AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums About Belize Gone but not forgotten The Right Honourable George Cadle Price

By PATRICK E. JONES

BELIZE CITY (AP) - Belize's founding father and first prime minister, George Price, died early Monday, just short of three decades since he led the small Central American nation to independence. He was 92.

Price died at the Belize Healthcare Partners Hospital in Belize City, said a grand nephew, Henry Charles Usher. He was hospitalized Wednesday after a fall at his Belize City home and put in a medically induced coma following surgery to remove a blood clot.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow declared a week of mourning lasting until Sept. 26.

Price was Belize's first leader when it became independent from Britain on Sept. 21, 1981. As head of the centrist People's United Party, he served two terms as prime minister, in 1981-84 and 1989-1993, and is considered the father of the Caribbean country of about 300,000 people that borders Mexico and Guatemala.

Belize is on the Central American mainland but maintains closer cultural ties with other English-speaking former British colonies in the Caribbean than with its Spanish-speaking neighbors.
In a message broadcast to the nation, the current prime minister called Price "a giant of a man, the greatest architect of Belizean nationalism and Belizean sovereignty."

The government and Price's family planned a state funeral for next Monday, Barrow said. Until then, flags in Belize will be flown at half staff, except for Independence Day on Wednesday.

"On behalf of a grateful nation to which Mr. Price devoted his entire life, I offer condolences to his immediate and extended family and to the People's United Party," Barrow said.

Patterson says Price was man of steel, father and visionary leader

PJ Patterson told us via telephone that Price played long and flawless innings to Belize and the rest of the Caribbean and that his memory will long live.

Via Phone: PJ Patterson, Former Prime Minister, Jamaica

"Now in the 1980's the party to which I belong in Jamaica was in opposition and I had returned to the field of law and was operating as an international consultant. I had to work very, very closely with George Price and his team of ministers because firstly, we were asked to render some political advice in the negotiations that were taking place at the United Nations between Guatemala and Belize. And we had to fashion an agreement that would enable Belize to proceed forward to independence. Then later on as we were engaged in preparing for supporting Belize's independence we were involved in working with the Belizean team in the legal draft of the Belizean constitution. So during that period, I saw him frequently, interfaced with him constantly and one could not help but be persuaded by his steely resolve. I've already spoken about his humility, his gentle manner but I don't think anybody should mistake that for one who was prepared to compromise on principles and on the issues, certainly in relation to the territorial integrity of Belize, he was always a man of steel. They have lost a father, a visionary leader, a man who led Belize to Independence, who fought to bring the nation into the twenty-first century, who pursued consistently an agenda for national development and sought to do so within the wider framework in Caribbean unity. He has played long and flawless innings and his contribution to Belize and the wider Caribbean community will always live in our collective memory. I offer my sincere condolence to his family, to the people of Belize, to his colleagues and his many friends."

Channel 5

Price In 1981, the Lion In Summer

And that description Musa offered of Price as impervious to political pain is indeed telling. In fact, some say, he was a stoic, even tempered - almost to a fault.

But, looking back at video of him on independence day in 1981 - then a still vibrant 63 years old - Price seemed almost mercurial as he arrived at the moment he'd been waiting his whole life fore.

With video from the archives department we look back at that day:..

Jules Vasquez Reporting
On September 21st 1981 in Belmopan, George Price was at ease his confidence visible, the fruits of his labor have come to pass, the field was line with supporters, the new citizens of an independent Belize.

Hon. George Price
"We continued our work, not only to build Belize to yet a greater levels of economic growth and social progress, but in doing so to remove causes of conflict and to cooperate in the economic development of the region."

The day before the press conference Price faced over 200 international journalists. And was at the height of his powers, he was sharp and gauged deliberately ambiguous and on top of his game.

Hon. George Price
"Independence, because we respect each other, they are not to interfere with our internal matters. I would say the fight against colonialism has ended and the British has done very honorably by caring out the process of colonization under the obligation of the chart of the United Nations and for that we thank them. But we ourselves have said much has been done but much more has yet to be done and we felt with a state of independence we can do the much more that is yet to be done."

