Prime Minister tours southern Belize and recovery works underway for Monkey River

Prime Minister John Briceño spent the day in southern Belize conducting a series of site visits and community engagements as part of the government’s ongoing effort to review development projects and coastal protection works across the Toledo District.  The tour began along the Thomas Vincent Highway, where the Prime Minister met with Dr. Osmond Martinez, the area representative for Toledo East, before traveling to Monkey River Village.  While in Monkey River, the Prime Minister inspected the newly constructed pier and reviewed restoration and coastal protection works aimed at slowing shoreline erosion, an issue that has threatened homes, infrastructure, and even the village cemetery in recent years. Officials also held a community meeting with residents to discuss the ongoing mitigation works and broader plans for safeguarding the coastline.  The visit also provided the Prime Minister with an opportunity to interact with students and residents of the village, an experience he described as uplifting.

John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “I think I see a bright future. For too long, you’ve been hearing that this village is disappearing. And to me, it’s so sad that nobody has taken an initiative to be able to do something about it. Osmond Martinez as the area representative in discussions with me he said you know we can start with a small budget and just a budget of just over $300,000 now we are filling up all this area we set up a growing over there and now we’re going to use nature to be able to start to fill back this land as opposed to using trucks to be able to continue to fill the shoreline.”

The stop in Monkey River formed part of a wider tour across the Toledo District, which also included visits to the villages of Bella Vista, San Isidro, and Trio Village, where the Prime Minister reviewed a number of community and infrastructure initiatives aimed at strengthening livelihoods and resilience in rural areas.  Among the projects highlighted during the tour is the Trio Farm Road initiative, which is being supported through climate financing to improve transportation access for farmers and strengthen agricultural productivity in the district.

During his stop in Monkey River, the Prime Minister also outlined the government’s broader vision for the village as efforts continue to protect the coastline and support long-term community development.

John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “When we look at the work that we do it has to be about people. When I listened to the vice chairlady when she was reading and talking about her mother who is seventy five years old who has lost her eyesight and can only hear the sound of the water. When you think about it you’d say well that’s a good thing but for her it’s something scary because the water is coming closer and closer to her house that she could probably lose her house if nothing is done. I saw a house that is probably a hundred or two hundred feet in the water and I was told that this man around 2001 was doing everything to save his house. And finally when the roof blew off he gave up and so that house is about two hundred feet in the water. You look at the cemetery parts of the cemetery is in the water. I saw a tombstone where the Englishman was buried in Monkey River Town, it was a town back then in 1901. It’s one of the oldest towns or villages that we have in Belize and for us now to be able to come and put some money in there come with a plan and to see how to stop the erosion and we’re seeing the results now that we’re stopping the erosion , the sand is coming back. The chairlady was speaking bout hope, how we can bring back hope in this village and now they’re saying we have hope because now we’re seeing that our village is being saved and they have electricity now and now we’re getting back all of this land. I was here at the Bella Vista Primary School and we had almost a thousand kids waiting for us and watching them singing the national anthem, reading the school prayer, and singing the school song and then how they greeted you with such warmth and such innocence wanting to touch you, to shake your hands, to hug you and there are os many of them that it’s been several times I was about to fall down I had to really struggle to stay up and that kind of love money can’t buy that.”

Today’s tour also allowed residents to engage directly with the prime minister and the area representative.