High Schools normally close in May followed by primary schools in June for the summer break. But COVID-19 has disrupted every facet of life. The Ministry of Education today announced via webcast, a series of measures that will apply for the rest of the school year. Now classes were initially suspended in March and scheduled […]
The last confirmed cases of COVID-19 were last week Monday and it is now seven days since the Ministry of Health has not reported a case relating either to community spread or imported cases. Even as no new cases are confirmed, there are sixty-six cases still under investigation so we are not yet out of […]
Ulysease Roca, a twenty-five-year-old fashion designer, was found dead inside his house in Willows Bank, Belize District on Sunday. Roca’s death is under investigation because of the circumstances. Roca was gay and an HIV patient, two issues that made him a target for threats and bullying. Just before his demise, he posted on social media […]
Ulysease Roca was a fashion designer who suffered from cyber-bullying for being a member of the LGBTI community and for being HIV positive. In a recent post on his social media page, Ulysease questioned his ill-treatment by officers as well as his purpose in life. This was in response to a widely circulated video which […]
The family claims that Roca was denied access to medical assistance due to his HIV status, saying that a post-mortem was initially refused because of that. Caleb Orosco, the Executive Director of the United Belize Advocacy Movement, also known as UNIBAM, says that the ordeal that Roca endured in the days leading up to his […]
Just recently, three cops coerced a man to have sex with a mentally challenged woman. That despicable act was recorded on cell phone by one of the rogue cops and released; the trio was charged. The investigation into the death of Ulysease Roca also identifies breaches in policy in the Police Department as it relates […]
Last Thursday evening one hundred and thirty-seven gang members were released from the Belize Central Prison. The men were sent to prison for one month following a series of killings and shootings over the span of forty-eight hours. As you’ll recall, police quickly declared a state of emergency which targeted eight crime-ridden and gang controlled […]
But while the released gang members appear to be keeping the peace, their release from prison has put an added pressure on the Belize Police Department during the State of Emergency. Commissioner Chester Williams says, however, that while it stretches the police resources, the officers have stepped up to the challenge. Chester Williams, Commissioner […]
Police have detained Belize City resident, Roderick Wade who uses the alias, Tape Boss. Not too long ago, the photographer was on social media claiming he had a raped a female. That video went viral and its content was met with widespread condemnation. Reports are that police have Wade in detention and that his house […]
A new budget for the 2020 fiscal calendar came into effect at the beginning of April, but with the fluid economic situation involving COVID-19, there are concerns as to whether government will be able to meet teachers’ salaries in the months ahead. When asked for assurances to that end earlier today, Minister of Education Patrick […]
The fiscal allowance for education is the second largest area for recurrent expenditure for government, after the Ministry of Finance. Given the dire state of the local economy amid the coronavirus crisis, it is expected that budgets for all government ministries will be cut. Education, however, remains a key priority and, according to Minister Faber, […]
Ending the school year with home-based learning is a historic first for the education sector when traditionally the months of May and June are reserved for examinations. Whereas BJAT, P.S.E. and CXCs are held in those months, this year those papers have been waived. But what will teachers be doing during this extended period away […]
On Friday, police officers shut down pantry programmes across Belize City. It has been reported that cops were telling pantry recipients to go home and that didn’t go over well with citizens who had been waiting in lines for hours to get their grocery items. The Minister of Human Development, Anthony “Boots” Martinez was not […]
Over one hundred persons breached the curfew law over the weekend but it did not include minors. On Friday evening, the new curfew regulations for persons sixteen-years-old and younger came into effect. That new law states that these persons must be in their homes by four p.m. everyday and cannot be found in public alone […]
On Saturday morning, dozens of passengers destined for other parts of the country arrived by sea at the San Pedro Belize Water Taxi Terminal. Many of them had been trapped on Ambergris Caye at the time when the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was announced on March twenty-third. The weekend arrival of two vessels saw […]
There was an unprecedented event today in the international markets that should have some bearing for Belize. The coronavirus pandemic caused oil demand to drop so rapidly that producers have no space to store the crude oil. With most of the world in lockdown and air and other travel on halt, use of oil is […]
In other news of a financial nature, Belize’s ratings on Standards and Poor, have taken a hit. The agency has lowered the credit ratings from a “B” negative to a “C.C.C.’’ all due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As you know the tourism industry has come to a screeching halt with airline and […]
Last week, we reported on the impasse between the chairman of the Bullet Tree Village and Livestock Producers who export informally to Guatemala. The Chairman, Sabino Pinelo, held a meeting of the COVID-19 Task Force on Agriculture Committee that farmers cannot expect to traverse through the village if they did not pay a toll. As […]
As you know, there are a number of food programmes for persons who have, in some way, been impacted by COVID-19. Some of these programmes have run into hurdles due to issues relating to social distancing and overcrowding. In respect of the Unemployment Relief Programme, so far a total of seventy-two thousand two hundred plus […]
Commissioner of Police Chester Williams says that 7News didn’t break any laws with their Facebook post over the weekend. The media house posted that they received credible reports that a man from Corozal was at the K.H.M.H. showing symptoms consistent with COVID-19. The post went on to say that that the patient was in respiratory […]
Here is an update on the Lord Ashcroft Relief Fund of ten million dollars. The most recent donation is for five hundred thousand dollars, which was made to the Belize Red Cross. So far, we can report that the Fund has dispersed three point seven five million dollars, which includes two point four million dollars […]
More than one hundred fires were recorded on a single day in Belize last week posing serious risks to human health and the wider environment. Air quality measurement tools showed that the air recorded in Belmopan on Friday morning wasn’t suitable for breathing. The western parts of the country have recorded heavy smoke that has […]
