The unfortunate incident that occurred at the San Ignacio Community Hospital earlier this month made headlines earlier this week when it was revealed that a group of persons stormed the facility where David Galindo was receiving emergency medical treatment. Galindo was shot on the night of June first in Santa Elena Town and he was transported to the hospital in San Ignacio. While there, his family and friends showed up and reportedly made threats to the medical team attending to the wounded man. The incident raised the ire of Cabinet and, earlier today, Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa weighed in on the matter.
Kareem Musa
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
“I have heard two different accounts of that. There is a police version which they are saying that there was another stabbing that had taken place which they had to respond to, and there is the medical professional’s version whereby they were saying that the gang members were banging on the police officers’ vehicle. Now, even if you take into account those two scenarios, I don’t think that it could necessarily be said that they expected, meaning the police officers expected that these individuals would have been so brazen as to try to take over the hospital because that is, in effect, what they tried to do, from the account of the medical professionals. And so, I can’t say that the police officers knew that was going to happen, and if they knew then that would have been negligence on their part. They saw the individuals aggressing doctors, aggressing nurses, then they ought to have stepped in. Absolutely, when this incident occurred, I believe there was only one report that was made, damage to property. Right away, the following day, the individual was charged, taken to the magistrate and fined, as far as I am aware, fifteen hundred dollars. There was no other reports of threats issued to the medical officers and so when that news broke many days later, it wasn’t as though the doctors and nurses had complained to the police that something had happened and the police did not respond. At least that is my understanding of the situation and so when it came to light that instead of going to police, they went to Channel 7 to provide this information, obviously the police had to take very swift action. Cabinet took swift action because this is absolutely out of order for a situation like that to have occurred at a public hospital. Hence the reason Cabinet has issued a very strong condemnation and strong action of going after these individuals and oftentimes we are working out a protocol with the San Ignacio Hospital and then I mentioned to the ComPol that we can’t wait for it to happen again at another hospital and so while it is we are establishing protocol for this one, we might as well try to replicate a similar protocol for all hospitals because it’s completely out of order and we cannot have an incident like this happen again.”
The Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital is at full capacity and according to the Ministry of Health, it is not the only hospital in the country operating under these conditions. Recently, the Surgery and I.C.U. units were at capacity so the hospital sent out an alert, informing district hospitals so that they may manage referrals. We asked K.H.M.H. C.E.O. Chandra Cansino-Nisbet about the situation and she said that this has been the case for several months. Doctor Jorge Polanco, Director of Hospital Services in the Ministry of Health, told us that situations like these are to be expected because of Belize’s population growth and the increase in traffic accidents and violent crimes. However, the ministry is working to alleviate the issue.
On the Phone: Dr. Jorge Polanco
On the Phone: Dr. Jorge Polanco, Director of Hospital Services, Ministry of Health
“This is something that they would usually do to put us at the different other regional hospitals on the alert. And for us to be aware that they would need to be more keen in deciding what patients can be referred to the Karl Heusner for different medical emergencies. The reality is this, the context is that a Karl Heusner, when it was built how many years ago? About, almost thirty years ago, the population of Belize district was practically half the size of what it is right now. Then, apart from that, we have the situation of an increased prevalence of external injuries, road traffic accidents and gun violence. This in itself is a very specific, I would not say burden, but a very specific demand put on Karl Heusner persons with fractures that will be there for many days versus, let us say, a delivery that goes in today and you can discharge tomorrow or two days after. These alerts allow us to, to put more attention at the level of the region, and then that would guide us to decide if we bring in professionals from the private sector to give us a hand to fill those gaps that would be filled. The entire public is aware that plans are to replace the hospital in Belmopan, which has also lived a life. It is very small, the number of beds are limited, and the demand of services have increased. That fact is tied into the plan of replacing that hospital in Belmopan with another hospital, which will not only have secondary care services, but we will begin to phase in a very gradual manner, tertiary care services. So that in itself, on the medium term, will alleviate the issue of Karl Heusner having limited space to provide intensive care services or other tertiary care services. San Ignacio is another hospital that has reached its limit when it comes to the capacity to hold patient there and observation. So that’s another area that we need to look at.”
