Tonight, a third suspect has been arrested and charged in connection with the double murder of two Belmopan taxi drivers who went missing at the end of November. Their bodies were later discovered in a shallow grave in the Hattieville area. Twenty-year-old Ronald Steadman Frazer, a laborer from Ontario Village in the Cayo District, has been remanded to prison. He joins two other suspects already charged with the murders of cousins Marvin Cante and Juan Raymundo. Frazer, who was arrested on Thursday, appeared in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court this morning, facing two counts of murder. Unrepresented, he stood before a Senior Magistrate in Court #2, where he was formally charged with the murders of thirty-seven-year-old Marvin Elisandro Cante and thirty-two-year-old Juan Carlos Raymundo. Due to the severity of the charges, bail was denied, and Frazer was remanded to the Belize Central Prison until February twelfth, 2025. Frazer now joins Alexander Smith Jr., a construction worker, and Carl Lindo, an unemployed resident of Mile 15 Hattieville/Boom Road, both twenty-one years old. Smith Junior and Lindo were arraigned on December sixteenth on the same charges and are also being held at the Belize Central Prison. The trio is scheduled to appear in court together for the first time on February twelfth, 2025.
Today, Doctor Desmond Arzu, accused of sexually assaulting a female patient during an ultrasound in March 2023, was back in court for his trial. The forty-year-old doctor, who was charged on May twelfth, 2024, appeared before a Senior Magistrate in Court #2. However, the trial couldn’t proceed because the crown’s representative, DPP Cheryl Lynn-Vidal, was absent due to another case at the High Court. The matter was adjourned to January second, 2025. Doctor Arzu arrived at court around ten a.m. with his attorneys, Bryan Neal and Arthur Saldivar. After waiting for nearly an hour, the Senior Magistrate postponed the trial. Attorney Saldivar objected to cross-examining the virtual complainant virtually and insisted she appear in person. This issue will be addressed when the trial resumes on January twenty-first, 2025. Doctor Arzu, who remains out on bail, left court with family members who came to support him. The trial was moved from Dangriga to Belize City for continuation after starting in July this year. The incident allegedly occurred on March twenty-sixth, 2023. The victim reported that Doctor Arzu assaulted her during an abdominal ultrasound by touching her inappropriately and making her feel horrified and shocked. She described how he inserted his fingers into her private parts and massaged her breast during the procedure. Doctor Arzu is a radiologist and has been out on bail since his arraignment on May twelfth, 2023.
Earlier this week, there were reports of a Guatemalan gunboat running aground on the reef in southern waters, leading to a tense standoff with Belizean Coast Guardsmen. However, Rear Admiral Elton Bennett, Commandant of the Belize Coast Guard, quickly clarified that this wasn’t the case. He stated that it wasn’t a gunboat, no weapons were drawn, and once the coast guardsmen confirmed the vessel was in Belizean waters, it left peacefully. Today, Minister of Defense and Border Security, Florencio Marin Junior, reassured the public that the vessel near Ragged Caye in the Ranguana Caye range was not a gunboat. Marin expressed confidence in the Coast Guard’s ability to handle potentially volatile situations, both in the past and moving forward.
Florencio Marin Jr.
Florencio Marin Jr., Minister of Defense & Border Security
“ It wasn’t a gunboat. Although it was a geography vote, and, my thoughts on it, as I had mentioned in the speech that our sailors or seamen, whenever they see these tricks or their incursions in territorial, once they go out and they meet it and they diffuse it. So those are my thoughts and I promise you that as long as these, these things would occur our seamen will be there to diffuse the situation.”
Reporter
“How skilled are they in de-escalating, because we know if it escalates anymore, and anybody gets jumpy and triggers start pull, it will be bad for Belize.”
Florencio Marin Jr.
“I mean, I have all the people here for the seamen. I mean, under the leadership of Bennett they’re professionally trained, you know, so they don’t go there in any aggressive manner. The opportunity will be affirmed if we advise them appropriately. Every time we manage to resolve it.”
It’s an exciting week for the team at Belize Sugar Industries. At Big Creek Port in Stann Creek District, the Federal Tiber vessel is being loaded with over thirty-nine thousand tons of raw sugar. So, where’s it heading? This massive shipment is bound for London, England. The Supply Chain Manager says that if the weather cooperates, the ship is set to sail next week.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
It’s an exciting week for the team at Belize Sugar Industries. At Big Creek Port in Stann Creek District, the Federal Tiber vessel is being loaded with over thirty-nine thousand tons of raw sugar. So, where’s it heading? This massive shipment is bound for London, England. The Supply Chain Manager says that if the weather cooperates, the ship is set to sail next week.
Eldy Smith
Eldy Smith, Supply Chain Manager, ASR/BSI
“Today is a memorable moment for us. It’s one of the largest vessels that has docked in Belize. We’re loading thirty-nine thousand five hundred metric tons. We are expecting that The finished loading is within six days. We have some delays and this is mainly because of the rain. But our loading rates are normally between five thousand to seven thousand metric tons an hour, right? Right now we are currently meeting the five thousand. And we are hoping that we can get better with the weekend that we have better sunny skies.”
