Turning to the scandal that won’t go away…Rafael Alexander Vasquez Sanchez Medina, or whatever his real name is, is a Salvadoran national who was given nationality in one day, on September nineteenth, 2013, on the same day the scandal broke on the passport issued to South Korean national, Wonhong Kim. Sanchez Medina’s nationality certificate was […]
While a number of procedural changes have been implemented by the Immigration Department in light of the recent passport and visa scandals, an update on subsequent investigations, led by the Financial Intelligence Unit, the police department and the Ministry of Immigration, has not been forthcoming. In fact, there hasn’t been much said by government about […]
A resident of San Ignacio went missing since last Friday but tonight his family has put him to rest. John Albert Tillett was last seen alive at a restaurant on the town but on Wednesday his body was retrieved from the river at Santa Familia. It is not confirmed how Tillett ended in the river, […]
In 2007, the Providence Energy Group was awarded a five hundred and thirty-one square mile concession area for oil exploration and production rights in southern Belize. The drilling rights cover both on and offshore blocks near the Gulf of Honduras, from Punta Gorda to New Haven, as well as the southeast of Glovers Reef. The […]
The process for offshore exploration, says Cho, involves the use of sound being bounced off the seafloor. The information gathered will then be used to determine if there is a deposit below the surface. Andre Cho, Director of Petroleum “The seismic in the offshore will be done using normal seismic procedures and techniques for […]
Police officers are sworn to protect and serve. The men and women of the department are known to keep a straight face in the execution of their respective duties. But, this Saturday it will be all laughs, as they take to the stage at the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts to entertain the public. […]
Today was a day for spreading Christmas cheer and for saying thanks, and Precinct two on Mahogany Street is no slouch when it comes to showing appreciation. That precinct, led by veteran Police Officer Brent Hamilton has been credited for a decrease in crime in the area, and significant success at community outreach. And for […]
While the police was spreading cheer today, the year 2013 is ending with a bang for the Belize Defense Force. According to the C.E.O. of National Security, there will be many changes and upgrades in 2014 for the force. One in particular was good news for the soldiers. Retired Colonel George Lovell used the event […]
Today, the Senate met in Belmopan to discuss three pieces of legislation which passed through the House last week. The Immigration Amendment Bill, the Belizean Nationality Amendment Bill and the Passport Amendment Bill are designed to close doors of opportunity for lucrative corruption in the Immigration Department. We’ll have those highlights from what was a […]
But what about all those Ministers who sent in lists of Chinese nationals to be processed each week…like Minister of State Edmond Castro who sent in forty in just over a month? And former Minister of State Elvin Penner who recommended forty eight in the same period? And Minister of Police John Saldivar who sent […]
Minister of Immigration Godwin Hulse also spoke on the latest Immigration scandal in which a Salvadoran national received his Belizean nationality certificate in one day. Rafael Vasquez-Medina claims that he paid five hundred dollars to an agent who got him his nationality in a week using fake documents. He received nationality by descent because those […]
When we caught up with the Minister of Immigration today, he also provided some comment, though little information, on the alleged current investigations into corruption at the Immigration Department. He says that the Auditor-General has the mechanism in place to do a thorough investigation, something that his Ministry cannot do. But there has been some […]
The hot topics were those discussed by Godwin Hulse, but this afternoon Opposition Senator Lisa Shoman got hot under the collar and walked out. She did so after the second reading and debate on the Immigration bills, when the Committee of the Whole met to minutely scrutinize the amendments before final reading and passage. Shoman […]
As we told you earlier, the Immigration Amendment Bill, the Belizean Nationality Amendment Bill and the Passport Amendment Bill were taken to the Senate for final readings and passage today. That resulted in over three hours of lively debate in which all senators not on the government side exhorted leader of government business Godwin Hulse […]
A thirty year old Belizean woman fell into the icy Chicago River and died early on Tuesday morning. She is Keisha Garnett who is from originally from San Ignacio but moved to Dallas, Texas. The tragic incident made it on the local television stations and according to an ABC report, Garnett who also goes by […]
The latest statistics provided by the Police Department says that crime has generally gone down when compared to 2012. One district that has recorded only four murders for this year is Corozal—the most recent is the brutal murder of fifty-seven year old Canadian retiree, Lynn Nichiporowich, which occurred on October twenty-eight at her house in […]
We Gat Sonting Fu Seh, that’s the message that resonated today from six young Belizean poets. Some of them you will recognize from our own entertainment shows or parodies, while the others are new faces, and equally as talented. The thread that binds them is the spoken word on just about any issue affecting society. […]
The annual B.D.F. Christmas luncheon took place today at Price Barracks. Brigadier General David Jones was in high spirits; the force has had a good year having received a number of gifts to boost their work. The soldiers were also in a celebratory mood, a number of them were honored for service. Duane Moody was […]
In May of this year, Treaty Belize Energy went full steam ahead with oil drilling operations in the south at San Juan near Independence. That was despite a court ruling declaring that the license to the oil company was null and void. Fighting a public relations nightmare, the company made big and attractive promises to […]
Since announcing a promising oil discovery in June, there has been much talk about oil in the northwest corner of the Orange Walk District. News of the encouraging show was also used by the prime minister as a carrot during negotiations with the unions over a much delayed salary adjustment. But speculation of the favorable […]
In September 2012, there was an upheaval in the Immigration Department after it was discovered that a Lebanese-American, allegedly with ties to Hezbollah, received a Belizean passport in two days. Rafic Labboun used the identity of Wilhelm Dyck, a Mennonite newborn who died decades before. Labboun somehow managed to procure a birth certificate in Dyck’s […]
The National Trade Union Congress of Belize has been agitating for the introduction of the Occupational Safety and Health Bill for quite some time. On Thursday when the bill did not make it to the house, the N.T.U.C.B. made known its discontent. A few days earlier the N.T.U.C.B. declared that it expectantly awaited the introduction […]
Streets and major roads across the country which were already in less than spectacular condition have been gutted by the incessant rains in the past weeks. In rural areas in the Orange Walk critical roads have become impassable, denying access to farms and villages, and in every municipality from north to south pothole infested streets […]
The newly-renovated, quite spiffy looking B.T.L. Park was to have launched on Friday, and the first event to greet that launch would have been City Hall’s annual Christmas event. But the rain which shows no signs of stopping anytime soon has put paid to that idea. Because the works were slowed down, the Park will […]
While City Hall’s street woes inhibit Christmas cheer, there has been an attempt to deal with the sanitation company crisis. In early December, the Council was behind in payments to Belize Waste Control to the tune of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. That’s four months worth of arrears, and BWC was at the point […]
