Important Note: This Internet version of 7 News is a verbatum
transcript of our evening television news script. Many interviews on our newscast
are conducted in Creole. In the interest of clarity for our foreign readers,
we attempt to paraphrase the Creole quotes in English
TIDE rangers and Coast Guard personnel were engaged on a high seas pursuit yesterday morning that resulted in gunshots being fired at them from a Guatemalan vessel. It happened while they were patrolling the Hunting Caye area and came upon a foreign vessel in Belize's waters. No one was injured, or in extreme danger, but according to the Commandant of the Coast Guard, it's the most aggressive encounter they've experienced. He told us what happened via telephone.
Admiral Elton Bennett, Commandant, Belize Coast Guard "Sometime yesterday morning, the Coast Guard launched an operation from Hunting Caye, all the way from Hunting Caye towards Sarstoon. During that patrol, it's a sovereignty patrol to ensure that we maintain territorial integrity of our sea space, we came across some gillnets near the Corona Reef area, the patrol actually recovered 8 gillnets measuring I think a total of about 600ft. Once we were recovering those gillnets, we spotted what appeared to be Guatemalan fishing vessels in the area. We later saw a vessel from TIDE that was stationed out hunting caye arrived on the scene. So we placed two personnels, two Coast guard protocols onboard the vessel that was operating from tide. In order to cover as much area as we could have to recover those gill nets and to deter any of those illegal fishing folks from coming across into sea spaces, so the two vessels split in order to cover as much ground. The vessel that belonged to TIDE that had two coastguard personnel on board were, they were pursuing, what appeared to be a Guatemalan fishing vessel that was inside Belizean sea space. So while they were recovering these gillnets, this Guatemalan fishing vessel came towards their direction and then eventually sped off and sped away. That TIDE vessel, which was a joint operation between Coast Guard and TIDE pursued the vessel to the extent of our sea spaces and as soon as we reached the limits of our sea spaces that patrol stopped in order to, not to enter into Guatemalan waters. It was at that point the Guatemalan vessel reportedly fired two shots apparently in the not directly at the coast Guard patrol, not within a range that would be able to directly impact our vessel. So our vessel did not pursue that Guatemalan vessel any further."
Courtney Menzies: "Are you concerned that these persons may return or that other vessels may have the same idea?"
Admiral Elton Bennett, Commandant, Belize Coast Guard "They will, there's a reason why the Coast Guard patrols that area. There's a reason why TIDE is interested in that area as well. So will they return? Of course they will. Will the Guatemalan Navy come by at some point? Yes they will. But we have a responsibility to ensure that we patrol our sea spaces and we will come across these illegal vessels in our sea spaces and we will have to address those."
And according to the executive director at TIDE, Leonardo Chavarria Jr, it's not unusual to find gill nets and illegal fishers in that area around this time of year. But he said it's likely that they will have to increase the safety of their rangers. He spoke to us via Zoom.
Leonardo Chavarria Jr., Executive Director, TIDE "What happened is that this area of Cayman Crown Reef is a hot spot for this type of activity. It involves a lot of illegal fishing and the use of illegal fishing gear especially around this time which we know is the fish spawning aggregation season, which begins in December and runs all through to June every year. So this is the time when these species are reproducing and they capitalize on this by setting these gill nets and these illicit destructive fishing gears so we ramp up our patrols also and hence the reason why during this time we normally encounter this type of activity. This has happened before but it has not, well from the time TIDE has assumed co-management, it has not reached to the point where shots have been fired like this so it shows that it is a dangerous situation as these gill nets could run anywhere from $800 and above for one gill net so yesterday we pulled up 9 gill nets and more were still left in the water and we had to return today to remove more gill nets that were in that area."
"Certainly we probably at some point will have to consider arming our rangers. In terms of asking for additional Coast Guard personnel I think that the collaboration so far has been exceptional. If we want that, it wouldn't be hard to get that as they have always been really available and ready to conduct patrols basically every time we call."
Bennett says the Coast Guard will continue to support TIDE in its patrols but doesn't see the need to crowd the TIDE vessels with officers.
