Home » May, 2017
You are currently browsing entries posted in: May, 2017
Over the weekend, Belize hosted the nineteenth extraordinary meeting of the forum of presiding officers of national parliaments of Central America and the Caribbean (FOPREL). Belize assumed the presidency of FOPREL since February and will be at the helm until next year. The core purpose of FOPREL is to create legislative framework that applies across […]
Written on May 15, 2017 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Regional / International |
Comments Off on Parliamentary Leaders of Central America, Caribbean Meet in Belize
May is half-gone, but two major activities are coming up in the promotion of Cancer Awareness Month. Cancer has been reported as the second leading cause of death in 2016, with prostate, breast and cervical cancer the chief culprits for men and women respectively. This coming weekend is the Cancer Ride to benefit awareness of […]
Written on May 15, 2017 | Posted in
Health,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Riding and Walking for Cancer Awareness
Thousands headed to the village of Crooked Tree for the annual cashew festival. The two-day event over the weekend featured all things cashew—from wines to cakes to the sweet roasted nuts. Over the years, the festival has grown considerably becoming an important event in the promotion of local produce. The festival this year caught the […]
Written on May 15, 2017 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Celebrating the Cashew in Crooked Tree
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and this is Sports Monday. [Highlights of the weekend sporting activities….]
Written on May 15, 2017 | Posted in
Sports |
1 comment
Fifty-four-year-old John Deshaies was granted bail this morning, but as soon as he met bail, he was rearrested and tonight remains in police custody. The Canadian national was charged a week ago for the theft of fifty-seven thousand dollars of electronic equipment from the Placencia casino in the south. But Deshaies is also the suspect […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Featured,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Trials |
Comments Off on John DeShaies, Accused of Theft and Suspect in Double Murder, Out On Bail
The couple, a retired officer of the U.S. Marine Corps and his Canadian girlfriend, was found dead in a cane field off the Patchakan/Chan Chen Road after being reported missing six days earlier. The badly decomposed bodies of DeVoursney and Matus were found by a cane farmer who showed up for work on the land […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Featured,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Trials |
Comments Off on Before Re-Arrest, Canadian National Denies Charges
According to DeShaies, he has been fully cooperative with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation who have been dispatched to Belize to probe into the murders. He says that he never really knew Drew Devoursney, aside from having seen the American national when visiting his girlfriend at her house on Serenity Sands Road in […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Featured,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Trials |
Comments Off on DeShaies Offers Details of Relationship with Murder Victims
Since being picked up as a person of interest by Corozal police, DeShaies is being bounced around from one jurisdiction to another on a seemingly endless string of perp walks. We asked whether he believes that his individual rights are being interfered with as a result of the ongoing detention. Isani Cayetano “Do you […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Featured,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Trials |
Comments Off on DeShaies Says He Has and Will Cooperate with Authorities
The House of Representatives met today in special session in Belmopan. Its main business was to introduce nine original and amended bills and two loan motions. We will get to all of that in a moment, but first to an extended interview at the conclusion of the House meeting with Prime Minister Dean Barrow. Two […]
According to the Prime Minister, today was a good day in terms of his back problems, but there are increasingly fewer of them. With his main goal of this term – a renegotiated Superbond – off the table, he admits there are few other things left to accomplish, canning corruption among them. So he is […]
In December, the seven-member Integrity Commission was appointed in Belmopan. Barely a few months into their tenure, they have decided that a clean slate is needed in respect of financial disclosures for the period when the Commission was not in place. After originally demanding the disclosures for the five years preceding 2016, the Commission appears […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Featured,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Government Washes Hands off Integrity Commission
Outside the House, the Prime Minister refused to take blame for the delay in the appointment of the Commission, repeating that circumstances in that appointment were beyond his control. He was referring to the risk of politically exposed persons, or PEPs, refusing to take up seats on the Commission and open themselves to strict scrutiny […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on P.M. Says There Is No Legal Basis for Retrospective Decision by Commission
Embattled lower court judge Norman Rodriguez is at home tonight on half-pay, following a decision by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission to interdict him. The announcement comes on the heels of his arraignment on Wednesday morning, after being charged in Belize City for a rape that allegedly occurred in Dangriga on April eleventh. The […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Norman Rodriguez Interdicted from Magistrate Post
