belize times may 22, 2016

The Belize TimesThe Truth Shall Make You Free

Established 1957

22 MAY 2016 | ISSUE NO: 4994 www.belizetimes.bz | $1.00

SCAN HERE

ABDUCTED!

MORE Refugee

ConfusionPg. 7

Pg. 8

Pg. 8

356 DAYS SINCE BARROW LOST THE SARSTOON

PUP DEMANDS INVESTIGATION INTO KIDNAPPING OF BELIZEAN

Pg. 3

Pg. 3

Belize City, May 18, 2016Following a very serious report that

Guatemalan military kidnapped two Mennonites working on a farm in Green Hills, Spanish Lookout, the People’s Unit-ed Party has called for “immediate and decisive action from the proper and pertinent authorities”.

In a release issued on Tuesday, the PUP points out that “Five days have passed since this alleged incident and we have heard nothing from our Po-lice and nothing from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”.

Well, up to press time it has been six days and counting and there has been absolutely NO ACTION.

The incident in question happened around 3:45pm on Thursday, May 12th in an area of Spanish Lookout known as

Roger Plett & Manuel Ayala

UDP CRABS IN A BUCKET

Saldivar vs. Faber Pt. 1

Pg. 23

BNTU WALKS THE WALK!FACEY GUAT MINISTERS INVADE SARSTOON

Pg. 3

Violence in Ladyville Escalates

THE BELIZE TIMES 202

serving Belize since 1957 as the longest continuous newspaper.

Founder: Rt. Hon. George Cadle Price, People’s United Party Leader Emeritus

EDITOR

Alberto Vellos

LAYOUT/GRAPHIC ARTIST

Chris Williams

OFFICE ASSISTANT

Roberto Peyrefitte

Printed and Published ByTIMES NEWSPAPER LTD.

Tel: 671-8385#3 Queen StreetP.O. BOX 506

Belize City, BelizeEmail: [email protected]

[email protected]

The Belize TimesThe Truth Shall Make You Free

Established 1957

14 APR 2013 | ISSUE NO: 4840 www.belizetimes.bz | $1.00

SCAN HERE

CANADIAN DOLLAR (CAD): $ 0.67

Guatemala Quetzal (GTQ): $ 3.85

Sterling Pound (GBP): $ 0.35

Euro (EUR) : $ 0.46

Eastern Caribbean (XCD):$ 1.35

Barbados (BBD): $ 1.00

United States (USD): $ 0.50

CHINESE YUAN (CNY): $ 3.28

Trinidadian (TTD) : $ 3.27

INDIAN RUPEE (INR): $ 33.71Exchange rate

of One Belize Dollar

LOCAL WEATHER6 Feb26 Mar 27 Mar23 May 24 May22 May21 May20 May19 May

LOCAL WEATHER

!

Major Lloyd Jones proposes Counter Strategy to Guatemala’s

offensive

OPINIONOUT

Dear Editor,When the US pow-

er structure decided that they wanted to take out Sadam Husse-in in Iraq they launched

an unprecedented informational campaign against him. The US in particular told all the world that Sadam had weapons of mass de-struction and as such he posed a clear and present danger to world peace. The US even went so far as to try to link Sadam’s Iraq to terror-ism and the events of 911 when it was clear that there was a Saudi connection to those events.

After the informational cam-paign had swayed global public opinion, then came the diplomatic efforts to isolate Sadam. Once the diplomatic isolation was complete, then came the pain—the US led coalition invaded Iraq in March of 2003 and Sadam would face the gallows a few years later.

It must be clear by now that the Guatemalan strategy to re-claim Belize has been executed to perfection, so much so that it has already yielded them sovereignty over the Sarstoon without a single shot fired by Belize in her own de-fence.

The Guatemalans, as of late, have been using the elements of national power to great effect. Un-der President Morales we are see-ing an increased use of information to steer regional, if not global, pub-lic opinion against Belize. This is an important development because through the crafty use of informa-

!!

Authoritarian UDP

Government

Stand your ground BDF!

OUT OUT

Dear Belizeans,On Tuesday morning

I had breakfast with two of my best friends. Dur-ing our conversation we discussed the ICJ, the

Guatemala/Belize border issues, the news regarding the bulldozer alleg-edly temporarily seized by Guatema-lan military and other local politics. I mentioned that I was to investigate a complaint from my constituents regarding the lands department in which applicants are requested to have a recommendation from John August who is supposedly the UDP/government political officer and not one from me who is the elected rep-resentative.

As promised, I arrived at about 11 a.m. at the lands department of-fice. I asked to see one Mr. Man-zanero. I was directed to his office. He was attending to a client so I waited my turn outside his office. When the person left, I went in and said ‘good morning.” I was pleasantly surprised with a “have you spoken to the secretary outside”? I said “No”. I told him I came to see him. He re-sponded saying that he does not at-tend to the public on Tuesdays and that he was only doing the other per-son a favor. So I introduced myself as the area Representative for Cayo Northeast and that I was investigat-ing whether or not it was true that he was asking my constituents for a rec-ommendation from John August. His answer was affirmative. So, I asked whether those were his instructions or instructions from Belmopan. He responded saying those were in-structions coming from Belmopan.

It was then that I told him that he should not have a problem if I re-corded what he said especially since he was only following instructions. He told me I did not need to record it but continued saying that those were instructions given to him from Belmopan.

Similarly, I have written the of-

Dear Editor,When I watched last

week’s video of the BDF encounter with the Gua-temalan military, I was disappointed, hurt and

embarrassed; in fact, words cannot begin to express how I felt when I saw the Guatemalan soldiers telling our BDF they can’t go up the Sar-stoon.

Maybe we can’t fight the Guate-malan army and nobody is suggesting war. But our BDF, sworn defenders of Belize, should have held their ground. For if we cannot depend on the BDF to stand their ground, then who can we depend on? You just don’t pick up and run away. Stay. Stand your ground until reinforcements come.

I believe that for now we need to send Wil and Rufus down there to show our boys you don’t have to be belligerent or provocative, but stand your ground. If we don’t do so, we will lose our country.

The Ministry of National Security needs to step up. Give the BDF sup-port. Send Commander John Borland with the Coast Guard and their real boats. Give our men in uniform a real chance to stand their ground for us.

Signed.L. JonesBDF

Continued on page 14Continued on page 23

22 MAY2016

tion relating particular to border in-cidents sparked by the “eastward drift”, the Guatemalans have painted us as the belligerent neighbor.

Information is an important tool since a properly designed campaign can sway both public and political opinion in targeted countries from which support for Belize is most likely to come. If we examine the facts on the ground it is plain to see that the facts do not match the pro-nouncements by the Guatemalans but whether by accident or design, the Government of Belize has not been nimble enough to effectively counter the Guatemalans.

The Guatemalans have used the recent justifiable shootings in the Chiquibul to seize the PR initiative and influence regional, if not global, public opinion. Now that Belize has been made to be the hostile, mur-derous and provocative neighbor, the Guatemalans have crafted their dip-lomatic campaign to make Belize’s isolation complete by limiting its strategic option to ONLY the ICJ. To-day even our so called “friends” are saying that the ICJ is the only way to go: the US, the UK, Europe, the Commonwealth and even CARICOM are all harping the ICJ nonsense. They prescribe for us a medicine that they themselves would never take!

We must be mindful that if global public opinion is sufficiently maneu-vered against Belize and we refuse the ICJ option, it would make Gua-temala better able to get away with its often threatened prescription of pain.

Of the five elements of national power (diplomatic, informational, military, economic and technologi-cal) only three can bring real pain: the latter three. The first two are merely pathways. Guatemala does not yet have the capacity to bring us any real economic pain given the significant trade imbalance (in their favour) and the likely political push back that would arise from this op-tion. Neither does it have the tech-nological prowess to cause us any real technological pain by way of “cyber attacks”. The military option, therefore, remains the only available pathway to pain.

The loss of the Sarstoon is a fiat acompli but Belize must move quick-

THE BELIZE TIMES22 MAY 2016 3 03 03

Sedi’s damning admission

Continued from page 1Green Hills, on a farm which lies imme-diately on the border with Guatemala. Belizean Roger Plett told Police that he was on a tractor carrying out fire duty when he was approached by Guatema-lan military and civilians who beat on his Ford tractor with machetes. He was then marched over into Guatemalan territory and tied up. His only form of communication, his cellular phone, was taken away.

Plett further told San Ignacio Po-lice that it was only when he told his captors that he was a Canadian citizen and only visiting Belize that the situa-tion changed and he was later allowed to return to Belize on his tractor which had been badly damaged by the Gua-temalans.

While Plett was detained by the Guatemalans, a bulldozer on the farm being driven by Mennonite Rudy Fries-en was also seized by the Guatemalans and put to work on the Guatemalan side clearing brush to fight a fire.

Friesen, says Plett, was able to escape by claiming that the Caterpillar bulldozer needed fuel, and while be-ing escorted by military to get that fuel from the farm on Belizean soil, he drove

ABDUCTED!through a fire and the soldiers could not follow him.

The incident was reported to Police on Friday, and instead of going to inves-tigate the accused Guatemalans, the Police detained the Belizean supervisor of the farm, Manuel Ayala, who was one of the men accompanying Plett to pro-vide statements. Plett told the media in a conference on Monday that it was obvi-ous that the Police, accompanied by an official from the Ministry of Foreign Af-fairs, were not interested in hearing their story and seemed to want to sweep the matter under the rug.

The Police even changed the state-ments provided by the Plett that they came under assault from Guatemalan military, to Guatemalan peasants. Plett said he told the Police that they acted as cowards.

The San Ignacio Police has since referred all queries from the media to the Commissioner of Police, who has admitted in the past that he has no radio or tv to keep track of the news. He has remained silent, similar to the posture he took following the murder of Danny Conorquie in September 2014.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that it cannot act until it has re-

ceived a report from the Police. Police sources, on the other hand, have told the BELIZE TIMES that they cannot act, or even process the scene, with-out a go-ahead from the Minis-try of Foreign Affairs.

In its release the PUP denounces this inaction, and calls on “the Government and all its pertinent bodies to investigate the allegation of kidnapping of a Belizean, by Guatemalans on Belizean soil, and to take all necessary diplomatic actions to follow investigation”.

This is not the first time Guatemalan military is accused of kidnapping Belizeans. Since last year, there have been at least two other reports of these acts, including the March 2015 abduction of the Belize Territorial Volunteers and a boatful of Beliz-eans who travelled up Sarstoon River, and the June 2015 forced detention of five Belizeans Ray Martinez, Ashton Mckenzie, Ra-fael Cus, Rutilio Cal and Michel Romero who had travelled to Santa Cruz Village. In neither of the those incidents did the Gov-ernment condemn the actions of the Guatemalan military.

FACEY GUAT MINISTERS

INVADE SARSTOONBelize City, May 18, 2016

While Prime Minister Dean Barrow has stopped Belizeans from going to Sarstoon River with an old colonial law, Statutory In-strument 42, the Guatemalan military and even senior Government officials of the Jim-my Morales administration have considered it “open season” as they continue to assert their claim over the entire Sarstoon River.

Over the weekend, the Guatemalan Gov-ernment’s media channels posted photos of a high-level delegation of Government officials including Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Raul Morales, Defense Minister Williams Mansilla on tour of the Sarstoon area.

Another set of photos show Morales, the recalled Guatemalan Ambassador to Belize Manuel Estuardo Roldan, and Organisation of American States representative Magdalena Talamas, visiting communities along the bor-der in Guatemala.

The photos of the Guat officials in the Sarstoon are the more incendiary ones. While Belizeans have been blocked by our own Gov-ernment from Belizean territory, the Govern-ment does nothing about the Guatemalans who are invading Belizean territory to prop up their international campaign against Belize.

THE BELIZE TIMES 22 MAY2016 404

Kidnapped by drug lords??

