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Alleged Sea Pirates to be Remanded to Central Prison?

Alleged Belizean sea pirates Jaime Nolberto Coote, Vincent Esron Martinez, Fernando Avila, Justin Floyd Palacio, Jeremy Waylon Leslie and a seventeen-year-old minor – all reportedly from southern Belize – will soon be spending time behind bars at the central prison in Hattieville. The group of men were busted Honduran authorities in the Baja Mar community […]

Women Police Officers Charged for Appearing on OYE

A pair of police constables who were recently victorious in a claim against the Belize Police Department has been charged for appearing on Channel Five’s Open Your Eyes morning show a few weeks ago.  WPC Alleeya Wade was one of several claimants in whose favour the Supreme Court ruled that she was lawfully permitted to […]

Racial Profiling Case Set For May

It’s something we often see discussed in international news. Now, two Belize City men have filed civil suits against the Belize Police Department for racial profiling. Case management conferences held this week set court dates for May. In December of 2020, Greg Nunez, through his attorney, Leslie Mendez, filed papers, while Bryton Codd filed his suit […]

Verdict Soon in George Street Boss Murder

Justice Antoinette Moore, who presides over the southern session of Supreme Court trials, is expected to hand down a ruling shortly on the murder trial of thirty-three-year-old Nicholas Swazo.  The crown and the defense wrapped up closing arguments recently in the trial and a date and time will be set for a verdict.  Swazo was […]

Ashton Puerto Sentenced for Roaring Creek Death

In the Belmopan session of the Supreme Court, twenty-three-year-old Ashton Puerto is spending his first week of a seventeen-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of the lesser charge of Manslaughter.  Puerto was charged in July of 2016 for the murder of Maleek Norris in Roaring Creek Village.  The two had a dispute over money […]

Special Envoy & Minister Dolores React to Torture Video

Two weeks ago, the disturbing video of a fifteen-year-old boy being tortured in the Conch Shell Bay area of Belize City at the hands of two men went viral on social media. As a responsible media house, News Five did not rebroadcast the chilling video on television or Facebook that captured the minor being stomped […]

Special Envoy Chimes in on the Phased Return to the Classrooms

The phased return of in-person learning by the government is being met with some resistance.  The decision was made following the advice of a COVID-19 Education Task Force appointed by the Ministry of Education to come up with a plan.  Earlier this week, the announcement was made that on April twelfth some schools will start […]

Minister Dolores Supports Phased Return to Classrooms

Cabinet Minister Dolores Balderamos Garcia threw her support behind Education Minister Francis Fonseca and his C.E.O. for the phased return to the classrooms.   Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs “We have to learn English in this country yo know. They said a phased approach to reopening of the schools beginning on the […]

G.O.B. to Meet with Garifuna Nation About Issues

On Wednesday, the Garifuna community spoke out about struggles surrounding communal land rights.  In that press conference, its representatives spoke of land issues affecting three Garifuna communities in the south, between the villages of Barranco and Midway, Seine Bight and Placencia and Georgetown and Maya Mopan.  It’s about the preservation of the cultural heritage of […]

An Update on the Maya Communal Land Rights Consent Order

Minister Balderamos Garcia also spoke about the progress on the consent order issued by the C.C.J. in terms of the communal land rights case won by the Maya people in the south back in 2015. With a new commissioner, in the person of attorney Greg Ch’oc was recently installed, the minister says that they have […]

Coast Guard Hosts Women Symposium

As women’s month nears its end, a series of activities carried out by the Belize Coast Guard in celebration of the fifty women enlisted with the law enforcement agency culminated today with a symposium at its headquarters in Belize City.  Former Commandant John Borland and Minister of Human Development Dolores Balderamos Garcia as well as […]

Coast Guard Has No Tolerance for Sexual Assaults

In attendance at the symposium were members of the police department, the B.D.F. and the coast guard.  One of the concerns addressed was the process through which aggrieved persons can lodge complaints. There have been numerous reports of sexual assaults behind military walls so we asked Acting Commandant of the Belize Coast Guard, Commander Gregory […]

