City Administrator Candice Miller continues to serve a month-long suspension from managerial duties at City Hall. Miller was temporarily removed from office following disclosure that former city council employee Joe Bradley had racked up a tab of roughly six thousand dollars at a nearby Chinese restaurant. While Mayor Bernard Wagner has stated categorically that his […]
Leader of the Opposition John Briceño has also weighed in on the City Hall fiasco, chiding former Mayor Darrell Bradley for granting Miller a four-year contract extension, months prior to the recent municipal elections. But is Miller coming back to city hall? There is a report that the suspension may lead to termination. Briceño says […]
On April ninth, a U.S. Narcotics reports listed Belize as one of twenty-two major drug transit countries. The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report of the U.S. State Department designated Belize, saying, “Belize’s drug control efforts are hampered by the same challenges faced by the rest of the country’s security sector – corruption, insufficient investigative capacity, […]
During the budget debate at the end of March, Prime Minister Dean Barrow called out Opposition Leader John Briceño accusing him of dubiously amassing huge acreages of land in the Orange Walk and Corozal districts during the P.U.P. era of government. PM Barrow went on to list the acquisition of properties in areas, including Progresso, […]
Briceño vehemently defended the lawful purchase of the properties, despite the fire sale prices at which they were bought. John Briceño, Party Leader, P.U.P. “Those are lands that we bought from individuals in Progresso. You know when you buy a lease, it was abandoned cane lands and we bought those leases from the Lino […]
During our coverage of the referendum in Guatemala, you’ve heard a number of voices weigh in on Guatemala’s “Yes” vote to go to the ICJ on the Belize-Guatemala territorial dispute. Today, Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte was asked for his view on the matter. While he said he wouldn’t comment directly on the Guatemalan results, he […]
The People’s United Party is yet to take a definitive position on the referendum issue and whether the territorial claim Guatemala has had over Belize should be taken to the ICJ for resolution. While he stopped short of speaking on behalf of the party, Briceño offered his personal view as he did last week in […]
Doctor Candice Pitts won handsomely on March seventh and became one of ten P.U.P. councilors to be seated at City Hall. During the campaign, Pitts told her story of going from selling Johnny Cakes as a child growing up in Port Loyola to educating herself and aspiring for public office. But are her political ambitions […]
This afternoon at City Hall, the Belize City Council bestowed the key to the Old Capital upon the President of the Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions. It is a particularly unusual conferral since that presentation is often reserved for mayors and other city officials in sister city relationships. Today, members of the confederation, as well […]
When we caught up with the Attorney General, he also gave us an update on the United Nations Convention Against Corruption that was at the center of the 2016 strikes by the Belize National Teachers Union. If you’ll recall, a scheduled visit of the team of experts supervising Belize’s road to implementing the United Nations […]
In his interview with the media today, the Attorney General also commented on the recent efforts to tackle crime including the crime bills and the emergency zones. As it relates to implementing the emergency areas – that is on hold for now. The AG says that the government has seen how policing efforts are working […]
Three law enforcement officers were recognized for good work today. The trio is assigned to the Mahogany Heights Police Sub-Station and was successful in apprehending a robber who stole twenty-four-thousand dollars. They received a certificate each from the department and a token of appreciation from Muy’Ono, a management company that works with several big name […]
A two day law-making conference opened today in Belize City. The event was organized through the Office of the Attorney General to help build capacity within government ministries. Michael Peyrefitte explained that his office is swamped with drafting policies and the workshop will improve the skills and knowledge of policy makers. The forum is being […]
Last week a Belizean contingent attended the Eighth Summit of the Americas in Peru. Foreign Affairs Minister Wilfred Elrington, Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte and Belize’s Ambassador to the U.S. and O.A.S. Daniel Gutierrez represented Belize. Today, the A.G. told us about the discussions at the summit and the focus on democratic governance against corruption. […]
Miguel Diaz-Canel was officially named as the new President of Cuba today, one day after a secret vote in that country’s National Assembly. Diaz-Canel, who turns fifty-eight on Friday, has been in the government for thirty years and was selected by a vote of six hundred and three to one to replace Fidel Castro’s younger […]
On April seventeenth, the team consisting of Jamal Galvez from Sea to Shore Alliance, a Port Officer and OCEANA personnel, was on routine patrol monitoring no wake zones along the Belize City coast and the Belize River. The patrol is conducted through partnership with the MARFund project to ensure that boaters are compliant with the […]
In 2017, forty manatees were killed along the Belize City coastline and the mouth of the Belize River due to watercraft collisions. Statistics show that there are already twenty dead so far this year, which is cause for concern. Galvez says that it is not uncommon for the manatees to travel further up the Belize […]
Their welcome home was not a big deal, but the Under-fifteen Boys National Basketball Team has every reason to be proud. Beating the odds, the team came back with bronze medals from the COCABA Championship held in El Salvador from the eleventh to fifteenth April. The team placed third and two players got special recognition for […]
Guatemala’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on Monday further discussed her country’s participation in Sunday’s referendum. As has been widely noted, about twenty-seven percent of the population voted in the referendum of which a super-majority said yes. But with Belize’s referendum act requiring a simple majority turnout – something Guatemala is said to have pushed for […]
Senior attorney Lisa Shoman, who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under Said Musa’s administration and has been an ambassador to the United States and permanent representative to the Organization of American States, as well as put in valuable time on Belize’s diplomatic team attending to the Guatemalan claim, has a different view to […]
City Administrator Candice Miller, we understand, is preparing to file suit against the Belize City Council, challenging her suspension from her duties. Miller was sent home on April fifth on a month’s suspension after being accused of dereliction of fiduciary duty. An ongoing investigation turned up transactions considered questionable, including a bill for food and […]
The Miss Universe Organization is searching for the next Belizean beauty ambassador to participate in the 2018 Miss Universe Pageant. A team from the U.S., dubbed Miss Universe Belize Organization, has been in Belize since the beginning of the week and on Friday and Saturday will be carrying out auditions for young Belizean women between […]
It is well known that the pageant has been mired in scandals. It took almost a decade before the ban was lifted from Belize, allowing a delegate in the international competition. In 2016, southern belle Rebecca Rath was crowned Miss Belize and competed in the January 2017 Miss Universe Pageant in Manila, Philippines. But even […]
It’s been four days since twenty-six-year-old Christian Charles was knocked down and left for dead near the Burrell Boom Bridge in rural Belize District. Swanka, as he is affectionately known, is still in a critical condition inside the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital clinging to life following the hit and run incident which occurred sometime between […]
Exactly what does Guatemala claim of Belize? We’ve all heard the differing stories – the whole of Belize’s eight thousand plus square miles of territory; or only that portion south of the Sibun River which includes most of Cayo, Stann Creek and Toledo Districts, covering twelve thousand square kilometers. The figures alone sound scary, but […]
