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
It was Cabinet day in Belmopan-and what was expected to be a decisive session turned out not to be so dramatic after all. That is because Prime Minister John Briceño invited all sides of the Speednet acquisition to make final presentations to Cabinet members to guide their final decision-making.
That means BTL, the PUC, and the social partners.
But, not all at once. Today was scheduled for the Belize Social Security Board, the Public Utilities Commission, and BTL.
Just 15 minutes ago-our team's day of waiting in front of the Sir Edney Cain Building was validated-when the Prime Minister gave us a brief overview:
John Briceno, Prime Minister "As you know that, um, cabinet discussions are confidential. But, um, what I can do is I'm sure that several ministers have already spoken to you, and I think I pretty much will repeat, what you've done know. Um, what we, we have done, I'm just going to explain to you the process."
"What we have decided to do is today we asked, BTL to come in and to give a deep dive into why is it that they believe that this, uh, merger is important for, for BTL and by extension, the taxpayers of this country."
"Because we are the owners of that company. And we also asked Social Security to be able to come in, and for them also to, to explain why is it that what they did is that, um, they did not necessarily voted in favor, but they voted that they should go and, um, and, um, I'm trying to remember the exact word that they, they used, but pretty much gave the green light to be able to for, for their members to be able to, to proceed with, with the, with approval in, in, um, at, at BTL."
"But as they made out the point is that they can't decide for BTL, it's the board of directors that decide."
"Also, the, uh, Public Utilities Commission came in to be able also to explain to us the regulatory framework and to point out, um, um, should this merger, um, proceed, um, where under the, the act it is covered, because it is covered under, under the act."
"And they also, um, pointed out to, to cabinet that they passed, uh, um, an SI where all prices have been frozen until December 2028."
"Because they said that then that would give them enough time to put a proper regulatory framework should there be a merger to have a better, um, to have better regulations, uh, to regulate the, the industry, just as what we do with BEL and also BWSL."
"Now, the idea is now that we, um, we want to hear from everybody. So we have invited the representative from NTUCB and, um, from, um, the Chamber for them to, to come in."
"Hopefully, they can come in on Thursday and for us then so we can hear their, um, their views as to why they believe that the merger is not in the best interest of, of Belize and by extension, the taxpayers."
"The next step then would be then on Tuesday, then cabinet will deliberate to see what they believe is, again, at after getting all this information, for them to make an informed decision."
"I have informed cabinet that on Tuesday, whenever that deliberation will start, I will step out of cabinet."
"Um, as you, as you know, it's, um, no secret that my brother, um, is one of the founders of, of SpeedNet. And, and as such, I think it would not-- I do not-- I believe that it would not be proper for me to be in the office for the, for the discussion. And so pretty much that's what we are."
And the PM expects to meet with the BCCI and the NTUCB on Thursday. However, in a joint press release from all the social partners, they stated that they all want to be at the table-that's the Belize Network of Non-Governmental Organizations (BNN), the National Evangelical Association of Belize (NEAB), the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the NTUCB.
They added that their request for additional information regarding the buyout is still pending. The social partners explained that they would prefer to receive that information and be given enough time to consider it before attending a meeting-which again they will only do if NEAB and the BNN are invited.
Here's how the PM responded to that:
John Briceno, Prime Minister "I respected their views, um, but we from the cabinet, we've made a determination that we're going to invite, um, these two, because these are the two main entities that have been speaking about, um, the chamber as a, as the business representative for the business community and, um, and the NTUCB as a representative for labor."
"So we want to hear from business and labor. Um, and so, um, I respect their position, but at the same time, I hope that you respect our position. Okay. Thank you very much."
Reporter "Well, they say you must include all of them. So will the meeting go on or not without..."
John Briceno, Prime Minister "Well, it's up to them. We have invited them."
While we spoke to the PM a few minutes before 6:00, the press spoke with BTL's Chairman at midday after he finished his presentation.
In an interview that lasted for half an hour, he said he was there to-as he put it-correct media misinformation about the proposed acquisition:
Markhelm Lizarraga, Chairman, BTL "I think Cabinet has quite a bit of concerns as to the questions, especially the misinformation that has been circulating in the media and by certain people, and we corrected those. We repeated that we are in the process, a continuing process. The board basically decided that what we had seen so far merited continuing due diligence and we are on that path. We are still a ways to go, we still have to land with our own due diligence, we still need to get feedback from the PUC about some of the concerns which we are addressing about competition through MVNOs, on other means of assuring the public that their concerns about increasing costs or BTL taking advantage of them are unfounded. And there are mechanisms in place that will address those concerns. So I think it was just about giving our side of the story as to what we are willing to do. You know BTL has agreed to a, is it 3 years CEO? Cease on rates?"
Ivan Tesecum, CEO, BTL "Until December 31st, 2028."
