2024 - Channel 5 Belize

Will Government Assist Farmers in San Pedro, Columbia?

The fight against the fires brought on by the severe regional heatwave is a continuous effort across the country. The recent fire at the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve drew great concern for the Forest Department, as resources and manpower were already divided amongst several fires in southern Belize. Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development and Climate Change, told us that it is due to the collaborative efforts between several organizations, that all the fires can be addressed and that additional assistance for the affected individuals is in the pipeline.

Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development and Climate Change

“It was something that we had to make a decision on because we also knew that there were fires down south in Colombia. And so we wanted to share the personnel. But because NEMO had taken the leadership down because it’s now close to communities, they took jurisdiction of that and assistance from some of our fire department forest department personnel from the south in Machaca, and they also got assistance from the N.G.O.’s like TIDE who have a lot of experience doing fire training. And also with Ya’axche, they had a lot of help. So, we decided that it was best that we address this area with the personnel we had. I think within the limits of the towns and villages, it is very important that we stress information and education for the public because it is absolutely necessary for us to educate our public. Sometimes it’s just a small fire in the backyard fire that can get away and then the smoke and everything else is a problem. You see what’s happened in San Ignacio and Santa Elena during the past week. The air quality is really bad. You can’t come out and run or jog or exercise, do your bicycling because it is terrible.”

Reporter

“Sir, Columbia, the villagers have lost a lot of farmlands. I think close to 90 farmers were with Nima earlier this week assessing the damage. Is the government doing anything to assist these people? Because this is their entire livelihood gone just like that.”

Orlando Habet

“Yeah certainly the government will come in to assist. I think right now they’re doing some assessments to see the people who are affected, the farmers who are affected. And as any emergency and any event, a catastrophic event like this, then the government makes these assessments. And if it’s in the agriculture sector, then the Ministry of Agriculture goes in to assist. And then certainly with the housing, then NEMO comes in and then the Ministry of Human Development also comes in to assist. The government will have to use some type of funding, maybe a contingency fund to try to get the funding to assist these people.”

Chalillo Dam Saved from Rampant Wildfires

The Chalillo Dam, which is situated in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve in Cayo district, was recently at risk of being damaged by a wildfire that broke in the area. Last Wednesday, the team at the Forest Department noticed an uncontained fire rapidly spreading throughout the reserve. The department, alongside several stakeholders sprang into action to contain it. Participating in the mission was a team from Fortis Belize, that felt it was necessary to assist, as the reserve houses the Chalillo Dam. This hydroelectric dam produces seven of the forty-one percent of energy the company provides to Belize. Tedford Pate, Operation Manager at Fortis Belize, told us that due to the fast action of the team, the dam was saved from any potential damage.

Tedford Pate, Operation Manager, Fortis Belize

“Up to yesterday, we still had our personnel on the ground extinguishing the little spots that remain heated and still present a threat. to reignite these fires. But fortunately, up to this point, we have the fire under control So as you notice in the background the main reason for us at Fortis Belize in wanting to eliminate this threat is because what we do at this facility is very important when it comes to providing reliable power to the country. As you all know, we’re in a power crisis right now in Belize. And so ensuring that we maintain power to the grid is our primary concern. Had this fire extended into the transmission system, it could have had some very dire effects to the supply of electricity from this location. So we’re happy that with the help of all our stakeholders and our friends, we’re able to control this fire up to this point. We are working on strengthening our protocols. We do have emergency response plans in place. But right now we’re working closely with the forestry department in strengthening our protocols and in establishing a wildfire safety protocol for Fortis Belize as we speak. This will not only involve our efforts, but it will also mean collaborating with all the stakeholders, especially so the forestry department. FCD that operates in this area, as well as the other stakeholders like Bullridge the contractors that we employ, so that we have a detailed response plan in the event that they should reoccur.”

