By: Omar Silva | National Perspective Belize – Digital 2025

www.nationalperspectivebz.com

Belize City: Wednesday 26th March 2025

EDITORIAL:

It is no small irony that a government which swept to power in November 2020 on promises of economic fairness, inclusivity, and national development has only now—in the twilight of its first term—taken full charge of one of the most economically and politically sensitive sectors in Belize: the sugar industry.

The latest maneuvering by the Briceño administration—stripping the Agriculture Ministry of sugar responsibilities and forming a de facto “Ministry of Sugar” within the Prime Minister’s Office—has not gone unnoticed. Nor should it be celebrated prematurely.

For five years, the People's United Party (PUP) government stood idle as tensions between cane farmers and ASR/BSI festered. Farmers were left to fend for themselves during pricing disputes, delayed harvests, and the perennial struggle for equity in a foreign-dominated supply chain. Government support, when visible, often appeared half-hearted or reactive.

Now, on the cusp of a general election and amid whispers of political recalibrations, the Prime Minister has chosen to step into the sugar fields—not with a machete, but with a ministerial reshuffle and backroom deals that further complicate transparency.

What message does this send to our cane farmers—the backbone of the northern economy? That their concerns only merit attention when an election looms? That ministerial portfolios are political chess pieces to be reassigned at will, not tools of long-term national policy?

Even more troubling is the entanglement between public office and private enterprise. Why is a Minister of State overseeing the daily operations of ASR/BSI—a private company, foreign-owned at that? This blurred line between public responsibility and private interest creates more shadows than it does light.

And let us not forget: the roots of this crisis did not begin with ASR/BSI. They precede its acquisition of BSI, stretching back to systemic neglect, regulatory inconsistencies, and a failure to empower cane farmers as equal partners in national development.

What is now needed is not political posturing, but institutional reform, equitable frameworks, and a return to principles of sovereignty over our resources—sugar included. Farmers must no longer be used as props in political theatre. The sugar industry must no longer serve as a power chip in government deals.

The time for half-measures is over.

Belize deserves a sugar industry that uplifts its farmers, respects its labor, and preserves its economic future—not one run on silence, suspicion, and second-term salvaging.