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Three Belizean resorts voted tops in region
If anyone thought that Belize’s steady growth as a top tier tourism destination was beginning to level off, they better think again. The results of one of the world’s most prestigious rankings of global resorts are in and according to that poll, three of the best resorts in Central and South America are found right here in Belize. Taking first place honours is the Lodge at Chaa Creek, while Blancaneaux Lodge ranked fourth and San Pedro’s Victoria House took the eighth spot. The rankings are put together by the magazine Conde Nast Traveler and are based on the replies of over twenty-eight thousand readers who filled out a detailed questionnaire covering a wide range of criteria. Chaa Creek began operations in 1981 as a working farm with a single thatched roof guest cottage and outdoor plumbing. Today, after a quarter century of hard work under the direction of Mick and Lucy Fleming, the three hundred and sixty-five acre private reserve along the Macal River boasts twenty-three luxury cottages, full service spa, natural history centre, butterfly farm, horseback riding, and miles of nature trails. The Conde Nast rankings are by region and include separate lists for the Caribbean, Mexico, and Hawaii. In the South and Central American ratings, Costa Rica joined Belize with three properties in the top ten, while Chile had two.
Agreement reached on new western border fees
After much negotiation, government officials and the business community have come to agreement over new fees to be implemented at the Western border. Overnight parking has now been set at fifteen dollars for small vehicles and thirty for container trucks and buses, down from the initial twenty and forty dollars imposed by B.M.A. To use the ramp at the border, pickup trucks will pay twenty bucks, trucks fifty and all containers, seventy-five, with the only reduction being a twenty-five dollar drop for the containers. But those points were apparently the easy ones as the biggest quarrel was over the parking fees for importers. According to chief executive officer of the Belize Chamber of Commerce, today they successfully argued that the new rates should be ten dollars for productive sector inputs like cement, steel, feed and fertilizer and twenty dollars for everything else. Herrera says G.O.B. has agreed that the productive sector needs special consideration.
Kevin Herrera, Chief Executive Officer, Belize Chamber of Commerce “That sector needs to stay competitive so that in order to compete with importers coming in and also on the world market. As you know the world market is a tough market and they don’t really care whether you’re domestic costs are going up or not. Those prices are set by the larger players and we are certainly not one of the large players. So I think it was a good compromise. We were hoping to get it further down but in the give and take of negotiations that is what we ended up with.”
Janelle Chanona
“Mr. Herrera do you think this opens the doors for importers and truckers using the northern border to say look we’ve been paying fees all along we want them removed too because we are working under the same conditions?”
Kevin Herrera “That would have to be something that is addressed if it comes up Janelle. We have not really discussed it yet but I don’t know. I can’t tell if it will come up, I really can’t.”
Janelle Chanona
“There is some concern that this way of bringing this discussion to the negotiation table is questionable in that you brought commercial traffic to a halt. Is this a good way of doing business?”
Kevin Herrera “Conversely I think this way of implementing new fees goes against the grain of consultation and democracy. Hopefully in the future, government and these agencies, before they think about increasing the fees will come and have a discussion and we talk about it and they give their perspective and we give ours and hopefully we could come to an agreement before it gets down to this so I’m hoping this will be a lesson to all of us.”
The new fees at the Western Border will take effect on Monday.
15 students awarded medical scholarships in Cuba
The government of Cuba has awarded fifteen scholarships to Belizeans to study medicine in that country. The students were selected from thirty applicants by officials of the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Embassy of Cuba in Belize. They will take up their studies at the Rafael Perro School of Medicine in Pinar del Rio. The scholarship recipients are Shantel Pakeman, Irbin Segura and Tamarie Rocke from Belize City; Lydia Cruz of Esperanza; Jose Can and Josimar Cantun from Orange Walk; Jose Antonio Galvez, Danny Yacab, and Armelle Gillet from San Ignacio; Abigail Joseph of Cotton Tree Village; Candy Azueta from Georgeville; Corozal’s Ulysses Bautista and Isaac Gongora; Roni Zul from Hopeville; and Ismar Tun of San Narciso. A total of forty-eight university level scholarships have been granted by Cuba to Belizeans this year.
Rescue efforts preparing for grim realities
There is little new to report in the case of the six fishermen still missing at sea, and as News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports, the cold reality is we may never know exactly what happened.
Audrey Matura Shepherd, Family Spokesperson “I could confidently say that they are at the stage where they are not giving up however they are realizing that at some point they would have to come to terms with the fact that there has to be a cut off time.”
