Belizeans Says NO To Offshore Drilling

On March 2nd, all voting Belizeans were asked to come out and make a choice in a people’s referendum regarding offshore drilling for oil.   This vote was not organized by the government, but by volunteers.

I arrived early with a bunch of other volunteers.  Lots were needed.  Some to check voters IDs, lot of Justices of the Peace, some to direct voters to the appropriate areas…and we needed to open the polls at 6am.

Here is the park at 5:30am.

Everyone took their stations.

Mel Paz, independent mayoral candidate spent her whole day volunteering.
For the early morning supporters, t-shirts were given out.  (That was my job…and I took it very seriously.)

Three generations voting together (well…the kids were just helping out and showing support).

Lots of companies sent their employees to vote en masse.  I saw Tuff Enuff, Captain Morgan’s, El Pescador and more.

People not registered signed the petition.  High schoolers were lined up for most of the day.

The polls closed in San Pedro at 8pm.  And in the end, LOTS of Belizeans came out to vote.  Almost 30,000 countrywide and 2725 in San Pedro alone.  Tiny Caye Caulker brought out 478 voters.

NO was the overwhelming answer and accounted for 96% of the countrywide votes.  Let’s hope the government listens.  PM Dean Barrow did say to Channel 7 news:  “Any way you slice it, that was one hell of a turn-out”.   I guess, Mr. Barrow, that’s a start.

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