On Thursday, we told you about a nursing dog that was shot by a police officer on Supal Street in Belize City. Brendalee Riverol, the owner of the dog says three officers visited their home on Wednesday evening seeking the whereabouts of her son for an ongoing investigation, but instead found her family pet and its litter of puppies. The officer claims that the dog was aggressive in nature and in fear for his safety fired a shot, injuring the animal. We spoke with Minister of Home Affairs, Kareem Musa and Commissioner of Police Chester Williams who told us that the injury to the animal is unacceptable. Here is News Fives Britney Gordon with that report.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
On Wednesday, a family witnessed their beloved family pet, a mother of ten two-week old puppies, become severely wounded after a police officer shot her during a search of the pet owner’s home. The officer claims that the dog was aggressive, and he simply acted out of fear for his safety; however, Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, says his actions are unacceptable.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“Well upon the thing happening the same night in question I was called by the family and was given information I put them on to mister Romero and direct that the complaint be taken. I know the police PSB have taken a complaint and so the matter is going to be dealt with by a professional standard branch. Certainly the actions of the police is not one that we are going to condone. We don’t think that he ought to have used the amount of force that he used on that dog. And yes There were reasons for the police to be there, but the amount of force the police used, we believe, was not justified. And so that’s a matter PSB is going to be dealing with.”
Paul Lopez
“There’s protocols in place for dealing in situations like this?”
Chester Williams
“Well, I think that the warning that the ladies actually gave the police was a good one. The police are to have taken precautions and not go in the area considering what was said to them. So when they still went to the area and eventually used lethal force against the dog, that cannot be countenance, no”
We also spoke to vet technician Ingrid Lima, of the SAGA Humane Society, who told us that nursing dogs tend to exhibit aggression to protect their litter.
Ingrid Lima
Ingrid Lima, Vet Technician, SAGA Humane Society
“Let’s talk about a dog that recently have a babies, right? Most mom has recently give birth. They acting a little differently. Don’t worry, it’s normal many mothers that display behavioral change after giving birth and those can range from mild to extreme and that is natural behavior in a mom dog, so some are, they are protecting the babies and sometimes they’re just for natural behavior, they’re just acting, in defense of the babies. The trick is understanding how to deal with the changes and caring for your pet in the meantime.”
Lima advised that in scenarios such as these, those unknown to the animal should heed warnings and stay away from the animal.
Ingrid Lima
“If the mom is, doesn’t know this person, I will give you an advice like go and talk in a common voice and give the mom space. That’s very important. If you know that this mom have her body, give you, normally a dog give you like a warning. That’s very important. They not just attack just because they want to attack. So if you not the owner or you are a person the dog doesn’t know you, give the dog a chance. space, talk to the dog in a calm voice. Don’t go or don’t go to the area that the dogs know that they’re gonna defend the puppies. They’re gonna defend the babies. They’re acting by instinct.”
Minister of Home Affairs, Kareem Musa said that the use of a lethal weapon on an animal is not the protocol for situations like these. He said that they have advised the family affected to make a report to the Professional Standards Branch.
Kareem Musa
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
“I spoke with the commissioner about that because I saw it on social media as well. What the commissioner is saying is that he has encouraged the family that owns the dog to make a report to Professional Standards Branch. I’m fairly certain the officer is saying that he felt under threat From the dog. Pit bulls are considered aggressive in nature, especially ones that is nursing. And so you’d have to look at or assess the degree of aggression. Was the dog coming after the officer or was it just standing in place barking? What prompted the officer to take that additional step of pulling out his service weapon and firing a shot? Very regrettable circumstances all around. But definitely that is something that’s going to require an investigation from professional standards branch.”
