United Democratic Party - Stability in the future

History

An unstoppable political force is what the United Democratic Party is today. The real party of Change, the UDP has transformed Belize like no other organization, political or otherwise, has. That's a given. But how this Party became such an unstoppable force on Belize's political landscape is a story not as easily understood or told as it is accepted.

Epitomizing the very change it effects, the UDP's own history has been one of continuous transition, re-modification and re-fortification—from discontent to active resistance, from defeat to deepened resolve, from rivalry to coalition, from individualism to unity in fighting a common cause. That is the story of the UDP—how it came to be, what it stands for, and where it acquired its resolve to face the future.

The first element of resistance to the emerging PUP establishment developed early in the 1950's, shortly after the PUP's formation. The opposition movement, the National Party, led by Herbert Fuller, was relatively weak. Then came the breakaway from the PUP of Philip Goldson and others angered by George Price's unpatriotic collusion with Guatemala. But instead of strengthening the resistance, the split in the PUP also split the opposition to the PUP, as Goldson and his discontented colleagues formed their own party, the Honduran Independence Party.

While the confusion continued among opposition elements, Price was solidifying his leadership of the PUP, and the PUP was tightening its grip on political domination in Belize. It wasn't until 1958 that the two opposing parties agreed to merge, giving birth to the National Independence Party, NIP.

The NIP, led by Philip Goldson, scored encouraging successes in Municipal Elections in Benque Viejo, San Ignacio and Orange Walk, but after dominating opposition politics for 15 years, the party never won national elections. With the PUP appearing invincible, members of the NIP began agitating for changes in the leadership. In 1969, Dean Lindo challenged Goldson at an intra-party convention, but lost.

Still convinced that the general electorate wanted change, Lindo and his supporters broke away, forming the People's Development Movement (PDM). Prominent among his supporters were Collet Gill, Ken Tillett and Charles Wagner. In the NIP, there were Buntin Fuller, Henry Fairweather, Joe Andrews and Jorge Guerra Mena. Meanwhile in Corozal, a new group was emerging, the Corozal United Front (CUF), formed by Israel Alpuche, Andres Campos, Edmond Longsworth and Maria Reyes.

In the early 1970's, with Goldson abroad studying and the Opposition weakened, a group involved with the Reporter newspaper (then owned by the Chamber of Commerce) became concerned about the PUP's apparent progression to one-party rule, and formed the Liberal Party, led by Harry Lawrence, and including Curl Thompson, Paul Rodriguez, Henry Young and Manuel Esquivel. Their first move was to forge the formation of a united front including the NIP, PDM and Liberal Party. The merger took place in 1973. It was the birth of the United Democratic Party.

With the return of Philip Goldson and the newly forged unity among all opposition forces under the interim chairmanship of Rev. Gerald Fairweather, the UDP in 1974 launched an aggressive general election campaign countrywide, in every district except in Corozal where it threw its support behind the emerging CUF, which had just won a stunning victory in the Town Board election there.

The UDP captured an amazing 6 out of 18 seats countrywide. With two narrow losses by the UDP in Belize City and one by the CUF in Corozal, the Opposition had come within 17 votes of forcing a 9-9 tie in the House of Representatives. The PUP was stunned and Belizeans viewed the elections as a major victory for the Opposition and a welcoming signal that Democracy was alive.

Another victory followed in December of that year when the UDP, for the first time, gained control of the Belize City Council, winning 6 of 9 seats. Dean Lindo became the new leader of the UDP, being chosen by a majority of elected parliamentarians in the party in accordance with its newly approved party constitution. By 1977, the UDP had won all 9 seats in the Belize City Council.

By that time also, a new emerging group in Orange Walk called the Voice of the Silent Majority, led by Elodio Aragon, Ruben Campos and Fred Martinez, had teamed up with the UDP to take control of the Town Board there. The CUF of Corozal also joined up fully with the UDP, and in the 1979 National Elections, the UDP for the first time contested all divisions as a single opposition party.

Confidence was high going into the elections, but hopes were dashed when the PUP, having altered the entire electoral system, requiring all voters to re-register and obtain new ID cards, won yet another victory at the national level.

Frustration took over, courage wavered, and discontent crept in over the election of new leadership in the UDP. With Lindo having lost his seat in 1979, elected Dangriga Representative Theodore Aranda, a relative newcomer to politics, had become the new Party Leader, something that angered supporters of Goldson who felt the veteran politician was more deserving and qualified for the position.

With discontent and disunity inside the party, the UDP lost control of the Belize City Council one year later, Paul Rodriquez having resigned as Mayor even prior to the loss. Then came the upheaval over the Heads of Agreement, in which the PUP brutally quelled the forces of dissent, followed by Independence in September 1981.

Demoralization and the lack of leadership from the political centre drove the party to amend its constitution to elect a leader every two years, opening up the process to the general party membership through an electoral college represented by delegates mandated to vote according to the membership-voting in each division.

Aranda, upset with the change, broke away from the UDP. He would later join the PUP. Manuel Esquivel was voted in as the new Party Leader, defeating Philip Goldson who endorsed Esquivel's leadership and recommitted himself to the party.

