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Several current Ministers of Government have been faulted for offering and signing recommendations to facilitate persons getting passports, visas and other services. Some have gone even further, from couriering to, as alleged of ex-Minister Elvin Penner, facilitating select persons including Won Hong Kim, who never set foot in Belize. All have denied it, but on […]
Written on September 27, 2017 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Trials |
Comments Off on Ex-ministers Called Out for Immigration “Agency”
Among the recommendations by the Auditor General in her report is the complete revocation, pending investigation, of all nationality certificates and passports issued to the persons named in the report that were granted between 2011 and 2013. It’s a measure some, including Director of Immigration Diana Locke, deems drastic. The man who helped start it […]
Written on September 27, 2017 | Posted in
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People & Places,
Trials |
Comments Off on Immigration Director Careful About Canceling Passports, Nationalities from A.G. Report
Business Community Senator Mark Lizarraga acted as chair of the Senate Hearings today in place of Aldo Salazar, whom he said had a prior commitment. On the matter of the ex-ministers, whom he would not name, but whom we have identified as from Cayo and Dangriga, acting as Immigration agents, he cried shame. Lizarraga says […]
Written on September 27, 2017 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Trials |
1 comment
Are ordinary Belizeans somewhat partly to blame for the state of affairs at the Immigration Department? Is our thirst for accelerated service contributing to the “culture of corruption” so extensively discussed at the Senate Committee hearings? While not saying so outright, Director of Immigration Diana Locke acknowledged that some of the Department’s problems trace back […]
Written on September 27, 2017 | Posted in
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People & Places,
Trials |
Comments Off on Reformation of Personal Behaviour Important to Clean-Up of Immigration
A desperate search continues for missing seventeen-year-old Kelvin Usher. Family, friends, students as well as the police searched an area in Lucky Strike off the old Northern Highway for hours where the young student was last seen with his father, Cameron Usher Senior. But a number of questions are baffling the family. Strangely, in an […]
Written on September 26, 2017 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured |
Comments Off on Kelvin Usher Remains Missing; Family and Friends Fear Worst
In Belize City, attorney Richard “Dickie” Bradley, who is defending Cameron Usher Senior and considers him a close friend, says the bigger tragedy than the discovery and burning of the marijuana plantation is how the Gang Suppression Unit handled the matter. Family members of Cameron and Kelvin Usher say G.S.U. officers fired shots as they […]
Written on September 26, 2017 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Did G.S.U.’s Behaviour Contribute to Situation?
Police are not providing details on the deadly shooting of a Chinese grocer in Belize City. Shortly before eight o’clock on Monday night, a robbery attempt turned fatal for Bainan Wu, the store owner of Xi He Ii Store located at the corner of Vernon Street and Santa Barbara Streets. Wu was inside his shop […]
Written on September 26, 2017 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured |
1 comment
Earlier today, a group of four illegal loggers appeared in the Orange Walk Magistrate’s Court where each man was formally charged for unlawfully harvesting as many as thirty-two pieces of mahogany logs. Catalino Copo, Nelson Mosa, Pablo Valladarez and Aurelio Mai were busted in the vicinity of the Old Northern Highway on Sunday afternoon. The […]
Written on September 26, 2017 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured,
Trials |
Comments Off on Illegal Mahogany Loggers Out on Bail
Was an elderly resident of Hattieville murdered or did he die of natural causes? The family of Karl Leslie believes that their loved one may have been killed by someone he knew very well. They also believe that he may have been robbed, before being brutally attacked and his vehicle stolen. But police are stumped […]
Written on September 26, 2017 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured |
Comments Off on Karl Leslie Death Remains Mysterious
Police making a routine traffic stop in Belize City on Saturday encountered twenty-seven-year-old Shayanne Castro, a Port Authority clerk, and her husband Wasani, found no evidence of firearms or ammunition in their vehicle. But, spurred on by the suspicious behavior of the occupants, police were convinced that they were on to something, and that something, […]
Written on September 26, 2017 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Guns for Freedom?
