Minister of Natural Resources, Hon. Johnny Brice?o, and Sheila McCaffrey, Director of Belize Natural Energy (BNE), both declared Belize?s first ever find of crude oil to be deposits in commercial quantities.
Since the early 1900?s, according to the records, fifty wells had been drilled in Belize before BNE began exploring the Spanish Lookout area of Cayo nine months ago. Plans are also being drawn up for exploration in the capital city, Belmopan, and in Cayo, where oil is also known to exist.
On the same day that Kenan Hernandez, 26, was electrocuted when a wire attached to a kite he was flying touched a power cable, two youths, Joe Roches, 15, a first form student of Belize Adventist College, and his friend, Fermin Matura, 13, a student of Seventh Day Adventist Primary School, almost died, from also flying a kite with wire instead of string.
Return of 4.633 square miles of territory to Guatemala being discussed, says Latin press
Officials of Belize and Guatemala are meeting in Guatemala City, Guatemala, today and tomorrow, March 23 and 24, to discuss sea rights off the coast of Belize.
?The Belizean jurisdiction of its isles, excluding that of St. George, and the return of about 4.633 square miles to Guatemala are also included in the meeting?s agenda,? said today?s Prensa Latina, a Latin American news agency based in Cuba.
If official estimates for 2006 prove true, Belize would see the first back-to-back decline in cruise tourist arrivals since 1998?which the Government has used as a benchmark year for boasting cruise tourism growth.
In a briefing with the press at the Belize Biltmore Plaza this morning, Central Bank Governor, Sydney Campbell, said that arrivals in the sector declined 6% in 2005. He said that there would be a further decline of about 13.5% this year, 2006.
Prime Minister, Hon. Said Musa, is expected to present the 2006/2007 budget, including $668 million in spending, before the House of Representatives today, Friday, March 17.
Last year Musa?s budget was met with fiery resistance from a wide cross section of Belizeans, particularly the trade unions, private sector agencies and even two of his own House members. Things are a lot different this time around.
Former Belize City mayor, William David Fonseca, has declined an interview with our newspaper regarding the current controversy over $248,000 in salary advances and bounced cheques, as well as $155,000 paid in his name from the social assistance vote of the Belize City Council. The total is $403,000, which the current mayor, Zenaida Moya, says has not been properly accounted for.
Moya told us that Fonseca has made a verbal agreement with the BCC to repay at least the 30-odd thousand that pertains to the bounced cheques. We understand that he had been given a deadline of 4:30 p.m. Friday, March 17, to repay the money.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, March 15, 2006, by the Central Secondary School Sports Association, the male football team of Gwen Lizarraga High School has been stripped of the championship, which they had won in dramatic fashion over St. John?s College last Friday, March 10, 2006.
In the Corozal village of San Joaquin a young Chinese businesswoman is in shock over the senseless killing of her husband, Ji Shen Li, 34, last night. The murder has left her, her two children, ages 5 and 2, and San Joaquin villagers in mourning and a state of disbelief.
Ji Shen Li, also known as ?Sammy Li,? was gunned down sometime after 9:00 last night, Wednesday, March 15, inside his business, Sammy?s Store, located in San Joaquin, 4 miles on the Northern Highway outside of Corozal Town.
The new Belize City Council this evening popped the lid off a can of worms ? a large can of worms. Mayor Zenaida Moya at her official swearing in reported that the Belize City Council is showing a deficit of around $9 million, and outgoing mayor, David Fonseca, is recorded as having $237,000 outstanding in salary advances.
The mayor?s budgeted salary, we are told, was $36,000 yearly, which means that he would have had to pay back the council his entire salary for six and a half years to repay the advance.
Amandala tonight received confirmation from a source, who chose not to go on record, that a report has been filed with the Eastern Division Police Station in Belize City against a bishop of Lucky Strike, Belize District, who is accused of having sexual relationships with several females, who were allegedly minors at the time but are now over the age of 18.
The report was made yesterday, our source said. He added that it was planned for the victims to come to Belize City to file reports today; however, the females are expected to make their reports tomorrow, instead.
Exactly two weeks before the nervously awaited budget of 2006/2007, the umbrella organization of trade unions in Belize?the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB)?has undergone significant changes in its higher ranks.
The very vocal and outspoken Dylan Reneau was elected over the weekend to replace George Frazer, who has resigned as General Secretary of the NTUCB.
On Tuesday morning within a six-hour period the bodies of two Belize City men were discovered by police on the Northside of Belize. They were victims of fatal stabbing incidents. Because of the bodies? close proximity and the similarity in the way the two men died, police believe that their deaths are related.
Police are today seeking Edward Amado Gonzalez, 33, a businessman of Mile 19, Sand Hill Village, who was offered bail in his case for conspiracy to commit robbery but has not showed up at his scheduled court hearings.
On November 28, Gonzalez appeared in the Orange Walk Magistrate?s Court, which was his second court appearance, and was offered bail of $3,000 and a surety of the same amount. He had been on remand since his first court hearing on Monday, October 24.
Today, in a police press release, police said that they are seeking Mark Alamilla, 20, considering him as ?wanted,? to be charged with the murder of Lloyd ?Pappy? ?Sheep? Bodden Jr., 37, a self-employed mechanic who was shot and killed on February 15, 2005, while he was working under a car in front of his home at #29 Ebony Street.
