Viral Video Fuels Questions Over Gilroy Usher’s Conduct

A bitter land dispute in Port Loyola has moved from behind a chain-link fence into the public spotlight. Video circulating on social media shows Area Representative Gilroy Usher cutting down the fence, an action that has drawn criticism and raised questions about why an elected official became personally involved in the confrontation. The resident at the center of the controversy says she has occupied the property for seventeen years and claims a portion of the land was improperly removed and reassigned. But beyond the competing claims over ownership, the incident has opened a wider debate about political power, due process and whether Usher crossed the line. News Five’s Paul Lopez takes a closer look at the dispute.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Port Loyola Area Representative Gilroy Usher is in hot water tonight after he was caught on camera cutting a chain-link fence that a resident alleges amounts to destruction of property.

 

Voice of: Cozet Maximo, Port Loyola Resident

“If you have so much to lose, why would you do this for something that is not for you. You are a whole minister, you have a whole job, a whole job and your job dah top tier job in your country. So why would you risk that for somebody else land?”

 

At the center of this controversy is a bitter land dispute. Cozet Maximo says she has lived on the property for more than a decade, but now claims someone took a portion of the land and reassigned it to another person. Maximo says she built a chain-link fence to mark and protect what she believes is rightfully hers. That is the same fence Area Representative Gilroy Usher was caught on camera tearing down.

 

“Please call the police. Mr. Usher the yah the vandalize mih property.”

 

The Facebook Live video shows Usher leaving the property shortly after the confrontation. His son, Darrell “Tutsi” Usher, later returned to clarify the issue with Maximo, but the conversation quickly turned sour.

 

Darrel “Tutsi” Usher, Son of Gilroy Usher

“See the three lot there, three lots, one, two three. Alright good, so therefore now, when the surveyor came and put his peg. Please show your viewers the man land title.”

 

Voice of: Cozed Maximo

“How ih get a land title when I live on this land for seventeen years? And how they get those documents I don’t know, because Mr. Usher called us and let all of us come in a lands clinic and let all of us get our papers in 2024 of March.”

 

Paul Lopez

“So dah he give you this land or he help me with the title?”

 

Voice of: Cozet Maximo

“He nuh help me with the title, he come in with the land clinic and it is not really him, its Minister Cordel Hyde.”

 

But the controversy extends beyond the land dispute. The bigger question is whether the area representative crossed the line by personally entering the property and removing the chain-link fence. We sought comments from him at Sunday’s PUP convention in Belize City, but he denied our request.  Maximo says she visited the police station on Saturday to seek action against Usher. She also visited the Land’s Department this morning.

 

Voice of: Cozet Maximo

“All I have and I want mek all Belizean know and when it comes to a minister, all I have we have is our voice. If I have to shout and holler for everybody to hear, all I have is my voice.”

 

As the dispute heads to both the police and lands departments, the resident says she is turning to the public to help secure the justice she believes she deserves. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

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