Quite aside from the back and forth on the Fortis settlement, there was the usual bickering we’ve come to know and dislike at the sittings of the House of Representatives. That came early in today’s debate as Belize Rural Central area rep., Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, expressed that nationalization has to benefit the people, or it’s meaningless. […]
That debate, though not so personal, continued with Oscar Requeña, member for Toledo West. He had the same concerns as his colleague from Belize Rural Central – that all the beating of the collective chest in the House is all well and good, but in his area they’d really just prefer to be connected to […]
On Monday Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced a settlement with Fortis on the arbitrary 2011 acquisition of that company’s shares in B.E.L. G.O.B. will be paying seventy million dollars to the Canadian company which will also get back thirty-three point three percent of shares in the company. At the time of acquisition, it owned seventy […]
Another expedition to the Sarstoon by the Belize Territorial Volunteers took place early this morning. The group has committed to trek to the Sarstoon every Tuesday, which is the day when the Belize Defense Force carries out a patrol to Cadenas, an observation post along the bank of the Sarstoon River. But the B.D.F. was […]
Ray Davis is no longer the Senator representing the Unions. The decision was taken by the General Council of the National Trade Union Congress of Belize last week, but there was some contention from members who felt that Davis had not been afforded due process. Indeed, we are told that representatives of the P.S.U. and […]
Opposition Senator Lisa Shoman is unrelenting on the issue of the incursion in the Sarstoon by the Guatemalan military. Today she wrote to the Clerk of the National Assembly informing him of a motion which she plans to present at the next Senate meeting. That will happen on Thursday, September fourth, two days after an […]
Shoman has tried to pass a motion once before, requesting an official Senate special select committee investigation into corruption in the Immigration Department. Thanks to a government majority in the Senate, that never came to pass. But Senator Shoman is hopeful that since this issue isn’t so directly political, the motion may see the light […]
As the Opposition seeks the report of the Guatemalan incursion at the Sarstoon, Guatemala remains in turmoil as calls for the resignation of President Otto Perez Molina escalate. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court gave the green light to proceed with the impeachment of Perez Molina, but that still has to go before the Congress. Today, […]
Since the scandal broke in April, there have been waves of protests across Guatemala. According to McDonald, President Perez Molina can be made to stand trial as a civilian for his alleged role in the scheme should the Congress find him culpable. Isani Cayetano “Earlier I asked you to describe for me the political […]
It hasn’t been a great week for the United Democratic Party, which came under fire on Monday from former U.D.P. Minister Hubert Elrington. Apparently its reunion week for former Ministers and this morning senior Party personality Melvin Hulse announced his resignation from the U.D.P., effective immediately. Hulse had become persona non grata in the U.D.P. […]
Just in case you missed it, that last shot from Hulse to his former colleagues was a not so subtle threat – coming from the belly of the beast, so to speak. According to the former very senior U.D.P. Minister, he has reason to be angry because his people are being victimized – and not […]
The straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back, said Hulse, is a land deal gone terribly wrong in Placencia. He claims that the Ministry of Natural Resources, at which he was a staple for so many years, is taking away land from grassroots Belizeans – land promised to them by Prime Minister Dean Barrow. […]
A group of eleven standard bearers of the People’s United Party continues to boycott official Party functions. They are agitating for change in the P.U.P., and until some common ground is found, the informally dubbed G-eleven has apparently decided to keep its distance from the National Executive. With elections likely sooner rather than later, that’s […]
Even as Kareem Musa deals with internal party issues, he can’t lose sight of his own upcoming battle in Caribbean Shores. He will be facing off against a formidable candidate in current Mayor Darrell Bradley. Bradley has taken over from Area Representative Santiago Castillo who stepped aside to make way. Musa says that he is […]
In April, Santiago ‘Santino’ Castillo stepped aside in Caribbean Shores to make way for current Belize City Mayor and aspiring Area Representative Darrell Bradley. That signalled the end of a very short-lived political career, though Castillo is still serving as a Minister of State. But does his departure from Caribbean Shores mean he’ll be retiring […]
The Belize Unity Alliance, an organization which aims to bring together and galvanize all third parties, is very much a part of the present geopolitical picture. Led by former Placencia Village Chairman Charles Leslie Junior, there is an appeal for membership in light of what’s taking place with the handling of the territorial dispute. […]
Following an incident in the Sarstoon between the Guatemalan military and a group led by the Belize Territorial Volunteers on Sunday, the People’s United Party has condemned the actions of Guatemala. Claiming that five vessels carrying Belizeans were trespassing in Guatemalan waters, senior Guatemalan naval officers attempted to forcefully stop those vessels. The government has […]
The People’s United Party did not form a part of the expedition, but former P.U.P. Foreign Minister and current Senator Lisa Shoman was present and accounted for…as was P.U.P. Deputy Leader Carolyn Trench-Sandiford, who is a member of the Belize Territorial Volunteers. Both took the opportunity to recount their experiences of Sunday’s Sarstoon incident, and […]
Fonseca says that while all eyes are on Guatemala and the threat to the Sarstoon, there is another critical issue on the front-burner which has potentially devastating consequences on Belize’s economy – the crisis in our banking system. In recent months, Belize Bank, Belize Bank International and Atlantic Bank International have lost correspondent bank relationships […]
A group of P.U.P. standard, informally dubbed the G-eleven, continues to boycott party functions. On Sunday, when a consultation was held in Big Falls, they were not there. The eleven, which includes powerhouse politicians John Briceno, Cordel Hyde and Dan Silva, is agitating for change within the P.U.P. and by change they mean a restructuring […]
The People’s United Party gathered en masse in Big Falls on Sunday where the leadership of the country’s oldest political organization met with its rank and file. The southern leg of the tour comes one week after a national campaign was launched in San Ignacio Town and, by all accounts, it was generally well attended. […]
While Smith attests to not having the means to shuttle supporters from his constituency to Toledo, he maintains that the true idea of public consultation is to have those in attendance from within the district speak openly and frankly on issues of concern to them. Dr. Francis Smith, Pickstock Standard Bearer, P.U.P. “I am […]
Of course, King took the opportunity from the podium to castigate his predecessor and present political opponent Cordel Hyde. King accuses Hyde of failing to bring necessary infrastructure and social development to Lake-I during his successive terms as area representative. Interestingly, King went well past Cordel, and took aim at the Hyde family, including well-known […]
On April twentieth, P.U.P. Lake-I standard bearer Cordel Hyde, at the eleventh hour, prevented the demolition of a derelict bungalow situated in what is described as community space. The abandoned structure, according to Hyde, is the property of the Lake Independence Action Committee, a defunct entity which presumably operated during his tenure as area representative. […]
It’s no secret that Cordel Hyde is King’s arch nemesis in Lake Independence, ahead of the upcoming general elections and so are his family members squarely in King’s sights. After all, he called them out in his address during an official ground breaking ceremony. Well, according to the area representative, the media enterprise that is […]
