Viewers please note: This Internet newscast is a verbatim transcript of our evening television newscast. Where speakers use Kriol, we attempt to faithfully reproduce the quotes using a standard spelling system.
Swallow Caye Wildlife Sanctuary surveyed for sale
The Belize Barrier Reef System has been placed on the UNESCO Danger List. This follows an evaluation by UNESCO which found that the government appeared to be managing mangrove islands as unprotected national public lands and not as a part of the world heritage property. On June nineteenth, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources, Gaspar Vega, went ballistic in the House over the issue and blamed his predecessor in this manner.
Gaspar Vega, Deputy Prime Minister “The significant outcome of the report is that Belize may be considered for immediate inscription on the list of world heritage in danger. The past administration and principally, I must stare at him and say the Honourable Johnny Briceńo, Leader of the Opposition for now, under his stewardship embarked on a self-destructive program to deprive and to rob. Yes, literally rob the people of this country and the world in extension in the sale and granting of leases in these precious sites.”
Well, documents available to News Five show that the Ministry of Natural Resources has approved the survey of an area comprising a little over fifteen acres of the Swallow Caye Wildlife Sanctuary for eventual sale or lease to three persons. While the sanctuary is not part of the barrier reef system, it was reserved back in 2002 and is located at a few miles east of Belize City in an area known as Drowned Caye Range. According to the documents from the Ministry of Natural Resources, the approval for the survey was given as recent as May twelfth, 2009. The survey was done on May twenty-eighth in the names of Sharon Fraser, Wayne Fraser and Rurico Alvarado. Each parcel comprises five acres plus and the area in question is located at the tip of Mapp’s Caye.
The Swallow Caye Wildlife Sanctuary encompasses nine thousand acres of sea and mangrove and is managed by Friends of Swallow Caye, a non profit conservation NGO that focuses on the protection of endangered manatees and other forms of marine life. The NGO is funded by the U.N.D.P. and PACT. This afternoon, News Five spoke to Lionel “Chocolate” Heredia, president of Friends of Swallow Caye, who said that he was not apprised of the survey but that if this is so, then it would be in violation of the sanctuary.
World Heritage rep explains why reef is on danger list
When the reef was accepted as a world heritage site in 1996 there were sporadic commercial developments on cayes within the site. But thirteen years later the expansion and dredging continued and that is what UNESCO representatives found during their recent visit to Belize. The ground work and report was made by Marc Patry who attended the thirty-third session of World Heritage Committee in Seville Spain. News Five’s Jose Sanchez spoke via phone to Patry.
Marc Patry, Natural Heritage Marine Programme Specialist, UNESCO “The red flag that came up when we were there was the ongoing process of selling off or renting off mangrove islands within the World Heritage Site for development. You got to understand the Belize Barrier Reef. The Belize people ten years ago nominated this site. They said the site had a particular value; the marine ecosystem, the mangrove ecosystem. They said “we have great mangrove ecosystems here but on the other hand we see that they are letting them go. So this is what we flagged as the main concern at our visit back in March.”
Jose Sanchez
“What particular sites made you add Belize’s reef for recommendation to the list of World Heritages in Danger?”
Marc Patry “We were in South Water Caye area where we saw some development going on; I think it’s called Catt caye, or Pelican caye. The cayes had different names at different times, but we also managed to take an over flight of the cayes and we saw quite a bit. This is not the only place where you had some mangrove cutting, some in-filling and some development.”
“This list is actually a tool. You know. When the World Heritage convention was first written up in past by the countries of the world in 1972 they put in a clause called the world heritage list in danger and the purpose of that was to flag that when some sites needed some extra push or cause for concern for help by the national government or even international support, then we put it on the danger list. We use the danger list as a tool to bring greater attention and greater cooperation to help in dealing with the challenges and that’s how it should be seen. If the general impression is the government of Belize doesn’t care about the site and does nothing to conserve it then there is no choice but to delist it altogether.”
Patry has since returned to the World Heritage Center in Paris and he says that the committee may choose to return to Belize and do a site inspection within a year to a year and a half. Developments in reserves have always been under fire by NGO’s. Today the Association of Protected Areas Protected Management Organizations sent a letter to the offices of both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Natural Resources requesting a meeting within the next two weeks to find a solution to move forward. APAMO’s letter refers to the reef’s listing “shameful” and calls on the government to implement corrective and monitoring measures to restore the site’s outstanding universal characteristics and values.
