Belmopan police are investigating a daring drive-by shooting that occurred on Saturday. Surveillance footage shows a white SUV pulling up behind a Mazda Tribute parked in front of T and J store in the Cohune Walk area. Within seconds, a gunman emerged from the SUV’s backseat and fired multiple shots at the Mazda, forcing the occupants to dive for cover. The incident is believed to be related to an ongoing family feud. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but one passenger, Jamal Hyde, was shot in the leg. A.C.P. Hilberto Romero provided more details on the incident.
“On Saturday, the fifth day of April 2025, around twelve fifteen p.m., Belmopan police responded to a shooting in Belmopan. Upon their arrival, they learned. But one person received injuries and had been taken to the hospital for treatment. He was identified as Jamal Hyde, investigation Villa Jamal Hyde was in a Mazda vehicle when an occupant from a suburban vehicle fired several shots towards his vehicle causing the injury to him. There were two other persons in the Mazda but they were not injured. Jamal Hyde has since been treated and released from the hospital. The vehicle involved in the shooting has been recovered, and several persons are in custody pending investigation.”
Reporter
“Are the suspects related to the victim?”
Hilberto Romero
“I’m aware that they are known to each other. That’s all I know.”
Reporter
“What triggered the shooting? Is there a motive?”
Hilberto Romero
“Internal feud with these persons involving Jamal Hyde.”
Reporter
“Is it a feud fueled by revenge?”
Hilberto Romero
“Again, that is all the information we have, they have some feud amongst themselves and that is what led to the shooting.”
Reporter
“Do police believe that Jamal Hyde and his passengers were trailed by the persons in the vehicle?”
Hilberto Romero
“At some point the Suburban came upon the Mazda, because the Mazda had been to several places upon prior to the shooting.”
Reporter
Was it firearm used or did we use Inside recovered?”
Hilberto Romero
“There was a firearm recovered. And again, the investigation is being carried out to determine if it can be linked to the shooting.”
Earlier today, Mayor Pablo Cawich addressed the shocking daylight shooting in Belmopan. He expressed deep concern over the incident, noting how it has left residents feeling alarmed and uneasy. Mayor Cawich reassured everyone that the city council is working hand-in-hand with the Belize Police Department to ensure the Garden City remains safe and secure.
Pablo Cawich
Pablo Cawich, Mayor, Belmopan
“Yes it was very concerning to see that action take place in our city. Belmopan is known for being peaceful city, so twelve or thirteen shots being fired in front of a grocery store in broad daylight is very alarming. We tend to regularly meet with the police department. The department and the council participate in a by monthly prayer session with some pastors and during that session the police usually gives us a briefing of what has happened recently, concerns in the neighborhood and city. So, we will be updated on that but I have not been briefed as yet.”
Several people believed to be gang members from the Iguana Street and Neal Penn Road neighborhoods are now in police custody. This follows a shooting on Iguana Street on Saturday that left a man, a woman, and a child hospitalized. On Sunday afternoon in Belize City, three people, including a twelve-year-old boy, were shot during an attack. Marilyn Richard, fifty-six, Edgar Choc, thirty-six, and the young boy were socializing in front of a home on Iguana Street Extension when two men on a motorcycle showed up. One of the men got off, pulled out a gun, and fired multiple shots, injuring Richard, Choc, and the minor. Luckily, a fourth person managed to escape unharmed. The attackers then fled down Elston Kerr Street. This incident happened close to where twenty-year-old Coby Ledlon was fatally shot last week on Iguana Street. Today, A.C.P. Hilberto Romero suggested the shooting might have been in retaliation for Ledlon’s murder.
