Chancey Vega – Police Used to Brutalize Belizeans

As we go to press tonight, UDP supporters who attacked an elderly man in the village of Nuevo San Juan and then instigated a full scale brawl have still not been picked up by the Orange Walk Police, four days after the event. On Monday, the day after the incident, Orange Walk Police detained seven PUP supporters from Nuevo San Juan, including the elderly father of the new PUP Chairman, an elderly retired nurse and a female councilor. This move by the Police, a UDP source tell us, was prompted by instructions from Deputy Prime Minister and Orange Walk North Area Representative Gaspar Vega. That report has been corroborated by several independent sources within the Orange Walk Police Department, who spoke to us on condition of anonymity.

The behavior of the Orange Walk Police, including the Officer in Charge Superintendent Joseph Myvett, has fueled speculation that in this incident and others, there has been political manipulation by the Deputy Prime Minister.

Leader of the Opposition John Briceno, who heard the news of the detention of the villagers late in the evening, told the Belize Times that he immediately travelled to the Police Station to get some answers and to try and secure bail for the residents of Nuevo San Juan. His particular concerns, he told us, were for the elderly man who had received injuries when attacked by the UDP supporters, as well as the retired nurse and female councilor. According to Briceno he was given the runaround for hours and could make no headway. Attempts to reach OC Myvett on his cell-phones were in vain, as he did not answer. A visit to the home of Mr. Myvett was fruitless. Several of the villagers in lockdown had received injuries in the altercation on Sunday, but Police refused to take them to the hospital for medical attention.

At midnight, hours after a call to the Commissioner of Police, the two women were let out of lockdown and allowed to go home. On Tuesday morning, a total of 18 PUP supporters from Nuevo San Juan were led over to the Magistrate's Court, where they were read a variety of charges including harm and wounding.

Leader of the Opposition John Briceno, who remained on the scene on Tuesday, told the Belize Times that he was stonewalled by O.C. Myvett, who seemed unwilling for some reason to provide the injured villagers with medico-legal forms. After hours of stalling the forms were finally issued and the villagers who had been injured in the altercation filed counter-charges against the UDP supporters from Douglas who had instigated the attack. Coincidentally and conveniently, the Orange Walk Police Department could not locate a vehicle to go detain the UDP supporters. Apparently they still have not been able to locate a vehicle because late Thursday night, the Belize Times confirmed that there has been no move to pick up the UDP supporters even though complaints have been filed against them.

The behavior by the Police perhaps should not be surprising against the backdrop of the recent village council elections. In San Jose on Sunday UDP supporters were drinking contraband beer in the open at the UDP polling stations. Public drinking is against the law, but the Police seemed blind to the UDP lawbreakers. They also seemed deaf to the taunts and insults of the UDP supporters under the influence of that contraband beer. It was only when Inspector Tillett arrived on the scene that there seemed to be some adherence to law and order.

At a press briefing by the Commissioner of Police Crispin Jeffries on Wednesday, a question about the events of the weekend in Orange Walk was posed by the Belize Times. The Compol did not deign to answer, claiming that the situation was political and he had no wish to get into a back and forth.

By all appearances, there will be no justice dispensed in Orange Walk, and the UDP supporters who attacked the elderly man and instigated the brawl will not have to answer for their actions. At least in Orange Walk, it appears that there are a different set of rules and laws for the UDP.

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Source: The Belize Times