For years, we have been following Tarell Sutherland. He is the young boy who was born with a rare skin condition that is incurable. Despite this prognosis, his family has not given up hope. Earlier today, we checked in with him and found that he has been relapsing. Like so many other families, the Sutherlands […]
Former deputy – and at one point acting – director of the Immigration Department, Maria Marin, was back on the hot seat for the Senate Special Select Committee’s fourth public hearing today in Belmopan. Last week, Marin indicated that she tried to get the ball rolling on an investigation of the alleged misdeeds within the […]
An example of alleged Ministerial overreach in the Department was pointed out by the officer in charge of Nationality, Gordon Wade. In the Audit Report he criticized Maria Marin for knowingly allowing Ministers to personally submit nationality-related applications that were incomplete, on the promise that they would bring what else was needed later on. While […]
Accompanying each section of the Immigration Audit Report is a list of recommendations from the auditors. While quite a few have been mentioned before, the political wherewithal to follow through has largely been absent. And former Director Maria Marin, who has moved to head up the refugee program, had some sharp words for both her […]
A key question that the Senate Special Senate Committee on Immigration is seeking to answer is: despite all the protocols and manuals and meetings and reminders that officers in major positions, such as the Port Commanders in charge of the main points of entry countrywide, got to keep their records and keep in touch with […]
News Five has learnt that at Friday’s‘ sitting of the House of Representatives, party whip and Area Rep for Mesopotamia, Michael Finnegan, will be presenting a motion for the return of Cayo South Area Representative Julius Espat to the lower chamber. That motion will be voted upon and all things going well, Espat will be […]
The Belize Territorial Volunteers and their political allies, the Belize Progressive Party, sent out separate releases condemning Government’s efforts to pass an amendment to the Referendum Act, proposing to reduce the threshold of validity of a referendum from sixty percent of the electorate to fifty percent plus one. The B.P.P. says that this is “demonstrative […]
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear the cases of the Government against Belize Social Development Limited, Caribbean Investment Holdings Limited (formerly BCB Holdings Limited) and Newco Limited, upholding prior judgments by courts in Washington, D.C. The government now owes over a hundred million dollars to these three companies, but says it will […]
The national team departed Belize today for Panama with hopes running high as they embark on the first round of competition in regional games that lead to the Gold Cup. There are new international players to complement the home grown footballers who made the cut on the national team and there is also a new […]
But where is the F.F.B. financially? The team is sporting new jerseys, a new coach and international players are now in the mix. President Marlon Kuylen says that the intent is to advance to the Gold Cup and the jaguars will need monetary support. Marlon Kuylen, President, F.F.B. “Financially, we are always (chuckles)…I keep […]
Wil Maheia, the leader of the Belize Territorial Volunteers, continues to keep close watch on illegal activity at and near the mouth of the Sarstoon River, half of which is considered Belizean territorial waters. For the past few years, the area has seen persistent depletion of resources by Guatemalan fishermen who – with the exception […]
The relationship between the Belize Police Department and the local media has, for the most part, been a mutually beneficial arrangement. We have been able to provide you, our viewers, with firsthand official information on crime-related matters, as well as initiatives undertaken by the law enforcement agency to address these social issues. The past few […]
Firearm offences remain on the rise, as handguns are the weapons of choice for criminals committing various felonies. The proliferation of guns in the streets of Belize City has caused great concern within the Ministry of Home Affairs. Not only has that number increased significantly, but those pistols, more often than not, find themselves in […]
While the department tries to get a handle on the domestic gang infestation, another problem seems to be looming overhead. That is the influx of gang members from neighboring Central American countries, particularly El Salvador where the prison system is overran with feuding criminal organizations. Those individuals, primarily belonging to the MS-Thirteen gang, may be […]
Belize was gifted three command vehicles by the Japanese Government. The official handing over ceremony took place in the City where Minister of NEMO Edmond Castro accepted on behalf of Government. The vehicles will be handed over to three departments who will use them as on-site command centers during emergency situations. News Five’s Andrea Polanco […]
The B.T.B. says that tourism arrivals for 2016 went way up – the highest it has been in twenty years. In release issued today, the B.T.B. says that 2016 has proven to be the most successful year for the overnight sector with almost forty five thousand more visitors when compared to 2015. These numbers translate […]
Jaws caused a spectacle today at the Quality Poultry Products compound on North Front Street in Belize City. The eight-foot croc was transferred from the American Crocodile Education Sanctuary in San Pedro to Belize City via boat before his handlers placed him in the cab of a pickup truck and whisked him off to his […]
There is a thirteenth senator to represent the non-governmental organizations. The historic vote took place this morning resulting in the election of Osmany Salas, the president of the Belize Tourism Industry Association. With significant experience in the N.G.O. sector, Salas glided through two rounds of balloting trouncing the other four aspirants. The thirteenth senator was […]
Former executive director Greg Ch’oc, of the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management, had been tapped as the representative of the N.G.O. community in the House of Senate when the United Democratic Party took office in 2008. While that appointment never materialized, today’s outcome is widely viewed as a milestone in the fight for a […]
Despite the individual objectives of the various N.G.O.s, the idea, says Salas, is for members of the community to unite for a common cause which is sustainable human development. Osmany Salas, Senator Elect “When we say that the work is just beginning it means that we have to get our organizational structures in place, […]
There is a development to report in respect of the judiciary, this time in the Supreme Court, which opens its 2017 session this coming Monday, January sixteenth. Several attorneys tell News Five that one of the stalwart figures of the Court and the Belizean judicial system for many years, Justice John “Troadio” Gonzalez, has quietly […]
Bank of New York Mellon, trustee for Belize’s five hundred and thirty million U.S. dollar “Superbond”, has formally approved and recognized a bondholder committee to talk to the Government of Belize about restructuring the package for the third time in a decade. According to Reuters, Funds including Greylock Capital Management and Grantham Mayo van Otterloo […]
PASA Belize Limited, the operator of the solid waste transfer stations, suddenly informed Solid Waste Management Authority that they ceased operations effective Monday, January ninth. The halt of operations means that transfer stations of San Ignacio/Santa Elena, Burrell Boom, Belize City, San Pedro and Caye Caulker, as well as the Mile Twenty-Four Regional Sanitary Landfill […]
The Marine Multibeam and Sea Seep Survey consultations have been cancelled. In a rather brief three line – one sentence – press release issued today by the Government Press Office, the Ministry of Economic Development and Petroleum informed the public that the consultations scheduled for the eighteenth and twenty-fifth of this month have been cancelled. […]
If you’ve exhausted your supply of butane baking cakes and hams during the Christmas Season and you’re waiting for payday to refuel to your gas tanks then you’re in for quite a surprise. As of Wednesday the cost of liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, is going up. The new controlled price per hundred pound cylinder in […]
