With all the festivities taking place this month, Belizeans will be spending more time outdoors. It means exposure to the sun will be more than usual and while it can cause a host of skin problems it may lead to the cancer of the skin. In tonight’s Healthy Living we look at why it is […]
Is there a bitter sibling rivalry brewing within the ranks of the Belize Police Department that may very well end up in the Supreme Court? Since succeeding Assistant Commissioner of Police Chester Williams as head of Eastern Division South on July first, Senior Superintendent Marco Vidal has expressed a different approach in fighting crime. Those […]
We caught up with Senior Superintendent Vidal this evening during a Meet and Greet event on Curassow Street in Belize City and asked for a response to Williams’ Facebook post and the threat of a lawsuit. He kept his responses rather short; suffice it to say that he also has his opinions of social media. […]
The Senate Special Select Committee on Immigration hosted Director of Immigration Diana Locke for the second consecutive week and we will have highlights of her testimony shortly. But the bigger concern is the announcement made by the Prime Minister last week that the current allocation for the functioning of the Committee will not be continued […]
As for further witnesses to be called, the Committee’s schedule is known for at least its next meeting on September twenty-seventh, when Director of Immigration Diana Locke continues her testimony and the C.E.O. of the Ministry, Edmund Zuniga, may make an appearance. As far as Chairman Aldo Salazar is concerned, Minister Godwin Hulse and Auditor […]
While there has been no public comment from the business and private sector despite being apprised of the Prime Minister’s letter, the Senator representing them on the Committee, Mark Lizarraga today criticized the decision as a matter of priorities. Citing testimony from director Diana Locke, the Senator pointed out that Government seems to value politics […]
The final report of the Senate Special Select Committee will be highly anticipated. It has already been guaranteed that it will not likely lead to criminal charges unless there is further investigation by police and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. But how exactly will the report be written – and might there […]
A Belize City first time mom delivered triplets last week. Two boys and a girl were delivered by Doctor Jose Guerra at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Today the young mother introduced the babies to the media. On hand for the occasion were the Ministry of Health and several corporate donors who gifted the babies […]
Minister of Immigration Godwin Hulse has been on record commending the high number of Chinese seeking visas to “visit” Belize. Of course, these persons pay as much as two thousand per visa in addition to whatever is paid to agents and so on. But flying under the radar are visitors from neighboring Central America, particularly […]
The Committee has expressed interest in bringing in the top person at the Vital Statistics Unit; a division of the Attorney General’s Ministry that is responsible for recording and registering all births, deaths and marriages in Belize and is often the first stop for those recording these milestones. In her testimony this morning, Immigration Director […]
This afternoon, with Senator Mark Lizarraga in the chair on behalf of Aldo Salazar, there was further probing into the processes of the Department and in particular the Visa Vetting Committee established in the aftermath of the Penner/Won Hong Kim scandal. Last week, Senator Eamon Courtenay questioned at length the validity of the Committee’s actions […]
An indelible stain on the nation’s consciousness was left by protests a week ago tonight in Orange Walk Town against the handling of another complex Ministry – natural resources. There have already been calls for a commission of inquiry into the tenure of Gaspar Vega as minister there, but the greater focus of public ire […]
For a country that imports far more than it exports and has for all of its existence, fuel is particularly important. Belize has for the past decade or so taken advantage of a cheaper source of fuel from Venezuela via Curacao under the Petrocaribe accord. Belize has outstanding loans under that program at what the […]
In the weekly police meet and greet, we caught up with Regional Commander of the Eastern Division South Marco Vidal on the south side of the city. Vidal and other cops were interacting with residents in the Iguana, Curassow, and Gibnut streets area. Vidal told the media that he was pretty impressed with the feedback […]
The official Tenth of September celebration was reduced to a mockery of the prestigious Queen of the Bay. It all played out on live television from the Memorial Park where for the first time in history two queens were crowned. Aliyah Ysaguirre of Stann Creek was announced as the winner on pageant night and crowned […]
In the aftermath of Sunday morning’s national embarrassment, and indeed even before, social media has been blowing up with recriminations between members of the judging panel and other observers. Persistent reports to News Five indicate that there is bad blood between several district committees overseeing regional pageants and national coordinator Zenaida Moya. In Cayo for […]
The icing on the cake on Sunday was an announcement of a letter from Emma Boiton, long-time pageant coordinator, who effectively terminated Moya’s tenure as coordinator under the authority of the Loyal and Patriotic Order of the Baymen. Boiton ordered Moya to turn over all relevant material and correspondence for the committee and records of […]
Earlier you heard the members of the National Committee’s comments regarding their meeting with Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Patrick Faber on Saturday. Faber has confirmed to News Five that he has been in touch with his attorneys concerning Zenaida Moya’s comments on Monday morning’s LOVE FM morning show and elsewhere about his […]
On Saturday afternoon, the Stann Creek District Queen of the Bay Committee held a press conference in Belize City at the Biltmore Plaza. The Committee felt, at least at that time, hard done by with the handling of the apparent change in results against their candidate. District Coordinator Sherima Usher-Guity, herself a former Queen of […]
Now…at news time, the National Celebrations Commission issued a statement apologizing to the various dignitaries present on Sunday, both Esmeralda Cal and Aaliyah Ysaguirre and the people of Belize for what it calls “the unfortunate events” that took place at the official ceremony. It states that only two members of the Queen of the Bay […]
Did the police department intentionally turn a blind eye to certain criminal elements and allowed them to carry on with illicit activity in return for keeping the peace in Belize City? It’s an opinion that is shared by some, however, the truth of the matter is that the crackdown on the local marijuana trade seems […]
Last week News Five shared correspondence from Prime Minister Dean Barrow indicating that after the current allocation runs out in November, the Government would not continue to fund the Senate Special Select Committee. Its reason is that it wants to save funding for the Integrity Commission and implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption […]
The battleground over the continuing scandal in the Ministry of Natural Resources shifts north to Orange Walk Town. On Wednesday, the Opposition People’s United Party, led by its Northern Caucus and Orange Walk North executive committee, is assembling constituents at nine to protest the behaviour of area representative and former Minister of Natural Resources, Gaspar […]
The People’s United Party last Wednesday threw its unquestioned support behind Belmopan resident Amy Forte, who directly wrote Prime Minister Dean Barrow to clear her name concerning the allegation of a deed of conveyance transferred in her name for beachfront land on Caye Caulker to Andre Vega. Vega parlayed the Caye Caulker property into the […]
According to the Opposition Leader, Prime Minister Dean Barrow has not responded to his letter last Friday that outlined his demands with regard to the land issue. But that does not mean that the pressure is off, or that the P.U.P. is willing to give up. John Briceño told News Five this afternoon that there […]