Students from Belize City Five High Schools Visit Prison

Everyday, adolescents who are caught violating the law are processed through the justice system and incarcerated upon conviction. Many times, these youths are enrolled in a school setting and end up losing the chance to complete their formal education. Today, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Howell Gillett attempted to reduce this trend when he took students from five high schools across Belize City to visit the prison facility. The youths were taken through the facility’s security system like any other visitor and were brought face-to-face with what prison life is like when they entered the holding cell at the facility. News Five’s Marion Ali was present for the visit and filed this report.

Michael Gladden, Chief of Security, Belize Central Prison

“Full black is not allowed. Any excessive jewellery is not allowed. Right now, I will ask you if you have any money in your pocket, you need to remove it. If you have any electronic devices, you need to move it. Why I’m telling you this is because when you enter to my prison, you will be searched. Everybody here will be searched.”

Marion Ali, Reporting

The first phase of the visit that the forty high school students experienced was an introduction by chief of the prison’s security, Michael Gladden. He advised the youths on the do’s and don’ts when visiting the facility. After the students were searched, they were escorted by prison guards and police officers to the sections of the facility that were prepared for their visit. The tour was an initiative undertaken by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Howell Gillett, who also heads the Community Policing Unit. He told News Five that the visit aims to discourage the youths from engaging in a life of crime.

A.C.P Howell Gillett, Commander, National Community-oriented Policing

“We strategically pick kids from different areas across the city to come and see the end state – what occurs when a crime is committed in the streets. We do so because we are fully aware that some of the behaviours, the actions that brought these inmates here, there are corresponding behaviours withing the communities that these children come from. So, we want them to see not just what they are seeing everyday on a frequent basis, but what the result would be like if we choose that kind of life. We want them to make better decisions for themselves. We want them to see the justice system because the prison is a part of the justice system.”

Virgilio Murillo is the Chief Executive Officer of Kolbe Foundation, which manages the Belize Central Prison. He said that when Gillett contacted him a month ago with the request to have the students visit, he gladly accepted, in the hopes that it is going to deter them from ending up at the facility, not as guests but as inmates.

Virgilio Murillo, C.E.O, Kolbe Foundation

“We’re going to have a few prisoners who will be sharing their personal life stories of what it’s like being in prison because some people have the idea that prison is a bed of roses, but it is not, and it should not be either. The prison is the last option available to the courts to manage those persons who have failed alternative punishments. When the judge or the magistrate sends a person to the prison, obviously there was no other way to control that person or steer that person away from a life of crime, so they had to send them to the prison. My job as the superintendent is to ensure that we rehabilitate them properly, we discipline them properly, so that they do not want to come back.”

Murillo had candid advice for the youths upon their arrival.

Virgilio Murillo

“My message to them is: stay away from the prison. Crime does not pay. I told them a while ago in there that the only next place that they will end up is burial ground – six feet under. It is as blunt as that.”

The youths were deliberately selected from schools in some of Belize City’s crime-ridden zones. A.C.P Gillett says he believes that that reality does not mean that the youths who come from these areas will be criminals.

A.C.P Howell Gillett

“We at the Community Policing Unit know some of the issues that are affecting our communities that we police so the children were chosen from different schools that come from the areas that we want to bring this message that you could live a crime-free life, but it’s a choice that you have to make.”

And for Gillett, the sky is the limit.

A.C.P Howell Gillett

“With the possibility of them choosing a career path in law enforcement, in becoming a social worker, a judge or a magistrate, any part of the system itself.”

Gillett says that a study that has been done on the Community Policing Unit’s engagement with youths over the past decade shows that the unit has interacted with eighty thousand youths over that period and that a large percentage of those youths have gone on to not commit any egregious breach of the law. Marion Ali for News Five.

