7 News Belize

US Donated To BDF
posted (August 6, 2020)

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.

7News attended, and here's what CEO George Lovell and the US Embassy's Chargé d'affaires had to say about the timeliness of the donation:

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.

So, the press asked the US Embassy's Chargé d'affaires, about the late nomination today:




COMSTAT Says Crime Coming Down

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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