After introducing for a first reading the bill to decriminalize possession of ten grams or less of marijuana in the House of Representatives in August, Prime Minister Dean Barrow indicated that a public education campaign would be needed to address certain beliefs and concerns floating around during the long-standing debate about marijuana in the last […]
That proposed marijuana amendment came up in court today when Errol Garbutt, a heavy equipment operator living on Racoon Street, Belize City who is planning to relocate to the US, was arraigned and convicted for drug possession before Chief Magistrate Sharon Fraser. Garbutt was convicted for three grams of marijuana which he had in his […]
Written on September 26, 2017 | Posted in
Trials |
Comments Off on Fine for ‘Draw’ Possession
Francisco Mejia of Santana village, Belize District, is lucky to avoid a criminal charge after his wife elected to withdraw charges of harm and threatening words. The charges arise from a complaint made after Mejia beat his thirteen-year-old daughter for disobeying him, then turned on her mother when she tried to intervene. Mejia said he […]
Written on September 26, 2017 | Posted in
Trials |
Comments Off on Father Avoids Charge for Beating Daughter & Wife
Severe cases of conjunctivitis remain on the rise across the country, as infections among adults and children continue to spread. Pink eye, as it is commonly known, is a swelling of the outermost layer of the white part of the eye, as well as the inner surface of the eyelid. While it makes the eye […]
Written on September 26, 2017 | Posted in
Health,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on How to Avoid the Contagious ‘Pink Eye’
Prevention of pink eye is partly by hand washing and treatment depends on the underlying cause. In the majority of viral cases, there is no specific treatment; however, most cases resulting from a bacterial infection will resolve without treatment. Dr. Ethan Gough, Epidemiologist “What you can do as an individual to protect yourself is […]
Written on September 26, 2017 | Posted in
Health,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Hygiene and Prompt Treatment Important
Two devastating earthquakes struck central and south-western Mexico in succession between September seventh and nineteenth. Between them they have caused more than four hundred deaths and extensive material damage. As bad as things have been, the rest of the nations of the world, led by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs […]
Written on September 26, 2017 | Posted in
Disasters,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Regional / International |
Comments Off on Mexico Says Thanks for Earthquake Help
The National Emergency Management Organization led a simulation exercise for a multi-disaster and emergency response scenario involving a break in a dam along with other scenarios happening at the same time, some of them more familiar such as earthquakes and hurricanes. National Emergency Coordinator Shelton DeFour spoke to the scenario being dealt with and how […]
Written on September 26, 2017 | Posted in
Disasters,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on In Cayo, NEMO Prepares for Multi-Disaster Scenario
At this hour, the Mexican Embassy in Belize is unveiling two separate photographic exhibits at the Mexican Institute of Cooperation in Belize City as part of their year-long celebration of Belize and Mexico’s diplomatic relations established in 1981. The first are photographs of two celebrated figures of the Mexican art world: muralist Diego Rivera and […]
Written on September 26, 2017 | Posted in
Art & Culture,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on The Ordinary Lives of Extraordinary Artistes Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo
The other exhibit is photographs of major infrastructure in ten Mexican cities from Zacatecas in the north to the capital, Mexico City, to Campeche in the south. These are the ten cities established as World Heritage Cities because of their architectural development, a mix of Spanish, Maya, Aztec and similar influences. Like Belize, Mexico faces […]
Written on September 26, 2017 | Posted in
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Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on A Trip Through Mexico’s Exotic Architecture
Tonight, another member of the Castro family is in the news, this time for drug trafficking. Twenty-seven-year-old Shayanne Castro nee Rosado, wife of Wasani Castro, was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to possession of more than twenty-five pounds of marijuana in the Magistrate’s Court. She retained attorneys Marcel Cardona of Orange Walk and Richard “Dickie” […]
Written on September 25, 2017 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured,
Trials |
1 comment
Back to the story involving Shayanne Castro…Police have confirmed that it recovered four high-powered weapons off the streets, along with ammunition. However, no arrests were made and the firearms were deposited as found property. It is believed that these guns were handed over in a deal with the Castros in exchange for the dropping of […]
Written on September 25, 2017 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured |
Comments Off on Firearms, Believed to be Linked to Castro, Taken Off Streets
There were other marijuana busts over the weekend. The largest one took place in Lucky Strike village off the Maskall Road in the Belize District on Sunday morning following the bust of Shayanne Castro. A G.S.U. team followed up on information of a marijuana plantation where they found Sibun Street chef and Belize City resident […]
Written on September 25, 2017 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured |
Comments Off on City Man Charged over Marijuana Plantation; His Son is Missing
In the other busts by the Gang Suppression Unit over the weekend, thirty-seven year old Jason Orozco was arrested and charged for drug trafficking on Saturday morning. He was captured near an alley beside New Asia Restaurant on Vernon Street after first trying to run. The Sandhill resident had three parcels containing a total of […]
Written on September 25, 2017 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured |
Comments Off on G.S.U. Makes 2 Busts for Drugs
An illegal logging operation in northern Belize District has resulted in the arrest of four men who were found with as many as thirty-two pieces of mahogany logs in an area off the old Northern Highway. On Sunday afternoon, sometime around three-thirty, Orange Walk police came upon the individuals in a white Isuzu freighter. The […]
Written on September 25, 2017 | Posted in
Crime,
Environment,
Featured |
Comments Off on 4 Busted with Illegally Cut Mahogany Logs
Fuel prices have increased as many as four times in two months; twice in August and twice in September. The surprise increase sneaked on Friday sent premium prices rocketing at eleven dollars and ninety two cents. According to our calculations, government is raking in more than five dollars in GST and environmental taxes per gallon […]
Written on September 25, 2017 | Posted in
Economy,
Featured,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Pain of New Gas Prices Settling In
