The campaign for deputy leadership of the United Democratic Party was a spirited effort and both camps somehow managed to temper the mudslinging. While the issue of Faber’s professional relationship with women in his ministry and his political life came up, he says the negative spin by his opponent caught him by surprise. According to […]
On Tuesday, avid U.D.P. supporter Ingrid Hernandez, a constituent of Belize Rural Central, stopped by our office to express her discontent with animosity taking place within the party after Sunday’s convention. She had been working as a campaigner for Area Representative Beverly Castillo and was subsequently chosen as a delegate in the special convention. Hernandez, […]
Patrick Faber will be confirmed as Deputy Prime Minister by next week Tuesday, and fully expects that in that position he will be groomed for eventual leadership of the United Democratic Party. John Saldivar has indicated that he will contest in 2020, but Faber seems unconcerned, since he told News Five that he’s grown up […]
Julia Arana was hit on the Phillip Goldson Highway on April first. The Trial Farm resident was crossing the highway when a vehicle driven by area representative Jose Abelardo Mai hit her, leaving her comatose for some time. The mother of popular cyclist Nissan Arana was subsequent released from the K.H.M.H., but as we said, […]
The IMF’s Article Four consultation report came out last week, and as we reported then, it seems to be pretty much all bad news. It makes reference to a slowing economy and rising external vulnerabilities, reduction in GDP growth, widening of the current account deficit, falling exports, falling international reserves, widening of the fiscal deficit, […]
Is there a very serious divide in the ranks of the U.D.P. following Sunday’s Convention? A movement which we can call G-fourteen to follow tradition of political mutiny? That was the word out of Belmopan today as reports emerged that John Saldivar held a pre-Cabinet meeting at his home with the Ministers who supported him, […]
Shortly after the Convention results were announced, John Saldivar posted a note of congratulations to Patrick Faber on his victory. And then shortly after that, another post in which Saldivar pointed out that his dream lives on, a clear indication that in 2020 he still intends to contest for the post of U.D.P. leader when […]
That convention for leader, if there is one, won’t be for another four years, and Faber isn’t looking that far ahead. For now it’s about healing any bad feelings arising out of the deputy leader campaign and the Convention, and Faber says that will be his priority going ahead. And just in case you were […]
News Five also managed to get comment from Minister John Saldivar this evening, and asked him about that meeting at his house. His response – what meeting? He also denied all reports of any bad blood between camps, hostilities in Cabinet or demands made on the Prime Minister. According to Saldivar, this battle is over. […]
You’ll notice that Saldivar said the battle, and not the war, is over. That’s because as we told you, he has all intention of contesting Faber for the post of leader when that time comes around. He told News Five today that he doesn’t expect to lose any of the support he has in Cabinet, […]
While Minister Saldivar denies any ultimatum to the Prime Minister, there are other reports that one of the demands to be made was the removal of Godwin Hulse from the powerful Ministry of Natural Resources. But indications are that it didn’t happen after all. So how bad is the fallout in the wake of Sunday’s […]
Finnegan says that the process of healing within the rank and file of the U.D.P. is underway and that reconciliation among the Saldivar and Faber factions began this morning. Isani Cayetano “Mister Finnegan…is the United Democratic Party at this moment a house divided, as a result of what has taken place?” Michael Finnegan, […]
The Big Deal versus the Real Deal – kind of sounds like a WWE Wrestle Mania event, but it wasn’t. The U.D.P. convention on Sunday saw John Saldivar going against Patrick Faber for the vacant post of First Deputy Leader of the U.D.P., signaling an end to more than two months of very massive campaigning. […]
With the decided underdog declared victorious, it remains to be seen if time will heal the rift between camps. Much of the campaign was heated some of it very pointed and personal. Saldivar commanded the support of a majority of the so-called powerbrokers within the Party, including Gaspar Vega, Anthony ‘Boots’ Martinez, Erwin Contreras, Rene […]
In our newscast on Friday we reported that eight fishermen had been detained and were being processed by immigration authorities in Guatemala. The group was detained on the beach of Punta Manbique for illegal entry. Seven had fishing licences, but the eight fishermen did not hold any identification document. The fishermen are Jeffery Gongora, Manuel Flores, […]
Guatemala has issued a formal letter of protest to Belize with reference to a trip to the Sarstoon last Friday. Tonight, we can say that Guatemalan Ambassador to Belize Manuel Roldan has outrightly disputed our version of events. Just for some clarity, on Friday morning News Five attempted to go down the Northern Channel of […]
Based on the incident in the Sarstoon last Friday, today the People’s United Party issued a very strong release demanding that the government, “Act to re-establish full sovereignty and control over the Belizean internal waters of the Sarstoon River and Sarstoon Island.” The release called the interception of Belizean media in the Sarstoon illegal a […]
There continues to be much reference to what was referred to in a government release last Tuesday as an informal acceptance of a situation in which, “there will be untrammeled traffic for Belize’s military and civilians along the Sarstoon.” The wording is a little ambiguous, and since Courtenay was in Istanbul when this so-called agreement […]
You’ll notice that while Guatemala did not reject the assertion by Minister Elrington, they didn’t accept it either, so therein may lie the confusion. As was stated by Prime Minister Dean Barrow on Friday, there are also frequent claims by Guatemala that decisions made in these high-level meetings do not always reach the Sarstoon. Courtenay […]
Tonight, the uncertainty surrounding that volatile zone known as the Sarstoon is alive and well after Guatemalan Armed Forces denied a News Five team passage down the river this morning, claiming that we were trespassing in their national waters. If it had happened last week, as it has on multiple occasions in past months, it […]
Even as our team headed back to Belize City, deterred from entering the Sarstoon but having made the point that Guatemala isn’t playing on the same checkerboard, Prime Minister Dean Barrow weighed in on the incident with extreme prejudice. Apparently he had been briefed by C.E.O. in the Ministry of National Security George Lovell, likely […]
A release issued by government on Tuesday, announcing the revocation of the Sarstoon Prohibition SI, stated that, “While the formal mechanism is being worked on, the two sides have informally accepted a situation in which there will be untrammeled traffic for Belize’s military and civilians along the Sarstoon.” So what exactly is an informal acceptance? […]
So with Belizean civilians still not able to enter the Sarstoon, what happens next? Will government perhaps seek to reinstitute the Sarstoon Law? On the Phone: Prime Minister Dean Barrow “Why would I do that? That S.I. was to serve the limited purpose of ensuring that at the time the circumstances that saw us […]
It’s clear what the real protocol is at the Sarstoon where civilians are concerned. Belizeans can’t go there. But what about the B.D.F.? We all saw footage of the Guatemalan navy turning back the B.D.F. a couple weeks ago as they attempted to go to Cadenas for a shift change-over. At that time, they were […]
There is another developing story. It is well-known that Guatemalan nationals illegally enter Belizean territory for illegal activities. Most recently when the Sarstoon law applied, their fishermen routinely traversed into Belize to fish while the local fisher folk were barred from entering the Sarstoon. Now, on Thursday night, a total of eight Belizeans were detained […]
