most advanced missiles in the world. In addition, neither Russia nor China will allow the United States to destroy Iran. Therefore, if Prime Minister Netanyahu gets his way, the world will witness the Third World War.
And for Belize? How will all this turmoil affect Belize and its people?
Our world depends on crude oil and natural gas to fuel our transportation systems – cars, trucks, trains, ships, and airplanes. And for those who live in the temperate zones to heat their homes during winter. Agriculture today, with only 10% globally of the workforce can feed over 8 billion persons because of crude oil and gas. Our modern world supplies us with an endless supply of goods never thought of 100 years ago, much less 2,000 years ago. Manufacturing is only made possible because of crude oil and gas. We hope that in the future, fusion energy will replace crude oil and gas, but it has not happened yet, so ENERGY must come from crude oil and gas. The alternatives have not proven to be efficient or effective.
In two months BRICS enlargement will start to occur and Bloomberg says, the supply of crude oil and gas will be nearly completely controlled by BRICS+. Thus, if this Israel and Hamas fighting spreads and gets Iran involved, Goldman Sachs predicts crude oil will raise to USD $ 150+ per barrel. Belizeans can NEVER afford to pay $ 20 – $30 per gallon for petroleum fuel. Belize’s economy will collapse. Already, food and fuel inflation are taking a heavy toll on the economy of Belize. Any further steep rise in prices will create tremendous hardship on the Belizean people.
A few months ago, President Putin of Russia said that one of the reasons he admires both Prime Minister Mode of India and President Xi of China was because both had decided that they will both make their countries self-sufficient before 2026. In Russia’s case he was forced by the Western sanctions to go on that path because Russia never had any other choice.
In Belize, the PUP has as one of its cardinal Principles, to strive to ensure the self-sufficiency of the economy of Belize by Belizeans themselves. To this end, in September myself and a group of Belizeans submitted a proposal to the Government of Belize to enter a Public-Private Partnership to establish a group of heavy industries in Belize using local natural materials to locally produce aluminum, PVC plastics, cement, and steel.
According to the proposals submitted to government for Cabinet consideration and approval the project will accomplish the following:
“In summary, to satisfy PlanBelize this project will:
- Create 20,000 new concrete houses in 5 years.
- Reduce inflation in construction by some 33%
- Reduce the trade deficit by 7%
- Reduce poverty by 12%
- Create 24,000 new jobs at a minimum wage of $ 12 per hour.
- Reduce crime by 10% due to improved living standards.”
We will see how the government reacts to this proposal by local Belizean investors to start Belize on the road to self-sufficiency in industrial production to create a truly independent Belize.
The George Price’s Mixed Economy model is the only way for Belize to weather this coming international storm and survive as a thriving modern country able to satisfy the needs of the majority of its citizens.
Long Live an Independent Belize!
Independence — do we understand it?
By Bill Lindo
Belize City, September 20th, 2023: Independence. It’s a simple word, yet very complex when applied to a nation-state. Tomorrow, Belize will celebrate its forty-second year of Independence from the British Empire. But the celebration won’t be like years ago, instead Thursday will just be a day to relax and enjoy a holiday mid-week.
So, what is the meaning of the word, independence? Especially from the standpoint of political economy? Independence means:
- State of freedom from outside control
- Belize’s people and leaders take decisions by themselves without outside interference.
- Belize is self-reliant, exercising its own judgement or power.
- Belize’s policy is self-sufficiency, able to maintain itself without outside aid, or capable to provide for the needs of Belizeans.
- Belize has extreme confidence in its own ability or worth.
- Belize’s judicial decisions are made within the borders of Belize, and no foreign court, nor judge can interfere in Belize.
- The financial system of Belize must be controlled within the borders of Belize, and no foreign bankers should be able to influence the financial system in Belize.
Now that we have defined the meaning of Independence in terms of political economy, I need to clear up some facts about how Belize got its Independence from the British Empire in 1981.
First, the British did not voluntary grant independence to Belize. The government of PUP George Cadle Price TOOK Independence. How?
The British and most of its subjects (including the loyal UDP opposition political party was also opposed to Belize’s Independence in 1981) felt that Belize should only get Independence after the settlement of the Guatemalan claim to the territory of Belize.
