Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Belize in the twenty-first century
A major twenty-first-century event with the potential to dramatically alter the course of
Belize's future was the discovery of
oil
at Spanish Lookout in Cayo District (see p.126).
Modest extraction began in 2005, and the country then granted eight-year concessions
for petroleum research to eighteen other companies, with the Taiwanese state Chinese
Petroleum Corporation (OPIC) pursuing drilling exploration offshore, and US Capital
undertaking seismic testing in Sarstoon Temash National Park (STNP) in coastal
Toledo. A further oil field at Never Delay near Belmopan was declared commercial in
January 2010, but the movement against oil production has become more vociferous in
the last few years and after the tragic BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010,
environmental organizations led the way in pushing for a ban on offshore drilling. In
April 2013, they had a major victory: Belize's Supreme Court declared offshore drilling
contracts previously issued by the government to be null and void, which effectively
ends drilling in the reef. But there are also other pressing concerns. Even if oil-drilling
continues in any capacity in the future, commentators are rightly saying that the
Belizean government's tiny administration does not have the resources to either
monitor a domestic oil industry or to ensure that its revenues are used in the country's
best interests. Furthermore, explorations in sensitive areas like Toledo risk disrupting
agreements brokered over
Maya land rights
. Licences for logging and resource
extraction in the 1990s were deemed to have adversely affected both local environment
and culture, and a further dispute over land use will open up old wounds and divisions.
Moreover, with the Belize-Guatemala border issues remaining unresolved, tensions
continue to simmer on. Guatemalan peasant farmers regularly clear land just inside
Belize's western border: they are regarded as illegal immigrants, and the o
cial policy is
expulsion, while small groups of soldiers from each country also occasionally stray
across the other's border. More annoying to Belize had been the occasional robberies of
tourists by Guatemalan
bandidos
around Caracol and the Mountain Pine Ridge. Since
the mid-2000s, this has thankfully been vastly reduced, but each instance only adds
fuel to the fire in the frontier dispute.
Political parties
Politically, Belize today is firmly
democratic,
with voters kicking out the incumbent
government at almost every general election since independence. The nominally
left-of-centre
People's United Party (PUP)
has alternated with the perceived-to-be more
market-led
United Democratic Party (UDP)
. In 2003, the PUP under Prime Minister
Said Musa
proved an exception to the rule by winning an unprecedented second term
in a landslide victory - though following a storm of corruption allegations including
over government misuse of pension funds,
the UDP were returned to power in 2008
under
Dean Barrow
. In March 2012, Barrow started his second term after the UDP
won the election again. Belizean politics are both lively and divisive, which comes
across quite vividly in the media coverage, both in the main newspapers and TV
channels. That said, the only national newspaper independent of political a
liation,
the
Reporter
, regularly notes the lack of media transparency on many political issues.
The tourist industry
The booming
tourist industry
, bringing in well over US$400 million a year out of
2001
2002
2003
Hurricane Iris hits the country,
becoming the most damaging
hurricane in Belize since Hattie
in 1961
In response to the growing
cruise-ship industry, Belize
City builds the Tourism Village,
catering to cruise passengers
The People's United Party (PUP)
under Prime Minister Said Musa
wins unprecedented second
term in landslide victory
