belize times march 22, 2015

THE BELIZE TIMES 22 MAR2015 2

His office pays $650,000 to

Contract Officers

02

serving Belize since 1957 as the longest continuous newspaper.

Founder: Rt. Hon. George Cadle Price, People’s United Party Leader Emeritus

EDITOR

Alberto Vellos

LAYOUT/GRAPHIC ARTIST

Chris Williams

OFFICE ASSISTANT

Roberto Peyrefitte

Printed and Published ByTIMES NEWSPAPER LTD.

Tel: 671-8385#3 Queen StreetP.O. BOX 506

Belize City, BelizeEmail: [email protected]

[email protected]

The Belize TimesThe Truth Shall Make You Free

Established 1957

14 APR 2013 | ISSUE NO: 4840 www.belizetimes.bz | $1.00

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6 Feb

LOCAL WEATHER26 Mar 27 Mar24 Mar 25 Mar23 Mar22 Mar21 Mar20 Mar

Cut the fat Mr. PM!

Continued on page 2

Continued on page 25

Greedy, Greedy Boots!!

Belize City, March 18, 2015Prime Minister Dean O. Bar-

row must explain why his “Of-fice” has been spending so much money on maintaining high-sala-ries for politically cronies.

Since 2008, the Prime Minis-ter has used his office to provide a means through which agents of the United Democratic Party, specially-hired to advance his political agenda, are allowed to milk the public coffers. Today, the number of UDP agents who are hired as contract workers have in-creased from four in 2008 to ten in 2014/2015.

These agents and their titles

Belize City, March 17, 2015Last week, the BELIZE TIMES

published reliable information provid-ed a source that the Belize City Lands Department will be transferred from its Basra Street location and will now rent space at the Boots Building at the cor-ner of the Central American Boulevard and Cemetery Road.

The newspaper also published a picture of a banner that shows that a company by the name “Barrow and Bar-row Domestic and Foreign Investments Limited” was housed in the building. Perhaps also paying a hefty rent. Who are the personalities hiding behind this “Barrow and Barrow” company will soon come to light!

Now this week, a new sign has appeared on the building, displaying the name of another group called “Port Loyola Housing for the Poor”.

Most Belizeans, especially resi-dents of Port Loyola, don’t even know that such a group exists. But the truth is that the group was registered almost 19 years ago, but did not become active until 2008, after the UDP won the elec-tions. The group, which calls itself a Non Governmental Organization, is actually a FOR PROFIT group and that much became clear when the organisation began benefitting from Government contracts. The group was even given 12 acres of prime land on the George Price Highway between mile 4 and mile 4.5.

When the land giveaway was ex-posed in 2009, Anthony “Boots” Mar-tinez jumped to defend the group and even claimed he was part of it. He claimed that “they” had big plans, say-ing that “what we do here is to culmi-nate our work, here is our warehouse. It is a land for the economic purpose for the people of Port Loyola. Short-ly we will be putting up a building to host the residents of Port Loyola in regards to computer training and sewing etc.”

But five years later, there is no such computer training or sewing pro-gramme. There has also not been a mas-sive boom of “Housing for the Poor” in Port Loyola, the constituency that is high in poverty and where Boots is the area representative. The use of “Housing for the Poor” has turned out to be more of an abuse…as the large tract of land still belongs to Boots’ “Port Loyola Housing for the Poor” and the group continues to benefit from Government funds.

The major problem here is that

Boots could be cashing in again on rent from this dubious group, which he is a part of. If he were really serious, the work proposed by this group through its name could have easily been done

through an office in one of his high-paid Minister’s building.

What residents of Port Loyola need to demand to know is how much this group is cashing in on their name? Greed certainly knows no limits….and Boots just keeps filling up his expen-sive shoes!

Belize City, March 17, 2015The poor monitoring and administration of fuel supply has triggered unex-

pected shortages at several gas stations throughout the country, spiralling chaos and resulting in major losses to the transportation and productive sectors.

The main fuel supplier, PUMA, has had to ration their fuel supply to fuel dis-tributors/stations such as Shell and UNO. The gas stations, as a result, have had to cut back on their sales to large customers and even turned back others, either in fear that they would run out of fuel too quickly or because they have run out.

Government-appointed Deputy Chairman of the Alba Petrocaribe Belize Energy Limited John Mencias admitted that the fuel shipment was delayed by about four days, but he doubted that it would cause major shortages.

It turns out he was very wrong. Before midweek there was no Premium or Diesel fuel at several gas stations throughout the country. This occurred faster in towns and cities where tourism activities and the transportation sector is the busiest.

Customers are being told that there would be no supply until early next week, as the next shipment of fuel is expected in the country sometime this weekend.

Fuel shortage causes chaos

THE BELIZE TIMES22 MAR 2015 3 03

Francis Fonseca

WOMAN HATERS

FORWARD with FRANCISArea Representative John Briceno made statements criticising the leadership. The contents of this recording, however, con-tradicts all statements made at recent National Executive meetings and actions on the campaign by Hon. Briceno in the past months, where he has demonstrat-ed good faith and the will to work along with the Party Leader, and which led to the Party’s victory in Orange Walk Town in the most recent municipal elections.

The ruling United Democratic Party and their agents, in particular those in the media, capitalised on the appearance of a struggle and division and attempted to do what they do best: divide and destroy. But the PUP held its ground.

Wednesday’s meeting was opened by the Party Leader who expressed his deep commitment to leading the PUP and guiding the Party through transfor-mational reform and victory. He called on all Party officials to see themselves as the transformational leaders who will achieve this.

The Party Leader then put the ques-tion of whether the Party should hold a leadership convention in the coming months, and one by one, the near 40 persons who attended the meeting, rep-resenting Standard Bearers and the Na-tional Executive which includes the arms of the party, Marshalls, United Women’s Group and Belize Youth Movement, spoke

Continued from page 1


openly and freely. They unanimously condemned the attempts being made to divide the Party and gave their sup-port to Hon. Francis to lead the Party into the next general elections.

There were various important state-ments made by the leaders, among them that unity is the most effective way to achieve success; and that the majority of Belizeans know that only the PUP can properly develop Belize and positively impact the lives of the people through education and pover-ty elimination.

The PUP’s Lake Independence standard bearer Cordel Hyde remind-ed the Party officials that the PUP is

the most experienced winning politi-cal party in Belize.

Following the resounding expres-sions of support and commitment to do battle, the Party Leader said that he was humbled, but re-energized.

“I have heard your words,” he said, “this trust and confidence must be supported and awarded with greater effort to thrust us for-ward and to lead the PUP to vic-tory whenever the elections are called”.

The Party Leader said the PUP members of the House will be more than ready for the Budget Debate next week.

which never existed under the for-mer PUP administrations, are given all sorts of titles such as “Executive Coordinator”, “Executive Assistant”, and “Programme Officer”, and also benefit from large sums of money as salaries.

The UDP Government is cur-rently paying these contract workers a total of $646,400 as of December 2014. There exists TWO Chief Exec-utive Officers in the Prime Minister’s office. One of them is the UDP’s po-litical officer Audrey Wallace. There is also a “Special Advisor” who in-cidentally was appointed the Pres-ident of the University of Belize in June 2014. And then there is a “Di-rector of Public/Private Partnership”, “Senior Programme Officer”, “Hu-man Development Programme Of-ficer” and then those listed before. All titles were created after 2008.

Financial prudence seems to have gone out the window under the Barrow Administration, at the public’s expense.

His office pays $650,000 to

Contract Officers

Cut the fat Mr. PM!

Party officials discussing internal issues at Wednesday’s meeting


Officer Down!

04

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KHMH IN CRISISHospital faces sterilization

medication shortage!Belize City, March 16, 2015

The Karl Heusner Memorial Hospi-tal is facing a severe crisis and the hos-pital staff is suffering in silence and fear. The main public referral hospital could very well be the next Phillip Goldson In-ternational Airport where the essential workers may need to shut down the institution to get someone’s attention.

There are shortages of all kinds of medications (for example, an important medication for general anesthesia has been unavailable for months now and another important anesthesia medica-tion for mothers who go to the hospital to give birth is also unavailable. Worse yet, the main medicine that is used for spinal anesthesia is expired so it

doesn’t work well if at all, so it causes the patients to ex-perience sever pain when the doctor starts to cut.

There is a shortage of even more basic supplies like needles used to put drips into the patients. There are no sets to nebulize children with asth-ma and pneumonia. Common surgical tape is in short sup-ply, but very senior nurses at the very top are trying to suppress the com-plaints.

Worse of all, the most basic of blood tests are not being done in the

hospital. The blood level test which should be taken half hour to do, now requires 3 days for results. People are being encouraged to do the tests privately.

But the last straw is that the sterilizer needed to prepare materi-al for surgeries has finally stopped working. This problem was already obvious for over a year now and no real measures were taken to deal with the situation. At first they sent the material to be sterilized in Belmo-pan and when their sterilizer broke down, they sent the stuff to Orange Walk but their sterilizer broke down as well. The supplies are now go-ing to Dangriga and the turn around time is too long. What will happen when their machine finally breaks down too? The situation is so seri-ous that only extreme emergency surgeries are being allowed. There is a real possibility that even those may have to stop too. Again, senior people in management (including the doctor who sound like he can’t bruk egg) are spending scarce resources on pet projects and neglecting the core needs of the people who have no choice but to go to Karl Heusner. Cement is not a very good medicine, by the way.

The staff at the hospital is fed up and frustrated but they are saying that it is the people of Belize who are responsible for putting these incom-petent politicians and their stooges in charge. So, it will be up to the people to change them or to simply continue putting up with the bad sit-uation and to keep suffering.

Visitors to Belize City

will pay toll! - Mayor BradleyBelize City, March 18, 2015

Mayor Darrel Bradley has revealed disturbing news for Ladyville residents. Actually, it is bad news for all residents who travel into Belize City, especially daily, or city residents who carry out business in other districts and have to travel.

Mayor Bradley appeared on one of the local morning show radio/tv pro-grams and revealed that his Council will implement a toll collection at the Phil-lip Goldson Highway which will charge anyone entering the city.

He did not say what the fee would be, and indicated that the move is nec-essary to fund a project on the highway.

Since 2012 when he first entered office, Mayor Bradley’s Council has received disproportionate and advan-tageous financial support from Central Government. He received the tens of millions, while other municipalities have received crumbs.

At the same time, Mayor Bradley in-creased the cost of all services offered by the Council. Trade license, property tax, drivers’ license, vehicle inspection and so on. Now why on earth, having collected millions upon millions already, does he need to continue squeezing the pockets of people? The truth will soon be told.

