Belizean politician Shyne Barrow visits Inglewood

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Belizean Leader of the Opposition Moses “Shyne” Barrow continues his quest to promote his country as an ideal destination for commerce and tourism with a recent stop to the city of Inglewood last month.

Chairman, Senator Michael Peyrefitte joined Barrow in Inglewood where they met with Inglewood Mayor James Butts as Inglewood is the home to the largest population of Belizeans in the U.S.

Barrow and Peyrefitte’s visit was to facilitate efforts to finalize a sister-city relationship with Inglewood considering the opening games of the 2026 World Cup will be held at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium.

Inglewood will be partnering with San Ignacio/Santa Elena Town.

Barrow says that he’s confident that Inglewood will “make the best of Sister Relations for mutual benefit in the areas of trade, commerce, culture, education and citizen security as envisioned since 1956 when U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower moved for U.S. cities to create formal partnerships with foreign cities”.

Barrow says that partnerships like this one deepen cultural understanding and strengthen democracy and freedom.

Shyne was born in Belize and then moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he had a successful rap career as an artist with Bad Boy records. His career was derailed after he was convicted and sentenced to serve a ten-year jail sentence for his involvement in a shooting.

While in prison, he became interested in Judaism, and later became observant and began practicing Orthodox Judaism and officially changed his name to Moses Michael Levi Barrow in 2006.

After being released from prison in 2009, he was deported to Belize. He has since been appointed the country’s Ambassador of Music charged with the sustainable development of the music industry in Belize and has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop it.

Shyne was elected to the Belizean House of Representatives in the 2020 general election. He became the Leader of the Opposition in 2022.