The Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA) is gearing up to celebrate its 40th anniversary on April 26, marking four decades of thrilling adventures and leadership in Belize’s vibrant tourism sector. According to BTIA, since its inception in 1985, the association has been the heartbeat of the industry, championing stakeholders, promoting sustainable development, and nurturing the growth of Belize’s tourism landscape.
With nearly 300 members nationwide, BTIA says it has been the mastermind behind some of the most exciting initiatives that have shaped the industry. From the launch of signature events like BETEX (Belize Tourism Expo) to the publication of Destination Belize magazine—the country’s go-to guide for all things tourism—and the coordination of festivals that showcase Belize’s rich cultural heritage and stunning natural beauty, BTIA has been instrumental in positioning Belize as a world-class destination.
BTIA President Efren Perez shared, “This 40-year journey reflects the passion, resilience, and collaboration that define BTIA. Our achievements have been rooted in our mission to uplift our industry and showcase the very best of Belize. We are proud of our history, but even more excited about what lies ahead. Together with our members and partners, we remain committed to building a vibrant, sustainable tourism sector.”
Linette Canto, Executive Director of BTIA, echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the association’s enduring impact: “Our greatest strength lies in the partnerships and relationships we’ve cultivated over the years—with our members, communities, and industry partners. As we look to the future, BTIA is focused on innovation, collaboration, and championing initiatives that will ensure Belize’s tourism industry continues to thrive for generations to come.”
And here’s the cherry on top! In celebration of its 40th anniversary, BTIA is offering a 20% discount on membership fees for new and renewing members from April 26 to May 31, 2025.
Belize is turning up the volume this week in celebration of World Intellectual Property Day 2025, with the theme “IP & Music: Feel the Beat of IP.” Led by the Belize Intellectual Property Office (BELIPO) under the Attorney General’s Ministry, this year’s events are all about showing how intellectual property (IP) protects musicians and helps Belize’s creative industries grow.
Throughout the week of April 22 to 25, BELIPO lined up a series of engaging activities to raise awareness and support local creators. It kicked off with a free webinar on April 22 titled “Copyright for the Music Industry,” which gave artists and music professionals useful tips on how to safeguard their work. On Wednesday, invited guests from the music industry gathered for a private roundtable to share personal experiences and advice about dealing with IP in the real world.
The celebration wraps up with a lively music showcase today in Belmopan, featuring talented Belizean artists. The goal is not only to enjoy the music, but also to shine a light on the importance of protecting the work behind the beats.
All week long, BELIPO is offering 25% discounts on IP application fees, free consultations, fun social media trivia, and daily IP tips to keep the public informed and involved.
World Intellectual Property Day is officially observed on April 26 and is celebrated worldwide to recognize the role of IP in encouraging innovation and creativity.
In a strongly worded letter addressed to Prime Minister John Briceño, the Joint Union Negotiating Team (JUNT) — representing the Public Service Union of Belize (PSU), the Belize National Teachers’ Union (BNTU), and the Association of Public Service Senior Managers (APSSM) — has called for an 8.5% salary adjustment for public officers and teachers, citing rising economic hardship and growing disparities in compensation across the public sector.
The unions expressed deep frustration over what they described as a lack of equity in government spending. The letter highlighted recent increases in executive-level salaries and benefits, including for Chief Executive Officers, while frontline workers continue to shoulder the burden of past austerity measures.
The JUNT says this, “represents a grave injustice and a blatant disregard for the principles of equity and shared sacrifice.”
“These actions are perceived by our members as a betrayal of the trust and commitment they have shown to the Government and people of Belize.”
The unions argue that since the imposition of salary cuts and an increment freeze five years ago, inflation has significantly eroded the real income of public servants. They are proposing a phased implementation of the 8.5% salary increase to reflect this economic loss and are also advocating for a similar adjustment for pensioners.
In addition, the unions are calling for an increase in the minimum wage from $5.00 to $6.00 per hour, citing the rising cost of housing, utilities, and daily essentials.
One week ago, a hijacking shook the skies over Belize, forever altering domestic air travel rules. As we await the official updates, let’s dive back into that harrowing day. Captain Howell Grange and his fifteen passengers faced potential disaster, but thanks to the pilot’s grit, focus, and quick thinking, tragedy was averted. Here’s News Five’s Marion Ali with a gripping, play-by-play of the events that unfolded mid-air.
