For the past three days, over twenty-five medical practitioners from across the country sat in a workshop that trained them and other relevant partners on the management of sexual assault examination. This follows a finding by the Belize Crime Observatory that there has been a five percent increase in major crimes, including rape, which has increased by over forty-one percent last year. Almost ninety-nine percent of sexual violence victims were women, and this training was designed to assist the participants to enhance their ability to better deal with aspects of trauma-informed sexual assault case management, among other areas. Participants included Home Affairs Minister Kareem Musa, police officers, and Rhona Hutson, a sexual assault examiner from Jamaica.
Kareem Musa
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
“There are some 26 – I believe – doctors who were trained to carry out medical examinations in sexual assault cases, for the purpose of being able to testify in court, and this is an extremely important exercise because in many instances, especially as far down south as PG, or Corozal, there are cases where victims are not able to see a doctor and many times, a doctor may feel that they are not qualified or certified to give evidence before a court of law. And so this exercise was extremely important. It does have some legal technical issues because they are going to be testifying in court. And so yes, the medical side, they already have that covered, but it was important to be able to give them this training so that they can help in terms of the PACE Justice Program of expediting the backlog, but at the same time offering justice to many victims across the country.”
Rhonda Hutson
Rhonda Hutson, Emergency Physician, University Hospital, Jamaica
“The doctors have been very honest and sharing what they have. And there are some gaps. I think in general, it’s a Caribbean thing, to be honest, because you are where we were many years ago. And I don’t mean it in any odd way. What I mean is, it’s the same sort of fears that persons had. The same kinds of – where we’re not sure what to do. We do something and somebody says to do it this way and so on. And what this training did was to help to identify some of the deficiencies and the gaps and then hopefully put everybody on the same page. Both in terms of how to properly examine someone who has been sexually assaulted, and particularly the documentation. And then when you go to court, how do you conduct yourself because that’s a big thing. And we had a lot of role playing and there are a lot of things that came out today, over the last three days.”
Doctor Francis Murray holds a senior role in the Ministry of Health and Wellness. He and two participants from the B.D.F. and the Western Regional Hospital shared how this training has boosted their level of knowledge, and the way they treat with these very sensitive issues going forward.
Dr. Francis Murray, Deputy Director, Hospital Services & Allied Health
“I think in 2023, we only had about 34 victims of rape in the country. This data by itself is, might not be alarming to you all, but for us it’s significant. And when we have this scenario our officers, mostly medical officers who are in the emergency area, are supported by specialists in the field, so many of our officers may not have this experience in dealing with these scenarios, so this might be a first time event for them. And so it’s a sensitization in where we need to go.”
Malcolm Griffith
Captain Malcolm Griffith, Doctor, B.D.F
“Unfortunately, we have these instances in the force and this training, by all means, ensures that we provide our soldiers with the proper treatment, the proper investigation that is needed and ensures that the management is top-tier and meets international standards. By all means, we must ensure that proper evidence taking, the proper forensics, and conditions are within our perimeters and with the resources that we have available there at the Belize Defense Force.”
Geofrey Segura
Dr. Geofrey Segura, Medical Officer, W.R.H
“I was trained in Cuba, so being from a different area, we undergo a medico-gal course, but it’s not as intense, so it doesn’t really qualify you or train you properly in the field of where you’re working to actually properly handle different cases like this. So with this training from a professional, someone that has the experience, giving their first – basically bird’s eye view of our situation, it helps us properly assess a patient that can be considered a victim of sexual assault, or in the case that we were using, a survivor of sexual assault. It helps us in the management, especially if we get called to court, it helps us to properly answer questions that arise when it comes to our initial contact with the survivor of the event or sexual assault. So I feel like it’s something that was very necessary and It improves my quality of care when I’m faced with this type of situation.”
The issue of redistricting remains in limbo, despite the Belize Peace Movement leading the charge. Last year the B.P.M. issued a consent order, requiring the Elections and Boundaries Commission to submit the recommendations for redistricting. However, this report still has not been submitted. The B.P.M. said that the call for redistricting is urgent as general elections are approaching and redistricting is necessary to meet constitutional standards of equity. Attorney Arthur Saldivar explained why the push for redistricting is of utmost importance.
