And while the Prime Minister’s first priority today was meeting
with the gangs, the Deputy Leader of The Opposition Mark Espat took it as his
priority to lash out at Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington. Despite howls of
protest and calls for his resignation form the KREMANDALA media group, Elrington
has held steadfast to his description of the border as artificial; in fact he
has amplified his commitment to the word. And that’s why the PUP Deputy
leader whose party has issued no official position on the matter today came
out swinging against Elrington – demanding his removal or resignation.
He told us why.
Hon. Mark Espat, PUP Deputy Leader
“The Minister of Foreign Affairs has had enough time, too much time
to come forward and repudiate the remarks that he had made, to say to the Belizean
people listen, when I said that the border was artificial I misspoke, I spoke
in error and I am sorry. On repeated occasions, Minister Elrington has refused
to acknowledge the error of his mouth. What I would have expected by now is
for the Foreign Minister to have said is that not only is our border real, definable, 
but that it is enviable and that as Foreign Minister he will be doing everything
possible to ensure that the invasions that are taking place, for example in
the Chiquibul Forest Reserve are halted.
But no, what Mr. Elrington has sought to do is to give us a lesson in the
English language. Well that is our first language and we know what real means
and we know what artificial means. And so I believe that having failed to retract,
to backstep, that the Minister of Foreign Affairs should resign and if he refuses
to resign, he should be made to resign because his statements and his repeated
refusals to express regret has earned him the loss of confidence from the people.
The Hon. Dean Barrow has set or attempted to set a very high standard for
the conduct of his Ministers. In fact he suspended a Minister for six months
when one was found to be allegedly bringing beer across the border without paying
taxes. He expelled another one because purportedly he did not campaign for the
ruling party in the municipal elections. Here we have the Foreign Minister crossing
the line on an existential threat to Belize. I believe the Prime Minister has
to go further than saying this is unfortunate. This goes to the heart of his
performance and therefore that is why I believe that either Minister Elrington
needs to step aside, retract his statements, or if he refuses to do either of
those two then I think it incumbent on the Prime Minister to act.
If you are my neighbour and you claim my property, then I can’t have
my lawyer cuddling you because then I am going to become suspicious and I am
going to seek a new lawyer if I have any intention of winning. We have our property.
This is our 8,867 square miles. We don’t need to go to the ICJ to verify
that it is an unfounded claim and I believe that the Foreign Minister of Belize,
when he speaks on behalf of the Belizean people should make it absolutely clear
that our borders are real, they are definable, they are enviable, and he should
not be splitting hairs and trying as he is to give us a lesson in what artificial
means and what real means. We know very well what it means.”
Jules Vasquez,
“If you take Mr. Elrington’s stance, to play the devil’s advocate,
if you look it up in the dictionary as I have done, indeed he is right. Artificial
means made by man. That is the first meaning. So why should he resign or be
removed based on, he is actually right.”
Hon. Mark Espat,
“Jules Belizeans are frustrated and tired of disloyally double speak.
We are tired of splitting hairs and litigating matters that should be straight
forward. The issue is very simple: our border is real, the Foreign Minister
should not be saying that our borders are artificial, he has shown a clear lack
of political maturity in not accepting that he misspoke, back tracking and saying
that is not what I meant, this is what I mean. I believe that he has no choice.
If he will respect the will of the Belizean people, he should step aside from
that specific portfolio.”
Espat first came out against the policies pursued by the Foreign Minister
in November of 2008, before the special agreement was signed. He urged Elrington
to take it to the House of Representatives for approval before it was signed.
That didn’t happen. Espat has also publicly opposed taking the differendum
to the International Court of Justice.
Of course, in all this, it’s not lost on us that Espat is the
first PUP to hold the Albert Division which was arch – nationalist Philip
Goldson’s stronghold. Elrington, on the other hand, came into politics
as an N-I-P – which was Goldson’s party. So who is the real inheritor
of the Goldson legacy? Espat deflected comparisons – as any PUP politician
must, while Elrington has recently claimed common cause with the national hero.
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