This ratification is right in line with Belize’s Medium Term Development Strategy, which zeroes in on marine conservation, stopping biodiversity loss, and safeguarding our oceans. Belize has shown its commitment through actions like the moratorium on offshore oil exploration, the ban on gillnets, and the creation and expansion of protected marine areas. These efforts highlight Belize’s leadership in ocean and marine preservation across the Caribbean.
Nicole Davison
Nicole Davison, British High Commissioner
“When CEO Mai of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade asked whether we were willing to fund this event, we felt very strongly that this was an area of mutual interest in which we wanted to work together. As many of you will know we recently had a general election in the United Kingdom which resulted in the appointment of a new government. A few weeks ago, in his very first major policy speech, the Foreign Secretary David Lammey stated that the UK government would put climate and nature at the heart of our foreign policy and that the ambition is for the UK to again become the world leader in this very important issue. And the fact that that was his very first major policy speech was on climate and nature I think underlines just where the UK is coming from on this.”
Charlotte Salpin
Charlotte Salpin, DOALOS
“Caribbean SIDS, in particular Belize, continues to play a leading role as we prepare for the entry into force of the agreement. Three of the thirteen ratifications to date are from the Caribbean SIDS, Belize, Cuba, and Barbados. Congratulations to those states that have either signed or ratified and, of course, hint, we look forward to welcoming others very soon to the BBNJ Agreement family.”
Goodnight and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday, I am Paul Lopez. Many of our high school athletes have been in El Salvador for the past few days competing in the 2024 CODICADER Games. Here are some of the stats coming out of the games. Team Belize played against Panama in its first matchup of the basketball tournament. Sadly, they fell to Panama, finishing the game with eighty-three points to Panama’s ninety-eight points. Our female football team from Belmopan Comprehensive High School has been dominating their tournament. On Friday they defeated El Salvador with six goals to two.
They also won Saturday’s match against Honduras five goals to one. Today they defeated Guatemala three goals to one. The male football team from Muffles College has been having a less pleasant experience at the games. On Friday, they were demolished by El Salvador in a game that saw Belize finish with zero goals to El Salvador’s eight goals. They suffered another defeat on Saturday at the hands of Honduras in a match that finished with team Belize, once again, not realizing any goals. Honduras finished with four goals. In Volleyball, Saint Catherine Academy defeated Honduras on Saturday three sets to one. On the same day Saint John’s College male volleyball team defeated Nicaragua three sets to one. Both teams advanced to the semi-finals as a result. On Sunday, SCA faced off against Nicaragua for a spot in the finals. Unfortunately, they fell to their opponents in a hard-fought game that ended three sets to two. SJC also lost in similar fashion to Panama on Sunday, three sets to two. The games will continue over the course of the next few days with more matches ahead for Belize, including Judo and Track and Field.
From the CODICADER Games, we bring you back home to the Belize City Civic Center, this year’s home of the Inter-Office Basketball League. The season is well underway. Several play-in matchups were held late last week into the weekend. Team Police and team Customs led Friday night’s matchups. Team Police in the black and white jersey. Customs in grey and black jersey.
Number three for Customs, Solis with the lay up on the fast break to put his team on the scoreboard. This was the first basket, four minutes into the game. Here, Saunders from Team Belize gets the turnover. Was that a kick ball? In any event, he is alone on the other end and made the basket. Number six for Police, Lino, with the hot hands from three, puts his team at nine points, with Customs trailing. The first quarter ended with team Police on top, with eleven points. Customs had eight. Solis with an early two points in the second quarter for Customs.
Smooth play here from Trapp, Ramos and Jones to get the inside bucket for Police. On the other end, Saunders skillfully uses the screen to work his way to the rim and get past every defender to make the bucket. Top notch ball playing there. Customs could not afford to let team Police extend their lead in the second quarter. They were unable to close the gap, but they worked hard enough to keep Police at an eleven-point lead at the end of the half. Customs came out of the locker room after the halftime break with fire in their eyes and completely turned the game around in a decisive twenty-three-point third quarter. Olivera with a three-point basket brings his team to thirty points and cuts down Police’s lead to six. Saunders with an open three. He makes the most of that opportunity. That basket tied the game at thirty-six a piece. The third quarter ended with Customs in the lead, with forty-two points to Police’s forty points. Customs did not let up in the final quarter, they scored a total of nineteen points. Saunders, Lino and Olivera were key players in the comeback. These players made most of the baskets. Customs won the match, with sixty-one points. Team Police led through the entire first half, but ultimately lost with fifty-three points.
