Since last Friday, May 6, 2005, there has been a lot of talk about Newco Limited?a company registered in Belize in late 2002. Newco is a company owned by a group of American investors who have called for United Nations arbitration over the Government of Belize?s decision to abandon an agreement it supposedly had with the group for the management and expansion of Belize?s international airport (the Philip Goldson International Airport).
GOB had claimed that it abandoned the agreement because the American investors were not living up to their deadlines, and it instead entered into a second agreement with a new group of investors from Belize, the USA and the UK.
Today, Glenford Budd, 44, of a Central American Boulevard address, is now at the Hattieville Prison serving a 5-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to burglary yesterday, Wednesday, in Court #3 of the Belize City Magistrate?s Court.
The body of Heston Remijio Castillo, 22, is still lying in the morgue of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital after he was shot, allegedly by his ex-brother-in-law, Andre Swazo, 19.
On Monday morning in the Belize City Magistrate?s Court, Andre Swazo was charged with murder. He has been remanded to the Hattieville Prison until his next court appearance, scheduled for June 2.
Robert Goff, 46, of a Neal Pen Road address, appeared in Magistrate?s court and was charged with attempted rape, burglary, aggravated burglary and indecent assault. He was remanded to Hattieville Prison until June 7, when he will reappear in court.
Today, the family of Carlos Alberto Umana, 36, is still puzzled after they were informed that he had committed suicide while at his home in the Hill View area of San Ignacio Town, around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 30.
According to police, Carlos? common-law wife, Maria Garcia, a Salvadoran, reported to them that their son, Carlos Jr., 5, found his father hanging from the ceiling of the house.
?Police said man gave wrong name, because he was wanted?
On Tuesday, April 26, a police report said that James Young, 28, was shot by a resident of Mile 1 ? on the Western Highway during a burglary, and later died from his injuries.
Young, the alleged intruder, was caught red-handed burglarizing the home of a resident at about 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 26.
The name of the businessman has not been disclosed by police.
Amandala has confirmed from credible Government sources that the Los Angeles branch of Lufthansa Consulting is seeking roughly US$33 million in damages from the Government of Belize, for allegedly breaching its agreement with Lufthansa. The consulting firm, headquartered in Germany, was supposed to take over the management of the Philip Goldson International Airport?Belize?s only international airline port?in late 2003.
On its website (www.lhconsulting.com), Lufthansa Consulting says that it was expected to deliver an airport master plan, including a 20-year airport facility expansion and an airport business plan.
At press time tonight, House of Representatives member, Hon. Patrick Faber, an Opposition UDP member who represents the Southside Belize City division of Collet, was in police detention in Belmopan, and Commissioner of Police, Gerald Westby, told us that he would be charged with ?aggravated assault? for allegedly assaulting senior police officers.
Faber was arrested after 3:00 this afternoon for trying to get into a forum that was being held at the University of Belize, at which Prime Minister, Hon. Said Musa, was to be the guest speaker. The police told Faber that he could not enter the forum because it was not open to the public. However, Faber insisted that a flyer that had been issued by UB had said that the forum was ?public.?
Robert Foreman, 22, and Roman Petzold, 18, charged; 1 suspect at large
Two Belama residents - Robert Foreman, 22, a fisherman of #2458 Phase 2, and Ronald Petzold, 18, a student of #351 Phase 1, on Monday, April 25, appeared in Belize City Magistrate?s Court #4, where they were jointly charged with rape.
Foreman and Petzold were charged in connection with an alleged rape incident that occurred on Wednesday, April 13, sometime around 7:00 a.m. A 17-year-old girl, a student of Saint Catherine Academy, reported the incident to police.
A young naturalized Belizean student, Rishi Cummins, who is said to be 17, who was born in Barbados and had recently left Belize to study in Trinidad, apparently committed suicide on Monday, April 26, at about 3:00 p.m., at the University of West Indies campus.
It is alleged that he jumped off the 150 foot high building where he was attending classes.
Information reaching Amandala via the Internet from the Trinidad & Tobago Express Newsletter said that Cummins, a physics student at the St. Augustine campus, was apparently depressed about not doing as well as he had hoped in his examinations.
Amandala spoke with Anthony Ferguson, Sr., a carpenter of Gill Street today, who said that he is not to render vengeance, as the Lord saith that vengeance is his. Anthony said that God also promised that the war is his, and not that of mankind. He said that was his reason for placing everything in God?s hands, before the trial.
Ferguson said those words with regards to a ?not guilty? verdict that was handed down to a man accused of killing his son, Dylan Ferguson, 21, of an Antelope Street address. Dylan was killed on September 21, 2003.
??the government?s decision-making ability and political capital have been severely impaired due to the loss of public confidence.?
?If the Government [of Belize] fails to resolve the current conflict in a peaceful and swift manner, the escalation of unrest could undermine both the economy and social stability and possibly lead to a debt default,? said a release from the international ratings agency, Standard and Poor?s, dated today, April 27.
The report, titled, ?Belize: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back,? noted that while there has been some improvement on Belize?s economic scene, with more US dollars available after GOB received US$93 million from recent bond placements with Bear Stearns, our reserves remain ?dangerously low.?
Today, doctors and relatives at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital have not given up hope on shooting victim Jermaine Francisco Hernandez, affectionately known as ?5 cents? to family, and also known by friends as ?1 cent,? who was shot last night sometime around 9:00 at the corner of King and West Streets.
According to police, sometime around 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 20, police visited an area near the corner of King and West Streets, where they saw a male person lying on the ground with what appeared to be a gunshot wound behind the ear.
The residence of Prime Minister, Hon. Said Musa, at the corner of Princess Margaret Drive and ?E? Street in Belize City, was observed under heavy military guard today, and the downtown of Belize City had a strong security presence.
In fact, dispatched to various hot spots of the city currently are teams of both police and Belize Defense Force officers, most of them armed with guns, rifles, or batons.
