A violent brawl erupted last week at JR’s Bar in Punta Gorda, involving multiple patrons and resulting in chaos. A video of the incident shows furious customers hurling bottles and causing extensive damage to the establishment. In response, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams has called for the suspension of the bar’s liquor license. Speaking today, Commissioner Williams stressed the need for bars to bolster security measures to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.
Reporter
“ What about a bar brawl in Punta Gorda? Is it the case where every bar is required to have a police on duty or security on duty?”
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“In terms of the bar brawl in Punta Gorda, those persons who are involved have been detained by the police and being charged. We encourage bar owners to ensure that when they are committing, they have security present. We are working with the liquor licensing board to ensure that when. We know when the extensions are issued, the extension clearly stipulates that they must have security. Police officers working there. But in the ordinary course of them opening outside of the extension period, that’s a different story. So we need to see how we can get them to be able to ensure that security is also present when they have when they are open during the ordinary opening hours.”
Reporter
“Was the petition to the Legal Licensing Court to rescind this or suspend this bar owners license, was that ever sent?”
Chester Williams
“That instruction has been given to the legal office and they’re working with the O.C. in Toledo. to have that done.”
The 2025 legal year has officially commenced with the ceremonial opening of the High Court, a longstanding tradition marked by reverence and reflection. Amidst a light drizzle, Chief Justice Louise Blenman inspected the ceremonial guard of honour, embodying the resilience and commitment of the judiciary. Her address highlighted significant achievements of the past year, including the reduction of case backlogs, the introduction of criminal mediation, and a push towards digital transformation in the courts. As the judiciary looks ahead, new initiatives aim to further enhance the efficiency and accessibility of justice in Belize. News Five’s Marion Ali was there and has the following report.
Marion Ali, Reporting
As per tradition, the ceremony marking the High Court’s official opening kicked off with a church service. This year, it was held at the Holy Redeemer Cathedral on the Northside of the Swing Bridge. In attendance were the Governor-General, Dame Froyla T’Zalam; Prime Minister John Briceño; Leader of the Opposition, Moses “Shyne” Barrow; members of the Judiciary, the Bar Association, and the Attorney General. Upon arrival in front of the court buildings and amidst a persistent drizzle, Chief Justice Louise Blenman inspected a guard of honour, conducted by members of the Belize Police Department. Just like the rain did not let up, neither did the plan to abort through with the parade, as the Chief Justice and everyone who was a part of the ceremony pressed on—the CJ under the shelter of an umbrella. Chief Justice Blenman said that the 2024 calendar was successful in reducing the backlog of cases through a number of improvements within the judicial system. One was the opening of a High Court in Belmopan and the appointment of more judges and expediting court rulings. There’s also been the introduction of criminal mediation, which has further reduced the backlog. These efforts have resulted in the waiting time for people on trial.
Louise Blenman
Louise Blenman, Chief Justice of Belize
“Three major reforms impacted the High Court: the resuscitation of the mediation committee, which was expanded into the alternative dispute resolution committee; training of a new cohort of court-connected mediators; and the implementation of the senior civil procedure rules 2025. We no longer have cases as old as fourteen years on the dockets. In just one year, the judges have been able to reduce the backlog of cases largely from fourteen years to four years. A comparative analysis of 2023 and 2024 statistics provided by the prison further reveals that persons are no longer spending an inordinate amount of time on remand prior to their matter being sent down for trial.”
The overall turnaround time for processes to be completed at the criminal High Courts has been reduced significantly due to a set of transformational initiatives that have been put in place. She noted that this year, a professional administrative plan will be implemented for legally trained staff.
Louise Blenman
”With the support from PACE Justice Program, we are hoping to have a consultant with the requisite expertise in court administration assist us in finalizing our in house developed court administration plan. It cannot be overstated. hat any modern judiciary requires a court administrator to manage non-law aspects of our courts effectively and efficiently.”
