There have been seven persons recommended, but not yet appointed, to the Integrity Commission. It has been fifteen days since the names of Marilyn Williams for Chairman; Armead Gabourel; Lisbeth Delgado; Wilmot Simmons; Nestor Vasquez; Melissa Balderamos Mahler and Claudet Grinage were submitted to the Senate and approved, though not without contention. In the case […]
The body of a woman fished out of the Belize River on Wednesday, remains unidentified tonight. No one has come forward to verify her identity despite very distinct features on the body. It is believed, however, that in life she was homeless who wandered the streets of the City. The body had cut wounds to […]
There’s another murder to report tonight. About two miles off the Buena Vista Road in the Cayo District a body of a middle-aged man of Hispanic origins was discovered. According to police, the body was found lying face up in a pond of water on a ranch in Buena Vista Village. We are unable to […]
With Christmas just around the corner, criminals are on the loose. This afternoon, they are targeted Belize Electricity Limited in broad daylight. Police are investigating the hold up of a security guard that happened shortly before three this afternoon. Two assailants made their way to the entrance of B.E.L. Headquarters at mile two on the […]
In the Capital, the Senate hosted its final session for 2016 at the National Assembly. It reviewed and passed nine bills brought back from the House and several motions. Of these, the most important are the motions asking for ratification of the Special Agreement between Belize and Guatemala formalizing a potential settlement of the unfounded […]
The Opposition contends that there has been a rush to judgment and that the Government need not have acted with such haste. They say their view is bolstered by an admission from the Foreign Minister that the ratification of the Agreements is not and has never been needed to hold the referendum. That, combined with […]
One thousand six hundred acres of prime farm land gobbled up by a powerful family in five years, at great loss to the Government and people of Belize. That, in brief, is the story of the land grab in Carmelita village, Orange Walk, broken by News Five and spurred on by the People’s United Party. […]
Among the bills considered by the Senate today is the Treasury Bill (Number Three) Amendment Bill, which juggles the limits that Government can raise on treasury bills and treasury notes. There is a net increase of a quarter billion dollars which should adequately cover the second B.T.L. Arbitration Award payment. But it brings its own […]
Ladyville Police are investigating the ghastly discovery of a badly decomposed body found floating along the Belize River earlier today. The body of an unidentified woman was retrieved from the waterway this afternoon, in an area approximately three miles downstream from the Burrell Boom Bridge. Dressed in a dark blue blouse and a pair of […]
Today, the family of Janeeka Campbell said their final goodbyes to the two year old child as she was laid to rest at the Lord Ridge Cemetery in Belize City, following funeral services at the Universal Church on Queen Street. But police have still not been able to determine whether her death was as a […]
Did a man who was on the run in connection with a murder take his own life? On Tuesday, Maximiliano Williams was found dead with an apparent gunshot wound to the left side of the chest in Yalbac Village in the Cayo District. He was wanted by San Ignacio Police in connection with the murder […]
A residence in the Lake Gardens community in Ladyville was burglarized by thieves this morning. Sometime around ten-thirty, Ladyville police were summoned to an isolated area where they discovered that a home had been broken into by burglars. The men reportedly gained access through the rear of the building by prying open its backdoor. But, […]
The Senate Special Committee on Immigration hosted its third meeting in Belmopan today. It continued its questioning of Auditor General, Dorothy Bradley, and Supervisor of Audit Carla Faber, on various aspects of the three-volume Special Audit Report on Visas, Passports and Nationality 2011-2013. One major question raised so far during the meeting is how the […]
Inside the Senate Committee meeting, much of the discussion in the morning session was taken up with going over the requirements to issue visas, which the Department seemed to treat as step one in the accelerated process to becoming, illegally, a Belizean citizen. Apart from the usual requirements, matters of security and finance were on […]
The auditors noted in the course of their report that twenty-five thousand defective visas bought from Three-M Company in the U.S. were replaced at a cost of more than fifty thousand Belize dollars, and the originals were destroyed before they could get to them. As part of their investigation of the cash and stock on […]
On Monday night broke the news that Vanessa Retreage was stepping down from Cabinet. This afternoon, Prime Minister Dean Barrow hosted a press conference confirming our report that Attorney General and Minister of Natural Resources Vanessa Retreage was calling it quits from her senatorial and ministerial posts effective the end of December. Retreage says she […]
So, a year after assuming responsibility for Attorney General and four months after becoming the Minister of Natural Resources, Retreage goes back to her law firm Reyes and Retreage where she says she has standing commitments. Today, she was gracious in thanking the staff at the Ministry of Natural Resources, as well as those the […]
There has been speculation that Retreage’s resignation comes on the heels of a death threat she received via email sometime a few weeks ago. The outgoing Attorney General said that while her personal security was stepped up in the wake of the threat, the Central Information Technology Office in Belmopan was critical in tracking down […]
In addition to the Attorney General’s resignation and the appointment of her successor, the most important piece of news coming out of the press conference was the Prime Minister’s assumption of the Ministry of Natural Resources. While he will not oversee the daily functions of the Lands Department, PM Barrow has taken on the second […]
A successor for House Speaker Michael Peyrefitte has been proposed, but will be made official at the next sitting of the House of Representatives. That person is retired nurse Laura Longsworth who is well-known for her activism in cancer and HIV/AIDS awareness. Peyrefitte takes over on January first. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “I think […]
Last week News Five dropped a bombshell that continues to wag tongues. In the span of five years, one thousand, six hundred acres of prime farmland along the Philip Goldson Highway in the village of Carmelita, Orange Walk District, was gobbled up by members of the powerful Vega family and their company, German Vega and […]
The land flip has raised eyebrows, particularly in parliament where Hyde made his presentation. When asked if she was aware of the situation, Minister of Natural Resources Vanessa Retreage told the media today that she only became aware of it when Hyde gave an interview to the media last week, ahead of Friday’s House meeting. […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow returned home to Belize on Saturday night, following a week-long trip to New York where he met with a team of structuring advisors and lawyers, ahead of a meeting with the Belize Coordinating Committee which represents bondholders. The meeting with Citigroup officials and attorney Lee Buchheit to discuss government’s objectives for […]
The prime minister’s health aside, the call to New York was for the three-man team, including Economic Ambassador Mark Espat and Financial Secretary Joseph Waight, to sit down with government’s advisors. The meeting with representatives of Citigroup Global Markets and Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton was to ensure that they were all on the same […]
On Friday, News Five spoke with Charles Blitzer, special advisor to the Belize Coordinating Committee. During that interview he disclosed that bondholders have pored over government’s recent postings on Central Bank’s website and that they are studying those figures carefully. While those online messages reflect poor economic conditions, there are serious concerns as to whether […]
