Wally Nunez, Mayor, San Pedro "It has been quite stressful for the resorts and the tourists that have been complaining. Nonetheless, our workforce here on the island took an extra day off, so to speak, when it comes to Labour Day, because a lot of places had to close down, because they couldn't continue operating. The system is down, there is no internet."

Jules Vasquez "So overall Mayor, there is a lot of misery on San Pedro this evening, going into night it will be a dark and hot night."

Wally Nunez, Mayor, San Pedro "Well, only up to midnight hopefully and we have a lot of people outside, people on the beach, people trying to catch a cool breeze, because inside is hot."

Jules Vasquez "Is there anger directed towards the utility? because San Pedro has been on the edge. From Easter we are hearing San Pedro is running at max, right and it's like you all are being penalize for your prosperity."

Wally Nunez, Mayor, San Pedro "Right, the good thing I ask BEL that same question today if we will be having more and more of these power outages, because it is affecting our tourism here and thankfully, they say once they fix this transformer today, we shouldn't be experiencing any more."

So, what caused the outage? BEL says there was, quote, "a critical failure of a major component of the single transformer at our Maskall Substation in the Belize District."

And tonight, to get power back up, BEL is moving a mobile substation transformer from the Westlake Substation at Mile 8 on the George Price Highway to the Maskall Substation.

It's a big unit and the wide load transportation started this evening from the George Price Highway to Maskall village on the Old Northern Highway. ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70068 Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism "The bigger ones do, yes, it is problematic for us but we had a discussion in Cabinet about it yesterday and BEL is working feverishly to try an rectify the situation, it's not the best situation, we're still in high season right now per se and we believe that we'll get the solution implemented pretty soon."

"We're talking to Mexico as well and hopefully this can be rectified sooner rather than later."

We should note that Mexico is also at the peak of its demand - and according to BEL's engineers - is charging more than a dollar per kilowatt hour when it is under load. That's more than four times their usual high price and it is charged to discourage BEL from purchasing power. ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70069 With Chetumal so close to Corozal - and particularly the Free Zone, Belizeans have been concerned whether that narco activity will trickle - or maybe even flood - into Belize.

A photo of a banner with a threatening message written on it, stating that all the people on the Rio Hondo River and the Belize Corozal Free Zone belong to the narcos has residents worried. Although sources tell us the photo first surfaced a year ago, it has caused major panic.

That led to a high-level security meeting within the police department today. The Commissioner explained that while they met with officers, ministers, and stakeholders, the Corozal Free Zone is still safe for shoppers and employees.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "There is some cause for concern by Belizeans in the event that what is happening there may trickle into Belize and while we can look at the information coming out of there as reliable, there is also some that is not reliable. We know how your colleagues in the media can be at time but as the security apparatus of the country, it is important that we meet and so we met this morning to discuss our strategy in terms of how we are going to address the issues locally. There is no cause for concern nor alarm as there is no information at this time to indicate that any of the players from Chetumal have or is coming into the country but just as a means of precaution to give the Belizean people that sense of safety and security we met to discuss how we're going to deploy our resources in the northern area and see how we can reorganize our current northern operations to make sure that we can cover as much ground as we can. Our team, police and BDF, remain extremely vigilant, along the irregular border crossing as well as the regular border crossing so there is where we are at this time."

Courtney Menzies: "But at this time there have been no threats made against anyone in the Corozal Free Zone or in Corozal itself?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "No, at this time, no. We did have an operation in the Free Zone yesterday where we had seen two vehicles that had been left abandoned and we went to retrieve those vehicles, when we got there, the owners came out and the vehicles were checked, they were legitimate vehicles, and the owners were also checked as well and so those vehicles were released to their respective owners."

Reporter: "So you would not say then that the Free Zone is compromised by Cartel operatives from Mexico?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "At this time no, the Free Zone is very safe, the security of the Free Zone is in place and the police goes there now and then we also have a team of police officers who work the Free Zone area and so far all remains in order at the Free Zone." ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70070

]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70071 Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "We know that we do have operatives in Belize who are on the side of the cartels, we know that, and I'm not going to into details in terms of our operational strategies but certainly as a part thereof is to make sure we target those persons we believe are operating in Belize for the cartels, and I'll leave it at that."

Courtney Menzies: "The murder in Consejo with Johnny Arana, we understand his death was narco related, can you confirm this and is it related somehow to the situation happening in Chetumal right now?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "We know that it has a lot to do with the issue of drug distribution in Corozal, we can't say if it is narco related, we believe that those persons who executed that murder are from Belize and we're looking for them." ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70072 They discussed a list of 8 major demands as it pertains to the Collective bargaining agreement, revenues and other concerns.

