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The Belize National Teachers’ Union is fighting a legal battle against G.O.B.’s ten percent salary cut, and Vice Principal for the Saint Ignatius School in Belize City, Mario Rodriquez, has come forward as a nominal claimant in the case. The claim is that the Government of Belize has no legal authority to intervene in the […]
Written on July 19, 2021 | Posted in
Education,
People & Places,
Trials |
Comments Off on St. Ignatius VP is First to Challenge G.O.B. Salary Cut in Court
Today, Supreme Court Justice Westmin James handed down a decision in the case brought against the Belize Police Department by Greg Nunez and myself. Legal recourse was sought after we felt that our rights had been violated because without any probable cause or intelligence to suggest that we were involved in any criminal activity, police […]
Written on July 19, 2021 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Trials |
Comments Off on Judge Rules in Police Profiling Case
But does the ruling now set precedence for stop and search? Attorney Leslie Mendez, who represented the complainants in the case, says that the decision should provide critical guidance to the police department in conducting legal searches. While she says that by law the police are allowed to conduct stop and searches, the violation is […]
Written on July 19, 2021 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Trials |
Comments Off on Will the Police Department Amend its Stop & Search Practices?
Earlier today, we asked Darrell Bradley for a comment on the results of the July eleventh U.D.P. recall convention at the Bird Isle. Bradley, now a U.D.P. senator, was being positioned to become a candidate at a National Party Leader Convention if Patrick Faber was unsuccessful. Bradley has publicly stated that he is of the […]
Written on July 19, 2021 | Posted in
People & Places,
Politics |
Comments Off on Darrell Bradley on Living with Outcome of U.D.P. Recall Convention
As students get ready to fully return to face-to-face learning in the upcoming school year, the Ministry of Health and Wellness and UNICEF partnered to provide twenty-nine hand washing basins to rural primary schools in Toledo. Handwashing remains the primary line of defense against illness, especially for students too young to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. […]
Written on July 19, 2021 | Posted in
Health,
People & Places |
Comments Off on New Handwashing Stations for PG Schools
The shooting death of fourteen-year-old Laddie Gillett in Placencia on Wednesday has sent shock waves across the nation. Tonight, we bring you an exclusive eye-witness report from nineteen-year-old Thomas Palacio, the friend who was with Laddie Gillett on the beach when he died. Palacio told New Five’s Paul Lopez via phone about the terror that […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Commentary,
Crime,
Featured |
Comments Off on Witness to Laddie Gillett Shooting Says They Had No Idea Men in Black Were Police
As Thomas Palacio and the friends and family of Laddie Gillett try to come to terms with his death, today the officer allegedly involved in the shooting was arraigned in Belmopan Magistrate Court. Police Corporal Kareem Martinez was charged with manslaughter. The media gathered outside the courthouse to try and catch a glimpse of Martinez […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured,
Trials |
Comments Off on Police Corporal Charged; Laddie’s Guardian Thinks Manslaughter Insufficient
From the courthouse in Belmopan, Paul Lopez visited with Laddie’s football coaches at Youth for the Mission, and one person who has been around Laddie over the past decade and refers to him as his little cousin, Belizean Musician, Stig D Artist. John George, Football Coach “Paul it’s hard you know. I have memories […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Commentary,
Crime,
Featured |
Comments Off on Those close to Laddie Gillett mourn his death
The biological uncle of fourteen-year-old Laddie Gillett, Henry “Pulu Musa” Gillett says the family is beside themselves over the manslaughter charge that has been filed against his accused killer, Police Corporal, Kareem Martinez. Gillett explained that his sister, Linda Gillett gave up Laddie soon after birth because she was in distress over other issues but that […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured |
Comments Off on Gillett’s Biological Family Says They Thought He Was in U.S.
