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
A 17 year old student is currently out of school and recovering at home after he was attacked near the Belmopan Civic Center on Monday. The student - who is from Roaring Creek - was sliced across the back by a mentally ill man who carried a boxcutter.
He is 45 year old Cecil Parks and he told police that the student insulted him and punched him in the face. But other reports say that the minor was on his way to catch a busito home when Park asked him for money. After the student declined to give him any, Parks chased him and sliced him viciously with a boxcutter.
And according to the Roaring Creek chairman, the latter report seems to be Parks' MO.
Jervis Banner, Chairman, Roaring Creek "That guy that attacked the young man from Roaring Creek, he's a very angry individual, I know that he oftentimes hangs around the Brodies area in that vicinity and he often asks people for money and when people can't help him with anything he gets really angry and like he has anger outbursts and he tries to, I heard several occasions where he tries to hit people and it looks like this time he went far and he injured the young man."
"I think it goes deeper than the Belmopan City Council, I think the relevant authorities who would listen to this interview, I hope that they would do something because that's a very serious problem that's happening in Belmopan, and it's not only that individual, you have several other mental patients that roam Belmopan and it causes a serious health risk because if you go around the Belmopan market area you will see clear evidence of a lot of people with mental challenges and something really needs to be done about it."
"He's been here for about 5 years and this individual, he also threatened a sister of mine, she was at the market day at Belmopan and he asked her for some money and she couldn't present it and he started to hurl some remarks and obscenities and luckily a guy was there and he came to my sister's defense. So I think something needs to be done about this individual, he's doing a lot and next time maybe it could cost a life and I hope that someone would intervene and get this guy off the streets."
We did speak to the family of the victim who expressed concern that the police won't do anything and Parks will be back out on the streets again.
Parks is detained and was found in possession of the box cutter which was retrieved as an exhibit.
There was a fatal accident on the George Price Highway last night which killed a woman and left police searching for two individuals believed to be connected to the incident.
It happened between miles 47 and 48 across from El Rancho where Manuel Jaurez was in a 1999 Toyota pickup westbound to Cotton Tree when he saw a car speeding toward him. It was a Chevy Camaro which slammed into the side of his pickup and trapped his passenger, 50-year-old Maria Caal Xi, a Guatemalan national from Cotton Tree Village.
The driver of the car fled, but inside police found a passport and ATM card belonging to 27-year-old Jose Eliberto Mendez of Cotton Tree. Additional documents included a certificate of title for the Camaro. Witnesses told police they saw the driver of the Camaro flee the scene by jumping over a guardrail and into nearby bushes.
Police are searching for the driver who will face a number of charges including manslaughter and failure to render assistance.
Two weeks ago, the headline was about the possibility of UDP mediation. Well, tonight we can confirm that - as might have been expected - that is now off the table. In his most recent filing to the High Court earlier this week, Shyne Barrow's attorney Christopher Malcom asked the court to allow the parties to quote, "be permitted to dispense with mediation."
And while some legal experts we have spoken to say that this may pave the way to a more expeditious solution, Panton says, quote, "This move to undermine the mediation process underscores (Shyne Barrow's) intention to disregard the voice of the Party's delegates and avoid any process that can jeopardize his position." End quote.
Panton says her side has "submitted the names of two proposed mediators to the Court and has expressed her willingness to engage in a mediated settlement, even if it involves holding another convention to determine the Party's leadership." End quote.
She concludes by saying, quote, "This dictatorship-like approach will be met with resistance."
In his most recent filing, Barrow's attorney again asks the court to have contempt charges laid against Panton.
Last week Friday we told you about the barge named "Pitbull" that had become grounded on the reef at the entrance of the channel leading to Northern II Caye, on the Lighthouse Reef Atoll.
Tonight we can confirm that the DOE has finished its damage assessment.
Chief Environmental Officer Anthony Mai says, quote, "In accordance with the Marine Causality Response Protocol, the DOE immediately coordinated a response along with the Belize Fisheries Department, Belize Port Authority, Belize National Coast Guard and the Belize Audubon Society. The response was to assess any potential damage to critical ecosystems (such as the coral reef) and to determine the best approach to remove the vessel so that additional damage does not occur."
He adds that preliminary observation revealed that damage did occur, so the team used "established scientific procedures" to assess the damage. They found that "an area with live coral approximately 3.69 square meters large was damaged."