THE BELIZE TIMES22 MAR 2015 5

Politics Over Priorities

05

EDITORIAL

We have seen a troubling pat-tern. The job of the Belize City Council through the leadership of its Mayor is

to improve the living conditions of the en-tire city. But when you have a Mayor who is blinded by his political ambitions, the job gets muddied by pursuits of personal fantasies.

Mayor Darrell Bradley seems hell-bent on pursuing his ambitions to become the UDP’s candidate in Caribbean Shores over the great-er needs and priorities of Belize City and its residents.

Just two weeks into his second term, Bradley proved he continues to be driven by political fantasy and greed when he re-introduced his plan to spend over $10 million to construct a four-lane highway from the Buttonwood Bay boulevard junction to the Haulover Bridge.

That section of the highway isn’t even a street in the city. But it does run along the Caribbean Shores area. Mayor Bradley has publicly declared numerous times that he is interested in the division, and while he was forced to throw his hat in the Mayoral race once more in the recent March 4th municipal election, it was on the condition that he would be allowed to challenge current UDP repre-sentative Santino Castillo in the near future.

Castillo, who has claimed that he is prepar-ing for the challenge, has given free political advice to Bradley that he should “be smart” instead.

But the Mayor is facing bigger challenges. As mentioned, the northern road is part of a highway and not a street and so it does not fall under the jurisdiction of the City Council. The Ministry of Works (Central Government) maintains jurisdiction and while they have

cautioned the Council to focus on the city, the Mayor is, as Krem WUB’s Mose Hyde has said before, very stubborn.

Mayor Bradley would think rationally if he would only get his head out of the concrete! Having spent $40 million to pour cement on several streets in the northside of the city, actually mostly in the Caribbean Shores area, the truth is that he has ignored the city’s drainage conditions and the dilapidated state of streets in the Southside.

One would think that the UDP Council would show some fairness in its second term and put in efforts to pave Southside streets, but to the Mayor apparently there are no po-litical benefits there, and his Councillors have no clout in the decision making.

The other challenge is that the City Coun-cil has no funding and must continue to rely on drawing funds from loans and free money from Central Government, which is drawn from the Petro Caribe loans. The cash-strapped Council owes $20 million borrowed through the municipal bond, and then several hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to the sanitation companies.

With the bleak financial state the Council is in, it would be wise for the Mayor to focus on responsible spending. Maybe he should set up a Finance Committee to help the Council navigate through the financial storm ahead, but that would entail opening the books and we know the UDP Council has been hiding a lot.

Choosing politics over the city’s priorities is a very unwise and costly decision. The Mayor should heed to Santi’s warning: “it’s very easy to spend money…it’s very hard to pay it back”.



NOTICEI, Mayela Augustine, do hereby give notice that I have applied to the Magistrate’s Court sitting in the Orange Walk Judicial District for a Certificate authorizing me to obtain a Moneylenders’ License in the name of Surplus Quick Service located at #13 Liberty Avenue, Orange Walk Town.

UNSUSTAINABLE BUDGET!

Debt balloons to $2.7 Billion under Barrow

Without mincing words Senator Lizarraga remarked, “We need to be sustainable with our finances…and we don’t believe that this Budget leads us to a path of sustainability”, as he appeared on the Open Your Eyes show on Wednesday morning.

Senator Lizarraga pointed out that the Government is borrowing too much and not managing its expenses properly. He indicated that annually, Government’s borrowing to cover the financial deficit has increased and sur-passed what is initially estimated. In the 2013-2014 fiscal year $177 million was borrowed, while in 2014-2015 the Government had to borrow $207 million to make up for the financial gap, after it had estimated that it would have been $141 million. It is projected that in the new fiscal year, the overall deficit will be $174 million.

Senator Lizarraga stated that the Petrocaribe financing available to the Government is being “abused” at the expense of taxpayers.

“We’re spending everything we have as if there is no tomorrow, and that is not sustainable,” he said.

The 2015-2016 proposed Budget will be debated by the members of the House of Representatives on Thursday March 26th and Friday March 27th 2015.

There will be explosive remarks by the Opposition about the failure of the Government to reduce poverty and cure social ills despite spending millions and millions of dollars.

The Opposition is also expected to question the Government’s heavy bor-rowing. The Prime Minister reported in his Budget speech that “Central Gov-ernment’s debt to increase by $102

million to $2.7 Billion the equivalent of 76% of GDP in fiscal year 2015-2016”. 85% of that remains external or foreign obligations debt. This overall debt is now twice the amount which the Barrow Administration inherited when it took office. This means that while in 2008 the debt was $1.1 Billion dollars which represented debt from ALL the previous governments, the UDP in just five short years, borrowed $1.6 billion.

Also commenting on this issue, Senator Lizarraga said that it was a major concern for the business sector, “What the business community is saying is that we have to be realistic. We already owe more than any coun-try per person per G.D.P. in the whole region – Mexico to South America. We owe more than any country per person. We owe more than any coun-try in Central America. Where are we going with this? Where will it end? How will we pay for this? Already the Belizean people, each and every one of us, owe approximately twelve thousand dollars, and every year we have to find three thousand one hundred and fifty dollars for the bud-get…each person in this country.”

Belize City, March 16, 2015Judas sold out for 30 pieces of sil-

ver. But a least he later felt remorse and hanged himself.

It has now been confirmed that the former Minister of Economic De-velopment in the PUP Government Mark Espat collected over one million, six hundred and fifty nine thousand, three hundred and thirty three dollars (1,659,333.00) from the Barrow Gov-ernment as a fee for the debt restruc-turing in 2012.

This hefty sum was paid according to the Government of Belize invoice on the 21st March 2013 to a company called Hallmark Advisory Ltd.

The company Registry in Belmo-pan shows that on the same day one year earlier the company Hallmark Advisory Ltd. was registered by Mark Espat owing 95 percent of the com-pany and his wife the remaining 5%.

The BetrayalThe Directors of the company are Mark Espat and his two brothers Jose Espat and Jorge Espat.

It has now come to light that in addition to the $1.6 million that Mark Espat received on the 21st March 2013, he has been collecting through his company Hallmark for the past two years the princely sum of $20,000.00 per month.

Dean Barrow the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance has been pay-ing Mark Espat “A monthly retainer” of $20,000.00 plus expenses or over a quarter of a million dollars every year (over $250,000.00). This corrupt con-cealed financial arrangement done behind the backs of the taxpayers of Belize indeed without the approval of Cabinet or Parliament has got to be the biggest in your face filthy lucre betrayal of the public trust in the history of post Independence Belize.


WOMAN IN THE HOUSE

Honoring our Heroes and the Commonwealth

By Dolores Balderamos Garcia

Last week on March 9, 2015, which was National Heroes and Benefactors Day, I attended two brief and touching ceremonies in Belize City. The first was the Annual Wreath Laying Ceremo-ny at the Baron Bliss Tomb, Fort George, at the invitation of the Governor General Sir Colville Young. The second was the Fly a Flag for the Commonwealth Cer-emony at the Flag Monument at the entrance of Belize City, at the invitation of the President Elect of the Scout Association of Belize Ms. Jersha Lennan and the National Scout Assembly.

Despite some early rain, the sun was out at the Baron Bliss Tomb, a beautiful setting near the sea for the Wreath Laying

Ceremony. It is always a short and well-put-together program. A Guard of Honor was mounted by the Belize Police Department, Belize Defence Force, Boy and Girl Scouts, Boys Brigade, and Po-lice Youth Corps, with the Police Band providing the music. All in their uniforms looked very smart. With only a few members of the diplomatic corps and some invit-ed guests present, the Governor General arrived at 8am, and in-spected the Guard of Honor.

The Invocation was given by Reverend Roosevelt Papaloute of the Methodist Church, after which wreaths were laid on Baron Bliss’ Tomb by the Governor General and Mr. Joseph Waight, who chairs the Baron Bliss Trust. Wreaths

were then placed before the images of Rt. Hon. George Price and Hon. Philip Goldson, our National Heroes, by Ms. Diane Haylock, Chairperson of NICH.

Florence Goldson delivered a heartfelt memorial of her father, Mr. John Waight delivered his concise memorial of George Price, and Mr. Basil Coleman delivered the memo-rial and tribute to Baron Bliss. The short ceremony closed with the de-parture of the Governor General.

At 10am the Fly a Flag for the Commonwealth Ceremony com-menced with Master of Ceremo-nies Rev. Dr. Rudolph Anthony wel-coming the Governor General, the British High Commissioner, invited guests and an impressive group of the Girl and Boy Scouts assembled. President Elect Jersha Lennan did the Invocation, after which Queen’s Scout Lisa Gideon gave the formal Welcome. Queen’s Scout Kesil-yn Lizama read the Message from Queen Elizabeth II expressing her support for the flag raising in over thirty-seven countries of the Com-monwealth, and the Message from the Commonwealth Secretary Gen-eral was read by Scout Adrian Pott.

Venture Scout Ashton Nicholas delivered the Commonwealth Af-firmation of commitment to world peace, democracy, friendship and development. In a heavy show-

er of rain, the Flag of the Com-monwealth was then raised with Honorary Flag Bearers Sir Colville Young and High Commissioner Peter Hughes along with sever-al scouts. To close off, Queen’s Scout Aidian Flowers gave the Vote of Thanks.

I was very honored to have been present for both ceremo-nies. It is a pity that so few lead-ers attend the Wreath Laying Ceremony. It appeared that I was the only member of the National Assembly in attendance. Our po-litical leaders should show more support for this annual demon-stration of honor and respect to our greatest Benefactor and our two National Heroes.

Likewise, my feeling is that there should have been some media coverage of the Flag Rais-ing ceremony honoring the Com-monwealth. The Girl and Boy Scouts of Belize, now led by a woman in the person of Jersha Lennan, have done us very proud in showing respect for the Com-monwealth, an institution we must all be proud to belong to. Our country is better for publicly acknowledging our Heroes and Benefactors and for supporting the Scouts in their efforts to instil universal values in our youths, our future leaders.


Comfort to Fools!!

– Freetown’s Mr. Quitar?

The 2015-2016 Budget

BANDOLERO CONSULTING INC. # 59,795(“the Company”)

Pursuant to Section 102 (4) of the International Business Companies Act, Chapter 270 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2000, notice is hereby given that BANDOLERO CON-SULTING INC.:

a) is in dissolutionb) commenced dissolution on the 18th day of March, 2015;

and c) Vassos Paraskevas whose address is 4th Floor, 9

Kafkasou Str., Aglantzia, 2112 Nicosia, Cyprus is the Liquidator of the Company.

