Friday’s revelation that Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie failed a lie detector test apparently administered through U.S. authorities sometime around 2008 has raised eyebrows. Whylie was one of eight senior cops revealed to have shown significant reactions to particular questions, which is taken as evidence of untruthfulness. In his case, Whylie displayed significant reactions to […]
In a candid interview this morning, career police officer Inspector Fitzroy Yearwood exposed the police department for his abrupt transfer earlier this year. Yearwood was performing the duties of Public Officer for years, but back on August tenth, his sudden transfer was made known casually in a whatsapp group between the police and the media, […]
Yearwood is adamant that he did not disseminate false information to the media when he shared details of a police situation report involving the Castro brothers in an altercation in San Pedro a few months ago. According to the inspector, the information was provided to his office by the formation commander who he refers to […]
Amid his own professional differences with the Belize Police Department, the media has found an ally in Inspector Yearwood who stands firmly in our corner when it comes to the ongoing boycott. Yearwood, as a member of the Media Relations Unit for several months, was instrumental in sharing information with the press. While his transfer […]
April twenty-second, 2015, was a historic day for the Maya peoples of the South. In the Supreme Court of Belize, the Caribbean Court of Justice presided over a consent order agreed between the Government of Belize and the Maya Leaders Alliance and Toledo Alcaldes Association, respectively. Among other things, the government agreed to develop a […]
It was made official today: the Guatemalan Congress has approved Sunday, March eighteenth, 2018, as the official date when their referendum on the Belize/Guatemala territorial dispute will be held. President Jimmy Morales, whose administration has taken a tougher stance on the Belize question, and the judges of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal made the announcement earlier […]
Guatemalan vessel ‘AMADOR’ ran aground Belize’s Reef on Saturday night. There were ten occupants on board including Carlos Pena – a well-known Guatemalan artist – who put out an SOS message on Facebook asking for coastguard or police to rescue them. The sixty-foot pleasure yacht captained by Gustavo Aleojos Andres Jansa was in the southern […]
A twenty-one-year-old man says police brutalized him over the weekend. Shirlene Mai of Blackman Eddy says her son, Tray Ara, was picked up by four cops when he was walking home from a party on Saturday night. She says that Tray was with his brother heading from Unitedville to Blackman Eddy but because they have […]
While it may have gone under the radar during the news last week, News Five has confirmed that the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers’ Association and American Sugar Refining/Belize Sugar Industries Limited have signed an agreement on amendments to their commercial agreement. Back on September eighteenth, A.S.R./B.S.I. broke ground for an upgrade to the Tower Hill […]
Is intervention the key to addressing criminal activities and gangs in Belize? The response differs depending on who you are talking to. But can youths and gangsters caught up in the criminal justice system turn away from that lifestyle? The U.S. Embassy in Belize, in partnership with the Bureau of International Information Programs, is embarking […]
Homebody Industries is a nonprofit organization that assists gang members and convicted felons to change their lives to become contributing members of the community through education, healing, tattoo removal and job placement. Also invited to speak at the event today was Dianne Finnegan, Coordinator of the Youth Apprenticeship Program, who says both organizations provide similar […]
In the House of Representatives last Friday, a total of twelve bills were dealt with over the course of the sitting, several of which were held over from the last sitting in August. One was an amendment to the Immigration Act in respect of temporary residency. It seeks to add the C.E.O. in the Ministry […]
Last week Prime Minister Dean Barrow secured a twelve-million U.S. dollar loan from the OPEC Fund for International Development on a visit to Washington, D.C. It’s intended to replace one of Belize’s longest standing bridges, the Haulover Bridge crossing the creek and joining Belize City with Ladyville on the Philip Goldson Highway. In short order, […]
Over fourteen million U.S. dollars will be invested in underprivileged communities in Belize. It was officially announced today at a launch of two projects that are set to improve the lives of the poor. The Government of Belize, through the Social Investment Fund, and the Caribbean Development Bank launched the Basic Needs Trust Fund and […]
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and this is Sports Monday. [Highlights of the weekend sporting activities…]
Another multi-million dollar contract has been granted to the government’s choice contractor, Imer Hernandez, the nephew of the former Deputy Prime Minister Gapi Vega. As recent as last week, Hernandez was granted the controversial eight-million-dollar contract for the one mile stretch of Faber’s Road, which Prime Minister Dean Barrow staunchly defended on Wednesday. Minister of […]
Now Imer Hernandez’s company has been awarded numerous contracts for multimillion dollar projects in past years. Back in 2014, the Prime Minister had to defend Hernandez’s work because many considered it sub-standard. In one instance, he was threatened with court action by the Orange Walk Town Council after he was paid monies for infrastructural work […]
The dust has not settled yet on the controversial eight-million-dollar contract for work on Faber’s Road. The agreement was signed on Thursday and by Friday, execution began. It prompted the Prime Minister to bring out the consultant at the Ministry of Works, Avondale Moody, in defense. Still yet, there is that bit on the tendering […]
The controversy surrounding the cost, as well as the awarding of the Faber’s Road Project to Imer Hernandez, is quite possibly the result of a lack of information about the mechanics of the tendering process. It’s a concern that is shared by Mayor Bradley, who believes that it is critical to transparency and accountability. […]
Why was Mayor Bradley skirted by Prime Minister Barrow in favor of Councilor Deon Leslie during his consultations on the Faber’s Road Project? On the surface it appears that the United Democratic Party is attempting to gain political mileage ahead of the upcoming municipal elections. Councilor Leslie is responsible for sanitation, but he’s also the […]
Still on the issue of infrastructure projects…. it was intended to be a centerpiece of the giant Petrocaribe spending program – worth removing squatters, clearing out bushes and splashing cash. But the Lake Independence Boulevard project, which cost three-point-two million dollars, has instead become a monument to failure. The primary problem is that the hot-mix […]
Mayor Darrell Bradley also commented on the Lake Independence Boulevard. As both a citizen and Mayor, he was appalled at the state of affairs. He indicated that it was emblematic of a systemic breakdown which must be addressed by the Government with support from the press. After years of contracts being awarded with few details […]
In an update to the alleged foiled abduction of three girls from El Progresso Seven Mile Community in the Cayo District, we can confirm tonight that the American businessman held in detention has been released. He was held for forty-eight hours, but no charges have been brought against him. News Five has been told that […]
The Barry Bowen statute was unveiled today at the municipal airstrip in Belize City which also carries his name. Among the invitees were his wife Dixie and family, ministers of government as well as friends and employees of the businessman that was killed in February 2010. Bowen would use that airstrip to fly his plane […]
The U.D.P. municipal convention held this weekend in Dangriga has brought into the open the division within the hierarchy of the party. Former U.D.P. minister Mark King and current Dangriga area rep, Frank “Pawpa” Mena, took to social media this week expressing their concerns and frustration with election tactics to secure votes. Mena went as […]
