2024-06-26 - Channel 5 Belize

Celebrating Day of Seafarers Onboard Carnival Dream

A delegation of seafarers from various government agencies in Belize celebrated the Day of Seafarers on a Carnival cruise ship. Today, Carnival Dream docked off the coast of Belize City on one of its scheduled visits to give three thousand passengers a taste of Belize. And while they were docked, a group of Belizean seafarers boarded the vessel to celebrate the Day of Seafarers with its crew members. The celebration included a meeting with the captain and his crew members, as well as a tour of the vessel’s fifteen decks to get a closer look at the many services offered on Carnival Dream. News Five’s Paul Lopez joined the team onboard the ship. He filed the following report.

Paul Lopez, Reporting

A seafarer is defined as anyone who is employed to serve aboard any type of marine vessel. Carnival Dream cruise ship is one such vessel. Carnival Dream has more than one thousand, three hundred crew members. On June twenty-fifth, all those crew members were recognized in commemoration of the Day of Seafarers. And today, several Belizean seafarers boarded Carnival Dream off the coast of Belize City to join in on the celebration.

Kenisha Allen, Vice President, WIMAC

“Today we have with us members of the Coastal Zone Management, several government departments, ports and shipping agencies.”

The collaborative celebration was organized by Kenisha Allen, the Vice President of the Women in Maritime Association Belize Chapter. Allen explained that the individuals who work in the maritime sector but are not employed on a marine vessel are still considered seafarers. Allen also highlighted the crucial role of women in the sector.

Kenisha Allen

“For today I would just like to say that our association is motivated to highlighting the crucial role of women as well in maritime and highlight their achievements as they chart their own course. So for all seafarers, especially women, we are working towards a more inclusive and equitable maritime industry.”

The theme for the 2024 Day of Seafarers is “Safety at Sea”. It is something that the captain of Carnival Dream is all too familiar with as he steers more than three thousand, five hundred passengers through the Caribbean Sea to various destinations. He was showered with tokens of appreciation from the many Belizean seafarers that boarded the vessel today.

Zvonko Anic, Captain, Carnival Dream

“Thank you so much on behalf of all the carnival family. We are really honored that you chose us for the seafarters national day. This also gives us the bond with the locals and with you as the authorities. WE are really pleased to come in Belize because I can say for my side, I had the opportunity in the past to go with my wife on two excursions beautiful country. We were on this cave tubing and zipline and all the guests that are coming on this cruise they are looking for Belize as a beautiful country and lots of nice excursions and nice people. I consider all team members on board are seamen because on the end their job leads to the sea and as authorities and agents as well because you are supporting our operation because you are the one making our job and our life easier when we come and have the port calls.”

Today’s activities aboard Carnival Dream included a tour of its fifteen decks, its onboard dining experiences and social lounges, as well as its casinos, theater and balcony. The crew aboard Carnival Dream works around the clock to serve its guests. And today, they gave these seafarers from Belize the V.I.P treatment. Edmond Staine is the Seafarers Manager at IMMARBE.

Edmond Staine, Seafarers Manager, IMMARBE

“This is a very joyous occasion for us to celebrate the day of the seafarers on board the Carnival Dream. It has been a mandate of ours for years now to ensure that whenever the seafarers come to Belize we are able to celebrate with them and show them how we appreciate them. So this was a collaboration between WIMAC and IMMARBE and of course other agencies were along, the coast guard, the fisheries department, a well rounded group that came to show love to Belize and we really appreciate the opportunity to do this on behalf of the government of Belize. We hope that people from the ship and the master appreciate this token because it took a lot for us to put together. We wanted to show them love.”

Kenisha Allen

“We champion safe working conditions. It is so crucial for preventing accidents, preserving lives and maintaining the smooth flow of global commerce. As a member of Women in Maritime, the Belize Chapter, it recently launched in May and we share a responsibility, the forty-two members alongside myself. We promised the launch was just the beginning. We have a bright maritime future and we will keep that promise by any means necessary.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.

Inflation Up by 3.9% in First 5 Months of 2024

Cost of living was up almost four percent in the first five months of this year, compared to the same period in 2023. But it wasn’t as if you didn’t know it. The comments on the talk shows and social media reflect the impact of the prices of grocery items on the pocket. Today, the Statistical Institute of Belize confirmed those comments and gave a breakdown of those figures. News Five’s Marion Ali reports.