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
And according to both authorities and the families, this Saturday will be the final big thrust in the search for six of the seven men who disappeared on November fourth.
Commandant Cedric Borland, Belize National Coast Guard “We have scaled down a bit but they still believe that they are out there. We don’t know what we can find out there but we are making an effort again on Saturday. I have spoken with the Commander B.D.F. and the Commissioner of Police and we’ll be getting their support and I believe this is going to have some conclusion to this search and rescue mission that we’ve been working on.”
The reality of that statement will hit the families of the missing hard.
Audrey Matura Shepherd “They [are] really in limbo, imagine they have to come to terms that they may never find these people. They would have to in their minds resolve that they could be dead which would be very difficult because in their heart they’ll always feel that they are out there and they’ll come home any time now and they’ll have to find a way to move on with their lives and it’s so difficult for them, you can’t imagine.”
“One of the things that’s been bothering the family is that we know there have been photographs of Mr. Swift’s body in the water taken on the day, I think it was Saturday, and those have since been circulated and we find that is in very poor taste.”
Today spokesperson Audrey Matura Shepherd told us their scenarios as to what may have happened to the men have been narrowed down to two theories.
Audrey Matura Shepherd “It could genuinely be an accident, however we still want to find more evidence of that accident. They have combed the waters for the missing engine and they can’t find it so they know that’s a possibility. However, after the post mortem, they realize there is also still the possibility that it could be foul play; it’s just that again, we don’t have enough evidence definitely to say that it is foul play or not.”
The massive, and costly, search and rescue effort over the last ten days has been jointly coordinated and carried out by the Belize Defence Force, the Coast Guard and the Police Department. Today authorities stressed that there are lessons to be learnt from this national tragedy.
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Gillett, Commander, Belize Defence Force “I think people need to heed the warnings from the weather bureau in terms of the sea state, people need to heed the warning to always wear life jackets and also to keep communication systems on their boats and also to raise the alarm as quickly as possible. We cannot start to do anything until we hear that people are missing.”
Tonight News Five understands that if no new evidence is discovered this weekend, the families will plan a memorial service next week for their loved ones.
Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona.
We have also been informed that next week Thursday there will be a special sitting of the Supreme Court in Belize City to pay tribute to Magistrate Richard Swift.
Employee wounded in robbery of Ladyville shop
Earlier this week in reporting on the double murder of Said and Daniel Sewell in Ladyville we referred to that village as a quiet sort of place. Actually the record show it’s not, and last night another incident proved the point. News Five’s Marion Ali has the details.
Marion Ali, Reporting
It was not business as usual today for forty-three year old Gung Han Lu, owner of Everyday Supermarket at mile thirteen on the Northern Highway. Sometime after eight-thirty last night three thugs held up Gung, two of his workers and a customer inside the store. One was armed with a gun, another with a knife, and the third carried a black bag. The men ransacked the place, stole three thousand dollars in cash and fifteen hundred dollars in phone cards. They also shot one of the shop assistants.
When we visited the scene this morning, the bloodstains where Kim Fu Zhen fell after being shot were still on the floor. Tonight, Kim is in the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital with bullet wounds to his left shoulder, abdomen, and left leg. The men who shot him also left behind this black knapsack on the counter. Shop assistant Yesenia Duran says they caught her by surprise.
Yesenia Duran, Shop Assistant “I mi di watch movie with them when I turn my face back they grab me.”
Marion Ali
“So your back was to the door?”
Yesenia Duran “Aha. My back was to the door.”
Marion Ali
“How these men looked?”
Yesenia Duran “I don’t know. They didn’t have any mask or anything, just like that they come in.“
Duran said she thought the men were just going to rob them and leave, but the shooting of her co-worker was totally out of line.
Yesenia Duran “He mi di cook. Nothing else he mi di do and they shot him for nothing, when they done mi di go they shot him and they lock the door fi mek none ah we come out and when the Chinese man stand up grab his and when we come outside nobody mi deh outside. Deh mi done gone.”
Although Gung Han Lu has a licensed firearm, he did not have it on him when the attack occurred. The thieves also stomped him in the face during the assault, injuring his nose. Police had detained two people for questioning but they have since been released. Duran says she believes the robbers were not from the immediate area because it was the first time she had seen their faces.
Marion Ali reporting for News Five.
