Recent traffic accidents across Belize over the weekend have prompted the Department of Transport to once again advise the public to exercise caution while travelling on the highway. According to Chief Transport Officer, Leon Gentle, the Department of Transport is working towards increasing security on the roads, however, there are several practices that can be taken by the public to limit the number of accidents recorded. We spoke with Gentle earlier today to hear how drivers can avoid a collision on the roads. Here’s what he had to say.
Britney Gordon
“And how do we encourage drivers to take more precautions on the road? What are some of the practices you discouraged them from doing?”
Leon Gentle, Chief Transport Officer
“Well, on the roads, especially for road users, it’s important to understand the laws as it relates to moving, overtaking a person in front of you. I want to also try to discourage persons who are on these motorcycles for overtaking on the wrong side of vehicles. That seems to be a practice that these motorcycles have been using for some time, especially within the city limits and on town limits. It’s also important for us to stay within the speed limit. And to ensure that you indicate when you’re intending to overtake the vehicle in front of you and to ensure that all your lightings on your vehicles are working properly. Take precautions of the road conditions. Ensure that you are familiar with the roadways and just be safe while you’re driving. Ensure to buckle up as well.”
It’s been over a year since the Department of Transport experienced a shortage that halted the issuance of license plates and insurance stickers. The scarcity has been an inconvenience to Belizeans for several months, particularly those who are seeking to travel outside the country’s borders. As a result, some have taken to forging license plates in the absence of the plates issued by the Department of Transport. We spoke with Chief Transport Officer Leon Gentle to find out how much longer the public is expected to wait for the issue to be resolved. Here’s what he had to say.
Britney Gordon
“Can you speak to me a little bit about the issue going on right now about people making fraudulent license plates? How are we addressing that issue? What could have led to this?”
Leon Gentle
Leon Gentle, Chief Transport Officer
“Again, what could have led to it would have been the shortage of plates and stickers within the national transport system. The main reason for that is primarily because after taking over the position earlier this year, I decided that we should go through an audit to ensure that all of our information is as clear and as correct as possible. We’ve gone through that process. We are currently in the procurement process where we that, of course, takes another time to be able to complete, but we are near the end of it, and hopefully in the month of August, at least the first week in August, we should have a set of plates that we can start ensuring that we get back to its normal operations for.”
Britney Gordon
“So what can you say to deter people from making these fraudulent license plates? What are some of the dangers and risks of that for on their end as also for you guys?”
Leon Gentle
“It actually is a fraudulent act and of course being a fraudulent act it is also arrestable and so it’s important for the public to understand that just bear with the Department of Transport at least a little bit more patience for us to clarify that everything is up and running and smoothly and we should have the plates hopefully by the first week in August. So, I want to do encourage persons to not produce any of license plates or stickers and those who are actually producing it to the cease from doing so.”
Britney Gordon
“And you said the license plate you’re hoping for it to be by August. And what about the stickers?”
The Ya’axche Conservation Trust has joined forces with various stakeholders, including the Government of Belize, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Global Environmental Facility, to implement a four year project in the Maya Golden Landscape of Toledo District. This initiative integrates biodiversity conservation, protected areas management and sustainable livelihoods at the landscape level. Executive Director Christina Garcia tells us more.
Christina Garcia
Christina Garcia, Exec. Dir., Ya’axche Conservation Trust
“It is a project that was formulated four years ago with support from the Government of Belize, particularly the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Climate Change. So yesterday, we had a project launch with the government officials and other state actors, just basically outlining hat the project is going to be and the level of support for what is going to be needed by the Food and Agriculture Organization, but also the Government of Belize. So the project focuses on various aspects and it will be implemented in ten indigenous communities in the Toledo District and it looks at the development of certain plans, particularly for key biodiversity areas that we manage which is the Maya Mountain North Forest Reserve. We’ll be developing a thorough plan for that area. We’re encompassing the feedback from stakeholders, particularly the Trio community. The project also looks at developing a policy guideline for non-timber forest products and this is something that we have going on in the Golden Stream Corridor Preserve for quite a while and so it’s just the formality and making sure that a policy is established, of course with endorsement by the relevant agencies, regulatory agencies such as the National Biodiversity Office and the Forest Department.”
According to Garcia, the project launch and implementation are both timely, in the wake of devastating wildfires that ravaged farmlands, destroying agricultural crops.
