The multinational security support mission that was meant to be deployed in Haiti is still in limbo. In early April, a team of Belize Defense Force soldiers and coast guard officers travelled to Jamaica for advanced military training to prepare for the possibility of a Haiti relief mission. For years, Haiti has been riddled with violence, as gangs engage in ongoing gun battles with police. And while a Kenyan-led support mission has been approved by the U.N., it has yet to act. Today, president of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police, Atlee Rodney, was asked about the status of that mission. Here’s what he had to say.
Atlee Rodney
Atlee Rodney, President, ACCP
“Basically, this is a policymaking decision. That’s not really the decision of the individual police forces. And it’s a geopolitics matter, and if the government of the day and the policymakers of the day make that decision, we as law enforcement organizations will have to go with it. What we do in the meantime is to study what is happening. We look at all the intelligence that are coming from Haiti. We prepare our men and women for deployment if that becomes necessary. We do all of that work in the background, but the final decision has to be deployed in a foreign country is left with the policymakers.”
The 12th Festival of Cultures and Peoples organised by the Islamic University of Madinah in Saudi Arabia, recently concluded. It was held under the theme, “Here is the World.” The festival featured 3,114 diverse events and activities catering to families, children, and the wider community.
Visitors from various segments of society greatly valued the festival’s offerings.
The Belize booth placed fourth in the judging. One of the participants told News 5, ” is considered a huge success as our booth was one of the smallest but which dished out significant information on Belize’s tourist industry. ”
The festival organizers confirmed that the festival had an increased number of attendees, which is in line with the significant development the festival has experienced compared to previous years.
They praised the efforts and presentations of 500 participating university students, who represented 95 countries worldwide.
The Caymen Compassis reporting that powerful Caribbean gangs are establishing ‘franchises’. They are using music promoters and performers as a front for their illegal activities, which include drug trafficking, gun smuggling, and human trafficking.
The article says that these powerful gangs are now venturing into smaller islands, introducing unprecedented levels of violence in communities previously untouched by such serious criminal activities. Lieutenant Colonel Michael Jones, head of the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) emphasised that these criminal networks often have ties to Caribbean nationals residing in the United States, who facilitate the influx of weapons into the region.
Container checks in the Bahamas as part of Operation Trigger. – Photo: Interpol media
There is a growing sophistication and transnational nature of these criminal groups, stressing the need for law enforcement to match this development to effectively combat organised crime. He warned that the fractured nature of policing across over 30 island nations and territories spanning 1,000 square miles of open sea is being exploited by criminals.
To tackle this challenge, Jones emphasised the necessity of enhanced coordination and cooperation among Caribbean nations, potentially including the establishment of a pan-Caribbean coast guard.
Jones emphasised that transnational organised crime involves a close connection between arms trafficking, drug smuggling, gang activities, and human trafficking throughout the region. He pointed out evidence of gangs composed of multiple nationalities and diaspora groups associated with specific countries, operating in coordination across borders.
Prime Minister John Briceño is on an official visit to Mexico where he was warmly received by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the National Palace. The PM’s trip comes during a time of heightened concerns among Belizeans, following a recent spate of cartel-related violence in Quintana Roo. During his visit to Mexico City, PM Briceño signed an agreement on behalf of Belize establishing the Latin American and Caribbean Space Agency. The Prime Minister was accompanied at the signing by Ambassador Oscar Arnold. Belize bolsters the regional integration mechanism by joining twenty-one other countries in signing the accord. It will also be able to enter into cooperation agreements with other Latin American and Caribbean countries involving satellite observation of environmental conditions and other risks. ALCE, as the agency is otherwise known, will use the technological capabilities of the member countries to promote development, improve satellite communication systems; and increase the observation systems involved in preventing natural disasters and improving agriculture. Mexican Foreign Secretary Alicia Barcena witnessed the signing of the ALCE agreement.
Three Belizean journalists have completed a one-week training, organized by the Media Institute of the Caribbean, on investigative journalism. News Five’s Marion Ali and Hipolito Novelo, along with the San Pedro Sun’s Dion Vansen, travelled to Jamaica for the workshop. There, they received training in different aspects of investigative journalism. At the end of the workshop, the journalists are all tasked to work in groups on investigative pieces on relevant, cross-border issues. Marion Ali filed the following report on the importance of this kind of training.