The Chief Justice also spoke of the hope for further upgrades, such as the digitalisation of the courts’ registry and the use of AI.
Louise Blenman
“We will explore the possibility of having our registry completely digitalized, including the probe division. We are hoping to ethically explore the use of artificial intelligence system software to deal with non-contentious aspects of the court’s work. This should alleviate some of the human resource challenges that we face.”
And while Chief Justice Blenman pointed out several of the judiciary’s new strengths, there was one area that she highlighted that could use some improvement.
Louise Blenman
“The listing of cases for hearing in the Court of Appeal seriously impeded by the lack of availability of high court trial transcripts. An unfortunate consequence of the lack of trial transcripts is that relatively few appeals are ready to be listed for hearing. As a corollary, the dispensation of justice is ingloriously stemmed at the level of the appellate court. The situation is untenable and is caused to a large extent by the difficulties with the recording technology that was used in the high courts over the years and also the paucity of stenographer trainees to produce the transcripts.”
This weakness in the system will be addressed, the CJ assured, and shared that in 2024, counsels for the parties in appeal cases have been urged to use their personal notes of agreed records of lower court proceedings in order to get some of the appeal cases heard. Funding has been provided, she said, to attain a speech-to-text system to expedite that process.
President of the Bar Association, William Lindo, commended the judiciary for the achievements over the past year.
William Lindo
William Lindo, President, Bar Association of Belize
”We applaud the judiciary under the able stewardship of Her Ladyship, the Chief Justice, for the remarkable achievements accomplished over the past year, which include of the long awaited Senior Court Civil Procedure Rules, which brings with it a raft of practice directions and sentencing guidelines, court connected criminal mediation rules, judicial settlement conferences, numerous training sessions and conferences, Under the auspices of the Judicial Education Institute of the Senior Courts of Belize, with training and sensitization for the new Senior Court Civil Procedure Rules, scheduled to take place this Thursday.”
The Attorney General, Anthony Sylvestre, spoke of the various bills that are designed to improve the delivery of justice. He spoke about the new Bail Act that will be introduced shortly.
Anthony Sylvestre
Anthony Sylvestre, Attorney General
“ Currently, the provisions that govern bail are found in six pieces of legislation. Having so many different pieces of legislation that governs the same issue is therefore counterproductive, as it may become difficult to discern how the law operates. Having a single piece of legislation on bail therefore improves, improves unity and cohesion and makes the law easier to understand. In addition to centralizing the provisions relating to bail, this new act will introduce some much-needed features in bail proceedings, some of which includes an appeals process against a decision refusing bail, a process that allows for the revision of a decision on bail. The requirement that the decision, the deciding official shall provide reasons in considering a bail application, and a comprehensive list of factors that a deciding official shall consider when determining a bail applications.”
CJ Blenman took time to pay gratitude to the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing for the newly refurbished court buildings, with new amenities and furniture. Marion Ali for News Five.
In December, the Belize National Teachers Union (B.N.T.U.) voted to stage a protest this month to pressure the Briceño Administration to address the long-overdue payment of teachers’ outstanding increments. However, with January nearly over, there has been no indication of when—or if—the demonstration will occur. The government had pledged in December to settle these payments before the end of 2024. Today, B.N.T.U. President Nadia Caliz appeared on Open Your Eyes, where she provided an update on the status of the planned protest.
Nadia Caliz, President, B.N.T.U.
“Belize is used to seeing BNTU in a more confrontational approach. And we have decided to change our strategy. I want to come straight to what is on the minds of the members, the demonstration membership voted on. I made it clear to you in my interview in December that the membership voted for, and my membership needs to remember this: they voted for a demonstration in January. January first to the thirty-first is still January. And you see, the union is a very powerful organisation, and my union needs to understand that we don’t need to flex our wings and show how powerful we are. We know our strength, how capable we are, and sometimes it is good just to sit a little, watch the people as they make their move, because it is like we are playing chess right now. Then you know when you need to come in. Some people are used to this. But it is 2025. You have to know how to achieve your goals.”
