In the news business when we get to interview former Prime Minister
Manuel Esquivel and newly appointed Appeals Court Judge Denys Barrow in the
same morning, that's as good as it gets. And we don't say that because of their
status - but because of their particular situations. Esquivel is recovering
from a major traffic accident that happened five months ago while Barrow is
the newest judge on the Court of Appeals and generally judges don't grant interviews.
But Jules Vasquez was lucky enough to get them both on Friday. We
start with Esquivel. He returns to work on September first after a difficult
and prolonged recovery from the second major road wreck he survived in ten years.
He told us that with the help of physical therapy, he's feeling well and his
overall strength is at 75% - but there's one thing that worries him: those steps
he'll have to climb to get to his office inside the administration building
in Belmopan.
Rt. Hon. Manuel Esquivel, Survived Accident
“I am feeling great, very good.”
Jules Vasquez,
“What has been the hardest part of your recovery?”
Rt. Hon. Manuel Esquivel,
“Well I guess that has to be divided into two. One was the infections
because when I went to Miami the first time, clearly it was to repair the physical
damage, mainly the face because the jaw was broken, various bones in the cheek
and I had a broken leg and broken arm. But while there as happens very frequently,
I got several infections in the hospitals which basically were left untreated,
because they didn’t show themselves until I got back to Belize, which
is why I had to go back again and so sometime was spent getting rid of those.”
Jules Vasquez,
”You return to work on September the 1st?”
Rt. Hon. Manuel Esquivel,
“Yes the therapist feels that I am ready and I feel that I am ready
and as I mentioned the other thing is the office is 40 steps up but you just
gave came up my step and that is twelve and I do that twice a day so that’s
more than halfway there so yeah.”
Jules Vasquez,
“What do you recall of that day, the day the accident occurred?”
Rt. Hon. Manuel Esquivel,
“Well I can say I recall everything up to the point when I was taken
to Belize Medical Associates. After that I really don’t remember. Certainly 
I remember the car slipping off the road and turning over. It was an experience
you know that I have had before so I kind of knew what to expect including the
loud crashing noise of the vehicle as it turned over. Then fortunately it ended
up on its wheels but I couldn’t really move. Now I know that this left
leg was cut underneath the front of the car. People arrived fairly quickly on
the scene so I remembered being taken out. I remember being taken on a horrendous
ambulance ride which I think would have killed me sooner than the rollover to
the Belmopan Hospital and from there back to the Hector Silva Airfield for the
airplane ride to Belize City and the ambulance ride to Belize Medical Associates.
But after that I don’t really remember.”
Jules Vasquez,
“When you were trapped in the vehicle, were you frightened that you would
die?”
Rt. Hon. Manuel Esquivel,
“Not at all, the thought never crossed my mind.”
Jules Vasquez,
“I don’t know you as an excitable person however during all this
the prolonged recovery period, did you at any point start to curse your fate
in terms of how did this happen to me?”
Rt. Hon. Manuel Esquivel,
“No, no because there is no point in that, it happened and that is
what you got to accept. This happened, not how did this happen, it has happened.
Now what do I do? Well I get better and I have to do then what it is required
to do that.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Will you be scared when you go on the road again?”
Rt. Hon. Manuel Esquivel,
“I don’t think so. I don’t it will be foremost in my mind.
It is like if you’ve been in any kind of crash; you fall off a bicycle,
you have to get back up and ride the bicycle.”
Jules Vasquez,
“I assume Mr. Schnarr is still your driver. Will you advise him to do
anything differently on the road?”
Rt. Hon. Manuel Esquivel,
“Yes I think he will definitely be more cautious when there is wet
on the road and we all know it doesn’t take much rain, just a slight drizzle,
on that Belmopan road for it to be come slippery.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Have you ever thought about giving any attention to because of the influential
post you occupy in the government, I know you know longer have an executive
seat per say, but you do carry influence, of staring some sort of campaign or
some type of activity to resurface these parts of the road?”
Rt. Hon. Manuel Esquivel,
“I think you can bet because I am not the only one. A lot of people
have had that problem.”
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