City engineer gets marching orders
The City Engineer for the Belize City Council was unceremoniously fired today. Robert Allen received his marching orders that simply stated that in accordance with section two-nine-seven of the Labor Act, he was out of a job. Allen say he believes that the firing is personal and has nothing to do with the performance of his job. According to Allen, the council did not often follow his recommendations and instead did whatever it wanted to do. Allen declined to give an interview. But Dean Samuels, Councillor for Zoning and Planning told News Five that Allen was fired after a vote on Wednesday by the council caucus and is justifiable.
K.H.M.H. board fails to show up to meeting with union
The standoff between Belize Medical and Dental Union and the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital Board ran into another snag today. That is because a meeting scheduled for this afternoon did not get off the ground. This time it was the board that did not show up. A Union Executive informed News Five that they waited at the Radisson Fort George Hotel from two this afternoon until close to four thirty and no one from the Board turned up. But late this evening the Government’s Press Office issued a release stating that earlier today the mediator, Labour Commissioner, Ivan Williams, received a letter from the Board seeking a postponement of the meeting until Thursday at two in the afternoon. But News Five has learnt that the Board was in a separate meeting at another location with a legal advisor. Doctors are also scheduled to meet tonight.
BCB Holdings Ltd. gets new board director
But in another boardroom, BCB Holdings Limited has announced a new director to its board. Effective today, sixty-eight year old Wendell Mottley from Trinidad and Tobago, joins the Board as Non-Executive Director. Mottley, is well known in the Caribbean region and has held numerous high profile appointments in financing and in environmental agencies. He is a graduate of Yale and Cambridge Universities, a former Minister of Finance in Trinidad and Tobago, who is considered one of the architects responsible for reforms in that country’s economy. His credentials also include membership on the special advisory committee to the President of the Inter-American Development Bank and is a sitting Director of the Asa Wright Nature Center. And if you do not recognize him for these accomplishments, you may remember him as a silver and gold Olympic medalist for Trinidad and Tobago. Mottley is the ninth appointment to the BCB Holdings Board and joins Lord Michael Ashcroft, Philip Johnson, Lyndon Guiseppi, Peter Gaze, Philip Osborne, Cheryl Jones, John Searle and Euric Bob.
Health officials control spread of dengue
The swine flu scare recently had many Belizeans inattentive to illnesses that are literally brewing in our back yards. But there are several reports in different parts of Belize City that Break-bone fever or Dengue has been affecting some residents. News Five’s Jose Sanchez visited the Central Health Lab today which confirmed the disease is still on the prowl.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
Rains do not always mean hurricane, but it definitely means the buzzing of mosquitoes, and that may lead to dengue. Aisha Andrewin, Epidemiologist at the Central Health Region Laboratory says that there are currently cases of people afflicted with dengue.
Aisha Andrewin, Epidemiologist, Central Health Region “We’ve had so far since the year began fewer than thirty-five cases for the year. Eleven of those in June and the other twenty-four cases have been spread out from January to May. The thing about dengue is its what we call an endemic disease meaning that you will have cases from time to time because the vector—the mosquito that transmits the virus that causes dengue is in the environment of Belize. What's more so, every time you have the right conditions, you’re talking about breeding site; small pockets of water, fresh water, stagnant water in which the mosquito can breed, you will have the possibility of having the cases. What we observed in June, which is in keeping in dengue, which is constant with the recent rains, naturally once you have rain you have more likely that you have the breeding sites available for the mosquito to breed. Dengue is caused by a virus, as I mentioned. You tend to have severe headache, pain behind the eyes and pain behind the joints and muscles. You may or may not have, especially in the onset of the illness, vomiting, diarrhoea and so on. The thing about the classical dengue is the pain. It’s called break bone fever because it is so painful.”
Aside from medical treatment, health authorities are also spraying a chemical to kill adult mosquitoes that carry the virus.
