October 9, 2024 - Channel 5 Belize

Orange Walk Father and Son Kidnapped in Chetumal

We start tonight’s newscast with a chilling report: a father and son from Corozal have been kidnapped. The details are still sketchy, but what we do know is that the incident occurred across the northern border in Chetumal, Quintana Roo. This area is popular with Belizeans, especially on weekends, for shopping, medical treatment, and entertainment. The two men are Louisville resident, forty-eight-year-old Luis Camara and his nineteen-year-old son, Johan. Mexican authorities are urgently seeking the public’s help to locate them and have circulated bulletins with their images, hoping someone has seen them or knows their whereabouts. Johan is described as having a dark complexion, short wavy black hair, and black eyes. He stands five feet five inches tall and weighs a little over two hundred and fifty pounds. He was last seen wearing a short-sleeved black shirt and black denim pants. Luis was wearing a short-sleeved light blue shirt, light blue jeans, and brown boots. Reports indicate that the two men were taken by a group of heavily armed men when Luis tried to defend Johan, who was under attack. The father and son were traveling in a vehicle when another vehicle suddenly pulled up in front of them, opened fire, and then attempted to take Johan away by force. Mexican police have provided a contact number for anyone with information on their whereabouts: (nine eight three) eight three five zero zero five zero ext. one one three two. News Five has tried to reach the family and Belize’s Ambassador to Mexico, Oscar Arnold, for comment, but has not yet succeeded.

High Court Hears Mitigation Plea for Ivan Ayuso

Twelve days ago, former Senior Accountant Ivan Ayuso admitted to embezzling over a million dollars of taxpayers’ monies from the National Sports Council. He pleaded guilty to one count of theft and three counts of money laundering. The High Court has already indicated that Ayuso will receive no more than five years in jail. However, his plea bargain with the D.P.P. means he cannot contest the government’s move to seize his house. Today, Ayuso’s family members gathered in the courtroom to support his mitigation plea. Justice Nigel Pilgrim heard from three character witnesses: Ayuso’s son, Adrian Ivan Ayuso; his younger brother, Niem Santos Ayuso; and Merna Ramona Haylock. Adrian gave an emotional account of his father, describing him as a wonderful, quiet, and strong person who stays out of trouble. He spoke about how hard the news of his father’s crimes has been on the family and apologized to the country of Belize on his father’s behalf, pleading for leniency. Niem also asked the court for leniency, expressing how much the family loves and needs Ayuso. Ayuso was supposed to be sentenced today, but the D.P.P. was not ready to make the forfeiture application, so the matter has been postponed to October twenty-fifth.

Farmer Sentenced to 16 Years for Raping Minor

A forty-three-year-old farmer is spending his first night of a sixteen-year sentence behind bars. Vicente Cerraras has been sentenced for two counts of rape of a fourteen-year-old minor, for which he was convicted back in July of this year. This morning, Vicente appeared before Justice Candace Nanton in the High Court, where she heard mitigation pleas from two character witnesses, including his mother and his pastor, Elario Davis. Cerraras’ last words to the court was one of remorse telling the court he is sorry for what he did, admitting to guilt. Cerreras who was facing a mandatory sentence of twelve years minimum for each count, was sentenced to two sixteen years term. However, Justice Nanton took into consideration his fifteen days on remand. She deducted those days leaving him with fifteen years, eleven months and fifteen days left behind bars. Justice Nanton ordered that his two sentences run concurrently with each other. As was reported, Justice Nanton found Cerreras guilty of the two counts of rape of a child on July twenty-second after DNA evidence linking him to the crime scene was submitted. Despite the DNA results presented by Prosecutor Romey Cunningham, Cerraras denied raping the minor. He raped the fourteen-year-old on June twenty-seventh, 2019 and again on August twenty-sixth, 2019.In the trial, Cerraras was represented by attorney Ronell Gonzalez.

Family of Three Charged with Drug Offences

A family of three was dragged to court late Tuesday on a drug charge after police found seventy-seven grams of marijuana inside their refrigerator on Myrtle Waight Crescent in Ladyville. They are forty-one-year-old Herbie Eddison Moreira, a tour guide, his common-law wife, thirty-nine-year-old Sherice Andrea Foreman, and sixty-six-year-old Bernadette Williamson. The trio appeared in the Magistrate’s Court in the presence of their attorney, Godwin Haylock, where they were read a charge each of possession of a control drug with intent to supply seventy-seven grams of cannabis to another person or persons for the purpose of drug trafficking. Haylock asked for a sentencing indication as Moreira was contemplating pleading guilty. The magistrate indicated that she would impose a non-custodial sentence of a fine of no more than two thousand dollars but only if he has no previous conviction or has special reasons why a fine is appropriate in his case. His attorney Haylock submitted that while this is not Moreira’s first drug charge, his conviction for possession of a control drugs with intent to supply from 2013 is on appeal. Haylock also asked the court to take into consideration the small quantity of drugs. Moreira pleaded guilty and was fined fourteen hundred dollars. Moreira was facing the mandatory minimum fine of ten thousand dollars in default three years plus an additional prison time of three years if he had not pleaded guilty but was found guilty.

