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Majority of Caneros Support The Cane Compromise; Minority Have Misgivings
posted (December 15, 2014)
But turning now from today's political festival to the stuff that really matters…

The sugar crop season could start as early as Friday. That is after the general membership of the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association agreed to a compromise yesterday in San Roman Village. That was the venue for an emergency general meeting to consider three points of compromise, which would make way for a sugar crop. We were there to see how the tide turned towards compromise:..

Daniel Ortiz reporting
This is the show of hands in support of starting the cane crop and agreeing to the three points of compromise.

It was voted a majority - and the three points - as put forward by the prime minister were agreed to.

That means, finally, they will have a sugar cop and soon:

Jules Vasquez
"Mr. Chairman, first of all, are you relieved?"

Ezequiel Cansino - Chair, BSCFA Cmte of Mgmt
"Yes I am relieved, since the cane farmers accepted the proposals and I feel more relieved than yesterday."

Alfred Ortega, Member, Negotiating Team
"Personally, no, I am not happy with this because I think that we have gone through two years trying to negotiate something better for the farmers, and then, we reach to this point where we are back to square one. I personally am not in agreement with this, but as how I said before, the majority has spoken, and we have to respect the decision of the majority."

And it was a decision that Ortega and others fought against bitterly on the floor. Ortega even called the directors thieves, robbing the farmers:

Monchie Cervantez also made an extended presentation questioning all three points - but chairman Cansino called him out as a member of the negotiating team who could have voiced those objections at the negotiating table:

But despite passionate objections - the three point compromise was passed:

Alfred Ortega, Member, Negotiating Team
"I think they understand a little bit, but they came with something set to go through with this."

And the man who gave voice to that predisposition was former PUP deputy Prime Minister Pablo Marin, who put forward the resolution to accept the compromise - putting a neat finish on an arduous ordeal of a negotiation.

But there is some question as to whether they fully understood what was contained in the compromise - and explanations by Their lawyer Chris Coye, which were both in English.

Cane Farmer
"This is not correct man. Give us the correct thing that you have that you are explaining to us. I am trying to follow, but I could not follow it. Don't do those things again man. You are a lawyer."

But in the end none of that really mattered - It is a done deal.

Alfred Ortega, Member, Negotiating Team
"What should happen next is that they should be informed, the government and to BSI, so that a signature can be taken maybe to the latest Wednesday, and then, to get an interim agreement to start the crop Friday or Saturday."

Ezequiel Cansino
"Tomorrow we will communicate with BSI and the two attorneys of both parties will sit and start to work on the agreement and then we will try to best to sign it maybe tomorrow afternoon or Wednesday."

Mike Rudon, Ch5
"You think they are making a mistake going for the quick buck over sustainability of the industry?"

Alfred Ortega
"Personally yes, I believe that we should think for the future rather than only thinking for today having one plate of food for today. I think we should be mature enough to think what we want for the future because as you can see the vulnerable group within the industry is the farmers. If we don't take care of what we have or what we can get, then that means that we are only mis-using what we have in hand which they could have taken out much more benefit and make better decision for the future."

Ezequiel Cansino
"As directors, we saw that if we continue in that point we would never get an agreement with BSI. So, in the best interest of our cane farmers, we proceeded to do this."

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