Dean Barrow

The Right Honourable Dean Barrow
Prime Minister of Belize
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 February 2008
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor General	Colville Young
Deputy	Gaspar Vega
Preceded by	Said Musa
Leader of the Opposition
In office 30 August 1998 – 8 February 2008
Prime Minister	Said Musa
Preceded by	Said Musa
Succeeded by	Said Musa
Member of the Belize House of Representatives for Queen's Square
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 December 1984
Preceded by	Constituency established
Personal details
Born	Dean Oliver Barrow 2 March 1951 Belize City, British Honduras (now Belize)
Political party	United Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Lois Young Kim Simplis (2009–present)
Alma mater	St Michael's College University of the West Indies University of Miami

Dean Oliver Barrow (born 2 March 1951) is a Belizean politician who has been Prime Minister of Belize since 2008. He is also the leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP). An attorney by trade, he served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1998 and was Leader of the Opposition from 1998 until the UDP won the February 2008 election. Barrow started his first term as Prime Minister after victory in the 2008 election. He started his second term after the UDP again won an election on 7 March 2012. He started his third term when the UDP won again on 4 November, 2015.

Legal career

Barrow, a senior counsel, is one of Belize's successful attorneys and has appeared in several high-profile cases. He began his legal work in the law firm of uncle Dean Lindo in 1973 and became a partner there in 1977. He would eventually leave to form his own law firm, Barrow and Williams (with Rodwell Williams) until he vacated office prior to the 2008 general elections, although he remains titular senior partner. Among his firm's more controversial clients is Lord Ashcroft and the businesses he is connected with, particularly the Belize Bank and at one time, Belize Telemedia Limited, formerly Belize Telecommunications Limited.

Political career

In December 1983 Barrow entered electoral politics as a candidate for Belize City Council elections, which he won as part of a nine-man slate. Before that year's redistricting, in 1984 Barrow was preselected as the UDP candidate for Collet but after redistricting chose to contest the newly created Queen's Square constituency instead, as was his prerogative under UDP party rules. In the ensuing election Barrow handily defeated Ralph Fonseca of the People's United Party. Soon after he was appointed to the first Manuel Esquivel Cabinet as Attorney-General and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In the 1989 general election, Barrow defeated Thomas Greenwood but his party lost the election. Barrow continued in his law practice. In 1990, he became deputy UDP leader under Esquivel after the death of Curl Thompson. In 1993, Barrow won his third straight general election and returned to the Cabinet in the posts he held from the previous administration in addition to Minister of National Security. His detractors called him "Minister of Everything" during this period because he was a particularly high-profile spokesman for the Esquivel government.

After the UDP's devastating 1998 election loss in which he was one of only three UDP winners, Barrow was elevated to UDP party leader and Leader of the Opposition, succeeding the defeated Esquivel. Barrow presided over the smallest oppositions (three and seven respectively) in the House of Representatives since 1974 and ever in the UDP's history. Barrow was reelected in 1998 and 2003 by closer margins than his previous elections over attorney Richard "Dickie" Bradley. He has since been re-elected by comfortable majorities.

Barrow is currently the most senior member of the UDP delegation in the Belize House as well as the Area Representative with the longest tenure of uninterrupted service. Among current Area Representatives, only Said Musa has a longer cumulative time in office.

Prime Minister

The UDP won a massive victory, with 25 out of 31 seats, in the general election held on 7 February 2008, and Barrow was sworn in as Prime Minister on 8 February. He is the country's first black Prime Minister.^[1] He announced his Cabinet, including himself as Minister of Finance, on 11 February.^[2]

The UDP won a reduced majority in the 2012 general election and Barrow started his second term as Prime Minister on 9 March 2012. He announced his cabinet, including himself as the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, on 12 March 2012.

Barrow led the UDP to a fourth consecutive general election victory in November 2015, however he stated the election would be his last as party leader.^[3]

Family

Barrow has six children. The oldest is rapper Jamal "Shyne" Barrow, born 8 November 1979.^[4] (Shyne was born out of wedlock; his mother is the sister of Barrow's political colleague, Michael Finnegan). His second son Anwar runs a small-scale lending institution. His daughter Deanne practises law out of her mother's (Barrow's first wife Lois Young) firm.

Barrow was married a second time 7 February 2009 in Savannah, Georgia to his long-time girlfriend Kim Simplis.^[5] They have one daughter, Salima.

Education

Barrow attended St. Michael's College in Belize and the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados (LL.B. 1973); Norman Manley Law School, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica (Certificate of Legal Education, 1975); University of Miami School of Law (LL.M., 1981); University of Miami (M.A. International Relations).

References

1. "Belize's opposition party wins landslide in congressional elections", Associated Press (International Herald Tribune), 9 February 2008. Archived 3 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
2. "Prime Minister Dean Barrow announces new Cabinet", The San Pedro Sun, Vol. 18, No. 7, 14 February 2008.
3. Parks, Rowland A. "General elections no later than 'first part of next year' – PM Barrow", Amandala, 4 September 2015. (accessed 27 September 2015)
4. "Belize elects first black leader, ousts incumbent (page 2)". Catherine Bremer Reuters. 8 February 2008. Retrieved 27 August 2009.
5. "Belize prime minister will get married in Savannah", Associated Press (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), 15 January 2009. Archived 22 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine.