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
The property known as Baker’s Ranch covers a 2,000 acre swathe
of the territory in Sandhill Village. In fact the land which the village’s
police station, its school, and community center sit on were once part of Baker’s
Ranch. And that’s why it’s news that Belize Rural North Area Rep.
Edmund Castro is moving ahead with plans to acquire a portion of Baker’s
Ranch against the wishes of the landowner. And the owners won’t take it
sitting down. Keith Swift has both sides of a contentious story.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This is Baker’s Ranch East. It is a sprawling 1600 acres which stretches
from the Northern Highway to the sea – and is part of the larger 2,000
acre Baker’s Ranch property.
Armead Logan Thurston, Property Owner “I’ve lived on this ranch for 34 years and my husband has lived
on it for 45.”
But now Armead Thurston and her husband Byron say that their Area Rep. Edmund
Castro wants to strong the land from them.
Armead Logan Thurston, “He had a meeting and he decided that he was going to lot it off and
give it to people without our knowledge. This is not lease land, this is crown
title land and if Mr. Castro wanted a piece of my land, he could have come and talked to us, he didn’t have to take it like that. We find out that Mr.
Edmund Castro is trying to get a piece of it and I found definitely yesterday
and I called my neighbour.”
That lawyer – who is also a political aspirant in the area is Arthur
Saldivar.
Arthur Saldivar, Attorney for Thurston Family “When this meeting was called on Sunday without the knowledge of Mr.
or Mrs. Thurston and persons were informed that portions of Baker’s Ranch
would be made available, it came as a shock to the family because they deem
it a great injustice considering that there is a law that prescribes a particular
procedure that must be followed.”
Saldivar says 100 acres of Baker’s Ranch have already been surveyed and
lots are being offered for lease.
Arthur Saldivar, “There is a survey plan drawn which shows lots on the particular portion
of land which comprises 100 acres of Baker’s Land. Persons from that meeting
and there is a particular person here who was at that meeting or who had actually
spoken to the Minister or the Area Rep. has told us that he in particular has
asked for $300 for survey to be done and $1,000 for the lease.”
The man in the middle of the controversy Edmund Castro disputes that allegation
but he confirms that government will acquire part of Baker’s Ranch –
and he says it is because the Thurston’s owe thousands in taxes.
Hon. Edmund Castro, Belize Rural North Area Rep. “Cabinet has passed a decision that the people of Sandhill need land
for expansion for the village and Byron Thurston’s Baker’s Ranch,
in one parcel they own over 1,923 acres of land right there in Sandhill and
the thing is that they owe a lot of taxes. So basically what we’re doing
is acquiring land in lieu of taxes so that we can have lots for the villagers
and residents of the Sandhill area.”
Keith Swift,
“Is that legal?”
Hon. Edmund Castro, “That is perfectly fine, government acquires land all the time.”
Keith Swift,
“But the Thurstons have title, they have title to this land, they’ve
had it since 1974.”
Hon. Edmund Castro, “Since 1975 but that is neither here nor there. They owe a lot of
taxes and this parcel of land is approximately 1,923 acres of land. We are not
looking to take away no 300 or 500 acres of land, we are only looking to acquire
a piece of the land in lieu taxes so the valuation department from the Ministry
of Natural Resources will then have to go in and value the land and give us
a value in terms of money per acreage of land that we can get for the people
of Sandhill.”
Keith Swift,
“How much do they owe?”
Hon. Edmund Castro, “They owe approximately $100,000 without the interest calculated up
to date.”
Arthur Saldivar, “Where the government of Belize is seeking to acquire private property,
private land, there is a process. First there is a notice of intended acquisition
that is given to the land owner, then there is a period prescribed by law that
a notice be placed in the gazette. That has not been done in this case. It is
subsequent to the publication in the gazette that the government can proceed
to regularize its ownership by virtue of that acquisition, intended acquisition.
That has not been done. I would implore the Prime Minister of Belize to reign
in his unguided missile.”
Keith Swift,
“Mr. Saldivar described you as an unguided missile who needs to be reined
in.”
Hon. Edmund Castro, “I don’t even know that person. Whoever she or he is….”
Keith Swift,
“Arthur Saldivar.”
Hon. Edmund Castro, “Whoever he or she is neither here nor there to me. I am here representing
the people.”
