The Belize Defense Force has ramped up its presence along the Rio Hondo River to ward off cartel elements operating along Mexico’s southern border. The Belize Police Department is heading this operation. Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa and Minister of National Defense and Border Security Florencio Marin Junior recently conducted a tour of the security sites along the river. Earlier today, we spoke with Minister Marin who told us more about that visit.
Florencio Marin Jr.
Florencio Marin Jr. , Minister of National Defense
“Well you it has been in the news some time with the increase of cartel activities in the southern Mexican border, that we are concerned of it spilling on the Belize side. Hence the prime minister directed us to be able to work together. Of course this is law enforcement so it is a police led operation under Minister Musa, as his ministry. But it helps us to get a good perspective of what is happening on the ground, the challenges the policemen and soldiers face to be able to do their work effectively.”
Paul Lopez
“What role does the Belize Defense Force play in these joint ventures?”
Florencio Marin Jr.
“The Belize Defense Force are experts in patrolling, and they also have a river training, riverine training, so they bring that to the table. They bring firing support if needed and thankfully it is not needed today.”
By Ángela Blanco, Emergency and Resilience Officer at FAO for Latin America and the Caribbean Marion Khamis, Specialist in Resilience and Disaster Risk Management
The forecast of the La Niña phenomenon for the second half of 2024 revives the urgency of strengthening the resilience of agri-food systems against extreme weather events in Latin America and the Caribbean.
After a year marked by El Niño, which brought droughts, heatwaves, and floods, we now face a new phenomenon, the potential effects of which we must understand to act and protect agriculture, a pillar of our economies and livelihood for millions in the region.
From FAO, we warn about the increasing risk to global agriculture from multiple threats, including extreme climate events like El Niño and La Niña and pests and diseases affecting animals and plants.
Currently, agriculture and its subsectors absorb 23% of the total economic losses caused by these events, i.e., almost a quarter of the losses caused by disasters globally are concentrated in the agricultural sector. In our region, this represents an average loss of 975 calories per capita per day, directly impacting the population’s food security.
Marion Khamis, Specialist in Resilience and Disaster Risk Management
In this context, it is imperative not only to respond to current emergencies but also to prepare for future ones, strengthening our capacities to prevent and mitigate their impacts through a holistic approach. This includes profoundly understanding the consequences of climate phenomena on agri-food systems and developing targeted strategies to increase the resilience of vulnerable communities.
Today, we face significant challenges in identifying and measuring how these phenomena affect agri-food systems. This requires methodologies to capture the differentiated effects of threats and consider ethnic-racial, gender, age, and geographical variables to ensure inclusive and effective responses. Moreover, the results of these measurements must be used operationally to formulate public policies and social assistance and protection programs.
In this scenario, the Emergency Data Information System (DIEM) from FAO emerges as a crucial tool, acting as a thermometer for the situation of the agri-food systems and offering key input for assessing the potential impact of adverse climate events on agricultural production and livelihoods. DIEM identifies particularly vulnerable areas and communities, such as those that have already suffered losses in their livelihoods and food security in previous records and are located in areas exposed to the new threat.
Additionally, DIEM can measure immediate impacts through its DIEM Impact version. A successful example of this tool is the use by FAO in assessing the impact of fires in Colombia during 2024 on agriculture and livelihoods through the Southern Oscillation Index (El Niño). This allowed a precise allocation of resources and recovery efforts toward the most vulnerable areas and communities, demonstrating the importance of assessment tools for effective emergency management and impact mitigation on agri-food systems.
Ángela Blanco, Emergency and Resilience Officer at FAO for Latin America and the Caribbean
As we prepare to face La Niña, it is essential to recognize the importance of advancing in the generation of impact data, implementing anticipatory measures such as reinforcing infrastructure, and distributing agricultural inputs resistant to adverse conditions to minimize the scale of damage. It is also important to establish rapid response systems in emergencies that allow the agile distribution of support and provide direct financial assistance to affected families to meet their immediate needs.
This requires close collaboration between governments, international organizations, donors, academia, and civil society organizations, as well as the participation of family farmers, rural women, youth, indigenous peoples, and Afro-descendants.
