On Monday evening, there were fires at two of Minister Edmond ‘Clear The Land’ Castro’s sugarcane fields. One of the fields is located in Santa Martha and the other is located in Isabella Bank. According to Minister Castro, he was made aware of the fire at his Santa Martha field sometime after 3:00 p.m. He said he along with his sons made their way to the location and at about 5:30 pm while they were dealing with that fire, they got the news of the fire at his Isabella Bank Field.
According to one resident who lives near the Santa Martha Field, an alleged culprit was seen on horseback riding off with a blue rag on his face just prior to the fire being discovered. Castro said all evidence so far is suggesting that the fires were started as deliberate, costly and misdirected acts of retaliation for an incident on Saturday. The incident he was referring to is the fight between Damion ‘Fello’ Garbutt, who is one of Castro’s political generals and Marconi Leal his political opponent in Belize Rural North.
Castro said he is now being made to suffer huge losses for an incident that had nothing to do with him. He said that he stands to lose a substantial investment as a result of those acts of sabotage. Castro is not pointing any fingers, and neither are we. However, conventional wisdom is suggesting that the fires occurring within two days of the incident on Saturday and within three hours of each other, at these two fields owned by Castro, but located miles apart and on two different roads are very strange coincidences.
With Belize being as small as it is and the political polarization being what it is, this sort of thing could head down a path we would not want to see it go. In Belize, successful politicians have loyal supporters who would lay it on the line for those politicians. Castro is considered a very successful and well liked politician. There are many farms and fields in that part and other parts of the country. Someone need to put a lid on this powder keg before it explodes. We hope that POLITICAL LEADER from across the political landscape would speak to their people to ensure that this situation does not get out of hand.
