Yolanda Valencia was killed in August 2014 when an intoxicated deputy Commissioner of Police Miguel Segura, in a government vehicle, collided into a taxi just outside San Jose Succotz, Cayo. The chilling video of Segura at the scene of the accident went viral and prompting public outrage. The market vendor died instantly, and in August […]
Former People’s United Party Secretary General Myrtle Palacio appeared before Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin today, after filing a civil suit against the Guardian Newspaper. The case originates from an article and a cartoon published in the U.D.P. party organ purportedly depicting Palacio as someone who practices witchcraft. She took umbrage with the piece of writing, […]
In court this morning, Palacio gave a sworn statement. The article and the accompanying cartoon were also tendered as evidence. The argument, however, brings to the fore the issue of fair comment, a legal term for a common law defense in defamation cases involving libel or slander. Said Musa, Attorney for Myrtle Palacio “Mrs. […]
Newspaper editor Alfonso Noble, who is named in the suit, is being represented by Senior Counsel Michael Young. Both Young and his client reiterated that what was published in that edition of the Guardian is based on the freedom of the press to express statements on matters of public interest. Those statements, they contend, were […]
Since Assistant Commissioner of Police Chester Williams effected a citywide curfew roughly one month ago, various sectors, including parents, government departments and non-government organizations have raised concerns about the housing of minors picked up off the streets of Belize City after nine p.m. That disquiet prompted ACP Williams to return to the drawing board in […]
On Tuesday night, we brought you extensive coverage of a Ministry of Foreign Affairs press conference in Belmopan. The issue on the table, of course, was the recent meeting with top diplomatic and military officials at O.A.S. headquarters to discuss rules of engagement in the Sarstoon. At that session, the Belize delegation presented eleven draft […]
As we showed you in Tuesday night’s newscast, both Minister Elrington and Opposition representative Ambassador Assad Shoman believe that the protocols were well received. They are also hopeful that a positive response will be forthcoming within a week even though Guatemala has so aggressively asserted its sovereignty on the entire Sarstoon. Still, Elrington says that […]
Was thirty-one-year-old Anwar Vernon murdered? It’s a baffling case that has Belize City police stumped. Vernon had been admitted to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital a week ago, after being found unresponsive in a drain. He was observed with varying degrees of injuries, however, it is yet to be confirmed what caused Vernon’s wounds and […]
On Holy Saturday, B.D.F. Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey was shot near Valentin Camp in the Chiquibul. Days after, a report into the incident commissioned by the Ministry of National Security was leaked to News Five. In that document, the claim is that Lambey was ambushed, possibly in retaliation for the arrest of a Guatemalan one […]
In October of 2015, a well-known notorious street figure, Edward Albert Robinson was targeted by gunmen but he escaped the shooting and instead a bystander, Jamil Betancourt, was fatally shot and killed. The gunmen were believed to be two known Supal Street residents. And on October twentieth, 2015, police escorted twenty-two-year old Devon Sankey, and […]
Glenford Baptist, who is serving a twenty-five-year sentence for his part in a murder, has picked up another charge that could lead to further time behind bars. Baptist, who is the longest serving member on death row, was before the court today to answer a charge of drug trafficking for sixty three grams of marijuana […]
A preliminary inquiry in the case of slain newspaper journalist Kareem Clarke was held in the magistrate’s court on Monday. Clarke was allegedly shot and killed by a minor on July sixth, as he was riding his bicycle near the intersection of Lakeview and Vernon Streets in Belize City. The minor, it is reported, is […]
A constitutional challenge filed by Belize City resident Allison Major in which he disputed the amended firearm act, concluded in the Supreme Court earlier this week. The suit came on the heels of the arrest and imprisonment of Major in April 2012, when police stormed into a residence and detained a family of seven for […]
Turning to politics…the U.D.P. Deputy Leadership convention has been set for May twenty-ninth. In the ongoing campaign, on Tuesday, Minister John Saldivar, who is running for first deputy party leader, released photographs of parliamentarians and others who endorse him, including the Deputy Prime Minister himself, Gaspar Vega. But interestingly others in the Orange Walk caucus […]
There’s more tonight on the eleven protocols that were presented to Guatemalan officials. On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington asserted that there is an unofficial understanding at the Sarstoon, a sort of agreement to keep the peace. In fact, Elrington claims that the understanding has been in place since March fifteenth when both parties met […]
While the discussion on the new Sarstoon protocols was no doubt the primary item on the agenda of last Friday’s meeting at the O.A.S., it wasn’t the only one. Both parties, Belize and Guatemala, are also in earnest talks to source funding which will allow the O.A.S. to maintain a presence in the adjacency zone […]
A second Belize Sign was installed today in the area of the Baron Bliss Lighthouse in the City. The first, which is erected at Buttonwood Bay, has been evoking nationalism and pride so much so that the City Council decided to put up two others at strategic areas in the City. The launch was held […]
The Council has been working closely with the Belize Tourism Board and the National Institute of Culture and History on a series of programs to enhance the character of Belize City. These include projects to address the issue of sanitation as well as working with the police to ensure a reduction in crime and making […]
Classes on Friday for primary schools across the country have been cancelled as all teachers are expected to head west to Benque Viejo to attend a forum on the Belize/Guatemala differendum. The meeting is to discuss ongoing tension between both countries due to recent hostility along the southern border at Sarstoon. The objective of the […]
According to Palacio, it is now necessary to revise the existing curriculum to reflect a broader knowledge of the civics and history of Belize. Luke Palacio, National President, B.N.T.U. “We are hoping that they will also make a commitment or at least give an indication as to what other activities they would be engaged […]
The weekly meet and greet exercise conducted by Belize City police was concentrated in the Saint Martin’s area this afternoon where officers of varying ranks descended on the streets of that neighborhood. While the men and women of law enforcement made their rounds, they were being commended on the implementation of a recent curfew for […]
