Opposition Leader against state of emergency in Belize City

BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC – Opposition Leader John Briceño says a state of emergency (SOE) is not the solution to the crime problem existing in Belize City and urged the Dean Barrow government to undertake a comprehensive and holistic approach that addressed the socio-economic difficulties being faced by south-side residents.

“This is not the answer. The People’s United Party (PUP) would not have gone down this road because we would have been addressing this issue way back. Like I said, you are reaping what you have sewn,” the PUP leader told a news conference.

He said the government has abandoned and neglected Southside Belize City and “today we are seeing the price of that abandonment, of using the Southside just for politics and not making the necessary change to transform the lives of residents.

“Yes, we need to police the police on the ground. Yes we need to make sure we keep law and order in the area but that at the same time it is more than that. We have a lot of unemployed people in the Southside. “We have a lot of young people who are not going to school because their family cannot afford it. We have a lot of anger where people believe that their children or their family members have been innocently killed and they have nowhere that they can go to,” he told reporters.

Governor General Sir Colville Norbert Young signed the statutory instrument allowing for the SOE to go into effect in two of five previously identified hotspots on south side Belize City.

National Security Minister John Saldivar, said he is prepared to go to Parliament to seek an extension of the SOE as the law enforcement agencies seek to put a lid on gang violence in the area.

“Under the emergency powers granted under the constitution, if we should wish to have an extension of this 30 -day period we will have to take the matter to the House of Representative and I as the minister do intend to do so if the circumstances do so warrant,” he said.

Under the SOE, the police and other agencies have the authority to incarcerate gang members and their affiliates from these two areas for 30 days, without them having been charged for any crime.

So far, more than 100 people have been detained under the SOE.

But Briceño said that the authorities should instead be establishing counselling centres in the area to help deal with the escalating crime situation.

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