Stephen Rivers, Vector Control Program “The spraying cycle starts when the rainy season starts. The rainy season we have mosquitoes because the mosquitoes need water to hatch their eggs. So we do wavy spraying and this is a knock down spray. We use malathion ninety-six percent, which is a knock down spray. We like to spray in the district but we don’t have enough machines to do the rural areas so we mostly do Belize City.”
Prevention is the key to control the spread of dengue. Six environmental assistants do door to door education and yard inspections.
Janet Cunningham, Environmental Asst, Vector Control Program “We check containers at home for instance like the vats, drums, containers in general where there will be a possibility for the aedes aegypti mosquitoes to breed in and so. What we do at the center we treat it with a bit of the temephos which is made of ninety-nine percent sand granules and one percent of the temephos.”
Jose Sanchez
“What do you tell them when you knock on doors?”
Janet Cunningham “We tell them about the purpose of our visit and we come to do the inspection of premises to get rid of all containers. That is one of the way of preventing dengue mosquitoes.”
Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.
Dr. Andrewin says that there isn’t an outbreak and that the Central Health Region Lab carefully monitors all reported cases.
Former youth ambassador in trouble for sticky fingers
And he is a former Ambassador who had no diplomatic immunities. Today, the Youth for the Future Ambassador was taken to the Magistrate Court where he pleaded guilty to charges of Theft. Twenty year old Kenroy Young was additionally charged with Handling Stolen Goods after an incident which took place at Maya Island Air this past Monday. Young allegedly stole a wallet belonging to Shemayne Rosado, Manager of Maya Island Air which containing two hundred dollars and personal documents. Police found him with the wallet and apprehended him later that day. The charge of theft was withdrawn by the prosecution, and Young was fined one thousand dollars and given until August first to pay. This is not his first run in with the law, and Young has a pending case for several counts of Forgery and Uttering False Documents.
Former employee charged with theft of company vehicles
Also in the courts, a former employee of Capital Auto Rental was charged with the theft of two vehicles that were subsequently recovered in Mexico where they had been sold. Twenty-eight year old Terrique Glastonbury allegedly stole a Dodge Ram pick-up truck valued at sixty-eight thousand dollars, and a jeep wrangler valued at one hundred thousand dollars between March fourth and May seventh of 2009. Both vehicles were stolen from the Phillip Goldson International Airport and are the property of Capital Auto Rental, owned by Jay Dean Crafton. Magistrate Aretha Ford offered bail of ten thousand dollars, which Glastonbury was not able to meet and was then remanded to prison until the eleventh of August. Two others, Sheldon Sosa and Romel Flowers, were similarly charged with Theft on June seventh for the same incident. Reports say, however, that Sosa and Flowers maintain that Glastonbury gave them the keys to the vehicles and is therefore responsible for the crime.
Brother steals brother’s laptop and cash
A man was sentenced in court today after pleading guilty to stealing from his own brother. Twenty-six year old Ronny Pollard was charged with Burglary and two counts of Handling Stolen Goods in Magistrates’ Court. His brother, Justin Pollard, reported that upon returning to their home from work on Monday, his Gateway laptop, Dell monitor and over one thousand five hundred dollars in cash were missing from his room. The estimated value of the stolen items is over five thousand dollars. The police later recovered the items, but not the cash. Ronny pleaded guilty to the charges and Magistrate Aretha Ford sentenced him to one year for each count of the offences.
Market vendors dislike relocation
We reported on Tuesday night that the Belize City Council is relocating vendors from the Queen’s Square market and moving them to the Pound Yard Bridge area. The Pound Yard compound is not far away but it is a congested area. The move is to facilitate renovations on the present market facility on West Collet Canal. The Council says the relocation will take place from July eighth to the tenth. But the vendors say the last minute notification does not give them enough time for the transfer and they are not willing to move to an area where there are no stalls.
Kevin Singh, Councillor responsible for Markets “These people were informed for about almost two months or more that the market would be coming down sometime soon. Eventually they were aware of it for the last three years that the market was going to be rebuild.”
Vendor #1 “Just now that they are sending us letters and everything to tell us we have to move eena ten days time and we can’t get enough money to move over there eena ten days time.”
Vendor #2 “I noh feel okay because deh weh happen dat dehn should ah mek wah location first and den dehn want we eena eight days fi come out from yah and deh want we fi bruk down wi building, den we have to put it yonda. We noh get no notice, yesterday dah di fuss notice wi get, we noh get no two month notice.”
