2024-09-09 - Channel 5 Belize

Chico Ramos, A Living Musical Legend

Tonight, all roads lead to the Lord Rhaburn Plaza where renowned Punta Rock artist Chico Ramos is being celebrated as a living legend. The annual concert series is in its third year and the Institute of Creative Arts and NICH have put together a show that promises to be electrifying. Here’s Kim Vasquez, the Director of ICA.

Kim Vasquez, Dir., Institute of Creative Arts

“Tonight, we have the third edition of the Living Legends concert series taking place at the Lord Rhaburn Plaza. If you don’t know where Lord Rhaburn Plaza is, it’s at the Memorial Park behind the stage. This is the third edition; we began the concert series in 2022 with the inauguration of the plaza and the awardee that year was Lord Rhaburn himself. And we did it again last year for Gilharry, they were celebrating their fiftieth anniversary as a band. So once again, we are back with the third edition of the Living Legends series and this year are so excited to be honoring the Godfather of Punta Rock, Chico Ramos.”

Isani Cayetano

“How do you go about the selection of these Living Legends, in terms of to pay homage to them?”

Kim Vasquez

“Okay, so the concert series is coordinated by NICH. It is, you know, under the auspices of the National Celebrations Commission, Chairman, honorable Francis Fonseca. This is something that I think is very much in line with his vision, recognizing artists, cultural workers while they are still among us. And, you know, so far it’s been very organic so far. We had been approached by Shane with whom we have a good relationship here at ICA. Gilharry 7, he said, “Ms. Kim, it’s the band’s fiftieth anniversary, because of the legacy and everything, can we do something?” And I said that would fit perfectly with Living Legends concert series and that’s how we did that one there, a different format. And then, again we started to discuss when we convened the National Celebrations Commission and, you know, the recommendations were brought to us and they said, you know, this is timely, we need to do this for Chico. We want everyone to come out, it’s going to be a spectacular show, there’s a lot of history that’s going to come out, a lot of cultural heritage that’s going to be told, the narrative of his career of Punta Rock. There will be guest performances by Lord Rhaburn himself as well. Chico Ramos will take the stage eventually. There’s Supa G, Kenny Gladden and the New Generation Band, Harrison “Doggy” King. There’s going to be lots of food and drink and entrance is free.”

Celebrating September 10th in Belize City

The National Celebrations Commission is proceeding with an itinerary of events to celebrate Saint George’s Caye Day on Tuesday. Here’s ICA Director Kim Vasquez, once again.

Kim Vasquez, Director, Institute of Creative Arts

“In the morning, we have, of course, the official ceremonies at Government House at nine a.m. I think everybody looks forward to this because a big part of that is the installation of the Queen of the Bay. And then after that, we have festivities right back at Memorial Park and Lord Rhaburn Plaza, we go back out there for bram, hosted by the Belize City Council.”

Cojac Smith Leaving BAA Outcome to God and his Lawyer

Last week, the Belize Athletic Association issued a statement announcing that Cojac Smith and Gregory Meyers would no longer be serving as president and public relations officer, respectively. According to Smith, their removal from the posts was unconstitutional and had no grounds as he believes that proper protocols were not followed. Smith has since sought the legal advice of attorney Glenn Godfrey. We asked Smith for an update on the situation.

Cojac Smith, Belize Athletic Association

“At this point, we, like you said, we got legal counsel from Glenn Godfrey and co company. Other than that, we’re just looking and researching what is our next move as well as discussing with the parent bodies that we are bound to by the constitution as well. And other than that, it’s just trying to remain positive. The work doesn’t stop. If you notice, that’s why we’re here. We have already been working on this initiative with these scholarships. It’s just keeping the positivity amongst the negativity that’s there. We’re just trying to move forward as well as, we’ll just leave that in the lawyers’ hands and have them sort that out. That is no longer a battle that we will entail ourselves in or trying to endeavor. It’s just moving forward and keeping it positive. We do have positivity in terms of the scholarship, As well as we have our wellness day that we’re working on that will be the ending of this month for all athletes of any ages, sorry, between the age of twelve and twenty-three. So it’s just keeping the positivity and showing that we do want development regardless of whatever is happening within the association. It’s a passion of myself and mister Meyers and we’ve spoken about this several times before and we want these to do better. We want these we’re doing a lot of different initiatives to take place and things that have not been done in sports. So that’s what we’re doing right now.”

Britney Gordon

“And what are your hopes for the outcome? After having sought this legal representation?”

Cojac Smith

“I don’t want to disappoint you and not give you an answer but, to be honest, it’s in the lawyer’s hands and I have a strong faith in God. So whoever God sees it fit, that will be whoever it goes. So that’s just basically what I’m looking at it.”

