As we noted, just about the biggest name on that list is Belize's Ambassador to Guatemala Fred Martinez. Though he's well respected in Guatemala, Martinez was a controversial figure when he was appointed by the Musa administration because he is a former UDP minister and a defeated UDP candidate. But he was the Opposition's representative on the national negotiating team in the Belize/Guatemala negotiations and became a favorite of Chief Negotiator Assad Shoman.
But now, it seems Ambassador Martinez is the victim of political retribution more than just cost cutting because the argument within the PUP seems to be that if the Ambassador to the UN, Stuart Leslie, a PUP in good standing was fired, chiefly as an act of inter-party warfare, then, the same had to follow for Martinez. But all hope is not lost, we are informed that former Minister, now full time free-labor Chief Negotiator Assad Shoman is trying to work out a package to keep Ambassador Martinez around.
And as for Gian Ghandi, the wily and insuppressible former Solicitor General and now legal advisor to the Ministry of Finance. Ghandi once described as "evil incarnate" by former Minister Eamon Courtenay was fired shortly after the PUP came into office. But he was fired in the morning ands re-hired in the afternoon by then Budget Planning Minister Ralph Fonseca. And that's where he's been for these years, a key architect of all government's contracts. But Ghandi may have finally outlived his utility when the ICC deal, which he is claimed to have crafted, became and continues to be government's worse nightmare.