An added wrench is that Baker’s Ranch East is on sale and the
Thurston’s say they’ve already found a buyer. The family says they
are selling the property because Byron Thurston is recovering from a bout with
cancer. Castro dismissed the news that the land will be sold - saying that as
far back as he remembers – Baker’s Ranch has been for sale and no
one has bought it. So the situation tonight is that the Thurston’s will
be waiting on government to make its move before they do theirs.
In August, the Financial Intelligence Unit got a court order to freeze all
bank accounts connected to dean fuller and his various companies, principally
omni networks and Fultec Systems. That’s a total of 24 different bank
accounts spread across five different banks – and according to the FIU,
the total deposits amount to millions of dollars.
The freeze was requested because the FIU believed that monies in those accounts
were “tainted due to money laundering.” The taint, argues the FIU
came from Omni’s Business relationship with Money Exchange International
Limited, the parent company for the Moneygram Agency run by the Coye family.
Fuller was the Managing Director for Omni which was the master agent for Moneygram
in Belize.
But Fuller said there was no taint, the FIU had it all wrong and instead of
banking millions of dollars in commission receipts, he claimed that omni actually
lost money on the Moneygram Agency. And that’s why Fuller secured attorneys
Eamon Courtenay and Ashanti Arthurs martin to ask the Supreme Court to lift
the freeze on his 24 accounts. They presented arguments to the court that eight
point three million dollars that was deposited in a single account at the Belize
Bank in 2007 was not the result of money generated from Moneygram.
Justice Oswell Legall considered arguments from both sides, with the FIU represented
by Antoinette Moore, Tricia Pitts Anderson and Mikhail Argüelles. In a
judgment issued this afternoon, Justice Legall rejected the arguments made by
Fuller’s attorneys. He found that, “there is a reasonable cause
to believe...that the accounts in the banks are tainted in relation to the offence
of money laundering and that a forfeited order may be made in respect of the
moneys in the accounts, if there is a conviction in the criminal charges.”
With that finding, the court extended the freezing of all accounts associated
with Fuller, Omni and Fultec Systems, with the exception of two accounts containing
funds belonging to Fuller’s mother. The court also permitted Fuller to
make withdrawals of eight thousand dollars monthly from one account to cover
living expenses.
The Corruption Perceptions Index measures
the perceived level of public-sector corruption, and the 2009 list was released
by Transparency International today. In 2008 Belize was ranked 109 on the corruption
perception index – that was a sharp and embarrassing fall from 90th in
2007.
So what is the finding for 2009? Well, Belize’s corruption perceptions
index is off the charts – literally! That’s because this year of
180 countries ranked in the corruption index, Belize is the only one that was
not ranked this year. And why? According to the Transparency International website,
countries are only included in the index if at least three sources of data are
available. Belize it explains “had to be dropped from the index, as there
was only one source available.”
Now, this is a list that has 180 countries, countries as small and disparate
as Kiribati, Malawi and Eritrea. But to be fair, it also excludes Anguilla,
Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Kosovo,
St. Kitts & Nevis and Tuvalu and others. But those countries have two sources
of data. For 2009, Belize only has one.
A 32 year old man who is a naturalized Belizean originally from Salvador was
charged with two counts of incest and one count of grievous harm when he appeared
today in the Magistrate’s Court. Because of the nature of the offence
he was denied bail. To protect his victim we cannot issue his name or address
but the circumstances of the case are as follows.
His daughter a 12 year old reported that that cases occurred at their home
in a rural area of the Belize District. The child claims that in the first encounter
in March of last year the father entered her bedroom at night and molested her.
In the second case, happened in December of 2008 when the child was on her way
to get some water, sensed what was going to happen and ran, but he chased her
down, overpowered the child and molested her in the outdoors.
A doctor confirmed that the injuries to the child amounted to grievous harm.
He has been remanded until December 23rd.
34 year old prison officer Miguel Coc was busted in prison yesterday –
allegedly – with just over a pound of marijuana. Coc had just reported
to work when the bust occurred. A fellow prison officer searched his black kit
bag and allegedly found the cannabis stuffed into two packs of ramen noodles
and in a maroon coloured shirt.
He was charged with drug trafficking in court today and pleaded not guilty.
He was released on bail of five thousand dollars and his case was adjourned
until the new year.
