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And while he was in his spiel, the Prime Minister could be seen in the front bench laughing. Was he play-acting, or was he genuinely bemused at his hapless colleague's last stand? Today he told us he sympathizes with Cardona:…

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize
"I sympathize with Mr. Cardona. He is very much a lame duck, he has lost everything politically. He lost his seat in Cabinet and then he lost the convention. He came last, so I fully expected that at some point he would want to vent his spleen. I don't begrudge his 15 minutes of fame."

Jules Vasquez
"Even if it was 50 minutes."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize
(laughing) "So I will be continent. I will not say anything unkind about Mr. Cardona."

Jules Vasquez
"But will your party try and expel him. I know there is a great deal of hostility."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize
"Well I am sure but the one thing I must say, I would have thought that he might have displayed the kind of principle that would have seen him take his disgruntlement to his logical conclusion and vote against the budget but that would have caused him to lose his seat and he made it absolutely clear that he is not going to let go of his stipend, he is not going to let go of the allowances. The party is in an awkward position because since he has declared that he will not vote against the government, as I understand it, it would be impossible in this circumstance certainly to put him out of the house. Whether we want to put him out of the party in any case so that when he speaks we can at least deprive of the chance of saying, 'Well I am speaking as a UDP representative,' is something the party would have to look at. I have not bothered to reflect on it very much over the weekend but I know that there is going to be a demand from the party that in fact we examine the circumstances."

Jules Vasquez
"Now but if we believe the fact of what he is saying then the people of Orange Walk East are being criminally neglected. Is he right in saying that they have been so cruelly under-served?"

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize
"Of course not. Remember at our convention in which he came last, 2,800 persons came out to vote. Now that tells its own story. It is the largest convention ever held by the United Democratic Party. I believe it is the largest convention ever held period in this country. That displayed a level of support for the government that simply would not have been possible if Mr. Cardona's charges were true."

Jules Vasquez
"A lot of people have commented that the actions of your parliamentarians were immature. In terms of the hectoring and heckling...."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize
"No, but Lord man, surely that was to be expected. As I said for me it was not that big a deal or at least I understood because of how frustrated I recognize Cardona had to be having lost everything politically. But in the same way as he took off in a manner that perhaps abused the fact that he was there as a UDP representative - you had to understand that his former colleagues would react. Really I don't think anybody ought to make too big a deal of that."