And tonight we note the unexpected passing of another former mayor of Orange Walk Town - Ambassador Fred Martinez. Martinez died last night at around 11:00 in Guatemala City. The death of the highly respected senior diplomat comes as a complete shock because no one even knew he was sick. But the 60 year old had been ailing for some time - and two weeks ago when he attended to SICA Summit in the Dominican Republic, his Minister Wilfred Elrington saw that he was visibly ill. So ill, that Elrington told the media today that he wasn't surprised to hear of his passing:
Hon. Wilfred "Sedi" Elrington - Minister of Foreign Affairs
"My reaction is one of sadness, not surprised, because we were together with Ambassador Martinez just under two weeks ago in the Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, where he attended the heads of government meeting of the governments of the SICA countries. He was part of the Belize delegation to that heads conference and at that time we noted that he really seemed to have been quite ill. As a matter of fact I remember urging him to go back as quickly as possible and I even asked him why he had bothered to come because he wasn't looking to well at all. And then, yesterday, I was informed that he was in the intensive care unit in Guatemala, and of course, I got the very sad news that he had passed away sometime last night. I was informed about that at around 6:30 this morning."
Jules Vasquez
"Do you know the nature of his illness?"
Hon. Wilfred "Sedi" Elrington
"We were told that he was suffering from what was described as full body chemical imbalance. That is what I was told by the C.E.O. yesterday when he informed me that he had received a text from Fred saying that he was in the intensive care unit and that was the nature of his illness."
Sharon Marin-Lewis - Krem News
"What exactly is a chemical imbalance?"
Hon. Wilfred "Sedi" Elrington
"You are just like me. I have knowledge of the nature of that particular illness, but that is what my CEO told me yesterday, and I haven't had time to do any particular research on it."
And while his sudden demise is bewildering - the fact is Belize has lost its most respected diplomat. Martinez - a UDP politician - was made Ambassador to Guatemala in 2003 - during the PUP's rule. That alone speaks to the kind of professionalism he brought to the job. But, he also brought something else, a calm disposition and even temp redness that anchored Belize-Guatemala relations. Elrington says his contribution in that regard promoted national well-being:
Hon. Wilfred "Sedi" Elrington - Minister of Foreign Affairs
"I don't think that many people appreciate how pivotal a role he played in ensuring that we had a peaceful relationship with Guatemala. For us to have remained with such calm and relatively incident-free relationship with Guatemala all these years, having a good, strong relationship with them clearly a lot of that has to do with the skill and ability of Ambassador Martinez. He had an excellent relationship with his counterparts in Guatemala. He had a very good relationship with the Guatemalan government and he also had a very good relationship with the other ambassadors. And using his own skill and tirelessness and resourcefulness he was able to ensure that Belize and Guatemala kept on relatively good terms. There was no hostility, no negative fallout, even though we've had some unfortunate incidents involving deaths of Guatemalan citizens. So, Ambassador Martinez has been stellar in his performance as an ambassador to our country safe, certainly from the Guatemalan threat all these years."
And while for his 11 year tenure in Guatemala he will be remembered as Belize's longest serving diplomat in Guatemala, Fred Martinez was so much more.
He was Mayor of Orange Walk from 1985 to 1988 and 1991 to 1992. He was also senator and leader of government business from 1984 to 1989 for the first Esquivel administration. From 1993 - 1997 he was Ambassador to Mexico. In 1997 - 1998, he was again leader of government business and minister of trade. He was also a former chairman of the UDP from 1990 to 1993, and has been on the national negotiating team since 1998. He was also the chief negotiator from 2008 to present.
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