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YaYa’s Coney Drive Surprise Was No Joke For Jimmy
Mon, November 30, 2015

We've already told you all about the Fire at the Youth Hostel where 3 girls perished. Well, the other big story which happened this weekend was the very first visit of Guatemalan President Elect Jimmy Morales.

He hasn't officially taken office as yet, but he's already well-known to Belizeans. That's because during his election campaign, he called it "deplorable" that Guatemala was quote, "about to lose Belize" and said Guatemala should quote "fight for that territory or part of that territory."

So, when the Government confirmed on Friday evening that he was indeed making a courtesy call on the Prime Minister, Belizeans closely following the territorial dispute took a keen interest to see how it would play out. Daniel Ortiz locked in on the Morales mission from Friday night at nine, and stayed locked until Saturday at noon. Here's his story:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
On Friday night, the media waited for Guatemalan President Elect Jimmy Morales here at the entrance to the Radisson Hotel.

Several police officers, and a few officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were also on standby.

3 hours passed before there was any sign that Morales would actually be arriving in Belize City.

Closer to midnight, high ranking police officers from Eastern Division North arrived at the hotel to verify that the security that the department was providing was airtight.

They made it clear that the media was not permitted to approach Jimmy Morales because he was not granting any interviews.

Just after midnight, his convoy arrived, after traveling from the Corozal Border. They zipped into the parking lot, and the police quickly moved to shut the gate. Our camera could just barely make out the President Elect and his fellow diplomats entering the Hotel's lobby.

Then, on Saturday morning, at around 8:00, an hour before his scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Dean Barrow, activists, Geovanni Brackett, Wil Maheia, Yaya Marin Coleman, Rosalie Staines and Patrick Rogers were camped out in front of the Prime Minister's Coney Drive Office.

Once again, there was heavy police presence, and they directed how close these protestors or the press could approach.

After about 50 minutes of waiting, the first police officer from the escort pulled up to signal that Morales and the other Guatemalan delegates were on the way.

It was at that moment that Brackett bolted away from the officers, placard in hand. Police set chase to stop him from approaching the diplomatic convoy. Then, as if it had been planned, Brackett's attempt gave Yaya Marin the distraction she needed to dive past the other cops. She quickly threw herself on the pavement in front of the incoming vehicle in the Guatemalan Convoy. GSU personnel along with another officer swopped in, grabbed her by an arm and a leg each and hauled her away. That black SUV which Yaya blocked then sped into the parking lot, closely followed by this grey SUV, which was the vehicle that Morales was actually in.

As he got out, our camera finally caught a glimpse of him entering of the building.

Back on the front entrance, the police were agitated by the Brackett/Yaya stunt. Their disobedience had caused an incident and clearly upset the officers, who pushed Brackett to the ground. They called over a police mobile, and ordered Brackett to get in.

Yaya Marin
"If you take him, you would have to take me."

Reporter
"Geovannie, tell us what happened?"

Geovannie Brackett - Protester
"Just fighting for my rights."

He was then taken away to the Queen Street Police Station.

Shortly after that, more police stepped up to push back all the cameras waiting at the locked side entrance. It appeared to be a very deliberate attempt to frustrate the media in trying to do its job.

About 20 minutes later, the meeting was over, and Morales and his entourage of diplomats raced back into their vehicles which then took off.

At the front entrance, the GSU formed a line determined to block anyone who would want to approach this time around. Patrick Rogers made his attempt, but he was quickly tackled and pushed away.

That gave the Guatemalan Convoy enough time to speed down Coney Drive, with the GSU bringing up the rear. That was the conclusion of what turned out to be a brief, strange courtesy call on Prime Minister Barrow.

As you saw in our story, only 5 protesters showed up to demonstrate against the Morales visit. You also saw that radical protest action that Yaya Marin Coleman made when she threw herself in front of a moving vehicle.

COLA President Geovannie Brackett ended up being hauled off by police to the Queen Street Police station - but he wasn't charged. Shortly after being released around 11:30, we asked him about risking his own freedom when only 4 other people showed up in solidarity. Here's what he had to say:

Geovannie Brackett - Protester
"I know individually I had my conviction and I thought that whether it was 10,000 or just 1 person out there, somebody had to make a initial statement to let this - this is an enemy of the state.. Jimmy Morales has claimed this nation and he comes in and get protected by our authorities and being treated VIP."

Wil Maheia, Protester
"How much people lives in this city - about 70,000 - 80,000 people and one person has agreed to get arrested. I am just so disappointed in the creoles. You think if this was happening in Orange Walk that you would have had this response? I am sure Chronix or so was out here, out here would be... you know."

Geovannie Brackett - Protester
"Environmentalist around the world does these things on a daily basis. Whether it is tying yourself to a tree or something, but I think that our culture needs to be shaken. Hence the reason why we did what we did."

Brackett disagrees with his fellow advocate Wil Maheia on the lack of support. His take on it is that the Belize City residents were not given due notice of Morales's arrival.

The Belize Progressive Party, led by Patrick Rogers, who was out protesting on Saturday has released a statement criticizing the police for the force used to restrain Yaya Marin-Coleman and Geovannie Brackett.

The statement says, quote, "The manner of force exhibited has no place in domestic law enforcement, in particular, when dealing with unarmed-peaceful protesters!" End quote.

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