The Commissioner of Police acknowledges that every plane landing gives Belize a black eye and there have been three since the start of the year. But according to Chester Williams, based on the level of activity that is happening in drug trafficking within the region, Belize is still doing well. Chester Williams, Commissioner of […]
The excess production of cocaine in Colombia has been causing increased activity in getting the drug into the North American market, where the appetite is insatiable. It means that the transhipment of drugs through places like Belize is also expected to heighten. Williams says the department will have to step up. Chester Williams, Commissioner […]
The most recent drug bust, on record as the largest confiscation of narcotics in Belize‘s history, comes on the heels of the latest Cabinet change where Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte has been named as the substantive Minister of National Security. Many are wondering whether the seizure is a matter of happenstance given its timing and […]
Buoyed by the support of thousands at Sunday’s anti-corruption demonstration, the opposition People’s United Party is stepping up its pressure and now going to a Special Sitting of the House of Representatives next Thursday, where it plans to move a motion for a vote of no-confidence against the PM on the basis that they have […]
The police command has been under scrutiny ever since it was revealed that an Interpol check did not turn up anything on the shady background of accused fraudster Lev Dermen, who is on trial in a Utah court. Dermen was twice pushed for honorary consul appointments, including by the then Minister John Saldivar. But these […]
Leading the investigation against John Saldivar is Assistant Commissioner of Police Marco Vidal. There are those in the public that are questioning the department’s ability to properly investigate the former U.D.P. minister without any hindrance or interference. Today, Williams shut down the naysayers, expressing full confidence in Vidal and the capabilities of his investigative team. […]
According to Commissioner Chester Williams, the disgraced former minister, John Saldivar, will be brought in for questioning at some point in time during the investigation. Contrary to what he had previously indicated, Williams reiterated today that the investigation into the allegations of bribery against Saldivar has commenced and will continue when the department puts its […]
The Leader of the Opposition, John Briceño has written to the British High Commissioner in Belize as well as to the Caribbean Development Bank in Barbados. The United Kingdom and the C.D.B. have provided funding to the government of about one hundred and twenty-two million dollars for the Coastal Road Rehabilitation project. Work started on […]
Last Thursday, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize took to the streets to protest corruption and to bring pressure on a number of demands they are making on government. Within twenty-four hours, on February twenty-first, they met with the PM starting at ten and concluding just before one o’clock. There was headway in some […]
The Statistical Institute of Belize has presented grim news on the economy which shows that the recession it hard. For the first time in almost a decade, the economy contracted by as much as two point eight percent in the last quarter of the year with nineteen million dollars less in goods and services produced […]
A horrific murder occurred in the south. The body of a Canadian national was removed from a creek after he went missing for three days. James Slemp lived a quiet life at a farm, but on Friday his life was cut short. It is suspected that a former farmhand brutally murdered the elderly man, partially […]
The Coastal Road Project was formally launched on Monday with a groundbreaking ceremony in La Democracia Village. At a cost of a hundred and thirty million Belize dollars, the stretch of road connecting central and southern Belize, bypassing the Hummingbird Highway, is arguably the most expensive infrastructure initiative to be undertaken by the government. It […]
Commissioner of Police Chester Williams is tasked with carrying out a criminal investigation into former Minister of National Security John Saldivar in the wake of the Lev Dermen scandal. A probe into financial transactions conducted between Saldivar and Dermen, dating back to 2013 when large sums of monies exceeding the prescribed limit were doled out […]
In requesting privileged information under MLAT, attorney Eamon Courtenay says that assurances are given by both countries on how the information would be used during an investigation, particularly if there is a trial that is ongoing on the other end of that request. In the case against Lev Dermen and Jacob Kingston, Courtenay says that […]
Three weeks ago, Steve Duncan stepped down as a government appointed senator after serving at least four years on the upper chamber. At the time of announcing his replacement, the government said he had resigned for personal reasons. Well, today, a letter was sent to the Governor of the Central Bank Joy Grant by attorney […]
On most days, from Mondays to Fridays, long lines form at the Immigration Department in Belmopan by first time applicants for a passport or others seeking renewals. The process can be frustrating and time consuming and the paper work, voluminous. The procedures were tightened in 1994, following an immigration scandal in which persons, who did […]
There is a change in the prices of fuel tonight that brings good news for consumers. The price for premium gasoline will go down by fifty-nine cents and will be selling at ten dollars and forty cents. The price for kerosene will decrease by seventy-four cents and now retail at six dollars and sixty-two cents […]
The John Saldivar Scandal has brought sharp focus to the issue of campaign financing. With everyone talking about this, President of the Senate, Darrell Bradley says he has produced draft legislation to the issue. Bradley provided an outline and says it is critical to clean up the dirtiness in the matter of funds given to […]
The People’s United Party is energized tonight. In the thousands, supporters came from the villages, towns, cayes, and from the two cities in what looked like the greatest show of anti-corruption. They marched from Faber’s Road through the streets all the way to the Battlefield Park in the heart of the city. A long list […]
The People’s United Party’s massive demonstration on Sunday culminated at Battlefield Park in downtown Belize City hours after its start. The crowd flooded the area of the Supreme Court spilling into Albert and Regent Streets. There, thousands were addressed by leaders of the party. The fiery messages focused on corruption in the U.D.P. government, change, […]
The People’s United Party’s demonstration was announced two weeks ago when Leader John Briceño released the party’s proposed agenda on campaign financing, making five demands on the government. Briceño is calling for the appointment of an independent commission of inquiry chaired by an international Commonwealth jurist to inquire into the unlawful and unconstitutional spending of […]
The demonstration and rally went without a hitch on Sunday. Commissioner of Police Chester Williams and his team kept law and order as demonstrators marched through the streets of the Old Capital and collected at Battlefield Park. Commissioner Williams was on the ground where he spoke to News Five about his estimated numbers of participants which, we […]
Shane Budram was shot and killed near his house on Wagner’s Lane in Belize City and tonight police are looking for his nephew, Raheem Budram, as the suspect in his murder. He is the sixth family member to lose his life due to gun violence. On Friday night, the uncle and nephew were hanging at […]
Twenty-four hours later, there was another murder in Belize City. Shortly after ten o’clock on Saturday night, Ezekiel Usher, an employee of Transparent B.P.O., was gunned down across the street from where he lived on Faber’s Road. One of two men who drove up on a motorcycle unleashed a volley of bullets that ultimately took […]
Police are also investigating the suspected murder of a Canadian national who was reported missing on Friday, after a friend was unable to make contact with him. Just before eleven a.m., James Slemp was found dead in the lagoon on the Hopkins Road. The seventy-nine-year-old man was living in the Fresh Water area on the […]
