As you heard in the story, Brian Perez was a career employee at BEL, and, as it turns out, so was his father.
That's why the murder is deeply felt at that utility and today a release from the Belize Energy Workers' Union said, quote, "We demand justice, but more than that we want to raise our voices and join the countless Belizean families who have lost their loved ones to gun violence. We call on the authorities to ensure that the proper investigations are carried out swiftly to bring to justice the person responsible. Like everyone else, we also question, how it is that this level of violence still allowed to exist within our small community?" end quote.
We spoke to the union's General Secretary, Marvin Mora this afternoon:
Voice of: Marvin Mora, General Secretary, BEL Workers Union
"It was a shock to all of us at BEL, that somebody like Brian would end up like this. We reached out a couple of the brothers that worked with him and they work shocked and we were all hopeful that Brian could pull through. It didn't happen and that is what hurt us the most, because I'm sure that he was probably fighting to stay alive, but the way things happen probably the doctors couldn't do anything."
"But beyond that one of the things that we want to address is the authority's inability to arrest the problem. I think that's one of the things that the union wants to bring to the forefront. I mean this is really ridiculous and how does these people out there, these criminal elements get access to guns so easily in our country and it shows that no one is really safe, not even in their own home. That's a reality that we have to wake up and realize that it is part of a Belizean criminal cultural societal reality."
So far, Police have not made any arrests.