Cititrust International LimitedRegistered Agent

Contributed by the CommonerIn a Newsweek publication De-

cember 2010-January 2010, written by Jaques Attali: The West and the Tyran-ny of PUBLIC DEBT it was written that “The history of public debt is the very history of national power: how it has been won and how it has been lost. Dreams and impatience have always driven men in power to draw on the resources of others – be it slave, the inhabitants of occupied lands, or their own children yet to be born – in order to carry out their schemes to consol-idate power, to grow their own for-tunes…”

The budget for 2015-2016 was read on Friday March 13th 2015 in the halls of the National Assembly. The Honorable Dean Oliver Barrow and his other members and gallery court-iers will without a doubt be doing the “Orangutan dance” to the lyrics of political rhetoric along with a bellyful of hearty theatrics during the budget debate. It will be clear that House mat-ters will not matter.

Once again the political pixie-dust has been hurled in the eyes of the pop-ulace to keep them transfixed on the political drama rather than the reality of our economic state of affairs regard-ing the economy of the “Jewel”.

The harsh reality is that Belize has a financial ticking time-bomb on its hand – the National Debt. Instead of putting a rein on the debt, the Prime Minister in this 2015-2016 budget, has allocated more monies in several areas of government reverting to his spendthrift ways of his first term. It was that time when the UDP failed to apply political pragmatism and formu-late sound fiscal policies but engaged themselves in reckless spending of the public funds.

It was not until June 29th 2012, after the budget for 2012-2013 was read, that the Prime Minister realised that it was dire that the Government apply fiscal discipline and expenditure restraint. Budgetary cuts were made in healthcare, education and national security. These are the very areas eco-nomic theorists has identified that lead to growth and development of a coun-try’s economy.

Seemingly this Government has not been able to differentiate between unwise and unintelligent debt.

Unwise debt can be described as dead debt such as inflated administra-tive costs that are allocated to running the country, e.g., huge allocations awarded to various ambassadorial of-fices, commissions such as the one formed to manage the “Superbond” restructuring, and the use and mis-use of Government vehicles just to point out a few, come with great ad-ministrative cost. The costs go toward appeasing party supporters. The Am-bassador’s sit in luxurious offices and penthouses with fat salaries at the Be-lizean taxpayer’s expense.

Intelligent debt can be described as purposeful debt – such as health-care (especially primary healthcare),

education, national security, agricultural development and infrastructural devel-opment.

It is my opinion that the majority of Belizeans think that the UDP Gov-ernment lacks the managerial skills to move the country forward. Apparently this Government has not realised that it has both the capacity and the tech-nical expertise in the public servants. However, the very experts in the pub-lic service become perfunctionaries to the political will of Ministers who lack “sound financial stewardship”. They be-come political driftwood riding the po-litical tide instead of assisting to chart the course for meaningful development of the “Jewel”. Offices such as those of the Contractor General, the Auditor General and other financial authorities are subjected to the whims and fancy of the political hierarchy.

The 2015-2016 budget is one that brings comfort to fools – mere prom-ises. This budget is like an overloaded dice with which only the House wins.

The electioneering process continues with the general elections on the hori-zon. Monies have been allocated for public servant pay increase, food pan-try and the BOOST program, Christmas and Mother’s day cheer with the usual “political Godfathers” at the helm.

Belizeans must be mindful that when budgetary cuts were conducted in 2012, healthcare, education and na-tional security were on the chopping block. Teachers were up in arms over their promised increase in wages. This was a disrespectful act as these are im-portant areas in a country’s economic development.

In respect to food pantry and BOOST, these programs are forging a yoke of iron around the necks of the Be-lizean poor. No assessments have been made regarding funding that has been lobbied on the backs of the people ly-ing down at the bottom of the societal ladder. This Government continues to foster inequality controlling the wealth hence controlling the people.

The Industrial Revolution in the

Eighteenth Century, written by Paul Mantoux (1961) laid it well. It said, “In many cases people come to rely on out-relief as a usual and necessary help when formerly they would have tried to earn their own living”. In the past, many Belizeans have struggled through life with large families never applying for or asking for relief. Today, society has plunged into the abyss of dependency at the hands of the United Democratic Party and its leader Dean Barrow.

The budget debate will be a case of blindsman bluff. The Prime Minister will spin his, his cohorts will spin theirs, and truth dies a lonely soul. The truth is Belize is heading towards a financial firestorm. This could well be the halcy-on days this leader is pumping up his chest about. However, the fools will find comfort in the budget debate and its hollow promises.

La lucha continua, the struggle con-tinues.

“Those who remain silent in the face of injustice become a party to that injustice” – Martin Luther King



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IMAGINE THE DESPERATION

Gentle Touch & Triple B’s

10 SPORTS THE BELIZE TIMES 15 MAR2015

Ladyville Tech girls advance to softball

nationals

Cayo Western Ballaz

lead NEBL basketball: 6-0!Orange Walk, March 14, 2015

The undefeated Cayo Western Ballaz continue to lead the National Elite Basketball League tournament: 6-0! They bounced the Orange Walk Running Rebels 82-66 at the Orange Walk Multipurpose complex on Satur-day night.

Richard Troyer scored 32 points and had 4 rebounds, while Giovanni Lennan followed with 15 points and 4 rebounds. Rebels’ Tyrone Baptist led the scoring for his team, with 12 points.

The San Pedro Tigersharks were staring at an 87-86 loss to Belzie City’s No Limit with 11 seconds remaining, when Tyrone “Mission” Edwards stole the ball from No Limit’s Lupito Acosta and Andrew Ortiz scored the winning basket for Tigersharks’ 5th win at Bird’s Isle on Friday night. Ortiz also rammed home 3 monster dunks as he led Tiger-sharks with 21pts.

Other games:

Belmopan Red Taigaz vs. Be-lize City Hurricanes - 88-79

Top scorers: T. Lennan/S. Williams (18pts, 5 rebounds); F. Louriano/J. Velasquez (13pts, 7 rebounds)

Dangriga Warriors vs. Toledo Diplomats - 67-54

Top scorers: T. Usher (20pts, 4 rebounds); D. Nolberto (17pts)

Upcoming games:Cayo Western Ballaz vs. Bel-

mopan Red Taigaz at the Sacred Heart College auditorium on Fri-day

Dangriga Warriors vs. Belize Hurricanes at the Belize Elemen-tary auditorium on Friday

Tiger Sharks vs. Running Reb-els at the Orange Walk Multi-Pur-pose Complex on Saturday

No Limit vs. Toledo Diplomats at the Julian Cho Technical High School on Saturday

Greg Rudon scored 28 points

Belize City, March 12, 2015The Ladyville Technical High

School girls will take on the South-ern zone champions, the Stann Creek Ecumenical College girls on Friday, in the Central Secondary Schools softball championship.

The Ladyville Tech girls de-feated the Wesley College by mercy rule with a score of 16-1 in 3 innings last Thursday. Wesley’s pitcher Shania Pook gave up 8 hits and walked 12 batters, while the Wesley diamond made 5 errors, allowing the entire Ladyville dia-mond to score in the 1st inning, with Seleany Goodin coming home 2 times. Kristy Terry scored

a consolation run for Wesley but the Ladyville lead grew to 14-1 in the 2nd inning, and the game was called by mercy rule when Ladyville scored 2 more runs in the 3rd inning.

The softball champion-ships will be hosted by the Georgetown Technical High School at the Michael Ashcroft Stadium in Independence Vil-lage on Friday and Saturday, March 20-21. The Western zone champs, the Belmopan Comprehensive girls will meet the Northern Zone champs, the Belize Rural High school girls.

Ladyville Tech girls

Wesley girls

Belize City, March 12, 2015The defending champs,

the Nazarene High School boys, will try to repeat histo-ry as they take on the South-ern zone champions, the Independence High School boys, in the Secondary Schools softball nationals.

Nazarene High to defend title at softball nationals

Nazarene High won the Central Division champion-ship 3-0 against the Gwen Lizarraga High School at the Rogers Stadium in Belize City last Thursday. Naza-rene’s pitcher Jerome Carr struck out 9 batters and scored 2 runs in his 3-0

shut out of the Gwen Liz boys.

The Western zone champs, the Belmopan Comprehensive boys will meet the Northern Zone champs, the Or-ange Walk Technical High School boys.

BTTA holds

RF&G table tennis

national ranking

tournament


Horizon Academy wins first Primary School Tennis Competition

11SPORTSTHE BELIZE TIMES15 MAR 2015

Kaya Cattouse wins 34th annual SMART Belmopan Female Cycling Classic

GUY EAST WINS 34TH ANNUAL SMART

BELMOPAN CYCLING CLASSIC

Belize City, March 15, 2015Four new champions

emerged when the Belize Table Tennis Association hosted the 2015 RF&G bi-annual national ranking table tennis tournament at the “home of table tennis”, the Belize Elementary Auditorium on Sunday.

Some 50 table tennis players participated, with 4 of the top se-nior players competing in a Dou-ble Elimination Final round in the A division. The winners were: 1st - Carlos Cui; 2nd - Tux Vasquez; 3rd - Zhi Cheng and 4th - Tyrone Tun

In the B Division, 8 play-ers competed in a Round Robin classification event with the top 6 advancing to the Double Elimi-nation Finals. The winners were: 1st - Gabriel Guerrero; 2nd - Sen Sen; 3rd - Yasser Musa and 4th -

BTTA holds RF&G table tennis national ranking tournament

Fabio CarballoIn the C Division, more than

32 players, including many of the top junior players, competed in a round robin, from which the top 16 players advanced to the Dou-ble Elimination finals. The win-ners were: 1st - Bjarne Gabourel; 2nd - Luis Bardalez; 3rd - Fabio Carballo and 4th - Jaylen Nichol-son

In the Women’s Division, 4 players competed for the top spot in a Double Elimination leading to the Finals. The winners were: 1st - Sen Sen; 2nd - Tyola Casimero; 3rd - Samira Pott and 4th - Kayla Arnold.

The event ended with tro-phies being awarded to all the winners by the BTTA Member-ship Director, Mrs. Janine Car-ballo representing the sponsors RF&G Insurance.

Belize City, March 15, 2015Team Santino’s American

import Guy East won the 34th annual SMART Belmopan Elite Cycling Classic, a 100 mile ride from the SMART headquarters in Belize City to Belmopan and back on the George Price and Philip Goldson Highways on Sunday.