Marion Ali, Reporting
The Media Institute of the Caribbean was founded in 2012 to offer Caribbean journalists the support they need in carrying out their work in their respective countries. Three years later, the institute increased the number of workshops for journalists in the region and in 2019, it began to offer training in its signature program, the Investigative Journalism Fellowship. Kiran Maharaj is the President of the M.I.C. She put together the topics that were deemed important for the training.
Kiran Maharaj
Kiran Maharaj, President/Co-founder, Media Institute of the Caribbean
“Our working journalists didn’t really have anywhere to go to be able to build their capacity. So that’s why we started to do these programs to fill all of those gaps. So it’s about improving the quality of journalism. It’s also ensuring that our journalists can meet the demands of our audiences. Digital security is very, important in the current landscape, and also disinformation and how we are able to decipher what is real and what is not real, as well as data journalism. We don’t have sufficient data in our region. I don’t know why. We need to encourage open sources of data. We need to ensure that our, governments and our state entities provide better data because then we can help tell their stories as well. But then it also shows that there’s a certain degree of transparency that we want to work towards.”
Retired journalist Jim Clancy, formerly of CNN, worked on groundbreaking stories, including the Jim Jones cult.
Jim Clancy
Jim Clancy, Trainer, M.I.C Workshop
“The Caribbean investigative journalism network and workshops like this one, give me a chance to give something back and to share that knowledge. This workshop in particular refreshes in a reporter’s mind for journalists, perhaps that aren’t accustomed to working in investigative journalism. journalism, how stories can come together and work for the public good and benefit the readers, the viewers, the listeners, wherever they are.”
Areas covered in the training included digital tracing, digital security tips, and best practices in investigative writing. For the journalists I spoke with, the training is an important tool which they can now apply in the scope of their work.
Hipolito Novelo
Hipolito Novelo, Reporter, News 5, Belize
“We have a lot of fake news online nowadays. Everyone wants the news at their fingertips and with A.I. and misinformation and this information and all the fake news out there, we have to ensure that our skills and our techniques are up to date in investigating these stories and events. One of the things that stood out to me, or I had interest in, was a presentation done by Gordon. He deals with investigative journalism, especially online journalism. And one of the sessions he had to deal with the oil spill in Trinidad, with that boat that capsized, and the oil spill there causing a lot of damage. Now he took one picture and he and his team reviewed that picture to not only identify the name of the boat, not only to identify the boat itself and where it was coming from, but actually track it to where it disembarked from, and the owners of that boat, who the boat was registered to and the company and he taught us how you can investigate a story and different techniques and skills that you can use online from a single picture.”
Valerie Fris
Valerie Fris, Freelance Journalist, Suriname
“In Suriname we don’t have a lot of investigative journalism, but that is mainly because of we don’t have the funds, the, most of the newsrooms are like, you go to report an item, you come back, and that’s it, but no deeper stories, no larger stories. And I want to be – set myself apart from that and do these kind of stories just investigate and take the time to go deeper.”
“I haven’t done that much investigative or that many investigative pieces. I’m usually do features or quote reporting, but I thought that this would be helpful because it’s something I’ve always wanted to venture into, and I learned a lot of tools, things I didn’t think and would have never thought of tools such as how being more secure. I didn’t realize how much my devices are unsecure, and I learned so many tools I think I could take back home to tell my colleagues, andalso to write a very, impactful feature a very impactful investigative story.”
“This was a really good capacity building session for our Caribbean journalists. Oftentimes, we may face a lot of pushback going after stories in terms of investigative journalism. There’s oftentimes the call by our policymakers, by our politicians, by our leaders for more investigative journalists, but it asks, the question is oftentimes asked, do our policymakers really want investigative journalism as it could topple political systems. I feel more empowered as a Caribbean journalist to go after stories that are – that others may want to run away from.”
Kiran Maharaj, who, as a journalist, did not have this kind of support when she started out in journalism, told us that she wanted to provide a medium that can assist Caribbean journalists to advance the level and depth of their work.
Kiran Maharaj
“We live in small societies, small communities, it’s difficult to tell the stories yet. There are ways to tell the stories still from different perspectives and angles, but our journalists just needed a solid foundation to be able to understand how to do it.”
An attempt by a Catholic advocacy group to spread the word of God using an AI model has backfired, and chat bot – Father Justin – has been pulled down and reworked. The group’s Catholic Answers website contains answers to commonly asked questions from those confused by the good book. Father Justin was supposed to aid this, by answering any other queries worshipers may have, but as commonly happens the interactive Q&A bot really didn’t work that well.
