There was a parliamentary caucus and a cabinet meeting held today in Belmopan prior to Friday’s House meeting. Cabinet agreed to the reinstatement, with immediate effect, of Sapna Budhrani. The Minister of Culture, Patrick Faber, confirmed that she is now back on the job. Patrick Faber, Minister of Culture “The Board of NICH met […]
The Belize National Teachers Union and the Ministry of Education are at odds again. The B.N.T.U. says a number of its members will be disenfranchised by the “finalized” listing of re-categorised hardship schools. The list was introduced by the Ministry of Education at the start of the school year, but the B.N.T.U. says the exercise […]
The Council also looked at the issue of day offs, half day or a full day, granted to teachers only at the end of the month to collect salaries at the banks. Back in November 2010, it was agreed that eligible schools with proper justification would be allowed to take the last Friday off in […]
There has been a mass firing of teachers at the Saint Peter Claver College Extension in Punta Gorda. As many as nine teachers, who represent ninety percent of the teaching staff, were first asked to pick up their cheques and then handed their termination letters on Tuesday. The firings have sent the adult education centre […]
The decision was unilaterally taken by the Board of Saint Peter Claver College Extension. But that board consists of only the Chair, Lisel Alamilla and the treasurer, Mark Miller. The teachers are questioning if the decision is valid since the board is operating without representatives from the teacher, the student body, the Ministry of Education […]
Alamilla became chairperson of the institution back in November of 2017 and since then, the student population has doubled. There have also been various improvements at the facility. She contends that there was a lack of proper accounting and the proposed payment plan was designed to put in place proper controls. Alamilla acknowledges that applications […]
The Supreme Court has handed down a hefty fine on Orange Walk South area representative Abelardo Mai to pay over two hundred and twenty thousand dollars in damages to the family of Julia Arana. On April first, sometime around eight in the night, Mai was driving along the Philip Goldson Highway when he knocked down […]
Today’s ruling was monumental. It sets a new precedence in amounts to be paid to grieving families in Belize for fatal traffic accidents. Attorney Sheena Pitts explained that the conventional award for loss of life is usually three thousand five hundred dollars, but today her client was awarded twenty thousand dollars. She explains how this […]
Eight lawmen jointly charged for murdering forty-six-year-old Ariel Audinette had the charges dismissed this morning when they appeared in the Orange Walk Magistrate Court. Police officer Lennart Cajun; B.D.F. soldiers Mateo Bolon, Patrick Villagran Senior, Patrick Diego, Elvis Cob, Edmar Petillo, Bladimir Escarraga and Francis Sho were accused of violently beating Audinett to death at […]
According to attorney Oscar Selgado, the Crown told the court that the case file is not ready because the prosecution has not received further instructions from the Office of the Public Prosecution. Oscar Selgado, Attorney for Defendants “To my surprise also the prosecutor a very junior member of the police force, h e was […]
A candlelight vigil was held on Monday night at the Petillo’s residence in Orange Walk in memory of the four family members who perished on Sunday in an early morning fire. Town residents came out in numbers in support of the Petillo family. In an attempt to save two of his daughters and stepson, thirty-five-year-old […]
Two young students from Santa Elena, Cayo were manhandled by the police; the images were caught on cell phone camera and posted on social media. The incident was witnessed by a number of students and has caused uproar in the west and elsewhere. The duo has been released by the cops without charges and an […]
Twenty-six-year-old Kenrick Longsworth Hendy handed himself over to police this afternoon. Longsworth was wanted for allegedly shooting at police officers on Saturday morning near the Swing Bridge in downtown Belize City. The official police report states that forty-seven-year-old police officer Glenn Caliz was on Hydes Lane in a police mobile when he received information of […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow left Belize weeks ago for Cuba where he underwent spinal surgery on September fourth for a back condition that plagued him for years. There is word from his office that the PM will return to Belize this Thursday. According to the very brief release, the Prime Minister is recovering on schedule […]
A Belizean-American soldier has died in South Korea. Twenty-two-year-old Private First Class Adrienne Barillas of Woodlands, Texas, was found unresponsive at Camp Humphreys on Sunday. There are not many details known about the soldier’s death except that it is being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Command. The Second Infantry Division soldier had been assigned to […]
The top brass at the Ministry of National Security has publicly come out in support of a ‘YES’ vote to take the Guatemalan claim to the International Court of Justice. The ministry’s C.E.O. Felix Enriquez, Deputy ComPol Chester Williams, Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Borland and B.D.F. Commander Steven Ortega did so in Open Your […]
Taking such a public position is unprecedented because the I.C.J. vote is a controversial and emotional issue with political implications. The position of the top brass of the security forces begs many questions: what if the officers and rank and file feel differently? Have the security forces taken a political position, and given up their […]
There has been another tragic fire which has resulted in loss of life of several family members. In June, four members of the Nunez family perished in a fire in the Escalante subdivision of San Pedro. Today, the community in Orange Walk Town is reeling from a devastating fire in which a father and three […]
The fire at the corner of Progress and Cinderella Streets in Orange Walk has caused emotional distress. Five adults and seven children survived and have been left displaced. Today, counselors from the Belize Community Counselling Center were at the family’s home meeting with affected family members, helping them get through this difficult time. The Ministry […]
Here in Belize City, a fire wiped out a family home in Belize City on Jane Usher Boulevard, but fortunately there was no loss of life. The family of four, however, lost everything in the blaze which erupted sometime between midnight and one o’clock this morning. The family says that the fire started in a […]
Almost two weeks after he disappeared, the decomposing body of Miguel Arroyo was discovered on an island near San Pedro. The twenty-three-year-old San Pedro fisherman headed to a store on the island and that was the last time his family had contact with him. Despite joint searches by family and police, it was not until […]
There was another tragic death. Sometime after six on Saturday, police were called out to the Krooman Lagoon area at the entrance on mile one and half on the George Price Highway where a one-year-eleven-month old boy was found in a vat situated next to the house. The baby, Kelvin Sanchez, was last seen inside […]
The official ceremonies on Independence Day took place in Belmopan. Since Prime Minister Dean Barrow was not available for the event and still in recovery, Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber was named as the PM’s representative. Faber is one of the few that have given the official G.O.B. statement on Independence Day. He spoke on […]
The three arms of the Ministry of National Security have taken a collective position as it relates to the International Court of Justice. Appearing in uniforms this morning on Open Your Eyes, were Deputy Commissioner of Police Chester Williams, Rear Admiral John Borland of the Belize Coastguard and Brigadier General Steven Ortega from the Belize […]
There are two major developments on the illegal landing of a drug plane with fourteen million dollars worth of cocaine. The drug, one thousand two hundred and twenty-six pounds of it, packed in bales, was destroyed today in western Belize in an operation mounted by the police. The other very significant event happened here in […]