“On Sunday, the 6th of April. 2025, around 12:50 p.m., police responded to a shooting on Iguana Street in Belize City. Upon their arrival, they learned that three persons had been shot and taken to the K.H.M.H. for treatment. Edgar, Choc and Marilee Richards received gunshot injuries as well as a twelve-year-old minor. They are presently at the K.H.M.H. receiving treatment, and they are all in stable condition. Investigation reveal that they were sitting in a yard on Iguana Street when a motorcycle came to the area, a person came off the motorcycle and fired several shots towards their direction. We have several persons in custody at this time. Information revealed that a person that was at the yard was the intended target, but he was not shot.”
Reporter
“Is it in any way related to the previous shooting on that street?”
A.C.P. Hilberto Romero
“We have some information that it may be related, so we’re doing follow-up work on it.”
Reporter
“Are police concerned about that area?”
A.C.P. Hilberto Romero
“Yes, it is of concern, so we will do several operations and bring in the persons from those areas to try to prevent any further retaliation.”
Marion Ali
“Mr. Romero how effective are these surveillance cameras in providing information that you need to fight these cases at the court and getting convictions?”
A.C.P. Hilberto Romero
“The cameras are important as we can trace the route the suspects took as well as sometimes we can rely on these images to identify who the suspects are.”
Forty-nine-year-old security officer Ervin Middleton has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a thirteen-year-old girl and has been sent to the Belize Central Prison. High Court Judge Nigel Pilgrim will decide Middleton’s sentence after a mitigation plea on May sixteenth. Middleton was first accused of raping the girl in September 2020 when she was a standard six student. This morning, Middleton, who was out on bail, heard the verdict after the trial concluded in March. “Guilty of rape of a child,” announced Justice Nigel Pilgrim. Middleton appeared shocked by the verdict. The girl, now eighteen, testified in court that she was home alone when Middleton arrived. He asked for a cup of water, and after she gave it to him, he asked her to lie down with him. When she refused, he forced himself on her. Middleton denied the allegations, claiming the girl made up the story out of revenge because he ended his relationship with her mother after discovering they were related. The judge noted that the prosecution proved all the elements of rape. Middleton will be sentenced on May sixteenth.
The Belmopan Market Plaza is buzzing with frustration after vendors were informed that they now need individual trade licenses to operate. Since 2021, vendors have been paying a rental fee to market owner David Zabaneh, who covered a thirty-thousand-dollar blanket trade license. However, that agreement is no longer valid. News Five’s Britney Gordon visited the market today to get more details on the situation.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
It’s less than twenty-four hours before market day at the Belmopan Market Plaza, and things are pretty quiet. A few vendors have set up their stalls, hoping to make some sales, but many are worried they might not be able to keep doing business. Recently, the Belmopan City Council told the vendors they now need individual trade licenses instead of the umbrella license that market owner David Zabaneh had been paying for since 2021.
David Zabaneh
David Zabaneh, Market Owner
“We got granted a trade license in 2021 by the Trade License Board. With that trade license, we entered into a five year MOU with the Belmopan City Council to conduct market day activities. And it was something that was, renewable. So in 2023, we went back to the table because we had some, I’d say not really issues, but the landowner at that time, he really wanted to sell. So being that we already had the commitment to our vendors, we decided, we have to see how we proceed to purchase this property and not let it get in the hand of, any other investor because we’ve had a lot of people showing interest in wanting to buy the property. We’re for our vendors first.”
Zabaneh and the city council worked out a new thirty-year agreement for a group trade license, based on a promise to buy the market property. However, this deal was made with the previous administration under former mayor Sharon Palacio. The current mayor, Pablo Cawich, says the agreement is not valid.
David Zabaneh
“We already made our investments and they want to come in and charge each vendor individually when we already have a blanket trade license agreement. So it’s not, maybe it’s new to them, but it’s nothing that’s unheard of to have ablanket or umbrella trade license. They do this kind of arrangements all over the world. If you want to go check in the commonwealth. You could find that being done. For us, I would say, the fee we pay annually, we would see a huge reduction in that. We’d probably see ninety to ninety-five reduction in that if they come in un charge vendors a trade license. But on our end, we can’t allow that to happen because a lot of times the small business owners they get trampled on by, different administrations and we’re just in a position where we have to protect them and their livelihoods.”