The two factions of the UDP may be locked in a battle before the court - but that hasn't stopped Barrow from assembling a ragtag slate of 31 candidates for the upcoming election.
For the past two days Barrow has been posting pictures of his meetings with candidates in the West, the South and now the Eastern region.
And that lineup includes candidates for three of the four seats the UDP currently holds in the city: Collett, Albert, and Queen's Square. This makes it formal that Barrow intends to challenge Tracy Panton, Patrick Faber and Godwin Haylock.
And while the candidates and their divisions are not named in his captions - and they are also not known political personalities - reports are that Jose Uc Espat will be Shyne's candidate in Albert, while Shane Williams may be the candidate for Queen's Square - he had tried to be the candidate last year and lost in a convention to Godwin Haylock. It is unclear who Barrow plans to run in Collett against Patrick Faber.
These assignments are expected to be clarified when Barrow holds a press briefing tomorrow.
And while Shyne hopes to field 31 candidates - even if the vast majority of them are political unknowns and unelectable - Tracy Panton plans to field 18, at least including some known names like Faber, Saldivar, Beverly Williams, Omar Figueroa, Elodio Aragon, and maybe even Lee Mark Chang.
And this is why mediation is not likely to succeed. Both sides have indicated to the court they would be willing to accept mediation - but the prospects of success appear form the outside to be almost nil.
Shyne Barrow's attorney yesterday told us about as much:
Dr Christopher Malcom, Shyne Barrow's Attorney "If you're talking about mediation where somebody is not even prepared to honor an order of the court to act by compliance to, how do you establish an atmosphere for mediation that anyone can be comfortable in?"
"Mediation arises where parties are going into an environment where there's comfort and there's an understanding that the process will have some integrity."
We'll let you know if and when mediators are named...
In February of 2024, Acting Police Corporal Durman Dawson was caught on camera at the San Ignacio Police Station emerging from behind the counter and then sexually assaulting a woman constable by grabbing her from behind and fondling her breasts - in plain view of other officers and the station surveillance cameras. When she fought to remove his hand, and slapped him in the face, Dawson then struck the constable across her head. She spun to confront him - and he raised his hand to slap her again. That's when other officers patiently intervened and sent him about his business. Dawson was charged with 1 count of harm and 1 count of sexual assault - and here's what the Commissioner's reaction was at the time:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Jules, if you would sit in my conference, you would know what my reaction was when I saw that. I found that video to be extremely disgusting and troubling. And right away upon seeing it, I gave directive that the police corporal, be arrested and charged and interdicted from duty."
"And my exact words were this, I'm going to tell you. I'm just going to remove the profanities. That we are in an organisation where men believe that this is a man's job. We have gone beyond that now. This is no longer a man's job. It is a job for both men and women. And as male or as men in this organisation, we must respect our women counterparts."
Jules Vasquez "Is he fit to continue in a police department?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "That will be a decision to be made by the tribunal when they hear the matter or if he's convicted by in the courts, certainly he will have to go."
And, the Tribunal has decided. As of December 20th, Truman Dawson was dismissed from The Belize Police Department for "Prejudice to Good order and Discipline", "Striking a member of the Belize Police Department" and "Engaging in conduct which is determined by the Commissioner of Police to be of a major consequence".
Dawson has 21 days to appeal. And he also still has a pending criminal charges of harm and sexual assault - and the trial for that begins next week.
Last night we told you about a proposal made to the Belize Port Authority by a Panamanian gaming firm for a 1.3 million US dollar management system. As we told you, our information is that it came out of the blue, meaning it was not solicited. But, reports. Tell us it went all the way up to the board level for consideration - and lack of enthusiasm for the proposal may have factored into the Chairman Major Lloyd Jones not being renewed for another term.
Well, the Port authority responded with a release yesterday evening saying, quote, "as part of our commitment to continuous improvement and in preparation for the upcoming IMO Member State Audit in November 2025, we have embarked on enhancing our operations through several modernization initiatives."
