No man is an island, but if the Prime Minister has his way, the Italian Premier will come close. An international news report from Italy states that on his recent trip to that country Belize's Prime Minister made what a very grand accommodation to the Italian Premier, Silvio Berlusconi.
The news report states that, "Berlusconi has had an island in the Caribbean sea named after him, something none of his predecessors can boast." It continues: "the island belongs to the Central American state of Belize and used to be called Black Birds. From now on it is to be known as Silvio Bay." The article concludes: "it remains unclear why Musa decided to honor his Italian counterpart in this way. Their meeting in Rome was believed to have been an otherwise routine affair."
We were unable to confirm this, in fact those we spoke to knew nothing about it. Whether Blackbird Caye in the waters of southern Belize will now indeed be called Silvio Bay is a matter left now to be confirmed by the Prime Minister's Office, but we do get the sense that if it is not changed, the Italian Premier will be disappointed.
What we do know is that the Italian government did help with $3 million to fund the Climate Change Center in Belmopan. Whether that gets you an island, in name only we hope, is left to be seen.