Channel 7

PREPARATIONS FOR STATE FUNERAL OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER CONTINUE

Preparations continue to be made for the State Funeral of the former Prime Minister of Belize Rt. Hon. George Price. According to coordinators of the event, a decision has been made to move up the time of the departure of Mr. Price's body from the morgue at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. The plan now is for the procession to move off from the KHMH Morgue at seven o'clock tomorrow morning. The route of the procession remains the same. The body will lie in state just inside the entrance of the Bliss Centre. For those wishing to pay their last respects, the viewing will begin at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. A tent will be set up in the parking lot in front of the Albert Cattouse Building where members of the public are being asked to gather in the queue to pass in single file past the casket. It will be a closed casket. At three o'clock tomorrow afternoon, the body will be taken over to the Holy Redeemer Cathedral for a private Mass. Upon leaving the Cathedral tomorrow evening, the body will be taken by motorcade to Belmopan. The government of Belize has requested that all church bells toll at six thirty on Monday morning, the time when Mr. Price died on Monday of last week. Love FM and Love Television will have extensive coverage of the State Funeral, starting tomorrow morning at six o'clock. Meanwhile, more messages of condolences have come in. The Citrus Growers Association in its message says, "As we embrace Mr. Price's legacy and reflect on the vision for us as a people and as a nation, let us not forget his goal of uplifting the spirit and the lives of the Belizean people." India's High Commissioner to Belize, based in Mexico City has conveyed condolences on behalf of the government of India. The statement of condolence on the passing of the Rt. Honorable George Price says, "the government and the people of India fully share the grief of the Government and the people of Belie on his passing away, and also convey their condolences, support and sympathy to the family." The Belize Service Station Dealers Association in its statement, expressed condolences to the immediate family of the Rt. Honorable George Cadle Price, the People's United Party and the nation of Belize. It says, "We join all Belizeans in mourning the passing of the Father of the Nation." Meanwhile Belizean students studying in Jamaica have organized a memorial service for former Prime Minister George Price. The service will be held on Monday evening in Kingston. Presiding at the service will be an all Belizean clergy, which include Barry White of the Anglican Church, Pastor Shaw of the Baptist Church, Fr. Panton of the Roman Catholic Church and Reverend Benguche of the Methodist Church.

LOVEFM

Rt. Hon George C. Price (1919 - 2011)

It is surely established that the UBAD organization (1969-1974) was a failure, the evidence being the violence and confusion which has emerged amongst those succeeding generations of the Belizeans for whom UBAD was primarily concerned - Belizeans of African descent.

It is, therefore, a contradiction that the newspaper which was founded by the failed UBAD in August of 1969, became the leading newspaper in Belize. Belize is a country dominated by two large political parties - the People's United Party (PUP) and the United Democratic Party (UDP). Amandala belongs to neither of these parties, and has never been completely submissive or loyal to any of them.

In the beginning of UBAD/Amandala, the Hon. George Price, Premier of Belize, was at the height of his political power and glory. But it was also around this same time that Mr. Price, a tall, handsome man with natural physical dignity, began to lose the absolute support of the Roman Catholic Church for which he, as a young man, had studied to become a priest. Around 1972, some leading Roman Catholics in Belize formed the Liberal Party, which became one of the three founding parties of the Opposition UDP in September of 1973.

Mr. Price was a secretive man who spoke in generalities, and the only conclusion we can draw is that prominent Roman Catholics, along with some of Belize's local business luminaries, became alarmed by the closeness of his relationship with Assad Shoman, a brilliant young lawyer of Palestinian/Mayan extraction who had become radicalized while studying in England between 1962 and 1967. Shoman's rhetoric sounded communist to the people who formed the Liberal Party. Communism was a big deal in this region and in the world forty years ago, because the capitalist United States and communist Russia were fighting for the loyalty of poor countries. Plus, communism was atheistic, and Belize was very much a religious country.

