As we said, fifty-two-year-old Belize City resident Carl Uter was murdered three days into the state of emergency. Uter’s murder led many to criticize the effectiveness of the SOE. Well, today we asked ComPol Williams if it is unrealistic to expect that no murders will occur during a state of emergency. Here is what he told us.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“How did you get there? I really and truly can’t understand how one would even reach there. We have seen that since the SOE has been declared the violence in Belize City has subsidized. The violence in the Roaring Creek Camalote areas have subsided. How is it that we are going to say it is not effective? I cannot agree with statement?”
Paul Lopez
“Is it unrealistic to expect that no murders would take place under a state of emergency?
Chester Williams
“Of course Mr. Lopez there are certain things that will not be able to be prevented by the work of the police. You look at a country like Jamaica. Almost the entire Jamaica is under an SOE for the entire year for the past four to five years now and when you look at the number of murders in Jamaica it is still high, but again for us in Belize wherever we have a state of emergency we always see the violence in the declared areas go down. I think that as Belizeans we should be happy to see that that happened.”
We also heard from Home Affairs Minister Kareem Musa about the ongoing state of emergency. When he was in opposition, Musa criticized SOEs as ineffective and a violation of the rights of citizens. That changed when he was elected to office. Musa has led more than one SOEs in response to gang violence in southside Belize City. We asked Minister Musa about his changing views.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
“I think in the past and if you could check your records, when it was done in the past it was just done with a broad stroke brush and everybody including working individuals from various areas of Belize City was picked with no sort of investigation being carried out on those individuals before picking them up. The procedure now has been rectified and it is more of a targeted response. The police department knows exactly who the criminals are and we are bringing them to justice. We always have to remember that it is not a black and white situation when we look at crime. We have to utilize all the tools possible and I keep repeating that an SOE is not a solution to the crime problem. It hits the pause button for the police to carry out their investigations and you will see more and more charges, specifically in relation to those murders being committed, be laid.”
Paul Lopez
“On one hand we refer to them as criminals in this context but when we refer to them in the LIU program they are referred to in a different manner.”
Kareem Musa
“Again, and maybe it is not deliberate on your part, you look at things black and white. Do you know how many people from Belize City was detained under the SOE, thirty-five persons? Do you know how many at-risk youths we are dealing with at the LIU, over a thousand at risk youths are part of the various programs we have to offer. So what do you say about those at risk youths who do not want to live a life of crime, do we just abandon them and say you nine hundred and seventy youths, we don’t want anything to do with you, we have to incarcerate you? Absolutely not, there has to be a solution for you. And if you are hell bent on committing crime there is a remedy for you, you will be detained.”
There have been nine additional murders so far in 2024 when compared to the same period in 2023. As we reported, last year saw a decrease in the number of murders recorded compared to previous years. But is 2024 turning out to be the complete opposite? And what is the Commissioner of Police doing about it? Here is what he told us today.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“Yes we are hoping that we will be able to level off by the end of the second quarter. So far for this year, murders are up by nine compared to last year, but when you compare it to previous years we are still down. Last year was a good year. What we will need to do is go to the drawing board, look at the area, and in this case the area of concern is rural Belize District. Nine of the murders in the eastern division occurred in rural Belize. So, we have to find a way that we will be able to address these types of crime. But when we also look at the motive behind these murders, many of them were social settings or the domestic settings, but the gang related murders were still down tremendously and we want to make sure that going further into the year that we can keep it down. When you look at the overall crime outlook, major crime is down by twenty-two percent compared to last year. So as much as last year was a good year, we are still seeing that major crime is down for this year and we want to make sure we continue that trend for the rest of the year.”
And, while the murder count has increased, Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa is celebrating the fact that Belize’s crime rate has improved in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the past, Belize was considered the second and third most dangerous country in the region based on the murder rate. Belize is now number fourteen on that list.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
“I believe we are number fourteen now in Latin America and the Caribbean. Last year for the first time we came out of the top ten and were at eleven. But as you would know, under the last administration we were at number three and four on the most dangerous countries in Latin America list. I am thankful that we have moved out of the top ten. We are not at fourteen and I look forward to us going even further down that list.”