As we progress, the goal must be to improve and increase the assessment of disaster impacts. DIEM is a step forward in this direction, and the information it provides will help us commit to continuous improvement and collective action to face the challenges ahead.
Only in this way can we adequately prepare for La Niña or other events that may impact food security and agricultural livelihoods, ensuring a safer, sustainable, and resilient future for all and guaranteeing better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.
A police operation on an island off the coast of Belize City yielded several high-powered rifles and a large quantity of drugs. On Tuesday, a team of police officers visited the island in search of individuals from the Lake Independence area who are wanted under the state of emergency. Not only were they able to locate three known gang members, but the officers also discovered five weapons, including two high-powered rifles and three handguns. They also unearthed twenty-six pounds of cannabis and five pounds of suspected cocaine. The island is believed to be used by members of the gang as a depot for their drug shipments and guns. It is a major bust for the Belize Police Department, as it seeks to crack down on the spate of gun violence in Belize City, even under a state of emergency. The guns are now being prepared for testing to determine whether they are linked to any crimes. Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, spoke with reporters this evening at the Racoon Street Police Station. He told us more.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“Yesterday, police visited an island just off the shore of Belize City where searches were conducted and the search led to the discovery of twelve thousand grams of cannabis, parceled off in a few parcels and two thousand three hundred grams of cocaine that were in two separate kilo size parcels and one two, two, three rifle on the island, police also found three individuals from the PIV area. Those persons and the drugs and firearm were brought to Belize City for processing and the three individuals have since been arrested and charged for drug trafficking and keeping unlicensed firearm. We believe the island is used as a store house for the PIV gang members. When they get their shipment of drugs it would be taken to the island and then they would bring from the island to the city in small quantities. We went and conducted searches on two other islands where we believe the PIV has some connections to and on one of those islands, we found one M4 carbine rifle, one assault five-point seven caliber rifle, one twenty-two rifle, one point forty caliber handgun and one nine-millimeter handgun. Five firearms were found, three of which are rifles and two handguns. No one was on that island so those items will be deposited as found property. Police continue to do a number of searches in areas we believe PIV gangs, or any other gangs would have some connection to with a view to unearth their tools of trade as well as to see if we can find some of them who are still wanted under the SOE.”
As we said, three persons were found on an island off the coast of Belize City where police discovered drugs and guns on Tuesday. They are forty-one-year-old Edwin “Drive” Flowers, thirty-two-year-old Kenyon Dominquez and twenty-five-year-old Gaston Barrow. Flowers is no stranger to the law. He is said to be a former gang leader. Several attempts have also been made on his life. And, he has also been to court on charges of robbery and murder. Flowers was recently employed by the Leadership Intervention Unit. ComPol Williams was asked if the LIU is shielding known gang figures. Here is how he responded.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“The LIU is vehicle that we are using to see how we can change the minds and hearts of these street figures. I can see where in some instances it is working. The LIU is not a shield for anybody and so I don’t want no one to believe that because a particular person is a member of LIU or works with LIU that they are immune from criminal liability or from the police going to their homes and search. I have always said that once police get information of anybody of crime or anything illegal the police is going to do what needs to be done regardless of who that person is. So “Drive” works closely with LIU. He is a person in the program, and we have tried our best to work with him and it goes back to what I have said. We police with a double-edged sword. We offer the dull side to the persons who want to change but once they start to perpetuate criminal acts, we have to use the sharp side of the sword and cut them off it is as simple as that.”
On Monday night, Michael Usher was shot dead on Flamboyant Street in Belize City. It was a murder that had all the makings of a gang-related incident. Today, Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams told the media that Usher, who lived in Pinks Alley, had accompanied a woman to the area and that the department will release video evidence to determine the identity of the woman he was with, should a need arise.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“When I was notified of it I asked the same question to myself. What was he doing in P.I.V area, for the simple fact that we know that P.I.V and Majestic Alley do not see eye to eye and there is that issue between them. Again, from all indications, we know that he was lured to the area by a woman. We do have the video footage of him leaving Majestic Alley with that woman. We are still trying to identify who that woman is. We have the video. I might eventually release to the public to help us to identify who she is but we need to identify that woman to see what she can give the police in terms of why she took him to the P.I.V area. But again, I’m not going to say that it’s an act of jealousy but rather I believe that it is more a gang issue because he is from Majestic Alley. He was in the P.I.V area. The two do not see eye to eye, why they do have conflict with each other.”