With new leadership and renewed determination, the party re-organized itself and re-captured the Belize City Council in 1983 in landslide fashion with an impressive slate featuring Dean Barrow, Derek Aikman, Hubert Elrington, Philip Goldson, Frank Lizama and others. And, in 1984, the once invincible PUP machine came tumbling down, with the UDP scoring a landslide victory in the national elections by a margin of 21-7.

With no previous experience in government, the UDP made major accomplishments in its first term, including a miraculous turn-around of the economy from the brink of devaluation and standby arrangements with the IMF to an unprecedented and still unmatched growth rate of 10 percent; the establishment of the Tourism Industry as a major revenue-earner; the construction of a new airport meeting international standards; the creation of the University College of Belize and the first Center for Employment Training; the modernization of Telecommunications with the Government retaining majority shares in the newly created corporation (Belize Telecommunications Limited); the transfer of 81% ownership of the Belize Sugar Industry to local stakeholders; significant increases in salaries for public servants; abolition of income tax for low income-workers and reduction for all other workers; opening up of the Stann Creek Coastal Road and commencement of paving on the Hummingbird Highway.

Despite all these accomplishments and more, the lack of cohesion within the party resulted in a marginal 15-13 defeat in 1989. In 1993, on the other hand, the party’s fate was reversed even in the face of overwhelming odds, as the UDP's re-unification with breakaway elements including Philip Goldson and Hubert Elrington, resulted in an unexpected 16-13 victory over an overconfident PUP, which had called early elections.
In its second term, the UDP continued its work of transformation and development despite major setbacks caused by the wasteful spending of the outgoing PUP government. This time the UDP established the Corozal Free Zone; introduced Cruise Ship Tourism to Belize; constructed a sturdy, secure Central Bank Building; built the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and the new Southern Regional Hospital in Dangriga, while upgrading other district hospitals; increased Social Security benefits without increasing workers' contributions; introduced Free Education in High School and Sixth Form; modernized Belize City with a massive infrastructure project; created the Conscious Youth Development Program and the Youth Start Fund, started housing programs in district towns; completed the re-paving of the Hummingbird Highway and commenced the paving of the Southern Highway.

After a stunning defeat in 1998, the UDP under the leadership of Hon. Dean Barrow reorganized once again and made significant gains in the 2003 general elections, retaining the 3 seats won in 1998, regaining 4 additional seats and increasing its overall support from 39% to 46% of the popular vote.

But, as has been proven so many times in the past, and more recently borne out in the 2003 elections by the independent candidacy of Wilfred Elrington in Pickstock and the disassociation from the UDP of other discontented elements, the forces of democratic resistance could not attain full success when they were divided. As occurred in the early days of the opposition movement, the lack of unity among opposition elements in 2003 had once again helped to keep the PUP in power. The kind of change initiated by those who in the early 1970's forged a merger among opposition elements giving birth to the UDP, was clearly needed once again.

And, indeed, the UDP is the true party of change. Yet, it's a party that is planted on a firm foundation. Candidates will come and go. Leaders will emerge and descend. Strategies will be adopted and abandoned. That is the nature of change. But the resolve to defend democracy remains constant. It is the solid rock upon which the UDP is founded, the firm foundation upon which we stand, and the unshakable faith that enables us to overcome setbacks, rebound from defeat, and face the future as daunting as it often is. It is this unshakeable faith that enabled the UDP to continue and to intensify the fight for freedom, justice and democracy in the wake of its disappointing defeat in 2003.

Following the disappointing loss in the 2003 General Elections, the United Democratic Party under the leadership of Hon. Dean Barrow, after much re-evaluation and soul-searching, re-committed itself to the core principles of the party, a commitment to the people rather than self-interest, to the ideals of patriotism rather than party paramountcy, to good and open government as opposed to the corrupt and secretive practices that had become the order of the day under the Musa/Fonseca Administration.

Wherever shady actions and backroom deals were perpetrated, the United Democratic Party called them out, shone the light on them, alerted the Belizean People, and either led or threw its full support behind the obligatory efforts of peaceful democratic resistance.  

Steadfast members of the UDP had their motivation rekindled, disaffected members of the party returned to the fold, independent-minded Belizeans joined forces; even traditional supporters of the PUP, concerned for the wellbeing of their country, closed ranks with the United Democratic Party, all because they realized the country’s only hope rested with the UDP which had rededicated itself with renewed vigour to the values of patriotism and good stewardship that are its very foundation.

The first confirmation that the UDP had rebounded from the March 2003 general election defeat and was well on its way to becoming the next government, came in the October 29th 2003 by-elections in Cayo South, triggered by the death of the PUP Area Representative for that division. In that by-election the national party machineries of the PUP and the UDP faced off, and the UDP won its first ever victory in Cayo South as Hon. John Saldivar was elected.