The release adds, "While the BPA has been in communication with other entities for further enhancement through modernization, we have not entered into any contractual arrangements with any other entity for the completion of its modernization plan." End quote.
So, no contract has been signed but we're yet to hear that the 1.3million US dollar proposal floated by "Jota Efe" has been rejected. We'll keep following it.
In other Port Authority news, yesterday you heard from the Ports Commissioner about the reasons they are implementing a $1 increase on their user fees. He says it was the original cost, but that COVID made them put it at $2 instead. He added that the increase will go towards additional safety services that the Belize Port Authority provides.
But the chairman of Caribbean Sprinter isn't buying the story. In a plainspoken interview, he says that the BPA has never provided the services that the Commissioner claims they do, and that he believes the price increase is nothing but a cash grab that actually contravenes the law.
Todd Martin Stefaniak spoke to us via Zoom today and Courtney Menzies has this story.
Effective January 1st, the Belize Port Authority announced that it would be increasing port user fees from two to three dollars. It's a fee passed on by the water taxi operators so it increases fares, but the chairman of Caribbean Sprinter says it's not exactly being handled according to the law.
Todd Martin Stefaniak, Chairman, Caribbean Sprinter "The user fee was originally put into legislation in two out in 2019, and at that time the fee was $1. They started collecting or implementing the collection of that fee in August of 2020 during Covid. So a brand new fee whenever the country's got Covid coming around. In 2022, there was an SI that did raise the port fee to $3, and then they internally decided to charge $2. The court's still out on whether or not that's legal for the port Authority commissioner or board to contradict law. The other problem is that they're billing the operators each way. So they were billing the operators $2 to go and $2 to come back. The way the statute is written is it's per fare. So if you buy a round trip fare, you're supposed to pay the user fee, which is $2. Now they're taking it to $3. And I fear that we're going to start seeing billing for $3 there and $3 back, making the total user fee for a round trip ticket to be $6, which is very considerable."
But for Caribbean Sprinter users, even with the increase in the fee, they won't see any price changes since that operator has kept to the original SI and has been charging the $3 port fee for the entire roundtrip. They've even taken the matter to court, so until a ruling is given, they won't be changing that.
And the justification for the increase in the port fees is that BPA will use that money to provide additional services. However, Stefaniak is skeptical.
Todd Martin Stefaniak, Chairman, Caribbean Sprinter "I've been trying to figure out what the port fees were used for since the original implementation at $1. I can't figure it out. And it got to the point where I actually filed a FOIA request in April of 2023, not really not receiving any response, floating that to the ombudsman's office and not receiving a response there either. So the use of these port fees, as it was articulated yesterday or earlier today, being used for navigational aids, once exiting Belize City, there's not a single navigational aid between Belize City and San Pedro. These lights that he spoke of, I don't know where they're at. If they exist, they must be burned out because I don't see them. They also said that user fees were used to monitor the safety of boats. Every year we have to register our boats where they undergo an inspections every year. We then have in April, we have to pay water taxi license fees, at which time a survey is done by an independent surveyor. And I believe that the Port Authority comes out. But as far as them providing routine checks, that's a farce."
He added that he doesn't think that user fee should fall on locals on a whole, and that's it's basically a cash grab.
Todd Martin Stefaniak, Chairman, Caribbean Sprinter "I think the fact that local residents in the first place have to bear a user fee, it seems like that should be pushed more by the transient population where we could increase that fee significantly, still obtain the same revenue, but take the burden off of the local residents. And local residents are very, you know, price sensitive. The economy has not returned, as I think Kaylonsaid in his letter. So it's just harder for everyone. Every time the government throws in another fee, another cash grab, then the people suffer."
"I mean, you have to remember, they're also making as it relates to the water taxi business, they're already making thousands of dollars every year on boat registrations. They're already making thousands of dollars every year for a separate license for the for the water taxi. You know, and that's based on per boat. Until there's some sort of justification as to where these tens of thousands of dollars a month and user fees go, I don't believe there's much going on behind the scenes, which has been reported earlier that the public doesn't see what the Port Authority does. I don't see the user fees being used to improve water taxi services. I think, you know, at the hand of the Port Authority, because we run out of our own private terminals, burning our own private gas, going to our own private terminals that we pay for and maintain."
