The Forest Department is cracking down on the illegal harvesting of hardwood. Two major busts have been made in recent days in the west and south, which show that the illegal harvest of the precious wood continues despite the signing on to the CITES Convention. A Benque Viejo businessman, Miguel Angel Estala, appeared in the […]
The first hearing of the Special Senate Select Committee for 2017 was hosted at the National Assembly, Belmopan. Sitting before the six-member panel was senior official of the Immigration Department, Maria Marin. Marin, now the Director for the Refugee Department in the Ministry, served as deputy and acting director of the Immigration Department in 2012 […]
According to Marin, she was swamped with research on the Won Hong Kim matter and concurrent investigations of the Department internally and by Police. She asked her subordinates to check with either the Ministry, in some cases, or the C.E.O. to help the auditors get what they wanted to review. But the Audit Report recalls […]
The Committee also tried to question Marin on the various approvals for visas, passports and nationalities in 2012 and 2013, when she was deputy and then holding over as acting director, but she stated that she could only really speak to those done in 2013. She went on to clarify what powers she held in […]
Nominations have been closed for the selection of a thirteenth member of the Senate. The United Democratic Party first proposed it in 2008 as a counter to a fully elected Senate, but Prime Minister Dean Barrow refused for several years to sign the prevailing sections of the Constitutional amendment into law, fearing worsened gridlock in […]
On Tuesday night sometime around eight, there was a shooting in the village of Sandhill; fortunately, no one was injured, but that there was a shooting at the same residence some weeks ago. Now, the man whose life was threatened is in police custody for protection. Today, we spoke with Regional Commander Edward Broaster who […]
Dorian Pakeman and Alfonso Noble are both highly connected U.D.P. loyalists. Pakeman in March and Noble in December of 2016 knocked down and killed two men in separate incidents. Now, these fatal RTAs have garnered just about enough, or too much attention, because of how they have been handled so far. We’ve heard of the […]
In another update…What killed a seventeen-week-old fetus found wrapped in a plastic bag and stashed inside a large coffee bottle and laid to rest along the quiet banks of the Mopan River on New Years’ Eve? A post-mortem examination was scheduled for Wednesday in San Ignacio to determine cause of death. But it could not […]
Nearly one year ago, Chicago, Illinois television producer and journalist Anne Swaney was found murdered at a resort outside of Benque Viejo del Carmen. Local police called on investigators from the U.S. to assist in the case, but the trail has gone cold. It has otherwise been a quiet year for the Benque Viejo Sub-Formation […]
Regional Commander of the Rural Eastern Division, ACP Edward Broaster, pulled out all the stops to reward some of the Police Officers who work under his jurisdiction. Today, he recognized those who stood out above the rest for 2016. They all received plaques and cash. The cash given out was a donation made by businessmen […]
Six murders in four days have taken some by surprise, while others were not so shocked by the spike in the homicides. And on Tuesday night, you heard the top brass in the Police Department talk about what they are going to do for the next few months to curb the gun violence, particularly in […]
Just now you heard Minister of Police Aragon speak on the short term methods they are implementing to cut the sharp increase in killings since the start of the New Year. He told us that his Ministry has undertaken a comprehensive plan which will be a national crime strategy. Aragon said that the plan is […]
2016 closed with a record number of murders, one thirty-seven persons were killed by December thirty-first. The carnage at the start of 2017 shows no signs of letting up so far; the past four days have been brutal especially in the Old Capital where of five murders, all except one occurred. Tonight, we look at […]
Prior to the murder of Randolph Johnson this afternoon, twenty-eight-year-old Robert Gillett was executed on North Front Street around midday on Monday. Police have not ruled out that it may be connected to another of the homicides over the weekend. As many as fifteen shots were fired at the former inmate who was released from […]
The discovery of a live M26 fragmentation hand grenade this morning, by personnel attached to the Gang Suppression Unit, continues to draw attention to an exceptionally violent and bloody New Year’s weekend in the Old Capital. The lethal explosive device was recovered from an area near the Cumberbatch Field at the intersections of Fabers and […]
Across the country, teachers were not in classrooms in response to a call from the Belize National Teachers Union. The latest dispute between the B.N.T.U. and the Ministry of Education involves the resumption of classes as the union continues with its planned absence from classrooms until January ninth. While mediation is pending over salaries and […]
The New Year continued with a second murder on Monday night. Thirty-one-year-old Kenneth Dobson was shot and killed while he socialized with friends on Raccoon Street Extension. The Belize City man has had a colorful history and has been acquitted of at least two murders and Police say that they will be looking at his […]
Twenty-two-year-old Colin Sutherland was shot and killed as he walked on Youth For the Future Drive on New Year’s Day. A man got out of a vehicle and fired several shots and killed Sutherland. Police say that they are looking for a possible connection with another murder of Robert Gillett who was killed one day […]
While families celebrated the holidays, others grieved as criminals took over the streets. In Ladyville, Belize District, twenty-five year old Dillon Grinage was executed at a local food stall by a lone gunman. Grinage is the last murder victim for 2016. His mother was heading to church when her son was shot and killed. News […]
The New Year is considered a time for new beginnings, mostly summarized with the appearances of babies. But one baby boy didn’t make it to 2017. Benque Viejo Police were called to the riverside near the Town Hall on New Year’s Eve afternoon and made a heart-breaking discovery. The fetus’ remains were wrapped in a […]
There’s some good news to report tonight amid all the crime…With the Miss Universe 2017 pageant just weeks away in Philippines, Rebecca Rath, our Miss Belize, left earlier today to continue preparing in the United States before heading out to Manila, where the competition will be held. Rath has been a favorite among the delegates […]
Heading over to Belmopan…the first order of official business at Belize House this morning was the swearing-in of Michael Peyrefitte as Attorney General. Peyrefitte took the oath before Governor General Colville Young succeeding Vanessa Retreage who was appointed AG in 2015. As House speaker, Laura Longsworth has been named to replace Peyrefitte.
There’s another reason to celebrate. The first baby to be born this year is baby Kelsey Garnett. She was delivered at twelve on Sunday morning weighing seven pounds six ounces. She was born at the K.H.M.H. to a sixteen year old mother. As is customary, the parents were gifted with baby supplies from the San […]
They hung out together, but police believe that twenty-year-old Frank Alexander Young decided to kill nineteen year old David Andrews on December twenty-third on Racoon Street, for unknown reasons. As we reported on Friday, he was arrested and charged, but in court Young told Senior Magistrate Sharon Frazer that he had no reason to kill […]
In addition to over one hundred and thirty lives lost to violence, by guns or other means, the highways and other roads also exacted a heavy toll. Though we were not able to confirm with authorities the exact figures, as many as eighty traffic accidents took place in Belize in 2016, with quite a few […]
