When Astrid Perera, thirty-eight year old co-owner of the technology store U.S. COM, went missing in the middle of last month and her employee, twenty-two year old Luis Valdez, disappeared a week later, most people concluded that the two lovers had run off together. But nearly a month later, with no word from either, Perera’s […]
The crime shocked the resort town of San Pedro last November, when five men were accused of involvement in the bludgeoning death of sixty-three year old Justo Jairo Perez during a burglary. Kevin Gonzalez Junior, Lincoln Polonio, Francis Eiley, Ernest Savery and Frank Vasquez were jointly charged with murder. But nine months after those charges […]
To the countries of Central America, the phenomenon of human trafficking is something that the region is still trying to fully understand. And ministers who make up the region’s Social Integration Council spent the last two days discussing the issue with a view to tackling it head on. After fully ventilating a Belize sponsored motion, […]
They defend our threatened borders and patrol Belize City’s mean streets. Never before in this young nation’s history have we needed the Belize Defence Force more than today…and this evening the B.D.F. welcomed its newest members into the family. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods reports from Ladyville. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting The eighty-eight members of recruit intake […]
Every summer seems to bring increased opportunities for kids in the old capital to trade the squalor of the city for the fresh vistas of the Belizean countryside. But what about the children who live in rural areas? This morning News 5’s Jacqueline Woods found out. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting It was the first time that […]
Lock them up and throw away the key. That statement pretty much summarizes the majority view in Belize on what to do with criminals. But somewhere between conviction and eventual release there is the painful necessity of dealing with those whose deeds have landed them in prison. How inmates are treated during their incarceration may […]
A headline in today’s Guardian newspaper indicates that those people involved in the passport scandal may be facing some new heat. Sources close to the case tell News 5 that under the terms of the money laundering act authorities may pursue perpetrators of a number of offences that ultimately result in the conversion of dirty […]
A second suspect has been arrested in last month’s hold-up of a San Ignacio nightspot. Seventeen-year-old Daniel Anderson of the New Area in Santa Elena has been charged with attempted murder, robbery, deadly means of harm and wounding in addition to several firearm offences.
And in Belize City a Good Samaritan has made the police department’s work easier by single-handedly detaining a thief. On Wednesday Rojelia Choc and her daughter of Toledo’s San Pedro Columbia Village were walking down Orange Street when a man grabbed two gold chains from Rojelia’s neck. The daughter and some passers-by gave chase, with […]
On Monday we reported on the nasty fire at the Belize City garbage dump…and three days later we regret to inform residents that things are not yet back to normal. Patrick Jones once again finds himself surrounded by a foul environment. Patrick Jones, Reporting It’s not a pretty sight and the smoke and stench coming […]
You know that summer is rapidly coming to an end when the talk turns to carnival. And that was the buzz this morning at City Hall, where News 5’s Patrick Jones was getting ready to jump up. Leroy Green, President, Carnival Pulaali “No honestly, we are laughing, but as they say on the streets, things […]
It was a send off the likes of which are rarely seen in the nation of Belize, let alone its sweltering capital. Official business came to a halt this morning as the country paused for the state funeral of Cayo South Area Representative, Agripino Cawich. News 5’s Patrick Jones reports. Patrick Jones, Reporting Hundreds of […]
The death of Agripino Cawich is not the only one we note tonight. We have been informed that forty-four year old Martha Reimer, severely injured in a road accident on June twenty-third, passed away on July eighteenth in Guatemala City. Reimer never regained consciousness following the collision on the Western Highway that also claimed the […]
The Chalillo hydroelectric project is today one step closer to shaking off the legal challenges that have dogged it almost from its inception. This morning the Privy Council in London dismissed the application of the conservation consortium, BACONGO, for an interim injunction to halt construction of the dam on the upper Macal River. The injunction […]
It has been almost a month since thirty-seven year old Astrid Perrera-Cheng, co-owner of the local technology shop, U.S. COM, was last seen in Belize. She was supposed to board a July nineteenth flight to Miami on company business, but never showed up at the airport. When a fellow employee, twenty-two year old technician Luis […]
It is one of those bodies you don’t hear much about until the phone company raises rates or the electricity company decides to build a dam, but today the Public Utilities Commission made an effort to assure the public that it is alive and regulating. This morning, representatives of the P.U.C. met with the media […]
Today businessmen and women from across the country met in Belize City to discuss the future of the nation’s international trade. Facilitating the talks is Dr. Richard Bernal, Director General of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery. Bernal has been endorsed by CARICOM governments to negotiate on behalf of the region with the global trade bodies. […]
While most cruise ship agents in Belize City are eagerly awaiting the opening of the second phase of the Tourism Village, tonight one local restaurateur is seeing red. Carlos Romero, owner of the Wet Lizard, which sits squarely between the two villages, walked onto his veranda this morning only to find construction workers driving piles […]
It’s been a very long time since the Golden Girls put Belize on the map of international softball and those tales of past glory are no substitute for today’s hits, runs and victory on the region’s diamonds. But hope springs eternal…as Patrick Jones reports. Patrick Jones, Reporting She’s doesn’t have the name recognition of an […]
The body of Agripino Cawich returned home today, arriving at the Philip Goldson International Airport where it was met with military honours. It then travelled by motorcade to Belmopan where it will lie in state at the George Price Centre. Funeral services for the Cayo South representative and Minister of State will take place Wednesday […]
You don’t have to be a member of the clergy to be concerned about the proliferation of nightspots that call themselves bars but are in fact nothing more than brothels. But you do have to be a little bit suspicious of government’s sudden concern with protecting the nation’s morals, especially when it appears that their […]
In other crime news, a suspect has been arrested in last week’s shooting of a Belize City taco vendor. Nineteen-year-old Frank Smith of Raccoon Street has been charged with attempted murder, use of deadly means of harm and dangerous harm. One other suspect is still being sought. Food seller Gabriela Garcia was seriously wounded on […]
The British High Commission has announced the approval of two grants, totalling over seventy thousand dollars. The first gift of forty-five thousand dollars will help the Pan American Social Marketing Organisation, PASMO, to implement a campaign to change the public’s behaviour with regard to HIV and AIDS. That effort, utilising the local media, is expected […]
Tonight the Skeen family of Ladyville needs your help in trying to locate their brother. On July thirty-first, thirty-eight year old Gregory Skeen went missing from his home and has not been heard from since. Skeen, who has Down’s Syndrome, cannot speak or read and the family is very concerned that his disability will put […]
It’s no secret that over the last quarter century Belize’s literacy rate has taken a nosedive. But it’s equally obvious that educators are fighting to reverse that trend. Patrick Jones reports.” Patrick Jones, Reporting Keeping in mind the adage that “good teachers are costly; but bad teachers cost even more,” the Anglican Diocese today opened […]