It was in May that the People’s Constitutional Commission asked the government for an extension to complete its work and this week, the Cabinet approved that request. Cabinet granted the six-month extension, which now extends the Commission’s mandate from May fifteenth to November fourteenth. This should give the body sufficient time to properly complete its work. The P.C.C has been meeting and holding consultations since it was formulated on November twenty-fourth, 2022. It is tasked with conducting a comprehensive review of the Belize Constitution and carry out an educational campaign, countrywide consultations and create and maintain a record of the views and opinions shared during the period of its work. The Commission is expected to produce a final report with details of its findings and that will be presented to the Prime Minister.
The citrus industry has endured one of its most challenging periods since it was established over a hundred years ago. One agriculture official shared his thoughts with News Five that while the industry may not return to its glory days when it was one of Belize’s highest revenue earners, it is not going to die. Hugh O’Brien, who is the Program Officer for Citrus Diversification for the Ministry of Agriculture says that coupled with other problems in the past, one major challenge at the end of the last decade was citrus greening. But slowly, citrus is starting to perform better now than recent years.
Hugh O’Brien
Hugh O’Brien, Program Officer, Citrus Diversification, Min. of Agric.
“We’re going through a phase where Belize was hit hard by citrus greening back in 2009 and 2010 somewhere around there, and citrus greening had its impact slowly and our industry really started going downhill around 2013 or so. And production has been going down ever since. Last year was our worst year of production ever in a long, time, probably in about 50 or so years. Last year we did at the factory just over 300,000 boxes of oranges and grapefruit represents.”
Marion Ali
“How much of the best days?”
Hugh O’Brien
“Oh the best years we were at eight million boxes, so that’s about one third of a million boxes, so it’s one-twentieth of our previous production. Now suffice me to say, though that despite the fact that CPBL received 300,000 plus boxes, 323 if I remember exactly, or 330, both grapefruit and oranges, a new plant, Silk Grass Plant, began operation and they themselves received 40,000 boxes. So that’s the 330 plus 40 is 370. And then on the local market, we easily consume about 30 or 40, 000 boxes, so it takes us to about 400 and then Guatemala in particular, the trucks are passing because they don’t have any oranges. So all the orange juice that you drink in Melchor and Flores, at all of these resorts, is all coming from Belize’s oranges.”
The MoRe Campaign is making waves across the country, highlighting institutions that go above and beyond for their students. We’ve traveled to every corner of Belize to tell the stories of deserving schools and students. This week, we visited the Itz’At Academy right here in Belize City. Despite opening its doors only a year ago, the school embodies the essence of the MoRe Campaign across all pillars defined by the Ministry of Education. Sabreena Daly stopped by to see what the STEAM Academy is achieving under the pillar of Creativity and Innovation, and if you know anything about Itz’At, STEAM is indeed where it’s at. Here’s that story.
Sabreena Daly, Reporting
They call it the Maker Space, a place where ideas transform into reality. In this room, first-form students engage in activities ranging from coding for robotics and woodworking to 3D printing. Lionel Palacio, the Key Learning Area teacher at Itz’At Academy, oversees this innovative space, with a particular focus on Digital Art.
Lionel Palacio
Lionel Palacio, Key Learning Area Teacher, Itz’At Steam Academy
“So, the class we are currently in right now is called Maker and Maker allows the students to tinker with the different types of tools and skills and produce tangible stuff.”
Students are busy creating a logo for a business. Palacio explains that the curriculum provides an integrated learning experience, where each subject seamlessly connects with others.
Lionel Palacio
“Most of our subjects or courses are connected. Students work on their digital art logo. So this cycle is called Promote It. And they would create a logo in Digital Art, which is a separate subject, but that very logo, they had to do research on their favorite logo. Once they have learned that, they start to tinker and design their own logo according to their passion. So the objective was what is your passion? Okay. Maybe your one is food. So what type of food? And so you think about maybe you could create a business. Now you need to create a face for a business, which is a logo.”
