And finally, from Toledo, NEMO and the Toledo West Area Representative are already planning to prevent such an occurrence during the dry season in 2025. One idea being discussed is the establishment of fully trained community disaster response teams in every village. For now, the only real answer to the fires blazing across the district is rain.
Daniel Mendez
Daniel Mendez, Coordinator, NEMO
“What we also need to do from the NEMO perspective is continuing to expand the concept of community disaster Response teams and to ensure that each community has a team that is able and has the equipment to manage these incidents and be able to lead before help arrives.”
Paul Lopez
“Is the only hope of crossing this bridge rain?”
Oscar Requena
Oscar Requena, Area Representative, Toledo West
“I really think to a great extent it is only rain. That is the first step. Because of where these fires are, unless we are able to get some sort of air support which is very expensive and also because of th3 areas where the fires are currently at, if we do get rain that would be the first hope to be able to get the fires out. Otherwise it would have to be just fighting them, boots on the ground, going in and trying as much as possible to suppress those fires.”
A police officer from Santa Clara Village, Corozal District is serving a two-year sentence at the Belize Central Prison after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a minor. Twenty-seven-year-old Melvin Canul was convicted and sentenced to jail time this morning when he appeared unrepresented in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court. The police constable was accused of squeezing the buttocks of a seventeen-year-old girl back in September 2023. The incident happened near Lopez Mateo Park in the King’s Park area. In her report, the teenager said that shortly after four p.m. on September twelfth, she was at a police booth on 17th Street where she was returning a flag she had borrowed from a cadet instructor. While folding the flag, a Hispanic officer whom she did not know, passed by and squeezed her on the left side of her buttocks. When she turned around, she observed that the policeman was standing behind her. Canul was subsequently arraigned and pleaded not guilty to the charge of sexual assault and was offered and met bail in the sum of three thousand dollars. In court today, Chief Magistrate Jayani Wegodapola found Canul guilty of the charge and sentenced him to two years in prison.
Forty-seven-year-old Oscar Mayen Rhodas, a Guatemalan truck driver, lost his life in a fatal road traffic accident along the Boom/Hattieville Road eleven months ago during a road traffic accident. A Dodge Dakota driven by a security guard, twenty-six-year-old Marvin Cal, collided into a pickup truck that Rhodas was traveling in. The impact caused Rhodas to be flung from the pan of the vehicle and onto the road, fatally injuring him. This morning, Cal appeared in the lower courts where he was read three traffic and indictable offenses, including manslaughter by negligence, causing death by careless conduct and drove motor vehicle without due care and attention. No plea was taken from Cal, who was unrepresented, and bail was granted in the sum of eight thousand dollars, plus two sureties of four thousand dollars each. Until the matter is disposed of, Cal is to report to the Hattieville Police Station every Tuesday and Friday, beginning May twenty-eighth. He returns to court on July twenty-second, 2024.
Convicted attorney Oscar Selgado was back in court today where his legal team is challenging the conditions at the Belize Central Prison. Selgado, who is yet to be sentenced after being found guilty of abetment to commit murder, is a diabetic and says that he is having a hard time in jail given his illness. In recent appearances before the High Court, Selgado has complained about the medication being administered to him, as well as the food being fed to him behind prison walls. This afternoon, several prison officials, including Chief Executive Officer Virgilio Murillo and doctor Javier Novelo, were questioned about the existing conditions at the facility. Following today’s session, attorney Arthur Saldivar spoke with reporters.
Arthur Saldivar
Arthur Saldivar, Attorney-at-law
“When the doctor tells you that he does not get the ability to taste the diabetic food himself, and the man responsible for the prison also tells you that he doesn’t eat prison food, one cannot be confident in the quality of food; one, that inmates with diabetic conditions receive at the prison. And when you get to appreciate that of the total compliment of medical staff of fourteen, there are only six civilian staff with no nurses and eight inmates who are unpaid, with one doctor, for a population of more than one thousand, two hundred and fifty, a ratio of more than ninety inmates to one medical personnel, so-called, with limited training, most of them, no man, it’s a travesty. It’s a travesty.”
Reporter
You raised the cases of, I believe two prisoners in particular, Mr. Abadi, there may have been three that you mentioned, but then the prison officials and the CEO countered, and the doctor as well, that he died because he stopped eating and was suffering from depression.
