"It doesn't make sense" - that kinda sums up a lot of what Espat feels about the moves made by his party's leadership. But, he's far less harsh when speaking about re-registration. Espat says that's been going very slowly, but it's been fair:
Hon. Julius Espat - Resigned PUP Deputy West
"It's slow in general terms across the country. In Cayo South we are averaging about between 25-30 a day for the first 2 days. I believe it will be a slow process, because people are not necessarily informed. People are skeptical of politicians as you are and so they don't really have the interest to be able to have to stand up under the sun and wait 2 hours to get registered. I think that will take time. I think more education has to be done. I am predicting a low turnout. But we will see. I think it's a good process. In Cayo South as usual the election and boundaries people treat us fairly, so I have no complaints. The first 2 days was very professionally run."
And we also asked Espat for his views on the hot button topic of naturalized Guatemalans being allowed to: A.) gain Belizean citizenry, and B.) voting in a referendum on the ICJ claim. His perspective is unique because his wife is a Guatemalan by birth who is now a naturalized Belizean. He gave us his views:...
Reporter
"I know your wife is a Guatemalan by birth."
Hon. Julius Espat - Resigned PUP Deputy West
"She is a Belizean born in Guatemala."
Reporter
"That's fine. We have a lot of that. You know a lot have been raised about the whole issue of once you are a Guatemalan, even a paper renunciation, they still consider you a Guatemalan and people have been saying so much the referendum etc. What's your perspective on it?"
Hon. Julius Espat - Resigned PUP Deputy West
"How do I see it without being bias? I can only give you from the point of view from the experience I have had with my wife. We met in school. I convinced her to live her life in Belize. She came to the country. She followed the process and the people that want to be Belizeans are following the Belizean law. What can you take away from them? They have followed all the necessary procedures within both United Democratic Party and the People's United Party within the law."
"Now you are saying that going back to their country, they never will be able to give up their nationality. How can Belize control that? We don't control the Guatemalan laws. We have no influence over that. What will you do now? People are saying you now want to take away the citizenship from 30,000 people that have lived here for over 30-40 years. You are now fighting against human rights. People have rights. They need to have a stake. They can't have stake less people. So it's a difficult situation, but I believe every Belizean will understand it if they are properly educated on the issue."
"Now you can maybe take it to a referendum, if you will say from here on if there are any Guatemalan that becomes a citizen will not have the right to vote on a referendum that makes a decision between Belize and Guatemala. That might be something fair that you put out there and people can agree on. But I don't know if any politician will go in that direction."
"We have Belizean born children. We have paid our taxes for the last 30 years. We are productive citizens. What more can you ask of a person living in your country but to contribute to society."
