PM Briceño Blames Breakdown in Parenting for Spike in Violence

Prime Minister John Briceño says Belize’s recent spike in violence points to a deeper problem in how children are being raised, and called on communities to work together to address it.

Speaking publicly on the issue, Briceño said the State of Emergency (SOE) has made a difference but that individual conflicts remain difficult to prevent regardless of how many police officers are deployed.

He traced the root cause to a loss of discipline in homes and communities, arguing that parents today are less willing to correct their children and less open to being told when their child has misbehaved. He contrasted that with his own upbringing, where neighbours and teachers all played a role in keeping young people in line.

“I don’t think we are as good parents as we were a few generations ago… When I was a kid, I called a lady ‘white horse’, you know, mischief. And my father found out about it, and when I got home, he gave me a whipping because you don’t do that. Today, when you call out a child to a parent, they want to get upset with you,” he said.

Briceño pointed to Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s proposal to establish parenting clubs as an idea worth exploring for Belize, saying structured support for families could help fill that gap.

He added that the government is also looking at setting up childcare centres so that working mothers have a safe place to leave their children, which he described as part of a broader investment in education and early childhood development.

The prime minister said no single institution can fix the problem alone. He called on media organisations to regularly feature stories about families that are succeeding, and said solving the crisis would require churches, NGOs, the private sector, and government all pulling in the same direction.