Today, a sixty-three-year-old woman was sentenced to five years imprisonment for child cruelty. Reports are that between January and July of 2017, Anke Doehm, the adoptive mother of thirteen-year-old Faye Lin Cannon, willfully neglected the minor and subjected her to injury to her health. Doehm had adopted four female minors from China and took them to live with her in the United States, before migrating to San Pedro with her and her late husband. However, in 2017, the then, thirteen-year-old Faye died while in Doehm’s care. It was later confirmed that the minor had been malnourished, as well as physically and sexually abused. Doehm appeared before Justice Derick Sylvester today, who, after considering the aggravating and mitigating factors, handed down a five-year sentence with effect from march fourth, 2024 when she was found guilty. These factors included, in his view, a lack of remorse displayed, a lack of accountability, the neglect of the child and a failure to provide adequate meals and physical abuse inflicted by Doehm’s husband. Sylvester also noted that Doehm required psychological help and must be considered a danger to children in society. As a result, she must also enroll in every rehabilitation program at the prison, and she is not eligible for parole until after serving half of her five-year prison term. Doehm was initially charged jointly with her husband, David Doehm, however, he took his life before the case came to trial. Regarding Doehm’s medical condition, a recommendation was made that she must return to Cancun for follow-up treatment. Justice Sylvester took note of this and reassured Doehm that, according to CEO Virgilio Murillo, the Belize Central Prison facilitates medical treatment for prisoners and should a prisoner require outside treatment, arrangements can be made.
Tag: 2024-04-17
Anthony “Boots’ Martinez Challenges E&B Verification Process
It is not over for former Port Loyola Area Representative Anthony “Boot’s Martinez and his petition to recall current Area Representative Gilroy Usher. On Monday, we told you that his petition attempt was unsuccessful. In a letter to Martinez from the Office of the Governor General, he was informed that the accepted number of signatures did not meet the requisite thirty percent of registered electors in Port Loyola. He submitted one thousand, six hundred and fifty-four signatures. Only one thousand three hundred and eighty-nine were approved. That is ninety-six signatures shy of the number of approved signatures Martinez needed. In total, two hundred and sixty-five signatures were rejected. Today, Martinez called a press conference to announce that he has sought the legal counsel from attorney Richard ‘Dickie’ Bradley, as he seeks to challenge the Election and Boundaries Department’s verification process of more than one hundred of those signatures.
Anthony “Boots” Martinez, Former Area Rep., Port Loyola
“What we did, after I received the letter from the governor general and especially the portion that relates to one hundred and eighty-eight signatures did not match with the election records that they have. I set out to consult with the attorneys and see what remedy can be done to that. And part of it I was very offended, because in my humble opinion, elections and boundaries and the chief elections officer, Ms. Tamai, in my view made a gross error by not verifying the signatures. Verify means verify and in my view the chief elections officer and the elections and boundaries department have the resources, human and otherwise to verify simple things, when you register or transfer you stand against a wall, take a picture, they ask you where you live, direction where to get there, your house, who is your neighbor, all kind of question. Elections and Boundaries was task with one simple task, go and find out, call, you are registered voter in Port Loyola, did you sign a recall petition. That is verification if you have doubts. Now I am not saying the election records wouldn’t help, but where there is doubt you must verify.”
“Boots” Martinez Tells Chief Elections Officer to “Do Your Job”
According to Martinez, this morning he delivered packages to Chief Elections Officer Josephine Tamai, the Office of the Governor General, and the Office of the Attorney General. Martinez says that he has acquired an affidavit from one hundred and eighteen individuals whose signatures were rejected. He says that those declarations were placed in the packages, along with the letter from his attorney.
