We asked Smith about it today:

Jules Vasquez
"The bank has relinquished Practice Direction Seven. How did we get here?"

Godfrey Smith
"We got here, as you intimated, through a process of discussions between the Central Bank of Belize and the banks who stood to be affected by PD seven. There were discussions and as you rightly point out, Central Bank agreed to withdraw PD seven and the banks will put certain measures in place. I believe it is on the 1st of June and subsequent to that date as well, to voluntarily put in place certain measures."

Smith: Central Bank Responded To Letter

And we also asked Smith about his strongly worded letter to the Central Bank pin behalf of Mike Feinstein.

He wouldn't say too much on that:

Reporter
"Feinstein, Michael Feinstein writing to the writing to the Central Bank, that letter calling for an investigation of some activities of Atlantic Bank, and he had said to you in that letter that if the bank would not conduct such an investigation, then you would go to court or your client would go to court to ask them to order the central bank to do that investigation. Has there been a response?"

Godfrey Smith, attorney For Michael Feinstein
"As I understand it, the Central Bank is looking into the matter."

Reporter
"They have acknowledged receipt of your letter?"

Godfrey Smith, attorney For Michael Feinstein
"Yes, they have."

Reporter
"But in terms of processes, what do you expect next? Like. Have they given a timeline or do you expect that by a specific time they should?"

Godfrey Smith, attorney For Michael Feinstein
"No, I'm not aware of any timeline, but I understand the matter is being taken seriously and being looked at being examined."

Remembering Mike Espat, Teacher and Pig Farmer

And in less heavy news, we asked Smith about Mike Espat. The two of them were at Toledo Community College in 1987. Smith was a teacher and Espat the principal. He had fond memories.

Godfrey Smith, Former Mike Espat Colleague
"I actually lived in Mike's house for for a couple of months until I was able to find a place of my own and I was involved with him in various things. For instance, I have a vivid memory of entering a big sty with him. He was a hands on person, very practical, involved in the rice production, involved with the pig program at the campus. I remember stepping into this sty with him and wading in the mud and the muck and assisting him, just generally dealing with dealing with the livestock, as I said, very hands on, very practical, very focused on improving communities, for sure."

"Always outspoken, always a party man, never fearful to speak through to the leadership and always willing to lead a backbench revolt, but only going so far."

Jules Vasquez
"So then you met him in later life as a politician is when you were both in the Musa administration in various capacities."

"Was he a political, forever condemned, let's say, or forever exiled on the political fringes because of that strong self-reliance and that sense of self which make him seem defiant and disrespectful to authority?"

Godfrey Smith, Former Mike Espat Colleague
"Yes, I suppose that characterization is correct. But his defiance was really always just to to ensure that backbenchers had a voice, that the ministers, as we were won't to do, don't run roughshod with all the finances, taking all the finances for constituencies and leaving out the backbenchers. That was and remains the major gripe. And Mike would have none of it. He was representative, in fact a pillar of the old guard while we were viewed as the young Turks. And of course there was the G7 where we rebelled."

Jules Vasquez
"And where Mike came to Said Musa's rescue."

Godfrey Smith, Former Mike Espat Colleague
"And he was one of the old guards, along with Mr. Price, who said "off with their heads, don't let them who that go the government hostage off with their heads and move on." That was the kind of party man that he was."

What the Guats Really Said

And from Toledo East to south of Toledo in theSarstoon....

Belize's Brigadier General's trip around Sarstoon Island with the media last week was met by an aggressive Guatemalan patrol which harassed the Belizean boat - and told them they are in Guatemalan waters.

Since then the Guatemalan military has doubled down with a hard talking press conference over the weekend.

But what did those Guatemalan military brass say exactly? We translated and transcribed their press conference and here's what we learned.

BEL Living Its Worst Case Scenario

And, finally tonight...

Right now, San Pedro Ambergris Caye is in the ninth hour of what will be a punishing 13 hour blackout.

At this hour, BEL crews are working assiduously to fix the problem, but no bill paying Belizean wants to hear that. They want continuous power supply, not engineering quick fixes.

For BEL, the power deficit on a failing system is a worst case scenario, the most difficult of situations they say. Here's how they put it in yesterday's press conference.

Jose Moreno, General Manager, Transmission & Energy Supply
"BEL Is not responsible for the procurement regulations. BEL tells the regulator what our forecast is and then they are suppose to go and open up the market to attract those investments right. But we have a saying that since 2014. In 2013 there was a RFP for 70 megawatts of generation, new generation. We only managed to finalize 8. So since then we haven't added any new generation and our demand has been growing. So here we are, last year we said we will have to invest in generation because at the end of the day those are our customers and we need to be responsible to guarantee their supply and that is why we are doing the upgrade of the gas turbine at mile 8 and the new addition of 20 megawatts of another gas turbine that is going to San Pedro"

"In the case of San Pedro the plan calls for battery storage. That hasn't realized itself yet. We also have a new cable there is a project for a new cable we are working arduously on that to get that project off the ground. And hopefully by 2026 or earlier we will have that supply there. But as far as generation resources are concerned we believe that after this weekend we are supposed to be in a better situation because we are going to add 30 additional megawatts and by the end of May we will have an additional 20 megawatts from that turbine we are deploying to San Pedro."

Jules Vasquez
"Are you guys living right now through a worse case scenario is this like a worse case scenario for you all?"

Jose Moreno, General Manager, Transmission & Energy Supply
"It is one of the most difficult situations, times that we have been facing."