Markhelm Lizarraga, Chairman, BTL "Okay, there you go. And subsequent to that we have agreed that we have to justify any changes in prices. We are hoping, of course, and we can even say that part of the consideration are that because of the efficiencies that will be gained from a market consolidation will allow for even a decrease in rates. For example, there would be no more need for an interconnection rate between BTL and Smart, things like that. But efficiencies will bring savings to the consumers, increase dividends to the shareholders, improve working conditions and benefits for the workers and everybody, all the stakeholders will benefit from this improved efficiency that will come through using the capacity that we have already in our system."
So, as you heard earlier, Cabinet is next inviting the National Trade Union Congress of Belize and the Chamber of Commerce to come to Cabinet on Thursday to clarify why they reject the proposed acquisition.
But, instead of getting a yes or no from these organizations, today the government got a response from the joint social partners: that's the Belize Network of Non-Governmental Organizations (BNN), the National Evangelical Association of Belize (NEAB), the Chamber, and the NTUCB.
They say, quote, "Any consideration for a meeting must include representation from all four social partner groups in keeping with our collective action on this matter. The data requests for financial statements and independent valuation reports, among other outstanding requests, remain pending."
They add, quote, "The Social Partners look forward to being afforded a reasonable time to review the information once shared with us, to inform our effective participation in discussions with the Cabinet."
They also ask the PUC to fulfill the requests made in its August 6th statement.
At this point we don't know what Cabinet's reply to those requests will be, but in its statement today, Cabinet says, quote, "After hearing from all the various parties, Cabinet will, at its meeting of Tuesday, August 18, deliberate and inform on its position on the matter."
So they will decide next week Tuesday.
But, BTL has a credibility hurdle to bridge. The social partners and the media stand opposed to the acquisition. Both sides have publicly ventilated reasons for their opposition. Chairman Lizarraga says they're exaggerating.
Reporter: "So is it your view then, that the social partners and the opposition and media owners are crying wolf? They're saying that the sky is falling when that isn't the case?"
Markhelm Lizarraga: "Absolutely I believe that that is the case. Absolutely. And we have tried in many different ways to explain to them. And I thank you for the opportunity today-even though I noh eat yet and I hungry. If you really want to listen and you really want to be objective, you'll get it."
Reporter: "How have you tried?"
Markhelm Lizarraga: "Please, man, you know how many times we've met with them? Come on. You know how many times we've met with them. We've met! And if they need to sit down and meet with us again, we've extended our hand to the independent senators. Have they come? No. We've extended on several times for them and they refused. We sent a letter to the Senate willing to make a presentation there. So we're willing to meet with anybody that wants to truly listen if you have your own agenda..."
And a correction to that statement. We can confirm that all independent Senators deny receiving any invitation, and credible reports are that no such invitation was received by the National Assembly.
One of the demands from the social partners is to see 5 years of Speednet financials so that a proper assessment can be made. Basically they are asking for the same thing that any bank would. But, not even members of the BTL board have seen that.
The Chairman told us they have only seen figures for one year and why he believes that is enough:
Reporter: "How many years of financial record from Speednet has been reviewed at this time or has been audited?"
Markhelm Lizarraga: "Remember what we received was one year's audited financials, okay? Why? Because it tells us what they have now, one. Two, we are able to see through our switches, through our interconnections how many customers they have that come over the switch. Because remember the systems are interconnected, so we are able to say you as a customer, you are valued to us so much, we are able to say who is prepaid, who is postpaid. Right? And we know that in our pool per different type of customers is so much dollars, so we are able to calculate. You can ask the CEO about how they come up with it because they come up with their own numbers. Go ahead, CEO."
Ivan Tesecum, CEO, Digi "In terms of what the chairman said, we are able to see how many customers are able, so it is not like they can say a number and we can't cross-check, so the numbers at the end of the day are in the range and we are able to see what type of customer they are, we are able to see how many million of minutes come to us whether it is prepaid, postpaid, how much of that there is, and we then determine what is an average revenue per user. So we know what our average revenue per user is and we are able to make an estimate of what it would be for them based on traffic patterns."
And while the Chairman is satisfied with his metrics, the social partners aren't. As we told you, they want to see 5 years of financials.
Taking a page out of Ashcroft's pitchbook, the Chairman said all that doesn't matter-it's all about cash flow:
Reporter: "The social partners argue that one year's financial is not enough, that in a standard business transaction like this or a proposed acquisition like this what would be sufficient is at least 5 years of financial records. Why haven't we gotten to that point?"
Markhelm Lizarraga: "This transaction and the methods that were used are different. In this industry it is internationally accepted that you use this standard, net present value, etc., so again what is most important for us is the cash flows because we have capacity, it is not like if we buy them we have to invest in new this and new that. No, no, no. We can throw all of them on our system, right? So what is important to us is cash flow: how much increase in revenue will we realize by having this extra hundred thousand people on our system. And how much more efficient will both companies be by using one system instead of two?"
