MOST OF MY READERS ARE BELIZEANS BUT FOR THOSE WHO AREN'T THERE MAY STILL BE A FEW WHO ARE WONDERING... WHERE THE HECK IS BELIZE? FOR THOSE WHO ARE STILL UNFAMILIAR WITH BELIZE IN CENTRAL AMERICA, I HAVE ADDED THE MAPS I HAVE ON THIS POST TO HELP YOU TO SEE WHERE BELIZE IS.
THE TINY LITTLE NATION I CALL HOME IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF GOD'S WONDERS WITH SO MUCH BEAUTY IN ITS LAND, ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE!
IN SEPTEMBER, BELIZEANS CELEBRATE TWO VERY IMPORTANT NATIONAL HOLIDAYS.
FIRST ON SEPTEMBER 10TH, THE BATTLE OF SAINT GEORGE'S CAYE IS CELEBRATED. HISTORY TELLS US OF THE BRAVERY OF THE FIRST BELIZEANS TO DEFEND THIS LAND FROM THE SPANISH INVADERS OF THE TIME. LEAST WE FORGET, IT WAS THEIR COURAGE AND PERSISTENCE THAT HELPED THEM TO VICTORY THAT DAY! I PRAY THAT THE BELIZEANS OF TODAY ARE AS BRAVE, FILLED WITH COURAGE AND DETERMINATION TO FIGHT FOR THE LAND THAT THEY CALL HOME FROM ANY ONE OR ANY GOVERNMENT WHO WOULD TAKE THAT RIGHT AWAY FROM THEM.
THE SECOND CELEBRATION IS THE INDEPENDENCE DAY OF BELIZE ON SEPTEMBER 21ST!
MOST COUNTRIES HAVE HAD TO SHED A LOT OF BLOOD FOR THEIR INDEPENDENCE. THERE ARE THOSE WHO WILL TELL YOU THAT BELIZE IS DIFFERENT AS THERE WAS NO WAR TO FIGHT FOR OUR INDEPENDENCE. HOWEVER, BLOOD WAS SHED. BACK IN THE DAY WHEN THE THEN GOVERNEMENT OF BELIZE INTRODUCED THE IDEA OF INDEPENDENCE, THE OPPOSITION, WHO NOW RULE AS GOVERNEMENT OF BELIZE, WERE VERY MUCH AGAINST IT. STRANGELY, THEIR REASON WAS THAT INDEPENDENCE WOULD BE THE END OF BELIZE AS A NATION AND THAT IT WOULD OPEN THE DOORS FOR GUATEMALA TO TAKE OVER. THEY CLAIMED THAT THE THEN PRIME MINISTER, THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE CADLE PRICE HAD TOO MUCH TIES WITH GUATEMALA AND THAT HE WOULD HAND BELIZE OVER THE MOMENT BELIZE WAS AN INDEPENDENT NATION. THERE WERE PROTESTS STAGED IN THE DISTRICTS AND AS I LIVED IN COROZAL I CAN TELL YOU SOME OF WHAT HAPPENED THERE. ONE SUCH DAY A MARCH LED BY HON. FLORENCIO MARIN SR. STARTED IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE ON THE BAY AND AS THEY TURNED THE CURVE, ROQUE MARIN HAD HIS TRACTOR PARKED ACROSS THE STREET TO STOP THE MARCH. THE MARCHERS WERE ARMED WITH THEIR MACHETES AND RIFLES AS THEY WERE FARMERS AND THEY PUSHED THAT TRACTOR OUT OF THEIR WAY AND PROCEEDED THEIR MARCH WHICH WAS FOR AN AGREEMENT WITH GUATEMALA TO RESPECT THE RIGHTS OF BELIZE...THE HEADS OF AGREEMENT IT WAS CALLED. THE OPPOSITION WAS READY AND WHEN THE MARCHERS GOT TO THE BUILDING THAT ONCE STOOD ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE MOTHERS' PARK, SHOTS WERE FIRED AND BOTTLES OF KEROSENE WITH PIECES OF CLOTH THAT WAS LIT WERE THROWN AT THE MARCHERS. BY THE TIME THE MARCH WAS OVER YOUNG'S DRUG STORE HAD SMASHED WINDOWS AND HIS CAR WAS OVER TURNED AND A FEW PEOPLE WERE TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL WITH PELLETS IN THEM AND ONE MAN WAS DEAD!HIS NAME WAS ABEL RIVEROLL. BLOOD AND TEARS WERE SHED THAT DAY AS WE MOVED ON TO INDEPENDENCE.
HOW AMAZING HISTORY HAS BECOME! FOR MANY YEARS GUATEMALA WAS CALM AND RESPECTED THE NATION AND AS THINGS WOULD TURN OUT THE NEWS TODAY IS THAT IT IS THOSE WHO WERE SO STRONG IN PROTECTING BELIZE THAT SEEM TO BE HANDING IT OVER ON A PLATTER TO THE GUATEMALAN GOVERNMENT.
I AM NOT A POLITICIAN AND I HAVE NEVER ASPIRED TO BE ONE. I AM A WRITER, A POET, AN EDUCATOR, A MOTHER, A DAUGHTER AND A GRANDMOTHER OF THE SOIL... I AM A BELIZEAN! I ONLY WANT WHAT IS GOOD FOR BELIZE. I PRAY GUATEMALA IS NOT GIVEN A HALF OF THIS BEAUTIFUL JEWEL WE CALL BELIZE DURING MY LIFETIME NOR AFTER.
IN A FEW DAYS IT WILL BE INDEPENDENCE DAY! MAY WE FOREVER BE ABLE TO CHERISH THIS COUNTRY AND SING OF THE LAND OF THE FREE BY THE CARIB SEA!
BRENDA A. YSAGUIRRE
SEPT 18, 2015
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