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Now that the government has to find five million dollars that it didn’t budget for in its recent national budget, we ask, could this have been avoided had there been proper consultations with all interested parties, including the churches? The churches and the opposition argue that government should have done more by way of reaching […]
Written on July 15, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Should Belizeans Blame the Churches for the $5 Million It Will Cost to Hold a Marijuana Referendum
Prime Minister John Briceño “Honestly I was one of them that saying maybe we should have the referendum and get it over with earlier, but when they told me it was going to cost as much as five million dollars, we said it’s really too much. And that five million dollars we could use […]
Written on July 15, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Is the Referendum Necessary at This Time?
Cabinet met for the first time on Tuesday since Prime Minister John Briceño returned from an extended trip overseas where he attended high-level meetings in more than a few countries, including Brussels and Suriname. The head of government arrived in Belize this past weekend and, on July twelfth, met with senior government officials to discuss […]
Written on July 14, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Cannabis Referendum will Cost GOB Upwards of $2 Million Dollars
The global oil price is now reportedly below one hundred U.S. dollars per barrel, after falling by seven dollars U.S. today amid decreasing demand. In speaking with reporters today, Prime Minister John Briceño explained that consequently the price of fuel on the local market is expected to see a gradual decrease. He then went on […]
Written on July 13, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on GOB Seeks to Recover Losses on Fuel by Maintaining High Prices Temporarily
The Briceño administration, through its CARICOM counterparts, is once again looking to Venezuela for oil relief. A decision was taken at the forty-third Regular Session of the Heads of Government of CARICOM to restart the PetroCaribe program with Venezuela. The U.S., itself, is in talks with Venezuela which has reportedly resulted in the Biden administration […]
Written on July 13, 2022 | Posted in
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Foreign Affairs |
Comments Off on The Possible Return of PetroCaribe as CARICOM Seeks Venezuela’s Support
A five-dollar minimum wage increase will likely come to pass before the end of 2022. As we have reported, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry supports a gradual increase in the minimum wage to five dollars, guided by an established formula. On the other hand, Prime Minister Briceño says his administration is prepared to […]
Written on July 13, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on The Briceño Administration Committed to Realizing Plan Belize’s $5 Minimum Wage
Belizeans are paying more for basic food items at the store. According to the Statistical Institute of Belize’s Consumer Price Index report in May 2022, the overall cost of goods and services in Belize has increased by almost seven percent in the last year. For families across the country, this means a dollar is worth […]
Written on July 13, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on PM Briceño to Financially Distressed Belizeans: “We are doing everything possible”
Prime Minister Briceño also spoke about the Statistical Institute of Belize’s recently updated methodology to estimate the country’s G.D.P. As a result of a newly applied system, Belize’s G.D.P. for the first quarter of 2022 grew by sixty-one million dollars, surpassing pre-pandemic production levels in the first quarter of 2019. It was determined that the […]
Written on July 13, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Belize’s GDP Soars With SIB’s Updated Methodology
There’s a new Omicron sub-variant now spreading in Belize and it is characteristically more vaccine-resistant than previous sub-lineages. And while the number of new infections is expected to rise in Belize, one reactive measure you should not expect to see is another lockdown of the country. Today Prime Minister John Briceño told reporters assuredly that […]
Written on July 13, 2022 | Posted in
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Health |
Comments Off on Public and Private Doctors Hold Different Views on Mask Mandate
The Joint Public Accounts Committee, an expanded working group that now includes three social partner senators to oversee government’s expenditure relative to its annual budget has only met on three occasions since it was formed in 2021. JPAC, as it is otherwise known, is chaired by Albert Area Representative Tracy Panton who sits on the […]
Written on July 12, 2022 | Posted in
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People & Places |
Comments Off on Social Partner Senators Write to Tracy Panton About JPAC
Business Senator Kevin Herrera, who spoke on behalf of his social partners colleagues, told News Five this morning that the work of the committee is critical to good governance and going for a prolonged period without meetings being convened is of serious concern. Senator Kevin Herrera, Member, JPAC “The work of that committee is […]
Written on July 12, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Business Senator Herrera Says JPAC Should Meet Every Two Months
For the Joint Public Accounts Committee to carry out its work effectively, it needs input from the Office of the Auditor General. According to Panton, since the retirement of former Auditor General Dorothy Bradley in 2021, her post as an independent auditor reporting on government spending has remained vacant. The absence of someone in that […]
Written on July 12, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Seven Months Later, Still No Auditor General
Twenty-four-year-old Wendell Thurton Jr. is free from prison after spending six years and six months on remand, following a 2016 murder in Belize City. Today, Thurton pleaded guilty to the crimes of abetment to murder and abetment to attempted murder in the January 2016 stabbing death of thirty-seven-year-old Ian Blair, and the attempted murder of […]