Anthony “Boots” Martinez, Former Area Rep., Port Loyola
“We undertook to start to revisit, I revisited along with the justice of the peace, various of them to present my copy of the petition, attach to the affidavit, affirming, do you recognize this signature? Yes sir, did you sign? Yes sir, and then I would like you to read the declaration and sign that you did sign the petition and that is what happened. So, this morning we delivered a list, apart from the letter from the attorney, a list to the chief elections and boundaries officer, a list of a hundred and eighteen people who have signed the declaration stating they signed the petition. What we have along with the declaration is a copy of people valid ID. All we the say, we might nuh need fih waste the court time, do your job and we don’t need to waste the court time. In life, all of us err and we are not too big to say we err on this one. I saw this morning when I went to Belmopan to the Chief Elections and Boundaries Officer office I saw the sign, enhancing democracy, to me that is disenfranchising people in terms of democracy. I am sorry, I will not let this go.”
B.P.M. Say Redistricting Cannot Be Overlooked
The Belize Peace Movement has not abandoned its mission to ensure that the government carries out a redistricting exercise to address the current mal-apportioned divisions. In 2019, the B.P.M. filed a claim against the Government of Belize regarding a redistricting exercise which they state is overdue. According to the group, the issue of redistricting is an urgent matter that must be addressed before the next general elections. In July 2023, the Election and Boundaries Commission produced a redistricting report for submission to the National Assembly. However, this proposal was later rejected, as they believed that the percentage for deviation was too high. Today, the B.P.M. spoke out again, to reiterate that this issue needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Attorney for the B.P.M. Claimants, Arthur Saldivar shared more on the matter.
Arthur Saldivar, Attorney for BPM Claimants
“You would have remembered that in July of last year, the Election Boundaries Commission made some noise about producing a proposal that was laid before Parliament. But shortly after that proposal was laid before Parliament, a number of parliamentarians came public to say that they know that this document that was laid before that body would not pass muster. It did not meet constitutional standards. So election boundaries took quite a long time to produce a dud. You know, a lame duck proposal and that lame duck proposal is still sitting before parliament. Noone would want to surmise or believe that election boundaries is either negligent or incompetent. We certainly don’t want to think that they don’t care about our democracy. But the fact that they have done what they have done with taxpayers money, no less, leaves a very bitter taste in our mouths. And it should leave a bitter taste in the mouth of every Belizean. Because this is not an exercise that requires a whole lot to do. The expert that was appointed by the court in this matter made it clear that this could be done in a matter of hours. Doesn’t take days, doesn’t take months. If objectivity and impartiality rules the day, the only way it takes as long as it has with this particular body of commissioners is that there has been an orchestrated attempt to gerrymander and maneuver figures for political benefit. We were that we won against this because ultimately, the Constitution does not speak to political parties. It speaks to the rights of the people. And it puts the rights of the people above the requirements of the politician.”
Robert Lopez Claims Land Is at Risk of De-reservation
Hummingbird Group Limited, a Belmopan-based furniture manufacturing business, is speaking out against what they claim is a violation of its long-term sustainable forestry license. Founder and C.E.O., Robert Lopez stated that the company obtained a logging license in 2022. Lopez said that the company endeavored to hire a consultant to ensure that the logging was in alignment with the regulations of the Forestry Department’s conditions of the license. However, according to Lopez, his team was met by a group of men drawing survey lines. Lopez said that the land is at risk of being de-reserved and demands that the matter be addressed promptly. Here’s what he had to say on the matter.
Robert Lopez, CEO, Hummingbird Group Ltd.