Ukrainian National Charged for Fatal RTA

Thirty-two-year-old Alinna Estell, a Ukrainian national, was slapped with three traffic offenses, including manslaughter by negligence, causing death by careless conduct and drove motor vehicle without due care and attention, when she appeared before the lower courts today. The charges stem from a fatal road traffic accident that occurred on the Philip Goldson Highway on May ninth. Estell, a naturalized Belizean, was driving a Honda Civic near mile nine when she knocked down thirty-one-year-old Gilbert Stephens Jr., a car washer of Lord’s Bank Village. Stephens was riding a motorcycle when Estell crashed into him. He succumbed to his injuries on May twenty-first. In court today, Estell was arraigned on three counts. No plea was taken from her and she was offered bail in the sum of five thousand dollars, plus one surety of the same.

San Pedro Teacher on Bail for Sexual Assault of Student

A teacher in San Pedro was arraigned on Thursday in the San Pedro Magistrate’s Court on three counts of sexual assault. The incidents allegedly occurred between January and March of this year with three students who are enrolled at the same school where he teaches. One of the victims is fourteen and the other two are fifteen years old. He appeared in court with his attorney, Ronnell Gonzalez, and was offered bail of nine thousand dollars which he met. He is to surrender his travel documents, not to apply for new travel documents, not to leave Belize without permission of the court, not to contact complainants and not to be within a hundred yards of the complainant. He is to report back to court July seventeenth.

Mid-afternoon Shooting on Banak Street

As many as a dozen rounds were fired on Banak Street this afternoon when a gunman let loose a shower of bullets at an unsuspecting target who was reportedly riding a motorcycle in the vicinity. News Five understands that the victim was injured in the leg. Scenes of Crime personnel arrived at the location sometime after the incident and processed the scene where markers littered the street near its intersection with Central American Boulevard. Police are yet to share details on the mid-afternoon shooting.

Prison C.E.O. Says Facility is Capable of Tending to Diabetic Inmates

On Thursday, attorney Arthur Saldivar, on behalf of his client, Oscar Selgado, questioned the fitness of the Belize Central Prison when it comes to the care of inmates who are diabetic. Selgado, an attorney-at-law, has been found guilty of abetment to commit murder and is awaiting sentencing in the High Court. His health condition, however, is of serious concern because Selgado complains that the facility isn’t adequately addressing his illness and his health continues to deteriorate while incarcerated. Earlier today when we visited the prison, we spoke with Chief Executive Officer Virgilio Murillo, who took the stand yesterday to attest to the prison’s capability of tending to inmates living with diabetes.

Virgilio Murillo, C.E.O., Kolbe Foundation

“They always say the proof is in the eating of the pudding. As far as I am aware and as far as my belief goes, my opinion and my thought goes, it‘s all about sensationalism and I will not pay much attention to that. We can be tested and I am sure we‘re going to pass with flying colors. We have diabetics in this prison who have been diabetics for the last twelve years and counting.”

Marion Ali

“Two have died.”

Virgilio Murillo

“Two have died. It has nothing to do with the prison. I don‘t know how I prevent a person from dying when they choose by their own free will to stop eating because of depression. I can‘t open their mouth and feed them like a bird. It doesn‘t work that way.”

Marion Ali

“But the report that Mr. Selgado gave is that the person he was assigned to or the medical officer assigned to him that day was a fellow prisoner.”

Virgilio Murillo

“That‘s a practice that was practiced in prisons all over the world. These people are not less of a human being because they have come to prison, let us understand that first and foremost. They have the capability to be trained in different fields and sciences and all of that. They are very brilliant people, they just made mistakes and got caught and they are here to pay the consequences.”

Atlantic Bank No Longer Doing Business with Stake Bank Enterprise

Earlier today, the Atlantic Bank Limited issued a press release stating that on May first, the facilities held with the embattled Stake Bank Enterprise Limited were sold to Operaciones Portuarias, a corporation that is registered under Honduran laws and is an entity that is affiliated with brothers Guillermo and David Bueso. The statement continues, quote, the bank has therefore removed from its books the debt owed by S.B.E.L. As of that date, the bank no longer carried on banking business with S.B.E.L. As we’ve reported, Stake Bank Enterprise has gone into receivership and several lawsuits have been filed between the bank and the development company owned by businessman Michael Feinstein. It is unclear what becomes of those claims, as well as the future of the multimillion dollar Stake Bank project.