Written on July 12, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Wendell Thurton Jr. Pleads Guilty in Ian Blair Murder Trail, Set Free
A Belize City man was shot dead inside his yard just before midnight on Friday and police believe that the attack on the Antelope Street resident was the result of an ongoing conflict over the sale of weed in that neighborhood. It’s the second execution of its kinds we have reported on in the Old […]
Written on July 11, 2022 | Posted in
Crime,
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Comments Off on Alleged Turf War Claims Life of Antelope Street Resident, Dwayne White
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Director, B.P.D. “A little after eleven [p.m.], police responded to, yet again, the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where they saw Edward Anthony Nunez, twenty-eight-years-old, suffering from apparent gunshot wounds to his left upper thigh and to his right upper thigh, inner thigh. Initial investigation revealed that on Friday, he was […]
Written on July 11, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Pelican Street Shooting Leaves on Man Hospitalized
Also over the weekend, there was a stabbing incident on Saturday night that ended with a twenty-three-year-old being hospitalized in a stable condition. Deon Jones visited a residence in Rowland’s Alley where he began tossing bottles at the home and was subsequently attacked by a knife-wielding individual. He was badly beaten and stabbed multiple times […]
Written on July 11, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Throwing Bottles Ends with Deon Jones Being Beaten and Stabbed
A member of the Belize Coast Guard has been named as the suspected getaway driver in the robbery at Puma Gas Station last Thursday. On Friday, we reported that three armed men robbed the gas station at the corner of Faber’s Road and the George Price Highway. An undisclosed amount of cash was stolen, but […]
Written on July 11, 2022 | Posted in
Crime,
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Comments Off on Coast Guard Shakeem Richards Charged in Puma Gas Station Robbery
This morning, coast guard officer Shakeem Richards appeared in court and was arraigned for two counts of robbery. Because the crime was committed with a firearm, it is an indictable offense and no bail was offered to the accused. He was instead remanded until September fifth. Late this evening, Richards was escorted to Hattieville – […]
Written on July 11, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on No Bail for Coast Guard Officer Charged in Puma Robbery
A fatal road traffic accident on the Old Northern Highway in the Belize District claimed the life of a Sand Hill resident on Sunday night. Thirty-five-year-old Deon Ozaeta was traveling on a motorcycle and as he came up to a curve between miles nineteen and twenty, he collided with a pickup truck, driven at the […]
Written on July 11, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Deon Ozaeta Perishes in Fatal RTA on Old Northern Highway
The appointment of Senator Collet Montejo as Field Supervisor for the pending re-districting exercise has been rife with controversy. From the onset, the opposition has been against the Deputy Secretary General of the People’s United Party being selected to serve in that capacity on the Re-division Task Force. On Thursday, U.D.P. Chairman Michael Peyrefitte wrote […]
Written on July 8, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on U.D.P. Writes G.G.; Collet Montejo Must Vacate His Seat as Senator
Chairman Peyrefitte’s letter to the Governor General seeking Senator Montejo’s removal is the second request being made for action to be taken by the Crown’s representative in Belize. It follows a previous letter written to G.G. Tzalam requesting the disclosure of an agreement between the Briceño administration and the law firm of CourtenayCoye L.L.P. The […]
Written on July 8, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on U.D.P. Prepared to Explore All Options Should Montejo not Step Down
The United Democratic Party joined forces with the Belize Coalition of Churches several weeks ago during a countrywide campaign by the religious community to garner the necessary number of signatures by eligible voters to trigger a referendum on the legalization of cannabis. During the third term of the Barrow administration, cannabis was decriminalized. Individuals were […]
Written on July 8, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on U.D.P. Firmly Against Marijuana Industry
When we caught up with Kareem Musa, the Minister of New Growth Industries at an event earlier today, we took the opportunity to ask him about the referendum exercise that the churches have been able to trigger through petitions. The churches have been unwavering in their quest to get the country’s input in the voting […]
Written on July 8, 2022 | Posted in
Economy,
Environment,
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Comments Off on GOB Confident About Referendum Outcome
There was an armed robbery at the Puma Gas Station on Thursday night in Belize City. It happened at the service station located at the corner of Faber’s Road and the George Price Highway. According to attendants, three gunmen came up just before closing time and relieved an employee of an undisclosed amount of cash […]
Written on July 8, 2022 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Armed Robbery at Puma Gas Station
A Hattieville woman alleges that her neighbor assaulted her with a vehicle and a machete. Twenty- eight-year-old Kadisha Carter reported to police that forty-year-old Florith Requeña assaulted her with a vehicle and a knife. When Requeña appeared before Magistrate Khiana Gordon, she pleaded not guilty to the accusation. In her report to police, Carter said […]
Written on July 8, 2022 | Posted in
Crime,
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Comments Off on Neighbors Feud in Hattieville