“And so we just cut our first tree on March twentieth of this year, about a month ago. Now that we’re in the reserve, putting in our roads, and everything is monitored by the Forestry Department, they’re very strict with these long-term sustainable forestry licenses. We come upon, about a week ago, a group of men in the reserve cutting survey lines. And immediately, we call the Forestry Department, but our crew had an encounter with them. And they’re saying that they have met, and I have a recording and I will send it to you, because they specifically said, Minister Cordell Hyde, we met with him in 2022, January of 2022. And he has given us permission, they call themselves Green Hill Farming Cooperative, something to that effect. I got a call this morning that they’re in there again, and word is that Minister Mike Espat, has told them to go in and cut and that he will see to it that it gets de-reserved.” “So it was de reserved I think the last time in 2017 or 2016 for farmland. And so, everything was parceled out in thirty-acre parcels and given out to farms. I’ll tell you, most of the people sold their land for a pittance. Three hundred, five hundred for a thirty-acre parcel. Of course, you’re just buying a lease document. And then people get it transferred and purchased price and then you get title. But up to two weeks ago, I was offered thirty acres right in front of where we’re logging. From the de-reservation, and the guy wanted twenty thousand. I told him I’m not interested. He called back the following week and said, I’ll take fifteen thousand. So this is the record of these people that get land for farming. And I’m not afraid to say, most of them were Belizeans that got this, and they’ve sold it to aliens. Most of it is Honduran, Guatemalan, and other foreigners that own these lands. And some of them are major landholders that bought up ten, fifteen, twenty of these parcels and now have huge cattle ranches. In what was once the reserve. So is that what they want to do again? Give out another thousand acres and split it up? When are we gonna learn to preserve what we have? What we have is long term sustainable license.”
BEBL All Star Weekend Inside the Civic Center
The Belize City Civic Center will come alive on Sunday evening for the Belize Elite Basketball League’s All-Star game. It promises to be a fun-filled family event with loads of giveaways. A group of twenty-four players from the ninety athletes currently playing in the league were selected through a voting process. According to the league’s Commissioner, Glenn Gill, the voting process included team owners, managers, head coaches, media representatives and desk officials. This morning, Commissioner Gill and the team owners called a press conference to explain the approach and invited fans to the game.
Glenn Gill, Commissioner, BEBL
“Each team had to put two foreigners, three Belizeans and three Belizean Americans from off their teams. In some cases, some teams didn’t have Belizean American but after doing that, we looked at stats and twenty-four players were selected. From those twenty-four players, the owners, the coaches, assistant coaches, the commissioner and deputy commissioner and the media voted for the players who would participate in the games. It was forty-eight and it came down to twenty-four. The list was made and from that the public will decide who will start the game. Now for the all-star game, the prize money will be three thousand or ten percent of what the gate makes, depending on which one is greater. So, one team will be called the home team and the other will be called the away team. One of the rules will be that there will be three foreigners on each team and only two of them can play at any one time. As I said, the home team will be basically players and the away team will be Belizean Americans with the three foreigners.”
The weekend will also include a three-point shootout and a slam dunk contest.
BEBL Addresses Fans Concern Over All-Star Roster
Since releasing the 2024 all-star roster, the B.E.B.L. has received both praise and criticism from fans. There are those who are of the view that several high performing players did not make it unto the roster. It is a debate that takes place in leagues across the world, including the N.B.A. And today, Gilbert Gordon, the Chief Executive Officer of the Benny’s Belize Hurricanes, addressed the concerns of fans.
Gilbert Gordon, C.E.O, Benny’s Belize Hurricanes
“Statistics is one thing when it comes to the all-star and if you want to look at the NBA, although you might be the leading scorer you still need to go through a voting process, and it does not require that you are going to be an all-star. They have their voting process, their fans and the entities that vote for it. The all-star is for the media, the coaches, the fans to vote. There are different models we can use, and we can look and see how we can grow from it. This year we introduced this model. This style in respect to how we want to introduce the all-star, whereby we are saying we will have the fans vote for the starting five, but we have these entities that will be voting for the players. All-star have always been about popularity and even in the NBA you get all-star snubs, people that everybody believe that should be an all-star. And not everybody is going to be happy with the process. We are looking at what people are saying and if it is constructive we are going to use it at next year’s all-star in order for us to grow.”
