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Vol. 31, Issue 46 BROOKLYN EDITION November, 13-19, 2020
UDP
GETS
OUT
Voters oust Belizean
government
By Bert Wilkinson
Tired of the same government
for almost 15 years, battered
up by a tanking economy
from the COVID-19 pandemic
and the 2020 storm season,
Belizeans voted out the government
of Prime Minister Dean
Barrow in Wednesday’s general
election that saw a record high
voting turnout of 81 percent.
The economy of tourism
dependent Belize has taken a
battering, leaving the Caribbean
Community nation in
Central America in a depressed
state, with the situation aggravated
by the challenges of the
corona pandemic.
A retiring Dean Barrow
had handed the leadership of
his United Democratic Party
(UDP) to Minister of Education,
Patrick Faber but voters
switched allegiances to the
People’s United Party (PUP)
of former deputy prime minister
John Briceno, 60.
Going into Wednesday’s contest
with 17 of the 31 seats,
early reports are indicating
that the PUP could romp home
with as much as 27 seats, making
it a landslide of sorts and
suggesting that the electorate
had grown tired of the same old
leadership.
The PUP’s victory now means
that for the large number of
elections in the CARICOM single
trading bloc for this year,
the only ones to have changed
governments are Guyana, Suriname
and now Belize, all three
are mainland continental countries
that are full of resources
including oil and gas, bauxite,
gold, diamonds, fisheries and
timber resources among others.
Voters in Jamaica, Trinidad,
St. Kitts and St. Vincent
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris introduces President-elect Joe Biden to speak on
Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020, at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del. Associated Press /
Carolyn Kaster
Jamaican town celebrates
history-making Kamala Harris
By Nelson A. King
The meteoric rise of Democratic
Sen. Kamala Harris to
vice president-elect of the United
States has been welcomed
with jubilation in Brown’s
Town, in the parish of St. Ann
in Jamaica, the birthplace of
her father, Dr. Donald Harris,
and where several of her relatives
still reside, according to
the Jamaica Gleaner.
Sen. Harris, of California,
the daughter of an Indian
mother and Dr. Harris, is the
first woman to be elected vicepresident
of the United States.
She will assume office on
Jan. 20, when she and her US
presidential running mate, Joe
Biden, are sworn in the new
US administration.
“It’s a joyous moment in the
family through her success,
and we are happy for her,”
Harris’s cousin, Sherman Harris,
told The Gleaner Saturday
night.
“We’re having a little thing,”
Sherman added. “It’s not really
a public affair, but a lot
of people are joyful, and the
community is excited about
it.” he added.
While Harris praised her
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