The state of emergency that came into effect three weeks ago, has resulted in the rounding up of quite a few Belize City residents who police say are active gang members involved in criminality. But since the S.O.E. was implemented, there have been several murders and shootings. And some say the S.O.E. has been ineffective in what it was designed to accomplish. Today Commissioner Williams told the media that he is of a different view and that an extension of the state of emergency would help.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
”The areas that we had targeted for the SOE, which was the extension area and Roaring Creek, and a part of Camalote, since the SOE, we have had no murders in those areas, and those were the two main areas that we had targeted for the SOE. It just so happened that we contemplated to have included other areas of South side Belize City, in the event that they would have acted out during that period of the SOE. And it happened that P.I.V began acting out within that period, and so they are now included in it going forward. And yes, if there’s an extension, then it is going to help us to be able to look more at the P.I.V gang and any other gang that may that we have seen developing that tendency of wanting to go out and commit any violent act against anybody.”
A police constable is spending his first night behind bars after he was denied bail on a charge of unnatural crime. The police officer has also been interdicted from active duty and will face disciplinary charges. Twenty-nine-year-old Marcus Che was arraigned today at the Punta Gorda Magistrate’s Court, where he was read the charge. He appeared undefended before the court and was denied bail. The magistrate ordered Che to return to court on June eleventh. The charge against him stemmed from an incident at the Punta Gorda Police Station in the wee hours of Sunday. Police say that the minor, a fifteen-year-old boy, accompanied by his mother, reported the matter on Tuesday. When he spoke with the media today, Commissioner Williams said he was disgusted when he learned about the incident.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“When I was brief of that matter yesterday, I was extremely disgusted of what transpired and more so, inside the police station. From what I was briefed is that Police Constable Marcus Che, who is assigned – or who was assigned to the Domestic Violence Unit in Punta Gorda Town, invited a young man of 15 years old to his office, and his office is located on the upper flat of the Punta Gorda Town police station. And in his office he performed anal sex with the 15-year-old. The 15-year-old and his father reported the matter to the police and Marcus Che has since been arrested and charged for unnatural crime and he has since been interdicted from duty. I think that it’s certainly threw a monkey wrench into the work that we have been doing to try and restore trust and confidence. It is going to take a very long time to restore that confidence for parents to want to send their children to the police station in Punta Gorda Town, but I want to assure the parents and the people of Punta Gorda Town that we are going to be doing all we can to make sure that this police officer is brought to justice and that there is no reoccurrence of this issue. I’m sure the public is going to be forgiving in terms of what transpired to know that we have a huge organization to run. And as much as we will try, we’ll never be able to control what each and every member of our department does. But what we can control is what we do in the aftermath of them committing themselves. And I think that we have had a very good track record in dealing with our own when they step out of line.”
Belmopan resident, Ronald Gibson died today after he was shot by a businesswoman who claims that he tried to rob her. Gilda Abadi told police that Gibson tried to attack her and her daughter in Belmopan. Abadi pulled out her licensed firearm and shot Gibson in the stomach. It’s an incident that Commissioner Williams says appears to be self-defense. But Gibson’s sister, Shawn Gardiner, who spoke to her brother before he died, vehemently disagrees with Abadi’s account of what transpired.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“From all indications, the investigation is showing that the lady acted in defense of herself and her child. It happened that the person died a couple days after, so what we’ll do is what we normally would do, is to put together the file and we send it to the D.P.P.”
Reporter
“Now, you know, we always speak about the justified use of lethal force, and one of the issues is always proportionality. Clearly, the woman felt she was under grave mortal threat. Understandably, it’s she and her daughter, but are you concerned that perhaps it will not meet that threshold of proportionality to use lethal force against someone who is holding you up to rob you?”
Chester Williams
“I do not think so. The woman and her child were together. The man accosted them to rob them. She ordered him to stop. He continued to make moves towards her. Generally, a man is stronger than a woman. She was armed with a weapon. Imagine him approaching her and would have been able to hold on to her, get a hold of her firearm. He certainly would have overpowered her, would have taken away that gun and maybe would have killed her. I don’t foresee an instance where her actions would not be deemed justified, but I’m not going to be the arbiter of that issue. It is going to be left for the DPP. But for my legal standpoint, I do not see how that could happen. I believe she acted in self-defense.
