But, what we can tell you is that - even at this stage - compromise with the Shyne Barrow faction appears unlikely. 7News has learned that recently at least one key campaign contributor reached out to Panton to propose two possible compromises: the first, a coalition in the constituencies of Albert, Collett, Queens Square and Cayo North. In that case, Shyne Barrow's side would retain the name UDP. That was rejected.

There was also a proposal for Panton to recognize Barrow as leader - and Barrow would then permit Albert, Collet, Queens Square and Cayo North candidates who have all pledged to Panton - to run as UDP under Barrow's leadership. That was also rejected.

So, tonight - staring down the barrel of 2025 -the standoff remains and we'll hope to have some news on what came out of Panton's meeting which started after 2:00.

** UPDATE

Earlier in the news we told you about the meeting that Tracy Panton's UDP held this afternoon into evening.

It lasted for approximately 4 hours and as it was winding down, Panton spoke to us about their plans for this year's general elections. And no, they don't include forming a third party or a coalition. She and the 17 other members loyal to her plan to run under the UDP banner, and under her leadership.

But prior to the elections - which rumors heavily suggest are about 2 months away - Panton plans to legally address what she refers to as the arbitrary removal of some standard bearers. She also added that the alliance hasn't necessarily rejected any proposals, but when they go back to court, they are open to mediation.

Tracy Panton, Albert Area Rep. "If we listen to all the rumor, the election will be called sooner rather than later. And so it's important for us to make sure that the constituencies that are part of our movement are battle ready for the next general elections."

"And part of the meeting today was to talk about our plans to visit with these constituencies, visit with the executive committees and the campaign committees to ensure that we have our boots on the ground as soon as possible."

Reporter "I assume that when the time comes for nominations or whatnot, you all plan to be nominated under the UDP banner."

Tracy Panton, Albert Area Rep. "That is correct. We are members of the United Democratic Party. We continue to maintain that. Nothing has been determined to say that we are not members of the United Democratic Party. As far as we are concerned, there are standard bearers who are being arbitrarily removed and replaced and we will seek to take that matter to court with some urgency."

"There are 18 members of the Alliance, a part of the movement within the UDP. And we intend to run as members of the United Democratic Party. It is my understanding that the former party leader, Shyne Barrow seeks to put in 31 candidates in 31 constituencies that excludes the 18, but he won't, that won't be a walk in the park for him."

"We are going to seek legal redress on that matter because it is improper, it is illegal, it is unacceptable, it is unconstitutional. We have 31 constituencies under the United Democratic Party. 18 of those constituencies, are part of the movement within the party and the other 13 are not."

"And so we intend to take up that matter legally if we need to. I don't know that we have rejected any proposals. We have agreed to go to mediation. It was encouraged by the judge. While the judge fell short of making an order for us to go to mediation, he strongly encouraged it."

"Our legal advisor also encouraged it. And we will be indicating to the court prior to January 6, which is our deadline, that we intend to go to mediation, a court-facilitated mediation. And at that time, I think these proposals can be placed on the table."

Panton added that she hopes that Shyne Barrow will ultimately take the high road. Barrow has said he will speak to the media next week. ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72842 25 year old Shania Dominguez alleges that she was at home on Boxing Day when she was antagonized by her cousin, a police officer named Lunette Dominguez. She claims that the bad blood between them began as a land dispute. They both reportedly live on a plot of land belonging to their deceased grandfather. Shania Dominguez believes that her cousin wants the entire plot to herself and wants her to pack up and leave.

But on the 26th, what has normally been just words thrown back and forth turned into a physical altercation. Shania Dominguez reported to police that her cousin allegedly broke into her home, stole some items, and attacked her. Both women, along with the officer's son - who was involved in the altercation - were charged with harm, but Shania Dominguez believes that she was wrongly charged. She said she believes that her cousin should receive additional charges for burglary and theft as well.

Here's what she told us after she was arraigned.