Museum of Belizean Art is Launched at Government House
This morning at the Government House in Belize City, a Museum of Belizean Art was officially launched. The gallery is important for the preservation of Belize’s cultural and artistic heritage, safeguarding important works of art for future generations. It also allows individuals to learn about art history, cultural contexts, and artistic techniques which can inspire both creativity and a deeper appreciation for the arts.
Ilona Smiling, Museum of Belize
”For generations, artists in Belize have toiled tirelessly, pouring their hearts and souls into their craft, often amidst adversity and limited resources. Today, we honor their legacy by providing a space solely dedicated to the exhibition, research and development of Belizean art. But before I delve deeper into a vision for this museum, let’s take a moment to reflect on the significance of this venue. Today, as we gather in this historic government house, we are not merely opening a museum, we are expanding on the reclamation of this space that holds significance in our nation’s history. This space is now a beacon of inclusivity, creativity and empowerment. This museum is more than just a building, it’s a symbol of our resilience, a space where voices of the past, future and present artists converge.”
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Culture
“It’s a fantastic, exciting initiative. I am very proud of the fact that NICH has been able to do this, to develop our first museum of Belizean art to showcase the great talent and creativity and innovation of our Belizean artists. So it’s a very, very proud day for us at NICH, it’s a historic day, you know. Culture is so important to the identity of a nation and the visual arts are an integral part of culture and we have not done a sufficient job in Belize of documenting that visual art history. So this is an opportunity for us to do that to showcase, you know, on the walls of what was once the colonial governor’s mansion, the art of our people, the strong, proud, Belizean people, diverse cultures. So we have many, many different artists from many different cultures represented here today. And, of course, it will be a revolving display. We have, I think, sixty-eight different artists represented here and that will be on display for a few months and then we will bring in and engage other artists as well. So it’s an exciting initiative.”
Foreign Minister Leads Diplomatic Delegation to Sarstoon
Foreign Minister Francis Fonseca recently led a delegation of ambassadors, as well as other members of the diplomatic community, to the Sarstoon River, the southernmost point on the map of Belize. The visit precedes the official launch of a forward operating base that has been reconstructed at the estuary. He told us more about the visit.
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs
“I thought it was very important. We had all of our heads of mission in Belize, we have our annual heads of mission encounter. So we had all of our ambassadors in Belize and we thought it was a very useful opportunity to take them out to the Sarstoon, to the forward operating base, to see for themselves. You know, they very often talk about this at conferences and in meetings, but a few of them have never been out there. So we thought that it was important for them to see firsthand what we are talking about, what we are defending when we talk about territorial integrity, national sovereignty and to have them meet and engage with the soldiers out there, the BDF soldiers who are manning the forward operating base and to meet our coast guard officials as well. So, you know, I was out there recently, along with the Minister of Border Security Florencio Marin. He and I were out there and we opened the forward operating base, it’s been nicely refurbished. So we wanted them to have that experience and they all thoroughly enjoyed it and said it meant a lot to them to have that opportunity because now they can speak about it with a lot more confidence and a lot more, you know, passion because they, themselves, have experienced the Sarstoon.”
Belize joins HEARTS Initiative to Combat Cardiovascular Diseases
The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with PAHO, is implementing new tactics in Belize’s healthcare sector to combat cardiovascular diseases. The HEARTS initiative was introduced to Belize in November 2023, after it proved successful in other parts of the region. Today, key stakeholders in the healthcare sector across the region, and Belize, attended a workshop to learn how to implement the strategies in the HEARTS initiative into healthcare services. Here’s News Five’s Britney Gordon with more information.
Britney Gordon, reporting
Each year, cardiovascular diseases continue to be the leading cause of death globally. Roughly thirty-two percent of all deaths worldwide are caused by related illnesses with low-income countries such as Belize being highly susceptible to these diseases. Diet and lifestyle choices play a major part in the prevalence of these conditions and Belize has struggled to overcome these challenges year after year. To combat these statistics, The HEARTS initiative was introduced to Belize through PAHO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. The initiative was implemented locally, in the western region first and now in the central region. Today, members of the healthcare sector gathered to participate in a workshop that will guide them on how to use HEARTS strategies effectively. Doctor Fidel Cuellar, Deputy Director of Public Health and Wellness, explained what the HEART initiative encompasses.
