Thirty-nine-year-old Jose Hilberto Gallegos is behind bars for counterfeit U.S. dollars. The Mexican national was busted at the Phillip Goldson International Airport on October tenth with forty thousand, eight hundred dollars in counterfeit U.S. currency and appeared this week in court for arraignment before Senior Magistrate Aretha Ford and was read three counts of possession […]
Deborah Baptist Estrada is moving up to replace Diana Locke as the Director of Immigration. Estrada is being promoted from her post of Deputy Director of Nationality and Passport Department. Locke is now retiring after long years as a pubic officer with spectacular service in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Public Service and Immigration. Estrada […]
This week we have been reporting on the crisis in the citrus industry and the ramifications to the growers and the economy. One of the factors that have contributed to the decline the industry, is citrus greening, a disease that has caused tremendous impact on the quality of fruits, size and the overall production. With […]
Since we had caught up with Minister of Agriculture Godwin Hulse, we asked him about meetings have been held with representatives of the CGA. On Friday, Hulse along with his C.E.O., the Prime Minister, and the Financial Secretary held talks with the CGA to discus eight concessions that can lift the industry from its current […]
Plantation white sugar can replace refined sugar. This is according to the Caribbean Development Bank which funded a technical study on the issue. CARICOM Ministerial meetings were held a few weeks ago in Belize and participating ministers discussed the matter extensively and reviewed the CDB’s findings. The report is seen as a win for Belize […]
The rains are here but the effects of the drought that devastated crops over several weeks are still being felt. The prolonged drought caused losses in the millions for farmers across the country. The government is committed to financially assist farmers, providing alleviation so that they can bounce back. Farmers will be afforded low-interest loans […]
A retired U.S. national, who did not board a cruise ship in mid-September, is now illegal in Belize. Fifty-year-old Edward Francis Kilgour, the third, appeared before Senior Magistrate Tricia Pitt Anderson to answer to a charge of failure to comply with the conditions of his visitor’s permit when he failed to produce his documents to […]
A formal ceremony took place at the Supreme Court this morning. Alyson Courtenay, who is the youngest member of a family of distinguished attorneys, was called to the bar to legally practice the profession. Family, friends and colleagues came out to support the newly minted lawyer. Aly, will of course, practice at the law firm […]
Tourism numbers in the past three years have been showing double digit growth signalling that Belize is a top destination. Today, the Belize Tourism Board held a conference with the theme, Destination Marketing and its Impact on Belize. While the jewel is known for beach and sand, the conference is focusing on cultural emersion trends […]
A third tranche of money from the Cultural Development Fund of the National Institute of Culture and History was disbursed today at the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts. The fund was created to assist those who work in preserving the tangible and intangible culture of Belize. Today, fourteen persons and organizations received cheques totalling […]
Today, Belize joined the international community in celebrating World Food Day. This year, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is focusing on the importance of healthy diets in tackling global hunger. The organization has highlighted an urgent need to ensure healthy and sustainable diets are both affordable and accessible to all. This year’s activities were […]
Earlier in the month, we reported on a hasty land transaction that raised several eyebrows. The Belmopan City Council de-reserved a large portion of land that had been designated for the expansion of the Queen Elizabeth the Second Boulevard. Twenty-eight residential lots were surveyed and sold off to new owners for a paltry sum. The […]
Today, the Belize Bureau of Standards held a session about standards for video. The event was held in light of World Standards Day 2019 under the theme, “Video Standards Create a Global Stage.” Each year, on October fourteenth, global standard-setting bodies such as the International Organization for Standardization celebrate World Standards Day, to pay tribute […]
Tonight, the Prime Minister Dean Barrow is blasting the letter by Opposition Leader John Briceño, a day after Briceño wrote to him. That letter by Briceño, dated October fifteenth, was on the Joshua Perdomo forty thousand dollars loan write off and it got the better out of the PM. Barrow tells Briceño that his letter […]
There is a looming death knell over the citrus industry in southern Belize, signaling that the livelihoods of hundreds may be hanging in the balance. Millions of dollars and years of investment are on the line. As we reported on Wednesday, the problem has been exacerbated by the Citrus Growers Association’s inability to discharge its […]
The Public Service Union is pressing ahead with a legal challenge to regain its former Hilltop headquarters in Belmopan. The P.S.U. has been issued a notice to vacate by Estevan Perera, attorney for Simplex Designs- the legal owner of the property after it was sold by the Belmopan City Council. The P.S.U. has been given […]
Perera says that if the deadline passes and the P.S.U. has not vacated the property, a court order will be pursued to have the union move out. According to Perera, the process can take anywhere between a couple of months to a year. Estevan Perera, Attorney for Simplex Designs “The way it works is […]
According to a news report in The New York Post, U.S. national Christopher Prestipino found refuge in Belize after he murdered a model in Las Vegas. His stay in Belize lasted a week after which the murder suspect headed back to Vegas where he was picked up by the police. The victim is Esmeralda Gonzalez, […]
Police say they haven’t yet identified the men who robbed the Zitro Western Union outlet in Orange Walk Town on the Belize-Corozal Road on Wednesday. While cops say that they are following several leads, they are still looking for the get-away vehicle and the two criminals. Sometime close to two in the afternoon, two robbers […]
A group of police officers and soldiers this morning escaped injury after the police vehicle they were travelling in plunged into a ditch filled with water this morning. It happened at around eleven o’clock near Hattieville Village in the Belize District. No official report on the matter has been provided but we understand that the […]
While the citrus industry is in crisis, up north the sugar industry is rebounding. ASR/B.S.I. has been attempting to get locally produced sugar into the tightly controlled CARICOM market. Now, the regional market is importing sugar from other regions to satisfy consumption needs, but getting Belize’s white sugar has been a huge challenge for years. […]
The dispute between several families and businessman Alex Chang over six acres of land in Belama Phase Four, Belize City, remains unresolved. Chang through attorney Brandon Usher of Williams Law Firm filed legal action against eight families whom Chang says are illegally occupying his land. The dispute commenced in January of this year when Chang […]
There was a home invasion on Wednesday night in the south where an elderly resident came under attack. According to police, three men, armed with a shotgun, entered a house at mile nineteen on the Placencia Road where they tied up the occupants, including a ninety-year old woman, and stole a computer and a vehicle. […]
Since enacting a statutory instrument on September fourth, government, as well as stakeholders in the public transportation sector, have been monitoring developments within the industry where Guatemalan and Mexican buses are concerned. On Tuesday, all sides met to discuss the existing state of affairs since the passage of legislation to regulate foreign buses entering the […]
According to AG Peyrefitte, the statutory instrument has since been amended to reflect additional changes. The revised S.I., he says, has been forwarded to Transport Minister Edmond Castro. Michael Peyrefitte, Attorney General “The bus owners have graciously, in a meeting on Tuesday we had with all sides, they said, “Listen, we appreciate fully the […]