Veronica Barcenas has been selling tacos at the market for over eight years. She shared that the old trade license setup was a huge help for her and many other vendors, making it easier for them to keep their businesses running.
Veronica Barcenas
Veronica Barcenas, Vendor
“I feel very happy here in this place, and I don’t want the City Council to invade our market plaza because I worked with them for many years. At first, it was fine, but later, it seemed like they wanted to do something, I don’t know what, and they took away our selling space. So, we moved here with Mr. Zabaneh at Market Plaza. I know that this place is very nice, and there are a lot of sales of clothes, food, and I am happy about that.”
Zabaneh explains that the city council’s cease and desist order was not shocking, since he has faced several hurdles with the new administration.
David Zabaneh
“In December they the city council, they called us into a meeting and told us their intention. And, we stood our ground saying, hey, we have an MOU have an agreement in place already, probably paying a significant amount of blanket for vendors. And they would just make it difficult, for small business owners to operate. We have a lot of seasonal people. We have a lot of farmers that come in here and they can’t afford to go through the bureaucracy, probably rather just not getting business.”
The cost of a trade license varies based on the business’ size and location. To get one, vendors must first register their businesses and then have them assessed by the city council to determine the fee. Elizabeth Garcia, a fruit and vegetable vendor who has been selling at the market for about four years, is worried she won’t be able to afford both the annual license fee and the rent for her spot in the market.
Elizabeth Garcia
Elizabeth Garcia, Vendor
“ I am a single mom and I don’t understand why since we paid the owner of the markets, we already paid the City Council trade license, so now they want to come in and charge individual. To me, that’s not fair and everything goes up, product doesn’t, the price doesn’t come down and we have to try keep a standard balance for the customers, but business are low right now.”
According to Zabaneh, about three hundred vendors will be impacted by these changes in regulations. The council remains firm that the previous MOU should not have been enacted and has no plans to reinstate it.
David Zabaneh
“For communication wise. I think we’ve reached out a few times. I reached out a couple times over the last week and I’ve had no response, so I don’t think they want to negotiate. I think they’re pretty firm on their position, so I have to be firm on mine and we’re gonna do whatever it takes to protect our vendors.”
Although the vendors at Belmopan Market Plaza are unhappy with the new individual trade license regulation, Mayor Pablo Cawich believes it’s actually in their best interest. He explained that the decision to cancel the Memorandum of Understanding (M.O.U.) between market owner David Zabaneh and the previous city council was due to concerns raised by the Belize Tax Service. According to Cawich, the M.O.U. contradicted the Trade License Act of Belize and shouldn’t have been signed in the first place. He mentioned that the city council reached out to Zabaneh late last year to discuss these issues, but they still haven’t found a solution that works for everyone. Here’s more on that.
Pablo Cawich
Pablo Cawich, Mayor of Belmopan
“This MOU particularly just for us to be clear, was signed in 2021 with Maypr Palacio and it had agreements for a five-year term for a thirty thousand dollars anual trade license fee. I would like to point out that based on historic records that we saw, market stalls market, areas used to generate over three hundred thousand dollars a year for Belmopan, that has now been cut to just thirty thousand. When we started the formal or written communication with Mr. Zabaneh, we got a response in writing as well with a second, MOU attached. We did not have knowledge or any record of this second MOU. This second MOU changes two portions. It changes the term of the MOU, which is now based on the second MOU, thirty years. It also increases the rate to thirty-two thousand a year. At which point I would like to mention that in the previous years, up until now, April, 2025, the maximum funds we have received from the Belmopan Market Plaza are thirty thousand dollars annually in installments. So for now I think we have received their first payment for the 2025 year. And it’s only the first installment, which is a five thousand dollar install.”