Paul Lopez
“But you sat for twenty days in January.”
Nadia Caliz
“Let me tell you what we are doing. The government used what we call the Pontius Pilate approach. We also call it the hush money approach. We just can’t come out and say we are going to demonstrate against the government because the government gave the money to the management. What we need to do is ensure that teachers who are supposed to be paid are paid. So, what we are doing is from January first up to Friday was gathering data. The council met last week. They came with data, but it was not complete. So, we sent them back. They voted to go back. So, school reps are involved, some principals. So, we need the data. We need to know how many teachers and staff got their increments; some were given three months when they were owed six months. We need to have accurate data.”
Belize is facing a growing challenge as the country experiences a brain drain in its education sector. Many teachers are flocking to the U.S. for better benefits, including better pay. And now the education sector is facing a new problem. Trained teachers are leaving the profession to work at call centres. That’s right. Trained teachers now prefer to work in a cubicle rather than in a classroom, and this has caused some major concerns. BNTU President Nadia Caliz explains.
Nadia Caliz
Nadia Caliz, President, B.N.T.U.
“I don’t have concrete data, and I know that is something that I need to gather. But the data that was shared with me by MOE is that the teachers who are supposed to join the profession with the teacher training qualifications are going to the call centres, eight percent of them. You remember under Minister Faber, if you wanted to do primary education, you got a scholarship? A lot of those people did not end up in the classrooms.”
Paul Lopez
“And for the U.S., is it a trend?”
Nadia Caliz
“It is a trend, and you have a lot of them preparing to go again because they hear of the wonderful salary and the classroom size. So they want to go to greener pastures.”
According to BNTU President Nadia Caliz, increment payments are still outstanding for at least two hundred teachers. She explained that this is not entirely the government’s fault, and that most of the blame rest with school administrators and management.
Nadia Caliz, President, B.N.T.U
“We have over two hundred teachers that did not receive.”
Paul Lopez
“Was it not the government’s commitment to have all of those teachers receive their payments before Christmas?”
Nadia Caliz
“Yes, that was the government’s commitment, but there is another part to that too. Every time you say something Belize polarize everything, red and blue. Every time you are telling you are either with PUP or UDP. As the president of BNTU I will call a spade a spade and an angel an angel. The government paid what they received. What they got from the management they gave to the management. Discussing with some of the teachers they will tell you that some principals and vice principals who have responsibility over their section and appraisals did not submit their stuff to the management, therefore the management did not submit it to government for them to be paid. So, as a union we have to be fair. So when we step out our data will reflect the percentage that got affected because of administrations not carrying out their duties, management not doing their part and government not doing their part. So we did not just want to step out for the sake of stepping out, because we are BNTU and powerful and we voted in a demonstration. We have to be a responsible body, because we have to be about system change now. We want to change the system permanently and that is what my members need to understand. This is not a fight for instant gratification to get something instantly. Deh days done.”
A Belizean woman who has been living in Los Angeles for the past twenty-five years has lost her home and everything she and her two children owned in the raging fires that have been burning. Anaceli Mendez made a video recording to share with us the sequence of events leading up to and just after her home was gutted by the blaze. She shared that just before the fires, they experienced strong winds that knocked down trees and her fence. The night before her house was destroyed, her neighbour woke her and her son, and she believes that was what saved them from getting burnt in the blaze. Her daughter was at college several miles away, she said. An evacuation order was given for the families in her area early the following morning, but by that time, she and her son had already left with just overnight clothing that they had packed. She said they drove for miles looking for a hotel, and even though their prices were inflated, there was no room. She said they drove for hours and then they got the awful news.