In the subsequent municipal elections of March 2006, the masses were drawn to the UDP, re-inspired and re-energized by the party’s impassioned and unrelenting push for reform and good governance and its own dedication to those ideals. Those elections were preceded (mainly in 2005) by sustained people protest and acts of civil disobedience, the Belizean people having grown weary of the reckless and corrupt practices that seemed to have become the sole purpose for the existence of the party in power at the time, the PUP.

The people overwhelmingly embraced the United Democratic Party as the party of change and the UDP devastated the PUP all across the country, winning 64 out of 67 seats in those municipal elections.

The trend continued into the village council elections of 2007, when the UDP was victorious in almost 70 percent of the villages countrywide, winning in many villages that were traditional PUP strongholds and never before controlled by the UDP. The result of those village council elections, added to the results of the municipal elections just one year earlier, confirmed beyond a shadow of doubt that the UDP was enjoying tremendous popularity countrywide in both urban and rural areas and that the party was poised for a massive victory in the general elections due the following year.

In addition to its Reform Agenda, the UDP put forward a number of policy positions and plans of action to address pressing issues such as the economy, crime, healthcare, education, tourism, petroleum and cost of living. Those were all embraced with much optimism by Belizeans around the country. Hope was rekindled, especially among those that had suffered most under the Musa/Fonseca PUP administration, the poor people.
In so many ways, the UDP was already proving itself as a party ready for office. When disaster struck (as in the case of Hurricane Dean in 2007) the United Democratic Party reached out to the government of the day and to the affected citizens themselves , bringing immediate, direct, and much-need relief to hundreds of Belizeans families, even as the government itself was slow to respond.

As 2008 drew nearer, the momentum for change continued to build, and the Belizean people awaited with eager expectation the imminent General Elections. Those elections came on February 7th, 2008.

The campaign leading up to those elections was particularly spirited, marked by almost unprecedented voter interest sparked by the glaring evidence of corruption under the incumbent PUP administration on one hand, and on the other hand the UDP’s compelling case for change and reform. As was predicted by most political observers, the United Democratic Party won those general elections by a massive margin, capturing 25 out of 31 seats.
Following the overwhelming victory, the new Prime Minister of Belize, Hon. Dean O. Barrow, immediately appointed his Cabinet and hit the ground running. In his Inaugural Address, he reiterated his administration’s commitment to restore honesty, transparency and fiscal-responsibility in the administration of the nation’s affairs.

True to its commitment and its pledge, the new UDP Dean Barrow Administration within its first year in office restored confidence in the Belize Government both at home and abroad, recovering millions of dollars in public funds diverted by the Musa PUP administration, virtually eliminating corruption at the highest level of government, introducing constitutional reforms to ensure transparency and accountability in the nation’s affairs, and wilfully adopting a style of management characterized by fiscal responsibility and restraint, prudent and targeted spending, complete and systematic openness.

The new UDP government would soon be forced to take on the challenges of two major flooding disasters in 2008, coupled with the already inherited man-made disasters of crumbling infrastructure and a despairing populace, a nation Three Billion Dollars in debt with virtually nothing to show for it—the legacy of ten years of corruption under the Musa/Fonseca regime.

But enabled by its own good stewardship and the confidence restored both at home and abroad, the UDP quickly weathered the storm, and through a combination of local resources well targeted and external financing secured from bilateral and multilateral sources, the Dean Barrow Administration, going into its second year, was able to inject an economic stimulus package to the tune of over $200 Million (in addition to significant targeted increases in its recurrent expenditure) being spent on vital infrastructure and on the people in critical areas such as education, health, agriculture, food security, poverty alleviation and micro- enterprise.

The new UDP government also quickly secured funds to resuscitate the DFC, an institution whose bankruptcy was emblematic of all that had gone so horribly wrong under the PUP.

Belizeans gave the new UDP Administration its first vote of confidence in the March 2009 Municipal Elections when the Party again won 64 out of 67 seats, this time taking control of the mayoral seat in all nine municipalities.

The UDP beat goes on, and so does the work of national reconstruction. And that’s no idly drawn parallel, for as fate would have it, the challenges and victories of the UDP throughout its history are inextricably interwoven with the tribulations and triumphs of the original settlement in the Bay of Honduras which the world now knows as the nation state of Belize, and whose heritage the UDP has fought indefatigably to preserve, even as it has fought and eventually won its own political battles.          

In the words of Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize and Leader of the UDP: “Time and time again throughout our history, Belizeans have risen up to overcome adversity in a way that has stamped us as an uncommon people. Right from the start, the sanctity of that first settlement in the Bay of Honduras was only preserved by heroic resistance to overwhelming odds.

That legacy has never left us and we remain proud inheritors of the Baymen’s Glory.

And so it is that today I have no doubt that the overflow problems presented by a world crisis cannot defeat, or even long detain, the Belizean people. It is one of the wonderful truisms of human existence that there is hardly a challenge that does not bring with it an equal opportunity.

 Here on the Spanish Main, at the current crossroads of Central America and the Caribbean, let no one doubt that it continues to be our special destiny to vanquish challenges and take full advantage of opportunities.

As it was in the beginning, so it is now for a nation marked by sinew and synapse as ultimately bound for glory.”

Long Live Belize! Long Live the UDP!