While logistical preparations are ongoing, if the Emergency Operations Center needs to be activated, at present moment it has no base. In recent years, the City Council has used a number of different locations including the Charles Bartlett Hyde Building, but they must now find a new base for operations and CEMO has its eyes […]
He served as Acting Prime Minister twice in the first half of April while Prime Minister Dean Barrow was out on medical leave. But could Minister of Labour, Local Government and Rural Development and Corozal North area representative Hugo Patt be seeking the job for real – as the next leader of the United Democratic […]
The start of construction of a perimeter fence by the Belize Defence Force at the western border triggered an uproar by taxi drivers from Guatemala who claimed they were being put out of the area. The B.D.F. maintained that the fence was being built to provide security and to ease traffic congestion. Today, we re-visited […]
There have been increasing reports of incursions into Belizean territory by Guatemalan farmers, loggers and poachers along both the western and southern borders. In the case of the west, Friends for Conservation and Development have attributed the occurrence to the influence of rogue leaders seeking to take advantage of the overwhelming yes vote by Guatemalans […]
The villagers say they are concerned about not being able to defend themselves from possible attacks, although they have made it clear that the Guatemalans are not welcome to farm in the area. PGTV’s Wil Maheia, who is also leader of the Belize Territorial Volunteers, is offering his assistance. Village chairman Olario Ical says they […]
Forty-eight-year-old Fiorman Erick Gillett, a Belizean based in Houston, Texas, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, also known as crystal meth. Gillett, also known as “B,” was being looked at by the Drug Enforcement Administration of the U.S. in February of 2017 after they snared a confidential source who […]
Santander will be fined – that’s what Minister Tracy Panton said today. For the past two weeks and the last time we spoke with Panton, it wasn’t clear if the company would be sanctioned for the violation of its Export Processing Zone license when it put sugar for sale on the domestic market. On May […]
And on the topic of sugar, Panton responded to statements made by Leader of the Opposition, John Briceño. On Tuesday, Briceño said G.O.B. should be doing more to export all Belizean sugar to CARICOM. According to Panton, Belize’s sugar has market access at duty free rates but what is lacking is market penetration. Tracy […]
Businesses along Albert Street have become the target of thieves in recent days, despite a noticeable police presence in the downtown area of Belize City. Last Thursday, we reported on a pair of armed robberies during which the culprits made off with cash from the proceeds of the day’s sales. The thieves struck at Hofius […]
While the robbery at M and L Collections failed, on Monday night, well-known businessman Jeremy Spooner, better known as ‘Spoonaz,’ was the victim of an armed robbery. He was inside his business Spoonaz Photo Café on North Front Street in Belize City just before eleven when a gunman, dressed in a brown security guard uniform, […]
Leader of the Opposition People’s United Party, John Briceño, today hosted a press briefing at Independence Hall covering a multitude of national issues. But the party is presently experiencing some internal turmoil over its ongoing vetting process for candidates to contest the upcoming general elections. In Belmopan, three candidates are vying, but two more well-known […]
Another flashpoint for the P.U.P. is the June seventeenth contested convention in the Albert division. Current standard bearer Senator Paul Thompson is being challenged by his Upper House colleague Valerie Woods. Both lay claim to support from inside the division and long ties to it and the competition has been fierce. On Friday night, police […]
The party has faced questions about its level of participation in the convention season by women, after defeated candidate in Corozal Bay, Thea Garcia Ramirez, suggested the party would not make its thirty percent threshold for female candidates. There has also been a suggestion that former U.D.P. mayor of Belize City Zenaida Moya might switch […]
Ahead of the July first start of the long overdue re-registration exercise, the People’s United Party has shared many of its concerns about the preparation of the Elections and Boundaries Commission and Election and Boundaries Department for re-registering as many as two hundred thousand persons countrywide to vote. A few thousand of those are previous […]
Ahead of the start of the process, the P.U.P. has called on Prime Minister Dean Barrow to invite, as the Manuel Esquivel government did in 1997, the Organization of American States to an electoral observer mission. The P.U.P. leader shared the party’s concerns including a lack of recognition for the five members on the Elections […]
There are two versions about the police shooting of a minor over the weekend. The thirteen-year old remains hospitalized tonight after being shot multiple times on Saturday evening. The Pitter family is contradicting the police report on how Elwin Pitter, better known as ‘Flap,’ ended up at the Karl Heusner Hospital. Flap’s father, who has […]
Just before news time last Thursday, our newsroom received reports of a suspected drug plane being tracked by local authorities heading north. Despite checks made in Corozal and Orange Walk, there was no confirmation of any illegal landing in Belize. That’s because the aircraft in fact carried out a wet drop in the Rio Hondo […]
Just before news time on Friday, there was an armed robbery at a popular business establishment. Police are looking for two persons of interest in connection with the brazen robbery of Courts Belize. The incident reportedly happened on Friday evening around four p.m. and was reported four hours later by the manager of the Corozal […]
A sizeable drug bust over the weekend has resulted in the arrest of a police officer in the Orange Walk District. Twenty-two-year-old Braiden Robateau is assigned to the San Ignacio police formation, but on Saturday afternoon he was all the way in Santa Cruz Village with a group of men hauling a load of marijuana. […]
It is our policy not to report on suicides, however, an incident this afternoon in Dangriga has left the community in shock. Maurrice Serrano, identified as the driver for Mayor Francis Humphreys, was reportedly being sought by police pending charges of sexual assault committed on a pair of minors. When the officers caught up with […]
As many as sixty-two persons have lost their lives since the eruption of the Fuego volcano in El Rodeo Village near Antigua, Guatemala on Sunday. A river of lava discharged from the volcano, sending plumes of thick smoke and volcanic ash almost six miles into the atmosphere. According to Guatemala’s health ministry, fifteen persons, including […]
According to reports from Guatemala’s Institute of Forensic Sciences, volcanic ash has already blanketed a twelve-mile radius and winds could carry the dark gray cloud even farther. Authorities have called on residents living near the volcano to evacuate immediately, particularly those in the states of Chimaltenango and Escuintla to watch out for volcanic rocks and […]
The release of white sugar in the local market by the Spanish company, Santander, has thrown the local sugar industry into a tailspin. On May eleventh, it was first detected that through DV Distributors, the white sugar was retailing in stores in the Corozal, Orange Walk and Cayo Districts in violation of Santander’s Export Processing […]
As far as it is known, no fines have been imposed on the Spanish company for violating the EPZ status despite warnings by the Ministry of Trade and Investment. So is the government being too soft on Santander by now considering a waiver to its current EPZ certificate? On Thursday, Minister Tracey Panton said that […]
Police this evening confirmed that one person was arrested and charged for shooting a soldier of the Belize Defence Force. It happened in the village of San Pedro Colombia in the Toledo District sometime this morning. A twelve-gauge shotgun recovered by police is suspected to be the weapon used in the shooting. The soldier is […]
