LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Belize: United States
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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Central American country of Belize, known for its paradise-like surroundings, is in a state of chaos again this week with vital telecom services and who runs them still in question. Last week, rioting, looting, violence and vandalism occurred, harming its tourism industry and angering Belizeans as workers shut down all telephone communications in the country -- land lines, cellular and Internet.
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Although only a small fraction of the land is cultivated, agriculture provides about 75% of Belize's exports, the chief of which are fish products, citrus, sugar, and bananas. Clothing and timber are ... important products and export items, and there is some petroleum, which began being exported in 2006. Tourism is the main source of foreign exchange. Machinery, manufactured goods, fuel, chemicals, and food are imported. The United States, Great Britain, and Mexico are the main trading partners.
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Belize has abolished the Rule Against Perpetuities as it relates to Belizean trusts. A trust may be created for a maximum of 120 years without regard to whether proper beneficiaries have been identified or not. Charitable trusts, as defined under the statute, may be established with unlimited duration.
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The United States is the largest provider of economic assistance to Belize, contributing $2.5 million in various bilateral economic and military aid programs to Belize in FY 2006. Of this amount, nearly half a million dollars was provided by the U.S. Military Liaison Office. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) closed its Belize office in August 1996 after a 13-year program during which USAID provided $110 million worth of development assistance to Belize. Belize still benefits from USAID regional programs. In addition, during the past 42 years, almost 2,000 Peace Corps volunteers have served in Belize. As of April 2007, the Peace Corps had 58 volunteers working in Belize.
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Despite the existence of various political groups, two parties, the People's United Party (PUP) and the United Democratic Party (UDP), have dominated politics in Belize and have alternated heading the government since the 1980s. As in the rest of the region, political loyalties are personalized and allegiances to either party are often family or friend-based. In reality, there are only slight ideological differences between the two parties. Both have included and appealed to all classes and sectors of society. Although the UDP is more outspokenly anti-Communist and supportive of the United States, both parties support the capitalist system with its reliance on private enterprise and foreign investment. According to one commentator, PUP and UDP share the conviction that the role of the parties is to contain "conflict of class interest."3 However, typically when in opposition, the parties tend to identify more with the working class and the poor, and while in office, they become more conservative.4
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From 1975 to 1979, the U.S. abstained on all the United Nations resolutions concerning Belize's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Finally, in 1980, it changed its policy of neutrality and voted in favour of the U.N. resolution that called for the independence of Belize. This resolution was adopted in November 1980. It demanded the secure independence of Belize, with all its territory, before the next session of the U.N. in 1981.
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