Former Port Loyola Area Representative Anthony “Boots” Martinez says we will be challenging his rejected Gilroy Usher recall petition in court. We have been following the story for weeks now. After Martinez gathered and submitted signatures on a petition to recall the current area representatives, the Elections and Boundaries Department determined that his petition did not meet the required number of approved signatures needed. Martinez, through his attorney, Richard Dickie Bradley, wrote back to the Chief Elections Officer challenging one hundred and seventy-five rejected signatures. He challenged Josephine Tamai to take further steps to verify those signatures, as they would be enough to trigger a recall process. Well, Tamai has since written back to Martinez’s attorney, saying that she is not empowered by law to redo the exercise. Tamai further noted that she is not required by law to undergo any additional exercise, such as using a justice of the peace to verify the signature. Martinez says he takes offense to the Chief Elections Officer’s response.
Anthony “Boots” Martinez
Anthony “Boots” Martinez, Former Port Loyola Area Rep.
“First offense I take to that, as you all have a copy of the letter, nothing was asked to redo any exercise. What was asked was to do your job as to verify the signature as the law stipulates. WE never mih the ask elections and boundaries to redo no exercise, we the say do your job and verify the petition. I don’t know if the chief elections officer is suffering from foot in mouth syndrome based on her letter to the governor general and based on her letter here, her response here. How letter to the governor general said, all signatures on the petition have been duly verified against the elections and boundaries department record of registered electors for Port Loyola electoral division. No way in the law talks about where you should verify from. The law talks about you must verify. The short title to the. Nobody the ask you for no help Ms. Tamai. We the ask you to do your job. The law says you must verify the signature, verify got a meaning. Then you the talk about noting in the law say, you say further more I am advised the act does not require the Chief Elections and Boundaries officer to undergo any exercise by using a Justice of Peace to verify the signature.”
The former Port Loyola area representative says he is preparing to file a legal claim before the High Court by Thursday. Martinez is challenging the Chief Elections Officer’s decision to take no further steps in verifying the signatures that have been rejected. He says that he is being represented by attorneys Richard “Dickie” Bradley and Dean Barrow. But, with the general elections set for 2025, will this be a case that drags out until it is no longer relevant? Martinez says he thinks the court is reasonable enough to know that the matter must be heard within a certain time frame.
Anthony “Boots” Martinez, Former Area Rep., Port Loyola
“I think that is the motion they want to go through, but I think the court is reasonable to know that there is a timeframe and reasonable to know that there has to be remedy in terms of time, this is an urgent situation. I nuh the tek the court lightly, but most of the time why these things happen, for the sake of it poor people don’t have the representative, the wherewithal to fight and go to the end, because these things cost.”
Paul Lopez
“Are you the one, is it you that is funding this undertaking or is it the party?”
Anthony “Boots” Martinez
“Me and the people of Port Loyola, nuh no party. I think members of the party have of the party have some fundamental differences with it, for their view but that is not the view of the people of Port Loyola.”
Paul Lopez
“Clearly you have two top attorneys on your side, and it will cost you a lot. Where will you get the funds from?”
Anthony “Boots” Martinez
“First and foremost, I need to remind people, I am a pensioner, handsomely paid four time representative to start with and all of that happened due to the will of the people of Port Loyola. My pension is higher than that of an elected representative you know. Plus, I am sixty years old and getting social security pension to. And part of getting social security pension is because the people of Port Loyola keep me in a job so long so that I qualify so that I can invest on them.”
Twenty-two-year-old Travis Herbert, a construction worker of Iguana Street Extension, has been arrested and charged for the murder of Elwin Lewis, also known as Bobo Youth. This afternoon, Herbert appeared unrepresented before the lower courts where he was read a single charge. No plea was taken from him and due to the nature of the offense, Herbert was denied bail and remanded to custody until July fifth, 2024. It is alleged that Herbert shot and killed Lewis as he was riding a motorcycle on Antelope Street Extension, here in Belize City.
A father of two is desperately trying to locate his children after they were illegally flown out of the country by their mother on May second. Missing persons reports were issued last Thursday for brothers Asher and Randy Hyde when the Belize Police Department was informed that the siblings had not been returned to their parent who has sole custody of them. According to Randy Hyde Senior, the boys were with their mother, Lesly Reyes, who was visiting from the United States for a few days. Hyde and his ex-wife have been locked in a custody battle over their children.
Randy Hyde Sr.
