At a conference on April twenty-ninth, the Prime Minister identified an issue within the citrus industry involving a lack of working capital for farmers who are yet to receive the balance of their first payment for deliveries made to CPBL. The need for operational funds, according to PM Barrow, was for farmers to prepare for […]
From proud Rio Hondo to Old Sarstoon…sounds familiar? Well it should, but right about now the Sarstoon is patrolled twenty-four hours by personnel at a Guatemalan outpost on the banks of that river. In fact, last Thursday those Guatemalans tried to chase the Coast Guard out of the Sarstoon and off the Sarstoon Island which, […]
A News Five team is just back from the Sarstoon Island in southern Belize where a confrontation took place just last week between Guatemalan navy officers and the Belize National Coastguard. There are two versions of what really went down and we will have that story coming up soon. But on Sunday, the recently elevated […]
Were Petrocaribe monies used to fund salaries for government employees, and in secret? Well that’s the assertion which rang out on the airwaves this morning. According to documents leaked from the Central Bank – a statement for an account entitled GOB Proceeds Petrocaribe Financing – that’s exactly what happened. A line item on the statement […]
On the opposition side, P.U.P. Deputy Leader and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Julius Espat, is suing the government over the Petrocaribe Loans Act; this afternoon he chimed in on the latest development involving the use of the funds which are purportedly being used to pay salaries. He sat down with the media to […]
E arlier this evening, Espat consulted with his legal advisors after reading the release issued by government clarifying the uses of Petrocaribe financing. This is in light of a lawsuit brought against the prime minister regarding the usage of the monies. According to Espat, the Finance and Audit Reform Act is explicit in language, stating […]
n another pressing issue; on Thursday there was a confrontation between Coast Guard personnel and a Guatemalan naval patrol on an island in the Sarstoon. The Coast Guard was there on a reconnaissance mission for a possible forward operating base, when they were approached by a Guatemalan vessel and ordered out of the waters. Our […]
Even though we were told by National Security that the Coastguard did not retreat and held its own, the Foreign Minister says that the situation was defused when Coast Guard personnel, in Belizean waters, were instructed to leave the area. And according to Foreign Minister Elrington, that resolution was orchestrated not by him, but by […]
So our Belizean military personnel were ordered out of Belizean waters, but what happens next? What does it mean for future Coast Guard operations in our waters? Will our Coast Guard personnel be able to patrol our waters down south? All that seems a little unclear at the moment, and according to Foreign Minister Elrington, […]
P .U.P. Dangriga Area Representative Ivan Ramos recently requested monies from government as part of the Father’s Day Cheer. The request for twenty-five thousand dollars to be distributed among his constituents flies in the face of a principled position taken by the party that the unaccounted use of the Petrocaribe funds is unlawful. Equally, the […]
There is tension tonight following a twenty-six hour stand-off between a Coast Guard Patrol and Guatemalan naval personnel in two vessels near the mouth of the Sarstoon ended at midday today. The confrontation, as it is being called by the Ministry of National Security, happened at ten am Thursday when Guatemalan soldiers in a small […]
The Coast Guard patrol was in that area conducting reconnaissance with a view to possibly constructing a Forward Operating Base there. So while this specific situation was defused, what happens if the Coast Guard needs to go back in that area which is clearly in Belizean waters while the Guatemalans seem suddenly confused? Ret’d. […]
This latest incident where, for clarity, the Guatemalan military suddenly seems unsure of where the maritime borders lie, comes on the heels of comments from Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington. In interviews with News Five both in Belize and Guatemala, Elrington has expressed uncertainty about our maritime and land borders. Today, we asked C.E.O. George Lovell, […]
Former Foreign Minister, Eamon Courtenay, has chimed in on the confrontation between the Belize National Coast Guard and the Guatemalan navy, merely three days after the Special Agreement was amended. Courtenay’s position puts into sharp perspective recent statements made by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wilfred Elrington, in which he discussed Belize’s terrestrial and maritime boundaries. […]
Elrington’s opinion continues to raise the ire of many, including his predecessor. According to Courtenay, the foreign minister, under the Maritime Areas Act, is charged with authorizing the preparation of maps and charts to define Belize’s nautical boundaries. He says that Elrington should follow what is outlined in the act to avoid humiliating the country. […]
The Special Agreement between Belize and Guatemala was amended on Monday in Guatemala City sans the participation of the Opposition. While the changes allow for Guatemala to proceed with individual referendum later this year, erstwhile foreign minister Eamon Courtenay says the amendment does not have the concerns of the Belizean people at heart. The amendment […]
The opposition, People’s United Party, is taking the government to court for the controversial Petrocaribe Loans Act seeking a declaration that it is an illegal piece of legislation. Government has now circulated an amendment which it proposes to take to the House in June presumably to silence and give comfort to critics who are concerned […]
The brutal slayings of two Roaring Creek men, just a day apart, has shocked the small community, and indeed the nation. Twenty-eight year old Edilberto Madrid went missing on Sunday, his body discovered on Tuesday floating in the Belize River. Fifty-one year old Steven Hyde was likely killed Monday night, his body discovered in a […]
Twenty thousand dollars and counting…an internal audit of public funds at the Post Office in Belize City is currently ongoing. So far it is known that between January second and May nineteenth of this year, an employee of the Express Mail Service Section managed to misappropriate over twenty thousand dollars in a period of four […]
Gabriel assures the public that the theft is not to be confused with the pilfering of mail, for which several protocols are in place to catch perpetrators. And on the eve of a planned arrest, the suspect reportedly absconded to the U.S. The matter, says Gabriel, is now in the hands of the police department […]
Government has come under considerable fire for the controversial Petrocaribe Loans Act which was passed in the House in March. On June twenty-sixth, government will be tabling amendments to the Act in the House of Representatives when parliament is scheduled to convene. When the bill was first tabled in the House, it was only made […]
According to Marshalleck, the spirit of the amendments remains inconsistent, particularly where it concerns the passage of retrospective supplementary allowances. Isani Cayetano “These proposed changes have been described as cosmetic elsewhere. What do you make of it in terms of what is being presented. Does this provide any substantial or significant changes to what […]
In spite of the revision, there are still significant concerns. The amendments, characterized as aesthetic, are seemingly all glitter and no substance. Andrew Marshalleck, Attorney in Legal Claim “So even with the amendments there are still very considerable concerns so that in a sense I can understand why one would use the word cosmetic. […]
As we mentioned earlier, P.U.P. Deputy Leader Julius Espat has commenced legal proceedings against the prime minister in respect of the perceived illegalities of the Petrocaribe Loans Act. After carefully reading the revised bill, Espat maintains that government continues to muddy the waters by implementing only sections of the Finance and Audit Reform Act. He […]
There is a third murder in the Roaring Creek area tonight. The dismembered body of fifty-one year old Roaring Creek resident Steven “Deeds” Hyde was found in a shallow grave at a farm belonging to Russell Hyde in Camalote sometime this afternoon. Police are not responding to requests for information, but News Five has been […]
