Prime Minister Dean Barrow also commented on Belize’s absence at the CARICOM/SICA meeting. Barrow said it was a pity that Belize wasn’t there, but he believes that the country is making strides in improving bilateral relations. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “At the Costa Rica session where SICA heads met with Obama, in my intervention, […]
The forty-third General Assembly of the Organization of American States takes place this evening in Antigua, Guatemala. Our team is on the ground and we will have full coverage on Open Your Eyes as well as in our daily newscasts this week. Belize’s participation in the event is hinged on whether or not Guatemala would […]
Belize’s Ambassador to the United States and to the O.A.S., Nestor Mendez, spoke to the media in Antigua, Guatemala late this evening. Mendez told the reporters covering the General Assembly that Belize was invited to the regional meeting. Voice of: Nestor Mendez, Belize’s Ambassador (Courtesy Krem News) “The meeting between CARICOM and Central America […]
The Organization of American States will be meeting in Antigua, Guatemala beginning this Tuesday. Among the twenty-eight of thirty-four foreign ministers who will be in Antigua is Belize’s Foreign Minister, Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington. The forty-third annual assembly will be looking at the problem of drugs in the Americas and will conclude with the Declaration of […]
Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley and Mayor Renan Barrera Cocha of Merida, Yucatan have signed a letter of intent to establish a sister city relationship in the near future. That gesture of collaboration came during an official visit to Merida by Mayor Bradley and a delegation from Belize City from Wednesday, May twenty-ninth to Friday, […]
The Belize National Football Selection headed to Melchor De Mencos on Tuesday for its first friendly game…And tonight, the road to success in Gold Cup 2013 looks promising for Team Belize. The team defeated Guatemala’s Club Heredia by a score of two to nil this afternoon. The National ‘A’ Selection, which played against the first […]
Belize has a steady stream of illegal immigrants who are being trafficked all the way to the United States. Those who are poor and unable to afford to get illegitimate visas or passports become easily recognizable as they move through the country. But after a string of recent arrests of Indian nationals in Belize, our […]
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belize and Guatemala are scheduled to meet in Antigua, Guatemala next week in the margins of the O.A.S. General Assembly. And tonight, there is still no response from Guatemala’s cabinet regarding a possible date for a joint referendum to be held in 2014. However, Guatemala has produced a passport […]
Former Guatemalan president Alfonso Portillo was flown out of the country en route to the United States today, less than a week after his predecessor, dictator Efrain Rios Montt’s conviction for genocide was thrown out. Portillo’s extradition is a result of charges he laundered seventy million dollars from U.S. banks during his term in office. […]
On Monday’s newscast we told you the tale of a Belize Defense Force Soldier attached to the Caribbean Defense Pact’s Regional Security System in Barbados. Warrant Officer Andre Gabb was stabbed to the heart by the conductor of a taxi service who was upset that foreigners come to his country and do what they like. […]
Three weeks ago, the Moody’s Investors Service reported that the government’s bond rating of C-A-A was likely to remain the same for the next four or five years because of the two debt defaults in the past seven years coupled with the country’s low debt tolerance and weak ability to service external debt. Moody’s put […]
Eighty years in prison, was the sentence handed down last week to Guatemala’s ex-military dictator, Rios Montt, for ordering the deaths of one thousand seven hundred and seventy-one Ixil Mayas between 1982 to 1983. But Guatemala’s constitutional court has thrown out the conviction for genocide and crimes against humanity. The court ruled that the trial […]
A Belize Defense Force Soldier was critically injured in Barbados on Friday night and his family is preparing to travel to the island. Forty-five year old Warrant Officer Andre Gabb is currently attached to the Caribbean Defense Pact’s Regional Security System also referred to as R.S.S. Gabb was along with two friends when he was […]
Just before news time, we spoke via phone to Rene Montero, Gabb’s cousin, who was with him at the time of the incident on Friday. Montero says that a group of Belizeans was about to go to his house for dinner, and half of the group got into a zedar, which is the Bajan version […]
Gracias Adios and Aguas Turbias are two of the markers that signify Belize’s border with Guatemala. Those markers are not normally visited because of the journey it takes to get there. But Garbutt’s Falls is another marker that many Belizeans have come in close contact but never realized it was there. If you have ever […]
Belize is this week entering the history books as it hosts the forty-fifth Annual Association of Caribbean Historians for the very first time. Those historians, some of the most eminent from the Caribbean and the world, will be presenting papers, fielding questions and facilitating discussion on a wide range of topics affecting the Caribbean…past, present […]
It might appear that national matters have come to a standstill as all eyes and ears focused this week on Caleb Orozco versus the Attorney-General. But the wheels of state are still turning, and so are the wheels of those with grievances against the state. A very significant appeal case is currently before the Caribbean […]
While the case of Caleb Orozco was being argued all week in court, across the border, the courts in Guatemala were also hearing the case against Efrain Rios Montt, the former president who was being tried for genocide and crimes against humanity. This afternoon, the tribunal found the eighty-six year old Rios Montt guilty and […]
The Embassy of Mexico in Belize along with its Ministry of Tourism organized an excursion to the Jewel to forge a new relationship through multi-destination tourism. Many tourists and backpackers from Europe do not simply desire to see one country when they cross the ocean. That is why at a power breakfast at the Best […]
There is another issue of national importance that is brewing…that is the referendum on taking the territorial dispute to the ICJ this year. News from Washington is that Guatemala has agreed to hold one in the not too distant future. Foreign Ministers, Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington and Fernando Carrera of Guatemala met this morning along with […]
Financial experts from the region are in Belize for the fourth bi-annual meeting of Governors of Central Bank from the CARICOM region. Aside from the governors, other participants are from the CARICOM Secretariat, the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance, the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre, the International Monetary Fund and the Caribbean Financial Action […]
Belize has been blacklisted by the European Union among eight countries that are considered non-cooperative in the fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. The list also includes Cambodia, Fiji, Guinea, Panama, Sri Lanka, the Togolese Republic and the Republic of Vanuatu. On April twenty-fourth the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee adopted a measure that […]
The appointment of a new High Commissioner has been announced by the Foreign Commonwealth Office. Pat Ashworth, who has been serving in Belize for a number of years, is retiring from the British Foreign Service. His successor is Peter Hughes, who has tremendous diplomatic experience having served in Australia, the Caribbean, South Asia, Afghanistan and […]
Former British High Commissioner to Belize John Yapp has been vindicated after a judge ruled that he was let down by the British Foreign Office in 2008. Yapp was yanked from service in Belize after allegations that he had touched the rear of a senior politician’s wife at a social function, and also that he […]
Belize is being named in an alleged money laundering scheme originating in Argentina and spanning many countries. Press reports say that a leading Argentinean businessman, Lazaro Baez; his son, Martin Baez; and others were accused of money laundering in recent days. The allegations surfaced through a television program of a well established journalist who linked […]
