Today, sixty-year-old Efrain Beltran Martinez was told that his initial twenty year sentence for the death of forty-three-year old Elmer Salazar would be reduced to six. Martinez, a Salvadoran national, pleaded guilty to manslaughter early this year, following the death of Salazar- a Guatemalan national who was found chopped to death on the compound of […]
Foreign Minister Eamon Courtenay will demit office at the end of this month, and will be replaced in that capacity by Francis Fonseca. Prime Minister John Briceño has confirmed Courtenay’s departure after three years of public service. Courtenay, a senior counsel, will return to his private practice as an attorney. There have been many speculations […]
In September, we told you about plans by the Central Bank of Belize to streamline fees charged by commercial banks to address customer concerns over high transaction fees. Well, today Central Bank Governor, Kareem Michael, announced that the Central Bank has taken action to address certain conditions that do not promote the fundamentals of an […]
But there is one fee that the Central Bank of Belize has not been able to restrict. That fee is charged by a retailer or wholesaler to a customer who chooses to use his or her ATM card. The bank itself does not charge to use the ATM card but the seller does and consumers […]
Then there are fees associated with Instant Funds Transfer and Electronic Funds Transfers. According to the Governor of the Central Bank of Belize, Kareem Michael, domestic banks have given a verbal commitment to reduce the charges on using EFTs and IFTs. And to show the Central Bank’s commitment, Michael said that the bank will no […]
Earlier this month, the Briceño Administration announced that the government would acquire and modernize the commercial port in Belize City. The settlement not only resolves all remaining Ashcroft judgment awards against Belize at a reduced cost, but also mandates the withdrawal of all litigation initiated by Ashcroft companies against the government. The Port Acquisition & […]
The warning came at the start of the year: bus operators who do not upgrade their fleets by December thirty-first will not get their permits renewed. And most of them have heeded that warning and made the necessary adjustments. While clearly none of the buses that were on display today were new, they provided a […]
The arrival of Belize City’s electric buses has been a long-awaited event that will be part of a bigger pilot project across the country. Those two buses, according to Minister of Transport, Rodwell Ferguson, will arrive at the end of January and will be handed over to the Belize City Council to run in the […]
The legal dispute between Floralia and James Bus Line put an end to Floralia’s five-thirty and six-thirty runs from PG, after James took Floralia to court and won the case. Since then, the Transport Board met on December fourteenth to review the applications for the runs. Today, the Minister of Transport, Rodwell Ferguson told the […]
The Ministry of Transport has a new Chief Transport Officer – the second in less than two years. He is Leon Gentle, and according to the Minister of Transport, Gentle has spent eighteen years with the Ministry of Education and was appointed by the Ministry of the Public Service. Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Transport […]
Following government’s announcement of its acquisition of the Port of Belize, it has come under criticism from employees at the Big Creek Port. These are also constituents of Stann Creek West Area Representative, Rodwell Ferguson. Despite a letter the constituents sent to the prime minister, slamming the government for the acquisition, Ferguson says he still […]
As the regulator of Belize’s financial system, the Central Bank of Belize supervises more than six point six billion dollars held by financial institutions. Domestic banks account for more than four point five billion, while credit unions account for one point three billion dollars. The two top domestic banks are Belize Bank Limited which holds […]
During the conference in Jamaica, Michael said “My bosses want us to do more of the draconian type of measures and it is important that I am able to explain to them why these things shouldn’t apply”. He didn’t share details, but today he said he may have used a strong word. Kareem Michael, […]
Twelve years after husband and wife couple James and Keisha Young held their first community Christmas party for children in Lake, the annual event continues to grow and is eagerly anticipated by parents and kids, alike. Earlier today, a few hundred children descended on Lawrence Avenue where the street was blocked off to accommodate the […]
Foreign Minister Eamon Courtenay is stepping down from his post as Belize’s chief diplomat in the days ahead. News of his pending departure was confirmed in a statement from the Office of the Prime Minister earlier today. Courtenay, a preeminent attorney, was appointed senator when the Briceño administration took office in November 2020, and was […]
A young father from the Corozal District died following a freak accident on Monday afternoon at the Belize/Mexico Border. Twenty-five-year-old Germain Rivera and his co-worker Julio Zetina fell from a crane while working at Princess Vegas Casino. Rivera died at the scene and Zetina is currently at a private hospital in Belize City. This latest […]
A family in Corozal lost everything to a house fire on Sunday morning. The fire was caused by a malfunctioning fan in one of the bedrooms. Despite the family’s attempts to contain the situation, the flames quickly spread and the house was consumed by fire. Today, Normita Centeno and her family are picking up the […]
Three men have been charged with the murder of forty-five-year-old Hugo Rodriguez. They are nineteen-year-old Osmar Chiac, twenty-one-year-old Twyford Bradford Smith Junior, and twenty-four-year-old Austin Alexander Conorquie. Investigators believe that the men fatally shot Rodriguez on Sunday night in Carmelita Village, Orange Walk District. Rodriguez was at a local store when he got involved in an […]
Today, the trial of attorney, Oscar Selgado was scheduled to go a full day, but halfway through the morning session, it was adjourned until the morning of January twenty-second, 2024. The adjournment followed a concern raised by the defense in reference to whether they would be permitted to address the details that came out of […]
The Voir Dire that was held in the previous hearings was to test the admissibility of video recordings that the Crown’s main witness had provided but that mysteriously disappeared. Selgado is on trial for abetment to commit murder. The Crown’s main witness, Giovanni Ramirez, alleges that Selgado attempted to hire him to kill Marilyn Barnes […]
Forty-five-year-old Josue Sic stands accused of a heinous act involving a five-year-old girl. It is alleged that on Sunday, December seventeenth, the laborer of a Holy Emmanuel Street address intentionally touched the infant. According to the child’s father, he was socializing with Sic and when he got hungry, he left to purchase food somewhere in […]
Late this evening, twenty-two-year-old Cassius Myers, an electrician, was escorted to the Belize City Magistrate’s Court where he was arraigned on three criminal offenses, including attempted murder, dangerous harm and use of deadly means of harm. Myers is accused of stabbing twenty-six-year-old Maleek Pitts on Sunday, in the vicinity of CET Site in the Lake […]
The Belize Tourism Board’s Frontline Hero recipient for 2023 is Dwayne Garcia, a boat captain at the Conservation Compliance Unit at the Belize Fisheries Department. Originally from Placencia, Garcia’s career started out as a young boy who went fishing with his father. The forty-nine-year-old left the village as a youth with a dream to work […]
The 2023 United Nations Climate conference has come to an end after two weeks of negotiations, with several pledges in favor of Belize having been secured, in Dubai. The conference, also known as Cop28, is an annual summit where government officials from across the world convene to discuss how to counteract climate change and repair […]
A Belizean remake of a popular and beloved play dubbed Di Nite Befo Krismus comes your way this Thursday at the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts where the Children’s Theater will perform before an audience of family and friends. Here’s more about the upcoming event.
