And so while all the storylines, all the political maneuvering and machinations will converge at the Civic for Sunday’s historic national convention, we’ll only be able to tell you a part of the story.  

That’s because, as 7News first reported days ago, the UDP has decided that the convention will be closed to the media.  That’s unheard of in the 21st century, and our records indicate that the last time anything like that happened was way, way back in November of 1996 when the PUP selected its leader to replace George Price. We had to do a deep dig into our archives to find that day when Said Musa emerged victorious in the event held at the Belmopan Civic Center.

That was the PUP’s first leadership convention - and this will be the UDP’s first, but that “closed-doorâ€￾ policy was so last century.  And now that the UDP is bringing it into this century, it has caused great disquiet in the media - where even a boycott was proposed. Jules Vasquez spoke to his colleagues about it:…

It’s the most signage the Civic Center has never seen and more was going up today.

All the executive posts that are up for election. And while this larger than life guy seemed to be inviting us to his last long dance in the red spotlight, this is probably as far as we’ll get.

Jules Vasquez
"So while the UDP will be inside with their hundreds or thousands of supporters and there will be so much energy in there, the media, will instead be out here, we won't be inside. As I understand it we will be up in this little area which is a sort of foyer, a completely purposeless place to be but this is where the media will be confined to. It has caused consternation, alarm and anger for many in the media and I spoke to two of my colleagues about it earlier today."

Jules Vasquez
"Renne you are the person who got the best explanation from the chairman of the party about why are they not allowing the media inside the Civic Center."

Renne Trujillo - Love FM News Director
"The delegates are requesting privacy, they're requesting privacy that they don't want the media to catch them when their voting because the voting will happen inside the Civic Center and this is a request from the delegates. What he also said to me was it's an internal party matter, it's not for public consumption. This is something internally for the UDP and it's not an election, it's just an internal party matter and that is where he and I had a little exchange because I have a fundamental issue with it because it is not an internal matter, it is a matter with national implications because they're looking to elect a new leader for the UDP. A new leader, who will then seek office, seek to be the next Prime Minister of this country. How can be an internal party matter?"

Jules Vasquez
"The real reason that I feel is that, the delegates list are so stacked with immediate family members that these perhaps not the kind of people who might enjoy the scrutiny of the regular political operators and so, they may be intimidated by the presence of the media. It's a kind of tricky undertaking because they are big decision makers in the party who are so intent on having John Saldivar elected that they are trying, or give the crude analogy, to fit a fat man through the eye of a needle. And I'm not referring to any physiological state of being, far from be to do that but I'm mean that it is untenable, impractical and unwise, to have someone who is at the center of so much suspicion of wrong doing, unproven but in politics, perception is fact and the man is dogged by a very negative perception based on the goings on in courts in Belize and in Utah. It is literally so counter strategic and counterintuitive to have a party leader under such a cloud that the convention becomes ticklish and in a ticklish affair, you don't want the media nosing around"

Marisol Amaya - KREM News Director
"The way social media has developed, I feel like they think with so many such a shadow over this convention like, they feel like they need to control everything so that absolutely nothing goes wrong but what does that say about you. I really just think that is a power move not allow the media there to be able to see everything and then what sense does it make to afterwards we're going to give you what Wave gets."

Jules Vasquez
"So then, why don't you all boycott? Why hasn't the media decided to boycott? Renne? I know you've given it a lot of thought."

Renne Trujillo
"Jules exactly what I said in the beginning, it has national implications and while yes I have a fundamental issue with the way UDP is handling this convention, I also have a responsibility to the general public."

Jules Vasquez
"So you did want to boycott?"

Renne Trujillo
"I did, as a matter of fact I want to not interview UDP any at all for the remainder of this year but you can't because you have a responsibility."

Jules Vasquez
"It is the spirit of censorship; it is so anachronistic that the 21st century this is out of the George Price playbook, this out of the PUP 1996 playbook."

Renne Trujillo
"I think guys we really need to be careful because this how it begins. This is exactly how it begins and if we keep on just turning out cheeks eventually it can escalate and it can get even bigger."

Jules Vasquez
"You all feel that this is a peace with a creep culture of not being accountable to the media, of media avasion, of media avoidance - which is very sinister..."

Marisol Amaya
"A shift in how you engage with the media I think..."

Renne Trujillo
"And infringing on the freedom of the press; my thing is that you have a prime minister here who's been serving for 10-11 years, looking to retire from politics and we have to wait until Wave TV or Wave Radio hands over this man's speech to us because we are not privy to that, we are not privy to the prime minister."

Jules Vasquez
"His last address to the party that he's led since 1998, 22 years..."

Renne Trujillo
"So how ridiculous is that? Jules I know you tell me that I have to choose my words this moring and I'm really trying to choose my words right but I have a fundamental issue with it and we need to..."

Marisol Amaya
"Remember now we are at the age of social media and when you have your party leader talking, they would normally go live. So not even that will happen, everything will have to wait until after, that's the understanding."

Jules Vasquez
"It is 1954 all over again, it is Radio Belize. Well the UDP is not a private club and it is not a lodge, it is a mass party, representing tens of thousands of voting Belizeans and in my opinion, they are cheating those people - obviously they are shooting themselves not in the foot, they are shooting themselves in the head by doing that in this 21st century. But the decision is made and we have to live with it."

The convention is scheduled to start at 09:00 - and the ceremonial portion should finish by midday, which is when the voting will starts by the 570 delegates.  That should be done by 2:30 - 3:00 and counting is expected to be finished by 3:30.  Allow an extra hour for the standard later start we have seen at every convention we have covered.  7News will be there on Sunday to have up to the minute coverage for you.