On Friday afternoon, Prime Minister Dean Barrow along with officials from the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association met with a delegation from Banco Atlantida to discuss the purchase of the financially embattled B.S.I. The Honduras based bank has an interest in acquiring majority shares in the company which is owned by the employees’ trust that […]
A frightening constitutional amendment, the ninth such, was tabled in the House of Representatives this morning for a first reading. It is by far, the most radical and far reaching amendment that any government in Belize has ever tabled. It appears that the Government of Prime Minister Barrow is intent on passing this amendment that […]
The amendment is a radical departure from the current Constitution and is likely to be the subject of heated debates and challenges in Courts by human rights advocates, the Bar Association and others. In the bid to entrench ownership of the utilities in the government hands, the Prime Minister resorted to nationalist fervor to sell […]
Before the prime minister introduced the constitutional amendment, the House sitting opened with an unusual sight and it came from area rep, Marcel Cardona, who has been banished to a seat on the opposition side. During the last sitting of the House on July fourth, a member of the gallery, an avid supporter of the […]
To close our poll for this week, the results show that sixty-three percent of our viewers say yes and thirty-seven percent say no to the question: Do you believe that the proposed Preventative Detention measures are too draconian and will rob Belizeans of their personal liberties? To view comments on this question go to channel5belize.com.
A deal is being worked out with Banco Atlantida of Honduras to acquire controlling shares in Belize Sugar Industries at Tower Hill. The sale of the factory is under consideration because of its current financial woes. As it is B.S.I. is currently in the hole for some forty million dollars that it owes to both […]
Turning to electricity, a delegation of officials from the recent government-acquired Belize Electricity Limited met with senior executives of Comision Federal de Electricidad of Mexico to negotiate new terms of a new agreement for the purchase of energy from the state-owned company. Led by former Prime Minister turned government advisor Manuel Esquivel and B.E.L.’s C.E.O., […]
Earlier you heard the exchange in the House about Banco Atlantida’s proposal to buy majority shares in the Belize Sugar Industries that is cash strapped and unable to meet loan commitments. That deal is still on the table but there is another matter that is causing frustration to consumers. That’s because this sugar cane crop […]
This Friday, the government is convening a sitting of the House of Representatives. It is a special sitting at which the Prime Minister will get House approval to change the constitution to entrench control of utilities. Firstly, having nationalized and then re-nationalized Telemedia in a span of twenty-two months and nationalized Belize Electricity Limited a […]
Banco Atlántida of Honduras has been doing its due diligence since January 2011 to acquire the Belize Sugar Industries (B.S.I.). The factory is broke and needs forty million dollars to pay loans to the ING Group and FirstCaribbean Bank. A meeting is scheduled for Friday following the Special House sitting between the Prime Minister, the […]
But the United Cane Farmers Association, which won a court ruling in favor of separation from Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association (BSFCA), says that they have not had any discussions with the PM nor have they been invited to meet with the bank. Via Phone: Wilfredo ‘Willie’ Magana, Chairman, United Cane Farmers Association “I had […]
Also in Orange Walk, two residents have been charged in connection with the shooting death of twenty-three year old Orson Adman Cardona. Today Orange Walk police formally arrested and charged a sixteen year old, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor and twenty one year old Juan Carlos Quintero better known as […]
There are only a few hours left to fill up your tanks before the prices of fuel at the pump take another hike. Premium gasoline is going up to eleven dollars and eighty-eight cents per gallon. Meanwhile, regular goes back over the eleven dollar mark and will now sell at eleven dollars and forty-two cents. […]
The Council of Churches has made it clear that it opposes the case filed by the United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM), which is challenging section fifty-three of the criminal code. UNIBAM is seeking to have the law declared as unconstitutional, claiming that it criminalizes sexual relationships between same gender couples. It’s an extremely controversial matter […]
New information has become available to News Five about the purchase of a government vehicle by Justice Denys Barrow. The former justice resigned from government In January of this year to pursue private practice. He has already signed up to represent the government in the Telemedia legal battles along with Lois Young. A copy of […]
It lay quietly under the news radar until it was casually revealed in a newspaper interview about two weeks ago by B.T.L. Chairman, Net Vasquez. We’re talking about the fact that the Central Bank of Belize has purchased twenty million dollars worth of shares in B.T.L. because no one else was buying. But did Central […]
The other hot button issue is Preventive Detention. It is a measure that was first withdrawn due to considerable opposition by the man on the street. In its incarnation in May of this year, there were still objections by many as well as by organizations such as the Human’s Rights Commission and the Opposition. It […]
Before the measure which could have seen citizens detained for up to twenty one days without being charged was set aside, the People’s United Party sent the PM a notice regarding preventive detention. Barrow’s response was that it’s a procedural issue in which the minimum time for consideration is ninety days. But now, it may […]
By a vote of sixty-one to thirty, the Belize Chamber of Commerce ratified a resolution on Friday July fifteenth calling on government to respect the rule of law and that in respect of compulsory acquisitions; persons must be quickly and adequately compensated. That resolution was hastily rejected by the Prime Minister. With uncharacteristic brevity, the […]
On Tuesday morning, Lord Michael Ashcroft discussed a number of issues in a one hour interview for our morning show that was broadcast live from Miami. Following the show, the station was flooded with requests for a repeat of the Open Your Eyes show since only the government’s perspective had been heard regarding the acquisitions […]
Lord Ashcroft also drew an analogy in respect of the nationalization of Telemedia. He compared it to the forced acquisition of a house, its value reduced and no compensation is paid to the previous owners. Here is how he put it. Lord Michael Ashcroft “Just imagine that you’ve got a nice house by the side […]
Honduras’ Banco Atlántida’s interest in a buyout of Belize Sugar Industries was revealed earlier this year. In January representatives of the Honduran bank visited the factory at Tower Hill in Orange Walk along with experts in factory and field work. With millions of dollars in loans owed to I.N.G. and First Caribbean Bank, a buyout […]
The last time we interviewed Lord Michael Ashcroft was back in February 2009; that was before Telemedia was first nationalized. He hasn’t been to Belize since then and we had not heard from him at this station until this morning when we interviewed him, live and direct from Miami in a candid one hour interview […]
According to Michael Ashcroft, compensation has not been paid twenty-two months after the first nationalization of Telemedia yet government has taken in a hundred million dollars in shares. Ashcroft also questioned the Central Bank’s investment of twenty million dollars in a private company. Lord Michael Ashcroft “I’m not necessarily against the concept of nationalization but […]
On Monday night we reported that the Belize Chamber of Commerce & Industry had forwarded a resolution to Prime Minister Dean Barrow calling on the government to obey the rule of law and to refrain from infringing people’s fundamental rights and freedoms. The Chamber’s Resolution also called on the government to ensure that compulsory acquisitions […]
