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The courtroom battle over the wall at the Tourism Village may be over for the time being but the war isn’t. Yesterday the Fort Street Tourism Village lost their bid to get the Chief Justice’s judgement stayed when Justice John Muria turned down their application. So around 5 yesterday evening - the Fort Street Tourism Village began dismantling the walls at both ends. That’s the good news but the bad is that along with the walls, workers also began dismantling the boardwalk. That’s not what Brown Sugar Marketplace and the Harbor View Restaurant had in mind and today they threw a fit.

Keith Swift Reporting,
This is what’s left of the wall that stood between the Harbor View Restaurant and the Fort Street Tourism Village. The wooden wall is down and now in pieces – but so is the boardwalk. That’s right, both the wall and the boardwalk have been are being removed.

The story is pretty much the same on the west end of the village at its junction with the Brown Sugar Marketplace. Here the floor beneath this cement structure is being pummelled. Brown Sugar’s Manager Christian Riveroll is crying foul.

Christian Riveroll, Manager – Brown Sugar
“They started yes with the wall and that building that was illegally there but if you look inside the building, they are actually breaking the boardwalk inside the building which absolutely goes against the judgement of the court and in my view is absolute contempt of court.”

Fred Lumor, Attorney for Brown Sugar & Harbor View
“I was shocked. In fact I could not believe what I saw. I thought it was not true but when I saw the photographs this morning I could not believe what I saw, the destruction of the boardwalk at both ends of the Belize Tourism Village. It is an appalling, spiteful, and dangerous precedent for any corporate citizen in this country to do.”

And Fred Lumor says he is shocked about the destruction of the boardwalk because by his interpretation it is contempt of court. But secondly and more importantly – he maintains the boardwalk is not the property of the Fort Street Tourism Village. He says the board walk is the property of the government of Belize.

Fred Lumor,
“The license provides that building the boardwalk on the shoreline doesn’t make you the owner, that you will not put any obstruction on the boardwalk, you will pay rent annually and that the public will have access to the boardwalk at all reasonable times. This license had been published in the gazette for public consumption. So for anybody to pretend that that portion of the boardwalk belongs to Fort Street Tourism Village is not true.”

Keith Swift,
So what’s going to be your next move?

Fred Lumor,
“I will move against them swiftly for contempt of court and I will apply to the court to hold those who are responsible accountable.”

And that could mean jail time. Both Riveroll and Lumor dismiss insinuations that the port will be decertified. They say all Fort Street is protecting is its monopoly.

Fred Lumor,
“I better reserve my comment. If you destroy the boardwalk and anybody can swim from the ocean and climb and enter the village, does that provide protection to you with what you have just done. I am telling you, I have been telling the public that there is absolutely no truth in the allegation that by taking down the walls and the boardwalk, they will be in breach of the so-called ISPS code.

All that the Belize Tourism Village is protecting is their monopoly. So I don’t see what that statement is supposed to mean. They want all public authorities in this country to protect their monopoly and therefore they are hiding behind the smokescreen of the ISPS code.”

Keith Swift,
He’s saying you guys are selfish, that he is thinking about the jobs that may be lost if this port is decertified and all you guys are looking to do is to protect your commercial interest.

Christian Riveroll,
“Oh no, no, absolutely not. First of all we will create 200 jobs more by Brown Sugar opening up. And there will be no decertification of the port. That is just like our lawyer says, it is a scare tactic – that is what they are trying to do. The port will not be decertified. We have taken the necessary measures at this point to allow for the walls to come down without any decertification so there will be no decertification. I am not afraid of him saying they will decertify the port and so many jobs will be lost. That is just scare tactics and it won’t work.”

Fred Lumor hopes to file that application for contempt of court by tomorrow. We should note that while the walls are coming down – the Tourism Village has placed steel barriers at both ends.

So what does Fort Street has to say? Well Chief Executive Officer James Nisbet is out of the country. He did tell us they are complying with the court but they are balancing that with a responsibility to protect not just their property but an entire industry.