There was a high powered diplomatic visit to Belize City today by the Mexican President's wife. It caused major traffic blocking across the city - and, basically, it was all for a specialized book scanner that's meant to preserve rare records.
That scanner, a gift from the people of Mexico, was delivered in style this morning when the spouse of the President personally handed it to Special Envoy Rossanna Briceno in a handing over-ceremony that was just a bit more lavish than Belizeans are used to.
7News was at the Government House's carriage House this morning to witness the presentation. Cherisse Halsall has that story:
Albert Street was blocked off this morning for a motorcade transporting Dra. Beatriz Gutierrez Mueller the wife of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
She'd come to deliver a scanner, one specialized for the preservation of historical documents to be shared between the Archives, the Museum of Belize, and the National Heritage Library.
And this morning when Guitterez Mueller, herself a writer, journalist, and researcher stepped up to the podium she explained to the crowd why the past and all its facets are so vital to a nation's identity.
Dra. Beatriz Gutierrez Muller, Spouse Of The President Of Mexico
"History is not only a social discipline, but history is also a teacher, don't forget that so everything you have here in your country is very ancient not that much for example this historical house we're visiting it's beautiful and maybe somebody says, oh what a nice house but that house has a past and has an explanation about the history of this country and that is the reason why those who come from the social sciences and the humanities put so much value on the objects that represent us and symbolize us from the family photo of your grandmother, and the great grandmother, to the letter that our father wrote us and it's the same for countries, And an object like this scanner will allow your archive or your library, that everything you have inside which is a treasure can be preserved especially in these kinds of countries, very tropical, with a lot of problems with humidity."
Mexico's donation was welcomed warmly by Special Envoy for Women and Children Rossana Briceno who echoed her counterpart's statements but added that the past isn't just to be admired but also questioned.
Rosanna Briceno, Wife of the Prime Minister of Belize
"Historic preservation is critical for our development as a people. It allows us to look at our history through various lenses and challenges us to ask different questions about the past. In turn, the act of preserving these historical elements affords us the opportunity to learn new things about our history and ourselves."
"It is an opportunity for future generations to understand and appreciate significant events, people and stories that shape Belize's history."
But those events could have been lost forever because as education C.E.O Diane Maheia told the media, Belize is in dire need of preserving its vital historical documents
Dian Maheia, C.E.O, Education
"A gift like A scanner is going to go a long way the archives have so many documents, documents from the 1800s that need to be scanned and properly preserved, a donation like this is well over 30,000 dollars for the machine itself to have the training the technical capacity building that goes along with it is really important, just now our museum of Belize has five projects that they can think about that they need a scanner for right off the bat. So, the areas of our Ministry of Culture will definitely need to be working together here and yes it's going to be difficult to share a scanner but this is a scanner that we didn't have before so we are grateful for this and we now have our, not our wish list but our things-to-do list for this year is to get another one."
And while that wasn't in the Mexican bag this time around, what Dra. Guitterez did bring with her was, the Music of Mexico, a magnificent Mariachi band complete with harp, horns, and a quartet of violins.
Dian Maheia, C.E.O, Education
"What a gift, but I think that the mariachis were really symbolic, because that was the exclamation point to why we have to recognize history, why we have to preserve history, why we have to document history, and why we recognize culture."
And as the Mariachi played we saw a moment of joy from one country to the other, un abrazo de camaraderie y Amistad.
And Dra. Guttierez Mueller's packed schedule also included a quick meet and greet with Prime Minister John Briceno.
This stop in Belize was just one on her tour to deliver equipment to the Caribbean under the project entitled: Recovery of Historical Archives In Latin America And The Caribbean.