There was chaos and confusion in Belize City this morning when a butane
truck stopped on Albert Street between King and Prince Streets and smoke started
streaming out form the tanker area. It looked very scary, but fortunately it
was only a disaster simulation. It all played out just a block from our studio
and we were on the scene.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
The simulated event was a butane leak. According to the script, this BWEL butane
truck had a ruptured hose on Albert Street at 9:20 in the morning which was
releasing butane, and this we stress is not butane – but for the purpose
of this simulation, it is being treated as that.
Ted Smith, Assistant Fire Chief “We simulated today a bobtail liquid petroleum gas or what you call
butane truck had an accident, a two inch pipe break, the pipe that run between
the pipe and the pump discharging a massive quantity of the product into the
atmosphere.”
Whether real or simulated, the scene created a fair measure of chaos on Albert
Street; all the onlookers, shop owners and office workers were taken off guard. And this is the scene they got, a fog of smoke in the air and a man laid out
on the ground apparently injured and unconscious.
Ted Smith, “During the breakage of the pipe, the operator or the driver of the
truck attempted to close the valve and got burnt on both his hands and later
overcome by the gas and collapsed.”
Probably the only clue onlookers had that it wasn’t a real disaster was
the steady presence of assessors who were evaluating the performance of disaster
responders. When the fire team arrived their job was to contain, control and
which meant dousing the area with water - including the injured man. Store shutters
had to be closed as the fire team rushed away the injured man whose injuries
no doubt got worse when… (fire fighters dropping man on the ground.) They
carried him away but it seems you can safely count that among lessons learned
that running backwards across a hose strewn street – umm, maybe not such
a good idea.
Ted Smith, “The Fire Department came in, effect a rescue whilst trying to shut down the valve. They did shut down the valve.”
The fire team continued to cool the tank with supercharged spray. At the end
after about half an hour the simulation was over and it was time for the hoses
and the lessons to be gathered.
Phillip Willoughby, CEMO “I know it was only an exercise and people might have took it a bit
lightly but I am of the view that the shutters should have come down, no one
knew what was taking place out here, so I would have closed off the business
and stop completely the free flow of pedestrians on both sides of the sidewalk
and so forth and then caution tape the area.”
Ted Smith, “There are some challenges that manifested itself during this exercise.
We will have what we call a critique to analyze the situation, the response,
the deployment, the multi-agency approach, the coordination, and this will be
analyzed now and adjustments where necessary will be made to improve on our
performance.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Is it a matter of inexperience or ineptitude or incompetence?”
Ted Smith, “I nuh aware of no poor performance. I do aware of some challenges
that manifested themselves. This is the purpose of these exercise to analyze
and assess our operational readiness.”
And while it was a test, the risk is real.
BWEL Rep. “For it to have ignited, you wouldn’t want to see what would
have happened? For example if this leak would have been very massive, like I
said we would have to let everyone close down their equipment, everything like
that to avoid a possible explosion.”
Jules Vasquez,
“What is the likelihood of something like this ever happening?”
Ted Smith, “There is always that chance that it can happen. It happened before,
some years ago a similar truck discharged approximately about 1400 gallons of
liquefied petroleum gas in the air on Barrack Road just by the town clock. No
one was hurt but thank God for that.”
Again, we stress, everything you just saw was part of a simulation,
it was only a test. Well, everything apart from the firemen tumbling down with
the man they were carrying – that, that was painfully real.
An elderly woman was found dead in Trial Farm Village yesterday. It
was initially reported as a possible crime but the news tonight is that it wasn’t.
62 year old Elena Bennett Paige, a Honduran national, died of natural causes.
Still it was a curious death because of how she was found. Keith Swift has more.
Keith Swift Reporting,
Neighbours found 62 year old Elena Bennett Paige’s body in a sitting position
in this metal chair on the verandah of her home in Trial Farm Village yesterday
afternoon around midday.
Lesly Amaya, Neighbour “When I came like 12 o’clock to give my kids food I saw the
lady with the underwear like down. I said mek I check good, if I the see good
and I was calling her, saying Miss Helen, Miss Helen, and she didn’t answer
me and when I went closer, I saw her not breathing and I told my daughter I
think this lady dead and I got frightened and afterwards I just started calling
my neighbour. My neighbour had credit and she called the police and everything.”
Elena Bennett Paige was dead and Orange Walk Police who removed the body after
processing the scene say that no foul play was involved.
