The body of twenty-two-year-old Adrienne Barillas, a Second Infantry Division soldier found dead at Camp Humphreys in South Korea, was returned to Belize this morning and handed over to her grieving family. At around eleven a.m., a casket bearing the remains of the U.S. Army soldier arrived at the Philip Goldson International Airport. Barillas, decorated […]
Two men charged for the 2009 murder of fifty-nine-year-old Taiwanese businessman Tsong Ming Liou, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter on September twenty-sixth. On Friday, the duo, thirty-two-year-old Jewel Palma and twenty-six-year-old Oscar Maldonado had their sentence reduced from sixteen years behind bars to eight months in jail by Justice Colin Williams. Justice […]
A bar brawl at an establishment in Belize City almost claimed a woman’s life after being attacked with a bottle for attempting to part a group of fighting women. Ana Heredia remains hospitalized after she was viciously cut and left to bleed out inside La Barbie on Cemetery Road. While police have since detained three […]
The Federation of Cruise Tourism Associations of Belize, FECTAB, is at odds once again with the Belize Tourism Board; this time over a proposal to remove tour operators from the terminal one area of the Fort Street Tourism Village to the Marion Jones Sporting Complex. The plan, which was to be announced on Thursday at […]
FECTAB President, Yhony Rosado broke down how the move has personally affected him and other tour operators, saying that the small tour operators predicted that their fate would be hanging in the balance with the introduction of a foreign tour company and the redirection of Norwegian Cruise Line’s ships to Harvest Caye in the south. […]
As we said, Thursday’s press conference was postponed at the request of the City Council because of the outcry by the tour operators. Today, Deputy Mayor Oscar Arnold attended the FECTAB press conference and said that the City Council has made the decision to shelf the proposal until further consultations are done. Oscar Arnold, […]
FECTAB says that the B.T.B. is appeasing Carnival Cruise Lines at the detriment of the small tour operators and tour guides posted outside of FSTV. According to the umbrella organization, there are forty tour operators or roughly about six hundred persons working at the tourist village and collectively they say they are willing to say […]
A weather system is looming near Honduras and it is expected that it will become a tropical depression as it passes near Belize over the weekend. The City Emergency Management Organization, CEMO, headed by Councilor Michael Noralez, met this afternoon with officials from the National Emergency Management Organization. Out of that meeting which followed an […]
According to Al Westby, Central Regional Coordinator for NEMO, district coordinators have been asked to identify flood prone areas within their respective communities. River monitors have also been called in to keep watch in the Belize River Valley. In Belize City, Councilor Chips Noralez identified several of the low-lying areas that are prone to flooding. […]
Will cooler heads prevail between waterfront workers and the management of Port of Belize Limited, as the twenty-one day notice for industrial action inches closer? Both parties are yet to find common ground on the legality of the existing hours of work where gangs are toiling a single continuous shift that may exceed twenty-four hours […]
Fifty-one inmates, all presumed to be members of the George Street and Ghost Town gangs, were discharged from the Belize Central Prison on Wednesday night and returned to Belize City. Upon their arrival, they were escorted to the Queen Street Police Station where they reportedly met with Deputy Commissioner of Police Chester Williams and Dianne […]
Despite an intervention by Labor Minister Dr. Carla Barnett, a notice of strike by stevedores at Port of Belize is still in effect. That’s the message from the president of the Christian Workers Union tonight, after several meetings with the government representative. Since the impasse between the Port and the CWU, several meetings have been […]
According to the CWU president, there are several other issues on the table, outside of the hours of work proposal, that need to be negotiated. Hyde says that among those issues are the outstanding benefits to stevedores; six years worth of increments that has not materialized. Evan ‘Mose’ Hyde, President, Christian Workers Union “We […]
The Vital Statistics Unit is a ‘mess’ according to Church Senator Ashley Rocke and U.D.P. Senator Macario Coy. The issue of the unit’s inefficiency was debated on Wednesday during the Senate Sitting after an amendment to the Registration of Births and Deaths Act was brought for second reading. In August, News Five visited the Vital […]
Another piece of legislation relating to registration that was debated by the Senator was an amendment to the General Registry Act which seeks to alleviate the administrative burden of the Registrar General. P.U.P. Senator Valerie Woods pointed out that the Act was first passed in 1954 and the only amendment was made in 1977 which […]
A pair of minors in Trial Farm Village, Orange Walk District reported an incident to police in which they were being pursued by two unknown individuals. An eight-year-old girl and a fifteen-year-old were both walking home on Plum Street when they observed someone following them. Frightened, they both took off running, only to realize that […]
Twenty-three pounds of marijuana were discovered on Wednesday just outside of the Commercial Free Zone in Corozal. The quantity was found inside a brown wrapping, away from the outer fence and when police opened the packages the observed that it appeared to be cannabis. ACP Joseph Myvett, Head, National Crimes Investigation Branch “Border police […]
As many as fifty-one inmates from the George Street and Banak Street gangs are being released from the Belize Central Prison tonight, after being held in detention for the past thirty days. The men were all picked up during a predawn raid on their homes on the morning of September fourth. Since then, they were […]
With the State of Emergency now being suspended, earlier today the Senate debated an amendment to the Crime Control and Criminal Justice Act. The amendment is in relation to bail restrictions to gang memberships and other offenses. The amendment was debated in the House of Representatives last Friday when Lake Independence Area Representative, Cordel Hyde, […]
The Port of Belize and its attendant stevedores are at an impasse over working hours that that should be covered per ship. The management of the company which remains in receivership maintains that any shift exceeding fifteen hours is outside of the labor laws. On the other hand, the Christian Workers Union which represents waterfront […]
According to C.E.O. ‘Tux’ Vasquez, the Port of Belize has put in place security, as well as measures in the event that stevedores proceed with industrial action following the twenty-one day notice. Isani Cayetano “Now essentially you’ve been put on twenty-one days notice, notwithstanding the internal mechanisms that ought to be followed to try […]
The Port of Belize provides an essential service. It is a port of entry used to import and export millions of dollars worth of merchandise every single month. The standoff between stevedores and officials of the Port of Belize has caught the attention of the Government of Belize. Minister of State responsible for labor, Senator […]
The most debated motion brought to the Senate today was the conditional settlement agreement between NEWCO Limited and the Government of Belize. In 2002, the Belize Airports Authority and NEWCO Belize entered into an agreement to develop and operate the Philip Goldson International Airport. That concession agreement was terminated a year later on October twenty-seventh, […]
Taking part in the debate were U.D.P. Senator Orson Elrington and P.U.P. Senator Eamon Courtenay. Both Senators touched on Cabinet’s decision at the time to terminate the concession agreement. Orson Elrington, Interim U.D.P. Senator “Under that agreement NEWCO was given a concession for administration, maintenance and monetization of the airport. The terms include the […]
The Port of Belize Limited is once again at odds with gangs of stevedores working at the harbor, as well as their representative union. For years, the company has shared an adversarial relationship with waterfront workers, a somewhat confrontational state of affairs which dates back to the presidency of Antonio Gonzales. Since taking over as […]
