2024-05-08 - Channel 5 Belize

PM Briceño Talks Electricity with President of Mexico

Prime Minister John Briceño met with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday when several issues were discussed. One of the priority topics during their meeting was the supply of power by CFE Mexico to Belize. As Belizeans are aware, the Belize Electricity Limited has had to undertake numerous load shedding exercises because CFE has indicated that it is unable to supply Belize during its peak hours. This has left many Belizeans across the country in darkness for scheduled periods. According to Prime Minister Briceño he was in Mexico on a medical trip with his wife when he reached out to the President’s office to get a phone call with him. The president’s office arranged for them to meet, and a discussion was had about what can be done to address Belize’s energy crisis. We asked PM Briceño about that meeting when we caught up with him this afternoon in Corozal.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Well first of all I went on a private visit to Mexico but I figured that when I was on my way I would try to get a hold of him and we get along very well so I was hoping to see if he can help us to stop the load shedding in Belize. But I think Mr Mencias rightly pointed out, the seed was planted ten years ago and the previous government did nothing. We have been doing something. We have managed to convince the Saudi to lend us seventy- two million dollars to do a sixty megawatt solar plant. But this us not something you say here is seventy two million dollars, nobody gives that US. There is a whole process and we have been working with them and one of the Saudi company that will be able to come in to build the first twenty. What Mr. Mencias explained to us is that the grid can’t hold sixty megawatts in one spot so we have to break it up in three twenty megawatts plant. The first one is going to be built by Bomba. We expect that will be commissioned by July August of next year. We have been working with the World Bank, borrowing about a hundred million dollars to be able to set up a battery bank. With this battery Bank there is certain times when CFE energy goes to two three cents a kilowatt, around two three o’clock in the morning when there is hardly any use for it so we could buy fortwo or three cents and store it in these battery banks and send it to the grid with the hopes of maintaining the price and hopefully with time to be able to reduce the price.”

CFE to Meet with BEL Reps in Cancun Over Energy Crisis

According to Prime Minister John Briceño, a meeting is scheduled for Saturday in Cancun. There, he, along with representatives from Belize Electricity Limited, will meet with the Mexican President and CFE representatives. PM Briceño further explained that an opportunity now exists for potential investors to supply the country with energy. Here is what he told us.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“We just set up the RFP process. The RFP process 2irh that in place, it has been accepted by the PUC and BEL and also by the MCC. The millinery challenge Cooperation, they are giving us a grant of a hundred and twenty-five million dollars and of that hundred and twenty five million dollars will be invested in energy in impr9ving the technology, the grid and a part of that is going to finance the battery bank that we are talking about. Now that RFP process has been approved by Cabinet. Now anybody that has a good business plan that can show they have access to the technology and funding they can put in their bid to show they can supply energy. But what has happened over the years, we have a lot of people that come and say I want to provide x amount of energy so give me a contract. You can go anywhere with a contract. The bank is going to lend you money because it is sure money. We don’t want people that are going to speculate. With the president what I can say at this moment we had a successful meeting and what he is doing now for Belize is he is going to be in Cancun on Saturday and the President of CFE is going to be there. Every two weeks he takes a firsthand look at the work Tren Maya. He will be arranging a meeting with me and BEL to see what we can do to cut out the black outs.”

Minister Explains Increased B.D.F. Presence Along Rio Hondo

The Belize Defense Force has ramped up its presence along the Rio Hondo River to ward off cartel elements operating along Mexico’s southern border. The Belize Police Department is heading this operation. Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa and Minister of National Defense and Border Security Florencio Marin Junior recently conducted a tour of the security sites along the river. Earlier today, we spoke with Minister Marin who told us more about that visit.

Florencio Marin Jr. , Minister of National Defense

“Well you it has been in the news some time with the increase of cartel activities in the southern Mexican border, that we are concerned of it spilling on the Belize side. Hence the prime minister directed us to be able to work together. Of course this is law enforcement so it is a police led operation under Minister Musa, as his ministry. But it helps us to get a good perspective of what is happening on the ground, the challenges the policemen and soldiers face to be able to do their work effectively.”

Paul Lopez

“What role does the Belize Defense Force play in these joint ventures?”

Florencio Marin Jr.

“The Belize Defense Force are experts in patrolling, and they also have a river training, riverine training, so they bring that to the table. They bring firing support if needed and thankfully it is not needed today.”

Minister Commits to Maintaining Integrity of B.D.F.

