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PM Barrow Turned Down Secretary of State Kerry’s Ebola Request
Fri, October 17, 2014
So, they never set foot in Belize - but the US State Department tried mightily to get them to pass through here - meaning that the Prime Minister had to hold firm - as the requests kept coming from higher and higher offices in the state department - culminating in US Secretary of State John Kerry.

A timeline we've put together shows that the first request came at 9:40 am - after 3762 cruise tourists had already disembarked and gone about their tourism business all across Belize. From there the requests continued right through until 8:30 pm - a full eleven hours of back and forth proposals and counter proposals - culminating in a final, firm "no" to the request.

We caught unto the story at about 7:15pm - and Jules Vasquez picked up the action there at the old Customs Wharf - near the tourism village:

Jules Vasquez reporting
This is the Carnival Magic - eight miles out of Belize City last night - with more than four thousand passengers on board. At 7:45 pm, Deputy Commander of the Eastern Division Sr. Superintendent Alford Grinage stood a solitary vigil near the Baron Bliss Lighthouse - waiting for further orders - Because at that time, no final decision had been made - the Prime Minister was discussing possibilities with the US Secretary of State.

This is one of the immigration officers assigned to work the ship, looking out unto the horizon at the ship - the lights in the background. And this is the Coast Guard vessel coming into tourism village for the passports. It was 8:00 pm, the order had come down; they would be returned.

The immigration officer called the shipping agent to bring down the passports which were kept in a plastic bag - while the coast guard got in position. The passports were handed over and the coast guard vessel took them back to the cruise ship on the order that they were to escort the cruise ship out of Belizean waters.

An hour later, at 9:00 pm, the ship - shadowed by the coast guard - started to turn - to head out of Belizean waters - north for Mexico. By 10:30, it had crossed the English Caye Chanel and was out of Belizean waters. Just a spot on the horizon - where minutes earlier it had loomed at the epicenter of national consciousness.

But what we became aware of at 7:30 pm, had been unfolding at the highest level from 9:40 am when the US Embassy set up a call with Wallace and the US State Department to get these two Texans off the ship:

Audrey Wallace, CEO - PM's Office
"I was informed that a healthcare worker from the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who was listed as low risk for Ebola by the Center for Disease Control in the United States was onboard a Carnival Cruise ship that landed in Belize in the morning. They explained that the CDC had updated its requirements from self-monitoring for these low risks persons to active monitoring which would require them to be in the United States to be monitored. They explained that the employee had been checking daily for a temperature or any other symptoms of the disease and had none. The doctors on the cruise ship examined her and confirmed that she had no temperature or any other sign of symptoms. The healthcare worker along with her traveling companion agree to self-quarantine on the ship. I was further advised that it was 17 days since the worker would have possible been exposed to Ebola virus. According to the CDC, the maximum incubation period for the disease is 21 days. I was then ask for the government to allow the passenger and her companion to disembark and flown out of the PGIA on a private plane."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"The suggestion had been that the coast guard would take a vessel out to the cruise ship, disembark the passengers, take them to a landing point at Vista Del Mar and then an ambulance which would have the sort of driving compartments sealed off from the hole or from the carrying area would take the passengers to PGIA where they would be put on this medevac plane and taken to the US."

But the Prime Minister balked at that:

Audrey Wallace, CEO - PM's Office
"Immediately he expressed deep concern over facilitating the movement of the two passengers from the cruise ship to the PGIA. Although fully aware that the disease can be spread only when an Ebola patient is sick. He was most concern about exposing any Belizean to any potential risk no matter how far fetch it may be."

So the State Department tried another strategy:

Audrey Wallace, CEO - PM's Office
"At about 1pm the USEmbassy advise the Office of the Prime Minister that they had some delays with the plane which would not be able in any case to come to Belize until the following day Friday. The US was asking for the two passengers to be disembarked and held in quarantine in Belize terrestrial soil until Friday morning when the plane would medevac them to the US. When informed, the Prime Minister immediately said no to that request being of the view that it would assuredly exposed at least Belizean healthcare workers and security personnel to some risks."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"In that kind of context as I said once the ground had shifted to the extent where they were now talking about a next day operation and keeping the people on Belizean soil, it seemed to me that axiomatically my answer had to be no."

Audrey Wallace, CEO - PM's Office
"Shortly after 4pm US Embassy called again to say that notwithstanding the Prime Minister's decision an evacuation flight had been arrange and the plane will be leaving the US for Belize. The government's position was reiterated and the embassy told that no transfer would be facilitated and the plane should not take off from the States or if it had already taken off, it should turn back. About an hour later I received a call from the US Assistant Secretary of State, bureau of the western hemisphere - the assistant secretary informed me that the flight was on its way and would be landing in an hour. I reiterated that the government was adamant that no evacuation from Belize through PGIA would be accommodated. I was there after informed that the US Secretary of State, John Kerry would be seeking to speak to the Prime Minister."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"The request then became for us to disembark the passengers and find some quarantine area in which to hold them overnight until they could be transported to the States the following day. I won't get into the details, but very clearly the logistics of such an operation in my view would have exposed Belizean health workers, Belizean security agents, Belizean front line officials. It is clear that even in the US with all their capacity, with all their expertise there are still a lot of unanswered questions as to how this thing gets transmitted."

That's when the State Department brought in their most senior official:

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I set out for him our own position. He insisted that there really was no threat and that, I would not be putting Belizeans at any real risk. I stuck to my line which was that in the circumstances we couldn't take any chance. He did ask whether I would consider whether I would agree explore the possibility of they sending a helicopter that would land on the deck of the cruise ship and then take the 2 passengers straight across to the PGIA. If it had been at all possible to do this thing in a way that could absolutely have eliminated any possibility of any risks to Belizeans - I would have been willing. The fact is after the most anxious consideration I concluded that the original positon had to stand because it could not in the circumstances be possible to do what the Americans were asking without exposing some Belizeans to some degree of risks."

"I instructed her to say to the US Embassy it's absolutely not on. My decision stands. It is final, nobody need try to get in touch with me because wanting to be rude, I cannot entertain any further appeals. This is it. Any possibility of any such transfer operation is off, the plane must go back and the ship. If there had been any way to safely, and that's what I need to stress, to safely accommodate the request of the US Government, I clearly would have been so disposed."

And thus ended a night of concern for so many Belizeans who are understandably terrified about the virus landing in Belize. But will the cold shoulder send Belize US relations into a deep freeze?:

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I hope and think that the United States and certainly Secretary Kerry are mature enough to recognize that ultimately even small states and perhaps especially small states must act in what they consider their best interest and so while they might not have been pleased with the decision, I expect that they will respect our position."

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