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A Letter from the Editor of the Independent Reformer
Dear Readers of the Independent Weekly,
I owe you all an apology for the untimely termination of publication and for not
informing you sooner that we were forced to close our doors.
We had such high hopes when we launched in November of
2006 that not only would we find avid readers such as
yourselves, but advertisers who would be willing to step outside the partisan-driven
economy of Belize and
exert their own independence by supporting us. Alas, only a few had the courage
and strength to do it. The rest? Victims I suppose of a system of their own making, or at least their
own perpetuation and fear.
I would like to thank our original investors and those who made contributions,
large and small, to the
start-up of the paper. Thank you for having the faith in me and my husband
Trevor to carry out the day to
day work and to interact with the high quality, marvelous writers we were
fortunate to have find us. We are greatful for every cent you spent on the paper, and all your ideas and
suggestions. Had we started this endeavor is some less dysfunctional society, I think you
would have seen
considerable return and we would be still printing today.
Unfortunately while Belize still has many
"good" people residing there or communicating with her from
abroad, she is no longer a "good country" in which to do business.
Especially, as we have seen lately, the
journalism business. In June I told a reporter from the Miami Herald during a
conference for Caribbean Journalists in Washington DC that things were
"getting ugly" in Belize for people in my profession. There had been
physical
attacks, arrests and economic pressures brought to bear on a number of media
house and individual
reporters. One of our own writers died under strange circumstances. I did not
know at that time the children of another of our writers had been
threatened
I was not speaking out naively, I was fully aware that
the article could bring even more pressure on my own
head, on our heads I should say, than we were already feeling But, Ladies
and Gentleman, I have never been one to let the possibility of ugliness stop me
from speaking the truth. One of my biggest failings I suppose. Or my
strengths, depending on how you look at it.
The attacks in recent weeks on other media colleagues,
which I have witnessed second hand from the US, are
deplorable but completely predictable. Belize has crossed the line from what it
was for decades to something new and ugly. The free press is a threat to
those who wish to retain power indefinitely.
I will not live under a dictator for a third term,
however benevolent he and his partners in crime may appear to the outside world
on on the nightly news. With the close of the paper, which was in fact my last
stand against these people, I have removed myself from the country. I will not
return, even for a visit, until these people are removed from office and would
not consider living there again unless those who succeed them are not involved
in the very things that have corrupted them: the drug trafficking, money
laundering, debasement of Belizean women and children, degradation of
hardworking Belizean men who spent their lives trying to develop the country.
I would like to publicly thank my husband for his
Herculean efforts to keep what Rick Zahniser always
dubbed the "Indy" going. Our readers have no idea what weights he
carried to ensure we were published and
distributed each week, then every other week. I want to thank William Ysaguirre
for his devotion to us amid all his other work for all the other media houses he
supplies and for the warmth he displayed towards our family
I cannot single out any others by name for fear of
offending too many, but I thank you all. Particularly
my father who will never leave Belize; he has always been the type of captain
who would go down with the
ship. Or be the last one to bring the flag.
For the record, despite ANYTHING any of you may hear
from any of the venomous detractors and paid political
assassins who tried to pull us down before our first issue even hit the street:
For the record, I, Karla
Heusner Vernon, did not sell out. I have not accepted one single dollar for any
interest I had in the paper, nor would I have done so. My children and I left
Belize with our "hurricane suitcases" and nothing more. Except our
memories. We are truly refugees. Thankfully, we have been welcomed into a wonderful
community in the South. A place where slavery was adamantly defended once upon a
time, but where people are now free to pursue their lives and dreams.
It is my fervent wish that Belizeans are able to return
to such a state of emancipation. But I fear you may have many battles ahead
before you find the courage to stand up for your own independence.
To my own readers, don't worry I won't stop writing. I
may in fact write better -- if in a different genre -- from now on than I ever
did before.
Karla Heusner Vernon
October 10, 2007
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