(l-r) Alice Albright, CEO MCC and Prime Minister John Briceño
by Charles Gladden
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Apr. 25, 2025
In 2024, the Government of Belize signed a pact to receive a 125 million USD grant through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), with the funds being designated for key advancements in Belize’s energy and education sectors; however, those plans seem to have been derailed, since the US government is in the process of dismantling the MCC as part of the Trump administration’s purported cost-saving measures.
The signing of the pact for the grant by Prime Minister of Belize, John Briceño, and MCC CEO, Alice Albright took place in September 2024, at a ceremony attended by then US Ambassador, Michelle Kwan, and Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development & Investment, Hon. Christopher Coye.
Portions of the grant would have funded a five-year program aimed at equipping high school graduates with in-demand skills, increasing their employment opportunities, and lowering the cost of electricity in Belize.
The 320 employees of MCC were sent emails which stated that they would be offered early retirement or deferred resignation, after visits last week from Elon Musk’s government cost-cutting team, which is known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The MCC was established in 2004 by former US president George W. Bush to provide key forms of support to developing nations. Since then, over four dozen developing countries have benefited from the MCC with over $5.4 billion in active funding.
It is expected that the grant arrangement into which Belize entered a few months ago will be terminated within 90 days, along with similar arrangements across the world.
(AMANDALA Ed. Note: This must be an especially bitter pill for P.M. John Briceno to swallow from the US government, after seemingly bending backwards to appease the American sugar refining company with resultant criticisms by local cane farmers of capitulating to the demands of the big multinational.)
British Caribbean News