Arthur Saldivar
Arthur Saldivar, Attorney, BPM Claimants
“The Elections and Boundaries did their exercise. We went into the consent order, and they said that they would dutifully put proposals to the National Assembly that will be consistent with the near equal standard. And of course, what do we expect? Legitimately, we expect it would be near twenty percent or below. We would have been we had arguments and discussions amongst ourselves. If they go fifteen percent that would be fine. But here the elections and boundaries presented us with a thirty-five percent deviation far from what we expected. So we dutifully and rightfully, went to the court in an application to say, listen, this is not right. But we want the court to enforce our rights by from the concept of legitimate expectations. And this is important because if the elections and boundaries is afforded leeway to do to pick any number they want, what will stop them next year from doing redivisioning? And then they’ll pick fifty percent next year or forty percent or say that 60 percent is fine. A person in Fort George can elect a representative to parliament with two thousand five hundred persons. And a person in Belmopan or Belize, Stand Creek West or Belize rural south must It’s not that you must take five times that number to elect one representative. That is not equality. You don’t need any kind of math to do that kind of, uh, calculations. So, it is important that we don’t sit by and allow this to pass. Otherwise, what will stop a less benevolent government, a less benevolent group of people coming into the elections and boundaries to say that. Well, if thirty-five is good, then forty-five is good, then 55 is good, who will stop them? So we say that at this point in time, accepting thirty-five percent deviation will not bring justice to our case because certainly we’re, we’re cut short of the international standard, we’re cut short of the constitutional standard.”
On Wednesday, Robert Lopez, the owner of Hummingbird Group Limited, a furniture manufacturing business, turned to the media to express his grievances with a group he identified as Hill Farming Cooperation. According to Lopez, his employees were met by a group of men from the cooperation drawing survey lines on property in the Maya Mountain Forest Reserve and act which he believes is encroaching on the long-term sustainable forestry license he acquired in 2022. Percival Cho was hired as a consultant by Lopez’s company to ensure adequate compliance with the regulations from the Forest Department. We spoke with Cho to learn more information on the matter.
Percival Cho
Percival Cho, Consultant, Science for Sustainability Ltd.
“So the Maya Mountain Forest Reserve was a reserve declared a few decades ago.It is set aside as a reserve for the production of timber. So it’s it’s the word reserve is used in that context of timber production, right? Reserve in other contexts can also mean a wildlife reserve or a conservation reserve. But in this context, it’s for production of timber. It was amended in 2007. There was about a thousand acres that was dereserved. And this was done by the government. It went through the process. The land was de reserved to provide lots, agricultural lots for villagers around the area. And that went through and so the reserve had a new boundary. So it got a little bit smaller. In 2015, a second de reservation occurred. Again, through following the process through the government. And this was also, the purpose of it was to provide agricultural parcels to nearby communities. And the land that was the reserved was the flatlands, what we call flatlands south of the main my mountain block. So this is flatland. Seemingly it’s good for agriculture, but when you start to look at the soil quality and the, the nutrient levels and so forth in the soil. You realize quickly it’s not the best agricultural soils, but it’s indicative of the time we’re in, where most of the good agricultural soils have been cleared already planted for citrus or other crops. And any new demand for agricultural land would be going into the, what we call hinterlands, up in the lesser quality soils. And that’s what we’re looking at the moment. So it’s a resource constraint.”
Britney Gordon
“To your knowledge, the group that came in and started drawing up survey lines, what portion of it were they looking to section off? And how do you feel that this affects, the license that your client has?”
Percival Cho
“Yeah, so there’s still a portion of flat land available within the reserve. It’s very well stocked with timber on the timber that’s coming out from their sustainable produced. So there’s quite a lot of studies that goes into producing timber in that context. So this isn’t a traditional logging operation where people are going and cut trees. So so it’s well studied. All the trees are counted, and there’s a sustainability analysis that’s carried out to determine exactly how many trees can be cut. And so in this flat area, I think, is where the people who recently went in to look at surveying or parceling off the area. They’re focusing on the flat lands, the remaining flat lands within the reserve. Again, it’s not the best agricultural land and from experience, whenever these de reservations occur, yes, the initial intention is to provide the nearby villages with land, but so it turns out that you get, it’s a land economy we live in, so people sell land, and, wealthier people come in and buy three, four, five, six parcels, and eventually you have these huge farms. Owned by people who were not in the village and then it creates in a situation where people need land again. It’s a repeating revolving situation, and it can only lead to further erosion of the reserve.”
Residents of Cristo Rey Village have been without running water in their homes for at least two weeks because of what they suspect is a problem with an underground pump. Chairman of the village, Wilmer Guerra told News Five that they started experiencing the problem from February and they thought it was an electrical issue in the powerhouse. The problem got worse a couple weeks ago and the village called in Area Representative Alex Balona to assist with solving the problem. Guerra explained that the Ministry of Rural Transformation has conducted an assessment but they have been waiting for the results.
Via Phone: Wilmer Guerra
Via Phone: Wilmer Guerra, Chairman, Cristo Rey Village
“We haven’t been successful in trying to get the system back to how it should be, so the Ministry of Rural Transformation did an assessment last week. But we’re still waiting for the recommendations to see what they will basically recommend or what the recommendation is, then, because at this point, what we’re thinking is either one, that the pump itself has gone bad or that the water well has receded enough that it doesn’t have enough water to pump for the village. But we were still waiting for that recommendation.”
