Only a few hours ago, the bloodshed began on the violence prone streets of Belize City. A hail of nine millimeter rounds were let loose on a City resident this afternoon as he stood near the office of Mesopotamia Area Representative Michael Finnegan on Amara Avenue. Jeffery Flowers, a known affiliate of the Taylor’s Alley […]
And while Flowers was well known to the police, another shooting incident occurred and it involved an activist who is well known to the media. Yolanda Schakron has had numerous brushes with members of the Police Department since the murder of her nephew Christopher Galvez in December 2009. The most recent altercation was on June […]
Late this evening the Prime Minister’s Office sent a letter to the people of Belize to clarify the government’s position on the Constitution (Ninth Amendment) Act 2011. The letter from PM Dean Barrow referred to court cases in Ireland and India to make clear certain points. It says “The Constitution of Belize, in section sixty-nine, […]
The Bar Association’s rejection of the proposed eighth and ninth amendments to the constitution has not gone without some criticism. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington who is also an attorney, says the bar has been silent on many issues, and though he hadn’t read the Bar’s position on those amendments, Elrington says […]
Angel Moriera and Reginald Cumberbatch have both been the center of scandal. Moriera’s name has been attached to fraudulent land transactions which resulted in the sale of an island and other properties without the consent of the owners. Cumberbatch, as you are aware, has been accused of attempting to assault a male minor in Succotz […]
Madrid has been unable to get a comment from the government about the association’s proposed JP Act, but News Five also posed the question to Minister of Foreign Affairs about the JP crisis. ‘Sedi’ Elrington is a former Attorney General, and was contacted by Madrid during his tenure as A.G. According to Elrington, a more […]
Several legal minds and parliamentarians have publicly opposed the proposed ninth amendment to the Belize Constitution, while government has defended it. To add the voices of our viewers to the conversation, we asked earlier this week if they support the government’s move to prevent the court from reviewing legal challenges to constitutional amendments? Seventy-nine percent […]
Standard interconnectivity between Smart and Telemedia remains in limbo tonight despite a Supreme Court order at the end of March for both companies to establish new terms and conditions for the use of shared infrastructure. Failure to reach an amicable agreement meant that the Public Utilities Commission would step in to mediate the ongoing dispute […]
The poem that goes Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink was written over two hundred years ago by English Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. But the meaning is still fresh with residents on La Isla Bonita who became so outraged about the stagnant quality of water in San Pedro, they complained to the Public […]
The quality of water that runs through the pipes isn’t the only issue that is pressing on economies of islands like San Pedro and Caye Caulker. The lifeline of the cayes are divided between tourism and fishing. And as it turns out, cleaning the reef is a niche market that is mostly unheard of in […]
We have been reporting on the illegal loggers from Guatemala who have been invading the Chiquibul Forest Reserve. But in the Toledo District, Rosewood is also being extracted without permits and it went under the radar until a few months ago, when the increased logging caught the attention of the Maya Leaders Alliance and Toledo […]
In the last few months we told you about the surplus of onions, but rice has also been produced in excess. In April of this year the Belize Marketing Development Corporation (BMDC) announced that they would be purchasing approximately two million pounds less than they did in 2010 because of an existing surplus. It’s a […]
Wesley Emmanuel has been in prison for about three years, following the murder of Emilio Orlando Gomez in June 2008. Last December, Emmanuel had a brief taste of freedom after the Director of Public Prosecution’s office entered a nolle prosequi in the case. But the smile that comes with freedom was cut short as he […]
On Wednesday, Nora Sierra visited our newsroom to make a complaint against the Kolbe Foundation. Nora says her twenty-two year old son Joel Sierra, who is incarcerated at the Belize Central Prison, has been diagnosed with Tuberculosis and despite recommendations from a doctor; Kolbe is refusing to allow her son to receive proper medical treatment. […]
On Wednesday night the P.U.P. Standard Bearer of the Cayo West Division, Oscar Sabido spoke of the lack of developmental infrastructure in that constituency. As a result, Sabido said he is bringing an economist to assess the Cayo West with the objective of formulating a policy for economic development. Oscar Sabido, P.U.P. Standard Bearer, Cayo […]
Youth Voices has embarked on a yearlong program that seeks to inspire youths to write, speak, and complete video productions. The program funded by a U.S. State Department grant, has been nurturing the minds of its participants while keeping them from the city streets. This afternoon, the youths were treated to an internationally recognized and […]
As we mentioned, with the new summer season of What’s Happening Belize, our host who has an internal GPS on all the summer hot spots, has left the CGI graphics room and headed out to the cayes. On this edition, Safiyyah takes a boat ride to the North end of Ambergris Caye to Belizean Shores […]
Tragedy has struck as a trivial dispute, one that occurs in most families, did not go well for a family in Cotton Tree. Anger turned to rage, and then to murder. Before cool heads could prevail, twenty-one year old Thaddeus Castillo was murdered in Cotton Tree Village. Castillo, who is originally from Belize City, was […]
The ninth amendment bill, on its surface, aims to enshrine the government’s majority control of shares in utilities. But several attorneys, including those from the Human Rights Commission of Belize, the Bar Association of Belize and Senator Godwin Hulse, have all spoken about grave concerns on the Belize Constitution (Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2011. On Wednesday, […]
The bar issued a statement on Wednesday in which it says “the bar does not support the proposed amendment to the extent that it seeks to deny rights of property owners to access the courts to challenge nationalizations.” But according to the Foreign Minister, any aggrieved party would still be able to access the court. […]
In addition to Minister Elrington and the Bar Association, Senator Henry Gordon, who represents the Council of Churches, also spoke about the Proposed Ninth on Open Your Eyes. Gordon said that because of government’s super majority in the House, even if the Senate is granted a thirteenth senator, the ninth amendment would still allow parliamentary […]
The Guatemalan incursions in the Chiquibul Forest have been problematic for years. But in recent weeks, it made the news because illegal logging by the Guatemalans is rampant and they are making their way further into Belizean territory. The organization, Friends for Conservation and Development, has been studying the trends and today released a report […]
According to Manzanero, they have compiled recommendations that can raise finances and improve the management of the forest reserve. Raphael Manzanero “In terms of the analysis that was done, it can be contemplated that we should be able to generate up to one million dollars every year by selling the carbon stocks in the Chiquibul. […]
And while the report card on the joint patrols in the Chiquibul show that a lot needs to be done to solve environmental issues and prevent poachers, the report card on another sector is also pointing out some weaknesses. A recent report about the performance of prosecutors in Belize showed failures in proper education of […]
Conflict of interest is only one of several ethical issues that are waiting to be tackled, which is why ABA ROLI dedicated Wednesday afternoon to the police prosecutors. According to ABA ROLI’s Country Director, Antoinette Moore, seventeen of the eighteen prosecutors from across the country attended the training session. Antoinette Moore, Country Director, ABA ROLI […]
