And in other news, we told you that, following an emergency meeting that the prime minister held with owners ASR in the US prior to the elections, he switched the responsibility of the sugar cane industry from Jose Mai to Dr Oscar Martinez.
It's a move that rubbed Mai - and even the cane farmers that he spoke up for - the wrong way. And today, the Minister of Agriculture came out swinging at ASR. He said he was unaware of the meeting until after the fact, but he simply can't understand what emergency they could be referring to when they've been given plenty of concessions - some he even believes constitute double dipping.
He spoke to our colleagues at CTV3 today.
Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"I don't know what the concerns are, that was discussed with the prime minister in the states. Just like you, I knew of that visit after the fact. About the responsibility of the sugar industry being removed from Ministry of Agriculture portfolio, which substantive minister, how do I see that one? For ASR, I believe they view it as a victory for them. For the farmers, they view it as treason probably. Jules calls it a humiliation and a demotion. I see it as a way for another person to do something different. Is it going to work? I don't know. I think this is the worst time in the history that we are facing with fusarium disease among other things including climate change. About emergency, I don't know what emergency it could be. They have a lot of benefits in this country, ASR has a lot of benefits and I can list them one by one. First, they benefitted tremendously from concessions in this country. I think it was 30 years concessions or a little bit less which included environmental tax which nobody else has in this country. They have benefitted for many years from the fuel subsidy, which in my view, I consider that double dipping because you got your concession then you get a fuel subsidy. In my view, fuel subsidy is for the small farmers who do not benefit from all the duty exemptions and for them to try and get the cost low and maximize on the little that's left. They have benefitted from I would say a monopoly on the US sugar market because only them in Belize can sell on that market. Santander has tried tapping into that market and they're not successful. They have benefitted also from the monopoly on the local market, which is the second best paying market. They have not, again Santander has tried getting into the market, unsuccessfully. They have benefitted from the farmers paying 65% of some of their costs. We all know that's a big problem and so what emergency could that be if you are unable to survive economically with all of those benefits as a multinational company."
|
