As the proposed Speednet acquisition faces growing public and industry scrutiny, the chairman of Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL), former senator Markhelm Lizarraga, is facing the same calls for transparency and accountability he has long championed throughout his public and corporate career. The controversy has put Lizarraga’s professional integrity under the microscope, prompting a direct public defense of his actions and his leadership of the telecommunications firm.
In comments delivered during an evening television broadcast, Lizarraga pushed back hard against questions raised about his role in the pending deal. He challenged critics to evaluate his tenure based on tangible operational results rather than unsubstantiated questions about his conduct.
Lizarraga pointed to a sweeping five-year turnaround of BTL launched when he took the helm at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a period when Belize’s economy and business sector faced severe systemic disruption. When he assumed the chairmanship, he said, the company was in dire operational shape: its physical infrastructure was crumbling, its vehicle fleet was unusable, and it carried a heavy load of outstanding debt.
Over the subsequent five years, Lizarraga emphasized, BTL’s leadership team completely rebuilt the company’s deteriorated facilities, replaced its aging, non-functional fleet, and delivered major network expansions across the country — all without taking on a single dollar of new borrowed capital. Not only did the turnaround avoid new debt, he noted, the company fully paid off all outstanding debt it inherited from previous leadership. Beyond operational improvements, Lizarraga added, BTL has also fulfilled its financial obligations to the Belizean government, paying out $20 million in outstanding dividends to the state under his leadership.
“People will judge me by the work we have done and the results we have delivered,” Lizarraga said. “I have faced criticism from strong opponents before, and that is fine. I hope the public will ultimately see the benefits of what we are working to build.”
This report is adapted from a verbatim transcript of a televised evening news broadcast, with any Kriol-language commentary transcribed using a standardized spelling system for accuracy.