RETIRED BELIZE DEFENCE FORCE CAPTAIN CHARLES GOOD DEAD AT 62

November 03, 2009

Captain Charles Good Sr., Charlie Good as he is most commonly known, was as much a man of strong personal convictions and character as he was a loving father of twelve. While he will be remembered by friends and family as one half of the pillar that supported the now well-known Good family the wider society will perhaps think of him as an unsung hero. Of late the Goods, Charles and wife Hiriam, were a mainstay in the local media for their plight against what they considered political victimization. His life story however, goes farther back than what has been portrayed recently. This morning we spoke with Hiriam about the life of her late husband as a father, a retired army officer and as a dedicated advocate of his beliefs.

Hiriam Good; Wife of Charles Good

“I meet he in 1989 and from then we’re together going for twenty-one years now. And what I can say and pictures you can see, certificates, he has served this country to the maximum, police, BDF, and in other parts of the body too. [You know] serving this country, protecting this country and I can say he gave his life for this country.”

A man of humble beginnings Good was a Belizean patriot and as a former Belize Defense Force Captain he stressed the need for his children to be disciplined, organized and respectful.

Hiriam Good; Wife of Charles Good

“You could say in here is a next BDF camp. He wanted to run things like a soldier still.  With the kids everything [had to be] in its place. If you have something to do you do it right away, you don’t wait or leave it for tomorrow. He always said what you have to do today [you] do it today don’t wait until tomorrow because if you wait until tomorrow you don’t know what it’ll bring. So it was the same way with the kids, very strict. And today we need that in Belize because with so many things that are happening in Belize City we need more parents like Charlie. Even me, he wanted to have me like a soldier and sometimes I told him boy this isn’t a BDF camp you know. But that was him, everything, but he had his good heart too. If he had his last dollar and he knew that you needed it he would give you that dollar.”

In the eyes of the public the name Charles Good conjures up memories of a one-man protest on the Belize Social Security Board a few years ago; the beginning of a protracted struggle against corporate and political oppression.

Hiriam Good; Wife of Charles Good

“With Social Security well he wasn’t getting what he was supposed to have been getting so he said well we have to do something about it and that’s how he started collecting letters from where he use to work, talked to people. That’s how he went to Social Security and told them well what they were giving him was not correct and he wanted them to correct it. He had proof of everything and that’s how he started a hunger strike [you know] despite what people told him not to do it he knew he was right and he went on it.”

In August of this year Hiriam Good was terminated from her post as school warden at Trinity Methodist School, a move that was widely regarded as politically motivated.  Hiriam’s release sparked yet another protest this time around the duo stood together against a decision made by Education Minister Patrick Faber to terminate her service.

Hiriam Good; Wife of Charles Good

“I could remember good from the seventeenth we started to protest in front of the Supreme Court. At first there was no problem because he did ask permission and spoke with two people in charge if he could have a protest there and they said they didn’t have a problem with it. We were there they whole day until…I did days while he did nights [you know] and we did have some people who hung around sometimes with us.  We had a lady by the name of Ms. Ya Ya she was there with him at nights he and one of his sons Michael or sometimes Matthew.”

The Goods picketed in front of the Supreme Court building on Regent St. frequently since mid-August. That timeline of events has been nothing short of extensive as the couple met with government ministers including Prime Minister Barrow to arrive at a solution. The outcome of that meeting, it turns out, was less than favorable as shortly thereafter they were back in the picket line. Ominously however, Charles Good told his wife that he would not see the end of their plight.

Hiriam Good; Wife of Charles Good

“The way how Charles said Leticia you keep on with this I might not see it but you don’t give up and I will be watching you from up there and I will help to give you strength.  [Please give me a moment (crying)] Like in a way he had already read his future right. I don’t mean he knew already but like he suspected already that he wouldn’t see the end of this.I am not giving up either because if him and I went through this and he is dead now I will keep on fighting. I will ask God for strength and he will see me through.”

Captain Charles Good Sr. dead at age 62 from cardiac arrest. He will be buried in San Ignacio following services to be held at St. Joseph Church at a date to be announced later.

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