Arthur Saldivar
“Well, if the quality of food is so poor that it can barely be stomached, I don’t believe that anyone would be capable of eating it. It’s really remarkable that the prison official brought a list of twelve persons who are the persons affected with diabetes, but we know of two persons that have died, who have also suffered diabetes. That’s a high death rate in terms of percentage of persons with diabetes.”
According to attorney Saldivar, two past inmates have succumbed to diabetes related complications within a year of being incarcerated at the Belize Central Prison. He says that too little blood sugar has become a crisis at the prison.
Arthur Saldivar
Arthur Saldivar , Attorney-at-law
“One cannot be confident that in person in Mr. Selgado’s condition could really survive. Both Abadi and Coye died within a year and when it’s being admitted that there’s only one doctor and that doctor is not there all the time, it really gives pause to any right thinking person. Better must be done. This is a privately managed facility and I don’t appreciate them saying it’s a non-profit because they get paid.”
Reporter
“Yet, the CEO says an ambulance is on standby and he also said that they have a Whatsapp group. If the doctor assigned to the prison does not respond immediately when there is an emergency with a patient then they take the patient by ambulance to a hospital in Belize City.”
Arthur Saldivar
“But the doctor also tells you there is a hypoglycemic crisis, within thirty minutes, in the worst [case] scenario, that person may be dead.”
Reporter
“Yes, but they are saying that they can manage the patients, they do have the ability to check their glucose levels, their blood levels and such. So you don’t have a patient who would reach that stage and also, they say family for the inmates can take food for them.”
Arthur Saldivar
“All that sounds well and good when they are saying it here. But we know that what is said and what is practiced are many times wide apart in terms of the reality of the situation.”
Brain drain is when a significant number of persons leave an industry in search of better opportunities or working conditions. Over the past two years, the K.H.M.H. has lost around fifty nurses and doctors and, during COVID, twenty-five staff members stepped away, placing a heavy burden on those who were left behind to cope with the growing number of patients. Brain drain is the focus of our story for our Belize on Reel segment this week and we’ll use the nursing profession as one example of how brain drain can affect a system of work. News Five’s Marion Ali reports.
Marion Ali, Reporting
Developing countries like Belize face fierce competition in meeting the payscale and benefit standards that exist for employees in specialized fields of work in developed countries. The nursing profession is one area that has lost a lot of workers over the last three years.
Andrew Baird is a practical nurse at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and sits on the board of directors as President of the KHMH Workers Union. He says the benefits in developed countries are far greater.
Andrew Baird
Andrew Baird, Practical Nurse, K.H.M.H.
“In Belize nurses do not have as much benefits as one would think. Out in the U.S. and other parts of the world, prior to leaving Belize, these nurses are offered signed bonuses. And signed bonuses are around $3,000 to $5,000 U.S. per nurse, per month. And these nurses are also being offered homes – a place to stay. The benefits and the conditions are even much more and the least to say, the salary that is being given to the various nurses in the outer world.”
Renita Pop is the President of the Nurses Association of Belize. She shared statistics with us, indicating that nurses who study in Belize are still leaving the field. She compares the migration of nurses from 2021 to 2024.
Via phone: Nurse Renita Pop
Via phone: Nurse Renita Pop, President, Nurses Association of Belize
“It has been noted that more nurses are requesting license verification and most of the times when our nurses do this it’s because they’re preparing to leave Belize, not necessarily leaving the profession, but leaving the country to practice nursing elsewhere. There has been an 11 percent decline from 2001 to 2024, practically saying that we’ve lost over 100 nurses from 2021 to present.”
According to Pop, registered nurses have recorded the highest number of healthcare professions that have left in search of greener pastures. Nonetheless, there are efforts by the Ministry of Health and Wellness to fill the void.
Andrew Baird
“I know that the Ministry of Health has been trying to come up with ways to get nurses from other countries like within Central America and even back to the Philippines.”
Via phone: Nurse Renita Pop
“What we have done from the association part is the lays with the Ministry of Health and Wellness – retention packages to keep our nurses home. And at our last conference a proposed retention package was presented, which we are hoping that it comes through, where the chief nurse and the Minister of Health are working hand in hand to present a paper to Cabinet, which will include a variety of incentives for the remaining nurses that are here in Belize. And of course, the ministry continues to assist by providing scholarships for speciality fields such as midwifery, operating room nurses, scrub nurse, and public health nursing.”
The Ministry of Health and Wellness has been offering scholarships to attract nursing students; however, Baird says that even at the end of a four-year program, there aren’t enough nurses in the healthcare sector. At the K.H.M.H., there is still a shortage of about thirty nurses in various areas. What it does, according to Baird, is extend their shifts. He looks to the ministry to find quick workable solutions.
