But, UDP Chairman Peyrefitte held a Zoom press briefing not to talk about Guatemala - it was to discuss a more friendly nation, the United States - whose Secretary of State Anthony Blinken should be expecting an email from Chairman Mike anytime soon.
As we told you, Peyrefitte sent him a letter to ask the US State Department to provide proof to back up the allegations it made that while he was a minister, John Saldivar, quote, "he accepted bribes in exchange for improperly facilitating the acquisition of Belizean immigration documents…."
Now, Peyrefitte is heading the UDP Special Committee to investigate Saldivar and he says they want Blinken to provide proof:
Michael Peyrefitte, Chairman, UDP
"We have a member of our party who is looking to enter into a convention to represent our party and a designation is given like the one that was given not only against him but his wife, his children, a minor child, everybody except the dog and so we want to see what evidence they are depending on or what evidence they use to come to that decision so that the UDP may look at that evidence and come to our own decision, so we just wanted to know what they had because they didn't present any information. They didn't say that he was invited or charged or anything of that sort so we want to see what evidence they have so that we as an organization can assess that evidence and think of a way forward."
Cherisse Halsall:
"Do you believe, given the secrecy of the United States government given the way they do things, that this is information that will be granted to you?"
Michael Peyrefitte, Chairman, UDP
"I don't know time will tell but whether they want to give it or not we have an obligation to ask for it because you're making a very serious designation and purportedly you have information that a particular person acted in a way when they were minister of immigration fro approximately three months so we want to see what you have, we wan to see what they have that not even Belize police seem to have, you have a PUP government that has been in government for two years, they haven't revealed anything that they've seen that was illegal in the department during that time, so if our police doesn't have police that they see that they can charge with or the DPP, if the current government doesn't seem to reveal information that they have, I mean they held a commission of inquiry over a vehicle and two chairs. So, you would think that when they went through the immigration department that they would have found something that they wanted to find some sort of inquiry on or some sort of information that they would want to bring criminal charges on like they did with Minister Montero. So, Belize police not bringing any charges, the DPP not looking to institute any charges, the PUP government not revealing anything illegal, and the U.S. saying that they are designating him based on certain actions in the immigration department. We want to see that."
