7 News Belize

GOB Not Backing Down On Petro Caribe
posted (October 30, 2014)
So, government isn't flinching at that figure or at the 4.1 million US dollars for the helicopters. And why is that? Petrocaribe, of course! No doubt, the petro-bucks have the Barrow administration drunk in love with Chavvissimo. Except now, the PUP is trying to break up the party - by asking the Supreme Court to intervene and stop the government from borrowing or spending more Petrocaribe proceeds. But the Prime Minister says, the petro-bucks can't stop, won't stop:..

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I believe honestly and with the utmost conviction that this challenge to the Petrocaribe program and this effort to stop the Petrocaribe spending is a case that the opposition cannot win either in the supreme court or in the court of public opinion. In terms of accounting for the Petrocaribe funds, we account not just to the Belizean people, we account to the Venezuelans. They were here 6 months ago and did a complete evaluation and pronounced themselves, my word not theirs, "ecstatic" about the fact that the program is so absolutely well-run, so impeccably run in this country."

Jules Vasquez
"Are you concerned though that in fact there has not been a public accounting of these funds other than word of mouth?"

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Well as we made clear, we've never concealed the fact of the funds. Indeed we have spoken repeatedly about the funds and all the good work that those funds in fact finance. People of course are able to see the infrastructure, the social programs and so there can be no doubt in anybody's mind that Petrocaribe monies are being put to first class use. Naturally, the budget talks about Petrocaribe, but there cannot be the kind of line-by-line listing of every program that Petrocaribe monies fund. What we do know, what is clear and I invite you to have an extended session with the financial secretary who will confirm that there is no spending that this government does of Petrocaribe money or any other monies unless the proper procedures are followed and we both double check to ensure that there is no spending that cannot be properly accounted for."

The media had a wide ranging discussion with the prime minister today and we'll have more of it a little later on in the news.

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