In response to Peyrefitte’s criticism, P.U.P. Senator, Christopher Coye explained that the Government of Belize has invested significantly in healthcare and that the results have been subpar. Coye explained that entering into loan agreements with multilaterals like the I.D.B. opens opportunities for analytical support to better understand the relevant needs of the sector.
Christopher Coye, Government Senator
“What we have seen is that Belize has spent quite a bit of money in health care. In terms of comparator Belize has spent more per capita in health care than it’s Caribbean neighbors. But the results have been substantially subpar. That is where we have to look at how we address the specific challenges in the delivery health care services items that have been identified are the challenges in noncommunicable diseases, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, some of the leading causes of death in Belize. Those are some of the areas we can address. But if we don’t understand the problems, we are facing we are like headless chicken. That is where we need to look at where the data is, gain support of these multilateral to do the analysis and then target in an efficient and cost-effective way the use of scarce resources to address these challenges. That is what these loan motions are about.”
The Senate passed a resolution today to extend the state of emergency in specified areas of Belize City and the Cayo District for an additional two months. This extension follows the initial proclamation by the Governor-General on June twenty-fourth, 2024. Recognising the necessity and urgency of maintaining the state of emergency, the Senate resolved to extend the proclamation for a further two months. This extension aims to continue addressing the conditions that warranted the initial declaration. However, the extension did not receive the full support of the Senate. Opposition Senator Michael Peyrefitte expressed scepticism about the effectiveness of the state of emergency, arguing that it would not make any difference if the security forces were demoralized. Church Senator Bishop Moses Benguche called for a comprehensive strategic plan to fight crime, and Government Business Senator Eamon Courtenay defended the state of emergency, stating that it has allowed residents in the targeted areas to enjoy greater safety and freedom.
Michael Peyrefitte
Michael Peyrefitte, Lead Opposition Senator
“No amount of state of emergency will make any difference, and we could extend it for 10 years. It will not make any difference if the security forces are demoralized. You could have a million state of emergency. What you have is a minister of police who is not made for that job. What you have is a minister of home affairs who the gang elements, quite frankly, are, do not possess a healthy fear for. They don’t respect him. So as long as you have that person as the face of your home affairs and face of the police department, they will continue to laugh at the administration. The Prime Minister needs to appoint a proper minister of home affairs to take care of business and to let the criminal elements know that we are not playing any games with them.”
Kevin Herrera
Kevin Herrera, Senator for Private Sector
“I also think that there is a larger issue. That larger issue that government has is to protect the law abiding citizens as priority in this country. And so I imagine that is where we’re going with this motion to request to further extend the time by two months. The culture that these gangs have created Madam President, is one of intimidation and violence. And it has lived significant physical impact on this country, but not only physical. There is also a tremendous psychological effect. People live in fear.”
Bishop Moses Benguche
Bishop Moses Benguche, Senator for Churches
“I want to make a suggestion. That one of the things that must be done in this, in this day and age is to be able to come to come up with a strategic plan in fighting crime. And when I say that, it must not only be the state of emergency, because Madam President, one of the things affecting Belize today, especially in the two areas mentioned, that is the reason I made sure that I mentioned them, both the in Cayo area and that strategic part of the Cayo area and in those strategic places in Belize City is that it is and we will find out that a lot of what is happening in insofar as crime is concerned in those areas, Madam President have to do with turf war insofar as drugs is concerned.”
Eamon Courtenay
Eamon Courtenay, Senator for Gov’t Business
“It is because of the state of emergency in specific targeted area part of Belize and a part of the Cayo District that the good people in those areas are now able to walk freely and enjoy the amenities of life because the guns in those areas have been taken off the street and are incarcerated. In response to Senator Herrera, yes. This was intelligence driven. It was targeted surgical to disrupt a turf war that was taking place. The reduction in crime in those areas is proof that the intelligence was right. And the measure was appropriate.”
Senators today debated the Convention of the Latin American and Caribbean Space Agency (ALCE) Motion. Belize signed the convention on May 7 in Mexico City. The ALCE aims to establish an international organisation to enhance regional cooperation in space technology, research, and exploration. This initiative is expected to benefit Latin America and the Caribbean in areas like agriculture, disaster management, security, oceanography, and urban planning. During the Senate session, Opposition Lead Senator Michael Peyrefitte questioned the government’s decision, citing existing infrastructure challenges and the high costs of space technology. In response, Senator Eamon Courtenay highlighted the benefits of joining ALCE, such as using space and satellite technology for disaster management, agricultural planning, and environmental protection. Here is a portion of the debate.
Michael Peyrefitte, Lead Opposition Senator
“Space? We going do that space? This government, Madam President, can’t even finish one road on the Coastal highway and we sign treaty to go to space and coordinate with satellite. Madam, President from what I’ve read space technology is like the most expensive technology you can get engaged in, right ahead of the oil exploration technology. I would like to hear, Madam President, if I may, from the Minister of State, Senator Coye, exactly how much this will cost us. Because nothing when you hear space cheap. Space expensive. And if you look at the agreement that was signed, when you look at article three, it talks about the financial obligations member states from this convention shall rule after his entry into force for each member state. But what financial obligations? How much will this cost the country every year for this so called space technology?”
