San Pedro police are still trying to determine the identities of the two bodies found on the island last week Monday and Tuesday. The bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition. At this time the police do not suspect foul play but rather they are looking at two possibilities as to how they could […]
As a way of giving thanks for Belize’s delivery from the ravages of Hurricane Mitch a number of churches and other organizations are mobilizing their members to assist neighboring Honduras. This evening in Belmopan, the town where most Belizeans took refuge during the threat, there will be a meeting for the team spearheading operation “Belize […]
In related news, the Belize Defense Force will be sending a contingent of soldiers to lend their muscle to a disaster relief operation in Honduras. The troops will be led by Major Lloyd Gillett and includes thirty-two members of the B.D.F. and two police officers. They will leave Big Creek on Thursday afternoon aboard the […]
After thousands of temporary Belmopan residents returned to Belize City, the business of governing the country is back in full swing. The first item on the agenda for yesterday’s Cabinet meeting of course was a postmortem of the government’s emergency exercise. Full disclosure of the effort will be made by the release of the National […]
On the night of October twenty sixth, when most residents of San Pedro Town were trying to evacuate due to the threat of Hurricane Mitch, one American tourist was fighting for her life. Not from a hurricane, but from an intruder who came knocking at her apartment door at nine thirty that Monday night. Police […]
Belize’s national parks and protected areas suffered some damage during Mitch and the Belize Audubon Society is carrying out an assessment and clean up campaign. The Blue Hole National Park, Cockscomb Basin and Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuaries, Half Moon Caye Natural Monument and Guanacaste National Park are closed to the public until November ninth. B.A.S. […]
In the last year twenty-five journalists have been murdered in the Americas, some of them very close to home: four in Mexico, two in Guatemala. The Inter-American Press Association says reporters are fighting a daily battle against drug leaders in Colombia and Mexico and often pay the ultimate price to advance press freedom. By comparison […]
Children loved her when she was dressed as Santa Claus or Mr. Neat and Klean, but Juliet Soberanis who died last Friday will be remembered by the adults in Belize as the one who led the battle cry in the war against cancer. Over the past three years, her name became synonymous with cancer awareness […]
We’ve watched the images in horror over the past several days and now it is time to lend a hand to neighbors devastated by Hurricane Mitch. Today the Honduran Ambassador to Belize Oscar Bueso thanked Belizeans for their open hearts and sympathy but now he asks them to come forward and help the relief effort […]
While Belize’s suffering is not great compared to some of our neighbors, the costs of the week long disaster preparedness exercise were still not inconsequential. To ease some of that burden a number of friendly nations and organizations have announced contributions to help defray the expenses of government and local relief agencies. This morning the […]
If you’re wondering why your children still have to wade through parts of Belize City holding their tennis shoes in their arms, the City Council has some explanations and some not-so-good news. The council says the flooding is occurring on streets in low-lying areas or within three hundred feet of the sea, river, creek or […]
Police are investigating the discovery of two bodies on San Pedro. Authorities have yet to determine the who, how and why surrounding their deaths. In the first case, police were called out to the Siete Posas Bacalar Chico area of San Pedro where they found a highly decomposed body measuring six feet in height and […]
While the nation’s attention has been drawn this week to the damage at our cayes, some villagers inland may be feeling like they live on a caye right now, courtesy of Hurricane Mitch. As I found out today, the residents of Crooked Tree, used to some periodic high waters from their lagoon are facing something […]
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and you’re right on time for a Tuesday version of Sports Monday. Hurricane Mitch sent the Belizean population scuffling to higher grounds last week. Mitch didn’t land on Belizean shores but it dumped enough water and confusion to halt all sporting activities scheduled this weekend. However, we’ve been trying to […]
Pictorials coming in a few minutes As we see the images of the devastation in Honduras and Nicaragua, Belizeans all across the country are thanking God we were spared from the full fury of Hurricane Mitch. But it was a week of fear and disruption nevertheless. Most of us based our decision to move to […]
The Prime Minister Said Musa returned today after a week long visit to Taiwan with the Minister for Budget and Planning Ralph Fonseca. Although he was far from home during the Mitch crisis the Prime Minister was constantly updated on what was happening in Belize. Today, just minutes after he touched down at the P.G.I.A. […]
News Five also spoke with Deputy Prime Minister John Briceño, who although he had only been sworn in two months ago, shouldered the enormous responsibility of leading the country during the hurricane threat. John Briceño, Deputy Prime Minister “I think I must thank all the help that I had; all of the ministers were out […]
While Belize escaped Mitch without any casualties, others of course were not so fortunate. While the death toll climbs into the thousands in Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala, of particular concern to Belizeans is the fate of thirty-one crew members on the tall ship known as the “Phantome”. Viewers may recall that last Monday the vessel, […]
The saga of the Phantome illustrates the importance of early and accurate weather forecasting. And while no one would suggest that Belize’s own meteorologists are anything less than first rate, a series of unfortunate events left the Met office significantly impaired during the recent crisis. This afternoon News Five’s Stewart Krohn spoke with former Chief […]
As thousands of Belizeans moved to higher grounds from the threat of hurricane Mitch, most radio stations remained on air round the clock, to keep the nation inform and prepared in case the storm hit Belize. Today we caught up with Rene Villanueva and Gerald Garbutt, General Managers of Love FM and FM 2000 who […]
While most responsible citizens were in shelters inland or quietly waiting out the storm in their homes, there were those who tried to profit from an evacuation situation. Between the twenty-seventh and twenty-ninth of October fifty people, forty-two men and eight women were arrested for breaking into Chinese business establishments. Head of the Criminal Investigations […]
If you have borrowed money from the Belize Bank and are trying to recover from the financial burden brought on by the threat of Hurricane Mitch, we have a bit of good news for you. The bank has announced that it will defer one month’s payment free of service charge on all Action Plan Loans, […]
For the majority of Belizeans, Hurricane Mitch was a second hand storm. We felt some rain, but the winds stayed an abstract number on the weather channel. We had no idea by looking out our windows — the few which weren’t boarded up anyway — of the storm’s real power. But those who remained on […]
