ComPol Chester Williams stopped short of divulging operational details of police activities that are scheduled for this weekend, suffice to say that the ramped up presence of officers in the designated hotspots will remain indefinitely. As for any legal challenged that may arise from this thirty-day period of detention, the top cop says that several […]
In Belmopan this morning, the Leader of the Opposition John Briceño responded to the budget for the new financial year. There was no debate since the threat of COVID-19 is affecting just about every sector, including the House of Representatives where the rule of social distancing is being observed. The gallery was also devoid of […]
Following today’s sitting of the House of Representatives, opposition leader John Briceño explained why other elected members of his party collectively abstained from debating the budget. Not for the glaring missteps they maintain the Barrow administration has made in its twelve years of office, but because a unified front during this time of national threat […]
Earlier today, word spread like wildfire that Guatemalan nationals were traversing Belize from the Philip Goldson International Airport to the western border and that their transit through the country was facilitated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While it may have been true that they were traveling cross country to enter Guatemala from Melchor, the […]
According to Elrington, a statutory instrument would have to be instituted in order to effect a travel ban for passengers entering the country via the P.G.I.A. In that case, he says, all travelers would be barred from arriving in Belize, no matter their country of origin. Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs “Unless […]
As you may know by now, Nicaragua and El Salvador recorded their first cases of the novel coronavirus late Wednesday evening. As it stands now, Belize is the only country in the mainland Americas where there is not yet a confirmed case. And today, during the Ministry of Health’s third episode of the ‘Ask The […]
Estrada also spoke on the official and legal border points. She notes that only two ports of entry remain open for Belize, those are the Philip Goldson International Airport and the northern border. Estrada says the ban on persons coming from China, Iran, South Korea, Japan and all of Europe, as well as the United […]
On the issue of visitors and entry points, Director of Health Services Doctor Marvin Manzanero says that traffic through the P.G.I.A. is already significantly reduced and expected to dwindle further. He says that multiple airlines are suspending service to the country and more may follow. Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of Health Services “I just […]
The coronavirus, crime and the recent crash of a B.D.F. helicopter, in which four soldiers perished; are heavy and hugely critical issues facing the nation. First on the matter of crime, a press conference was held this afternoon by the top brass of the Police Department. The biggest item to come out of that is […]
While police conducted an early morning raid today, it is believed that a number of persons, who are wanted for involvement in gang activity, may have given them the slip and are headed to other parts of the country. According to ComPol Chester Williams, a bulletin with the identities and photographs of all those individuals […]
It is expected that of the eighty-two persons, who are presently in custody and are headed to the Belize Central Prison for the next thirty days, a number of them—through their respective attorneys—will be seeking judicial relief via the Supreme Court. They will likely be applying for bail. But Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte told the […]
Equally challenging for the Belize Police Department, in its attempt to put away known gang members, is the fact that the lower courts continue to impose fines and grant subsequent extensions when they cannot meet their payment schedules. This allows known criminals to remain on the streets to wreak havoc. According to the Commissioner of […]
Minister of State Elodio Aragon Junior, himself a former ranking police officer, is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Ministry of National Security which includes the Belize Police Department. While additional men and women have been deployed into the streets of the city, more boots on the ground will not solve the issues of […]
One of the preventative measures taken in preparation against the novel coronavirus is that schools at all levels and across the country will be closed for two weeks leading into the Easter holidays. Classes are expected to resume on Monday, April twentieth. A press conference was hosted by the Ministry and Education Minister Patrick Faber, […]
Going forward, schools are being asked to provide parents with a home-based learning plan for their children. Parents are to ensure that students spend a part of each day in reading and learning activities. Faber also stressed that should a school conduct online classes, access to internet services as well as the appropriate devices to […]
In the face of an imminent threat from the coronavirus, a crime wave is sweeping across the city. There is word tonight that B.D.F. soldiers will be deployed to the streets of the Old Capital to stem the violence. The past forty-eight hours have been one of the deadliest; seven persons have been murdered, including […]
The lives of two innocent children were taken following separate shooting incidents on Sunday night and Tuesday morning. As the city reeled from the crime wave since Sunday, the nation woke up this morning to the shocking and painful news of the murder of five-year-old Kia Herbert. The child was murdered as she slept with […]
Among the seven persons to be senselessly killed in the past forty-eight hours, is another infant, four-year-old Dominic Rhamdas. The young child was at home when his mother Shakira White and her boyfriend Philip Leslie were both murdered on Sunday night. A crazed gunman unleashed as many as twenty shots on Leslie; Shakira took seventeen […]
Before Kia Herbert, was gunned down in her house, a father of one was shot and killed in Belize City. Collet Morter was hanging out with friends when the killer reportedly approached the house and called him out. Morter went to the door to check who it was, but before he stepped outside, he was […]
Aside from the seven murders, nine persons have been injured in shootings in the violence that ash erupted in the past two days. On Jane Usher Boulevard this morning around nine o’clock, two persons, including an elderly man, were injured in gun violence. A group of men were targeted as they stood near a residence […]
There was another shooting earlier in the morning. Several shots were fired at a house on the south side of Belize City, fortunately no one was injured. Police were called out to Antelope Street Extension around one a.m. where forty-two-year-old security guard Brian Smith reported to police that he, his wife and two children were […]
In less than forty-eight hours, gun violence has claimed the lives of as many as seven persons, including two children ages four and five. Nine others, including an elderly man and a two-year-old girl, were also injured in the rash of senseless violence that started around eight p.m. on Sunday and continued up to this […]
The highly contagious novel coronavirus continues to spread all around the world and more than one hundred and twenty countries are now affected. Across the border, Guatemala has confirmed one death and will be closing it borders for two weeks. Fortunately, there is still no established case in Belize, but there is urgency in putting […]
The budget debate that has been scheduled for March nineteenth and twentieth hangs in the balance, as government is yet to formally agree on whether those consecutive House meetings should be postponed for a period of three months. Likewise, there is consideration that the parliamentary proceeding can be held in a single sitting with presentations […]
That twenty-five million-dollar loan, which government will secure through the Central Bank of Belize, will be serviced through cost-cutting measures across all ministries at two percent of the recurrent budget. The role of Central Bank is equally influential in utilizing all available instruments at its disposal to strengthen the resistance of the existing financial system […]