The new UDP exposed political vulnerability in Mr. Price's PUP for the first time since the party's 1950 foundation, in the October 1974 general elections, followed by the December 1974 Belize City Council elections less than three months later. In fact, the UDP defeated the PUP in the December 1974 CitCo elections, 6-3.

Mr. Price decided to send an emissary to the Amandala editor/UBAD president, Evan X Hyde, who had been abandoned by half of the UBAD he led when that section of UBAD joined the UDP in 1973. Between 1975 and 1980, the PUP and Amandala were allies. There was no doubt that Mr. Price was the Maximum Leader, but it was not the PUP which had defeated UBAD/Amandala: it was the UDP. Evan X Hyde was, therefore, while a minor figure, not the typically subservient PUP.

Following the December 1977 Belize City Council elections, which were a disaster for the PUP, it became clear that the PUP leadership expected this newspaper to behave in a sycophantic way. In late 1980, a separation began between the political party and the newspaper which became a war with the Heads of Agreement in March of 1981.

When the PUP sought to re-organize after their 1984 general election defeat, Mr. Price was not the force he had been before. People like Glenn Godfrey, Ralph Fonseca and Said Musa were doing a lot of the work, but it was, of course, in Mr. Price's name. Mr. Price was already a full-fledged legend, a living legend. But when the PUP returned to power in 1989, it began to emerge that the job of Belizean national leadership had become more strenuous in the independent Belize than it had been in colonial days, and that Mr. Price had aged somewhat.

The PUP lost power in 1993, and pressure from on high came for Mr. Price to give up leadership, which he did. He did serve an additional term in the House, however, from 1998 to 2003, before he withdrew from the House and became simply "PUP Leader Emeritus."

In the aftermath of his death this week, there has been nothing less than an attempt to canonize Mr. Price, which is not surprising really. He had lived long enough for people to forget the bitter political fights in which he had been involved, and in Belize we are a sentimental people. Mr. Price was a unique and charismatic personality. It was difficult for people not to like him when they got to know him. And, of course, within the PUP he was adored.

Our editorial is not intended to criticize Mr. Price. Neither is it intended to glorify him. We give him total respect for his work ethic and output, his consistency and discipline, and his longevity. He was a great politician.

It may seem a minor matter, but we admired one thing about Mr. Price immensely. At PUP public meetings, he spoke last, as Party Leader. So that, he would have to wait for hours before he mounted the rostrum. During those hours, he stood with tall dignity and composure. He was never distracted or playful, even when he had to listen to foolishness from lightweights. Mr. Price came from a military tradition on his father's side, and that military uprightness was evident at all his public appearances.

Rt. Hon. George C. Price has been given due credit for building the nation we know as Belize, which achieved self-government in 1964 and independence in 1981. There were times we at this newspaper had savage battles with himself and the PUP in these pages, and for sure he had his faults. But, we give him total respect for the fight for Belizean independence, and we extend this newspaper's sincere condolences to his family, friends, and supporters.

Rest in peace, Rt. Hon. George.

Amandala Editorial

Rt. Hon. George Cadle Price - a legend

The Right Honorable George Cadle Price, 92, unfortunately did not live to see the nation he took on his shoulder some 60 years ago, along with others, turn 30 years old yesterday.

But humble as he was, not thirsting for glory and recognition, we suspect he would not have minded. His job was done, and others would carry on.

The difficulty in giving a history of the man, George Cadle Price, stems from the challenge of reconciling the notions of him as "Mr. Price," legend, giant, National Hero, Father of Independence, and Father of the Nation, among the many titles ascribed to him, both by Belizeans and others. The man, perhaps inevitably, has to a great extent been eclipsed by the legend.