"I just feel that this is a cash grab, just like the new Marina act, which is something that's been put into law to tax every single dock over water in the country. Not just commercial operators, but private ones as well."
And he says that the Panamanian Port Proposal -while it hasn't been signed - make shim question if Port funds are being put to optimal use:
Courtney Menzies: "When you see proposals like this, are you concerned that in fact, it justifies your dim view of the machinations behind these fees that the port is collecting?"
Todd Martin Stefaniak, Chairman, Caribbean Sprinter "I do and and I want to reiterate something. The user fee that we collect doesn't impact me at all. So whether it's $2 or $1 or $3, 100% of those moneys go to the Port Authority. In fact, I end up paying money to collect that money for the Port Authority in terms of credit card merchant processing fees. So whether the port, the user fee is $100 or it's $1, that doesn't impact us operationally at all, other than collecting that money to then turn over 100% of to the Port Authority. The question about the, you know, $1.3 million thing that fell out of the sky. I think what I would say to that is, I read a comment, somebody made a really good Facebook comment, on your article about it that said, like, why wouldn't we just find people into Belize to implement these things instead of going to an anonymous corporation structured in Panama?"
But is this just the rantings of a foreign investor who wants to conduct tax-free business? We asked him.
Jules Vasquez: "But how do you answer the criticism that oftentimes investors just want to enrich their bottom line, optimize for commercial advantage, and create the most freewheeling regulatory environment in order to optimize profits? Are you one of those?"
Todd Martin Stefaniak, Chairman, Caribbean Sprinter "No, I'm really not. I mean, I lived in Belize for a little over six years before Covid hit and there were talks of lockdowns. Our organization employs 50 or so people that we provide 100% health care and life insurance to at no cost to them. So it's with sprinter. It's not the dollar first. We have, we support 50 families. You know, above the poverty line."
And while the price on water taxi fares is one thing - prices on items at the grocery are far more urgent. And the Supplies Control Unit has sent out another list of stores found to be violating price regulations. A total of 152 stores across the country have been ticketed for price violations - some of them more than once. In Corozal, there were 12, in Orange Walk, 15, in Cayo there were 28, in Belize City there were 39, 6 in Caye Caulker, 28 in San Pedro, 18 in. Stann Creek and 6 in Toledo. Most of the violations were for Offering Products For Sale Above the Control Price or for Failure To Display Price for a Controlled Good.
We note that San Pedro, while just a town, had more violator reports than the Stann Creek and Toledo Districts combined.
A release says the Supplies Control Unit is engaging NEMO San Pedro to train designated persons to identify violations and issue tickets, especially in times of emergency. The Belmopan City Council will also report violators to the Trade Licensing Board and identify means of facilitating residents with filing complaints.
And if you see price violators, you can REPORT them TO phone number, 607 4686.
He was first reported missing by his girlfriend on Sunday January 5th, who claims that when she arrived home after an overnight trip, 36 year old Mason Patnett was nowhere to be found. Most troubling is the fact that the front door of her house was opened, the air-condition in her bedroom was on but Patnett was nowhere to be found. She made several attempts to contact him but the calls went to voicemail. Police reviewed a Surveillance camera within the area but nothing unusual was seen or observed. No forced entry was observed.
Those with any information regarding his whereabouts are urged to contact the police at 922 or 6114270.
Clarita Pech will be the first woman clerk of the National Assembly of Belize.
Pech has been with the National Assembly for over 25 years and is both experienced and well trained in Parliamentary procedures. She will continue to oversee the day to day operations of the National Assembly of Belize. She will also continue her role as the accounting officer for the offices of the contractor general, the ombudsman and the integrity commission. She has been acting as Clerk since her predecessor Edie Webster retired in June. Speaker of the House Vlqaries woods told us, quote, "(Pech) has been giving invaluable guidance to all members of the National Assembly for several years. Her continued service to the parliament and country is exemplary and commendable."end quote.
