Tuesday, August 5, 2025 at 11:19 AM

After reading the Publisher’s article in Amandala’s most recent issue regarding the upheavals of the now almost defunct opposition party, back in the early 1970s, I think I have something to say. It was my privilege, or maybe my luck, to witness the birth of a new political party in 1969. No, I’m not referring to UBAD, which was a roots movement, but to the PDM, the People’s Democratic Movement, spearheaded by my mentor at that time, Dean Russell Lindo, along with Compton Fairweather, Pampo Young, Eckert Lewis, Rev. Fairweather, Lloyd Young, and many others, including all those prominent businessmen who wanted Belize to go in a new direction—thus sidelining one of the most important men in the history of the Jewel, Philip Stanley Wilberforce Goldson! Mr. Goldson, the true heart of an opposition that was always swimming against the tide. Beloved by his followers and blindsided by his friends, betrayed by some of his staunchest backers, whose desire to win replaced their loyalty to him.

Those were exciting times on Church Street, where everything began, with a new printing press and a new newspaper called the Beacon. My ex was Dean Lindo’s secretary at the time. We weren’t married yet, but I knew it would happen eventually. As the party began to grow after the wipeout in the 1969 elections, all the NIP stalwarts like Joe Andrews, Pedro Mena Guerra, Elodio “Lot” Aragon, Ken Tillett and many others joined the Movement to prepare for the 1974 elections which, again, turned out to be a blowout by the People’s United Party!

But by 1974 the Liberal Party had already coalesced with the PDM to become the UDP, with Lindo still the party leader. Dean Lindo was a political genius in many ways. He had the message, the finance, the organization and the backing of the American conservatives, the GOP; but he lacked the charismatic leadership of George Price or Philip Goldson. He came off as arrogant, and could be very distant and prickly, at times. The Liberal Party saw an opportunity to take over after the 1979 defeat, and dethroned the king. Betrayal breeds betrayal, and in the end, Lindo was betrayed by friends and family, thus completing that vicious political circle. And Philip Goldson smiled. Jacobins in their own right.

I recall that before the 1979 elections, I was tasked by Dean Lindo to get all the candidates running on the UDP ticket to swear their allegiance to him, as party leader. I went from district to district with this form that stated that he would continue being the party leader. Not everyone signed. He knew that the young Turks were waiting for the opportunity to dethrone him; and after the party only won 5 seats, that regicide was inevitable. I believe Dr. Ted Aranda took over the leadership of the UDP in the interregnum; then the liberal faction took over completely, eventually winning the 1984 elections, with Manuel Esquivel becoming the Prime Minister.

But there were so much Machiavellian machinations during that time. After the 1979 defeat, I took letters from Dean Lindo to the GOP in Washington, and especially to Frank Fahrenkopf, and Paul Weyrich. Fahrenkopf was a member of the Republican National Committee and then became its chairman in 1983. Those two men were also, in my opinion, one of the major reasons why Ronald Reagan got elected as president. The letters I carried stated that through Musa and Shoman, Cuba was involved in manipulating the 1979 general elections, without any proof. Sounds familiar, rigged elections? I don’t believe anything came out of those correspondence, but I do know that the GOP was supporting Dean as far back as the PDM days, and that Shoman and Musa became the Red Scare threat in Belize. They even sent political consultants to advise him during the 1974 elections. After the Washington trip, I dropped out of politics in Belize and concentrated on my family.

But those were heady times for me, 1969; still a teenager and so deeply involved in politics at its highest levels. At the same time, UBAD was raising hell, along with all the splinter groups that formed during that period. Heady times indeed. Politics was still a gentleman’s game for the most part, although the PUP could be ruthless at times; after all, they were protecting their turf. My personal regret is that UBAD wasn’t given the respect it deserved back then. I believe that if we had listened to those upstarts back then, their message of pride and respect in oneself, Belize would be a more racially balanced society today. I believe that more of us would’ve stayed and not abandoned the Jewel when it needed us most. But noooo, Uncle Sam beckoned, and we followed.

And now, we are all old and grey and full of sleep, or dead. Finnegan, the only true roots politician in Belize, who came from nothing and rose to the highest pinnacles of power, and Dean Oliver are still around. So are Lot Aragon and Gaspar Vega, Paul Rodriguez and Henry Young; the rest are all gone, including young Ruben Campos, the eternal optimist. My apologies if I’ve forgotten any of the old guard who are still around.

I learned a lot campaigning with Dean in the Fort George division, and also with Aragon in the Orange Walk District, along with Vega and Campos, both of whom later ran as candidates and became Ministers in government. I learned that if you listened and respected the people you were running to represent, you could go far. But we were young then, and optimistic, not realizing all the temptations, all the pitfalls, that were yet to come.

And now the UDP is in a chasm that will take years for it to escape from. All the ideals and expectations of our younger selves gone, diminished and disgraced by greed and corruption and lack of foresight. Wat a ting!

Glen

(AMANDALA Ed. Note:  A couple clarifications from our check with Elections & Boundaries. After the PUP blowout of the hastily formed NIP-PDM coalition, 17-1, in 1969, the UDP was formed in time for 1974 and, far from a blowout, actually gave the PUP a scare. The PUP won, 12-6, over the UDP in the 1974 general elections.  It was the best showing up to that date for the Opposition, which came very close to winning 3 more seats, and that would have resulted in a 9-9 deadlock.  The UDP seemed to have the momentum going into 1979, but instead the PUP gained one more seat, for a 13-5 general elections victory.)