The vast majority of the leadership of the then PUP was opposed to this view. They felt it was a ploy to deny Belize’s Independence. With the full support of his party, George Price then did something that shocked the Anglo-Americans. George informed the British that Belize will proceed immediately to Independence and would invite Fidel Castro of Cuba to post Cuban troops in Belize to help defend Belize in case Guatemala decided to invade Belize.
Well, the Americans went ballistic and demanded that the British immediately grant Belize its Independence. The Carter administration was very upset about the idea of Cuban troops on the mainland of Central America. In 1980, the United Nations overwhelmingly voted for Belize’s Independence with all its territory intact, and for the first time, the United States of America voted to fully support Belize’s Independence. The rest is history. Belize became independent on September 21st, 1981.
George Price and Fidel Castro – the man who made Belize Independent
But did Belize receive its full independence? For a long time, the final Court in Belize was the British Privy Council. The British had tried this with the Americans in 1783, but the Americans rejected the jurisdiction of the British Court and opened their own American courts system. Today 42 years later, Belize still does not have an independent judicial system, but rely instead on a mixed British/West Indian system where foreigners decide on matters which pertain to Belizeans. And we have gotten so bad, that we prefer foreign jurists over local Belizeans in their own country – paying the foreigners more and putting them in charge.
On September 22nd, 1981, the financial system in Belize consisted of two large Canadian Banks — Scotiabank and Royal Bank of Canada; a large British Bank – Barclays Bank; plus, a large Honduran bank – Atlantic.
And today, 42 years later, the financial system is dominated by two large banks – Belize Bank and Atlantic Bank. A medium size – Heritage Bank and a small struggling national bank. The controlling interests in the main three commercial banks are British, Honduran, and American. The National Bank of Belize Ltd is owned and controlled by the people and government of Belize. In a “real” Independent Belize, the National Bank should be the bank leading the economic development of Belize. On a side, Belize only got the National Bank because of the foresight of the former Prime Minister, Dean Barrow, and his desire to end the merciless exploitation of the foreign bankers. My advice to Belizeans is that you should deposit your excess funds or operational funds in the National Bank of Belize. It is the safest, because it is owned by the people and government of Belize and thus cannot fail. At the end of the day the governments are the final backers of banks because only the government can create/print money with no limitations.
As a good elder PUP, and political economist, I am publicly advising the Hon. John Briceno as Minister of Finance, to start by depositing 25% of government funds in the National Bank of Belize, and to increase the deposits of the consolidated funds in our own bank each year. Charity begins at home, and it is time to complete the financial Independence of our beloved Belize. STOP putting foreigners before Belizeans.
My Belizeans, what will happen to us? Many years ago, a French lady asked old Ben Franklin, what is the best form of government? Old Ben Franklin replied, “A Constitutional Republic, if you can keep it”. My Belizeans, Belize is not a Constitutional Republic. Belize is a sort of diluted parliamentary democracy. Now that we say we intend to change our Constitution, then we should establish a Constitutional Republic – not democracy. Alexander Hamilton, Ben Franklin, and George Washington knew that democracy is rule by the mob, and inevitably, rule by the very rich who buy the mob. A constitutional Republic is based on checks and balance, where all are equal with inalienable rights, and we are citizens, not subjects.
Below I will give two examples of how Belizeans are trying hard not to keep the Independence that George Price and his PUP fought some 30 years for.
Today’s world is going multi-polar with four countries, United States of America, India, Russia, and China dominating the entire world. Our world has been split into two opposing blocs – the G7 and the BRICS +. The dominant bloc is now the BRICS + with control over energy supplies, military power, large populations, and generally dominant economic power.
Recently, India a member of BRICS gave a statue of the Great Mahatma Gandi to the people and government of Belize. Mahatma Gandi is the father of Indian Independence and the greatest leader of non-violence in politics, and an inspiration to many civil rights movements globally. I understand that the bust is sitting in a storeroom because the bureaucrats and some politicians don’t want such a gift from India because it is a BRICS member. Are we so conditioned in our western outlook? India was a former colony of the British, but 76 years ago they became independent and have refused to be told what to do by the former master. Here in Belize, it seems we want to go backwards.
Fidel and Mao were right. Our leaders need to go to the mountains and be re-educated. It is high time to rid ourselves of the colonial mentality. It is time to truly understand we are free.