Staying on basketball, we have also been following the 2024 William Dawson Sprite Basketball Tournament. On Saturday we covered a match between Boulevard Ballers and defending champions, Hard Rock Boys at the Yabra Green Basketball Court. The defending champions are in their signature yellow and white jersey. Boulevard Ballers are in blue and red. Justin Wade for Hard Rock with the layup. Boulevard Ballers’ Jacob Westby maneuvers his way to the rim for the layup, putting his team on the scoreboard four minutes into this one. Raheem Thurton showing off his skills on the other end. Dale Smith is left wide open, and he makes them pay for that error.
The first quarter finished with Boulevard Ballers on top, with ten points. Hard Rock Boys had eight points. That two-point lead was cut down to one point at the end of the first half. Boulevard Boys had twenty-one points. The defending champs had twenty points. Hard Rock Boys were able to hold their opponents to eight points in the third quarter, while they managed to score twelve points and take a three-point lead. That third quarter run was led mainly by Raheem Thurton who scored eight of those twelve points. The fourth quarter was the Hard Rock Boys’ best quarter of the game. They scored fourteen points, led by Earl Johnson. A hard-fought game by Boulevard Ballers with some big-time minutes from Jacob Westby. Ultimately Hard Rock Boys won that game.
Well folks that is all we have for you in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday. Catch you in the next one.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and tonight we have a chilling report from Independence Village. According to the report, a woman was set on fire by her partner during a dispute on Thursday night. The details reveal that thirty-year-old Karima Logan and her common-law husband, twenty-four-year-old Travis Lopez, got into an argument inside their home. During the altercation, Lopez allegedly dragged Karima outside, doused her with gasoline, and set her ablaze. He then reportedly tried to extinguish the flames by placing her in the shower. Logan has since reported the incident to the police. She was initially taken to the Independence Polyclinic and later transferred to the Southern Regional Hospital, where she received treatment for severe burn injuries. News Five has learned that Logan described the incident to the police as an accident. This morning, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams addressed the incident.
Reporter
“Sir is there anything you can tell us about a domestic incident last night. I think a man might have lit his wife on fire.”
It has been a week since police in San Pedro discovered a quantity of suspected cocaine on a boat owned by Area Representative Andre Perez. In the immediate aftermath, the Belize Police Department issued a statement essentially exonerating the Minister of Blue Economy from any criminal wrongdoing. The statement clarified that Perez’s vessel was at a boatyard awaiting repairs and that, acting on information from residents, police conducted a search of the boat. However, public criticism has been mounting, with many arguing that Perez was never subjected to a thorough criminal investigation, despite his ownership of the vessel used to stash the narcotics. Here’s how the Commissioner of Police responded.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“The department is not one that would act based on what certain sector of the public may want to see us act on. We act based on evidence and we must be objective in terms of how we carry out our functions. If you have a vehicle and your vehicle experiences mechanical problems and you take your vehicle to a mechanic garage, you park it there for six months, you don’t go to that mechanic garage and check on your vehicle, your vehicle is left open and the mechanic has access to it, the garage is an open area and people have access to the garage. If police were to go and find drugs in your vehicle after six months, would it be fair to say that the drugs belong to you?”
Isani Cayetano
“The counterargument, as far as I am understanding, however, is that, for instance, if the police conduct a raid or a search at a residence and they find illegal items in there, then automatically it’s ascribed as your property.
Chester Williams
“But again, you hear what you said, at a residence. The boat was not at Mr. Perez’s residence. Mr. Perez lives miles away from the boatyard. The man does not live there. If there was anybody to be held to account for that drugs in the boat, it would have been the owner of the boatyard. But even they could not be held to account because the boatyard has so many ins and outs. People go in, and as I said before, the police went there based on intelligence that was given to them by people who live in the area having seen these drug men going to the area. Do you expect me to charge the minister for something that there is no nexus between him and that object? I can’t do that mein.”
