Today, President Luke Palacio said they intended to meet with the other unions to tell their side. He also addressed the warning he gave last week about intending to sue Government over allegations of union-busting. Luke Palacio, National President, B.N.T.U. “Yes, every effort will be made to meet with the other unions; we definitely […]
In his address to the nation, Prime Minister Dean Barrow gave specific examples of Government’s attempts to compromise with the Belize National Teachers’ Union. One is the Occupational Safety and Health Bill, which the unions have championed since its introduction several years ago. According to the Prime Minister, while the Bill died at the end […]
Palacio confirmed that the strike action is not indefinite. Despite the Union’s own financial issues, he says the teachers are quite willing to make the sacrifices necessary to cut the Government down to size. Luke Palacio, National President, B.N.T.U. “No, we cannot say that it’s indefinite, but we know that we will carry out […]
The Prime Minister conceded that he was prepared to increase to two the Opposition representatives on the Senate Select Committee to investigate the Special Audit on the Immigration Department. Today, we caught up with the Opposition Leader John Briceño. He expressed continued support to the B.N.T.U. That aside, Briceño condemned Government’s bullying and conniving ways. […]
Today, Minister of Foreign Affairs addressed the United Nations in a spirited speech touching principally on the Belize-Guatemala dispute. In his address to the seventy-first General Assembly, it was the first time that Wilfred Elrington finally took on Guatemala’s hostility against Belize. Elrington used some choice words and said Guatemala was “impeding the peaceful ingress […]
Elrington dedicated much time to respond to the Guatemalan President’s statement last week on the shooting incident involving the minor in the Chiquibul. And he didn’t hold back about what he thought of the Guatemalan’s response to the O.A.S. report by the international experts. Elrington said that Guatemala’s rejection is not just “reprehensible but also […]
At news time tonight, there are reports from Corozal that a body, believed to be that of a U.S. national, has washed ashore near the Finca Solana area. A white Ford Explorer pickup was also stationed in the area. At this early stage, the identity of the man is yet to be confirmed and so […]
Gringo, a documentary by Showtime producers on the life of John MacAfee, airs this Saturday on the US network. But before that happens controversy is already raging. Producers Nannette Burstein and Jeff Wise set out to follow the trail behind murder allegations against anti-virus mogul for the documentary. But on Thursday, four of John McAfee’s […]
The fifth person to come forward is Edward McKoy of twenty-six Dean Street in Belize City; he is a former security personnel employed by McAfee, who claims he was paid three thousand Belize dollars to provide information through an interview for the documentary. McKoy is the first to provide a paper trail; and News Five […]
Thursday’s four and a half hour meeting between the Prime Minister, Dean Barrow, and members of the Belize National Teachers’ Union concluded just around news time. From the immediate reactions of both sides, it seems there is still no conclusion to a saga begun months ago in the wake of the scandals surrounding the William […]
As we reported on Thursday night in our interview with Prime Minister Dean Barrow following a meeting with the Belize National Teachers Union, he appeared not to be concerned by the one hundred and fifty million dollars in domestic borrowing the Government must undertake to repay the former owners of Belize Telemedia Limited for the […]
Still on finances….this week we learned that Belize faces greater than ever economic strain, due to the expanding debt issues the country faces. Not the least of these is the Superbond, which sees a step-up in payments due next August. On Independence Day the Prime Minister promised he would have a solution before he leaves […]
Hurricane Earl swept through Belize since August but months later the damages left in its trail are multiplying. Several of eighteen fishermen on the island of Caye Caulker say they need significant help to recover from hurricane Earl, which threatens more damage to an industry that has already seen significant damage in other areas such […]
The Belize National Teacher’s Union and the Prime Minister are meeting at this time at the Biltmore Plaza. The marathon meeting started at two p.m. and continues as government attempts to hammer out an agreement with the B.N.T.U. The meeting follows another from last week with the joint negotiating team, which in addition to the […]
Official Independence Day ceremonies were held countrywide, but in San Ignacio, the day was tainted by violence. There were two stabbing incidents at the same venue on Hudson Street in the town. The first was fatal for a San Pedro resident who had recently relocated west for work. Twenty-seven year old Jesus Mai met his […]
Within less than twenty-four hours, around one a.m. today, two men were also stabbed after they exited the same nightclub on Hudson Street. Benjamin Pinelo and Antonio Aldana were involved in an altercation with two men who introduced knives into the fight. Pinelo was rushed to the Western Regional Hospital was treated and released this […]
Belize marked the thirty-fifth anniversary of Independence this past Wednesday. This September twenty-first comes at a major crossroads, when much of the nation is agitating for change and there is unease about where the country is heading. The official ceremonies were held in Belmopan where both Prime Minister Dean Barrow and the Leader of the […]
Just moments ago, the marathon meeting between Prime Minister Dean Barrow and the Belize National Teachers’ Union’s Council of Management concluded. This is after four and a half hours of negotiations on an eight-point agenda at the Belize Biltmore Plaza Hotel this afternoon. This meeting comes on the heels of a successful demonstration and rally […]
Shortly after Palacio’s interview with the press, Prime Minister Dean Barrow came down and addressed what he discussed with the teachers, much of which he had already responded to in a letter to the Union responding to their original letter of a few weeks ago. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “Well the agenda was pretty […]
Gringo, it’s the anticipated documentary about John McAfee, the eccentric millionaire, which is airing this Saturday on Showtime. But like most things in McAfee’s life, there are twists and turns that are surfacing just prior to the airing. Showtime producers are being accused of bribing four former employees to lie about McAfee. And they have […]
A three-judge panel of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) this morning advised attorneys representing Dunkeld International Investments, The B.T.L. Employees Trust and the Government of Belize to work out with all possible speed the settlement of the amount due from the government to the former shareholders of Belize Telemedia. Otherwise the court will step […]
The Government has said that the tribunal divided the award into a forty-sixty ratio; forty percent of the total representing the non-Accommodation Agreement portion and sixty percent representing the Accommodation Agreement portion. But government’s interpretation is that the lion’s share of the total figure is owed in Belize dollars and can only be spent to […]
It was left to Senior Counsel Denys Barrow to defend Government’s actions. He explained that Government assumed that whatever was left in the second payment would be sufficient to cover the value of the accommodation, but it is not turning out that way. Now government is on the hook to pay the first fifty percent […]
There were differing views on whether the Government can adhere to paying the remaining portion of the award due to Dunkeld in U.S. dollars, and should have paid the first instalment in Greenbacks. As we previously reported, the Central Bank’s Governor, Glenford Ysaguirre, wrote Financial Secretary Joseph Waight on July twenty-second, reporting that, “The Dunkeld […]
But the concern over the cash crunch is real for Financial Secretary Joseph Waight, who confirmed that Government must borrow further to complete the second payment for the B.T.L. Arbitration Award – one hundred and fifty million dollars more. Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary “The unfortunate thing is that we have to borrow the money […]