Anaceli Mendez
Anaceli Mendez, LA Fire Victim
“We get evacuated from here at three-forty in the morning. Everybody jumps in their car, and we drive far. All the hotels there, everything booked, everything packed up. And, so you just continue to drive till you can find a hotel. All hotel prices are two hundred and forty U.S. dollars minimum for a night. They just want to raise the prices for everything because they don’t see the situation, right? So then they try and make their dollars work. I end up a good probably thirty miles away. And, the next day we get the notification, or like the confirmation that our house burnt down. I live on a property that had three houses. All three houses gone down. All three families, we packed just overnight stuff, if as much. Everything gone. We were never ready for this. We never think this will happen. It looked like the gates of hell opened because we did drive, and the winds were sixty to eighty miles, and they beat down on the pan, and we did try to drive on the freeway, and you can see all the fire, like the wind blows it towards the car, so you feel the car is not even stable, you feel the car move. I can’t take pictures; I can’t take videos because I feel like I would lose control of the car. It’s sad to see everybody who they are going through right now. It’s sad to see everything. Back here they still have everything locked up. They have the National Guard, and we can’t go up; we can’t even have a little last closure. All I want right now is to just go up and see if maybe pictures survive, anything. I just lost my pa one year ago, and to think that I lose him all over again, but this time, it’s for good because I don’t have pictures; I don’t have anything. My son lost his school. My son lost everything in the house. So we have a life, and we appreciate that, you know.”
The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has restricted Starlink Belize operations to specific circumstances after denying its application for a Class License to provide fixed and mobile broadband internet across the country. Starlink services will only be allowed in unserved or underserved areas, on vessels and aircraft under Earth Station in-Motion (ESIM) regulations, and during natural disasters when other providers cannot deliver emergency services. Sheena Garnett, the Communications Director at PUC, provided an explanation behind the commission’s decision.
Sheena Garnett
Sheena Garnett, Communication Manager, PUC
“Let us break it down a little bit. The current telecommunication regulation allows for mobile internet services onboard aircraft and vessels. Because that is already something allowed, it continues. However, it is the end users we are allowing to import and operate these types of Starlink services. SBL’s application is unique because it is looking to provide satellite-based service in the country. We believe those services can be beneficial for education, research, and these types of things in the unserved and underserved areas. We are going to allow end users to operate their Starlink terminals at these fixed locations that are currently in these parts of the country where there is no service or underserved areas where existing internet providers are unable to provide that service.”
The PUC in its decision says it is unable to ascertain the affordability of Starlink’s equipment. As a result, it cannot say if Starlink Belize will be able to provide equitable access to those in economically disadvantaged areas. And then there is the concern of a citizen’s privacy and data sovereignty. Starlink will be able to operate and control a portion of Belize’s communications infrastructure while being a foreign entity. They are not mandated to locally store and process the data they collect.
Stacey Grinage, Legal Counsel, PUC
“As it currently stands, the law as it stands, there are certain legal obligations placed on persons who become holders of your personal information. We are not licensing Starlink. We have not granted them a license. So, some of the obligations that are mandated under the Data Protection Act would not necessarily apply to them. So, my response to that would be that the law in that area is still developing. The fact we have not issued them a license means there is not that legal obligation to comply with the provisions of the Data Protection Act also.”
Paul Lopez
“As that to see that they are free to use this data as they wish?”
Stacey Grinage
“Not necessarily. The thing is I would not know. We also had this issue at the PUC. I would not know the specific terms and conditions between Starlink and a customer when it comes to a customer signing up and allowing themselves to purchase a terminal. I think it is something governed by contract between the two people. When we issue a license, we certainly place obligations, data protection obligations, on our license.”
Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, and his administration is already focusing on immigration reform. A major immigration raid is set to begin in Chicago, home to a significant Belizean community, targeting over 300 individuals with violent crime histories. Advocates are concerned the raids could also affect individuals without criminal records or with legal status. The Belizean government has stated it will only accept deportees who are confirmed Belizean citizens, unlike Guatemala, which is considering broader acceptance of deportees. And the possibility of Belizean criminals hiding in the US may be deported is welcomed news, says Police Commissioner Chester Williams.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“It’s a historic moment for America and certainly world is watching. The world is waiting to see what is gonna happen. In terms of people who may be sent back to Belize. We will wait to see who will be coming back. We certainly are looking forward to certain people coming back that are wanted by the police to face charges here in Belize, so we welcome that.”