Mai concludes quote, "The DOE is in discussions with the proprietor to resolve the violation."
This afternoon police found a stash of weed at a home in the Lake Independence area. Acting on intelligence, police went to a two bedroom home on Lavender Street and conducted searches in the first room which the 46 year old homeowner says belongs to his son. Police saw an opening in the ceiling, climbed in and discovered 5 Parcels with the label "Gorilla Glue" on it.
4 of the parcels were sealed and the other was already opened. The resident was arrested and taken to the Raccoon Street Station with the drugs which were weighed In the presence of a JP and it amounted to a total of 4 1/2 pounds. His 16 year old son is now being sought to be charged for drug trafficking.
He's earned a reputation as a conman and has 8 charges before the court but 32 year old Melbourne Wade says he's changed, or at least, changing.
Four of the eight charges by persons who claimed he scammed them have been withdrawn. Those are now being worked out through civil channels.
Wade was accused of taking money from persons for vehicles as a downpayment and then not delivering the vehicles.
He appeared in 2 separate courts today, where a total of 3 victims requested no further court action against him. He still has four more pending cases, but he had the bounce of a man who had escaped "Scott free". The man who had been previously remanded for these crimes of dishonesty spoke to our court reporter outside Magistrate's:
Melbourne Wade, Faces Scamming Charges "I was spending my last time in jail laying back thinking about things that people have accused me of wrongfully doing. It was not really scamming or thiefing people, it was just bad business going wrong, right?"
"And I am willing to own up to every responsibility. Like I said, four cases has been withdrawn against me and people are going the civil suit matter way, you know, it's not the problem by paying back people their money, bad business or fix what has gone wrong. But I have a changed life. I have a family out there that I need to be out there for. I'm willing to tell people that, you know, the Melbourne Wade that you know then is not the Melbourne Wade now. I'm a changed person. I'm willing to work with you."
"The people that understands me, they are here today, they are here, they withdraw some cases against me and I'm proud of myself. I am not perfect and nobody in this world is perfect, but people deserve a second chance in life."
Reporter "So I want to ask you about the case with the former mayor of Belize City Zenaida Moya, that's one of the cases that's still before the court. What do you think and how do you think that will play out?"
Melbourne Wade, Faces Scamming Charges "Well, I am not going to go in details with that, but the former mayor is like a mother to me. Nuff respect to her. I mean we have our difficulties, we have done wrong, she have done wrong. I mean she knows that I am a perfect person in her eyes. She thought that I have theif her some cash or some money and I have fully proved that I know what I have done is against me, but I am not wrong. But I am not wrong, I have never done wrong with Miss Moya, but saving her a couple times."
"But I don't know why she be afraid that I will reveal, but I am not going to go to details like I said, but Miss Moya is like a mother and I willing to work with her same way and not have anything against Miss Moya."
"She's not willing to drop her case as yet, but I think it will be coming around soon."
We did reach out to former Mayor Zenaida Moya who told us, quote, "The case is in front of the court with all evidence necessary to prove Mr. Melbourne Wade's guilt."
We asked if she would be dropping charges as he suggested and she said, quote, "I have no contact with Mr. Wade. So, the court case will proceed."
They worked at Lion King bar but three Honduran women got into trouble with immigration when they beat up a hot dog vendor in early December of 2024. The three women, 19 year old Kimberly Umanzor Izaquirre, 20 year old Evelyn Carranza and 20 year old Karol Joarez, appeared at the magistrates court in Belize City this afternoon to answer to the crime of harm.
They pleaded guilty, expressed remorse and asked for the court's mercy. They were fined $300 dollars which they were ordered to pay forthwith or face 3 months imprisonment.
After the women pleaded guilty they were handed over to the immigration department to verify their visitor status.
There are strong rumors that the general elections will be held in mid-March - though the PM has only confirmed that it was definitely be within the first six months of 2025.
And it is a virtual certainty that the election will go through without a redistricting exercise. The PUP, of course, blame the UDP's decades of inaction for it not being done sooner, but with halting progress over the last term, they now say the fault is in the lack of accurate information - such as the actual size of the population.
Minister of Public Service Henry Usher gave a timeline and rundown of how the process was going and when exactly it got derailed.
