Belize Honors National Heroes at Wreath-Laying Ceremony

It’s National Service Day which means that today, Belize is honoring the country’s national heroes and benefactors at the annual wreath laying ceremony. This event pays tribute to the country’s national figures and fallen veterans who helped shape Belize’s history. At the Lord Ridge Cemetery in Belize City, the ceremony also commemorated the legacy of the Belize’s Father of the Nation, George Cadle Price. As Independence Day draws closer, the ceremony is a significant reminder of the work that national heroes do to uplift their country and its people. News Five’s Britney Gordon Reports.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

It’s been fifteen years since Belize’s Father of the Nation, the Right Honorable George Price, was laid to rest and every year since then, Belize has celebrated his life with a Wreath Laying Ceremony. It’s held on National Service Day at his gravesite at the Lord Ridge Cemetery. This morning, Prime Minister John Briceno reflected on Price and his contributions to Belize.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Mister  Price was resolute in his belief. That we’re not going to give up a single inch of our land to anybody, so we could have dependence way before 1981. But he said no. He had this vision of having a Belize that belongs to Belizeans. And I know that many instances, some people are saying why is it that we did not get into the tourism industry way before? And then in the. I think more around the mid eighties that we started pushing the tourism in Belize, and his idea was to say, let’s ensure that we can get our people to be able to, let’s prepare our people for this kind of development.”

 

This year, Belize made a significant move to honor its national heroes by placing them on the newly designed dollar bills. Deputy Mayor of Belize City shared how this change reflects the pride of the Belizean spirit.

 

Eluide Miller, Deputy Mayor, Belize City

“It is only It is only fitting that this year as Belize stands at far to four years, proud and free. We know Curry in our very wallets. A dear reminder of his devotion to Belize for the first time in our history. The image of George Price appears in our new Belize currency. Notes on honor well deserved 10 times over this moment is deeply symbolic for generations. Our currency reflected the bonds of history and heritage that Belize shared with the wider commonwealth Today. It proudly carries the faces of our own Belizean heroes.”

 

Also attending the event was Miss Universe Belize 2025, Isabella Zabaneh, who is the great grandniece of George Price. She reflected on the leadership of Price and influence on her life.

 

Isabella Zabaneh, Great Grand Neice of George Price

“My uncle George was not just a politician, he was a visionary. He was bold enough to take a pencil in hand and begin writing the first chapters of Belize as an independent nation. He believed in the worth of our people. He believed in the strength of this soil, and he believed in the possibility of a future that belonged to not just a few. But to every bei. In preparing for today, my grandmother shared with me a story, an analogy between a pencil and its eraser. The pencil writes, bold, determined, but sometimes imperfect. And the eraser though it fades with every use, makes room for the pencil’s, words.”

 

Price was resolute in his vision for Belize’s independence but was also determined to not hand over an inch of Belizean soil. This is a mission continued by Belizeans to this day.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“That is the legacy of George Price. A humble man. A hardworking man. A man that never had great aspirations growing up. A man who wanted to serve God, who actually went to Guatemala to start to study to become a priest. What? God had bigger plans for him. God realized that Belize needed a man like him to be able to hold this country together. o be able to tell people that despite the fact that we did not have a lot of people, despite the fact that we did not have riches in gold and oil, that kind of minerals, despite the fact that there was next to no infrastructure in this country, George Price knew that Belize can stand tall and proud, and that Belize can be a country that  most other countries could look at us with envy.”

 

Last year, Price was honoured with the construction of a statue in his image which stands tall at the Battlefield Park in Belize City, forever immortalizing his legacy in Belize. Britney Gordon for News Five.