This week Belize's Ombudsman Paul Rodriguez is hosting a meeting of regional ombudsmen from Central America. High on the agenda will be bridging the gap between the Caribbean Association and the Central American Association. That is where Belize comes in to play a role as a gateway to both. Rodriquez adds that the message needs to get out that he is an investigator, not an inquisitor.
Paul Rodriquez, Ombudsman
"One of the things we need to do is understand more thoroughly what it is that the ombudsmen can do. I think its best to study the facts and investigate them, rather than going by yerri so. Especially during the past few months there has been a lot of 'yerri so' that has been taken for fact and if you would just do a thorough investigation, you will find that the ombudsman has done far more than he is credited for. Now the ombudsman does not have sanctionary power. If you want the Ombudsman to start putting politicians in jail, he does not have that power, and I don't think I want that power. I don't want to be an inquisitor. If that is what it takes to be an ombudsman then I don't want the job.
This summit will further develop the integrating process between Central America and the Caribbean but also I think we will discuss more initiatives that the ombudsmen from all of Central America can do to increase the confidence that people have in us. There is no doubt that the ombudsman in Belize needs to do more of a selling job of what he does."
Seven Central American Ombudsman are participating in addition to Antigua and Barbuda's ombudsman. The workshop was opened this morning and continues through to Saturday.
