The Christian youth organization Belize Camping Experience annually raises funds for its programs through a novel means. They recruit rural farmers to plant and nurture crops of corn, rice and in past years, soybeans. At the time of harvest, youths from disadvantaged areas, especially in Belize City, take a day trip to the site and […]
Friday’s revelation that Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie failed a lie detector test apparently administered through U.S. authorities sometime around 2008 has raised eyebrows. Whylie was one of eight senior cops revealed to have shown significant reactions to particular questions, which is taken as evidence of untruthfulness. In his case, Whylie displayed significant reactions to […]
In a candid interview this morning, career police officer Inspector Fitzroy Yearwood exposed the police department for his abrupt transfer earlier this year. Yearwood was performing the duties of Public Officer for years, but back on August tenth, his sudden transfer was made known casually in a whatsapp group between the police and the media, […]
Yearwood is adamant that he did not disseminate false information to the media when he shared details of a police situation report involving the Castro brothers in an altercation in San Pedro a few months ago. According to the inspector, the information was provided to his office by the formation commander who he refers to […]
Amid his own professional differences with the Belize Police Department, the media has found an ally in Inspector Yearwood who stands firmly in our corner when it comes to the ongoing boycott. Yearwood, as a member of the Media Relations Unit for several months, was instrumental in sharing information with the press. While his transfer […]
April twenty-second, 2015, was a historic day for the Maya peoples of the South. In the Supreme Court of Belize, the Caribbean Court of Justice presided over a consent order agreed between the Government of Belize and the Maya Leaders Alliance and Toledo Alcaldes Association, respectively. Among other things, the government agreed to develop a […]
It was made official today: the Guatemalan Congress has approved Sunday, March eighteenth, 2018, as the official date when their referendum on the Belize/Guatemala territorial dispute will be held. President Jimmy Morales, whose administration has taken a tougher stance on the Belize question, and the judges of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal made the announcement earlier […]
Guatemalan vessel ‘AMADOR’ ran aground Belize’s Reef on Saturday night. There were ten occupants on board including Carlos Pena – a well-known Guatemalan artist – who put out an SOS message on Facebook asking for coastguard or police to rescue them. The sixty-foot pleasure yacht captained by Gustavo Aleojos Andres Jansa was in the southern […]
A twenty-one-year-old man says police brutalized him over the weekend. Shirlene Mai of Blackman Eddy says her son, Tray Ara, was picked up by four cops when he was walking home from a party on Saturday night. She says that Tray was with his brother heading from Unitedville to Blackman Eddy but because they have […]
While it may have gone under the radar during the news last week, News Five has confirmed that the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers’ Association and American Sugar Refining/Belize Sugar Industries Limited have signed an agreement on amendments to their commercial agreement. Back on September eighteenth, A.S.R./B.S.I. broke ground for an upgrade to the Tower Hill […]
Is intervention the key to addressing criminal activities and gangs in Belize? The response differs depending on who you are talking to. But can youths and gangsters caught up in the criminal justice system turn away from that lifestyle? The U.S. Embassy in Belize, in partnership with the Bureau of International Information Programs, is embarking […]
Homebody Industries is a nonprofit organization that assists gang members and convicted felons to change their lives to become contributing members of the community through education, healing, tattoo removal and job placement. Also invited to speak at the event today was Dianne Finnegan, Coordinator of the Youth Apprenticeship Program, who says both organizations provide similar […]
In the House of Representatives last Friday, a total of twelve bills were dealt with over the course of the sitting, several of which were held over from the last sitting in August. One was an amendment to the Immigration Act in respect of temporary residency. It seeks to add the C.E.O. in the Ministry […]
Last week Prime Minister Dean Barrow secured a twelve-million U.S. dollar loan from the OPEC Fund for International Development on a visit to Washington, D.C. It’s intended to replace one of Belize’s longest standing bridges, the Haulover Bridge crossing the creek and joining Belize City with Ladyville on the Philip Goldson Highway. In short order, […]
Over fourteen million U.S. dollars will be invested in underprivileged communities in Belize. It was officially announced today at a launch of two projects that are set to improve the lives of the poor. The Government of Belize, through the Social Investment Fund, and the Caribbean Development Bank launched the Basic Needs Trust Fund and […]
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and this is Sports Monday. [Highlights of the weekend sporting activities…]
It was revealed at today’s House of Representatives that in 2008, the U.S. Embassy passed on the results of polygraph or lie detector tests to Belizean authorities for thirty-four senior officers in the Police Department, Coast Guard and Belize Defence Force. It is not clear who authorized or asked for the tests, but a majority […]
Cordel Hyde and Wilfred Elrington went toe-to-toe on the issue of crime and how to stop it in its tracks on the adjournment in the House of Representatives. According to Hyde, the removal of Assistant Commissioner of Police Chester Williams to a desk job in Belmopan in July has seen a spike of murder and […]
Marijuana users can breathe a little easier tonight, as the amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act sailed through the House of Representatives with bipartisan support. Both Leader of the Opposition John Briceño and Freetown area representative Francis Fonseca noted the contrary arguments raised by churches and other moral authorities against marijuana as a “gateway […]
Both the substantive and de facto ministers of police rose in response to further outline what the amendment does and does not do. Possession of marijuana above ten grams remains a crime with the usual penalties, as is cultivation and intending to traffic. Elodio Aragon Junior, the Minister of State, made note of the fact […]
On the crime blotter, activist Albert Cattouse was murdered last week in Belize City. Up to now there have been no arrests but his family is preparing to bid their final goodbyes on Saturday. On Wednesday they heard the Prime Minister provide details on what transpired when Cattouse was shot and killed inside his taxi. […]
An eighty-two year old Belize City man is dead and the circumstances surrounding his death are not clear. There are several reports that eighty-two year old Ricardo ‘Rick’ Vasquez was robbed and beaten sometime on Saturday night. Reports are that he was in a game shop on the corner of Water Lane and West Street […]
The Bar Association and the Belize National Teachers Union are on record saying that Franz Parke does not qualify as a Justice on the Court of Appeal. The opposition has gone further and filed a legal motion against the appointment of Parke, who is already sitting in this session of the Court of Appeal. That […]
Have you seen Mark Pollard? What about Brindis Constantino? Pollard and Constantino are two persons who have gone missing in separate incidents for more than a month. Constantino is a thirteen-year old school girl of Lords Bank who has been missing since September eighth. Her family believes she may be in the Frank’s Eddy area. […]
The bizarre and shocking story of an alleged kidnapping of three school girls in broad daylight has left many with more questions than answers, and it appears that even the police have a hard time putting together the pieces of the story. As we reported on Monday, the incident happened “El Progresso” Community also called […]