Typically, loading a shipment of this size would take over forty days. BSI’s Communications Director, Williams Neal, explains that if a vessel stays docked longer than the agreed loading and unloading time, a demurrage fee is charged for each extra day. By boosting efficiency, the company saves valuable time and money.
William Neal
William Neal, Communications Director, B.S.I.
“ It’s really not only historic for BSI, but for the country. Because it shows that if we have the right port facilities, we can do much more. And in a world where competitiveness is important when you’re talking about businesses. You have to make sure that you’re able to respond to your needs of your clients as they arrive. So while we’re moving on a regular basis, the raw sugar down here, we have to make sure that we’re able to compete with other larger producers globally. So the infrastructure here at the port that we 30 million dollars Uh, proves that this was long overdue, and perhaps it’s something that we need to do more in terms of port and infrastructure development.”
Over the past two years, BSI has been phasing out the tug and barge system for transporting sugar. The main reasons? High maintenance costs and the difficulty of insuring the barges.
William Neal
“It made a lot of dollars and cents to actually move to this facility because the savings drove that entire process. It’s not easy when you’re a business and you’re doing massive transformation to continue spending money because the impression then is that you have a lot of money. But if you do nothing, you’re going to die. So you have to make the investment. You know, some people say scared money doesn’t make money in business. You have to be bold and you have to be ahead of the curve.”
This shipment showcases Belize’s growing capacity for trade. Dr. Osmond Martinez, Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Trade, sees it as a positive signal to the international market.
Osmond Martinez
Dr. Osmond Martinez, Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Trade
“Whenever we analyze the efficiencies and the effectiveness in terms of the supply chain and to be able to compete in the local, in the global market in this case to supply sugar is very important because the more we are able to export, that means that more competitive we are in terms of price. And today, when you look at the global inflation. Global inflation which is affecting all consumers in the world being competitive in terms of price is very important.”
The total value of the export is forty-five million dollars which Martinez anticipates will directly impact Belize’s economy by reducing the country’s trade deficit.
Dr. Osmond Martinez
“But it is also important to note that its contribution has a multiplier effect. And it is our hope that its contribution will not just be a one-time impact, but that it will have an a wider impact. In terms of hope the money is circulating within Belize’s economy.”
Belize Sugar Industries is gearing up to ship the largest quantity of raw sugar in the country’s history, reflecting a successful cane season. However, the latter half of the season faced setbacks due to changing weather conditions and the fusarium disease, which devastated many Northern crops. We spoke with B.S.I. Communications Director, William Neal, about when the next crop season will start and how optimistic the company is for the future.
William Neal
William Neal, Communications Director, B.S.I/A.S.R.
“We’ve had discussions with stakeholders and it was decided that the start of crop work and that would be the twenty-seventh of December B. S. I. Had actually proposed that we start on the sixteenth of December. We know that we have a lot of challenges with rain and climate change in general, but we thought because of the sarium disease as well that we should start as early as possible, however, and it was agreed that we would start on the twenty-seventh of December, and I think that Should be that’s it. That’s it by now, and we should proceed with that. We don’t foresee any challenges in that regard. But of course, the farmers and the farmer associations asked for that because there were concerns about the rains, the condition of fields, but also the condition of roads. Anybody who drives on the roads in Belize know that we are having significant challenges with roads that are in horrible conditions.”
Last month, the Ministry of Agriculture declared a state of emergency in the sugar industry because a fungal disease has infected up to forty thousand acres of sugar cane. This disease causes the cane to yellow and wilt, making them unfit for sugar production. With the new crop season starting in just a week, we asked Belize Sugar Industries Communications Director, William Neal, for an update on the search for a cure. Here’s what he had to say.
William Neal
William Neal, Communications Director, B.S.I/A.S.R.
“This is new, so there’s a lot of research still ongoing, but we know some things. One, Corozal. Has been more impacted than Orange Walk. We also know that Fusarium is not new. It was triggered perhaps by the climate change challenges. The extended droughts, the excessive rains. It just created the perfect conditions for it to grow. I don’t think they have identified exactly what species it is. So there’s some best practices that they’re testing, but I don’t think enough time has passed to say how effective those are. Of course you have to do everything that you can to make sure that you have the maximum input and in some cases the estimate is that production could fall as much as thirty percent, that’s significant. That’s one third of your production. So it’s something that we definitely have to, as an industry, focus on and try to mitigate the impact of it.”
The Government of Belize reports a significant decrease in sugar smuggling over the past few months. Earlier this year, many Belizeans will remember stores limiting the amount of sugar one person could buy, sparking fears of a sugar shortage. However, Belize Sugar Industries quickly debunked this, clarifying that the country had plenty of sugar and that the limits were to curb smuggling. Today, we spoke with Doctor Osmond Martinez, Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Trade, for an update on the situation. Here’s what he had -to say.
Osmond Martinez
Dr. Osmond Martinez, Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Trade
“The government have taken the proper measurements to minimize and eliminate that problem I think that question can be addressed more to Minister Abelardo Mai. He will be able to get into details. We acknowledge that there were some issues in the past and that’s a problem we the government, you know, Belize has been able to mitigate and almost eliminate that problem. But in terms of details, all the measurements that are being put in place, the minister of agriculture will be in a better position to explain the details on the measurements that governments are putting in place.”
