With 27 years in active political leadership in Anguilla, the late Mr. Albert (Belto) Emmanuel Hughes, of West End, has been highly praised in the Anguilla House of Assembly for his contribution to the island. He sat in the House as the Elected Representative of District 7 firstly in his capacity as Minister of Infrastructure and later as Parliamentary Secretary, working with two separate Governments: that of former Chief Ministers, Hubert Hughes and Osbourne Fleming.
Mr. Belto Hughes died at the age of 82 at his home in West End on Thursday, December 22, 2016. He was one of Anguilla’s best loved and humble politicians. He was highly respected in his constituency – where he referred to its residents as “my people” – and in the wider community. He was affectionately remembered in the Anguilla House of Assembly on December 29, 2016 when Chief Minister, Mr. Victor Banks, led various tributes to him from both the Government and Opposition sides of the House.
One of the main speakers was the current Elected Representative of District 7, Mr. Cardigan Connor Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, Sports and Youth Affairs. “The late Albert (Belto) Emmanuel Hughes personally meant a lot to me,” he told the House. “He still is and always will be my godfather. I knew him in the formative years of my life before I moved to England. He was the father to me that I didn’t have.
“Mr. Speaker, I believe that the reason I am in politics, and the representative of West End, is because I found my role model and hero in Albert Hughes. What I saw in him in 50-plus years was that he was as genuine as you can find a human being. He was a great representative of the people of West End and also of Anguilla. He was a special Anguillian – not classified as a politician but as a representative.”
Mr. Connor continued: “His legacy will live on because, in all of us, piece of his heart is there. There are a number of children in West End whose parents or grandchildren would have told them the positive influence that Albert (Belto) Hughes would have had on their lives – and by extension on what these youngsters can benefit from today. A number of people have told me he gave me some big shoes to fill. At a campaign meeting in West End, he gave me his endorsement and was the person who brought me on the stage. He was quiet over the previous five years, but I think he realised that at some point you have to pass on the mantle to someone else. The greatest vote of confidence I had was when someone like him endorsed me.”
Mr. Connor added that “if there were more people in the world today like the late Elected Representative of West End, it would be a better place”.
