And of course, it wouldn't be a Shyne Barrow press briefing if he didn't talk about the lack of citizen security and what he sees as the failure of Police Minister and the ComPol.
Over the weekend, there were four murders - including two teenage victims - and seven so-called sicarios found in Corozal.
And after all that, Barrow criticized the prime minister for not addressing the country, to reassure them of GOB's plan to continue fighting crime. He says this is only pushing the Belizean people to vote for the UDP come municipal elections.
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"I believe this is the first prime minister, I don't know when he has met with his national security council. Whenever, we have crises, when we have emergencies like that state of emergency on the Southside current, he says nothing. Is it that he doesn't care about the carnage that is ripping our country apart? And it's not just the Southside, a young business person was murdered at his home. Not the first time, remember there was a business person executed on Baymen Avenue, on the northside, in the Minister of Police's constituency because no one has any respect for the Minister of Police, or the CEO, or his ComPol. The criminal elements don't. So again, I believe that it is politics, the prime minister wants the Minister of Police to fail but at the expense of Belize security, which is shameful."
"Belizeans voted for better, Belizeans voted for a radical improvement, and we have not gotten that and we don't even get the comfort of a prime minister and a Minister of Police that faces the nation and outlines their solutions because when you outline solutions then you are held accountable, then you have to deliver. But what do they do? They just ignore the Belizean people, and I'm telling you, in March of 2024, you will see the frustration of the Belizean people, I guarantee it."
Courtney Menzies:
"Would you concede though that while the crime number hasn't drastically reduced, the number of gang related crime which is what they've been targeting the most and that these past four murders were personal beef, old beef, or people who put themselves in situations where their life was endangered, and not necessarily gang crime, which has been their main priority."
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"According to who?"
Courtney Menzies:
"Well, the businessman, that wasn't gang related."
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"Again, we don't know, well I did not say anything about gang related, I am talking about murders, I am not talking about citizen security. So you're zoning in, this is the typical deflection and debating technicalities rather than dealing with the bigger picture, which is that we were promised citizen security, we weren't promised a reduction in gang related murders, but an increase in overall murders. Murders are murders."
Three of the four murders of the weekend were not gang related.
