He remains Sergeant-At-Arms or Mace Bearer of the House of Representatives. But while the Senate Committee is meeting, Clerk of the National Assembly Eddie Webster announced today, Brian “Yellow Man” Audinett is disallowed from attending its sessions. Writing to the various chiefs of news media houses attending and broadcasting the hearings, Webster stated that the […]
The brightest students in the P.S.E were recognized today for academic excellence. Over seven thousand students sat the exam earlier this year, but hundreds of them failed the annual test. The average test scores for this year largely remained the same, but Math was very dismal with about half of the students failing, while Social […]
Even as they celebrate police week, two police officers in San Pedro were taken to court this afternoon on a slew of charges including theft and extortion. Police Corporal Denfield Ramos is facing charges of Theft, Extortion and Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon while Special Constable Orlando Mendez was charged with Theft and Extortion. […]
A Belize City businesswoman was convicted this morning in the court room of Chief Magistrate, Anne Marie Smith for the drug trafficking of fourteen point six grams of crack cocaine and for possession of a small quantity of weed. Michelle Gotoy, a resident of Belize City was busted on December sixth, 2016, at the corner […]
The recent fracture within the self-styled “Morality Commission” has seen the departure of Bishop Phillip Wright and Reverend Roosevelt Papouloute, two relatively powerful church leaders who sat on the government-helmed working group. That task force was formed in the wake of a Supreme Court decision on the controversial Section Fifty-three challenge which was filed and […]
Also weighing in on the issue of the Morality Commission is Senator Valerie Woods. The P.U.P. parliamentarian is a proponent for human rights, irrespective of existing differences. She too describes the commission as a mockery, since it is unilateral in its approach to discussing standards of conduct that are generally accepted as right or proper. […]
While the church has been a dominant force in opposing the L.G.B.T.I. movement in Belize, it has also been decried for not acknowledging the basic human rights that all members of the gay community are equally born with. The National Evangelical Association of Belize has soundly criticized the United States government for promoting what it […]
The Municipal Elections are coming up next year and the U.D.P. is getting in gear in Belize City where it has been controlling city hall since 2006. Today, majority of the current U.D.P. City Councilors went in to the headquarters to submit their application for the March 2018 elections. Darrell Bradley who has been Mayor […]
The Belize Police Department has been observing Police Week since Sunday. Activities have been planned for the entire week, some are internal and others involve the community. One of the major activities they took on today was an Open Day throughout the country which saw the participation of several organizations and the community. Here’s what […]
Tonight, the rainbow flag flies on the U.S. Embassy compound in Belmopan in commemoration of the L.G.B.T.I. community in the U.S. It was hoisted this morning for the second time in two years. The gay community was invited to participate in the ceremony through which the U.S. government reinforces human rights and equality even as […]
The chilling murder of Emy Guerra in the west still has the Santa Familia community reeling. The sixteen-year-old girl and her boyfriend Eleazer Bacab were in the village when three men they knew came up to them and attacked them with a knife – killing Guerra and critically injuring Bacab. On Monday residents from Santa […]
Now, Assistant Commissioner of Police Chester Williams sat before the press on Monday and spent nearly half an hour explaining why police chose not to charge twenty-three year old Wasani, and twenty-one year old Jafari Castro, sons of Minister Edmond Castro, for an incident early on Friday morning when the brothers were stopped for speeding […]
The Brothers Castro and the curious case of the unlicensed Wingle, the haul of contraband beer, and their ministerial connections is a story that won’t go away. The arrest of siblings Jafari and Wasani and the subsequent seizure of eighty-nine cases of illegal booze is another embarrassment, as if the cancellation of their father’s diplomatic […]
According to Panton, Police Constable Shedrick Caliz presumably made an about-face and decided not to proceed with charges when he failed to produce a medico-legal form after allegedly roughing up the brothers. As for the leak of several documents, said to be charge sheets that were filled out for Jafari and Wasani, the validity of […]
While Assistant Commissioner of Police Chester Williams is facing strong adverse criticism by the media and the public, Panton maintains that A.C.P. Williams had indicated from the beginning that a decision on whether or not to charge the siblings was the judgment of the arresting officer. Isani Cayetano “Your position seems to support and […]
There are changes to gasoline fuel prices to report tonight, and they are a mixed bag. Regular fuel is going up to ten dollars and eighteen cents in Belize City from nine dollars eighty-seven cents that is an increase of thirty-one cents. Meanwhile, diesel goes down a cent to eight dollars and ninety-six cents while […]
The Ministry of Education continues its investigation of a reported incident of corporal punishment and possible child abuse against teacher Ednita Cocom of San Pablo Government School. She is accused of roughly treating a seven-year-old boy, the son of Thais Cowo, who retaliated by attacking her on the school compound two weeks ago. While Cowo […]
Last week a group of stevedores called on President of the C.W.U., Dale Trujeque, to halt the negotiations for the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Port of Belize Limited. Thirty-three stevedores signed a letter asking Trujeque to step away from the negotiating table because there was a lack of communication and they wanted the terms […]
The Immigration Department is not the first or last Government agency to be audited from within by the Audit Department. Indeed, a general audit is supposed to be conducted annually and special audits are done as the occasion demands. The Customs and Excise Department was a few years ago subject to a special audit as […]
There were back to back reports of contraband activity from cops in the North in April. First, a cop and a special constable were caught in Orange Walk on video, and then two cops in Corozal tried to smuggle contrabanded clothing past Customs and were chased down in a video quickly leaked online and to […]
In May of 2016, Spoonaz Photo Café & Bar was burglarized and the culprit was caught on surveillance camera. Today, after more than a year of incarceration, the accused thirty-nine year old Derrick Garbutt, an unemployed of the Ladyville area, changed his not guilty plea to guilty. Garbutt claimed he was drunk when he committed […]
Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith also dealt with the case of thirty-two -year old Jamaal Jackson who was on remand awaiting sentencing for the offense of kept unlicensed firearm and ammunition. The Chief Magistrate imposed a three-year sentence on both counts and ordered they run concurrently so Jackson will spend only three years instead of […]
A week after it happened, police have confirmed the presence of drugs aboard a cruise ship docked at Harvest Caye in the Stann Creek District. Police indicated on Monday that the drugs were suspected to be methamphetamine. However, according to an official statement issued today, the substance is being tested at the Forensic Service in […]
The Transport Department continues to pursue drivers in an operation to enforce the national traffic and road safety laws. This past Friday, nine drivers of buses in the Orange Walk District pleaded guilty to various offences. Convicted of carrying excess passengers on a public service vehicle were the following: Shane Pollard of Maria’s Bus; Alfredo […]
Reports from Punta Gorda say that as many as thirty women from the South will face immigration violation charges after a sweep over the weekend. Information from the area states that a team of police and Immigration officers conducted a operations at different bars. The women will be taken to court in Punta Gorda and […]