Doctor Fidel Cuellar, Deputy Director, Public Health and Wellness
“What HEARTS is, it is a package, various packages that are geared towards addressing risk factors for the biggest reason of death, really, in the Caribbean and Belize, which is cardiovascular deaths. What we’re saying is that we understand that people are dying of hypertension related illnesses, like stroke, heart attack, chronic kidney diseases. HEARTS is going to help us to address this problem, to be able to control hypertension and diabetes the way it should be. Unfortunately, the majority of people who have hypertension, they do not have it properly controlled. And then that leads ultimately to your strokes and your heart attacks. And that is why HEARTS is very important for us in Belize.”
Cuellar acknowledged that cardiovascular diseases have continued to be the leading causes of death in the region, despite previous attempts to combat its prevalence. He explained that the HEARTS initiative is taking a dynamic approach across various aspects of the healthcare sector to combat the condition from several angles.
“So what hearts is doing is putting very clear, easy protocols in place so that the physicians and nurses and everybody can get on board. For example, right now in Belize. If you’re just diagnosed with hypertension, depending on which doctor you go to, you will have different medications. The hearts data shows that doesn’t work. You need to be on a specific set of medications for a specific set of time. And it needs to be adjusted in a specific way. So that, in itself, is a big difference. The other difference is the way we approach hypertension. Traditionally, we use manual cuffs, or we don’t use validated devices. And everybody does it their own way. Having people do it one specific way helps us to determine who is hypertensive and who isn’t. And if you’re hypertensive, what is your true number? So these are major changes in the way we approach hypertension and the way we treat it.”
The HEARTS Initiative was launched in 2016, by the World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with other partners to support governments in strengthening the prevention and control of cardiovascular diseases. Doctor Karen Lewis Bell, PAHO WHO Representative in Belize, explained how the initiative found its way to the country.
Doctor Karen Lewis Bell, PAHO WHO Representative, Belize
“And so the hearts in the initiative, the hearts in the America’s initiative which was launched in 2016 now has some thirty-three countries in the region of the Americas implementing this. Belize implemented it in October 2023. They became the twenty-fifth country in the region to implement this. And I really want to give kudos to the Ministry of Health in recognizing the importance of ensuring proper and comprehensive management. of hypertension and diabetes as part of this initiative. And so PAHO is providing the technical cooperation in terms of training, capacity building, helping to provide the clinical guidelines as well as helping to provide some of the equipment in terms of, the clinically validated blood pressure machines that the health facilities will use to measure diabetes high blood pressure, et cetera. And we are really getting some funding support from the European Union for this workshop that we’re having today and to help to roll up the hearts initiative.”
Cuellar reiterated that the approach of HEARTS is complex, starting at the primary level before working its way through the sector. She said that it has displayed successful results in other regions that can be replicated in Belize with the right approach.
“And so it’s a comprehensive package of care, and we do it in an integrated way, focusing on the first level of care, what we call the primary health care. As you may know, in many countries, in fact, in all countries, the first level of care is where the individual or the patients will first interface with the health system. And so we have to work at that level, at the village level, and to make sure that everybody understands and is doing the right thing. Doing you know, the initiative in a structured way. And so with this we are building capacity So everyone is on the same page with the knowledge of what to do and how to do but in addition to that the countries that are further advancing the implementation in our region have actually shown significant improvement In the control of these conditions so hospital admissions will be decreased The complications that you may have, like amputation, strokes, heart attacks, will be decreased. And ultimately, we will decrease the deaths from these conditions.”
Britney Gordon for News Five.