Marion Ali, Reporting
One week ago, a routine flight from Ranchito to San Pedro turned into a nightmare for fifteen passengers. Captain Howell Grange, with his thirteen years of flying experience, had to muster every bit of his skill to safely land the plane amidst chaos in the sky. Thanks to his expertise and the help of passenger Armin Burgos, disaster was averted. Today, we bring you a simulation of how the flight began and the dramatic turn of events that followed. This image captures the seating arrangements on the aircraft before the hijacker took control. To the right of the pilot sat his co-worker’s son, with the co-worker directly behind him. On the right side, one of the stabbing victims was seated next to the hijacker, who was by the window. For Captain Grange, it’s standard practice for co-workers to sit behind the pilot. Armin Burgos was seated near the rear of the aircraft.
Howell Grange
Howell Grange, Pilot, Tropic Air
“I waited till everyone boarded the plane and I had a coworker’s son sitting right beside me, and then Mr. Francesco, whenever he flies daily – not daily, Monday to Friday, he works with us, he’s our HR manager – so he sits directly behind, and then you had Mr. Brown, right beside Mr. Francesco. Then you had the other guy who was the…”
Marion Ali
“Who, Mr Taylor?”
Howell Grange
“Yeah. Mr. Taylor, the hijacker.”
Just two minutes into the flight, forty-nine-year-old Akinyela Taylor sprang his hijacking plan into action, making it clear he meant business. Among the passengers that day was Armin Burgos, who witnessed the unfolding drama firsthand.
Armin Burgos
Armin Burgos, Passenger
“Like two, three minutes after when we were in the air, they, I heard a lady shouting, stop it, stop it, stop it. So I thought they were fighting. I didn’t. Thinknothing. I didn’t feel no way and then I saw the pilot, they’d like to turn back and then he told the pilot, you’re not landing, you’re not turning back. And he said, he, then I got, I saw the guy, he said, everybody go to the back.”
Captain Grange heard a scuffle and turned to see Castaneda and Brown bleeding heavily from stab wounds inflicted by Taylor. Thinking quickly, Grange decided to pretend to comply with Taylor’s demands. He contacted air traffic control, relaying the situation in Spanish, and kept the plane mostly over water at varying altitudes to confuse Taylor into believing they were heading to a U.S. airport. Meanwhile, Burgos tried to console a traumatized child onboard. Grange’s psychological tactics played a crucial role in managing the hijacker.
Armin Burgos
“I would applaud the pilot is that he like played a little psychology on him because he said, not only you are frustrated, I am, I’m tired of people telling me things, what to do and so on. And, you know, because he burst out there, but I couldn’t really hear everything. And, and so then he said, I’m the same thing too.”
Captain Grange kept the plane over Belize, and with fuel running low after nearly two hours in the air, he began to approach PGIA for landing. That’s when Taylor realized they were still in Belize, sparking a heated argument. As Grange prepared to land, Taylor attacked him, trying to stab him in the eye and hitting him on the temple. When Grange finally brought the plane down and shut off the engine, Taylor launched a vicious assault, aiming for veins and arteries. At that critical moment, Brown, who had a licensed gun, shot Taylor twice, killing him. Burgos, in shock, witnessed the dramatic end to the hijacking.
Armin Burgos
“ I stayed in shock. I couldn’t talk, tell I was, my breath was short. I was all what I could recall. I asked for my belt and the police brought my belt. When I saw the guy on the floor. I don’t know how he got out, who took him out or what.”
The wounds that Grange suffered kept him hospitalized until Wednesday, when he spoke with us.
Marion Ali
“Ready to fly again?
Howell Grange
“Recovery let’s recover first. I have a little trouble walking still.”
Marion Ali
“How do you condition your mind now after recovery?”
Howell Grange
“It is gonna take time, but you gotta fight fire with fire. You gotta go back, gotta go back to work.”
What will be going through Grange’s mind when he finally returns to work?
Howell Grange
“Well, all the aircraft are the same thing. All aircraft we have are the same. Same aircraft, same equipment, same, same. So I guess once you get the hump in one, then all of them will be the same thing. I have to put myself in that position to find out, and I’ll get back slow. It’s gonna take a little bit of time, but I’ll get back there. Something I love, something I fight to get there a long time. So I gotta, I gotta be back.”
The government has remained silent since the hijacking incident, but News Five has learned that changes to air traffic regulations began immediately. These changes were reportedly discussed during a National Security Council meeting on the same Thursday as the hijacking. Another meeting is scheduled for Monday, with recommendations set to be forwarded to the Cabinet, which will be convened on Tuesday. Reporting for News Five, I’m Marion Ali.
