The Cultural Transformation of the Political Representation

The visit of the constitutional commissioner in 1958, Sir Hillary Blood certainly left an impression on the British that those bunch of High School Alumni certainly did not have it them to achieve ‘Self Government’. Perhaps what Blood was not fully aware of was the presence of a very astute Mahogany and Chicle magnate, Sydney Turton who was the driving force behind the People’s United Party. He had the finance to do it. Turton had an investment in Price to secure a friendship with Guatemala so he Turton could exploit the Peten territory of its mahogany and chicle. El Peten is 13,843 square miles while the British Colony is only 8,848. Price frequented meetings with Turton in the USA at I.T. Williams & Company who provided Turton with the iron wagons used for hauling mahogany logs from the thick forests. What I did observe in our national history is Sir Harrison Courtenay Sr., a Creole, who was a friend of the British, abandon his leadership of the National Party in 1951 to join Price and his party. However for some unknow reason he never chose to run for political office. What we do know is that The Daily Clarion of the 1950s, reported on the meeting at Thistle Hall in April, 1950 where Courtenay addressed the ‘Elite Creole’ on the benefits of West Indies Federation. It is not unusual to read in the Daily Clarion in the same report that Courtenay who frequented Turton’s Office on North Front St. did mention that and I quote, “There are those who wish to serve two masters”. Was he implying that Turton who was a British subject was prepared to become a Guatemalan so he could plunder El Peten?

By the way, I was reminded that the PUP won 8 of the 9 seats in the 1954 Adult Suffrage Elections. I can only recall Price, Goldson, Jex, Richardson, DePaz for the PUP; one Charles Westby won for the National Party from Toledo. I don’t know who the other three PUP candidates were. So it is clear that the Creoles dominated that election. Here it is important to mention that the fight for West Indies Federation failed and in 1956, Goldson, Jex and Richardson were ousted from the PUP. The first Attorney to evolve around our local politics was Courtenay but what was his exact role? Was he placed there by the British to spy on Price because of the Anglo Guatemala Dispute? It should have been of much significance to Courtenay when Price was unanimously chosen as the new party leader in 1956 to replace Richardson. But what ties did Courtenay have with Richardson and Goldson since he was the Commissioner of the West Indies Federation.

Where was British Honduras heading without the Creole leaders? This must have been of great concern to the thousands of union workers from the BHGWU which had full support from ORIT, the Regional Inter-American Organization of Trade Unions. The concern was even greater when Price supported Pollard to form a Christian Union, the CDP which was used to overthrow the BHGWU and take over the workers in September of 1956. It is important to note that Price and his PUP won all seats in the 1957 and 1961 general elections. The 1957 elections saw new Mestizos faces in the likeness of Fred Hunter, his brother Alexander Hunter and Hector Silva. As for Price, the people loved him; following his removal from his Legislative Seat in 1957 for his conspiracy with the Guatemalan Foreign Minister in London, the people shouted, “Contact or no Contact, they wanted Geroge Cadle Price.” This event can be viewed as the first political situation where the truth did not matter to the people and it would continue to occur throughout general elections. I believe it is important to mention from Grant’s book, Chapter 6, “The conflict: the climax and resolution” that the Organization of Central American States (ODECA), and I quote, “In 1955, ODECA pronounced the reincorporation of ‘Belice’ to be a Central American question, and pledged to ‘incorporate Belice in the movement of economic integration of Central America at a conference in Argentina just before the elections in British Honduras in 1957.”

Following the March 1961 general elections in which the PUP also won all 18 seats, the Guatemalans invited Price as an observer to the ECLA conference in Chile that same March 1961. The British did not object. This Latin American Economic Association would go on to arbitrate a settlement with Guatemala of the Anglo-Guatemala Dispute which resulted in the conspiracy of the American lawyer, Bethuel Webster 17 Proposals that were presented to Price in London in 1967 in the presence of Philip Goldson. Had those been accepted by the Creoles of British Honduras, they would have seen a new ‘Belice’ transformed to a ‘Pais of Latinos’. As I said earlier, we don’t know what was the role of Harrison Courtenay Sr. What we do know is that he recommended Philip Goldson to the British Governor to be the Leader of the Opposition in 1961. Was there some kind of espionage and counter espionage? What we do know we were saved by Phillip Goldson who leaked out the proposals that resulted in huge angry mobs demonstrating in the streets of Belize City. ECLA had failed. It is believed that following the failed Webster proposals, Price moved toward CARIFTA in 1971 and Belize eventually remained a part of the Commonwealth and a member of CARIFTA/CARICOM of which the majority are of Creole peoples.

On October 31st, 1961, Belize City and the Southern District of Stann Creek were destroyed by 200 miles an hour Hurricane Hattie which is known as a Category 5 storm. Hundreds died; the devastation was so horrible, the British immediately dispatch troops to help clean up and provide law and order to stop the looting that took place. The Governor met with Price and the British and it was decided to build a new city in a high altitude area. In 1965, the National Independence Party won two seats in the 1965 general elections. Phillip Goldson won in the Albert Division and one Edwin Morey won in Toledo. A new political climate was on the horizon. Up in the North of Orange Walk and Corozal, the PUP were in full control with the support of its Mestizo leaders, Florencio Marin and Jesus Ken who controlled the Northern Cane Farmers Union. Belize was fast becoming a small dictatorship in a weak democratic environment. There was only one Radio Station known as British Honduras Broadcasting Services. Companies from the private sector began to show their business strengths and supported a Peoples Democratic Movement alliance with the National Independence Party. Here we see the beginning of the merger of Creoles with Mestizos. The PUP were seriously tested in a huge strike between Pauling & Company that won the contract to build Belmopan. Its fight was with the NFCTU, National Federation of Christian Unions. Its parent union, the Christian Workers Union which was headed by Ray Lightburn, Mike Rosado and Desmond Vaughan supported the ruling PUP. The thousands of workers at the sight felt they were being underpaid and broke away from the CWU and supported Cyril Davis, President of the Democratic Independent Union. The workers eventually won their fight in early June, 1969 and the PUP won a pyrrhic victory in the December, 1969 general elections.

I was 19 years old and supported my father who was forced to resign from the unions forever. The PUP won 17 of the 18 seats, a result I could not believe. Having lost his job as Executive Secretary in CLASC for the English speaking Caribbean, my father was once again a poor man. I was earning $ 25.00 weekly and had to assist him. It marked the end of the Christian unions and the beginning of the United General Development Union headed by Thomas Martinez, a Garifuna.
1969 saw the arrival of two Arab Belizean lawyers who had studied in England, Said Musa and Assad Shoman. Also returning home was Belizean Creole, brilliant student from Dartmouth University. In December 1969 the three would picket the American Movie, Green Beret starred by John Wayne. If I am not mistaken it also marked the arrival in politics of Garifuna doctorate, Dr Aranda who would become the Leader of the new United Democratic Party but short lived. The 1970s would see the re-birth of the Non-Aligned Movement when President Tito of Yugoslavia would be ousted in his old age and Fidel Castro would lead the movement. We would also see the rise of the Black Movement, UBAD under Evan X Hyde. Where was Belize going now as a ‘Self Governing’ country since 1964? We had seen the name British Honduras changed to Belize in June, 1963. But where were we going?