HARD KNOCKS

General notice

Fifth Road (Phillip S.W. Goldson High-way Upgrading) Project

With the assistance of its funding partner, the Ca-ribbean Development Bank, the Government of Belize, through the Ministry of Works, is actively executing the Phillip Goldson Highway Upgrading Project, which seeks to improve the highway between Buttonwood Bay Bou-levard Roundabout and the Airport Road Junction for all road users.

Improvements include widening of the roadway, construction of concrete road medians, curbs and box drains, rehabilitation of the structural pavement, and re-surfacing using double bituminous chipseal. Other works include improvement of road lighting, installation of new road furniture (painted lines, reflectors, signs), and con-struction of pedestrian friendly road features. To achieve this, the Ministry of Works intends to make full use of the existing road reserve. BEL and other utility companies have already begun to prepare for the construction scheme by relocating their infrastructure to an allocated corridor near to private property boundaries.

The Ministry is currently in the process of procuring the construction contractor for the road segment between Buttonwood Bay Boulevard and the Haulover Bridge, through an international competitive selection process, which will conclude shortly. It is anticipated that works on the ground may commence within 3 months, with an expected duration of 18 months.

By way of this medium, the Ministry of Works notifies all adjacent residents that they may expect some measure of inconvenience during the construction period. In order to construct roadside drains and make use of the entire road reserve, existing temporary signs, vegetation and driveway slabs will be removed. Provisions will be made for access to each individual property while construction activity is ongoing. Be reminded, that on road parking may be severely limited, especially during daytime hours. Kindly take time to secure any personal belongings that may currently be temporarily stored on the road reserve so that they are not affected by the works.

The Chief EngineerMinistry of Works

Belmopan, BELIZE

Speaking of hard knocks somebody fell and hit his head lately. We won’t call any names (Sedi) because we wouldn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings (SEDI). So there’s this unnamed fellow (Sedi) who decides that you know what, he is so gosh-darned brilliant that the media shouldn’t even question him. I mean, what the hell is up with you guys in the media? Rambunctious impertinent crew that you are, dagnabbit! So this anonymous person (SEDI) says that the motley media crew is compromised. He says that the media is doing a disservice to society. He says that the media shouldn’t really try to understand stuff cause y’all is just a bunch of bozos. What you should do is just get releases from this brilliant government and just reproduce it. GET IT? RE-PRODUCE IT. In the words of that unidentified, unnamed thespian (SEDI) “we have the matter under control. You take it from me, we have the matters under control.” Okay boss!

Talking Turkeys…I’m sorry, we didn’t mean talking

turkeys, as in referring to that astute and erudite fellow Mr. Wilfred and his close friend Carlos Raul. We meant talks in Turkey, as in Istanbul. You see the dif-ference, right? We can understand why you’d make that mistake though. So the talks about the Sarstoon protocols – re-member that river we used to say we owned a half of – will be done in this far off country – nothing wrong with that. We are told it’s because it’s a level play-ing field, impartial ground. Guess we couldn’t find anywhere closer. But here’s the thing. Will the OAS be at these talks in Istanbul? That’s a million dollar ques-tion. We don’t believe they will be, since a release from the government says that if talks break down (very likely) then the crew will head to OAS headquarters in Washing-ton to meet again. This isn’t a good feeling. See, my minister is brilliant and everything, but he likes to make stupid statements, like that time he told Carlos Raul that only birds and animals should go on Sarstoon Island…BAM, we lost it. Scary stuff.

Holy Kidnapped Mennonites, Batman…So the Guatemalans decide…oh, let’s just go over onto this farm on the Belizean

side, grab this Mennonite man and take him over to Guatemala. Let’s tie him up and awww hell, just for kicks let’s break up his tractor. Then let’s go back over to the Be-lize side and take his bulldozer too, with driver. Holy crap! That’s where we’ve come. That’s what we’ve become. And then his eminence the mostest intelligentest Minister Sedi says don’t panic – we’ve got this all under control. We know what we’re doing. Feel safe my people – we got yu back. My word, I feel a conniption fit coming on. Our people were kidnapped by Guatema-lans, people. And now our Ministry of Foreign Affairs seems to want us to believe their version of events – let’s see – yeah, these pesky Mennonites walked over to the Guatemalan side…yeah yeah! And then this little one Roger he tied up himself while the Guate-malans stood around all confused, wondering what he was doing. And then…oh, oh…he started breaking up his own tractor, kicking it to pieces with his legs since he’d tied up his own arms. How can you think we’d ever blame those poor Guatemalan dudes for something like that? Come on now. They were trying to help, standing around with guns in case this crazy Mennonite was attacked by a snake or something. If you’d leave this up to that CEO guy Larry something or the other, they’d probably want to give the Guatemalans awards for being good citizens. Lord help us!

Let’s Party….It’s official. Let’s haul out the party hats and whistle thingies…what’s that

godawful thing called, the vuvuzelas. Let’s break out the champagne and beer – hell, let’s do it all top shelf. What’s the celebration about you ask? Why, you hea-then, it’s crystal clear. It’s the arbitration award, stupid. We only have to pay that Barrow demon/Barrow best buddy Ashcroft about $260 MILLION, give or take. You know what, just because we like his yacht and he allowed Kim to throw a party there, let’s throw in another $25M. No, no, we’re not crazy. The Prime Min-ister is celebrating. When asked about the award he said (AND WE QUOTE) – “I have to consider it a vic-tory for the government and people of Belize.” People celebrate victories right? Thank the Lord for Mr. Barrow, or is that…the Lord is thankful for Mr. Barrow – something like that. We like it!

THE BELIZE TIMES22 MAY 2016 5 05

EDITORIAL

Get back Sarstoon!The Barrow Administration, with Foreign

Minister Sedi Elrington leading the charge, is intent on perpetuating what has come to be a diplomatic fraud, i.e. negotiating some kind of new “protocol” over the use of the

Sarstoon with Guatemala.How can Sedi Elrington tell the Belizean people that

he “has things under control” when we can all see the evidence of Guatemala’s invasion of Belize’s territory of the Sarstoon River? How can we be expected to trust Sedi Elrington when it is he who has sufficiently empowered the Guatemalans into believing that we are “friends”, even as they bully and beat down on us and have carefully ex-ecuted the annexation of the Sarstoon River?

The truth of the matter is that the United Democratic Party Government of Prime Minister Dean Oliver Barrow has no legitimate authority to “negotiate” where Belize’s border sits on the Sarstoon River. To do this without the Belizean people’s knowledge and consent is treacherous and traitorous. Our borders are non-negotiable. It is an established reality since September 21, 1981, and histori-cally as far back as the 1850s when England secured the border separating British Honduras and Guatemala.

Can you imagine the audacity of Dean Barrow to pass into law a Statutory Instrument to ban Belizeans from go-ing to the Sarstoon River until the government negotiates “protocols” with Guatemala? While Dean Barrow and his spineless Foreign Minister were busy with the millions and millions of Petrocaribe monies to win an “unprec-edented third term” the Guatemalans were preparing to annex our side of the Sarstoon River. The dastardly deed is now done. Only the Guatemalan Armed Forces and

Guatemalan fisher folks are allowed on the river, until the “Protocols” for the Sarstoon River is worked out. The effect of the Statutory Instrument has been to conceal the craziness going on in the Sarstoon from the Belizean media and the public. The S.I. while prohibiting anyone without lawful authority from the Sarstoon area, is not applied to illegal incursions from Guatemala. Not even the BDF can go on the river without Guatemala’s expressed permission, a video of another clash between our security and Guatemala’s confirmed this.

When will Dean Barrow and his UDP government stop the “talking” about sovereignty and begin to exercise it sensibly in the diplomatic arena?

Why do we continue to limit the international media-tion to the Organisation of American States? Despite the actions of Guatemala, at times witnessed by representa-tives of the OAS, that US-supported body is yet to bring pressure on Guatemala to respect our territorial integrity.

Senior military officials who have served with pride to ensure that Guatemala respects our borders have shared with us at the BELIZE TIMES that the Sarstoon is fully gone and Guatemala will now slowly move to annex more Belizean territory. With a weak and compromised Government such as the one we have today, this threat is very real and cannot be overlooked.

As Sedi meets with his Guatemalan “friend” and coun-terpart, Carlos Raul Morales, this Saturday we implore that he has one thing in mind: get back Sarstoon River and tell Guatemala to respect our borders. We don’t care how you do it; just get back our river that you lost because of your weak diplomacy and appeasement to the Guate-malans. Anything less is not acceptable.

Continued on page 14

Our Foreign Affairs in ShamblesBy Richard Harrison

Belize is currently facing its greatest foreign affairs challenge in its 35-year history as an indepen-dent nation.

Its neighbor, Guatemala, con-tinued to claim part, half or all of Belize, depending on what period and who was in power.

During the recent elections held last November in Guatemala, elected president Jimmy Morales promised that taking Belize would be one of the principal objectives of his government.

During the last six months

since his election, he has directed his military to increase its aggression in the border areas, to enter Belize terri-tory at the Sarstoon River and to take complete control of Sarstoon Island, which is at the mouth of the Sarstoon River, and which was always known and respected as Belize territory.

He has used every opportunity, in-cluding the recent unfortunate killing by the Belize Defense Force of a Gua-temalan teen who entered Belize ter-ritory illegally, to spin rhetoric to give “justice” to his cause....while totally ignoring the fact that Belizeans have been killed by illegal Guatemalans in

Belize territory as well.Belize does not claim any part of

Guatemala....Belizeans do not enter into Guatemala illegally to use their land, harvest their natural resources nor to kill their people....and the Be-lize Defence Force does not enter willfully into Guatemalan territory.

Yet....political observers worry that Belize does not currently enjoy the international sympathy it once had in support of its independence and territorial integrity. There is a feeling that Guatemala has a much more organized and effective public relations and international relations

campaign.There are reasons for this:1. The Ministry of Foreign Af-

fairs does not have a set of concise and precise OBJECTIVES that are clearly and regularly updated and articulated to a coordinated national and international effort. Every per-son and office is paddling their own canoe, having developed turfs that are closely guarded. To a significant extent, the “think tank” that guides foreign affairs does not exist except during emergencies, and gener-ally follows the unilateral political


THE GEMS OF GRADUATION SEASON 2016 PT 1

SADIE VERNON TECHNICAL HIGH

LADYVILLE TECHNICAL HIGH

CANAAN SDA HIGH

Featuring Sadie Vernon Technical High, Ladyville Technical High, Canaan SDA High, Edward P.

Yorke High and Maud Williams High

By: Alton F. Humes (Freelance Reporter)BELIZE CITY, Tuesday, May 17th, 2016

It’s another school year coming down to the wire, and another class of eager and spir-ited faces and bodies ready and charged to go out and face the world. And it is in that frame of spirit that the BELIZE TIMES, for a third straight year, spotlights the best and brightest of the High School Graduating Class of 2016.

Our coverage this year kicks off with Sadie Vernon Techni-cal High School, on Partridge Street. While school officials were unable to officially confirm at press time just how many will be marching up, the ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, June 2nd, 2016 at the Central Assem-bly of God Church on Freetown Road, beginning at 6:00 p.m. Leading this class of 4H1, the school’s only 4th form, will be 17-year-old Mr. Byron Lopez (Valedictorian), 18-year-old Mr. Terrence Usher (Salutatorian) and 18-year-old Miss Anisha Gotoy (3rd Place).

All three graduates are from the Southside of Belize City (Lopez and Gotoy from the Lake Independence area, Usher from Glenn Street). While their family lives are mostly stable (only Lo-pez comes from a single-parent home), their 4 years at Sadie Vernon High were anything but. Lopez, a noted football enthu-siast, admitted that his 4 years were devoid of a chance to be a part of any sporting competi-tions in lieu of focusing solely on his studies. For Usher, a transfer student from Wesley College (he transferred at the start of 3rd Form), it was a positive change of pace, as he was better able to manage his studies and work at Sadie Vernon. Gotoy said that it was her English lessons that were most ‘complicated’, admit-

Valedictorian, Byron Lopez

Valedictorian, Danielson Correa

Valedictorian, Mariah Murillo

Salutatorian, Terrence Usher

Salutatorian, Kaison Ortiz

Salutatorian, Jacklin Vasquez

3rd place, Anisha Gotoy

3rd place, Dale Montero

3rd place, Gabriel Tun

ting that her teacher used different methods to teach and “graded me very hard”.