Henry Charles Usher, Chairman, PUP "You have to remember that, number one, redistricting is done by the Elections and Boundaries Commission, they are authorized by the constitution to carry out this redistricting exercise. They did start a redistricting exercise and they completed that redistricting exercise in terms of providing and preparing a report. Now, if you recall, there was already a case, I think it was claim 55 of 2019 and there was a consent order in that case meaning there was an agreement between the parties that there were certain conditions that had to be met. Number one was preparing the report by a certain date. We had requested that we hold off on preparing that report because the information was not complete and I explained why just now. But the court decided to arbitrarily set a date of July of 2023 to complete the report, that report was supposed to be prepared by the claimants, the Belize Peace Movement, there was supposed to be reference to the Sean Trende report, I don't know if you remember the Sean Trende report, and there was supposed to be a corresponding legislation tabled in the House. All four conditions were met as to this consent order, the date was adhered to, it was shared with the claimant, the Sean Trende report was consulted and then the corresponding legislation was introduced in the House. Unfortunately both sides of the isle, the Government and the Opposition are saying that they have problems with the report but the reason I say they needed more information or that the information was incomplete at the time of the report is because two things were missing. One in the census. The census was completed 2024. In July of 2023 we had not completed the census as yet. The constitution says very clearly that the Elections and Boundaries Commission is supposed to look at the population of the country, not the voting population, the population, and the only way to know the population is through a census. The last census that was done was in 2010. They were using a growth rate prior to 2010 and projecting what the population would have been. They found out after doing the actual census that the growth rate had reduced so whereas their projection from 2010 to 2022 was a population of around 450,000+, it turned out that the population was less than 400,000 after doing the actual census. So it just shows you that you have to wait for all the information. Also the census shows the trends, the movements of persons. Where are they going, are they moving to urban areas, to rural areas? What type of structures are they building, single family homes, apartment buildings, etc. All of this is found in this very comprehensive document which we asked, let them complete the census before the redistricting is done."
And when the elections do come around, what about those voters who transferred to Cayo North but were challenged by the UDP mayor and standard bearer? While the status of those who are appealing remain in limbo until a judgement is given by the court, Usher says that if it is not done before elections are called, then they will automatically remain on the Cayo North list. Here's how he explained it.
Henry Charles Usher, Chairman, PUP "Well this is not the first time that persons have been struck off of a list, we had successful challenges to voters on a number of occasions throughout the history of Belize and really this one has only gotten more media attention because of the public pronouncements and because of the accusations being levied but I really believe that it is an exercise that's found in the legislation, you can challenge a person's residence but really, the election and boundaries office is the one that goes out and does the termination of a transfer or to the registering of the voter and they carry out their duties very efficiently and I think what he was suggesting is something that the court listened to the evidence and made a pronouncement on. Those persons that were challenged, it wasn't all that was struck off, but those persons that were struck off, they are the ones that are actually appealing it to the high court. While they appeal it, if the elections are called before the appeal is heard, they remain on that list, on the new list where they were transferred to. So they remain on the Cayo North list until the appeal is heard. If there's an election they would vote in Cayo North. Now the appeal then determines their eligibility to be transferred or for their voter role to be transferred to Cayo North. Really, what you don't want to do is to disenfranchise any voters so you want to have some kind of stability and some kind of understanding as to how the court will decide. What I found disappointing from the magistrate was that in terms of a previous challenge, she refused to make a decision. Now the legislation says very clearly that you have to make a decision by the fifth of the following month. So challenges happening at the end of this month and then the fifth of the following month the magistrate would have to make a decision by the fifth. The fifth came, the sixth, the seventh, eighth, all the way down to eleventh and the magistrate did not make a decision. And I think that is really disenfranchising voters, causing uncertainty in the system and really like what the Chief Elections Officer has said recently, they need to prepare heir roles in the event that an election is called they need to know that these roles are ready, they need to know where voters will be and what type of resources to deploy so there's a lot of issues there that the high court will be looking at but while that appeal is going on they remain on the list that they transferred to."
We note that his interpretation will likely be the subject of dispute between the political parties.
And as elections draw near - we can reflect on five years ago, when the PUP launched Plan Belize, it had some big promises and coming to the end of their first term in office, many remain fulfilled.
But since taking office, they've flipped the script saying that their manifesto wasn't just a 5 year plan but a long term vision for Belize that could only fully be realized with multiple terms in office.
