For the past two years, correspondent banks in the U.S and Europe have been cutting relations with banks across the Caribbean. Since 2015, the U.S. has been putting the squeeze on local banks due to suspicions of terrorism financing and money laundering. A number of local banks have been affected, including the Belize Bank, Heritage […]
The Chiquibul National Park and the preservation of the bountiful resources within its boundaries are once more in the forefront. The uphill struggle to monitor, manage and defend this huge protected area has long been the yoke of the Friends for Conservation and Development, FCD. But this time the FCD has been joined in the […]
According to Castellanos the illegal incursions are caused by poverty, but that poverty is used to great effect by organized crime cartels which reap the lucrative dividends of the illegal labor. Byron Castellanos, Executive Director, BALAM “The greatest threats are those that you can see listed there – the extraction of flora and fauna, […]
The banking system is among several private and public institutions that deal with highly confidential or very sensitive personal information. In this case, it is restricted data regarding individual and business finances. For the past two days, representatives of various companies have been meeting to discuss information security with consultants from Gulf Business Machines. GBM […]
According to Cory Caseres, it is necessary to continually invest in training and development to ensure that banks are able to safely store sensitive information across local IT landscapes. Isani Cayetano “How important is it for these companies, specifically the banking institutions, to be able to be up to date with the latest software, […]
On February fifth, 2016, Roland Raheem Rivers was busted inside a Ford Escape loaded with fourteen pounds of weed. He was also allegedly found in possession of contraband beers but he was never charged with any offense for the beer. Today, the accused driver of the vehicle who ended up in an accident, was freed […]
A Belize City man has been unable to post bail and is in police custody accused of committing a broad daylight robbery against a bus conductor on Tuesday at the compound of Novelo’s Bus Terminal. Elroy Hemmans Junior, who is also a part time accountant, was arraigned this morning for robbing Samir Martinez of three […]
Twenty-two students were today granted high school and sixth scholarships. It is the fifth year in a row, that the Belize Bank has stepped up to the plate to ensure that deserving youths get a shot at formal education to prepare them to assume different roles in their communities. The ceremony at the Radisson Fort […]
Day one of a two-day conference on digital branding took started this afternoon at the Biltmore Plaza in Belize City. The Belize Tourism Board is hosting the country’s second annual Digital Marketing Summit as an initiative to provide tourism stakeholders and partners with the tools to effectively and efficiently increase their presence and online marketing […]
The 2016 tourism stats for the first half of the year are in and the numbers are consistently up. There is a twenty-four percent increase from January to June, with January being the highest month with a twenty-four percent increase over last year. Overnight arrivals for January to June have seen two hundred and thirteen […]
But while the U.S. market continues to hold the highest share of travelers to Belize, making up close to seventy percent of visitors to the Jewel, Gamero says that the trend is indicating that numbers will surpass last year’s figures by the end of 2016. Noriko Gamero, Marketing and PR Manager, B.T.B. “We have […]
Have you been told repeatedly that you’re disorganized? Do you have problems with procrastination? Do you struggle with deadlines? How about being consistently late, no matter how early you wake up? Have you struggled in trying to get any or all of these habits under control? If this sounds like you, then you may want […]
There is big news tonight coming out of the largest new industry in the west of the country. Santander, located in Valley of Peace in the Cayo District, recently started exporting sugar from its state of the art processing facility on twenty-thousand acres. The company employs eight hundred, and represents an investment of almost two […]
The stop order was not to close the factory down, but rather to give the company strict notice that it must act immediately to remedy what in some cases were deliberate breaches. On the Phone: Colin Young, C.E.O., Ministry of the Environment “There were four or five things if I can recall. One was […]
Has the Government of Belize made the huge first payment in the approximately four-hundred-million-dollar bill outstanding in the Arbitration Award for the B.T.L. nationalization? Today was the deadline as set by the permanent court of arbitration, and at four-twenty-five this afternoon, via text, Prime Minister Dean Barrow replied only – YES to the first payment. […]
Turning to crime…A shooting just after midnight on Tuesday on La Isla Bonita San Pedro has left two persons hospitalized; one who is fighting for his life at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Around twelve-thirty a.m., thirty-year old Dwayne Hyde was shot to the abdomen by one of three men who followed him to his […]
The violence in the streets of the Old Capital continues. There was a shooting incident on Tuesday evening and fortunately no one was injured during the spray of bullets. Sometime around five p.m., Errol Flores reported that while riding a bicycle along Banak Street, he was accosted by another male person on bicycle. That individual […]
Last Wednesday, twenty-two-year-old Michael Lopez was slain in front of his home on Jones Street, a few hours after a pair of unrelated murders in the Old Capital. Immediately following the incident, two men riding on a motorcycle not far from where the shooting took place were detained by police for questioning. Not only did […]
Also in the crime blotter…On Monday, we reported on the shooting of Clifford Anderson in an alley off Neal Pen Road Extension in Belize City. The twenty-six year old was attacked on Friday night reportedly from behind and shot to the lower back, damaging his internal organs. He was in a critical condition following the […]
At around four o’clock this evening, a joint operation conducted by officers attached to the Special Branch and Quick Response Team in the Escalante area of San Pedro Town yielded an array of drugs. Police searched the residence of twenty-seven-year-old Juslyn Keoma Daniels, a Belizean waiter, and found five hundred and twenty-six grams of suspected […]
A victim of an alleged burglary has had the tables turned on her and ended up in lockdown. On Tuesday night, Ana Villacorte, an employee of B.T.L., arrived at her home in Maxboro, Belize District, to discover that her house had been burglarized. Villacorte, the common-law wife of attorney Arthur Saldivar, who is presently away […]
Villacorte says she believes that what has transpired is related to an ongoing custody battle with her common-law husband over the couple’s two children. They too are in the United States with Saldivar. Ana Villacorte, Common-Law Wife of Arthur Saldivar “No one has ever entered that house. Arthur has always visited the US and […]
Last Thursday we reported on the attempted murder of Eugene “Fat Back” Webster at his Los Lagos home off the Phillip Goldson Highway. Webster had been stabbed multiple times to the neck, back and arm, allegedly at the hands of his stepson, Michael Baptist. Well today, twenty year old Baptist was arraigned in the Belize […]
Since the start of the year, silt and filth accumulated in the Belize City Habour between the Fort Street Tourism Village and Bliss Center for the Performing Arts. But today, we found the harbor is back to norm with water flowing freely up to the seawall. For the past three weeks, dredging has been occurring […]
Earlier we told you about the fines being imposed against Santander for the breach of environmental compliance. The other sugar factory in the north is also facing its own challenges. ASR/B.S.I. confirmed today that there is a sharp deterioration in the quality of molasses. According to the company, it has confirmed a case of Maillard […]