The Firearm and Ammunition Control Board has issued a public notice for persons interested in firearm safety instruction licences to send in their applications. It is among the first moves that the board has made since it was formed. Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa says he is in no rush to see the board move any more swiftly, while the gun dealers are asking that the moratorium on the issuance of gun licences be lifted.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
“I am not eager or i am not behind this board to be acting any more swift than they actually are. They have been doing an excellent job in terms of necessary firearm reforms that are needed in this country. To me they are taking the right steps and moving in the right direction. So I am not like you looking forward to the day another license is issued. So, we are letting them do their work as they see fit and when that day comes it comes.”
Reporter
“How do you deal with the impatience of the gun dealers?”
Kareem Musa
“I don’t have to deal with that. I don’t care about that.”
We also asked the Commissioner of Police for an update on the investigation into Clay Uter’s murder on Good Friday in Lake Independence. According to ComPol Chester Williams, investigators are following several leads and hope to soon make an arrest.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“We are following some leads. WE have an idea who the persons are that are responsible and we are hoping we will be able to get the evidence. Again there are certain things we are looking at where evidence is concerned and we just have to work at it more.”
A Belize City man was arraigned today for harm after he allegedly assaulted his girlfriend because she refused to have intercourse with him. The incident happened on March first and the accused is twenty-three-year-old Kenyon Flores. The woman says when she refused Flores’ advances, he got angry and accused her of cheating. That is when Flores allegedly choked her and slammed her head on a table while hitting her several times in the face. She told police that she got a knife and cut Flores in the knee to defend herself. Flores was brought before the Magistrates Court this afternoon to answer to a single charge of harm. He pleaded not guilty. There was no objection to bail, but the prosecutor did ask the court to set bail conditions to protect the complainant. That is when Flores flipped the story and told the court that his girlfriend stabbed him because he got a text on his phone. We briefly heard from Flores outside the courtroom.
Reporter
“Sure you don’t want to talk to me, you don’t want to tell me your side.”
Kenyon Flores, Accused of Assaulting Girlfriend
“Deh done do what deh do mein. Deh done please deh self.”
Reporter
“Why the gial stab yo? Just give me your side.”
Kenyon Flores
“She get vex because deh mih the call me and she seh me disrespectful, so she stab me.”
Reporter
Dah wah girlfriend relationship?
Kenyon Flores
“Yah.”
Flores was granted bail in the sum of one thousand dollars plus one surety of the same amount which he met. Flores next court date is set for May sixteenth.
A man was killed in his yard on Good Friday in Belize City. Fifty-two-year-old Clay Uter, also known as Clay Monsanto, was fatally shot by a gunman who jumped his fence and targeted him. Surveillance footage from the home shows the shooters climbing across a wooden fence, while a second individual on a motorcycle waited for him on the street. Moments later, shots rang out, and the perpetrator ran back towards the motorcycle. Both men sped off in the direction of Mahogany Street. Uter is no stranger to the law. He was wanted by the police in 2004 for murder. Uter was said to be a prominent street figure in those times. He spent the last twenty years in the U.S., was deported seven months ago, and was in the process of completely transforming his life, according to his family’s account. So, did his past catch him? News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Clay Uter was killed inside his yard on Mckenzie Street in Belize City, only three days after a state of emergency was declared. On Good Friday, Uter was sitting down next to his house when a gunman jumped his fence and opened fire in his direction. The gunman then got on a motorcycle and sped off, leaving behind a fatally injured Uter. The fifty-two-year-old shooting victim was deported to Belize seven months ago after spending time behind bars in the U.S. His brother, Raymond “Footie” Gongora, says Uter had made a complete change since returning home.
Raymond ‘Footie” Gongora
Raymond ‘Footie” Gongora, Brother of Deceased
“My mah from I seventeen, Clay mih nine, my sister my seventeen, the next one was eight and I was the head of the family. When Clay was younger, he was caught up in the gang world. Yes I understand that, but he got two of his kids got killed, he went away and twenty years later he come back deported. So he said, well you know Ray I have to get to know my kids them, show my grandkids them some love because if it wasn’t for that he would go right back. So, this is what he was trying to do, get fih know his kids deh now. One thing weh in ah mih, I don’t want to hear anybody say anything about when I gwen kill this one or that one for Clay, because at the end of the day if you kill a thousand man, ih still nuh wah please me, because it is still a black man, a black youth weh deserve a chance in life and that nuh wah bring back my breda.”
