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The country of Belize is dotted with Mayan monuments, but historians are yet to conclude on the number of ancient cities that existed during the Maya civilization. Today, there is an interesting story from Honduras where archaeologists have begun excavations at a new site in the jungles, which they believe to be the lost city […]
Written on January 21, 2016 | Posted in
Archaeology,
Regional / International |
Comments Off on Archeologists Uncover New Maya City in Honduras
It would be hard to miss, if you follow local or international news, that much of our region is in a “Zika-panic.” The mosquito transmitted infection has prompted travel warnings for several countries in Central and Latin America. A few countries have even specifically advised pregnant women not to risk traveling in these areas and […]
Written on January 21, 2016 | Posted in
Health |
Comments Off on Healthy Living: Is Belize Zika-ready?
After an announcement made in August 2014, a pair of UH1H Huey helicopters, to complement the B.D.F.’s existing fleet of aircrafts, has arrived in Belize. The generous donation is from the Republic of China (Taiwan). Since the withdrawal of British troops several years ago, the Belize Defense Force has been without air support. But in […]
There’s a chilling report of rape against a minor. The names of the victim and the aggressor will not be disclosed to protect the girl’s identity. The heinous incident reportedly happened last Thursday in southern Belize after the girl headed home from school. She claims that her stepfather forced her into a bungalow house and […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured |
Comments
Fugitive David Nanes Schnitzer slipped through the cracks immediately after he was granted a ten thousand dollar bail by the Supreme Court on November twentieth, 2015. Nanes, who was caught in San Pedro on November sixth, where he was living for some years, was arrested with a slew of illegal Belize documents—from a social security […]
Carrot farmers in the Orange Walk District have reported that seventy percent of their produce has been rotting in the fields because government has been issuing licenses to select persons for the importation of the vegetable from Mexico. The Government has countered that claim saying that it allows carrots to be brought in only when […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Featured,
People & Places,
Regional / International |
Comments Off on Despite Claims of Carrot Importation, Mexican Official Says There’s No Increase
The contraband of goods into Mexico from Belize and from Belize into Mexico is a thriving trade. The Commercial Free Zone is an area of particular concern. It is known that cigarettes and other goods enter the zone and eventually make it into the Mexican market. Contrabandistas are also known to use the Rio Hondo […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured,
People & Places,
Regional / International |
Comments Off on Is a Partial Scope Free Trade Agreement Next for Belize and Mexico?
There is also the issue of the transshipment of illicit drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana that get into Mexico from Belize. Just two weeks ago, on January third, Orange Walk’s Quick Response Team came up on a very large quantity of drugs that was suspected of being a drug cartel shipment. The compressed […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured,
People & Places,
Regional / International |
Comments Off on Intelligence Suggests Compressed Marijuana was not Destined for Mexico
On Tuesday, there were widespread reports of an aircraft landing in the Louisville area of the Corozal District. It was not clear at first whether it was a commuter plane, a private aircraft or even a drug plane that had touched down in the expansive location. Law enforcement officers, accompanied by personnel from the Department […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
Featured,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Dept. of Civil Aviation; No Aircraft Found in or Near Louisville
Also in the north, the search continues for fifty-nine year old Juan Carlos Gutierrez. The Salvadoran national is wanted by Orange Walk Police for the cold-blooded murder of Indian Church Vice-Chairman, fifty-one year old Francisco Arevalo. Police believe that sometime on Saturday night Arevalo was accosted and killed by Gutierrez near an incomplete cement house […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Indian Church Murder Suspect Still on the Lam
Investigations also continue in another murder. Last Friday morning, the body of Anne Swaney, an executive producer with ABC Chicago, was found floating in the river at Succotz, Cayo. She had been staying at a resort in the area when she was strangled and her body found in the river. Police have been questioning persons […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Investigations Continue into the Murder of Executive Producer Anne Swaney
Ten years after its establishment, the Belize Coast Guard has grown considerably in numbers as well as in the scope of duties. Today, it presented a report card of accomplishments even as it projects further growth in its long-term strategy. One issue on the horizon is to be held in partnership with the Belize Defense […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
Defense,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Coast Guard Presents 2015 Report Card
A historic groundbreaking ceremony was held on the bank of the Sarstoon River on December ninth to mark the beginning of construction of a forward operating base near Belize‘s southern border with Guatemala. Well, it has been a little over a month since that formality and work is yet to get underway at the location. […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
Defense,
People & Places |
Comments Off on What’s Up with Sarstoon F.O.B.?