He took a small nation on the Caribbean coast of Central America, beholden to the behemoth - the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - with no discernible means of providing for itself apart from the flagging timber industry, and in a political career spanning more than five decades, made it a mostly self-sufficient nation with a distinct identity, uniting the hodgepodge of cultures that at times threatened to make Belize more like its Central American neighbors, which were drenched in war and blood.

One of those neighbors, Guatemala, has historically behaved aggressively in its bid to settle a long-standing dispute with Britain over the Belizean territory itself.

Mr. Price also had to navigate the tricky shoals between Central American union and Caribbean federation.

Early life

Price shared his January 15 (1919) birthday with another famed freedom fighter, American pastor and civil rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was born the third of eleven children to William and Irene Price (nee Escalante), and was educated at St. Catherine Academy Infant School, Holy Redeemer Primary School and St. John's College (High School) (SJC).

Young George's life was shaped by his Catholicism (even up to the very late stages of his life, he was seen walking daily on North Front Street in the mornings to Holy Redeemer Cathedral, and unfailingly attended Mass every day, no matter where he traveled) and his early introduction to the principles of social justice as enunciated in the Pope Leo XIII encyclical, Rerum Novarum (Of New Things) (1891).

His Catholicism led him to consider entering the priesthood, and the young George Price studied theology first at the St. Augustine Minor seminary in Mississippi (U.S.A.) and afterwards at the Seminario Consiliar in Guatemala. Ultimately, he could not continue in this priestly vocation because World War II and his father's illness forced him to seek work to support his family.

But his early instruction in those seminaries would shape his life and the destiny of the then-British Honduras.

He became the personal secretary to one of Belize's first business magnates, Robert Sydney Turton (who exported mahogany and chicle to the United States), managing his Belize office at the corner of North Front Street and Hydes Lane and accompanying Mr. Turton on business trips to the U.S.

The mid-to-late 1930's and early 1940's in British Honduras were marked by sustained civil disquiet - the work of Antonio Soberanis Gomez's Labour and Unemployed Association (LUA), formed after the horrors of the September 10, 1931 hurricane that flattened Belize City.

And so in 1944, flanked by other SJC graduates such as John Smith, Leigh Richardson (deceased), Philip Goldson (deceased) and others, and supported by his employer Turton, Price mounted his first political campaign, running for the Belize City Council (the name was changed in 1943). He lost - one of only two popular elections he would lose for the remainder of his career (the other occurring in 1984 to the UDP's Derek Aikman in the Freetown division.)

Price and his colleagues had better success in 1947, but the event that would change his life and the path of Belize to nationhood was soon to come.

Starting the revolution

On the night of December 31, 1949, Sir Ronald Garvey, Governor of British Honduras, broke his pledge not to devalue the colony's currency, and almost overnight the people reacted. Garvey ruled that the British Honduras dollar, which had been on par with the U.S. dollar, would be reduced to seventy cents (U.S.). The People's Committee (PC) was formed, with Price as assistant secretary, and in February a massive demonstration and stoning of the establishments of assumed pro-British elements led to a state of emergency.

The PC evolved into the People's United Party (PUP) on September 29, 1950, and this new entity, of which Price would become head in 1952, gained the support of the General Workers' Union (GWU), established by Clifford Betson in 1944. (John Smith was the PUP's first Leader.)

From its beginning, the PUP came under attack from the colonial order, and officers Leigh Richardson and Philip Goldson were arrested and given 12 months in prison with hard labour for "sedition", which is to say, under the colonial laws, attempting to justify revolution in an article in the Belize Billboard, started by Goldson and sympathetic to the movement.

Price managed to top the polls in the 1952 City Council elections, but the PUP lost the overall majority to the pro-colonial National Party.

During the next two years the PUP took advantage of opportunities to expand its reach into the districts. Here, perhaps, is where the legend of Mr. Price was born. Nearly every Belizean has at least one story of meeting the tall, thin, simply dressed man with glasses, whose quiet demeanor masked a growing gift for oratory and declaration and who, the story goes, always had a kind word and advice for everyone he met on his travels.