Randy Hyde Sr., Concerned Parent
“My ex-wife contacted me about three weeks ago, requesting that she had access to the kids for the time that she would be here in Belize. That date was from April twenty-second to Thursday, the second of May. Normally when she comes in the country, I normally accommodate her in regards to spending time and having time with the kids. So when she came on the twenty-second, I turned over the kids to her. I gave her their clothes, along with the kids’ school bags and their devices. Fast-forward to the second of May when she was supposed to bring back the children. I received a text about ten or eleven o’clock from her stating that the kids are not feeling well and that she would take them to the hospital. That raised some red flags for me because my children don’t normally get sick, and she also mentioned that she was going to extend her stay up to Sunday which was yesterday. I told her I had no problem with that, but Thursday was my oldest son’s birthday so I explained to her, “you can have them, but I need to come and pick them up to take them out to get something to eat because it’s RJ’s birthday. I got no response from that text. I called several times, got no response. I figured something was wrong, so what I did, I went to the Immigration Office and I asked him to please give me information in regards to if anybody had come to take out any passports for my children. I found out that passports were taken out for them from June 2022 which is extremely strange because I have the kids’ old passport and I was questioning how that was possible. How could somebody take out passports for the children if they did not turn in the old passports. I was told that they did not know what happened.”
According to Hyde, a report has been filed with Interpol, as well as the Domestic Violence Unit. He also says that Reyes, on a previous occasion, had attempted to abduct the children by crossing the northern border into Mexico.
Randy Hyde Sr.
Randy Hyde Sr., Concerned Parent
“I was given the information that my two children, along with my ex-wife had boarded the plane at eleven o’clock and flown out of the country. It is very concerning because I am trying to figure out, first of all, in regards to the immigration and passports, how did they get a visa and how did they pass through the immigration. Following that evening, the DVU and the Interpol called me and they revealed to me that my ex-wife had produced a false document from the family court stating that she has full custody of the children and I have my documentation here, stating that I have had full custody of both kids from June or July of 2018. So it is very concerning how this can happen. The police have informed me via Interpol that they are preparing their file and when that file is prepared they will send it across to the U.S. to their counterparts for them to put out the Amber Alert and put the police on notice.”
Earlier the Commissioner of Police explained why the security apparatus could not include civil society stakeholders in the planning process for the northern border security operations. That was a suggestion that came from the Leader of the Opposition, Moses Shyne Barrow. Today the commissioner blasted Barrow not only for that suggestion, but also for referring to Belize as a narco state.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“He had certainly made several baseless and irresponsible comments even going as far as painting believes as a narco state. I don’t know where he get that from or if he knows what is the definition of a narco state, and also speaking about the issue of the northern operations that we should bring other stakeholders from the NGOs and so forth to the table. We cannot have persons who are not of the security apparatus in such an operation. So again, like I said, he continued to make some very reckless comments that I think that he needs to be properly advised and maybe sometime he needs to shut his mouth before spewing nonsense.”
Last year, for the first time in many years, Belize recorded fewer than a hundred murders. But 2024 is not looking as if it is going to be a repeat of 2023 in that category. Today, the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams was in a Compstat Meeting before meeting with the media in Belmopan. He said that the police have been making arrests for several murders and this week, someone will be arrested for the murder of Darren “Dalla Coin” Taylor in Dangriga. We asked Williams to share the figures with us. He said that while major crimes are down, murders are up.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“Right now, in terms of our overall, national crime outlook, we are down in major crime overall, but where murders are concerned, we’re up by seven compared to last year. We continue to do our best to be able to address the murders. One murder is one too much, but we do understand that we can’t stop all from happening. But we certainly will continue to do what we can to stop as much as we can. And again, we continue to appeal to the Belizean people to, assist us in whatever way possible to be able to prevent and solve murders when they do occur. Once we solve these murders, we get the alleged murderer off the street. That also serves as a way of prevention because that person will be incarcerated and will not be able to commit another murder unless he is released from prison.”
The Belize Prize for Investigative Journalism held its annual award night on Saturday at the House of Culture. The prize, organized by Holly Edgell, is a first of its kind in Belize. The winner takes home ten thousand dollars while two finalists walk away with five thousand dollars each. On Saturday night, Edgell signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Belize that will see the Belize Prize for Investigate Journalism hosted by the university in the future. But perhaps the greatest benefit coming out of the prize is the quality of investigation that goes into the diverse stories that are submitted. For a second time, Channel Seven’s Jules Vasquez snagged the coveted prize. News Five’s Hipolito Novelo was one of the three finalists in this year’s award. We spoke with him.
Hipolito Novelo
Hipolito Novelo, Journalist, News Five
“First of all I want to thank the camera man that went to me to the Chiquibul, Dreams Kenroy Michael and Editor Shayanne, along with my mentor from BVI Freeman Rogers. That trip took an entire day to get to Chiquibul and it took about three months to produce that investigative piece. I think the Belize Prize for Investigative Journalism is crucial to what we do. I think this is what we wanted for so many years and the recognition for MIC, for CIJN, it motivates other reporters like myself to do more investigative pieces and I think that i9s what the Belizean public wants us to do on a weekly basis to get down deep into those data, those files and those documents, to create positive change , not only for us and what we do, but for the public as well.”
The K.H.M.H. has commenced its annual celebration of nurse’s week, a time meant to honor the one hundred and seventy nurses staffed at the hospital. From May sixth to the twelfth, nurses will be recognized and rewarded for their commitment to ensuring the health of Belizeans, despite the hardships that come with the field. When the hospital is short of staff, nurses often work sixteen-hour shifts, making burnout one of the major challenges to overcome. This nurse’s week, we highlighted nurse Kalifa Gray, who told us what being a nurse means to her. Here’s News Five’s Britney Gordon with that story.