Marion Ali, Reporting

The information coming out of the Statistical Institute of Belize today shows that the cost of living for the first five months of this year was up by almost four percent, when compared to the same period last year. Statistician, Melvin Perez provides some details.

Melvin Perez, Statistician, S.I.B.

“Prices increased by 3.9% for the first five months of 2024 when compared to the same period of the year 2023. The main contributor to the overall cumulative inflation rate was the food and non-alcoholic beverages category. Higher prices were seen for food items, restaurant services, home rental costs, personal hygiene products, household cleaning and maintenance products, cultural services, alcoholic beverages and medicine products.”

The Director General of the institute, Diana Castillo-Trejo explained that that the problem is not unique or confined to Belize.

Diana Castillo-Trejo, Director General, S.I.B.

“Your cost of living has to do with how high prices are, like how high in general the level of prices are while your inflation rate talks about whether it’s going up or down and how fast it’s moving. So what we reported today was the inflation rate. What we are seeing in terms of the general trend is that last year there were some very high rates of inflation. It is slowing a bit now, but price levels still remain considerably higher than they were a few years ago because of this high level of inflation that we have been seeing for the past couple of years. And we have been seeing Food prices continue to rise. It is one of the items for which inflation is persistent. And I think that this is not unique to Belize. This is something that countries around the world are facing. However, on the other hand, things like fuel, the rise in prices in fuel has been slowing down and to a certain extent even reversing a bit. And likewise for things like butane where we’ve been seeing small drops in the price there.”

Annia Mejia shared statistics on a labour force survey conducted in April. That exercise revealed that three thousand households were randomly selected across Belize and interviewed on the status of their employment.

Annia Mejia, Statistical Officer, S.I.B.

“In April 2024, the national population was estimated at 409,357 persons. The working age population is estimated at 298,464 persons or 72.9% of the national population. The labour force is comprised of 57.4% of the working age population. The unemployed population makes up 3% of the labour force, while the employed population makes up 97% of the labour force. Within the employed population, 2.5 % of the employed persons makes up the under-employed population.”

The unemployment rate of three percent, according to Diana Castillo-Trejo, is higher than it was a year ago. But many people disagree with this figure that the unemployment rate is so low, so we asked Trejo to explain how they work that out.

Diana Castillo-Trejo

“The unemployment rate actually, if you compared to last April, it is up slightly. We have seen a small increase in the number of unemployed, persons. And if you look at the big picture of what we presented today we also include a lot of information on persons who are not in the labor force. Which that is about 120,000 plus persons who are of working age, but they are not active in the labor force. And of those, about 5,000 are what we would say, they can easily be moved into the labor force. Maybe they are not looking for work right now, but they are available. So we do also report on that. It’s just that the classification is a little bit different because the definition of unemployment includes persons who are actively seeking employment. And actively seeking is a very loose term. It’s a very loose term. If someone has even asked around does anyone know of a job that counts as actively seeking.”

The stats also indicate that total imports for the first five months stood at one point two billion dollars, which represented a fourteen percent increase. Total exports were a hundred and sixty-five point six million dollars, or four-point six percent higher.

On tourism, Statistical Officer, Jacqueline Sabal presented on the Tourism Satellite Account 2019, which involves data about the supply and demand of tourism-related goods and services and summarizes the contribution tourism makes to production and employment.

Jacqueline Sabal, Statistical Officer, S.I.B

“For the year 2019, we have a direct share in tourism industries, Gross Value Added at $343.1 million, the direct share in other industries – $142.2 million, the direct share in taxes less subsidies – $73.6 million, which brings us to a total tourism direct Gross Domestic Product at $558.9 million. Internal tourism consumption totalled $1.1 billion, the tourism direct Gross Domestic Product stood at 11.8% of total G.D.P., the number of establishments in the tourism industry was 2,244, the number of persons employed in the tourism industry was 24,999, and the tourism industry was the second largest contributor to G.D.P. and the largest foreign exchange earner during that year.”

In that same year, the total number of persons employed in the tourism industry was right around twenty-five thousand. Marion Ali for News Five.