Christina Garcia
Christina Garcia, Exec. Dir., Ya’axche Conservation Trust
“This project comes at a very handy time because, as you know, the devastation that we suffered in the Toledo District has been of mass, I would say, destruction because we never thought that fire would have raged with all these agro-forestry farms. So the project comes in very handy because agro-forestry is a tool that we utilize for restoration of these lands and I think that the farmers are going to be very grateful for having the implementation of these systems within their farmlands so they’ll have the opportunity to restore what the fire has destroyed. For example, some of the agro-forestry farms, farmers have lost cacao, coffee, timber, and other fruit trees. So the project will basically help these farmers to restore these farmlands, but at the same time, you know, making sure that there are best practices that are implemented in the prevention of these fires. Of course more going towards adopting the sustainable agricultural practices and moving away from the traditional slash and burn that is utilized for crop cultivation.”
A heated debate over the U.S. presidential election has landed two Belizean men in court. They are thirty-eight-year-old Joshua Rivero and sixty-three-year-old Leroy Young, who is accused of common assault for allegedly spitting in Rivero’s face. Allegations are that on June twenty-eight, Rivero was at his business located in the Michael Finnegan Market when Young began perusing stalls in the vicinity. Rivero claims that Young initiated a conversation about the U.S. presidential candidates, which quickly turned heated, causing Rivero to say, quote, if you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen, end quote. Rivero said the man began to walk away, but while doing so, stopped in front of Rivero’s stall from outside the fence and spat in his direction. Rivero said the spit hit him on the left side of his face, so he informed the market security guard about the incident and the police were called in. Young, who is well-known for selling bottled on herbs on Albert Street, appeared unrepresented in court this morning. He was read a single charge of common assault, which he plead not guilty to. There were no objections to bail being granted so he was offered bail to the sum of two hundred dollars, plus one surety of the same amount.
Tonight, a man is on remand at the Belize Central Prison after he was accused of stealing from his girlfriend’s purse while she was in the shower. He is thirty-six-year-old Albert Perez, a Belize City resident and call center agent. Allegations are that on Tuesday, Perez’s girlfriend, thirty-eight-year-old, Kimisha August, went into her bathroom around six ten a.m. to take a shower and took her purse containing one hundred and fifty-two dollars with her which she hung on the knob of her window. According to August, a few minutes later, Perez entered the bathroom and took her purse before exiting the room. August claims that she followed him out of the room, begging him to return it to her. Upon checking the purse, August saw that forty dollars was missing from inside it. She went to the police for assistance and upon searching Perez, the police found the forty dollars on his person. Both parties were escorted to the police station where a statement was recorded from August who requested court action against her boyfriend. Perez appeared unrepresented and pleaded not guilty to the charge. He was offered bail in the sum of one thousand dollars, plus a surety of the same amount. Before his arraignment concluded, the court record revealed that Perez was in debt to the court from 2020 in the sum of one thousand, five hundred dollars of which he was ordered to pay at least two hundred dollars by end of the day. Perez could not make the payment and late this evening he was escorted up to the Belize Central Prison until he can do so. His next court date is set for August nineteenth, 2024.
This summer, at least sixty children are being provided with the resources and guidance to enhance their learning experience through the Rogers Stadium Physical Cultural Sporting Club. For three weeks students across Belize City participated in supplementary classes and extracurricular activities funded by community members in Belize and the diaspora. Today, News Five’s Britney Gordon stopped by the camp at Gwen Lizarraga High School to learn more about the initiative.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
For many Belizeans living abroad, the desire to assist their loved ones at home is shown one way or another. Whether sending a barrel of clothes or school supplies, or providing groceries for those fallen under hard times, there are many ways to give back to the communities that raised them. At the Rogers Stadium Physical Cultural Sporting Club, this is achieved by funding the annual educational summer camp hosted in Belize City. Mike Gentle, the education director who has been teaching for almost thirty years, tells us why he makes the journey from New York every year to participate in the program.
Mike Gentle
Mike Gentle, Education director, R.S.P.C.S.C.
“I like to think of it as an enrichment program. I do STEM in the state, so I did a couple of classes in engineering, and have just a freethinking kind of thing, try to get these kids to generate their own thoughts and design; so that’s basically where we start with our engineering class.”
Britney Gordon
“And why do you think it’s important to travel to participate in activities like this?”
Mike Gentle
“It’s important because these kids need to learn how to think. The education system, for the most part, in Belize, and from my experience in the States, is geared to training students. They don’t teach students to think independently or be creative. So education in Belize, especially now that I’m here, is a training system. And we need to start training and start educating.”
The camp was launched in 2019 and provides supplementary classes for children who may not have the opportunity to participate otherwise. Throughout the three-week program, children learn a range of topics, including robotics and sports, and are visited by guest speakers from different walks of life. Children are taken on a field trip for an additional extracurricular experience at the end of the program.
Kawhi Enriquez
Kawhi Enriquez, Student
“Well the camp program is very fun, and the teachers are very helpful, my teachers name miss Cadle, and she is very helpful to me.”
