"Believe in Belize" - that's what the party slogan says but last week one lifelong PUP supporter called us to her home in Corozal Town - to tell us that she could no longer believe in her party. It's the story of an alleged land hustle - the kind that comes to the forefront fairly regularly - but this time the victim says it's forced her to do something she didn't want to do. Meet Soraya Rosado from Corozal Town and hear the story of the piece of land that she says she acquired, against all odds.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
This is the piece land that's at the center of a firestorm of a controversy. It's not much - but the story of what they had to do to get title to it - well that is much. We met Sorya Rosado in her kitchen yesterday where she explained to us that it started in 2005.
Sorya Rosado,
"Sometime in 2005 I understood that the Town Board was selling lands to Corozalenos so I went in and I asked if I could get one and they said yes as long I come up half of the down payment which was $3,000 because they were selling the land for $6,000."
But she couldn't afford the $6,000 and made a deposit for two thousand dollars November 29, 2005. It was approved as a down payment and this is the receipt from the Corozal Town Board dated November 2005. One and a half years later, after a mix-up with one piece of land for the other, Marin told her she could buy it outright for $5,000.
Sorya Rosado,
"He said that I should make immediate payment of the remaining balance so that O could get my title immediately. I said I don't think I need to pay $4,000 because I have already invested in the other piece of property I was claiming and its not fair for me because I've already invested there. And he said, that is okay and he is going to leave it at $5,000 for me. He told me to just pay the remaining $3,000 which would be payment in full. I have a receipt where I paid $3,000 as payment in full."
She borrowed this $3,000 to make the payment with this check, deposited in this account and received this receipt, not from the Town Board, but from the Rodney Moguel Development Committee.
Sorya Rosado,
"I had to borrow the money. It was worth it because I wanted a piece of property for my daughter with title. So time went by and I used to ask about it and they said they are processing, we are processing, and kept getting the same answers every time."
Fed up with that, she asked Marin's people for the documentation to take it to the lands registry in Belmopan when she discovered that her receipts were worthless.
Sorya Rosado,
"A month later I go back for title again and I am told that there is no way I can get my title because I have a remaining balance of $1,000 which I have a government statement here that states I owe $1,000. And I said how can I owe $1,000 when I have paid for the land in full."
Jules Vasquez,
And then you showed them what you paid?
Sorya Rosado,
"So I produced receipts of what I had paid and they said, 'mam we are sorry to tell you those receipts are not worth anything here.'"
Jules Vasquez,
So that money was not paid to the Ministry of Lands for the property?
Sorya Rosado,
"Obviously. So I come back home and I approach my Minister and I said to him, 'Vildo what is going on here, I went to Lands and they tell me how I can't get my title because I have a balance of $1,000.' And he told me again not to worry, he is going to take care of it."
And while the balance outstanding bothered her, the other thing that really bothered her is this other figure, the purchase price.
Sorya Rosado,
"Okay I paid $5,000 for it and I said to him, 'Vildo but I bought this land for $5,000 and then they are selling it for $2,500.' I asked where is the difference and he looked at me and said, 'that is for community
development, for infrastructure, for roads, for lights, for water.' I said Vildo I might understand that but other people might not understand that. You need to explain to the people what is going on."
Jules Vasquez,
So but you challenged him with that.
Sorya Rosado,
"Yes and he said infrastructure, for community development and that he is doing God's work here on earth. That's his exact words to me."
And using his worldly powers, Marin did get got the price of the land adjusted to cancel her outstanding balance - and she got a new land rent statement.
Sorya Rosado,
"Which gives the land price for a $1,500. My people I don't know what you call that."
She calls it being robbed.
Sorya Rosado,
"I felt robbed. I felt taken advantage of. I paid $5,000 for a land that according to my government is only worth $1,500."
Jules Vasquez,
And this happened to somebody how you described it, you're a PUP from before you born.
Sorya Rosado,
"I am a PUP."
Jules Vasquez,
So how does that make you feel?
Sorya Rosado,
"It hurts. It hurts."
And it hurts so bad because by speaking out now, she must also speak out against her party.
Sorya Rosado,
"I want you to know that I am a PUP, I have been a PUP even before my both, all my family is a PUP. This is not about being a PUP, this is about being a Belizean, this is about being a Corozaleno. My Corazalenos are being taken advantage of and it's not fair. At some point in our life we have to stand up and even if it's just a little drop we put in there, let it be known what they are doing to us - be it PUP or be it UDP we have to start talking and bringing out proof for our country, our children. It won't be for us, it is for our kids. I love Belize, I truly love Belize Jules. What would our future of our Ministers continue doing this?"