In 2004, Uter was wanted by police for questioning in connection with a murder. He was also wanted around the same time for questioning in connection with an attempted murder and an attempted burglary. Gongora says that while Uter had his past, he wants people to know that his brother was a jovial individual who transformed into someone who wanted to see better for his community. Gongora suspects, however, that his brother’s past may have caught up with him.
Raymond ‘Footie” Gongora
“Clay came and to be honest Clay never went anywhere like that. If you want to find Clay that is where you will find him, always at home. He never in nothing to plan to kill you. He mih more into his family and kids and try to get his life back. You gone so long. Like I told him Belize different, just try keep by yourself. Yes I know you have to be social with people, but just be careful because a lot of people link with all kind of gangs and once you get recognized with certain people then you will get recognized as one of those people. In Belize a lot of people get killed because of affiliation because they are guilty by association. So I told him, just stay right yah, no need to go nowhere.”
Raymond “Footie” Gongora is one of the lead mediators in the Belize Police Department’s Leadership Intervention Unit. Gongora spends a lot of his time mediating between members of rival gangs to quell flareups and prevent violent acts of crime. So, does his brother’s murder change his perspective on the work that he has been doing?
Raymond ‘Footie” Gongora
“Honestly no, it hurts. I loved that man, I love my brother and he loved me. But, there is a lot of other youths and we dah all black men and as I see it our race is at risk because we the kill out each other while other races look on. So, at the end of the day we still have to stop this. If because my brother got killed I just throw in the towel like that then I never had a heart in it and my heart is in the work I do, because I am one of those kids from that same environment weh know that some of them have peer pressure, some of them don’t have any outlets, so that is why they are in what they are in and the location they are in. So, why would I throw it in? If I throw it in , that means my heart was never in it.”
Uter lost two of his children to gun violence. He leaves behind ten other children.
Raymond ‘Footie” Gongora
“Me, only god knows best and I am here because of God and he is here because of God. And I have to say what God decides and what God makes happen no man can question. It is God’s will. So he knows what he is doing. That is one of the things that keeps me going to deal with this right now. It is not an easy thing as a human person. this is not an easy thing, you see I the talk, but I have to be the bigger person and say you know what, what God decides, no man can put different.”
Investigators say they are following all leads but have been unable to establish a motive for Clay Uter’s murder. What investigators do know is that the shooter had an accomplice on a motorcycle. A.C.P. Hilberto Romero told reporters today that they are reviewing security camera footage.
“On Friday, the twenty-ninth of March, 2024, around four p.m., police responded to a shooting incident on Mackenzie Street, Belize City, where the motionless body of a male person who was identified as Clay Uter Monsanto, fifty-two years, who had multiple gunshot injuries to the body. Investigation revealed that Clay was in his yard when he was approached by a male person. who fired several shots towards him, causing his fatal injury. We are seeking several suspects in regards to this murder.”
Reporter
“I know that Mister Monsanto, he was a known figure back in the day, and he moved to the US and got deported. Was it his past activities that caught up with him?”
Hilberto Romero
“We are following up on several leads and several motives, but we have not narrowed down. What was the cause for this murder. Yes, we have dealt with him in the past, and the information we have that this person was brought there by another male person on a motorcycle, and after the shooting, they both fled fromthe area.”
Reporter
“And the surveillance footage, has that proven to have narrowed down suspects?”
Hilberto Romero
“Yeah, we are looking at footage, along with other information regarding some interviews, and we’re following up on those.”
Tonight, a sixty-six-year-old retiree residing on Victoria Street in Belize City avoided jail time after admitting guilt to possessing controlled substances with the intent to distribute one-point-nine grams of crack cocaine. Lancelot Earl Fredrick Vernon appeared in court this morning, and in lieu of a custodial sentence, he was fined one thousand eight hundred dollars, with an additional five dollars court fee, payable by July thirty-first. If he fails, he will be sentenced to one year in prison. Vernon expressed remorse, saying he picked up the drug for a friend and was later stopped by the police on Castle Street. A house on that street is known to sell drugs, including crack cocaine.
