The Belize Defense Force is getting a new hospital through collaboration with the United States. A team from the U.S. Marine will be carrying the necessary construction to bring up to speed the current facility. Works are scheduled to be completed by October. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports from Price Barracks. Isani Cayetano, Reporting […]
Former ambassador to CARICOM, Francisco Daniel Gutierrez has moved up to Washington D.C. where he presented credentials to President Donald Trump as ambassador before the State Department. Gutierrez replaces Patrick Andrews, who is now the C.E.O. in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Gutierrez applauded the role of the U.S. in the preservation of peace and […]
South Side Commander Senior Superintendent Marco Vidal was in the Mayflower/Ghost Town area today on a walking tour, meeting with residents and gang networks in that area. One of those prominent members he spoke with at length was Kendis Flowers. Vidal declined an interview about his visit, but Flowers says that he remains committed to […]
The Ghost Town and Mayflower area usually makes the news – and most of the time, it is not for positive stories. But the crime-ridden neighborhood was getting a good clean out today – of garbage. Over the years, loads of garbage has accumulated right in the center of where residents live. The stench and […]
Just now you heard Willoughby on the garbage in Ghost Town and the cleanup efforts. Today while the City Councilor was out, he was questioned whether his appearance was a part of his mayoral campaign. Willoughby shut down that speculation quickly and says that he is simply doing his duties. He went on to say […]
A week-long workshop by the Ministry of Local Government in collaboration with UNICEF concluded today at the Biltmore Plaza. Representatives from both private and public sector agencies and organizations that work with the youth participated in a Return to Happiness training that taught the participants with the knowhow when providing support to children, who may […]
A first of its kind Disney show will be held this Saturday at the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts, featuring international and local artists. It is a fundraiser to assist children afflicted with cancer. Founder of A Thousand Smiles for Cleyon, Michelle Rudon, who is organizing the show, says that she and her staff […]
David and Anke Doehm are scheduled to appear in the Supreme Court this Friday for a bail hearing. The duo is spending time at the central prison in Hattieville having been charged with “Cruelty to a Child” in respect of the death of their adopted daughter Faye Lin Cannon. The girl was found lifeless inside […]
The Gang Suppression Unit has been under the leadership of Superintendent Andres Makin since the beginning of July when transfers within the Belize Police Department came into effect. While the GSU is being led by a new boss, his predecessor is reportedly under investigation by the Ministry of Home Affairs which oversees that arm of […]
Tonight, Youth Apprenticeship Program Coordinator and Mediator, Dianne Finnegan is lashing out at the recently installed Regional Commander of Eastern Division South, Marco Vidal. On Wednesday, the Senior Superintendent told the press that his priority is policing the streets of the city and not engaging in mediation with gangs, in reference to his predecessor, Assistant […]
According to Finnegan, millions of dollars have been invested into organizations and institutions that work with at risk youths and gang members to curb criminal activities, with no success. Finnegan says that if organizations, such as the Conscious Youth Development Program, were doing their job, there wouldn’t be a need for independent mediation. Dianne […]
Two years after the start of construction, the Belize City Center is about to be completed. The multipurpose facility is state-of-the-art and can accommodate up to four thousand spectators. It is designed by brothers Daniel and Carlo Arguelles of International Environments. But how much is being spent on the complex? I.E. representative Daniel says they […]
Before his investigation into Arthur Saldivar’s missing files expanded to look at their contents, former deputy of National Crimes Investigation Branch Julio Valdez was tasked with finding out how they were removed under the eyes of Immigration officials and who couriered them to Saldivar. The attorney wasn’t talking then, but simple observation found that there […]
A few weeks ago, Immigration officer Ady Pacheco came to the Senate Special Select Committee and extensively detailed her work therein, including acting as a counter-clerk receiving applications for nationality, passports and visas, particularly from Ministers of Government or their hangers-on. As Retired Superintendent of Police Julio Valdez observed, the Department seemed nonchalant about happenings […]
Persuaded by the arguments of then-People’s United Party leader Francis Fonseca, Chief Justice of Belize Kenneth Benjamin ordered Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie by a writ of mandamus to criminally investigate the Won Hong Kim passport scandal and the man at its center, former Minister of State Elvin Penner. His prior refusal to investigate, the […]
The implication raised by ex-Superintendent Julio Valdez during his testimony on Wednesday was that someone above him suggested that he direct his energy to investigating strictly how Arthur Saldivar’s purloined files went missing from the Immigration Department and not what was in them – as Valdez put it, ignoring a murder at a burglary scene. […]
Will a twenty-two million dollar investment in the Tower Hill sugar mill proceed? American Sugar Refining/Belize Sugar Industries Limited and the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association are butting heads over some amendments to the current commercial agreement. B.S.I. wants to “amend the 2015 cane purchase agreement to remove the opt-out clause allowing either side to […]
Last month we told you about the proposed new route for the annual Carnival Road March in September. In some quarters, the proposed route was not well-received. There were issues of congestion and blockage of key traffic points and these were submitted to the National September Celebrations Commission. Today, members of the commission went to […]
Organizations working with and on behalf of older persons are tackling what can be a very touchy subject for families: preparing for the end of life and final distribution of assets of the deceased among his surviving family. It’s no guarantee that if you weren’t close to Mom and Dad before they passed that they […]
Columbus Central University School of Medicine and the Ministry of Education have issued desultory responses to Citizens Organized for Liberty through Action’s public stunt in front of the Airport Road compound of the medical school. While the university has changed its name, it appears the same man, Doctor Malik Soudah, is in charge. He remains […]
World Zoonosis Day is commemorated on the sixth of July each year. Pet owners and farmers may not often think about the myriad of transferrable diseases between animals to humans; but, there have been major health scares locally and internationally with diseases like rabies, avian flu and even Ebola – all of which have animal […]
In 2014, Retired Superintendent of Police Julio Valdez, then-deputy of National Crimes Investigation Branch, wrote the Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl-Lynn Vidal, concerning his investigation into a trove of files removed from the Immigration Department in October of 2013, at the height of the Elvin Penner scandal. Those files were retrieved from attorney-at-law Arthur Saldivar […]
The former senior cop stated that this branch of the investigation came about after his colleagues in Belize City spoke with Saldivar and retrieved the files. But when he attempted to access the original files at the Department, Valdez told the Committee, he was denied because an internal Immigration audit was underway and what became […]
The only man above Valdez, indeed above all officers in the Police Department, is Commissioner Allen Whylie. Appointed in 2013, he was previously C.E.O. in the Ministry of National Security, and later Defence and Immigration when it was split between 2010 and 2012. Appearing this afternoon, he was confronted with Valdez’s testimony and staunchly maintained […]
The Commissioner blames ‘media spin’ for the misunderstanding and what he says is his subsequent decision to withdraw from any administrative handling of either the ‘missing files’ case or the Won Hong Kim case. But at the end of the day, he conceded that even he does not know how the former case turned out […]
