On Thursday, we aired the first of a two-part series of amateur footage provided exclusively to News Five showing what transpired on the Sarstoon River between the BDF and the Guatemalan military. The confrontation was the most recent between the two armed forces, taking place on March twelfth when a detail of BDF soldiers arrived […]
Three men were killed in two separate incidents within hours of each other in the west. The first, a double murder, occurred on Thursday afternoon, in the San Francisco area of San Ignacio Town. Two Guatemalan nationals, believed to be drug peddlers from neighboring Melchor De Mencos, Peten were executed off a feeder road between […]
There was also a murder in the wee hours of this morning in the village of Camalote. A father of four was killed near a farm off the George Price Highway, about a mile away from where he lived in the village. Gelion De Leon had a large cut wound to the neck and gunshot […]
As we’ve mentioned in our previous newscast, the immediate effects of the present situation at the Sarstoon are being felt by the indigenous communities within the vicinity. The Garifuna village of Barranco, as well as several Maya communities along the southern border have expressed serious concerns about the existing state of affairs. Frankly, there is […]
Of equal concern is that the SATIIM rangers were recently stopped by the Guatemalan military from traveling upstream to conduct routine checks within the Sarstoon Temash National Park. The area is the second largest under conservation in Belize and if left unsupervised could result in Guatemalans pillaging the natural resources within the protected area. […]
Baroness Patricia Scotland, Secretary General of the Commonwealth, held a brief session with the media this afternoon where questions pertaining to her visit to Belize were fielded. Baroness Scotland is on her first visit to Belize which is also the first leg of an official tour of the Caribbean countries. During the press conference she […]
During her stay, the Secretary General will also be visiting the Office of the O.A.S. in the Adjacency Zone, where she will be received by the Chief of the O.A.S. Fund for Peace. Today, Baroness Scotland also spoke about Belize’s role as a CARICOM member state. Baroness Patricia Scotland, Commonwealth Secretary General “As you […]
True Belizean, it is a U.S. corporation from Los Angeles, California that produces movies, music videos, music and the like. They were featured last year in the Belize International Film Festival for the movie, “States”. This weekend, the latest venture, a movie called “Bank,” will be released at Chinatown in L.A. It’s an action film […]
There was a double murder today in the west and we will come to that shortly, but events of national importance in the Sarstoon continue to dominate the news. Tonight, we bring you exclusive and explosive footage of an aggression against local law enforcement by the Guatemalan military. The incident happened back on March twelfth, […]
Following that dangerous encounter, nine Belize Defense Force soldiers, including Sergeant Kib and Lance Corporal Zuniga, who were assigned to the construction site where the Sarstoon Forward Operating Base was being erected, are tonight facing disciplinary charges. While the men bravely stood their ground in the face of military aggression by the Guatemalan Armed Forces, […]
This afternoon, Ministry of Foreign Affairs C.E.O. Lawrence Sylvestre, with military leaders General David Jones and Admiral John Borland attempted to dissuade representatives of the Belize Territorial Volunteers from going to the Sarstoon on Saturday. The meeting took place in Punta Gorda, hometown of the BTV, and first indications are that the G.O.B. and military […]
Today at the meeting the BTV was joined by representatives of the Northern Territorial Volunteers, headquartered in Orange Walk. The mandate of the NTV is to increase awareness of our border points, from north to south, and the group has taken over fifteen hundred Belizeans on various expeditions to those areas. ON Saturday the NTV […]
De la Fuente says that where the trip to the Sarstoon is concerned, any aggression from the Guatemalans will be a result of the weakness of government’s position now and in the past. As to the suggestion from official quarters that the BTV is provoking Guatemalans, he says that’s just ridiculous, an assertion with no […]
The attempt by Guatemala to inspire international outrage against Belize following last Wednesday incident in the Chiquibul continues unabated. In an interview we aired on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales claimed that he had lobbied support from Foreign Ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean in condemning Belize. He also claimed that he wants […]
Today at the meeting the BTV was joined by representatives of the Northern Territorial Volunteers, headquartered in Orange Walk. The mandate of the NTV is to increase awareness of our border points, from north to south, and the group has taken over fifteen hundred Belizeans on various expeditions to those areas. ON Saturday the NTV […]
We also asked De la Fuente to weigh in on Guatemala’s obvious intent to wage a PR war against Belize. The incident in which Guatemalan minor Julio Alvarado Ruano was killed has received what seems to unprecedented attention from the highest levels of Guatemalan government and military. Guatemala has continued to pursue the vilification of […]
The abrupt decision by Guatemala to exercise sovereignty over the Sarstoon River is an infraction which contravenes the rights of the indigenous communities of southern Belize. Barranco, the southernmost village in the country, is a coastal Garifuna community that relies on the nearby sea space, as well as adjacent waterway. So are several Maya communities […]
Following the shooting death of thirteen-year-old Julio Alvarado Ruano last Wednesday, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales announced that the western and southern borders with Belize would be militarized. As tensions built up over the sudden movement of troops to communities near the Adjacency Zone and the Sarstoon River, someone from the Guatemalan press forwarded an electronic […]
Three organizations were recognized today as beneficiaries of the Canada Caribbean Disaster Risk Management Fund. HelpAge Belize, NAVCO and SATIIM have all completed on disaster relief, funded by the Canadian Government. The High Commissioner, who is on a visit to Belize called on them today. News Five’s Duane Moody reports. Duane Moody, Reporting Today, […]
Canadian High Commissioner Deborah Chatsis is visiting from Guatemala where the High Commission is located. Her visit coincides with the ongoing Caribbean Conference on Indigenous Peoples and she has taken time to also promote Canadian educational opportunities. Deborah Chatsis, Canadian High Commissioner to Belize “I had several objectives…one was to participate in an education […]
Baroness Patricia Janet Scotland is the Secretary General of the Commonwealth. She arrived today in Belize on a first visit since her assumption of the post. It is also her first stop in an official tour of the Caribbean countries who are members of the Commonwealth. Scotland’s schedule includes a call on the Prime Minister […]
The Council of Ministers of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group known as the ACP was convened on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week in Dakar, Senegal. Ambassador Dylan Vernon briefed the Council of Ministers of the grouping about the developments in respect of tensions in the Sarstoon as well as the Adjacency Zone where […]
It is safe to say that the ITVET is a story of success. Enrollment has been growing and so is the selection of programs offered. At an open house today at its compound in Belize City, visitors experienced first-hand a number of services the institute is offering as well as a look at a variety […]
Vaccination week in the Americas and across the region; the focus is on countries to expand their coverage of immunization for infants and children. In Belize we have boasted for some time now that we are one of the top ten countries with outstanding immunization coverage in the past few years. Now Belize, along with […]
Wil Maheia and the Belize Territorial Volunteers are unyielding in their goal to return to the Sarstoon on Saturday where they plan to commemorate the hundred and fifty-seventh anniversary of the signing of the 1859 Treaty between Britain and Guatemala. The group’s persistence flies in the face of the Prime Minister’s warning on Monday, dissuading […]