The Area Representative for Cayo Central where Cristo Rey is located has been assisting with providing water to the villagers, according to Chairman Guerra. And this evening, Balona explained to us that he has been getting the water delivered to the village using a bowser, but that the challenge has been reaching some of the residents in the higher elevations. He said that the issue will be resolved by Monday.
Via Phone: Alex Balona
Via Phone: Alex Balona, Area Representative, Cayo Central
“So far we got a secondary opinion and everything seems to be fine with the electrical part of the system, so what we are doing now is tomorrow with the assistance from the Ministry of Rural Transformation, we’ll be extracting the pump to find out what is there with the impellers or the line that feeds from the pump to the tank. So tomorrow we will actually know what is the problem on the line, but everything seems to be fine on the electrical part of it. Now the water board has been pumping every evening and most of the residents are getting their water at early morning. So we just came from out there and we were giving out water to those who didn’t get, but most of the people in the lower sections got water last night. Only the higher areas are the ones that didn’t get their waterWe are hoping that by the end of tomorrow we can give them some good news and we are hoping that everything is back to normal, even the school for Monday.”
The Belize Cancer Center Dangriga and the Belize Cancer Society have once again, collaborated with the New York based organization, InterVol, to host the annual Medical Oncology Mission in Belize. Since the fifteenth of April, a team of four oncologists has been working with doctors and patients in Dangriga and Belize City to offer their services and expertise in the field. News Five’s Britney Gordon visited the Belize Cancer Society today to meet the team and learn more about the mission. Here’s the story.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
Founded in 1989 in Rochester, New York, InterVol is an organization dedicated to providing medical supplies and equipment to developing countries. Each year, the organization collects and ships more than eighty-five tons of equipment to countries in dire need of them. The organization has since expanded to provide healthcare across the world by sending teams of doctors to offer their services. Since 2018, Belize has been one of the countries that InterVol has partnered with for this endeavor. Through the Belize Cancer Society and Belize Cancer Center in Dangriga, InterVol has spent the last several days providing care and assistance for cancer patients in the country.
Dellone Pescascio
Dellone Pescascio, C.E.O., Belize Cancer Center Dangriga
“We have a clinical oncology team from Interval, which is it’s a team of five providers four of which are on oncologist, hematologist. They’re visiting from Rochester, New York, and they’ve been visiting us in Belize since about 2018. The purpose of the mission really is an expansion on the provision of care. Oncology services to those patients in Belize that otherwise, have been diagnosed but just needed to have some provider consultation. And then the other part of that is an establishment of, appropriate treatment plans for these patients that are waiting for treatment. We actually operated this time. Dangriga at the Dangriga Cancer Center. And then this is or on Thursday today, we are operating out of the Belize Cancer Society building to provide those clinical services here.”
Leading the team of oncologists is Doctor Saad Jamshed, who specializes in hematology. He said that this mission is one that he is grateful to be a part of each year so that he can share his knowledge and offer his service to patients with limited access.
Saad Jamshed
Dr. Saad Jamshed, Lead Oncologist
“So it dates back to many years. InterVol is one of the volunteer organizations we have in Rochester Regional Health, and we have been coming here and doing different medical camps since the late 2000s. I got involved in coming to the cancer center in 2018. There was a little bit of a gap during covert traveling was difficult, but coming here and seeing patients has been very rewarding. The team here does a phenomenal job of providing care to patients. It’s difficult. We see the challenges patients face. They in and day out that delays the experience two different barriers that they have of all the way from screening, being able to conduct the testing and being able to afford all the care that they need and to be able to be a cancer survivor takes a lot. both not only in the patient, but on the family and multiple stressors. So the team does a nice job over here and providing care locally because I can imagine otherwise it would be difficult to provide all that care here within Belize itself. Without the Cancer Center and Doctor Grant and Sister Dellone.”
Also on the team were doctors Roxana Vlad-Vonica, a prostate cancer specialist and Vatsana Govind Kirtani, who specializes in breast cancer. They explained that working in a different country can be challenging at times, but it’s worth the effort to meet and assist the patients.
Roxana Vlad-Vonica
Dr. Roxana Vlad-Vonica, Oncology Specialist
“To come here was not so difficult. To be able to provide the care that we are used with in the state to the patients here seems to be more challenging for different reason, again, transportation, funding, distance it’s different, but that’s the reason we are here, because we are trying to narrow the gap as much as we can.”
Vatsana Govind Kirtani
Dr. Vatsana Govind Kirtani, Oncology Specialist
“I will say something I found actually very encouraging that every patient that I’ve seen is actually very involved with their health care. They know a lot about themselves. They know about their medication. We get really good and reliable history, and I think that involvement of community for themselves is the first step and they have it down. So that’s great. And I think we can build from there at this point.”