When universal adult suffrage was granted in 1954, Price ran in the April 28 elections in the Belize North division, defeating former PUP leader Smith, an independent (the National Party did not run a candidate in the division).

In 1957 he defended the seat and became Mayor of Belize City from 1956-62, but in 1958 he was charged with sedition for some allegedly uncomplimentary remarks about the recently crowned Queen Elizabeth II, suggesting that the ticker tape that greeted the Queen in New York City was similar to toilet paper.

He was acquitted of the charge, but Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's later visits to Belize in 1986 and 1995 were both under United Democratic Party (UDP) administrations.

In the 1950s, the question of Price's ties to Guatemala became a political controversy, indeed, the issue that was to dog him until independence in 1981. Opponents frequently accused him and the PUP of "selling out" to Guatemala, and he was dismissed from the Executive Council in 1956 on the same charges.

The PUP had suffered a severe split in its leadership with the departures of Goldson and Richardson in 1956 after they lost a power struggle with Mr. Price, and the National Independence Party (NIP), a union of the short-lived Honduran Independence Party (HIP) and the National Party, would adopt a staunchly anti-Guatemala position.

But the NIP consistently failed to dislodge the PUP, now led by Price, from government despite Mr. Goldson's own popularity.

Vision, expansion and fulfillment

After Hurricane Hattie's destructive visit to Belize in October of 1961, it was Mr. Price who planted the seed that would become the city of Belmopan, which was established in August of 1970. Self-government would come in 1964, with Price being named Premier, a position he held until Independence.

The 1960's would mark Belize's switch to agriculture, particularly sugar, citrus and bananas, as a key revenue-earner, and improvements in infrastructure and social development.

The 1970's began with the introduction of new elements of opposition to Price and the PUP, in the forms of Dean Lindo's People's Development Movement (PDM), Evan X Hyde's United Black Association for Development (UBAD) and its counterparts the People's Action Committee (PAC) of Said Musa and Assad Shoman, and the organization of the cane farmers in the North. Musa and Shoman would both be absorbed into the PUP by 1974, and the PDM, NIP and the new Liberal Party merged in September of 1973 to form the UDP.

Guatemala continued to be the nation's biggest problem on the road to independence, and it was here that George Price began to come to international attention, traveling the world in his lobbying for Belize's independence and territorial integrity.

Belize (as it was known from 1973, after PUP leaders began using the name in the 1950's) joined the Non-Aligned Movement and won a successive series of votes at the United Nations General Assembly despite Guatemala's repeated threats to invade and the failures of several attempted compromises to the Guatemalan claim, including the Webster Proposals (1968) and the Heads of Agreement that surfaced in Belize.

After the latter failed in 1981, the British formally agreed to a defense guarantee for the fledgling independent nation, and Belize rose to nationhood on September 21, with Mr. Price as Prime Minister. Two years earlier, in what is still the second largest voter turnout in a general election, the PUP won 13 of 18 seats in the House of Representatives, the UDP 5.

Elder statesman

But by 1984, with flagging economic fortunes, a revived UDP in power in the majority of the towns, and lingering resentment from the Heads of Agreement debacle, Price seemed to have reached the end of the road. He was toppled in 1984 by the UDP, led by Rt. Hon. Sir Manuel Esquivel, whom he had beaten in the Freetown division in 1979, and was defeated personally in the same division by Aikman, a political novice who, like Price, had a gift for oratory.

That, in retrospect, was perhaps the nadir of Mr. Price's political career. He lasted as PUP Leader until 1996, but, the movement to replace him began around 1994. The torch had, for the most part, been passed to a new generation.

His second and last term as Prime Minister lasted from 1989 to 1993. He represented the Pickstock division, which had previously been held by his sister, Jane Usher, from 1989 until 2003, outlasting Aikman, who was forced to resign from the House of Representatives in 1992 after being declared a bankrupt, and who attempted a failed comeback in 1998 in the Fort George division against Said Musa.