Jules Vasquez,
How does it feel now that things have come to this, where she called me to speak out. And not to say that she is a UDP because she says she is still a PUP. You, your actions have disappointed and betrayed her trust in you.
Hon. Vildo Marin, Deputy Prime Minister
"Look as I said this is the first time that we're doing a project like this. Normally what we do is that government itself invests in the project.
This has been a project which we were developing through the Town Council, it's a new project and certainly the people are not used to this kind of development. They are used to getting a lease and then the government will go and put in the infrastructure afterwards and then they will go to the Natural Resources and then they will pay for the title of this land."
Jules Vasquez,
What people aren't used to Minister is people aren't used to paying $6,000 for a land that's $1,500. That is what people aren't used to, that's what she says.
Hon. Vildo Marin,
"Yes that's right but as I said, as I told you before, that money is being used for the infrastructure."
Jules Vasquez,
How much is in the account?
Hon. Vildo Marin,
"I would have to look into the account. I don't know, I guess about $5,000 or $6,000."
And not much to show for it. The area doesn't have running water, electricity - and calling this road a street might be a misuse of that term.
Hon. Vildo Marin,
"It took us about two years just to get that piece of land bulldozed. If you are not a developer you will not realize how difficult it is. You have bulldozers, I had to have two or three bulldozers right at the time there so it is very difficult. A lot of money, as I said before, has been invested there and some people, the majority of people have made a down payment and we are waiting for them to come and pay the balance. And once they pay the balance, we have sufficient money to put the rest of the infrastructure."
Jules Vasquez,
Where is that account?
Hon. Vildo Marin,
"First as I said we used to have it in the Town Council, the Town Council used to manage that account for us."
Jules Vasquez,
Does the Town Council still manage it?
Hon. Vildo Marin,
"No I handle it from my office. We developed a development committee because the UDP Town Council did not want to pursue that project."
Hilberto Campos, Corozal Town Mayor
"Well that is an outright lie. I would like to inform the people that upon taking over office, I wasn't informed any at all by any official about this situation with the Rodney Moguel Project. I asked personally Vildo
Marin about that and he said we were only using the council like a bypass. He says that is his project and we have nothing to do with it. I told him this because people were approaching my office with official receipts stamped by the Corozal Town Council and they wanted a clarification from me. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do that because I didn't know about this and when I asked him he said to refer them to me."
But the development was also referred to the Auditor General who notes that the $50,000 spent on bulldozing the low-lying area is so inordinate that it appears almost impossible. He says, "the frequency with which equipment's were issued diesel and the amount issued were far in excess of what would be reasonably expected." Spurred on by that Mayor Campos did his own investigation into Rodney Moguel and found that it had been running in the red - $173,000 was collected and the Town Council spent $236,000.
Hilberto Campos,
"They used $63,000 of the Corozal Town Council's fund to invest in the development of the area and the Auditor General report clearly states that the development is poor for the amount of money spent. I have an official voucher issued 2,200 gallons of diesel for one single day and the Auditor General questions that. I have been asking publicly on radio and television and I take this opportunity to do it once more, I want to ask the Hon. Vildo Marin who is going to pay the Corozal Town Council $63,000 that was invested in that project."
Marin says only $5,000 or $6,000 is in the account - and there's a lot of work left to do - and even in the run up to the election nothing is happening at Rodney Moguel. But not for Sorya Rosado, she's gotten her title and has learned her lesson.
Sorya Rosado,
"Never pay for a land from any Minister privately. Make sure you pay at the Lands Office. What else can I say Jules. What else can I say?"
Jules Vasquez,
Why are you collecting people's money and you can't give them the title?
Hon. Vildo Marin,
"What you mean?"
Jules Vasquez,
It took three years.
Hon. Vildo Marin,
"Does it matter? I know a lot of people who have their papers at the Lands Department who haven't gotten their tittles as yet. She has gotten her title. All the people who have paid their full amount will be getting their titles and we will be developing the area."
Jules Vasquez,
Why would somebody who is a life long PUP?
Hon. Vildo Marin,
"Well I can tell you that some staunch UDPs have gotten land there and now they will vote PUP."
And we'll all know soon enough whether that's making the best of a bad situation or if it is just wishful thinking.
Corozal Mayor Campos also shared with us dozens of notes sent from Deputy Prime Minister Marin to then town clerk Hernan Ramirez, instructing him what to do with the development.
