While the rains are wreaking havoc in rural communities, they are also having dire effect on the industry which is the lifeblood of the north. For the past two years the sugar cane industry has recorded banner crops in terms of production, quality and milling. It is in the interests of all the players in […]
There is good news to report with regards to preservation and conservation of our natural resources in the west. According to Friends for Conservation and Development, on Saturday, some nineteen Belizean and Guatemalan local leaders signed a significant bi-national agreement at the O.A.S. Headquarters at the Adjacency Zone. The agreement documents the technical administrative intentions […]
The Stake Bank Project seems just about set to go, but information from those in charge of the environmental checks and balances has still not been forthcoming. On Tuesday, September third, the National Environmental Appraisal Committee met in a prolonged session at the Belize Biltmore Plaza in Belize City. On the agenda was the two […]
Early last week, a Guatemalan national was arrested for gold panning activities in the Ceibo Chico area of the Chiquibul National Park. There is another arrest to report; on Friday, a group of five men, all Guatemalan nationals, was caught deep inside the national park. Twenty year old Jose Ramirez Vicente, thirty-two year old Ruben […]
The Chiquibul National Park continues to be a major draw for Guatemalans who want to farm, or pan for gold or cut xate or cut timber or exploit any of our resources that they wish. Between these looters and their bounty stand a few brave rangers of the Friends for Conservation and Development, joined on […]
The Stake Bank and Ocean View Grand two hundred million Belize dollar project with the Feinstein group of companies was unveiled on Wednesday. The development involves both Stake Bank and Drowned Caye and the construction of a causeway. There was support coming from stakeholders even as the National Environmental Assessment Committee was yet to pronounce […]
Another issue that is bubbling is SATIIM’s fight against U.S. Capital Energy and the government. APAMO’s general membership is consistent with the position that oil drilling in national parks is illegal. Jose Perez, Executive Director, APAMO “SATIIM has basically been addressing the issue on their own. What we are saying and agreed; the general […]
While residents in the south have objections to the Norwegian Cruise Line project at Harvest Caye, they welcome the construction of a pier, plaza and promenade in Placencia. The facilities are part of the National Sustainable Tourism Master Plan undertaken by the Belize Tourism Board which sets out to highlight the south eastern coast of […]
Years after it was conceived, the Stake Bank Project has been dusted off and resurrected; it was officially launched today at the Belize Biltmore Plaza as the Ocean View Grand and Stake Bank. It is a mega-million dollar development which according to businessman Mike Feinstein, of the Feinstein Group of Companies, requires an investment of […]
Government has confirmed that it will be entering into a binding agreement with Norwegian Cruise Lines for a fifty million dollar tourism development at Harvest Caye. But there’s another tourism project which is likely to stir controversy because it involves the construction of a causeway which is believed will affect the Swallow Caye Reserve, which […]
The Stake Bank Project is on the environmental table for dissection and analysis. But while the NCL project proposed for Harvest Caye in the south is very much in the headlines, it hasn’t even officially reached that point yet. And when it does, it seems that the process will be expedited, since an Environmental Impact […]
As we reported on Monday, a team of journalists and videographers from various media houses was given an exclusive tour of the Sarstoon-Temash National Park over the weekend. The purpose of the visit was to experience firsthand ongoing exploratory work conducted by U.S. Capital Energy in the vicinity of the protected area. The two-day trip […]
On September eighth Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley and his team will reach the halfway point in their three year term. For residents of the Old Capital that eighteen months has been characterized by unprecedented infrastructural development. And that development has been matched only by unprecedented traffic congestion, inconvenience and frustration. Still, there has been […]
Believe it or not, eighty-six streets have been cemented or paved since the Belize City Infrastructure Project got under way. The Mayor promised one hundred, and that is a goal he plans to reach. To do so he has to put a great deal of faith in the contractors doing the work…and like everything else…that […]
Last Friday and Saturday, the media was hosted by SATIIM on a trip to the Sarstoon Temash National Park to witness first-hand ongoing work by U.S. Capital Energy. On the eve of the tour, it appeared that a standoff was afoot, but the tour proceeded without trouble because SATIIM chose an alternate route to access […]
SATIIM and Mayan leaders of communities in the Sarstoon Temash National Park are waging war against the government of Belize. They feel that government is not recognizing rights which the court has ruled are theirs, over communal land. They also condemn G.O.B.’s approval of an oil exploration permit to U.S. Capital Energy. The drill site […]
Media teams from across the country are currently in the deep-south on a SATIIM-hosted tour of the Sarstoon Temash National Park. That’s the intention, anyway. In recent days things have gotten decidedly testy between SATIIM, US Capital and the government. Last Friday, SATIIM rangers and Mayan leaders were involved in a standoff with PG Police […]
On August eighth, the Friends for Conservation and Development detained two Guatemalans who were farming on our side of the border. That’s not exactly a rare event, but in this case, the farming was being done on a twenty-acre plot of land within the Caracol Archaeological Reserve. The men were handed over to the San […]
And there was another incident on August twenty-first in the area of Ceibo Chico. This time FCD rangers, Police and B.D.F. personnel came under fire as they approached about fifty Guatemalans panning for gold in the Chiquibul. There’s been no official report of the incident from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but according to Manager […]
Earlier in the newscast, we told you about OCEANA’s stance on the LGBT issue. But OCEANA’s Vice-President of South and Central America Alex Muñoz is in Belize. Muñoz says that they are reviewing about thirty applications from very interesting applicants. The successful candidate will pick up where former VP of OCEANA Belize Audrey Matura-Shepherd stepped […]
That was the more or less civil portion of the press conference called by OCEANA’s regional VP. The agenda of the briefing was generally a meet and greet, but the event took a different tone. Some members of the media were not interested in the meet and greet as they were on beating up on […]
On Monday, the Sarstoon and Temash Institute for Indigenous Management, SATIIM, condemned the actions of the Government for allowing the police to dispatch armed officers into the Sarstoon/Temash National Park to intimidate rangers and community leaders who journeyed into the area. The delegation was there on an unofficial visit of a site where a drill […]
Last year, a former minister of government introduced into the national discourse a proposal to decriminalize the possession of small quantities of marijuana. A committee was formed to look at the issue, but it never got took flight and eventually had a natural death. Isani Cayetano, however, went further with the proposal and together with […]
In the south…On Friday morning, a mission comprised of park rangers employed by the Sarstoon and Temash Institute for Indigenous Management (SATIIM), as well as community leaders from several Maya villages was involved in a brief standoff with Punta Gorda police prior to departing for the Sarstoon Temash National Park. The incident during which a […]
Since cancelling a co-management agreement with the Sarstoon/Temash Institute for Indigenous Management, SATIIM, a month ago, the Forest Department and, by extension, the Government of Belize, has been at odds with the environmental organization over supervision of the Sarstoon/Temash National Park. The latest standoff took place this morning in Punta Gorda Town, at the foot […]
