by Blaire Santos | December 21, 2023 | Hib Ahn Lang Shoa
Alexie was my second cousin. She passed away at the age of 23. Her father was my grandmother’s brother, Servilliano Garcia Jr. and he was married to Farita Jones. Alexie was their second eldest child. She had one daughter, Priscilla. If she had lived, she would have continued to be a good mother for her daughter. That is priceless. Nevertheless, in Alexie’s absence, her sisters pitched in like adoptive mothers for Priscilla and Uncle Junior took her in and played the role of father.
She was originally from Calcutta, Corozal. She had married, but she left her abusive husband and moved to St. Matthew’s Village in Cayo to get away from him.
According to her cousin, Carol, Alexie liked partying, dressing up, putting on lipstick, having friends, and chatting loud. Other people would be miserable or upset when bad things happened, but she would just laugh and tease them and encourage them not to take life so seriously; however, Alexie’s exuberant life was cut short by murderers.
Her death left a huge gap in the family. Psychologically, those who loved her never truly recovered.
According to her sister Delcia, on the night she died, she went to party at Blue Angels Club in San Ignacio to celebrate her last day of work at her old job.
Blue Angels is Belize’s oldest club and partying there when one becomes of age is almost a rite of passage; however, when I turned 18, my mom said there was only place I should never go, Blue Angels.
Alexie left the dance sometime after 3:30 am and was walking back to Santa Elena, a town on the opposite side of the Macal River, separated by a wooden bridge. Delcia says, “She was walking by herself and got flocked by four men who wanted to rob her of her severance pay. She put up a fight. I know she did. She wouldn’t have just taken it. During the fight, one of the men pulled a knife and slit her throat. They raped her. They even bit off one of her breasts.”
The market at the foot of the bridge was not there yet during that time. It is a very isolated area; however, it was a during a time when people generally felt that Belize was safe. The crime rate used to be so low, things like this were practically unheard of.
According to her cousin, Patricia, who lives beside the Macal River not far from the bridge, “No houses are nearby and even though sounds can carry, people became immune to the sounds of drunkards coming home from a late night at Blue Angels.”
Carol said that she wasn’t the type to cry for help, but even if she wanted to, she probably couldn’t because “once they cut your throat, that’s it. It was a big cut, from ear to ear. I saw it at the funeral. they stitched it up. Big cut. Big seam. It was shocking. Very shocking. Very shocking yes. I just have bits and pieces of the memories of her playing, laughing, teasing. We were the same age, and her birthday was in January too, like mine. She was a very vibrant young lady. Full of life.”
The police later found out who did it because her personal items were found in one of the perpetrator’s homes. During the investigation, people in the community pointed out who did it and the police immediately went to conduct a search and found her things in his room. Family members cannot recall who the killers were and new reports, if any, have not been found.
Carol says, “As young people, you sometimes take some serious risks to go out and party.”
However, I can’t help feeling this speaks to a malignant issue of gender-based violence in Belizean society.
Learn More
Take action: 10 ways you can help end violence against women | UN Women – Headquarters
Gender-based Violence 2021 – Belize Crime Observatory (bco.gov.bz)
Sylvia Wynter's Dream 
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