Mayor Cawich Under Pressure as Pastors Call for Billboard Removal

What began as social media outrage over a sexually suggestive alcohol billboard ad in Belmopan has morphed into an organized campaign to force it down. Today, a coalition of twenty pastors from Belmopan and surrounding communities delivered a formal letter to Mayor Pablo Cawich demanding action against the controversial billboard ad, which church leaders say violates public decency standards and has triggered public backlash. Organizers believe the mayor, under mounting pressure, will take action to have the billboard taken down. Church Senator Louis Wade says the public outcry alone is enough justification for City Hall to intervene.

 

Louis Wade, Church Senator

“At present moment the letter to the Mayor of Belmopan is almost finished formulated. It will be signed by pastors across the city and surrounding communities, reminding the mayor of his responsibility and his fiduciary responsibility to the residents of Belmopan. It is a public space. There has been a public outcry. It appears that the mayor does not know the law. The criminal code speaks specifically to indecent exposure of photographs, pictures or so on in public space. And so we want to do the right thing first. And so that’s the process we are taking.”

 

Shane Williams

“What do you say to those who argue that this is their first amendment right to advertise? We don’t have to such amendment in Belize, but we have freedom of expression in Belize.”

 

Louis Wade

“Right, and the freedom of expression that trumps the billboard is the freedom of expression of the residents who say they do not want the billboard. The outcry is so loud that it has gone around the country. Every media house has touched it, thousands of posts on the issue and that alone, the public outcry, demonstrates the fact that it is indecent because if it was decent, there would not be a public outcry. So there is already enough for the mayor of Belmopan to act. You have people that are writing ‘RIP’ all over the place but don’t connect the deaths to the moral and ethical issues, and it’s the job of the church to bring that out whether people are comfortable with what we have to say or not.”

 

A similar billboard is also on Central American Boulevard in Belize City but no complaints have surfaced in the Old Capital.

 

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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