She was out of the country when the news broke last week but yesterday she told us that she feels there was an official agenda to undermine the referendum effort:..

Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Vice President for OCEANA
"If you are going to vet whether someone signed or not, you had to do more than just look at the signature. We've had many instances, and I even went to check my ID and realized that my signature from when I last registered to present has definitely changed a lot - I mean my name changed too, and I signed differently. So I don't think that that would have been proper basis to do it. So I thought it was really lame that you would only look at cards because 1) they are not hand writing experts; 2) they did not ascertain that these people have changed their handwriting, and 3) they definitely made no attempt at calling these people. I don't think that the vetting took place in good faith, and so it seems a bit sinister."

Jules Vasquez
"You're casting wide aspersions against public officers, against people who - according to the chief elections officer - work through Christmas and New Year's. The ambit of time was so little. A. The law does not require them to call. B. In what time would they have called?"

Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Vice President for OCEANA
"Ok, the law does not require them to call and neither does it require them not to call. If they didn't feel that they didn't want to make that call there should have been a meeting called. We are the parties here; we are the ones looking up to them to do the right thing. That was never done."

Jules Vasquez
"Are you all able to reuse the signatures which are beyond argument at this time?"

Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Vice President for OCEANA
"I don't think we are able, because, you see, this has never been done in Belize, so there is not precedent, but when you look at other jurisdictions - I checked a scenario in the US - and when it fails at that point you have to start from scratch again."

Jules Vasquez
"You accept that this entire, costly, time consuming, psychically draining process of the referendum on offshore drilling has failed?"

Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Vice President for OCEANA
"I like how you put it because when you put it like that, what you really are saying is that democracy has failed and what you're really saying to me is that we were setup. If you believe it has failed, it hasn't failed because we the people didn't believe in it and try to make it work. It failed because the authorities have found every loophole, every gray area and every will they have to make it fail."

"But Jules you cannot say it has failed in the sense that people were motivated; they were inspired; they wanted to be part of it, and they participated."

Jules Vasquez
"People want to be part of something symbolic, Audrey; they want to be part of something meaningful. You wasted all our time and energy."

Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Vice President for OCEANA
"How could it be we wasted?"

Jules Vasquez
"And hundreds and thousands of dollars in advertising and publicity."

Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Vice President for OCEANA
"We went through the process; we went through the process."

Jules Vasquez
"But you failed on the proof; the proof is the signature."

Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Vice President for OCEANA
"How could we have failed? Can we condemn the people who did not know how they signed 20 years ago?"

Jules Vasquez
"Yes, but you know that it comes down to proof, and it comes down to signature; that's what the law says. You should have been titer and more demanding on the signatures. But you all just wanted names; this is what happens when you pay people to get names."

Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Vice President for OCEANA
"That is not true we never paid anyone to get names, nobody paid to sign that is not true."

Jules Vasquez
"But agents were paid to go and collect signature."

Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Vice President for OCEANA
"No, that is not true. It's not a payment. People were given money for food and water, especially in the districts because people would take time and go out, but it would have been unfair for them not to have money for food and water."

Jules Vasquez
"You did spend hundreds of Thousands of dollars."

Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Vice President for OCEANA
"Hundreds of Thousands, No."

Jules Vasquez
"Yes you did, the advertising alone - I know how much."

Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Vice President for OCEANA
"But it has brought to light a lot of big issues. This is, I think, the second referendum being attempted, this one went a step farther; we hope that by the third one and the fourth one we will perfect it."

OCEANA and The Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage has not yet decided if it will re-launch the referendum effort - which would mean starting from scratch all over again.