And, if there are any questions of whether cartel elements have infiltrated the rank and file of the Belize Defense Force, Minister Marin says he has received no credible reports of such. He says that if any information arises, the matter will be dealt with swiftly. Furthermore, he noted that the B.D.F. undertakes certain measures to prevent such occurrences.

Florencio Marin Jr., Minister of National Defense

“So far I have not heard any such credible report. One of the things we do is, that is why the military is always changing their personnel, brining them from different places to bring some integrity to their work. But if anything would happen, we would like to know so that we can address it.”

Paul Lopez

“How open is Cabinet and your government in ensuring that they have all the resources they need?”

Florencio Marin

“Cabinet is extremely supportive. It is the prime minister who told us to make sure we safe guard the citizens up north with where we are right now, because if they put a foot hold then you know we will be in some problems. We have full support from the Cabinet and the prime minister.”

Paul Lopez

“How confident are you that we are able to hold at bay any potential or real threat?”

Florencio Marin

“It is an international effort and we are in contact with our Mexican counterparts and they as well, because it is affecting them. So they are putting in their proper safe guards and on the civilian side you see it affects business in Chetumal. They want to be able to assure us that Belizeans can continue to go to Chetumal and move around freely. And when they do their part and we do our part we are able to keep it down.”

PM Briceño, “Belize Has Been Fighting Cartel Threats from Day One”

And, during his trip to Mexico, Prime Minister John Briceño also spoke with President Lopez Obrador about border security issues, specifically the reported increase of cartel activities in southern Mexico. He told us how those discussions went, but also noted that the fight is not new to Belize. He says Belize has been tackling these border security issues in the north from day one.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“We spoke about many issues but certainly the issue with the threat from cartels is nothing new to us. We have been dealing with this. When I met Secretary of State Blinken, Secretary of Home Land, the Deputy of the CIA and all of the officials my message had been to them that we need help now that if we did not get help then we are going to have a totally different place. We have to do everything possible to keep out the organized crime from Mexico or the cartels. We do not have the money or the rootlessness they have and what is so ironic to me is that the Leader of the Opposition dares to criticize the government. I remember last year when we did a supplementary budget for about a million dollars to help us boost our presence in the north he was there criticizing that here we are coming for more money and now here he is saying we are not spending enough. I think he needs to get his act together. The point is that we have been fighting this from day one and we have been working on some plan, but this is not something you could invite the NGO and media and say hey this is what we are doing. This is national security.”

Belize’s Chetumal Travel Advisory Lifted

PM Briceño also confirmed that the travel advisory to Chetumal issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been lifted. The prime minister says there is no need for Belizeans to get too flustered over the reports of increased cartel activities in Chetumal. He further stated that Cabinet has also approved plans to make it easier for Mexicans to enter Belize.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“I don’t think we need to get too excited, concerned, of course we have to be concerned, but when I spoke to the president he said what he has done is immediately sent in help from the federal police that have come in and settled down and he expects to be able to keep pressing them so that Chetumal can again be looked at as this peaceful city. All of us love to go to Chetumal, to go watch a movie and shop. But at the same time Cabinet has made it easier for Mexicans to come to Belize. We will provide the passes to them for free. We are going to remove the border tax and charge. We are going to allow them to use their insurance from Mexico to come to Belize. All of this to increase more Mexican tourism into Belize.”

Paul Lopez

“And the travel alert?”

Prime Minister John Briceño

“It has been removed. I think we reacted too quickly. We should not have done it at that time and what we did is that when it was brought to our attention we brought it down immediately.”

Portico Developer, David Gegg

After a few postponements of the Senate Special Select Committee’s hearing, the inquiry resumed today at the National Assembly Building in Belmopan. The morning session presided over questions posed to Sunjay Hotchandani, a real estate businessman who said companies to which he is the director sold lands to Portico Enterprises Limited. We’ll share what Hotchandani had to say later in the newscast, but the brow-raising statements came during the afternoon session, when the developer of Port of Magical Belize, David Gegg, appeared before the panel. Flanked by his legal advisor, Andrew Bennett, Gegg opened up with a statement in which he said that despite his letter of March twenty-sixth to the Committee in which he said he would not appear because he was of the view that the Chair of the Committee was biased, he said he has had a change of heart because he felt that it is time that the facts be shared with the Belizean people. Gegg said that the idea for Portico was conceptualized in 2017.

David Gegg, Developer, Portico Enterprises Ltd.

