Friends of Belize, it seems, may not get its referendum but there is another group that has been seeking a referendum long before F.O.B. The Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage, which comprises of just about every environmental group, including OCEANA sought seventeen thousand signatures to push for a referendum regarding offshore drilling. Although the deadline has passed and the signatures have been collected, the PM says the environmentalists have not completed their part of the bargain.

Giovanni Brackett, Plus TV

"Does the moratorium on offshore drilling still stand?"

Dean Barrow

Dean Barrow

"What was agreed still stands. We had said that the area that was relinquished would not be put back out to bids until you and your cohorts could get this referendum done. Now you all haven't kept your end of the bargain because implicit in that is that you would trigger the referendum. You say you have the signatures for months and months and months now and you haven't done anything more. So we would be perfectly entitled to say the deal is off, but we won't say that. The deadline has passed; we said we would give you three months or six months-long passed-and you've done nothing to progress this thing. But we are going to keep the status quo as it is; we are not going to put that out to tender. The area that was agreed with."

Channel 5