Shania Dominguez, Charged With Harm "On December 26th I was at home, I heard a loud noise on my rooftop, I opened my door and I noticed a young man that I know, I don't want to call his name, but I asked the young man if it was him who threw on top of my house and the young man did say it was him and apologized. Like approximately 20 seconds, I heard Lunette Dominguez who is an officer attached to the SPU told the young man why are you going to say it's you? are you afraid of that ***obscenity*** that is the word she said. So when she said that, both of us exchanged words and then her nephew said that he would come over to my house and punch me in my mouth then I started hearing loud noises on my house like stuff started getting stoned. When I looked, I opened my door and I saw him already at the step. I was scared, I threw regular water on him so that he could move away and go out of my yard because why are you guys in my yard. I locked back my door, sat down and I heard all the steps because Lunette is coming up, stomped open the door, the door fell straight down because the force that they came with, trashed the whole house, that's aggravated burglary, damage to property, stuff went missing so they should get charged for theft. All of those things."

"Chicken Dread came all the way to Biscayne, my home, I have the video clips, the images, all of that that I can share so people can see that I am not fabricating this story, it's reality."

"And then I'm being charged for harm for protecting my home and my child so I'm not seeing why should I be charged for harm if these people trespassed, came in my yard space, and into my home."

"The stuff that went missing from my house was my television. The injuries I received was harm. I received scratches. The nephew was the one that did most of the damage because he was the one that came in and stomped me while Lunette and I were fighting."

She is currently out on bail of $1,500. Her cousin, Lunette Dominguez and her son Ellsworth Dominguez - who turned 18 at the start of the year - were also bailed this morning. When we asked her for an interview, she declined.

For his part Paul Ferguson has denied the claims. ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72843 He also added that Ministerial Driver Paul Ferguson - or Chicken Dread - cannot prevent the police from doing their investigations into the matter.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "I don't know why they call that man Chicken Dread because he doesn't have any dreads. Maybe Chicken Bald Head would be more appropriate. But again we have to be extremely real and honest in terms of what we say to the public. When we give an account of something, we must give the full story. Obviously there is an issue involving that family and it would appear that what triggered the issue might have been something that took place at the Boxing Day Horserace where following that event, the son of Ms Dominguez, the police officer, was burnt with hot water by the relative of the other lady who is complaining. And based on that, she went into the house to see who had thrown the hot water on her son and while she was there, there was a scuffle and the lady got injured. The police again exercising reasonableness and fairness, we decided to look at the issue as a cross complaint. So the fact that Ms Dominguez is a police, Lunette, did not exculpate her from the issue because she was charged with harm and the person who threw the hot water on the child was also charged. So I don't know what else the family expects and this has nothing to do with Chicken Dread or Chicken Bald Head, however you may want to call him, in terms of influencing what the police does. I personally advised the Ladyville police in terms of how to deal with the issue and they dealt with it according to how I had directed."

Reporter: "Ms Shania is alleging that she did not throw hot water on him and it was just regular water and I believe her main complaint is that more charges should have been levied against them such as burglarizing and breaking into her house."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Again whether it's hot or cold water, if you throw water on somebody, it's an assault. They had no right to do that and that is what aggravated the issue. And so we have to be real, they provoked the situation. If you are a mother and you are somewhere and someone from inside a house threw water, whether hot or cold on your child what would be your response? We have to be real. You don't provoke a situation and believe that because another person responded to your provocation then that person must be dealt with how you feel the person must be dealt with. The law must be there to protect people and that is how we execute the law, with a view to protect people." ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72844 At his arraignment, Garnett pleaded guilty initially to wounding and use of deadly means of harm and begged the court for leniency in the form of a fine. But when the chief magistrate told him he was not going to get a fine but jail time, he changed his guilty plea to not guilty and tonight he is out on bail of $1,500 with his case adjourned until March 5th.

Garnett is being accused of stabbing 28-year-old, Mervin Martin three times to the body on New Years Day on Pitter Street. Martin told police that Garnett's common law got into an argument with him and Garnett intervened by stabbing him three times. After the stabbing incident, Garnett later handed himself in to the police. ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72845 Now it's the police who usually get the praise for these outcomes, but Noralez claimed to share in that success. And when we asked her about Compol Chester, she cooly said, quote, "I don't chase the the praise of others...I think that's what separates us because I am not distracted by public praise."

