Tonight, most Belizeans are still coming to terms with the graphic images captured on video depicting over a hundred Benqueños clashing violently with police on Wednesday. Two people remain hospitalised after they were shot during the riot. While Amalio Gamez is being treated in a Guatemalan medical centre, according to doctors at the Belmopan Hospital, […]
While the police officers on the ground in Benque maintain that they made every effort to end the confrontation peacefully, exercised extreme patience and only took action when it was absolutely necessary, the department has come under fire for their response to the rioters in Benque. This morning, News 5’s Jacqueline Woods spoke with Police […]
Tomorrow, Belize will join one hundred and twenty countries in celebrating Global Youth Service Day under the theme: Develop a Youth. The day is a first for Belize and has the support of the Youth Department, National Committee for Families and Children and the YMCA According to executive director of the YMCA, Carolyn Genitty, the […]
It seems like only yesterday that the first Miss Y strutted across the stage and into the hearts of Belizeans. In fact, it was ten years ago…and as this year’s contestants make their final preparations for stardom, News 5’s Ann-Marie Williams checked them out. Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting What started out as a fundraising effort in […]
It seemed eerily similar to last year’s riot at the Tower Hill Bridge: protestors throwing rocks, police responding with teargas and bullets and amidst the confusion, the original purpose of the demonstration all but forgotten. Tonight News 5 has assembled video shot by our cameraman Brent Toombs, supplemented by footage from Cayo Cable Vision’s Kent […]
Janelle Chanona “Now late this evening the government has appointed Chief of Staff Francis Fonseca to be their spokesperson on this incident and this evening he stopped by to give government’s position.” Francis Fonseca, Chief of Staff, P.M.’s Office “First of all Stewart, let me say that the Government of Belize fully respects and supports […]
They’ve been banging heads for the better part of a week, but tonight bus owners and the government have reached a compromise on the issue of new fares. News 5’s Stewart Krohn is just off the phone with Minister of Transport Henry Canton. Here’s a tape of that conversation. Stewart Krohn “Minister could you fill […]
The saga of the Corozal credit union continues tonight as more details of Sunday’s general meeting emerge. News 5 has been reliably informed that in addition to reinstating general manager Vicente Canul of the St. Francis Xavier Credit Union, two other members of staff, David Vela and Rafael Dominguez, have also been asked to come […]
Two people have died in separate drowning incidents over the weekend. In Cotton Tree, thirteen-year-old Jose Victor Aldana was swimming in the Belize River around noon on Sunday when he suddenly went underwater and did not come up. His body was found later in the day and a post-mortem indicated that he had drowned. In […]
It took a licking from Hurricane Iris, not to mention a storm of protest over the Chalillo hydro project, but in the end, 2001 was not such a bad year for B.E.L. The company, which holds its tenth annual general meeting tonight at the Princess Hotel, will report to shareholders a respectable increase in revenues, […]
Owners of Belize’s bus lines and government officials remain closeted in Belmopan tonight, as yet unable to break the stalemate over bus fares. A protest in Benque Viejo this morning resulted in eleven people being issued summons for illegal assembly, after commuters refused to pay newly increased fares. The transport operators, led by mega-line Novelo’s, […]
A week ago he was ousted as general manager of the second largest credit union in the country, but on Tuesday, Vicente Canul will be back behind his desk. That’s right, after protestors staged a demonstration outside the St. Francis Xavier Credit Union in Corozal demanding the G.M. be reinstated, an emergency meeting of the […]
While Earth Day celebrations focussed on the health of the marine environment, another ceremony in Belize City highlighted those Belizeans who depend on the sea for their livelihood. Members of the Belize Fishermen Co-operative Association, all six hundred of them, will be eligible for technical training, thanks in part to a fifty thousand dollar grant […]
The only connection our next news item has with the sea is that the man we interviewed happened to arrive this morning on a cruise ship. George Castillo, now retired, was only the second black Chaplain appointed to the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons. After thirty years working with the most hardened criminals Castillo […]
The ongoing confusion surrounding the increase in bus fares across the country reached a climax this morning after students and teachers from the west refused to pay the new prices. According to bus operator David Novelo, around eight-thirty this morning, passengers, including staff and students of Mopan Technical High, told the conductor that they would […]
Whether you’re a fan of the theatre or just like a good show, you would agree that an important component of any production is the sound. But given the poor acoustics many of our auditoriums have, it’s a factor that has affected more than one activity to grace the stage. With that in mind, next […]
The situation boiled over like an overheated radiator that just had its cap removed. And while almost a year has gone by since the rocks, bottles and bullets flew outside of Orange Walk, an official report on the incident now has some major accusations flying. Janelle Chanona, Reporting The unbelievable images captured at the Tower […]
Just two weeks shy of the day he was due to take office, Director of Public Prosecutions designate, Kirk Anderson is already fending off controversy. Reports in the Opposition’s “Guardian” newspaper allege that not only were procedural regulations for his appointment sidestepped, but that the legal community has rejected him as the new D.P.P. This […]
Today has not seen any more clarity in the dispute over bus fares, but on Thursday, bus operators and government officials will be meeting in Orange Walk to discuss the price hikes implemented by the transport providers on Monday. According to a government press release, Deputy Prime Minister Johnny Briceño, who is acting Minister of […]
There was a time not too long ago when the pressure in Belize City’s water system was so low it could barely be measured. But today, second and even third floor residents are enjoying showers without the benefit of a vat or a pump. Since we did not hesitate to criticise Belize Water Services when […]
Last week we were treated to a memorable press conference by bus owners, in which fifty percent fare hikes were called “adjustments” and the advent of better roads was bemoaned as causing more wear on the buses’ tires. Today, in that same perverse spirit of double-talk and obfuscation, government’s top transport official informs us that […]
On Monday he expressed confidence of his imminent reinstatement to the post as manager of the St. Francis Xavier Credit Union, but today, according to a government official, Corozal’s Vicente Canul may be facing criminal charges. CEO in the Ministry of Co-operatives, Sergio Garcia, told News 5 that Canul was first put on leave and […]
When the Government of Belize signed two contracts with L.G.S. Services Limited, and I.T.L. to make them exclusive providers of government’s telecommunication services for fifteen years, they believed it was a done deal. Not so, said attorney for B.T.L. Lois Young, who applied for leave to the Supreme Court to file for judicial review of […]
The Commission of Inquiry charged with the task of investigating whether or not Belizean security forces were criminally liable in the deaths of three Guatemalans have completed their report…in favour of the Belizeans. According to a government press release, today the three-member team submitted their report to Prime Minister Said Musa in Belmopan. The report […]
While some Corozaleños were still bemoaning the loss of their goods in the free zone fire, other residents had mercury rising as they took to the streets to protest the dismissal of several employees from the St. Francis Xavier Credit Union. Jacqueline Woods has the details. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting This morning, hundreds of protestors, mostly […]
