By Breaking Belize News Staff: Barely two weeks after being honoured regionally for his decades of aggressive journalism and defence of press freedom, 7News Director Jules Vasquez says he is now the target of a coordinated political campaign aimed at undermining his credibility and that of Channel 7.
Vasquez received the inaugural CMIA-CBU Caribbean Defender of Media Freedom Award on August 18 during the Caribbean Broadcasting Union’s 57th Annual General Assembly in Georgetown, Guyana. The CBU said Vasquez was being recognised for more than three decades of journalism, his persistent questioning of people in authority and his willingness to continue reporting despite lawsuits, political pressure and the withdrawal of government advertising.
But just over two weeks later, social media outlets Belize News Network (BNN) and Associated Belize Press (ABP)launched separate attacks questioning Vasquez’s independence and the ownership structure of Tropical Vision Limited, the company behind Channel 7.
BNN linked the matter to Vasquez’s late father, Nestor “Net” Vasquez, while alleging that shares in Tropical Vision were eventually sold to Widerstand Capital Limited and suggesting that outside interests influence Channel 7’s editorial positions. Associated Belize Press went further, alleging that former PUP minister Mark Espat has an ownership interest in Channel 7 and questioning whether Vasquez is therefore compromised.
An accompanying attack ad claimed company records identify Espat as the sole shareholder, director and ultimate beneficial owner of Widerstand Capital Limited, and accused Vasquez of concealing that information from the public.
Vasquez addressed the attacks on his Monday morning “Beef with Jules” programme, acknowledging that Widerstand holds approximately six percent of Tropical Vision but disputing the suggestion that the documents reveal some secret arrangement.
Vasquez said Espat remains listed in the corporate records because a transfer of Widerstand has not yet been formally registered. He said he possesses the signed transfer document and described the failure to complete the registration as an administrative matter that “changes nothing.”
More significantly, Vasquez characterised the attacks as an attempt at what he called “weaponized equivalency” — an effort to place a private media organisation and journalists on the same moral footing as public officials being subjected to scrutiny.
“They are trying to create a false equivalency,” Vasquez said, arguing that the objective is to erode public confidence in an institution that has spent three decades scrutinising successive governments.
Vasquez also directly linked the controversy to the Briceño administration. He recalled a recent telephone conversation with Prime Minister John Briceño in which, according to Vasquez, the Prime Minister alluded to the Widerstand issue before the corporate documents later surfaced publicly.
“It is not a surprise to me that the Prime Minister alludes to it in a conversation and then the documents appear,” Vasquez said, interpreting the sequence as part of a wider attempt to discredit Channel 7.
Vasquez said the broader objective is to convince Belizeans that journalists who scrutinise government are themselves compromised.
“They want to take away the role of the journalists in society as a truth teller,” he said, adding that the aim is to put “everybody in the mud” so that the public no longer knows whom to trust.
The attacks revive a complicated chapter in Channel 7’s ownership history. Channel 7 is operated by Tropical Vision Limited, which was founded and for decades controlled by Nestor Vasquez. In December 2020, Tropical Vision announced that Net Vasquez had parted ways with the station and that a new ownership group led by Jules Vasquez had acquired his holdings.
That change came amid the highly publicised BTL controversy involving the elder Vasquez, who had served as chairman of Belize Telemedia Limited. Reports at the time said he accumulated almost $1 million in personal expenses on BTL’s corporate credit card. The controversy became popularly known as the “Panty Bill” scandal, amid reports and political commentary concerning purchases from Victoria’s Secret and other personal expenses. Tropical Vision also became entangled in the controversy through an advertising agreement with BTL, but announced in December 2020 that it had settled its outstanding obligations to the telecommunications company.
The timing of the latest attacks is particularly striking because of the reasoning given only weeks earlier for Vasquez’s regional award.
During the ceremony in Guyana, the presenter described Vasquez as one of the Caribbean’s most persistent journalists, noting that he had endured “personal attacks,” legal pressure and economic efforts to make independent journalism more difficult. The presenter warned that journalists are often targeted through lawsuits, business pressure, restricted access, political attacks and withdrawal of government advertising when other efforts to silence them fail.
Accepting the award, Vasquez described news as a “public utility” essential to democratic society and said journalists cannot avoid stories simply because powerful people may threaten them or attack their families.
“We know what it’s like in small societies,” Vasquez said. “Telling the truth can be dangerous. We must have that courage.”
The posts by Belize News Network and Associated Belize Press do not, by themselves, establish that either outlet was acting on instructions from the Briceño administration. Vasquez, however, is explicitly portraying the attacks as part of a political effort to weaken public trust in Channel 7 — arriving almost immediately after regional media organisations honoured him for resisting precisely that type of pressure.
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By Breaking Belize News Staff: Barely two weeks after being honoured regionally for his decades of aggressive journalism and defence of press freedom, 7News Director Jules Vasquez says he is now the target of a coordinated political campaign aimed at undermining his credibility and that of Channel 7. Vasquez received the inaugural CMIA-CBU Caribbean Defender
The post Weeks after being awarded for defending Press Freedom, Jules Vasquez becomes target of political attacks appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
