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Justice Young heard them privately in chambers, and after the very short session this morning we spoke with both sides over what is to happen next in what could be a prolonged legal battle. Here's what the attorneys had to say:

Leroy Banner, Attorney for Jack Charles
"The AG Ministry is saying that that need more time to prepare fully for the case. Having received the affidavit at about 3pm in the afternoon. So they made an application for it to be adjourned until they are properly appraise of the information. So they needed more time to look at it."

Daniel Ortiz
"Has any date been set?"

Leroy Banner, Attorney for Jack Charles
"No. what happen is we will come back here on the 31st to make submissions then on the 4th January, there will be a hearing."

Eamon Courtenay, SC - Attorney for Local Rice Producers
"I will apply on behalf of the Mennonite communities in Blue Creek, Spanish Lookout and Shipyard to be joined to these proceedings and the court will hear that application and the application by Mr. Charles for judicial review. Whether he will get permission to apply for judicial review. That will be done on Monday the 4th January, 2016."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, having more foreknowledge on the outside, do you expect that the application for leave will be successful?"

Eamon Courtenay, SC - Attorney for Local Rice Producers
"Daniel as you know applications for permissions are in many ways nearly routine. This one is a little different for a number of reasons. 1) Being of course that it deals with the movement of a commodity and I am not sure that this court has jurisdiction to determine whether or not rice can be imported into Belize. I think if they confine their application to whether or not BAHA issued a permit or not to them, that a matter that doesn't concern my clients and we would happily say to the court that we are not concern with a fight between BAHA and Mr. Charles."

As you heard, the immediate dispute is between Jack Charles and BAHA, which has been holding his 3 containers of Guyanese Rice at the Port of Big Creek for a week. But now it's coming to a head because, Charles has used up all of his free days of storage at the Port. So, starting tomorrow, he will have to pay storage fees to the Port, and a case like this could drag on for weeks or months.

That added cost goes directly to his bottom line because Charles could end up with a massive bill to keep his 75 tonnes of rice in Belize. When we asked him about it today, he said that the port fees is definitely one of the considerations which prompted him to seek the Supreme Court's intervention:

Daniel Ortiz
"Have you exhausted in your mind all options and that's the reason why we are here?"

Jack Charles, trying to import rice
"Yes, particularly speaking yes, we have given enough time to them. We did received a letter late last evening, but by the time it was filed already."

Leory Banner, Attorney for Jack Charles
"Basically the letter is saying purports to give reason as to why the containers were detained. I see no valid reason in it and since its a matter before the court now, I cannot say exactly what I think about it. But suffice to say that there is no sufficient reason given in the letter as to why BAHA detained our containers."

Jack Charles, trying to import rice
"The farmers in Toledo, they pay 30 cents for their paddy and the rice coming out of the same paddy, they are to pay $1.20 when they buy the rice from the shops. So it's all about consumers."

Daniel Ortiz
"Tomorrow, you will start by Big Creek to start paying fees for storage. Have you contemplated that and is that the next step for you?"

Jack Charles, trying to import rice
"At the end of the day there are charges to be paid and we have to pay and down the road when we win the case, we will claim those charges from the authorities."

Daniel Ortiz
"Was that a consideration that prompted you to take this step as well that it is now costing you to keep this rice in Belize?"

Jack Charles, trying to import rice
"Particularly speaking, like any investment invested, we need to have a turn around on that one. At the end of the day, even the consumers are waiting for their affordable rice and then besides that when the port start charging the storage fees from tomorrow, all those things definitely factor in."

As is well known, on Monday, Agricultural Ministry CEO Jose Alpuche and Foreign Trade Director General Leroy Almendarez made the media rounds to publicly make Government's case for blocking the importer from selling Guyanese Rice in Belize. The discussion between the WUB's Host Mose Hyde and CEO Alpuche was heated and adversarial, and while the two were battling back and forth the topic of the gouging of the consumers came up.

CEO Alpuche commented that Sergio Garcia, who is also a former CEO of the Ministry of Agriculture, was in a position to put mechanisms in place to protect, you, the local consumer, but he failed to do that. So, when we asked Garcia today about the suggestion of this false moral high-ground for now wanting to provide cheaper rice to Belize, he pointed the finger right back at Alpuche. He said that the unregulated price spike happened on Alpuche's watch:

Sergio Garcia, Technical Advisor - Xtra House
"When rice went up in 2011 it was still at 60 cents. I wasn't the CEO. I left from CEO in 2001. So who is responsible from 2011 to now - him? So he should answer the question, not me. Because rice was 60 cents. Check your records in 2011. So it jumped from 60 cents to $1.20 in 5 years and who was the CEO then. I can't answer to him. I think he should answer."

"You keep mentioning him and CEO trade about - technically they don't know what is the treaty. Dumping, and he mentioned it, because the cost of production has to be higher than the selling price. But for his information, both Surinam and Guyana produced rice cheaper than what they are selling it for. So it cannot be dumping. The subsidy, subsidy in Guyana is similar to what is given in Belize. If you go to the BELTRAIDE website, you will see all what the farmers can access which is fiscal incentives, taxation etc. So government support is a former subsidy. In fact what happened where the consumers pay the difference at the Guyanese rice - that is a subsidy. It was a cash transfer from the consumers to the big producers. So I want him to think about that subsidy that we gave, which I think we should have never pay for as consumers."

Garcia also added that he was at the CARICOM desk in 2011 when the price of rice went up, and at that time, he couldn't use his office to agitate for consumer protection in Belize because he had to remain impartial to all CARICOM nations.

And while that is the broader historical picture…going back to the case, it will continue for 2 consecutive Thursdays, starting with December 31. The actual hearing is expected to take place on January 4, 2016.