While Wednesday’s tragic death is unusual, other types of accidents involving young children and empty vehicles are not. Jacqueline Woods has more. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting Sgt. Gilbert Pitts, the officer in charge of the Zone Beat Liaison Programme, says they are saddened by the death of two-year-old Cordell. Pitts says the department has been warning […]
Major changes are underway at Hattieville prison…and while that institution’s shift to private management is meant to provide a more humane and less corrupt environment for prisoners, it is the prison officers who seem to have the greatest doubts about the future. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods has the story from Hattieville. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting It […]
What impact, if any, Ambassador Cal’s alleged problems will have on the sensitive Belize Guatemala negotiations is uncertain, but tonight the news out of the Organisation of American States on the progress of those talks is upbeat. According to a press release from the O.A.S., the meetings held earlier this week in Washington, D.C. between […]
While the public war of words focuses on the Chalillo hydro project, Belize Electricity Limited is quietly going ahead with plans to construct an additional generating facility outside of Belize City. A B.E.L. release reports that the Public Utilities Commission has approved their application for a twenty-five megawatt gas turbine facility to be built near […]
The Belize Police Department may be pursuing a criminal investigation and the Prime Minister is said to be considering his political options, but events continue to unfold that give the immigration scandal a life of its own. News 5 has confirmed that arriving at the Philip Goldson International Airport this morning via El Salvador was […]
Determined to change its reputation in the eyes of the public, the Police Department has been actively working with the community to prevent and solve crimes. One part of that effort is the Zone Beat Liaison Officer programme, an initiative that today received a helping hand from two local businessmen. This morning Tony Leslie of […]
While at Racoon Street this morning, News 5 took the opportunity to speak to the department’s public relations officer, G. Michael Reid, about concerns that the police officers charged with investigating the latest immigration scandal might be influenced by the fact that the subjects of the inquiry may include their bosses and colleagues. G. Michael […]
A Guatemalan resident of Roaring Creek drowned Sunday in the Belize River. Twenty-eight year old Marcelino Mejia went swimming around 1:00 in the afternoon in the company of a nine year old boy. According to the boy, Mejia went under the water and did not come back up. The body was retrieved and Mejia was […]
According to the latest figures, the most dangerous job in Belize is to work on a construction site, with employment in the sugar industry a close second. Occupational hazards are not unique to Belize and in an initiative spearheaded by the United States Department of Labour, this week, labour ministers from Central America, the Dominican […]
The entry-level position for those involved in the current immigration scandal appears to be that of Justice of the Peace. With one J.P. already admitting to bearing false witness and a number of others running scared, News 5’s Stewart Krohn took the opportunity to ask Attorney General Godfrey Smith what his ministry plans to do […]
The office may be modest, but the Legal Advice and Services Centre will be providing much needed services to hundreds of low income Belizeans, who are unable to receive proper representation in the courtroom. Today, ceremonies were held to officially open the L.A.S.C. in Belize City. Speaking to the gathering, Attorney General Godfrey Smith said […]
One consequence of the saturation coverage that this station has given the current immigration scandal is that many viewers are trying to answer the question: What is Channel 5’s agenda? There is no shortage of theories. Some of them attribute the persistence of the reporting to animosity carried over from the Middle East conflict; others […]
Viewers who keep track of such things will notice that for the last seven consecutive newscasts we have led with a story on the passport scandal… and tonight makes number eight. With Prime Minister Said Musa coming under increased pressure to take more immediate action, information continues to surface indicating that the illegal sale of […]
In related news, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry has commented on the controversy over citizenship. In a statement released today, the Chamber said “the recent scandal makes a mockery of the constitution”, and strongly condemned any attempt to circumvent the laws of Belize. The organisation went on to call on the Prime Minister […]
They might be known for operating an outlet store filled with offbeat European goods, but REMAR is actually an organisation dedicated to helping Belizeans kick drug and alcohol addictions. This afternoon, official ceremonies were held on Johnson Street in Belize City as the organisation officially dedicated its new headquarters. According to REMAR’s Public Relations Officer […]
As any Belize City resident will tell you, parking in the Newtown Barracks area on the weekend is nothing short of a nightmare. It’s a situation that has caught the attention of the Belize City Council and the Traffic Department. Between those two entities, it was decided that one viable solution is to turn that […]
It may be the capital of a nation and newly designated with the status of city, but by any objective standard, living in the place called Belmopan more closely resembles village life. Jacqueline Woods reports on the celebration of its thirty-second birthday. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting Seventeen years ago, Novelos Bus Company opened its terminal in […]
The Prime Minister is back in town, and while we were not able to hook up with him to talk about the immigration scandal, we did have the luxury of time to make a more thorough examination of the document released by his office. News 5’s Stewart Krohn read the fine print and concluded that […]
The report is in, that is the report on alleged irregularities in the Immigration Department. It was compiled by C.E.O. in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Alan Usher, and presumably faxed or emailed to Prime Minister Said Musa, who is on a working visit to Guatemala. What government has released to the media is a […]
Today was the day that C.E.O. in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Alan Usher, was supposed to present to the Prime Minister his report on the illegal sale of Belizean passports. We don’t know if that deadline was met, since Usher did not answer our inquiries. But in any case, Prime Minister Said Musa left […]
It has been viewed as a quick scorecard that some nations use to claim bragging rights and others prefer to ignore. But the latest UNDP publication–as Ann-Marie discovered–is more than just a measure of who’s ahead. Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting The United Nations Development Programme has released its 2002 Human Development report premised on “Deepening Democracy […]
The appearance of a flood of bogus tens and twenties has had both merchants and consumers under stress for the better part of a month. Today, the company that sells Belize its dollars arrived to assure Belizeans that their money supply is still safe. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting Tim Jones, the regional manager of De La […]
On last night’s newscast we asked for the public’s help in trying to answer some nagging questions about what appears to be the illegal sale of Belizean passports. Specifically, we aired the names, street location and photos of twenty-two applicants for Belizean passports, whose documentation appears to be suspect. These applicants, from Taiwan, Mainland China […]
For several years, the efforts of Habitat for Humanity have been helping low-income Belizeans build their own affordable homes. By all accounts the program is a good idea, but for one reason or another, Habitat has yet to become a household word in Belize. Yvonne Bowen, Habitat Homeowner “When you work on your own home, […]
News 5’s continuing investigation into allegations of corruption in the issuing of Belizean passports has taken a new turn. Since no government official or immigration agent will speak on the record we have decided to seek the truth straight from the horse’s mouth–that is the passport holders themselves. Since all twenty-two of the adult applicants […]
