What was once a striking portrait of former commissioner of Police Chester Williams, is now nothing but a white wall. You heard that right, the painting has been erased from the Police training academy grounds, after it was meant to be a tribute to Williams. And as it turns out even the artists who painted it had no clue that it had been painted over. Here's what Jomarie Lanza found out today.
When Commissioner Chester Williams left office as the longest serving Commissioner Of Police he was honored with a mural of his portrait on the parade square. The only other image there is of the namesake of the parade square, another former Compol Samuel Adolphus.
But when we checked back today, 4 weeks after the change of command - the artist's rendering was gone. It's been erased and painted over white.
Raquel Rodriguez learned that it was gone from us:
Voice of: Raquel Rodriguez, Raquel Rodriguez Art
"The thing is that again we give those things as gifts so for us as artists if you want or cannot use it any longer that's fine that's your call I. will choose not to be upset about it put it that way because you know we are artists we just go around and try to do our best, we do murals all over like I told you, we have never seen a mural defaced and we have not seen a mural painted over before, so it's a new one for me. It's a new one. But again it's a new one but I mean again we did the beautification and I guess they can do what they feel with it right."
The new commissioner Richard Rosado says the wall was donated in 2015 by a family of a fallen police officer who was killed in the line of duty as a place to honor those officers killed in the line of duty, he says the family that donated the wall got offended when the academy staff repurposed it for a portrait.
But there is a longer story to that too because Raquel Rodriguez also restored those walls from years of dilapidation when she spearheaded a beautification project to improve the academy grounds.
Raquel Rodriguez, Raquel Rodriguez Art
"In 2021 we saw the need for some beautification in the academy and we had reached out to the academy and offered our services to help them they are not the only school we have helped we helped many schools across belmopan and we realised when we got in there how much of a help they needed so the compol at the time Mr Chester and the dean and so forth we went around the compound and we saw the need for a beautification project."
"We did the free standing walls like so those walls were on the parade and yes the middle wall does have names of fallen soldiers we assumed that they would have used it to put the other names that never happened that is 2021 to now it never happened so I don't know that's not my call. When we saw the walls they were falling apart I think I can find a picture but it was so embracing because it was in real bad shape."
And now with all that has happened and the image of Commissioner Williams erased, we asked Rodriguez if she would be willing to paint it back, and she said No.
Raquel Rodriguez, Raquel Rodriguez Art
"I don't know, I think I would try to stay away now."
Jo-
"I think that is fair okay."
Raquel Rodriguez, Raquel Rodriguez Art
"Yeah that's all you know I mean."
Commissioner Rosado says the mural with the names of the officers killed in line of duty will go up in a few days. For context we should note that Dr. Rosado's brother, Fernando Rosado Jr., was shot and killed in the line of duty as a police officer.
Email
Print