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In prepared remarks for the press at his Belize City office today, the Prime Minister said the BSCFA was led astray by bad advice - and he didn't mince words about who gave it:..

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"It is thus a shambolic state of affairs for the BSCFA, caused solely by the demagoguery, irrationality and terrible legal advice of a minority bunch of megalomaniacs."

"Government must, of course, once again intervene to try to save the day; to rescue the BSCFA from this existential predicament into which the extremists have placed it. Because, you see, the real BSCFA is the mainstream BSCFA, the majority BSCFA, not the misguided Matura/Ortega fringe. And the real BSCFA, the BSCFA of history and heritage, is one well worth saving."

"I have therefore said to ASR that a way must be found to allow the BSCFA to sign without going back to the General Assembly."

"ASR has agreed to take this up with their principals and to get back to me earliest. There is, of course, still time since the crop can in any event not start before the week of January 26."

"I am confident, then, that these last remaining hurdles will be cleared, the BSCFA will be allowed to sign, and the overdue crop in which every last cane farmer will participate on an equal basis will commence sometime in the week of January 26, 2015."

And so while there are at least 10 days before the start of the crop - in the end, the PM's persuasion was not needed, the Cane farmers are going back to another Special General Assembly on Sunday - and if all goes as expected there, then, the Cane Farmers will sign the agreement on Monday. They did that based on this letter from BSI/ASR which was sent to the BSCFA today. In it, Financial Controller Belizario Carballo says, quote, "it would be preferable for this issue to be put before another general assembly meeting." End quote.

And so, the road to signing an agreement for the BSCFA is set, but, until it is signed, there are abiding misgivings between the cane farmers and the company. Today, we asked the Prime Minister about the possibility of a divide and rule strategy:

Jules Vasquez
"Sir are you concerned that this may be a perverse strategy on behalf of ASR and BSI to: A) issue some retribution for the farmers who made them wait, well I shall make you wait, or second to deal a deathblow to the BSCFA, because, if farmers start to conclude that the BSCFA won't be allowed to sign, then they be more mass defections to these other organizations which have signed?"

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"As to whether there is any hidden agenda behind what is put forward as being dictated, strictly be legal considerations…I can't say, I would hope not. In any event if there is any thought of playing the waiting game in an effort to as it were discourage the BSCFA, I am here to say that can't be allowed to happen. I am here to say that what I describe as the real BSCFA must be protected, must be safe guarded. So I repeat, SOME WAY HAS TO BE found to allow the BSCFA to sign. If for whatever reasons they can't or don't want to go back to the general assembly, they must nevertheless be allowed to sign."

Jules Vasquez
"Now you have maintained throughout that you cannot force ASR/BSI to do anything, but in this case, you are using all your executive force..."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"That was of persuasion, because, you are perfectly correct. I figured you will be way ahead of the game. If I couldn't force BSI to open the factory gates, I likewise can't force them to accept the BSCFA signature on the basis really of the branch authorization. But, that is why I am putting it in the public domain. I would dearly wish to persuade BSI to allow this to happen and what I can say, not a question of any sort of executive authority, but the force of circumstances, you cannot have a crop without the BSCFA."

And, again, tonight, things look generally encouraging…that there will be a crop with the BSCFA likely signing on as early as Monday. But, as we've learned in the past months of this protracted dispute, anything and many things can happen in just a short time, so we'll wait and see how it goes at Sunday's special meeting.

And that's because the meetings are known to be run with a very loose form of democracy akin to controlled chaos. For example, at the last meeting the Chairman told us Audrey Matura Shepherd would not be allowed to address the assembly, and then there she was, speaking for 40 minutes, effectively swinging the vote to reject the proposals. And while yesterday Matura-Shepherd and Ortega blamed the Prime Minister for abandoning the farmers and forcing them into a position where they have to sign, today he pinned the blame on them:..

Jules Vasquez
"The blame has been placed at your feet, that when you abandoned the cane farmers association at the press conference, that's the interpretation that has been given, that you abandoned the cane farmers association and sided with BSI/ASR. That again, interpretation given by your critics. The blame then for the forcing the farmers into what critics feel is an unfair agreement, rest with you."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I don't care if you are just out of school. I don't care how dense and thick headed you are, you must know if you have a practicing certificate that an application for judicial review is a two-stage process. You must know that there is just no way you can get a mandamus at the time you make an application for permission to apply for mandamus. to have fooled farmers into thinking that the court will be approached one morning and by days' end there would have been some order of obliging the factory to open its doors, has to mean that the person that peddled that kind of nonsense is either a fool or a knave, I'll say no more."