Reporter "So is this what we mean when we hear conversations about purchasing cash flow versus purchasing assets?"
Markhelm Lizarraga: "Absolutely, absolutely, the assets are gravy."
So, if the assets are gravy-what about the prospect of a national telecoms monopoly-that must be the meat, right?
The Chairman brushed that off too, talking in broad, conceptual terms about the future prospects of mobile virtual network operators:
Markhelm Lizarraga: "We're not going to be a monopoly because the law provides for what is called an MVNO. MVNO basically means you want to open a telephone service for Company Paul. You can come to BTL, you will use our network because we have capacity, and Paul's brand could be a brand out there using our backbone."
"That's one. Two, we have, the reality is now most people communicate with data, most of the communication is data, so we have other data companies all over the country."
Reporter: "What are we looking at when it comes to the total cost of the acquisition?"
Markhelm Lizarraga: "The negotiated sum so far has been $80 million pending final due diligence, that's the price."
Reporter: "Across how many years will it be paid back?"
Markhelm Lizarraga: "We estimate that it will be paid back over 4.2 years, with the first year being interest only. And then the remaining period will be at 4.5%, but we calculate that it can be done in 4.2 years and that's been substantiated by 3 independent bodies."
Reporter: "What will happen in the event that BTL is unable to pay this back?"
Markhelm Lizarraga: "We wouldn't be doing it if we thought there was the slightest chance that through efficiencies in the marketplace, we wouldn't be able to pay it back."
Reporter: "How will these loan notes be paid?"
Markhelm Lizarraga: "It will be paid from the efficiencies that have come to the market space by using the excess capacity that we have in our system alone."
Reporter: "And why did Moore's model not consider BTL's audited financials of 2024/2025?"
Markhelm Lizarraga: "Who said that? Don't paraphrase and read from every person that sends you junk."
Reporter "How do you quell the concerns of media owners who are saying that essentially if this deal goes through then they could face consequences like you could pull the plug in essence if you have media owners or media personalities at a specific station that speak against the government of the day?"
Markhelm Lizarraga: "BTL is a professional company run by professionals, it's a private company that can be held liable, that can be subject to lawsuits, we're not in the business of pulling the plug."
And what the Chairman dismisses as "junk"-we call gold; it's one of the very few documents provided to BTL board members. It's an accounting model, and the screenshots leaked to us show figures that do not reflect BTL's audited financials for fiscal year 2024-25.
We received three screens: standalone, combined, and profitability ratio. None of these referenced the audited financials.
While the Chairman was quick to dismiss that as junk, what will he say to the PUC-which by law must first approve any merger, especially one that would effectively end competition?
He says that will come in time:
Reporter: "Are you all even thinking bypassing the PUC's determination on this through any sort of legal maneuvering, is that possible?"
Markhelm Lizarraga: "We can't do that, the law is very clear, we need to have the PUC's approval, we're not in the business of doing illegal stuff so we will follow the process as is allowed in the law."
Reporter: "So is it not putting the cart ahead of the horse when the BTL board of directors meet and take a vote on a matter the PUC still has to decide?"
Markhelm Lizarraga: "No, because we have to be sure that we're happy that process we're going through continues, and then when we have an agreement, we go to the PUC and say, this is what we have. We haven't landed there yet. We're still on the stages of working on warranties and presentation. So that we can protect ourselves. So it's unfortunate that this whole process was leaked prematurely for mischief, and it continues to be perpetuated like that for mischief, but I can assure you that we have a responsible board and management that takes very seriously its fiduciary responsibility."
A fiduciary responsibility-but none at all to the politician who appointed Lizarraga to the BTL board and also approved making him the first Chairman of BTL ever to have a contract, and a lucrative one at that.
Lizarraga says politics is not a consideration:
Reporter: "How do you as the chair of the board view the Prime Minister's family's stake in all of this?"
Markhelm Lizarraga: "This is a business transaction that was contemplated way back from 2018, personalities aside, this is strictly business."
"There is a political dynamic to it, but we don't sit around that table discussing politics, we sit around that table trying to do what's best for the Belizean consumer who owns the company, and we believe that we can actually help that consumer better returns on his investment that was made on his behalf. And he can benefit from decreased or improved services."
And while he tries to convince consumers-Lizarraga has failed at even convincing BTL's own union, the Communication Workers Union who rejected the deal yesterday.
We asked him about that...
Markhelm Lizarraga, Chairman, BTL "I still need to find out what triggered that, because what happened was that when we asked the unions for support the first time around, they refused to come out and give us support. They said, go and poll the whole membership full stop, by the whole staff, but rejected that at the time. You know, they never rejected, but they never supported, they made the whole staff body vote, and the whole staff body, the majority said yes, go ahead. Yeah, 80% of our staff. But they said yes. Now they represent a portion of our employees. And when you look at the numbers, 31% of the whole staff body that they're talking about said no. 31% can't be the majority. Right. But we will meet with them. We will continue to allay their concerns."