Eamon Courtenay
Eamon Courtenay, Senator for Gov’t Business
“The purpose of this existing organization is to use space and satellite technology to harness information to enable people to plan, to enable people to avoid disasters, to prepare for disasters, to collect information on soil, on topography, to understand the forests that we have, to increase our ability to have higher yields in agriculture, in order to protect our forests. There is absolutely no harm in us joining, I’ll say. Benefits will redound to Belize and Belizeans. There is, at this time, no cost to Belize. If cost is going to be incurred, it will be minimal.”
While its members have been individually playing music for decades, the Latin combo that will play your favourite musical Latin hits in San Pedro this weekend have only been playing together for a few days. They will be the main feature for Belize on Latino Night at the 2024 Belize International Music and Food Festival. The two-day show festival will take place at the Saca Chispas Field, and to ensure that their sound is on point, the group has been rehearsing at the Artist Development Centre on King Street in Belize City. Today, the media showed up for day two to listen in and to talk with the band members and those who put it together. News Five’s Marion Ali serves you this week’s edition of Kolcha Tuesday in this report on the Latin Combo.
Marion Ali, Reporting
The Belize International Music and Food Festival is an international show that aims to help sell the Belize tourism product internationally, and on occasions like these, it gives people like our musicians another chance to shine on that level among invited international artists in the hopes of making it big at some other international stage. Sunday, the Latin Combo takes the stage.
Josue Carballo
Josue Carballo, Director, Industry Development, B.T.B
“Sunday, we’re starting off early from 3 to 12, and we’ll be having Punta Rock Legends and the Latin Explosion Combo both on that night. They will actually be entertaining us and we hope know that is all our hope that these combos and then eventually use the Music fest as a platform to then showcase to the world and who knows they’ll be invited in other places as a time goes by.”
The B.T.B.’s Director of Industry Development, Josue Carballo, says the band will be the prelude to the main event on Sunday night. These are the three vocalists who plan to wow you with their singing talents. What they and their band members describe as work was today literally music to our ears.
Philbert Leslie
Philbert Leslie, Vocalist
“We work hard to blend and get the music going together, but yeah, it’s going well.”
Bernadette Gilharry
Bernadette Gilharry, Vocalist
“I just feel excited and I’m proud of being part of the group.”
Roman Canul
Roman Canul, Vocalist
“I started from when I was much younger and right now we’re taking it back into the music again.”
For more mature folks, these tunes are gems, but they are also tunes that most youths are not familiar with because they have been shelved and replaced with modern genres.
Philbert Leslie
“Bringing back music first that has played so many years when they placed it on the table, it was like, a lot of youths haven’t heard it ever. And I think it would be wonderful to let them know the music that was played before and enjoy what the elderly people used to play. They can look out for one of my singles in Mi Barrio. They can look for Miss Bernadette, one of her singles as well.”
Marion Ali
“Which is?”
Bernadette Gilharry
“Vete, vete.”
Philbert Leslie
“And the music from the Professionals that was given to us to rehearse and show the public and the world the kind of music we’re portraying and showing now.”
The whole show will come together through the efforts of people like Al Obando, a seasoned musician who has attended music festivals the world over. We asked him how they get their individual sounds to blend into that one harmonic tune that fans love.
Al Obando
Al Obando, Organizer, Belize Music Project
“This group is made up of members of five different groups. One love band, Mr. Watson group. Lucio and his original generation. And who else? Gilharry, Miss Bernadette, and Mr. Evan, one of the elders from the Gilharry 7 band. He’s been there from 1973, 74, one of them. Each combo has a leader. The leader of the Punta Rock Legends group is Chico Ramos. Carlos, Carlitos, I call him, is the curator for this group. You have Denmark Flores with the Paranda Soul group. And you have James, it’s a James Sanker for the Bruk Dong Roots Combo.”
The songs were carefully selected based on their popularity back in the day, and Al Obando says they hope to take you back to memory lane if you were around then, or delight your soul, if you weren’t here when these songs made the music charts.
Al Obando
“Many of us, all of us actually are happy to be playing these songs. We have never been played before. Like I asked the question, right? How come bands never play these songs from the professional harmonies? What happened? And so when you actually start playing it, we see all the challenges and then we say, man, those guys must have been like sick musicians that where they come from, because even for us to play it and the love back there, he have so many hours playing the saxophone, but you give him a challenge and then everything turned to reality, right, like it’s a serious stuff.”
KTV The Remix Season Six is back tonight at the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts in Belize City. So far, six people have been eliminated and the competition is intensifying. The wheel was spun revealing Latin music as the theme for tonight’s episode. Producer Viannie Reyes says that tonight’s episode will feature some of the greatest Latin hits including those from the Queen of Tejano Music, Selena.
Azain Heredia
“Alright can you run me through what’s going to happen tonight and what’s to be expected?”