Shawn Gardiner
Shawn Gardiner, Sister of Ronald Gibson
“She’s claiming that she didn’t have a bullet in her gun, so my question is how comes my brother got shot if she didn’t have a bullet in a gun. And from what my brother told me, he was walking on the side of the walkway and it was dark and he didn’t see who shot him. He just felt it, and he wasn’t robbing nobody because he was a distance away from Ms Amadi. So Ms Amadi or Abadi or whatever is her name, has to get her facts right. He wasn’t even close to them and you have to hear about two sides of a story, you know, so I need justice for my brother because this won’t be left like this. I’ll sue her if I have to, or whosoever did it because I met someone in Belmopan personally and he told me that it wasn’t that lady that shot my brother so my question is who shot my brother?”
When a state of emergency was introduced three weeks ago, there was talk that it would be extended and expanded to include other areas as the police department saw fit. Monday’s murder of Michael Usher, who lived in the vicinity of Majestic Alley but was shot and killed near Mahogany Street, means that the police department may have to re-strategize so as to prevent retaliation among those rival groups. This was the scope of the SOE as it applied to those areas in Belize City back in March, as explained by Commissioner of Police Chester Williams.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police (File: March 26th, 2024)
“The police and the B.D.F. are on operations within, not just the Antelope area, but practically the entire south side Belize City. As you would be aware by now, a state of emergency was declared this morning covering the almost entire south side of Belize city…Here in Belize City, you know that we have had a slate of shootings, two of which were fatal…The truth is we have seen a long lull Belize City. Again, I always say it takes one idiot to pull a trigger and that could cause a flare-up. And these flare-ups are going to happen occasionally, and we have to be able to have the right approach in dealing with it. As I have said to the minister when we discussed the SOE that it had reached a stage where if we don’t do something, then the cancer is going to spread further and then the other gangs are going to feel like, oh, over there it’s flaring up and nothing’s been done to them, so better we have our own thing so we have to ensure that we do something that is measurable and that is going to bring some calm.”
Forty-one-year-old Maynor Ancona is out on bail after being arraigned on five criminal charges. Ancona is accused of causing the death of his partner, forty-six-year-old American National Jennifer Griffith, on Ambergris Caye. As we reported on April sixth, Ancona got into an altercation with another male individual at a bar on the island. During the altercation, Ancona allegedly picked up a conch shell and threw it at the person, but it caught Griffith in the head. That injury later led to her death. As a result, he was charged with manslaughter by negligence, disorderly conduct, two counts of harm and one count of wounding. He appeared before a magistrate in Belize City in the presence of his attorney, Orson “OJ” Elrington. In court, no plea was taken from Ancona for four of the five counts, apart from disorderly conduct for which he pleaded not guilty. There were no objections to bail being granted to Ancona by the Prosecutor who only asked for stringent conditions to be laid as the police investigation is ongoing at this time. With that, the sitting Senior Magistrate offered bail to Ancona in the sum of ten thousand dollars plus one surety of the same or two sureties of five thousand each, which he met. Elrington spoke with us following the arrangement.
Orson Elrington
Orson Elrington, Attorney
“The allegation by the police is that there was a fight and that my client, there were coconut shells thrown and one of the shells hit the deceased and she died after that. My client denies that that is the facts and what happened. But of course, manslaughter by negligence is one of those cases that is not tried summarily. It has to be tried in the Supreme court and so no plea was taken for those charges and a number of charges that the DPP has to determine if those charges will be heard summarily or whether or not they will be heard by the high court. He has been in police custody for two plus days now and when I met with him he is still grieving because he lost his common law wife and he wanted to get out to make the necessary preparations for her funeral or to transport her body. That is his primary concern right now and still in the mourning process. Losing someone is never easy and especially under these circumstances where the authority has charged him for the death, and he feels unfairly so and it is obviously a very tough situation for him.”
Elmer Castro, the individual Ancona got into an altercation with at the bar was also charged for disorderly conduct and two counts of wounding.
