7 News Belize

It's On!: Saldivar Smears Espat
posted (October 14, 2011)
By next week Wednesday, all nominations for PUP Party Leader have to be submitted. So far only one name has been submitted, and it is Arthur Saldivar's.

Interim Leader Mark Espat has gotten almost unanimous support from three of the party's four caucuses, but he has not been formally nominated as leader. Espat has made it clear to all senior members of the party that he won't run for leader unless there is some clear way to manage the party's troubled finances - and source financing for two upcoming elections in possibly less than 17 months.

Well, this evening, his would-be opponent for leader, Arthur Saldivar came to our studios to make a bold accusation against Espat. He says the interim leader has struck a deal for that financing with the man he calls the Lord of Chichester; that is, Michael Ashcroft.

Saldivar who publicly challenged Espat to a debate yesterday - said that's why the interim leader won't debate him - and he said a whole lot more!

Here's his interview with Jules Vasquez:

Arthur Saldivar - Aspirant for PUP Leadership
"For most in the country, there was this perception of this lily - white saint - humble fellow - knight in shining armor. It was never brought to the fore, but the reality is much different, hence the ducking and the dodging from a public debate. Apart from that, Jules, the most grievous fault of them all is what I just found out, and I know most of the standard bearers in the People's United Party don't know yet. That is why I am here to inform them, that our great party, our beloved institution, the child of the father of our nation, is being sold like a $2 prostitute, if we allow it to be. My party and my country are no prostitutes; we are no prostitutes. We are not for sale. The man who coined the phrase, master and puppet, all the while having us believe in Belize that he had a problem with puppets, has actually exposed the fact that he only wanted to be the puppet. He is the one who wanted to wear the strings. He wanted the direct line to Chichester's purse. I hope it's not so in relation to the zinc fence, but certainly, the evidence is there that Eamon Courtenay and Godfrey Smith brokered a deal, and in that deal my party is being held ransom. (We) cannot have that."

Jules Vasquez
"Okay, I just want to be clear because you are sort of speaking in parables. You're saying that Mr. Espat, in his quest for leadership, has tried to broker an arrangement with the Ashcroft Alliance?"

Arthur Saldivar
"I'm not saying tried. I'm saying that presently Mark Espat is ducking a debate because he knows, and the reason why he has not signed on the dotted line to be the leader of the People's United Party is because he is awaiting full compliance of all standard bearers so that he can hold that over all our heads should the proverbial excrement hit the fan, that we are all a part of this deal. I will not be a part of any deal. Arthur Saldivar stands with the people of Belize. The Lord of Chichester, as a businessman, doing legitimate business, has a place in Belize. As a puppet master, he needs to go somewhere else. He is not holding George Price's Party ransom. The blue and white of the People's United Party shall be as free as the blue and white in the skies that cover us."

Jules Vasquez
"But Arthur, are you just making a wild accusation? Do you have evidential proof? Do you-"

Arthur Saldivar
"Well I am here with my reputation and name, and I am telling you right now, I fear no one. Let them come. Let's debate the issue. Let's see if they want to put it to the test, because I'll tell you what, they've been flies and flies and walls, and we have ears."

Jules Vasquez
"But is this a kind of desperation on your part? We know that only the Northern Caucus is left to sign over its fealty to Mr. Espat."

Jules Vasquez
"Jules, let me explain something to you, so that you can understand clearly, okay. The caucuses are led wholly and solely by standard bearers. They don't represent the full measure of the delegates in a constituency."

Jules Vasquez
"Arthur, but if we can speak about flies on walls, there are people who watch what other people do. And I know that when I interviewed you on Tuesday afternoon, on that same afternoon, you were seen entering the Marine Parade Lord Chambers with Mr. Silky Stuart, who accompanied you hear today as well. It was late in the afternoon; I don't think that you were going for lunch at the restaurant downstairs. So were you going to try and make an arrangement with an emissary of the Lord of Chichester?"

Arthur Saldivar
"No, I saw at that time, Godfrey Smith as a person who had ties with the party, still had interests through the flash point column, and I saw it as a means to keeping talent within the party close."

Jules Vasquez
"So, if the Ashcroft Alliance were to approach you and say - if you were to ascend to leader, and they were to approach you and say, 'The PUP is millions of dollars in debt. It needs millions more to try and win two elections in 15 months.' Would you accept a campaign contribution?"

Arthur Saldivar
"I don't need it."

Jules Vasquez
"You don't need it?"

Arthur Saldivar
"Not from Ashcroft. I'm here to tell you that right now on national TV. I don't need Ashcroft."

Jules Vasquez
"And from where would you find the millions to work the PUP out of its debt."

Arthur Saldivar
"I am not Johnny Briceno, Jules. I'm Arthur Saldivar."

Jules Vasquez
"Well I can see that."

Arthur Saldivar
"Alright."

Jules Vasquez
"I don't know what it means though-"

Arthur Saldivar
"Those questions and the specificities that you require are not for me to tell you. It's for you to watch and find out."

Jules Vasquez
"Which means that you don't have the answer, but moving forward, Arthur, you have had a common cause with the Ashcroft Alliance. Very publicly over the last few months, you have been one of the - you and your second-in-command, Mr. Elrington. I don't know if he's with you on this campaign."

Arthur Saldivar
"I wouldn't - well, go ahead."

Jules Vasquez
"But you two have appeared numerously to speak against the 9th, which dovetails with the Ashcroft Alliance's agenda. In fact, for a while, I thought that you were a spokesman, whether paid or unpaid is another matter, for the Ashcroft Alliance. So, this person, with whom you've had a common cause for so long, you're saying now, is pariah?"

Arthur Saldivar
"I had no common cause with Ashcroft."

Jules Vasquez
"He is against the 9th, and you are against the 9th."

Arthur Saldivar
"I have no common cause with Ashcroft. The 9th amendment as it represents a backward step - a regressive step in our country's economic development, certainly any right-thinking Belizean, understanding the repercussions of such a move, would be against it."

Apart from alleging that he has struck a deal with the Ashcroft Alliance, Saldivar also accused Espat of corruption when he was in office - allegations which we cannot air because Saldivar offered no proof of them.

Saldivar says he is obliged to now go and tell all to the PUP Nation - and says he has the support of at least two divisions Dangriga and Corozal Southwest.

And what did Espat have to say about the central allegation that he has brokered a deal with the Ashcroft Alliance?

He told us, quote "The allegation is absolutely untrue. It is not in the interest of the party for me, as interim leader to engage in a public back and forth with Mr. Saldivar. My record is clear. He has none." End of quote.

Godfrey Smith, who is one of the persons Saldivar says acted for Ashcroft in the supposed deal told us the allegation is quote, "rubbish."

Eamon Courtenay, the other person allegedly involved in brokering the deal was not so kind; he told us, quote, "What Mr. Saldivar has said, proves him to be the liar that I always thought he was…and I will deal with Mr. Saldivar. And if that weren't enough, the blowback against Saldivar has already started: today we saw a letter from Order Of distinguished Service which vets candidates before they run for the Party.

It says the ODS supports the candidacy of Espat and adds, the, quote, "it is shocking to hear that Arthur Saldivar wants to vie for the position, as he has yet to prove that he is the leader of Belize Rural North, much less the country of Belize." End quote.

It concludes: "We ask that he be humble enough to step aside and wit his turn, if and when it comes."

Notwithstanding that position, Saldivar's candidacy is still alive.

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