So, the social partners, the media, the opposition, and the Communication Workers are all openly opposed to the acquisition. What if all this rises to a crescendo and pushes the deal off the table? We asked him:
Reporter: "How will the board respond if there's such a groundswell that would bring this proposed acquisition to a screeching halt?"
Markhelm Lizarraga: "Well, we have to make adjustments. I mean, you know, in the meantime, we continue to try and do what we can to convince people that what we're proposing is right and in the best interest of the country, you know, looking at it holistically. It's going to need more and more investments, more and more capital, more and more training. More and more specialty fields to be developed-AI, computing, all of the things. What other entity in this country have the capacity to guide us through that? Have the resources will guide us through that? So we say if not us, who? If not us, who?"
As you hear in our last segment, Cabinet is taking input this week from advocates of the Speednet acquisition, opponents, and the regulator.
And then next week they will take a final decision on it. Coming out of Cabinet, Minister of Public Utilities Michel Chebat held more or less the same line as the BTL Chairman:
Michel Chebat, Minister of Public Utilities "I think they made a very comprehensive presentation but we are still waiting on some additional information before a final decision is made."
Jaleeza Roberts: "So are you satisfied with the presentation today?"
Michel Chebat: "We had three separate presentations I think all of them were good but like I said we are still waiting for additional information."
Reporter "Do you hold to your initial position that this is not a monopoly being created? You had said that initially back in February."
Michel Chebat: "I said that in reference to the data as you know the current system is also providing for what they call MVNOs and so that would also deal with the monopoly in terms of telecommunications."
Jaleeza Roberts: "But we understand that the Cabinet will need to make a decision next week Tuesday, are you prepared to make your decision?"
Michel Chebat: "Hopefully by the time Tuesday comes around we will have enough information on which a decision could be made."
Jaleeza Roberts: "Would you be able to disclose to us what is lacking?"
The Department of the Environment is still investigating the event on the Belize River that led to a massive fish kill, which saw the deaths of various species of fish as well as reptiles such as crocodiles and hicatee turtles.
According to the Chief Environmental Officer, when they first got the alert on August 3rd, they sent out two teams to collect samples along the Belize River. One of their theories was whether the deaths were caused by a disease, but that was quickly ruled out. The other theories are whether a toxic material entered the river or a high organic load was dumped in.
Anthony Mai explained that through their investigation, they have discovered an apparently illegal rice field that could be the source. Here's what he told us via Zoom today.
Anthony Mai, Chief Environmental Officer "We had the assistance of Dr. Abel Carias, um, to assist us in this. He did the necropsy last week or the Fri- Saturday past. Uh, his finding shows that the fish died from hypoxia, which is a low dissolved oxygen level."
"And he said that he doesn't believe that the, the fish may have died from chemical, um, substances because the, the, uh, organs would have been darker. The skin and, and organs would have been damaged, and there, there would have been more, uh, more blood within, within the specimen."
"But again, we're not ruling out chemicals being an issue just because of that, right? In relation to a large, um ... the possibility of it being a large organic substance that went into the river, again, the water quality data that we have shows that the dissolved oxygen in the river was excessively low between St. Paul's Bank and, um, and Grace Bank. In fact, visual observations show that this is the area where most of the fish kill was seen. This was the most impacted area."
"And, um, so the dissolved oxygen level was low. The chlorophyll-a level was high, which indicates that there is a eutrophication. Uh, eutrophication also is a, is, is, uh, a growth or proliferation of, of algae. That in itself could also lead to, um, low dissolved oxygen level."
"We visited farms around the area, and we, we found north of Santander a very large, uh ... well, a large rice farm. It was about three hundred plus acres that we were not aware of."
"And then there is other farms south of Santander, closer to the river, that, um, there's a rice farm, and there is also, um, soy being planted within this area."
"We did remote sensing, and through remote sensing, we had satellite image. We have satellite image to show that the rice field and a portion of Santander field were severely flooded just before this event, right? And we had shared, we have shared image with that, uh, with you guys."
"And so in relation to evidence that a large amount of organic matter entered into the river, um, is shown through that satellite imagery. And then we have the water quality, uh, results that suggest that indeed, um, the dissolved oxygen as a result of this deposition was excessively low, and the nutrients from the runoff could have led to, um, the algae growth and eutrophication."
"Again, the, the rice field that I mentioned, um, according to our records, does not have environmental clearance."
"We're looking at that, and if that is the case, um, the owner of that rice, rice field will be held accountable."
"Uh, one of the things that we want to do is we want to look at, um, a watershed management plan that we have for the Belize River."
"We want to visit all the different agricultural development along the river because each agricultural development, um, each farm has a key role to play in putting measures in place to avoid this from happening or to reduce it as much as possible."