Top Ten Finishers:1st Guy East – Team Santi-

no’s - $2,000 prize2nd Giovanni Choto – Team

C-ray Road Addikz – 4:30:00 - $1,500 prize plus a ZTE Engage cellphone

3rd Brandon Cattouse – Team C-Ray Road Addikz – $1,000 prize plus a ZTE engage cellphone

4th Marlon Castillo – Team Santino’s - $500 prize and a medal

5th Jose Robles – Team West-ern Spirits - $300 prize and a med-al

6th Joel Borland – Team Digi-cell 4G

7th Jose Mojica (Cuban) - Team Benny’s Megabytes

8th Giovanni Lovell – Team Digicell 4G

9th David Henderson Jr – Team SMART

10th Gregory Lovell – Team Digicell 4G

Masters 35+1st Jose Robles - Team West-

ern Spirits - $250 prize and a tro-phy

2nd Giovanni Lovell – Team Digi-cell 4G - $50 prize and a medal

3rd Richard Santiago – Team Digicell 4G - $25 prize and a medal

Elite 4/51st Patrick Bennett - Team

SMART - $200 prize and trophy2nd Zamir Guerra - Team West-

ern Spirit - $50 prize3rd Deezan Spence – Team BE-

COL Cycling - $25 prize

2nd Henry Moriera – Team Smart - a $50 prize

3rd Kenroy “Smokes” Glad-den – Team Police - $25

Masters 4/51st Kenroy “Smokes” Glad-

den - Team Police - $200 prize Under-231st Joel Borland – Team

Digicell 4G - $200 prize and tro-phy

Belize City, March 15, 2015 Team C-Ray’s Kaya Cattouse

won the 34th annual SMART Bel-mopan Female Cycling Classic held by the Belize Cycling Federation to La Democracia and back on the George Price and Philip Goldson Highways on Sunday.

1st Kaya Cattouse – Team C-Ray - 3:23:41 - $750 prize, a round trip to San Pedro and a trophy

2nd Alicia Thompson – Team Belize Bank Swoosh - $500 prize

3rd Gabrielle Lovell - Team Digicell 4G - $300 prize

4th Shalini Zabaneh – Team Sagitun5th Estefany Cruz – Team Sagitun - 3:24:216th Darlene Martinez – Team SagitunStation Prizes:Almond Hill - Alicia Thompson - $100 prizeRockville - Gabrielle Lovell - a SMART Mi-Fi

Mile 25 going - Kirah Eiley - $100 gift card

Mile 25 return - Gabrielle Lovell - a MotoG cellphone

Hattieville - Estefany Cruz - $100 prize

Almond Hill return - Kaya Cattouse - a SMART Mi-Fi

Belize City, March 15, 2015Junior tennis players hailing from St.

Mary’s Primary School, Horizon Academy, Belize Elementary School and Humming-bird Elementary School gathered at the Pickwick Club Tennis Courts on Satur-day March 14th in the first ever Primary School Tennis Competition hosted by the Belize Tennis Association and sponsored by ATLANTIC BANK LIMITED, SIMON QUAN & CO. LTD. and BRODIES.

The tournament was a Red Stage 1 geared for Beginner Level with small-er tennis courts, bigger and less bouncy balls and smaller racquets, and it will be held bi-annually. After about 4 hours of playing round robin style, Horizon Acad-emy garnered the most wins and took the 1st place trophy, with Hummingbird Elementary School taking the 2nd place

trophy. Belize Elementary School and St. Mary’s primary school took 3rd and 4th place trophies. For the individual category, Daniel Musa from Hummingbird took gold medal, whilst James Courtenay from BES took silver and Anthony Rudon from Hori-zon Academy took the bronze.

Errol Ferguson from St. Mary’s Pri-mary School must be recognized as the most improved player and for demonstrat-ing genuine love and natural talent for the sport. Thanks to the Primary Schools, the coaches and parents for their support; and special Thank You to ATLANTIC BANK LIMITED, SIMON QUAN & CO. LIMITED and BRODIES for sponsoring the first of its kind competition. The next Primary school Tennis Competition is set for May 16th, so all junior players are encouraged to keep on practicing!

Kaya Cattouse


As BIG as you think you are...

you’re living in a SMALL world

Building on Kut Avenue Building in Belama Ph. 1

Boots Martinez

Building on Western AvenueBuilding on Euphrates Avenue

Building on Fabers Road Building on Fabers Road

Building on C.A. Boulevard


Lennox Castillo defends against Matthew Leal

For SaleBy Order of the

Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., a company duly registered under the Com-panies Act, Chapter 250 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition, 2000, and having its registered office at Cor. Albert and Bishop Streets, Belize City, Belize, hereby gives notice of its intention to exercise its power of sale as Mortgagee under a Deed of Mortgage made the 27th December, 2001, between ANDREW MIRANDA of Hopkins Village, Stann Creek District, Belize of the one part, and Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., of the other part, and recorded in Deeds Book Vol. 1 of 2002 at Folios 239 to 262, the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will at the expiration of two months from the date of the first publication of this notice sell the property described in the schedule hereto.

All offers to purchase the said property must be made in writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may be obtained from the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

SCHEDULE

ALL THAT piece or parcel of land being Lot No. 247 comprising 756.67 Square Yards, situate in Hopkins Village, Stann Creek District bounded and described as shown by Plan No. 1049 of 2000 attached to Min-ister’s Fiat Grant No. 1049 of 2000 TOGETHER with buildings and erections standing and being thereon.

DATED this 11th day of March, 2015.

MUSA & BALDERAMOS LLP91 North Front Street

Belize CityAttorneys-at-Law for

Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

VIBES RADIO 90.5FM | 102.9FMSundays: 6 am Opening Transmission 6am to 7am Inspirational Music 7am to 9am Country Music 9am to 10am De Domingo a Domingo 10 am to 1 pm Repeat of Morning Whip 1pm to 3 pm Rural Talk 3pm to 4pm Music 4pm to 5pm Princess Shirley Talk show Tell Me 5pm to 7pm Reggae Sunday 7pm to 9pm Love Bug Show DJ Alex

Mondays : 6:00 am Open transmission 6:10 am Devotion at dawn 6:20 am Children programme rise and shine 7:00 am – 10:00 am Morning Whip 10:00 am – 12 pm Eclectic Storm GMike Reid 12pm to 1 pm Easy listening music 1 pm to 5pm Music with Gerard Coleman 5pm to 7pm Recovery Monday Dj Pebblz 7pm to 9pm Dirty Jokes 9pm to 6am Repeat of Morning Whip and Overnight Music Playlist

Tuesdays: 6am opening of Transmission 6:20 am Children’s Programme Rise and Shine Boys and Girls 7am to 10 am The Morning Whip 10am to 1pm Music Gerard Coleman 1pm to 4pm Throwback Tuesday Keegan Lord 4pm to 6pm Dj Alex 6pm to 8pm Nice and Easy Tuesday Dj Jesse J 8pm to 9pm Music 9pm to 6am Repeat of the Morning Whip and Overnight Music Playlist

Wednesdays: 6am Opening of Transmission 6:20am Children’s Programme Rise and Shine 7am to 10 am The Morning Whip 10am to 12pm Eclectic Storm GMike Reid 1pm to 4pm Music Gerard Coleman 4pm to 8pm Explosive Musical Showcase Dj Pebblz 8pm to 9pm Outspoken with Katie Numi Usher and Micah Goodin 9pm to 6am Repeat of the Morning Whip and Overnight Music Playlist

Thursdays: 6am Opening of Transmission 6:20 Children’s Programme Rise and Shine 7am to 10am The Morning Whip 10 am to 3pm Music Gerard Coleman 3pm to 7pm Belizean Full a Talent Show Keegan Lord 7pm to 9pm Love Bug Show Dj Alex 9pm to 6am Repeat of Morning Whip and Overnight Music Playlist

Fridays : 6am Opening of Transmission 6:20 am Children’s Programme 7am to 10am The Morning Whip 10am to 12pm Eclectic Storm hosted by GMike Reid 12pm to 1pm Easy Listening Music 1pm to 3:30 Music Gerard Coleman 3:30pm to 5pm Dj Alex 5pm to 10pm Hyperactive Fridays Dj Pebblz and Jesse J 10pm to 6am Repeat of The Morning Whip and Overnight Music Playlist

Saturdays: 6am Opening of Transmission 6am to 10am Music Gerard Coleman 10am to 1pm Combination Session Vibes Explosions Dj Fire, Dj Pebblz and Jesse J 1pm to 4pm Barbecue Saturdays Keegan Lord 4pm to 6pm Dj Mike and crew 6pm to 10pm Dj Reesh 10pm to 6am Overnight Music Play List

Call 650-8429Text 600-1074


New Book reveals history of Roman Catholic Evangelization in Belize

Wesley College & ACC girls show no mercy

For SaleBy Order of the

Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., a company duly registered under the Companies Act, Chapter 250 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition, 2000, and having its registered office at Cor. Albert and Bishop Streets, Belize City, Belize, hereby gives notice of its intention to exercise its power of sale as Mortgagee under a Deed of Mortgage made the 4th Janu-ary, 2012, between LEOPOLD ARGUELLES and JULIET MAS of Cahal Pech Hill, Sam Ignacio Town, Cayo District, Belize of the one part, and Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., of the other part, and recorded in Deeds Book Vol. 1 of 2012 at Folios 473 to 504, the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will at the expiration of two months from the date of the first publication of this notice sell the property described in the schedule hereto.

All offers to purchase the said property must be made in writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may be obtained from the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

SCHEDULE

ALL THAT freehold piece or parcel of land situate in the Kay Works Agricultural Area, San Ignacio Town Extension, Cayo District and numbered Lot 49 containing 412.894 square metres of land and Lot No. 50 con-taining 399.201 square metres of land being a subdivision of Block No. 47, 56 and 57 bounded and described as shown on Entry No. 10480 Register 22 dated 04th June, 2007 TOGETHER with all buildings and erections standing and being thereon.

DATED this 19th day of March, 2015.