We have done the same thing with our territorial integrity. We got our Independence in 1981 with all our territory intact. In a fit of foolishness, we have turned to the Anglo-American court, the ICJ to decide if we own this land. Please understand that no court can decide your freedom and territorial integrity. You have a brain that God gave you. Use it.
And time now to ask the Foreign Minister the details of the Guatemalan claim and Belize’s response. It can NEVER be secret. This is my land. Courts are based on the principle of win-lose. There is no win—win in judicial matters. For the last 164 years, Guatemala has claim Belize with the support of the Americans. So, what will the compromise be? The British was holding out (deny Belize Independence) to give Guatemala either all of Toledo district or half of it, including the seabed with its huge petroleum deposits. I believe that since no Belizean politicians would dare propose to give land and sea to Guatemala, then we will use the white man’s court to do it and then the local politicians can cry it was the court. We really are a set of foolish people. This is why you have the Maya lands rights movement (MLR) in the Toledo district funded by the white man. Remember Philip Goldson words, “The Time to defend your country is before you lose it”. George always said, there are no Creole, no Hispanic, no White, no Indian, no Chinese, no Mayan people in Belize – there are only Belizeans.
In case we are still interested a truly free and independent Belize, we should first learn to be self-sufficient. It is one of the cardinal principles of Independence. Recently, President Putin of Russia said that he admired Prime Minister Modi of India and his decision to make India completely self-sufficient by 2030, and that Russia will copy India’s policy. China has a goal of complete self-sufficiency by 2024. They are nearly there. The United States under Trump and even President Biden is talking of returning to the old days of self-sufficiency which had made the United Sates the greatest nation-state on this Earth. Second, Belize needs to build its own military machines and use the model of Israel to defend our land. No one is coming to save us. We must save ourselves.
Today, we celebrate our forty-second year of independence. Let’s us continue the work of an independent Belize.
Long Live a Free and Independent Belize!
Who is More Important — Locals or Foreigners?
By Bill Lindo
Belize City, June 30th 2023: Belize is now at a crossroads. We as a people need to decide a very important question – who owns Belize, locals or foreigners?
The recent mess over the Definitive Agreement for the Port of Magical Belize has brought this issue into the public arena and has put the ruling Peoples United Party (PUP) in a bind – unto the horns of a dilemma.
A little background is necessary. The PUP was formed in September 1950, making it the oldest political party in Belize — soon to be 73 years old. In 1952, the PUP published its Creed, and in 2010, under the leadership of John Briceno the PUP revised its Creed/Philosophy to include the creation and control of money by the elected representatives of the people and to state “that it is the sacred duty of government to intervene actively in the economic life of the nation in order to achieve full employment and the eradication of poverty and secure a better life for all Belizeans.”
The Constitution of the PUP, Part I, Article 5, states,
The Peoples United Party is a political organization pledged to create a New BELIZE through the Peaceful Constructive Belizean Revolution which will bring to all Belizeans a better life and a just share of the National Wealth.”
Specifically, Article 6 sets out its Principal Aims and Objects, as follows,
- To consolidate and preserve National Unity, based on respect for equality of all citizens regardless of race, ethnicity, colour, disability, gender, creed or social status with due regard for all regions of Belize.
- To defend and maintain the Independence of Belize, its territorial integrity, full sovereignty, and freedom of its people.
- To achieve full Economic Independence by pursuing a national policy that stimulates higher economic productivity and development and that Eradicates Poverty through Self Reliance and Full Employment.
- To ensure that Belize is governed by a Democratic Government.
- To ensure that every Belizean has the Right to freedom of expression, of movement, of religious belief, of association, and the Right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness based on the principles of social justice.
- To ensure that every Belizean has a Right to work, free from Victimization or discrimination and the Right to organize, unionize, and strike, and that they receive a just return for their Labour based on a living wage, a fair share of the national wealth, and a continuously improving quality of life.
- To ensure that our Natural Resources are owned controlled and managed in order to ensure the benefit for the Belizean people with Maximum Belizean Ownership and Management.
- To ensure that every Belizean has equal access to Quality, Relevant and Practical Education from pre-school to university with a special emphasis on Universal Secondary School enrolment and completion.