Insp. Selvin Tillett, Orange Walk Police “We saw no physical or no foul play suspected at this moment.”
Keith Swift,
“So you believe it was a natural death?”
Insp. Selvin Tillett, “More than likely because as I said no foul play is suspected at this moment.”
Keith Swift,
“Will a post mortem be conducted?”
Insp. Selvin Tillett, “That will be dependent on whether if we get a medical history showing
that she is sickly and it is the family’s decision then it will depend
on that. Like I said we are not sure what happened but at this moment as I said
we suspect no foul play.”
Keith Swift,
“We understand her underwear had been disturbed. What does that tell you,
is that a factor?”
Insp. Selvin Tillett, “At this moment I cannot say whether that is true or not.”
Elena’s family says they don’t need a post mortem and accept that
their mother’s death was natural. But her son in law Ernie Gill says that
what they can’t accept is how police handled the case and them.
Ernie Gill, Son in Law of Deceased “When we first came yesterday and we went to the Police Department, we were informed at the time by Corporal Williams that they didn’t suspect
any foul play and that an autopsy wouldn’t have to be conducted on the
body but that that decision would be left to us if we would want to go ahead
an carry out with the autopsy. Now when we were coming up today, we were listening
to the radio and we heard it on the media, I believe it is Estereo Amor, in
Orange Walk, they were stating that the police told them that foul play is suspected
and that an autopsy would be carried out in the week. So now being the loved
one, we are between who is telling the truth.
He told us that there was no foul play involved and yet the media is saying
that the police said that foul play is suspected and when we went peacefully
to try and talk to him and trying to clear it up and see where the mistake has
been made, he took a stance of defense.”
Keith Swift,
“The family is saying they haven’t heard if foul play was suspected.
They said they are not sure. Has the police been communicating with them?”
Insp. Selvin Tillett, “Yes she has a daughter who is a nurse and we have the corporal of
police always communicating with her.”
Ernie Gill, “So we as the loved ones, we are at a situation of whose really telling
the truth and I think that this is something that’s going in Belize so
many times. We have officers that really can’t conduct themselves properly
in a real professional manner. They always talk about wanting support from the
public and the public to work along with them but it is kind of hard to work
along with somebody that tends to come across as being shady. So all we’re
asking is, as I explained to him, is we are not accusing him – we are
just explaining to him the situation that one spell we hear this situation from
you and then the other spell we hear another information from the media.”
We were assisted in that story with footage from CTV-3 in Orange Walk.
Although Elena Paige had a house in Trial Farm she lived in Belize City with
her daughter who is a nurse. She told us her mother makes weekly trips to trial
farm to feed the dog and was expected to return home in Belize City today. No
post mortem was conducted and a doctor classified her cause of death as a heart
condition.
The Ombudsman’s office on Douglas Jones Street was burglarized over the
weekend. A thief or thieves peeled open the burglar bar on window and pried
open two louvers to get in. They stole the Lady Ombudsman Cynthia Pitts’s
cell phone and a computer monitor and printer. Staffer at the office told us
that since the break in they have stepped up security.
And burglars also struck just around the corner from that office at the Pink
Nail and Hair Salon on Freetown Road. It happened between Friday and Saturday
when they again pried open a window and stole assorted beauty equipment and
supplies valued at over five thousand dollars. Police have reportedly recovered
some of the items.
The CARICOM Commission on Youth Development was tasked by CARICOM Heads
of Government in 2006 to develop a draft report on the challenges and opportunities
for youth in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. The assessments were done
with 6 thousand CARICOM citizens from 12 countries including Belize. The draft
report was presented today, in the morning, to youths and the general public
and in the afternoon to policy-makers. We spoke to two of those policy makers
– Ministers of Education and Sports Patrick Faber and Elvin Penner.
Jules Vasquez,
“Is this a bit too much for a government that is just trying to keep its
head above water?”
Hon. Elvin Penner, Minister of Sports “Cabinet has already indicated and has already promised that the finance
should not be our more difficult task. Like I mentioned before in most of our
interviews, yes we are experiencing difficulties, yes our regions is under serious
stress right now including financially but I would never make that an excuse
for not doing and implementing programs that can really change the trend of
our young people.”
Jules Vasquez,
“This government with the present constraints, superbond issues and all those other issues, economic recession, the shrinking GDP, is it able to seriously
say we are going to invest in youth?”
