Separate and apart from the allegations made against him by Burgess, reports surfaced that Assistant Superintendent Rochelle Chan had his U.S. visa revoked by authorities. The truth is in somewhat greater detail, according to Chan, and has nothing to do with any Immigration involvement or with this week’s revelations. ASP Rochelle Chan, Denies Involvement […]
The confidential report of the Immigration Department and former acting Director Maria Marin on the David Nanes Schnitzer affair has been obtained by News Five. At the end of this past January, the Mexican-American was captured and deported to Mexico to face fraud charges in the Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme. Nanes had been living in […]
A twelve-year-old boy from a school in the deep south is the national coca cola spelling bee champ. He bested eleven other primary school students to win the title. This is the twenty-third year that Bowen and Bowen is holding the competition and it has become a highlight of the year for many students. The […]
The People’s United Party has called for the removal of Minister of State Edmond Castro, following the revocation of his visa by the U.S. State Department. The Belize Progressive Party called for further investigation of the reason for the recent revocation of Castro’s U.S. visas, which he says were about to expire. The B.P.P. states […]
We also asked Chairman Smith to comment on the May seventeenth showdown between supporters of the Belizeans Against Courtenay movement, particularly House macebearer Brian “Yellow Man” Audinett, and the press, resulting in his being temporarily banned from the proceedings. He now faces sanction from the National Assembly Staff Committee and his own party, the U.D.P. […]
Last week, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington broke the news that Guatemala expects to have its referendum on taking the Belizean claim to the International Court of Justice later this year in November. Belize, meanwhile, continues its own public education campaign. The Guatemala issue has not been as prominent in national affairs while the […]
New judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice, Denys Barrow, was sworn in to great fanfare and approval on Thursday morning in Belize City. He is the first Belizean on the highest court of the land and the highest ranking Belizean jurist internationally. In the afternoon, it was the turn of Justice Barrow’s colleagues in […]
Pastor Louis Wade of Plus TV is awaiting his fate in the San Ignacio Magistrate’s Court after being charged on May nineteenth with common assault and use of insulting words against the son of Minister of Works, Rene Montero, Robert Montero. The two men confronted each other outside the Santa Elena Sporting Complex last November […]
There is another festival this weekend. It’s the Belize International Jazz Festival. For the third year, the festival has been a medium to increase appreciation and love for jazz music. It provides a venue for musicians to get up to speed on jazz techniques as well as to network with other professionals from the region […]
We’re two days into the hurricane season, which the Met Office predicts will be above normal with a total of fourteen named storms. On Wednesday, the City Emergency Management Organization held a pre-hurricane season launch on how to effectively manage emergencies. The conference looked at how prepared the city is for disasters, including hurricanes and […]
At Wednesday’s announcement of the hurricane season, the Met Service also launched their newly redesigned website. The user-friendly website has new features such as the real time display of data from seventeen automatic weather stations. Here’s what you can expect from the website. Catherine Cumberbatch, Chief Met “This website will not only give us […]
The big day arrived for Senior Counsel Denys Barrow, who this morning became the seventh and final member of the Caribbean Court of Justice and will shortly be off to its seat in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. In addition to many years of practice, most recently as the Government’s chief legal eagle, Barrow served separate […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow broke his silence today in respect of a raft of issues plaguing his administration. First, there is the embarrassing cancellation of Edmond Castro’s diplomatic and tourist visas, despite the reasons given by the Minister of Transport and NEMO to downplay its significance. Castro is on record stating that the revocation of […]
In her testimony before the Senate Special Select Committee on Wednesday, whistleblower Alvarene Burgess attested that the U.S. Embassy is in possession of an audio recording in which Castro can be heard transacting immigration business on behalf of government. Could this be the basis on which his visas were revoked? According to PM Barrow, there […]
Judge Barrow’s departure to the seat of the CCJ leaves behind a vacuum, as not only was the venerable attorney government’s chief legal counsel; he is also recognized as its best. But there are pending government cases, including legal matters involving the Ashcroft Group which has given notice that it will be presenting a bill […]
As the PM has openly stated, litigation over the remaining B.T.L. bill will certainly be taken up at the CCJ level, notwithstanding the presumed total that’s left to be paid. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “Without wanting to get too much into it, I repeat that the whole issue of what is fair and what […]
Is the owner of the Belmopan Bandits, Minister of Defense John Saldivar, justified in using coast guard vessels to ferry members of his basketball club to San Pedro on game day? He has issued a statement addressing the use of the gifted resources and Rear Admiral John Borland, Commander of the Belize National Coast Guard, […]
The use of the boats, says the prime minister, isn’t a decision that he would have taken; however, he says that Saldivar will not be using those vessels for future private excursions. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “My own opinion, my own sense of what ought to be done and what ought not be done […]
The conduct of Yellow Man during the May seventeenth meeting of the Senate Special Select Committee has been widely condemned, following verbal threats he made to members of the media at that hearing. His fate as sergeant at arms of the House of Representatives now hangs in the balance, pending a decision by the National […]
Because of his unbecoming behavior, there are loud calls for Yellow Man’s removal since as mace bearer he should be upholding the dignity of the House. Senior Minister Michael Finnegan told News Five that Yellow Man’s actions against the media cannot be condoned. Michael Finnegan, Area Rep., Mesopotamia “What he did in my view […]
Yellow Man will get his day before the National Assembly Staff Committee. They will decide what course of action, if any, will be taken following the Mace-bearer’s behavior at the senate hearings two weeks ago. DPM Patrick Faber says that what happened was unfortunate, and because of Audinett’s role within the National Assembly, appropriate steps […]
Wednesday’s public hearings of the Senate Special Select Committee were dominated by a woman whose name never appeared in the Auditor General’s Special Report on Immigration 2011-2013. But Alvarene Burgess was a fountain of information as to her personal dealings with Ministers of Government on visa recommendations. She started her testimony with a bombshell – […]
While Edmond Castro was Alvarene Burgess’ main contact, on a few occasions, she had to go elsewhere to get recommendations when he was out of the country. Once, she turned to Minister of Trade and Investment Erwin Contreras when she needed a group of Asians recommended for their visas to be approved. On two other […]
Burgess testified that, to her knowledge, no visa for which she obtained a minister’s recommendation was rejected. This buttressed previous testimony that Immigration staff considered a minister’s intervention tantamount to approval from on high and passed on the files without serious consideration of the worthiness of the applicants. Burgess also stated that even after the […]
Reaction to the testimony of Alvarene Burgess has been sharply divided along political lines. The Government’s supporters believe she has no basis for her claims; the Opposition has largely cheered her on. On Wednesday, Opposition Leader John Briceño sat in the gallery and watched it all. He told reporters that he doesn’t think she has […]
