The political race in Cayo Central is one of the hottest in the country. Dan Silva is trying to unseat two-time representative Rene Montero. Now Montero came within 44 votes of losing to Collet Montejo in the 2012 general election - so Silva should be favored. But, in the March 2015 municipal elections that same Montero machinery trounced the PUP in Cayo Central - earning 800 more solid votes than the PUP for UDP Mayor Earl Trapp in that division. So, Montero is in fighting form, and today his opponent Dan Silva made the rare trip to party headquarters in Belize City to tell the media, that he's done the math; he alleges that Montero's family has amassed vast tracts of land since he got into office.
Dan Silva, Cayo Central - PUP
"I have a list of 20 properties owned by the Montero family - over a thousand acres in Hicks Caye, Banister Caye, in the pine ridge area, in the Yalbac area and then when the poor people go and ask for a lot and a 50 acres, they refused them and they give them a hard time. So the Montero family is doing very well and the people are not getting anything."
Jules Vasquez
"Are there properties he amassed during his term in office?"
Dan Silva, Cayo Central - PUP
"During his term in office, yes."
Today, we spoke to Rene Montero Jr. and asked him about the list. He said that the 56 acres Silva talks about is their family farm, quote, "which we bought PRIOR to 1990s." He adds, quote "In regard to the properties in San Ignacio, that is OUR home passed down to us from my mother's father." He also states that quote, "the land in Banister Boque Caye, to the best of my knowledge was bought PRIOR to 2008."
And what about the land for Rolando Montero? - who is the minister's brother. Rene Jr tells us, quote, "that is his land and Rene Montero has nothing to do with them." Rolando Montero is the owner of RGM Trading Company. He concludes that, quote, "The list…shows Dan Silva's desperation."
Now, of course this land issue is always a double-edged sword. This newsroom knows from experience that Dan Silva is not a man with any shortage of land holdings. The Montero camp off loaded a sheaf of digital documents for lands owned by Silva and his campaign manager, Santiago Mendoza.
We did ask Silva about his land holdings today - which he said is from his family:..
Jules Vasquez
"Now are you afraid that you may be opening a can of worms? We know that you and your family are extensive land owners. I don't know when you accumulated your land holdings, but you all owns a lot of lands. I see a lot just in the papers and so I imagine that can only be a small fraction."
Dan Silva, Cayo Central - PUP
"Well you can't be following propaganda. The Silva and the Galvez family have been in the Cayo area for 125 years. One grandfather still owns Clarissa Falls and the other one use to own Carmelita. So we have been in the cattle business for the past hundred plus years - nothing new. But the Montero's are since they join government - it's a big difference and we don't have 1,500 acres. We don't even have 1,000 acres. So you can't compare two of them."
Montero Jr provided us with a screenshot of a computer readout - which lists 109 parcels for Dan Silva.
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