Unless you have family or friends there or had the unfortunate experience to be a guest, the Belize Central Prison at Hattieville is not likely to cross your mind regularly, never mind having a chance to visit. But with the crime issue a hot button in Belize, the police department is seizing the opportunity to […]
Like most establishments in Belize, the Central Prison at Hattieville is for adults only – eighteen and over. Since 2004, when an American couple put up the seed money for its establishment, it has hosted youths charged with criminal activity. It currently hosts twenty-three young men, but due to the ebb and flow of crime, […]
Delford Slusher was today found not guilty of murder by Supreme Court Justice Adolph Lucas after three weeks in trial. He was accused of the shooting death of Corporal of Police Victor Lima on July twenty-fourth, 2012 in Hattieville. Slusher is alleged to have broken into a house in the village where two women were. […]
He is behind bars after being caught out after a court-ordered curfew, having made bail in a case dating back to 2012. But Orel Leslie Junior will not be headed home for the Easter holidays after Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin today denied his request to go back on bail. Representing Leslie, Bryan Neal argued that […]
Two volleyball athletes attached to the Belize National Team are receiving an opportunity of a lifetime. Twenty-three-year-old Bryton Codd and team captain Karym Coleman have been handpicked by a Canadian coach and awarded full athletics scholarships to Briercrest in Saskatchewan, Canada. Today inside the conference room at the Marion Jones Sporting Complex, both athletes signed […]
Seven police officers of the Eastern Division North were recognized for doing good work today. The awardees each received certificates and a small gift to thank them for the performing well on the job. They were honored with a brief ceremony today and we stopped in to talk with the officers on their latest accolade. […]
A family from Burrell Boom was today gifted a house courtesy of the Building for Change program of the Hand in Hand Ministries in partnership with Belize Electricity Limited. News Five’s Duane Moody found out today that the donation changes the dynamics of the family and what needy families require in order to qualify for […]
Local cable and internet service providers are in a pickle tonight, as they collectively face several issues that will affect what subscribers pay for internet. Government is proposing a twelve and a half percent increase for data which will affect just about everyone across the board except for internet in certain schools. The start of […]
But that is not the only issue that subscribers are facing. The other whammy is the copyright issues. At news time tonight, representatives of twenty-eight cable companies from across the country are concluding a late-evening meeting to forge a way forward in joint negotiations with a team of regional content providers for HBO and other […]
Have you seen this man? Allen Russel Felix is wanted in connection for the murder of sixty-four-year-old Mario Guerrero Senior. Police have since issued a wanted poster for forty-four-year-old Allen Felix better known as “Dhadi” of number sixty Sunset Park Area, Western Paradise Village. Felix has short black hair, stands at five feet five inches […]
The General Revenue and Appropriation Bill and nine others were brought to the upper chamber of the National Assembly, the Senate, for debate. With the galleries empty, it can be argued that the true debate – rather than the mud-fest in the House of Representatives – took place today. It began with Business Senator Mark […]
The Business Senator also zeroed in on how much the Government has had to borrow just to balance the budget. This year’s figure is some one hundred and eighteen million dollars, mostly sourced from Taiwan and draw-downs of previously approved loans and grants. Senator Mark Lizarraga pointed out that as long as Government devotes funds […]
Complaining that the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other social partners had been ignored during the preparations for the announcement of the Budget, Senator Lizarraga reiterated that the frightening national debt and size of Government urgently needs to be addressed. While some have suggested that it may involve retrenchment of public officers, Lizarraga calls […]
Next to speak was the People’s United Party Senate leader, Eamon Courtenay. Echoing Opposition Leader John Briceño’s presentation last week, he described the Budget as lifeless and lacking any meat or muscle to address Belize’s problems. But Courtenay zeroed in the late fiscal strategy paper which had not been prepared as of earlier this year. […]
Two significant events are on the horizon: on April fifteenth, Guatemalans head to the polls to vote on the I.C.J. question, and in July, re-registration of Belize’s voters is scheduled in advance of Belize’s own poll and the coming general election. Last year, when it was announced that re-registration would be postponed to this year, […]
As we have reported, there are questions surrounding what has been described as a guarantee between the Government and the new managers of the Belize Civic Center, Apex Events Services Limited. It involves about a million dollars in expenses to maintain the multi-million dollar facility. This was brought up today in the Senate debate by […]
During a run-down of programs in the “social ministries” – education, youth, sports, human development, housing and others – Trade Union Senator Elena Smith made note of a reduction in funding for RESTORE Belize. Established in 2010 in response to the attempted murder of Rodwell Williams and an attendant crime spree, it has been providing […]
RESTORE Belize was also discussed in a different forum today. C.E.O. George Lovell says that its structure is good, but it cannot be effective without good leadership. At a conference to dissect masculinity and violence, the C.E.O. of National Security spoke on the effectiveness of groups targeting crime. Lovell didn’t hold back; he says that […]
Ministry of Health officials, representatives from the Pan American Health Organization and engineers have been having technical discussions on the crisis at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. This morning, three Mexican engineers, identified by the Secretaria de Saludos Quintana Roo, Mexico arrived in country and were joined by engineer Douglas Westby of the National Engineering […]
On Monday evening, the Belize Poultry Association held its annual general meeting at the Biltmore Hotel. Producers from across the country came together for a comprehensive presentation on the state of the industry. While the chicken business continues to be the hallmark of best practices within the agro-productive sector, the aim is for Belizean produce […]
Crime was not far from the minds of senators during today’s budget debate. Indeed, much was proposed, including focusing on social reform and reining in both the police and the would-be gangsters. But the police department, according to N.G.O. Senator Osmany Salas, needs more sophisticated training to confront modern challenges. Osmany Salas, N.G.O. Senator […]
Last Thursday, Senator for Trade Unions and Civil Society, Elena Smith, was outside the National Assembly, rallying her members as president of the Belize National Teachers’ Union in the fight against crime. Today, she was inside, reviewing the performance of the education and social sectors in the last year and the plans for the coming […]
Leading the government’s response was senator and Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte. His Ministry is responsible for managing the country’s legal and judicial services and is the focal point for such things as the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the Toledo Maya Land Rights Commission and other projects. Often, as in the case […]
Why are men at the center of violence and crime in Belize? A two-day conference to understand what is behind this growing trend was held in Belmopan. Organized by the University of Belize, the United Nations Development Programme, InfoSegura, and other agencies, a number of leaders of local organizations dissected the national issue on Monday […]
The fourth round of the Open Campus Council Meeting of the University of the West Indies took place today at the Starfish Jolly Beach Resort in Bolans Village, Saint Mary’s, Antigua and Barbuda. The meetings are held by the council chairpersons, including Belize’s own Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal, Doctor Luz Longsworth, to review the […]
