According to the Prime Minister, today was a good day in terms of his back problems, but there are increasingly fewer of them. With his main goal of this term – a renegotiated Superbond – off the table, he admits there are few other things left to accomplish, canning corruption among them. So he is […]
In December, the seven-member Integrity Commission was appointed in Belmopan. Barely a few months into their tenure, they have decided that a clean slate is needed in respect of financial disclosures for the period when the Commission was not in place. After originally demanding the disclosures for the five years preceding 2016, the Commission appears […]
Outside the House, the Prime Minister refused to take blame for the delay in the appointment of the Commission, repeating that circumstances in that appointment were beyond his control. He was referring to the risk of politically exposed persons, or PEPs, refusing to take up seats on the Commission and open themselves to strict scrutiny […]
Embattled lower court judge Norman Rodriguez is at home tonight on half-pay, following a decision by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission to interdict him. The announcement comes on the heels of his arraignment on Wednesday morning, after being charged in Belize City for a rape that allegedly occurred in Dangriga on April eleventh. The […]
Former Cayo Northeast area representative and Minister of State of Immigration and Nationality, Elvin Penner, resurfaced in Belmopan this week attending the Senate Special Select Committee’s public hearings as a witness. We have extensively covered his testimony, but part of it seems to give his former colleagues in Cabinet pause. Penner told the Inquiry that […]
For the sixth consecutive meeting of the House of Representatives dating back to his resignation as Minister of Agriculture and formerly National Resources, Orange Walk North area representative Gaspar Vega was absent. Indeed, he has not spoken publicly since the Government decided to bring a claim against his son Andre and attorney Sharon Pitts to […]
Around twenty-one million Belize dollars was paid out to settle the final costs of the re-arrangement of the Superbond Three point O, which took about five months to negotiate. The figure was announced by Prime Minister Dean Barrow in an official statement during today’s meeting of the House of Representatives. It was in response to […]
Last August, an independent investigative report commissioned by the Organization of American States cleared members of the Belize Defence Force who were part of a patrol in the Cebada area of the Chiquibul that encountered several Guatemalan nationals engaged in illegal activity. The resulting fire fight led to the death of Guatemalan minor Julio Rene […]
Premium fuel has gone above eleven dollars for the first time in several years but there is no change in the price of regular gasoline and a slight reprieve for diesel fuel. Fuel was one means of the Government acquiring revenue in the recently passed Budget, but according to Prime Minister Dean Barrow, the increases […]
Acclaimed Belizean-American journalist Kendis Gibson, an Emmy Award winning reporter and anchor for ABC, is visiting the Jewel for the first time in over ten years. Gibson’s jaunt is equal parts vacation and work, as his stay is also being documented for a feature to be aired at a later date on ABC News. He […]
Social Security Board employees staged another walk-out this afternoon. Around three o’clock, employees started to exit the offices individually and some thirty minutes later the building was almost empty. In a release issue later this afternoon, the S.S.B. noted that the trade dispute arises out of the fact that the S.S.B. and the CWU have […]
Inside the House, the Government introduced amendments to the Customs and Excise Duty; General Sales Tax; and Stamp Duties Acts to give effect to concessions promised to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry; amendment to the Trade Licensing Act to regularize its structure, and a new Economic Development Council bill to cement the partnership between […]
Two families are without a roof over their head tonight after a fire destroyed their home. The families lost most of their belongings and nothing was insured. As many as ten people lived in the duplex style home off Lightburn Alley in an area behind Dario’s. Fire fighters were able to put out the blaze […]
On Wednesday of this week, a court in the U.S. made a ruling that appears to uphold a lower court’s jurisdiction in the GDG Acquisitions LLC versus Government of Belize case. GDG, subsidiary of Glenn D. Godfrey’s group of companies, is suing the government for twenty-two million U.S. dollars in respect to enforcement of a […]
We have been reporting on the problems in the Corozal Free Zone, where C.E.O. Valentino Blanco has been suspended on the order of the Board of Directors. After about a month and a half on the job, accusations of nepotism and high-handed behaviour by Blanco and his political benefactor, Corozal Southwest area representative Doctor Angel […]
This week is Nurses Appreciation Week and the Nursing Association and Nurses and Midwives Council of Belize have held various activities to honor the largest and most unsung portion of the health community. The selected theme is “Nurses Take the Lead in Helping to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” a nod to the work of […]
Traditionally, the second Sunday in the month of May is celebrated across the world as Mother’s Day. It’s a time where we recognize mothers for their love and dedication to family. This Sunday, celebrations will be held in various forms to honor those very special persons. So we took to the streets where residents sent […]
Norman Rodriguez, the magistrate who was charged with rape on Wednesday, kept away from the courtroom today. The allegation against him is made by an ex-girlfriend who has given her version of events that took place at his house near the Alejo Beni Park while he was the sitting magistrate in Dangriga. Rodriguez has hired […]
The Governments of Mexico and Belize have mutually agreed to a temporary ban on vehicles and motorcycles crossing the old border bridge of Subteniente Lopez, restricting traffic to pedestrians only. According to reports confirmed by Belizean sources, merchants of the Commercial Free Zone have complained about smugglers flouting the customary limit on transferring goods over […]
There will be a Special Sitting of the House of Representatives on Friday. It is the first meeting of the lower chamber since the budget debate in March. In many quarters, the guessing game is that Prime Minister Dean Barrow may be making an announcement following his comments at the Chamber of Commerce annual general […]
Nineteen-year-old Saul Pech was stabbed and killed on the balcony of his apartment in Chetumal around two a.m. Mexican time a week ago today. The man accused of his killing, his cousin Romario Pech, was as close to him as a brother and they were mates in a rock band. Mexican authorities have apparently decided […]
We continue our coverage of the Senate Special Select Committee’s public hearings. On Wednesday, former Minister of State for Immigration and Nationality, Elvin Penner, visited and sat for more than five hours of testimony. Penner started off on a bad foot by ruling out speaking in depth about the Won Hong Kim scandal that cost […]
Who accompanied Elvin Penner to Taiwan and China to meet with Won Hong Kim? And what were they discussing? These are some of the questions that were put to the former Minister of State on Wednesday, though he did his best not to try to answer because of his claims of self-incrimination and double legal […]
But Penner started to clam up again when Senator Courtenay tried to make the connection between the ex-Minister of State’s ‘business vacation’ in Mainland China and Kim’s data showing up in Belize seeking passport and nationality. He would only say that the Mainland China meeting happened after becoming Minister of State – but avoided any […]
Witnesses from the Immigration Department who have testified at the public hearings have spoken of ‘sponsors’ for Asian visas. People would ask these persons to write on their behalf to the Department for a ‘super-recommendation’ often on grounds of investment in Belize. There are examples provided in the Audit Report. Earlier, former Minister of State […]
