Their campaign may have been overshadowed by the general election held on the same day…but today the newly chosen members of the Belize City Council finally moved to centre stage. I joined them this morning at City Hall. Janelle Chanona, Reporting This morning, David Fonseca and his slate of ten were officially sworn in to […]
Under the constitution of Belize it is the body known as Cabinet that wields the nation’s executive power. But anyone who knows the system can tell you that no matter how smart or well intentioned a Cabinet minister may be, he or she will have little success in the absence of a competent chief executive […]
It may just be a matter of perception, but it seems that Belize is enjoying one of those rare periods of relative calm in the area of violent crime. But while the madness can, and will, re-emerge when we least expect it, one worry for law enforcement officials that never goes away, is the consistently […]
An American tourist visiting Placencia for a sailing holiday appears to have died of a heart attack. Police say that sixty-year-old Richard Fleming of New Jersey, went to sleep aboard a yacht moored just off the tip of the peninsula around ten pm on Tuesday, but when family members went to wake him up early […]
In other news from the west, police sources tell News 5 that western border traffic has been disrupted due to trouble on the Guatemalan side of the frontier. Reports are that a teachers’ strike in process now for several weeks, climaxed in the town of Melchor de Mencos when demonstrators blocked the Mopan River Bridge […]
We don’t know what the children of Guatemala are doing while their teachers are on strike, but here in Belize it was the students on the march. Jacqueline Woods has more. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting Hey, the heat may have been unbearable for us older folks, but one thousand, five hundred primary school children paraded and […]
In a season of very busy people she has been among the busiest. Today, on election eve, Chief Elections Officer Myrtle Palacio took time out for a few last words to the nation’s voters. Myrtle Palacio, Chief Elections Officer “The voter is the most important person in our democracy. In our culture in Belize, we […]
There are few more important obligations of citizenship than voting on election day. It’s difficult to generalize about voter turnout in Belize because the voting lists are not regularly purged of those voters who have died or moved out of the country. Probably the most indicative numbers are those from the 1998 election, which was […]
Tonight we think it’s fair to say that most people, including political operatives, and to be sure the media, are suffering from acute election fatigue and are more than ready for next Thursday morning to arrive. For one thing, it would mean an end to all these radio, newspaper and television ads that have both […]
Five thousand dollars changed hands today, not a particularly dramatic amount in this free spending election season, but what made this morning’s donation different was that didn’t go for zinc, plywood or a load of sand. Janelle Chanona, Reporting As the country’s largest municipality and commercial hub, it’s no surprise that Belize City is also […]
First it was teachers and public officers who signed their three-year labour pact with government. Now, in a similar vein, the Belize Social Security Board has formalized its collective bargaining agreement with employees. The pact signed today between the S.S.B. and Christian Worker’s Union, calls for a general salary increase of fifteen percent, running retroactively […]
On Sunday, while most of us are taking it easy, Michael Roberts, an ex-British soldier, will be running fifty miles for charity. Roberts’ aim is to raise two thousand dollars for the Stella Maris School and he reports that he has already received a favourable response from several private companies. The run will commence at […]
On March fifth, several thousand Belizeans have to work all day, and to be sure, most of the night. But exactly one hundred and one of that number–youths from all over the country–have elected to do their civic duty by acting as information officers. Coordinated through the Youth for the Future initiative, the young people […]
For most Belizeans, the declaring of election day as a national holiday was good news. It means that once you’ve voted, instead of going to work you can kick back and head to your local bar for a few cold ones, right? Wrong. As News 5’s Jacqueline Woods reminds us, the beverage of choice on […]
While speaking to Reynaldo Guerrero about election day, we also asked him to comment on a story we ran earlier this week in the wake of the deadly club fires in Chicago and Rhode Island. Echoing the words of Fire Chief Henry Baizar, he emphasized that something will be done soon about fire safety in […]
That long promised international presence along the Belize-Guatemala border came a step closer to reality this week with the arrival of an official team from the Organization of American States. They are here to set up an office in the one kilometre wide half of the adjacency zone on Belize’s side of the border. The […]
As Election Day draws nearer and the momentum picks up, it is hoped that a special observance next week will not get lost in all the hoopla. March second to the seventh will be celebrated as Children’s Week. A host of activities have been planned for the occasion that will be held under the theme: […]
The Elections and Boundaries Department reports that as of January 2003, there were one hundred and seventeen thousand, four hundred and fifteen persons who are eligible to vote on March fifth. However, with only one week to go before the general and municipal elections, there are still some applicants who do not know if they […]
Promises before a Belizean election are as plentiful as corn in Spanish Lookout. That’s why public officers made sure that they got it on the dotted line prior to March fifth. The contract for a three-year twenty-four percent salary increase was signed today by the Prime Minister in a ceremony this afternoon in Belmopan. This […]
Residents of the Stann Creek District should be getting used to the sights and sounds of Black hawk helicopters, as the U.S. Army is gearing up for another humanitarian exercise. Rather than chasing the Republican guard across the Iraqi desert, these National Guard soldiers will be building schools in Dangriga. The “New Horizons 2003” exercises […]
If you’ve walked along Belize City’s Southern Foreshore recently, you will have noticed that something’s not quite right. That’s what Jacqueline Woods did, but upon closer inspection she discovered that while things may look topsy-turvy, all the commotion is for a worthy cause. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting It took about three and a half years to […]
We try not to copy the mass feeding frenzy of the U.S. media, but sometimes events up north can’t help but get us thinking. That’s what I did following recent tragedies in Chicago and Rhode Island…and after speaking to the Fire Chief this afternoon my worst fears for Belize have been confirmed. Janelle Chanona, Reporting […]
Saturday marked the official close of Scout Week, and on that night a fundraiser was held to enlarge the Scout endowment fund. The interest earned from that fund is used to finance specific projects of the association. Over forty-five thousand dollars was raised through generous donations from members of the business community and it is […]
He was a police officer in the wrong place at the wrong time…and paid the ultimate price. Today, the widow of Corporal Fernando Rosado, killed in the line of duty in December 2001, received a cheque for over two thousand, five hundred dollars to help her cope with the loss. The money was presented by […]
While News 5 was visiting the Ombudsman’s office, we took the opportunity to ask Rodriguez to assess his experience after nearly four years of service. Paul Rodriguez “I think it has been largely a very positive experience for me. I would do it over again the same way. There are very few things that I […]