We also spoke with Home Affairs Minister Kareem Musa, who backed the stance taken by the Commissioner of Police concerning the drug bust on Minister Perez’s boat. Musa, who is also an attorney-at-law, asserted that there is no direct link between Perez and the narcotics discovered on his vessel. Here’s his explanation.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
“It’s a very unfortunate situation that can happen to any citizen of Belize, regardless of the position that you hold. It could happen to members of the media and I am certain that you would likewise hope that the police investigate the matter the way that they did Minister Perez’s boat. From all the circumstances, all the facts of the case, it is clear that police received a tip based on suspicious individuals who had been traversing the area, and so it wouldn’t have been just a random search of Minister Perez’s boat. It was based on information provided by a member of the public, that police were able to go on the boat and locate the drugs. And so, it’s a good thing that it was located prior to Minister Perez even using the vessel because from all the information, it had been months that he had actually used the vessel. So it’s not a situation whereby police had pulled over Minister Perez in the course of using his vessel.”
Aside from murder and unlawful sexual intercourse, major crimes have decreased in 2024 compared to the same period from January to September last year. This morning, the Minister of Home Affairs, the Commissioner of Police, and the top brass of the Belize Police Department convened to review the latest crime statistics and develop strategies to further reduce these numbers. Since January, there have been seventy-one recorded murders and one hundred and eighteen reported robberies. Additionally, incidents of burglary, theft, and rape have also declined. Commissioner of Police Williams presented these encouraging figures to his colleagues in the department.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“I put together a presentation, an overall presentation where I outlined to the officers where we are so far for this year, where we have been at the end of each quarter, outline to them how we got to where we are, and I also told them in my presentation what I want us to do collectively, together for the rest of the year so that we would be able to defeat the numbers for last year. I am extremely passionate about what I do, saving the lives of Belizeans is important to me and as I said to them, we finished the month of September with three murders above last year’s figures around the same time. My objective is for us to work our butts off for the rest of this year to defeat the number for last year which was eighty-seven. So, in other words, we’re at seventy-one murders right now, that puts us at sixteen below last year’s figure and I am pleading to my commanders for us to work together in order for us to be able to defeat that sixteen so that we can end up with either eighty-seven or less murders. I also outlined to them the strategies that I want us to do to be able to ensure that we would be in a position to defeat the numbers.”
With the latest figures showing an uptick in murders compared to the same period in 2023, the Commissioner of Police is crafting a proactive crime-fighting strategy to prevent this year’s numbers from exceeding last year’s count. He is relying on the Leadership Intervention Unit to ensure that interventions and mediations occur whenever tensions flare between rival gangs.
Isani Cayetano
“You’re going into the fourth quarter of this year, what is the outlook? Is it that the police, in trying to keep these numbers down, will take on now a more proactive, as opposed to a more reactive approach to policing?”
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“Certainly, and that’s my thing to them this morning, that we need to be more proactive in terms of our approach. We don’t want to respond. I even said to them, if it is that they hear that there is an issue brewing between two different gang groups, we must step in, do intervention, do mediation, get LIU involved, get Mr. Nuri involved. Let’s see how we can stem that before it reaches a stage where somebody’s getting killed because once somebody’s getting killed the problem becomes greater because then the other side wants to retaliate and so we need to do what we can to avoid getting to that stage.”
The extended State of Emergency, which saw dozens of young men from various neighborhoods in Belize City and Roaring Creek Village detained, has come to an end. Many of these individuals, including numerous gang members, were required to surrender their weapons, yet the department managed to retrieve only nineteen firearms. Earlier today, we spoke with the Commissioner of Police to get his insights now that these alleged troublemakers are back on the streets.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“We didn’t get as much as expected. We got a total of nineteen weapons, different calibers and a number of ammunitions. Those were collected and submitted as found property and will be sent to the National Forensics [Science] Service firearm or ballistics unit for testing.”
Isani Cayetano
“What has the observation been in the wake of that extended SOE, in terms of how the gangs interact with each other at this point?”
