and be given all the rights of full citizenship

By Wellington C. Ramos

When Belize became an independent country on September 21, 1981, all citizens of Belize who were not living in Belize lost their citizenship under the People's United Party.

The late Philip Goldson was angry over it and vowed that, if the United Democratic Party was to become the new government of Belize, he was going to do everything in his power to restore their citizenship as natural born Belizeans.


By Wellington C. Ramos

When Belize became an independent country on September 21, 1981, all citizens of Belize who were not living in Belize lost their citizenship under the People's United Party.

The late Philip Goldson was angry over it and vowed that, if the United Democratic Party was to become the new government of Belize, he was going to do everything in his power to restore their citizenship as natural born Belizeans.


Born in Dangriga Town, the cultural capital of Belize, Wellington Ramos has BAs in Political Science and History from Hunter College, NY, and an MA in Urban Studies from Long Island University. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science and History
Philip Goldson saw a country that had a majority black population with English-speaking Belizeans, moving to become a majority Mestizo country with Spanish-speaking people from the neighbouring countries of Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, while the majority of black people, mainly Garifuna, Creoles and East Indians, were migrating to the United States.

This was George Price's biggest dream because he felt that, as a Mestizo, the more his people were allowed to come and live in Belize, the longer the People's United Party was going to retain power and control over our country. When the civil war started in El Salvador, George Price offered to accept thousands of Salvadorians into Belize and established a village for them in the Belmopan area called Salvapan under the stewardship of Ducho Thomas.

These people were granted amnesty, given lots, homes and all the benefits of Belizean citizenship, including the rights to vote and run for political office if they chose to do so. All this was occurring when he and his party were denying the rights and privileges of the natural-born Belizeans who were living at home and abroad.

Despite all the efforts of George Price and his People's United Party made to help these foreigners, the conditions got so bad after independence that the Belizean people decided to vote the Peoples United Party out of power in 1984 by a landslide margin of 21-7. They were angry with George Price and his party and he himself lost his seat in the Freetown Division by a large margin to a newcomer politician Derrick Aikman.

The United Democratic Party fulfilled their promise and immediately passed dual citizenship legislation to give all Belizeans in the Diaspora back their citizenship. Yet, all this legislation did was to give Belizeans the right to get a Belizean passport and nothing else.

Under the People's Representation Ordinance, The Election and Boundaries Ordinance and the Belize constitution, there are still some provisions of these laws that restrict Belizeans who possess dual citizenships from having fundamental citizenship rights granted to them. The right to vote by proxy and to be a representative of the Belizean government is being denied up to this day, even though Belize is their country of birth.

For Belizeans who possess dual citizenships to qualify to vote or run for political office, they must renounce their American or foreign citizenships. Most Belizeans who lived in the United States over the years must be citizens to qualify for many benefits and to revoke their citizenships to disqualify themselves for benefits would be a foolish exercise.

The Right Honorable Dean Barrow saw the need to correct this injustice in 2009 and was planning to introduce Amendment 7 to the Belize constitution. If he had introduced it at the time, it would have passed because he had the votes to deliver this fundamental right to the Belizeans who live in the Diaspora.

The People's United Party has always been against this amendment because they are thinking that, if they allow Belizeans in the United States to vote, most of them will vote for the United Democratic Party. Well, in the 1980s they gave the Mestizos from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico amnesty and the right to vote and those people still voted them out of office.

Belizean Americans are highly qualified people and are not dependent on UDP or PUP, so when they get the right to vote they will be looking objectively on the candidates and the political parties before they cast their votes.

We have some black Belizeans and other Belizeans who are against granting Belizeans with dual citizenship their full fundamental rights because they say they have abandoned their people and country. The black Belizeans who are opposed to granting Belizean Americans their basic fundamental rights are working against themselves. It is called "cutting off their noses to spite their faces".

The other Belizeans, who are Mestizos and come from the other ethnic groups, many of their ancestors left the countries of: Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico because they were not satisfied with the living conditions in those countries. If these Belizeans who are against this legislation look at the amount of money Belizeans in the United States send they would change their thinking. Plus, the other things Belizeans continue to send weekly to their families in addition to money for their upkeep and survival just continue to grow.

For Belize to become a nation that can compete in this international community, they must involve the Belizeans who live in the United States and the Diaspora because they have all the financial and human resources that Belize desperately needs to survive. I now call on the prime minister of Belize to fulfill his promise by re-introducing the Article 7 amendment and let us see if the People's United Party will have the guts to oppose it.

When the PUP wanted Yolanda Shackron to be their candidate in Lake Independence, she was denied by the government because she possessed American citizenship. PUP lawyer and politician Lisa Showman was against Article 7 and was her attorney to try and argue her case before the courts but lost. If she had supported Article 7, there would have been no case for her to argue before the court because her client Yolanda Shackron would have been qualified to run for office.

The party that gives the Belizeans in the United States and the Diaspora their full fundamental rights as citizens of Belize is the party for the future of Belize. Such a party will never be forgotten by the Belizeans in the Diaspora for that bold initiative they took in acknowledging their contributions and support for their beloved homeland Belize.

As Belizeans, we must think about what are the greater benefits that can come to our people and nation by doing what is the just and rightful action to take on behalf of our beloved citizens.

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