MUSA & BALDERAMOS LLP91 North Front Street

Belize CityAttorneys-at-Law for

Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

March 19, 2015On Tuesday, March 24, the Roman Catholic

Diocese of Belize City & Belmopan will launch the book entitled Years of Grace: The History of Roman Catholic Evangelization in Belize (1524-2014). The research for the book, which covers a 500-year span, began in 1986 by lead author Charles M. Woods, Sr. It evolved into the comprehensive history it is following years of research at numerous archives, incorporat-ing the work of many authors of primary and secondary sources, including that of Bishop Hopkins and Fathers Sutti, White, Short, and Buhler. In May 2000, the then bishop, Bishop O.P. Martin had encouraged Mr. Woods to ex-tend the book into this comprehensive histo-ry to mark the Sesquicentennial (1851-2001) of the uninterrupted presence of the Church in Belize. Woods, a former history teacher at SJC, worked at this until his demise in 2007. Long-time Belizean educator J. Alexander Ben-nett, himself a published author, and Silvaana Udz, Assistant Professor at University of Be-lize, completed the book. It moves through the arrival of priests as part of early Spanish voy-ages, to the presence of Franciscan and Do-minican Friars, then to the arrival of the Jesuits in 1851. Chronicling the work of ten female and seven male religious congregations and the rise of Diocesan leadership, as well as the impact of Vatican II and the socio-economic re-alities that were transforming Belize. Years of Grace includes pictures, appendices, tables, an Index, and accounts of conflicts and hurri-canes, schools and social works, cooperatives and credit unions, and interactions among var-

ious religious groups. The authors hope that this 398-page account will captivate others as it did them.

All proceeds from sales of the book Years of Grace go to the Diocese in service to the continuing work of the Church in Belize. All are invited to Parish Hall for the 10:00 a.m. launch on Tuesday March 24. The special launch price is $30 (thirty dollars BZE); thereafter, direct sales from the Chancery/Diocesan Office is $40, with a slightly higher price from individu-al outlets. The authors and the Diocese thank the Adveniat (German Bishops’ Foundation in Essen), Holy Redeemer Credit Union (HRCU), and NICH’s Institute for Social and Cultural Re-search (ISCR) for their contributions that made production and publication of this book possi-ble, as well as the members of the editorial committee, and those who assisted with in-terviews or access to information.

In his Introduction, Woods Sr. states that “the full extent of the work of Roman Cath-olic evangelization in Belize may come as a surprise to many Catholics and non-Catholics of this generation. It is my fervent hope that it will be a source of inspiration to all through a deeper appreciation of faith heritage and knowledge of the enthralling historical ac-counts unfolded in Years of Grace.” Former president of SJC and anthropologist Fr. Rich-ard Buhler states on the back cover: “While this book is a Catholic history, it also contains many other aspects of Belize’s history that should be more widely known … I hope it gets the widest possible circulation.” (Press Release - End)


GOB continues to neglect ailing BDF Norman Rodriguez

NEPOTISM = CORRUPTION

Cheryl Krusen (formerly Barrow) Appointed to Solicitor General

Lois Young Barrow (Ex-Wife)United Nations Ambassador

Anwar Barrow (Son)Appointed to BTL Board

Shyne Barrow (Son)Cultural Ambassador

Denys Barrow (Brother)Appointed to Court of Appeal/Private

Attorney for GOB

Kimano Barrow (Nephew)PUC Board Member/Granted

Oil Exploration Licence

Naima Barrow (Niece) Appointed to Election and Boundaries Commission

Liesje Barrow (Niece)Appointed to Belize Advisory

Council

DEAN BARROW IS BELIZE’S BIGGEST PROBLEM!!!

Look like only Barrow fu eat!

Credit Master SystemsPUTTING VALUE BACK INTO

“YOUR WORD”

BAD DEBT COLLECTIONSACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE COLLECTIONCOMPLAINT INFORMATION SYSTEM

SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONSINVESTIGATION/TRACKING

CREDIT MANAGEMENT TRAINING

#11 Douglas Jones StreetBelize City

Tel: 223-5845/2283Email: [email protected] Website: cmssearch.bz

Belize City, March 16, 2015Norman Rodriguez had sworn

to give his life for Belize when he joined the military force. But since he was diagnosed with a brain tu-mor, the nation has shown him that his life is not worth enough to save him.

Rodriguez has had a tough bat-tled throughout these past years, not only with medical condition, but with understanding how is it that his superiors in the Belize Defense Force and the Ministry of National Security have shown no sympathy with his state. His story is really sad.

He was demoted, his salary was denied and then he was fired and left to die alone in the cold. Ro-driguez was treated locally and then sent to Mexico for further tests and more detailed scans to confirm the condition.

When he returned from Merida,

he was given time to “rest” but did not receive the necessary financial aid to keep him up. He turned to the media for assistance eventual-ly, because the BDF was not doing enough for him. As a result, a BDF superior promised that Rodriguez would receive a salary until he dies due to his severe condition. The BDF does not pay Social Security or insur-ance for their officers. They are com-pletely unprotected.

Rodriguez has never received the salary promised to him. So he went on Plus TV’s Rise and Shine morning show to appeal for aid and attention from the public. Hell broke loose when he took that decision. He was called back to work to be punished for going on Plus TV and branded as “bad”. This held no ground however, as Rodriguez had recently a certifi-cate of recognition for his dedicated service (15 years) and good conduct. He went back to work, was pun-ished, and then discharged from du-ties. All he got was his service pay for the years of service and then left in the dark.

After going through a medical board which classified him as a per-son unfit to work he has been left jobless. This means he cannot get a job because he is unfit to work, and he has no pension or the salary as promised. He was back on Plus TV on Monday of this week. He is still battling the tumor, but it is not

that which is killing him rapidly. It is depression, emotional struggle and disappointment in the “system” and the leaders. He cannot work and has no salary; no help from BDF, no help from the Ministry of National Secu-rity. He has been left to die on his own. His ordeal is over two years.

One doctor has said, according to Rise and Shine host Pastor Louis Wade, that there have been persons in similar health conditions in Belize, who have had surgical interventions and recovered. So, why is Norman

not being helped when some others in the BDF have gotten medical at-tention even abroad? How can there be people without a heart, with no sense of justice, compassion and no moral feeling for their fellow man? How can they be so corrupt and evil in mind and heart to refuse to help Norman Rodriguez? It is not only their Christian duty but their duty as employers to help him, or else he will die because of their neglect, insensi-bility and willingness to help. What a Shame!!!


Chiquibul

Illegal Guatemalans caught panning for gold inside the Chiquibul forest

Reid

By G. Michael ReidFriday 13th might very well

have been an appropriate day to hold the reading of the budget in the House on Capitol Hill. Friday 13th is always associated with bad luck, and bad things are said to occur on that day. Of course, bad things do not always come labeled as bad and even when delivered by bad people, the deliverer does not necessarily appear bad. Some-times the bearer comes wearing a grin and is attractively eloquent and charismatic but, as they say, the “devil” is in the details. If one was to judge simply by listening to Prime Minister’s presentation, one could easily be deceived into think-ing that this year’s budget was full of hope and good news but nothing could be further from the truth.

There was much in this year’s budget that is of concern but as could have been expected, very little attention was paid to the ac-tual figures. Belizeans seemed more concerned about a recording of a private conversation between Johnny Briceňo and Julian Chell and the theatrical clowning about same by Prime Minister Dean Bar-row. The Prime Minister once said that a prime purpose of proceed-ings in the House of Representa-tives is to amuse and entertain the people. Sadly enough, he seems to be proven right over and over again.

Channel Seven’s lead-in to its news for the day summed it up succinctly, “Today was Budget Day at the House of Representa-tives in Belmopan. It’s the biggest day for parliamentary business on the House Calendar - because the revenue and appropriations bill is tabled - that’s what makes govern-ment run. But, it’s not the head-line anywhere tonight and that’s because the secret recording of former PUP Deputy Prime Minis-ter John Briceňo was the most im-portant thing discussed at today’s house meeting.” According to the newscaster, “…it’s too ripe a politi-cal opportunity for the UDP to miss

out on.”The UDP had apparently gotten

hold of a recording in which Area Representative for Orange Walk Central Johnny Briceňo was trying to encourage a member of his con-stituency to continue supporting him. Unbeknownst to Briceňo, the man who he thought was his friend was secretly recording everything that was being said and eventually turned the tape over to someone in the UDP.

There was nothing new in what Briceňo was saying and all of it has been discussed ad nauseam. The Prime Minster himself, while in Op-position, had used much of what was said to propel himself into office. All this mattered not however, because such was the exact type of distrac-tion that Mr. Barrow needed to divert attention from his own misgivings. In fact, one could only hope that the Prime Minister was listening to him-self when he spoke in the House on Friday. “This money was not yours”, said the Prime Minister, “it belonged to the people of Belize”. “That money could have been spent for affordable housing, education and National Se-curity”, said the Prime Minister. Well Mr. Barrow, this is exactly what we have been saying to you about the Petro Caribe funds. It is not your mon-ey or the UDP’s money, it belongs to all the people of Belize and should be used to fund the very programs of which you speak. Instead, it is being poured into cement streets; many of which are already stained with the blood of our many young people who have fallen victim to the senseless

crime and violence in our country.On that same day, Friday March

13th, two cases involving massive corruption by members of Mr. Bar-row’s government went to court in Belize City. In the first case, Elvin Penner walked out a free man hav-ing gotten away with blatantly and disgustingly betraying the trust of the Belizeans people. In the second case, Denny Grijalva inched closer to his ac-quittal despite being responsible for the demolishing a major Mayan archi-tectural site in Orange Walk. Neither of these cases was of much impor-tance however, because on Friday, all attention was focused on a tape recording that revealed nothing new and offered no more evidence toward righting whatever wrong might have been done. It was distraction and nothing but distraction.

The Prime Minister did finally get around to the business of the day, that is the reading of the bud-get, at which time he revealed that “The projection is for Central Gov-ernment’s debt to increase by $102 million dollars, bringing the total debt to $2.7 billion”; that is billion with a “B” people. I have long main-tained that when the true scope of our external debt is realized, it will make the Superbond look like puny pawnshop loan. It is necessary to note that this figure is far from final because it does not include pending payments for the unlawful appropri-ation of public utilities such as BEL and BTL. Just this week, the Su-preme Court of Belize ruled in favor of a couple of other businesses that were strong-armed by government. International Business Companies Registry (IBC) and International Merchant Marine Registry (IMMAR-BE) which were appropriated in June 2013, was this past Tuesday given the go-ahead by the Supreme Court to seek damages. A ruling by the CCJ on the BTL matter is imminent and will most likely prove enormous-ly expensive for the people of Belize.

Check your change!

On top of that of course, there are the millions and millions of taxpay-ers’ dollars that must be paid out to the attorneys litigating these cases; many of who are close relatives of the Prime Minister. You want cor-ruption Mr. Prime Minister; that is corruption!

What is most obvious from the recent budget reading is that we have a government that is held up primarily by Petro Caribe funds. Given the ongoing and in-creasing political unrest and de-clining economy of Venezuela, this “plenteousness of the era” might be coming to an end a lot sooner than we think. This week, we are already seeing previews of what might be the reality of our future. Service stations revealed that they were low on fuel and began a ra-tioning system. The Prime Minister conceded that, “Hydro electrici-ty generation has been trending downward recently due to dryer weather and petroleum extraction has been on its inevitable finite de-cline.” He also reluctantly revealed that “As it looks ahead into the rest of 2015 the Central Bank of Belize conservatively expects GDP growth to decelerate to between 2% and 2.5%, they feel that the tail winds that drove the 2014 ex-pansions will moderate”.

