Fresh Faces, But Where Are Old Generals?

Opposition leader Faber held a press conference to name his shadow Cabinet - which will trace and comment on the actions of the real cabinet ministers.

It's a group of 15 more notable for the names that got left off the list - names such as Saldivar, Contreras, Montero, Castro, Marin, and Heredia - veteran UDP's who lost big in the lats election.

Faber says his party got the memo form the electorate:

Hon. Patrick Faber, Leader of the Opposition
"We try to listen to what message the people sent on election day, they said listen we want a party that is vibrant, we want a party that is energized, we want to see some fresh new faces, we want greater ideas from you. As a party there are things that you need to put in check. There are things that you need to re-work to re-engage and that is what we've done and I will say this on the public stage this afternoon - rebuilding this party is not going to be an easy task. In fact as we move forward there are some who of course may not be happy about some of the decisions that we make, but everybody is not going to be happy and you notice that there is a mix of the old and the new. That is the formula by which we will rebuild this party. It would be ridiculous of us in the leadership of this party to just decide to thorw everything away. That is what some would want, but I'm not there. I want to make that we pull from everywhere to make this party as strong as it can be and that is really the recipe that we use to put together these names. Will they later on be candidates for this party? some of them I hope so. Some of them have absolutely no interest in doing so."

Choosing The Shadow For The Bone?

And while the list of 15 includes some new faces, and almost exclusively Faber loyalist - as we said - a lot of former generals aren't there. The press asked about those omissions today:

Reporter
"In your list of shadow cabinet members, I didn't hear certain names: John Saldivar, Rene Montero, Boots Martinez, Former minister Castro and perhaps a couple other names. Are we to take it that these long time supporting UDP members are being retired or are retiring from membership from politics? Why is it that they are not being given positions in this shadow cabinet?"

Hon. Patrick Faber, Leader of the Opposition
"The simple reason to that is that we listen to people. We want to give a fresh impression of the party. We want to say to people listen our spread much wider that those faces that you know. If people said to us listen, we want to see something different. But we are about pushing ahead with a new agenda. This party has enjoyed tremendous success up until the point of November 11th and so it is time now for us to find something new and that is why we did what we did in terms of the shadow cabinet - embracing some of what was with some of what is to come. The UDP will not be accused of entertaining anybody or anything that is bad, I'm not saying any of them are bad, but we are on a forward path to change this party's image and anybody who is weighing that down need not be a part of it."

Faber Owns The UDP’s Big Loss

And Faber also takes the blame for the UDP's big loss on November 11th. In a sense, he has to - but he owned it today:

Reporter
"Mr. Faber, you lead the UDP to its worse defeat in history. They got 38.34% of the vote. Even Manuel Esquivel in 1998 at that time they got 39.15% of the vote. So you were the leader ultimately, it falls on you. How do you answer that under your leadership the UDP experience the worse loss of any major mass party in Belize's history and my follow up is how much of that is the fault of your predecessor?"

Hon. Patrick Faber, Leader of the Opposition
"The party had a bad loss. Yes, that is true and that was very evident from the results, but rather than dwell on the loss, watch me fix it, watch me develop this party into one of the most winning machines that we've ever seen. The judgement that I want people to put on me is what I am able to do. You see because if we had won with half of the members of the house or one less than half, you would have said that Barrow give the man that, that's why the man win. Well what I have inherited it is clear. If you want to put it on me, fine. I'm not into the business of pointing fingers, but watch what will come out when this phoenix rises you will see the beauty of the United Democratic Party."

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