But what got them through was the “vil-lage” of supporters who got them over the ever-morphing ‘hump’. In addition to their respec-tive families, Usher addi-tionally points to school counsellor Mr. Samson

Jacobs, who he referred to as a “lifesaver” who kept him from giving more trouble than he was already known for, and two more critical figures, Ms. Kelly and Mrs. Jules, who he says “motivated me to go back to school” when he was close to drop-ping out entirely.

Usher, who plans

to go to 6th Form with no official career plans on tap as of yet, says he is grateful for the time he spent at Sadie Vernon High, and thanks his class-mates for having fun together as well as for always sup-porting each other. His valedictorian colleague Lopez, who will be tak-ing a similar route to study Business, concurs and advises to “work hard, have a mind that excels as far as possible… Dedi-cation is the key to success”. Ms. Gotoy, who plans to study Nursing at

the University of Belize, advises upcoming students to continue “[to] work hard; and stop back-answering and disrespecting the teachers. They know better and know more than you do”.

Moving into the Belize District, Ladyville Technical High School in Ladyville will graduate

64 students on Saturday, June 4th at the Ramada Princess Hotel on Newtown Barracks in Belize City, beginning at 3:00 p.m. 34 females and 32 males will be marching up, and leading their ranks are: Mr. Danielson Correa (Valedictorian), Mr. Kaison Ortiz (Salutatorian) and Mr. Dale Montero (3rd Place).

Going back to Belize City, Northside mainstay Edward P. Yorke High School will be graduat-ing its largest class yet - 142 stu-dents. The ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, June 5th at the Ra-mada Princess Hotel on Newtown Barracks in Belize City, beginning at 3:00 p.m. Leading that class are: 16-year-old Valedictorian Mr. Glevaughn Smith [of Class 4-Indus-trial Studies (IS), with a Grade Aver-age of 91.148%], 17-year-old Ms. Irene Flores [of Class 4-Science, with a Grade Average of 91.102%], and 3rd Place, giving the Vote of Thanks, 17-year-old Ms. Guadalupe Miranda [also of 4IS]. They were interviewed on Friday, May 13th, in the midst of their hectic schedules at the school’s Princess Margaret Drive campus.

Smith came to Belize with his parents and little brother from the island nation of Jamaica. The Be-lize-bred Flores and Miranda have their roots much closer. Flores is from the Caribbean Shores constit-uency, and Miranda lives on Cen-tral American Boulevard, but very disparate nonetheless. Flores lives with her parents and 2 younger brothers, while Miranda only has her 28-year-old sister to depend on since her mother is deceased, and her father is in-and-out of her life.

Add to the above the experi-ences heading into and going through high school, and the pic-ture gets that much more compli-cated. Smith, who entered Edward P. Yorke High from the prestigious primary school institution Belize Elementary School, said his peers “felt I was far off from reality”. For Miranda, she felt somewhat ostra-cized during her years because she came from Queen’s Square An-glican Primary School. Flores said her ‘short’ stature made people, particularly her peers, “not take me seriously” but it was a challenge she overcame with her towering enthusiasm to study.

Similarly to Sadie Vernon students, it was the efforts of the community of friends and sup-porters that kept these students together. Smith points to his parents as his chief cheerleaders, despite their strict monitoring and “always push me to do my best.” For Flores, in addition to her par-ents, it was her English Language and English Literature teacher, Mr. Nicholson, who always asked about her grades and who kept her in and ahead of the game. And Ms. Miranda can now certainly thank her older sister, who was “always there” for her.

And with 16 CXCs on his plate, and an eye on becoming an Engi-neer one day, Smith phrases his

Continued on page 20

THE BELIZE TIMES22 MAY 2016 7 07

PUP Reps pledge support at Unity RallyMAJOR LLOYD JONESElected Eastern Caucus Chairman

Northern Caucus

Western Caucus

Southern Caucus

Belize City, May 13, 2016Major Lloyd Jones,

a retired military com-mander, was elected to lead the Eastern Caucus of the People’s United Par-ty following elections on Wednesday May 11, 2016.

Major Jones and Gil-roy Usher Sr. accepted nominations for the post but the majority of the delegates at the Caucus meeting supported Jones. Usher Sr. was thanked for offering himself and was encour-aged to continue his efforts in the Party.

The Major has a stellar record, both in military and professional service, which is an asset to the

PUP and will be an asset to reor-ganising of the Eastern Caucus.

Also elected unanimously to serve in the Executive of the East-ern Caucus were Vice President Danny Madrid, Treasurer Albert

Vaughan and Secretary Micah Goodin.Major Jones joins new leaders from

other Caucuses including Thea Garcia (Chairlady, Northern Caucus), Michel Chebat (Chairman, Western Caucus) and Oscar Requena (Southern Caucus).

Secretary General Linsford Castillo, Deputy Leader Hon. Kareem Musa, Major Lloyd Jones, Danny Madrid, Chairman Henry Usher and Micah

Goodin

Major Lloyd Jones and Gilroy Usher Sr.

Alberto Dominguez, Councillor Josue Carballo, Ivan Valencia and Thea Garcia

Western Caucus Chair Michel Chebat along with executive members of Western Caucus

Hon. Oscar Requena

MORE Refugee ConfusionCabinet Rejects earlier GOB release

& Immigration Minister’s Comments on Refugee Program

Belize City, May 17, 2016The Barrow Administration has cast a

cloud of confusion and cynicism on itself for a refugee program it is part and parcel of.

On Wednesday, after two weeks of a media outcry over a completely secret Refugee Program which has allegedly been underway since late last year or early this year, Cabinet spoke on the matter in an of-ficial release. But instead of providing clear answers, the release has only helped to muddy the waters over what is really go-ing on.

The Cabinet release contradicts every other official position taken by the Govern-ment on the issue, as if attempting to cover up something.

In the release, Cabinet, the country’s top policy-making body decided that “there exist NO formal, nor legal, agreement be-tween the Government of Belize and the NGO, Help for Progress that authorizes Help for Progress personnel accepting ap-plication for refugees status in Belize, and to further conduct interviews and deter-mine which applicant has a legitimate case or not.”

But that is not what the Barrow-ap-pointed Minister of Immigration Beverly Castillo said in media interviews on May 6th. In that interview, Castillo indicated that Help for Progress and her Ministry are working hand in hand. She said, “The Help for Progress office is processing refugees that currently reside in Belize and are seek-ing refugee status. The Protection Transfer brings those people at risk from our neigh-boring countries through Belize and further transfer to the U.S. The refugees are mov-ing into the Help for Progress office, look-ing at the application forms and filling them out. There is a next process to that…that is to review and to determine whether they would qualify as refugees.”

Following Castillo’s slip ups, a Govern-ment of Belize release issued by the Press Office on May 10th later clarified that “Help for Progress…has the responsibility to receive applications from potential asy-lum seekers and conduct an initial in-terview. Those applicants who meet the criteria for refugee status are referred to the Immigration Department…”

But today, the Government suddenly has a different position on Help for Prog-ress. All of a sudden, they are disassociat-ing themselves from the organization.

The Cabinet has declared no en-tity other than their Refugee Eligibility Committee is empowered to determine whether refugee applicants have a legiti-mate case.

“Any entity other than the duly au-thorized Refugee Eligibility Committee involved in processing applications for ref-ugee status considerations should cease and desist from such activity,” stated the release.

No one knows why Cabinet has made such a u-turn. But what we do know is that every week hundreds of immigrants have been lining up at the Non-Governmental Organisation, Help for Progress, located in the City of Belmopan. There they would fill out their applications for refugee status which would then be presented to the Im-migration Department. Interestingly, no-body in that Department could definitively state how many applications had been reviewed, or approved.

Additionally, there was little informa-tion about the criteria for refugee status, since many of the immigrants applying for that status had been living undocumented in Belize for many years. Sources within the Immigration Department claimed that persons applying for the status were be-ing granted special legal status for up to one year, without screening or vetting.

Come clean GOB! What is this Refu-gee business really all about?

Belize City, Wednesday, May 18, 2016Earlier this week, worst fears were realized when the Ministry of

Health confirmed that the first case of ZIKA in Belize. According to health officials, they have been awaiting the results of seven samples sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency, CARPHA, and late last week there was confirmation from the lab in Trinidad.

Director of Health Services Dr. Marvin Manzanero has verified that the test sample was extracted from a Belizean in Belize City, and as is done in the case of other vector-borne diseases, the Ministry is conducting an intensive mapping exercise to contain any potential of an outbreak. Ac-cording to Manzanero, “as soon as that information was shared with us an investigation was launched by the epidemiology team from headquarters, supported by the team from the Central Health Region”.

Manzanero also claims that at least for now, pending the return of the other samples sent, this is an isolated case. He told the media that “we haven’t been able to link any other case. I can’t tell you that we have had any other potential cases. That’s all we have for right now. We still have not been able to ascertain how and where the patient got the virus”.

1st Zika Case Confirmed

THE BELIZE TIMES 22 MAY2016 8 08

PITHOULAS INVESTMENTS LIMITED #69,886

(“the Company”)

Pursuant to Section 102 (4) of the International Business Companies Act, Chapter 270 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2000, notice is hereby given that PITHOU-LAS INVESTMENTS LIMITED:

a) is in dissolutionb) commenced dissolution on the 13th day of May, 2016; andc) Andrei Kruglov whose address is 12 Schukinskaya, Flat

42, Moscow, Russia, is the Liquidator of the Company.

Cititrust International Limited

Registered Agent

BNTU WALKS THE WALK!Belize City, May 14, 2016

Unofficial Police sources have reported to the BELIZE TIMES that the Belize National Teacher’s Union march against the Sarstoon Law held on Friday, May 13, had the par-ticipation of some 2,500 support-ers. Government sources and UDP organs like 7News would claim that the numbers were far less. But the BNTU must not pay attention to the noise. They must stand tall and proud.

The BNTU, which joined the Opposition and other groups in call-ing on the Barrow Administration to rescind the Statutory Instrument which impedes Belizeans from trav-elling to the Sarstoon River, flexed to show just a sample of its might when it flooded the city streets with its members who stood in support of their Union’s position.

BNTU branches countrywide gathered supporters and travelled in buses to the old capital for the dem-onstration.

In support of the BNTU, the Opposition People’s United Party whose leader Hon. John Briceno, National Deputy Leader Hon. Cordel Hyde, Deputy Leaders Hon. Abe-

lardo Mai, Hon. Kareem Musa, Hon. Rodwell Ferguson and Hon. Julius Espat all turned out with a crowd of nationalists as well.

The large demonstration moved from the Constitution Park to the downtown area then east towards BTL Park, where they gathered to listen to speakers that included BNTU National President Luke Pala-cio, National Trade Union Congress President Marvin Mora, Christian Workers Union President Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Senator Elena Smith, Krem Radio’s Mose Hyde and Belize Territorial Volunteers leader Wil Maheia.

The BNTU will remain com-mitted to their goal of standing up for Belize. Next on their agenda is a series of sensitization forums for teachers to discuss the ICJ propos-al. These will begin on May 18th in Corozal Town, May 24th in Orange Walk, May 25th in Stann Creek at the Ecumenical Auditorium, May 26th in Toledo at the Father Ring Parish Hall, May 31st in Belmopan at the George Price Center, June 1st at the Sacred Heart Auditorium and June 2nd and 3rd in the Belize District.

Violence in Ladyville Escalates

Belize City, Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Two suspects being sought by Police for their connection in Friday night’s shootout and murder in Lady-ville turned themselves in on Tuesday afternoon. Egbert Baldwin, 28, and Darwin Prado, 19, will be charged for the attempted murder of Lyndon Gil-lett, Terence Flowers and Casey Loza-no. The three were wounded by gun-fire in an attack this past weekend.

