One of the key figures in Belize’s nationalist political history,
Ray Lightburn was knocked down killed last night on the Northern Highway. It
happened around 8:30 last night between miles 12 and 13 on the Northern Highway.
Lightburn was walking on the highway from Los Lagos to Belize City when a Toyota
Hilux pickup driven by 41 year old Nigel Tillet knocked him down, killing him
instantly.
First to the news aspect of the story. Tillett was today charged with
manslaughter by negligence, causing death by careless conduct and driving without
due care and attention. He appeared in Magistrate’s court where he received
bail of five thousand dollars and his case was adjourned until December fourth.
According to his relatives, the 68 year old Lightburn was returning home from
a friend’s house in Los Lagos. Tillet who is an electrician was taking
an employee to his home in Ladyville. Lightburn – who had been in the
grips of drug dependency for the past five years – would often go for
long walks on the highway to the homes of friends in Burrell Boom and Los Lagos.
But the relevance of Ray Lightburn’s life surpasses the news
of his death. First, Lightburn was a firebrand Union leader in the 50’s
– which made him a key player in the PUP’s nationalist movement.
And after that, so many things followed. Today his younger brother Clinton Pulu
Lightburn discussed the contributions and contradictions of Ray Lightburn.
Clinton “Pulu” Lightburn, Brother
“He was a high school dropout to put it mildly out of SJC who became 
the President of the Christian Workers’ Union and along with George Price,
Lindy Rogers, Phillip Goldson, Nicholas Pollard and several others including
George Betson they turned this country around. They actually took it away from
the British and they were backed by the Jesuits, that is why Ray was actually
the President of the union. That is why the union was called the Christian Workers
Union. And what I know Ray did, he made the word ‘strike’ very famous
in Belize and very fearful to the British. The first thing he did is he went
down to the stevedores, they were making like 30 something cent an hour, and
he put them on strike and next thing I know they were making 89 cents an hour
by the time brother Ray left there.
And after that in the later years he became the editor and manager of the
Belize Times. He also founded his own newspaper which he was the editor, manager,
and owner called the Tribune and he was the guy that actually introduced cartoons
to the newspaper industry in Belize. He came out with the first cartoons. After
that he went on to become a member of the PUP executive of which he had been
a part of for 35 years. He was actually the man in the streets for the PUP party,
he was basically the recruiter and if you speak to people like Said Musa, Ralph
Fonseca, Florencio Marin, Dickie Bradley – a lot of these guys before
they became a PUP they had to go through Ray. He was like John the Baptist for
the 12 disciples, he was the hearer of testaments. He also went on to become
the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the WASA.
He is free at last because he was struggling and because he wasn’t
that type of person. I think he became a prisoner of his device because he got
caught up at the age of 62, five years ago and he was too weak to fight.”
Jules Vasquez,
“History will recall Ray Lightburn as a great nationalist and a great
Belizean.”
Clinton “Pulu” Lightburn,
“And a great revolutionary, actually he helped revolutionize this
country. As a matter of fact he was the street general in the revolution. He
led the revolution. While George Price and Lindy Rogers, they were sitting down
in the offices, they used to send him out into the streets to do the work, whether
it was good, bad, or ugly. He used to say he just wanted to know the rules and
he was ready to play.”
And while Pulu Lightburn tells a good tale of his brother’s legend,
he’ll be the first to agree that he got his lyrics from big brother Ray
who was known as a man of great wit and oratory skill. He put that on display
when he launched his biography Nothing To Lose in mid July and later on in the
news – we’ll look back at that day – Ray Lightburn’s
last dance in the spotlight.
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