Former freelance reporter, Joseph Budna, is facing decades behind bars in neighboring Guatemala. Budna has amassed two convictions for kidnappings and back on April twenty-first, Budna escaped from the Zacapa Regional Hospital where he was reportedly receiving medical attention. Despite three guards on watch, he managed to flee; he was caught three days later in […]
Rodent infestations, unhealthy conditions and structural damages forced the closure of the Ranchito Government Primary School last week Monday. The institution reopened this Tuesday, but in a limited capacity. The three upper levels, Standards four, five and six, are still on unexpected holiday because the Central Building Authority has declared the school’s two main buildings […]
While it is subtle, it is also apparent that the Ministry of Education is not willing to accept the blame for the situation at the Ranchito Government Primary School. But neither is Principal Yesenia Tun. She told News Five today that teachers, along with the school committee, have been working non-stop to deal with the […]
On Tuesday, we reported that three female minors are missing from Marla’s House of Hope in Belmopan. The three missing girls have been identified as fifteen-year-old Selena Cal, fourteen-year-old Francesca August and fourteen-year-old Britney Gentle. The teenagers disappeared from foster care a week and a half ago. While family members have confirmed that the girls […]
On April fourth, two students of Escuela Secundaria Tecnica Mexico—Anahi Zepeda and Edgar Puck—drowned on a school trip. They were part of a group which had visited the Che Chem Ha Maya Site. On the way back the students stopped by the low-lying bridge in San Ignacio, allegedly to wash up, and minutes after, Zepeda […]
A man was set free today in court after his case file was not available for trial. Twenty-one year old Dion Brackett has been on remand since last year for the January fifth, 2013 murder of Marvin Foreman. Brackett, a resident of Central American Boulevard, was escorted to court in handcuffs this morning at about […]
The police department today received a hefty donation courtesy of the United States Embassy. It involves a brand new fleet of vehicles valued at more than two million dollars. The US Charge d’ Affaires, Margaret Hawthorne, says that the heavy duty trucks will be used to improve citizen security. News Five’s Isani Cayetano was on […]
The police department has been honouring outstanding students from Belize City high schools this week. It is part of their program, Do Di Rait Ting, which seeks to motivate and encourage students to stay the course. This morning, a student from EP Yorke, was recognized for his perseverance despite growing up in a gang invested […]
Officers of varying ranks from across the police department are often invited to sit an annual exam to determine their eligibility for promotion. In the past a majority of those who have sat the test have done well. Others, in recent years, have simply failed to leave a lasting academic impression of police officers on […]
Today, Minister of Immigration Godwin Hulse was corralled by the media and subjected to a grilling usually reserved for Prime Minister Dean Barrow. We have it all, but first the passport which was issued to South Korean national, Won Hong Kim. The scandal broke in mid-September 2013. It is now mid-May 2014, and the document […]
Apart from a private prosecution of Elvin Penner by COLA, the disgraced former Minister of State Elvin Penner has escaped all scrutiny. The COLA case has been negatively impacted by what seems to be state-sanctioned stonewalling at all levels. Minister of Immigration Godwin Hulse says he has no clue what evidence COLA wants, since the […]
The Auditor-General’s department has been inside the Immigration Department since October 2013, allegedly to get to the bottom of the corruption. While the public remained unaware, a preliminary report on the findings of the comprehensive audit was submitted to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Immigration on March twenty-first, 2014. So what’s in that […]
The multi-million dollar Norwegian Cruise Lines tourism project in southern Belize has been all but given a green light by the Government of Belize. But government’s approval is not the same thing as welcoming arms everywhere. The Belize Tourism Industry Association has filed a lawsuit against the Government of Belize, and tonight there is word […]
There is a disturbing report tonight that three female minors are missing from Marla’s House of Hope in Belmopan. When we contacted the Home today, a spokesperson confirmed that three under-aged girls went missing ten days ago even though our report suggests that at least six children have gone missing in the past month. The […]
Last week the Government of Belize, through the Ministry of Finance, disbursed fifty thousand dollars to each of the seventeen U.D.P. Area Representatives, titled as a mother’s day program. It’s a decision which no doubt pleased the recipients of the fifty and hundred dollar bills handed out. Still, it’s the use of government funds for […]
As we said, close to a million dollars from the public purse were disbursed to select members in U.D.P.-controlled constituencies and there is growing controversy surrounding the initiative. U.D.P. area representatives, standard bearers and some village councilors, we are told, were given as much as fifty thousand dollars each to distribute among constituents on Sunday. […]
Port Loyola Area Representative Anthony Boots Martinez is also part of that team, and yes, he also got fifty thousand dollars to give to his constituents. Today, he seemed a little offended when asked about it. In fact, he accused Channel Five of ‘infiltrating misinformation.’ We’re not sure what that means. But whatever it is, […]
For several weeks it has been reported that former Pickstock area representative, Godfrey Smith, had been selected as the People’s United Party’s national campaign manager. Smith, who is a former minister of government, is tasked with developing campaign strategies going into both municipal and general elections. While confirmation had not been forthcoming, despite numerous queries […]
Municipal elections are less than a year away and both political parties are gearing up and putting together their respective slates to contest the various seats in local government. The results of those elections will be seen as a test of the upcoming general elections. While the P.U.P. has not announced its slate in Belize […]
A police man of Double Head Cabbage is tonight fighting for his life at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital following a traffic mishap on a stretch of road in the village. Sometime after eleven on Sunday night, twenty-three year old Police Constable Jahman Flowers was found unconscious on the side of the road in Double […]
Jamaican gay rights activist Maurice Tomlinson will have his day in court – the Caribbean Court of Justice, to be specific. He has been given leave to challenge the Immigration laws of Belize and Trinidad and Tobago on the grounds that they violate the rights of LGBT citizens. It’s a significant decision in an era […]
Senior educators are meeting at the Belize Biltmore Plaza in a two day conference to discuss the state of teaching services. The theme is “Sustaining the twenty-first Century: Teachers Raising the Bar.” Presenters are both local and regional and the keynote speaker at the opening of the conference this morning was Professor Emeritus Errol Miller. […]
And over at the Radisson, representatives from eight Caribbean countries including the Bahamas, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Grenada and Dominica are gathered in Belize this week. The high level delegations are here as part of a Horizontal Cooperation Exchange on Social Protection. The focus […]
The new, not yet approved Director of Drug Inspectorate, Danini Contreras, has become a highly controversial figure. She is the daughter of U.D.P. Minister Erwin Contreras, and technical experts including Director of Health Services Michael Pitts say she is the wrong person for the job. Still, the Ministry of Health seems intent on pushing the […]
Senior Immigration staffers Ady Pacheco and Gordon Wade came under scrutiny for their roles in the Won Hong Kim passport scandal. An internal Immigration investigation fingered both of them, and Elvin Penner, in serious irregularities in the issuance of a nationality certificate for Won Hong Kim. Still, they seem practically unscathed in all this, unlike […]