Saint John’s Credit Union (SJCU) is refuting allegations of missing member funds that have been circulating on social media. Recently, a woman claimed that around fifteen thousand dollars disappeared from her cousin’s account and accused SJCU of being unhelpful and dismissive. Tonight, SJCU responded, stating they are investigating the matter and have made several attempts to assist the members. News Five’s Britney Gordon reports.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
Last week, a frustrated family member of a St. John’s Credit Union customer took to social media with serious accusations. She claimed that over fifteen thousand dollars had vanished from her cousin’s account, with no transaction record to explain the missing funds. She demanded SJCU clarify where the money went. However, SJCU responded, stating there is no record showing that this money ever existed in the account.
Daisy Dawson
Daisy Dawson, General Manager, St. Johns Credit Union
“The credit union went ahead. We did her checks, and we went as way back as to when the member opened the account. And so we checked the entire history and at no point was that in the account. So we have all the trail, all the paper trail to show what was going on in that account. And it shows, it was mostly inbound. There was nothing going out of the account. And so fifteen thousand could not just disappear out of a member account because there are processes that you have to go through taking monies out of that account.”
General Manager Daisy Dawson stated that SJCU immediately contacted the member upon hearing the accusations and launched an investigation. The member was asked to provide evidence, such as a receipt, showing the funds were in her account, but she has not done so. Dawson emphasized that SJCU has robust systems in place to document every dollar’s movement in a member’s account.
Daisy Dawson
“The credit union can go back and say, let me see an audit trail on this member account. We also look at the history with the online banking. That will point to you how many times that person has been logging into their online banking, at what time, at what date, and then you can cross check it to see, but they check it on the state and when we crash, check in the system. But the balance was the same. So at what point, and so we asked to provide, do you have a screenshot to show that this was the balance so that we can do or, or check. There was none. If there are receipts that you said that you have that you don’t see it in your account, bring the receipt so we can cross check again.”
SJCU will be forwarding a comprehensive report of the member’s account, including the transaction history, to the Central Bank of Belize for review.
Daisy Dawson
“Firstly, we are answerable to our regulator who is the Central Bank. Two, we do year external audits, and three, we have internal personnel in terms of an internal auditor and a compliance officer who do checks on member’s account. And of course there are processes in place in terms of when a member is going to access their account. We have a system set up, I’m not sure if this is linked to her account, where members get alert via a text message when you’re doing a withdrawal or a deposit from your account. Also, the member has online banking and so that member can go in at any time to check their balances, and if they have any issue, they can reach out to the credit union right away.”
In an update to the initial post, the family member claims they received no assistance from SJCU and were threatened with a lawsuit. Daisy Dawson clarified that this was not the case, explaining that the member was advised to be cautious while both parties work together to investigate the allegation.
Daisy Dawson
“We are still hoping that the member will reach out to us, because as a member, you’re a patron of the credit union and we take these things seriously, you know, and so we have to be careful when we are making allegation because. St. John’s is a reputable organization. We have been around going now for eighty years, and we have provided so much to our community. We have done so much for the Belizean public, and we take these things seriously, not lightly.”
Jeremy Enriquez is back in the spotlight, and tonight he’s taking aim at the High Court Judge who presided over his constitutional claim to halt the March twelfth general election. Enriquez accuses Justice Towanda Hondora of misconduct and judicial misbehavior during the proceedings. He has written to the Chairperson of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission, demanding an investigation into Justice Hondora. Enriquez claims that during a lunch break, Justice Hondora’s microphone was left on, and he was overheard saying he had already decided to dismiss the case. Whether Chief Justice Blenman will address the matter remains to be seen. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Jeremy Enriquez and his attorney, Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan, failed to secure an injunction from the High Court to halt the March 12th general election until a redistricting exercise was completed. Consequently, the election proceeded, and its results have been widely publicized. Seven weeks later, Enriquez is back in the news, filing a complaint with Chief Justice Louise Blenman against Justice Tawanda Hondora, who presided over the case.
Enriquez has written to Chief Justice Blenman, in her capacity as Chair of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission, alleging judicial misbehavior, misconduct, and corruption. He claims that during the hearing, Justice Hondora displayed hostility and unprofessional behavior towards him and his attorney. Enriquez requested a copy of the recording from the hybrid hearing and detailed an exchange between Ramlogan and Justice Hondora. Ramlogan, appearing virtually, informed Justice Hondora that his microphone was left on during the break, and he was overheard saying he had already decided to dismiss the application. Ramlogan stated that while he stepped away to grab breakfast, his law partner and associates in Trinidad heard the remarks. Justice Hondora flatly denied the allegation, stating, “whatever information you have been told is patently incorrect.” Senior Counsel Eamon Courtenay, representing the Attorney General, called the allegations disgraceful, outrageous, and a direct accusation of judicial misconduct. Courtenay later shared his thoughts with News Five.