Caribbean News: Vincentians Worry About La Soufrière Volcano Threatens

As Belizeans hope they might have a less restricted Easter than last year, elsewhere in the Caribbean, some residents are dealing with a threat even greater than COVID-19.   Those living in the shadow of the volcano on the island of Saint Vincent are keeping a watchful eye on La Soufrière. Kenton Chance has this report […]

Education C.E.O. Breaks Down Phased Return of Face-to-Face Instruction

As we reported on Wednesday, cabinet has approved the phased return of face-to-face instruction of schools at all levels and sectors across the country.  Since September of 2020, secondary and tertiary students have been attending virtual classes, while learning packages were distributed to primary schoolers.  But beginning April twelfth, schools who believe that they have […]

Blended Learning at Schools?

So schools are going to have to get innovative with their learning continuity plans.  C.E.O. in the Ministry of Education, Dian Maheia speaks of blended learning as a possible new normal.   Dian Maheia, C.E.O., Ministry of Education “If you want to bring back all your students, you have to find a way to stagger […]

It is NOT Mandatory That Teachers Get Vaccinated for COVID-19

Phase two of the COVID vaccination rollout is currently underway where teachers are now allowed to get their jabs as an added protection against the deadly virus.  Like some frontline healthcare workers, there are a number of teachers who are not willing to get take vaccine.  During our one-on-one interview with C.E.O. Dian Maheia of […]

4 Drug Planes and Firearms Are Sold by G.O.B. in February

Back in June of last year, four airplanes that were seized during drug plane landings in the country were sold by the Barrow administration for under a million Belize dollars.  The business jets were said to be in a state of disrepair and sold via a bidding process as a joint venture between the former […]

Mexican Pilot Case Adjourned

A Mexican accused of landing a drug plane in Belize, Miguel Cruz Meseguer, was taken before the Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, but the prosecution was not prepared to carry on with the case against him so the matter was further adjourned until March thirtieth.  Meseguer was one of six Central American men who were facing […]

International Sports Coverage of Attack on Belize Jaguars

The story of what happened to the Belize Jaguars when the landed in Port-au-Prince on Monday has gotten considerable international sports coverage. CBS Sports to TMZ, Al Jazeera and even the Times of India have circulated the news about the team’s bus being pulled over by armed gunmen as they left the airport and the […]

Asian Bean Thrip Pest Threatens Million Dollar Agricultural Industry

A thrip pest threatens Belize’s grain industry which includes black and red beans, white and yellow corn, soy bean, black eye peas, rice and sorghum.  It is the first time that the Asian bean thrip has been detected in the Belize and the second report for the Americas since March of last year. The pest […]

Taskforce Formed to Manage Asian Bean Thrip

The concern for the future planting of the bean crop is real because the pest cannot be eradicated so a taskforce has been formed to devise a plan to manage the Asian bean thrip.   Francisco Gutierrez, Acting Managing Director, BAHA “We are concerned and all measures and strategies have to be developed because the […]

U.S. Embassy Invests Over $400,000 in Equipment to Belize Coast Guard

Today, the Belize Coast Guard received a hefty donation from the U.S. Government in the form of outboard engines and night vision goggles to help in its crime fighting efforts at sea. News Five’s Duane Moody was at the ceremony held this morning and files this report.   Duane Moody, Reporting Four hundred thousand dollars […]

Improving the Welfare of the B.D.F.

While were with the Minister of National Defence and Border Security, he also spoke about the welfare of the soldiers at the Belize Defence Force. A former military man himself, Florencio Marin Junior says that in taking up the ministry, one of his top priorities is to ensure that the living conditions of these law […]

When Will a U.S. Ambassador to Belize be Chosen?

Chargé d’affaires Keith Gilges of the U.S. Embassy in Belize says his mission is coming to an end in the next four months. President Biden is expected to appoint an ambassador to Belize later this year, and a new chargé who will take over Gilges’ own post has already been selected.     Keith Gilges, Chargé […]

Cabinet News Update

In the excitement over Cabinet’s approval of the phased reopening of primary and secondary schools beginning in April, other news from Prime Minister John Briceño’s cabinet meeting on March twenty-third may have escaped public notice. While the government press office release did not give details, it noted that the Union Budget Consultation Team updated cabinet […]