Belize 2018
Yearbook 2018
Belize. On April 15, a referendum was held in Guatemala on whether the more than 200-year-old border dispute with Belize should be subject to a ruling in the International Court of Justice in The Hague (ICJ). According to Countryaah.com, Belmopan is the capital city of Belize, a country located in North America. Jasidan won by 96% and Belize’s Prime Minister Dean Barrow immediately declared that a similar referendum will be held in Belize on April 10, 2019. Guatemala claims 11,000 square miles, or close to half of Belize’s territory.
- According to Abbreviationfinder: BLZ is an three letter acronym for Belize.
On March 7, municipal elections were held, and the ruling party, the center-right party United Democratic Party (UDP), managed to retain power in six of the country’s municipalities, while the Left Party’s People’s United Party (PUP) won in three. This was a significantly better result for the opposition than in the 2015 elections, as the PUP only managed to win in a municipality.
One reason for the UDP’s good results was that, after the recession in 2016, the country’s economy has started to grow again and employment has increased. Growth was 2.5% in 2017, but is expected to decline in the coming years.
History. – The country’s macroeconomic imbalances originating from the expansionary policies adopted between the 1990s and 2000s, forced the government to negotiate debt restructuring with foreign creditors: an agreement to this effect was reached at the beginning of 2007, through the issue of a superbond of about 550 million dollars expiring in 2029. The year was also characterized by street protests against widespread crime and deep-seated corruption, testimony to a discontent that found expression in the subsequent elections of February 2008: the victory was won by the United Democratic Party (UDP), in opposition since 1998, and its leader Dean Barrow became Belize’s first black premier. In 2009, the executive nationalized Telemedia Belize ltd., the country’s main telecommunications operator: the initiative, judged unconstitutional, was repeated in 2011, and the Constitution was amended to prevent new censorship of the operation. Among the other measures adopted by the government, the tightening of the legislation to combat the high rates of violent crime, a scourge of the country together with drug trafficking. Called the elections one year earlier than the expiry of the mandate, in March 2012 the UDP confirmed itself at the helm of the country while significantly reducing its majority, which went from 25 to 17 seats out of 31. Re-legitimized by the popular vote, Barrow was able to proceed to a new negotiation for the restructuring of the superbond.
At the international level, the issue of Guatemala’s claims on the territory of the B remained unresolved: in December 2008, the parties signed an agreement to refer the matter to the International Court of Justice, subject to referendum approval by the respective electoral bodies. The referendum, scheduled for 6 October 2013 in both countries, was however postponed.