Musa, who had defeated Florencio Marin, Sr., in a contest for the party's leadership, led the PUP to a landslide 1998 general elections victory and appointed Price as Senior Minister and later as Minister of Defence.

In 2000, Price formally received the nation's highest honor, Order of National Hero, for his service to Belize. His old colleague, Goldson, would join him in 2008. He has won numerous other honours, including the Order of the Caribbean Community, and was appointed in 1982 to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, entitling him to the title "Right Honorable."

Even in retirement, Price was frequently invoked and consulted by his younger colleagues.

Ultimately, a grateful nation remembers Mr. Price as the man who accomplished much with little resources. His personal asceticism and celibacy (he never had children, or indeed, any reported romantic relationships) freed him up for the task he had assumed mostly unto himself, of leading a nation to the Promised Land. In that he succeeded, and that that nation is still here today, is further testimony of his exemplary life's work.

The Right Honorable George Cadle Price is survived by seven sisters, including Jane Usher and Alice Margaret ("Meg") Craig, and predeceased by his parents and brother Samuel, who was killed at his home earlier this year. He will be laid to rest in the family plot at the Lords Ridge Cemetery following an official state funeral on September 26, 2011.

This newspaper extends sincere condolences to his bereaved family on his passing.

Amandala

Belize mourns the death of Rt. Hon. George Cadle Price

As Belize prepares for its 30th anniversary of Independence on Wednesday, September 21, 2011, the death of the Right Honorable George Cadle Price, 92, two days short of this milestone achievement – Belize’s Independence - has inevitably cast a blanket of sorrow over the festivities. 

Mr. Price was the first Prime Minister of Belize and one of the founders of the People’s United Party and who pioneered our move from a British colony, British Honduras, into an independent country - Belize.

George Price, or as many would refer to him, “The Father of Belize’s Independence,” died at approximately 6:30 a.m. today at the Belize Health Care Partners. Different affiliates of the Price family told us that he died “with his family by his side.”

As the news of his death took center stage in the media, citizens, friends and colleagues countrywide began to mourn, and there was an enormous outpouring of sorrow and support for his family. The focus was on this “giant of a man” and all that he had done for us as a people, and as a nation.

We spoke with a number of high-ranking politicians, including the Prime Minister of Belize, Hon. Dean Oliver Barrow, and the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. John Briceño. We asked them to elaborate on the life of Price and their interactions with him in their capacity as politicians.

Barrow told us that he was always amazed at the complexity of Price and his ability to maintain a humble persona: “He is an architect of Independence; he was a visionary; over the years I have known him through his public life. My conversations with him have been very limited, but I have always been impressed by the complexity of the man.”

Barrow told us that during his high school years he first met Price during one of the school’s road trips. Barrow explained that he first learnt of Price’s death around 7:00 a.m. this morning via a text message from a colleague.

According to the Prime Minister, the Belize flag will continue to fly at half-mast in Mr. Price’s honour until September 26, 2011, with the exception of Independence Day, September 21. 

PUP Leader Johnny Briceño told the media, during a press briefing held at the PUP headquarters on Queen Street, that he would surely miss the man he said was his mentor.

   

Briceño told us that one of his fondest memories of Price was during a dinner at Price’s family home during the months leading up to Independence, September 21, 1981: “We were having dinner. I remember him looking at me and he started to speak in Spanish, and he asked me, if I knew how to speak in Spanish, and I said yes.

“He said it is important to learn two languages. He said we have a unique opportunity in Belize because English is our first language, but we need to recognize that we are surrounded by Spanish- speaking countries. It is important for us as a nation, to speak also in Spanish because the future of Belize lies with the Caribbean, butalso with Central America.”

Briceño also expressed his condolences to the Price family, and told the media that he had been visiting Price throughout his time at the Belize Health Care Partners Hospital, where, he said, he and his family prayed for Price’s recovery.

