Arguments concluded today in the courtroom of Justice Courtney Abel who is hearing the case brought against the management of the central prison, Kolbe Foundation, by a former inmate, Orel Leslie. Seven persons testified, including Prison C.E.O. Virgilio Murillo who was cross-examined by attorney Audrey Matura. Leslie is challenging the prison for inhumane treatment he […]
The cause of death of an elderly food vendor whose body was found inside a latrine has been released though the motive for her murder has not been confirmed. A post-mortem examination conducted on the body of sixty-eight-year-old Martha Gonzalez on Tuesday revealed that she was fatally stabbed. According to the results, Gonzalez was stabbed […]
There were fireworks in Senate today on two matters that required ratification to pass. First, last week in the House, the Government passed a motion to borrow fourteen million dollars more from the International Development Bank for the George Price Rehabilitation project. That loan is to top off another fifty-four million dollars borrowed back in […]
Even so, the loan was approved by a majority of senators this afternoon. Most of the road is still under repair and the Roaring Creek Bridge is incomplete. The new loan brings the total cost of the road rehabilitation project to over eighty million Belize dollars. Private sector Senator Mark Lizarraga says that there is […]
Last Friday, the House also passed an amendment to the GST Act which affects tour operators. It came on the heels of a ruling by the Caribbean Court of Justice in October ordering G.O.B. to repay more than half a million dollars to Cruise Solutions Limited and Discovery Expeditions Limited. The C.C.J. ruling set aside […]
Senator Lizarraga points out that the business community is nervous about this move by government because it goes beyond tour operators since it blurs the line between the separation of powers of the judiciary and the executive. He also notes investor confidence is shaken when the government resorts to parliament to bypass a court ruling. […]
Minister Omar Figueroa was among a group of cabinet members who made a request to Prime Minister Dean Barrow to postpone his planned retirement and remain as party leader. Now that the PM has agreed to stay on until closer to the next general elections, the move has put a wrench in the leadership ambitions […]
Convicted criminal, thirty-five-year-old Bert Vasquez was in court today for his sentencing hearing in the courtroom of Justice Colin Williams. It took hours as the court heard a very lengthy mitigation plea from Vasquez, who represented himself. He told the court that he has not been afforded his constitutional right to a fair trial within […]
An elderly vendor from the village of San Felipe, Orange Walk, has been found murdered in the Stann Creek District. She had been missing since last Friday; today the body of Marta Gonzalez was discovered inside a pit latrine and wrapped in a tarp. Gonzalez travelled every two weeks to southern Belize to sell food. […]
Twenty-one-year-old Belizean Rakeem Francis was murdered on Thanksgiving Day in Los Angeles, U.S.A. Francis was reportedly stabbed to death by his seventeen-year-old girlfriend following a heat’s argument in an alley behind an apartment complex in Baldwin Hills where Francis resided. He had been stabbed to the chest once, left for dead and later found by […]
There is a major shift in the power play in the United Democratic Party in regards to the retirement of Prime Minister Dean Barrow. The PM has decided to stay in power and ride out his term in office which expires in 2020. This was announced today in a rare release following a meeting of […]
Twenty-five former employees of Choice Bank Limited are demanding that Sagicor Life Insurance return their money. Choice Bank went belly up after it announced liquidity issues in April of this year. The Central Bank pulled its international banking license two days after Choice Bank announced that depositors will be able to withdraw up to seventy-five […]
The disgruntled and frustrated former Choice Bank employees say that if Sagicor continues to give them the round-a-around they will resort to legal action. Adrian Arana, Former Chief Compliance Officer, Choice Bank Ltd. “In the process from the windup when we first contact them in 2017 we had legal counsel involved, but when the […]
Christmas is less than a month away, but for two families in Belize City, there is not much to celebrate this season. The Williams and Neal families were displaced today by a raging fire that totally gutted their house at the corner of Rocky Road and Plues Street. The fire started on the lower flat […]
A pool of local media personalities continues with a tour of the seat of the International Court of Justice at The Hague. Marleni Cuellar is among the journalists on assignment in the Netherlands. The highlight of the visit today was tour of the I.C.J.; it was a solemn occasion at an iconic building that houses […]
There was both joy and relief for the families of thirteen fishermen on Saturday morning. The fishermen had set sail fifteen days ago from Copper Bank and during that time, there was no word from them; their seven families hoped for the best, but feared the worst after multiple reports surfaced that the vessel had […]
While the fishermen are safe and sound, a Guatemalan national was shot and killed in the Cayo District over the weekend. On Sunday afternoon, twenty-six-year-old Jairo Alfaro was found in the vicinity of the Xunantunich Archaeological Site with gunshot wounds to the back of the neck and upper right chest. According to police, the young […]
A couple is lucky to be alive tonight after narrowly escaping with their lives when a hail of bullets was fired into their home in the early hours of Sunday morning. Vilma Robinson and Erick McLarly were fast asleep inside a residence in the Eight Mile Community when the echo of gunshots startled them out […]
Two men are enjoying their freedom tonight after spending five years behind bars for murder. Twenty-three-year-old Micah Tillett and twenty-five-year-old Jed Burgess were acquitted of the 2013 murder of twenty-one-year-old Jamal Neal by Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Williams today. Senior Crown Counsel, Sheneiza Smith closed the prosecution’s case after the main witness could not be […]
In the lower courts, twenty-nine-year-old Aaron Lindo was arraigned for the crime of drug trafficking. Lindo, who was unrepresented, appeared before Magistrate Emmerson Banner and pleaded not guilty to trafficking over five pounds of weed. He was granted bail of five thousand dollars plus a surety of the same amount. But before posting bail, Lindo […]
A pool of Belizean journalists is in The Hague, Netherlands for one week. The group representing seven media houses and the Government Press Office includes our Marleni Cuellar. They arrived in that city on Sunday with the sole purpose to learn more about the International Court of Justice. The journalists have engaged in a number […]
Former High Commissioner for Belize to UK, Kamela Palma is speaking out against the Christmas Cheer by the U.D.P. Administration. Palma has been living in Punta Gorda since she vacated the post in London. She questions what the administration hopes to achieve by giving out Christmas cheer allowances of twenty-five thousand dollars to each elected […]
A massive search and rescue effort to locate a seagoing vessel carrying ten fishermen onboard is underway in the waters of the Turneffe Atoll. It is reported that Nayadi set out to sea fourteen days ago from the village of Copper Bank in the Corozal District and neither the fishing boat nor its crew has […]
Late this evening, News Five spoke by phone with Melissa Garcia whose brother, twenty-six-year-old Aldo Antonio Hernandez is also missing at sea. According to Garcia, she spoke with her brother last Wednesday before he set out on the fishing trip. On the Phone: Melissa Garcia, Sister of Missing Fisherman “The only thing I know […]
Two years ago, in November 2016, Commandante Fidel Castro, Cuba’s former president, died at the age of ninety from natural causes. In the 1950’s, Castro emerged as the Leader of the Cuban Revolution after defeating dictator Fulgencio Batista. He became President of Cuba in 1959. The “fiery apostle of revolution’ as the New York Times […]