Thirteen-year-old Jayzden Nembhard proudly shows us her project—a logo for her business, “Learn Together.” Her idea aims to engage students interested in the same subjects she is studying.
Jayzden Nembhard
Jayzden Nembhard, Student, Itz’At Academy
“My idea was that I wanted to have a company that could help students coming into high schools like ours that is basically technology based to learn more about technology. So I think in my company, I would teach about the basics of technology, like for students who came from primary schools that don’t use computers, that they could learn before they come to high school, maybe like a summer program or something like that.”
Lionel Palacio
“So what they’re doing now, they’re solving on their own, which of these machines will best illustrate their logo. And today is going to be like a test run. So if you’re going to run it on the vinyl, It might not come out so good until you go back and iterate. Maybe there’s something that is clogging. Maybe you need to reduce some tone or color or something until you would have done that. So, they’re basically going to test it on whatever machine they want.”
Itz’At Academy exemplifies what competency-based learning can achieve when students are given the opportunity to be critical thinkers and problem solvers.
Lionel Palacio
“The reason I’m here is because education is different. It is the future. It is having students have access to state of the art machines, having access to new information, having access to how to become entrepreneurs, autonomous thinkers. And the typical high school can only do that to a limit. An example of this is that we teach them how to research, allowing them to gather these tools and skills on how to do research. It’s a gateway for them to further their education and also become lifelong learners. And so if we’re looking at competency based learning, it is more of what the student can do with knowledge and skill and present it in a way that is original–authentic. It’s not like a guided activity where everybody’s producing the same thing. So, it aligns in terms of having our students be competent in what they’re doing.”
Competency-based learning is also evident in their creative and innovative approach to education. In this class, students engage in collaborative projects and demonstrate digital literacy.
Lionel Palacio
“What we do here is students are allowed their phone, of course with a license. The license allows them to know how to use their phone. They agree to use a phone. So we teach them how to use their devices properly for productivity. And we introduce softwares to them. Instead of using paper, they use their Chrome books to document their work, to save their work. So because we’re getting to a digitized world, allowing the students to be comfortable with that aspect makes it very easy for them to put things in and bring things out.”
Christine Coc, the vice principal of the institution, oversees a cohort of sixty-four students. The Ministry of Education’s four-point scale guides their progress.
Christine Coc
Christine Coc, Vice Principal, Itz’At Academy
“We use the four point scale that the ministry has. You have emerging, developing, achieving, and mastery. And so what we do is we say when you start off and you have never used a laser cutter before, you might be at emerging, so you will know some of the information, but as we start to teach, when you start to practice, then you start moving up the levels that eventually you don’t need a teacher’s help. You have now mastered how to use the machines. And so for us, that’s what competency is all about. Are you able to do the work?”
Elroy Tucker Jr. eagerly shares his prototype and concept with us. Displayed on the screen, he describes a coded animation that, once refined, could support his business idea for an animated game, centered around a character with a personality disorder.
Elroy Tucker Jr.
Elroy Tucker Jr. , Student, Itz’At Steam Academy
“My logo is mainly representing the people who have a special disorder called Dissociative Personality Disorder. So my initial idea was to make a video game about it where you would interact with the world with different personalities inside of one singular host. And it was a really interesting concept to think about. I hope that I can use this same logo when I make the game in the future.”
Interacting with students at the STEAM academy reveals a bright future for Belize when forward-thinking education is embraced. Coc’s goal is to equip students with skill sets that make them highly desirable to employers or capable of creating their own businesses.
Christine Coc
“For me, when I see them, my vision of them walking down that stage is for them to be proud and say, Yeah, I got my diploma today and tomorrow I already have a job. Or I don’t have a job with somebody, but I can make my own business because I can design stickers. I can design logos. You give me a sketch, I can draw it for you. And so for me, that is the vision that I have for an Itz’At student.”
