Tonight, Youth Apprenticeship Program Coordinator and Mediator, Dianne Finnegan is lashing out at the recently installed Regional Commander of Eastern Division South, Marco Vidal. On Wednesday, the Senior Superintendent told the press that his priority is policing the streets of the city and not engaging in mediation with gangs, in reference to his predecessor, Assistant […]
According to Finnegan, millions of dollars have been invested into organizations and institutions that work with at risk youths and gang members to curb criminal activities, with no success. Finnegan says that if organizations, such as the Conscious Youth Development Program, were doing their job, there wouldn’t be a need for independent mediation. Dianne […]
Two years after the start of construction, the Belize City Center is about to be completed. The multipurpose facility is state-of-the-art and can accommodate up to four thousand spectators. It is designed by brothers Daniel and Carlo Arguelles of International Environments. But how much is being spent on the complex? I.E. representative Daniel says they […]
Before his investigation into Arthur Saldivar’s missing files expanded to look at their contents, former deputy of National Crimes Investigation Branch Julio Valdez was tasked with finding out how they were removed under the eyes of Immigration officials and who couriered them to Saldivar. The attorney wasn’t talking then, but simple observation found that there […]
A few weeks ago, Immigration officer Ady Pacheco came to the Senate Special Select Committee and extensively detailed her work therein, including acting as a counter-clerk receiving applications for nationality, passports and visas, particularly from Ministers of Government or their hangers-on. As Retired Superintendent of Police Julio Valdez observed, the Department seemed nonchalant about happenings […]
Persuaded by the arguments of then-People’s United Party leader Francis Fonseca, Chief Justice of Belize Kenneth Benjamin ordered Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie by a writ of mandamus to criminally investigate the Won Hong Kim passport scandal and the man at its center, former Minister of State Elvin Penner. His prior refusal to investigate, the […]
The implication raised by ex-Superintendent Julio Valdez during his testimony on Wednesday was that someone above him suggested that he direct his energy to investigating strictly how Arthur Saldivar’s purloined files went missing from the Immigration Department and not what was in them – as Valdez put it, ignoring a murder at a burglary scene. […]
Will a twenty-two million dollar investment in the Tower Hill sugar mill proceed? American Sugar Refining/Belize Sugar Industries Limited and the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association are butting heads over some amendments to the current commercial agreement. B.S.I. wants to “amend the 2015 cane purchase agreement to remove the opt-out clause allowing either side to […]
Last month we told you about the proposed new route for the annual Carnival Road March in September. In some quarters, the proposed route was not well-received. There were issues of congestion and blockage of key traffic points and these were submitted to the National September Celebrations Commission. Today, members of the commission went to […]
The UWI Arts Chorale, the premier choral ensemble of the University of the West Indies Saint Augustine Campus, and the UWI Arts Steel, the premier steel band ensemble, are on a concert tour called “Joyful Two” in Belize. It is a unique pairing of one of the world’s oldest types of ensembles, choir, with the […]
Organizations working with and on behalf of older persons are tackling what can be a very touchy subject for families: preparing for the end of life and final distribution of assets of the deceased among his surviving family. It’s no guarantee that if you weren’t close to Mom and Dad before they passed that they […]
Columbus Central University School of Medicine and the Ministry of Education have issued desultory responses to Citizens Organized for Liberty through Action’s public stunt in front of the Airport Road compound of the medical school. While the university has changed its name, it appears the same man, Doctor Malik Soudah, is in charge. He remains […]
World Zoonosis Day is commemorated on the sixth of July each year. Pet owners and farmers may not often think about the myriad of transferrable diseases between animals to humans; but, there have been major health scares locally and internationally with diseases like rabies, avian flu and even Ebola – all of which have animal […]
In 2014, Retired Superintendent of Police Julio Valdez, then-deputy of National Crimes Investigation Branch, wrote the Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl-Lynn Vidal, concerning his investigation into a trove of files removed from the Immigration Department in October of 2013, at the height of the Elvin Penner scandal. Those files were retrieved from attorney-at-law Arthur Saldivar […]
The former senior cop stated that this branch of the investigation came about after his colleagues in Belize City spoke with Saldivar and retrieved the files. But when he attempted to access the original files at the Department, Valdez told the Committee, he was denied because an internal Immigration audit was underway and what became […]
The only man above Valdez, indeed above all officers in the Police Department, is Commissioner Allen Whylie. Appointed in 2013, he was previously C.E.O. in the Ministry of National Security, and later Defence and Immigration when it was split between 2010 and 2012. Appearing this afternoon, he was confronted with Valdez’s testimony and staunchly maintained […]
The Commissioner blames ‘media spin’ for the misunderstanding and what he says is his subsequent decision to withdraw from any administrative handling of either the ‘missing files’ case or the Won Hong Kim case. But at the end of the day, he conceded that even he does not know how the former case turned out […]
But what was among that list of files handed over? Valdez read a fairly long list of nationality files and accompanying documents for some familiar names such as Yiu-Pang Chen and Quoc Vinh Truong who would show up in the Audit Report. What he noticed from his long experience as a cop, including stints commanding […]
Speaking of background checks, were the Police Department or Ministry of Immigration consulted about the Cabinet’s decision to stop Special Branch police from carrying out the standard background checks on applicants for nationality? Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie indicated that he was not even sure if the check was a legal requirement or merely an […]
The Senate hearing continued into this afternoon where the Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie gave testimony. The other major investigation to be carried out by the Police Department was in relation to Won Hong Kim. Auditor General Dorothy Bradley is on record as asking for police investigation into the irregularities that caused the fugitive businessman […]
Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie has been seen to be dragging his feet on investigating the allegations within the Auditor General’s Report. He recently stated that he would wait on instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions and the conclusion of the Senate Inquiry, even though he conceded that he doesn’t have to. But according […]
Courts Dare to Dream Scholarship program kicked into gear today for eight students from across the country. They received four-year scholarships to high schools which the company says is part of their corporate responsibility to give back to the community. News Five’s Duane Moody reports. Duane Moody, Reporting Do you want to be a […]
The Meso-American Reef Leadership Program is an initiative that promotes leadership towards the conservation of the reef which is shared by Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. Annually, the program brings together a cohort of conservationists and field professionals in the areas of tourism and the environment to look at projects currently in place to tackle […]
This afternoon, Belize City police took to the streets to acquaint themselves with residents of the Port Loyola, Driftwood Bay and Palm Grove communities. The weekly meet and greet took place earlier today and News Five caught up with a team of officers led by Eastern Division South Commander Marco Vidal in the vicinity of […]
Life will become easier for the residents of May Pen, Belize District. After a decade of waiting, they finally got their wish. The community will now be able to travel to other villages through a sturdy new bridge that was opened this morning. It is welcome news for students, who have had to walk bare […]
