Last week Saturday the Chief Justice told the Fort Street Tourism Village that he would grant no stay of the judgement that he’d issued a month earlier and they had to bring down the walls. And attorney for the Brown Sugar Marketplace Fred Lumour got an undertaking that they would be dismantled on Friday – because that was the first free day when no cruise ship would be in port.
Sounded fair enough, but lo’ and behold – Friday’s working hours have come and gone and the walls are still there. So what happened? Well that’s what Christian Riverol who manages Brown Sugar wants to know. This afternoon, he told us that they’ve been bamboozled.
Christian Riverol, Manager – Brown Sugar Marketplace
“Well basically what had happened was that they had applied for a stay of execution because they are appealing the case but that was thrown out over the weekend by the Chief Justice. And so on Wednesday April 9th our attorney Fred Lumor had sent Rodwell Williams, who is the attorney for Fort Street stating that by Wednesday April 9th the walls and obstructions should be removed. But we are a friendly people, we understand this industry, the tourism industry, and there were cruise ships in port Wednesday and Thursday and so we kind of lenient with them and we said ok, well on Friday you can start with the removal of the walls and the buildings. But at this point, it is now almost four o’clock in the afternoon and they haven’t really been doing any work to remove the building and the wall. They are still here so that’s where we are right now.”
Keith Swift,
You feel tricked?
Christian Riverol,
“Well that’s how I feel right now. It is very frustrating Keith because for example when we won the case, there were so many people who were very happy with us and rejoicing with us and they came here asking us for jobs and we said yes we will have jobs for you because this great project is now going underway and its been over a month since the first ruling came and the wall is still up and it is quite frustrating.”
So what’s the story? Well, Manager of Fort Street James Nisbet differs greatly. He told us this evening that his workmen today started removing windows, shutters and the roof from the Harbour View side. He agreed that they haven’t started taking down the walls yet because there are obstructions and for safety reasons those need to be removed first. They are also waiting on a barge so that they can remove the debris that will be falling form the wall. But with ships coming in tomorrow and Sunday, that will slow down progress.
He adds though that the minute they take down those walls, they are gonna be de-certified as an ISPS port which, he says, has profound implications on whether cruise ships will come to Belize. And with security breached, he says ships will simply stop coming to Belize.
Attorneys for Fort Street Rodwell Williams and Godfrey Smith are seeking to get a stay granted by the sitting judge of the Court of Appeals Manuel Sosa and are just waiting on a date from him. If that is granted, well it goes right back to square one.