ComPol Attends U.N. Conference to Strengthen Law Enforcement Strategies

Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams is on a mission to improve the Belize Police Department. As part of this endeavor, on Tuesday, he traveled to New York to attend a conference hosted by the United Nations which will discuss several law enforcement improvement strategies. We spoke with Williams today to hear what topics will be covered during the conference.

Britney Gordon

“So if you would be able to provide an update about the conference that you’re attending right now?”

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“I’m at the U.N. in New York, attending the United Nations Chief of Police Conference. And the conference is focused on different types of crime. Looking at environmental crime. We also be looking at interviewing and interrogation of suspects. We’ve been looking at gender within law enforcement. We’ll be looking at peacekeeping missions and we’ll be also looking at gang violence, firearm issues. And then we do have some bilateral meetings with different countries where I will see how we can solicit support in the form of training to be able to train our officers back home?”

B.A.A. President Says “No Money Nuh Deh”

An unendorsed letter purportedly written on behalf of a group of concerned athletes, takes up issue with the Belize Athletics Association. The letter criticizes the President of the association, Cojac Smith for not providing the necessary funds for the national track and field team representing Belize at this weekend’s CADICA Senior Championship. The author of the letter states that this has led to a situation where U.S.-based athletes who have never competed in Belize’s national championships but have the financial means are now the primary representatives for Belize at these competitions. It goes on to point out that local athletes who have met the qualifying standards during the 2024 Belize Athletic Association National Championships are left on the wayside because of their inability to pay their own way. The author also asks that the National Olympic Committee take immediate action to address the issue. But today Smith told News Five that this was simply out of his control, and he says the letter is misleading and unfair.

Cojac Smith, President, Belize Athletics Association

“We at the Athletic Association want to encourage athletes and have them participate in these events. However, truth be told, we just don’t have the funding, Marion. We sent the CADICA Junior teams earlier this year, just based on the ministry being able to provide us the entirety of the budget to go to Kadika. However, we’ve been trying from since then to get the funding to send these athletes. We even went through a rigorous selection process where the athletes did compete at the national. And we selected them based on the qualifying standards they met and everything. And we went through the entire process and by the books. However, the truth be told is that we were expecting some funds earmarked that the association normally gets. However, due to some technical difficulties outside of our own hands, we were unable to get the funds and the funds are still delayed. So that’s the reason why we weren’t able to finance the trip for the athletes to go. Now, in terms of the athletes that are local, and the thing is that we look at Belize, regardless of where you’re living, you’re a Belizean regardless. Looking at it from the athletes that we’re not giving the local athletes a chance to represent the country is really not true and unfair. If you look at our Kadika team, Junior that win, majority of them were living in Belize. And we were open and honest with the entire selected athletes that if it is that you can provide the funding with the association, whenever we do get these funds that are pending, we will reimburse you the funding. I don’t think that part of it was on the press release as well, and while it was a short timeline we gave them, we asked the Kadika officials because we were trying to get the funding to send everyone that was selected at the A standard. We literally just came in about two months. So we’re, hitting the ground running and we’re doing our best. several other initiatives as well as trying to gain funding. One of the steps and the directions we’ve been taking is to try and build corporate relationships with different entities and businesses in Belize. However, it’s a new association based on the executive and we’re trying to gain some kind of accountability. So with that being said, we have to get our house in order, for these businesses to feel as though they can put funding in the association.”

Tony Novelo Writes CitCo Claiming Payment

The Belize City Council issued a press release this evening in response to a letter that businessman and former owner of Novelo’s Bus Line, Tony Novelo wrote claiming monies owed to him. In a letter dated June twelfth, Novelo’s cites a court ruling from a 2007 civil suit in which he was awarded monies. He claims that, including interest, the judgment is now worth over four hundred and fifty-nine thousand dollars. And Novelo wants the money in full by June thirtieth. In his letter, he warns Mayor Bernard Wagner that if the Council does not comply with the court order, he will take prompt action. Novelo also claims that he has been seeking an audience with Mayor Wagner for several months to discuss the outstanding judgment and that he has made numerous attempts to have a meeting to discuss a settlement. The Council, in its press release, said that it is in receipt of a correspondence from Novelo regarding the claim and that the Council has since instructed its legal counsel to research the matter at the High Court since it was unaware of the ruling. The Council says it has not been able to find any record of the judgment and that despite requests by its legal counsel for Novelo to provide a copy of the judgment, none has been produced. The council states that once it is satisfied that a debt is owing to Novelo, it will make payments.