- To ensure that all Belizeans have equal access to Quality and Universal Health Care.
- To vigorously pursue policies and programmes that protect and promote children, the Youths, the Elderly, Women and those who are Mentally or Physically challenged.
- To work for world peace and security through regional cooperation and the United Nations on the principle of the interest of the other.
- To participate in Elections at all levels with a view to forming national, municipal, village and community governments to achieve the preceding.
As humans we judge people, institutions, governments not by what they say or write, but rather by their actions. In fact, we always say, actions speak louder than words.
Let’s now look at what this 72+ years old political organization has pledged to the people of Belize as its purpose, its reason for its existence – a complete change from its colonial past. First, the PUP writes and preaches to the people of Belize that it will create a revolution – a change, a radical change from the past, especially from the colonial past. Usually, revolutions are violent because the ancient regime would rather die than surrender their power to a different group, to new masters. So, violence must be used to forcefully remove them from the power of government.
Under the leadership of George Cadle Price (1956-1996) the PUP stated that only a revolution can destroy the colonial mentality, and power relationships in Belize, including the financial, and especially the economical relationships that have persisted since the colonial era. But the PUP will make this revolution in a Peaceful Constructive Belizean Revolution. In other words, non-violent, but still a revolution and the creation of a NEW BELIZE – a New Jerusalem. George Price and later, John Briceno’s National Executive of 2010 then laid out the twelve (12) Aims and Objects above of how the PUP will change Belize to ensure that the people of Belize will enjoy a better life and get a just share of the national wealth of Belize.
We will now do a score-card type of exercise on the twelve Aims and Objects of the PUP since their November 2020 election.
Number 1 – consolidate and preserve National Unity. The score is D. In the South there is a Mayan Land Rights Movement that’s destroying the National Unity of Belize. It is an international conspiracy by the Anglo-Americans to seize the natural resources of Belize in the South. This is a huge topic, so I will discuss it in a separate blog, but perhaps my friend the Deputy can help and provide us with some information – has Elon Musk or a company controlled by him acquired and lands/natural resources in the South of Belize?
Number 2 – Defend and maintain the Independence of Belize. Score C. Our governments have acted as servants of the Anglo-Americans and have pushed the people of Belize to take the Anglo-Guatemalan Dispute to the ICJ, really a European Court of Justice to decide if the 1859 Treaty is valid. Judicial cases are win-lose. Belize needs a win-win agreement with Guatemala. In my next blog on the Mayan Land Rights Issue, I will make public a proposal I made to the National Executive of the PUP. A win-win proposal.
Number 3 – To achieve full Economic Independence by higher economic productivities and Eradicate Poverty through Self-Reliance and Full Employment. Score F. Belizeans still carry an inferiority complex, preferring instead to support the foreigner and foreign-made goods. As long as that continues, then we will never know true independence. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the noun independence means the quality or state of being independent: freedom from outside control or support. Not to depend on others. Not to let outsiders decide what’s best for you.
Now to be fair, a lot of countries are not independent. They are full members of the UN, but the former colonial masters and the Anglo-Americans control their economies, their financial system, their foreign affairs, and even their internal political affairs. In fact, recently, the world has more-or-less split into two blocks – the Western block/G 7 led by the Anglo-Americans and the Eurasian/South block led by Russia and China. One thing is for certain, the one world government of WEF is out. Neither Russia nor China will allow the big boys (Rockefeller & Rothschild) of the Anglo-Americans and their corporations to control and exploit their nation-state. And now close to seventy countries are lining-up to join BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) because they are tired of the arrogance, exploitation, and outright theft of their resources by the Anglo-Americans. We are now living in a multi-polar world, where we in the South can be independent of the Anglo-Americans.
Aim number 3 (economic independence) of the PUP can only be obtained through self-reliance, which means Belize starts to manufacture all the goods its market can support, using the raw materials obtained here in Belize which naturally leads to massive infrastructure development which then leads to higher economic productivity and to high wages, and finally, the eradication of poverty. Thus, we see that the teachings of George Price (Mixed Economy), and implementing the PUPs aims and objectives can solve all the problems of Belize.
