The Disrespecting of Manuel Esquivel

The political insult is not that Sir Manuel Esquivel, a two-time prime minister of Belize and the United Democratic Party's only statesman - living or dead - should have dared to summon a sitting minister to a meeting about his sacked daughter, but rather that that minister crassly disrespected the summons of the elder statesman of the UDP.  For those "raised" in the political culture of the People's United Party, it is impossible to comprehend this kind of contemptuous disregard for a person's place in history.

If George Price, in retirement, had issued a summons to a sitting PUP leader no less, it would never have been ignored.  Price commanded, until his death, saint-like reverence because of his achievements, granite integrity and messianic appeal.  The penalty for abjuring his importance would come not from Price, who was powerless in retirement, but in the form of public opprobrium visited upon the offender by his colleagues and the PUP rank and file.

While Mr. Esquivel does not enjoy the stature of Price either within his own party or nationally, he was a principled leader of integrity whose conduct as prime minister of Belize was above reproach. He was the first to demonstrate that the UDP could be a credible and formidable alternative to the monolithic PUP.  To him goes the credit for ushering in the era of the UDP's political viability. He should therefore mean more than a disposable "has been leader" to the UDP and indeed to Belize, a nation short on men of principle and integrity.

But let's keep things in context.  It's not as if Sir Manuel attempted to beckon the prime minister or even a deputy prime minister; it was just the minister of tourism known by most as "Junior Heredia".

Manuel Esquivel and Manuel Herredia 

Mr. Heredia is a well-liked, three-term representative who, despite his humility and barefooted, grassroots charm will never be more than an overlooked footnote in the political history of Belize.  This is the fate that will befall all the current ministers. They would do well to know that their power is fleeting; they should govern with an eye to history and a sense of perspective.

Mr. Esquivel led the UDP to its first general election victory in 1984 after decades of humiliating defeat by the PUP.  His stewardship of the government was marked by personal integrity, fiscal discipline that restored the financial health of the economy and a clear-headed attempt to drum up foreign investment. He narrowly lost the general election of 1989 but bounced back to win the elections of 1993. Following the ignominious defeat of the UDP in 1998, in which Mr. Esquivel lost his seat, he eschewed the time-honored Caribbean tradition of clinging on to leadership and cleared the path for his successor.

Mr. Esquivel, arguably, has a better claim than Phillip Goldson to the title of "historical leader" of the UDP.  For at least two decades, Mr. Goldson led what Jules Vasquez aptly describes as a "resistance movement".

Phillip Goldson 

A party devoid of electoral viability could hardly have been described as a political party.  Examined in the illuminating light of research, the mantle of "super patriot" draped around the shoulders of Mr. Goldson is threadbare, stitched together from the myth that he, for decades, fearlessly and uncompromisingly fought against and exposed Price's hidden agenda of selling out Belize to Guatemala.  Price took money from the Guatemalans to fight the British and would have gladly (and sensibly) entered into an economic union with Central America and El Pet�n, but he never entertained any notion of ceding land nor sea to them. Assad Shoman has demonstrated that Price rejected pressure from the British and the Americans to force him to make some kind of concession to Guatemala. There was therefore never any bona fide threat or risk that Price or the PUP would have "sold out" Belize to Guatemala.  "We noh waahn no Guatemala" was nothing more than hysterical sloganism.

Mr. Goldson gets high marks for his contribution to the growth of the two-party system. He tenaciously held on for many long years as the only elected opposition member in the Legislative Assembly of Belize when it would have been easy to give up and leave as Leigh Richardson did. Regrettably, in the autumn of his political life, he became engulfed in the acrid smoke of the  immigration hustle that descends upon all ministers of immigration.

The Belize Tourism Board press release issued on Wednesday March 12th 2014 announcing that Laura Esquivel-Frampton had resigned as Belize's Director of Tourism for "personal reasons" came a day too late.  On Tuesday, March 11th 2014, a letter addressed to Minister Heredia signed by seven BTB managers, eviscerating Esquivel-Frampton, was circulating over the internet. The seven expressed a "vote of no confidence", accused her of being "secretive and egotistical" and unable to distinguish between leadership and manipulation.

In the immediate aftermath of the rout, Minister Heredia apparently proposed a meeting with Esquivel-Frampton to arrive at a financial settlement. Somewhere in all of that, the Esquivels proposed meeting at the Esquivel family residence on Daly Street given the poisoned atmosphere at the BTB. This was interpreted - at the level of Cabinet - as Mr. Esquivel not understanding that he was no longer prime minister of Belize.  Mr. Esquivel and his wife, Kathy, promptly resigned their seats from government boards.

The unpardonable political offence is the manner of Esquivel-Frampton's removal, not the removal itself and Prime Minister Barrow's failure or refusal to handle the situation with the required delicacy and discretion in light of Mr. Esquivel's historical weight and importance. Mr. Barrow's handling of the situation is being interpreted as his characteristic, disdainful dismissal of anyone who has no immediate utility to him. Mr. Esquivel might have outlived his usefulness to the UDP, but not to history.

Source

Kathy Esquivel says her reason for resigning was "personal"

Kathy Esquivel, the mother of Laura Esquivel-Frampton who resigned last week from the Belize Tourism Board, has denied that her reason for resigning as the Chairperson of the National AIDS Commission had to do with Frampton's resignation.

Mrs. Esquivel told The Reporter this week that while the media has relegated the resignations as having a direct link to her daughter's resignation, her reason for stepping away was on a personal note.

Meanwhile, former two-time Prime Minister, Dr. Manuel Esquivel, did not wish to comment on the matter.

He said that enough has been reported on the matter in the media.

Dr. Esquivel was up to the time of his resignation a senior advisor to Prime Minister Dean Barrow.

News of the husband and wife resignations came a few days after Frampton was reportedly forced out of her position by a group of her own staff who had written and signed a letter addressed to the Minister of Tourism.

That letter allegedly threatened that if Frampton was not removed, further action would follow.

Credible sources state, however, that the letter from BTB's senior managers was never sent to Heredia.

A BTB press release stated that Frampton had resigned for personal reasons.

The Reporter