The highly anticipated One & A Million Jackpot drawing is on Saturday at ten a.m. A recent poll on News Five’s Facebook page has shed light on the sentiments of Belizeans when it comes to playing the lottery. A total of one thousand eight hundred and sixteen users participated in the poll, where they were asked whether they purchased a ticket for the drawing. Of the respondents, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four, or sixty-nine percent, said they did not buy a ticket, while five hundred and sixty-two, or thirty-one percent, said that they did. Among the users who did purchase tickets, many shared personal reasons for their decision. One user stated, “I need to change my house from board to cement.” Another said he opted out of purchasing a ticket, saying, “I will buy food with my money instead.” However, a recurring question was where to purchase tickets. Numerous users expressed confusion about where they could obtain a ticket.
Belize is buzzing with excitement as the first-ever one-million-dollar Boledo draw approaches, just in time for the Christmas holidays. Unlike other fun games with big cash prizes, this draw requires players to bet on four numbers, all of which must be drawn to win the jackpot. The draw is set for Saturday, and anticipation is high. Today, News Five’s Marion Ali visited 88 Shopping Plaza to check in with some shoppers. She found that sales were slow, but the excitement was still palpable. Here’s her report.
Marion Ali, Reporting
Who will win the government’s million-dollar Boledo on Saturday? This first-of-its-kind event will be drawn at 10 AM, but the winner(s) won’t take home the full million. There’s a fifteen percent deduction, which will be shared among the winners or given to a single winner if there’s only one. This special Boledo draw requires buyers to pick four numbers from zero to nine, like the Sunday lottery jackpot. However, today, there weren’t many people trying their luck at 88 Shopping Plaza on Central American Boulevard. The store’s cashier, Shannon Tan, told us that sales have been mostly slow for this special Boledo draw.
Shannon Tan
Shannon Tan, Cashier, 88 Shopping Plaza
“I see a couple people buying from here. Like I buy the most? People buy likethat? Like a whole list? It all depends. Some people buy a lot, some people buy like one or two. It still sells, but Boledo sells more.”
Marion Ali
“Do you think maybe the price has something to do with it? Five dollars for a ticket?”
Shannon Tan
“Mmm, no.”
We met the man known in Belize as the “Fire Eater” outside the store. He said that he bought his tickets a few days ago.
Ronald Reneau
Ronald Reneau, Boledo Buyer
“I have about three of them, but I’ve got three. That’s secured. Yeah, that’s secured. I don’t want lose it if I take it out. But I buy already.”
Marion Ali
“How did you come up with the combination?”
Ronald Reneau
“Well, I used my grandchildren, my mother, my auntie and people that are close to me, my family. There’s so many to use. My mother died, my brother died, my uncle died. I have a daughter died, I have a son. I use the age, some of the age of them that already died. I done win already, and that’s my belief.”
Marion Ali
“So I need not waste my money?”
Ronald Reneau
“Well, I buy just to make sure. Yeah, but I thank God, and if I don’t win it, somebody will win it.”
Ellen Gentle told us that she’s not interested in the offer.
Ellen Gentle
Ellen Gentle, Belize City Resident
“No, girl, I don’t want to put myself in that because, you know, a lot of people deh fi win that.”
Marion Ali
“Yes, but every week people win the lottery.”
Ellen Gentle
“Yeah, but still, I don’t think my luck is there.”
Marion Ali
“You ever win a lottery?”
Ellen Gentle
“No, never, never Marion.”
Marion Ali
“You think you have numbers you would have maybe win though, and you’re just afraid to buy it?”
Ellen Gentle
“Yeah, you got that right.”
Marion Ali
“You want to share the numbers? Maybe somebody out there buy it and win and come back and say…”
Ellen Gentle
“No man, no man, no man.”
Patrick Gordon says he will have to take a little time and come up with the winning combination.
Patrick Gordon
Patrick Gordon, Boledo Buyer
“Whenever I go back home, then I will do.”
Marion Ali
“You will do what? Come up with the combinations?”
Patrick Gordon
“Yeah. Well, the combination eena thousands of people minds. As long as ih come eena my mind fi win it.”
The Ministry of Defense is revamping the salary system for Belize’s military and coastguardsmen. Today, we spoke with Minister Florencio Marin, Junior, who explained that the new system will mirror the one being introduced by the Coast Guard. He emphasized that this is an ongoing process for both organizations, ensuring fair and updated pay for their personnel.
Florencio Marin Jr., Minister of Defense
“This is a very important thing that we have to get right with the salaries of our seniors and our soldiers, noh, and as you can notice in the coast guard, what they have done, they have done like a special task force to address it. As well, we’re doing the same within the BDF and overseen by the ministry. Because it is something that we just have to deal with. We’re dealing with over like a thousand personnel. So it’s not something we can do within one week. We just have to go through it painstakingly, one by one, and hopefully we get it quickly within the next coming year.”
