If you subtract poetry and propaganda, there are very few full length books published in Belize from year to year. Even rarer is an autobiography. But that's just what Love FM's Rene Villanueva has done with the story of his life. It's called "Thanks for Choosing Love", and it was launched with great fanfare today. Jules Vasquez offers a report of that event and a mini review of a quite major work.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
It was a celebration of the head corner stone of the media establishment. Rene Villanueva played to a packed room, a full house as all gathered in thrall. There were beauty queens, the odd billionaire, barristers, businessmen, ambassadors, multi-denominational church leaders, union leaders, high court judges, and media colleagues. And after a standing ovation Villanueva was overwhelmed.
Rene Villanueva Sr., Author
"Thank you so much, I don't know if I deserve all this but thank you, thank you so much."
But deserving or not, he got it - in fact he orchestrated it. The day played from a script written and arranged by 'The Love Crew.' But nothing could have prepared Villanueva for the endless volleys of bouquets thrown at him by speaker after speaker. And it played well, cataloguing his ascent from a lowly technician in 1968 to the mogul at the head of broadcasting empire. It is a broad sweep and Villanueva was, again, overwhelmed by the task.
Rene Villanueva Sr.,
"I just wanna talk, I guess a little bit, about the whole thing, the whole project. It took some time to do it."
It took two years and it is a compelling read - anyone with an interest in history or broadcast or the politics of free radio should read it. Villanueva has the letters, the pictures, his account of the back story. And the book as its best and most juicy is when he talks about the politics and the personalities behind his ouster from the BCB in 1992.
Rene Villanueva Sr.,
"Hey the last time I did this was in front of my Board of Directors of the BCB when they asked me if I would stay if they pulled back the advertisement for post and I said you people, and some of the members of the board are in here today, I said, 'you people have played with twenty three years of my life, that's what you're playing with around this table and I will never allow anyone else to play with twenty three years of my life ever again, I'm leaving.'"
And the rest is history - copiously and self-servingly catalogued in this book.
And while Villanueva is the victor in every piece, the good guy in every bad situation, he's confident of what he writes.
Rene Villanueva Sr.,
"Whatever I say in here, basically I can substantiate with board minutes where the BCB is concerned because that's the serious part."
And it is a serious work, a veritable point of view history of broadcasting in Belize. Many others will have different versions but until they produce theirs, Villanueva is definitive. And compiling it all, and naming names was a sometimes tricky task.
Rene Villanueva Sr.,
"There are many things in there that I had to take out, put in, forget, remember and many nights, and Susan can tell you this, many nights I was sleepless because I kept seeing the computer screen in front of me and I dreamt about a computer screen for the last two months and about words and if I left this out, or if I put this one in, this one will come after you if you don't put it this way, and that sort of thing."
After such a grand coronation of the monarch of the media establishment, family tree and all - what could be next?
Rene Villanueva Sr.,
"I've also said with regards to politics, that I won't go to politics, politics will come to me if it should happen and if doesn't happen, well that's fine too. I am quite cool with that."
The book is close to 400 pages long and sells for $40.
