At this time, Belize City police are processing the scene of a yet another grisly homicide. Late this evening, a team of officers was summoned to an area off the George Price Highway near mile three, in the vicinity of Tapir nightclub where they found the lifeless body of a Hispanic man. Unconfirmed reports reaching […]
Seven Belizeans were formally appointed to a body that has been under increasing scrutiny in the fight against corruption. The Integrity Commission, established under the 2007 Prevention of Corruption Act, is to examine, without fear or favour, the declared statements of assets and liabilities of persons in public life, primarily those who are elected. But […]
Nestor Vasquez’s appointment to the Integrity Commission proved to be one of the most controversial for several reasons. He was nominated in his role as a chartered accountant; but his certificate of membership in the Institute of Chartered Accountants, a requirement for appointment, was expired as of 2009. An additional concern was that he was […]
You may remember the parliamentarians from the People’s United Party visiting the office of the Integrity Commission on September nineteenth, National Service Day, to submit their declarations, although no members had been named at that time. In doing so, they avoided a three-thousand dollar fine handed to persons in public life – that is, members […]
Senator Godwin Hulse took former P.U.P. Leader Francis Fonseca to court on a defamation charge years ago. Today, that matter went on trial before Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin in the Supreme Court and at the end Fonseca agreed to issue a public retraction and apology. Back in October 2013, Fonseca, as P.U.P. leader, made certain […]
In his interview with the media, Attorney Kareem Musa told reporters that the matter of Immigration scandal is one that is still very much relevant. He said that while his client Francis Fonseca was sued for defamation – he never directly named Hulse to be responsible for what happened in the Ministry – but that […]
President of the Belize Tourism Industry Association, Osmany Salas, was elected on Tuesday by his peers as the thirteenth member of the Senate. He was expected to be sworn in by Tuesday, January seventeenth. The Commencement Order, however, signed by Prime Minister Dean Barrow in October allows that the relevant sections of the amendment to […]
Three separate arbitration awards, given to Belize Social Development Limited; Caribbean Investment Holdings Limited and Newco Limited totaling up to one hundred and twenty million Belize dollars including interest, have the Government in a serious headache. While G.O.B. has steadfastly resisted paying the awards, which they call the fruit of P.U.P. corruption, they are not […]
The Mayflower Bocawina National Park, in the Stann Creek District, covers over seven thousand, one hundred acres of verdant jungle, refreshing waterfalls and early Mayan sites. Located near Silk Grass Village, the vast expanse is mostly evergreen broadleaf, lowland and hill forest ecosystems. It is also under attack by illegal tree cutters and poachers. Earlier […]
The Chiquibul Forest Investment Initiative is a fifteen-million dollar Government project in collaboration with a number of high-profile organizations doing environmental work, including Friends for Conservation and Development. Volunteer with F.C.D., Valerie Woods, today said that even with the investment, additional money is needed to keep up with the continuous, unabated illegal logging and harvesting […]
The National Committee for Families and Children has reacted to a story we aired on Tuesday on leaked sex videos posted on social media involving participants who appear to be minors and somewhat inebriated. As we pointed out, the videos were shared by hundreds over the weekend. NCFC says the release of the sex tapes […]
Belize’s Permanent Representative to the O.A.S., Patrick Andrews, has assumed the Chairmanship of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States. The career banker-turned-ambassador received the gavel representing the council’s power from outgoing chairman Selwin Charles Hart of Barbados. During his statement, Ambassador Andrews pledged that he would work to advance Sustainable Development for […]
On Wednesday, twenty-two-year-old Jordon Murray was arraigned for another charge of obtaining property by deception; this time in relation to an allegation by Ashton Jones who says that in November of last year, he was conned by Murray who introduced himself to him as “Jay Jay” Saldivar. Jones claims that Murray swindled two thousand seven […]
Garcia says that she suspects that the alleged conman was not acting on his own, but in collusion with others. Garcia says she reported the matter to the Ladyville police, providing all receipts as well as email correspondence, but interestingly when she followed up with the matter all that file was missing or so she […]
Aside from a steady increase in the number of murders in 2016, shooting incidents, which fall within the major crimes category, were recorded in all municipalities. Belize District led the count, despite an overall reduction in the number of major crimes reported last year. That figure, which also includes stabbings and other violent crimes, fell […]
Residents and visitors of Punta Gorda Town and Toledo District can take comfort that the municipality is the safest of all six districts, as far as shootings are concerned. While there were five such incidents in 2015, that number has since reduced to two. As we mentioned earlier, Belize District recorded the highest incidents of […]
For years, we have been following Tarell Sutherland. He is the young boy who was born with a rare skin condition that is incurable. Despite this prognosis, his family has not given up hope. Earlier today, we checked in with him and found that he has been relapsing. Like so many other families, the Sutherlands […]
English writer Samuel Johnson once said, “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt, until they are too strong to be broken.” – You’ll definitely know this if you’ve ever tried switching off the autopilot function in your brain when trying to stop a habit. Why is it so hard? Well all habits, […]
Former deputy – and at one point acting – director of the Immigration Department, Maria Marin, was back on the hot seat for the Senate Special Select Committee’s fourth public hearing today in Belmopan. Last week, Marin indicated that she tried to get the ball rolling on an investigation of the alleged misdeeds within the […]
An example of alleged Ministerial overreach in the Department was pointed out by the officer in charge of Nationality, Gordon Wade. In the Audit Report he criticized Maria Marin for knowingly allowing Ministers to personally submit nationality-related applications that were incomplete, on the promise that they would bring what else was needed later on. While […]
Accompanying each section of the Immigration Audit Report is a list of recommendations from the auditors. While quite a few have been mentioned before, the political wherewithal to follow through has largely been absent. And former Director Maria Marin, who has moved to head up the refugee program, had some sharp words for both her […]
A key question that the Senate Special Senate Committee on Immigration is seeking to answer is: despite all the protocols and manuals and meetings and reminders that officers in major positions, such as the Port Commanders in charge of the main points of entry countrywide, got to keep their records and keep in touch with […]
News Five has learnt that at Friday’s‘ sitting of the House of Representatives, party whip and Area Rep for Mesopotamia, Michael Finnegan, will be presenting a motion for the return of Cayo South Area Representative Julius Espat to the lower chamber. That motion will be voted upon and all things going well, Espat will be […]
The Belize Territorial Volunteers and their political allies, the Belize Progressive Party, sent out separate releases condemning Government’s efforts to pass an amendment to the Referendum Act, proposing to reduce the threshold of validity of a referendum from sixty percent of the electorate to fifty percent plus one. The B.P.P. says that this is “demonstrative […]
An official breakdown of the 2016 crime statistics was provided by the top brass of the police today. As we have reported, murders are up by nineteen when compared to 2015; it means that the bloodshed in the past year was the highest since 2012. Most of the homicides were gang related. Today, the police […]