Two wounded in city shooting remain silent
Two men are lucky to be alive tonight after they were shot as they stood at the corner of Victoria Street and New Road in Belize City. Police say Michael Hemmans and Ken Gough, both twenty-six, were in front of an internet café at the intersection sometime around nine last night when they heard gunshots ring out. The men discovered that they were the targets as Hemmans was shot in the right foot and Gough in his left foot. The victims say all they saw was a guy wearing a cap pass by after the shooting. They were taken for treatment at the K.H.M.H. Hemmans was released, but hospital personnel say Gough discharged himself. Police claim none of the men are offering much information and say they don’t know who shot them or why. Police, however, are seeking two suspects.
U.S. Army fugitive sent back to States
Another U.S fugitive has been sent back to Uncle Sam, this time as part of that country’s system of military justice. Thirty-seven year old Matthew Anderson, working in Belize as a physical therapist at the K.H.M.H. was this morning taken into custody by police on the strength of a warrant issued by the U.S government. On June first Anderson, a physical therapy technician in a U.S Army clinic, was convicted of three counts of sexual assault and two counts of dereliction of duty in a general court-martial proceeding. He was dishonourably discharged and sentenced to two years in jail but fled before his incarceration. He was ordered expelled from Belize and this afternoon put on a plane to Houston where M.P.’s were waiting to greet him.
Accused robber charged and remanded
In court news, eighteen year old Malcolm Wagner, believed by the police to be one of two men who stole a thousand dollars from a driver and delivery man for Sunny Side Bakery, was charged with Robbery and Wounding when he appeared today in Magistrate’s Court number one. Chief Magistrate Margaret McKenzie explained to Wagner that she cannot offer him bail because the robbery was committed with a firearm and remanded him into custody until December fourteenth. Earl Johnson reported to police that around twelve-fifteen on the afternoon of August seventeenth he was approached by two young men when he stopped to make a delivery behind the Mahogany Street government complex. Johnson told police that one of the men pointed a silver coloured revolver at him then took away a bag which contained the money. Johnson said he grabbed at the revolver and it discharged, causing a bullet to pass through the palm of his left hand. Both robbers then fled from the scene. While police detained Wagner on Tuesday, the second suspect is still at large.
Gunman pleads guilty, will do 5 years in prison
Twenty-five year old Kenneth Daniels, an unemployed of West Street, was fined twenty-one thousand one hundred dollars today in Magistrate’s Court after he pled guilty to charges of Keeping a Firearm Without a License, Wounding, Damage to Property, and Discharging a Firearm in Public. Magistrate Roberto Ordonez fined Daniels ten thousand dollars each for the firearm and ammunition, five hundred dollars for Wounding, three hundred and fifty dollars for Damage to Property, and two hundred and fifty dollars for Discharging a Firearm in Public. He ordered Daniels to pay five thousand dollars forthwith but Daniels was unable to do so and will instead serve consecutive sentences amounting to five years in jail. The incident occurred on July nineteenth on Frederick Street at the house of Daniels’ eighteen year old girlfriend, Kendra Madrill. Madrill reported to the police that Daniels came to take her to his house to have sex and when she refused, beat her. She said Daniels then left, but returned about fifteen minutes later with a nine millimetre pistol and fired three shots at her house. One of the bullets penetrated the metal louver of one of the windows and damaged a television set. Police apprehended Daniels on New Road shortly after the incident. When they searched him they found the pistol in the front of his pants with four rounds in the magazine and another four inside one of his tennis shoes.
Energy experts will gather in Belize next week
Next week more than one hundred and fifty government, non-governmental, and private sector representatives from across Central America will meet in Belize for the tenth regional forum on renewable energy. Organized by the Energy and Environment Partnership with Central America and the Ministry of Natural Resources, the delegates will focus their discussions on “Renewable Energies in the Sugar Industry”. In anticipation of the event, this morning officials of E.E.P. hosted a meeting with the media to highlight the benefits of using alternative energy.
Dr. Markku Narmi, Chair, Steering Committee, Energy and Environmental Partnership “It’s very important for many reasons. Climate change certainly is the main thing but also the price of oil has made it more important to pay attention to it and many countries are now concentrating on renewable much more. But in Central America I think you are lucky because you are very rich in renewables, very large variety of renewables. You have hydro quite a lot, you have wind power, you have biomass particularly in the sugar industry, like this new power station project here in Belize Sugar Factory, is very promising. Political will is needed but you also need a realistic place where to put it and investors who makes it.”
Juan Rancharan, Belize’s Policy Coordinator, Energy and Environmental Partnership “We are encouraging the private sector who think that they have a viability of micro-hydroelectric plants to visit the Department of the Environment and see what projects we can submit for approval, that’s one of their goals noh, for the partnership.”
