A media sensitization workshop will be held on Saturday at the ITVET Compound in Belize City. It will focus on the recent amendments to three pieces of legislation: the Criminal Code, Trafficking in Persons and the Commercial Exploitations of Children Act. In terms of crimes against children, in the past, penalties laid on offenders were […]
Foreign Minister Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington returned from Washington this morning after leading a delegation of government representatives to meet with Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales and his delegation along with the O.A.S. Secretary General Luis Almagro. Since Istanbul, Turkey, it was the first round of talks at the ministerial level towards formulating a mutual […]
So with no protocols established, no formal or informal draft and no concrete establishment of a relationship in the Sarstoon pending the formal protocols, what really came out of that Washington trip? Senator Eamon Courtenay, the Opposition Representative for the Guatemala talks prior to them removing themselves from those talks, had definite ideas about that […]
As we said earlier, Brigadier General Jones met with Guatemalan counterpart Carlos Eduardo Perez, Chief of Defense Staff of the Guatemalan army. Guatemala proposes that the head of the armies define procedures to access the Sarstoon. At the discussions, that proposed mechanism was not formalized. Elrington also says that the blockage of News Five to […]
Where the B.D.F. is concerned, the changeover of personnel at the Cadenas Observation Post, using the Sarstoon River as ingress to the remote location, has been unhindered since early May. While that is good news for the military, from a civilian perspective, it’s pretty much the same old, same old. Entry into the Sarstoon, even […]
Elrington admits that to reach a Sarstoon Protocol is a gradual process that hopefully will materialize a document within the next six months. As for untrammeled access, well that too has been relegated to a work in progress. Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs “We don’t have total and complete control over the […]
While the meeting has been described as fruitful, there were more questions than answers this morning when the foreign minister returned to the country. Elrington could not even say when a follow-up meeting will be held. Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs “Nothing has been put in writing yet, but nothing is agreed […]
There you have it. After five hours in Washington there is no agreement on the Sarstoon, no structured plan for discussions – not even a date for the next meeting to discuss whatever it is that was discussed in that intensive session. But the Opposition says it has a plan – and it includes the […]
Elrington, as foreign minister, constantly faces harsh scrutiny from the public, particularly because of his seemingly passive approach towards Guatemala. In some corners, he has been blasted as disingenuous. Elrington says it is a criticism that only comes from those who do not understand the diplomatic process. Reporter “Can you speak to that letter […]
While Elrington says he doesn’t pay any attention to that, he may pay attention to the stinging criticism leveled at him by P.U.P. Senator and former Foreign Minister Eamon Courtenay. According to Courtenay, Elrington is so caught up in his love for Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales that he’s forgotten his role in the […]
On Tuesday’s newscast, we broke the news that the S.S.B. has been asked to consider purchasing fifty million dollars of G.O.B. shares in B.T.L. and B.E.L. – a request by Prime Minister Dean Barrow himself. The plan is for S.S.B. for purchase ten million worth of shares in B.T.L. and forty-five million in B.E.L. The […]
And with that, the P.U.P. revealed its list of demands where that fifty million dollar proposed withdrawal from the S.S.B. piggy bank. It includes full disclosure of the intended destination of that fifty million. John Briceño, P.U.P. Leader “The government must give full disclosure as to what exactly they are going to do with […]
Is there a connection between the sudden desire by G.O.B. to raise fifty million by divesting shares and a court ordered settlement that has now come due? The Opposition isn’t sure, but leader John Briceño today presented a letter in which B.T.L. has been informed, just this week, of the ninety-seven million which must be […]
Members of the Ahmad family of Hattieville were detained by the police on Monday morning and kept incommunicado while they were in custody. The Muslim family says that the past forty-eight hours has been hellish. In the predawn operation police took their electronic devices, travel documents and licensed weapons. The family describes the incident at […]
Ten hours later, the Ahmad women, including minors, were released without any explanation or apology from the officers; the men were released late Monday night. The officers claimed the search was prompted by suspicions of conspiracy to commit murder and damage to property by Ahmad family members. But their licensed firearms were returned, but not […]
Is Government broke? A recent report from the IMF raised alarm bells painting a dismal economic picture and recommends retrenchment and increased taxes. And tonight, we can report that G.O.B. wants at least fifty million dollars of Social Security money. News Five has been able to confirm government’s scrambling to raise money by seeking to […]
A well-known Belizean family within the local Muslim community was the subject of a predawn raid on Monday at their house in Hattieville. Former Superintendent of the Belize Central Prison Taheera Ahmad and her sibling Fareed, proprietor of the Real Barbershop, along with seventeen other relatives, were rounded up in an operation conducted by the […]
Audibaldo Monima Junior – he left the Coast Guard to take up a post as the Regional Health Manager in the North. It’s a post that calls for a Master’s Degree in Public Health Administration and five years of experience in health administration. Monima only has an Associate’s Degree in Business. Still, as happens so […]
This afternoon at the Central Prison in Hattieville, a ceremony was held to honor seven inmates who successfully completed the 2016 Primary School Examinations. The inmates took the exams at the prison, while primary school students sat in the comfort of classrooms for the same set of exam papers. The inmates prepared for months leading […]
The University of the West Indies Open Campus Belize, in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor, is hosting a three day workshop for stakeholders entitled “Reinventing Collective Bargaining in the Public and Private Sectors”. It’s all about enhancing the relationship between employers and employees, and is being facilitated by regional lecturers in employee relations. According […]
The workshop only caters to a small cross-section of employers, employees and union representatives. So how does the message get from this small room to where it needs to go? Ivan Williams, Labor Commissioner “We’ve already spoken to the University and they intend to continue a process of perhaps ‘train the trainers.’ Here today […]
Results of a study show that as it relates to west, seventy-one percent of the population is thirty-five years and younger. Of that sector, thirty-five percent is less than fifteen years in age. Unemployment stands at thirty-five percent. So what can be done to empower the youth and change the economic status in the west? […]
One year ago, ten year old Jason Pau died near the river in Blue Creek, Toledo. He was part of a group touring a cave system when he disappeared. His body was never found, and it was presumed that he had drowned in the dark waters inside the cave. Tonight there is another death to […]
Today, the Protected Areas Conservation Trust, PACT, hosted a forum intended as an engagement with PACT’s stakeholders to inform them of the organization’s plan of operations for the year ahead. That has become necessary because PACT’s role and function was expanded as a result of an amendment to the PACT Act which passed in October […]
The forum will also provide stakeholders with valuable information on the categories which will be considered for the always coveted PACT grants. Each year the organization provides grant funding to select co-managers of protected areas to be allocated in very specific areas. Young says that this year there are three categories for funding to the […]
