We turn now to politics...
On Sunday, the UDP held its last contested convention of the season in Belize Rural North. It was a convention that should have been held long ago, as an endorsement for the incumbent Edmund Castro - but some in the UDP executive didn't want Castro to run again because he had been kicked out of Cabinet on an allegation of fraud and dishonesty.
So the compromise was that he would have to face a contested convention. Party higher-ups searched long and hard for a viable opponent and they found it in Elston Wade, a senior public servant and a Belize Rural son of the soil with deep family ties in the area.
He put it all to the test on Sunday - and we went to Sandhill to find out how it went - here's the story:
Jules Vasquez Reporting:
Guadalupe RC School in Sandhill, at Mile 17 and a half on the Northern Highway, had the expected political scenery and the usual array of signage - newcomer Wade versus incumbent Castro, and the usual high spirits, and also the kind of inter-party support you might also expect.
But what we didn't expect to see was Edmund Castro's brother in his opponent's shirt. Or for that matter, Elston Wade's brother - a rejected PUP candidate working the line at a UDP convention.
Strange sibling situations, but none of that mattered. Conventions are decided by money, mobilization political muscle and mass support; both sides said they had it:
Elston Wade - Belize Rural North Candidate
"Well from the numbers I'm seeing, I'm very confident, and I think that at the end of the day, we'll leave here - my camp will leave here with a victory."
Jules Vasquez
"Now a lot of the aspersions against you are based - people are saying you're a PUP, and you're no kind of UDP. How do you respond to that, or do you even respond to it?"
Elston Wade
"The latter."
Jules Vasquez
"Did you out-spend your opponent?"
Edmund Castro - Belize Rural North Candidate, UDP Incumbent
"Well Jules, everybody knows that Castro is broke. And that's no secret, but what we do have is a political machinery that have been tested before. And my - the organization that we have used to bring out 20 bus-loads of people."
Jules Vasquez
"Everybody know that the party, to my opinion, has done all it can to ensure that you face a contested election."
Edmund Castro
"I remember the first time we had convention leading up to the 2008 election. I was not a favorite of the party, but we still won. And this time, I'm not sure but I know that the people of Belize Rural North will turn out to support "Clear the Land" once again."
Jules Vasquez
"I saw your brother in your opponent's shirt. I mean you have some real heart-breakers out here."
Edmund Castro
"Yeah, but Jules, you can't satisfy everybody, and basically..."
Jules Vasquez
"But you at least you could satisfy your brother?"
Edmund Castro
"No man, No man - he is a human being. And human beings are difficult to satisfy. Some of the people who go against you are some of the people you help the most. From the crowd out here, you will see a lot of people out here supporting "Clear the Land", and we will be victorious today again."
Elston Wade
"My strength is consistency over the past thirty-odd years."
Jules Vasquez
"Now we know - my experience of conventions, how it runs, is that it's not necessarily who is the best, the most honest, or the most servile. It's, a lot of times, who has the most money. And looking at it out here, it looks like Mr. Castro has flexed out more money than you today. I see more Castro t-shirts, more buses etc. How do you respond to that? Do you think he has flexed, and will this give him an advantage?"
Elston Wade
"Clearly, except those things that you just mentioned do not vote. People vote, and I think that at the end of the day, I am very confident."
At the end of the day though that confidence was misplaced, Wade got only 562 votes; as most voters - 1,070 of them - gave Castro their "X".
1,646 persons voted.
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