Cyril Uruwei Enters Political Fray in Dangriga as a P.U.P. Hopeful

Belizean music promoter Cyril Uruwei is entering the political arena and intends to challenge incumbent Area Representative Doctor Louis Zabaneh in the Dangriga constituency. Shortly before noon today, Uruwei made his way over to the People’s United Party’s headquarters at Independence Hall where he submitted an application to run against Doctor Zabaneh in that division. According to Uruwei, his foray into electoral politics is the result of a lack of development in his hometown.

Cyril Uruwei, Aspiring Candidate, P.U.P.

“I was born and raised in Dangriga. I’ve never really thought about going, getting into politics, especially at this level, but Dangriga has been downtrodden for too, too long. There are so many things that we need that we haven’t been getting. We have so many talented youths, we have Hubee, we have Supa G. Most of the ones that make it out of Dangriga da outta dehn own mind, outta dehn own creativity. If we have more opportunities, if we have our representative going to speak for us and ask for us, on our behalf, we can do a lot more in Dangriga. So, I have experienced firsthand the current area rep and I am dissatisfied, Dangriga is dissatisfied, so that’s what moved me to come to this juncture.”

Isani Cayetano

“You have submitted an application to run in a convention against Dr. Louis Zabaneh. Talk to us about the confidence that you have in this particular political endeavor.”

Cyril Uruwei

“I am self-made, self-made. Ever since high school and, for the record, the farthest education I have is high school. I have spent all my life in self-development. I’m a digital marketer, I’m a five-hundred hours certified yoga teacher, I am well read and I love people and love Dangriga. I have a passion for my people, for my culture and I don’t see that in Louis [Zabaneh].”

Dr. Louis Zabaneh Responds to Uruwei’s Political Challenge

This afternoon, Doctor Zabaneh also spoke with News Five regarding the challenge and provided and update on the works that have been taking place in his constituency. Zabaneh has been in office since November 2020 when he was elected under the People’s United Party.

Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Area Representative, Dangriga

“Our party has a mechanism in place and the Prime Minister and the party chairman opened up the period for persons to apply which I believe closes today. But at the end of the day, I can speak to the things that I have worked on, the things that I went through when I had to apply for the first time and I believe I brought to the table over thirty years combined work experience, academic achievement and that is what I presented to the people, I said based on this background that is here, that I am sharing with you, that you all are able to go and verify, I would like the opportunity to serve the people of Dangriga constituency and I was very humble and honored to have been accepted to do so.”

Isani Cayetano

“Dr. Zabaneh, as area representative for Dangriga, how would you respond to the criticism that some would say you seem to be disconnected from those on the ground, in terms of being able to provide the services that the constituency needs?”

Louis Zabaneh

“If you go and talk to the people of Dangriga you would find that that’s not the case. On the contrary, you would see me very active in the community. Being a minister of state in government also means that I have those responsibilities, so it’s not everyday that I can be in the constituency itself. people on the ground are able to see what has been achieved. I’ve worked very hard in various areas based on the promises I’ve made, the areas of priority that I was guided by the people to do, education, we’ve done quite a bit in that area. Besides Plan Belize that has free education now and we have Delille [Academy] and we have ANRI under that program. We’ve done over five hundred scholarships, preschool all the way to university and we’ve also brought ANRI to life again, it was dormant. We’ve also brought the ITVET back to life again. We also have the infrastructure. For the first time, Dangriga has seen in a short period of time, coming from central government, eighteen streets and these are not short streets, long streets that have been paved. The villages, we have Hope Creek and we have Sarawee, for the first time they have paved streets, we’re working on their sporting facilities, for example.”