“I believe, in my many years of practice, I have never seen a practitioner behave so disrespectfully, disgracefully and so inconsistent with the traditions of the bar. It was a most regrettable and I cannot believe that a Senior Counsel believes that he can come from Trinidad & Tobago and behave that way in our courts. And so, I am going to see what happens as a result of the orders that the judge has made against him.”
Enriquez has provided Chief Justice Blenman with an unofficial lunch break audio recording in which a male person, purported to be Justice Hondora, is heard having a conversation with another individual, about the case. Enriquez has requested that the matter be investigated urgently to determine the appropriate disciplinary action that must be taken. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.
A Belizean mother took to Facebook to share a frightening moment that no parent ever wants to face — her young daughter nearly choked after swallowing a one-dollar coin.
The incident occurred while the mother was preparing to make tortillas. She noticed her daughter showing signs of distress — choking, grabbing her throat, and her eyes rolling back. In a moment of panic and prayer, the mother acted quickly, attempting to remove the object from the child’s mouth.
“I screamed, ‘GOD PLEASE HELP ME,’ and hit her back with force,” she wrote. That action led to a hard swallow from the child, followed by crying — a sign that she was able to breathe again. “Fifteen seconds felt like forever,” she said.
The family rushed to the hospital, where an X-ray confirmed that the toddler had swallowed the coin — not the smaller shilling the mother had assumed. According to doctors, the girl was incredibly lucky. The coin travelled straight down her oesophagus without becoming lodged in her throat, avoiding a potentially life-threatening situation.
The doctor assured the family that the coin would pass naturally within a few days. The mother ended her post by saying, “Being a mother can be scary sometimes. I just pray I’m always around when things like this happen, because in an emergency, people often don’t know what to do.”
The Belize Defence Force (BDF) is celebrating a proud moment as Captain Ruhesi Jarrod Elijio has successfully completed the prestigious Manoeuvre Captains Career Course (MCCC) at the Maneuver Center of Excellence, Fort Benning, Georgia, USA.
On April 23, 2025, CPT Elijio earned the title of “Grenadier” after meeting all the rigorous requirements of the elite U.S. Army course. The BDF lauded Elijio’s accomplishment, highlighting it as a testament to his dedication, professionalism, and unwavering commitment to excellence.
According to the BBC, the Dominican Republic deported more than 130 Haitian women and children on Monday, the first day of a controversial crackdown targeting undocumented migrants in hospitals.
Dominican authorities confirmed that 48 pregnant women, 39 new mothers, and 48 children were detained and sent to a detention centre, where their biometric data was collected before they were handed over to Haitian officials at the Elías Piña border crossing.
The operation is part of a 15-point immigration plan introduced by President Luis Abinader to reduce undocumented migration from Haiti, the neighbouring country it shares the island of Hispaniola with.
Despite government claims that the deportees were treated with dignity and transported in buses equipped with basic amenities, the move has been met with harsh criticism. The Dominican College of Physicians labelled the deportations “inhumane” and warned that fear of arrest could deter undocumented migrants from seeking urgent medical care.
The BBC noted that the Dominican Republic, with a population of 11 million, hosts at least 500,000 Haitians.
President Abinader has defended the crackdown, insisting that “generosity will not be exploited”, and announced that hospitals must now check patients’ IDs, work permits, and proof of legal residence. Deportation will follow once treatment is complete for those without proper documentation.
So far in 2025, the country has deported over 80,000 people to Haiti.
The United Democratic Party (UDP) has publicly disavowed Moses “Shyne” Barrow, stating in a formal release that he no longer holds any official role within the party and is not authorised to speak or act on its behalf.
The statement makes it clear that Barrow’s use of titles such as “Honourable”, “Leader of the Opposition”, or “Party Leader” is “inaccurate and misleading”, as he currently holds no such positions within the UDP.
“Mr. Barrow is not an official voice or face of the UDP,” the release said. It said that any statements or actions by Barrow should not be viewed as endorsed by the party.
The UDP also said that Barrow is not authorised to represent the Mesopotamia constituency under the party’s banner and asked that any unauthorised actions be reported to the Secretary General.
