Rivera Residents Demand Power After Decades in the Dark

Residents in Belmopan’s Rivera area are sounding the alarm tonight, they say it’s time for urgent action to bring electricity to their community. For decades, many families have lived in the dark, literally, because there are no power lines in the area. Now, as the neighborhood grows, some residents have taken matters into their own hands, paying out of pocket to install power lines in front of their homes. That’s given a few families access to electricity, but up to forty households are still without reliable power. They’re calling on leaders to finally move this long-delayed process forward. News Five’s Britney Gordon has the story.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

Eighty-four-year-old Imelda Najarro battles asthma, which means she often relies on a nebulizer to breathe. This device turns medicine into a fine mist for her to inhale, a lifeline for many asthma patients. But there’s one big problem, it runs on electricity, something Imelda Najarro has lived without for decades. She lives in the Rivera area in Belmopan, a community that is only partially connected to main power lines.

 

Imelda Najarro, Rivera Resident

“We used candles to help us when changing nappies of our babies. All of that, you know, is a big struggle, let alone having to do it in the dark. Yes, eventually we got used to it. At the start, it was a bit scary, I’ll admit, but we had to get used to things like this. Over time, you know, we’ve been promised several times every time there are elections that ‘yes, we’ll bring light to this side’, and all, but to this day, that hasn’t happened. We need the light, and like I’ve said, I am asthmatic, so I have to put on this machine. So my daughters have to always try and figure out who has a car to bring it over for me because a daughter of mine also uses oxygen too. So yes, we really need electricity here.”  

      

Just a few doors down is Diana Pacheco’s home. She grew up in the community and now, as an adult, she is advocating for power to be brought to the neighborhood. She explains that for about two years, she’s been in discussion with area representative Oscar Mira and Belize Electricity Limited to fully electrify the community, however, progress has been slow.

 

Diana Pacheco, Rivera Resident

“Since I born and we don’t have electricity here, and it’s a sad situation when it comes because, sometimes I concern because when I was a kid I always, they left you some assignments, some homework, and. It was challenging. We have to ride, bicycle, go way out there and go print because we cannot have a printer. So now I have grown and see the same issue, and now I see my nephews, I see neighbors which have the same issue that we pass and we struggle”

 

Pacheco claims that she was advised to privately connect her home, something that many families in the community cannot afford to do.

 

Diana Pacheco

“I went to BEL and I went and asked for a private estimate because they told me they cannot bring the light because it’s six poles more that they need so the light can be here. So they told me I need to do it privately, which I did a letter for them and I’m still trying to go more far in there.”

 

According to residents, there are at least forty families in the community that remain without access to electricity. Patrocina Herrera cares for her ninety-four-year-old mother, who uses a nebulizer and an oxygen concentrator to treat her respiratory conditions.

 

Patrocina Herrera, Rivera Resident

“I went to Oscar Mira a time, and he said he couldn’t do anything for us back here because we’re way too far. He told us we have to apply for the electricity, and we have applied many times. We’ve filled out many applications, including the social security information from the people here, and nothing has worked. My mother sometimes needs oxygen, and so sometimes I have to put her in the car and take her to my daughter’s in Salvapan so she can take her treatment. We need the light here. When people ask me where I live, I always say ‘the abandoned place’, because that’s the reality, we are abandoned.”

 

Residents say the lack of electricity is taking a toll, kids struggle to finish their homework, and once night falls, walking around the neighborhood becomes uncomfortable and unsafe.

 

Diana Pacheco

“Right now we are living in a hard time when persons, there’s a lot of rape, lot of robbery, and anybody can hide and do something to denya kids who can protect them. There’s no light. So that flash me and I be like, no, we really need light. Also when it come to, the hot weather, we cannot enjoy something cold because we don’t have fridge. If we want to watch a movie, we cannot watch a movie because we don’t have TVs. Why? Because there’s no light.”

 

Ironically, just a few years ago, Imelda Najarro was gifted a free refrigerator by Area Representative Oscar Mira, a refrigerator that’s been sitting idle ever since, waiting for the day it can finally be plugged in. Britney Gordon for News Five.

 

We reached out to Belize Electricity Limited for a comment and are awaiting an update on the situation.