The People’s United Party is go-ing through some tough times and much effort will be needed to right this ship again. The PUP is not the one running this country however, and the woes of the PUP, while giving comic relief and short term distractions, is not what is current-ly posing problems for this country. Belizeans must wake up and un-derstand that the pretty words and theatrics of Dean Barrow, while comforting and amusing to some, can do nothing to avert the immi-nent danger ahead. The PUP will weather its storms and will survive but the real question is, will Belize?


Celebrating the Life of

When our grandfather and grand-mother William August and Leonie Jenkins gave our mother her name, I doubt that our grandparents realized at the time that the name Gloria would be the most fitting name for her. It is a name that all of us during her life would come to realize, best captured her- her soul and being.

The name Gloria is said to derive from the Latin phrase (“Gloria in excel-sis Deo”) meaning Glory to God. And indeed, that is the name her longtime friend Ms. Cecelia and many others use to call her- Glory; which literally means- magnificence; of great beauty.

And this was our mother indeed. She was a magnificent person (in body and soul) with great beauty (inside and out). And so she thus lived her life- as a magnificently beautiful woman. And this is no over statement or exaggera-tion. She was a magnificently beautiful woman in every sense of these words.

In everything she did, she was so beautiful, so graceful, so loving, so warming, so wonderful, so …. Gloria.

Everyone who was blessed to have met her- children and adults alike- will tell you the same thing: what a wonderful, sweet, special lady she was.

She had this infectious personal-ity- her bubbly smile and laughter to go along with it- that enamoured you. You felt the love emanating from her being when you were around her. And she spread this infectious personality everywhere she went. She got joy in seeing others happy.

And there were two constant things that drove her, motivated her, inspired her to live this magnificently beautiful life- her God and her family. Those are the two things that she lived for.

She was baptized as a Christian sometime in the late 70’s. She was however not just a baptized Christian in words alone- but deeds.

She served in the women’s minis-try of the churches she was a mem-ber of- here at Central Assemblies of God, Southside Assemblies of God, Ladyville Assemblies of God, Pastor Mossiah’s Church. This would take her to “witness” / “evangelized” to many, many, many people over the next de-cades.

It was during these times that we got to meet all the wonderful and special people like Ms. Cecelia, the Grants, the Burgesses, the Crawfords, the Mossiahs, the Hutchinsons, Ms. Kelly, Ms. Sharon Turton in Ladyville, Sr. Janice Adolphus, the other Sr. Jan-ice, the Gordons, the Lambs, Sr. Mill-er, Sr. Pou, Sr. Wilshire, Sr. Franklin, Sr. Tennant, Ms. Alice Smith, Ms. Jenny and many, many, many more wonder-ful people. If I forgot to public call your names, please forgive me; it wasn’t intentional.

Our mother would tell us that it was through her bible studies- becom-

Gloria Elinor Simpson nee AugustOctober 24th , 1952 – February 27th , 2015

ing acquainted with the teachings of her Lord- that she would become a prolific reader.

And she in turn would teach us to love the bible and the Lord. When we were younger in the early 80’s- we- my-self, Stacey and Shellyann- we would attend church every Sunday morning; then we would come home for lunch and then at around 2:00 in the afternoon we would go to Sunday afternoon bible classes; and then she and my stepfa-ther would take us to Sunday evening church service.

These are the things which taught us to love, taught us humility, taught us probity, taught us to have heart.

To us, her children, she poured im-mense love into us. We were her life- her everything. She lived for us.

It was the simple things that she did that made us realize this great love and devotion she had for us.

In the 70’s and 80’s, she used to work at the then Williamson Industry in Ladyville, she would leave early in the morning ( I think they had to catch 6:30 bus) and so, we oftentimes would not see her in the mornings. It was our grandmother (her mother) would who get us ready for school and be with us during the day. But when our mother came home in the evening, it was the best feeling.

I would wait, peeping around the lane to see her come around from Al-lenby Street onto West Street.

And the first thing you saw was her big bright smile. We would run to her and hug her and she would kiss us and be so playful with us. She would always bring something for us; some biscuit or the other. And if she didn’t, (and this is to show how deeply close we were), she would take the gum she had in her mouth and give each of us a piece.

She inspired us to dream. When ev-eryone else did not believe in us- she did and in her strong, but sweet voice, she would say, “In the name of Jesus, you will.”

These are the memories that live with me.

Later on, she would stop working altogether and become what we now

call a stay at home mom.My little brothers- Travis and

Junie- were the babies and they grew with her at home there at No. 116 West Street; she attend-ing to them, caring for them.

Late in her life (perhaps the last 7 or so years) our mother started experiencing a series of serious medical complications.

It was sad to see our magnif-icently beautiful mother suffering from arthritis, thyroid, diabetes and other medical complications, which began putting a strain on her physically.

Then she had a stroke a couple years ago- in December, 2013. But she never complained.

But the pain started to be-come too unbearable for her. On Sun-day the 1st February, 2015 it became vividly clear, the immense pain she was in. She was beginning to give up. I could sense that.

She told us “Unnu nuh know di pain I deh inna”.

Later that night and into the morn-ing of the 2nd February, 2015, she was rushed to the hospital.

She remained in the hospital the next 25 days.

The doctors, nurses and attendants in the ICU at the KHMH were nothing short of spectacular in the care and treatment of our mother.

Indeed, on Sunday the 8th February, 2015, when it seemed that our mother would leave us then, they worked on our mother for almost an hour ( from quarter to 2 to minutes to three) trying to resuscitate her. And they did.

The hand of God (the God that she served and loved) intervened and worked through the hands of the doc-tors and nurses. He was not ready for her to join Him just yet.

I would never hear her voice again as she never spoke from the time she entered the hospital. But when we went to the hospital, it was clear that she knew we were there and that she

was listening to us.We thank the Lord for those addi-

tional 25 days. We thank the Lord for giving us our mother. She is the source of strength and love.

We want to thank all those who have been there with us and our moth-er over the past years in her struggle. To her caregivers and attendants, Mel, Tara, and Elaina, we thank you.

To Ms. Belo and Mr. Donald and to all of you who throughout the years have been touched by our mother, we know you too are grieving.

Ms. Gloria was 62 years. Many don’t live to see that age these days. But because of how such a magnif-icently beautiful woman she is, we weep because those 62 years just don’t seem long enough for her to be with us.

But she would not want us to ques-tion God. So we will not question why she had to leave us. Our salvation, she use always tell us, is with God. By her deeds on earth, she earned her salva-tion a long time ago. On the February 27th, 2015, God opened the gates of Heaven and allowed her in. Her salva-tion now is truly with her Lord.

Our mother was predeceased by her mother, father and brother Leonie Jenkins, William August Sr. and Wil-liam August Jr. respectively.

She is survived by her husband Ed-mund Simpson Sr., her children myself, Stacey Crawford, Shellyann Simpson, Travis Simpson and Edmund Simpson Jr.

She is also survived by seven grandchildren: Dremon, Khajeem, Mal-achi, Amaris, Maciaa, Maya and Tae-sha.

Foster son Ian August. Foster daughters Nickesia Martinez. Pearl Va-lencia, Esther Babalola

Brother Lysford Bailey Sr. Sisters Gretel Bailey and Gladys Hall.

Nephews: Lysford, Calvin, Lascelle and John Bailey. Charles Lewis. Em-merson and Dale Davis

Neices: Evelyn Codd, Carol Mack, Trevolyn Flowers, Yvette Richardson.

Many, many grand nephews and nieces. Mother-in-law: Mrs. Grace Simpson; Brothers- in- law: Robert, Ernel, Kenroy & Lindy Simpson; Sister-in-law- Elsie, Lorna & Faye. And many, many, many others who are heartbro-ken by her loss, but find consolation that she is now in the arms of her Lord, happy and smiling and looking over us.

FOR SALEA 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom concrete Bungalow house 925 Sq. Ft is for sale. Lo-cated in the quiet Cohune Walk area of Belmopan, measuring in 812.8 Sq Yard, fenced and parking is available. Call owner at 605-0859 or 663-1608. Serious Inquiries Only.


SCIENCE & TECHBELIZE TIMES WEEKLY

R E V I E W

Editing human embryos is genetics’ new battleground

16 March 2015 by Mi-chael Le Page

Replacing faulty genes in early human embryos and germ cells is within our grasp. Such changes affect DNA in the nucleus and so would be heritable; ultimately, they could be used to make a ge-netically modified baby.

There are already reports that groups in China, the US and the biotech industry have done this kind of genetic en-gineering in the lab, prompt-ing some scientists to call for a moratorium on this work. But the underlying technology is potentially hugely disrup-tive, offering easier and more precise ways to manipulate genes. Here’s what you need to know about this new fron-tier in genetics.

What’s behind the cur-rent controversy over hu-man genetic engineering?

Several teams have tried modifying the genome of a human embryo and submit-ted their results for publica-tion, according to an article published in Technology Re-view on 5 March. This kind of research is already illegal in some countries.

What exactly has been done?

We don’t know the details yet. But based on what’s been done in monkeys, the work probably involved fertilising donated human eggs by inject-ing a sperm and then, while the fertilised eggs were still at the one-cell stage, injecting various RNAs. These RNAs cut DNA at specific sites, tricking our natural DNA repair system into destroying or replacing one or more genes – a tech-nique known as gene editing. The embryos would then have been allowed to develop for a few days until they reached

But when children are at risk of inheriting several faulty genes, screening usually isn’t feasible.

Serious genetic disorders that strike early in life are, fortu-nately, rare. But we probably all inherit dozens if not hundreds of gene variants that increase our risk of common diseases such as cancer, dementia, de-pression and so on.

Will gene editing lead to designer babies?

Possibly. But it’s not clear that many, or any, parents, would want to pay large sums and un-dergo a risky process – IVF has its dangers – just to ensure their child is blue-eyed. And it is of course possible to allow germline editing for disease prevention while banning it for other purpos-es. It would be hard for anyone who broke the ban to get away with it, given that genetic tests could reveal whether a child’s DNA has been altered. Some ar-gue, though, that parents should be free to choose their child’s characteristics if they want.

But wouldn’t allowing de-signer babies lead to the cre-ation of supersmart superhu-mans?