“Recently, my colleagues and I at Catholic Answers have received a good deal of helpful feedback concerning another new technology: our AI app, Fr Justin,” wrote Christopher Check, president of the group.
That helpful feedback being complaints the software shouldn’t have masqueraded as a man of God and also gave out unholy advice. “We have rendered ‘Fr Justin’ just ‘Justin’,” Check said in response. “We won’t say he’s been laicized, because he never was a real priest.”
Father Justin reportedly claimed to be a real priest based in Assisi, Italy, and told people: “I am as real as the faith we share.” Justin was also very anti-masturbation, calling it “a grave moral disorder,” which is considerably less nuanced than Pope Francis’s views expressed last year.
As seen in this Twitter thread, one questioner received Father Justin’s blessing to marry her brother, saying it was “a joyous occasion,” and also offered absolution after a confession – a huge no-no from a theological perspective for a non-priest.
In an interview, the group’s COO Jon Sorensen said they had only spent $10,000 on the project and tested it over six months. However, this wasn’t enough to stop the AI cleric telling one questioner that baptizing a child with Gatorade was perfectly all right.
“Right now there are a bunch of people trying to break it. And if you’re on Twitter or anywhere else, it’s like this ‘gotcha’ moment,” he commented.
“But when somebody breaks the AI, that actually helps us improve it. In the meantime, while people are breaking it and taking screenshots of it, posting it all over the internet, I’ve got to take my lumps. But that’s the only way I could make the thing improve.”
The chat bot was quickly pulled, reskinned, and presumably had its training data overhauled. Now it’s back as simply Justin, his priestly garb has been replaced with a shirt and jacket, and he’s described as a virtual apologist who is in development mode.
Belize recently celebrated fifty years of being a member of CARICOM. The organization was founded in 1973 by Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. One year later, on May first, Belize joined the group, further solidifying relations with countries in the region. Every year, Belize participates in CARICOM Week, which is dedicated to recognizing the importance of the group and appreciating the community. Deputy Director General of Foreign Trade, Tricia Gideon told us that this year’s activities will highlight Belize’s fiftieth anniversary with CARICOM.
Tricia Gideon
Tricia Gideon, Deputy Director General, Foreign Trade
“There’s several reasons why it exists and there are people who can delve into the history even better than I can, but one of the primary reasons is we’re small. And when you have many voices advocating for an issue, it makes it easier. As we have had the Guatemala issue at the forefront for years. And it hasn’t been a lobbying, and we haven’t been lobbying alone. We’ve had the support of our colleagues in CARICOM, as we have done for Guyana and their issue with Venezuela. When we look at climate issues, it isn’t done at one member state level. It’s done collectively. The reason we’ve been able to secure one of our biggest trade agreements with the EU is because we did it as a collective. And it is through funding that the EU has given the community that we have benefited from a number of projects. On CARICOM week to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary. We’ve been doing it for years, but this year we are going to have a number of activities, but particularly focused on Belize in CARICOM for 50 years. And we have an exhibition at the library in Belmopan. This will be a moving, a traveling exhibition as well. So other districts can appreciate it. We will also be doing presentation to high school and primary school students in Belmont Pan about what is CARICOM, who is CARICOM, and we will also be working with students in Duluth City, high school students for an art class. to paint what Caricom means to us and to identify some of the Caricom flags. So just a fun week of activities.”
Over the last few days, we have been reporting an increase in cartel activities in neighboring Chetumal. Two hundred military personnel were deployed to Chetumal earlier in the week following the daylight murder of a businessman and an active-duty police officer on busy streets in the city. There are growing concerns that this spike in violent crimes at the hands of cartel elements will spill over into Belize. Also, Belizeans are avoiding travelling into Chetumal for the usual leisure and business. Oscar Arnold, Belize’s Ambassador to Mexico says the surge in cartel activities within the city is being fueled by a feud between rival gangs. He advised Belizeans to observe some caution if they are traveling across the northern border. Chetumal falls within the Mexican state of Quintana Roo which is a tourist hub. So, will these recent occurrences in Chetumal affect the flow of tourism dollars from Belize? And are there Belizeans who also stand to lose? News Five’s Paul Lopez travelled across the border into Chetumal today to find out firsthand how things have changed over the last week. Here is that report.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
A military crackdown in Chetumal, amidst a recent spike in cartel violence, has raised concerns among Belizeans. On Monday, two hundred military personnel arrived in Chetumal in artillery vehicles and a helicopter to assist local authorities in their crime-fighting efforts. Annually, thousands of Belizeans travel into Mexico for leisure and business. Today, we are in the neighboring city to find out how great of a concern these recent developments are to those travelling to Chetumal.
