Yesterday opposition leader dean barrow said that the Carnival contract confirmed his worst fears but his area representative for Port Loyola must not have heard that word. Despite the public exposure of a contract that shows what have been described as mostly advantageous terms for the Carnival group, tonight, Boots Martinez is unwavering in his support of the project; he told us why:
Alfonso Noble
"Boots how can you endorse something that you didn't even know what it entailed in terms of what was on that contract?"
Anthony ‘Boots' Martinez
"Well that was clear and I made that clear that I supported the project in principle. In other words what I'm saying is that I spoke with Mr. Israel and Mr. Morelio and Mr. Luke Espat in regards to what is it? How the residents of Port Loyola, and furthermore the residents of South Side can benefit from the project. I still support the project, the Carnival project, in principle."
"The areas of concern, yes I think they need to rearrange them so it is suitable to Belizeans because nobody is looking to turn away one hundred million dollars investment in our country. But I am saying that the areas in the contract where it seems that the contract will supersede the law of the land I am not with that. They need clarity to the clause in regards to Belizean workers. I think they need to clarify that. I think that the amount of tourists that visit the site I think that they need to adress that and I think those are the main concerns of the Belizean public."
"But at the end of the day I was no part of the negotiation or administration for non of those companies there. I support the project in principle. I still support the project in principle providing that we get clarification on the issues that bother Belizeans."
Alfonso Noble
"There are issues that you ought to be concerned more about is in fact that employment of residents of Belize and in fact Port Loyola will not be able to get a job, there is no guarantee that these people will be able to get a job once the terminal is opened and operating. Your point of view on that?"
Anthony Martinez
"Well, my negotiation with Carnival, they offered to lend technical assistance in training people in regards to tourism related business. In other words I think in January we are trying to get all the schools in the area to, from 6 to 9 in the evening, in regards to starting to train people in regards to tourism."
Martinez says he has been in discussion with the Carnival representatives and says that shortly residents from his division will begin to receive tourism-related training through technical advice from the company.