In the early hours of this morning, a small house in the Antelope Street Extension area of Belize City was engulfed in flames. The Fire Department responded and extinguished the fire before it could spread to neighboring houses. Shortly after, they made the gruesome discovery of a body inside the home, burnt beyond recognition. The […]
Activist Phillip ‘Faada’ Henry was on center stage in Battlefield Park this morning. He is enraged at the passport fiasco and calling for the U.D.P. to pack up and leave. And he had a lot more to say besides that. Much of it was unfit for national television, but the man is passionate about his […]
Three persons are in Police lockdown after an operation this morning netted a large amount of marijuana. Between six and nine a.m., Placencia Police and the Special Branch conducted searches of several homes on the peninsula. At the home of eighteen year old student Julian Diego, Police hit the jackpot. In a bedroom they found […]
A Belizean woman is currently detained in neighbouring Chetumal after she was caught attempting to shoplift four bottles of liquor. According to media reports in Chetumal, thirty-four year old Shirley Arnold was caught on video surveillance at Chedraui Supermarket at the Plaza de Las Americas as she placed the rum in her bag. When she […]
Police Constable Ronald Sutherland ran afoul of the law on September twenty-eight when he allegedly assaulted his common law wife with a machete during a domestic dispute at a home on Police Street. The twenty-eight year old officer was arraigned in Magistrates’ Court this morning on three charges, including one count each of aggravated assault, […]
Another police officer who found himself on the wrong end of the law in 2004 has been spared from additional jail time when he appeared in the Supreme Court. Thirty-year old Burton Caliz, who has been on interdiction since the shooting death of a San Pedro resident Leroy Pilgrim nine years ago, appeared before Justice […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow is currently in Los Angeles, California where he is meeting with the Diaspora along with his wife, Kim Simpliss Barrow. The Barrows were hosted to dinner Thursday night at a swanky restaurant where the paparazzi caught up with him as he made his way slowly in and out of the restaurant. […]
The sale of visas has been a lucrative business for immigration officials, agents and couriers. Nationals from countries as far as Sri Lankan, Somalia, Nigeria and primarily China pay thousands of dollars, as much as ten thousand, to obtain the visas which gets them to Belize as they move their way to the United States. […]
In the following story, aired a week later on November ninth, a number of Sri Lankans were detained in Quito, Ecuador when they turned up in that country with Belizean visas. {Feature.}
The illegal issuance of nationality and citizenship has struck a chord across all sectors of society. The private sector, unions, and others have expressed outright indignation at the irregularities at the Immigration Department through which persons of dubious distinction have been able to acquire Belizean birthright even when they have never set foot in the […]
The social partners: the Belize Chamber of Commerce, the Council of Churches, Evangelical Churches and the N.T.U.C.B. say they cannot support the current hearings of the Public Accounts Committee which comprises only of government representatives. Two weeks ago, the social partners in a release said that the hearings as they stand are a charade. Cannon […]
Archeology is celebrated on October twentieth worldwide and today, the Institute of Archeology in Belmopan put off a display for students and the general public. Educational displays and fun-filled activities were available for those who visited to get a better appreciation of the tedious work that is put in to preserve the cultural history of […]
Charly Black is becoming one of the most widely received and passionately influential artists of this generation. Born and raised in an area known as Rio Bueno, Trelawney in Jamaica, Black recorded his first hit in 2004. But it wasn’t until 2007 that his musical career took off when the artist brought his original tunes […]
Eric Chang has not been back to Belize since his name came up in the passport scandal that has been dogging the government. It has been a little over a month and a half since Chang departed for Taiwan along with a delegation from City Hall for the Asia Pacific City Summit. But he stayed […]
According to Mayor Bradley, there are statutes within the City Council Act which prohibit councilors from prolonged, unexplained absences from office. In this case, Chang has not maintained sufficient contact with City Hall to keep the mayor abreast of his extended stay. The mood among fellow councilors during this morning’s meeting was one of uncertainty, […]
The sale of visas to Asian nationals and others by agents has been ongoing for years facilitated by high level officials. Last Thursday, the Prime Minister told the media that he has told ministers involved to “for God’s sakes” stop it because this could bring down the government. Earlier this year, Belizean Carlos Murga, was […]
Minister Elrington says that despite his secretary not having any involvement in the sale or facilitation of Belizean visas, direct measures were taken to transfer her from Foreign Affairs. The ministry, he says, has a strict policy against any allegations of misconduct. Isani Cayetano “Very recently or sometime ago, there was an incident involving […]
Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington has also weighed in on the passport scandal. His position is that despite the severe infractions that have taken place at the Immigration Department at the hands of former Minister of State Elvin Penner, those wrongdoings pale in comparison to what has been taking place in the ministry all along. Elrington […]
The investigation into the passport scandal is in its thirtieth day. There have been two major press conferences during that time. The Financial Intelligence Unit is on the case. The Police are on the case. And with all that, there is still absolutely no official clarification of what has been found. Elvin Penner is at […]
We first reported on Huang Maoru in May 2008. Maoru caught our attention because he was the first Belizean to make it as the richest man on Forbes Magazine. Huang is a native from Shenzen, Mainland China. We don’t know who signed his nationality papers or passport, but it is believed he obtained those legally […]
The Ambassador of Taiwan to Belize has remained under the radar as it relates to the passport scandal even though Wonhong Kim was in a Taipei prison when he obtained Belizean nationality and citizenship. Ambassador David Wu told News Five today that while he shared information about Kim with G.O.B., he is more concerned if […]
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Barrow threw Elvin Penner under the bus and asked him to resign as area representative and from the United Democratic Party. The Prime Minister’s decision came after further evidence surfaced over the past weekend that Penner was involved in the issuance of more nationality certificates and passports. Today, we canvassed ordinary […]
While ordinary Belizeans overwhelming support a criminal investigation, we asked the private sector today if they support a motion for a senate investigation. During a special sitting on October second, Opposition Senator, Lisa Shoman proposed that the senate leads an independent investigation into the improprieties at the Immigration and Nationality Department. While the Belize Chamber […]
According to Senator Lizarraga, once approved, the objective of the inquiry is to unravel what has transpired within the Immigration Department with a view to prevent this type of misconduct from reoccurring. Mark Lizarraga, Business Senator “The upper house, unfortunately today, still gives the government or the executive the majority. So at the end […]
The Fort Street Tourism Village was created to give Belizean businesses an opportunity to profit from tourism. But for some time now, there has been a change in ownership and that implies that there are new contracts and rules for the tenants who have their businesses inside the duty free zone. Well since that change, […]