Mai also highlighted that while fish kills aren't completely uncommon, the magnitude of this one was concerning. However, he explained that their response this time was different.
Anthony Mai, Chief Environmental Officer "The way we responded to this event is, is much improved from how we respond to fish kill into the past. With this, with this response, we, um, only sought local expertise, which is important."
"And all the sampling, and testing were done in country as opposed to previous, um, events when we had to collect sample and send them abroad to get tested. We now have the capacity in Belize."
"We have good expertise. We have the capacity to be able to collect the samples and run the samples."
"Uh, we have the expertise to under- um, interpret the samples and then advise on how, uh, the environment is impacted or being changed."
"So everything was done in-house with in-house equipment and in-house expertise."
The DOE also collected samples near Santander, including from the discharge channel. The analysis of the samples collected continues, but Mai believes the investigation should reveal more answers by the end of this week.
A video of some nighttime swimmers in Caye Caulker trying to escape a large animal made its rounds on social media over the last few days. It seems a crocodile was heading straight for them, forcing them to get out of the sea. But what was a crocodile-especially one of this size-doing so close to a common swimming area?
Well, it's likely there because it's being fed. A joint release from the Forest Department, ACES Wildlife Rescue, and the Crocodile Research Coalition warns against feeding, approaching, or interacting with crocodiles in their natural habitat. They issued this release after numerous social media posts involving human-crocodile interaction, including this recent video. The release added that most of the reports they have received indicate that crocs are being intentionally fed or encouraged to approach people. They emphasize that feeding crocodiles, whether directly or indirectly, can alter their natural behavior and cause them to associate people with food, which can lead to serious injuries for either the human or the animal.
While these entities concede that encounters between people and wildlife may occur, they explain that there are certain actions you can take to minimize this. Apart from not interacting with the croc and maintaining a safe distance, the public is also advised not to swim at night or in mangrove areas. Waterways should also be kept free of food waste, fish remains, and rubbish that may attract wildlife. Finally, the public is advised to report concerning sightings to the appropriate authorities.
In other news about wildlife, the Fisheries Department is embarking on consultations about implementing new regulations on lobster traps and shades. These include the materials the shades are made out of and their locations. However, fishers are concerned that they aren't being given enough time and resources to consider the proposition. According to the president of the San Pedro Fishers Association, they haven't even gotten the full details to consider, or time to meet with their members, since the first consultation is scheduled for tomorrow. We spoke with Jorge Aldana via Zoom.
Jorge Aldana, President, San Pedro Fisherfolk Association "Initially when we were told that it's just a proposal, it's just in its initial stages, we said okay we'll have enough time to go back into our communities and share with our fishers in our community what is the full proposed regulations or the change in these proposed regulations. Lo and behold we were told last night that they're coming into our communities tomorrow to do first rounds of consultation. Like I said, they gave us no opportunity to see the regulations before so that we could inform and to make decisions and contributions in a more meaningful way. And so we have a fundamental problem in the way the Fisheries Department is going about conducting these rounds of consultations, we feel it is very disingenuous to say you want to meet with fishers but at the same time have not provided us with ample time."
"We feel like they're doing most of the consultations during the day so fishers don't attend these consultations. You're having a consultation at 9:00 in the morning, that's the time fishermen are out there in their peak time of the day conducting fishing."
"And communities were left behind, fishing communities. We have 22 registered associations and if you look for instance down south, there is only one or two consultations for the entire Stann Creek District in 2 communities. They left out Dangriga."
"When you go north, there is one consultation slot for the Corozal District, Chunox. What happened to the people that are fisherfolk in Sarteneja, in Progresso, in Copperbank, in Libertad, in Ranchito, in all the little villages that are so far away from Chunox, Corozal Town. These are fishing communities."
And apart from the inadequate consultations, Aldana added that the fishers are also concerned about some of the regulations. They say they're not agreeing to anything until a proper assessment is done.
Jorge Aldana: "The new proposal is saying that we will have to seek administrative permission from the Fisheries Department for these shades for the type of material being used for it, they need to regulate that, in other words they will see if galvanized roof or zinc will be used. The type of material they are using, they want to regulate that but more than that, they're saying we would need to get written permission from the fisheries administrator, we will need to get an ID tag for each shade and if required we would need to give them GPS coordinates of where our shades are. At this time we don't have that and there is a reason why we don't do that. The information as it relates to these shades can get into people's hands, people who you don't want your location to be known in terms of shades because we have pirates and we know how there is institutionalized corruption. Now we are not saying that it would happen at the Fisheries Department, but there is a possibility that it happen that we're here in good faith we're giving the Fisheries Department GPS locations of our shades and when we find out, bam it's in the domain of other people and they know exactly where our shades are and they go and reap our lobsters from these shades so we are saying why do we have to go down that road?"
