At this hour, the situation in the north has been defused - for the time being at least. The cane farmers who had blocked the Phillip Goldson Highway at mile 67 at around 2:40 pm - finally agreed to clear it at 6:20 pm.
Just a short while ago - Jomarie Lanza spoke to the key negotiators with the farmers, Commissioner Chester Williams and Minister of Agriculture Jose Mai. Here's what they agreed to:
Reporter
"Okay, sir, let's start with the compromisation that you guys have arrived at."
Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"Well, I explain to them that Prime Minister is in the process of getting in contact with the people of ASR/BSI, we have not received that response yet, but we hope to get a response by tomorrow."
"We urge them to remove the blockade so that the vehicles can pass and we will get a response to them tomorrow. Now, the question is if a response is positive or negative, that is out of my control."
"Whatever the response is, I will report to them by probably midday tomorrow. So we convince them that they need to move the blockade so that vehicles could pass and commissioner also to explain to them what we said to them."
Reporter
"Okay, sir, you told me earlier that you were prepared to handle something like this, so let's talk about that."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Yes, certainly, as Minister Mai have said, we are not here for a confrontation with nobody. Certainly, if there is a need, we can go that route, but that is not our primary objective or It is not the first line that we would normally employ. I always believe that diplomacy can be employed in any situation and where that fails, then we resort to other measures. The cane farmers have been very cooperative with the police from since last week and the blockage of the highway is something that I took very in a way that I believed that they didn't need to reach that level because of the fact that we have throughout last week and even over the weekend been very cordial and respectful with each other."
"So I basically explained to them that we are a country of laws and the blockage of the highway is a violation of the law. And more so, it is not causing inconvenience to the company with which they have the disagreement with, it is causing inconvenience to the ordinary Belizeans like you and I."
"We cannot have the ordinary Belizean sufferings for something that they don't have nothing to do with. It was also explained to them that It is best that we open the highway, work with the police and we have been working with them before. And basically they agree and saw through what myself and the 3 representatives from Northern Caucus said to them and the highway is open."
Reporter
"I noticed that you were basically ready to bring in the heavy duty machinery and get them off the road, sir."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Well, certainly I said I am prepared, but we decided to employ a different tactic first. That worked so there is no need for the heavy equipment."
Reporter
"You anticipate that something like this may happen again if they do not get the desire result tomorrow."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Well, we are going to wait and see what tomorrow brings. We remain optimistic that something is going to work out. I don't think that anybody would like to be here. This is the situation that we are trying our self and we see what tomorrow brings."
Reporter
"And you are aware that they inconvenience to many people tonight and notice an ambulance was also passing by."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Yes, and that was also told to them that there was an ambulance coming from Corozal with a critical patient that needs to go to Belize City."
Reporter
"And Mr Mai, so moving on to tomorrow, have you communicated to them that this is a process and will take time So even if you do give them an update tomorrow might not necessarily be the update that they want."
Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"Exactly I said to them I will do is get back to them with the message from the Prime Minister because he by then would have received message from those of the ASR, but I said to them that that response I do not know, it's not my control. I cannot say to them it's a positive one or it won't be in their favor. The question as well what do we do that's a matter for the BSCFA to decide what they do after that."
"I am hopeful, I'm optimistic that there will be a favorable response to them, but I have to wait for tomorrow."
Reporter
"What would you say may have been I guess a breaking point or how exactly did you manage to convince them sir, because they were hellbent on not moving tonight."
Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"First let me tell you the cane farmers have a lot of support from the general public. They stayed at nights, they've been camping out for nights and they get support from the public, but when you do things like this you turn the public against you. So those supporting then start to complain that you are doing things you should not do and so I tell them we want to gain the support you don't want to lose support and they have the support. It's the first time they have the support of the area representatives of the government. It's the first time they have the show of support of unions here they have the police working on their side keeping the peace they weren't aggressive so it's the first time that we get the farmers - the farmers benefit from all the support, so you don't want to lose that support so we finally convinced them that I think that they need to maintain and have that support, but can only do so if they move the blockade so that people can travel back and forth."
