Blog #2 : Government

Dean Barrow

As Belize was once an imperialized colony of Great Britain, they have adapted a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster model of government.  Although technically the Queen of England is the head of their government, the most powerful representative is the head of the cabinet, the Prime Minister.  Similar to our government, they also have a National Assembly composed of House of Representatives and a Senate.  As of this day, the members of the senate were delegated but due to a recent vote, the new senators will now be elected by the people in the upcoming elections.  This will put a lot more power into the hands of the Belizean people.  The current day prime minister of this parliamentary democracy is Dean Barrow, seen to the right.  Barrow is a Creole, of African and Native Central American decent, and represents The United Democratic Party.  Dean Barrow’s main political goal is to increase development within Belize by increasing wealth and interest in the countries abundant resources.  He plans to do this by promoting incentives for investors to increase the overall investment rate into the country.  

The main influence Barrow has over the African Diaspora deals with his ethnicity.  Due to being Creole, there has been an increasing friction between people with Creole background and those who are Garifuna.  Many people feel as if the Royal Creoles are much more powerful than the Garifuna people leading to a division in class.  Here is an article from the Belize Times that explains the ethnic friction built up between Barrow and the Garifuna people.  Although friction is not a first-class aspect to promote anything under, I truly believe this conflict can greatly aid in the spreading of these African based culture.  I say this because, as partly discussed in the article, the offensive disrespectful actions of Barrow caused the Garifuna people to unite and stand up.  This would lead to a huge promotion of the suppressed culture, eventually solidifying their cultural identity.  It will be interesting to see where this situation ends up in the near future.
Below is a video that shows some of the political friction building up in Belize.

Sources:
http://www.state.gov/
http://belizean.com/
http://www.belizetimes.bz/2011/11/25/disrespecting-the-garifuna-vote/