Since the organization was established in 2002, six projects have been implemented in Belize under the Energy and Environment Partnership. If weather permits, one such initiative, a wind power plant on Calabash Caye will be officially sanctioned by E.E.P. officials tomorrow. Another project in the works is the construction of two micro hydroelectric plants at the Douglas Silva Forest Station in the Mountain Pine Ridge.
Tubal Training Institute receives musical gear
It wasn’t a major donation, but this morning Governor General Sir Colville Young officially presented a guitar and ten recorders to the students of the Tubal Training and Vocational Institute. According to Tubal’s founder Lyndon Bailey, the contribution will greatly enhance the institution’s curriculum.
Lyndon Bailey, Founder, Tubal Institute “Definitely the instruments that we received today will help us to take us a long way.”
Janelle Chanona
“This is the first instruments or you have some others?”
Lyndon Bailey “No, this is the first instruments here.”
Janelle Chanona
“So how will music be incorporated into the curriculum?”
Lyndon Bailey “We had a lady that came in; Ms. Edwards came in and teach music in our school.”
Janelle Chanona
“What do you think music does for your students?”
Lyndon Bailey “Oh mein it motivate them because when have few guitars that was donated by the school to some of the youths and when they play the guitar they get excited...”
Janelle Chanona
“...and they want to learn.”
Lyndon Bailey “...and they want to learn.”
There are currently one hundred students attending TUBAL, which is located in Ladyville.
Queen Street beats out for 19th
This evening two groups mixed business with pleasure for the public’s benefit. For the third consecutive year the Angelus Press teamed up with the National Garifuna Council Belize City branch to conduct live drumming and dancing in front of their Queen Street headquarters. The Ugundani Dance Group provided the unique entertainment for customers, passers-by and even motorists.
Trudy Joseph, Marketing Manager, The Angelus Press “The Angelus Press Ltd. has a lot of people from many different cultures and the Angelus Press Ltd. always makes sure that at the end of the day they give back so this year we are working with the National Garifuna Council. We gave them donations for stuff that they needed and so we also wanted to entertain the people of Belize and so we decided to do the drumming this year with them.”
Marietta Enriquez, Secretary, National Garifuna Council “What the National Garifuna Council is trying to do is to form partnership with other business to get the word out and the acceptance of the culture.”
Marion Ali
“And the Angelus has been cooperative?”
Marietta Enriquez “Yes, they have been very cooperative. They have given full sponsorship with the Garifuna pageant and now with this one here.”
Today the Angelus Press also offered discounts to everyone dressed in the traditional yellow and black. Meanwhile, tomorrow the council will hold a food and cultural fest at the House of Culture. Children and entertainment groups from throughout Belize City and Dangriga will take part in the event. This year, the focus of their presentations will be on the spiritual aspect of the Garifuna culture. The theme for this year’s Garifuna Settlement Day is “Proudly Empowering our Children in their Garifuna Heritage.”
New B.D.F. recruits finish training
It’s not a profession that everyone finds attractive, but as pay and benefits improve and opportunities for training increase, the Belize Defence Force is becoming a viable career choice for many young men and women. News Five’s Janelle Chanona met some of our newest soldiers this morning.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
With much fanfare, this morning recruits of squad forty-nine of the Belize Defence Force showed off some of their newly acquired skills in combat to their families and fellow soldiers.
Since July, the fifty-five men and five women have endured rigorous physical and academic training to qualify them as members of the B.D.F. During today’s ceremonies on Colville Young Parade Square, the top five performers in the class were honoured for their achievements:
Best Field Craft went to Shawn Domingo, Nigel Cayetano was named the Champion of Physical Training, Peter Anderson was the top marksman, Cynthia Salazar was voted the squad’s best female recruit and Jason Pott was the overall top recruit.
Private Jason Pott, Champion Recruit “If you mind strong you wah always mek it through anything, motivate yourself and you wah always look forward and be pan top.”
Janelle Chanona
“What do you see yourself doing with the B.D.F. in the future?”
Private Jason Pott “Well the B.D.F. have a lot of opportunities so dah what I lead myself into so I wah try work hard, be the best I could be.”
Janelle Chanona
“So what you do right before you take a shot?”
Private Peter Anderson, Champion Shot “Well I just hold in my breathing, count one, two, three, then just release it and right there it goes to hit the target.”
Private Cynthia Salazar, Best Female Recruit “The toughest part of the training was the bush part, the last part, the final fling, was the toughest part of the training.”