Now we could hear Compol Chester saying"ouch" on that one- but today he gave no sign of mortal injury - he gave an even handed response and said there is a lot of praise to go around:

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "You all would be able to know in every interview where the issue of success and reduction in crime is concerned I have never taken the praise alone. I've always said that it is a combination of different factors and I've always put LIU at the center of it because we do recognize and appreciate the work that LIU does on a daily basis. It does contribute to our effectiveness. We do not discount people who are playing an integral role in terms of what we do and so LIU is a part of what we do but apart from that we have other factors that we must also give consideration to. So I really don't understand what she meant by me chasing praises because I don't do that. I am one man and I alone cannot reduce crime. While I am the head of the police department, I am policy maker, the policies that I make or the strategies I put together would not be worth the paper they're written on if the people on the grounds do not execute them properly so I give the praises to my commanders, to the foot soldiers, those constable, corporals, sergeants who hit the pavement everyday and execute our policies. They are the ones I give the praises to because they are the ones who are out there doing what needs to be done so I remain humble in terms of what I do and I am grateful to my commanders and every other organization that works with the police including LIU and Brother Nuri and his team to ensure that we were able to reduce crime the way we did two successive years."

Courtney Menzies: "Would you say that the LIU plays more of a role in that mediation process?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Everybody plays a role in what we're doing. Interventions or mediations are critical. When we have information of feuds developing like we are having now, our duty is to step in and do what we need to do to diffuse the feud from going any further. And yes there are some mediation that behavior modification would be a part of and there are some that Brother Nuri and Footy Gongora would be a part of and so I value the effort of both teams. At the end of the day everybody or every organizations or any factors that can lend to the reduction in crime, I welcome it." ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72846 Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "I'm here because we do have some rising tensions in the area within the BLC and so I'm here along with Mr Gamboa to see what we can do to try and diffuse the issue before it goes any further."

Courtney Menzies: "Have you gotten any useful information so far?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Of course yes we're getting a good insight in terms of what actually transpired New Years morning and the information that we're getting, we will use that to see how best we can stem the issue before it escalates any further."

"The police department is going to continue to work with LIU to see how best we can provide a way to those persons who wish to become law abiding and useful members of our society. So this is a part of what we want to ensure that we provide that avenue for people to make that change that they want to make." ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72847 And while an internal police memorandum says "this decision….reflects the department's broader commitment to addressing the complexities and challenges associated with gender-based violence in ALL its forms," to some it sounds like what might be called "woke-ism" - and the inclusion of LGBTQ considerations.

The Commissioner discussed this today:

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "We have had the domestic violence unit in place for quite a number of years now and with the evolving of time we saw the need to change the name from domestic violence to gender based violence response and investigation unit. At the end of the day we have to look beyond the domestic issue in terms of what happens in a home between a man, woman and child and see how we can encapsulate those other factors where gender violence is concerned and so the unit is now going to be tasked with that responsibility of making sure that we can capture everybody. At the end of the day as a police organization we cannot discriminate, I know that there are some school of thought out there who are already spewing some of their own agenda that this is being done with a view to accommodate the LGBTQ whatever it may be but at the end of the day we have to understand that whether a person is straight, bisexual, heterosexual, or whatever, we as a department must represent them. We cannot tell people that because you're this we cannot represent you. We are an organization that is created with the intent to make sure that we protect everybody regardless of your race, color, culture, creed, sexual orientation as the case may be so we are extremely proud of the move we are making now to ensure that we have a progressive unit within our department to be able to address all forms of gender based violence."

"With the change of focus of with the additional responsibility given to the unit now. There certainly is going to be a need for more training for the officers who worked within the unit and not just those officers but every police officer can understand the dynamism of gender based violence. It cannot be that we give them certain responsibilities and we do not explain to them or give them something that would be able to help them understand and properly respond to these issues. And so training is going to be essential and Mr Jones, and director of training Ms Usher are going to work together to ensure that we get the right people onboard to provide this trainings for us."

The change took effect on New Year's day. ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72848 On December 19th Dr. Carlos Saborio. Was charged for spiking the drink of a male nurse he was socializing with. The nurse says that the last thing he remembers is getting into the doctor's car, and then woke up more than 24 hours later.