In an age when a lot of children are glued to their devices and spend a lot of time inside, one organization is working to get children active through basketball. Arana Consultancies hosted its second Peewee Invitational Tournament for basketball teams under the age of thirteen. This is not an age group that we commonly see participating in basketball competitions. But the individuals behind the tournament believe that it is the ideal time to capture the attention of these children and establish the foundation necessary for a successful future. News Five’s Paul Lopez tells us more.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
According to experts, the best time to start teaching children basketball is between the ages of three to five years old. That’s when children begin to develop fundamental motor skills. Unfortunately, this approach has been widely lacking in Belize. That is until Arana Consultancies stepped in and launched the Pee-Wee Basketball Invitational Tournament.
Rumile Arana
Rumile Arana, Tournament Coordinator
“I wanted to engage younger children to help them gather and learn how to play basketball the right way, so that when we get them to that level, U-17, U-18, that we are prepared and ready to take on the world.”
And taking on the world begins with playing against their peers at the under ten and under thirteen levels. A total of eight teams competed in the tournament. One of the primary rules is that every player must get play time, regardless of the size or skill level.
Rumile Arana
“Yo guh for the ball, you get it from Kenetth and run. Once Kenneth guh lef everybody yo give ah.”
And it is not all about winning, though some of these young athletes displayed competitiveness beyond their age. One basketball academy that participated in the tournament is taking training on and off the court to the next level. They are the Conquering Lions, and they went undefeated.
Dianell Brackett
Dianell Brackett, Head Coach, Conquering Lions Academy
“Conquering Lions Academy is sort of a ministry. We link basketball with religion. I use basketball to capture the younger kids. Mainly we would have a lot of bible studies, and I would invite the kids to church on Sundays and also we would go to children camps I am really amazed. Going into this I knew that these kids would have learned, but I never knew they would learn thisquickly.”
Samir Marin
Samir Marin, Athletes, Conquering Lions
“I feel very special because we dah one of the best in the country, it is facts. I feel good.”
Paul Lopez
“What is it like playing with your teammates?”
Samir Marin
“I got one of the best teammates ever. I feel good playing with all of my teammates, confident in all of them.”
John Gillett
John Gillett, Athletes, Conquering Lions
“Sometimes I feel nervous, sometimes I feel excited, but I just want to have fun.
I like to take far shots, because whenever a lot of people are in the paint you have to find ways to shoot or get a layup. So I usually shoot from far.”
Paul Lopez
“Do you have a professional basketball player to inspire you, that you look up to?”
John Gillett
“Kobe and Michael Jordan.”
Samir Marin
“I look up to Kobe and Michael Jordan.”
Paul Lopez
“So none of you look up to Lebron?”
We will leave the so-called king of basketball out of this one. The peewee tournament is however not short of local basketball celebrities, like two-time Belize Elite Basketball League MVP Nigel Jones who heads his own academy the MVPs.
Nigel Jones
Nigel Jones, Coach, MVPs
“To see the progress we made in a year is amazing. Like I catch myself when I am coaching the kids, I catch myself more energized for their games when I am actually playing myself. Just to see the passion, the excitement and enjoyment they are getting form the same game we all love, I am glad they allow me to be the one to help them. Me and the two guys, it is a blessing for us. So, we just thankful for that.”
This is Arana Consultancies second Peewee Invitational. Both were held in Belize City. His vision is to take this on the road with the right sponsorship.
Rumile Arana
“To see the look on those kids’ faces when they are out there. There are children out there getting their first jersey, their first opportunity to run up and down that court. That could be a lifetime of joy for them. From that I could say I am doing something that is fulfilling for me.”
