The first public consultation on the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution will be held on Wednesday night at the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall in Belize City.
And while it is a public event - it looks like it's being taken by the major mass parties as a political rally. Both the PUP and UDP are mobilizing their supporters to swarm the event. As we've told you, the PUP declared formally last week that it opposes the amendment.
But in politics, putting something down on paper is one thing, proving it on the ground with numbers is quite another. And one politician who's determined to prove his party's resolve is the UDP's self-styled ground commander Anthony Boots Martinez.
We met him at his constituency office in the city this afternoon where he said he wants to bring out a thousand supporters.
Hon. Anthony "Boots" Martinez - Area Representative, Port Loyola Division
"If you hear the arguments coming from the opposing side of the 9th Amendment, it's that people have not been consulted by their Area Representative. Wednesday night definitely will prove that wrong; I am sure of that. Wednesday night will prove that wrong, because people, especially in Port Loyola, will be coming out in the hundreds, like Oliver would say, if not thousands."
Jules Vasquez
"You can't fit a thousand people at that place."
Hon. Anthony "Boots" Martinez
"Well, at the end of the day, the thousand people can be in support. So, you can fit in the - support means support."
Jules Vasquez
"Wait, but you are really trying to bring out a thousand, or are you just saying a thousand in a political way?"
Hon. Anthony Boots Martinez
"Man, a thousand is a thousand, that's what I am aiming for. A thousand is a thousand! A thousand is a thousand."
Jules Vasquez
"Will you be paying them to attend?"
Hon. Anthony Boots Martinez
"Paying them to what? No man, pay to attend? You know what is to pay people to attend. No man, I've never been the type of person paying people to attend. You can call it rally if you want."
Jules Vasquez
"How do you avoid counter-action between PUP supporters and-"
Hon. Anthony Boots Martinez
"That is not my business, I am not avoiding - my people are there in support. I am not even thinking about any kind of counter-action. We are not going there to fight; we are not going there to quarrel. We are going there to support the 9th Amendment. So, that is not my job to look and to see about counter. So what is the problem for an amount of people to say no and an amount of people say yes? So why should that be a problem?"
Jules Vasquez
"But to use one of your favorite analogies, Are you trying to just 'mek a lot ah noise inna the market'?"
Hon. Anthony Boots Martinez
"No man, we are there in support. What are you talking about making a lot of noise in the market? We are checking our change. The noise is outside there. There is where we will check our change. There is where the people are to voice their views in terms of wanting the 9th Amendment or not. And that is the perfect forum for it."
Jules Vasquez
"Now, invariably, you will be accused of mobilizing a crowd that is only being mobilized because they Representative told them, 'You have to go. If you don't go, don't expect any patronage from me.'"
Hon. Anthony Boots Martinez
"But, at the end of the day, politics is art of compromise and support. So, anybody can force anybody to go where they don't want to go? And why can't the PUP's invite people to go?"
Jules Vasquez
"Because you are the incumbent, and you are in power right now. So you can say, 'If you don't go, remember that house you ask me for? You remember that little help you asked me for?'"
Hon. Anthony Boots Martinez
"Well I said, those people remember the little house that they got. They remember the little help that they continue to get, including today. That's what they remember. Majority of people that are going out there in support of the government and a lot of the people have gotten their 'deliverables'. They don't have to go if they don't want to."
Jules Vasquez
"A case has been made out there that, in the main - in general - the public doesn't understand the 9th Amendment. And so, it's hard to say that they are with it or against it. They generally don't understand because people are saying -"
Hon. Anthony Boots Martinez
"Well, at the end of the day, we don't take the lines of no attorneys. We are not any attorneys. We are looking at what is best for the country, and my explanation to the people of my constituency. They saw it fit that this is best for the country. My main focus is the light, water, telephone. The people of this country want that. The other controversial thing is not here nor there."
As we mentioned - the PUP also plans to mobilize its own supporters - so it should be a showdown.
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