As expected, today’s public hearing of the Senate Special Select Committee was a spectacle, though not of the best kind. For the first time since the Committee convened in November, Ministers of Government began making appearances. It has been established in extensive testimony of both Immigration officers and others that a word from the Minister […]
Minister Martinez poured out his troubles to the press last Wednesday, including an extensive discussion about the need for recommending persons to obtain visas, passports and nationality and whether a Minister’s recommendation made the person more likely to obtain what they wanted. While various Immigration officers have suggested that they trembled before the might of […]
Anthony “Boots” Martinez’s sole appearance in the Auditor General’s Report is in Appendix Four of the Visa section as a recommender for Wen Zhan Yu, which he says was done as a favour to Wen’s sponsor and his former constituent, one Zian Li. He states that he took the word of the sponsor that Wen […]
In the case of Edmond Castro, there is a trail in the Auditor General’s Reports as well as in documentation provided by previous witnesses in the inquiry. Castro’s name appears multiple times as recommender for various nationals who did not otherwise meet requirements. And there is an example of a letter of recommendation Castro wrote […]
In today’s appearances before the Senate Special Select Committee, both Ministers Martinez and Castro took strong objection to answering questions that they felt appeared outside of the scope of the inquiry, which they narrowly interpreted to be only the times their names appeared in the report. They especially recoiled, in Martinez’s case, from the mention […]
Senator for Trade Unions and Civil Society Elena Smith took the chair for the first time as pro-tem chair, replacing the absent Aldo Salazar who returns next week after being elected by her peers. She humorously denied being the cause of the Ministers’ behaviour but did not hold back in criticizing them as disrespectful and […]
The Committee has usually been reticent in outlining where the inquiry is going in terms of calling witnesses, for fear of giving too much of the game plan away. It has now been several months since the Committee was convened and there are reports that it may be another few months yet before a stop […]
Just a few minutes shy of eleven a.m. today, Erwin Santos was captured by officers attached to the Belmopan Police Formation in Teakettle, Cayo. The twenty-four-year-old, who also has the alias Toluck, was wanted by police for charges of keeping unlicensed firearm and ammunition and threat of death. While he was out on bail for […]
According to police, Erwin Santos was considered armed and dangerous while on the loose. Some six hours before his detention, his family home in Teakettle was burnt to the ground. His father, Mark Santos, believes that the fire was deliberately set because the wooden house had no electricity. No one was in the house because […]
A conviction appeal brought by condemned murderer Gregory August, who has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, resumed before the Caribbean Court of Justice earlier today. Senior Counsel Eamon Courtney and attorney Iliana Swift, both representing August, as well as Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, are in Port of […]
D.P.P. Cheryl-Lynn Vidal, in her presentation, argued that the court should be able to determine whether an inmate should be eligible for parole and granted such release based on rehabilitation. Cheryl-Lynn Vidal, Director of Public Prosecutions “The sentence remains a sentence of life imprisonment but the court would be in a position, looking at […]
Guatemalan national, Erick Rene Salazar Guzman, a driver of Burrell Boom, Belize District was committed to stand trial for manslaughter by negligence, causing death by careless conduct, failure to report a traffic accident, failure to stop and render aid and driving without due care and attention. Salazar Guzman will be tried in the October session of […]
Where is Mark Pollard? The forty-nine-year-old of Peter Seco Street in Belize City has not been seen or heard from since Monday and the family is tonight fearing the worst. Pollard left his home just around five a.m. on Monday to go jogging en route to the Haulover Bridge and back, but he never returned […]
Did Guatemalan oil spill reach as far as into Belize’s waterways? There has been no official statement from the Department of Environment, but it is widely believed that there is a possibility due to the proximity of the scene of the spill to Belize. It happened along the Pan American highway off the banks of […]
This morning, shortly after passing through the Sarstoon Island area, the Guatemalan Armed Forces trailed the Belizean boat for some ten minutes. While the boat remained within Belize territory, as many as five military personnel from the GAF continued to trail the media. Their pursuit started slowly and after a while they picked up speed […]
This afternoon, in the vicinity of North Creek, personnel from Eastern Division South, led by Senior Superintendent Marco Vidal, met with residents of the area on an individual basis. The customary Meet and Greet on Wednesdays is a first for Vidal who formally took over the helm of the jurisdiction on Saturday. Up until recently […]
Senior Superintendent Marco Vidal, during his tenure as head of the Gang Suppression Unit, decried community policing as a failed attempt by the department to reach out to the citizenry. Since then, he has walked back that position, after seeing significant inroads being made through the provision of community services. Coming into Eastern Division South, […]
As for the present ceasefire among rival Belize City gangs, Senior Superintendent Vidal says that the truce was struck between the various groups at their behest and not an initiative that includes the state. Sr. Supt Marco Vidal, O.C., Eastern Division South “First of all, we need to understand that this truce is between […]
Despite the many criticisms that Vidal has received for his hard-nosed approach to policing, during his days as GSU commander, he has opted to take a progressive attitude this time around, preferring to tackle each issue on a day-to-day basis. Sr. Supt Marco Vidal, O.C., Eastern Division South “I think that it is best […]