The party's chairman doubled down on that and added that there will be even more manifesto promises in Plan Belize 2.0.
Henry Charles Usher, Chairman, PUP "Yes we will have, well, I think the Prime Minister has said publicly, Plane Belize 2.0 but what the prime minister mentioned on numerous occasions is that Plan Belize is a long term vision for the country, it's a long term vision as to how we were going to turn the economy around, how we're going to develop existing and new industries in the country, how we're going to promote citizen security, how we're going to promote good governance, how we're going to look at the five pillars that make up Plan Belize, meaning healthcare, job security, land, housing, and of course affordable education, those are really the five pillars of Plan Belize and as we go into this new election, it's about developing and expanding on what we did for the last four years but certainly Plan Belize is more than a manifesto, it's really a vision, a strategy for the country going forward."
The Belize Port Authority has announced new measures to ensure compliance with the Harbours and Merchant Shipping Marina Regulations. Marina operators and owners of over the water structures are now required to apply and pay hundreds of dollars for permits and inspections to meet safety, environmental, and operational standards.
But for the chairperson of Caribbean Sprinter, Todd Martin Stefaniak, he says that fees are outrageous and it's just a cash grab for the BPA. He spoke to us via Zoom last week.
Todd Martin Stefaniak, Chairman, Caribbean Sprinter "This is a cash grab, just like the new Marina app, which is something that's been put into law to tax every single dock over water in the country. Not just commercial operators, but private ones as well."
"I've read it twice. Belizean laws are sometimes a little bit confusing to understand the way that they're written. But in, what I've read and what I've been told by the BPA is that is going to apply to every single overwater structure. The fees are pretty, pretty hefty as well. I believe that the application fee for, something that's commercial use is $500 for non commercial is $150. And then there's an inspection that needs to be paid for I think that within Belize District that's $300. But outside of Belize district the law calls for $700 to inspect the dock to for it to be able to be taxed. And then there's recurring annual fees, but that's just another money grab by the Port Authority."
The cost to owners of non commercial over the water structures is significant, and reports tell us that there is also community opposition to these charges in the islands.
The Criminal Records Board under the Community Rehabilitation Department is getting the word out on what is called automatic expungement for certain first time offenses. Basically it means that certain minor first time offenses will be written off, giving offenders a clean slate and a second chance.
These offenses include a first offence for possession of cannabis and a first offence for any COVID-19 related offence - which caught many otherwise law abiding persons. The chairman of the board, Leslie Hamilton spoke with us today via Zoom to explain why they've agreed to implement an automatic expungement for these offenses.
Leslie Hamilton, Chairman, Criminal Records Board "That is in respect to specific offenses under section 7 of the misuse of drugs act. The expungement for petty ones that is below 60 grams of cannabis that is legally known as possession simplicita, those are the offenses under the drugs act meaning that they are for use by the accused person the defendant at the time."
"The other offenses in relation to the Covid 19 related offenses the wearing of mask and being out when you are not suppose to be out yes the expungement act does cover those offenses."
"The wisdom of it is that these offenses as it is they are petty offenses and at times they serve as obstacles to the convicted person or persons to be able to seek meaningful employment. So it's a way of giving these persons a second chance of seeking meaningful employment. A second chance of being productive in the society."
"There is a substantial amount of these offenses there are people who may be serving time for these petty offenses who might would like to get these offenses off the record so yes there is a substantial amount."
"I would only encourage these persons with these convictions to pickup the application forms as soon as possible, get them filled out and submitted to the proper office that's the criminal expungement board. As soon as they get it done they will hear from the board."
Those who seek to have these offenses expunged can access the application forms at the criminal records board or at the magistrates court.
Wildfires have ravaged the Los Angeles area since early January, burning over 40,000 acres, destroying 12,000 homes, businesses, schools and other structures, displacing tens of thousands of people and claiming at least 24 lives.
And while there are thousands of Belizeans who live in the greater Los Angeles area - not many of them have been affected because most of them live closer to immigrant communities and not in the mostly affluent neighborhoods that were destroyed.
Today we spoke with representatives from the Diaspora Office and the Consulate of Belize in Los Angeles about who was affected. Here's what we learned.