While there is proven scientific documentation on the efficacy of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine in fighting the COVID-19 virus, data on just how long this vaccine can be effective in the human body after its two doses have been administered is still pending. Studies are being conducted to determine this in the world and through Belize’s collaborative […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Featured,
Health |
Comments Off on Studies Underway to Determine Vaccine Efficacy
Currently in Belize from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas is Dr Kristy Murray, a medical professor who has been collaborating with the Ministry of Health since 2017 on a number of health-related studies on pathogens and causes of a wide variety of diseases. Hence when COVID-19 hit, we already had the infrastructure in place […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Featured,
Health |
Comments Off on Baylor Professor studies COVID Hygiene in Belize
The lockdown continues in the villages of Conejo, Midway, and Barranco in the Toledo District. The S.I. makes provisions for the extension of the lockdown through to the end of the month. This morning we spoke with Chairman Marcos Ico of Midway Village who says that his people are not happy about the additional two […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Featured,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Weekly Food only lasting families two days in Midway
Chairman Ico is now appealing to the authorities to relax some of the restrictions on the village. He says that they are in need of some basic necessities: Via Phone: Marcos Ico, Chairman, Midway Village “What I am thinking is that it would be better if the shop could open for them at least […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
People & Places |
Comments Off on Midway Wants Stores and Corn Mill Reopened
Belize’s Foreign Minister Eamon Courtenay made a virtual presentation to the United Nations today at a high political forum in Sustainable Development. The event observes the Seventy-fifth anniversary of the UN’s Social and Economic Council. Minister Courtenay spoke about Belize’s recent experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the Council is an appropriate vehicle to […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Regional / International |
Comments Off on Minister Courtenay Addresses UN Political forum on Sustainable Development
On Thursday, new justices for the Court of Appeal were sworn in by Governor General Froyla Tzalam. They are Justice Marguerite Woodstock Riley, Q.C.; Justice Sandra Minott-Phillips, Q.C.; and Justice Peter Foster, Q.C. Justice Woodstock Riley of Barbados received a Bachelors of Law from the University of the West Indies (UWI) and has been called to […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Trials |
Comments Off on New Justices for Court of Appeal Sworn In
The controversial Eleventh Amendment is drafted from similar laws that were passed in the United Kingdom back in the eighties. The Representation of the People Act 1981 disqualifies anyone who has been convicted of an offence and has been sentenced to be imprisoned or detained for more than a year. The amended Representation of the […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
People & Places |
Comments Off on Youth Leader Says No to Eleventh Amendment
A criminal investigation is underway by the Belize Police Department to determine whether anyone is legally responsible for the misappropriation of public funds from the Labor Department. Those monies were disbursed via deposits into the accounts of workers who had lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, but many of those who qualified for government […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Criminal Investigation into Misappropriation of Unemployment Relief Funds
Tensions are brewing in Indian Creek Village in Toledo between Mayan residents and agents for the private landowners. You’ll recall that back in February the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs sent out a press release to express its disappointment that former chair of the Toledo Maya Land Rights Commission Lisel Alamilla, who had only just […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
People & Places |
Comments Off on Tensions rise between Maya residents and Private Landowner in Toledo
So, as you heard just now, Cristina Coc says that tensions are brewing between the villager and the representatives for the private property owner. And now the Toledo Alcalde Association and Maya Leaders Alliance are calling on the government to intervene. They believe the implementation of the CCJ’s Consent Order 2015 would alleviate these issues […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Art & Culture,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Maya Associations Appealing to Government to Intervene
The Belize Defense Force has issued a statement on a video in wide circulation on social media which purports to show a soldier being possessed by a spirit. Described as an exorcism by many who have watched the short clip, the press release confirms that the incident happened on Tuesday night and that it was […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Defense,
Health |
Comments Off on Was there an “Exorcism” at BDF Camp?
The Ministry of Education inaugurated several pre-schools and primary schools in the last couple of weeks. Those inaugurations continued on Thursday in the south and west of the country. The Belize Education Sector Reform Program is an eighty-five million Belize dollar investment in thirty-five schools, eighteen of which are pre-schools. Minister of Education Francis Fonseca […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Education |
Comments Off on School dedications continue in Southern and Western Belize
When COVID-19 hit, many industries were hit hard and continue to suffer as a result of the economic shock and the health restrictions. One of those industries is the entertainment industry – where productions had to be shut down. In the region, the creative industries also took a hit. But a group in Mexico wanted […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Commentary |
Comments Off on Belizean Film Makers Receive Grants
In news from around the region, over one hundred and forty people were either arrested or reported missing in Cuba as the government cracked down on protests last Sunday and Monday. Thousands of Cubans poured into the streets of Havana and other cities prompted by worsening economic conditions, food and medicine shortages, criticism of the […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Regional / International |
Comments Off on Fallout continues from Cuba Unrest
Today, U.D.P. area rep Tracy Panton posted on social media the words of her eighty-one-year-old mother on the proposed eleventh amendment bill. It says, “I do not agree with everything that Shyne Barrow has been up to. In fact, I outright disagree with many of his shenanigans. But his objection to the eleventh amendment is […]
Written on July 16, 2021 | Posted in
Featured,
People & Places,
Politics |
Comments Off on Lord Michael Ashcroft & Tracy Panton Oppose 11th Amendment Bill
The news spread like wildfire today: a teenager vacationing with his family in the popular tourism destination of Placencia shot dead by police. Tonight that officer finds himself on the other side of the law as a criminal and an internal investigation begins into the incident. Today the police high command acted swiftly to detain […]
Written on July 15, 2021 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured |
Comments Off on 14-year-old Minor Shot Dead by Police in Placencia
