Former Belize Prime Minister to Florida for Medical Attention

1 April 2009 - (Belizean.com) Former Belize Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Dr. Manuel Esquivel is airlifted today to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Florida U.S.A. for medical treatment following serious injuries he suffered in a road accident on Monday March 30.

Mr. Esquivel will undergo maxillofacial reconstructive surgery for fractured facial bones, a broken jaw, and treatment for broken ribs and fractures to the foot after the Nissan Pathfinder vehicle in which he was traveling overturned several times between miles 31 and 32 on Belize's Western Highway between Belize City and the capital Belmopan.

The deteriorated condition of the Western Highway is believed to had led to Mr. Esquivel's driver losing control of the vehicle. Mr. Esquivel overturned in almost the same spot 13 years ago when he was prime minister but did not suffer major injuries. His driver, police constable Leslie Staine, died later from complications arising from a broken neck in that accident in 1996.

The two-term Prime Minister and now current senior adviser to the Belize government with ministerial rank, was visited by Prime Minister Dean Barrow and Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega at the private Belize Medical Associates Hospital prior to his departure for medical treatment in the U.S.A.

There are no maxilloficial surgeons in Belize, a former British colony in Central America. Belize is a little over twice the size of Jamaica at 8,866 square miles and borders Mexico to the north and Guatemala to the west and has a small population of a little over 300,000 inhabitants. Its prime economic activities are in tourism, sugar, bananas, fish and lobster exports, citrus and offshore banking.