Kalifa Gray
Kalifa Gray, Nurse & Midwife, K.H.M.H.
“It’s the passion. It’s only the passion that keeps you here. The love that for what you do and caring for your patients and seeing the outcome at the end, that’s what keeps me going.”
Britney Gordon, Reporting
For Kalifa Gray, a twenty-seven-year-old nurse and midwife at the KHMH, her job is never done. From the moment she wakes up until the moment she goes to sleep, she is thinking of ways to provide the best care to her patients. This dedication came from her passion for the field. A desire, she has had from a very young age.
Kalifa Gray
“I had the dream of becoming a nurse from around the age of five years old, around probably career day. That was just a childhood dream that transpired over to being a reality for me in my professional life. And it was a journey of just going straight from being in high school doing my sciences and going over to UB at the age of sixteen and completing my program in four years and then joining here at Karl Heusner in my professional life.”
Gray has served as a nurse at the KHMH for six and a half years and most recently became a midwife for the labor and delivery ward.
Kalifa Gray
“We work on both the maternity ward and the labor and delivery ward. So that includes assisting mothers giving birth and delivering babies, receiving babies from cesarean sections and just providing care and education for mothers to be able to take care of their newborns when they go back into the real world.”
According to Gray, the hours for nurses are intense, as the hospital struggles to meet the demands of patients with low staff. She said that overcoming burnout is a daily struggle for some nurses.
Kalifa Gray
“So nurses work twenty-four seven, three hundred sixty-five days of the year. So we work eight-hour shifts. And so that’s probably a shift from seven a.m. to three p.m., three p.m. to eleven p.m. And then fortnight nurses are clocked in at eleven p.m. to seven in the morning. And most times we do have nurses who work sixteen hours straight to cover shifts because of the short staff that we experience here within Karl Heusner.”
Despite the grueling hours, Gray said that it all becomes worth it when she sees her patients return home to their families in good health.
Kalifa Gray
“I think one of the best parts of being a nurse is seeing how our patients get to go home healthy and happy with their newborn. And that’s quite rewarding for us because there are so much that could go wrong in a delivery. And so just beingable to see our patients going home healthy and satisfied is rewarding for me.”
Gray often works in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which specializes in the care of ill or premature babies. She recalls becoming overwhelmed with emotion as she witnessed the recovery of one of her particularly premature patients. She pinpoints this moment as one of the highlights of her career.
Kalifa Gray
“I think one of the moments that standout the most to me was when I was moved over to the NICU department and learning how to care for newborns at a tender age of twenty-seven, twenty-eight weeks. I watched the transition of newborns and neonates being nurtured, being cared for being resuscitated day after day within the NICU and three months later going home as a healthy bouncing baby. I think that was one of the points in my career where I said, this is the time. This is love. This is what I enjoy doing. This is a miracle and I get to see it every day.”
Nurses’ Week celebrations at the KHMH began with a staff breakfast leading into an award ceremony. Gray explained that the staff is grateful for the reminder that they are appreciated and that their hard work is recognized.
Kalifa Gray
“Nurses Week this week is significant to us as nurses and specifically to me because we get to celebrate ourselves. We get to encourage each other. We get to be recognized. There is awareness within the community that If you have a nurse who is a friend, who is a sister, who is a brother, to be able to show gratitude to them and let them know that they are doing a good job.”
Roxxane Marin, an employee at the Women’s Department, who also serves the Disability Desk under that department is tonight asking for your help. Marin has a hidden disability and has been living with fibroids for the last twenty years. The medical condition has become aggressive, and she is in dire need of surgery. Unable to cover the cost of the medical procedure, Marin is requesting financial assistance from anyone willing to assist. Here is what she told us today.
Roxxane Marin
Roxxane Marin, Fibroid Patient
“Financial assistance is what I am asking. I have fibroids. I have had it for the last twenty-years. Since November 2022 it has become aggressive. Life has definitely changed, not for the best. Lot of anxiety, a lot of time off the up and down to the doctor, a lot of medication since January of this year. Nothing has been successful and so I had to come to the realization that there is no way around it. I have to do the surgery. It is very expensive. I cant afford it and that is why I am coming to the media to ask for assistance, from everybody, Belizeans at home and abroad, every body in the public service, private sector, friend, family, nonfamily, people nuh realize dah Belize if yon uh have it, ih nuh wah work for you. Dah Belize you the live from paycheck to paycheck and ih important now to realize that savings dah something weh nuh matter how small you do it try do it. But in this instance I am coming to the public to ask for help fih get the surgery done. I am giving myself until the end of may to come up with the money. It is over nine thousand dollars. I have a flier I am asking everybody to circulate on social media and as much as what I could get help with that is what I am coming to people to ask for help.”