Yvette Gentle, Vice Consulate to Belize "Our heart goes out to every member of our Belizean Diaspora who was affected. Now being here at the consulate of Belize in Los Angles California The office of the Foreign Mission is the entity who has the responsibility to advise coordinate and guide the counsel accord in California and therefore has been providing updates to all consulates. When the consulate here the Consulate of Belize here in California was informed of the red flag warnings in effect a flyer was posted on our facebook page informing Belizeans in the Diaspora of the situation and encouraging them to adhere to instructions from the local authorities. We also provided links to the latest emergency updates and alerts as a list of evacuation centres were already opened and so that too was communicated to members of the diaspora and The Red Cross was actually the American Red Cross was actually the ones manning most of the shelters and continue to man these shelters and so The consulate also informed the Diaspora by way of these flyers to communicate with the Red Cross and we also informed them and gave them the consulates email address so that they can communicate with us as we had personnel staff from the consulate office respond to emergency communications and to answer your question so far we have not heard much from our diaspora and we are hoping that it is a good sign that many of them have not been affected."
Sandhya Murphy, Ambassador for Diaspora Relations "We haven't heard a lot from the diaspora certainly we have not heard from anybody directly who has been affected or loss their homes however I will say we have heard from individuals, concerned individuals you know concerned people in the Diaspora who do know of a couple I think maybe two or three families that lost their homes. One of The things I know is that I think these families and even those who have been affected indirectly by possible, you know people have had to evacuate because of the proximity of the fires right for example their house. They did not lose their homes but it was just too close to the fire so they had to evacuate and so all these individuals I think really they are still in shock right and they are traumatized right now at this point you can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to right to lose your home or think that it is a possibility for you so I think people are still scared to speak up and they are still trying to deal with everything that's going on right now but like Vice Counsel said hopefully its good news that we don't have that many people calling in so hopefully that means that not a lot of people are affected but you know whether it is one person or one family or five it doesn't matter who it is every family ad every person matters right and so we want to make sure that they are aware we are here for them and we are available for them and we are here to support them, we have been encouraging the diaspora. I know we have sent out to different organisations, Belizean organisations we have been sending out information, we've done it through our own data base, through the consulate sending out information to as many people as we can get to just letting them know where they can go to get support where the resources are for example the American Red Cross is a wonderful organisation they are helping everybody who has been affected everybody by the fires they are not asking immigration status or your nationality, none of that, you don't need to worry about that and I think it's important for people to understand that and especially within our Diaspora don't worry about that, about immigration status and nationality and gender none of those things matter, they are there to support you and they will help."
An advisory from the Consulate says the consulate advises all members of the Belizean diaspora wishing to obtain documents such as birth certificates, consular identification cards,passports etc., that may have been lost during the fires, to send an email to belizeconsulatela@mfa.gov.bz .
An award ceremony was held yesterday for the National Women's Commission Animation Bootcamp Initiative. 76 participants completed the bootcamp which was held in Belize City, Orange Walk and Corozal between July and August. The Boot Camp consisted of three in person and three online classes providing women with basic digital skills in graphic art and animation, enabling them to produce animated short films. Here are the highlights from the ceremony.
Thea Garcia Ramirez, Chairlady, NWC "The women's commission believes strongly in the innate creativity of our Young Women, and creativity is a resource that Belize has in abundance and our women are it's wellspring. By harnessing this creativity we are not only shaping the future of animation but also contributing to the cultural and economic development of our entire country. This boot camp was just the beginning and I urge you to think boldly, explore fearlessly and create passionately. Together let us prove that the creative industries can be a power platform for gender equality, economic empowerment and cultural expression. The animation industry offers a wealth of opportunities and as it grows globally it is becoming a key driver of the Orange economy. A creative economy rooted in culture, innovation and imagination for Belize this is an untapped reservoir of economic growth and cultural expression. So women have a crucial role to play in developing this sector."
Lily Li-Wen Hsu, Ambassador of Belize to Taiwan "We gather here to pay tribute to these amazing women and girls who are determined to challenge themselves to take on this task and successfully finish this training course. Ladies you are now equipped with new skills of digital artistry, the sky is the limit. Use this new tool to tell stories from your innovative minds and transform your creative ideas and content in the ever changing digital world. Dive into the endless opportunities offered by various industries that have growing needs of visual content, create films television, games and advertisements and marketing."
Priscilla Acosta, Participant "It was a very wonderful experience for all of us we all enjoyed and it and we all got frustrated but you know in the end you see what we did right so thank you so much for this and to everyone who is here as well and congratulations to everyone who participated."
