By: Omar Silva I Editor/Publisher

National Perspective Belize I Digital 2025

www.nationalperspectivebz.com

Editorial: Belize in Campeche —

Belize City: Thursday 21st August 2025: Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum walks into every day with a two-hour press conference, fielding questions on everything from the Tren Maya to foreign affairs. She inherited the practice from AMLO, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and in doing so turned openness into a governing tradition. Before heading to Campeche, she stood before the Mexican people in Chetumal and told them exactly what would be discussed in the trilateral meeting with Guatemala and Belize.

Meanwhile, Belize’s delegation slinked into Campeche with no public briefing, no clear agenda, and no accountability to its people. The Belizean press was never told where the Prime Minister would be, nor what he would say, nor what he would fight for on behalf of Belize. And after the photo-op, Belizeans got the same stale refrain: “It was a very good meeting,” “technical teams will follow up,” “we discussed many issues.” Empty phrases. Empty substance.

Transparency in Mexico, Evasion in Belize

Francis Fonseca had the gall to suggest that Belizeans “already have great access” to their leaders. Really? Access is not bumping into the Prime Minister on a morning show. Access is not a one-off interview after a ribbon-cutting. Access is a government that faces its citizens daily, explains its agenda, and submits itself to scrutiny. That is transparency.

Belize, by contrast, is governed by a political extractive class allergic to accountability. They prefer silence because silence hides their lack of vision.

Tren Maya and the Void

On the flagship item—Mexico’s $30 billion Tren Maya—Belize had nothing to say. No route plan. No management framework. No economic analysis. Only a shrug: “We are at a very preliminary stage.”

Preliminary? Mexico has already laid tracks across the Yucatán. Guatemala has openly debated its role. And Belize? Still hiding behind “technical teams” and “assessments.” It is the classic colonial mindset: wait, stall, and avoid making decisions until someone else dictates the terms.

An Extractive Class Deaf to the People

Forty-four years after independence, Belize remains trapped in a politics of avoidance. Leaders go abroad with nothing in hand and return boasting of “historic agreements” that, in reality, are nothing more than press statements wrapped in spin.

And when confronted with the standard set by our neighbors—daily accountability—they plug their ears and declare that all is well, that Belizeans already have “enough access.” This is the voice of an extractive class deaf to the people and blind to the future.

Time to Shake the Wax Out

Belizeans must demand better. We do not need more morning-show chit chat. We need daily transparency. We need substance in negotiations. We need leaders who carry vision, not excuses.

Sheinbaum speaks daily to 126 million Mexicans. Briceño hides from fewer than half a million Belizeans. The contrast is humiliating.

Belize cannot continue with leaders who travel abroad carrying empty hands, returning with empty words, and thinking that is governance.

The wax in their ears must be shaken out. If they cannot hear the people’s demand for vision and accountability, then Belizeans must raise their voices louder, until they have no choice but to listen—or be replaced by those who will.