Ladyville Police have been busy trying to put together the pieces of this violent puzzle. At around midnight Friday Gillett, Lozano and Flowers were apparently socializing around a picnic table in Lozano’s yard on Marage Road. Authorities believe that two men, suspected to be Bald-win and Prado, came from the rear of the yard with the intent to ambush the three men around the table. Pre-liminary indications are that Lionel Rhamdas, 21, approached the trio from the front of the home to com-plete the ambush.

According to Police, there are two

possible angles to the story which ended with Rhamdas lying dead on the pavement on Marage Road with a gun in his hand. He was either shot by one of the persons under attack returning fire, or shot by accident by one of his two likely accomplices, Baldwin or Prado.

A Ladyville Police mobile was only about 500 feet away from the scene when it observed the wound-ed Casey Lozano and Terence Flow-ers running in their direction, with persons believed to be Baldwin and Prado in hot pursuit. When the two gunmen spotted Police they escaped into the bushes at the side of the road.

So while the two men will be charged for attempted murder, no charges have yet been levied for the murder of Lionel Rhamdas, pending the results of ballistics testing.

This latest attack is believed to be an ongoing attempt at retaliation, with Lozano the target, for the mur-der of Rene “Fat Cat” Chavarria in March, 2016.

FOR SALE2001 Toyota Camry. 4 Cyl. Fully Loaded, Power windows and Power Locks. Cruise Control, Engine and Trans in Excellent conditions. Only 84k original miles on the dash. Contact 636-6245 for serious inquiries.

09 09THE BELIZE TIMES1 NOV 2015 0909TOPMODELTHE BELIZE TIMES

visit us at www.belizetimes.bz or Facebook/ Belize Times

TOP MODEL Clothing and Accessories provided by

CATWALK FASHIONSCor. North Front Steet & Queen Street

Belize CityBreannieBelizean Beauty • Career Plan: Modeling

• Sign: Gemini• Favourite Food: Pasta• Likes: Modeling• Lives in: Belize City• Fav. Quote: “Every accomplishment starts

with the decision to try.”

22 MAY 2016

Xaibe RC boys & Crooked Tree girls are Softball Champs

THE BELIZE TIMES 8 MAY2016 1010 SPORTS THE BELIZE TIMES 22 MAY2016

Eiley FC bombs West Lake 5-2in 1st Division Football

Belize City, May 15, 2016Eiley FC defeated West Lake

5-2 for their first win on Saturday as Week 2 of the Belize District Football Association’s 1st Division competition continued at the MCC Garden. Brian Martinez scored the

1st goal and Kevin Rowland added a 2nd goal. Trayvon Martinez and Devaugn Zuniga scored for West Lake. Jason Young, Dalton “Chicken” Cayetano and Kevin Alvarez scored 3 more goals for Eiley FC to win.

On Sunday, FC Elite bombed the Lake Indepen-dence Strikers 2-1. Marlon Gutierrez scored a penalty in the 28th minute and added a 2nd goal in the 32nd min-ute. Kadeem Myers scored a consolation goal for Lake I in the 58th minute.

The Stars Academy bombed Fort George United 3-1 after Henry “Pulu” Gil-lett scored on a corner kick in the 6th minute of play. Ste-ven “Bredds” Baizar equal-ized for Stars Academy in the 18th minute, while Shemar “Mini” Thompson scored the 2nd goal in the 73rd minute and a 3rd goal in the 85th minute for the 3-1 win.

Steven Baizar scored Stars’

1st goal

Marlon Gutierrez scored FC Elite 1st &

2nd goals

Jonathan Perera vs Fort George

Belize City, May 14, 2016The defending champs City Boys, Brown Bombers

and Ladyville Rising Stars posted big wins in Week 5 of the 2016 SMART Mundialito at the MCC garden last Saturday.

Results:Hattieville Riverside Boys vs. Reality Youth - 1-1 Goals by Tyrique Solis, Jaheed BaptistBrown Bombers vs. Heights FC - 2-0Goals by Keyden Shay Bowen, Jaylen WhyteYoung Warriors vs. Ladyville Jaguars – 0-0Ladyville Rising Stars vs. Face of Belize - 1-0Goal by Adrian ArmstrongCity Boys vs. Carlston FC - 1-0Goal by Rasheed Lord

City Boys, Bombers & Rising Stars win Mundialito matches

Taye Parkinson, Latrell Solis & Amiri Hoare win at SMART Junior table tennis

Taye Parkinson Latrell Solis Amiri Hoare

Ladyville Rising Stars attacks

118 MAY 2016

SMART HURRICANES ARE 2016 NEBL CHAMPS

THE BELIZE TIMES 11SPORTS22 MAY 2016

Team Belize ready for Central American

championships

THE BELIZE TIMES

Belize City, May 14, 2016The Belize amateur Athletic

Association held open tryouts at the Marion Jones Sports Complex last Saturday to select the team which will represent Belize at the Central American championships in El Salvador next month.

100m1st BHS’ Faith Morris - 12.59 secs2nd Maud Williams High’s Hilary Glad-

den - 12.86secs3rd UB’s Jada Parchue - 13.084th Kaithlyn Kelly - 13.22200m1st Faith Morris - 26.15 secs2nd Hilary Gladden - 27.27 secs3rd Jada Parchue - 27.46 4th Ajahney Carr - 27.91400m1st BHS’ Ashontie Carr - 1:00.772nd Ajahney Carr - 1:04.243rd Staiey Cayetano - 1:24.25Long JumpAshontie Carr - 5.38 metersShot Put1st SCA’s Brianne Codd - 8.86m2nd SCA’s Aisha Williams - 6.64m3rd Shemareaun Trapp - 6.11mDiscus1st SCA’s Brianne Codd - 24.91 me-

ters2nd Aisha Williams - 16.99m3rd Shemareaun Trapp - 15.77mJavelin1st SCA’s Hannah Kay Williams -

20.98m2nd Aisha Williams - 16.45m3rd Brianne Codd - 10.24m100 meters1st Shaun Gill - 10.45 secs2nd Georgetown Tech’s Haleem Pala-

cio - 10.77secs3rd Ecumenical’s Donell - 11.03secs4th Frederick Usher Jr - 11.485th Mark Anderson - 11.58200 meters1st Mark Anderson - 21.57 secs2nd Haleem Palacio - 22.44 secs 3rd Donell Arzu - 22.75 secs4th Frederick Usher Jr - 22.94400 meters1st Mark Anderson - 49.12 secs2nd Hance Card - 51.26 secs3rd Rajeem Arzu - 51.42 secs 4th Ajani Requena - 52.94 secs800 meters1st Ernesto Villafranco - 2:06.472nd Nigel Rodriguez - 2:14.143rd Amir Ramos - 2:19.944th Giovanni Baiza - 2.27.01500 meters1st Amir Ramos - 4.422nd Giovanni Baiza - 4:473rd Leon Guild - 5:034th Nigel Rodriguez - 5:19Long Jump1st Martin Flowers - 6.61 meters2nd Kenneth Brackett - 6.40m3rd Drayton Jones - 5.91mShot Put1st Martin Flowers - 10.87 meters.2nd Darnell Oden - 10.43mJavelin1st Martin Flowers - 45.10 meters.2nd Darrnell Oden - 37.24m3rd Aaron Young - 27.50mDiscus ThrowDarnell Oden - 37.67 meters

Faith Morris wins 200m

SCA’s Hannah Kay Williams wins Javelin

Martin Flowers wins long jump

Taye Parkinson, Latrell Solis &

Amiri Hoare win at SMART

Junior table tennis

Belize City, May 15, 2016The Belize Table Tennis Association

(BTTA) held the SMART National Junior Table Tennis ranking tournament at the Belize Elementary School auditorium on Sunday, where 10-year-old Taye Parkin-son of St. Joseph’s RC School won the 12 and Under category, SJC’s Latrell So-lis won the 15 and Under category, and Amiri Hoare won the 18 and Under cat-egory.

12 and Under category1st Place - Taye Parkinson2nd Place - Devesh Hukmani3rd Place - Jude Castellanos4th Place - Jofny Paguaga15 and Under category1st Place - Latrell Solis2nd Place - Amiri Hoare3rd Place - Rohit Pagarani4th Place - Devesh Hukmani18 and Under category1st Place - Amiri Hoare2nd Place - Latrell Solis3rd Place - Fabio Carballo4th Place - Taye Parkinson

Belize City, May 13, 2016The Belize City SMART Hurricanes won the 2016 Nation-

al Elite Basketball League (NEBL) championship, out-gunning defending champs San Pedro Tigersharks 98-92 in Game 3 at the Belize Elementary Auditorium last Friday night, May 13.

Darwin “Puppy” Leslie led the Hurricanes with 33pts, while MVP Farron Louriano added 17pts, and Leroy Louriano scored 11pts. For the Tigersharks Caleb Sutton scored 19pts, while Douglas Valley hit 4 treys to add 17pts; and Andrew “Bynum” Ortiz put up 16pts. Ashton Edwards hit 3 treys to add 15 pts, and Gene Myvett tossed in 10pts, 11 rebounds. Raul Roches had 9 pts 9 rebounds, and Tyrone “Mission” Edwards scored 6pts.

Darwin “Puppy” Leslie won playoffs MVP and Belize Basketball Federation’s president Paul Thompson presented the championship trophy and the $10,000 first prize cheque to the Hurricanes. He also presented a team trophy to the sub-champions, the Tigersharks.

Belize Bank Bulldogs

win softball marathon

Darwin Leslie scored 33pts

THE BELIZE TIMES22 MAY 2016 13


Continued from page 5


directorate of the party in power and their special interests, and not one of national unity and representation. The Belizean people are mostly un-informed, ill-informed, mis-informed or mal-informed...causing general confusion and lack of unity of direc-tion. STRATEGY should follow OB-JECTIVES.

2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been overloaded with politically connected individuals who are mostly serving their own interest, and not that of the nation....whether it be for fun, travel, social status or business connections....having a field day....often behaving aloof and with lack of discretion, commanding little or no respect....they are mostly untrained in the professional management of foreign affairs issues. The PEOPLE are generally not fit for the POSITIONS. PEOPLE should fit the PURPOSE.

3. There is no defined periodic standard reporting required by staff and management....nor performance appraisal and management audits conducted on the personnel and offic-es of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to confirm or disprove that objectives are being met...and to continuously refine and define the way forward. There is no STRUCTURED SYSTEM nor MAN-AGEMENT of a system in place.....hence, there is no measurable BANG for the BUCK. FORM should follow FUNCTION.

4. The first three reasons explain why the linkages and relations with international players, organizations and institutions, private and public, have been weakened over the years, and why empathy, sympathy and ac-tive support for our cause for an IN-DEPENDENT and SOVEREIGN Belize seem to have waned.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs an urgent overhaul. You cannot continue doing the same things with the same people and expect different results.

Our Foreign Affairs in

Shambles

ly to prepare a counter-strategy to Guatemala’s or risk losing more of its territory. I propose that such a counter-strategy must include the

Major Lloyd Jones proposes Counter Strategy to Guatemala’s

offensive

OUT following:Diplomatic: A renewed inter-

nationalization of the unfounded claim; the vigorous lobbying of our remaining friends to raise the an-nexation of the Sarstoon as a com-mon theme at the UN General As-sembly and such other fora. And a new diplomatic pathway must be found that does not include the ceding of territory nor going to the ICJ.

Informational: Hiring of a global PR firm to manage our information campaign so as to regain the PR initiative. The creation of a special task force to quickly assess border incidents involving use of force by the BDF and any breaches of our territorial integrity and sovereignty

by Guatemala so as to be “first to market” with our story.

Militarily: Conduct a strategic review of the BDF with a view to improving its capability such that we are able to properly defend our ter-ritory. The new defence mechanism must include an improved standing army, a strategic reserve and a citi-zen army. Military science must be introduced in our high schools and every citizen must have a role to play in our OWN defence. Creative military alliances that would deter the Guatemalans must be forged, exercised and deepened.

