By Omar Silva: Editor/Publisher

NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE BELIZE I Digital 2025

www.nationalperspectivebz.com

Belize City: Wednesday 16th April 2025

EDITORIAL

There comes a moment in every democracy when the mask falls, and the true face of governance is revealed. That moment is now.

With ruthless calculation and indecent haste, the Briceño administration — fresh from the polls — moved not to uplift the working class or restore dignity to the public service, but to fatten the wallets of its inner circle. In a country where the average citizen survives on $200 a week, Cabinet-level officials now boast salaries of nearly $100,000, padded further by allowances for vehicles, housing, phones, and other luxuries. Not even gluttony could define this more clearly.

Where is the public debate? Where is the consultation? Where is the moral compass?

This is not governance. This is exploitation. This is state-sponsored self-enrichment.

While teachers still buy chalk out of pocket, while nurses work double shifts in overcrowded clinics, while police officers face crime without basic protective gear, the architects of this betrayal sit in air-conditioned offices, patting each other on the back for their latest "adjustment." All this, while denying public officers the very increments they earned and were promised.

Let us be brutally clear: these are not public servants — they are political predators. They rise to office not to serve, but to siphon. And now, they have the gall to demand corporate-level compensation for political appointments born not of merit, but of loyalty and lineage.

What message does this send to the youth of Belize? That intelligence, dedication, and nation-building are worthless unless you’re part of the political class? That your future is not built on hard work, but on party colors and backdoor deals?

And where is the Prime Minister in all this? Silent. Complicit. Presiding over what is fast becoming a government of wolves draped in sheep’s clothing.

To the public servants, teachers, healthcare workers, and all honest Belizeans: you are not invisible — you are being deliberately ignored. The administration sees your sweat, your hunger, your struggle. They see it — and they choose to spit in your face.

Let no one be fooled by talk of “recovery” or “growth” or “fiscal responsibility.” This is the blueprint of the extractive class — a permanent political aristocracy that lives above the laws it passes and above the pain it causes.

But Belize is watching. Belize is remembering. And Belize is nearing a boiling point.

If the Briceño administration does not reverse course, if it continues to gorge while the people go hungry, then history will not absolve them — it will condemn them. The next election will not be about party colours. It will be about whether the people of Belize are willing to continue feeding the full — or finally decide to starve the beast.