Gilbert Swazo, Ombudsman
"At the 12th Biannual meeting the annual general meeting of the Caribbean Ombudsman association several issues were discussed and towards the end there was the election of the new executive board members you may also recall that recently the Ombudsman of Barbados was here in Belize so the Ombudsman of Barbados Dr Nigel Taylor was elected to be the president and I was elected to be a board member on the Caribbean Ombudsman association. That in my view is a benchmark and since the establishment of the association which became operational I believe around 1998 and Belize's first ombudsman was."

"In 1999, Mr Paul Rodriguez we as part of CARICOM are members to the Caribbean ombudsman association so I being the fourth ombudsman of Belize then became the first Belizean ombudsman to be elected onto the executive board for the Caribbean ombudsman association now what that does is all ombudsman are there to ensure good governance and ensure fairness and justice prevail throughout the respective jurisdiction so being a member we are not only serving Belize but also serving the entire Caribbean region and small island states."

A total of 17 countries are members of CAROA.