President of the Belize Cancer Society, Kim Simplis-Barrow, expressed her gratitude TO InterVol for the assistance and joining the Belize Cancer Society and the Belize Cancer Center Dangriga’s initiative to ensure that citizens have access to affordable, quality, and effective, cancer care services.
Kim Simplis Barrow
Kim Simplis Barrow, President, Belize Cancer Society
“For us, it’s still very important to have a collaboration and partnership with the Belize Cancer Society Cancer Center, Dangriga and with Interval. It’s such a great collaboration and partnership there. Today, I think we’re seeing about twenty-one patients just here at the center. They have been here for over the past four days and so in Dangriga, they were seeing patients as well. It is an opportunity that perhaps some of our Belizeans would not have had and it’s always good to get a second opinion and to have a dialogue with professional oncologists.”
Three alleged members of the notorious gang PIV were arrested and remanded to jail after being found in possession of a gun, ammunition, and significant quantities of marijuana and cocaine on Saint George’s Caye. The accused, including alleged PIV co-leader Edwin Flowers, were brought before a Senior Magistrate and faced multiple charges, including firearm possession and drug-related offenses. Despite pleading not guilty, they were denied bail due to the seriousness of the charges.
Full details on News 5 Live tonight at six o’clock.
Mario Lubetkin, Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), engaged in the United Nations’ assessment of countries’ progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals at the “Review of Progress in the Transformation of Food Systems” event.
Held on April 17, 2024, in Santiago, Chile, the event was organized by the United Nations Food Systems Coordination Center (Hub) in partnership with several organizations including the FAO, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), and the World Food Programme (WFP), among others. Lola Castro, WFP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, and Stefanos Fotiou, Director of the UN Food Systems Coordination Center, inaugurated the event. Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Mario Lubetkin participated in the event’s closing ceremony.
National convenors, UN resident coordinators, and representatives from various stakeholders attended the event, which aimed to evaluate countries’ progress in transforming their agrifood systems, foster regional knowledge exchange, and identify emerging trends and solutions in response to the UN Secretary-General’s call to action issued during the UN Food Systems Stocktaking Event (UNFSS+2) in Rome in July 2023.
The event emphasized the importance of creating a collaborative and participatory platform for countries to share best practices and effective strategies in building necessary capacities within the region. Peer-to-peer knowledge exchange was recognized as a vital tool to support the transformation of food systems at both national and sub-regional levels.
UN Deputy Secretary-General and Chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group, Amina Mohammed
UN Deputy Secretary-General and Chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group, Amina Mohammed, stated: “These meetings are critical to shaping our collective vision for more sustainable, equitable, healthy, and resilient food systems and indicate the acceleration we need to achieve the SDGs by 2030. The network of national conveners is growing; it is stronger every day and is the best asset for the food system summit process in implementing all national pathways.
Mario Lubetkin, Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization
In his speech, Mario Lubetkin stated: “We have analyzed how the region has made some progress in reducing hunger and food insecurity figures. Our latest estimates show that three million people no longer suffer from hunger. However, we still face important challenges and gaps linked to agrifood systems, which could hamper our ability to respond.
He added: “In this context, the transformation of agrifood systems becomes an immediate and critical need, a process in which investments and political and development agendas must be aligned to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. We have crossed the halfway mark for the 2030 Agenda, so the need to accelerate our progress is urgent.”
This regional meeting will serve as preparation for future actions, including COP29 in Azerbaijan and COP30 in Brazil, where the food systems transformation agenda is expected to remain high on the climate and sustainable development agenda.
Lubetkin also moderated Table 2: “SDG 2: Zero Hunger” of the Forum of Latin American and Caribbean Countries on Sustainable Development. During his intervention, he said that it is necessary to prioritize policies and programs that really impact food security and nutrition of people, and for this, it is more relevant than ever to strengthen national and regional coordination mechanisms. “The road to food security and nutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean requires continued commitment and concerted action on multiple fronts to ensure the well-being of present and future generations in the region,” he said.
Jamaica’s opposition is calling on the government to implement a social media policy for government officials. This demand stems from the recent online activity of State Minister Alando Terrelonge, which involved the alteration of portraits of former Prime Ministers Portia Simpson Miller and P.J. Patterson at the Jamaican High Commission in London.
The portraits of the former prime ministers associated with the People’s National Party were obscured by Jamaican flag emojis in the background. The portraits of former prime ministers from the Jamaica Labour Party remained untouched.
Nekeisha Burchell, Shadow Minister of Information and Public Communication, denounced Terrelonge’s actions as disloyal, stressing a lack of reverence for the two esteemed leaders who have diligently served the nation. She emphasised that such behaviour not only offended supporters of the former prime ministers but also tarnished Jamaica’s reputation on an international level.
Terrelonge expressed remorse for the now-deleted post. He blamed a former team member who no longer has access to his social media accounts.
