Since Edmund Castro's fall from executive grace - exactly two weeks ago - the furor about his removal from cabinet has somewhat subsided into the general din of discontent.
But a group of PUP activists in Belize Rural North want to keep it active; they are demanding answers and that Castro step down. They held a press conference at the Biltmore today and here's what they had to say:
Oscar Pollard Sr.
"The constitution clearly states that when the person in public office brings their integrity into question, there is no question or not they should be there or not, they should be removed immediately, that's the constitution, this in in effect, the criminal code is in effect apply it please apply it. If this is being applied then Mr. Castro should be remove entire from the constituency immediately."
George Guest, Chairman, Crooked Tree Village Council
"So please Mr. Castro do the honorable thing and resign and give the Belize people or the Belize Rural North people the chance to redeem what you have put in place or stated when you were asking for us to vote for you. We voted for you, we put you there, now you have disrespected the people of Belize Rural North, so do the honorable thing and resign."
Oscar Pollard Sr.
"What we are saying here today is that we are ashamed in our area having somebody like Mr. Castro representing us as our area representative. Mr. Castro should either resign and we have a bi-election."
Jules Vasquez
"Were you ashamed sir when the events unfolded with the predecessor Mr. Maxwell Samuels?"
Oscar Pollard Sr.
"Of course, at the time Mr. Samuels was ask to be remove and he was remove."
Jules Vasquez
"But how do you answer the criticism that your presence here is not indicative of a ground swell, grassroots opposition to Mr. Castro, it's people with a known agenda."
Oscar Pollard Sr.
"The bottom line here is that despite the fact that the crossfire and myself and Mr. Castro have, I have no envy in respect to Mr. Castro in relation with what happen."
For the record, former Area Representative for Belize Rural North Maxwell resign as a Cabinet minister amidst scandal in 2002 and was then given another cabinet portfolio. He offered himself in rural North for one more election after that and won decisively.
The crossfire Pollard was referring to was a criminal charge of aggravated assault Castro had brought against him alleging aggravated assault - Pollard was later acquitted.
The group says they will keep up their public pressure to force a bye-election.
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