It's well-known that politics can be a very dirty game, and so, tonight, there is the heavy condemnation of a video that is circulating, which seeks to attack the integrity of the PUP's Belize City Councillor Candidate, Deannie Requena.
The vile video is edited to suggest some sort of sexual impropriety. But, Requena is receiving support from different quarters of society, including her would-be opponents from the UDP in the upcoming Municipal Elections.
In a press release sent out today, Orson Picart, the UDP's Mayoral Candidate for Belize City, said quote, "It is disheartening the level politics has deteriorated in Belize. I was recently made aware of a video which is an unconscionable, tasteless and demeaning attack on Councilor Candidate Ms. Deanne Requena. My team and I, in the strongest terms, condemn such political propaganda and attack against Ms. Requena and by extension our women and girls in general. Violence against women (be it physical/verbal or online) in elections is a threat to the integrity of the electoral process and to the quality of democracy because it coercively excludes women from having a voice in the political life and governance of Belize… There should be no place for electoral violence in our democracy." End quote.
Yesterday, the National Women's Commission and the new Special Envoy for the Development of Families and Children also sent out a joint release condemning this video.
They say, quote, "The shamefulness of person/s who created the video is atrocious. This act not only casts aspersions on the woman's character but grossly demonstrates how women are attacked and sexualized when they choose to enter into the field of politics. The negative internet culture continues to be used as a tool to perpetuate inequalities that continue to keep women from taking their rightful place in our country's development." End quote
These two organizations are calling on the relevant authorities to hold the persons responsible for the creation of this video accountable. They are also demanding that it not be shared any further.
