Each country is obliged to approach this issue in its own best interest. In Belize, the government has already lost the public debate on this issue. That’s a pity. The window to the Diaspora that could let in fresh global perspectives and expel the stale air of parochialism has been slammed shut and barred.

Twenty years after Europe exorcised the spectre of communism, it has assumed a new form and re-appeared in the Americas. It is now the spectre of Chavezism – a portly, garrulous influence bursting with petro-dollars.

The complete banishment of corruption is as delusional as it is hypocritical. Where politicians are gathered, there too corruption will be. Western powers, particularly the United States and Britain prattle on the most about corruption. But their very electoral system with its hundreds of millions in campaign financing sets the table for a cornucopia of corruption.

The ghosts of Central America’s coup-ridden past are running amok all over this issue. Paranoia has overtaken reason; facts upstaged by sensationalism. President Manuel Zelaya foolishly overplayed his hand and paid the price for it. With the courts, congress, the business community and the church against him in Honduras, Mr. Zelaya should commission a new survey – the best retirement spot in Latin America. He can afford it.

Belize lies on another fault line. This one is not geological. It is a politico-religious fault line. Like the Motagua fault, most Belizeans are unaware of its existence. It has the potential of rocking the foundations of the religious denominations and educational institutions of the country.