When the Novelo's Bus Company collapsed under its own weight and pressure from its creditors in March, it gave us moment to reflect on what has been one of the most divisive and compelling forces in recent times. Sure, it's just a bus company, but between 2000 and 2002, Novelo's grew into a cultural force, and became a flashpoint of angry protest. On March 6th of this year, we looked back at what Novelo's and a complicit government had wrought. Tonight, as bus users look ahead to the possible promise of a newly reconfigured bus industry, we take you on a rocky ride down memory lane.
[Original Airdate March 9th 2004]
Keith Swift Reporting,
It started in late 1999 when Novelo's moved to gobble up all competitors Batty's, Venus, Z-line, Escalantes and many other smaller carriers, all this was incorporated into four companies: Northern, Western and Southern Transports along with Novelo's bus line a consolidated national transportation provider which would operate as a virtual monopoly.
But that master plan didn't sit well with many commuters and unrest began exactly four years ago in March of 2000 when angry Orange Walk commuters blocked the Tower Hill Bridge. The complaint was against Venus and its owner Froylan Gilharry who was at the time buying over Escalante and Urbina busses so that he could sell them to Novelo along with his company. When he increased rates and decreased pickup points, commuters blockaded the bridge and it was a dispute that only the direct intercession of the Deputy Prime Minister could resolve.
Hon. John Briceno, (March 2000)
[Addressing commuters] "We wah mek sure they noh abstract the people. We have to take care of the people period."
But there was no political peacemaker, the next time four months later it would be dragon unit officers and hoses at the next bus battleground in Benque Viejo. Early on the morning of July 4, 2000 taxi drivers went out to block the Western Highway. This time the complaint was that Novelo's was taking away their livelihoods by transporting commuters all the way to the border instead of dropping them off at the bus station. And the militant taxi drivers didn't budge when Assistant Commissioner of Police Col. Hugh Cain warned them.
Col. Hugh Cain, (July 4 2000)
[To mob of angry taxi drivers who had blocked the road] "One person touches any of my officers, or anyone with a stick in their hand that attempts to injure my officers, force will be used against you. If you are not a part of this demonstration, start moving."
But those flashpoints of resistance against an increasingly high-handed and arrogant Novelo's management seemed to have not been enough of a warning. And the "fire next time" would light a year later on July 30, 2001 again in Orange Walk when the Department of Transport cancelled a village run by Tillet's and Castillo's line. An angry mob faithful to Tillet's and resentful of the ever-encroaching Novelo's monopoly fought for their bus company and against a sense of being marginalized by a behemoth and a disconcerned maybe even complicit Department of Transport.
Those feelings stirred anger, and wrath in the mob and brought out a militancy and disrespect for armed personnel that had not been seen in Belize for decades. And the images that played out on the sweltering July day would become iconic: the sight of a BDF soldier lining up his rifle at protestors and hitting two of them, police relegated to using rocks to defend themselves, a bloodied soldier, a bonfire of discontent. It was enough to bring a nation to a halt but still not enough to stop the acquisitive Novelo's monster which hit full stride in April of 2002 when it declared new bus fares unilaterally, instantly and without the approval of the Department of Transport. And for those who didn't like it: the famously tactless sales pitch was.
David Novelo, (April 14th 2002)
[Speaking to reporters] "I pay a dollar extra or have my Guinness at the end of the day or eat steak. I am not saying that they cannot eat steak but I am saying that we need to adjust our pockets and that's the reality."
Well students in Benque Viejo didn't want the stout but they were happy to use the bottles to lead a number of increasingly militant protests against the rates which made going to school in Cayo prohibitively expensive. It culminated on April 24, 2002 causing violent, unforgettable unrest in the usually quiet western town, actually the home base for Novelo's. But home never looked like this, with tear gas released in the streets, riot ready teenaged students hurling rocks at police, and this time the police pulling the trigger of an M-16 on two males one of them a 16 year old minor. When the dust of dissent had settled, commuters across the country had these students to thank, as those rates were never implemented.
But the Novelo's thorn continued to twist in the sides of Belizeans and just months later on November 27th of 2002 a dispute involving a Novelo's associate company, "Beli-Tur" caused a scene at the tourism village, that gave Belize's tourist industry a black eye that gave some tourists an experience they'll never forget.
Cruise Tourist, (November 27th 2002)
[Speaking about scene at Tourism Village] "It's interesting but yeah its a little annoying to us."
And while Beli-Tur is not in receivership, the Novelo's megalith has now collapsed, buried in $48 million of debt, and burdened by ill will from a public embittered by poor service. And while the debacles will have to be chronicled and contextualized by historians, the fact is that Novelo's debacle should and could have been stopped long ago...but it wasn't because Novelo's never lost favor with a government which shielded, protected and even nurtured the company, a government which finally consented last week to move on Novelo's.
Despite surging fuel prices, Minister Hyde recently advised bus operators that fare increases are not up for discussion at this time.