General
?Stonecrab? Jones alleges wrongful arrest by Caye Caulker police
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. July 22, 2004
A man from ?La Isla Carinosa,? Caye Caulker, is alleging wrongful arrest and police brutality.
On Tuesday, July 20, Levi ?Stonecrab? Jones, 59, visited Amandala to make a complaint against the police. Jones, a boat captain, has been residing on the island for the last 25 years. According to Jones, he usually runs tourists and locals from one part of the island to the other. He was doing just that, he says, when the officer in charge (OC) on the island, along with a woman police constable (WPC), arrested him for, as he says, ??no reason at all.?
Belize from ?stable? to ?negative? ? Standard and Poor?s
BELIZE CITY, Wed. July 21, 2004
With the demand for the United States dollar expected to surge in the second half of the year and foreign reserves at a new low, another cash crunch could hit the economy shortly.
According a July 20, 2004, report from Standard and Poor?s (S&P), an international credit ratings agency, Belize needs more than four times its foreign reserves?US$305 million?just to meet its current account deficit (the difference between what Government earns from its routine operations and what it needs to finance them), medium- and long-term amortization (principal payments on loans), and short-term debt.
Supreme Court upholds Robert Hertular?s extradition to the U.S.!
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. July 22, 2004
The Robert Hertular legal saga has reached another milestone when, temporary Supreme Court Judge, Denys Barrow, S.C., yesterday handed down a decision upholding an earlier ruling made by Chief Magistrate Herbert Lord to extradite him to the United States to answer a four-count federal indictment.
On June 4, Lord, after listening to arguments made by Hertular?s defense attorney, Michael Peyrefitte, and Solicitor General, Elson Kaseke, acting for the Belize and United States Governments in the extradition hearing, ruled that Robert James Hertular has a prima facie case to answer in the Southern District Court of New York, where he was indicted by a grand jury. As a consequence U.S. judge Nathaniel J. Fox signed a warrant for his arrest on January 7, 2004.
OAS prods Bze, Guate to resume talks
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. July 22, 2004
A high-ranking official of the Organization of American States (OAS) is in Belize today, meeting with Belizean officials to advance talks on the Belize-Guatemala border dispute, which have apparently stalled yet another time.
Guatemala has changed its stance once again, and Guatemalan President, Oscar Berger, who had this year formally rejected a set of proposals crafted under the OAS to settle the dispute, now supports a national referendum, so that his people can decide whether they would accept or reject the Ramphal/Reichler proposals.
P.M. accuses UDP of `extortion` on CCJ bill!!
BELMOPAN, Thurs. July 15, 2004
The Prime Minister, Hon. Said Musa, told representatives of the media who were present at his press conference held this morning in the Cabinet room of his office in Belmopan, that he would not give into the ?extortion-like? demands of the Opposition United Democratic Party to get their representatives in the House to vote for the passing of the bill to amend the Constitution to have Belize use the Caribbean Court of Justice as its final court of appeal.
Prime Minister Musa said the UDP has demanded that there be a constitutional amendment to put a limit on the national debt. He added that the UDP has also demanded that their representatives in the House get more money.
Landmark eye surgery gives 12-year-old second chance at full sight
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. July 15, 2004
Thanks to a team of Belizean doctors, and the kind hearts of a missionary and a donor from the states, a 12-year-old will be seeing the world in a different light.
Almost ten years ago, Adrianna Slusher, 12, was involved in a terrible accident that left her blinded in her right eye, and only able to imagine what the world would look like with full vision. Adrianna was playing with some kids at home when she ran into a knife, which pierced her eye, tearing the cornea. Since then, she has recovered, turning into an active child, doing almost everything a normal 12-year-old can do, including attending Galilee Grace Chapel, her church in Gales Point, Manatee.
Death threat, bomb and brutality in Roaring Creek
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. July 15, 2004
Early Tuesday morning, July 13, after a small explosion in Roaring Creek, police raided the village, rounding up a number of young men who are now alleging police brutality during and after the operation.
The raid commenced late Tuesday evening and continued into early Wednesday.
Police were called to the village after it was reported that a ?small homemade bomb? was thrown out of a two-door black car in an area in the village referred to as ?Another World.?
CARICOM region presses ahead with CSME, CCJ, CARICOM passport
BELIZE CITY, Fri. July 9, 2004
Leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) collectively aim to establish the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) by next year, 2005, and one of their main challenges?and priorities?is to set up the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
Belize is among the CARICOM member states that have committed to setting up the CCJ as the lead court for their countries, replacing the appellate jurisdiction that has belonged to the UK-based Privy Council. The CCJ debate is expected to emerge in the House of Representatives on Friday, July 16, as Parliament moves to legalize the CCJ?s envisioned status within Belize?s judiciary.
Compol: ?An eye for an eye?
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. July 15, 2004
Inside his Belmopan office this morning, Commissioner of Police, Jose Carmen Zetina, said that the soaring incidences of murder and rape would decline if we go back to ?the old days,? when rapists were publicly flogged and murderers hanged.
After being apprised of the results of an internal mid-year review of the crime rate, Compol Zetina conceded that the present murder rate is ?alarming.?