Actually, no. We could proba-bly modify people to make them resistant to all kinds of infections and diseases, and stronger and fitter. But when it comes to the brain, it is hard to see how we could go beyond what evolution has created. We’re nowhere near to being able to predict how tweaking various genes would affect intelligence – in fact, the brain is so complex that this may never be possible. And it would obviously be totally unethical to experiment by creating mutants.

There has, of course, been a lot of interest in finding natural genetic variants that affect intel-ligence. But despite much effort, we’ve yet to find any that make much difference.

the blastocyst stage – contain-ing a few hundred cells – be-fore being destroyed. The em-bryos’ DNA would have been sequenced to see whether the gene editing had been suc-cessful.

So it’s now possible to genetically engineer hu-mans?

It was already possible. The hard part is doing it safely and efficiently. Gene editing was first developed decades ago, but it was very difficult and ex-pensive, and often didn’t work very well. To create just one genetically modified animal this way typically required hun-dreds of attempts. But editing genes has become a lot easi-er, cheaper and more efficient thanks to the CRISPR system, developed just a couple of years ago. This was the meth-od used to modify the human embryos.

Why are some scientists calling for a moratorium?

They argue that human ger-mline gene editing is danger-ous, unnecessary and would lead to designer babies. They also claim it could lead to a backlash that would impede

the use of gene editing for making non-heritable changes to our bodies. A wide range of diseases, from HIV to cancer, could potentially be treated this way.

So is germline gene edit-ing dangerous?

We don’t know yet. One of the points of trying it with human embryos is to find out. The main worry is so-called off-target mutations, that is, unintended changes to the genome. The monkey studies suggest the risk is low. The risk also has to be viewed in context: the DNA in our cells naturally mutates. Each of us is born with around 50 new mutations, the vast majority of which have no known effect.

Is germline gene editing the only way to prevent some heritable diseases?

Severe disorders caused by a single faulty gene, such as cystic fibrosis, can usual-ly be prevented by screening. Parents can opt for IVF, for in-stance, with preimplantation genetic diagnosis – that is, testing the embryos before they are implanted to ensure they don’t have the faulty gene.

If designer babies ever come to pass, they won’t have superhuman qualities (Image: HANNAH GAL/SPL)

THE BELIZE TIMES22 MAR 2015 2121REGIONAL &

INTERNATIONAL NEWSTHE BELIZE TIMES22 MAR 2014

Civilians killed in suicide attack in Afghanistan

Ferguson report underscores need for racial profiling ban,

say activists

A scathing Justice Depart-ment report revealing institutional-ized racial bias and stereotyping in the police department and court system in Ferguson, Missouri, un-

derscores the need for a federal law barring racial profiling, say local and national civil rights activ-ists.

“We should outlaw racial profiling. It should be a crime,” said Libero Della Piana, a senior orga-nizer at Alliance for a Just Society, a grass-roots group that works for national policy change. “If you actively reduce the number of racialized en-counters, then you also reduce the incidence of these small things becoming killings.”

The DOJ probe released last week — prompt-ed by the Aug. 9 killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson — found substantial evidence of ra-cial bias among police and court staffers in the city.

Brown’s death sparked a national debate over discriminatory and militarized policing and drew attention to a series of other cases involving po-lice killings of unarmed black men — including Eric Garner, 43, who died after being put in a chokehold by a New York City police officer; John Crawford, 22, who was fatally shot by police in a Beaver-creek, Ohio, Walmart while holding an air rifle that was for sale in the store; and Tamir Rice, 12, who was killed by police in Cleveland, Ohio, while play-ing with an airsoft gun.

Among evidence the investigation found were racist email correspondence between em-ployees of Ferguson’s justice system. One mes-sage joked about an abortion by an African-Ameri-can woman being a “means of crime control,” the report said.

German demonstra-tors have clashed with police at an anti-austerity protests during the inaugu-ration ceremony for the Eu-

ropean Central Bank’s new headquarters in Frankfurt.

Police said two police cars were set on fire and one officer was injured by stones thrown by demonstrators near the city’s Alte Oper opera house during the protest on Wednesday, according to the Associate Press news agency.

Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane, reporting from Frank-furt, said at least 500 demon-strators were detained.

Our correspondent also said that the city deployed at least 8,000 police officers ahead of the protest.

Video footage from the protests site showed some demonstrators running away from police in riot gear, as tires piled up in the middle of the street burn.

Police put up barricades and barbed wire around the bank headquarters as they braced for demonstrations

against government austerity measures and capitalism.

Protesters targeted the ECB because of the bank’s role in supervising efforts to restrain spending and reduce debt in fi-nancially troubled countries such as Greece.

The Blockupy alliance said activists plan to try to blockade the new headquarters of the ECB ahead of a ceremony on Wednesday inaugurating the building, and to disrupt what they term capitalist business as usual.

Some 10,000 people were expected for a rally in Frankfurt’s main square, the Roemerberg.

Haifa – With more than 99 percent of the votes tallied, Israel’s incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears poised to retain his office and form the next government.

Though the final campaign polls showed Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party trailing behind the cen-tre-left Zionist Union, headed by Isaac Herzog, Likud gained 30 seats, six more than its main competitor, according to official results released on Wednesday.

The Joint Arab Coalition, an electoral alliance of four Palestinian-majority parties in Israel, pulled 14 seats, and Yesh Atid, the centrist party headed by former finance minister Yair Lapid, earned 11 seats. Kulanu, a right-wing breakaway party led by former Likud member Moshe Kahlon, took ten seats.

Arab bloc claims third largest force in Israeli parliamentA number of smaller, mostly right-wing parties were

unable to break the single digits: Jewish Home earned eight seats, the religious Shas and United Torah parties each got seven and the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu has six seats.

The left-wing Zionist party Meretz walked away with four seats.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has called for a national unity government including both Likud and the Zionist Union, but that prospect is unpopular with most Jewish Israeli voters.

According to a poll conducted by Israel’s Channel 10, 53 percent of Jewish Israelis oppose such a coalition.

A suicide bomber has killed at least seven civilians and wounded 41 others in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, where the military has been battling rebels since last month, officials said.

The suicide bomber detonated his explosives-rigged truck near a complex that houses the governor, the head of the provincial council and the deputy provincial police chief in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, a senior local official said on Wednesday.

All three officials survived, but “seven civilian were killed

Netanyahu wins elections

The number of civilians killed and wounded in Afghanistan jumped 22 percent in 2014 [EPA]

DOJ findings of racial bias in flashpoint city’s justice system

supports residents’ allegations of police abuse.

Prime Minister’s right-wing Likud party wins surprise victory, sweeping past rival

Zionist Union in bitter campaign.

At least seven killed and 41 others wounded in a suicide bombing targeting provincial officials in Helmand province.

and 41 were wounded in the attack”, Deputy Pro-vincial Governor Mohammad Jan Rasolyar told the AFP news agency.

“The attack was targeted at a gathering of senior government officials, civil society members and journalists in a hall for a seminar on human trafficking and kidnapping,” he added.

The wounded, including provincial government spokesman Omar Zhwak, were taken to hospital.

A senior police officer, who declined to be named, confirmed the attack and casualties, adding that buildings in the complex were also damaged.

Increase in civilian deathsThe interior ministry also confirmed the attack

in a statement.Afghanistan’s military began an offensive

against Taliban fighters in Helmand province last month, in what was seen as a key test of their ability to curtail the insurgency following the end of US-led NATO combat mission in late December.

On Monday, it claimed the killing of rebel com-mander Hafiz Waheed, who led a faction Kabul claims is linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group - though the organisation has never acknowledged having affiliates in Afghani-stan.

German activists riot at austerity

protest in Frankfurt

Police cars set alight in anti-aus-terity protest at new European Central Bank headquarters in

Frankfurt, officials say.


THINK ABOUT ITAN UNJUST LAW IS CHALLENGED

An unjust law was passed in Belize in 2011. It took away the right of every citizen to be tried by a jury of his peers. This law applied to murder, attempted murder and a few other crimes.

This injustice was done by the govern-ment for no other reasons than to help the Police to get convictions against accused persons.

Murder is the ultimate crime. The pen-alty for murder is still death by hanging and the alternative is life imprisonment without parole.

The right to a fair trial for crimes is a serious matter. Not to be taken lightly.

A fair trial includes an impartial Judge or Magistrate. The right to confront and question your accusers. The right to be represented by someone trained in law and the right to call witnesses.

The right to trial by a jury existed in Belize even before the so-called battle at St. George’s Caye in 1798. Even slaves in Belize could not be tried for murder with-out a jury.

One morning in 2011 the law makers in Belize broke the law by passing a law to take away a person’s right to have a jury hear the facts of the case and decide on the facts whether a person is guilty or not guilty. All over the world, a trial by Jury is treated as a sacred right.

There are other laws passed in Belize which have been messing with the rights of Belizeans to a fair trial and to be treated as innocent until proven guilty.

A classic example is the various amendments to the Firearms Act and the Crime Control Act. A person accused of being in possession of a gun or ammu-nition CANNOT be given bail by a Mag-istrate for a minimum of three months. Such a person IF he/she can afford it is then forced to find money for a lawyer to apply to the Supreme Court for bail. In the meantime they must stay in jail. If you cannot find the money you stay in jail for three months.

Another injustice is this. Whether a person is found guilty of having a gun or ammunition he or she MUST be sen-tenced to jail for a minimum of five years. It matters not if it is one single rusty bul-let. The penalty for everyone is five years.

Whether a minor, an elderly, a stu-dent a professor. There is no discretion for the trial Magistrate. These are terrible injustice to an accused and to a convicted person. But so it is in our area of animal farm. The law turns a blind eye to import-ant factors governing sentencing of a con-victed person. Is he a first time offender? Is he of good character? Is the only pun-ishment that of imprisonment. Does the circumstances call for a lesser time than five years?

The great English writer Charles Dick-ens in his book Oliver Twist said “the law is an ass”. Well, laws just don’t spring out of the ground and govern us. A handful of per-sons in Belmopan are the makers of these “ass-inine” laws.

A lawyer from Jamaica is in Belize to fight the appeal of Akeem Thurton, the first person to be tried and for attempted mur-der without having a jury. One of the sever-al grounds of appeal is that the law taking away jury trial is offensive to the constitu-tional protections guaranteed to Belizeans.

This case will be heard in the Court of Appeal this Friday.

ANOTHER BAD LAW FALLS

Supreme Court Judge Courtney Abel struck down a law that was in violation of the Constitutional rights of Belizeans.

The law, an amendment to the In-come and Business Tax Act, was passed a few years ago to force Belizeans to pay all their taxes if they wished to challenge the amounts assessed against them.

