While Aragon stopped short of elaborating on an ostensible criminal matter, he says that on a personal note, one must take into consideration the fact that these kinds of circumstances often arise when dealing with people. Reporter “Sir, for you personally as a politician out of Orange Walk, is it painful for you […]
The fate of Darlene Padron, the Justice of the Peace who knowingly or unknowingly endorsed the fraudulent land document, lies with the Office of the Attorney General which is conducting an investigation into the signing of the deed. Earlier today, News Five spoke briefly with Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte who informed us that they are […]
Compounded with the ongoing Senate Special Select Committee inquiry on Immigration, in which several senior public officers have been implicated, in the P.S.U.’s words, of “outright corruption, wrongdoing and lack of integrity in the performance of their duties,” the P.S.U. makes clear that even when a Minister is to blame, the Public Service invariably takes […]
We start tonight with important developments in the case of Amy Forte, a Belmopan resident who wrote the office of Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources Dean Barrow on Tuesday. She contends that her name was wrongly used to underline a swap of land on the private island of Mosquito Caye, located next to […]
This evening, News Five obtained a letter sent by Andre Vega’s attorney, Estevan Perera, to C.E.O. in the Ministry of Natural Resources, Sharon Ramclam Young. Basically, the son of the former Deputy Prime Minister says he is prepared to relinquish the seven-acre Mosquito Caye property to prevent further issues. But the point is moot in […]
This afternoon, the People’s United Party registered its disgust with the latest revelations. In a forty-five minute press conference at its headquarters, Independence Hall, leader John Briceño assailed the Prime Minister for his failure to act sooner and for what he called attempts to downplay the involvement of his ex-deputy, and set out a list […]
As the Prime Minister contended in our interview after the House meeting of August twenty-first, the transactions detailed in a prior set of leaked documents involving the Vegas appeared to be legitimate on the surface and “I don’t know that there is any actionable illegality there.” But he had previously stated that he had not […]
So what needs to be done differently to address the ‘hotbed of corruption’, as the Prime Minister himself termed the Ministry of Natural Resources to Belizean-Americans in Los Angeles in October of 2013? There have been several recent bills brought to the House of Representatives for first reading and the Opposition Leader today called them […]
Briceño also discussed the role of various Vega family members and acquaintances in roping off the Lands Ministry for their personal grab-tub, most notably former National Estate Officer and Justice of the Peace Darlene Padron, whom he alleges has done this many times before. It appears, he said, that this was a mostly internal cabal […]
The fatal shooting of thirty-year-old Dwayne Almendarez on August fifteenth, in Yo Creek Village, has resulted in a single charge of manslaughter being brought against a customs officer earlier today. Almendarez was among several passengers on a commuter bus who were involved in an altercation with B.D.F. and customs officers at a checkpoint along the […]
There are more revelations tonight concerning the extent of the Vega family’s grab for land across the country. Not only was there land swapping with seemingly willing accomplices, but new documentation indicates that relatives of former deputy Prime Minister and Lands Minister Gaspar Vega engaged in alleged forgery in a land scheme involving compensation for […]
It remains to be seen how the Prime Minister and Senator Doctor Carla Barnett, who has been put in day-to-day charge of the Ministry of Natural Resources, will react to the bombshell dropped by Amy Forte and her attorneys. But in response to a sheaf of documents totaling one hundred and eighteen, which detailed another […]
For the second time in several months, a well-known Belizean artist is the victim of an armed robbery. The most recent and brazen attack occurred this morning near the Lord Ridge Cemetery in which dancehall star Dajah Young was held up at gunpoint by a robber who pounced on her as she walked along the […]
The last word on Sunday’s United Democratic Party municipal convention in Belize City goes to the vanquished Philip Willoughby. He lost out to the better-heeled Dion Leslie for the mayoral position but just made it on the list of councilors, and earned admiration from many for persevering in the face of monumental odds. Today, he […]
Even though Willoughby is not at the top of the ticket, his decision to focus his race on promoting a “softer social” side of a council appears to have some traction with both the electorate and his erstwhile opponents. The council, however, focused on infrastructural and macro-economic gains. Willoughby told us that he will continue […]
Following months of calm, the bloodbath in the month of August has resulted in eight murders. Not all, but it is considered that most of the killings are gang-related. So is a pact between the rival gangs holding? That’s questionable, but what is known is that the thriving drug trade is behind a spate of […]
Across the western border, Guatemala has been thrown into a political crisis following an attempt by President Jimmy Morales to expel United Nations anti-corruption commissioner Ivan Velasquez. It succeeds an announcement on Friday that Velasquez and Chief Prosecutor Thelma Aldana would seek the removal of the president’s immunity so he could be investigated for campaign […]
The unrest is particularly worrisome for Elrington who says that Belize must now be extremely conscientious of its relationship with its neighbor since the territorial dispute can be used as a smoke screen to distract Guatemalans from internal conflicts. Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs “Whenever you have these occurrences in our region, […]
So, with Carlos Raul gone, should Belize step up its security presence along the western border? According to Elrington, that has been his intonation all along; however, it doesn’t mean that Belize’s security forces should take on a confrontational approach. When asked what the present state of affairs signifies for the recently approved referendum process […]
2008 was the last time the United Democratic Party staged a contested convention for the mayoral nomination for Belize City; the U.D.P. has been in control of the City Council since 2006. That year, more than six thousand, six hundred voters cast ballots at the Belize City Center, and incumbent Zenaida Moya defeated her then-deputy, […]
Earlier today, we asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs about dubious campaign financing. Elrington says it’s not a charge that can be made against him since his political campaigns and those of his daughter Alifa are personally funded from monies he says he legitimately earned. On Sunday, Elrington’s youngest daughter offered herself for candidacy on […]
Has the gang truce in the city fallen apart? This month alone, there have been as many as eight murders in the Old Capital where August has turned out to be the most murderous month for 2017. This morning, as early as eight o’clock, a man was killed near his house on Curl Thompson Street […]
Following Friday evening’s news, police announced the arrest of two men in connection with the murder of Windell Gibson and attempted murder of Karon Santos. The men were shot by assailants on Lindo’s Alley in an attempt to get to another person in the area who escaped. Today, twenty-six-year-old Orlando Salazar of South Creek, and […]
After years of negotiations with the Government of Belize, developer Michael Feinstein has finally gotten the green-light to proceed with the construction of the Stake Bank Cruise Ship Docking Facility. The last we had heard of the proposed project was that there was a back-and-forth between Feinstein and Minister of Tourism Manuel Heredia Junior in […]
There have now been four murders in Belize City in as many days, and seven so far in the month of August. At news time Thursday evening, twenty-six-year-old Windell Gibson of Lawrence Avenue, Belize City, lay dead in the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital of multiple gunshot wounds. He was shot as many as eight times […]