And Woods also commenced her second week of chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer and on her socials she posted this bold image, with the caption "Warrior Mode. We doing this". As she concludes week two of Chemo, we continue to support her through this journey.
The senior courts of Belize have issued the first ever sentencing guidelines For Belize. These sentencing guidelines are expected to promote consistency, transparency, and fairness in sentencing practices across the criminal justice system. To gain a better idea as to how these new guidelines will impact the work within the criminal justice system we spoke with defense attorney Bryan Neal. He gave us an example as to how it will work.
Bryan Neal, Attorney "I must commend the Chief justice and the other justices and other lawyers other stakeholders who participated in the exercise. This came out of what is called the Needhams points proposal which across the Caribbean we are trying to improve the administration of justice and I think this is one tool that will assist lawyers and the courts in improving the way guilty people are sentenced."
"I think it was a quite unfair process in the sense that what the courts would do if you are convicted let us say of Manslaughter they will look at different cases in which people were convicted of manslaughter and based on those sentences they would come to a sentence in a particular case but what the new guidelines have done now is to let the lawyers and the courts focus on the actual person who has been convicted to see if there is any special circumstances that the person maybe he is a good person or a good father a good grand son you take that into consideration and also you look at the actual offense that he committed. What that will do now is we've seen recently where one person like Mr Selgado was sentenced for a crime where no one died and he was given ten years and then you have Ms Hartin who was convicted and sentenced for a crime where a senior police officer died and was given a fine. What this will do now is to rationalize the process so that there is equality in sentencing from all judges so we won't have that kind of anomaly in the system again."
The Sentencing Guidelines were developed as part of the Senior Courts of Belize's Three-Year Strategic Plan, in line with the Needham's Point Declaration on Criminal Justice Reform and the Criminal Justice Board.
On October 4th 2024, Channel 7 made a report about a finding of the General Legal Council against attorney Michel Chebat. The article stated that there was a 2019 default judgement entered against a client whose case was being handled by Nazira Uc Myles - who later left the firm.
Our story failed to state clearly that the default judgement was entered after Mrs Myles left the firm in 2018, and, quote, "It does not appear that any attorney was assigned to the Complainants' case after" she did.
The council found it was Chebat's duty to assist his clients, particularly after Myles left the firm.
The decision of the General Legal Council did not in any way find or allude to any omission in Mrs. Myles professional conduct, which she had fully satisfied up to her departure from the firm in 2018.
We apologize for the omission and for any distress it may have caused Ms Myles.
There is some relief for cattle farmers who were affected by floods after the tropical storms in November.
The government of Taiwan handed over a donation of $100 thousand US dollars to fund a project spearheaded by NEMO and The Belize Livestock Producers' Association to assist cattle farmers in the Belize River Valley and Crooked Tree area impacted by Tropical Storm Sara.
The project seeks to provide both immediate relief and long-term solutions to cattle farmers who sustained significant losses by The flooding caused by Tropical Storm Sara in November 2024. Here are the highlights from the ceremony,
Amalia Mai, CEO, Foreign Affairs "This generous recovery assistance contribution of US100K comes at a very critical time. It's an important initiative and it is aimed at enhancing the resilience of cattle farmers in the Belize river valley and Crooked Tree. The Belize livestock producers association continues to actively monitor and evaluate the challenges faced by our farmers in these areas. Today's donation is a respond to those efforts. For us here at the ministry of foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade we view this donation as far more than just financial support. It is a symbol of the strong partnerships and shared values that our two nations have nurtured over the years. A partnership rooted in mutual respect cooperation and a steadfast dedication to uplifting our communities in times of need. As we embark on this journey to recovery the contribution will undoubtedly play a vital role in restoring our agricultural resilience. It will help our farmers who are the backbone of our economy to rebuild and recover from this setback from the storm."
