The C.E.O./Receivership at the Port of Belize, Arturo Tux Vasquez was away in Guatemala during the negotiations, but remained active throughout. He was part of a delegation from the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry that met with their counterpart in Guatemala. But on leaving Guatemalan today, Vasquez got into some trouble with immigration on […]
Three weeks ago a particularly vicious assault caught the attention of the nation. A seventy year old woman told San Pedro Police that as she walked home she was followed by a man on a bicycle and brutally beaten. That man has been at large, but tonight police believe that they have him in custody […]
The story of the semen-injecting dentist who was licensed and ready to commence operations in San Pedro is shocking. Somehow John Robert Hall, an American dentist convicted for assault on seven of his patients, was granted a license by the Belize Medical Council. Not only that, but the license was issued in another name – […]
As we told you Tuesday night, all it took to get information on John Robert Hall was a visit to Google. His arrest in North Carolina for injecting semen into the mouths of seven of his female patients popped up immediately. So how did that get past the Belize Medical Council? Dr. Ramon Figueroa, […]
On November ninth, then Chair of the K.H.M.H. Board of Governors Chandra Nisbet-Cansino was approached and asked to step down. She had only recently signed a contract for an addition three years, and the announcement of her removal appeared sudden and unexpected. News Five was able to confirm political machinations in her removal and at […]
A groundbreaking for the Forward Operating Base finally took place this morning at the Sarstoon River in southern Belize. The base will be used to support tactical operations by the B.D.F. and Coastguard within the area. The event is very significant because the adjacent island, as well as the portion of land designated for the […]
While the Guatemalans seem to have had a change of heart in respect of the erection of an F.O.B. on the Belizean side of the Sarstoon River, its government, via a recent diplomatic note, has made a rather absurd request. It is essentially asking that Guatemalan fishermen who continually exploit marine resources in the area […]
As we reported earlier, the official tour of the Sarstoon River, including the proposed site of the Forward Operating Base and the Cadenas outpost, went without incident. While the Guatemalan navy kept a safe distance away from the Belizean contingent, it did not prevent them from launching a drone into Belizean airspace. Upon reaching the […]
At news time, striking stevedores are still camping out at the Port of Belize where they have been since one o’clock this afternoon. But all is quiet despite reports that a group of men would be engaged to unload and upload ships with imports and exports at this busy time of the year. It is […]
The CWU has been having emergency meetings with the executive and the stevedores but the situation remains fluid. Audrey Matura-Shepherd, President, CWU “Decisions aren’t mine alone, so I keep going back and have emergency meetings to consult with the members. It is always important at all time that the key people, the stevedores tell […]
More than one hundred containers are waiting to upload and unload. The situation has dire consequences on many fronts. Exports represent thirty-seven million dollars while the imports so far for this year stand at one point five million dollars, which is a little over three percent. Eighty-five percent of what is used by the public […]
The Ministry of Immigration seems to be ever under scrutiny for a series of irregularities concerning documentation obtained through fraudulent means. At the House meeting last Friday Prime Minister Dean Barrow sombrely expressed his belief that addressing the corruption and high level collusion within the department would be an ongoing fight because there is just […]
How did a dentist from the U.S. charged and convicted for gross criminal abuse of office get a license from the Belize Medical Council to open a clinic and practice in Belize? That’s one critical question. Another is how did John Roberts Hall, that North Carolina dentist who pleaded guilty to injecting semen into the […]
Hall’s license has been revoked, but it seems quite clear that the council could not have done even the most cursory due diligence since that license to practice was issued under a false name – Robert Bob Hall. Interestingly, when San Pedro Police picked up John Roberts Hall on Monday he had a temporary work […]
There is no significant news on the fate of more than four thousand Cubans stuck in Costa Rica because they cannot access a transit point to the US. Late last week Prime Minister Barrow revealed that he had been contacted via phone by the Costa Rican President with a request to facilitate the transit of […]
For the first time in history on Monday, a vessel, the Caribe Navigator from Miami, sailed away from the Belize Port without offloading its cargo following a seven-hour strike taken by stevedores attached to gang number seven at the Port of Belize. The industrial action, discovered to have been sanctioned by the Christian Workers Union […]
Vasquez says that they have been having good negotiations with the CWU on the Collective Bargaining Agreement, but that the stevedores cannot hold the Port hostage when they disagree on a component of the CBA. The strike on Monday was a result of discrepancy on the amendment to a pension plan that is currently in […]
But what are the implications of the ship leaving the port with cargo destined for Belize? Well late this evening, The Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry issued a release strongly condemning the abrupt strike action taken by Gang Number Seven of the Christian Workers Union. As the only Employer’s Organization in Belize recognized by […]
A trio of Belize City men, including twenty-two-year-old Orel Leslie, thirty-year-old Brandon Baptist and Tyrone Meighan was recently acquitted of the November 2012 murder of B.D.F. soldier James Noralez. While Leslie continues to enjoy freedom, his alleged accomplices are once again on remand at the Belize Central Prison after being arrested and charged for an […]
Police believe they have cracked an armed home invasion at a residence in Burrell Boom last Thursday night. Six of eight suspects have been arrested, charged and arraigned in court today, while police look for two other men. Three women have also been charged in connection with the armed robbery at the house of businessman […]
The group was expected in court this morning so family and friends were awaiting their arrival. They did not appear until the afternoon and it was under heavy police guard. In the drama that ensued, Meighan who was handcuffed, hit reporter Roy Davis off the veranda and down the stairs of the Supreme Court Building. […]
One man has been arrested and charged after he knocked down a young student last Thursday on the Belize Corozal Road in Orange Walk Town. The student was crossing the busy road at the very busy lunch hour when the tragedy occurred. Gerardo Lopez, nine years old, died at the KHMH on Saturday, and the […]
Today as the school mourned, parents gathered to express their anger and frustration at the death of a student – a death they feel could have been avoided by the placement of a speed bump on the busy highway which passes right next to the school. The President of the Parent/Teachers Association Alexander Torres told […]
The stevedores are once again on strike. This morning around eleven o’clock, Gang Seven staged a protest at the Port of Belize which disrupted operations and threatens the unloading of a shipment of Christmas goods from Miami, Florida. On December third, a the Christian Workers Union and the Port met for negotiations on the Collective […]
At this time, the Port of Belize is in discussions with the labor commissioner and reps from the CWU over the situation at the port. Earlier today, the shipping company fired off a letter to the Port of Belize saying that it could not afford to keep its vessel in the port. We have now […]
