A team of law enforcement officers is investigating a robbery involving a duo of Hispanic men and Belize Fisheries Department personnel. The Belizeans were in the Bacalar Chico Reserve conducting marine studies in the water when they were fired upon and robbed by men who came up to them in a boat. The thieves took […]
The Belize Coast Guard is currently conducting a search for Karl Wagner after his fishing boat was found capsized and riddled with bullets. Wagner, a resident of Independence Village, set out to sea in a black and white boat name NEESHA with a seventy-horsepower Yamaha outboard engine, on Friday night. No one has seen or […]
Over the weekend, there were a string of armed robberies reported in the Orange Walk and Cayo Districts as well as at sea within the Bacalar Chico Marine Reserve. The Belize Police Department and the Belize Coast Guard are actively working to solve these property crimes and are narrowing down on the culprits. Tonight, News […]
Lake Independence resident Kareem Smith escaped grave injury on Sunday, when he came under armed attack by someone who emerged from a vehicle on Mahogany Street. Smith, who is no stranger to the law, told police that he was near Flamboyant Street when the incident happened. An arrest has been made in that shooting. […]
An attempt was also made on the life of a Belize City resident on Sunday. Ryan Foster was riding a bicycle in the company of another individual when they came under gunfire in the vicinity of Sarstoon Street. Foster was struck by one of the bullets and is hospitalized at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. […]
Today, Chief Magistrate Sharon Fraser granted a stay of execution in the case of Ramiro De la Rosa. He was sentenced earlier this month after police searched his home in Duck Run Two community and rounded him and his wife up for a loaded shotgun that was licensed to his recently deceased father. De la […]
In other court news, the prosecution presenting the case against attorney Andrew Bennett did not reach very far in court today when their attempt to submit wire-tapped evidence was struck out by Justice Westmin James on grounds that the U.S. violated Bennett’s constitutional rights. But Justice James did not rule to stay the proceedings because […]
A Belize City man lost his house and all his belongings to a fire over the weekend. Tyrone Stevens had just left his house to go buy tacos and minutes later he received the distress call. He hurried to J.R. Street to find the place he called home completely engulfed in flames. Nothing was saved […]
The Ministry of Health and Wellness continues with its nationwide vaccination campaign and this past Saturday, a vaccination centre was set up at the Michael Finnegan Market in Belize City. It joined in with the efforts from the Central Health Region as hundreds of persons accessed the area to get their first jab of the […]
The goal is to reach herd immunity, which is to have about seventy percent of the country’s population vaccinated. One hundred and twenty-one thousand four hundred and eighty-seven persons have received their first vaccination so far and forty-six thousand five hundred and ninety-six are fully vaccinated. The data is showing that of the COVID-19 patients […]
On Saturday afternoon a small group of persons, in support of the antivaxxer group, the Belize Rights and Justice Movement, organized a small protest at the Belize Civic Centre compound. They were holding placards and sharing information as to why they are against the vaccination exercise. We asked the Minister of Health and Wellness to […]
The Port of Belize Limited is slowly bouncing back after taking a major hit to its bottom line in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sugar exports were down and cruise ships stopped coming to Belize. This led the Port of Belize to terminate a significant portion of its staff in order to […]
C.E.O. Lane also addressed the negotiations between P.B.L. and the Christian Workers Union since talks resume on Wednesday. Lane says a first meeting will be held to discuss the staff Collective Bargaining Agreement and then another meeting will discuss a request from the union for sugar redundancy packages, with the move by A.S.R./B.S.I. to the […]
In related news, this afternoon, the United Democratic Party sent out a release in support of the stevedores. The party says the move by A.S.R./B.S.I. to transfer its operations from the Port of Belize in Belize City further south to Big Creek Port in the Stann Creek District comes despite the 2006 M.O.U. and without […]
Stake Bank Enterprises has been granted an application for judicial review of the environmental clearance granted to Port of Magical Belize. The Department of the Environment gave the clearance in April, but Stake Bank Enterprises has challenged this, claiming it is too close to their own port and poses environmental threats. They had also alleged […]
Road safety was the focus today as the Department of Transport received a donation of sixteen-speed guns, twenty-six breathalyzers with five thousand mouthpieces. The equipment was handed over by the C.E.O. in the Ministry of Economic Development Doctor Osmond Martinez to the Chief Transport Officer Dian Vasquez. According to the government press office, the handing […]
The rallies since the killing of fourteen-year-old Laddie Gillett in Placencia have persisted countrywide. Since last week and over the weekend, three communities have come out calling for constitutional and police reform. Here’s Marion Ali with a summary of those events. Marion Ali, Reporting Eric Clapton’s rendition of the song “Tears in Heaven” set […]
Yes we are in the rainy season, yes, we are in hurricane season. But tornados? This morning, some residents of Billy White in the Cayo District felt like they were in the middle of the Wizard of Oz, complete with a flying dog circling the house. News Five’s Paul Lopez surveyed the damage and spoke […]
And while the residents of Billy White certainly had a time of it with today’s freak storm, News Five spoke with Deputy Chief Meteorologist Michelle Augustine who classified it as a thunderstorm, not a tornado. On the Phone: Michelle Augustine, Deputy Chief Meteorologist “Between eight-thirty and eight-forty-five this morning, there was an isolated thunderstorm […]
At this time, Belize City residents are gathered at the Battlefield Park in Belize City as they stage yet another protest to express their discontent about the fatal shooting of fourteen-year-old Laddie Gillett by a police officer. As early as five-thirty this evening and until seven-thirty tonight, candles will be lit and the protestors with […]
This afternoon, funeral services were held for Laddie Gillett, who was laid to rest in the Cayo District. The fourteen-year-old student was shot last Wednesday night by Police Corporal Kareem Martinez as Gillett and a friend headed back to a resort where they were staying in Placencia. What was a fun-filled family vacation ended tragically […]
Minister Bernard says that the shooting death of the teen and the need for stronger reform were discussed at this past cabinet meeting. But he also says individual officers must understand their role. Kevin Bernard, Minister of Youth “There is need for stronger reforms in the police department. There is need for us to […]
The Government of Belize has released an updated Statutory Instrument for COVID regulations. As of Monday, July twenty-sixth, the curfew hours will move to ten p.m. to four a.m. daily. Additionally, churches in the locked down villages of Conejo, Midway and Barranco will not be allowed to operate for a period of two weeks. The […]
For some migrants from Central American countries, Belize is to them what the U.S. is to Belizeans – a safe haven where economic opportunities seem endless. But when families are fleeing their country to save their own lives, sometimes they need to access social services. So today, an M.O.U. was signed to ensure that over […]
The commission of inquiry into the sale of public assets under the previous government ended abruptly in mid-April when N.T.U.C.B. President Luke Martinez castigated the Briceño administration during a televised broadcast from the House of Culture here in Belize City. The hearings were adjourned indefinitely after the live feed was cut. Prior to that session, […]
