Earlier this week, we told you about the dust up that occurred after the village council elections last Sunday in the village of Nuevo San Juan in the Orange Walk district. It was the product of PUP/UDP rivalries fuelled by political passion, no doubt, but alcohol also played a major role.
On Wednesday, in response to questions about the free flow of alcohol, Commissioner of Police Crispin Jeffries told the media that in village council elections there are no statutory instruments restricting the sale of alcohol. Those statutory instruments, he explained are produced for general and municipal elections only.
Turns out, the Compol was wrong and the Chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission Alberto August has written to tell him as much. August explains that Statutory Instrument #134 of 2009 expressly prohibits the sale of all forms of intoxicating liquor during the period from the opening of nominations right up to the announcing of the results of village councils elections. The SI explains that anyone selling alcohol is liable on summary conviction to a fine of two hundred and fifty dollars or to imprisonment for six months.
August closes by asking the Commissioner to, “stringently enforce this provision of the regulation among others contained therein and that such effort not be solely confined to ‘special measures’ for this weekend’s elections in Orange Walk North alone.” According to our reports the type of beer that was in heavy circulation on both sides of the political color
bar last Sunday was Mexican Beer in 40 ounce bottles, which are known as “misiles” – Spanish for missiles. The problem is that those aren’t sold over the counter at Belizean stores, they’re contraband, sold illicitly on the black market. But, public drinking is still a crime and Jeffries committed to crack down on that.
BEL Blames Burnt Cross-Arms for Blackouts
Electricity users all across the country have been devilled by blackouts and power surges for most of the week. While consumers and business owners struggle with burnt electronic equipment, BEL today announced that it has found the problem – and it’s not the 6% business tax that they’re being charged! It’s a burnt cross-arm near Buena Vista village in the Corozal district that looks like this.
If it seems strange that one small, isolate cross-arm could cause the whole system to collapse, BEL says that since Wednesday, that cross-arm has cause several trips on the national grid.
