As we go to press tonight, tensions between the Belize Energy Workers Union (BEWU) and the Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) have flared up, even as the company faces a challenging four months ahead in maintaining the supply of power to the national grid, due to uncertainties over its supply from Mexico.

BELIZE CITY, Tues. May 5, 2009 Even as Government officials and the wider community were this weekend on high alert, trying to dodge the possibly fatal swine flu virus, some Belize City residents were dodging the smoking guns that have killed two young men and left three others injured in separate incidents that all happened on Belize City’s Southside. The stories appear separately in this mid-week edition of Amandala, starting below with the cold-blooded murder on Sunday morning of Glenford Audinett, continuing with the Thursday night murder of Ryan Walker, and then concluding with the brazen shoot-out and attempted robbery at Western Union in Belize City. As the police were in high spirits changing top command on Thursday and Monday, violent crime continued to dampen the spirits of City residents who, as Audinett’s mother puts it, want an end to these senseless acts of violence. At press time tonight, police have made no arrests for these three major crimes, though the new top brass rose to their ranks with resolute promises that they would tackle this crime problem that continues to be a bigger plague that the dreaded swine flu.

3 Belize influenza patients “under investigation”; NATS 2009 still on, preventative measures in place, but “business as usual” in Free Zone... At press time tonight, some 152 persons are suspected to have died in connection with the epidemic of swine influenza type A (H1N1) in Belize’s northern neighbour, Mexico. Almost 2,000 cases of suspected swine flu have been reported and treated, according to a release of a speech by Mexican Health Minister, Dr. Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos, on Monday afternoon in Mexico City.

PM Barrow insists GOB won’t pay... Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) scored a victory at the end of arbitration proceedings in the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) in March, which awarded the company $38.5 million in damages.

On Friday, April 17, what started out as a pleasant outing for the Mora family of Sarteneja and visiting friends, turned into a nightmare when their boat overturned shortly after departure, throwing all 13 passengers into the sea, where they spent the next 24 hours fighting for their lives.

The utility company pulls the plug, leaving residents in the dark... A move by the Belize Electricity Limited to clamp down on the illegal sale of electricity by some residents, to others who have no connection to BEL lines, has caused great distress and consternation to those affected in the area of the city known as Belama Phase 4.

Belizean conservationists fear xatéros have escaped, as usual, with “slap on the wrist” .... Belizean authorities have busted a band of 16 Guatemalan xatéros who were suspected to have harvested over 70,000 leaves in late March from areas in Belize where xaté harvesting is prohibited under law. While stories of Guatemalan xatéros plundering Belizean natural resources are not new, Forest Department’s Acting Chief, Marcelo Windsor, told our newspaper that this is the first time that they have had to penalize a Belizean to whom the department had given a license to harvest xaté from the forest.

BEL wants to reduce rates only 6%, not 15% as PUC had approved back in February... On the face of it, it sounds like news worth celebrating to hear that the Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) actually wants electricity rates to be reduced by 6%, but come to think of it, 6% isn’t much, especially after you recall that the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) more than a month ago had approved new tariffs that would have resulted in a 15% reduction in electricity rates, and a $10 shave off the monthly services charge to commercial customers.

The Right Honorable Dr. Manuel Esquivel, former Prime Minister of Belize and currently a senior UDP Government advisor, is listed in stable condition at Belize Medical Associates following a traffic accident early this morning. Amandala has confirmed that the retired politician, 68, will have to undergo reconstructive facial surgery after his vehicle overturned on the Western Highway between Mile 31 and Mile 32 around 8:40 this morning.

The 12-year-old girl was last seen two weeks ago getting into a car driven by a tour guide from nearby Cotton Tree village. On Tuesday night around 8:45, Belmopan police were called to an area between Miles 42 and 43 on the Western Highway where they discovered the half-nude, decomposing body of Saida Noemi Godoy Veliz, 12. The rotting body was 125 yards into a feeder road. Saida was clad only in her underwear and a black vest.

FCD experts believe that unless Belize increases security presence on the border, it will continue to face major problems with illegal incursions and the raping of the country’s pristine natural resources... Pic. Caption: Xateros in the Chiquibul National Park, and a young xatero and his compañeros (inset)

PM Barrow: “There is never going to be, as long as I am in the position I am, any implementation of that accommodation agreement that Said Musa signed.” The Dean Barrow administration has been at odds with the Michael Ashcroft group of companies in Belize over a string of controversial agreements signed by former Prime Minister Said Musa, and reports tonight by Belize Telemedia Limited’s TV station, Channel 5, are that the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) panel has ruled in favor of Telemedia, awarding that company US$38.5 million damages which the Government of Belize is being asked to pay for its stance that it will not honor the accommodation agreement Musa gave BTL, allowing the company major tax holidays in exchange for taking on certain commitments and assets of the failed Intelco.

After cruel death of Chinese worker, Chinese Association demands hanging! An attempted robbery in Orange Walk descended into a gun battle between cops and robbers – the prime suspect, police say, being a man who had been one of their own. That man is ex-police constable Kevin “Cowboy” Alvarez, 32, who was shot in the upper left abdomen. However, the deep tragedy is the brutal murder of robbery victim, 38-year-old Hui Lin Chen, a store attendant who had his throat slit by the robbers.

PM Barrow wants Caribbean Court of Justice to replace London’s Privy Council... For the next two days Belize plays host to 154 delegates from 11 sister Caribbean states attending the 20th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), being hosted at the Radisson Fort George Hotel in Belize City.