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As Taiwan's fourth and longest serving ambassador to Belize, Charles Tsai has presided over a deepening of ties between two countries unprecedented since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1989. At the end of January, Tsai will leave his post for reassignment to the Foreign Ministry in Taipei. This morning he spoke to News Five's Stewart Krohn, who asked him what he considers to be his most important accomplishment.
CharlesTsai, Taiwanese Ambassador to Belize
”I think the technical cooperation programme at our mission in Central Farm... and I find of course that Belize has a lot of potential for different kinds of excellent exports. For example, the pitaya. You know when I showed you the pitaya in the U.S. I took photos, six dollars U.S. per pound. It grows well here. Bee pollen, I have one pack for you because I know it can give you more strength.”
And while Belizean bee pollen may keep the sixty-year-old Tsai looking forty, it is more likely that he will be remembered here for big ticket items like multimillion dollar loans to government to support our balance of payments, purchase Belize Water Services, and build part of the Southern Highway. More

“In the cemeteries and jails are those that fight for social justice, while in the government are the criminals,” said Delegate Zero Marcos to a meeting of sympathizers on Sunday in the city of Chetumal, capital of Quintana Roo. “It should be the other way around, and one day everything is going to flip.” Until it does, Marcos urged those in attendance “to not give up, and to keep your fights going.” Throughout the day he met with sympathizers and adherents to The Other Campaign, so that they could share with him their stories about local struggles.
In a speech later that night in La Alameda Park, his first public event outside of Chiapas in years, he zeroed in on the struggles he heard about during the day’s meetings. He told the crowd of some 700 people that he did not come here to lead the movements that have fought long and hard in the area, but to learn from them, because the Zapatistas “need their help.”
“There’s a lot of pain here,” he said, “I heard a lot of stories today about pain.” Specifically, he mentioned the pain of the Maya indigenous campesinos of Nicolás Bravo, the illegal seizure of hundreds of acres from the Chetumal ejido and the violent efforts of the state against the beachside community of a Mahahual, which is fighting against the taking of their land. More

Kinnock who has used her seat in the European Parliament and at international trade conferences to advance the ACP trade causes on sugar, bananas and cotton thinks the developing countries have everything to gain by marching in lockstep to press for a better deal for sugar and bananas in particular, commodities that are under savage attack at the World Trade Organization in Geneva and by the EU in Brussels. More

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