The entire nation mourns tonight the worst air disaster in which two pilots and two crews of the Belize Defense Force perished. The four died in a helicopter crash sometime between Thursday and Friday near the Gales Point Wildlife Sanctuary while conducting air surveillance near the site of the drug plane off the Coastal Road. […]
The B.D.F is still reeling from the fatal crash that claimed the lives of four of their own. But tonight there are still many questions and at today’s press briefing, Brigadier General Steven Ortega answered some of those questions. Ortega, visibly shaken by the deaths of four of his officers, responded to few questions today. […]
As we reported tonight, the deaths of four offices comes directly on the heel of the seizure of two tons of cocaine. As we showed you on Thursday, the Belize Police Department proudly spoke on the success of the operation. At today’s media briefing, the C.E.O. in the Ministry of National Security says that they […]
As you’ve heard earlier in the newscast, four of the B.D.F. soldiers are dead following the helicopter crash in the lagoon just off the Coastal Road. Two pilots and two crew members were a part of the surveillance team. The two pilots are highly decorated and long serving members of the force. Members of the […]
Up to news time, the families of the crash victims are at Price Barracks and still there was no word on the bodies of their loved ones. Thirty-four-year-old Radford Baizar, a major in the Belize Defense Force, perished along with three others in the helicopter crash on Thursday. Up to the time of his demise, […]
The news of the soldiers’ demise sent shockwaves into the public as family and close friends remain in disbelief. Hyacinth Latchman-Cuellar and her family are close friends with Major Adran Ramirez, who she describes as a disciplined officer. Ramirez leaves behind a wife and children among other relatives. Earlier this afternoon, before the press conference […]
In Thursday’s bust of a Golf Stream narco plane off the Coastal Road, sixty-nine bales of cocaine were found, amounting to two thousand and seventy parcels with a huge street value of as much as one hundred million dollars. The operation was coordinated by the B.D.F., Police and counterparts from the region, who tracked the […]
In leaked minutes of a meeting held last Friday with the National Trade Union Congress, the Prime Minister tells the unions that Senator Aldo Salazar, in his capacity as chair of the Senate Special Select Committee Report on the Immigration and Nationality Department, had complained about the social partner senators except for Pastor Ashley Rocke. […]
Thousands of union members are said to have come out in the anti-corruption demonstration staged by the N.T.U.C.B. in Belize City last Thursday. It is no secret that of the ten unions represented, the B.N.T.U. support was overwhelming, accounting for the majority of protesters. Senator Smith says that she is being attacked because of the […]
Finally, there is a draft report from Chairman Aldo Salazar on the Senate Inquiry on the Immigration and Nationality Departments. At a press briefing today Senator Elena Smith was joined by the private sector Mark Lizarraga at the B.N.T.U. Headquarters in Belize City. Senator Lizarraga revealed that on Thursday, February twenty-seventh, a draft report of […]
According to the notes of the N.T.U.C.B. meeting, the Prime Minister is not yielding on the composition of oversight bodies, such as the Integrity Commission and the Public Accounts Committee. Senators Lizarraga and Smith both agree that the government cannot police itself so these committees need to be independent and transparent. Elena Smith, Union […]
The Integrity Commission is tasked, under the Prevention of Corruption Act, to investigate declared statements of assets and liabilities of persons in public life. Those politically exposed persons, identified as ministers of government, senators, political appointees and high level government officials, should by law file their respective financial statements one year before they took office […]
First it was rats found inside an incubator of the Western Regional Hospital in Belmopan and today, it was a huge raccoon that made itself into the emergency ward of the K.H.M.H. Several videos have been circulating on social media showing security personnel at the national referral hospital trying to extract the animal from the […]
Belize City jeweler, Manuel Pacheco this morning walked out of the Supreme Court a free man after he was found not guilty of the murder of his next-door neighbour, Jose Manuel Villanueva. In acquitting Pacheco, Supreme Court Justice Colin Williams found that in self-defense, a person reacts to defend himself based on perception that at […]
San Pedro resident, Louis Carter today received a thirty-year prison sentence for the murder of mechanic, Dwayne Hyde. Justice Colin Williams handed down the sentence after Carter told the court that he killed Hyde in self-defense. Carter’s defense attorney, Senior Counsel Simeon Sampson had reportedly advised his client to plead guilty to the lesser charge of […]
The murder trial of Carl Reneau adjourned this afternoon after defense attorney Baja Shoman informed the court that she intends to make a no case submission. The crown, defense, accused and presiding judge paid a visit to the scene of the incident where fifteen-year-old Jaheem Mahler, a student of Gateway Youth Center, was gunned down […]
As the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc around the world, two cases have now been confirmed in neighbouring Mexico. Belize continues to be spared of an outbreak but local health authorities, however, are taking no chances and are monitoring the situation in Mexico. One patient is isolated in a hospital while the other is in […]
The public is strongly advised to take preventative measures to reduce the risk of transmission. When coughing or sneezing, cover the mouth in the inside of the elbows or inside a tissue to be disposed immediately. Dr. Jorge Hidalgo, Intensivist “Unfortunately, in some particular cases especially, the extremes of life, the newborns are more […]
A couple is displaced after a fire destroyed their home on Emma Street in the Saint Martin’s area. The fire started in the living room and spread quickly to engulf the wooden structure. An investigation into the fire indicates that the blaze was as a result of an electrical overload. Station Supervisor of the National […]
Miss Universe Belize Destinee Arnold is back in Belize after having competed on the international stage of pageantry back in December in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. The twenty-seven-year-old did not make it into the semi-finals, but her mission is to still work with the young and old during her year of reign. As she exited the […]
Condolences are pouring in on the tragic loss of life of the B.D.F. pilots and crew members and News Five sympathizes with the families of the victims. This afternoon, the office of the Prime Minister extended deepest condolences to the families of the men who perished in the horrific air disaster. The message states, “On […]
The biggest cocaine bus here in Belize took place in the wee hours of this morning. Combined work of the Belize Defense Force, the Police and Central American counterparts tracked a Gulf Stream narco plane originating from Venezuela. The plane landed two miles off the Coastal Road, where work has just began on its upgrade. […]
Unlike other instances when the police have come up empty-handed—only to find remnants of burnt planes—the Gulf Stream this morning was intercepted on the illegal airstrip loaded with sixty-nine bales of cocaine, worth millions. In September 2018, police made a similar bust near Tres Leguas in Orange Walk. There, the cargo was found and two […]
Police are spread thin and under-resourced in the fight against the illicit drug trade, which uses sophisticated equipment to evade the long arms of the law. Williams says that the Anti-Narcotics Unit is also anaemic in personnel and that while a radar has been acquired, another will be required to assist the police in tracking […]
The Commissioner of Police acknowledges that every plane landing gives Belize a black eye and there have been three since the start of the year. But according to Chester Williams, based on the level of activity that is happening in drug trafficking within the region, Belize is still doing well. Chester Williams, Commissioner of […]
