After being expelled from the Public Service Union for seeking political office earlier this year, tonight, Hubert Enriquez has his job back. In its AGM in Corozal last weekend, members of the union voted that Enriquez be reinstated as Secretary General. Enriquez was expelled in February of this year when he decided to run for […]
If nothing else, this year’s drug awareness week is showing the National Drug Abuse Control Council the odds its up against. Today, the Council got a few more members in its corner to help spread their message. Jacqueline Woods 12 people representing a cross section of the community were commissioned as members of the newly […]
On Tuesday News Five revealed that the price Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) pays for Mexican diesel has increased as much as ninety percent in the last year, meaning that the cost of Mexican energy had also gone up. Today the question on everyone’s lips is whether those factors will translate into a rise in electricity […]
Today the search for skipper Julio Requena Junior was called off by his family. Requena is the only person that remains missing after the family’s boat, Mariestela, was hijacked and 5 of its 12 occupants murdered. On Tuesday, May 30th, the boat was on its way back to Punta Gorda after picking up 8 passengers […]
The Protected Areas Conservation Trust, better known as PACT, is this month celebrating its’ 4th anniversary. The organisation, which is primarily funded by a $7.50 fee charged to departing tourists, could have easily become just another political slush fund. But under its unique charter, PACT has stayed true to its purpose and thus far has […]
Are you the parent of a ten year old? Even if you didn’t say yes, you should be surprised, and concerned, to know that Belizean children as young as age ten are using drugs. That statistic has prompted the National Drug Abuse Control Council to target primary school students as part of Drug Awareness Week. […]
Thanks to a generous donation from a local public service organization, tonight the KHMH has a whole lot of new fixtures. The Rotary Club of Belize has teamed up with its counterpart in Bingham Massachusetts to ship much needed medical equipment to Belize. Yes, the stuff is used goods but according to International Community Director […]
It was called the National Uniform and Button Parade with the theme “The land of the free can be drug free.” The goal: support those with drug problems and prevent the rest from going down that path. Janelle Chanona, Reporting As part of this year’s National Drug Awareness Week, this morning schools from all over […]
Today, another Belizean received the keys to a new house courtesy of the government of Belize. This home, however, is a little bit different than the typical bungalow as the Ministry of Housing looks to diversify the choices available to the public. Mehetibel Slusher is the proud owner of a townhouse on West Canal. Mehetibel […]
In preparation for its 78th annual general meeting on Saturday the Public Service Union today held a workshop on the concept of social partnership. Guest speaker at the session was George Depeana, Secretary General of the Caribbean Congress of Labour. Depeana, who was also a guest on Thursday night’s One on One with Dickie Bradley, […]
Hurricane Greta in 1978 was the last major storm to hit Belize. The eye of the hurricane passed close to Dangriga and caused a storm surge that inundated Belize City with water that in some places reached four feet high. When the storm finally passed over the Guatemalan border, Hurricane Greta had killed 4 people […]
You couldn’t tell by the weather outside, but today marks the official opening of the hurricane season. City officials used the occasion to educate the public on how to prepare for the storm we all hope is not coming. Jacqueline Woods Today, many Belize City primary school children took part of the day off to […]
Ever since the world first began to understand the magnitude of the global AIDS crisis, authorities have tried to fight the deadly disease across a wide range of fronts. On Tuesday evening concerned Belizeans gathered in the nation’s capital to make a statement of their own. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting In 1986, the first AIDS case […]
The startling statistic that in Belize one Belizean dies every week from AIDS or an AIDS related disease has not managed to elicit the response it should. Maybe the newest numbers will. AIDS is now the 3rd leading cause of death in Belize, for people between the ages of 15 and 44, with the Belize […]
Today, Women’s Issues Network of Belize (WIN) held it’s first open day since moving into its new office on Mahogany Street. WIN-Belize was formed in 1993 to help women and their children achieve social and economic opportunities and focuses on areas such as employment and training. Today, the general public got an opportunity to find […]
A month ago, the Belize Red Cross held a Trainers of Trainers Workshop in disaster management. At that workshop the participants were trained to recognize the kind of disasters that might affect a particular community and mapped areas in that community that might prove hazardous during a disaster. Today those people got together again; this […]
He’s better known for his poetry than his music but the artist with a new cassette who visited us Thursday is not just your everyday wannabe rap star. The experiences he sings about are very much rooted in reality. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting Sherman Gillett better known as Ras Sherman and a number of local artists […]
The big hotel on the Barracks is undergoing a multi-million dollar expansion and attracting weekend visitors from as far away as Cancun and Merida. But while things at the Princess Hotel and Casino look bright and shiny, the view from behind the gambling tables is much less rosy. On Wednesday a group of five casino […]
It’s a big name that all too often is long on hope but short on power. The post of Ombudsman is an import from Scandinavia that’s supposed to provide a strong check on institutional arrogance and abuse of power. Today I spoke to Belize’s newly minted ombudsman to see if the job has met his–and […]
Today the Public Service Union got itself a new place to call home. Official ground breaking ceremonies were held on Kut Avenue this morning for a new building slated to become the Belize City headquarters of the PSU. On hand to do some of the shoveling was Minister of Housing and Urban Renewal, Dickie Bradley. […]
Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave for the last month you know that Belize’s once-in-a-decade census is now in progress. Today I visited Belmopan to see how things are going. On May 13th, the Central Statistical Office started the work of updating that information and launched Census Day 2000. The country was divided into […]
As we reported yesterday, on Tuesday afternoon, residents of Central American Boulevard frantically called our newsroom claiming to have seen two known maximum security prisoners walking the streets in civilian clothing and without a prison guard in sight. Today News Five contacted Governor of Prisons Bernard Adolphus who confirmed that the convicts in question were […]
It seems everyone’s got a computer to give away these days but this time its not government or a big corporation but a local youth group doing the giving. Interact, the younger version of Rotoract, had some extra money to spend and decided to help out the Youth Hostel by buying them a computer. But […]
There is no shortage of unsolved mysteries in Belize. The list includes: who tortured and killed a half dozen Belize City girls? Whatever happened to the Garbutt family on the way to English Caye? And why is it that big time drug dealers never seem to get caught? But tonight we have a mystery story […]
It looked like trouble on the waterfront was averted last month when the union and Ports Authority submerged their mutual mistrust and agreed to negotiate in good faith. A month later that Memorandum of Understanding appears to be meaningless and the Christian Workers Union has once again given a 21-day notice to strike. According to […]
