Tonight, after two days of counting, there's still yet to be a declared winner in the U.S. Presidential election. As we've told you, while neither candidate is yet to reach the 270 electoral votes required to win the Whitehouse, former Vice President Joe Biden is maintaining a consistent lead in the popular and electoral vote.
But we wanted a Belizean perspective on the election that has the entire world transfixed. And this morning we spoke to our Ambassador in Washington D.C. Danny Guitterez to get his observations of 2020's unprecedented race for the Whitehouse. He said the pace of the count was to be expected:
Francisco Daniel Guttierez - Belize's Ambassador to the US "I think, to be fair, this is something that people had said was probably going to happen - that you would not know the outcome of the election on the day of election for any number of reasons. What has happened is people have turned out in numbers that had not been seen recently so that's good for the US's democratic process, that's a good thing it means people are very enthusiastic on both sides so the result is that you have any number of states including some important states like Georgia, like Pennsylvania, like Nevada, like Arizona and others where you still do not really know what those results are which leads to the nail biting that I think most Americans and perhaps many people around the world are in Belizeans in the United States live in the entire gamut, the entire array of areas in the economy. For all Belizeans who live in the United States, the performance of the economy is exceedingly important. There are many who argue that this really is not impacted by whoever occupies the White House, as whoever occupies the White House might want to suggest from whatever party because the United States economy is so large and so complex in that sense I think Belizeans would want, you know, very important for Belizeans that they're able to continue feeding their family because our people in the United States work very hard, you know, our people are out there building the United States doing their part to make the US this great country that it is and they will want to ensure that the US economy continues in such a way that they're able to feed their family and prosper."
We also got the Ambassador's opinion on Belizeans who've illegally emigrated to the U.S. They've been prime targets for I.C.E. In Trump's America, we wondered how many of them have ended up as deportees.
Francisco Daniel Guttierez "I tell you, Courtney, Belizeans have been able to - how should we say - not be first ones on the list or on the radar of ICE and they've done that very successfully. Over the last few years, you know, we've had fewer than a 100 Belizeans deportees - one hundred too many - one hundred people that wanted to put food on the table and were working hard so obviously for them that was a loss. However, when you compare the amount of Belizeans deported to the amount of, let's say, Guatemalans or Salvadorans and Hondurans, we don't even figure on the radar and that is the truth of it so our people, because they're English speakers, are able to fit in a lot better than perhaps their counterparts from other countries. I'm not suggesting that they have it easy at all, I'm not suggesting that, I am telling you that coming from an English speaking country and Belizeans have an incredible way to survive and to get things done, that spirit certainly helps Belizeans in the us."
As the counting of ballots continues democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has asked for patience and urged Americans to remain calm. The President on the other hand has demanded that counting be stopped in several of the states where he's ahead.