Vendor #1 “We need a place to go over there because we sell juices, we have our food, our meats.”
Kevin Singh “They were not promised anything, they were just told that they were gonna be relocated. We wah put light and water fi deh and we wah try assist deh eena di best way we cud. If we cudda mi build things fi dehn we wudda mi build things fi dehn but di City Council noh have money right now.”
Vendor #4 “Deh mi got bout sixty odd people out yah weh got vehicle. Dah wah busy traffic area deh di ker people goh park deh. Weh pah people wah park deh vehicle out deh, weh people wah do eena dah hot sunhot?”
Vendor #3 “Dehn tek we like idiots. Dehn just bring wah paper stating that we have to transfer. Di paper got di twenty-sixth pan it. And dehn issue it yesterday wid no signature, no authority from none ah di highest one, di Mayor or di Councillors or whatsoever, none ah dat. Dehn si send we ova deh we noh even got no toilet, no nothing noh deh ova deh. Di fence, some ah di fence deh drop down. Dat dah no kinda security fi fi we stuff. Den deh things dah perishable stuff, deh can’t deh eena di sun.”
Kevin Singh “The majority of them have outstanding bills. You wouldn’t want to see it. Then dehn dah di same people one deh weh get up and quarrel bout move deh.”
Marion Ali
“So they won’t be allowed back in the market?”
Kevin Singh “We will give every body a break. If dehn pay deh bill then wi wah give dehn wah break to come back. But they are outstanding bills.”
Vendor #3 “Owe? No we, well I noh know who all owe deh but I cud tell yoh, I noh owe deh wah dolla because I pay thirty dollars a day and I cud prove dat because I got my receipt deh.”
But if the vendors were having a hard time meeting their current fees then it will be worse for them when the new facility is built. This is because Councillor Singh says more than likely the rent will go up from a hundred and twenty dollars per month for regular sized stalls. Councillor Singh also says that of the sixty-four vendors, fifty-seven are in arrears with the Council of about a hundred and seventy five thousand dollars. The renovations will be done through funds from the Social Investment Fund at a cost of around seven hundred thousand dollars and will include a two storey concrete structure. The Council hopes that the work will finished by Christmas.
Hotel donates to financially strapped children’s home
When we last heard from the Liberty Foundation, their financial situation was not looking too healthy. Well, there is some positive development for the children’s home as their plea for help has been answered. Following our story, Liberty received a re-imbursement from the Ministry of Human Development and today the Radisson Fort George stepped up to the plate. Radisson handed over an impressive six thousand dollars, and that’s not all because it is also developing a program to provide them with monthly contributions. Liberty ran into financial woes because of the economic crisis at a time when the number of children at the home continues to increase. News Five spoke with the Radisson’s Jim Scott who says they will do their part to help.
Jim Scott, General Manager, Radisson Fort George Hotel “We heard your story and of course being familiar with the Liberty Children’s home, we were very move. We didn’t realize that things were critical as they were. Our management team took action right away. One of the things that we decided to get our guests involved and we are asking our guest to donate one U.S. dollar—two Belize dollars—per night of their stay here and we will match that dollar. We realize that that is not going to cover the total needs for the Liberty Children’s Home, but it certainly is a start. I have an opportunity to promote the new Le Petite at the International Airport departure lounge. And one of the thoughts were to put some type of Liberty box there—they would provide the box—and solicit those Belize dollars that just happen to still be in those pockets of our visitors and it gives them the opportunity to leave the Belize dollars at home for a very good cause.”
Delfena Mitchell, Director, Liberty Foundation “Well Duane, we still don’t have very much funds, but I must say that since our story aired last week, In did get a call from Jim Scott at the Radisson Hotel and he had a check for us for six thousand three hundred and one dollars, which is something that came out of a partnership that we had with them where they are trying to solicit funds to help us. So that was very helpful, that six thousand dollars went towards paying our staff salary. I also received a check for six thousand dollars from the Ministry and that check was for reimbursement for medical expense we spent on the children over a period of months. So with those twelve thousand dollars there we were able to pay the staff. We are still in arrears with paying them but it has helped.”