Liseth Casimiro
Liseth Casimiro, Belizean Travelling to Chetumal
“We hear about the crime right but it is like, if you nuh involved in them kinda thing deh you nuh wah fraid. We have been over there this week and we had no issues, everything is calm and we had no issue with those people. So, i think everything should be fine.”
We met Liseth Casimiro at the Corozal/Mexico border heading to Chetumal. She told us that this is her second trip across the border this week, as she exchanged her Belizean dollars for Mexican pesos from a money changer or “peseros” at the border. One peseros told us that his business is already feeling the negative effects of the reports of increased cartel activities in Chetumal.
Voice of: President of Northern Peseros Cooperative
Voice of: President of Northern Peseros Cooperative
“Of course I think and strongly believe that everyone is concerned about the situation, not only we as money exchangers. And, in reality we are working here and we have seen a drastic change, a drastic decline of Belizeans going over to the Mexican side, especially in the hours of five in the evening. We have seen a decline drastically.”
Paul Lopez
“Is that usually the peek hour?”
Voice of: President of Northern Peseros Cooperative
“For people going over yes.”
Pablo Guerra
Pablo Guerra, Peseros
“I think that maybe it is not too afraid to go to Chetumal right now. The thing is you must take care right now. We hear that maybe they have the cartels in Chetumal and they might come here, but we have to trust in God first. If we go to Chetumal we have to carry God with us.”
Another Belizean we spoke with off camera was traveling from Cayo to pick up a relative at the airport in Chetumal. He told us that his decision to venture into Chetumal today was only out of necessity.
Voice of: Cayo Resident
Voice of: Cayo Resident
“We have concerns about what is going on, but we the go out of need, because we the pick up my sister at the aiport in Chetumal so that is the only reason we the hurry guh deh. From what we understand if you stay during the day and not at night everything should be ok and you stay weh the crowd deh nuh.”
Perhaps the upside to the decreased traffic going across the border is the expedited way travel documents are processed both on the Belize and Mexico sides. We then travelled into Chetumal, Mexico. A police checkpoint is situated only a short distance from the border crossing. Our first stop was at Plaza Las America, a popular mall in the city frequented by Belizeans. The next stop was the New Market where Belizean bus operators park their buses. Belizeans gather at this market when commuting to and from Chetumal using public transportation. Here we found out that bus operators have also seen a decline in commuters.
Voice of: Bus Operator, Chell’s Bus Service
Voice of: Bus Operator, Chell’s Bus Service
“We only bring two persons yesterday and one person today and today is suppose to be a busy day and nothing the happen.”
Paul Lopez
“And you think it is because of the crime?”
Voice of Bus Operator
“I don’t know sir.”
Paul Lopez
“And how do you feel being in Chetumal right now?”
Voice of Bus Operator
“I nuh feel no way because I come fih work. I nuh the do nobody nothing.”
Voice of: Bus Operator, Tillett’s Bus Service
Voice of: Bus Operator, Tillett’s Bus Service
“To be honest with you, you hear on the news that somebody the dead everyday. You hear a lot of sirens and a lot of things out here. Basically business decline a lot because usually dah market you have six busses and the bus operators they afraid to come across because of the same reason.”
Paul Lopez
“Do you think there is a great cause for all of this concern right now?
Voice of: Bus Operator
“The thing is I have twenty-five years over the border and if you look fih bad dah bad yo wah get. If you come and deal with your business and deal with what you have to deal with you dont have to worry about nothing. But if you come dah Chet come party and do all you nuh have to do well obviously you will find your own demise nuh.”
To get a local perspective on the situation with the reported cartel activities in Chetumal, we sat down with Rafaela Flota, inside the New Market. She is a resident of the city, and she operates a food business along with her sisters in the market.
Rafaela Flota
Rafaela Flota, Chetumal Resident
“Actually I think that the whole city is very worried about this situation and we think that it will affect us with tourism.”
Paul Lopez
“Why is this happening right now in Chetumal?”
Rafaela Flota
“I think it is a fight with the cartels. I think they are looking for the plasas. a lot of people in Chetumal is very concerned.”
