By Belize Live News Staff: On September 10th, UDP Leader Shyne Barrow and Opposition Leader Tracy Panton marched shoulder-to-shoulder, presenting what looked like the first real spark of unity inside a party long divided. Supporters cheered, social media buzzed, and for a brief moment it seemed as if the ghosts of the Baymen had been invoked to breathe new life into the opposition.
But unity in the UDP is proving to be little more than smoke and mirrors. Just days after the symbolic show of strength, UDP stalwart Alberto August launched a scorching attack on Lee Mark Chang, calling him “a cancer in the UDP” and accusing him of being in the PUP’s back pocket with nearly $20,000 in monthly rent money.
This is the problem with the UDP: every step forward is matched by two steps back. While Shyne and Tracy try to convince Belizeans that the party can once again stand united, the knives are being drawn from within. The old wounds remain unhealed, the power struggles continue, and personal feuds overshadow the bigger battle against the ruling PUP.
If this is what unity looks like, Belizeans are right to ask: how can the UDP fight for the people when it can’t even stop fighting itself?
Until the UDP gets serious about putting nation before ego, the talk of unity will remain just that—talk. The September 10th march may have looked like history in the making, but Alberto August’s broadside against Chang proves that the UDP’s civil war is far from over.
