Vega has been in cabinet since 2008 and was first named Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources. According to the Prime Minister, “his personal friend,” is not demitting office as area representative for Orange Walk North. PM Barrow was rather circumspect, curt even, in responding to the question of the dubious land transactions […]
The entire transaction outlining the initial acquisition of the property in question, as well as its allotment and subsequent purchase by Pitts and Vega was presented in great detail by Lands Minister Vanessa Retreage, corroborating our reports last week. In the case of Pitts, there were missing documents from the file. But Retreage admitted that […]
Both Pitts and Vega were compensated by government more than eight hundred thousand dollars over the course of seven months. In the case of Pitts, payments commenced in March 2015 and concluded in September. Andre Vega’s compensation similarly began with a bulk payment of one hundred thousand dollars in September 2015 and was completed in […]
Even as the Prime Minister was announcing the resignation from Cabinet of Gaspar Vega, additional information was surfacing about land deals that stink to high heaven. The following has to be the mother of all land deals. In April 2012, one point six acres of land was transferred by the former Minister Gaspar Vega to […]
There is another instance of compensation paid for land in the peninsula. In February 2012, unknown to the residents of Placencia, who had been agitating for a reserve, land was parceled off within a designated reserve in the Placencia area to four individuals. A total of four parcels located on two islands were granted to […]
On Friday, the Belize National Teachers’ Union had declared that its strike action would go into a third week. It insisted that this was because the critical labour issues, including the proposed deferral of a three percent salary adjustment, were not being addressed to time by Government and Prime Minister Dean Barrow. The Prime Minister […]
The B.N.T.U.’s representatives rushed out of the Biltmore to their meeting without speaking to the press. However, the heads of the Public Service Union and Association of Public Service Senior Managers briefed the press for the first time as the other two-thirds of the Joint Union Negotiating Team. Both unions have promised to begin consulting […]
According to Senior Magistrate Frazer, it is important to note that the P.S.U. and A.P.S.S.M., unlike the B.N.T.U., do not believe there is presently an industrial dispute because negotiations have continued. Sharon Frazer, President, Association of Public Service Senior Managers “The thing about it is that the issues of good governance have been on […]
When the William “Danny” Mason affair exploded in July, the man most affected was then-Minister of National Security John Saldivar. It didn’t take twenty-four hours after his arrest for Saldivar to disassociate himself from the shady Canadian/Guyanese with many names and many doings. But News Five has obtained documents showing that Mason was a shareholder […]
The man believed to have set fire to DPM Patrick Faber’s government issued Mazda SUV appeared in court this morning. Allen Martinez was picked up by Ladyville Police on Thursday morning in connection with the arson that took place around midnight on Tuesday, October eleventh. When he appeared in court this morning, Martinez was told […]
He was charged back in 2004 with aggravated assault, threat of death against a police officer and discharging a firearm in public, as well as the possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, but tonight, forty-three year old Lincoln Robinson Senior is dead. He was executed on Saturday morning as he left Fido’s Club on […]
But police on La Isla Bonita have been fighting drug trafficking clamping down on the perennial issue on the island. In fact, statistics are that since the start of the year over sixty-four kilos of marijuana have been seized and in September alone, eighteen persons have been charged for drug trafficking. Superintendent Sandra Bodden told […]
Of eighteen persons initially charged in connection with the December home invasion at the house of Sarkis Abou-Nehra, twelve have been freed of charges. In an update, police said that all twenty-one DNA results are still not back. Today, Regional Commander of the Rural Eastern Division, Assistant Commissioner of Police Edward Broaster reassured the media […]
Who excluded the Dorian Pakeman cocaine positive forensic lab test from the file that went to the D.P.P.? This is in connection with the fatal traffic accident in which the Director of Government Press Office Pakeman was driving a vehicle that knocked down and killed Dean Dawson in March earlier this year. It was later […]
A shutdown of businesses by members of the business community is off the table. This follows meetings between the Prime Minister and the President of the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry in which the PM made certain undertakings to the private sector. The B.C.C.I. membership, last week Wednesday, agreed to the shut down if […]
At news time tonight, six Belizeans are safely back home after being held briefly by a Guatemalan coastal patrol vessel. The men were fishing in the Gulf of Honduras when they were intercepted by the Guatemalan patrol in an area at sea at a point between the mouth of the Moho River, Toledo and Punta […]
Teachers remained away from the classrooms today as the strike entered a third week. But this morning, COLA called a fiery press conference, standing room only at the Radisson’s VIP Room, to say that it has teachers’ back. Geovannie Brackett, the president of the socially active grassroots organization, says enough is enough because government has […]
For each of the demands by teachers for good governance, COLA is demanding G.O.B. to take action. Brackett says that government cannot continue to bury its head in the sand in the face of rampant corruption. Geovannie Brackett, President, COLA “The people demand good governance and an end to corruption. Our prime minister seems […]
The B.N.T.U. has been weathering the storm almost alone, albeit with the support of parents, as the strike continues. At the press conference, the B.P.P.’s Patrick Rogers, expressed support and called on the private sector to also show muscle for the teachers. Patrick Rogers, Political Leader, B.P.P. “Today the B.P.P. stands in hundred percent […]
Lending moral support to their teachers were two sixth form students who made spirited presentations to the gathering. A call for other trade unions to join in the teachers’ protest has also been made, with a special invitation being extended to the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Marcia Cervantes, Student “Don’t you, my […]
Two hostel boys will be heading to prison. The boys, who are a part of a seven member escapee group, were caught in a vehicle with a man carrying stolen goods in Hattieville. ACP Edward Broaster told the media that all seven, boys and girls, were discovered after running away from the hostel, but it […]
A Sunday mid-afternoon aggravated assault on a Burrell Boom Police Officer has led to the detention of one man. PC Larry Sutherland came face to face with a gun and had to send a call of distress. According to the commander of the Rural Eastern Division the driver was discovered in Ladyville: ACP Edward Broaster […]
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and this is Sports Monday.
The Belize National Teachers’ Union will continue its industrial action into a third week, possibly matching the length of the 2005 strike called after then-Prime Minister Said Musa introduced tough economic measures. This time the issues are broader, encompassing both labour and good governance. At a press conference this afternoon in Belize City, B.N.T.U. president […]
During the meeting between the B.N.T.U. and the PM on Thursday, President Luke Palacio says that there was agreement that the presidents of the B.N.T.U., the Association of the Public Service Senior Managers and the Public Service Union would meet with the Prime Minister on Monday afternoon. According to B.N.T.U., PM Barrow has now backtracked […]