"So we are saying it's a little bit too far and I think that whenever you are taking decisions that have a high impact in the socioeconomic livelihood of fisherfolk you need to do what we call a socioeconomic impact assessment of how these decisions will affect the livelihoods of fishermen, their families, and their communities. And we had a successful meeting in San Pedro with over 60 fisherfolk and the sentiment is across the board similar that before there can be any entertainment of this new proposed regulation, we need to pat the brakes and we need to say before proposing changes, let's do a socioeconomic impact on the livelihoods of fishermen and only after that process is done then we will be able to entertain any changes in the fisheries legislation."
Caye Caulker's consultation is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9, while San Pedro's starts at 4 in the evening.
Following the fallout over leaked internal emails exposing a deep rift at the Caribbean Court of Justice, the region's top judicial leaders issued a joint statement addressing the crisis. Released locally through the Senior Courts of Belize, the statement represents the collective response from the Heads of Judiciary of Belize, Barbados, The Bahamas, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.
While the regional leaders made no comment on the merits of the allegations against CCJ President Winston Anderson, they expressed grave concern over the breach of confidentiality that exposed the court's internal communications to the public. Emphasizing that the authority of the CCJ rests entirely on public trust in its independence, integrity, and competence, the judicial heads reaffirmed their full confidence in the region's apex court and urged the preservation of faith in the Caribbean judicial architecture.
We reached out to the Bar Association of Belize for comment on the worrying revelations about the court's administration, but they said, quote, "The matters referred to are properly within the remit of the Court and the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC), and we believe that they should be addressed through the appropriate institutional processes. Accordingly, the Bar Association will respectfully decline the request for an interview on this occasion."
You may have met him when he first started preaching at St. Martin De Porres Parish, or through his work at SJC, but for the past 8 years in Belize, Father Jeremy Zipple has dedicated his life to building connections and friendships across the country. While part of his work as a priest entails praying for the sick and recovering, he now finds himself on the other side of those prayers. "Father Jer" was recently diagnosed with a tumor while visiting his family in the US, and doctors caught it just in time. We spoke with him this afternoon from his hospital bed in Houston, Texas about his diagnosis. He says it all started with a few persistent headaches.
Fr. Jeremy Zipple, Priest, St Johns College "So literally the night before I was going to fly back to Belize my mom dragged me over to the doctor to the urgent care center and they did a CT scan and sure enough there was a tumor back there a brain tumor so from then it was like they admitted me to the hospital and did a bunch of tests and figured out exactly what was going on and then scheduled the surgery, so that's how it went the moral lesson is to always listen to your mom when she is pestering you."
"So what it is is a tumor, it is a golf ball sized tumor and it is in the back of my, kind of the base of my brain and it is not cancer, but the problem it is big and it is in a weird location so it is basically kind of like blocking, there are fluids and stuff circulate through your brain to keep it cleaned out and it is blocking that it is kind of like putting a stopper in a sink or something and it has been putting a lot of pressure on the brain so when I got my diagnosis all the doctors were saying man you are lucky you came just in time because if it had kept pressing anymore it could have started squeezing the brain down and creating some permanent brain damage but thank God they caught it just in time so really it is a matter of just getting it out there and from what I understand I will be pretty much back to normal."
Father Jeremy's surgery is set for tomorrow and is expected to last up to 5 hours. He says the outpouring of support for him has been overwhelming since he received his diagnosis.
Fr. Jeremy Zipple, Priest, St Johns College "I am a little bit nervous but honestly I have been feeling very peaceful through the whole thing, first of all the amount of people that have sent love and prayers and support and well wishes has been nothing short of overwhelming you know I am feeling so grateful and lifted up by all the support and love from all my Belizean friends, parishioners and students, it is just I cant express enough all my gratitude for that."
"It just depends on how my body and brain respond they said short end could be maybe three weeks it could be little bit longer but they say if my health is good and I am where I need to be so it probably bodes well for a quick recovery so I am really hoping, I don't think I am going to be back in time in Belize for carnival but maybe the 21st of September so that is hopefully sometime early mid September that is my plan and hope."
We'll let you know how his surgery goes.
Friends for Conservation and Development achieved another major milestone this week, executing one of its largest wild macaw releases into the Chiquibul Forest since 2012. Today, FCD's research coordinator spoke with us via Zoom to share the latest progress on restoring Belize's macaw population. Here is Jomarie Lanza with the story.
Since 2012, the Friends for Conservation and Development have been conducting biomonitoring of scarlet macaws in the Chiquibul Forest. Their work to safeguard the macaw species has significantly boosted the population of the birds, given that they are always at a high risk of being poached. They were caring for 19 birds, and yesterday they released 15 of those macaws back into the wild. Their research coordinator says that the birds they intake are the smallest in the nest and less likely to survive.