We asked Mayor Pablo Cawich if canceling the Memorandum of Understanding between David Zabaneh and former mayor Sharon Palacio was part of a broader effort to reverse her decisions. Recently, Belmopan residents were upset about the retraction of the Innovabel land distribution project. Cawich firmly denied these claims, stating he’s simply following the law. The M.O.U. with Zabaneh also included writing off over one hundred thousand dollars in debts owed by the city council. Cawich addressed whether the council is prepared to handle these costs if the M.O.U. is nullified. Here’s more on that.
Pablo Cawich, Mayor of Belmopan
“I have not focused any at all on the previous mayor’s actions, any of the previous mayor’s actions. We are ensuring that we analyze operations, we analyze documentation, and we move forward with that in mind. Obviously, if irregularities are found, then they need to get dealt with at that point in time. Obviously the land issue was not something that. The city council brought up as a problem. It was individuals who brought it up as an issue to the media. Similarly, this market plaza situation, it is not a case where we are trying to undo anybody’s work. As I stated, clearly it is to legalize the operations. We have taken on many liabilities that previous mayors have committed to. Once proper proof can be provided to the council, if it is a valid statement that Mr. Zabaneh had provided funding to the council, then there should be a record of it. And once the proof is found, we always live up to our liabilities. As is obvious with the amount of work and advancement this develop council has done in the past year.”
On Saturday morning at the ITVET Compound in Belize City, the United Democratic Party held a National Party Council meeting to discuss the future of the opposition party. One of the main topics was the upcoming leadership convention to endorse Tracy Taegar-Panton as the leader of the U.D.P. and to elect a new executive team. Key party members, including Mesopotamia Area Representative Lee Mark Chang, were present. After the meeting, Opposition Leader Tracy Taegar-Panton spoke to the media.
Tracy Taegar-Panton
Tracy Taegar-Panton, Interim Leader, U.D.P.
“I am the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and that is undisputedly the case. I am also the interim party leader. At the convention on October twentieth, we recalled Shyne Barrow and the delegates of the party asked me to serve as interim party leader until after the election when a leadership convention will be convened. Everything will happen in this party in due course. It will happen conscientiously; it will happen constitutionally. I can tell you already a number of new persons who are prepared to step up and support the party, to run for the party, but we are going to do things properly. And, what we will not do is what Shyne Barrow did to this party. We are going to follow the constitution and we are going to take things in due course. In the meantime, I have shown over and over again that I have the ability and the fortitude to move this party forward. I have the ability and the fortitude to make difficult decisions in this party. We will do what serves the best interests of this party, but most importantly we are going to make decisions that serve the best interests of this country.”
Seven people have filed a lawsuit against Attorney General Anthony Sylvester and the Elections and Boundaries Department. They want the court to decide if the current electoral boundaries violate the Constitution of Belize. The case was heard today by Justice Tawanda Hondora, who has reserved his judgment. The defendants argue that this issue was already addressed in 2019 when six of the seven claimants brought a similar case, and it should be dismissed. However, the claimants insist this is a new case because the court has not yet ruled on the constitutionality of the current boundaries. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
This morning, Justice Tawanda Hondora heard arguments in a case brought by seven people against the Attorney General and the Elections and Boundaries Commission. The claimants are asking the court to declare that the current electoral boundaries violate the Constitution of Belize. Senior Counsel Hubert Elrington represented the claimants, stepping in for attorney Sharon Pitts.
Hubert Elrington
Hubert Elrington, Attorney-at-law
“We are saying to the Elections and Boundaries Commission that you have a duty not to hold any old election. Your election must be constitutional and we are going to bring you to the court to compel you to do that if you do not know what your duty is. And, if the attorney general does not know what he should advise you, we are going to bring you, despite his defects and shorting comings. He is the one that should be fighting for us. We were depending on the attorney general to fight for us.”