Viannie Reyes
Viannie Reyes, KTV Producer
“So tonight is night four of KTV the remix, we sent six people home so far. Last week we had Gospel as the genre, and we had our other guest judge which was, Father Jeremy, he did a phenomenal job. We spun the wheel and we are now at another night of eliminating two people to go home. Tonight, we’re expecting a lot of Latin music. That was the genre that it landed on last week when we spun the wheel, so we’re excited to see a combination of different types of music. So far, we been receiving, I’ll just give you like a small hint, I think Selena is one artist that a lot people do love and enjoy to hear her music, so that’s pretty much one artist we are going to hear a lot from, so we’re excited to see what the others are going to bring to the stage tonight. It’s taking place at the Bliss, it’s going to be a 8:00, but we do ask everybody to purchase their tickets long in advanced, and you can purchase your tickets here at channel 5 on Coney Drive, or you can also purchase it at 88 shopping center, it is available to purchase it there at the Bliss as of 6:00pm, but we do ask everyone to come early due to parking and better seating as well.”
The inaugural Field Epidemiology Training Programme, Frontline-One Health, began on Monday at San Ignacio Community Hospital. The programme, which includes eleven frontline workers from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Belize Agricultural Health Authority (BAHA), the Forest Department, and the Belize Wildlife and Referral Clinic, aims to enhance collaboration across sectors in epidemiological surveillance.
This 12-week course emphasises practical, action-oriented learning, with 20% classroom instruction and 80% field activities. The programme includes three levels of training: frontline, intermediate, and advanced (MSc). Belize’s commitment to field epidemiology training dates back to 2010, with over 100 students already graduating from the program. Eight have completed the advanced MSc level.
Chief Justice Louise Esther Blenman delivered a keynote speech at the inaugural Legal Conference on Criminal Justice Reform. Her address, titled “Advancing the Needham’s Point Declaration: Breaking through the Barriers,” centred on advancing the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). In a press release issued on July 10, the Senior Courts of Belize highlighted that the ongoing conference has engaged in comprehensive discussions and presentations concerning criminal justice reform, “focusing on enhancing the rule of law and ensuring justice is served promptly and fairly.”
Hosted in Georgetown, Guyana, the two-day conference convened over 300 attendees from across the Caribbean, including distinguished figures such as the President of Guyana, His Excellency, Dr. Irfaan Ali, and various judicial heads and legal professionals. The conference focused on advancing collaboration and exchanging best practices among Caribbean legal experts, aligning with the goals of the Needham’s Point Declaration.
The Chief Justice’s keynote address spotlighted Belize’s transformative efforts in criminal justice reform, influenced by the CCJ. Initiatives such as the establishment of the Criminal Justice Board and Sentencing Guidelines Committees were highlighted as pivotal in alleviating case backlogs and enhancing efficiency within Belize’s judicial system.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), with the support of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the Belizean government, launched a four-year project aimed at preserving biodiversity in the Maya Golden Landscape (MGL) of Toledo, Belize. Unveiled at Kiki Witz Resort in Belmopan, the initiative, “Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Belize’s Maya Golden Landscape,” is a joint effort between FAO and Ya’axché Conservation Trust.
The project targets farmers and organised groups from ten stakeholder communities within both protected and communal areas across the MGL. Ya’axché Conservation Trust, a leader in community-based conservation since 1998, will play a vital role in the project’s success. Key elements include developing culturally sensitive action plans for protected areas, enhancing community resource management, and providing gender-responsive training in sustainable agriculture.
CEO of Belize’s Ministry of Sustainable Development and Climate Change, Dr. Kenrick Williams, highlighted the project’s pivotal role in advancing sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. The initiative will be guided by a Project Steering Committee (PSC) and a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), with an 18-month work plan outlining the project’s implementation and future collaboration.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Social Security Board (SSB), Deborah Ruiz, confirmed to News Five that she will no longer remain as CEO. Ruiz, who has served as CEO since August 16, 2022 and previously as acting CEO, told News Five that she will not seek to renew her contract. “Tentatively, my last official day working is August 15th 2024,” Ruiz said.
On May 30, 2024, the SSB issued a vacancy announcement seeking a qualified Executive for the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), “The SSB seeks an exceptional leader who will upload its mission, and values and make a positive impact on the lives of our members through the growth and reform of the Social Security Fund.”
Reports say that Dr. Leroy Almendarez, the current Executive Director of BELTRAIDE, is a frontrunner to replace Ruiz. News Five reached out to Dr Almendarez who told us, ” I am the Executive Director of BELTRAIDE.”
High Court Justice Candace Nanton found 43-year-old Vincente Cerraras guilty of two counts of rape. Cerraras raped a 14-year-old girl twice; on June 27, 2019 and on August 26, 2019.
The verdict was handed down on Monday.
Cerraras is expected to be sentenced on September 11. He is facing a minimum sentence of 12 years for each count.
Cerraras denied the allegations. However, DNA evidence presented by the prosecution implicated him in the crimes. Cerraras was represented by attorney Ronell Gonzalez, while Romey Wade represented the prosecution.