Paul Lopez
“What is your advice to Belizeans when they come to Chetumal now? Should they do something to protect themselves?”
Rafaela Flota
“I think that with the people that are not in problems, they are safe.”
Paul Lopez
“Are there places you shouldn’t go, some places you shouldn’t go when in Chetumal?”
Rafaela Flota
“We don’t know about that because the crime is in the streets, it is anywhere and everywhere.”
And if you go looking for an increased presence of law enforcement officers in Chetumal City, it won’t take long to spot a police mobile speeding down a main avenue with sirens on. The heightened sense of security became more evident as we drove from one location to another. But amidst the reports of increased cartel activities and the evident surge in police and military presence, there are Belizeans who are not deterred.
Keon Soberanis
Keon Soberanis, Belizean in Chetumal
“It is an every day route for me. I come here to eat. I come here to enjoy myself, to do little shopping for myself. So it is a regular little trip for me everyday. I feel kinda scared sometimes right. I heard the news and haven’t been here for like two weeks. But I came today and it is not like what people are saying right.”
Ivan Middleton
Ivan Middleton, Belizean in Chetumal
“Honestly, coming from a humble place I still could actually forward and make my way through because either way I still would make it through.”
Paul Lopez
“Now what has been your experience been like over the last few day?”
Ivan Middleton
“Well it has been calm. I have not experience much crime and violence. It was calm where we were, we were in Calderitas, a little bit down from Chetumal and where the crime is happening so.”
Mister Tillett
Mister Tillett, Orange Walk Resident
“As I get in on the border I start ask questions and everybody I talked to say that the people who local and come here have no risk right, so I nuh fraid yet.”
Recently, the Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, Anthony Mahler and a team of Belizean business representatives travelled to São Paulo, Brazil to participate in the World Travel Market Latin America 2024. With twenty-seven thousand professionals and six hundred and twenty exhibitors from across the globe in attendance, this event allows for Belize to meet with other businesses and form potential partnerships. In the Belize pavilion were representatives of Barefoot Caye Caulker Hotel, Muy’Ono Resorts, Table Rock Jungle Lodge, and the Belize Tourism Board. The Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations spoke with us about the significance of this trip.
Anthony Mahler
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism & Diaspora Relations
“I just recently visited Sao Paulo, Brazil. I truly believe that Latin America is an untapped market for us. We just haven’t done the heavy lifting that needs to be done in that in those key markets. And we’re talking about that. And certain cities in Brazil, Colombia and Argentina to start and then other parts of Central America. We strongly believe that if we put in the effort, we can get more people to come. For example, getting back to Belize was only a day. You didn’t have to overnight in Miami or anywhere else coming back from Sao Paulo. So those opportunities are there. We just have to go after them. I met, one day we had a press conference and I met with over a hundred writers and people in the trade who package and prepare their guests to come to destinations like Belize. And that was a big moment for us as well. We spoke about the beauty of Belize, the wealth untold that God has blessed us with. And we will continue to do so all across the world.”
Prime Minister John Briceño has returned home from his trip to the Vatican Apostolic Palace where he met Pope Francis and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher. The trip was originally scheduled for earlier this year, but the PM had to suddenly cancel and returned home to defuse tensions within the sugar industry. But this time around, he was able to complete his visit, alongside a delegation that included his wife, Rosanna Briceño, the Special Envoy for Women and Children, Amalia Mai, the Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Cabinet Secretary Stuart Leslie. PM Briceño told us about the visit.
On the Phone: Prime Minister John Briceño
On the Phone: Prime Minister John Briceño
“I wish I could find the words to describe meeting Pope Francis. Ince you are in his presence you know that you are with a special person, a holy person and we managed to talk about many issues. He wanted to know more about Belize and then also he asked me about my family. I explained to him how my mother, who passed away twenty-nine years ago, would have been overjoyed to know that her son managed to meet the holy father, so it was something very significant for me and my family. He was excited to hear about Belize and I invited him, I extended an invitation to him, and I know he said he is not travelling as much but should the opportunity arise, he would be happy to visit Belize because he has said he has heard good things bout Belize and how beautiful Belize is and obviously that is god’s creation. And he would be excited to visit sometime in the future. I also met with the deputy secretary of state in the Vatican and we had also a long discussion, a more in depth discussion about the challenges of Belize, especially the Belize/Guatemala issue and that we being at the ICJ. So I believe that it was a very successful visit and I believe that with the prayers of Pope Francis and the church that Belize can have a brighter future.”