Hon. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education “Well it is one of those situations where I don’t think it is
an option. We have to start looking very seriously at it. As is being pointed
out in there, it is a serious priority for the entire region. When you look
at the statistics for instance and you see that 60% of the population of the
region are made up of this bracket of young people and the statistics I think
are even worse here in Belize in terms of the percentage of the people who are
considered to be young, 75% or so, I am understanding 34 years and under, it
becomes imperative that a government finds the kind of funds to create opportunities
for young people.”
Jules Vasquez,
“It seems from the outside that it is not to say, ‘well I will give
you a job’ matter fix, it is a series of structural problems.”
Hon. Elvin Penner, “I believe that a session like today and a session like this morning
with the actual youths of Belize will assist us and I think as Ministers, we
as a government, we as a department, Youth for the Future in this case, need
to be very much open minded, need to be willing and able to accept suggestions.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Are you all able to differentiate, do we have the strategies, do we have
the research, do we have the analysis to differentiate between where investing
in a problem differs from throwing money at a problem?”
Hon. Patrick Faber, “But yes. The fact that we have decided to put monies into these programs
sends the signal that it is not a quick fix, it is not something that you can
just throw money after and expect it will happen overnight. It is something
that will have to come after months even years of planning and of training the
minds of our young Belizeans.”
And while they were talking about saving at risk youth in the city,
the talk was about trade in the Belmopan area. Belize exports $5 million in
goods to Guatemala annually but we import $140 million in goods from Guatemala.
So there is a trade imbalance and Belize and Guatemala will sign a partial scope
agreement at the end of the month in an attempt to even the scales – particularly
in areas where Belize has a comparative advantage.
Now the agreement was only recently approved by the Guatemalan Congress
but it had been done in Belize from 2006. So the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and Foreign Trade has been holding public consultations as a sort of refresher
course. Today it was held at the Banana Bank Lodge in Cayo. Orla Kantun Coleman
from the Directorate for Foreign Trade explained why a refresher is needed,
and Trade Ambassador Bert Tucker backed her up.
Orla Kantun Coleman, Directorate for Foreign Trade “The countries have not entirely completed the internal process, one
little matter is outstanding but we expect that to be completed by November.
When it is completed we would want to have the private sector ready to go in
terms of again reminding them of what the agreement entails, the potential benefits
so that they can start preparing for when the agreement comes into effect which
we are hoping to be at least by the end of December.”
Bert Tucker, Trade Ambassador “Our neighbours in Central America have large markets. We are supposed
to be able to reap some kind of benefits from the nearness, the closeness to
that market and consequentially the challenge for Belize is to be able to take
this opportunity. If you can argue that we have difficulty taking this then
one can argue we would have greater difficulty taking the markets that are even
further. So in a sense Belize is confronted now. This is a stimulus for us to
get through this. It will mean that we would be able to pursue other markets
even more effectively. This is a chance for us to work it out in our home grown
neighbourhood, this is our neighbourhood.”
Both parties are expected to sign the agreement at the end of the month
and full implementation will take place next year.
And, last night we told you about the loans signed over from the
Inter-American Development Bank to the government of Belize. We told you
it was US$2.5 which was the information provided to us by a Government Information
Officer. But that was only the loan amount for one of the loans – the
land management project. The entire financing is US$22.5 million. US$15 million
will go to a national poverty elimination strategy and another US$5 million
for agriculture improvement.
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talked to us, he didn’t have to take it like that. We find out that Mr.
Edmund Castro is trying to get a piece of it and I found definitely yesterday
and I called my neighbour.”
And this is the scene they got, a fog of smoke in the air and a man laid out
on the ground apparently injured and unconscious.
down the valve. They did shut down the valve.”
moment.”
we were informed at the time by Corporal Williams that they didn’t suspect
any foul play and that an autopsy wouldn’t have to be conducted on the
body but that that decision would be left to us if we would want to go ahead
an carry out with the autopsy. Now when we were coming up today, we were listening
to the radio and we heard it on the media, I believe it is Estereo Amor, in
Orange Walk, they were stating that the police told them that foul play is suspected
and that an autopsy would be carried out in the week. So now being the loved
one, we are between who is telling the truth.
those other issues, economic recession, the shrinking GDP, is it able to seriously
say we are going to invest in youth?”
