By William Ysaguirre (Freelance Writer)
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Oct. 2, 2025
The Government of Belize, under the People’s United Party administration of Prime Minister John Briceño, is a “sham and a disgrace,” declared Opposition leader Hon. Tracy Panton, when the United Democratic Party parliamentary caucus held a press conference at UDP headquarters on Euphrates Avenue in Belize City on Wednesday morning, October 1.
Hon. Panton expressed her “great dismay” at the reinstatement of Commissioner of Police Richard Rosado, PhD, who was recalled back to active duty a mere 23 days after he was placed on a 45-day administrative leave on September 8, when the Prime Minister found Rosado’s preliminary report on the Joseph Budna kidnapping to be “incomplete and, therefore, unsatisfactory.”
“The lack of any relevant information” in the Cabinet release on Tuesday announcing Rosado’s immediate recall to office on Tuesday, September 30, was “a slap, a hard slap in the faces of all Belizeans … a national disgrace,” opined Hon. Panton, who said that this Briceño administration’s hallmark has become: “always more questions than answers.” The Cabinet release absolved Rosado of any wrongdoing in the Budna affair, stating that “the Inquiry Report, does not in any way implicate Commissioner of Police.”
“This administration is on a fast track to being an authoritarian government”, declared Hon. Panton. “If Cabinet can be allowed to interfere in a criminal investigation, if Cabinet can be allowed to conceal evidence, if Cabinet can be allowed to reinstate officials who are under suspicion or, at bare minimum, scrutiny, then … Belize risks becoming a state where state-sanctioned kidnappings and justice for all are suppressed,” she remarked.
She unrelenting in her criticism of the government’s actions: “We must ensure that our [country] remains a nation of laws, not a nation of political cover ups. Justice for Joseph would mean justice for all Belizeans,” she said.
Joseph Budna’s abduction occurred at a location that was in full view of the Orange Walk Police Station, staffed by officers who are sworn to protect and serve the public’s safety, at a spot that is surrounded by several government buildings, all of which have closed-circuit surveillance video cameras. Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence which must be easily discernible on the video footage from these security cameras, the government would seem to be refusing to acknowledge that a kidnapping has occurred, as Tuesday’s Cabinet release referred to the abduction as “the incident”.
The release also recommended that “an independent investigation be conducted in relation to this incident.” In reference to this, Hon. Panton retorted, “There is no such thing as an independent investigation in this country! … There is no such legislative framework to facilitate this notion of an independent investigation. … If … Cabinet is not now discussing how they are going to put in the right regulatory framework for this to occur, we know this is all hogwash.”
So far, the full police inquiry report has not been made public, and Hon. Panton demanded that the report and the case file be immediately submitted to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). She called for the “establishment of an independent mechanism to provide oversight over this investigation, either by way of a commission of inquiry or the appointment of an independent prosecutor that is insulated from Cabinet’s interference, with powers to subpoena and compel testimony.”
Ho. Tracy Panton also found Compol Rosado’s public statements about Budna’s abduction to be truth-impaired and unbelievable. “In any credible system, he would have stepped aside willingly, not placed on leave until the investigation is complete. Instead, what Cabinet announced … that he is now being reinstated with immediate effect, … is a political decision, not one based on any professionalism, and further erodes and destroys public trust,” she commented.
Even more curiously, noted Panton, the Cabinet release makes no mention of any security video footage, as if such footage does not exist. “The surveillance videos, which seem to have gone away, have not even been mentioned—a critical evidence, they can either confirm or deny what happened,” Panton reasoned. “Why have this … these surveillance videos not been released for the public?” she questioned.
Panton criticized the government’s shroud of secrecy about the whole kidnapping. “We have nothing to hide. The responsibility of the government is to get behind what happened, and to ensure that the perpetrators are held to account. Until the videos are handed over to the DPP and made public, Belizeans can only assume that there’s something to hide,” she said. She then pledged, “When I become the next prime minister of this country, I would work to a more open government because the Cabinet business is the people’s business!”
She demanded that the Government release the complete investigative report which was presented to the Prime Minister. “We deserve the entire report, not selective snippets filtered through Cabinet. It seems that Cabinet is acting as its own kangaroo court, reviewing evidence in secret, deciding who is implicated and who may not be implicated; and worse, seeking to protect its own. … The secrecy and the selective exposure raises chilling questions. Was this a state-sanctioned kidnapping?” she asked.
Panton recommended that Rosado should not be allowed to go back to his office, citing the clear conflict of interest for him to be commanding the very department that is tasked with investigating the kidnapping, when the evidence may implicate Rosado. She questioned who would interrogate Rosado, “to try and garner evidence from him?”
While some members of the Belizean public may be impatient for the UDP to stage a mass demonstration, she cautioned that “before, we need to educate the Belizean people. … The party is rebuilding brick by brick. We have been in a very difficult place. We are not at full strength. We are still in the process of cementing our team. … We are not going to allow this administration to sweep those issues under the rug.”
The UDP caucus called the press briefing to discuss matters of national interest, and former Collet representative, Senator Hon. Patrick Faber, called attention to the full free movement of CARICOM nationals among four countries: Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which took effect Wednesday, October 1. He lamented that the government of Belize has made no effort to educate Belizean citizens about what this will mean. Free movement means Belizeans can apply for jobs for which they are qualified in any of the other three countries; and if they are hired, to move to that country to live and work without need to apply for any visa, temporary residence permit or work permit. This arrangement will also be reciprocal: university-educated professionals from these other CARICOM territories are now also free to take up jobs in Belize, to live and work, without need of a visa or work permit. Comments were also made during the press conference on the proposed 13th Amendment. Many civil rights attorneys, several churches and religious organizations and non-governmental organizations opposed the 13th amendment to the Constitution of Belize when the first public consultation was held on July 16, and the government has held other public consultations in Belmopan and Dangriga. Queen’s Square area representative, Hon. Godwin Haylock, remains adamantly opposed to it, saying it is just a “band aid” which will allow the government to call a state of emergency anywhere, any time. “We need to deal with the root cause; this is not justice, this is criminalizing poverty,” Hon. Haylock lamented.
