There are dozens of murders in Belize annually, but Ramon Cervantes Sr is one of the biggest we've ever reported on. And that's because he is the first businessman and community leader in memory to have been abducted, possibly held hostage and then killed - and not just shot, apparently tortured in particularly gruesome fashion.
Reliable sources tell 7News that he was found handcuffed, with his eyes taped closed, four ribs broken in a shallow grave on an abandoned farm.
It is a cruel end, and a most unbecoming one for a three time candidate for the PUP, former opposition senator and Orange Walk Mayor. Today his former political colleague Said Musa told us how he remembers Ramon Cervantes Sr.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa
"It a very shocking thing that has happened to Mr. Ramon Cervantes, I mean to be abducted, to be kidnapped and murdered and in the course of his murder he was badly beaten up, tortured in fact. It should shock the conscience of the nation because here this man was a public figure for many years, a mayor, actually he was a school teacher for many years and a senator as well. And now his son is running, he is in the political arena. I knew Ramon very well from my previous years in politics, under Mr. Price in particular. He was always a very gentle man, very quiet, a quiet disposition, a very honest hard working Belizean and the whole thing is very shocking to me."
And tonight there is information that the primary suspect - a deportee who absconded to Mexico has been arrested on that side of the border. But that is just a much repeated rumor at this time and not confirmed.
Tomorrow, we'll have more on the other body found on the Honey Camp Road in tomorrow's newscast. Reportedly it is a female.
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