Janelle Chanona
“What part was tough?”
Private Cynthia Salazar “Well we had to stay out in the rain without anything, just in the rain like that.”
Janelle Chanona
“And it get cold noh?”
Private Cynthia Salazar “Yes, very cold.”
Janelle Chanona
“So when it got tough, what did you say to yourself to say, look I have to finish?”
Private Cynthia Salazar “Salazar you have to shub on, finish, do your best, make your people proud.”
Janelle Chanona
“What would you like to say to other young women like you?”
Private Cynthia Salazar “The B.D.F. gives a lot of opportunities and so I’d like them, if they decide or if they have no future, the B.D.F. will surely give them a future.”
According to Commander Lloyd Gillett, in the very near future, the new recruits will be posted in the infantry so the B.D.F. can form a Light Engineering Company.
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Gillett, Commander, B.D.F. “The light engineering company is a new company that we’ve established to provide support in times of natural disasters and to help with the internal building and also to help different institutions who would like to help develop projects like schools and things like that. This year we had some of them providing support with the Americans building those schools in Crooked Tree, Carmelita, Trial Farm and Hattieville.”
“We are looking forward to neat year to take in another intake so that we can get the strength of the B.D.F. up to where it should be.”
If anyone thought that Belize’s steady growth as a top tier tourism destination was beginning to level off, they better think again. The results of one of the world’s most prestigious rankings of global resorts are in and according to that poll, three of the best resorts in Central and South America are found right here in Belize. Taking first place honours is the Lodge at Chaa Creek, while Blancaneaux Lodge ranked fourth and San Pedro’s Victoria House took the eighth spot. The rankings are put together by the magazine Conde Nast Traveler and are based on the replies of over twenty-eight thousand readers who filled out a detailed questionnaire covering a wide range of criteria. Chaa Creek began operations in 1981 as a working farm with a single thatched roof guest cottage and outdoor plumbing. Today, after a quarter century of hard work under the direction of Mick and Lucy Fleming, the three hundred and sixty-five acre private reserve along the Macal River boasts twenty-three luxury cottages, full service spa, natural history centre, butterfly farm, horseback riding, and miles of nature trails. The Conde Nast rankings are by region and include separate lists for the Caribbean, Mexico, and Hawaii. In the South and Central American ratings, Costa Rica joined Belize with three properties in the top ten, while Chile had two.
There is little new to report in the case of the six fishermen still missing at sea, and as News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports, the cold reality is we may never know exactly what happened.
Earlier this week in reporting on the double murder of Said and Daniel Sewell in Ladyville we referred to that village as a quiet sort of place. Actually the record show it’s not, and last night another incident proved the point. News Five’s Marion Ali has the details.
Another U.S fugitive has been sent back to Uncle Sam, this time as part of that country’s system of military justice. Thirty-seven year old Matthew Anderson, working in Belize as a physical therapist at the K.H.M.H. was this morning taken into custody by police on the strength of a warrant issued by the U.S government. On June first Anderson, a physical therapy technician in a U.S Army clinic, was convicted of three counts of sexual assault and two counts of dereliction of duty in a general court-martial proceeding. He was dishonourably discharged and sentenced to two years in jail but fled before his incarceration. He was ordered expelled from Belize and this afternoon put on a plane to Houston where M.P.’s were waiting to greet him.
Next week more than one hundred and fifty government, non-governmental, and private sector representatives from across Central America will meet in Belize for the tenth regional forum on renewable energy. Organized by the Energy and Environment Partnership with Central America and the Ministry of Natural Resources, the delegates will focus their discussions on “Renewable Energies in the Sugar Industry”. In anticipation of the event, this morning officials of E.E.P. hosted a meeting with the media to highlight the benefits of using alternative energy.
It wasn’t a major donation, but this morning Governor General Sir Colville Young officially presented a guitar and ten recorders to the students of the Tubal Training and Vocational Institute. According to Tubal’s founder Lyndon Bailey, the contribution will greatly enhance the institution’s curriculum.
This evening two groups mixed business with pleasure for the public’s benefit. For the third consecutive year the Angelus Press teamed up with the National Garifuna Council Belize City branch to conduct live drumming and dancing in front of their Queen Street headquarters. The Ugundani Dance Group provided the unique entertainment for customers, passers-by and even motorists.
It’s not a profession that everyone finds attractive, but as pay and benefits improve and opportunities for training increase, the Belize Defence Force is becoming a viable career choice for many young men and women. News Five’s Janelle Chanona met some of our newest soldiers this morning.