In December, Doctor Saborio was charged with administering a noxious substance, pleaded not guilty and was bailed. But we've heard from friends of the doctor which say that he is the victim of blackmail by a practiced extortionist. The commissioner today said it is a complex case:

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "That's a very complex issue. I know that there is some allegations of blackmail being involved in the whole issue. I'm not sure if a report was made to the police officially but the attorney for the doctor did reach out to me and had sent me some information to suggest that indeed there was some element to blackmail in that whole situation and so the police is going to look at it if an official complaint is made and then we see how we go from there." ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72849 He says the devil got busy in December:...

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "You know the devil is always busy. The police worked arduously to try as best as we could have to keep the murder count below last year's figure or at least at last year's figure. That was my hope and believe you me I pushed my police officers and I know that they were out there going their part but at the end the devil got busy, we have the triple in Monkey River and then we had the double with the two persons with the drug deal in Hattieville. Then eventually we had the other two which included one in Belize City so it just caught up with us and those were things that I do not see would have fallen within the preventative reach of the police. They happened and it took our number to 89 compared to 87 last year. I still believe that 89 is a huge accomplishment considering the fact that prior to me becoming commissioner of police, we were averaging around 130 to 140 murders annually and since I became commissioner, we're seeing the number steadily decreasing and again while I do not take the credit for it because like I said before there are different factors but the leadership that not only myself but also my minister and the prime minister are very instrumental when we want equipment, when we want recruits, the prime minister always supports us to make sure we get what we need to be able to fight crime effectively. So I have to talk the prime minister and my minister for the support they had given us to have been able to achieve what we have done over them past few years."

We note that our murder count is 91, not 89. ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72850 Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "When an issue of self-defense is raised in any investigation, it is not the police the determines the charges, it is the DPP's office and so we have sent that file to the DPP for instructions on that matter and we await that. Bear in mind though that if a person comes into your home and when you get there, you are attacked by that person, the law does give you some leverage that you can protect yourself and your home. I'm sure that those are things that the DPP rep are going to take into consideration in determining that matter. This person was already charged with carnal knowledge against your child. You come home and find him in your home with your same child. What would be your response, how would you deal with it? And if there's a scuffle and he ends up getting injured and died, I don't see how the person could be held accountable for that." ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72851 She's accused of stealing the money from her aunt, Adelita Ramirez who operates a business in Downtown Plaza named Adelina's Shop.

How did she do it? It is alleged that she made out false withdrawal slips and forged her aunt's signature to siphon a total of 31,000 dollars from her account at Holy Redeemer Credit Union. It is alleged she did this 13 times between September 4th and December 18th, 2024.

Today in court after being read the charges, the Chief Magistrate denied her bail and remanded to the Belize Central Prison until February 28, 2025. ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72852 He resisted and got assistance from passersby who stopped to help him, and lend some hardware like a wheel spanner to fight off the thieves. He ran to the median - while they tried to wrest the bike away form him even in face of oncoming traffic.

Eventually, when passersby stopped in the middle of the road to lend assistance the thieves rode off into the night. ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72853 Throughout 2024, we reported on dozens of road fatalities - whether they were motorcycle accidents or vehicular ones. It has reached a crisis level, particularly after 10 persons were killed in a single accident in December.