Economic: A complete commer-cial, economic, and financial em-bargo must be instituted, in incre-mental fashion, against Guatemala

to include educational services. We must ask our CARICOM cousins to do the same and thereafter the Commonwealth unless Guatemala walks back from its annexation of the Sarstoon.

What I have set out is merely a broad framework. The details of such a strategy would have to be fleshed out by the Government in partnership with the Opposition so as to ensure continuity.

Finally let me say this. It’s about time that the PUP tells the Beliz-ean people what their position is with respect to the Guatemala is-sue including the ICJ. Pussy footing around just ain’t cutting it!

Signed,Major Lloyd Jones (R)


BY ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT OF BELIZE LICENSE AUCTIONEER NOEL J. CODD WILL SELL the following vehicle on Monday 30th May, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. at

Noel J. Codd office, Carmelita Village, Orange Walk District:

2003 Grey Ford Explorer

TERM: STRICTLY CASHLICENSE AUCTIONEER: NOEL J. CODD

Carmelita Village, Orange Walk DistrictOffice: 677-5184 or Cell: 624-5184

Email: [email protected]

For Sale

By Order of the

Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., a company duly registered under the Compa-nies Act, Chapter 250 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition, 2000, and having its registered office at Cor. Albert and Bishop Streets, Belize City, Belize, hereby gives notice of its intention to exercise its power of sale as Mortgagee under a Deed of Assignment of Mortgage made the 19th day of March, 2013, recorded as LTU-20130057, between THE BELIZE BANK LIMITED (the Assignor) SCOTIABANK (BELIZE) LTD., and LETRICIA LAMB AND IAN PHILLIPS, which said property was mortgaged by the said LETRICIA LAMB and IAN PHILLIPS to the said BELIZE BANK LIMITED on the 11th day of Janaury, 2013, and recorded in Deeds Book Volume 1 of 2013 at Folios 1493 – 1536, the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will at the expiration of two months from the date of the first publication of this notice sell the property described in the schedule hereto.

THE SCHEDULE

ALL THAT piece or parcel of land being Lot No. 39 situ-ated in the Boom Pine Ridge Area on the Boom Hattieville Road, Belize District as shown on a plan of Subdivision prepared by Kenneth A. Gillett, Licensed Land Surveyor and registered at Lands and Surveys Department in Bel-mopan, Cayo District in Register No. 16 Entry No. 3435 TOGETHER with all buildings and erections standing and being thereon.

DATED this 16th day of May, 2016.

MUSA & BALDERAMOS LLP91 North Front Street

Belize CityAttorneys-at-Law for

Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.


COROZAL DISTRICTSartenejaConcepcionSan VictorSan AndresXaibe

ORANGE WALK DISTRICTDouglasFire BurnSan FelipeGuinea GrassNuevo San Juan

BELIZE DISTRICTHattievilleBiscayneGardeniaMay PenCrooked TreeCaye Caulker

TOLEDO DISTRICTCorozon CreekDoloresOtoxhaSan LucasGolden StreamIndian CreekMedina BankSan Miguel Silver CreekSan Pedro Columbia

CAYO DISTRICTYalbacLa GraciaSanta TeresitaTeakettleLos TombosDuck Run 111

STANN CREEK DISTRICTAlta VistaHummingbirdMiddlesexSteadfastValley CommunityPomonaSaraweeHope Creek

Elections and Boundaries Commission

Belize, 18th May, 2016.

DISSOLUTION OF VILLAGE COUNCILS

WHEREAS, Section 10 (1) of the Village Councils Act Chapter 88 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2000-2003, provides that the Elections and Boundaries Commission shall, at least seven days before any general election of members of the council becomes due under the provisions of this Act or any regulations made there under, dissolve that council, by Order published in the Gazette and on the radio;

AND WHEREAS, the general election of members of the Village Councils set out in the Schedule hereto becomes due during the period 5th June 2016 to 10th July, 2016;

NOW THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers conferred upon it by the aforesaid Section 10 of the Village Councils Act, the Elections and Boundar-ies Commission hereby dissolves the Village Councils set out in the Schedule hereto with effect from 26th May 2016. As from the said 26th May 2016, the following provisions shall apply in accordance with Section 11 of the said Act:-

(a) All the powers, duties and liabilities of the outgoing Council shall, until the constitution of a new Council, be exercised, performed and discharged by the persons who held the posts of Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer of the Council immediately before the dissolution; and

(b) All property belonging to or vested in or in the occupation of the Council shall, during the period aforesaid, vest in and be in the occupation, control and management of the persons indicated in paragraph (a) above.


SIGNED: Josephine Tamai FOR CHAIRMAN ELECTIONS AND BOUNDARIES COMMISSION

SCHEDULEVILLAGE COUNCILS DISSOLVED WITH EFFECT FROM 26th May 2016

BY ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT OF BE-LIZE LICENSE AUCTIONEER NOEL J. CODD WILL SELL the following items on Saturday 4th June, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. at Corozal Free Zone,

Corozal District:

355- BLOUSES 50 89- DRESSES 50262- BLOUSES 3X100161- SHORTS 3X10055- PANTS 3X10070- BLOUSES 2545- PANTS 100126- PANTS 5026- PANTS SETS 10048- BLOUSES 2533- BATH SUITS 2544- PANTS 5046- KIDS SHORTS 3X10044- MEN SHORTS 100150- MEN T- SHIRTS 5056- KIDS T- SHIRTS 3X10092- MEN T- SHIRTS 3X100108- KIDS PANTS SETS 50

TERM: STRICTLY CASHLICENSE AUCTIONEER: NOEL J. CODD

Carmelita Village, Orange Walk DistrictOffice: 677-5184 or Cell: 624-5184

Email: [email protected]

179- KIDS T- SHIRTS 3X10027- MEN PANTS1 -CASIO CASH REGISTER 1- SEWING MACHINE1-PLASTIC CABINET1-WATER COOLER1-SMALL FAN1-OFFICE CHAIR1-STOOL2- PLASTIC CHAIRS 5- VEC FANS 22-METAL CLOTHES RACKS60-WALL CLOTHES RACKS36-MANIQUINS1-STEP LADDER3- NAP SACKS12- TOWELS7-SOCKS 12 PACKS

PUBLIC AUCTION SALEBy Order of Owners Licensed Auctioneer NOEL J.

CODD will sell on Friday 3rd June, 2016 at 1:30 p.m. on site.

ALL THAT piece or parcel being Parcel 1213 Block 20 Belmopan Registration Section property contain-ing 444.18 square yards, house measures 2300 sq. ft. containing 5 bedrooms 4 bathrooms Split Level concrete home with fence yard located at no. 3 Blad-den Street, Belmopan City.

NOEL J. CODDLicensed Auctioneer

Carmelita Village, Orange Walk DistrictOffice: 677-5184 Cell: 624-5184Email: [email protected]


By G. Michael ReidAs important and relevant as

this Guatemala issue is to our way of living, we have done very little to educate our people as to the facts thereof. It seems that for many years, we were satisfied with just cruising along hoping that it would just go away on its own. It has not and it will not!

Guatemala on the other hand, has kept this issue very much alive; preaching it to its citizens and teaching it in its schools: “Belice es nuestro”. They have it written into their Constitution and have Belize in-cluded on their maps. Their newspa-pers do not miss an opportunity to drive home the point and their poli-ticians make it integral to their rant and rhetoric. Leading up to the last elections, now president of Guate-mala Jimmy Morales had made the Belize issue a focal point of his cam-paign. He now seems geared up to act upon his campaign promise of acquiring Belize for Guatemala.

In Belize, our politicians have been mainly at each other’s throats. The United Democratic Party has done very little uniting and has pri-marily focused its energies on dis-crediting, dismantling and destroy-ing the Opposition. In fact, they have dismantled and destroyed just about every institution and organi-zation that has not toed their party line. The unions, the Cane Farmers Association, the Bar Association and just about every sporting orga-nization have all fallen prey to their dismantling techniques. Instead of promulgating distrust of Guatemala; they promote hatred for any and ev-eryone who dares not bow down and pay homage to the king. Divid-ed, we fall.

When it is convenient, the UDP will preach bi-partisanship but when it’s time to deliver goods and ser-vices, it is “UDP first, Belizeans second and PUP last”. If we are to mount any reasonable defence

against Guatemala’s aggression, then we will have to unite and be-come as one nation. Until we can do that and recognize that our enemy is not ourselves but those barbarians at the gate, we will not be able to overcome this drawback.

Unfortunately, this disunity is not confined to politics for we are divided in a number of ways. A key division exist between Belizeans who are at home and those who live in the Diaspora. Over the past five decades or so, there has been a tremendous brain drain as many able bodied persons have moved on to seek opportunities elsewhere.

House of Representatives who (a) is by virtue of his own act under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state.” In other words, “a man cannot serve two masters”.

The void created by this mass migration of indigenous Belizeans has been filled by immigrants par-ticularly from our neighbouring countries. In an interesting twist of irony, it is believed that as many as seventy percent of these immi-grants come from Guatemala. Every election, they are brought in by the droves and are given citizenship and other incentives to vote. Many have made Belize their home but a few even maintain residency in Guate-mala and only come over to vote. Talk about sleeping with the enemy!

In our last General Elections, no less than three born Guatemalans were included among those who were running for office. The dis-gruntled among the Belizean born dual citizens have pointed to this as a reason why they should also be al-

lowed to run for office. In my hum-ble opinion, it is better to correct that which is wrong than to attempt justification by pointing to another wrong.

Apart from the Central Ameri-can immigrants, Belize has also become home to huge numbers of Chinese, Hindus, Mennonites and West Indians, among others. It might be time for these who have made Belize their home to declare their allegiance and support to our cause. Most of these new Beliz-eans are organized and have associ-

Commitment to Allegiance

The United Democratic Party has done very little uniting and has primarily fo-

cused its energies on discrediting, dismantling and destroying the Op-position. In fact, they have disman-tled and destroyed just about every institution and organization that has not toed their party line.

None can begrudge them that op-tion but the effects have been dev-astating. It is estimated that one out of every three Belizeans now live outside of Belize with those in the United States alone numbering well over a hundred thousand. As late as 1990, a census revealed that ten thousand of those Belizeans living in the United States had acquired citi-zenship and pledged allegiance to that nation.

The arguments rage perpetual as to the pros and cons of this mi-gration as those abroad point to their remittances (which has been significant and substantial over the years) while those at home point to the damage done to our social fab-ric. Either way, the influence of the Diaspora is potentially massive and their voice might indeed be the bal-last that could tip the balance in our favour.

Many Belizeans abroad still pro-fess love for their home country and in particular during the recent crisis, many have been quite vocal in their support. As it has been said; “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country”.

Unfortunately, a few of those who have acquired other citizen-ships seem to be holding us at ran-som. There is the issue of Section 58 or the Constitution which states that “No person shall be qualified to be elected as a member of the

ations that represent their interest. It would be good to see each group issue a formal notice of support for Belize’s sovereignty and Indepen-dence. We need to know who we are, who is with us and who is only using us for convenience!

I believe that it is time to also institute a pledge of allegiance, in particular in our schools. In 1892, United States patriot and former Baptist preacher Francis Bellamy penned a short “little formula”, which according to the author, “has been pounding away on the impressionable minds of children for generations”.

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, in-divisible, with liberty and justice for all” is recited every morning by school children before they begin their classes. It is also a required order of business for the United States Senate and their House of Representatives.

In penning these 23 little words, Bellamy as-sured “that the distinctive principles of true Ameri-canism will not perish as long as free, public educa-tion endures.” Every new citizen minted in the Unit-ed States is also required to recite this pledge of al-legiance. Given the large number of Guatemalan children that cross our bor-ders each morning to get

educated at our expense, it would be little enough to require that they re-cite a pledge of allegiance to the In-dependence and freedom of Belize.

