Dean Barrow

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 anelection on 7 March 2012.

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
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. He announced his Cabinet, including himself
as Minister of Finance, on 11 February.
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.
Family
Barrow has four children. The oldest is rapper Jamal "Shyne" Barrow, born 8
November 1979. (Shyne was born out of wedlock; his mother is the sister of
Barrow's political colleague, Michael Finnegan). His second son Anwar runs a smallscale 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. 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).