That opportunity to speak with the National Security CEO happened today
at the Belize Defense Force's Price Barracks Headquarters in Ladyville.
That's where the US Embassy in Belize handed over a 1-million-US-dollar
donation to the BDF.
The donation included a fully-equipped Toyota Land Cruiser ambulance,
six Hino 500 4x4 Troop Transport Vehicles, vehicle parts, and a
container of aircraft parts. This donation was funded by the U.S.
Southern Command's Building Partner Capacity and Foreign Military
Funding programs, through the U.S. Embassy's Security Cooperation
Office.
A press release from the US Embassy in Belmopan says, quote, "The newly
expanded fleet is expected to significantly improve the effectiveness
of border security operations." End quote.
Companies Donate to Contraband Effort
This evening, the Police Department also received a donation of its own
in the form of a new police mobile equipped to carry out off-road
patrols in and around the Corozal village of San Victor, which is
located near to that northern district's border with Mexico.
This area has been identified as an active hotspot for border jumpers,
and so, a coalition of private-sector entities pooled their resources
together to buy the police a 2020 Ford Ranger Pick-up truck.
They invited us to the BEC compound in Belize City for that moment when
the Commissioner signed to receive the truck.
Here's what a spokesperson for the donor and the Commissioner had to
say about this partnership between the police and the corporate
citizens:
According to the Commissioner, the plan was to activate the vehicle in
San Victor immediately.
Will US Ambassador Designate Make It To Belize Before the US Election?
3 weeks ago, we told you how US President Donald Trump finally made a
nomination for the next US Ambassador to Belize.
He's Andre Bauer, the former South Carolina Lieutenant Governor, who
gained prominence from 2016 to 2019 as a pro-Trump analyst on CNN. It
may take months for the Senate to confirm him as the US ambassador, but
President Trump's term in office ends in November when he'll be up for
re-election.
And while police are making much news right now as the frontline
troopers trying to keep Belize safe from border jumpers, that's not
considered major crime.
Today the police department had its bi-annual COMSTAT meeting to
discuss those major crime stats.
It's a good picture, as major crime in the first 6 months of the year
is down by 24.1% murders decreased by 22.7% in that period, meaning
there were 15 fewer murders in January to June of 2020 compared to the
same period last year.
The commissioner beamed when he discussed this sharp decrease this
afternoon:
SSB Sponsors Soap For Schools
By now, every Belizean parent and child surely knows that school
reopening's have been pushed back to a date to be announced. And while
the bell won't ring on Monday, there were many preparations for school
already on the way.
An all-important one is the outfitting of handwashing stations. As
we've told you many schools were ill-equipped without enough of the
potentially life-saving sinks. It's a problem that the Chief education
Officer Carol Babb was rushing to solve.
She got some help today from the Social Security Board which donated
$99,200 dollars toward the purchase of those stations. We caught up
with Babb at the handing over ceremony this afternoon where she thanked
the SSB profusely for its contribution and for taking a stand to make
education their business.
Health Minster Has Gas Problems
When the threat of COVID first appeared, Belize didn't have nearly
enough ventilators to respond in the event of a national crisis. But,
thanks to purchases and donations, the country has more ventilators
than ever before. And these are being deployed to regional and
community hospitals in the event that COVID infected persons in
respiratory distress start appearing. But, this ventilators need
oxygen, and the Ministry says it has a contractual difference with the
private company which supplies the gas:
Hon. Pablo Marin - Minister of Health
"You all know that we have all our ventilators. We have at KHMH we have 6
ventilators. But we have already buy (SIC) more ventilators, we have gotten
donations for ventilators, and we were going to install 6 more in Belmopan,
we were going to install in Orange Walk, we were going to install in
Corozal. nut now the company that is the one in charge of putting those
gasses they came with proposal stating that you know what, they're going
to, to give us a portion of the finance, but in return we had to extend the
contract for three more years. We were trying to say, you know what, we're
going to pay off, because we cannot do that three more years contract and I
think right now we are seeking what exactly will happen with that."
Marin didn't name the company in charge of those gasses, but Fabrigas
is the country's main supplier for Medical and Industrial gasses and
they sent out a release today saying, quote, "Fabrigas Belize Limited
assures all Belizeans that we stand ready to supply the entire country
with medical oxygen in response to COVID-19 or any other crisis (such
as hurricanes) that may come our way."
It continues, "late last year Fabrigas Belize Limited made a
significant investment in tripling our storage capacity for oxygen;
this puts us in a very secure position to supply oxygen as needed
through the pandemic.
Fabrigas Belize Limited has invested in cutting edge technology for
remote monitoring of oxygen levels in all major hospitals in Belize.
This allows us to plan ahead and dispatch oxygen in a timely manner to
avoid hospital shortfalls. It also removes reliance on the human
element to provide updates on oxygen levels.
We stand ready to work with the Ministry of Health in safeguarding the
health of all Belizeans and visitors!" end quote.
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Hon. Pablo Marin - Minister of Health