The government of Belize is a democratic government, so we can give the PUP an A for Aim number 4. And perhaps a B+ for Aim number 5. But the next Aim, number 6 talks about the Right to Strike. The PUP was born out of the labour movement in Belize. It seems the party has forgotten where it came from. In the dispute between the Port of Belize and the Christian Workers Union, it looks like the government of Belize has taken the side of the corporation in defiance of its pledge to protect the workers from the corporations, especially the foreign entities. Also, the PUP has failed to live up to its promise to ensure the workers of Belize gets a living wage, a fair share of the national wealth of Belize and a continuously improving quality of life. A country with over 45% of its population living below the poverty line are neither giving a living wage to its citizens, nor a fair share of the national wealth, and certainly not improving the quality of life for all it’s citizens.
The PUP Aim number 7 says it will ensure that the natural resources of Belize are maximum owned and controlled by and for Belizeans. This is a joke. According to Deputy Cordel Hyde, over 80% of the lands of Belize are owned and controlled by foreigners. And the whole issue with the Portico Enterprise, Royal Caribbean Group and Boskalis International is that some members of the former government and some members of the current government have and are willing to give anything it seems for the Boskalis and Royal Caribbean Group to invest in Belize – no taxes of any kind, in fact the proposed giveaways are tantamount to giving away Belize’s sovereignty and independence to foreign interests.
A couple weeks ago, I watched an interview with Jules of Channel TV 7 and Mr Mike Feinstein of Stake Bank/Port Coral. That interview revealed clearly that the fundamental disconnect why Belize is so backward with huge poverty levels — a lot of the middle-class Belizeans like Jules who influence our culture and economic relationships are in love with the bacra-man. They hate themselves, they hate the notion of independence, they are globalists, they are lovers of the colonial system. Jules was beside himself, he could not for the life of him understand when Mr Feinstein explained that he wants no partnership with Royal Caribbean or any of the other cruise lines. Mr Mike made it very clear and plain – Why can’t a born Belizean own a port in Belize? “This is my country. I have the right to own anything in Belize”, he said. This idea, this PUP idea, this George Price idea, that Belizeans MUST and SHOULD own Belize and its resources is the knife in the throat of the globalists, the fascists, the imperialists, who believe that foreigners must own Belize.
The physical reality is that Belize District can only support one cruise port. Since Port Coral is already far ahead (just a few months to complete construction), they should be the only one to house cruise ships in Belize District. Government, especially a PUP government should intervene to ensure that it is completed in a timely manner. And government should intervene in Port of Belize to ensure that its cargo facilities are modernized and expanded. A cruise port next to a cargo port is ridiculous and should not be a part of that venture. But politicians need to be careful about nationalization of that facility. It is controlled and perhaps owned by a national of the United Kingdom, and Belize has a treaty with the British which speaks about taking property from national of the UK. Not only must you compensate, but the quantum will be determined by British courts. Belize will end up paying a high price for garbage. The deck, as usual, is stacked against us. Some of us should be careful of who we are getting our advice from.
As regards Aims/Objects 8, 9 & 10, the PUP government has been making an effort to achieve the objectives set out in its Constitution – score a C+. They still have far to go. And regarding Aim/Object number 11, Belize it seems has been under pressure to support war instead of peace in both Ukraine and Taiwan by the Anglo-Americans. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should not succumb so easily to the pressure.
The last Aim/Object number 12 is that the PUP as a party must contest every election, from villages, towns, and central government so the party can achieve the preceding eleven Aims & Objectives for the NEW BELIZE.
The current Cabinet ran and won on a PUP ticket. But their actions seem divorced from the reality of the lives of Belizeans. In some instances, I am not even sure that the Cabinet members know or understand or even care about the Creed of the PUP. Sometimes, I don’t believe that they want a truly independent Belize. Remember, winning is easy, but governing is hard. It’s high time the Cabinet started governing in the interest of Belizeans. And what did the father of our Party and nation-state say? “Economic development is a task for giants, little people tried and turn away.”
A group of nationalist Belizean PUPs will shortly submit a proposal to Cabinet for a scheme to create 15,000 new jobs per year at a living wage and reduce the costs of starter houses to under $ 35,000 per home. Talk is cheap. Actions are what count. Elections are close. Watch what they do, not what they say.
Long live a free Belize!
Will this continue to be Belize’s future?
OR do we prefer our country to look like this in the next few years?