Ministry of Education Denounced Bullying in All Forms

Over the past week, we’ve been covering a troubling case of alleged bullying at Saint John’s College that left thirteen-year-old Dominick Alvarado seriously injured and bedridden. This incident comes on the heels of another in Stann Creek District back in mid-June. These events have sparked public outrage and raised serious concerns about the safety of children in Belizean schools. We spoke with Dian Maheia, the C.E.O. of the Ministry of Education, to get some insight into how the ministry is addressing this critical issue.

On the phone: Dian Maheia, CEO, Ministry of Education

“So the Ministry of Education categorically denounces any and all acts of bullying. We are obviously very concerned for any student who is a victim of bullying of any form. We recognize that bullying. Activities that these actions are indications of deeper challenges, unfortunately, and we recognize that there’s only so much that anyone person can do, but I think these activities highlight the need for responses, continued campaigns in our schools. All our high schools run anti-bullying campaigns. They run as part of their life skills activities that they, some of them, in particular, take the approach of teaching kindness and promoting kindness campaigns. We also see this as proof of the need for counselors in all our schools. We need. Counselors, the ministry is committed to first to secondary schools to ensuring that each secondary school has a non-teaching counselor. So that’s something we’re working toward. We recognize that we also need counselors for primary school. We need to train our counselors and provide support for them. And then, of course, on the biggest level, we recognize the importance of family support of community support, working together so that we could just really build a belief that is going to be more kind and more accepting and more, more inclusive, more helpful.”

101 Cayo North Voter Transfers Ordered to Remain in Previous Constituencies

Last month, we reported on allegations of election fraud made by U.D.P. standard bearer for Cayo North, Omar Figueroa. He claims that over a hundred voter registrations during the transfer period are fraudulent, citing unspecified and overcrowded home addresses as key indicators. On Tuesday and earlier today, Figueroa and the magistrate visited several of these addresses to investigate. After today’s hearing, the magistrate decided that the matter will be forwarded to the High Court, with no determination made yet. For now, all one hundred and one voter transfers will remain in their original constituencies until a final decision is reached. We caught up with Figueroa before today’s verdict for more details.

Omar Figueroa, UDP Standard Bearer, Cayo North

“We’re hoping it is the last day. It’s been going on for, I think this is probably the fifth session, but we’re covering a lot of grounds and we’re making a lot of progress. The last session we had, the magistrate went to visit three of the landlords. Unfortunately, none of the landlords were home and none of the the persons that we were objecting to were home. It was a total of forty-six persons at three different houses. The magistrate was not able to speak to anyone other than some of the neighbors. We are feeling very confident that the reasons for objections are valid. We believe that in fact the cases are fraudulent registrations. It is our hope that at the end of the day the magistrate will weigh all the evidence that is before her. In cases like this, at times it’s hard to prove that someone doesn’t live at the house when the landlord is saying they live at the house. And then there’s a refusal from the landlords to show up to court. And obviously we feel like. They were evading us yesterday, but we will see what happens today. Today, we have the last testimony the final two houses that we are objecting to. One of them, by the way yesterday, was one of the one bedroom starter homes that the government really recently issued. Two of those are actually on the table here. Two of those have been used for these registrations. You guys know as well as I do, how many people can comfortably fit in those houses. “

U.D.P Standard Bearer Responds to Criticism on Voter Fraud Trial

After weeks of back-and-forth in the San Ignacio magistrate court over alleged voter registration fraud in the Cayo North constituency, the magistrate decided that no determination could be made. The case will now move to the high court for further proceedings. However, it’s not all bad news for U.D.P. Standard Bearer Omar Figueroa, who brought the case to court. For now, all 101 voter transfers will remain in their original constituencies. Throughout the five court sessions, Figueroa has faced criticism from the public, with some claiming that voter fraud is a common practice by both parties every year. We asked Figueroa for his response to these comments. Here’s what he had to say.

Britney Gordon

“What do you have to say to the people that criticize this trial saying, oh, it happens every year, both parties do it, and they think that this is a waste of time?”

