The status of Belize’s independence and that of its people has had its ups and downs over the years. Belize was nominally independent under the rule of the public meeting but the majority of its people were held as slaves. The battle of St. George’s Caye was a rare occasion when the interests of the men of the public meeting and their slaves were in harmony.
Later, soon after the formal abolition of slavery, the men of the legislative council as the public meeting had become actually voted to give up their nominal independence and petitioned to become a British colony. They were willing to give up their independence in exchange for better security and greater commercial opportunities. This status remained unchanged for a hundred years although grass roots agitation began to gather momentum with the return of veterans from World War I. However, it was not until global events in the aftermath of World War II led to the devaluation of the pound Stirling and hence the Belize dollar against the US Dollar that this agitation took on the character of a national movement.
Out of this campaign against the adverse effects of the effective devaluation of the Belize dollar the independence movement developed. A particular irritant to Belizeans was that the well connected Belize Estate and Produce Company benefitted from devaluation against the US dollar while life for ordinary folk became much harder.
There were many twists and turns before Belize gained internal self government and finally achieved formal independence from Britain, albeit with a defence guarantee, in 1981. Neither of these changes in status solved our problems of underdevelopment, but gradually Belize began to build the political and economic institutions required of an independent nation. Belize developed a political culture that enabled it to change government peacefully and relatively smoothly. Many Belizean companies expanded and grew their operations under Belizean management.
Notably, Belize Telecommunications Ltd. developed into a world class company and returned millions of dollars in profits to its Belizean shareholders, which included the government, Social Security and ordinary Belizeans. Then in the mid-1990s a new Lord Neo Coloniser appeared, promising to bring in foreign investment and expertise. However, his business model was based on taking over existing businesses rather than in creating new ones. This model was founded on the principle of replacing Belizean management with his expatriate variety and generally led to most of the profits being sent abroad. Finding the UDP government of the day a little skeptical of his promises and less flexible than he found convenient, the Lord invested heavily in influencing the outcome of Belizean elections with the result that a more pliant PUP administration was installed.
It was not long before the predatory Lord ran rings around these PUP fools who obviously did not understand that “cow no business where horse di gallop”. They had no understanding of the depth to which they were being played and thought that they could build their own financial safety net using money diverted from public funds. However, when they tried to make the move to dump their benefactor and Puppet Master they found that they had been outsmarted and outmanoeuvred. No matter how hard they mooed and kicked they could not escape from the INTELCO fiasco and they were finally forced to sign secret accommodation agreements that gave the Lord even more power than before. Thus Belizean independence was essentially lost to the new Slave Master. A particular irritant for the Belize people was that this new colonization benefitted the Lord and his interests, especially those in the British Conservative Party, while depriving Belize of its rightful share of tax revenues that could improve the quality of life for all Belizeans.
The renationalization in 2008 of Belize Telemedia Ltd., as BTL is now named, represents a new opportunity for independence in Belize. Once again BTL is managed and led by a competent Belizean team; government is getting the correct tax revenue that can be used to benefit Belizeans; and now the Prime Minister has announced that Belizeans will once more be able to invest in the future of BTL and Belize by purchasing shares in the company. The Lord Neo Coloniser is naturally upset, but all his huffing and puffing cannot blow this Belizean house down.
The price of independence, like that of freedom, is eternal vigilance. It can never be taken for granted because there are always neo colonisers ready and waiting to snatch away the independence that we struggled to earn and maintain throughout the years.