It is time for this country to embark upon an effective educa-tion campaign to ensure that every citizen is aware of all particulars connected to this Belize/Guatemala differendum. In this scenario, igno-rance is not bliss and ‘tis certainly not “folly to be wise”. Let us do all we can to keep our citizens committed, our children prepared and our friends informed. May GOD bless Belize!


MY PERSPECTIVE

ANOTHER VOICEBy Dolores Balderamos Garcia

It has been really quite dis-couraging witnessing the all-out media blitz and offensive of Guatemalan authorities, who have seized on first, the April incident of the death of the Guatemalan minor and now, on the shooting and injuring of another Guatemalan a few days ago. Fox News Latino has been trumpeting all weekend that Guatemala is accusing the Belizean armed forces of us-ing excessive force. Even more troubling is the reference to the adjacency zone now as the “no-border zone”!!

This might seem complete-ly incredible to us Belizeans, since we are hearing the ac-counts from our Belize Defence Force personnel and from Friends for Conservation and Development. We are learning the extent to which the Guate-malans, illegally in our country, are becoming bolder and bold-er in raping our national patri-mony, as well as their increas-ing aggression. I am compelled to agree with Mose Hyde that at every point Belize is being outmaneuvered by Guatemala. We are being totally shellacked in the media offensive, and we seem to be doing practically nothing about it.

Friends and family of mine constantly monitor the Prensa Libre newspaper of Guate-mala, and lo and behold, just yesterday came what I have to consider some welcome news and a breath of fresh air, an-other voice as it were, in this ongoing nightmare for Belize vis a vis the Guatemalan issue. In the Prensa Libre (Sunday, May 15th) there is an article written by Rosa Maria Bolanos. Its headline is “The Archbishop Believes that the Differendum with Belize is Used to Divert Attention.” I will try to translate what the article has to say:

The Metropolitan Arch-bishop Oscar Vian has stated (I paraphrase) that the territorial dispute with Belize should have been resolved forty years ago, and that now it is being used solely to distract attention, as there has been no serious

search for a solution. Archbishop Vian added that “apart from be-ing used to distract attention away from the daily problems of the country, this issue emerges precisely when we have other great problems in Guatemala, and therefore we raise a mountain of dust in order to conceal things.” Archbishop Vian was speaking after midday Sunday Mass in the Metropolitan Cathedral in Guate-mala City.

One of the Archbishop’s rec-ommendations is that this sub-ject [of the dispute with Belize ] must be given serious treatment because, as he put it, whenever there is a problem and they want to sidestep it, they bring out the problems we have with Belize. Said he: “We should find out what is the real problem and we should treat it without fear, as it is necessary for the government to work in earnest for a resolution and to demarcate the border.” He also went on to call for dialogue, since Guatemala is going through a difficult time. Later, he went on to address other pertinent issues affecting the Church in Guatema-la today.

I consider this to be big news!! Thank goodness indeed that there is another voice in Guatemala, and the voice of the Archbishop no less. Thank good-ness that amidst all the mess of the belligerent voices of the two Moraleses, the President and the Foreign Minister, there seems to be a clear and cogent voice of reason speaking and proclaim-ing truth to power. No doubt the Archbishop is focusing on the many severe problems that Gua-temala is facing today. But he is obviously keenly aware that the current political directorate are finding it so very convenient to be whipping up sentiment and creating their own narrative about cowardly and dastardly Beliz-ean soldiers hunting poor Gua-temalans where there is no real border. Clearly Archbishop Vian knows better, and he has spoken out forcefully, calling on the Gua-temalan authorities to get serious about solving internal problems and also the Belize dispute. He is ANOTHER VOICE, a crucial one.

For SaleBy Order of the

Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., a company duly registered under the Companies Act, Chapter 250 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edi-tion, 2000, and having its registered office at Cor. Albert and Bishop Streets, Belize City, Belize, hereby gives notice of its intention to exercise its power of sale as Mortgagee under a Deed of Mortgage made the 18th day of December 2013, between GILBERT NORRIS BROWN of 6 Lords Bank Village, Belize District, Belize, of the one part, and SCOTIABANK (BELIZE) LTD., of the other part, and recorded in Deeds Book Volume 24 of 2002 at Folios 1415 - 1438, the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will at the expiration of two months from the date of the first publication of this notice sell the property described in the schedule hereto. All offers to purchase the said property must be made in writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may be obtained from the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

SCHEDULE

ALL THAT piece or parcel of land being Lot No. 6 comprising 1066.67 Sq. Yds. situate at Lord’s Bank Village, Belize District, bounded and described as shown by Plan No. 458 of 1999 attached to Minister’s Fiat Grant No. 458 of 1999 TOGETHER with buildings and erections standing and being thereon.



Belize CityAttorney-at-Law for


For SaleBy Order of the

Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., a company duly registered under the Companies Act, Chapter 250 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edi-tion, 2000, and having its registered office at Cor. Albert and Bishop Streets, Belize City, Belize, hereby gives notice of its intention to exercise its power of sale as Mortgagee under a Deed of Mortgage made the 9th day of November 2011, between JESUS ICH of San Antonio Village, Toledo District, Belize, of the one part, and SCO-TIABANK (BELIZE) LTD., of the other part, and recorded in Deeds Book Volume 24 of 2011 at Folios 773 - 836, the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will at the expiration of two months from the date of the first publication of this notice sell the property described in the schedule hereto. All offers to purchase the said property must be made in writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may be obtained from the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

SCHEDULE

ALL THAT lot, piece or parcel of land comprising 1041.57 Square Meters (1239.47 SY) situate in San Antonio Village, Toledo District and bounded and de-scribed as shown by Plan No. 58 of 1994 TOGETHER with all buildings and erections, standing and being thereon.



Belize CityAttorney-at-Law for



9/11 bill passes US Senate despite

Saudi ‘warning’

The Justice Against Spon-sors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) now moves to the House of Representatives.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign min-ister warned that the move could cause his government to withdraw US investments.

President Barack Obama said he will veto the bill, but a Democratic senator is “confident” he’d be overruled.

If it became law the legislation would al-low victims’ families to sue any member of the government of Saudi Arabia thought to have played a role in any element of the at-tack.

Saudi Arabia denies any involvement in the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

Fifteen out of the nineteen hijackers in 2001 were Saudi citizens.

In 2004 the 9/11 Commission Report found “no evidence that the Saudi govern-ment as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organisation”.

A White House spokesman said Presi-dent Obama had serious concerns about the bill, and it was difficult to imagine he would sign it into law.

Venezuela has reached a deal with its main financier China to improve the conditions of

an oil-for-loans deal, giving the oil exporting country’s crisis-hit economy a break as it faces heavy debt payments, its top economic official has said.

Despite having the world’s largest crude reserves, Venezu-ela’s economy contracted 5.7 percent last year, its second year

of recession.The country is facing wide-

spread food and power short-ages. The improved China deal, as well as a steep cut to imports and a new, weaker foreign exchange rate would help Venezuela come out of a “very complicated” semester, according to Venezuelan Econ-omy Vice President Miguel Perez.

“Today we can say that we’ve agreed to new com-

The decision follows a Supreme Court ruling that opened the way to such unions.

Gay marriage is only legal in the capital, Mexico City, and a few states.

Elsewhere in Latin America, Argen-tina, Brazil, Uruguay and most recently Colombia have already legalised same-sex marriage.

Mexico’s Supreme Court declared last year that it was unconstitutional for the country’s states to ban such marriages.

Mr Pena Nieto made the announcement at an event marking Mexico’s national day against homophobia.

On Twitter, the president said: “For an inclusive Mexico that recognises in diversity one of its biggest strengths.” He used a hashtag in Spanish saying: “Without homophobia”.

His and the Mexican government’s profile pictures on Twitter were overlaid with the rainbow flag of gay pride.

Argentina was the first Latin American country to legalise same-sex marriages in July 2010.

Mexico leader Pena Nieto proposes legalising

same-sex marriageVenezuela

reaches better oil loans deal

with China

Colombian authorities have confis-cated eight tonnes of cocaine along the border with Panama in what its president described as the “biggest seizure of drugs in history”.

An estimated $240m worth of cocaine was seized on a banana plantation in the municipality of Turbo in Antioquia region by 50 commandos backed by helicop-ters, the national police agency said on Sunday.

Three people were arrested in the operation on the plantation where 359 canvas sacks loaded with packs of cocaine were hidden in a small cubicle under a cement cover 2.5 metres underground.

Three other suspects escaped, according to a police statement.

Defence Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said the drugs belonged to the Clan Usuga crime gang. The United States has offered a $5m reward for the cap-ture of its leader.

Colombia records ‘biggest

seizure’ of cocaine

A bill that would allow the families of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi government has passed a key

hurdle in the US Senate.

Mexico’s President, Enrique Pena Nieto, has proposed constitutional reform to legalise

same-sex marriage across the country

Eight tonnes of cocaine worth $240m seized

by police on a banana plantation along the

Panama border

With 67% of votes counted, Mr Medina had 62%, well ahead of his rival Luis Abinader on 35%.

Mr Abinader admitted defeat but accused the president of misusing

state resources to win re-election.Mr Medina’s Dominican Revolutionary Party

also looked to have kept control of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.

At a rally for supporters, President Medina said the people had voted to “continue on the path that we started”.

“We have received the support of the major-ity of the Dominican people,” Mr Medina told cheering supporters at his campaign headquar-ters in the capital Santo Domingo.

Dominican Republic’s Danilo

Medina claims election victory

7 FEB 2016 19REGIONAL &

INTERNATIONAL NEWSTHE BELIZE TIMES22 MAY 2016

mercial conditions that are adapted to the country’s reality,” Perez said in an in-terview with Reuters news agency on Monday.

“This will give the coun-try important oxygen to go forward.”

The economy is likely to remain in recession until the end of 2017, he added.

China has lent some $50bn to Venezuela over the past decade.

The Dominican Republic’s President Danilo Medina has claimed victory in Sunday’s

election as partial results show him ahead by a wide margin

Improved China deal is expected to give Venezuela’s

economy “oxygen” in the face of heavy

debt payments.


11 girls escape Princess Royal Youth Hostel


THE GEMS OF GRADUATION SEASON 2016 PT 1

Featuring Sadie Vernon Technical High, Ladyville Technical High, Canaan SDA High, Edward P.

Yorke High and Maud Williams High

advice to his fellow graduates and upcoming students thus: “Don’t stop here, continue on. And do your best at all times, and don’t EVER settle for mediocrity”. Ms. Flores, who will also take 16 CXCs and is a tad uncertain as to her ca-reer plans (has interest in Chemi-cal Engineering), isn’t uncertain in her advice: “Continue pursuing your dreams. Work smart, not hard”. And Ms. Miranda, who also will take on 16 CXC’s with a goal to pursue a career in either the Architecture or Medicine fields, has this to say: “Work hard, don’t settle. Continue working. Remember, it’s not impossible, it’s ‘I’M POSSIBLE’”.

Keeping it on the Northside, but shifting to the Buttonwood Bay area, Canaan Seventh-Day Adventist High School will gradu-ate 53 students on Sunday, May 29th, 2016 at the Ramada Prin-cess Hotel, beginning at 3:00 p.m. Leading that graduating class will be: 16-year-old Valedictorian Ms. Mariah Murillo (of Class 4-Aca-demic, with a confirmed Grade Average of 90.07%), 18-year-old Salutatorian Ms. Jacklin Vasquez (also of Class 4A, with a con-firmed Grade Average of 89.37%) and 18-year-old Mr. Gabriel Tun (of Class 4-Business, with a con-firmed Grade Average of 88.82%). The BELIZE TIMES caught up with the students on Monday, May 16th, at their Coney Drive cam-pus.

Ms. Murillo, from the Fa-ber’s Road Extension Area, is the youngest of her large family – 8 sisters and 3 brothers. Ms. Vasquez, from the Lake Indepen-dence area, has 1 brother and a sister. Mr. Tun, from the Freetown Sibun area of Hattieville Village, Belize District, shares that simi-lar familial makeup. But when it comes to their years at Canaan, their difficulties and issues are also disparate yet similar.

