Late this evening police in the north confirmed that an anti drug unit operation yielded a huge bust of heroin near the outskirts of the Corozal. The exact quantity of the drug is believed to be forty pounds or nineteen plus kilos which carries a street value of twelve million Belize dollars. It is the […]
Last week on ABC, Belize was named as one of the top destinations to visit in 2015. Well, today the Belize Tourism Board announced that 2014 was an excellent year for the industry. Confirming that the number of visitors had surpassed the projected target of a million visitors, the B.T.B. says that overnight arrivals were […]
But there is some good news delivered on Monday. This coming Friday, January sixteenth, attorneys and judges will meet for their annual Law Conference which is a major event in the Bar’s calendar. The theme is “Reforms, Rights and Remedies.” The conference will be marked by the historic visit of Justice Dennis Byron, the President […]
The January session of the Supreme opened on Monday with the usual fanfare. But beyond all the pomp and ceremony, there are serious issues facing the judiciary. The president of the Bar, Eamon Courtenay, pointed to a delay in the speed of dispensation of judgements, as well as to the inactivity of the General Legal […]
In responding to the concerns of the Bar Association, particularly the dormancy of the Court of Appeal, Attorney General Wilfred Elrington admitted that the matter was above his salary. That comment yielded more than a few chuckles from the congregation, as Elrington went on to promise that it would be brought to the attention of […]
A week-long session in the Supreme Court of Jamaica commenced earlier today, following a lawsuit filed in 2014 by Professor Brendan Bain. The litigation involving the University of the West Indies is the result of an apparent violation of due process when he was removed as head of the institution’s Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Network. […]
Angel Dorado today picked up a third conviction in less than six months in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court for drug trafficking. At eleven this morning, Dorado was found guilty of trafficking seventy-nine grams of cannabis found in a container in his possession. Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith, who heard the matter, concluded that Dorado […]
In December 2014, forty-four year old mother, Olympia King, of Saint Joseph Street, Belize City, was found guilty of cultivation of marijuana and possession of a pipe used for marijuana smoking. But she was spared from going to jail when the Senior Magistrate Sharon Fraser refrained from imposing a sentence immediately. She did advice that […]
A Belizean student of the national university is receiving royal honours tonight as one of the Queen of England’s Young Leaders. Denielle Neal is one of sixty young persons from across the Commonwealth, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine, that are being recognized as exceptional leaders in their community. The Queen’s Young Leaders programme […]
The Vice Minister of Public Security, Maria Elizondo, and two other senior officials from Costa Rica are in Belize. The two-day visit to the jewel is to get a first-hand feedback on the success of the community policing initiative, the Gang Resistance Education And Training program. The program which is sponsored by the U.S. Government’s […]
The police department is not commenting as to why a complaint, subsequently followed by an order of the court, against George McKenzie Junior for anti social behavior, has been made. On Monday afternoon, the twenty-year old resident of Majestic Alley was detained and handed the order, which was issued from December fifteen 2014 and would […]
In the eastern Caribbean, St. Vincent and the Grenadines is grieving a number of fatalities from a horrible traffic mishap. At least five persons have been killed following a tragic accident on Monday morning. Just after seven a.m., a passenger bus with approximately twenty-one persons—students and residents—were en route to Kingstown from Fancy when the […]
Belize has been getting its share of attention on the international media. We already know of the kudos from ABC in respect of the country as a Life-Affirming Destination. In the popular program Sabado Gigante, aired by Univision, a Belizean woman, originally from El Salvador, was featured. After thirty years of not seeing her nephew, […]
There is some movement, though little happiness, in the sugar industry tonight which has been in crisis for months now resulting in a delay of the 2014 sugar crop. News Five has confirmed that over the weekend, B.S.C.F.A. directors were tasked with going to their individual branches and taking a vote on whether to sign […]
As Cansino mentioned, there are branches who have decided to disassociate themselves completely from the B.S.C.F.A. Now can they legally do that? Prime Minister Dean Barrow says that they can, but other parties and attorneys have said that they can’t. But legally or illegally, some of them intend to branch off. And even if it […]
And that brings us to the Fairtrade disbursement of four million dollars. Up to Friday, we understood that following warnings from that certifying body, Finance Committee Chairman, Javier Keme, had refused to sign checks. But he did, and today three branches – Guinea Grass, Patchakan and San Estevan have already received their checks. This means […]
As has become apparent, the backs of farmers have been broken by a combination of ASR/B.S.I.’s inflexible stance, and G.O.B.’s deliberate withdrawal from the equation at a critical juncture. In the next couple of days all farmers are likely to have signed on to the agreement with the factory, for better or worse. The P.U.P. […]
According to Fonseca, the signs of today’s sugar cane debacle were foretold when the government refused to allow cane farmers to purchase controlling shares in B.S.I. He claims that a P.U.P. government, from that point, would have sided with the farmers. That was not done, and according to the P.U.P. leader, neither has there been […]
Even as the Opposition has its say, and expresses full solidarity with and support for the cane farmers of Belize, the fact is that at this point cane farmers have run out of time, backative and options. They certainly cannot wait for February twenty-third and a possible Mandamus order. So they will sign…which means that […]
The traditional opening of the Supreme Court was held this morning in Belize City with all the usual pageantry and ceremony that are attached to the event. After a service at Wesley Church, the attorneys and judiciary moved over to the Supreme Court for the speeches that look at the state of affairs in the […]
The treatment and conditions of inmates at the Belize Central Prison are serious concerns which the Bar Association has been busy addressing. In November, leading Human Rights Attorney, Joseph Middleton, presented a report based on a study conducted at the Kolbe Facility during the summer of 2013. The comprehensive document includes input from members of […]
In January 2014, during his presentation at the last opening of the Supreme Court session, Attorney General Wilfred Elrington openly admitted that funding for the judiciary was rather inadequate. While little has changed on that end since the pronouncement a year ago, the judiciary has taken a proactive role in obtaining its own funds to […]
The revised Legal Profession Act caused some stir among members of the Bar Association in September when the amendment resulted in the discontinuation of compulsory attendance. In retrospect, the move by government is similar to the prescription presently being tossed around amid the sugar crisis…that individuals and parties should be free to establish associations independent […]
A forty-one year old nurse aide originally from Belize, who worked at the University Nursing Home in New York, has been charged for the killing of a resident of the home and will face a grand jury on Tuesday in the Bronx Criminal Court. Cherrylee Young is accused of beating seventy-seven year old Frank Mercado […]
Following the opening of the Supreme Court, a number of cases were dealt with. Forty-five year old Alvin Jones, who had been in police custody since last week Thursday, the day after his common-law wife made a report of domestic dispute against him, was charged with Common Assault upon Michelle Ortiz. When Jones was read […]
