While the Prime Minister was short on details outside the House, Minister of State Edmond Castro was long on prose as he rose for the first time since the BAA check scandal broke to give a statement. Castro has come under persistent fire also because of the visa hustle. Today, he rambled for twenty minutes […]
All sittings are generally ‘special’ in nature, and this one was no exception. It offered a little good, some bad and more than the usual ugly. There’s a whole lot to get into tonight, including a nasty exchange of words between members. But first we go to the man of the hour, Edmond Castro. […]
The United Democratic Party is in the middle of conventions to select what they refer to as caretakers in the fourteen constituencies where that party does not have an area representative. This past weekend, the battleground was in Orange Walk East, where Elodio Aragon Junior defeated David Constanza. All indications are that Aragon Junior was […]
There’s a lot of hard news out of the House of Representatives, but there was also a prolonged exchange, which has become a trademark of every sitting. That was provided during an exchange between three members from Orange Walk. It started out with allegations of land corruption by member for Orange Walk South Jose […]
Last Tuesday, former FIU director Marilyn Williams was appointed as the new chair of the Integrity Commission, after approximately four years of the agency being defunct. The Prime Minister told us today that they are serious about activating the Commission, and members have already been selected. The appointments will be announced at the sitting […]
Throughout the month of January, the unions took to the streets calling for an end to corruption and salary adjustments. Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Barrow announced that based on projections, teachers and public officers were looking at a salary adjustment of not less than three percent when they receive it in July. Well, […]
While the issues outside the House after the proceedings took center stage, there were several important matters raised inside the House. Premier among those has to be the Firearms Act, which has been the subject of prolonged and massive outcry. There have been myriad complaints and much distress expressed since 2008, when the perceived […]
Seven bills were passed today in the house. But the real purpose of today’s House Sitting had to do with a threat by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. In November, the CFATF announced that it would be blacklisting both Belize and Guyana for non-compliance in addressing deficiencies in the laws on money laundering as […]
There are two very disturbing cases of sexual assault involving minors to report on tonight. The first reportedly happened in Bullet Tree Falls, Cayo, on Tuesday evening where the mother of a three-year-old infant reported that her daughter was assaulted by a minor who came over to their home earlier that day. The Guatemalan mother […]
On Tuesday, we reported on a garbage situation at the Punta Gorda Hospital involving the accumulation of medical waste inside the storage facility. The incinerator which is used to consume the refuse has reportedly been out of service for several months, forcing the hospital administration to transport trash from PG to the Southern Regional Hospital. […]
The Rotary Club of Belize’s annual Gift of Life Program is underway at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Since Monday, the visiting doctors have been attending to a growing number of children requiring medical attention for heart conditions. The program is also extended to adults and where necessary, the patients are sent overseas for further […]
To help raise the much needed funds to keep the Gift of Life Program alive, the Belize Rotary Club is putting off its annual production…a play entitled Every Rose has Thorns. The comedy, written by Saint Vincent national, Dillon Bergin, opens this Thursday at six p.m. inside the Bliss Centre for the Performance Arts and […]
A Honduran woman is the latest international fugitive to be caught in Belize. Forty year old Blanca Garay Rodriguez was on the run since early January; she was picked up at around eleven thirty in the morning at house at the Mile eight community on the George Price Highway. Rodriguez’s detention is considered major bust […]
Fresh off a series of rallies and marches, the Belize National Teachers Union took stock today of a series of industrial actions held throughout the month of January. The final stop was last Friday in Punta Gorda and the biggest turnout was in San Ignacio where the teachers braved the rain. The most militant and […]
At the height of the recent demonstrations, there were heated exchanges between the Belize National Teachers Union and the government. The prime minister called B.N.T.U. President, Luke Palacio, a windup doll, while the Minister of Education, Patrick Faber, was referred to as a little boy. But despite the adversarial relationship, none of the insults are […]
Since last week the fate of security workers declared redundant by the City Council has been under much scrutiny. Those workers received their layoff letters on January twenty-third, and the Christian Workers Union jumped into the fray soon after. The union claimed that proper procedure was not followed, and the interests of the workers had […]
Matura-Shepherd says that by only asking for two weeks, she is showing extreme goodwill, since the union could demand its month notice. That request has been formally submitted to Mayor Darrell Bradley, who had previously agreed to give workers until this Friday. But the CWU says it needs more time to do a proper examination […]
And our question for tonight is: Do you think the gun laws should be revised? Yes or No. Send your comments and responses using your SMART phones to 8686 or post your vote on our e-poll at channel5belize.com. You can also send an email with your comments to questions@channel5belize.com.
In 2007, B.D.F. Corporal Norman Rodriguez was diagnosed with a condition called arterio-venous malformation on the brain. It’s not a tumor, but it is something like a growth…an abnormal connection between arteries and veins. Rodriguez allegedly received some medical assessment and treatment in Belize, but his condition has deteriorated to the point where he cannot […]
Corporal Rodriguez feels that the B.D.F. has let him down, and feels that he is being given the runaround. Today News Five was in Price Barracks, where we discovered that the force is trying to raise the funding to pay for Rodriguez’s surgical procedure and recovery, but the reality is that there is no money […]
On June fifth, four persons were formally arraigned for murder and attempted murder after a brazen robbery attempt at a bar in Belmopan. Three of them were fourth form students at the Belmopan Comprehensive School, just days away from graduation, and the fourth was twenty-nine year old Edwin Paula. Paula is believed to have been […]
On January nineteenth, a month long police manhunt for Kevin ‘Midget’ Manzanero ended when the wanted man was chopped as he allegedly attempted to enter a home in the Chapel Hill area of San Ignacio. He was seriously injured and went to the San Ignacio Hospital for treatment. Since then he has been recovering at […]
There are allegations of a harmful situation brewing at the Punta Gorda Hospital tonight. News Five understands that hazardous waste, including expended hypodermic needles, as well as other biological refuse, is being stockpiled in plastic trash bags inside a storage room on the compound. While hospital administrator, Ruth McDonald, has declined comment, it is reported […]
With the teachers rallies now concluded, the Ministry of Education is launching a financial aid program for students enrolled in secondary schools. Following an extensive review of the sector, the program was launched as a collaborative effort between MOE and the Ministry of Human Development and Social Transformation and is incentive-based. According to Faber, potential […]
The recent arrest, trail and conviction of Corporal Gino Peck have brought the Firearms Act into sharp focus. But the truth is that since the Act was amended in 2008 it has been the cause of great distress, with the perception that many innocent persons have been wrongly persecuted. The argument has run the gamut […]