If anyone would like to help the Liberty Foundation, you can contact Mitchell at 225-2158 or 624-3696. Or you can make your deposits at Belize Bank account number 695-11-665-03.
Bus company driven to give university scholarships
Galen University opened its doors in 2003 with fourteen students and since then, its student body has grown to three hundred and ten students. Prospective as well as current students of the tertiary level institution at mile sixty-two on the Western Highway now have opportunities for scholarships. National Transport has decided to award ten scholarships, two per year for the next five years to deserving Belizeans. This morning David Novelo signed an agreement on the behalf of National Transport for the scholarship program with Galen.
David Novelo, Rep. National Transport “Our company National Transport has been, fort he past three years, working with Galen and assisting in providing the driver as well as upkeep of the equipment, servicing and maintenance. So we sat early this year and we said in terms of notifying the dollar value of the assistance that National had given to Galen and we decided that if we come with a hybrid in terms of a joint venture we would be able to provide and give back something to the community and what better than providing education for needy Belizean students. That’s really what brought us together. I want to say that it was creative thinking. My staff worked wholeheartedly on this project and together with the Galen people and this is how here today we are able to provide these scholarships for ten Belizeans for the next five years.”
Marion Cayetano, V.P. Galen University “The target audience are undergraduate students, they could attend one of several programmes; archaeology, anthropology, economics, finance, marketing, tourism and hospitality management and environmental science are the fields for which this scholarship is tenable and it’s students who have already completed junior college so we di look at the last two years of university undergraduate programs.”
If you would like to apply for the Galen Scholarships the application process starts today and ends on July twenty-fourth. The scholarships are available only to persons born in Belize.
Ousted Honduran president delays trip home
And in Honduras, the tension escalates with demonstrations for and against the ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya. Zelaya was to return to Tegucigalpa today but that changed late Tuesday night when a emergency meeting of the members of the Organization of American States adopted a five point resolution giving the interim government of Roberto Michelletti three days to re-instate Zelaya or face suspension from the hemispheric body. Zelaya was in Panama today for the inauguration of the new president of that country, Ricardo Martinelli.
TONIGHT'S NEWS WAS PRODUCED FOR BROADCAST BY AMALIA MAI AND PREPARED FOR THE INTERNET BY DELAHNIE BAIN.
The Belize Barrier Reef System has been placed on the UNESCO Danger List. This follows an evaluation by UNESCO which found that the government appeared to be managing mangrove islands as unprotected national public lands and not as a part of the world heritage property. On June nineteenth, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources, Gaspar Vega, went ballistic in the House over the issue and blamed his predecessor in this manner.
When the reef was accepted as a world heritage site in 1996 there were sporadic commercial developments on cayes within the site. But thirteen years later the expansion and dredging continued and that is what UNESCO representatives found during their recent visit to Belize. The ground work and report was made by Marc Patry who attended the thirty-third session of World Heritage Committee in Seville Spain. News Five’s Jose Sanchez spoke via phone to Patry.
The standoff between Belize Medical and Dental Union and the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital Board ran into another snag today. That is because a meeting scheduled for this afternoon did not get off the ground. This time it was the board that did not show up. A Union Executive informed News Five that they waited at the Radisson Fort George Hotel from two this afternoon until close to four thirty and no one from the Board turned up. But late this evening the Government’s Press Office issued a release stating that earlier today the mediator, Labour Commissioner, Ivan Williams, received a letter from the Board seeking a postponement of the meeting until Thursday at two in the afternoon. But News Five has learnt that the Board was in a separate meeting at another location with a legal advisor. Doctors are also scheduled to meet tonight.
But in another boardroom, BCB Holdings Limited has announced a new director to its board. Effective today, sixty-eight year old Wendell Mottley from Trinidad and Tobago, joins the Board as Non-Executive Director. Mottley, is well known in the Caribbean region and has held numerous high profile appointments in financing and in environmental agencies. He is a graduate of Yale and Cambridge Universities, a former Minister of Finance in Trinidad and Tobago, who is considered one of the architects responsible for reforms in that country’s economy. His credentials also include membership on the special advisory committee to the President of the Inter-American Development Bank and is a sitting Director of the Asa Wright Nature Center. And if you do not recognize him for these accomplishments, you may remember him as a silver and gold Olympic medalist for Trinidad and Tobago. Mottley is the ninth appointment to the BCB Holdings Board and joins Lord Michael Ashcroft, Philip Johnson, Lyndon Guiseppi, Peter Gaze, Philip Osborne, Cheryl Jones, John Searle and Euric Bob.