Ms. Murillo points to the dif-ferent methodologies of teaching students, noting that it helped her because “it helps when you get answers another way.” Ms. Vasquez points to the competi-tion amongst her fellow students, while Mr. Tun points to not having time to study because of taking an extra course at the Institute of Technical and Vocational Education Training (ITVET), and trying to bal-ance that with his work at Canaan.

And like their counterparts at other high schools, familial supporters are key to keeping these students together. In addi-

EDWARD P. YORKE HIGH

MAUD WILLIAMS HIGH

Valedictorian, Glevaughn Smith

Valedictorian, George Barrera

Salutatorian, Irene Flores

Salutatorian, Nadira Moguel

3rd place, Guadalupe Miranda

3rd place, Selene Chun

tion to their encourag-ing, supportive parents and relatives (an aunt in the United States for Tun, a grandmother for Vasquez), friends are also part of the equation of success. Tun put it thusly, a la Chico Ramos: “Hand wash hand”. As far as their exam and career plans go today’s econo-my is clearly influencing their choices.

Murillo, who will take 4 CXCs, plans to continue as far as her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. She says to her fellow students, “Finish

your studies. Don’t be dependent on others to get your education”. Vasquez surprised us by admitting she won’t take any CXCs, due to the above reasoning, but still plans to revisit the opportunity at the 6th form level. The future Marine Biologist’s advice to her fellows, in addition to agreeing with the above from her peer is: “Fight for what you want, what you believe in”. Mr. Tun, who will be taking 3 CXCs, plans to study Business Manage-ment and one day work

in his own business, like those of his family. His advice is: “Finish your education. Edu-cation is everything in life. Put God first”.

Finally for this week’s special feature, Maud Williams High School. Intersecting 3 streets – Dolphin, Igua-na and Racoon Streets – the high school will be graduating 35 students on Thursday, June 2nd, 2016 at the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall, beginning at 6:00 p.m. Leading them are: 16-year-old Valedicto-

rian Mr. George Barrera (of Class 4S1, with a Grade Average of 84.15%), 16-year-old Salutatorian Ms. Nadira Moguel (of Class 4S2, with a Grade Average of 84.13%) and the 3rd place (giving the Vote of Thanks), 18-year-old Ms. Selene Chun (also of Class 4S1, with a Grade Average of 82.17%). The BELIZE TIMES interviewed the students on Monday afternoon, May 16th at their campus as they were preparing for graduation practice.

Mr. Barrera is a resident of the Jane Usher Boulevard neigh-bourhood in the Port Loyola, and is the middle child of 7 children, 3 older siblings and 3 younger siblings. Ms. Moguel, a resident of the Antelope Street area, has roots both in the City and in Or-ange Walk Town, and has an older brother and 2 younger sisters. Her colleague, Ms. Chun, is from Carmelita Village in the Orange Walk District, and has 3 sisters.

It is their families that both influenced their high school years and got them through the rough patches. Mr. Barrera, who admits he had to really “get serious” in his 3rd year, credits his dad for being “always there” and getting him whatever he needed. Ms. Moguel, whose sisters never finished or continued their educa-tion, was “under pressure” to break that streak, and credits her aunt with encouraging her to con-tinue. Ms. Chun, who was unsure of what major she wanted to pick, credits her parents and uncle for being her guides, and her Dad in particular for being always there.

Barrera, who plans to take 4 CXCs with the goal of becoming a Neurologist, gives this advice to his fellow graduates: “Pursue your dreams, never give up and always stay true to yourself.” Ms. Moguel, taking 5 CXCs with hopes of majoring in Early Child-hood Education, says “Work hard and never give up.” Ms. Chun, who will be taking 3 CXCs and plans to become an Accountant, puts it like this: “Keep a positive mind and anything is possible”.

Stay tuned and keep reading the BELIZE TIMES for upcom-ing features on the High School Graduating Class of 2016.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016On Sunday, May 15, 2016, 11 young

female inmates of the Princess Royal Youth Hostel managed to escape from the facility. Eight of them have since been located by Police, 4 in Belmopan and 4 in Benque Viejo del Carmen, and returned to the facility. Three others are still at large and are believed to be heading south.

According to Deputy Director of the Community Rehabilitation Department Maureen Williams, the escape is the re-sult of a serious breach of protocols, and occurred in the evening when the girls

More Deficiencies at At-Risk Youth Institutionshould have been taking their baths.

“For some reason the door was un-locked and they left. Three of them went over the fence and the rest of them went through the gate. The gate was unlocked, it wasn’t open, but it was unlocked and that is against protocols,” said Williams.

One security officer is posted on the grounds, but at the time of the escape he was allegedly occupied in the male section of the facility.

This recent escape, and breach of pro-tocols, highlights the ongoing deficiencies at the facility which is entrusted with the

care of troubled teens, many of them removed from their homes by the state.

On November 28, 2015, three young girls burned to death in a pad-locked room at the Princess Royal Youth Hostel. Anna Carlos, Elizabeth McKoy and Shadisha Arnold were allegedly locked up for escaping the facility earlier, and nobody could find the key to open the door when the small building went up in flames. Almost six months after, the public still awaits the findings of an allegedly intensive investigation into those deaths.


EDITORIAL¡Que se nos devuelva el Sarstoon!

La administración Barrow, juntos con el Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores Sedi Elrington como líder de grupo, está decidido a perpetuar lo que ha llegado a ser un fraude diplomático, es decir,

negociando con Guatemala algún tipo de nuevo “Protocolo” sobre el uso del rio Sarstoon.

¿Cómo puede Sedi Elrington decirle al pueblo Beliceño que “tiene todo bajo control” cuando todos vemos la evidencia de la invasión guate-malteca del territorio Beliceño del río Sarstoon? ¿Cómo se nos puede pedir que confiemos en Sedi Elrington cuando es él quien ha fortalecido bastantemente la creencia de que somos amigos con los guatemaltecos, aun cuando nos intimi-dan y apalean y cuidadosamente han logrado la anexión del río Sarstoon?

La verdad del asunto es que el gobierno Partido Unido Democrático del Primer Ministro Dean Oliver Barrow no tiene autoridad legítima para “negociar” donde se encuentra la frontera de Belice en el río Sarstoon. Hacer esto sin el cono-cimiento y consentimiento del pueblo Beliceño es peligroso y traicionero. Nuestras fronteras no son negociables. Esto se estableció el 21 de septiembre de 1981 e históricamente en la década de 1850 cuando Inglaterra aseguro la frontera que separaba Honduras Británica y Guatemala.

¿Imagínese la audacia de Dean Barrow en pasar la ley, un instrumento legal, para prohibirles a los beliceños ir al río Sarstoon hasta que el gobierno negocie “protocolos” con Guatemala? Mientras que Dean Barrow y su Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores, sin espina dorsal, estaban ocupados gastando los millones y millones de fondos del Petrocaribe para ganar un “tercer mandato sin precedentes” los guatemaltecos estaban prepa-rando el anexo de nuestro lado del río Sarstoon. Este acto cobarde ya está hecho. Sólo las Fuerzas Armadas de Guatemala y pescadores guate-maltecos son permitidos a navegar el río, hasta

que los “protocolos” para el río Sarstoon sean aprobados. El efecto de este instrumento legal ha sido ocultar de los medios de comunicación y del público Beliceño las locuras que ocurren en el Sarstoon. El instrumento legal mientras prohíbe a cualquier persona, sin autoridad le-gal, ir a la zona de Sarstoon, no se le aplica a incursiones ilegales Guatemaltecas. Ni siquiera el BDF (Fuerzas Armadas de Belice) puede ir al río, sin el permiso expreso de Guatemala. Un video reciente de un nuevo enfrentamiento entre nuestras fuerzas de seguridad y las de Guatemala confirma esto.

¿Cuándo será que Dean Barrow y el gobierno UDP van a dejar de “hablar” sobre la soberanía y van a empezar a ejercitarlo con sensatez en la arena diplomática?

¿Por qué seguimos limitándonos a la medi-ación internacional de la Organización de Esta-dos Americanos (OEA)? A pesar de las acciones de Guatemala, a veces presenciado por repre-sentantes de la OEA, ese organismo respaldado por los E.U.A., aún no ha ejercido algún tipo de presión sobre Guatemala para que respete nuestra integridad territorial.

Altos oficiales militares que han servido con orgullo asegurándose que Guatemala respete nuestras fronteras han compartido con nosotros que ya perdimos el Sarstoon y Guatemala ahora se moverá lentamente para anexar más territo-rio Beliceño. Con un gobierno débil y compro-metido como el que tenemos hoy en día, esta amenaza es muy real y no se debe pasar por alto.

Mientras que Sedi se reúne con su “amigo” Guatemalteco y homólogo, Carlos Raúl Morales, este sábado, imploramos que tenga una cosa en mente: que nos devuelva el río Sarstoon y que le diga a Guatemala que respete nuestras fronteras. No nos importa como lo logre; sólo que recupere nuestro Río que perdió debido a su diplomacia débil y apaciguamiento a los guatemaltecos. Menos que esto no aceptaremos.

en Espanol


THINK ABOUT ITNEW COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Anthony Mahler recently won the election and approval of the delegates at the National Convention in January 2016, for the office of Communications Direc-tor.

This is a crucial position for the re-newed People’s United Party. As Johnny and Cordel focus on fully uniting the par-ty as well as mobilizing the supporters; Anthony’s position is the next key area. He is overall responsible for the party’s newspaper, its radio and television and the focus of public information and edu-cation.

Anthony told us recently that all three media organs will be upgraded and focused in their messages. In the case of this newspaper, there have been and will continue to be enhancements. Circulation will be increased as well. The paper will be more sharply critical of the terrible government which is in charge of the country.

The Vibes Radio and Television will be expanded with more relevant and dynamic programs and quality presen-tations including young people shows, interviews, and human interest stories and exposés.

Communications Director is a huge responsibility and Anthony Mahler is taking his challenges seriously and ener-getically.

Respect is due.

TARGETING CRISTINA COC

The latest attack against the Maya of Toledo comes in the form of arrests and court actions of thirteen Maya’s from Santa Cruz Village.

A man named Rupert Myles was shown on Facebook, also called in Belize Faceybook, tied up with a rope. To see the images of a black Belizean tied up, like a slave was not an acceptable sight. But it was also not the whole picture.

Myles is accused by villagers of Santa Cruz of major disrespect and viola-tions in their village, including building on top of Uxbencka, a sacred Maya site.

When the Myles in ropes images surfaced, the Prime Minister was under suspicion for his silence in the face of Guatemala’s aggression against Beliz-eans in the Sarstoon River. The Prime Minister immediately seized on the Myl-es story to distract the media attention away from a much larger issue. The me-dia got conned. They switched to Myles.

It is now emerging that Myles is the bad guy and the Mayas are the good guys. Santa Cruz Village, like many Maya villages, has an Alcalde system. The Alcalde is like an African or American Indian Chief. Highly regarded and well-respected in the village.

The laws of Belize give legal recog-nition to Maya Alcaldes. They have their customary ways of managing their vil-lages and the law respects and protects their unique positions. Alcaldes can le-gally hold court hearings. Can arrest vil-lagers and imprison them for up to three months. There is an official village police

in Maya customary rights and the Belize law accepts and supports that. In Santa Cruz the Alcaldes’ Police had been of-ficially issued with a police handcuff by the government.

At the time of the Myles incident, the village’s Maya police did not carry his handcuffs to the village meeting held by the Alcalde. When Myles is reported to have barged into the Alcalde meeting and advanced towards the Alcalde and the Deputy Alcalde he was restrained and had to be tied.

When the Prime Minister, in a pub-licity stunt, vowed that action would be taken against the Maya villagers, the Gang Suppression Unit immediately conducted a Nazi or Guatemalan death squad operation. In the dead of night they started knocking down doors and rounding up villagers in Santa Cruz. Some thirteen persons were dragged off to the police station in Punta Gorda Town; several were not fully clothed. They were, of course, roughed up.

