And while that father of three was killed in the city this morning, yesterday afternoon in Orange Walk, a teenager was clubbed to death with a pipe when he went to help his little brother in a school fight. We'll have that story for you a little later in the newscast.
But first, A minister of government has spoken up against the 2010 census. Tourism Minister and Belize Rural South Area Representative Juniour Heredia told 7 News he believes the latest census is seriously flawed.
That's because the census says that San Pedro has a fixed population of eleven thousand residents. Heredia says he knows intuitively, from his work campaigning that the actual population is somewhere closer to Twenty thousand:
Jim McFadzean
"Minister I see now the last census report says that the population of San Pedro is somewhere in and
around 12,000. Do you believe that there has been some under reporting of these latest statistics?"
Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr.
"Definitely according to my personal house to house that I have done during my campaign definitely it has to be more than that. If you look at our voters list, it's over 5,000 registered voters. If you put that by 3 which would be a minimum of small families of 3 that would give you over 15,000 people. It is my estimate and the Mayors' estimate that we have around 20,000 population on the island, so for 12,000 to be reported I have serious concerns about that."
Jim McFadzean
"So you are saying that the latest census is very fraudulent?"
Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr.
"To me yes. It is my understanding that a number of families refuse to give information to the Statistic people. The reason why I do not know, but definitely from my visit from house to house during my electoral campaign I can tell you that definitely it is much more that the 12,000."
Jim McFadzean
"What do you believe are the reasons or were the reasons for this flaw in the under reporting of San Pedro's population?"
Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr.
"Well I believe first that the people that are doing the census and they did not go probably with the right approach to the family members, then these people will definitely refuse to give information. There are many times people feel that it is for tax purposes or other type of things and for that reason they even refuse to open the doors to the Statistic people to give information."
Jim McFadzean
"Do you believe because San Pedro is such a Trans in society that that has to do with the under reporting with the real population figures of the island?"
Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr.
"No so because it's a very migrating population but I can tell you that people that are register over here have made San Pedro be their home."
Jim McFadzean
"Do you believe that the questionnaire of the census was a little bit more personal that the questions that were being ask that people felt that was a little too intrusive?"
Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr.
"Definitely including myself I have some concerns with the questionnaire that they were asking I believe that in some cases they were too personal."
Jim McFadzean
"Will the Cabinet review this census and maybe consider the possibility of redoing it?"
Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr.
"Again I as a Cabinet member had some concern because the people that were in charge in almost all the areas that were doing the report are mostly people from the opposition."
Regardless of doubts such as those, the Census managers say they stick by their numbers.
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