“On launching Magical Belize in 2017, and after engaging with consultants in Miami and preparing a detailed business plan, I immediately engaged with the then Minister of State and Chair of the CSCI, Mrs. Tracy Panton. The first documented evidence was dated June 16th of 2017. Volumes of correspondence exist in that regard. In addition, there were several meetings with the CSCI in 2018, 2019, and in 2020 at which presentations were made that, among other things, justified our location over the others. These presentations and the supply of information generally were all prior to the signing of the Definitive Agreement. I also met with then Prime Minister Barrow, and it was he who instructed that an MOU be prepared and signed with the Government of Belize. That meeting was arranged by then Senator Duncan, acting as a financial advisor, and was also attended by Mrs. Karen Bevans, the Director of the BTB at that time. The meeting was held in the Whitfield Towers on Coney Drive, where the prime minister then had an office. The MOU, as we all know, was signed in September of 2017 by the then minister of Trade, Economic Development, Petroleum and Investments. Mr. Erwin Contreras and co-signed by Minister John Saldivar. The MOU was non-binding and states that it would be cancelled at any time, but either party without consequence period. There was never any discussion at any time about a cancellation of that MOU, but there were discussions in Cabinet on several occasions about the steps being carried out by Portico according to Erwin Contreras, who I have no doubt will collaborate on this. With our environmental studies in high gear and with the necessary steps being taken to ultimately secure the rights to develop Magical Belize, a team of senior executives from Boscales agreed to visit the country as a meeting had been arranged with then Prime Minister Barrow. That meeting took place on December 12th, 2019 at the Laing Building near to the Municipal airport as requested by the PM. That meeting, also attended by Senator Duncan, letters, plural, were delivered to PM Barrow by a senior Boscales representative. The primary letter was titled Cruise Terminal Magical Belize Equity Commitment Letter Proposal and was dated 3rd December, 2019. That letter indicated that Boscales was prepared to cover the full equity position of the financial requirements of the project. A second letter was also provided to Prime Minister Barrow which featured a list of European bankers providing references for Boscales. The NEAC meeting of August 28th had approved our environmental compliance. I could not believe it. I was over the moon. Please keep in mind that our draft definitive agreement had already been in circulation since June 1st to Ministers Panton and Peyrefitte, as well as to Minister Contreras. My elation was short lived a few days later when there was a suggestion that there may not have been a quorum at the meeting of August 28th. However, in that same meeting of the NEAC of August 28, they had also approved the EIA for the building of the Sartaneha Road, and an Environmental Compliance Plan was quickly prepared and signed. The local media had reported that partial funding for that project would come in the form of $100 million deposit that was to be made to a private New Yorker. account. In early September of 2020 and wanting to ensure that the government representatives understood the financial commitment which Boscales had provided, freshly dated letters to P.M. Barrow with copies to Tracy Panton and Erwin Contreras were delivered to the offices of those persons at their Belmopan locations. I personally delivered those letters. The letters, two different letters, once again contained the equity commitment by Boscaeis and the references from their European bankers. Those letters were, dated September 2nd, 2020, and I delivered them on or about September 4th in Belmopan. Having not heard from NEAC as regard the approval from Minister Panton or anyone else in the progress of the Definitive Agreement, I reached out to Minister Contreras for some guidance on how to proceed. He indicated that he needed to review the situation before he could commit to the DA, as he foresaw the environmental clearance being an issue. I immediately pointed out to him that the Definitive Agreement for Harvest Caye had been signed prior to their receiving environmental clearance. Mr. Minister Contreras said that he would seek advice and get back to me.”

Gegg Says Former PM Barrow and Others Knew About the Portico Project

Gegg said he instructed his attorney, David Morales, to draft up a letter to former PM Dean Barrow and copied to then Ministers Erwin Contreras, Michael Peyrefitte and Tracy Taegar-Panton. When Senator Bevington Cal probed Gegg on the role that former Minister of Economic Development, Erwin Contreras signing the document Definitive Agreement, and the authority he had to do so without further approval, Gegg said he didn’t think Contreras needed any, but he said key persons in the previous government, including the former Prime Minister knew about it.

Bevington Cal, P.U.P. Senator

“I know you said that Prime Minister Barrow – just to track back a bit – that Prime Minister Barrow, Honorable Panton, Erwin Contreras, all of these persons knew about this project that was coming up to the signing of the MOU.

David Gegg, Portico Developer

“That was really the first thing that happened and they knew about it because so many other things happen after the MOU. The MOU was September of 2017 and that kind of paved the way for everything else that happened after that. And Bishop Benguche, by the way the, studies that you might like seeing are all online with the Department of the Environment, but I would be happy to send copies directly to you, if I had the means to do so.”

