The most recent murder occurred this morning. In the Stann Creek District, a Honduran national was hacked to death shortly before six o’clock. Independence Police visited Bella Vista Village where they discovered that twenty-four-year-old Maria Suyapa Garcia had been fatally chopped to the head, face, neck and arms. Their investigation revealed that the woman was […]
Bradley Paumen, the American resort and tour company owner who allegedly hired a hit man to kill four persons, one of them a local attorney, is currently free, out on bail. But two men who did work for him, accountant Ian Skeen and mechanic Linzburn Anderson, are behind bars. Over the weekend Skeen and Anderson […]
The prosecution in the Bradley Paumen case is convinced that they have more than enough to convict the wealthy American businessman on four charges of Abetment to Murder, each which carries a life sentence. One of the objections to bail centred on the fact that Paumen has the means to flee prosecution with relative ease. […]
Two weeks ago a Canadian filmmaker, Matthiew Klinck was murdered at his house in Selena in the Cayo District. Tonight, there is another murder to report which gives Belize a black eye and is likely to have an adverse impact on the tourism industry. This morning, the body of a vacationing American television producer with […]
Swaney was the executive producer of online operations at ABC 7 in Chicago, Illinois. The news of her demise spread quickly at ABC where her colleagues are still in shock. This afternoon, the television station carried the following report about the homicide of one of their own. {Feature: ABC &7 Reports on Murder of […]
But a U.S. businessman is facing some serious charges in Belize for allegedly ordering a hit on four persons. Last week, Bradley Paumen, the owner of Dark Night tours, was detained and tonight he is a free man, at least for the moment. He was granted bail when an application was made before Justice Antoinette […]
Bradley Paumen’s legal troubles are bad enough, but he may soon be facing additional charges. Remember Michael Modiri, the man police believe was the target of a hit man hired by Paumen? Well he was arrested on May fifth, 2015 after a search of a checkpoint turned up an unlicensed vehicle and ammunition in his […]
Government is proposing a bilateral arrangement with Guyana which it hopes will settle the controversy surrounding the importation of rice. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture Gaspar Vega, along with C.E.O. Jose Alpuche, returned from Georgetown, Guyana this afternoon where they met with several government representatives, including Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture Nigel Holder, to […]
According to Minister Vega, the effect of the meeting and the resultant agreement simply means that the sustainability of the local rice industry is of utmost priority, a roundabout way of saying that businessman Jack Charles has lost the fight to import Guyanese rice to Belize. Isani Cayetano “What does this specific outcome mean […]
Attorney Eamon Courtenay, who represents the Mennonite communities of Shipyard, Blue Creek and Spanish Lookout, has been following the situation closely. He explains the effects the proposed agreement would have on the rice producers. Eamon Courtenay, Attorney for Mennonite Community “The impression I have is that what Guyana and Belize are doing at the […]
Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega returns to Belize this Friday from Guyana where substantive discussions took place about rice and its importation into Belize. Belize is looking at a structured arrangement in respect of a bilateral agreement which would allow Guyanese rice into the local market but only when there is a shortage. The proposed […]
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Dean Barrow chimed in on the rice situation, reiterating that the ongoing state of affairs is not an issue between Belize and Guyana. He went on record to state that government was willing to grant businessman Jack Charles a forfeiture override to re-export the quantity of rice. The PM, however, minced […]
Today, the Belize Progressive Party weighed-in on the rice issue once again. In a previous release the party called for the government not to destroy the three containers of Guyanese rice that remain at the Big Creek Port in the south. In an interview today, the Party Chairman Paco Smith says that research shows that […]
Did American Bradley Paumen, owner of tour company Dark Knight put a hit on four persons? Apparently the Police believe that he did. On January sixth, Special Branch officers detained and arrested Paumen. That Friday, the eight, Paumen was transported by Special Branch officers to San Ignacio where he was quietly arraigned on four counts […]
Coastguard Keyren Tzib was granted bail in the lower court two days before last Christmas and today she walked into courtroom on her own free will. She is accused with the manslaughter of her common-law husband, Thytis Blancaneaux in 2015. Tzib was never charged for murder because she claimed she stabbed Thytis after he repeatedly […]
The courtroom of the Chief Magistrate was packed to capacity today. As many as eighteen defendants charged in connection with the home invasion at the house of businessman Sarkis Abou Nehra were scheduled to appear. However, eighteen year Crystal Augustine who was granted Supreme Court bail in December after four nights on remand at the […]
The Christian Workers Union and CIBC First Caribbean International Bank are concluding its negotiations on an exit package for some sixty of the bank’s employees. In late December last year, the bank announced that it was officially closing its doors in Belize on Friday, January twenty-ninth, 2016. Several protests were staged last year by the […]
In less than twenty-four hours, Jimmy Morales will assume office as the new president of Guatemala. It’s an important event for Belize because of that country’s unfounded territorial claim to the country. Tonight, we begin our coverage of that event with a one-on-one interview by Marleni Cuellar with the Foreign Minister of Guatemala, Carlos Raul […]
In June 2014, the first arguments in the Belize Tourism Industry Association versus the Government of Belize/Norwegian Cruise Lines were heard in the Supreme Court. It is a little over a year and a half since the case began and this morning, Justice Courtney Abel read his two-hour decision in the matter. B.T.I.A. had sought […]
As Salas pointed out, the B.T.I.A. at no point sought to stop the project, which is nearing completion. But it is a significant slap-down of government by the Supreme Court, and paves the way for affirmative action if government does not choose to adhere to the procedures in the future. To add insult to injury, […]
Was the near-fatal Monday night assault of a pregnant teen and her mother reprisal for a weekend murder in Hattieville? According to police, the shooting of eighteen-year-old Shenell Rolland and forty-one-year-old Stephanie Smith is directly related to the murder of Cleon ‘Tush’ Smith who was shot and killed in Hattieville on Sunday night. While the […]
While Belize City police believe that the shooting of a woman and her pregnant daughter on Dolphin Street are linked to the murder of Cleon “Tush” Smith, the Hattieville police say that they are nowhere closer to solving the homicide in the rural community. This afternoon, a post mortem examination certified that the alleged former […]
As we reported on Tuesday, twenty-nine-year-old Leon Garcia came under gunfire from a pair of men who ran up on him while he was conversing with a friend in front of JB’s Auto Wash on Barrack Road earlier in the day. According to the proprietor, he observed his employee run into a nearby storeroom and […]
On the political front…The battle for leader of the People’s United Party continues to heat up, in a most unpleasant way. It’s gotten so bad in social media that at the recent National Party Council, all three candidates signed a commitment that they would keep it clean and civil. Those signatures weren’t worth the paper […]
A barrage of gunshots was unleashed before nine o’clock on Dolphin Street, Belize City on Monday night. Gunmen fired as many as fifteen shots at two men sitting on the steps of the Rolland family home. The duo would escape the gunfire, but a mother and daughter were not so lucky. Shennel Rolland, who is […]
