Lifelong United Democratic Party activist and supporter Wilfredo "Shubu" Brown died at 12:50 this afternoon at his home in Belize City with his caretaker and a priest at his bedside. It was a relatively quiet farewell for the 79 year old who distinguished himself as a unflinching patriot and opposition firebrand. Shubu who was born in Guatemala came to Belize between the late 1940s and early 50s and eventually joined the anti-Guatemalan and anti-PUP movement becoming the feisty and combative alter ego to the cerebral and serene Phillip Goldson, who he idolized. He remained committed to those beliefs until earlier this year when his battle with prostate cancer sapped his energy. And while he might have lost his battle with cancer, Keith Swift found out that Shubu won another and much bigger fight.
Keith Swift Reporting,
He was a broad-chested firebrand, a super patriot, and a vowed archrival of the PUP. Wilfredo "Shubu" Brown was a legendary, matchless figure in Belizean party politics.
Michael Finnegan, UDP Party Whip
"People like Shubu Brown are a rare specimen. You don't come across people like Shubu Brown on a regular basis. These people are a scarce product. I don't know that we in this country will be able to see a Shubu Brown anywhere soon because Shubu was courageous and he was dignified. He couldn't be bought. He was poor. He was a waterfront worker with very little money in his pocket. He was threatened. He was stoned. He was victimized. He was denied a Belizean passport. He was shot in his buttocks. But all of that didn't mean nothing to Brown. He was convinced that he was on the right track and that the People's United Party was an evil to this country, that George Price was the most devious and pernicious person, according to Shubu Brown, and that's why he stood and maintained the kind of political dignity he maintained over such a long period of time."
And how should the pages of history remember the Guatemalan born Shubu who was known for his entrances as macebearer in the house or when he nearly brought down the house at a 1998 September Celebrations Committee Press conference? Or the man who posed with beauty queens and wrote Queen Elizabeth the second? Michael Finnegan says that though Shubu was short in stature, his accomplishments make him a giant.
Michael Finnegan,
"Shubu in my view accomplished a lot of things politically. A lot of things as a political activist because, what you all younger people must remember is that, back in the 60s when the PUP were real PUP and you were fighting against the PUP, it was you against Rome. Nobody wanted, in those days everybody was afraid to stand up and to be heard and to give an opinion or a view. People were basically afraid in those days and they were very few people around like Shubu Brown who was fearless, who was courageous, and who believed in something and dared, at that time, to oppose that which was extremely strong. He was a phenomenal figure. In my view, Shubu Brown was a giant but a modest giant."
A modest giant who was often loud, this afternoon he quietly made his final exit in his modest dwelling on Tigris Street.
"Shubu" was 79 years old. He was never married and as far as records go, he never had any children. Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced. An interesting endnote is that while he came to Belize in the 1950s, he didn't get his citizenship until 1984.