Cabinet Endorses International Conventions for Children and Elderly

Belize will accede to three international conventions to strengthen the protection of children and the elderly. The three international conventions are the 2015 Inter-American Convention on Older Persons, the 1996 Convention on Child Protection, and the 2007 Convention on Child Support.

The Government of Belize issued a press release, stating that the decision follows the data from the 2022 census, indicating a significant increase in the elderly population.

The 2007 Convention on Child Support allows for child maintenance to be collected from parents, regardless of location. While the 1996 Convention on Child Protection strengthens cross-border efforts to safeguard children and enforces parental responsibilities.

The Cabinet’s decision will undergo the parliamentary process through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.

“These moves will promote protection across the country and act as another stepping stone on the path to fulfilling Plan Belize.”

Monitoring Two Tropical Disturbances

(2 p.m. update) Meteorologists from the National Hurricane Center in Miami are closely monitoring two disturbances that could potentially develop into tropical cyclones.

Western Caribbean/Southwestern Gulf of Mexico:
The first disturbance is currently a tropical wave sweeping through the central Caribbean Sea at a brisk pace of twenty-five miles per hour. While shower activity remains disorganised, conditions are expected to become more favourable for gradual development over the weekend. There is a possibility that this system could intensify over the western Caribbean Sea or the southwestern Gulf of Mexico.
* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…10 percent.
* Formation chance through 7 days…low…20 percent.

Eastern Tropical Atlantic:
Meanwhile, a second tropical wave located southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands is also under scrutiny. This system is generating scattered showers and thunderstorms and has the potential to strengthen over the next few days. Forecasters indicate that a tropical depression could potentially form in the eastern tropical Atlantic by the end of the week or into the weekend as it moves westward at 15 to 20 mph.
* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 10 percent.
* Formation chance through 7 days…medium…40 percent.

Belize Intensifies Prevention Efforts Against Drug Abuse

As the world commemorates International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, today Belize is emphasizing the importance of investing in prevention efforts against drug abuse. The theme for this year is “The Evidence is Clear: Invest in Prevention.”

In a press release issued today, the National Drug Abuse Control Council (NDACC) under the Ministry of Health and Wellness said that it is “committed to preventing substance misuse through education, research, and community engagement. The goal is to create a nation where individuals and communities thrive, free from the harmful effects of substance misuse.”

The National Drug Abuse Control Council says it stands united with a firm call to prioritize prevention in the fight against substance misuse.

NDACC leads Belize in prevention efforts through school-based initiatives that educate youths on safe decision-making, community outreach promoting healthy environments, parental engagement to strengthen family communication, and ongoing research to refine effective strategies against substance misuse.

Suspect Detained in Shooting of ComPol Williams’ House

Police Commissioner Chester Williams told reporters a few minutes ago that a suspect is in custody following an alarming incident at his house in Belmopan last night. Williams’ house was shot up on Tuesday at approximately 9:19 p.m. While Commissioner Williams was fortunately not present, the brazen attack targeted his home, where his twenty-two-year-old son was at the time.

According to Williams, the suspect was identified after security footage was reviewed by investigators. The shooter was reportedly on a motorcycle. He drove by the house and shot at it from a distance with a.45 calibre firearm.

The suspect is a twenty-one-year-old male from Camalote Village, Cayo District. He is affiliated with one of the gangs in Roaring Creek Village.

The weapon and motorcycle used in the crime were recovered. ComPol Williams has taken security measures to keep his son safe.

Williams described the shooter as a “coward.” He said the shooter wanted to send a message. “If they think I am going to be intimidated, then they have the wrong man.”

Williams left the country on Tuesday to attend the UN Chiefs of Police conference in New York today.

Security Guard Kadeem Babb Fatally Shot Near Police Station Amid State of Emergency

The security guard found murdered this morning in Belize City has been identified. He is Kadeem Babb. Babb’s body was reportedly found in a security booth inside the Sadie Vernon High School compound.

The shooting occurred a stone’s throw away from the Mahogany Street police station.

More details to follow.