Senator Bevington Cal

“I’m looking at the signatories to the MOU. I see, and we’re yet to verify these, but I’m sure that, or maybe I should ask the question. Who were the signatories to the MOU?”

David Gegg

“The ones that I remember were myself, of course, Mr. Contreras and Minister Saldivar.”

Senator Bevington Cal

“Mr. Saldivar. And why did Honorable Panton not sign if she was the –“

David Gegg

“Senator, it was my understanding. It is my understanding that Minister Panton did not approve of the government signing an MOU with us and she refused to sign it.”

Immigration Officer Arrested for Shoving Patron

An immigration officer has been arrested for the crime of wounding, after allegedly assaulting a woman at the western border. Allegations are that on Monday; a Belizean national, was travelling through the western border when she began to feel frustrated at the pace the officers were processing her information. After voicing her discontent with Saul Lisbey, the forty-eight-year-old male clerk, who had yet to stamp her passport, he allegedly approached the woman and shoved her, causing her to fall to the ground. Upon hitting her head, she became unconscious and was rushed to the hospital. On Tuesday, she filed a report against Lisbey, and he was arrested today. On Tuesday, before Lisbey’s arrest, we spoke with C.E.O. of Immigration, Tanya Santos, who told News Five that Lisbey was placed on administrative leave while the investigation transpired. Here’s what she had to say.

On The Phone: Tanya Santos, C.E.O., Immigration

“So, I got a report last night that there was an incident, it may have been an altercation between one of my officers, an immigration officer, and a member of the public who was seeking service there at the Western border. I subsequently saw a post on social media about this incident and further inquired from the officer in charge about the situation who then went to investigate. And later on, between last night and this morning, I was able to confirm that yes, indeed, there was an incident involving an immigration officer and a member of the public in which it appears that she was assaulted. And I say appears because that is yet to be determined.”

Briteny Gordon

“Was a report filed against the officer or has there been any reports of her instigating anything?”

Tanya Santos

“Not to my knowledge. I do not know that she has filed a report as yet. I do not think so, but that is a matter for the police. But I can let you know that we at the Ministry of Immigration have already placed that officer on administrative leave while we conduct our investigations further.”

Britney Gordon

“And was there anyone else involved in the incident?”

Tanya Santos

“No, I have seen footage of the incident itself and apart from other members of the public who were there waiting for their turn to get service. There was no other officer, whether they be from immigration or from what management agency or customs was physically present. We do have and we have seen video footage of the incident itself.”

Britney Gordon

“And have you received an update about the state of the woman?”

Tanya Santos

“I don’t know that she has been released from the. I think it was in San Ignacio. I do know that she has some, an injury to her head. I don’t know if it’s been classified as harm or wounding or anything as yet, but an injury. I’d like to assure the Belizean public and the traveling public that this is not behavior that is tolerated by the ministry of immigration, and that we will take every step to ensure that. We deal with this matter fully and if anybody experiences any abuse or mistreatment by immigration officers or any other officers for that matter to please feel free to get in touch with us at the office in Belmopan to look into these matters because we need to ensure that our services are the best to our public.”

“I will not be a part of the clown show.” – Mike Peyrefitte

Former party leader Patrick Faber has written to the chair of the United Democratic Party requesting a special meeting of the central executive committee to address violations that were purportedly committed by Party Leader Shyne Barrow. In his letter, the Collet Area Representative brings to the chairman’s attention that several articles in the U.D.P.’s constitution were breached. Citing a legal paragraph in the constitution, Faber puts forward that the national campaign manager is a member of the central executive committee. Nonetheless, Barrow has wrongly stated that such is not the case, before proceeding to inform that an attempt has been made to replace Juliet Thimbrel as the U.D.P.’s national campaign manager. Furthermore, Faber also says that the election of the chair and vice chair of a special committee for campaign was also not in accordance with the constitution of the party. Those positions are required to be elected by secret ballot, as well as by a majority vote of the central executive committee. Faber writes, “these actions have directly violated our party’s constitutional guidelines and threaten the integrity and democratic principles of the U.D.P”. In response, chairman Mike Peyrefitte has said that he will not convene a central executive meeting and that the only issue that matters at the moment is the upcoming bye-election in Toledo East. He writes, “I will not attempt to waste anybody’s time who is serious about the success of this party and subject them to a CEC meeting where you and the party leader will get into a boxing match. Hell no. Do now what you must at this point, but I will not be a part of the clown show”.