A spike in gun violence has shattered the calm and peace that Punta Gorda is known for, following a heinous double homicide on Monday evening. Oscar Humes and Kevin Moro were lifelong friends, growing up together in town. They were at a residence on Main Street sometime before seven p.m. when a gunman entered the […]
Police in Punta Gorda Town remain on high alert tonight and additional manpower has been sent in to quell what has been an escalation of gun violence over the past twenty-four hours. Deputy Commissioner of Police Edward Broaster was on the ground today surveying a situation that has seen the operational deployment of officers from […]
There were signs that a wave of violence was sweeping through the district. Even before the double murders there were two shootings in Toledo. Police say the first incident happened overnight on Sunday in Colombia Village and two persons were injured in what appears to be a family related dispute. The second incident took place […]
There is another murder victim. Twenty-two-year-old Edward Conorquie succumbed to gunshot injuries today. He was receiving medical attention at the K.H.M.H. after he was shot in the head and back over the weekend. Conorquie, who is originally from Belize City, was found on the roadside of the Southern Highway, near Independence Village in the Stann […]
As his deputy was in the south, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams was in Belmopan where he spoke about the growing gang-related violence in Punta Gorda. He says that that the department will do everything within its power to curb this issue because if they don’t act fast and consistently, it will be hard to […]
The commissioner also told the media that they will be coming down hard on the criminals – not just to apprehend them, but to make sure that they are held accountable for their actions. Williams says that while they will be doing a clean out of the criminals, they will also flush out those dirty […]
The situation in Punta Gorda begs the question whether criminal elements are being brought in from out of town for use as hired guns. The notion arose in the wake of the shooting death of Jordy Flores a few weeks ago. It has come up once again in light of Monday night’s bloodbath. Earlier today, […]
The Belize Council of Churches has come out in favour of going to the International Court of Justice and is offering prayers for a settlement of the dispute. After carefully examining the evidence, and the pros and cons, the Council issued a statement saying that “a favourable vote on April tenth, 2019 to submit the […]
So while the churches are in the yes corner, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize says its membership is free to exercise a conscious vote. The N.T.U.C.B. has been holding discussions with its wider membership involving the other unions. Today, President Marvin Mora told News Five about why they took that position. With the […]
But when it comes to his personal decision, Mora says he leaning toward a no. He’s been acquainting himself with past rulings by The Hague on similar cases of territorial disputes. Here’s how he put it. Marvin Mora, President, N.T.U.C.B. “I have not been able to arrive at a decision. I have more leads […]
The pump price for diesel fuel is set to increase at midnight on Wednesday. It will go up by thirty-three cents, from nine dollars and ninety-seven cents to ten dollars and thirty cents per gallon. Kerosene will also see an increase of twenty-nine cents, from seven dollars and forty-five cents to seven dollars and seventy-four […]
Corporal punished has been banned from schools for more than a decade. In 2017, Minister of Education Patrick Faber told the media that corporal punishment in schools will not be allowed. Minister Faber also said that “if at the end of the day it is found that in fact corporal punishment was utilized by a […]
A preliminary inquiry ended today in the murder case against Orlando Salazar, who was charged jointly with Joel Choco for the killing of Windell Neal. The court withdrew the charge against Salazar and he was free to go. The evidence of the prosecution was challenged back in October of 2018 when the P.I. started before […]
Two city youth were arraigned in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court on six criminal and indictable offenses. Twenty-one year-old Mark August and eighteen-year-old Avery Bain were read the criminal and indictable offenses including abetment to murder, conspiracy to murder and attempted murder. Allegations are that on February twenty-third, 2019, gunmen opened fire at two brothers: […]
Last week we told you that police recovered about one thousand rounds of ammunition and that five hundred more remain on the streets. The ammo is a part of the stash of weapons stolen from arms dealer Victor L Bryant. The police had major concerns about the storage of these weapons and they have been […]
There are forty-three days left before the April tenth I.C.J. referendum and logistics are still being worked out. The Elections and Boundaries Department is still carrying out preparations for what will be a historic day. According to the department, in an effort to ensure the integrity of the referendum, it is extending an invitation to […]
While on Open Your Eyes, Tamai and Singh responded to concerns regarding the Vital Statistics Unit. As we have been reporting, many electors are complaining that they are being disenfranchised from re-registering because Vital Stats does not have birth certificates for them. According to Tamai a little over two thousand five hundred persons have not […]
Concerns regarding the daily operations at the Vital Statistics Unit have been mounting for years. Those who have visited the Unit go through a hellish and frustrating experience. Today, the experience may have intensified for some after the system at Vital Stats crashed. A release says, “the Management of the Vital Statistics Unit informs the […]
On Monday we reported about thirty-one-year-old William Vasquez who was killed while working on a construction site on the Chial Road. Reports are that Vasquez accidentally made contact with a high voltage wire and was electrocuted, but there are allegations that there is some negligence on the work-site that led to his death. Today we […]
In other news…A reform in the trade license fee is expected to be rolled out across the country in 2020. The legislation has been completed and according to Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner, it has the full support of all municipalities. Mayor Wagner says that businesses of all types will benefit from the reform. […]
Next Tuesday at eight p.m., Channel Five will be launching “Mapping the Guatemalan Claim: a News Five Flashback.” The series will run through to the April tenth referendum and is part of our coverage of this historic event. As Belize prepares for the referendum, Channel Five is producing a limited season retrospective of our news […]
On Friday night at the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts, well-known anthropologist Doctor Herbert Gayle delivered a public lecture entitled Failure of Suppression. Breaking down crime and violence into dollars and “sense,” Doctor Gayle spoke of how the system has failed to reduce crime nationally and regionally and looks at ten basics for a […]
According to Doctor Gayle, the region has only one violence reduction success and that is through the concept of community policing. He is of the belief that hard-line policing is failing the region. It is best to focus on education for boys, empowerment for girls and community-based initiatives tied with violence interruption groups. Dr. […]
