Deputy Commissioner of Police Miguel Segura remains on interdiction with half pay, following a fatal road traffic accident along the George Price Highway on August sixteenth, 2014. The deadly head-on collision on the stretch of road near the outskirts of San Jose Succotz claimed the life of fifty-four-year-old Yolanda Valencia and left twenty-eight-year-old cabdriver Yanie […]
In December of 2015, we reported on the embezzlement of over ten thousand dollars in cash from the Post Office in Belize City. Second-grade cashier from Orange Walk, Sergio Patt, was being investigated because checks made by the supervisor of the Express Mail Section of the Post Office detected discrepancies in the records. Further checks […]
Three persons were formally charged late this evening in Belmopan for the attempted murder of Jose Gonzales. Gonzales was along with Maya Mopan resident, Luis Ortiz on Sunday morning just before he was killed and his body and vehicle dumped in the Belize River near the Agripino Cawich Bridge in Camalote. While they were not […]
Is there another Pennergate? There is an unconfirmed report that an investigation is taking place at the Immigration Department where two Belize passports were reportedly issued to Chinese nationals who did not qualify. As far as we know, the Chinese nationals never set foot in Belize, but were able to secure the Belizean passports. The […]
We’re pretty willing to bet that a lot of viewers tuned into CBS Wednesday night for the first airing of this week’s Criminal Minds. It’s a popular show featuring a hotshot F.B.I. team solving violent crimes. But this episode was special – Criminal Minds Beyond Borders…in Belize. That’s right, that hotshot team in the jewel, […]
On February fifth, 2016 Korean Huong Chong Park received Supreme Court bail after more than a week in jail. Park was charged for the little known crime of Abetment of Crime to Pervert the Course of Justice, for her involvement in the very sensational Bradley Paumen case. Park’s bail was set high, but the Judge […]
Yolanda Valencia was killed in August 2014 when an intoxicated deputy Commissioner of Police Miguel Segura, in a government vehicle, collided into a taxi just outside San Jose Succotz, Cayo. The chilling video of Segura at the scene of the accident went viral and prompting public outrage. The market vendor died instantly, and in August […]
Former People’s United Party Secretary General Myrtle Palacio appeared before Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin today, after filing a civil suit against the Guardian Newspaper. The case originates from an article and a cartoon published in the U.D.P. party organ purportedly depicting Palacio as someone who practices witchcraft. She took umbrage with the piece of writing, […]
In court this morning, Palacio gave a sworn statement. The article and the accompanying cartoon were also tendered as evidence. The argument, however, brings to the fore the issue of fair comment, a legal term for a common law defense in defamation cases involving libel or slander. Said Musa, Attorney for Myrtle Palacio “Mrs. […]
Newspaper editor Alfonso Noble, who is named in the suit, is being represented by Senior Counsel Michael Young. Both Young and his client reiterated that what was published in that edition of the Guardian is based on the freedom of the press to express statements on matters of public interest. Those statements, they contend, were […]
Since Assistant Commissioner of Police Chester Williams effected a citywide curfew roughly one month ago, various sectors, including parents, government departments and non-government organizations have raised concerns about the housing of minors picked up off the streets of Belize City after nine p.m. That disquiet prompted ACP Williams to return to the drawing board in […]
On Tuesday night, we brought you extensive coverage of a Ministry of Foreign Affairs press conference in Belmopan. The issue on the table, of course, was the recent meeting with top diplomatic and military officials at O.A.S. headquarters to discuss rules of engagement in the Sarstoon. At that session, the Belize delegation presented eleven draft […]
As we showed you in Tuesday night’s newscast, both Minister Elrington and Opposition representative Ambassador Assad Shoman believe that the protocols were well received. They are also hopeful that a positive response will be forthcoming within a week even though Guatemala has so aggressively asserted its sovereignty on the entire Sarstoon. Still, Elrington says that […]
High-level government and military officials from Belize and Guatemala met at O.A.S. headquarters in the adjacency zone to discuss rules of engagement in the Sarstoon last Friday. The draft rules were formulated and presented by the Belizean team to their Guatemalan counterparts in the hope that they will form some basis for future handling of […]
On the face of it, those proposals should be a tough sell considering Guatemala’s recently very aggressive position in the Sarstoon. At the highest levels of government in that republic, the stance has been that the entire river belongs to Guatemala and they will do whatever is necessary to control all area within their sovereign […]
Seasoned negotiator and expert in the field of Guatemala dispute, Ambassador Shoman, explained that nothing at this point is set in stone despite first perception. Still, he asserts that the goal is to push Guatemala into treating the Sarstoon situation as a matter of extreme urgency and that means setting very tight deadlines for a […]
Since we had the experts in the room, News Five also asked about the mysterious current protocols governing the Sarstoon. We’re referring to those purported protocols which dictate that Belizean military and civilians who wish to enter the Sarstoon must first go over to the Guatemalan base there and ask permission. Guatemala has stood by […]
The official jury is still out on the shooting of B.D.F. Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey on Holy Saturday. There has been progress in the multiple subsequent investigations, enough for a determination that it is very likely the shooters were Guatemalan residents of a small community known as La Rejoya. But there is also a suggestion […]
The Friends for Conservation and Development is responsible for the monitoring and management of the Chiquibul, an area roughly the size of Belize City. It’s a challenging task, to say the least, and Manzanero says that part of the challenge is that the dynamics of encroachment are constantly changing. Rafael Manzanero, Executive Director, FCD […]
Illegal milpa farming may be the biggest challenge facing rangers in the Chiquibul, but the most dangerous one is drug cultivation which has been on the rise. Manzanero says that in some areas which are hotspots for marijuana growing, rangers stay away. He continues to call on the Belize Defense Force to have an active […]
The Ministry of Health issued a release late this evening on zika which until now has been detected in Central America, the Caribbean and throughout the rest of the region. There are two suspected cases: one in the Stann Creek District and the other in the Toledo District. There is a third potential case in […]
Six persons are tonight in custody following the murder of a Belmopan resident. Luis Ortiz and Juan Gonzales were ambushed inside Ortiz vehicle and taken to an area near the Roaring Creek cemetery. Gonzales was badly beaten but he played dead and that saved his life. Ortiz’s body was found within eight hours in the […]
We report on all manner of unpleasant allegations made in the criminal arena, but there are some which truly turn the stomach. Tonight, Stann Creek Police have allegedly detained one man after he was accused of raping his stepdaughter, ill with cerebral palsy. According to the official report, on the thirty-first of March the child, […]
Last Friday, our News Five team camped out under a “hammans” tree outside O.A.S. Office in the adjacency zone for hours. Inside were top diplomats from Belize and Guatemala, Foreign Affairs Ministers Wilfred Elrington and Carlos Raul Morales. They were joined by top military commanders for both countries, General David Jones and General Carlos Eduardo […]
A resolution within days may be a matter easier said than done. Guatemala maintains that the Sarstoon is theirs, and in a recent diplomatic note stated that they will continue to assert that sovereignty over what is theirs. They have done just that. While diplomats from both countries sip tea and share anecdotes, the G.A.F. […]
