And for us in the media, Dr Cuellar was more than a doctor - he was a medical authority that we could always turn to. He spoke without fear of retribution and always in the interest of public health. He was one text away if you wanted an interview on any topic - diabetes, heatstroke, blood clots, COVID - and he'd usually tell you to visit his office at lunchtime. His accessibility and honesty had a measurable effect on public health awareness in the community. Today, two news directors reflected on his willingness to speak publicly.
Isani Cayetano, News Director, News 5 Live
"To hear the unfortunate news over the weekend that he had succumbed to his illness, I think it's a major loss for the country in terms of persons who accessed the healthcare system both at a private and public level, it's a loss for us in the media as well, simply because he was our consultant. If we needed any kind of professional opinion on anything that had to do with medicine, about the local healthcare system or what-have-you, Dr Cuellar was always more than willing to share his knowledge and his expertise with us and I think one thing I could always say that I admire about him is his candor. He never held any punches, he says exactly what needs to be said and takes no prisoners and because of that, perhaps others would have seen him as sort of a controversial figure but at the same time he was directing what needed to be said and I think we could all appreciate that and we need more people in professional life who could just speak their mind on a matter and share with us what would be the information that we need to know."
"When you know, when you have researched, when you are in a position to be able to communicate knowledge, that becomes your responsibility socially, and I think he embraced that."
Jules Vasquez, News Director, 7News Belize
"I think that from a professional perspective, Dr Cuellar occupied a very singular and unusual space. He was that most sought out type of public figure because he believed in transparency, he believe in availability and he believed in open doors. We live in a society where everyone is afraid of their words, "I don't want to say that about this one." He was fearless, he was irreverent, but he did not do these things for just the sake of irreverence, he did it out of his deep concern for public health. I think this man was really an apostle of public health."
"He really believed, rightly, that public information was the antidote to so many public health issues and that we had to speak about things honestly."
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