Edmund Castro outlines case for party unity after recall convention

By Aaron Humes: He didn’t get what he had hoped for, but the views of former three-term area rep for Belize Rural North, Edmund Castro, as representative of the so-called “old guard” of the United Democratic Party (UDP), weigh heavily as the party heads into an uncertain future.

Speaking with the media on Sunday at Birds’ Isle, Castro made clear that Faber has not been effectively communicating with his other party members.

He said, “Brother Faber is my friend but I don’t think he is leading the party and pushing the party in the direction that we need to go. You can’t have a cycling team if you aren’t meeting with your cyclist and your team. You must meet with your people, and for him not meeting with his people like he should, I think the no vote for us to get a new lease on life is well fitting.”

Anticipating a result in Faber’s favour, he compared it to getting a poor grade in school: “If you go to school and your teacher give you 33 or 34% that noh mean you win, that noh mean you pass, you fail. If you get 34, 35% you fail. So, [if] you fail so you must do something about your failure and try to see how you can catch up on the next 66.”

Castro claims Faber had called him once in the last eight months whereas he called him many times.

He went on to insist that for the party to be successful, everyone has to be involved. Even if they are those like himself who may not wish to run, they should not be discarded. Conversely, if the majority of the party are not behind candidates Faber proposes, they will not get very far.

Asked directly whether he wanted to run again, Castro said he didn’t know; at the moment, he later added, he was enjoying his retirement, getting back into farming and cycling, his main passions. But he did not definitively rule it out.

The party’s new course and trust is dependent on whether Faber can do what he must to unite the party, and if he could not, then step aside, preferably according to Castro for chairman Michael Peyrefitte or Darrell Bradley if that’s who the masses want.

With Faber’s return now confirmed, it remains to be seen whether the party will rally behind him, or put his still tottering leadership run to rest at the next National Convention, due next year.

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