Email
Print
A 17 year old student is currently out of school and recovering at home after he was attacked near the Belmopan Civic Center on Monday. The student - who is from Roaring Creek - was sliced across the back by a mentally ill man who carried a boxcutter.
"That guy that attacked the young man from Roaring Creek, he's a very angry individual, I know that he oftentimes hangs around the Brodies area in that vicinity and he often asks people for money and when people can't help him with anything he gets really angry and like he has anger outbursts and he tries to, I heard several occasions where he tries to hit people and it looks like this time he went far and he injured the young man."
There was a fatal accident on the George Price Highway last night which killed a woman and left police searching for two individuals believed to be connected to the incident.
Two weeks ago, the headline was about the possibility of UDP mediation. Well, tonight we can confirm that - as might have been expected - that is now off the table. In his most recent filing to the High Court earlier this week, Shyne Barrow's attorney Christopher Malcom asked the court to allow the parties to quote, "be permitted to dispense with mediation."
Last week Friday we told you about the barge named "Pitbull" that had become grounded on the reef at the entrance of the channel leading to Northern II Caye, on the Lighthouse Reef Atoll.
This afternoon police found a stash of weed at a home in the Lake Independence area. Acting on intelligence, police went to a two bedroom home on Lavender Street and conducted searches in the first room which the 46 year old homeowner says belongs to his son. Police saw an opening in the ceiling, climbed in and discovered 5 Parcels with the label "Gorilla Glue" on it.
"I was spending my last time in jail laying back thinking about things that people have accused me of wrongfully doing. It was not really scamming or thiefing people, it was just bad business going wrong, right?"
They worked at Lion King bar but three Honduran women got into trouble with immigration when they beat up a hot dog vendor in early December of 2024. The three women, 19 year old Kimberly Umanzor Izaquirre, 20 year old Evelyn Carranza and 20 year old Karol Joarez, appeared at the magistrates court in Belize City this afternoon to answer to the crime of harm.
There are strong rumors that the general elections will be held in mid-March - though the PM has only confirmed that it was definitely be within the first six months of 2025.
"You have to remember that, number one, redistricting is done by the Elections and Boundaries Commission, they are authorized by the constitution to carry out this redistricting exercise. They did start a redistricting exercise and they completed that redistricting exercise in terms of providing and preparing a report. Now, if you recall, there was already a case, I think it was claim 55 of 2019 and there was a consent order in that case meaning there was an agreement between the parties that there were certain conditions that had to be met. Number one was preparing the report by a certain date. We had requested that we hold off on preparing that report because the information was not complete and I explained why just now. But the court decided to arbitrarily set a date of July of 2023 to complete the report, that report was supposed to be prepared by the claimants, the Belize Peace Movement, there was supposed to be reference to the Sean Trende report, I don't know if you remember the Sean Trende report, and there was supposed to be a corresponding legislation tabled in the House. All four conditions were met as to this consent order, the date was adhered to, it was shared with the claimant, the Sean Trende report was consulted and then the corresponding legislation was introduced in the House. Unfortunately both sides of the isle, the Government and the Opposition are saying that they have problems with the report but the reason I say they needed more information or that the information was incomplete at the time of the report is because two things were missing. One in the census. The census was completed 2024. In July of 2023 we had not completed the census as yet. The constitution says very clearly that the Elections and Boundaries Commission is supposed to look at the population of the country, not the voting population, the population, and the only way to know the population is through a census. The last census that was done was in 2010. They were using a growth rate prior to 2010 and projecting what the population would have been. They found out after doing the actual census that the growth rate had reduced so whereas their projection from 2010 to 2022 was a population of around 450,000+, it turned out that the population was less than 400,000 after doing the actual census. So it just shows you that you have to wait for all the information. Also the census shows the trends, the movements of persons. Where are they going, are they moving to urban areas, to rural areas? What type of structures are they building, single family homes, apartment buildings, etc. All of this is found in this very comprehensive document which we asked, let them complete the census before the redistricting is done."
And when the elections do come around, what about those voters who transferred to Cayo North but were challenged by the UDP mayor and standard bearer? While the status of those who are appealing remain in limbo until a judgement is given by the court, Usher says that if it is not done before elections are called, then they will automatically remain on the Cayo North list. Here's how he explained it.
