Victim’s a Child Lost
There is no bottom to the abyss to which crime has plunged. Six persons were murdered in the weekend’s wave of terror; four in the city and two in the west. How do you top this new record?
There is yet no official comment, but there is general public outrage at the carnage, and we start in the Old Capital where police presence was highly visible for Saturday’s carnival, but in a period of three hours beginning at the crack of dawn on Sunday, hell broke loose and when it was over, four were dead between the ages of eight and sixty years.
The gunshots reverberated throughout the City, beginning at four o’clock in the morning and died down shortly after seven.
The first victim to be caught in the random murders was an eight year old All Saints student; she was asleep in her bed, when gunfire penetrated the walls of her Zericote Street home. Eyannie Nunez did not live for long; she died at the K.H.M.H. shortly after.
My sincere condolences go out to the families of those lost to shooting tragedies in Belize City on September 12. No life is more a loss than another, however, like anyone learning of 8-year-old Eyannie Nunez’s death, I find hers the hardest to accept.
Belize has been tagged the murder capital of the world. There have been 13 murders in Belize this month alone. Even by that standard, this little girl’s passing, shot in her sleep, is proving impossible to accept. Nor should it be.
Belizeans for Justice are not accepting her death, not accepting that of the others shot and killed on the weekend in Belize City or elsewhere in the country. In fact, their membership is growing as women who have lost family to a long history criminal violence join them in their cause.
Yolanda Schakron, Founder, Belizeans for Justice
“We have called for a shutdown of the business community on Thursday. That’s the day when the little young girl that was murdered, thelittle girl Nunez will be laid to rest. I have contacted the Chamber of Commerce. They are sending it out to their membership. I have spoken to the Chinese community and they said they will assist us and I have spoken to the Indian community and I am waiting for a phone call for them.”
The proposed shutdown comes almost a month after the Asian community suspended business on August 19th following the shooting death of fourteen year old Helen Yu
Once again, they are demanding that their government seek out the criminals who go uninvestigated, protected from the requirements of justice.
Belizeans for Justice, headed by Yolanda Schakron, mobilized a shutdown of Belize City, calling on business owners to close down for the day. Their call to citizens was heard and hundreds lined the streets during Eyannie’s funeral.
Ms. Schakron’s group has two weapons. One, their courage, and the other, the growing refusal in Belize to accept a government that does nothing while violence, particularly gang violence, runs as free as water.
Lack of resources is always cited by the Belize government as an excuse not to investigate, arrest, prosecute and convict criminals. Their judiciary and police are in disarray and openly corrupt. The current and previous governments have had and continue to have international intervention to assist them in providing protection and justice. Lack of guidance or an understanding of universal principles of decency is not the issue. It’s a lack of will on the part of the government to change.
Belizeans for Justice are right to ask for change from their government. They are right to ask their government for specific change. A good starting point would be demanding to know where their tax dollars go. For example, why does the government turn almost $200 million dollars in tourism tax revenue over to the Belize Tourism Board? Money that goes unaccounted for, and which, year after year, provides zero benefit to Belize citizens. Why is this and other money not accounted for? Why is some of it not applied to protecting its citizens and prosecuting and convicting murderers and other criminals?
Takenwomen's Blog 
Posted on September 18, 2010
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