Chester Williams
“Well we do have follow-ups. Brother Nuri is tasked to ensure that he does followup with them to ensure that we have a system where they don’t just come out of SOE and we leave them right there. We want to do programs with them, so Brother Nuri and LIU are tasked in ensuring that we do follow-ups and different programs with them. We have a system where they were told that if it is that there is some issue is brewing between them and other groups, for them to come forward and let us know and then we’ll step in and do intervention, mediation. I think some of them are serious about trying to make a change and we must do what we can to help them make that change.”
The Ministry of Education has issued a press release emphasizing the importance of timely teacher payments. They acknowledged that the current salary processing system is outdated and prone to delays, often due to incomplete or late submissions. The ministry provided several clarifications in their statement. Firstly, they noted that one hundred and twenty-two teachers were scheduled for an off-cycle payment, which the Treasury Department confirmed would be deposited into their bank accounts by this evening. Additionally, the ministry pointed out that a few names on the B.N.T.U.’s list of ninety-nine teachers were duplicates. Of the remaining names, forty-four were already included in the off-cycle payment and should have received their payments by now. For the last batch of forty-three teachers, the ministry found that nine had already received their September salaries, three were secondary or tertiary-level teachers processed through a different system, and four were being finalized for the next payment cycle. The remaining twenty-seven teachers required further attention, and the ministry is working with school management to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. Today, B.N.T.U. President Nadia Caliz reiterated the union’s stance and explained what prompted them to address this matter.
Nadia Caliz, President, B.N.T.U.
“What really broke the camel’s back was when our teachers came forward and said there was an agreement with the ministry that we would not be kicked out of the system, but we were kicked out. We didn’t receive our salary. We were paid in the month of August and now in September no salary. What happened? And we started to query with the ministry what was actually going on. We did not get the kind of response that we wanted. We stand by our one-thirty [list]. We stand by our one-thirty. We went through our listing, cause they called us, we went through our listing, and we do have one-thirty. Three of those though, we will admit, were paid because those teachers actually were increments and we mistakenly submitted that. But if you look at the BNTU’s press release, it said one hundred and thirty plus teachers in this country. One hundred and twenty-two teachers are going to be paid today, but you still have like an outstanding thirty-five or so. And up to this morning, we have teachers calling and saying, “I did not fill out that form because I had no faith in the system. But now that we see so many persons being paid, could you please add my name onto that list?” So again, we’re receiving another list of persons. It’s not about the numbers. For us, our teachers are suffering. They have worked. They deserve to be paid. Teachers should not be going through this. There are things that I can’t even say publicly that teachers have shared with me that they’re doing so they can survive, and some of it is very unethical. I’ve visited teachers who called me, crying, asking for assistance. All I want to see come October, that our teachers don’t go through this.”
A month ago, several schools reported a shortage of teachers as the new school year began. Among them was Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School in Maskall Village, which faced a loss of three teachers across its pre-school, middle, and upper divisions. Fast forward a month, and the school has made significant progress, securing one teacher and on the verge of hiring a second. However, they are still searching for a teacher for their pre-school department. Today, Principal German Ramirez shared with News Five the strides the school has made towards full staffing and how they have been managing the ongoing shortage.
German Ramirez
German Ramirez, Principal, Our Lady of Lourdes School, Maskall Village
“We have managed to secure one teacher coming this way to help us with our teacher shortage. We have been doing everything we can from our end to ensure that he remains in the community. It’s not something easy for him, but he’s adapting and we’re lucky to have him here. We’re still short of two teachers. We’re working on one, trying to make sure that we get his license. The license application process goes through some bureaucracy, and I guess some vetting. And so that is probably what is keeping us back from getting the other replacement in this community. We’re still working to try and secure the replacement for the preschool as well. So I work along with the general manager of Catholic public schools to try and see if we can secure the replacements as early as possible.”
Marion Ali
Explain to me how it’s been over the past month in getting the curriculum delivered in an effective way to these students with the shortage of three teachers.
German Ramirez
“It’s not been easy, I mean, we tried to stay in alignment with what we have to be doing for the month of September but jumping out of a classroom and going into another, you don’t get to do what you need to do as effectively as possible. So, what we try to do is to ensure that our children are busy, getting their printed packages for them to be working on while I’m there. I can explain while I’m out, they work on their own with some limited supervision from the teacher nearby.”
