The area of Blue Creek in northern Belize continues to be a hot spot for drugs and illegal plane landings. Police have confirmed that another illegal aircraft, likely a drug plane, landed in Orange Walk District. This past Tuesday, police found what was left of a single engine aircraft at a farm about eighteen kilometres […]
There’s been a major arrest in Belize of a Mexican national wanted by Interpol. News reports from Mexico say that a former government employee, Gonzalo Herrera Castilla has been detained in Belize. Herrera Castilla worked during the tenure of former Quintana Roo governor, Roberto Borge Angula and had been on the lam for some time […]
The scandal involving well-known Catholic priest Oliver Smalls has taken many by surprise, including those in his flock who attend service at La Inmaculada Parish in Orange Walk. Smalls is facing allegations of sexual abuse of minors in the U.S. While the disgraced minister has reportedly left the country, the debate rages on as to […]
As it concerns the church-state system of education, Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber has also weighed in to say that while there are merely allegations being made against Father Smalls; government is concerned for the safety of children who interact with priests in the school and church settings. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education “I […]
The most shocking of the sexual images circulated over the weekend involves a fifteen-year-old student of Wesley College, in uniform. She has since taken a leave of absence from school to receive professional help from a counselor. Minister of Education Patrick Faber says he supports the school’s administration in making available to the minor the […]
The wholesale distribution of pornographic images over the weekend on social media has raised the issue of cyber bullying and the urgent need for legislation to be passed to combat the malicious spread of damaging material. Those laws have been long in the making, despite the constant flood of lewd and sexually explicit material being […]
While the Attorney General is looking at ways to combat cyber bullying through the passage of legislation, Minister of Education Patrick Faber says it is equally important to discourage the production and sharing of pornographic images. The Deputy Prime Minister supports all initiatives to help the teenage minor through this difficult ordeal. Patrick Faber, […]
A thirty-eight page document presented as a Joint Legal Opinion on the legitimacy of the Special Agreement signed between Belize and Guatemala in 2008 has been put forward by a trio of venerable attorneys. Kareem Musa, Anthony Sylvestre and Richard ‘Dickie’ Bradley have examined the validity of the Compromis through their legal lens and have […]
According to Senior Counsel Shoman, the 1859 Treaty serves as somewhat of a default setting and says that the argument in the Joint Legal Opinion is premature and flawed. Lisa Shoman, Attorney/Former Foreign Minister “One thing they have not considered is that Schedule One absolutely and completely references the 1859 Treaty at 1A. So […]
Despite its imminence, there are those who argue that the I.C.J. referendum is not binding and it’s merely a consultative process. One of the final cases heard before the Privy Council prior to Belize adopting the Caribbean Court of Justice as its final appellate jurisdiction, was the Vellos case where the idea of the binding […]
Turning to glut in potato supply in the country.… The Chief Agriculture Officer, Andrew Harrison says that Belizeans consume over three point five million pounds of potato annually; one hundred thousand pounds weekly. And the production of red potatoes is more than consumption. P.U.P. area rep and shadow agriculture minister, Jose Abelardo Mai, has a […]
But the question remains…. will farmers be left once again with rotting potatoes in the fields due to the glut on the market? Agriculture Minister Godwin Hulse says that it is an issue that they are grappling with because the market in Belize is small. Godwin Hulse, Minister of Agriculture “That is an issue […]
On Monday, the People’s United Party picketed the Vital Stats Office in downtown Belize City, criticizing the government department for the many hiccups and hurdles in accessing its services. The unit remains under heavy scrutiny particularly by the Opposition as supporters go through the re-registration process ahead of the April tenth referendum. In the wake […]
Kenrick Longsworth, the son of Lavern “Antichrist” Longsworth, was today committed to stand trial at Supreme Court for the attempted murder of Kadeem Myers, who was shot on the eve of the 2018 elections. His preliminary inquiry before Senior Magistrate Aretha Ford ended with the committal after prosecutor, Sergeant Macedonio Sanchez presented as many as […]
Two cops have also been committed to stand trial for extortion of five thousand dollars from a mother and son duo. Corporal Marvin Salam and Constable Anthony Blair are accused of shaking down a student and his mom for money almost two years ago in July 2017. Allegations are that on July fifteenth, 2017, the […]
The local sugar industry is transitioning from a raw sugar producer to a manufacturer of direct consumption sugar. It’s a move that American Sugar Refinery, started almost two years ago in anticipation of the change in the E.U. Sugar Regime in respect of preferential prices for the Caribbean, including Belize. The industry is one of […]
The millers and the government have been working feverishly to lobby CARICOM to allow preferential pricing for direct consumption sugars in the Caribbean. As it currently stands, Belize, Jamaica and Guyana are sugar producing countries, but member states continue to import refined white sugar from outside the region. Because of the current world prices, the […]
Stake Bank Cruise Port is one step closer to becoming a reality, following a groundbreaking ceremony this morning for the construction of a premier docking facility for cruise ships in Belize City. The twenty-five acre island on which the facility will be built will feature tendering, shopping, cultural attractions and beaches. It also promises to […]
Cacao farmers in Trio Village are living the negative effects of illegal cattle ranching and farming due to the lack of action by the Lands Department. Ya’axche Conservation Trust, which co-manages the Maya Mountain North Forest Reserve in Toledo, has been expressing concerns to the Lands Department which holds authority over more than three thousand […]
It has been three years since the Ya’axche Conservation Trust has been attempting to get the attention of the Lands Department to address the serious issues plaguing the Trio Farmers Cacao Growers Association. According to its executive director, the illegal activities near the reserve have been threatening their livelihood. Christina Garcia says that they have […]
The Ministry of Health unveiled a human resources health strategic plan. The plan is to ensure that there is equitable distribution of appropriately and skilled workers in the health sector. The need to focus on the human resources is to offer stronger support to achieve health outcomes in Belize – and by extension help to […]
Today the National Climate Change Office held a workshop in Belmopan to look at Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Assessment with their stakeholders. The objective is to help the country conduct a national assessment of the impact of different technologies and practices that affect gas emissions. Stakeholder partners included representatives from the energy, forestry, transport, agriculture and […]