Meanwhile, the defendants’ attorneys, Senior Counsel Eamon Courtenay and Hector Guerra, have asked the court to prevent all seven claimants from pursuing the case, arguing that it should be dismissed under the principle of res judicata. It prevents a case from being tried again once it has been decided by a competent court. The defendants argue that six of the seven claimants, except for Roody Wade, were claimants in Case Fifty-five of 2019. That case ended with the widely reported redistricting consent order.
Hector Guerra
Hector Guerra, Attorney-at-law
“We presented arguments on two points. We presented arguments that the matter was res judicata, meaning there was a previous case, the Paco Smith case from back in 2019, which addressed similar issues and which six of the seven claimants today was also involved. We advanced arguments to say that this is abusive, this matter has already been decided by the court and in fact a consent order was issued by the court that was agreed to by parties and addressed the very same arguments that are being advanced my the claimants, that is malapportionment.”
The defendants also argued that although Roody Wade wasn’t a claimant in the 2019 case, he shares a mutual interest and relationship with the original claimants.
Hector Guerra
“The simple fact that we are trying to advance, the simple argument that we are trying to make is that Mr. Wade shares a simple interest along with the other claimants. The was aware of the previous claim by way of reading the decision of Justice Nabi. He has advanced evidence by way of affidavits in these proceedings and the relief that was sought in the Paco Smith claim and this claim all surrounds the issue of electoral division.”
The seven claimants argue that neither the 2019 case nor the 2023 case, where they sought to enforce the consent order, resulted in a final decision on whether the current electoral boundaries are constitutional.
Hubert Elrington
“The constitution gives certain powers to the National Assembly, it gives certain powers to the court and to the Cabinet. But it also gives a specific constitutional duty to the elections and boundaries constitution, though shall hold general elections me every five years at the most which are constitutional. The issue as to whether the schedule to the ROPA, the question as to whether the proposal put forward in this purported exercise of its constitutional function of the EBC. That has never come before the law, so it is a new matter. So this idea to strike them out because they are res judicate, they have been heard and dealt with by the court before, is clearly nonsensical.”
Notably, prior to the March twelfth general election, Prime Minister John Briceño committed to seeing the redistricting exercise completed within the next two years. A few days after the election, he doubled down on his initial commitment.
Prime Minister John Briceño
Prime Minister John Briceño, File: Mar 17th, 2025
“I said that before the end of 2026, but I suspect, I am giving myself until the end of 2026 but I am aiming for the end of 2025.”
Based on these remarks, Guerra says the ongoing claim is moot.
Hector Guerra
“So really this entire case is moot, because the constitutionally envisioned process is now in motion. My instructions are that the Elections and Boundaries Commission is fully prepared and on standby, ready, willing and able to carry out whatever duties they are able to do under the constitution.”
The Protected Areas Conservation Trust and the Belize Fund for a Sustainable Future have teamed up to boost funding for Belize’s National Protected Areas System. Today, they signed an important agreement to ensure better and more coordinated financing for the country’s protected areas and natural resources. This partnership will focus on several key areas: raising funds together, creating consistent conservation financing policies, engaging with stakeholders, and working together in international conservation events. They also plan to raise public awareness about conservation through joint campaigns and a National Conservation Summit in 2025.
Orlando Habet
Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development
“Today’s MOU [signing] between PACT and the Belize Fund is a major step towards achieving these goals. It reflects a shared commitment to strengthening conservation efforts, enhancing community engagement and ensuring that Belize’s ecosystems continue to thrive for generations to come. PACT, with nearly thirty years of experience, and the Belize Fund, a bold initiative under our Blue Bond Agreement, have already invested over sixty-four million Belize dollars into conservation. Together, their impact will grow even stronger through collaboration in policy, public awareness, financing, and shared action. The collaboration in national and international forums will continue to build Belize’s identity as a leader in conservation and sustainable development. These partnerships can allow both organizations to reach broader audiences and areas, expanding their impact. Combining the knowledgeof both organizations can lead to more effective and innovative solutions.”
