Belizeans are bracing for the 2017-2018 Budget, which is expected to be presented to the House of Representatives on March thirteenth, and to take effect April first. The presentation to the House is later than past budgets, because G.O.B. is looking everywhere to come up with revenue. Financial Secretary Joseph Waight has said that higher […]
Two disturbing videos of recruits training for the B.D.F. have been obtained by News Five. The first, in its entirety, captures the rigorous and extreme training program, including tear gassing for those aspiring to join the force. The second video contains the images of a young man being shoved into a trench even as he […]
There have been three shootings in two weeks in the Saint Martin De Porres area in Belize City; two of them were fatal. On Wednesday night, seventeen-year-old Everal Augustine left his home and family and rode away toward Aloe Vera Street. Thirty minutes later he was dead; shot at least four times. The suspect is […]
Did the Immigration Department try to sweep the visa foils affair under the rug and turn on the man who instigated an investigation of the matter? Immigration Officer Mark Tench said as much at Wednesday’s public hearings of the Special Senate Select Committee, where he accused the Department of attempting to make him a scapegoat […]
Tench continued to enumerate his version of events at the Public Service Commission hearing for the Senators on Wednesday. He emphasized that the former C.E.O. had nothing to do with the process of argument against his continued employment with the Department and that the Commission agreed that further investigation of the matter should have been […]
In the afternoon, there was further discussion of the visa foil issue. As one of the senior men at the border during the incident, one would have expected that Vernon Leslie would have personally informed the then-Director of Immigration after being unable to gain a satisfactory response from immediate boss Edgar Cano, but no one […]
As noted, a decision was taken, later endorsed by Cano, to basically pretend as if the visas had never gone missing. It involved receiving payment from legitimate travellers seeking a visa. They were issued the numbers corresponding to the missing visas and the money went into the Government Treasury with none the wiser. Vernon Leslie’s […]
Manuel Estuardo Roldan Barillas, Guatemala’s ambassador to Belize, has quietly returned to the country, eleven months after he was recalled for “consultations” with his bosses. It is not clear under what circumstances he has returned, but it could signal a return to normalcy. But we do know that Guatemala has asked the Organization of American […]
A verdict has been handed down in the Southern Session of the Supreme Court in Dangriga in relation to a highly-publicized police-involved shooting three years ago. Eighteen year old Rasheed Elijio was attempting to escape from police custody in Punta Gorda along with one Brian Garcia in May of 2013. He was hit with a […]
The Senate Special Select Committee has been actively poring through a single incident reported in the Auditor General’s Special Report on Immigration for weeks now. The more important issues of nationalities and passport granted to persons who did not meet the requirements has taken the back seat eight visa foils that somehow went missing from […]
Mark Tench also confirmed that he printed the passport for pickup to be delivered to Won Hong Kim in August of 2013 after being transferred from the Western Border office. Kim certainly did not meet the requirements and never set foot in Belize but was facilitated all the way. That illegal passport is now being […]
Tench said to the Committee that there were ways to “game” the system if one was really in desperate need of a visa. He gave an example of his time in Belize City, where he dealt with Nigerian and Ghanaian residents aiming to try to get relatives and friends to the Jewel to ultimately become […]
The Public Utilities Commission has announced that Belize will be hosting its first National Cyber Security Symposium from April twenty-fourth to the twenty-seventh. The primary activities include special forums for a range of stakeholders, including, business persons, law enforcement, public sector officials, academia, the judiciary, network operators and the general public. It is expected that […]
Wooding was speaking to News Five at the official launch of the Forum this afternoon. It is expected to attract high-profile officials and experts, including heads of local, regional and international organizations, government Ministers, federal officers and chief executives. The expected outcome of the Symposium will be the development of a National Cyber-Security Framework and […]
The Belmopan City Council is looking for investors for its six-point-five million dollar municipal bond. They are hoping to do some major works and upgrades in the Capital – but need business owners and residents to buy into the bond. The start interest rate is one of the best – better than lending institutions. And […]
B.N.E. confirmed today that there was a leak at one of well sites in Spanish Lookout on Wednesday. Reports reaching our newsroom say that the leak happened at Mike Usher ONE well site. Since the leak, B.N.E. has been doing work to recover the oil and clean up the affected area. In an email today, […]
In Punta Gorda this morning, cultural icon Leela Vernon was laid to rest with all the trappings of an official funeral. Vernon passed away on February nineteenth. She had been ailing for some time and was hospitalized at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where she passed away. Her death has had a tremendous impact on […]
World Kidney is celebrated on March ninth every year. Across the globe, the campaigns focus on highlighting the importance of our kidneys as well as to draw attention to prevention and early detection of kidney disease. The Kidney Association of Belize is at the forefront of the three main activities, including fund raising to assist those […]