Two Belizean Students off to Jamaica on Athletic Scholarships

Two Belizean youths are off to Jamaica to further their education after receiving athletic scholarships for track and field. They are fifteen-year-old Norman Sutherland and fourteen-year-old Jadeen Williams, who will both be attending Saint Elizabeth Technical High School in Santa Cruz, Jamaica. We spoke with Cojac Smith and Gregory Meyers, who facilitated the application of the athletes.

Gregory Meyers, Scholarship Facilitator

“Mister Smith and I have been working diligently about getting these scholarships for these young men. We started this process collaborating with some coaches and the different principals, Weil and CARIFTA. In Grenada in Easter of this year that conversation developed into where we brought three four coaches from Jamaica here to give a clinic. During that clinic, they were able to meet some of these young athletes. One of them had competed at CARIFTA, Jadeen Williams. And through our collaboration and communication and the things that we’ve done to this point, we were able to secure these scholarships for these young men. And that’s in conjunction with the hold ups with Jamaica. Jamaica had a few changes in their rules, which we had more scholarships, but those scholarships were rescinded because of the change in the rules. Fortunately, through our diligent hard work with and collaboration with these coaches and principals we were able to secure at least two scholarships for these young men”

Britney Gordon

“And what exactly does the scholarship entail? Where will they be studying and what will they receive?”

Gregory Meyers

“Okay, the scholarship is for their tuition and for their books We are working hard to Secure the funding for their room and board Which we’ve reached out and we’ve had a lot of generous benefactors to help us to this point. They will be studying at St. Elizabeth’s Tech with and training under coach Neil Harrison who was here in Belize in June. And they should be leaving within the next week, within the next seven days.”

Cojac Smith, Scholarship Facilitator

“It’s a great step in the right direction in development for these young athletes. One of the things that we’ve been short going forward as a country is the development of our talent. So recognizing that these youths from a young age and seeing that the talent that they have and being able to capitalize on that and giving them the opportunity to go on further their education allows, as well as working with these excellent coaches in Jamaica will bring a sort of notoriety as well as give other students Kids the inspiration to work hard and train as well as you have to remember that these are student athletes, so their grades are exceptional as well. So it’s a great opportunity and we really want to promote this level of positivity within athletics.”

Belize to Deploy Two Soldiers for Haiti Relief Mission

The Ministry of National Defense and Border Security has announced that two senior officers from the Belize Defense Force will be deployed to support Haiti’s restoration efforts and election security. For decades, Haiti has struggled with controlling high levels of gang activity. However, over recent years, it has run rampant, hindering Haiti from conducting an election. Belize has been committed to supporting Haiti’s relief efforts, but due to funding issues, the mission was unable to be enacted. We spoke with Major Roberta Usher, Chief of Staff at the Belize Defense Force for more information on the mission. Here’s more on that.

On the Phone: Major Roberta Usher, Chief of Staff, B.D.F.

“In alignment with the United Nations security council resolution and Belize’s commitment from the foreign affairs, two of our senior officers deployed to Jamaica and will now proceed to Haiti to support the CARICOM joint task force and work staff duties within their headquarters.”

Britney Gordon

“Okay, and initially it seemed that we would be sending a larger fleet and now it’s two soldiers. Can you talk to me about what the roles of these two soldiers will look like in aiding Haiti’s relief?”

Major Roberta Usher

“Yeah, so our senior officers, their officers there will be employed as staff officers on there to combat the carry come joint task force. One will be employed as the operational planner and the mission commander second in command and the. Other officer will work at the company headquarters in order to develop strategic plans and operational plans for the troops on the ground to get everything prepared in the event that we are to deploy a larger contingent from Belize and Jamaica.”

Britney Gordon

“Okay. And it seems that a part of the reason why it has taken such a long time to get this mission really going is because there was some pushback before from other entities. And so what’s really been the trigger to get it going now? Has that been resolved?”

Major Roberta Usher

“I don’t know about resolve, but in order to support a big multinational service and support like this, there are a lot of planning aspects, logistical concerns, which constraints and in order for us to deploy our larger contingent that all has to be resolved, I guess would be the right word. And So these officers are there eyes on the ground to ensure that we have a better picture of what is happening in Haiti before we are to deploy our other soldiers, but we’re planning. We’re planning to support as best as we possibly can.”

San Ignacio Resident Wins $20,000 with Scratch and Win

A San Ignacio resident has won big on a scratch and win ticket with a twenty-thousand-dollar prize. He purchased his ticket from the PK store in San Ignacio. He stopped by our office today to tell us that while this isn’t his first time taking home some cash from the game, it’s the first time he’s received on of this amount.