By early afternoon, the U.S. Ambassador to Belize Carlos Moreno was handing over a fifty-thousand-dollar donation of mattresses and other relief supplies to the Red Cross for the victims of Hurricane Earl. It is but a portion of the total assistance that the U.S. government will be making to Belize. According to Ambassador Moreno, his […]
Today, the Eastern Division South Police Department hosted the first of three back to school drives at its headquarters on Raccoon Street. Aside from the officers donating books and some basic school supplies, the department collaborated with Social Security and several corporate partners in the city to issue just over one hundred school bags and […]
The Special Audit Reports on the Immigration and Nationality Department are to be laid before the House of Representatives on Friday, and are sure to engineer much talk and opprobrium. But the man who saw them first, Prime Minister Dean Barrow, has a considered view on how much they condemn the government and the Department. […]
Not a smoking gun on corruption?….well the Special Audit during the period 2011-2013, unearthed so many irregularities in the issuance of visas and passports that could not have been carried out by public officers alone without the sanction of ministers. In a nutshell, the investigation found that as many as fifty-five thousand passports were issued […]
Ministers of government also illegally intervened in the nationality process when there is no such provision for them to do so in the Belize Nationality Act, pointed out by the Auditor General in her findings. Appendix ‘F’ to the Special Audit on Nationality confirms that seven current ministers and ministers of state and seven former […]
The Barrow Administration is reeling from scandal to scandal. Fresh off the Danny Mason saga interrupted by Hurricane Earl, the hustle of visas, nationalities and passports at the immigration department has come around full circle. Prime Minister Barrow returned from a medical check-up in the United States; he touched on a myriad of issues that […]
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that it today officially received the independent report on the killing of Guatemala minor Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano. The report carries a chronology of events on what transpired in the Chiquibul when the minor lost his life on the night of April twentieth. As we reported on Wednesday, […]
The O.A.S. investigation confirms that the incident occurred within the Adjacency Zone administered by Belize. On the twentieth of April, Julio Alvarado was killed and his father and brother were injured. The report points out that it is not the first time that the minor was inside the Cebada area of the Chiquibul, while the […]
The international campaign that the Guatemalan government launched against the B.D.F. and Belize requires skilful diplomatic work to undo any eroding of Belize’s credibility. Guatemala assumed the role of the aggressed painting Belize as the aggressor. There were heightened tensions along the border points where Guatemalan troops were beefed up in the west as well […]
In spite of the protest that took place on Tuesday while he was out of the country, and the one he faces when he goes to the House on Friday, Prime Minister Dean Barrow says government will not change course. The government has said it will not be appealing Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin’s decision on […]
The Special Audit will be fully ventilated at Friday’s House meeting where it is expected that the government side will try their best to exculpate themselves from the shenanigans. Earlier today, Minister John Saldivar, who prior to the special audit took a packing in the John Mason case and lost the Police Ministry, wrote in […]
In the Special Audit, it is reordered that a number of persons who illegally obtained the Belizean birthright were anywhere from human traffickers to terrorist suspects. Among the undesirables is Guatemalan national and fugitive, Roberto Barreda de Leon, who was captured in 2012 in Merida, Yucatan bearing a Belize passport. He was on the run […]
When we caught up with B.D.F. Commander, Brigadier General David Jones, we also wanted to know about the state of affairs in the Chiquibul. According to Jones, the area where the shooting of Julio Alvarado took place is fraught with danger for the rangers and B.D.F. soldiers who put their lives at risk. He says […]
The Government of Belize supported an international independent investigation on the shooting death of the Guatemalan minor and four months later, the results showed the joint patrol of B.D.F. soldiers and FCD ranger acted in self defense and the B.D.F. was not responsible for the death of the fourteen year old. So why wasn’t the […]
Today Unicomer (Belize) Limited, the company which manages the Courts and Tropigas merchandise store chains in Belize, made a formal donation to families affected by Hurricane Earl through the Belize Red Cross. Karin Castellanos is their marketing manager. Karin Castellanos, Marketing Manager, Unicomer (Belize) Limited “Definitely as we see a lot of our people […]
The donation, according to Director General of the Belize Red Cross Lily Bowman, will be used to replace much needed household items lost to the hurricane. Lily Bowman, Director General, Belize Red Cross “This specific donation is in the form of gift certificates, so that they can replace their household essentials that they have […]
Summer vacation is officially coming to an end. By the first week of September, all children across the country will be back in school. At this point, all the schools books, back packs and stationary have been purchased and maybe even packed for the first day of school. If you are a parent hoping for […]
An official report is completed, but is yet to be presented to the Government in respect of the shooting death of fourteen year old Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano. The minor was killed in April of this year and the reaction from Guatemala was intransigent—they mobilized troops along the western border and south in the Sarstoon […]
The special audit on the visas, nationality and passports hustle covers a two-year period: 2011 to 2013. The feeding frenzy during that brief period was obviously gluttonous, and if the audit was to have extended beyond that period, what else would have been uncovered? That’s the question many are asking because there is reason to […]
The Special Audit ahead of Friday’s meeting of the House of Representatives remains a hot topic of national importance. The lengthy report names a number of elected officials and sitting government ministers in the free-for-all. Senator Godwin Hulse was appointed to the post of Minister of Immigration in 2012; there was still rampant hanky-panky taking […]
According to Hulse, the influx of Chinese nationals into the country should not be seen as a negative if the country is able to benefit financially from the sale of visas. He does reiterate however, that for the process to work effectively, all applicants must be aptly qualified. Godwin Hulse, Minister of Immigration & […]
So, what about the visas that Hulse himself signed for? Well according to the immigration minister, he went to great lengths a year ago to explain the process in full. Hulse says that if an applicant satisfies all the necessary requirements and the application is presented to him for approval, he would not order an […]
Also keeping an eye on matters concerning the Special Audit Reports on Immigration and Nationality is the U.S. Government. While he has not read the reports himself, U.S. Ambassador Carlos Moreno today told reporters in Belize City that Washington expects Belmopan to do better. Carlos Moreno, U.S. Ambassador to Belize “That is very concerning […]
Former Director of Immigration and current C.E.O. in National Emergency Management, Ruth Meighan, was recently the subject of public embarrassment as she was denied entry into the U.S. and turned back to Belize. Her name is a constant in the Special Audit, which recommends that she also be questioned by the police. Today, U.S. Ambassador […]
Another round of protest has been scheduled for Friday in Belmopan where COLA and the Evangelical churches are set to demonstrate in front of the Assembly Building. Organizers have secured a permit to allow for a peaceful gathering of worshipers at Independence Plaza to voice their discontent with government’s position not to appeal the Section […]
