The municipal elections are history and the projects that the winning city and town councils had campaigned on are expected to be rolled out over the next three years. In Dangriga, one such initiative is already coming to fruition and today, Mayor Robert Mariano shared with us that they’ve been able to construct a bandstand near the seaside that residents will be able to access free of cost, complete with barbeque facilities for family picnics. Mariano says that the location in the Wahima Beach area precedes other infrastructure projects in Dangriga.
Robert Mariano
Robert Mariano, Mayor, Dangriga
“We are building a bandstand and the bandstand is completed. The next phase is to be, to do painting and other decoration, putting electricity and so on. We’re expecting that project to complete by the end of this month. Also we have already started working on the different parks. And so I’m hopeful that by the end of this month, all the parks will be touched as well. Thank you. I went around and did physical checks on our parks and noticed that it is not well painted. Some of the chairs are broken and so on. And so I have directed the personnel in charge of works to ensure that what need to be repaired. And what need to be repainted, let’s repaint them. But we will need to put some brightness in our tongue. And so we’ll be working because we need to make Danger Gang more child friendly. And that is the reason why the next phase. Now is to compete with different parks and then since we are in the dry, we’re also looking at doing some new streets around that regard as well.”
Belize Defence Force soldier Lieutenant Clonal Omar Tzalam was read a single charge of grievous harm when he appeared in the Punta Gorda Magistrate court on Tuesday. The charge stems from a domestic dispute that occurred on March 29th, 2024. He pled not guilty and was offered bail.
Previously, Tzalam was recently charged internally for assault on a B.D.F. female. The Security Services Commission has yet to decide on Tzalam’s future in the B.D.F.
Police have charged one of their own for the crime of aggravated assault with a firearm. Thirty-six-year-old police officer Felix Hernandez was charged with shooting Richard Valerio on Thursday, March 14th.
The incident happened at the Punta Gorda sports auditorium. Fernandez told police that he and his common-law wife were attending a basketball game when they were harassed by Richard Valerio, the ex-partner of Fernandez’s wife, who made threatening remarks. Fernandez attempted to avoid confrontation by relocating, but Valerio persisted with profanity.
When Fernandez decided to leave and requested an escort to his vehicle, he discovered Valerio damaging his car with rocks, prompting Fernandez to intervene. After Valerio threw a rock at Fernandez, missing him, Fernandez fired a single shot from his licenced 9mm pistol in Valerio’s direction. Valerio sustained injuries to his lower back and was taken to the Punta Gorda Hospital for treatment.
On Thursday March fourteenth, sometime around nine fifteen p.m., police received reports of a shooting outside of the Punta Gorda sports auditorium. Officers visited the area and encountered Police Constable Feliz Fernandez attached to the Toledo Formation. PC Fernandez reported that he, along with his common-law wife, went to watch a basketball game. According to Fernandez, they sat on the bleachers and a while later they were harassed by one Richard Valerio who is his common-law’s ex- partner, who was shouting profanities to them, including saying, “somebody will die tonight”. Fernandez went on to say that to avoid a confrontation, they moved to another area. However, they were accosted by Valerio, who continued with his profanities. Fernandez further stated that he decided to leave and asked a fellow officer to escort him to his vehicle. Fernandez claims that Valerio later inflicted damage to his car which was parked outside of the auditorium, by shattering the windshield with rocks. The report further states that PC Fernandez ordered Richard Valerio to drop the rock, that is when Richard Valerio threw a rock in PC Fernandez’s direction but missed. Fernandez then claims that, fearing for his life, he drew his licensed mine millimeter pistol and fired a single shot in Valerio’s direction. Valerio then ran inside the complex area and was then immediately rushed by police to the Punta Gorda Hospital for medical treatment for injuries to his lower back. We spoke with the sister of the victim, who wishes to remain unnamed. She stated that contrary to Fernandez’s account, her brother had not approached or interacted with the officer. According to her, her brother had been the victim of multiple incidents of harassment from the officer and had even been assaulted previously inside his home. Accusations are that the dispute ignited over a shared romantic partner and that her brother had been on the receiving end of injustice for several months now. Commissioner of Police has ordered an internal investigation concurrent with the criminal investigation into this incident. An update will be provided at the end of the investigation. The firearm was retrieved for ballistic testing.
