- John Briceño
Juan Antonio Briceño, otherwise known as "John" or "Johnny" (born 1960,
Orange Walk Town ), is aBelize an politician. He was Deputy Prime Minister from 1998 to 2007, and since 2008 he has been the leader of thePeople's United Party (PUP).He became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Commerce and Industry in 1998 after the PUP returned to power in that year's election. In August 2004 he led a group of ministers, known as the G-7 alliance, who made a number of reform demands, including the dismissal of
Ralph Fonseca from the Cabinet. When Prime MinisterSaid Musa failed to meet these demands, the group resigned; however, Musa subsequently agreed to all of the demands except for the dismissal of Fonseca and the G-7 ministers remained in the Cabinet. Briceño was later one of the ministers who opposed Musa's proposal to settle the country's Universal Health Services debt; as a result of this, Musa attempted to demote Briceño from his position as Deputy Prime Minister, but Briceño refused to accept the lesser posts in the Cabinet that he was offered and instead resigned from the Cabinet onJune 5 2007 . [ [http://www.amandala.com.bz/index.php?id=5717 "Vildo is Deputy P.M. – Florencio replaces Johnny!"] , Amandala Online, June 5, 2007.]At a national convention of the PUP in July 2007, Briceño was re-elected as one of the party's deputy leaders. [Adele Ramos, [http://www.amandala.com.bz/index.php?id=6629 "Musa and Ralph step down - PUP D-day March 30!"] , Amandala Online, February 15, 2008.] In the February 2008 general election, in which the PUP was defeated, Briceño was re-elected in his constituency of Orange Walk Central, one of only six successful PUP candidates. [ [http://www.amandala.com.bz/index.php?id=6602 "CONFIRMED WINNERS"] , Amandala Online, February 8, 2008.]
On
March 30 2008 , Briceño was elected as the leader of the PUP at a party convention inBelmopan , succeeding Musa. He defeatedFrancis Fonseca , who was considered to be the candidate preferred by the party establishment, receiving 330 votes against 310 for Fonseca. [ [http://www.amandala.com.bz/index.php?id=6783 "Johnny stuns Francis in ‘Pan!"] , Amandala Online, April 1, 2008.]References
External links
* [http://www.belize.gov.bz/cabinet/j_briceno/minister.html belize.gov.bz biography]
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