A spate of shootings in Belize City on Thursday night preceded the murder of Jose Matus and, while investigators haven’t made any connections between those incidents, they are yet to make an arrest in any of those cases. Assistant Commissioner of Police Hilberto Romero is the Regional Commander of Eastern Division. ACP Hilberto Romero, […]
Three persons lost their lives over the long weekend as a result of separate road traffic accidents. We begin our coverage of these unfortunate incidents with the death of forty-year-old Elvis Tzib in Cristo Rey Village. The husband, and father of four, was on his way home from work to have dinner with his family […]
On Saturday night, another person lost her life in a road traffic accident. According to police, forty-eight-year-old Ana Rivera was inside a Lincoln Navigator with fifty-one-year-old Joshua Aguilar, heading to Belmopan, when their vehicle collided into a Ford Ranger pickup. Rivero lost her life in that incident. ACP Hilberto Romero tells us more. ACP […]
The third fatal road traffic accident over the weekend happened on the Hummingbird Highway, at mile fifty-three. On Sunday morning, Franks Eddy Village residents, thirty-one-year-old Elifar Vasquez and thirty-eight-year-old Moises Perez were inside a Nissan pickup, heading toward Belmopan, when their vehicle collided into a Ford F-150 pickup. Perez died from the impact. The F-150 […]
Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, also weighed in on the frequency of road traffic accidents that have led to multiple deaths. He says that his senior command has met to discuss the issue. They are now proposing a joint Cabinet paper, in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport, to make certain legislative amendments that will […]
The opening ceremony for the Senior Court session for the 2024 legal year aired virtually today. The ceremony included a mass at the Wesley Methodist Church, and the usual pomp and circumstance with the parade of police officers and the B.D.F. marching band, which played the Belizean National Anthem in front of the historic court […]
As Chief Justice Louise Blenman alluded to in her address, the senior courts made great strides in 2023 and managed to dispose of a great percentage of civil and criminal cases. The addition of the four new judges is expected to improve the court’s efficiency. She did point out, however, the need for an administration […]
In this legal year, under legal reform, a number of criminal justice legislations will be enacted. One of these is a Criminal Procedure Plea Discussion and Plea Agreement Act and a new alternative Sentencing Act. Draft Bills were circulated to stakeholders back in October, 2023 and a final set of comments last week to strengthen […]
And while notable enhancements were highlighted within the justice system, one of them is that the Family Court is now housed at the Charles Bartlett Hyde building on Mahogany Street in Belize City. This allows for a more spacious environment for the sensitive cases that are heard within those walls. Attorney-General Sylvestre touched on institutional […]
Earlier today, former Port Loyola Area Representative Anthony “Boots” Martinez delivered over one thousand, seven hundred signatures to Governor General Froyla Tzalam requesting a recall of sitting area rep Gilroy Usher Senior. The petition to trigger a recall mechanism requires thirty percent of voters, or one thousand, four hundred and eighty signatures, of the constituency […]
On Monday, Belize celebrated the fourth annual George Price Day; a Public and Bank Holiday which commemorates the birthday of, Father of the Nation, George Cadle Price. This year, on his one hundred and fifth birthday, the National Institute of Culture and History launched the Let Belize Live Exhibit at the Banquitas House of Culture […]
A consent agreement was signed on Saturday between the Village of San Benito Poite and the Government of Belize granting approval for the start of a mini-grid electrification project to be undertaken by Belize Electricity Limited. In 2022, the European Union signed an agreement with B.E.L. for a grant of eleven million Belize dollars to […]
After hours of delay and chaos in Guatemala’s congress, Bernardo Arevalo was finally sworn in as the country’s fifty-second president. Arevalo and his party, Movimiento Semilla, faced strong opposition from government officials after they won the elections by a landslide in August 2023. Final attempts to prevent Arevalo to take office happened on Sunday in […]
Prime Minister John Briceño says that he hopes to strengthen diplomatic ties with Guatemala under an Arevalo Administration. One of the key topics that PM Briceño hopes to further discuss with President Arevalo is the prolonged Sarstoon Protocol, emphasizing the urgency of collaborative efforts to prevent narco influence. As it relates to the International Court […]
This afternoon, shortly after twelve p.m., gunshots rang out in the vicinity of Grace Primary School on Faber’s Road Extension. Reports of an assault rifle being fired in succession reverberated across the neighborhood. When the shooting subsided, forty-eight-year-old Jose Matus was observed behind the steering wheel of his vehicle. He was mortally wounded. Also injured […]
Three young men were shot in separate incidents in Belize City between Thursday night and this morning. The victims have been identified as Shemar Smith, Joseph Leslie and Shane Nolberto. It is not certain if all three incidents are related. Fortunately, all three men are recovering at the hospital. Hipolito Novelo reports. Hipolito Novelo, […]
A man who was found guilty for the murder of his wife was today sentenced to life imprisonment. David Gonzalez listened as High Court Judge Ricardo O’Neil Sandcroft sentenced him to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after he has served thirty-five years behind bars. The judge deducted the time that Gonzalez has already […]
Two youths who are charged with the rape of a fourteen-year-old girl were today arraigned in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court. They are eighteen-year-old Ikwan Reneau and a sixteen-year-old minor. The arraignment took all day as the issue of whether bail should be granted to the two accused persons was being contemplated. In the end, […]
The incident for which the teens are charged happened in the Saint Martin de Porres area on Monday inside an abandon house near the riverside. After an intense investigation and three nights in custody, police charged the two youths. The case against the minor and Reneau is set to come back before the court on […]
The leadership of the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association feels that the Prime Minister did not handle the recent sugar cane debacle in the best possible way, with the municipal elections just two months away. In fact, some of the cane farmers who spoke publicly last week even questioned whether or not the prime minister […]
The commercial agreement has been signed between the two parties that were at odds in the sugar belt and the rest is history, or is it? The determining factors at that eleventh hour agreement continued to be terminal charges and throughput fees. But even though the documents have been signed for the two-year agreement, an […]
Although the crisis has been addressed and the mill is back in full swing, there is a school of thought that still believes that the government, particularly, the prime minister took too long to intervene in the process. Some of the cane farmers themselves have slammed Prime Minister John Briceño for not taking decisive action […]
On Thursday, we brought you the ground-breaking and signing ceremony for the access road to the Corozal Free Zone. The portion of road measures two point six kilometres and spans from the foot of the old bridge at the northern border to the entrance of the free zone compound. But aside from boosting the activity […]
Today the Belize Tourism Industry Association hosted its thirtieth annual general meeting. This meeting is where stakeholders convene to review the sector’s accomplishments, shortcomings of the last year, as well the goals for the year moving forward. This year’s meeting reflected on the success of the sector’s remarkable post-pandemic recovery and the association optimistic expectations […]
The Belize Trade and Investment Development Service is a statutory body of the Government of Belize that operates within the portfolio of the Ministry of Economic Development. Its purpose is to enable and facilitate innovative and competitive business development, particularly where micro, small and medium enterprise development is concerned. News Five asked BELTRAIDE’s Executive Director, […]
