By Belize Live News Staff: When Congressman Thomas Massie said Republicans should “not start another war,” he was speaking to American voters. But Belizeans have every reason to agree.
The US war on Iran, which began in February, led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the route that carried about one fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas. The result has been soaring fuel prices worldwide, and Belize has felt it directly.
BEL says the diesel it buys has nearly doubled this year, from about $6 to close to $12 a gallon. The utility has asked the PUC to double the COPA surcharge on electricity bills, while government has committed $73 million to support the company and BEL says it needs $20 million more. Consumer prices in Belize were up 4.7% in September compared to a year earlier, and tourism arrivals fell over the summer as airfares rose.
That is why Massie’s message lands with so many Belizeans. A war thousands of miles away is showing up on light bills, at the pump and in grocery prices here at home.
His call to prosecute sex traffickers also resonates in Belize, where human trafficking remains a concern and the public has repeatedly called for accountability when powerful people are accused of wrongdoing.
And his insistence that voters were holding leaders accountable for broken promises is a sentiment many Belizeans share about politics closer to home.
Massie, a Republican, has long been willing to break with his own party and with President Trump. On Tuesday, US voters appeared to agree with him. For Belizeans paying the price of decisions made in Washington, his three simple points make a strong case.