Daniel Mendez, NEMO Coordinator "So the flooding has caused significant damage to pastures leaving animals without feed and causing a great deal of live stock lost for the farmers in these communities and we know that this is a source of their livelihoods. So today we take and important step forward with this project which addresses both the immediate needs of our farmers and building long term resilience. Phase one of this project will address the urgent need of farmers by providing silage and millfeed to ensure that livestock can survive and thrive in the short term. Looking at phase two the focus will be on establishing water resistant pastures and building the capacity of farmers in advanced techniques for silage production, veterinary care and pasture management. given this recovery and emergency assistance we are empowering our farmers with the tools and knowledge to withstand and manage future natural hazards ensuring they are better prepared."
H.E Lily-Wen Hsu, Ambassador of Taiwan to Belize "I am pleased that this contribution will be used to enhance the resilience of cattle farmers in the flood affected areas in the Belize river valley and in crooked tree. By providing immediate assistance and also addressing future needs. We know how important the cattle industry is in Belize's agribusiness and in the nations of our economic development."
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TIDE rangers and Coast Guard personnel were engaged on a high seas pursuit yesterday morning that resulted in gunshots being fired at them from a Guatemalan vessel. It happened while they were patrolling the Hunting Caye area and came upon a foreign vessel in Belize's waters. No one was injured, or in extreme danger, but according to the Commandant of the Coast Guard, it's the most aggressive encounter they've experienced. He told us what happened via telephone.
onboard the vessel that was operating from tide. In order to cover as much area as we could have to recover those gill nets and to deter any of those illegal fishing folks from coming across into sea spaces, so the two vessels split in order to cover as much ground. The vessel that belonged to TIDE that had two coastguard personnel on board were, they were pursuing, what appeared to be a Guatemalan fishing vessel that was inside Belizean sea space. So while they were recovering these gillnets, this Guatemalan fishing vessel came towards their direction and then eventually sped off and sped away. That TIDE vessel, which was a joint operation between Coast Guard and TIDE pursued the vessel to the extent of our sea spaces and as soon as we reached the limits of our sea spaces that patrol stopped in order to, not to enter into Guatemalan waters. It was at that point the Guatemalan vessel reportedly fired two shots apparently in the not directly at the coast Guard patrol, not within a range that would be able to directly impact our vessel. So our vessel did not pursue that Guatemalan vessel any further."
"What happened is that this area of Cayman Crown Reef is a hot spot for this type of activity. It involves a lot of illegal fishing and the use of illegal fishing gear especially around this time which we know is the fish spawning aggregation season, which begins in December and runs all through to June every year. So this is the time when these species are reproducing and they capitalize on this by setting these gill nets and these illicit destructive fishing gears so we ramp up our patrols also and hence the reason why during this time we normally encounter this type of activity. This has happened before but it has not, well from the time TIDE has assumed co-management, it has not reached to the point where shots have been fired like this so it shows that it is a dangerous situation as these gill nets could run anywhere from $800 and above for one gill net so yesterday we pulled up 9 gill nets and more were still left in the water and we had to return today to remove more gill nets that were in that area."
The two factions of the UDP may be locked in a battle before the court - but that hasn't stopped Barrow from assembling a ragtag slate of 31 candidates for the upcoming election.
And while Shyne hopes to field 31 candidates - even if the vast majority of them are political unknowns and unelectable - Tracy Panton plans to field 18, at least including some known names like Faber, Saldivar, Beverly Williams, Omar Figueroa, Elodio Aragon, and maybe even Lee Mark Chang.
"If you're talking about mediation where somebody is not even prepared to honor an order of the court to act by compliance to, how do you establish an atmosphere for mediation that anyone can be comfortable in?"
In February of 2024, Acting Police Corporal Durman Dawson was caught on camera at the San Ignacio Police Station emerging from behind the counter and then sexually assaulting a woman constable by grabbing her from behind and fondling her breasts - in plain view of other officers and the station surveillance cameras. When she fought to remove his hand, and slapped him in the face, Dawson then struck the constable across her head. She spun to confront him - and he raised his hand to slap her again. That's when other officers patiently intervened and sent him about his business. Dawson was charged with 1 count of harm and 1 count of sexual assault - and here's what the Commissioner's reaction was at the time:
"Jules, if you would sit in my conference, you would know what my reaction was when I saw that. I found that video to be extremely disgusting and troubling. And right away upon seeing it, I gave directive that the police corporal, be arrested and charged and interdicted from duty."
