When Guatemalan farmers, xateros and loggers start firing on Belizean soldiers on the Belizean side of the border, it is reasonable to conclude that if these Guatemalans are not in the direct employ of the oligarchy/military which rules Guatemala, then that oligarchy/military supports the armed incursions, and the farmers, xateros and loggers know that.
In last Tuesday night’s Kremandala Show, Rufus X launched a direct attack on Prime Minister Dean Barrow. This was with respect to Mr. Barrow’s withdrawal of the various money laundering charges against the Belize Bank and First Caribbean Bank. It is quite likely that people in the ruling party indicted me, as chairman of the show, for not remonstrating with Rufus more energetically. There may even be UDP elements who think that I encourage Rufus with these assaults. Kremandala Show regulars know that he has been criticizing the Prime Minister for a couple months now, but Tuesday’s was definitely the most scathing.
No one appears to know who killed car dealer Stanley Moguel, 18, of #8133 Balan Street in the Lake Independence area this weekend. Police were called out to the Haulover Bridge around 6:00 a.m. Sunday, September 7, where they found Moguel’s lifeless body stretched out a hundred yards from the bridge on the left side, face down. At the time of his death, Moguel was wearing a white T-shirt, long jeans pants, blue and white-checkered boxers, and white and brown Nike tennis shoes.
Picture Caption: (l-r) Raul Barahona, Rene Ramos, and Rene Morente.
Kolbe Foundation, in charge of Belize’s only prison, has confirmed that three prisoners - two Guatemalans and a Belizean - broke out of jail this past weekend and remain on the run, but prison officials are otherwise tightlipped. Officials there have been unresponsive to Amandala’s calls all day today, but this evening we received a copy of a press release from CEO Meliton Auil.
Amidst massive public outcry on the airwaves this morning, in the wake of Saturday’s indiscriminate shooting and hand grenade scare near the end of the Carnival Road March, Prime Minister Dean Barrow, flanked by his Minister of National Security, Carlos Perdomo, called the media to a press briefing this afternoon at the Racoon Street Police Station’s conference room.
Residents in the Jane Usher Boulevard area of the city were awestruck to see a single-engine plane flying low with its engine belching smoke and flames yesterday morning shortly after 9:30, as it came lower and lower to the ground—crash-landing some three miles away, in the area of Belizean Beach. The plane, a Cessna from the fleet of Tropic Air Caravans, had just lifted off from the Municipal Airstrip and was heading to the Philip Goldson International Airport to drop off four passengers.
Joe Coye still demanding apology and financial compensation from Alfred Shakron. Former (PUP) Caribbean Shores area representative, Joe Coye, has told Amandala that he has put Lebanese businessman, Alfred Shakron, owner of JEC & Co Ltd., on caution of intended litigation if Shakron does not offer him a public apology and financial compensation for theft charges he said were wrongfully and maliciously slapped on him because of Shakron.
According to police, it was a plastic bag that saved scores, possibly hundreds of Belizeans from grisly death and crippling, life-threatening injuries on Saturday evening when the bag, tightly wound about an “attack” grenade, prevented the lever from activating when the pin was removed and the grenade thrown near a car parked on the grounds of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. This took place while the annual Carnival Road March was passing along Princess Margaret Drive. Police, when called to the scene, found the grenade on the parking lot of the KHMH.
Elections were held last week Saturday at the Belize City Center conference room to elect a new executive for the Belize Basketball Federation (BBF). Elected to serve were President Paul Thompson; re-elected as Vice-President was Brads Neal, who served under the previous executive body, and who this time around will be joined by Charles Ellis. The prominent post of Secretary General was filled by newcomer on the scene Julian Murillo, while Luigi Zaldivar managed to retain his post as Treasurer. Meanwhile, Frank Lord, Eugene Jex, and Enid Dakers will serve as Executive Committee members.
The three-day 18th National Women’s Softball Championship climaxed last night at Rogers Stadium with defending champions Telemedia of Belize City blowing out Camalote’s Cristal Parrots in the final game, after fending off all challengers, and going undefeated in their four outings to repeat as national champions.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs this week appealed to the Organization of American States (OAS) to investigate an armed confrontation between a team of Belize Defence Force (BDF) soldiers accompanying Belizean conservationists and illegal Guatemalan loggers very near to the Belize-Guatemala border, in the much raped Columbia River Forest Reserve in Toledo.
A forum of artists from around the Americas was held this week in Belize as part of the “Landings” series of art exhibitions. But far from just exhibiting, Landings is meant to spark a cultural and societal revolution for a generation addicted to the trappings of modernism. The Landings Nine forum was held all this week at the Image Factory on North Front Street. Over twenty artists, including Belizeans Yasser Musa and project curator Joan Duran, put down their paint and brushes and picked up ideas from each other.
The conservation of rich, natural areas is central to our way of life in Belize. We have a well developed national system of protected areas that characterizes who we are as a nation and ensures quality of life and a healthy environment for future generations. Organizations such as Ya’axché Conservation Trust help guarantee our conservation values by managing the protection of these brilliant natural areas. This past Friday afternoon, August 29, our “conservation values” came under direct violent assault from illegal loggers and xateros in the form of a gunfight. A multi-agency team of 16 members from the Belize Defence Force (BDF), Bladen Nature Reserve and Ya’axché Conservation Trust conducted a five-day patrol in the scenic Colombia River Forest Reserve.