Whether a person was a small hot-dog or panades vendor who is told she owed three thousand dollars in taxes or whether it is a big company assessed three hundred thousand dollars; if the person wished to ask the court to review the wrong assess-ment he or she could not go to court be-cause the new amendment prevented him or her from going. What a worthless law. It was passed to prevent citizens from going to court to seek justice.

This bull….. was kicked out of the Su-preme Court on Tuesday 17th March 2015 based on one of several challenges to the law by attorney Eamon Courtney.

We repeat: there are dozens of terrible laws rushed through the National Assembly by the government which are gross viola-tions of the rights of Belizeans. These laws need to be challenged.

COLA, FIST, and the semi-defunct ROC along with workers unions should organize a day of rejoicing whenever an unconstitu-tional law is struck down by our Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and Caribbean Court of Justice.

No democracy should countenance unconstitutional laws. And no people who value their freedom should sit back and al-low politicians to erode their rights and free-doms.

UNIFORMS OF BRUTALITY

“Burning and looting tonight. Weeping and wailing tonight.”

“This morning I woke up in a curfewOh God I was a prisoner tooCould not recognize the faces standing

over meThey were all dressed in uniforms of

brutality”Those words written and sung by Bob

Marley are from the song “Burning and Looting”. Bob Marley is singing against Po-lice brutality as well as the rebellion of Ja-maicans against injustice.

Belize has now become like Jamaica in respect to the brutal behavior of certain members of the Police department.

For the past few days there have been several public television interviews by res-idents of San Pedro against the notorious Gang Suppression Unit. The GSU is ac-cused of wantonly beating several persons and conducting themselves like criminals. Some of them are said to be wearing masks, as if they are an anti-terrorist squad. Ironically, it is the GSU which is the terror-ist unit against citizens. Those paid by the public to uphold the law are become the law-breakers.

No police officer can be allowed to con-duct themselves the way the GSU and oth-er rogue elements are accused of behaving.

It is clear that this type of behavior is supported by the government.

Those victims of police abuse and il-legal brutal behavior must obtain legal ser-vices and file law-suits.

We call on the Ombudsman to stop looking the other way and do the job for which tax-payers are paying him.

We also call on the Human Rights Commission to engage its offices in tack-ling these ongoing violations of the citizens of Belize.

And we condemn the Prime Minister, Attorney General, and Minister of Police for sitting on their butts and doing nothing in the ongoing shame that the GSU is bring-ing on the country’s reputation.

Did you Ministers swear an oath to al-mighty God that you would uphold the law and the constitution and do right to each and every citizen?

OBAMA IN JAMAICA

President Barack Obama will be in Ja-maica on 9 April for a meeting with Carib-bean leaders.

Could Belizean students in Jamaica find time to carry placards and raise the issue of the G.S.U and Police violations against citizens so our Prime Minister can get the sense that some things are not ac-ceptable to our people?

Or are our students afraid this victimiz-ing government will take away their schol-arships? Which the government is quite capable of doing.

Could Mr. Pitts and Mr. Elrington, now at Norman Manley Law School in Kingston on taxpayers’ money stand up for the law and what is right?

A NEW BANK. WOW!

The mighty Chinese financial empire that continues to rise from the East has formed a new development bank for Asian countries in order to help raise the standard and quality of their lives.

It is similar to the principle behind our regional hero Hugo Chavez, whose vision brought about the Petro Caribe initiative.

The USA has been fighting against Chi-na’s vision with the new bank. But in a huge blow to America, three of its allies- Germa-ny, France and Italy jointly announced on Monday 16th March 2015 they will be join-ing in China’s great vision to become found-ing and funding members of the bank.

China will put FIFTY billion dollars in its first installment. America helps to dominate the world’s economy through its control of the World Bank and the International Mon-etary Fund. Such an iron fist of control be-comes weaker with China’s new initiative.

There is also an international develop-ment bank formed by the BRIC countries. BRIC represent Brazil, Russia, India and China which are among the four largest de-veloping economies in the world.

It is hoped that a new PUP government will forge closer diplomatic and economic ties with China. The benefits to Belize will be enormous.

Two immediate benefits will be the assurance that the USA and Britain cannot force Belize to give a portion of its territo-ry to Guatemala because China sits on the all-powerful Security Council of the United Nations.

Secondly, in economic matters, Chi-na’s investment in Belize would be twenty times what the Petro Caribe has brought to our treasury.

CRUEL FACTS

In 2009 the Caribbean Development Bank study of Belize unearthed some dis-turbing information on Belize. Here are some.

More than one third of our Primary School children who sat the Primary School leaving examinations got under fifty per-cent.

In college, girls outnumber boys by 138 girls to every 100 boys.

Secondary or college enrollment is barely over 50 percent.

POVERTY in the country of Belize had reached FIFTY -FIVE PERCENT (55%)

Ethnic groups were shown to be poor. In the case of the Maya, 68 percent living in poverty. For Mestizos 42 percent were liv-ing in poverty. For Creoles 32 percent were living in poverty. No figures were shown for Garifuna or East Indians but for sure the fig-ures would be high.

For the southside of Belize City the statistics can be described by the words of Otis Redding song-“Pain in my Heart”.

A whopping FIFTY PERCENT (50%) of all the households on the Southside of Belize City are unemployed. One out of ev-ery two persons is not working. Southside Belize City has some twenty odd thousand jobless persons.

Although Southside is less than ten percent of the population of the whole country, yet 40 percent of the countries murders were committed in the Southside of Belize City.

There are 5,300 households in the Southside of Belize City.

There are large numbers of children on the Southside who are growing up in homes where there are absent fathers.

There are also large numbers of over-stressed and impoverished mothers, al-though the Caribbean back study gave no specific statistic.

BOGUS BUDGET

The budget introduced last Friday in the House of Representatives is most likely the most bogus budget ever presented.

It is bogus and silly. Both in form and in substance.

It is not a real budget. It is a farce and a sick joke. In presenting the budget the Prime Minister actually told the nation that he will be presenting a Supplemental Budget in July.

What!What natural disaster like a hurricane or

major flood does Barrow know will take place which requires a supplementary budget?

Which conceivable event is coming this way in three months that you will need anoth-er budget?

We cannot help but speculate.Is the Government finances and bud-

get deficit in such a mess that serious measures need to be introduced?

Is it the upcoming Guatemala elec-tions on 13th September for which Belize has agreed to hold simultaneous refer-endum on the Guatemalan claim and ICJ issue? This most serious matter may require a general elections that on 13th September and so the need to present a “new election give away of goodies” budget.

Something fishy is going on.

DARKNESS AND LIGHT

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that” Martin Luther King

LENT

The Bible tells us that Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights and thereaf-ter he was hungry. This is when the devil seen him weak and tried to tempt him.

Can you remember this story at pri-mary school? How the devil told a hungry Jesus to turn the stones into bread? And Jesus instructive answer- man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Do you remember the other two tempta-tions the devil put to Jesus?

Are you making any sacrifices for the pe-riod of Lent?



Castro in deep trouble!UDP unleashes “pastor” at him

and the PUP Corozal Town Council Team

CARTOON

UDP Politicians receive

death threatsSan Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye, March 19th, 2015

UDP politician, Belize Rural South Area Represen-tative Manuel Herredia, has beefed up his personal security on the heels of an alleged death threat made against him and the Mayor of San Pedro last week.

Unconfirmed but reliable reports are that the threats were made following the arrest and arraign-ment of ten persons for possession of illegal gun and ammunition on San Pedro last week Friday March 6th. Those persons are: 51 year old Peter Moses Hernan-dez, 26 year old Marciana Campos, 23 year old Teresi-ta Jessely Cordova, 48 year old Guadalupe Gonzalez, 42 year old Victor Vasquez, 52 year old John Aran, 30 year old Michael Edwards, 27 year old Juan Gomez, 44 year old Laura Trapp, and 25 year old Pedro Cam-pos.

It is alleged that one of Herredia’s relatives re-ceived the death threat when he answered a phone call and the person on the other end of the line in-formed him that if Herredia or Mayor Daniel Guerrero did not use their powers to release the persons de-tained, they would take matters into their own hands.

Herredia was left stunned and reported it to the Police. The Mayor, we understand, has not taken the threat too seriously, and has not increased security as his political colleague did.

We cannot say with confirmation what would trig-ger such a demand, but an earlier controversy involv-ing Herredia and his intervention in the jailing of island resident Edwardo Jones, back in January, may have something to do with it. In that incident, Jones was detained by the island’s Police Officers for possession of marijuana. He would have been remanded to pris-on, but Herredia showed up to bail him out.

If the reports of the death threats prove real, it would certainly be a sad day for the island residents, but more it would be even sadder if it’s a case of chickens coming home to roost. The Police have not commented on the reports.

Belize District, March 14, 2015

Word is Castro is preparing for a lot of an-tics at the next week’s Budget debate.

He will be taking sweet peppers, carrots, tomatoes, rabbits, pigs, hens, goats and even very young tilapias (his favourite) to the House Sitting to show that he is the man for Belize Rural North.

Castro knows he needs to impress with the best circus act.

In preparation for the possibility of early elections, the UDP has issued a directive that constituencies that need to hold conventions do so by July. The elected UDP representatives like Castro and Herman Longsworth thought they were untouchable, but such is not the case.

Longsworth is a weak leader and a very strong faction led by Deputy Leader Gaspar Vega is putting their monies into a campaign to remove him and re-place him with Phillip Willoughby.

Castro is a bad lead-er and there is a faction that wants to get him

out. Castro’s reputation stinks. He has been ac-cused of misusing public funds, fraud and theft, visa hustling, sexual assault and abusing his of-fice by trying to get Government jobs for his chil-dren. And so, the UDP has leashed an exact op-posite against him. The contender in Belize Rural North for the UDP is Dwight Tillett, a former CEO in UDP senior leader Michael Finnegan’s Ministry and a pastor in the Nazarene Church.

Castro knows he is in trouble and while he

has been telling ev-eryone there will be no convention his party’s decision has given Tillett permis-sion to launch a full scale media cam-paign. Tillett even has a western-style ad running on television, upholding integrity as his biggest asset. It’s like throwing salt into Castro’s eyes.

We expect Cas-tro to pull all the tricks out a hat next week at the Budget debate. But the inescapable fact is that Castro’s “Clear the land” time is over…it is now time to clear himself out of the way.

Edmund Castro Dwight Tillett

Point of Order! Can the

Speaker of the House Michael

Peyrefitte explained why he is flashing gang signs

with a convict-ed murderer

belize times march 22, 2015

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