Thea Garcia blasts PUP for not supporting aspiring women candidates

By BBN Staff:  Thea Garcia, was badly defeated last Sunday in the convention to elect a standard bearer for the Corozal Bay constituency.

However, as transitions from the political forefront, her exit is as dramatic as her recent defeat.

BBN has obtained a letter she penned to the PUP’s National Executive which she slammed the party for its lack of inclusion of young women in the political arena.

Her letter said, “before I leave let me thank you for the many lessons learned at this great table, they will undoubtedly remain with me always.”

According to Garcia, the party is still a long way from its constitutionally mandated 30% representation of women.

She said this target is too low and if the party was serious about women equality in political representation the target instead would have been 50%.

She conceded that being a young woman and political neophyte placed her at a disadvantage in the last convention.

“I was smart enough to know it but also naïve enough to believe that my opinion would matter, that my perspective would be appreciated, that my input even when unsolicited would be welcomed and my contributions to discourse recognized,” she lamented.

Garcia urged the party to take serious steps to include women in the political affairs of the country.

She suggested that the party would not even meet 10 percent of the legally mandated 30 percent of women representatives at the national level.

She noted that all the persons endorsed by the party have been males.

At the municipal level, she noted that again there was an under-representation of women.

With that Garcia announced her resignation as Chairperson of the Corozal Bay constituency executive.

We note that Belize City Councilor, Dr. Candice Pitts, was denied the opportunity to contest a convention for the Port Loyola constituency.

Instead, the PUP endorsed her male colleague, Gilroy Usher Sr.