The Easter weekend is just days away. For some, it is a time of Christian symbolism, for spiritual reflection. For others, it is a time to party…non-stop drinking and revelry. And for others, it is the time of opportunity. With so many residents leaving their homes to travel to the cayes or across the border, […]
A United Nations report places Belize as the third of ten countries with the highest rate of murders in the world. It’s a startling statistic and this past weekend proved to be one of the bloodiest since the beginning of the year. In the wave of violence five persons were killed. We start here […]
The second murder took place hours later on Saturday night. Fifty-seven year old Alfonso Cruz of Rhaburn’s Alley, Belize City was shot to the left side of the chest and left lower back. While a motive has not been determined, it is known Cruz was hanging out in his own yard at Rhaburn’s Alley, when […]
Twenty-four later on the south side, eighteen year old Kevin Rodriguez was gunned down and his family believes he was lured to his death. Just before eleven p.m., Rodriguez, received a phone call and stepped outside a house on Curl Thompson Street. Within minutes, he was shot three times by a gunman. Rodriguez laid dead […]
The weekend’s violence started on Friday night up north in the village of Carmelita when a fifty-year old grocer from Guinea Grass and his son visited their family farm located three miles off the highway in the village. They discovered that two homes on the property had been completely ransacked and all their personal possessions […]
In just a matter of seconds on Friday, Edison Johnson’s life was changed for all time. He is now an inmate at the Belize Central Prison, charged with two counts of murder. Orange Walk Police say those charges were levied on the advice of the D.P.P.’s office, so it seems improbable at this time […]
Where murders are concerned, Belize recorded fewer numbers in 2013 that in the five years prior. That was good news for a country under siege, and provided hope that perhaps it signalled a trend. 2014 isn’t looking as good, with five murders just this past weekend. For context, you can look at a new study […]
Aside from the five persons who were murdered, two others died in traffic fatalities. There was a fatal traffic accident on Saturday night near mile nineteen and a half on the Phillip Goldson Highway, involving a commuter bus and a cyclist, was the last of three deadly collisions over the weekend. Shortly after eight p.m. […]
Three Belize City pirates were arraigned in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court for two counts each of Aggravated Assault with a Firearm. They are Lionel Emmanuel Sedacy, Giovanni Murrillo, and Everal Teck Junior. The trio has been in police custody since last Thursday after they were apprehended for a shootout with the Belize Coast […]
The Gang Suppression Unit conducted a search on Sunday at the home of a K.H.M.H. nurses’ aide where the Unit found nine millimetre ammunition and some marijuana. The home owner is forty-eight year old Bernadette Samuels who had to be hospitalized after the bust for hypertension. There were other persons at the house including two […]
Twenty-one year old Glenford Alvarez, a resident of Supal Street, was the target of a lone gunman on Saturday morning. Shortly before eleven a.m., Alvarez was riding a bicycle on Dolphin Street when someone approached him from behind and opened fire. He was shot once on the left foot and rushed to the KHMH for […]
It’s been a month since the Pharmacy Association has been expressing concern about the appointment of the daughter of Minister Erwin Contreras to the post of Director of Drug Inspectorate in the Ministry of Health. Danini Contreras, according to the Pharmacy Association, is simply not qualified for the job and neither was the required procedure […]
This morning, the Sarstoon-Temash Institute for Indigenous Management, SATIIM, as well as claimants from five buffer communities surrounding the Sarstoon-Temash National Park, filed an application for a post-judgment injunction in the Supreme Court. The objective is to restrain Government from renewing, extending or issuing an extension to U.S. Capital Energy’s permit to conduct exploratory activity […]
Tonight, News Five has been able to confirm that San Ignacio Police are following up reports of an alleged police brutality in that district. Although it is only an allegation at this time, it is a disturbing and very serious one. We understand that just over a week ago, Police were called out to a […]
This morning, the Ministry of Health received a fleet of health support vehicles from the United Emirates. The twenty-six vehicles are valued at three hundred thousand dollars; essentially they are three-wheeled motorcycles with a cover unit equipped with seating and stretcher to transport patients. The Ministry of Health says they will be distributed to hospitals […]
There have been reported irregularities in two hospitals; the Southern Regional as well as the Central Regional Hospital. In the south, the Hospital Administrator Nasley Sommerville was suspended last October, after an audit investigation turned up serious irregularities amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars gone missing. The Police, the Audit Department and the FIU […]
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and this is Sports Monday. We take you out immediately to scenic San Pedro for Saturday night’s big time shootout between San Pedro Tigersharks and Belize City Smart No Limit as the NEBL rolled into week 10 of 14 week regular season. Tonight, No Limit comes out to a smoking […]
Tensions are reaching a feverish pitch tonight between Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management, U.S. Capital Energy and government. On April third, Justice Michelle Arana handed down a major decision in favor of SATIIM as well as five Mayan communities bordering the Sarstoon-Temash National Park, in a suit brought against the Government of Belize and […]
The Mayan Leaders in the buffer communities held an emergency meeting this afternoon in light of Cabinet’s decision. The spokesman for the Mayan leaders is SATIIM’s Executive Director Greg Ch’oc. Having now confirmed that approval has been given to extend the permit of US Capital Energy, Ch’oc says that aside from taking legal recourse, the […]
While five fishermen are home safe, a trio of pirates is in custody tonight. As we reported on Thursday night, the Belize Coast Guard responded to a robbery twenty miles southeast of Belize City where pirates held up the fisher folks at gunpoint and confiscated their produce. There was a shootout initiated by the pirates […]
There has been precious little coming out of the Immigration Department where the Penner situation is concerned. At this point…and really at every point since the scandal broke, there have been only vague assurances that some seemingly perpetual investigation or the other is still underway. But Penner and immigration corruption aside, Minister of Immigration Godwin […]
Minister Hulse’s call to a talk show on Wednesday morning was in response to a previous Belizean caller who was upset at the turn-around and endless hassles to get a passport. His comments didn’t go unnoticed, and News Five has received a copy of a letter sent to Director Maria Marin by a very senior […]
There was a big bust at the P.G.I.A. on Thursday when a Avianca flight touched down from El Salvador. On board were two Cuban twin brothers with fraudulent Guatemalan passports and a Nigerian who had a fake Belize visa. Joel Gonzalez, in his fraudulent Guatemalan passport went by the name of Nestor Bayona Carreno, while […]
If all has gone as scheduled the Forest Department, working along with the Police, should be conducting a sweep of South Stann Creek. The goal is to crack down on illegal harvesting of rosewood which has increased in the dry season. But that increase in activity isn’t limited to the Stann Creek District. In the […]
One month ago Minister of Sports Herman Longsworth told News Five that the Marion Jones Sporting Complex was close to completion. That’s a story we had certainly heard before, multiple times, so we pushed him on it. He told us then that he had told the contractors that if the Cross Country Cycling Classic did […]
