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By now, most would have heard of the controversial Panama Papers, a trove of documents leaked by the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). In a nutshell, the documents taken from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca reveal the ways in which powerful individuals can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes, but interestingly no one […]
The date for a special convention to choose the First Deputy Leader of the United Democratic Party is set. Delegates from across all thirty-one constituencies are expected to cast their votes in favor of either Patrick Faber or John Saldivar come May twenty-ninth. The last Sunday in May was agreed upon by both candidates, as […]
As hostilities mount in the Sarstoon, there has been some progress made in agreeing to specific confidence building measures and protocols for engagement in the Sarstoon, though not a definitive resolution just yet. The announcement came at five this evening at O.A.S. headquarters in the adjacency zone, where high level diplomatic and military officials from […]
The meeting today was especially significant in the wake of what the Prime Minister has called the ramping up of aggression by Guatemala in the Sarstoon, culminating in the interception of a SATIIM boat carrying rangers on patrol just three days ago. The issue, in a nutshell, is that Belize has been operating on premise […]
Belize attended the meeting at O.A.S. headquarters with draft Sarstoon protocols in hand, aimed at defusing a potentially dangerous situation in the Southern River. So after all the diplomatic speak, just how close are both countries to establishing constructive, peaceful rules of engagement in the Sarstoon? Opposition representative on the Belize delegation Assad Shoman explained. […]
So that’s where both country’s ended today’s apparently constructive meeting at O.A.S. headquarters – not exactly a breakthrough just yet, but according to representatives that point could be reached in a matter of days. News Five did intend to ask military representatives at the meeting about the immediate effect of today’s tentative progress where the […]
The Leader of the Opposition, John Briceño met with Prime Minister Dean Barrow at the P.M.’s office on Coney Drive in Belize City this morning in light of the troubling pattern of the Guatemalan Armed Forces operating in the Sarstoon. As recent as Tuesday, GAF attempted to block SATIIM from travelling upstream. The GAF accused […]
Written on April 8, 2016 | Posted in
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Another incident that has stirred tensions is the shooting of B.D.F. Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey in the area of Valentin Camp inside the Chiquibul Forest. The safety of soldiers and F.C.D. rangers along the western border is being called to question since the attack on Lambey took place well within Belizean territory. The incident also […]
Written on April 8, 2016 | Posted in
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There are two murders to report tonight. An eighteen-year-old Ladyville resident, Merkel Pitts was shot on Thursday night and by this afternoon he was dead at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. But is the shooting death an act of retaliation, following the gangland-style execution of Rene ‘Fat Cat’ Chavarria a few weeks ago? Pitts was […]
Written on April 8, 2016 | Posted in
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A meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Belize and Guatemala scheduled for this Friday has been postponed for sometime next week. It would have discussed the new stance by Guatemala in the Sarstoon where it is exerting control over the island. Guatemala, it is known, does not want to discuss the Sarstoon nor does it […]
Written on April 7, 2016 | Posted in
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The Minster of National Security John Saldivar was also asked today about the most recent Sarstoon incident. He offered few details on the aggression by the Guatemalan Armed Forces against the SATIIM rangers. Saldivar says that he has not received an official report, but that the actions taken by GAF against SATIIM are unacceptable. […]
Written on April 7, 2016 | Posted in
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The government, particularly Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington, has come under fire for a perception of timidity where negotiations with Guatemala are concerned. There has been a consistent criticism that the matter has not been treated with a sense of urgency, and has not been internationalized as a priority. That may or may not have been […]
Written on April 7, 2016 | Posted in
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There are differing viewpoints on the Guatemalan claim on the entire Sarstoon. Minister Wilfred Elrington has maintained that nothing has changed since 1939, where Guatemala’s position on owning the river is concerned. Others, including the head of the B.D.F., Brigadier General David Jones, says that this is something new, something he’s only become aware of […]
Written on April 7, 2016 | Posted in
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On a previous occasion in the Sarstoon between the B.D.F. and the GAF the B.D.F. said that they had secured commitment from the GAF, to stand off but the SATIIM rangers on Tuesday had to seek permission to enter the Sarstoon. So what is the next move? Even though the confidence building measures do not […]
Written on April 7, 2016 | Posted in
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Today the Ministry of National Security confirmed that based on a Police investigation into the shooting of B.D.F. Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey, they believe that the assailants were Guatemalan citizens of a small border community known as La Rejoya. The incident occurred on Holy Saturday, as Lambey allegedly led a patrol on a water resupply […]
Written on April 7, 2016 | Posted in
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The B.D.F. report into the incident revealed that Staff Sergeant Lambey was alone when he was ambushed by seven Guatemalan men, and the patrol he was leading came on the scene after. News Five asked Lovell if the shooting, a clear and deliberate attack on a Belizean soldier, will cause the B.D.F. to revise, or […]
Written on April 7, 2016 | Posted in
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Executive Director of SATIIM Froyla Tzalam has fired off an urgent letter to Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington following another incident in the Sarstoon on Tuesday. SATIIM rangers were on routine patrol of the Sarstoon-Temash National Park, bounded on the South by the Sarstoon River, when they were stopped very aggressively by a Guatemalan naval vessel. […]
In her letter to Foreign Minister Elrington, Tzalam reminds him that experience has shown that where there is no monitoring, illegal activities flourish, and SATIIM must use the Sarstoon to conduct proper management. She explains that SATIIM and the buffer communities are concerned with the increasing environmental damage in the National Park and continue to […]
While Tzalam’s letter is written to Elrington, she may need to think about addressing her concerns to Gaspar Vega, the Minister of Forests and Fisheries. SATIIM’s had a testy relationship with Vega’s predecessor Lisel Alamilla and it was under her tenure that any hope of co-managing the Sarstoon-Temash National Park fell apart. Even before the […]
Tzalam says that talk about a co-management agreement being necessary may have been correct six years ago, but not now. Still, she claims that the incident on Tuesday underscores the need to come back to the negotiation and co-management table sooner, rather than later. Froyla Tzalam, Executive Director, SATIIM “SATIIM has been working very […]
There is hope for that meeting to take place, since Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Gaspar Vega is all too aware of the lack of resources which prohibits government departments from adequately monitoring protected areas. Gaspar Vega, Minister of Agriculture “That’s a huge challenge, because we all know of our limitations in regards to resources […]
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court found that millionaire investment and Dark Night owner Bradley Paumen had trespassed on land belonging to Michael Modiri. And that’s because the Ministry of Natural Resources had no power to compulsorily acquire Modiri’s land and to in essence gift it to Paumen so that he could build a road to […]
After numerous adjournments, twenty-five year old coastguard officer Keyren Tzib, who is accused of the July second, 2015 stabbing murder of her estranged common-law husband, Thythis Blancaneaux, learnt her fate. And it was not good news when she appeared in court this morning. Following a preliminary investigation, Chief Magistrate, Anne Marie Smith ruled that there […]
Written on April 6, 2016 | Posted in
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Today, Iranian-American businessman Michael Modiri went public for the first time since it was allege in January 2016 that he was the intended victim of an execution plot. In a sensational story which dominated the news for weeks, American investor Bradley Paumen was accused of putting a hit on Modiri and three other persons. Paumen […]
Written on April 5, 2016 | Posted in
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But back to Paumen…He’s the millionaire owner of Dark Night Cave Tours, and as we said, the man who was arrested and charged for organizing and paying for a hit on Michael Modiri early this year. It got somewhat complicated, but Police investigators believed that the motive was land. Modiri owns the land in Frank’s […]
Written on April 5, 2016 | Posted in
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