The Making of a King
By Bill Lindo
Belize City, May 28th 2023: One month ago – April 2023 made 50 years since I became a member of the People’s United Party (PUP), the oldest political party in Belize and one of the oldest in the region. For the last 29 years of those 50 years, I have served on-and-off as a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Party and have become a well-known political voice in Belize. Not an easy feat these days.
In 1993, the then PUP government called a snap general election and lost to Manuel Esquevel and the United Democratic Party (UDP). In 1995, a group of PUP’s got together on May 15th and formed what Evan X Hyde of the Amandala called the May 15th Movement. The movement was led by Florencio Marin Sr and included Evan X Hyde, Joe Coye, John Briceno, Cordel Hyde, Dolores Balderamos, Pepe Garcia, Dr Gregory Garcia, Vildo Marin, Bill Lindo, Dan Silva, Dr Theodore Aranda, and for a time, Jorge Espat. The aim of the May 15th Movement was simple – reform the PUP by going back to its social justice roots and George Price’s Mixed-Economy method of economic development, and thereby win the next general election, scheduled for 1998. Behind the scenes, I was the day-to-day organizer that kept the Movement together up to the National Party Council (NPC) meeting at Independence Hall in November 1995. In November 1995, the May 15th Movement decided to challenge 9 of the 18 posts on the National Executive of the PUP. The group got 7 of the 18 posts including the co-chair of the PUP which was won by Hon. John Briceno, putting him on track to be the Party’s future Leader.
In December 1995, an arrangement was made between, George Price, Said Musa, Ralph Fonseca, Evan X Hyde and myself. Ralph was going to be out of Belize for several months and as his deputy, I would be in charge of the 1996 Belize City Council Elections. The late Javier Berbey Garcia raised a little over quarter-million dollars for the PUP and with the support of Rt Hon Price and Rt Hon Musa, Evan X and I won the 1996 Belize City Council elections for the PUP, and for the first time since 1964, won the Albert Division. This election was the beginning of the end of the UDP. By 1998 they suffered the same humiliating loss that the PUP would later suffer in 2008.
Javier supplied enough money, but it was the creativity of Evan X and myself which made the difference. Evan X started a new radio show – the Kremandala Show. Dr Leroy Taegar, Evan X, myself would form the core of the show. In 1995 I wrote a book—ABC’s of Economics, to prove why something as simple as the building of 10,000 houses, using locally made steel, extruded aluminium & windows, electric wires, paints and cement would lead to the economic independence of Belize’s economy.
Well that unexpected, albeit resounding victory by the PUP in 1996 Belize City Council elections ended two political careers – George Price was forced to retire and my electoral career ended before it even started.
The PUP decided that between May to October 1996, internal elections would be held to decide standard bearers to contest the 1998 general elections, but the real reason was to decide on new leadership at the November National Convention. The local oligarchy was afraid of George and his new supporters who had recently joined the National Executive of the PUP. I remember during one session of the National Executive, the late (Sir) Harry, remarked that me and my followers were deluding George into thinking that we could re-start the Peaceful Constructive Belizean Revolution – that we could industrialize Belize and give its citizens a high standard of living.
Belize as most countries of the Western world is run by local and foreign oligarchs – the elites, the big boys. I wrote a book calling for the establishment of the American System in Belize – George Price’s Mixed Economy with its leading creed – man shall not exploit his fellow man, but exploit nature instead, and in doing so, would achieve full Economic Independence, eradicating poverty through self- reliance and full employment. This was in complete opposition to the British System of economics (now called neo-liberal economics) that still runs the economy of Belize.
I along with Evan X Hyde proved that the common man listened to the patriots and voted how we asked them. This was trouble. Big trouble for the local oligarchs, especially. At that time, the local elites were led by Barry Bowen. As a side, in one chance meeting with Barry Bowen he told me he had read my book several times.
The internal fight in 1996 was for control of Port Loyola, Lake I, and Albert divisions. Dolores survived in Port Loyola and went on to win in 1998. Cordel also remained in control of Lake I and went on to win in 1998. But I suffered a humiliating defeat in Albert at the hands of Mark Espat, who went on to win in 1998. It was a series of decisions that led to those results.