Among those detained, arrested and dragged into the court was Maya leader and nationalist Cristina Coc. She has been an outspoken and fearless champion of the Toledo Maya. She is a regular target for scurrilous and vile per-sonal attacks by the ruling party. She had nothing to do with the tying up of bully Myles, yet she was arrested and dragged into court wrongly.

Cristina and all thirteen were charged for a common assault. This included the official village police, the Alcalde and the Deputy Alcalde. Crisitina was merely an invited guest like other NGO officials present at the meeting.

The whole thing stinks. It is politi-cal and it is part of the ongoing efforts by government to intimidate this once silent and down-trodden people in the Maya communities of Toledo.

Government wants to take their lands and sell it to Guatemala investors and oil companies. This includes ancient Maya land and protected reserves.

All those who love justice need to fully support our Maya brothers and sisters against this latest attack on their rights.

YOUTH HOSTEL AGAIN

On Sunday 15 May 2016, three young ladies from the Youth Hostel at mile 21 on the western road ran for their freedom. They climbed the high fence and made good their escape.

Another naked example of the negli-gence and slackness that is characteris-tic of government departments.

Only in November last year, the worst scandal at the Hostel occurred when three young ladies were locked in a room and died the horrible death of be-ing burnt alive.

To date, none of the families have received a dollar of compensation for what is admitted by the Ministry as be-ing gross negligence.

To add insult to injury the official inquiry into this outrage has been sup-pressed.

Things are outrageous in Belize.

We can’t take much more of this.

VILLAGE COUNCIL ELECTIONS

Boycott the Village Council elections.Village council elections are to be

held in the next few weeks. Although the government has become very unpopular, they will still abuse taxpayers’ monies to bribe votes in the poverty stricken village.

But, Belize is in the midst of its worst existential crisis. Guatemala has annexed the whole half of Belize’s portion of the Sarstoon River and the large island which is part of our territory. This was done from May of last year and our government is either in denial or playing some serious games with our security.

As recent as two weeks ago, the government, in another act of appease-ment and cowardice, rushed out a law to prevent Belizeans from going to the Sar-stoon River.

Belize is in deep trouble and on the verge of a major catastrophe the Village Council elections is to be used as another distraction to the country.

The Opposition should boycott village council elections and call for a stop to the blatant party politicization of villages.

TINY CHINGGUM

Police officers were gathered around each other excitedly at a Belize City sta-tion. They were looking at something on one of their cell phones. Must be a na-ked photo; maybe of Rihanna from her Kiss It Better video. Or some worthless police video having sex with a female. What else could cause such interest and such laughter?

Well, it was. A naked photo that is. A naked photo of a Minister of government.

There he was lying down on his side, naked as he born. The face is unmistaken. It is…(Noh call no name as Dickie seh)

The short, neatly cropped white beard is also unmistaken.

But the laughter and butt of the jokes were centered, not on the large figure in repose. It was the tiny, little organ peep-ing out from between the bottom of the Minister’s belly. More laughter and small size jokes. Trump would love this.

Someone jokes about an incident in which a big, braggadocio fellow was photographed in the nude. Employees waited Monday morning with their jokes all lined up. In walked the bombocious fellow. Before anyone could say a word, he announced he had a belly “private”. He said it looks very small, but gets bigger as it comes from under his belly.

In defence of the Minister we urge his supporters to Facebook out a similar explanation. But to amend it to read the Minister has a hicatee private. A qui-an.

It is not clear if Patrick or one of his supporters is resending the Minister’s embarrassing naked photo. The caption: “big bad Juan and his tiny, little ching-gum”.

No wonder Guatemala took away the Sarstoon River.

SANTA CLAUS IN MAY

B.T.L the phone company known as Belizeans Taking a Licking popped up last week announcing huge revenues and even a small profit.

There is no financial year end, no audited reports just released. Why the

hoopla? The Prime Minister was looking and sounding worse than ever. A point-less Press Conference. Smoke and mir-rors. Words full of sounds and no fury; signifying nothing. Sarstoon River and Sarstoon Island confirmed taken from Belize. Confirmed by none other than the very Guatemalan we were told were our friends.

Pull out a distraction. Use BTL, GST and GSU.

Get Love FM to announce record breaking revenues. Repeat the story.

Don’t answer any questions of who all are benefitting and enriching. Sure ain’t the consumers.

JUDGE WARNS OF PERJURY

The unfortunate murder trial of Calaney Flowers in which her ex-boy-friend Lyndon, son of famous teacher Owen Morrison, died when his motorcy-cle hit the pavement on Freetown Road back in November 2013, is underway.

It is before Justice John Troadio Gon-zalez, known for his extraordinary pa-tience on the bench.

This week the judge felt compelled to warn a witness that she could face the penalty of perjury, as the witness kept switching her story from minute to minute. Lawyers for Miss Flowers were pressing the witness over two television interviews given shortly after the incident in which she stated that Lyndon said “I can’t stop baby, I am driving too fast”, sec-onds before the crash.

Calaney’s lawyers are at pains to cross examine the Police and expert wit-nesses for the prosecution that no signs or evidence showed any dent, scratch or damage to the front of Calaney’s car because it did not hit the speeding mo-torcycle.

UNIVERSITY OF BELIZE

The University of Belize needs a President. The post is being advertised. No salary is mentioned. Preference will go to family members of the Ministers, a crony or a political hack. But on a se-rious note, every effort should be made to give our University the best President available.

U.B., it’s students, and our country needs only the best. People like Evan X Hyde, Dr. Assad Shoman, Dr. Dorian Bar-row, Zee Edgal, Dr. Colville Young, Dr. Al-varo Rosado and Sandra Coye. There are others, very competent and intelligent Belizeans who can make us proud.

Only the best is good enough.

C.I.A.

The US Embassy official and CIA agent Donald Rickard assigned to South Africa has now finally admitted that he was the person who tipped off the rac-ist government in 1962 on where to ar-rest Nelson Mandela, leading to the great man being put in jail for 27 years and gal-vanizing the world community of nations to eventually bring down the racist apart-heid government.

From one racist government to an-other. USA and South Africa.

OUT WID SOVEREIGN DAY

Its plain colonialism. Can’t we cel-ebrate something more relevant and up-lifting?

THE BELIZE TIMES22 MAY 2016 23 6 men questioned in Belmopan

kidnapping/murder case

CARTOON

Notice is hereby given that Der-rick Williams is applying for a Malt and Cider Liquor License to be operated at “D & D Cool Spot”, situated at 9.5 Miles Phil-ip Goldson Highway, Belize Dis-trict under the Intoxicating Liquor License Ordinance Revised Edi-tion 1980.

Notice is hereby given that SHU XUN LI is applying for a Conve-nience Store Liquor License to be operated at “Shop King Shopping Center”, situated at 3065 Central American Boule-vard, Belize City, Belize District under the Intoxicating Liquor Li-cense Ordinance Revised Edi-tion 1980.

LIQUOR LICENSE NOTICE

UDP CRABS IN A BUCKET Continued from page 2

Saldivar vs. Faber Pt. 1

Point Medico Services Phar-macy and Clinic has a vacancy as Medical Officer.

Interviews will be on 27 May, 2016 at the clinic located at 51 Corner West Canal Belize City.

Contact #227-2992 or inquiries and interview appointments.

VACANCY

ficer in charge of the Ministry of works in Santa Elena, requesting assistance to grade and fix the road between Bullet Tree Village to Santa Familia, Billy White and onto Duck-run One. In addition my requests included the re-installment of the hammock bridge at Branch Mouth. I have written him three times. He has not had the decency to at least respond acknowledging receipt of my letter.

Now friends, this is the type of disrespect the government has on persons elected by the people. This type of government is authoritar-ian. It must stop. But, the people must stop it. I will do my share by addressing it at the next House of Representatives meeting. However, the people of Belize must care more and do more.

The response from lands de-partment and the lack of response from ministry of works is a clear in-dication of Institutionalized Authori-tarian rule. This government of the UDP punishes not only the oppo-sition representatives but also the constituencies that support those representatives. This is a clear indi-cation of a government that is here to Rule and not to Govern.

Sincerely,Hon. Orlando HabetArea RepresentativeCayo North East

Authoritarian UDP

GovernmentBelize City, May 18th, 2016

The race for First Deputy Lead-er of the ruling United Democratic Party has taken its rightful place in the current scheme of domestic affairs. The upcoming convention has been lost in the obscurity of the insignificant. If it were not for the endless, monotonous and dull ads during the evening news one would have no idea that Patsy and John are going at each other for the post of second in command of the UDP, and supposedly an eventual shoo-in for leader any time within the next 1,460 days when Dean Barrow finally decides to give up and the UDP transitions into Oppo-sition.

For the sake of our loyal read-ers and those political pundits who have been trying to keep an eye on the goings-on the Faber and Saldi-var camps, the BELIZE TIMES has also been keeping tabs through close sources from within both sides. Trust us, we got the juice. There have been enough body blows from both camps, including a KO low-blow from the Saldivar camp, to share.

The Base vs. The Big dealPatsy has been trying to make

a big deal about having “the base” on his side. Saldivar, on the other hand, has swung back that he is about the big deal, that is, twelve of the UDP’s nineteen elected reps plus the major women leaders in the Party are backing him. Saldivar claims that those “big men and women” control their delegates and will ensure that votes go to

him.The result of the quarrel is

that Patsy and Saldivar have now launched one of the most divisive campaigns ever where persons are compelled to declare their support and loyalty to either one on video recording which is turned into tele-vision ads.

Of course, not only does this show the desperation of both men, but it has put on display the dirty tactics practised in the UDP. Tole-do’s Juan Coy, for example, fell vic-tim to his own dirty games. There are recordings of him pledging sup-port to BOTH candidates, Patsy and Saldivar! Coy eventually admitted, on a for-Patsy ad, that he did meet with Saldivar and was recorded maliciously! Yea right! It is obvious that Coy has been trying to play both camps, and the one which satisfies him most is where he’ll stay.

Another person caught in be-tween a sweaty and bulgy body and a hard place is Belmopan Mayor Kha-lid Belisle. It seems that the recently-elected Mayor who John Saldivar had been “maintaining” with a lucrative Government post, must now pay his dues.

Rumors are, however, that Belisle has been making overtures to the Pat-sy camp. There have been reports of “secret” meetings between the two in which bold promises regarding the UDP’s future in Belmopan have been made. This may be the work of the young Mayor’s father, Denton Belisle, who is on Patsy’s side.

Belisle has attempted to lay the rumors to rest in private UDP meet-

ings. Of course, those were also re-corded and turned into ads. Saldivar better keep a close eye on that boy. He wouldn’t want to be caught say-ing, Et Tu Khalid?

Patsy outspendsFaber has outspent Saldivar on

television ads three to one. Pro-Faber ads flooded the television for three full weeks before Saldivar placed his first ad.

Saldivar outgunsBut Saldivar has brought the

heavy weights on his side. Last week he resurrected former UDP Leader Dean Lindo just for an ad. Lindo still carries tremendous weight in the UDP. And Saldivar finally got Gapi to say that he has his back. Of course in the UDP, Gapi is fast becoming per-sona non grata for abandoning the sinking ship.

House in disorderPatsy has also made a big deal

about controlling special Cayo del-egates. You would think that since Saldivar is a Cayo rep he would have the entire west on lockdown. That isn’t so.

Patsy has turned Saldivar’s backyard upside down. Saldivar is a Belmopan boy, but he had slowly extended his political influence into Cayo South, in particular communi-ties such as Camalote and United-ville. But today, both Camalote and Unitedville are among those in sup-port of Patsy.

In fact, Patsy has resurrected Ramon Witz who has declared his return to politics. The “chiney” man has had to hang on to Saldivar with hopes for survival.

There is more to report on this UDP fight. Next week we’ll tell you about Saldivar’s low blow and why Faber has called it pure desperation. What joksters!

belize times may 22, 2016

Documents