The swine flu scare recently had many Belizeans inattentive to illnesses that are literally brewing in our back yards. But there are several reports in different parts of Belize City that Break-bone fever or Dengue has been affecting some residents. News Five’s Jose Sanchez visited the Central Health Lab today which confirmed the disease is still on the prowl.
And he is a former Ambassador who had no diplomatic immunities. Today, the Youth for the Future Ambassador was taken to the Magistrate Court where he pleaded guilty to charges of Theft. Twenty year old Kenroy Young was additionally charged with Handling Stolen Goods after an incident which took place at Maya Island Air this past Monday. Young allegedly stole a wallet belonging to Shemayne Rosado, Manager of Maya Island Air which containing two hundred dollars and personal documents. Police found him with the wallet and apprehended him later that day. The charge of theft was withdrawn by the prosecution, and Young was fined one thousand dollars and given until August first to pay. This is not his first run in with the law, and Young has a pending case for several counts of Forgery and Uttering False Documents.
Also in the courts, a former employee of Capital Auto Rental was charged with the theft of two vehicles that were subsequently recovered in Mexico where they had been sold. Twenty-eight year old Terrique Glastonbury allegedly stole a Dodge Ram pick-up truck valued at sixty-eight thousand dollars, and a jeep wrangler valued at one hundred thousand dollars between March fourth and May seventh of 2009. Both vehicles were stolen from the Phillip Goldson International Airport and are the property of Capital Auto Rental, owned by Jay Dean Crafton. Magistrate Aretha Ford offered bail of ten thousand dollars, which Glastonbury was not able to meet and was then remanded to prison until the eleventh of August. Two others, Sheldon Sosa and Romel Flowers, were similarly charged with Theft on June seventh for the same incident. Reports say, however, that Sosa and Flowers maintain that Glastonbury gave them the keys to the vehicles and is therefore responsible for the crime.
A man was sentenced in court today after pleading guilty to stealing from his own brother. Twenty-six year old Ronny Pollard was charged with Burglary and two counts of Handling Stolen Goods in Magistrates’ Court. His brother, Justin Pollard, reported that upon returning to their home from work on Monday, his Gateway laptop, Dell monitor and over one thousand five hundred dollars in cash were missing from his room. The estimated value of the stolen items is over five thousand dollars. The police later recovered the items, but not the cash. Ronny pleaded guilty to the charges and Magistrate Aretha Ford sentenced him to one year for each count of the offences.
We reported on Tuesday night that the Belize City Council is relocating vendors from the Queen’s Square market and moving them to the Pound Yard Bridge area. The Pound Yard compound is not far away but it is a congested area. The move is to facilitate renovations on the present market facility on West Collet Canal. The Council says the relocation will take place from July eighth to the tenth. But the vendors say the last minute notification does not give them enough time for the transfer and they are not willing to move to an area where there are no stalls.
When we last heard from the Liberty Foundation, their financial situation was not looking too healthy. Well, there is some positive development for the children’s home as their plea for help has been answered. Following our story, Liberty received a re-imbursement from the Ministry of Human Development and today the Radisson Fort George stepped up to the plate. Radisson handed over an impressive six thousand dollars, and that’s not all because it is also developing a program to provide them with monthly contributions. Liberty ran into financial woes because of the economic crisis at a time when the number of children at the home continues to increase. News Five spoke with the Radisson’s Jim Scott who says they will do their part to help.
And in Honduras, the tension escalates with demonstrations for and against the ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya. Zelaya was to return to Tegucigalpa today but that changed late Tuesday night when a emergency meeting of the members of the Organization of American States adopted a five point resolution giving the interim government of Roberto Michelletti three days to re-instate Zelaya or face suspension from the hemispheric body. Zelaya was in Panama today for the inauguration of the new president of that country, Ricardo Martinelli.