Nurse Andrew Baird
“In reference to scholarships, scholarships – you’re looking at four years from now. I’m saying the ministry. along with all the stakeholders must prepare a long term and a short-term plan to fix the issue of nurse shortage.”
Marion Ali
“What would be your suggestion for a short-term solution?”
Nurse Andrew Baird
“Maybe we should dig back into some of the retirees.”
Earlier this week, the United Democratic Party raised an issue about carrots purportedly wasting away on farms in San Carlos Village. The Ministry of Agriculture was quick to refute those claims made by Opposition Leader Shyne Barrow and pointed out that no importation permits have been issued for carrots to be brought into the country since November 2023. This morning, representatives from the Belize Marketing and Distribution Cooperation, B.M.D.C., also weighed in on the issue, reiterating government’s position.
Sergio Tillett
Sergio Tillett, Senior Projects Officer, B.M.D.C.
“The B.M.D.C. as one of the main arms when it comes to the distribution and marketing of produce does its best to ensure that our farmers do have the market whenever it comes to local production. And, as such, our ministry has done quite a job to ensure that we do site inspections, we do field visits to ensure that when we have enough production we don’t apply for an import permit. And even if we did, the ministry monitors that and they will never give us either because they have their extension services that monitor the amount of production in the country. We have figures as to what is the weekly consumption of every vegetable, so once we notice there is enough in the field there is no import permit. And that’s how we control what is there. So, one of the concerns that we have is that lots of the times whenever there is local production, the prices tend to be high and carrots is not really a necessity.”
Also speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture was Lennox Nicholson, Controller of Supplies. According to Nicholson, the import quantities requested by B.M.D.C. are often reduced and in some cases not approved, as a means of regulating the importation of vegetables into the country.
Lennox Nicholson
Lennox Nicholson, Controller of Supplies, MAFSE
“The licensing regime provides space to local producers, a buffer between them and imports, in that when local production is there we don’t allow the imports. But we’re not there to pick winners and losers between San Carlos in Orange Walk and maybe a producer in Stann Creek. They are both Belizeans. Both sets of producers are Belizeans. So they have to compete among themselves and that’s one the things that they mentioned. This idea, the licensing for these products also come out of my office and I can tell you, once local production is in, none is issued. There’s a process, oftentimes licenses that are applied for by BMDC, the quantities are cut and in some instances they are not approved outright. So as I mentioned, as I indicated earlier, I actually act as a regulator for them as well and oftentimes when people suggest that licenses have been issued and I ask, “Can I see a copy of it?” There is none.”
Cartel-related violence in southern Mexico has abated considerably, according to Commissioner of Police Chester Williams. In allaying the fears of Belizean travelers who are concerned about crossing the northern border into Chetumal, ComPol Williams told reporters that there is still a strong law enforcement presence along regular and irregular crossing points in Corozal and Orange Walk districts.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“The situation in Chetumal certainly has decreased tremendously. We’re not hearing much about the activities of the cartels in that city and so that is something good for us. Notwithstanding that, though, we still maintain our strong presence along our border, both irregular and regular crossing areas. Again, maintaining integrity of our country is important to us and so, our actions are not going to be dictated by what happens in Chetumal but basically what we believe is in the best interest of our people. And so, we remain in place, we continue to do our operations daily, going after persons we believe are involved in any way with the cartels over in Mexico side to make sure that we minimize the activities in our country.”
There is no political future in sight for Commissioner of Police Chester Williams. That’s what he told reporters on Wednesday. According to the top cop, who has locked horns with Opposition Leader Shyne Barrow recently, he is focusing on reducing crime in the country.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“I have never once said that I am running for politics. I have only said that I was contemplating, and to think of something is not wrong, contrary to what my good friend, Mr. Mose Hyde said, that once I start to think, I must resign. If that be the case then I don’t think some of you would be here if you’re thinking about not being here. We have to think, we are creatures of thinking and so, yes, to think of my future, in terms of what I believe is best for me and my country, I don’t think it’s wrong to do that. And if I believe that I can better serve this country in a political manner then I will do that, but at this time, I am focused on my duties as a police officer and as the Commissioner of Police to see what I can do along with my officers to continue to decrease crime in this country and to make our country as safe as we can. But if the gentleman from Mesop continues to poke the bear then the bear might just likely give him what he wants.”
