The man in the visa hot-seat, Minister of State Edmund Castro, continues to dodge the media at every turn. Apart from a lengthy press release in which he remembers recommending five visas for Chinese nations, he has been a slippery fellow. Today, Castro’s attorney, Rodwell Williams, filed a lawsuit against Great Belize Production, but as […]
It has now been forty days since the Wonhong Kim passport scandal highlighted the corruption in the Immigration Department. The matter is of national and even international importance, but while there has been no scarcity of rhetoric, there has been a scarcity of concrete, factual information. It is not even clear if the investigation is […]
On Tuesday, shocking surveillance footage of a police shakedown involving a university student surfaced in the media, following several attempts by the family of the young man to settle the matter quietly. Well, this morning Tyrell Hyde returned to News Five to further vent his frustration with the lackadaisical manner in which the police department […]
Tyrell Hyde is unhappy with the Police response to his complaint. He has presented video evidence which shows the officers involved. He even has witnesses who will corroborate his story. And still the Police seem to be dragging their feet. That’s how Tyrell feels, and it’s probably justified, since aside from his rights being abused […]
On Saturday, Cemetery Lane in Belize City resembled a war zone as armed Police Officers and B.D.F. soldiers galvanized into action. It wasn’t another Operation Jaguar or Operation Restore Belize. Actually it could be called Operation Save Gacho Stand. The law enforcement officers had been dispatched to ensure that a fast-food shack was placed on […]
There are new developments in the immigration department corruption scandal tonight. First, News Five has been able to confirm that at least six public officers from that department have been summarily transferred, effective immediately. That’s just what we know for sure, but inside information to us suggests that there is a sweep underway which will […]
Acting Director of Immigration, Maria Marin, is the person who called for the suspension of three passport department staffers early in the administrative investigation. Sharon Neal-Flowers was the head of the passport section in Belmopan. She and two data entry clerks, Omar Phillips and Erwin Robinson were put on suspension just days after the Wonhong […]
This afternoon at two-thirty, senior officials of the Ministry of Immigration met with members of the National Trade Union Congress of Belize and social partners. The meeting was held in Belmopan at the brand new government office of Minister Godwin Hulse. News Five didn’t get to speak to Minister Hulse while we were there, and […]
At the last full meeting of the Senate, Opposition Senator Lisa Shoman made clear her intent to bring a motion requesting a Senate Inquiry into the Immigration scandal. Since then a notice of motion was drafted and discussed with social partners before it was handed in to the Clerk of the National Assembly on Monday. […]
The Belize City Council has not paid Belize Maintenance Limited for sixteen weeks. BML is responsible for a large portion of the city’s cleaning needs…from the pruning of trees and cutting of grass to the maintenance of drains and recovery of litter and debris. The City pays seventy-eight thousand dollars a week for those services, […]
The Christian Workers Union, following a meeting of the National Trade Union Congress of Belize on Monday, has been expelled from the umbrella organization. The dismissal was formalized as a result of poor attendance of a congress which was held on Saturday. That unauthorized meeting saw a turnout of ninety-nine members, mostly stevedores, who were […]
The needs and rights of persons with disabilities are often overlooked in favor of others who are considered physically capable. The government has agreed to take every possible action so that children with diverse abilities can enjoy all human rights and freedoms equally with other children. This is in accordance with the United Nations Convention […]
On Saturday, Minister of State Edmund Castro entered the country. He was in Miami on government business when he became the subject of serious allegations of corruption. Castro is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars to facilitate and fast-track the processing of Belizean visas for Chinese nationals. The informant who came forward last […]
Castro dodged the media Saturday, but he won’t be able to dodge the very serious allegation made against him. The informant, who Castro has identified as Alvarine Burgess, has now filed an affidavit at the Ombudsman’s office in Belize City. In the affidavit, Burgess discloses specifics of her meetings with Castro, during which she claims […]
Castro’s only comments came via press release today following an emergency U.D.P. meeting. According to the release, Castro makes clear that the allegation was a lie. He was never engaged in any visa ring, and never collected a penny from the woman now turned self-proclaimed whistle-blower. When contacted early last week Thursday, Castro said, “I […]
Still on the immigration matters….Following up on notice from the floor of the Senate on October seventeenth, the Opposition Senator, Liza Shoman will be moving a motion at the next sitting of the senate calling for the appointment of a Special Select Committee of the Senate. At the time, irregularities were disclosed in the issuance […]
While Castro bunkers down in the face of very compelling, firsthand information against him, there are other visa irregularities coming to light. Tonight, twenty-two Indian nationals are incarcerated after they were rounded up by immigration authorities on suspicious of visa fraud. Five of those persons were found without any documents, while sixteen were found in […]
On Saturday, tensions escalated on Cemetery Lane in Belize City because of a dispute over one tiny parcel of land. On one side of the dispute is prominent attorney Rodwell Williams. On the other is the Young family, who has lived on the plot of land for more than a century, since Belize was British […]
As we mentioned earlier in the newscast, on Saturday Police gave an undertaking that they would not act until a meeting with Rodwell Williams and the Young family is convened. The bone of contention is a small piece of land on the family property on Cemetery Lane. Williams claims to own the property, and he […]
The anticipated congress of the Christian Workers Union proceeded on Saturday morning at Birds Isle. Tensions were bubbling for weeks because of a call for action from the stevedores while long time President Antonio Gonzalez and Secretary General James McFoy were of a different mind. In the backdrop was a threat of expulsion from the […]
The perennial issue of the cost of garbage collection in Belize City, the result of seemingly exorbitant contracts signed with sanitation companies years ago, is one which continues to plague successive city councils. Despite all efforts to clean up and rejuvenate the Old Capital, City Hall, under the leadership of Mayor Darrell Bradley, remains in […]
The countdown for the official launch of the newly renovated BTL Park has commenced and, to mark the occasion, Mayor Darrell Bradley was on hand to erect a sign notifying the public of the grand re-opening. After weeks of diligent labor to uplift the recreational space, anticipation is building up for the December seventh launch. […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow finds himself in a conundrum tonight having returned to the country to face another major accusation of corruption in his administration. We will have what happened on his return coming up. But first, the claims against Minister of State Edmund Castro are now official and have been taken up to another […]
Edmund “Clear the Land” Castro now shares the corruption spotlight with Elvin Penner, his comrade in the immigration shenanigans. Penner came back into the country from Guatemala on Sunday. He has been asked to resign from the U.D.P., but all indications are that he has not made up his mind. Today, News Five contacted Penner, […]
Plans to convene a general congress by the membership of the embattled Christian Workers Union remain in motion, despite strong dissuasion from the organization’s executive committee. On Thursday, President Antonio Gonzalez and General Secretary James McFoy went on record to discourage attendance of what they have described as an unauthorized meeting. That congress, as agreed […]