Last night we told you about a proposal made to the Belize Port Authority by a Panamanian gaming firm for a 1.3 million US dollar management system. As we told you, our information is that it came out of the blue, meaning it was not solicited. But, reports. Tell us it went all the way up to the board level for consideration - and lack of enthusiasm for the proposal may have factored into the Chairman Major Lloyd Jones not being renewed for another term.
In other Port Authority news, yesterday you heard from the Ports Commissioner about the reasons they are implementing a $1 increase on their user fees. He says it was the original cost, but that COVID made them put it at $2 instead. He added that the increase will go towards additional safety services that the Belize Port Authority provides.
"The user fee was originally put into legislation in two out in 2019, and at that time the fee was $1. They started collecting or implementing the collection of that fee in August of 2020 during Covid. So a brand new fee whenever the country's got Covid coming around. In 2022, there was an SI that did raise the port fee to $3, and then they internally decided to charge $2. The court's still out on whether or not that's legal for the port Authority commissioner or board to contradict law. The other problem is that they're billing the operators each way. So they were billing the operators $2 to go and $2 to come back. The way the statute is written is it's per fare. So if you buy a round trip fare, you're supposed to pay the user fee, which is $2. Now they're taking it to $3. And I fear that we're going to start seeing billing for $3 there and $3 back, making the total user fee for a round trip ticket to be $6, which is very considerable."
And while the price on water taxi fares is one thing - prices on items at the grocery are far more urgent. And the Supplies Control Unit has sent out another list of stores found to be violating price regulations. A total of 152 stores across the country have been ticketed for price violations - some of them more than once. In Corozal, there were 12, in Orange Walk, 15, in Cayo there were 28, in Belize City there were 39, 6 in Caye Caulker, 28 in San Pedro, 18 in. Stann Creek and 6 in Toledo. Most of the violations were for Offering Products For Sale Above the Control Price or for Failure To Display Price for a Controlled Good.
He was first reported missing by his girlfriend on Sunday January 5th, who claims that when she arrived home after an overnight trip, 36 year old Mason Patnett was nowhere to be found. Most troubling is the fact that the front door of her house was opened, the air-condition in her bedroom was on but Patnett was nowhere to be found. She made several attempts to contact him but the calls went to voicemail. Police reviewed a Surveillance camera within the area but nothing unusual was seen or observed. No forced entry was observed.
Clarita Pech will be the first woman clerk of the National Assembly of Belize.
The senior courts of Belize have issued the first ever sentencing guidelines For Belize. These sentencing guidelines are expected to promote consistency, transparency, and fairness in sentencing practices across the criminal justice system. To gain a better idea as to how these new guidelines will impact the work within the criminal justice system we spoke with defense attorney Bryan Neal. He gave us an example as to how it will work.
"I must commend the Chief justice and the other justices and other lawyers other stakeholders who participated in the exercise. This came out of what is called the Needhams points proposal which across the Caribbean we are trying to improve the administration of justice and I think this is one tool that will assist lawyers and the courts in improving the way guilty people are sentenced."
There is some relief for cattle farmers who were affected by floods after the tropical storms in November.
The project seeks to provide both immediate relief and long-term solutions to cattle farmers who sustained significant losses by The flooding caused by Tropical Storm Sara in November 2024. Here are the highlights from the ceremony,
recovery the contribution will undoubtedly play a vital role in restoring our agricultural resilience. It will help our farmers who are the backbone of our economy to rebuild and recover from this setback from the storm."
"I am pleased that this contribution will be used to enhance the resilience of cattle farmers in the flood affected areas in the Belize river valley and in crooked tree. By providing immediate assistance and also addressing future needs. We know how important the cattle industry is in Belize's agribusiness and in the nations of our economic development."