“Today, we are here saddened by the news of the passing of Mr. Price, who passed away this morning around 6:30 a.m., surrounded by his family. On behalf of the People’s United Party and of all Belizeans, we want to express our sincere condolences to the Price family and to the entire nation as we mourn the passing of the ‘Father of the Nation’, the Right Honorable George Price.

“We are very grateful for what Mr. Price has done for us as a nation, for all the Belizean people, the fight from the colonial masters to self-government to Independence, where he forged a new country in the Caribbean and Central America, a country that is known as Belize, and where we Belizeans have an identity as Belizeans.

“One of the many important achievements of Mr. Price was the whole idea of this identity as Belizeans, whereby he successfully fought the colonial masters who were dividing us a people. He was one of the first leaders that started to talk about Belizeans being one — we are one, we are all Belizeans.”

According to a family friend, on Wednesday, September 14, Price slipped in the bathroom at his home on Pickstock Street sometime between 5:00 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. He suffered a head injury which reportedly caused the formation of a blood clot in his head.

At the time of this unfortunate fall, Price’s caretaker, Herman Requeña, who had been taking care of Price for a little over a decade, was not there since he was not scheduled to be at the home with him until 8:00 a.m.

Requeña told us on Friday, September 16, that he was in total shock that this had happened. He said that this was the second time that Price had fallen outside of his caretaking hours, which were from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Mondays to Sundays.

He explained that Price lived alone upstairs of a two-storey house, and his sister resided in the bottom flat.

According to Requeña, Price was a father-figure to him. He also told us that the last time he saw him was the day before his fall, on Tuesday, a little after 5:00 p.m. Requeña said that he was leaving for home and “He [Price] was doing okay. He walked me to the door and told me to take care, and said, ‘I will see you tomorrow.’””

Since the death of Price, the Father of Independence, Belize has been receiving an outpouring of condolences from many countries, including Mexico; other condolences to Price’s family were sent from many NGOs and organizations.

Also, since Price’s death an overwhelming number of citizens have been posting their comments and condolences via Facebook. One such resident of the Cayo District said, “A legend, a simple man, a hero that led a piece of land and a people to a nation in the making.

“A humble spirit that always put the people first, even when it cost him his own money and time. You, kind sir, have left a legacy that cannot be matched; you have left for us a nation with a great future.”

According to an official government release, the former Prime Minister’s funeral services will be held at the Independence Plaza in Belmopan on Monday, September 26, commencing at 9:00 a.m. Mr. Price’s body will be transported from the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital at 7:30 a.m., on Saturday, September 24, to the Bliss Center For the Performing Arts, and the body will lie in state from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

On Sunday, September 25, 2011, Price’s body will be taken to lie in state at the George Price Centre for Peace and Development in Belmopan from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

Amandala

---

George Price: Architect of Belize

Given the immense contribution Mr George Cadle Price made to the creation and development of Belize, we were not surprised that he was awarded that country's highest honour, the Order of National Hero, in 2000.

The outpouring of respect that has followed his passing last Monday is, therefore, understandable and most appropriate, considering that former Prime Minister Price was really the architect of Belize, formerly the British colony known as British Honduras. Indeed, Mr Price, who was 92 years old when he died, was one of a generation of pioneer nationalists who guided their countries from British colonial rule to independent statehood.

Born in the coastal town of Belize City in January 1919, Mr Price's education stopped at the high school level.

He was a man given to a materially modest lifestyle and could never be accused of having an insatiable appetite for the limelight throughout his political career that spanned more than 50 years.

The late Mr Price began his political career in 1947 when he was elected to the Belize City Council. In 1950, he was a founding member of the People's United Party (PUP) and party leader for four decades starting in 1946. It was his leadership which led to political independence for Belize in 1981, resulting in him serving two terms as prime minister -- 1981-84 and 1989-1993.

But gaining independence for Belize was no easy task, because it involved extricating British Honduras from the grip of British colonial rule. It also required strength in standing up to Guatemala which claims more than half of Belizean territory.

