Shooting victim, Kevin Thomas, clung to life for less than two days. But tonight the raffle man, as he is known, is dead. Thomas was shot multiple times on Monday night while standing in front of a store on the Yarborough Road. The bullets penetrated his abdomen and head and though he underwent surgery at […]
There is an alarming report coming out of San Pedro Town, today. A five-year-old girl was allegedly raped at the hands of her step-father who is in custody and has been charged with rape of a child. He is a thirty-one-year-old Salvadoran National. The child’s mother visited the San Pedro Police Station on Tuesday morning […]
A notice of intended industrial action to come into effect on Friday remains intact, despite a lengthy meeting between the Christian Workers Union and the Port of Belize Limited. The ongoing negotiations are in respect of working hours and remuneration for stevedores who are presently working in excess of fifteen hours in some instances. Since […]
Chief Executive Officer Arturo ‘Tux’ Vasquez has been at the helm of the company since the Port of Belize went into receivership in 2012. Despite the hostilities between P.B.L. and the stevedores, he says that progress has been made during this latest round of talks with the Christian Workers Union which is yet to submit […]
Progress was reached by both parties in the matter of outstanding salary increases which have been due to stevedores since 2015. According to Hyde, the agreement is important since it is an act of goodwill on the part of the union and the port to make good on that promise. Vasquez also said that the […]
The Caribbean Court of Justice handed down two significant rulings today. As a result of the first, twenty-four-year-old Japhet Bennett is a free man tonight after spending close to a decade in prison. He was released from the Belize Central prison late this evening at the hands of his family and his attorney. His release […]
The Caribbean Court of Justice today also delivered a judgment partly against Titan International Securities which launched a lawsuit against the Government of Belize after its offices on Coney Drive were raided on September ninth, 2014. The C.C.J. affirmed the Court of Appeal’s decision to set aside a four-point four-six million U.S. dollars award in […]
In the local courts, Honduran National, Elrin Archiaga has been found not guilty of murder by Belmopan’s Supreme Court Justice Antoinette Moore. Archiaga, who stood trial for the murder of Nigel Neal Tillett, was represented by Attorney Leroy Bradley Junior. The trial commenced on September twenty-first and ended on October fifth. During the trial three […]
Last week, Mexico’s President-Elect, Lopez Obrador announced plans to transform Chetumal into a free zone where VAT, the value-added tax, will decrease from sixteen percent to eight percent on goods and services. That’s a reduction of fifty percent which is bound to attract consumers from this side of the border and likely to have a […]
According to President-Elect, Lopez Obrador, the free zone initiative is set to launch in January 2019; that is in two and a half months. The Mexican government will first focus on transforming its cities and towns into free zones along its border with the U.S.A. after which attention will be focused on Chetumal. Minister of […]
In other economic news, the International Monetary released its preliminary report on its findings on Belize’s economy last month. The IMF noted that the economy is strengthening but the I.M.F. is recommending that G.O.B. further cuts the nation’s debt and improves the business climate to encourage investment. Minister of State Responsible for Investment, Trade and […]
The I.M.F. report also sighted areas of weaknesses and recommended drastic measures such as an increase in the G.S.T. and a reduction in the number of government employees. P.U.P. Leader John Briceño has his own prescriptions. He says that the Government should address three fundamental issues for the economy to improve. He identified these as […]
On Friday the B.N.T.U. fired off a heavily worded statement to the Ministry of Education saying that the ‘continued and blatant disrespect’ against teachers will not be tolerated. The latest disagreement between the powerful union and the Ministry is as a result of the ministry’s move to re-categorize hardship allowances for teachers and time-off to […]
Over the past months, fear has been building among Orange Walk Town residents as gun violence in that municipality is in an upward trend. Five persons have been fatally shot since July; four of them are known gang members. A sixth person, also a known gang member, was shot but he survived and then there […]
Saint John’s Credit Union held its annual Father Marion Ganey Quiz Competition in Dangriga on Friday. It’s a competition to raise awareness of financial literacy and the credit union movement among parents, teachers and students. The students from six Dangriga schools studied two hundred questions about the credit union movement in Belize in order to […]
As April tenth draws nearer, the discussion on whether to take Guatemala’s claim on Belize to the I.C.J. is intensifying. While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been tasked to carry out a national wide I.C.J. educational campaign, Area Representation for the Albert Division Tracy Taeger-Panton has organized a forum for her constituents. While Taeger-Panton […]
Conservationists are calling for a temporary moratorium on all off-shore dredging permits near Placencia in the south. They say that the cease and desist will help scientists to conduct important assessments on the patch reefs in the area. The call was made by Fragments of Hope, a small N.G.O. working in southern Belize for more […]
The annual flu season is upon us once again and the Ministry of Health has issued a reminder that vaccines are presently available free of cost at health centres across the country. Specific at-risk groups are particularly encouraged to get their vaccines, those include newborns between the ages of six and twenty-three months, pregnant women, […]
Since Monday, thirty-eight law enforcement officers, including fifteen cops from outside of the country, started an intense two-week course in Gang Resistance Education Training. GREAT is a widely implemented gang and violence prevention programme in primary and high schools. And so a new set of officers who want a make a difference in the lives […]
The son of Assistant Commissioner of Police, Noel Leal Junior, was executed and his Ladyville house ransacked likely by his killer over the weekend. Leal Junior was shot once to the back of his head inside his vehicle in an isolated area in the Mahogany Heights community on the George Price Highway. The thirty-three-year–old Ladyville […]
Tonight, Kevin Thomas, a popular raffle man, is fighting to stay alive at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital having undergone various rounds of surgery. Thomas was shot multiple times on the head and abdomen while at a Chinese Store in the Yarborough area. His alleged attacker waylaid him before letting loose a volley of bullets. […]
Prior to the shooting of Kevin Thomas, there was another act of gun violence over the extended weekend. Around one-thirty on Monday afternoon, in the vicinity of Belize Water Services Limited, forty-nine-year-old Elroy Saldano was fired upon by a lone gunman as he rode a bicycle in the direction of Central American Boulevard. According to […]
A pair of Guatemalan lawmen is in hot water for having crossed over into Belizean territory over the weekend with a concealed weapon inside their vehicle. Police officers Juan Garcia Palma and Armando Hub Pop were busted inside the Benque Viejo Free Zone on Saturday afternoon in possession of an Uzi submachine gun with matching […]
Turning to political news…In August, the People’s United Party’s Southern Caucus announced that it will vote against taking the Belize/Guatemala dispute for resolution to the International Court of Justice. The caucus’ stance is based on a notion that the southern section of the country stands to lose the most if the I.C.J. rules in favor […]
As of next week, P.U.P. Leader John Briceño will embark on a nationwide ‘listening’ tour. It’s his way of getting to know how the party’s standard bearers, area representatives, and supporters feel about taking Guatemala’s maritime, insular and territorial claim to the International Court of Justice for final resolution. Briceño will visit all thirty-one constituencies, […]
