Also in the south….Over the weekend, the Belize Territorial Volunteers organized yet another trip along the Belize/Guatemala border in the south. Residents in the southern communities led by activist and BTV founder, Wil Maheia, planted trees along what is believed to be the border between the two countries. After planting the trees, Maheia addressed the […]
Aside from the marketing aspect of the Belikin La Ruta Maya River Challenge, there is the issue of citizens’ safety over the extended weekend. The finishing touches of the canoe race are being finalized and thousands of persons are expected to gather along the river banks to witness the anticipated event. The third and final […]
Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryl-Lynn Vidal dropped an inadvertent bombshell last week, in the form of a memo to the National Crimes Investigation Branch. In that memo Vidal quotes from a report by Police investigator A.S.P. Julio Valdez. Valdez makes the shocking revelation that he found discrepancies in the Immigration Department during his investigation, but […]
The national budget for the 2014 fiscal year will be presented in the House of Representatives this Friday, where Prime Minister Barrow is expected to formally announce that the unions, after prolonged negotiations with government, will be receiving a salary adjustment of five percent, along with an increment of two and a half percent, respectively. […]
We reported on Thursday night that we have a dossier of the immigration scandal, as it relates to the issuance of a passport to Won Hong Kim in September 2013. The documents are voluminous and telling and we will walk you through some of the irregularities we picked out during perusal of the documents. We […]
We’ve presented to you the judicial review hearing in a nutshell, but there was much more of interest coming out of today’s proceedings. Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie was missing in action after being given seven days to answer a letter asking him to investigate Elvin Penner. He refused all calls for interviews with the […]
The Commissioner of Police decided that there would be no criminal investigation of Elvin Penner. That’s what the Court was told today by his attorney. But, did Whylie make that decision all on his own or did he receive instructions from his political bosses? If he did so, then it suggests that he might also […]
The Sister Cecilia Home is a place for seenagers and has among its numbers retired public servants, world war veterans and elderly naturalized Belizeans. But it is rare that these persons are taken outside the confines of the home for a full day of activities. Well today, the newly renovated B.T.L. Park was the venue […]
Belize has so far done exceedingly well in the Arnold Classic Bodybuilding Tournament. On Tuesday, Mister Belize, Rigo Vellos, and Miss Belize Fitness, Cricel Castillo, traveled to Columbus, Ohio to compete in the prestigious Arnold Classic Bodybuilding Tournament at the Arnold Sports festival. The event is from the twenty-seventh of February to the second of […]
It is almost six months since former Minister of State with responsibility for Immigration Elvin Penner was removed from Cabinet for his role in the illegal issuance of a passport to South Korean fugitive sitting in a Taiwanese jail. There have been allegations of multiple investigations, but a scarcity of any information. And what information […]
The memo from the D.P.P. queries whether the police intends to proceed with an investigation to determine if anyone can be charged for immigration irregularities. News Five has also obtained a comprehensive dossier on two separate internal investigations that were conducted on the immigration scandal that continue to hold the attention of the nation since […]
Shortly after receiving a copy of that damning memo, News Five contacted D.P.P. Cheryl Lynn-Vidal for comment. She was livid about the leak and had absolutely nothing to say about the memo. But she did say that if somebody in the Police Department would see it fit to leak a document which is plainly marked […]
Teachers and public officers will get a salary adjustment in July, retroactive to April. The increase has been the subject of heated discussion and intense negotiations, but it appears, at least as far as verbal commitment is concerned, to be set in stone. The quantum has been the unknown factor and as the numbers continue […]
Prime Minister Barrow has stated that they are locked into the commitment, so even if revenues decrease next year, G.O.B. will still have to shin up. The next big issue on the agenda is the GDP. The Statistical Institute of Belize announced on Wednesday that GDP growth for 2013 was zero point seven percent, much […]
This Friday, Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin will hear an application by the People’s United Party’s Leader Francis Fonseca on why Elvin Penner should be investigated by the Commissioner of Police for his role in the passport issued to Won Hong Kim. That aside, COLA today brought its own pressure to bear. The firebrand organization held […]
Lord Neil Benjamin Gibson, Minister of Trade and Investment Erwin Contreras and novice U.D.P. politician Ralph Huang…those three names have dominated social media in recent weeks, intensifying after Huang was elected U.D.P. Standard Bearer in Cayo South. By all accounts, at least on the internet, Gibson is a fraud posing as a big time investor. […]
As is traditional whenever Prime Minister Dean Barrow makes an appearance, he was bombarded with any number of issues. But his presence at the Radisson today was actually so he could make a very important announcement – one which will no doubt be welcomed by city residents, even if it gets frowns from other municipalities […]
Tourism statistics for 2013 are out and the Belize Tourism Board is boasting a significant increase in the number of overnight and cruise arrivals. There were a total of two hundred and twenty-three thousand, five hundred and ten visitors who disembarked at the Phillip Goldson International Airport last year, with almost twenty-nine thousand arriving in […]
There is currently civil unrest which has resulted in numerous casualties in Venezuela, as troops mass to quell anti-government protests. Normally, while that would be cause for interest and commiseration it wouldn’t enter the realm of serious concern locally. But there is, not least because the entire infrastructure works being carried out today are being […]
The People’s United Party wants former Minister of State Elvin Penner to be held criminally liable for his role in the Won Hong Kim passport scandal. Just as vehemently, the United Democratic Party has shielded Penner from any criminal scrutiny. The P.U.P. tried the recall petition, and that was blocked by the Elections and Boundaries […]
The P.U.P. chose this less travelled route of seeking a writ of Mandamus because the party has maintained that it has exhausted all other options, legal and political. But is there another option? At a press conference last week Prime Minister Dean Barrow scoffed at the P.U.P. plan to seek judicial review, saying their case […]
Traffic fatalities are inevitably a part of the annual mortality rate every year. Casualties of road traffic accidents often perish as a result of speeding or drunk driving. While there was a twenty percent reduction in 2013, a total of fifty-one persons died on the country’s highways. The month of December, in two consecutive years, […]
Last Friday, the Golden Princess Casino located at the Northern border closed its doors. The news was immediate cause for concern, particularly so because reports were that as many as one hundred and thirty Belizeans had been laid off. Today, News Five has gotten confirmation on the actual figures, which are not as high as […]
The Federation of Cruise Tourism Associations of Belize, FECTAB, held a press briefing this morning to discuss details of a longstanding rift between executive member Yhony Rosado and rival tour operator Vitalino Reyes, among other pressing issues within the industry. On Monday, Rosado told News Five that he is being discriminated against by the Belize […]
Among other issues discussed were FECTAB’s perennial gripe with Chukka and the Memorial Park as part of the Fort Street Tourism Zone. David Almendarez, an executive of the organization, brought into sharp focus what seems to be an underutilization of the park, despite the massive investment that went into its renovation. David Almendarez, Tour […]