Former Cayo Northeast area representative and Minister of State of Immigration and Nationality, Elvin Penner, resurfaced in Belmopan this week attending the Senate Special Select Committee’s public hearings as a witness. We have extensively covered his testimony, but part of it seems to give his former colleagues in Cabinet pause. Penner told the Inquiry that […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
People & Places,
Politics |
Comments
For the sixth consecutive meeting of the House of Representatives dating back to his resignation as Minister of Agriculture and formerly National Resources, Orange Walk North area representative Gaspar Vega was absent. Indeed, he has not spoken publicly since the Government decided to bring a claim against his son Andre and attorney Sharon Pitts to […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
People & Places,
Politics |
1 comment
Around twenty-one million Belize dollars was paid out to settle the final costs of the re-arrangement of the Superbond Three point O, which took about five months to negotiate. The figure was announced by Prime Minister Dean Barrow in an official statement during today’s meeting of the House of Representatives. It was in response to […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Economy,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on How Much Mark Espat’s Firm Got Paid for Superbond Consultation
Last August, an independent investigative report commissioned by the Organization of American States cleared members of the Belize Defence Force who were part of a patrol in the Cebada area of the Chiquibul that encountered several Guatemalan nationals engaged in illegal activity. The resulting fire fight led to the death of Guatemalan minor Julio Rene […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Foreign Affairs,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Politics |
Comments Off on O.A.S. Report in Hands of Belize Police; Will It Be Publicly Released?
Premium fuel has gone above eleven dollars for the first time in several years but there is no change in the price of regular gasoline and a slight reprieve for diesel fuel. Fuel was one means of the Government acquiring revenue in the recently passed Budget, but according to Prime Minister Dean Barrow, the increases […]
Acclaimed Belizean-American journalist Kendis Gibson, an Emmy Award winning reporter and anchor for ABC, is visiting the Jewel for the first time in over ten years. Gibson’s jaunt is equal parts vacation and work, as his stay is also being documented for a feature to be aired at a later date on ABC News. He […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Emmy-Winning Belizean-American Anchor Kendis Gibson Touches Down in Jewel
Social Security Board employees staged another walk-out this afternoon. Around three o’clock, employees started to exit the offices individually and some thirty minutes later the building was almost empty. In a release issue later this afternoon, the S.S.B. noted that the trade dispute arises out of the fact that the S.S.B. and the CWU have […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
1 comment
Inside the House, the Government introduced amendments to the Customs and Excise Duty; General Sales Tax; and Stamp Duties Acts to give effect to concessions promised to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry; amendment to the Trade Licensing Act to regularize its structure, and a new Economic Development Council bill to cement the partnership between […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Politics |
Comments Off on How New Loans from C.D.B. Will Help Belizeans
Two families are without a roof over their head tonight after a fire destroyed their home. The families lost most of their belongings and nothing was insured. As many as ten people lived in the duplex style home off Lightburn Alley in an area behind Dario’s. Fire fighters were able to put out the blaze […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Disasters,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Fire Destroys Townhouse in Quallos Alley, Belize City
On Wednesday of this week, a court in the U.S. made a ruling that appears to uphold a lower court’s jurisdiction in the GDG Acquisitions LLC versus Government of Belize case. GDG, subsidiary of Glenn D. Godfrey’s group of companies, is suing the government for twenty-two million U.S. dollars in respect to enforcement of a […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Trials |
Comments Off on Glenn D. Godfrey Persists in U.S. Court Case, But Will He Succeed in Belize?
We have been reporting on the problems in the Corozal Free Zone, where C.E.O. Valentino Blanco has been suspended on the order of the Board of Directors. After about a month and a half on the job, accusations of nepotism and high-handed behaviour by Blanco and his political benefactor, Corozal Southwest area representative Doctor Angel […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Did Angel Campos Interfere in Free Zone’s Business?
This week is Nurses Appreciation Week and the Nursing Association and Nurses and Midwives Council of Belize have held various activities to honor the largest and most unsung portion of the health community. The selected theme is “Nurses Take the Lead in Helping to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” a nod to the work of […]
Written on May 12, 2017 | Posted in
Health,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Speaker Honors Fellow Nurses at House
