Myrtle Palacio

Iris Myrtle Palaciao (born in 1948, Stann Creek Town) is an educator and social planner from Belize. She is an advocate for Garifuna culture, and good governance in the public sector.

Early life and education Palacio was born in 1948 to parents Gwendolyn Trapp and Cornelius Cacho in Stann Creek Town. Her family are Garifuna - a community of people of mixed black African and indigenous Carib Indian heritage. Her brother was the politician Russell "Chiste" Garcia, he died in 2009. She married the Belizean anthropologist, Joseph Palacio, in 1968.

Palacio attended Stann Creek Methodist School, then Wesley College In Belize City and later gained a Teaching Diploma from Belize Teacher's College. Her time as Chief Officer the department was computerized and she introduced voter education.

Palacio has formed part of or led teams on several occasions to observe international elections. In 2003, she led the team overseeing the voter re-registration procedures in Antigua & Barbuda. In 2015, she was part of the Commonwealth Election Observers Team overseeing the election in St Vincent & the Grenadines.

Also in 1999, she addressed the United Nations at the Hague, presenting a statement outlining the issues that Belize faced as a third world country and the measures that were being taken by the government to combat them. This was followed by a report exploring the North/South divide in Belize and the impact on the people.

Between 2005 and 2008, Palacio worked as the Director, Office of Governance. In 2010, Palacio produced a report on Belizean democracy, highlighting how far it had travelled, but also the issues it faced. In June 2011, she presented two publications "Elections in Belize: the Naked Truth" and "Adugurahani: A Walk Through Garifuna Spiritualism". From 2011 to 2015, Palacio worked as General Secretary of the People's United Party.

Palacio is an expert in the political history Belize. One of her observations in how the prevalence on call-in talk-shows on radio between 2003 and 2008 enabled political candidates to start arguments between one another, supported by people using phone cards pre-paid by political parties to support one side or the other and therefore try to manipulate public opinion.

Garifuna Activism

Palacio is an outspoken advocate for Garifuna culture, writing some of the first books on the subject and speaking widely about her Garifuna identity. One aspect she has written about is the how differently Garifuna and Creole populations were treated by the British colonisers: the Creole were less "stubborn" and so were given more official appointments, which led to them having significantly more political and economic power. She has written about Garifuna emigration to the USA.

In her book Adügürahani, Palacio is the first person to write a description of the Dugu Ceremony and its nine rituals, which are highly important to Garifuna spiritual life. The Primer aimed to explain Garifuna culture to all, but with a particular focus on children's education.

Honours In the 1999 Birthday Honours, Palacio was given the Member of the Order of the British Empire award by Queen Elizabeth II, for service to community in Belize. In the 2007 New Years Honours, she was awarded the higher honour of Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Publications

Who and what in Belizean elections: 1954-1993. Glessima Research, 1993 The First Primer on the People called Garifuna. Glessima Research & Services, 1993 Adügürahani: A Walk Through Garifuna Spiritualism, Glessima Research & Services, 2011 Electoral Politics in Belize: The Naked Truth, Glessima Research & Services, 2011