Britney Gordon
“What kind of subjects do you like to learn about?”
Kawhi Enriquez
“Math, is my favorite subject, language and expressive arts.”
Britney Gordon
“What do you like about expressive arts?”
Kawhi Enriquez
“That you can express your feelings and your thoughts, through drawing.”
Britney Gordon
“What do you want to be when you get older?”
Kawhi Enriquez
“I am still figuring that out, but I think I want to be a doctor.”
Rogers Stadium Physical Cultural Club is made up of Belizeans residing in Belize and the Diaspora and supports the advancement of youth in Belize. Sports Director, Harold Grant runs the camp each year so that children will be exposed to experiences beyond what is taught in a classroom and boost their self-esteem so that they can strive towards a brighter future.
Harold Grant
Harold Grant, Sports director, R.S.P.C.S.C.
“And we need to give back to the kids. Our kids is not as educated as the kids in the states. So, we have to make sure that we give back to them and try to in, in some way, let them know that they are somebody to be loved by people love themselves so that they can learn and be educated like the rest of the people in the world. No, our kids here in Belize, they are behind, with education, far. So, mister Gentle, he comes in from the diaspora, and he will teach the kids, and to take them on computers or stuff like that, he will be teaching them. We’re teaching them algorithms. We’re teaching them robotics. Last year, one of the kids took them, put a robot together. You know, so, he have some very interesting things for the kids them to learn here and Belize that we don’t have here, in Belize. So, he’s the man that’s really pushing behind this, this education thing.”
Thirty-three participants from across the public service attended a workshop today where they learned how to conduct assessments on suicide. Every year, as many as thirty-six Belizeans die by suicide. What the Community Rehabilitation Department has sought to do is train the trainers in an effort to detect suicide ideation and provide the necessary resources for persons to get help.
Onando St. Bernard
Onando St. Bernard, Counseling Coordinator, C.R.D.
“We are providing a train the trainers training on suicide assessments and safety planning. So the reason why we are doing this is that we want to train as many people as possible to go out there and train people on how to better assess for suicide and creating a safety plan. So the participants that we have today are people from the different government offices, the different ministries and what we’re trying to do is that we’re trying to make sure that we’re looking after our government’s staff. So many of these participants do also include counselors, social workers, doctors, the P.N.P. nurses. What we want them to do is we want them to go back to their offices and train their staff, so that they can provide the support for their staff and also for the public that they serve as well. So it’s twofold in that sense, right. So that they’ll go back, train their staff and then their staff will be better, they’ll have more knowledge on how to better assess and do those safety plans for their staff and then also for the individuals that they serve. So it’s three parts, we’re going to train them on how to do the assessments, how to do the safety plans and then also on how to connect them to the counselors, psychologists and psychiatrists who are the individuals who will then take on the safety plans, things like that and continue on working with those individuals who are showing suicide ideation or suicide intent. All these are very important because if you look at the numbers, the statistics, at about thirty-six individuals on a yearly basis, more or less who commit suicide and so we want to bring that number down.”
In connection with the murder of Cruz Magana on Monday, June 3, 2024, in the Fresh Pond Community, Belize District, police have formally arrested and charged Robert Arnold. Arnold, a 21-year-old unemployed Belizean from Belize City, was charged with the crimes of murder and robbery on Wednesday, July 17.
Magaña, a 33-year-old businessman, was fatally shot during a home invasion at his residence around 8:00 p.m.
According to police reports, two masked men entered the home, holding family members at gunpoint and demanding money. One family member managed to escape and sought help from neighbors.
Shortly after, gunshots were heard. Magaña was found bleeding and was rushed to the K.H.M.H., where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The Government of Belize, through the Ministry of Economic Development (MED), has started a project to upgrade a 3.9-mile farm feeder road in Trio Village, Toledo District. This project is part of the Resilient Rural Belize (RRB) Programme, a six-year initiative to help small farmers deal with climate and economic challenges and improve their market access. The programme is funded by BZ$50 million from international organisations like the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), and local beneficiaries.
The contract for the road upgrade, worth approximately BZ$1.86 million, was signed with A&N Construction. The new road will provide year-round access for farmers, helping them transport their produce more easily and reliably.
Trio Village is home to the Cooperativa Los Buenos Amigos Co-operative, a group of small farmers who grow pineapples on about 31 acres. Currently, poor road conditions make it difficult for them to move their produce, especially during the rainy season. The new road will make transportation easier and more efficient for the co-operative and other local farmers growing cacao, coconut, and citrus.
The improved road is expected to benefit about 188 households and 899 people in Trio Village, as well as other farmers in the surrounding areas.