And because of that, the police department is launching a Road Policing Unit. But this unit won't just be in charge of traffic violations. They'll also be dealing with cross border criminal activity and human smuggling. ComPol Williams told us more.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "We have next week Monday will be the official launch of the Road Policing Unit, the Road Policing Unit is a new unit that we're creating within the MIT and the Road Policing Unit is going to be tasked with policing our highways and byways. we'll see more checkpoints in strategic areas of the country mounted by these officers and their duties is going to include looking at Human Trafficking, Human Smuggling, firearms trafficking, drug trafficking as well as those transient criminals and cross border transnational organized crime. So they'll have a huge mandate in terms of making sure they secure our highways and with that will also come, they'll be issuing the traffic violations tickets so if they encounter any traffic violations they'll be able to issue tickets for those as well. And along with that, separate and apart from that, we will also have our traffic police officers across the country who are going to be working with the national transport or the local transport to ensure that they could conduct more checkpoints and highway patrols with a view to ensure that we reduce the amount of fatalities on our highways. So 2025 we intend to do a lot to mitigate the issues of Road Traffic Fatalities and we hope that the Belizean people work with us. Along with that we'll also be pushing for the amendments to the laws, I think that is going to be discussed by Cabinet very shortly to see to what extent they intend to take the amendment, particularly where drunk driving is concerned and once we get those amendments in, we have stricter penalties, we believe it is going to help as well to serve as a deterrent to those persons who drive under the influence and those persons who drive and violate the road traffic rules and violations." ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72854 But the ComPol added that as improvements continue, there are still certain conditions that officers have to bear with.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Again if you have read my New Year's message I did allude to the fact that in 2025 we will see the continued rollout of the CABEI project and with that will come the construction of a number of new police stations as well as the renovations of some existing police stations across the country so these are things that are going to help not just to provide a great quality of service to the community but also to help to boost the welfare and moral of the officers. The pictures from the academy I believe those are old pictures because we have since renovated that dorm before boots went in so again those were old pictures. We have renovated that. But I want to say to police officers that we can't get everything we want one lick, we take things in strides and I can assure them that with time, their working environment is going to improve. We have seen that we have made great improvements in some areas of the country but you know money is not there as we may want it to be, it's a scarcity at times, and when we do get, we have to pinch a little for here, a little for there so that we can provide as best as we can to all police officers across the country so those areas where we're seeing buildings dilapidating, we're coming to them, we'll ensure that in 2025 we'll do better in terms of renovating them and make these offices and buildings a better working environment for our police officers." ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72855 Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "I spoke to the OC, or the divisional commander of the coastal area Mr Cowo this morning on that issue and my briefing from Mr Cowo is that these individuals, I think there were three of them, detained in a cell with another person. Having detained them in a cell with the other person, we found out that the other person has a mental disability. Our policy is that once you have a person who is mentally challenged that person must be detained separately from other prisoners. So the police officers went to the cellblock to remove those individuals who were not classified as mentally challenged out of the cell where this mentally challenge person was and when the officers went to do that these three individuals attacked the police officers. The officers received varying degree of injury including when transporting them to the hospital, one of them stamped the police out of the vehicle, almost killing him and the police have since charged those individuals for the injuries they caused to the police officers. So we need to be honest and we have to understand that police officers are human being and when police are going their job, we must always ensure we work with them and we corporate with them even if we feel the police officer is wrong, you have responsibility to corporate and after you have done so, you can always make a complaint if you feel the police have wronged you. So again I personally did not see anything wrong that the police officers did, nonetheless I have tasked the professional standard branch to go out and look at the situation, we may have video footage and that will be able to help the police's investigation." ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72856 Oscar Manzanero, Business Man "I am here in front of the town hall to take measures against what the town council has taken to close down my business enterprise along with over 20 odd clients being refused of their licenses and so some of the tenants are already pulling out as one commented that level up is going out and another tenant which is a call center has been offered a space right at the San Ignacio town board which as a consequence of them writing and instigating all of this basically closing me down completely. People are not be able to open their businesses and there are 20 establishments which I believe they support well over 100 people including family members and employees. Again I believe this is a draconian step taken by the, a drastic and draconian step taken by the municipality since I have not been given any prior reason none of my tenants have reviewed any prior reasons for taking such on other successful years they have all gotten their license and all of a sudden now the building is unfit for use because we are in contravention of certain codes. One of those to bed displaced is an engineering firm which includes international engineers and craftsmen. Since there are no building codes here in Belize we publicly expressed that and they can provide that to me in writing. What has been legislated is a building act but that building app does not specify any codes so they are telling me I am in contravention of certain codes but there are no codes in existence."

The mayor didn't want to get into a back and forth but did furnish us with pictures showing the violations and apprise us of the fact that Manzanero has substantial trade license arrears. ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72857 According to BSI ASR Corozal has the most affected areas, which means that Orange Walk needs to start putting in stricter measures, like sanitizing equipment. Their Cane Farmer Relations Manager, Olivia Carballo gave us more details on the disease and how exactly it affects the crops.