Wilmer Guerra, Research Coordinator, FCD "These 15 macaws are a group of 19 at-risk chicks that we extracted this year which is an effort of monitoring that we do in the Chalillo, Chiquibul ecosystem. So these at-risk are basically at risk of being poached, or at risk of dying through other means we extract them and we bring them to our lab and then they go through a whole process of rehabilitation and then at the end they are soft released back into the Chiquibul wild."
"So the macaws they usually nest in the riparian zone so along the riverbanks in Quamwood trees, these nests are quite high so what we do is we rappel up to the nests and then we basically biomonitor from the time that the macaw lays their chicks or the eggs to the time that the chicks hatch till eventually the chick flies off into the wild then we know that we have already made our part in documenting so that is basically what we do throughout the year, like I said in some instances we have already some established protocols with the Forest Department in which we want to intervene so we extract those chicks. We don't extract eggs so we only extract the chicks and we take them to the institute laboratory that we have in the Chiquibul forest reserve at Las Cuevas research station."
Placing chicks into their rehabilitation program has always been a last management option for the team at FCD. Guerra explains that the chicks undergo a short rehabilitation period of 100 days. But before they can fully integrate them back into the wild, they first have to learn how to fly.
Wilmer Guerra, Research Coordinator, FCD "So for maybe for like the first 45-50 days we feed the chick only a special formula that is designed specifically for macaws and then we slowly start introducing wild fruits and other supplements for the chick to be able to learn how to forage out in the wild, and then at day 80-90 then we start to see the chick already flapping its wing then we know we have to transfer it to our bigger aviary and in that aviary the macaw would basically be able to practice its flight muscle until eventually at around 120 days we open up the gates and then they would fly off into the wild through a soft release program of course so we would still be able to provide food for the macaws while they have already fledged out of the aviary. So in some instances they would fly off and still come back in a period of about 3 days four days fly off again forage and then come back to our facilities so eventually they integrate into a wild flock and we don't see them again but it takes a process and then we basically have to work at the speed of how these macaws integrate back into the wild."
There are currently an estimated 350 scarlet macaws remaining in the wild across Belize.
The Dance Academy of Belize is organizing a dance showcase to raise funds to cover the medical expenses of Milagro Garel, well known as the founder and country director for the World Pediatric Project, which has helped scores of children in need of life-changing and life-saving surgeries.
Now, she is the one who needs help. Garel suffered an aneurysm two weeks ago and is currently in an intensive care unit in Guatemala City. Her condition is serious but stable, with encouraging signs of neurological recovery, as her family and doctors hope she regains full consciousness.
Fundraising is essential for her continued care and long recovery.
And that's what is driving the organizers of the "Movements for Milagro" event. We spoke to them:
Jodi Pott, Event Organizer, Movements for Milagro "About 2 weeks ago unfortunately Mrs Milagro Garel suffered from a ruptured brain aneurysm so that was a medical emergency and she was initially stabilized in Belize but then she had to be medically evacuated to Guatemala for medical treatment, she has undergone I think two surgeries so far to seal off the aneurysm but she still requires extensive medical care it is 24/7 care she will still require further procedures and so we decided to help out because Aesha Garel who is Milagro Garel's daughter, she dances with us and she is a good friend of ours through dance and she has been in the dance community since she was about 4 years old so we decided that it was not whether we would do something but what we would do, and what we know is how to dance and how to organize a show so that is how the event came about."
Christy Wong, Event Organizer, Movements for Milagro "Yes so this Sunday August 16th at 3:00PM at the Bliss Center we will be hosting Movements for Milagro it is a dance show whereby us Dance Academy of Belize plus many other dance groups will be joining to do this fundraiser."
"So joining us we have Dance Academy of Belize, Belize National Dance Company, Modern Dance Movement, Belize Afro Dance Formation, D's Dance Studio, SB's Productions and a lot more joining us."
"Yes tickets are still available they are $25 each we have a flyer with a number on it, Jodi's number, 615-0935 can be contacted or myself at 623-0960. $25 per ticket and we still have tickets available."
"Apart from that there are also more fundraisers being held I know on the same Sunday in San Pedro at Elvi's Kitchen there is also Dinner for a Miracle so whoever is out at San Pedro can join that, The Mix is also holding a raffle it is $100 per ticket and that can be purchased at The Mix."
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John Briceno, Prime Minister
While we spoke to the PM a few minutes before 6:00, the press spoke with BTL's Chairman at midday after he finished his presentation.
Markhelm Lizarraga, Chairman, BTL
So, as you heard earlier, Cabinet is next inviting the National Trade Union Congress of Belize and the Chamber of Commerce to come to Cabinet on Thursday to clarify why they reject the proposed acquisition.
At this point we don't know what Cabinet's reply to those requests will be, but in its statement today, Cabinet says, quote, "After hearing from all the various parties, Cabinet will, at its meeting of Tuesday, August 18, deliberate and inform on its position on the matter."