With the interruption of work on the building of a new forward operating base on Hunting Caye, coast guard personnel have had to endure the discomfort of utilizing the existing facility on the island. As you would recall, work was discontinued at the location by the United States Army Corp of Engineers when a stink […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
Defense,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Construction of Coast Guard F.O.B. to Resume at Hunting Caye
A cop from San Pedro AC walked free today from a single charge of extortion. That’s because a seventeen year old girl who made the allegation against thirty-eight year old police officer Oscar Ramirez, decided not to proceed with the matter in court. In light of that, Senior Magistrate Sharon Fraser told Ramirez that he […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
Trials |
Comments Off on San Pedro Cop Acquitted of Extortion Charge
Belize’s tourism industry is being tainted with the recent murder of U.S. visitor Anne Swaney, which is still under investigation. But according to the Belize Tourism Board, the industry made great strides in 2015, improving visitor arrivals by six point two percent over 2014. The B.T.B. reports seven consecutive months of arrival increases, with September, […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
Travel |
Comments Off on B.T.B. Says Visitor Arrivals Were Up in 2015
As it relates to arrivals from across the Mexican border, the numbers are not on our side. The Mexican ambassador says he wants to close the gap by encouraging Mexican nationals to visit Belize. Though a figure is not available, Belizeans are known to flock across the border in droves and the Ambassador wants to […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
People & Places,
Regional / International,
Travel |
Comments Off on More Belizeans Traveling Across to Mexico
Turning to the Marion Jones Stadium…there was a soft launch just before the November elections. It is a project that dates back to 2008 and seven years later it has not been fully completed, depriving athletes and the public use of the facility. The Mexican government pledged financial support and came through with it, but […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
People & Places,
Regional / International,
Sports |
Comments Off on Marion Jones Still Unfinished Many Years Later
Back in July of 2015, Foreign Affairs Minister Wilfred Elrington visited Mexico in an official capacity where he signed on to nine bilateral agreements with his Mexican counterparts. While functional cooperation has been taking place with our northern neighbor for decades, the agreements put in place a legal framework for the execution of a number […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
Foreign Affairs,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Regional / International |
Comments Off on Ambassador Carlos Quesnel Melendez on Bilateral Agreements with Belize
On Tuesday, twenty-year-old James Emmanuel Cortez and his mother, forty-five-year-old Florita Pineda were charged for possession of a number of stolen items. Those articles were reported missing when occupants of a vessel were robbed near Middle Long Caye on January thirteenth. According to John Picard, a retired U.S. national, pirates boarded his boat sometime around […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Coast Guard Details Involvement in Responding to Piracy Near Middle Long Caye
And on the streets of the city, a team of police officers led by Superintendent Suzette Anderson was deployed this afternoon. While there was no chaos or crime to report on in the downtown area today, the officers were busy chitchatting with residents in Precinct Three’s jurisdiction. They shook hands, asked questions, laughed and made […]
Written on January 20, 2016 | Posted in
Crime,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
1 comment
Well-known Belize City money lender Pamela Bennett and Burrell Boom resident Alfredo Navarette perished in a horrible traffic accident on the Philip Goldson Highway on January second. Bennett and her husband Calvin Cumberbath were heading out of the city, while Navarette was heading into the city when the fatal collision occurred. Today, Cumberbath who is […]
Written on January 19, 2016 | Posted in
Auto Accidents,
Featured,
Trials |
Comments Off on Calvin Cumberbatch Arraigned for New Year’s Weekend Traffic Fatalities
The sensational and very disturbing case of Dark Night owner Bradley Paumen continues to attract major scrutiny. Paumen, charged with four counts of Abetment to Murder, is out on fifty-thousand dollars. Two of Paumen’s employees, Ian Skeen and Linzburn Anderson, are behind bars tonight. They were charged on Monday for Abetment to Murder. Paumen is […]
Written on January 19, 2016 | Posted in
Featured,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
1 comment
At news time tonight, Police Officers from Corozal and a team from the Civil Aviation Department are scouring the cane fields behind Louisville in the Corozal District. Just before midday today, reports circulated that a small plane went down somewhere in the vicinity of that community at around mile seventy-three on the Phillip Goldson Highway. […]
Written on January 19, 2016 | Posted in
Featured,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Search for Suspected Aircraft in Corozal District
A pair of young men is tonight on remand at the Belize Central Prison after being arraigned for separate murders in Punta Gorda Town. Twenty-one-year-old Albert Valentine Junior, along with a fifteen-year-old minor, was indicted on two counts of murder when he appeared before Magistrate Emerson Banner on Monday. Both PG residents are accused of […]
Written on January 19, 2016 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured,
Trials |
Comments Off on Albert Valentine and a Minor are Indicted for Separate Murders in Punta Gorda Town