Oliva Carballo, Cane Farmer Relations Manager, ASR BSI "SIRDI estimates about 40k acres has been affected with some degree the most severe areas are about 10k acres that are really severe in the way that we would want to recommend that those be replanted and not brought to the mill. Of course that is really dependent on the farmer and what they do but the content of this material and fusarium is a disease that's in the soil and enters the plant if it has lesions or through the roots and it starts rotting from the inside so if you see a cane field and the field looks fine maybe some yellow leaves but what is happening is that it's rotting from the inside and so it's decomposing fermenting and by the time that reaches to the mill you basically have just dried material to work with. And a little sugar content. That's going to be touch for grinding it's going to be tough for sugar extraction and of course for everyone because at the end of the day we don't get the sugar and so we can't value that. The other issue is the stem bores that we continuously not treat and those are sort of pathogens. They make the holes on the plants and that's where disease can enter so if we are not able to control that then that will extend to the entire 68K acres of sugar cane field."

Initial estimates were that fusarium would affect 40,000 acres of cane, but that estimate has gone up since then. ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72858 Despite this finding the Mexican Minister of Agriculture has committed to continue to import Belizean cattle with a new protocol - which will reduce the quarantine requirement to just 7 days.

It's a major accomplishment in what can only be called agricultural diplomacy, but while the Ministry has had success with this, is it partnering effectively with its local sister agencies to stop the spread of the screwworm?

On Monday we asked about the reported deactivation of a multi sectoral committee with the Ministry of Health and wellness, BAHA, ORISA, The Department of the Environment, and IICA to assist in the sensitization and containment campaign.

We asked if it was still active:

Jules Vasquez "As I understand it, you or someone in your ministry deactivated it because, you know, you are Superman."

Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture "Jules, you are completely misinformed. First, you've called me God, now, you call me Superman. Now, we have a very close relationship with our partners in development. We have a very close relationship with the different sectors, and we have trained people from these sectors. And so I think that you have been completely misled by calling me Superman and I act on my own. That's not so."

Jules Vasquez "Has this multisectoral group been activated? I'm not hearing about it. I am told it has been deactivated."

Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture "Of course, we have meetings with these people to update them every week. We have BAHA reaching out to them. We have done it ourselves. And so this is a national approach. As a matter of fact, Jules, in our meeting a while ago, I asked our ministry, senior people, that they too will have to hit the ground in Toledo to visit farms to show that we are serious about keeping the spread of screw worm from expanding in Belize. We lead by example here."

Zoe Zetina, Managing Director, BAHA "Just to add, Jules, the name of that committee is the Prevention and Response Committee, and it's utilizing the One Health approach. So it does have members from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise, from BAHA, from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, from the Ministry of Sustainable Development through the Forest Department.

"It has IICA and OIRSA also sitting as representatives on that committee. We have had several meetings with them and we have also trained their technical officers to identify larvae and wounds on humans as well as animals." ]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72859 Tracy Panton, Albert Area Rep. "It's not for us to seek to put somebody in Mesopotamia. What I can tell you is that the executive committee of Mesopotamia have expressed concerns to us regarding their current standard bearer. If there is a new UDP candidate in Mesop, it's going to be done in accordance with the constitution of the party, in accordance with the consultation that will happen with the executive committee and with the constituency at large."

"As a leader, you have a duty and responsibility to the institution you wish to lead. You also have to take the high road, and I would hope that all that has transpired, that Shyne will take the high road. It's in his interest to take the high road. If he continues with these shenanigans, he will go nowhere. His committee has expressed concern about his leadership or lack thereof of the constituency and of the party, and I think that speaks volumes."

"He is the leader of the opposition in the national assembly. We can't change that unless, of course, one of the members who have supported him changes their mind. I don't think that is likely at this point, but there is the fact that he's not the leader of the party."

"He has been recalled on October 20th, and until something advises us that that is not the case, so be it. Listen, if the court says, we have figured this out, I am prepared to go with shine to a convention of delegates as soon as possible so we can sort it out, since he does not want to accept what happened on the 20th. Then let's sort this out before the elections. It's in the interests of the country, it's in the interests of the party, but most importantly, Courtney, it's in the interest of Belize's democracy."

"And I think, I don't think I know that is why we remain steadfast, because failing anything else our democracy will be compromised and that's too great a price for us to pay."

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