And while he tries to convince consumers-Lizarraga has failed at even convincing BTL's own union, the Communication Workers Union who rejected the deal yesterday.
"I think they made a very comprehensive presentation but we are still waiting on some additional information before a final decision is made."
The Department of the Environment is still investigating the event on the Belize River that led to a massive fish kill, which saw the deaths of various species of fish as well as reptiles such as crocodiles and hicatee turtles.
"And he said that he doesn't believe that the, the fish may have died from chemical, um, substances because the, the, uh, organs would have been darker. The skin and, and organs would have been damaged, and there, there would have been more, uh, more blood within, within the specimen."
A video of some nighttime swimmers in Caye Caulker trying to escape a large animal made its rounds on social media over the last few days. It seems a crocodile was heading straight for them, forcing them to get out of the sea. But what was a crocodile-especially one of this size-doing so close to a common swimming area?
In other news about wildlife, the Fisheries Department is embarking on consultations about implementing new regulations on lobster traps and shades. These include the materials the shades are made out of and their locations. However, fishers are concerned that they aren't being given enough time and resources to consider the proposition. According to the president of the San Pedro Fishers Association, they haven't even gotten the full details to consider, or time to meet with their members, since the first consultation is scheduled for tomorrow. We spoke with Jorge Aldana via Zoom.
"We feel like they're doing most of the consultations during the day so fishers don't attend these consultations. You're having a consultation at 9:00 in the morning, that's the time fishermen are out there in their peak time of the day conducting fishing."
Following the fallout over leaked internal emails exposing a deep rift at the Caribbean Court of Justice, the region's top judicial leaders issued a joint statement addressing the crisis. Released locally through the Senior Courts of Belize, the statement represents the collective response from the Heads of Judiciary of Belize, Barbados, The Bahamas, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.
You may have met him when he first started preaching at St. Martin De Porres Parish, or through his work at SJC, but for the past 8 years in Belize, Father Jeremy Zipple has dedicated his life to building connections and friendships across the country. While part of his work as a priest entails praying for the sick and recovering, he now finds himself on the other side of those prayers. "Father Jer" was recently diagnosed with a tumor while visiting his family in the US, and doctors caught it just in time. We spoke with him this afternoon from his hospital bed in Houston, Texas about his diagnosis. He says it all started with a few persistent headaches.
"So what it is is a tumor, it is a golf ball sized tumor and it is in the back of my, kind of the base of my brain and it is not cancer, but the problem it is big and it is in a weird location so it is basically kind of like blocking, there are fluids and stuff circulate through your brain to keep it cleaned out and it is blocking that it is kind of like putting a stopper in a sink or something and it has been putting a lot of pressure on the brain so when I got my diagnosis all the doctors were saying man you are lucky you came just in time because if it had kept pressing anymore it could have started squeezing the brain down and creating some permanent brain damage but thank God they caught it just in time so really it is a matter of just getting it out there and from what I understand I will be pretty much back to normal."
Friends for Conservation and Development achieved another major milestone this week, executing one of its largest wild macaw releases into the Chiquibul Forest since 2012. Today, FCD's research coordinator spoke with us via Zoom to share the latest progress on restoring Belize's macaw population. Here is Jomarie Lanza with the story.
"So the macaws they usually nest in the riparian zone so along the riverbanks in Quamwood trees, these nests are quite high so what we do is we rappel up to the nests and then we basically biomonitor from the time that the macaw lays their chicks or the eggs to the time that the chicks hatch till eventually the chick flies off into the wild then we know that we have already made our part in documenting so that is basically what we do throughout the year, like I said in some instances we have already some established protocols with the Forest Department in which we want to intervene so we extract those chicks. We don't extract eggs so we only extract the chicks and we take them to the institute laboratory that we have in the Chiquibul forest reserve at Las Cuevas research station."
The Dance Academy of Belize is organizing a dance showcase to raise funds to cover the medical expenses of Milagro Garel, well known as the founder and country director for the World Pediatric Project, which has helped scores of children in need of life-changing and life-saving surgeries.
"About 2 weeks ago unfortunately Mrs Milagro Garel suffered from a ruptured brain aneurysm so that was a medical emergency and she was initially stabilized in Belize but then she had to be medically evacuated to Guatemala for medical treatment, she has undergone I think two surgeries so far to seal off the aneurysm but she still requires extensive medical care it is 24/7 care she will still require further procedures and so we decided to help out because Aesha Garel who is Milagro Garel's daughter, she dances with us and she is a good friend of ours through dance and she has been in the dance community since she was about 4 years old so we decided that it was not whether we would do something but what we would do, and what we know is how to dance and how to organize a show so that is how the event came about."
"So joining us we have Dance Academy of Belize, Belize National Dance Company, Modern Dance Movement, Belize Afro Dance Formation, D's Dance Studio, SB's Productions and a lot more joining us."
