And while Matura says the state has not limited the blanket powers afforded to police - the Human Rights Commission says government pressed the panic button prematurely - and at a great risk to citizens rights and liberties.
Vice President Kevin Arthurs told us more via phone this evening:
Kevin Arthur - VP, HRCB
"We are saying that this is surely a troubling state to have 7 murders but we have to less panicky approach, a less messy approach to getting this done because at the end of the day we have to know what we're giving up to get what we're doing. It's going to be difficult for us to look at the current circumstances which a last resort meditative tool and say what do we do next and so I know everybody including myself and members of the board want to see crime stopped - but I don't think we should bite into the placebo that this extreme mechanism will cause to stop. If we buy into that snake skin oil then we're over as a state."
Arthurs pointed out that Jamaica has had a state of emergency in effect for St James Parish for one year and counting - but notes that they went through parliament to do so. In this case, the Belize government bypassed that and went straight to invoke constitutional powers. As we have pointed out - Belize has not seen a crime-related state of emergency since, 1981 in the Heads of agreements riots.
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