7 News Belize

And while PUP is riding the wave of Hyde's come back, they're also trying to put out the fires in the wake of the political intrigue developing in Belize Rural North.
As we've told you, the Party has suspended Arthur Saldivar as Standard Bearer for that division following the allegations that he made off with almost a million dollars of his former client, Melonie Coye's, money. As we showed you on Friday the Rural North Executive Committee protested that decision saying that the Leader and the Executive overstepped their authority when they suspended Saldivar.

We couldn't get any comment from the Opposition Leader on Friday when our story aired, so after Hyde's endorsement we took the opportunity. He told us that he respects their position, but he remains firm: Hon. Francis Fonseca, PUP Leader
"We respect their right to obviously voice their dissent - that is absolutely an important right within the People's United Party. They have a right to voice their opinion, they have a right to support their candidate, but we have absolutely no concern about that. We have acted in accordance with the constitution of the People's United Party, the national executive as I pointed out on that day, debated this issue vigorously and we made a decision on the basis of our constitution and we stand firmly behind that decision. I assured them, I said to them when I spoke to them that during this investigation they will be able to share their position, to share their views with that committee, so they will have every opportunity to present their position on this matter to the committee."

Daniel Ortiz
"It doesn't concern you that this could cause the perception of another rift in the party where you have PUP versus PUP on this particular issue?"

Hon. Francis Fonseca, PUP Leader
"None at all. The entire party is united in support of the decision. As I said the Belize Rural North committee obviously it's their candidate, so they are in support of their candidate. They want to voice their opposition to the decision taken and we understand that, but the entire party is united and supports the decision that was taken and we will move forward."

The National Party Executive will meet again on September 17 to deliver a final decision on Saldivar's continued candidacy.