Last week Wednesday we reported that the UDP Standard Bearer for Collet, Ian Jones would be stepping down. In a WhatsApp message to his delegates group, Jones said, quote, "effectively today with consultation with the Party leader I will be rendering my resignation as standard bearer of the Collet constituency....with the ultimate objective being Unity of the Party as we move into an election season, I believe this to be the best decision for the party." This was presumably to make way for the current area representative Patrick Faber to step back into the seat he has won 5 times successively.
But, in the topsy turvy world of the UDP - what's considered "best for the party" can change from day to day, or even hour to hour. And within 24 hours, Jones had stepped back from his decision, and one week later, we can confirm that what said he "will do" - he never did.
Jones did not resign, and it appears he will not - in fact, he's digging in as the duly endorsed standard bearer for the UDP stronghold. So what caused the change of heart? Well, of course, it's the deep and deathless rift between Faber and UDP Leader, Shyne Barrow. Jones is a Shyne loyalist - and Faber, apparently, had no use for his magnanimous gesture. Faber was, instead, determined to get the National Party Council to remove Jones as Standard Bearer and install him - but that motion, we are told, was defeated on the floor before it could even be tabled.
So, coming out of that - Jones has told us that he intends to remain as UDP standard bearer in Collet - meaning that the Patrick Faber comeback - which was strongly rumored last week is now - like so much else in the UDP: DOA - "dead on arrival."
Where Is Emil Torres?
And while Jones isn't going anywhere, another UDP who wanted to be a first time candidate - may be, as they say, "gone til November." Since early March, we've been hearing that Emil Torres kind of disappeared. In February, he had tried unsuccessfully to be elected as the UDP's candidate for Belmopan. A few weeks later, we heard he was being considered as a UDP candidate for Belmopan mayor in upcoming municipal elections. But then….nada, radio and WhatsApp silence. Since early March, Torres could not be reached by persons trying to access his car dealership. We have also tried, without success, to reach him.
Since then the rumor mill has been active saying that Torres was locked up, supposedly in the US - allegedly after trying to go in through the back.
Well, a source familiar with the situation has told 7News that Torres is not locked up. They do say however that he is in the US - but seeking political asylum - and - while that is being evaluated - he does have his freedom. Reports also suggest that Torres may have filed for bankruptcy in Belize. We know that in late 2022, he had told our news director that he was desperately seeking to recover a large sum of money - in the hundreds of thousands of dollars - from a competitor with whom he had done business.
We did speak to his party leader Shyne Barrow - who could only say that he had no official information - and had only heard the same rumors we were hearing.
Cameras Installed On John Smith Road
And switching gears, there have been a little less than 10 bodies that have been found on the John Smith Road. Because of its notoriety for being a dumping ground, the police department partnered with stakeholders to get cameras installed. Yesterday, the ComPol told us that now, both San Pedro and the John Smith Road have electronic eyes on them at all times.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"As you would know we were embarking on a project to install cameras on John Smith Road as well as San Pedro. I can say now that we have installed a number of cameras on San Pedro as well as John Smith, so John Smith Road is fully covered by camera now and so we should be able to have good coverage on that very important piece of road, I have renamed it Channel 7… [laughs] I see Courtney nodding her head, your boss is going to be upset, but Jules knows the name of the road, we have renamed it to Channel 7 Highway because every time someone dies in that area Channel 7 hurry broadcast it's John Smith Road. But nonetheless, BTB has been very instrumental in assisting the police as well as the community in putting up these surveillance cameras, particularly in San Pedro, we have also gotten some contributions from residents of San Pedro and we're hoping that with time, we should be able to continue to add the the system and we should be able to have the entire San Pedro Town under surveillance by cameras that we are installing."
ComPol Concerned About Spike In School Fights
And yesterday we told you that the police's investigation into two siblings who claimed that they were beaten up by police proved the allegations to be untrue. In the sister's case, she said that the officers had accused her of being involved in a fight, and yesterday, the ComPol said that the police were concerned about the number of after-school fights they've had to break up.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"It is a serious concern for us and I have addressed this before in previous interviews where we're seeing an uptick in the number of fights being perpetuated by students after they leave their school compound and we also have some incident occurring in schools where students are being disrespectful to teachers. We saw the one from Sadie Vernon High School a couple weeks ago, and again while we do have these issues and the school justifiably so are concerned, not just for the safety of the other students but also for the safety of teachers. We still have to find a way to ensure that whatever action is taken, it is done in the best interest of the child. We don't believe that the end result must be for the school to tell these children that they need to leave the school and be left without an education, the United Nations Convention Rights of a Child as well as our local families and children act do speaks to the interest of the child being paramount and so in applying those two very important documents, we must work with the schools to see how we can go in, do interventions and mediations, not just with students but also with the staff of the school itself because sometimes the teachers may need to know how to identify when a child is acting out as well as being able to apply an approach that is going to be conducive to mitigating the problem at hand and not one that is going to exaggerate the issue and so we are working with them, we have a meeting scheduled with the Ministry of Education where we'll be looking at the entire issue from a multi-departmental approach or multi-ministerial approach to see how we can come up with the best solution but certainly ensuring that we have people from DYS and LIU going to the schools and doing interventions and mediations with the students and children is going to be one of the solutions going forward."