The People’s United Party was also victorious in Dangriga, where its Mayoral candidate, Robert Mariano led a team of six councillor candidates. The day’s events also went smoothly, for the most part, except for an instance when people wearing party colours were restricted from entering certain areas of the polling stations. News Five’s Marion Ali has the details.
“The results of the Dangriga Municipal Elections are as follows: Herbert Lucas, 893 votes. Frank Caliz, 950. Adeline Estero, 957. Cindy Fajaro, 900. Anthony Garbutt, 984. Stephen Laurie, 1,042. Duane Sampson, 1,145. That’s for the UDP slate. For the PUP slate, it goes as follows: Robert Mariano, 1,697. Gilberto Bernardez, 1,471. Gilroy Howard Flores, 1,505. Howard Melendrez, 1,511. Martha Robinson, 1,462. Liberato Teul, 1,422. Jerry’s Valentine 1,588. For the winners being the PUP slate. They have been elected as the next Dangriga Municipal Town Council.”
Returning Officer for Dangriga, Akirah Sanchez gave the news that most of the residents already knew, having chosen who they wanted to serve. The two mayoral candidates had early plans to garner the support of the voters.
Hubert Alex Lucas
Hubert Alex Lucas, U.D.P. Mayoral Candidate, Dangriga
“The plan for today is to get our people out to the polling areas so they can vote and get people out.”
Gwen Nunez Gonzalez
So what is your strategy to mobilize the people here?”
Hubert Alex Lucas
“We’re gonna have our people out, bringing the people to the polls so they can vote.”
Robert Mariano
Robert Mariano, P.U.P. Mayoral Candidate, Dangriga
“The main thing for today is to bring in the voters. That’s the number one thing, but see how I don’t want to discuss that. But, yes over the past few weeks, we have been preparing for today. The, machine is well on and we are now taking action. As you can see, several of our People’s United Party supporters are out already in numbers and I’m sure that at the day, victory will prevail for the People’s United Party.”
During the course of the day, there was an issue when one of the election officials announced that people who were wearing political colours could not enter the compound to vote. But after a peaceful protest, that decision was soon reversed. Our Dangriga Correspondent for the elections, Gwen Nunez Gonzalez spoke with the U.D.P.’s Campaign Coordinator, Norman Usher about the issue.
Norman Usher
Norman Usher, Campaign Coordinator, U.D.P. Dangriga
“The police officers did not want any person to go vote if they had on a party colour and their party name on it. Any advertisement for a party, they didn’t allow them to go in, which is wrong. We had a meeting from last week with the returning officers and they told us the only people that cannot enter the classrooms are those that are working with a political shirt. Others that come in and vote can vote with their political shirts. That’s their right. That’s our right. That’s what we do every election. We came here, both sides, it’s not just one, it’s not, it wasn’t just one. But, we finally got it resolved.”
Dangriga Mayor-elect, Robert Mariano says he will focus on infrastructure, drainage, and more social programs for the youths. Marion Ali for News Five.
The Battle of the Drums cultural retrieval and preservation initiative, established in response to the decline observed in Garifuna culture, has been working tirelessly since 2006 to retrieve, preserve and promote key aspects of the Garifuna heritage. Recognizing the urgent need to address the deterioration of the Garifuna language, the Battle of the Drums and the National Garifuna Council teamed up to create an initiative to prioritize the establishment of a standardized Garifuna language in schools program across southern Belize.
Darius Avila
Darius Avila, President, Battle of the Drums Secretariat
“We have been at this for a number of years now. We, meaning the Battle of the Drums Secretariat, in the midst of COVID, we reached out to the NGC to ask them for us to collaborate on what we termed the Garifuna Language in Schools Program. You would know that the Battle of the Drums has been in existence since 2006 and we have been undertaking various programs, particularly in the Punta Gorda, Toledo area. In 2012, I think it was, we started what we referred to as the Garifuna Language in Schools Program at the largest primary school at the time in Punta Gorda Town, by the name of St. Peter Claver School. We saw where there was significant value in that particular program and we also extended it to St. Joseph RC School in Barranco. Given the success of the program in those two schools, fast-forward to 2020, we reached out to NGC and suggested to them that we should collaborate to extend the program to other schools in the south, namely: St. Alphonsus in Seine Bight, Richard Quinn in Georgetown, Holy Family School in Hopkins, Sacred Heart RC in Dangriga, as well as Holy Ghost RC. We know fully well that Gulisi Community Primary School has been at the forefront of Garifuna in schools education. So all of these other schools that are named were going to be new in terms of this particular framework.”