Omar Figueroa, UDP Standard Bearer, Cayo North

“I don’t subscribe to that argument. If we believe in what we’re doing, then at some point, the change has to start. We, our country is governed by a parliamentary system of government, right? Which essentially means we have 31 constituencies. And it is the legal residents of those constituencies that should determine who the standard bearers are. And there is I’ve heard that argument from several fronts, but like I said, if we don’t start to do the things the right way, um, it’s never too late to start well and get this thing done the right way.”

MIDH Says Used Rubber Tires in More Tomorrow are for Roadwork

Residents of More Tomorrow, in the Cayo District, were alarmed on Tuesday when they stumbled upon thousands of used tires dumped along the road to their village. Initially, it seemed like these old tires were just being discarded there. However, News Five later discovered that the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing had placed them there for roadwork purposes. Chief Engineer Evondale Moody explained that the road to More Tomorrow is prone to flooding, and the ministry is experimenting with using these rubber tires in road construction to address the issue.

Evondale Moody, Chief Engineer, MIDH

“The ministry has just over three thousand, one hundred miles of road that we have to maintain countrywide and one such road is the More Tomorrow Road which is a secondary road within the Cayo District. That road normally is susceptible to flooding. As you may be aware, I think a few weeks ago, there were some complaints from the school in that area about access to the village and also to the school. And so, we had to go in and do some remedial works in terms of periodic maintenance, but that is our fourth trip to that area just in this year. And so, what we are trying is an engineering technology called mechanical concrete whereby you utilize old tires to construct a formation basically, and you would utilize that in areas where you have areas that are susceptible to flooding or you have major consolidation. And so, the old tires are basically set up in a grid formation, similar too what we call a geo-grid, which you would have to import; however, utilizing the old tires is beneficial to us because it also prevents erosion from happening and also acts as a confinement for the aggregates that we’re placing on the road. Within the area that we’re doing this test, this pilot project, on the More Tomorrow Road is, as I said, usually susceptible to flooding and we thought that trying this technology it would also be environmentally friendly. So the idea is that you place these tires in a grid formation and we infill these tires with aggregates and then compact over it. We have done that today, for approximately five hundred meters. We intend to try and complete at least one point six kilometers which is about a mile and we want to do that by the end of this week as a pilot project.”

MIDH says Belize is not First Country to Use Tires to Build Roads

When we visited the location earlier today, we met a team of workmen laying down the tires in what Moody describes as a geo-grid which is used to reinforce soils and similar materials. Geogrids are much stronger in tension compared to soil. This strength lets them spread forces over a larger area of soil, making the ground more stable and secure than it would be otherwise. Here’s more from MIDH.

Santiago Juan, Ministry of Infrastructure Development & Housing

“It’s an old technology in which, basically, you’re providing a firmer base for low-lying parts of the road. You dump over them and form like a cell, like a honeycomb, and once you dump over them, they stay in place and you raise the road. It’s much cheaper and very environmentally friendly and easy to do. So that’s what, basically, they are for.”

Evondale Moody, Chief Engineer, MIDH

“The ministry, itself, has a large fleet of equipment and we continuously have to be changing out tires but there’s no use for those old tires. We can’t burn them, there’s no way we can discard them and so the process that we are implementing, as far as we know, it’s an environmentally friendly process because we are basically just burying the tires and using them within the road construction industry to help us elevate the road formation and also protect it from being inundated by floodwaters. So the idea that we are implementing on the More Tomorrow Road, we believe that it will be more beneficial to the community. Once this is proven to be successful in Belize, then it’s something that we would be able to try in other areas throughout the country. This is not the first country that is implementing this technology, it is being done in Central America, it’s being done in the U.S. and also in Canada and some parts of Europe as well.”

Japan to Build New Swing Bridge Replacement

What’s the latest on the Belize City Swing Bridge? The crossing near the mouth of the Haulover Creek is in dire need of being replaced. Earlier today, we also asked Chief Engineer Evondale Moody for an update on the pending project which will be funded by the Japanese government.

Evondale Moody, Chief Engineer, MIDH

“In respect to the Belize City Swing Bridge, yes, I have been involved in discussions with JIICA. It is the Japanese that will be financing that project. In the last discussion I had with them, just over a month ago, there’s a consultancy team that’s supposed to be in the country within the next week or two weeks to carry out the final studies with respect to the design of that structure. That is because this project will be funded by Japan and so they intend to engage a Japanese consultant to do the design and also a Japanese contractor to construct that bridge. So we expect that by early next year, by the first quarter, we should get confirmation from them with respect to the financing and then those works would commence on the Belize City Swing Bridge. With respect to the BelCan Bridge, there is no new update on that. We are still waiting on a decision from the Ministry of Finance on how we proceed with the implementation of that project.”