Police Commissioner Chester Williams was in Santa Cruz Village, Stann Creek, today following a disturbing video of a group of boys bullying and later physically assaulting Jose Daniel Amador.
The video, which went viral, enraged the public, with many calling for the bullies to be criminally charged. ComPol Williams later provided an update, saying, “An official report had been lodged with the police, and the boys doing the bullying are in custody.”
In an interview with News Five, Williams explained that he sought to conduct an intervention after a woman posted a video on Thursday night showing that Amador’s family was being threatened by the family of one of the bullies.
Police Commissioner Chester Williams
When asked for his thoughts regarding the department’s swift actions, Amador said, “I feel good, and that is good for the country and for the world so that bullies can stop.” He said that his parents taught him to ignore bullies. He said he preferred to leave the matter in the hands of the police. Amador said he knew the bullies were videoing the incident.
He said that videoing their acts was the worst decision they made because it proved what they did. Amador says this is the second time that he has been bullied by the group of boys.
Williams told News Five that he will ask the court to order the bullies to visit the Belize Central Prison to learn what prison is about. “So that they understand if they continue the lifestyle that they are having in terms of bullying people, where they might end up.” Williams will also ask the court to order that the boys be the faces of an anti-bullying campaign.
Oscar Selgado was slapped with a ten-year sentence by High Court Justice Nigel Pilgrim. The sentence is to run as of March 8th, 2024. Justice Pilgrim said, “”No sacred cows and no one is above the law.”
In early March, the High Court found the fifty-four-year-old attorney guilty of abetment to commit murder. Selgado had attempted to hire gang member Giovanni Ramirez to carry out the murder of Marilyn Barnes, who had made a complaint to the General Legal Counsel against Selgado for unethical behavior. Ramirez was the prosecution’s main witness, and in his ruling, Justice Pilgrim determined that Ramirez’s evidence was truthful and reliable.
This is the first time that apracticing attorney has been convicted of such a crime. During the trial, Selgado was represented by Adolph Lucas Sr. Selgado has been on remand since being charged.
In May, Selgado’s new attorney, Arthur Saldivar, advocated for a non-custodial sentence for his client. Selgado’s diabetic condition was a central topic of discussion in court. Reports indicate that his health has worsened in Belize Central Prison due to inadequate nutrition and the lack of a full-time doctor. The High Court considered these concerns, with several witnesses, including a medical professional and Virgilio Murillo, the CEO of the Belize Central Prison, called to testify.
Police in Belize City are investigating a murder that occurred last night on St. Joseph Street. The victim has been identified as sixty-seven-year-old Griffith McNaughton Cadle. Reports indicate that Cadle was fatally stabbed.
Cadle was in the company of a man believed to be his killer. They were seen walking towards Baymen Avenue and then onto Nurse Seay Street when Cadle was stabbed.
Investigators found a knife believed to be the murder weapon at the scene.
One of Griffith’s neighbours described Cadle as a humble and mannerly man. She told News Five that she was shocked when she learned that Cadle had been murdered.
Calaney Flowers, the woman who was initially charged with the murder of twenty-nine-year-old Lyndon Morrison, pleaded guilty to manslaughter today. Flowers was also charged with the attempted murder of Morrison’s girlfriend, Sochyl Sosa.
The incident happened in August 2012. Flowers ran over Morrison on Freetown Road in Belize City. After spending years in pretrial detention at the Belize Central Prison, Flowers was acquitted of the charges. However, the Director of Public Prosecutions successfully appealed the acquittal, leading to a retrial today.
In a dramatic turn of events, Flowers, now thirty-seven and an entrepreneur, took a plea bargain, pleading guilty to manslaughter. She was sentenced to 10 years but was released from jail after Justice Sylvester credited her with five years for time already served and suspended the remaining five years. Justice Sylvester considered both aggravating and mitigating factors in the case and concluded that Flowers, after 12 years in the criminal justice system, was unlikely to reoffend.
