In a high-stakes intra-party confrontation that has shaken Belize’s ruling People’s United Party (PUP), Prime Minister John Briceño has publicly pushed back against a provocative claim from one of his own Cabinet members, Julius Espat, that only a small handful of senior party figures uphold the organization’s founding commitment to social justice.
The dispute broke into the open after Espat recently asserted that only he and Deputy Prime Minister Cordel Hyde have carried forward the core ideological beliefs of George Price, the iconic founder of the PUP. Speaking in an exclusive interview with local broadcaster Love FM, Briceño issued an uncharacteristically firm rejection of Espat’s framing, drawing a sharp line to defend the entire party’s alignment with its founding values.
Briceño emphasized that social justice is not just a secondary policy platform for the PUP — it is the ideological backbone that defines the party’s identity. “There is one thing that I vehemently disagree with Julius when he said only him and another minister are for social justice,” Briceño stated during the interview. “He needs to look at what his government is doing. We are for social justice. The PUP is based on social justice, and the time we move from that, we cannot be the PUP.”
To back up his argument, Briceño highlighted a recent example of cross-party commitment to equitable policy, pointing to Public Utilities Minister Mike “Micho” Chebat’s leadership on cutting electricity costs for consumers. When the proposal to remove the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from electricity was brought forward, Briceño noted, it was Chebat — not Espat — who championed the measure despite the projected multi-million dollar revenue loss for the government. “That is social justice,” Briceño argued. “We live social justice every single day. I say this with great passion, because that is who we are. We are the party of social justice.”
The Prime Minister closed his remarks with a direct, public rebuke, calling on Espat to never repeat the claim that only a select few within the party uphold social justice values. For his part, Espat has moved to avoid escalating the public conflict, confirming that he plans to address the disagreement privately with Briceño to resolve tensions and clear up any miscommunication between the two senior officials.
This report is adapted from a transcript of an original evening television broadcast, with all statements preserved in their original context for accuracy.