When General Robert Garcia and Major John Flowers changed profession from soldiers to managers of a bus company, they might have known that they were in for a rough ride. But the ride went from bumpy to defamatory in January of 2006 when the Belize Times wrote an editorial accusing the pair of a laundry list of misdeeds involving dishonesty and incompetence. Garcia, the former General Manager of Novelo's, and Flowers, the former operations manager, sued The Times, claiming that they had been gravely libeled. And today in court, they were vindicated.
This afternoon, Justice Samuel Awich ruled that the article was libelous and ordered the times to pay both Garcia and Flowers $30,000 each plus costs which is another $9,000 each. At $78,000 it may be the largest combined libel award on record in Belize. The pair - both known UDP activists - were represented by Dean Barrow, while Kareem Musa appeared for the Times.
Speaking to us via telephone today, Garcia would only say that "the truth shall make you free, even if it's expensive at Times." Attorney for_ the Times_, Kareem Musa says The Times will appeal because the defence of fair comment was in his opinion wrongly struck out by the judge.