In a historic meeting on February twenty-sixth, between the Garifuna Language Commission, the Chief Executive Officer, as well as the Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, approval was granted for the use of the Garifuna Language Curriculum in the teaching of the Garifuna Language in Schools Program. This approval comes after years of dedicated effort and collaboration between the National Garifuna Council and the Battle of the Drums Secretariat.
Sheena Zuniga, President, National Garifuna Council
“It has been a journey all in an effort to get to this point. The National Garifuna Council collaborated with the Battle of the Drums. We decided [that] we needed to be on the forefront to try to retrieve our Garifuna language which has been dying over the years. In an effort, we created the Garifuna Language Commission which includes Dr. Gwen Nunez-Gonzalez, Dr. Albarita Enriquez and Dativa Martinez. Those three women have been on the forefront to create the Garifuna curriculum that we have currently submitted to the Ministry of Education. Through that effort, we created the curriculum and we also applied for the professional development plan where we would be able to train Garifuna teachers in southern Belize to be able for those trainings to be part of their CPD hours. It‘s a real historic event for us because we have been working for the past three years to get to this juncture. We‘re glad that we would be able to have Garifuna language being taught in the six traditional Garifuna communities, starting in August and September of this coming year and we are hoping to launch this program in April in collaboration with our Garifuna Survival Day activities.”
Residents of Toledo have been on the receiving end of several droughts and have struggled with adequate access to water for years. The National Hydrological Service is aiming to address these issues with the implementation of technology that will be able to locate groundwater reserves. Tennielle Hendy, Principal Hydrologist at the N.H.S. gave us more details on the situation.
Tennielle Hendy, Principal Hydrologist, National Hydrological Service
“The Toledo district experiences the highest rainfall, so the common assumption is that if you are getting a lot of water, you shouldn’t have water issues. Contrary, that is not the case. Um, just as though we have hills and valleys above the surface, we have hills and valleys below the surface. But if we don’t know where those hills and valleys are, we drill for wells. We either don’t find water at all, or we maybe find only twenty gallons per minute, which is not sufficient for one household, let alone two hundred people in a, in a village or a community. So that’s the crux of the matter in terms of the water scarcity we want to explore. It’s costly to explore but if we don’t find water, what do we do? We have to just try to find funds to do more, but we don’t want to be in a state of reactivity. We want to be proactive and so through the IDB, we are learning to use geo resistivity. And this type of technology allows us to put electrodes into the ground, and it allows us to see deep into the aquifer. Now, I must say, it cannot quantify, because we often see these new technologies and fill out, Oh, it’s going to tell us how much water is there. No, it’s just going to tell us whether there is presence of water there. So you need to physically do the investigations, which are very capital intensive. And so that’s one of the challenges that we face in exploring groundwater resources in the country.”
Electricity is finally being introduced to two far-flung communities in the Toledo District. Over the weekend, residents of Jalacte and San Vicente entered into an agreement with the Government of Belize to have their communities electrified. The Belize Electricity Limited, LaitUp Belize, and European Union all signed on to the consent agreement. Those documents are necessary to implement any project within the Maya communities in Toledo. News Five’s Paul Lopez tells us more about the electrification project.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
On Saturday, the Government of Belize signed agreements with residents of Jalacte and San Vicente, under the Free Prior and Informed Consent Protocol. The signing signals the communities’ approval for an electrification project in their villages.
Oscar Requena
Oscar Requena, Minister of Rural Transformation
“Today is an important day because you have met, you have given the permission that you want electricity for you community. You want development for your community and that is why we are here. To celebrate this success.”