The Belize Port Authority has announced new measures to ensure compliance with the Harbours and Merchant Shipping Marina Regulations. Marina operators and owners of over the water structures are now required to apply and pay hundreds of dollars for permits and inspections to meet safety, environmental, and operational standards.
"This is a cash grab, just like the new Marina app, which is something that's been put into law to tax every single dock over water in the country. Not just commercial operators, but private ones as well."
The Criminal Records Board under the Community Rehabilitation Department is getting the word out on what is called automatic expungement for certain first time offenses. Basically it means that certain minor first time offenses will be written off, giving offenders a clean slate and a second chance.
"The wisdom of it is that these offenses as it is they are petty offenses and at times they serve as obstacles to the convicted person or persons to be able to seek meaningful employment. So it's a way of giving these persons a second chance of seeking meaningful employment. A second chance of being productive in the society."
Wildfires have ravaged the Los Angeles area since early January, burning over 40,000 acres, destroying 12,000 homes, businesses, schools and other structures, displacing tens of thousands of people and claiming at least 24 lives.
our facebook page informing Belizeans in the Diaspora of the situation and encouraging them to adhere to instructions from the local authorities. We also provided links to the latest emergency updates and alerts as a list of evacuation centres were already opened and so that too was communicated to members of the diaspora and The Red Cross was actually the American Red Cross was actually the ones manning most of the shelters and continue to man these shelters and so The consulate also informed the Diaspora by way of these flyers to communicate with the Red Cross and we also informed them and gave them the consulates email address so that they can communicate with us as we had personnel staff from the consulate office respond to emergency communications and to answer your question so far we have not heard much from our diaspora and we are hoping that it is a good sign that many of them have not been affected."
and so all these individuals I think really they are still in shock right and they are traumatized right now at this point you can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to right to lose your home or think that it is a possibility for you so I think people are still scared to speak up and they are still trying to deal with everything that's going on right now but like Vice Counsel said hopefully its good news that we don't have that many people calling in so hopefully that means that not a lot of people are affected but you know whether it is one person or one family or five it doesn't matter who it is every family ad every person matters right and so we want to make sure that they are aware we are here for them and we are available for them and we are here to support them, we have been encouraging the diaspora. I know we have sent out to different organisations, Belizean organisations we have been sending out information, we've done it through our own data base, through the consulate sending out information to as many people as we can get to just letting them know where they can go to get support where the resources are for example the American Red Cross is a wonderful organisation they are helping everybody who has been affected everybody by the fires they are not asking immigration status or your nationality, none of that, you don't need to worry about that and I think it's important for people to understand that and especially within our Diaspora don't worry about that, about immigration status and nationality and gender none of those things matter, they are there to support you and they will help."
An award ceremony was held yesterday for the National Women's Commission Animation Bootcamp Initiative. 76 participants completed the bootcamp which was held in Belize City, Orange Walk and Corozal between July and August. The Boot Camp consisted of three in person and three online classes providing women with basic digital skills in graphic art and animation, enabling them to produce animated short films. Here are the highlights from the ceremony.
"The women's commission believes strongly in the innate creativity of our Young Women, and creativity is a resource that Belize has in abundance and our women are it's wellspring. By harnessing this creativity we are not only shaping the future of animation but also contributing to the cultural and economic development of our entire country. This boot camp was just the beginning and I urge you to think boldly, explore fearlessly and create passionately. Together let us prove that the creative industries can be a power platform for gender equality, economic empowerment and cultural expression. The animation industry offers a wealth of opportunities and as it grows globally it is becoming a key driver of the Orange economy. A creative economy rooted in culture, innovation and imagination for Belize this is an untapped reservoir of economic growth and cultural expression. So women have a crucial role to play in developing this sector."
"We gather here to pay tribute to these amazing women and girls who are determined to challenge themselves to take on this task and successfully finish this training course. Ladies you are now equipped with new skills of digital artistry, the sky is the limit. Use this new tool to tell stories from your innovative minds and transform your creative ideas and content in the ever changing digital world. Dive into the endless opportunities offered by various industries that have growing needs of visual content, create films television, games and advertisements and marketing."
"It was a very wonderful experience for all of us we all enjoyed and it and we all got frustrated but you know in the end you see what we did right so thank you so much for this and to everyone who is here as well and congratulations to everyone who participated."