My friend, Dan Silva and I had decided that as chairmen of our divisions we would not hold any convention until the same week in late October 1996 as George Price in Pickstock, because at that later hour, no public fight could be tolerated. Carlos Diaz decide to go after Cordel Hyde in Lake I early in the race. The local oligarchy began to pour money, men and women (campaigners) against Cordel in Lake I. Within a few weeks, Cordel’s armour started to get shaky. The big boys started to smell blood and began to increase the pressure on Cordel – Montejo and Pappy had put over 60 workers to support Carlos.
At a meeting at Evan X’s house, Evan X, Joe Coye and Cordel asked me to change my mind and at the next National Executive to announce that Albert would have a Convention within 40 days. My response was that would be suicide, as all the big boys and their cronies would come after me. Evan and especially Joe, did most of the talking, after several hours and many promises, I decided to commit political suicide for Cordel Hyde. Within 3 days all the campaigners of Montejo and Pappy along with others from eight divisions swarmed the Albert division. Suddenly, Lake I fell silent and Cordel marched to a resounding victory over Carlos. Since then, and with my tireless commitment and steady hand, Cordel has marched from victory to victory. In the 2020 general elections, Cordel made political history in Belize by getting over 90% of the votes cast; and became Belize’s new Deputy Prime Minister.
That was some 27 years ago. Never in Belize’s short history had such a political contest ever been held. That historical 1996 Albert Convention was held on a Saturday. The Thursday before, Barry sent Hilly for me. Mr Bowen told me I would lose badly on Saturday, but if by some magic I won, he would be sure to run again me in Albert for the UDP to make sure I would never set foot in the Cabinet room. Well, Barry was correct, his money – a quarter million (I was later told), defeated me. Of the then 29 electoral divisions, only one actively supported me – Lake I. My second daughter was physically attacked, and several tugs tried to do the same to Evan X. Some fell silent while the vast majority of the 29 divisions were actively against me. The Oligarchy showed me their power — who owns Belize. Landivar was against me; the Anglian Church was against me (they even preached on the pulpit against me); the merchants and the Chamber were against me – in fact, I was told by a businessman that they were all told not to donate money to my campaign, but two brave businessmen and Dickie Bradley helped me. With $ 20,000 I went up against $ 275,000 from the big boys, and a complete blackout on radio and TV advertising.
And within three months George Price was out – his main defender, and leader of the patriot faction in the National Executive, Bill Lindo was gone. He and his mixed economy was gone. Harry’s son – Eamon was selected to replace me on the National Executive as Deputy National Campaign Chairman. I was expelled for an indefinite time. I believe it lasted eight months. Said Musa, the new Leader of the PUP called me to the folds of the Party and to work with Ralph on the Campaign Committee, but George’s and my ideas of the mixed economy would never re-enter the decision-making Halls of the Party; (eventhough I managed in 2010 to get George’s mixed economy as the principal Aim of the Party during the 2010 revision of the PUP’s Constitution.) Instead, neoliberalism is the new ground god.
As a note, I want to make something very clear for historical purposes. Even X is always complaining that I was the main person who destroyed the G7 which was started in 2004. Yes, Evan is correct, but please remember, who formed the G7. It was from Evan X’s veranda on Seashore Drive that it started between Evan X, Joe Coye and myself. So, why did I proceed to destroy it? About four days after G7 was made public, Barry Bowen called me to boast that he would now destroy Ralph Fonseca for good with the G7 because Ralph had forgotten who was the boss and was trying (as Belize’s first Minister of Finance, who was not the Prime Minister) to triple his land taxes. He, Barry, and others of the local oligarchy were now controlling G7. Barry was not the only one who complained to me about land taxes; but for now let’s leave sleeping dogs sleep. Belizeans, please understand, G7 was not about stopping corruption, as is widely believed. In the beginning it was to curb Ralph’s enormous power, especially, financial. Later on the interests diverged. The elites were only interested in not paying the increased land taxes, and I found an opportunity to stop those who had previously stopped me in 1996. It was simply about the elites not paying land taxes. Life is what it is, and karma is real. In the end, Ralph’s power was reduced substantially, the elites never paid the increased taxes, and the Party and I found common ground.
One day soon, I will write about my fifty-years in the bowels of the PUP. Politics, after all, makes strange bedfellows.
Hon. Cordel Hyde with his beloved supporters
Bill Lindo blog 