This claim and border dispute, which date back to 1940, have never been definitively settled from the point of view of Guatemala.

The dispute originated with the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 which divided the so-called New World between Spain and Portugal. However, England and other European countries refused to recognise the legitimacy of a treaty to which they were not parties. By the Treaty of Godolphin of 1670, Spain confirmed England was to hold all territories in the Western Hemisphere that it had already settled, but England did not occupy Belize when it signed the Treaty.

Eventually, in 1821, Guatemala became independent of Spain, and, in 1862, Belize became a British colony. By the Anglo-Guatemalan Treaty of 1859, Guatemala agreed to recognise Belize and Great Britain promised to build a road from Guatemala to a nearby Belizean city.

However, in 1940, Guatemala claimed that the 1859 treaty was void because the British failed to comply with economic assistance provisions. But a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) required that Guatemala honour the boundaries in the 1859 treaty, even if the UK never builds the road.

Guatemala was obviously still unhappy with the ICJ ruling on September 21, 1981 when Belize became an independent nation, as Guatemala City refused to recognise Belize's independence until 1991, at which time diplomatic relations were established.

But in that same year, Guatemala renewed its claim on Belize, basing its position on heritance of Spain's rights. In June 2008, the Belizean prime minister, Mr Dean Barrow, proposed referenda for the citizens of Belize and Guatemala, asking whether they support referring the issue to the ICJ. That has not yet happened, leaving the future of the country that Mr Price devoted his life to creating still clouded by Guatemala's claim.

There are three possibilities in this scenario: the dispute remains unresolved like all the others in Latin America; the dispute is finally settled; or part of Belize is absorbed by Guatemala. Whatever materialises, Belize, we believe, is destined to shift from being an English-speaking country of the Caribbean Community to a Central American country where the majority of the population speaks Spanish.

We hope, however, that the Belize that late Prime Minister Price devoted his life to creating will remain an independent country, whether Caribbean, or Central American, or Spanish-speaking, or English-speaking.

Editorial - Jamaica Observer

Embassy of Belize in Washington, D.C.:

Today, September 26, 2011, Belize says goodbye to a political giant, the Rt. Hon. George Cadle Price, First Prime Minister of Belize, National Hero, Father of Independence. The Embassy joins with our nation in this time of solace, but also joins in celebration of his life, vision, and teachings. Please visit the government's website at www.belize.gov.bz to join with Belizeans and our friends throughout the world to listen to the funeral services.

Yesterday's State Funeral was respectful, human in scale, and very very moving.

Belize Pays Respect to Rt. Hon. George C. Price

Rt. Hon. George Price's body was transported from the Karl Heusner Morgue on Saturday, September 24, 2011, at 7:30 a.m. in a procession led by the Belize Defence Force (BDF) through the streets of Belize City to the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts where his body was Laid In State from 8:00am to 3:00pm.

Belize City residents had the opportunity to visit the closed casket of the late Rt. Hon. George Price and pay their respects to the nation's hero. People waited in long lines outside the Bliss Institute for the opportunity to view the casket.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos in the Ambergris Today

Comments from friends on the funeral....

I have never had anything good to say about PM Dean Barrow since UDP won the general elections in 2008. Today i say that I am proud of my PM for his handling of George Price's Funeral. I am proud of PM Barrow, the BDF and all Belizeans for the grand farewell to Our National Hero. PM Barrow summed it all up in his closing sentence to paraphrase : " George Price spent his life trying to accomplish a goal and in his death he has accomplished this goal - uniting the Belizean People". I have never seen Belizeans so united in all my life - all races, all parties, all Belizeans united in honoring our National Hero. Thanks PM Barrow!! It would not have been possible without your Leadership!!

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Interesting in that the 21 gun salute in honour of Rt. Hon. George Cadle Price today was done by miniature cannons that sit on top of a little wooden table.

The formation fly past by Maya Island Air was more impressive.

The BDF air wing is reportedly in the workshop...