During his speech at the event, Minister Oscar Requena addressed reports that the Government of Belize and Maya communities in the Toledo District are at odds.
Oscar Requena
“Now I want to say to you and I have a responsibility to say this to you, recently you have been hearing some pronouncements. You have been hearing people expressing their concerns that oh the government is not supporting the Maya people, the government is not respecting the Maya people, but my friends that is totally contrary to what they are saying. Our presence here today, our presence to work with you and you working with us signifies and solidifies the fact that the people and the Government of Belize are working together. The government respects the Maya people, we are here to support you, you are here to support us so that we can bring development to your community.”
Deshawn Garbutt, the distribution engineer at Belize Electricity Limited, celebrated the signing of the agreement. Garbutt explained that the installation of a mini grid will supply electricity to homes, schools, health posts, and small businesses in both communities.
Deshawn Garbutt
Deshawn Garbutt, Distribution Engineer, B.E.L.
“Today we celebrate a significant milestone that marks a very important step towards ensuring that every household is Jalacte is electrified by the implementation of a mini grid. The journey has its up and down but today we gather here to share a moment of triumph where the village of Jalacte wholeheartedly accepts the project. I must also mention that this is a step forward for our national framework which tend to provide electricity to all underserved communities.”
The first alcaldes of both villages addressed the gathering in Maya. Valentino Shal, Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Rural Transformation, also highlighted some of the challenges faced by rural communities that are without access to electricity.
Valentino Shal
Valentino Shal, Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Rural Transformation
“I grew up in the Toledo district and I have visited Jalacte so many times and one thing that you can always count on is the people of Jalacte works hard. They work hard from early in the morning to late at night to take care of their families, to build their community. But they have always been neglected. They have always been left behind. They don’t have water, they don’t have lights, and they don’t have streets. Those things that every other part of the country enjoys, these villages way close to the border do not enjoy. I know the struggles of people without electricity, because I grew up without electricity. I know the struggles of these children who are unable to use a computer because they don’t have electricity. But children in other towns and districts, they have access to electricity, internet, computers, so you know what happens, they go further ahead and our children have to struggle to catch up.”
Foreign Minister Francis Fonseca joined Minister of National Defense Florencio Marin Jr. in visiting the newly constructed Sarstoon Forward Operating Base on Thursday. It was Fonseca’s first trip to that southernmost end since assuming the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade at the start of the year. The Sarstoon FOB was previously built and inaugurated under the Barrow administration, but eventually fell into disrepair and the state of the facility was only made worse by the erosion that was taking place at the site. The Government of Belize has since invested significantly in refurbishing the facility and yesterday, the soldiers presently assigned to the location welcomed the ministers and their C.E.O.s, including former Brigadier General Dario Tapia.
Dario Tapia
Dario Tapia, C.E.O., Ministry of National Defense
“Today’s visit is to orientate the foreign minister, the new foreign minister, Honorable Francis Fonseca, who recently took over the Foreign Affairs Ministry, for him to understand what the Sarstoon is all about. We only hear [about] it and when we hear about it, it’s always on the news. The thing is it’s important that the foreign minister and the CEO from Foreign Affairs, along with some other members of his staff at Foreign Affairs, to have a firsthand look at what transpires here and what it’s all about to be out here at the Sarstoon. So we are glad that he was able to visit, along with my minister, to be here along with Commander BDF and others to see what is occurring now at the newly transformed forward operating base. Many Belizeans would recall that about a year or so ago, my minister, on his tour, visited here and he was appalled at the living conditions of our soldiers and he then made the decision to relocate the soldiers temporarily until we were able to rebuild this facility which we have now done. We have spent a significant amount of money, as approved by Cabinet, to have the FOB at a very livable standard and if when you walked around, you would see the improvements that we have done here. Not only in the living facility, but in the kitchen facility, the restroom. In addition to that, the earthworks that have been done here is very significant. We have been able to stabilize the ground here, put boulders to stop the erosion that was occurring here. We have built a marina that is about to completed and also the landing site for the helicopter that can land here, which we have tested and we have landed the Belize Defense Force helicopter here. And so the transformation has been tremendous from what it was a few months ago, to what it is now.