The good news is, they were able to find common ground on some of these deliverables. BNTU president Nadia Caliz told us what they were.

Nadia Caliz, BNTU National President "What we did was we looked at a number of proposals that we sent to the government approximately two weeks ago we gave them time to go through it and todays meeting was basically for us to discuss those things. We did look at the increment suspension we look at tax reform and at pension reform. And the fact that we had additional suggestions for government they will be going back to their team to discuss those things and then we will be going to our team to share with them some of the things we had agreed to."

"Two very important things happened. On June 5th we will be signing off on proposal 22 and closing off the CBA and we got the government to agree to paying 50% of what is due to people who have retired at least within the past 30 days because there are so many persons out there who are clamoring for what is rightfully theirs and so through todays negotiations government committed to giving those retired persons 50% of what is rightfully theirs so for us that is a plus."

"Everything we did today we have deadlines when they will get back to us when they will meet again we established a time frame surrounding every single thing so it's no more talking and pie in the sky we have agreed collectively from the government side and our side that we will be meeting approximately five weeks from today and we will be discussing again the areas that they took back to their ministry or to government." ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70073 Cordel Hyde, Deputy prime Minister "We had a very amicable and respectful and productive meeting. We started a little after 9 and went almost to 3 O clock as we expected. Usually we have very long meetings but are better productive with a whole lot of matters on the table. When we last met in November and was supposed to meet a little after that and we had a bunch of deliverables on our side that we had not delivered."

"I'll tell you the big deliverable that we were able to deliver. There has been the matter of CBA that has been sixteen years outstanding and a particular sticking point for all those years was a proposal 22 you must have heard about that. The big issue being that teachers and teachers particularly at the secondary school level that are not government schools. Government pays 70% of their salaries the managements the national managements pay 30% and so upon retirement government pays 70% of the pension. The managements pay 30% but for many many years lots of those teachers who have given 30 35 years of their lives to teaching to service were unable to collect their full pension because the managements have had difficulty in that. And so proposal 22 from the unions from way back as 2008 was about saying why don't you take on 100% of those salaries at the highschool level at the tertiary level not just for teachers but also for auxiliary staff and for some of the staff members. And that has been a sticking point for all those years. 16 long years and in December government finally agreed this government agreed that we would cover that and would respond favorably to proposal 22 but we have not met as you know we had elections and all that and so that took up a bit of our time." ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70074 Cordel Hyde, Deputy prime Minister "But we had other deliverables that we did not deliver on which is to people the revenue enhancement advisory committee, the cost savings advisory committee and the pension reform working group. On our part we had lagged behind in terms of appointing our persons to those committees and so that delayed the work and some and that was finalized today and there were countless other things but I'm sure the unions will fill you in on that thank you."

The next meeting is set to take place in June. ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70075 According to the PSU President they have already gotten a commitment from a representative of the ministry of finance to provide a comprehensive debt profile, which he says he would not mind sharing with the public:

Dean Flowers, President, PSU "As it relates to the profile of the country, I think that is a concern and a matter of high importance that should be on every single Belizean mind. As we all know, we would have restructured our debt."

"Most of our debts in 2021, we would have received three years moratorium on most, if not all of our debts. So several of our debts now become due and payable as we speak. Included in that is the interest payments for the super bond, which matures in 2020."

"And so we felt that given that there will be no added demand on government finances to meet our national and international debts, that it's important that we get an understanding of where we are with that and the obligations that will be tied to that."

"Because if it is that we're unable to meet those debt payments, then we will be back at square one when the government will be looking at where can it cut expenses. And as we all know, it has always been cutting the public purse in terms of public officers salaries."

"And so we now have that at the forefront of our agenda in terms of paying attention to that, because any slip up in that can end up costing us money again in the long run. We did not receive that today, but we did receive a very detailed presentation on where we are as a country in terms of our debt and commitment was made by the representative from the Ministry of Finance to provide comprehensive debt profile to us."

"And so once that is provided, I would have no problem sharing that or speaking on that with the Belizean people."

According to the IMF, Belize's external debt is 4.335 billion dollars. ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70076 Nadia Caliz, BNTU National President "During our discussion with government today They were happy that they brought certain things to their attention and they asked for us to spend some time to go back and discuss these things, but at the same time they have already been working on tax reform and so when we meet again with them, they will present to us what it is that they have been doing and what they will do to address the things we have brought to their attention."

"One of the key things brought to their attention in the area of tax evasion let me talk about that one is we have importers bringing in furnitures and different things from across the border and then using receipts that say ramen noodle and ramen is a zero rated, tax free you don't have to pay taxes on that and that is not fair to the Belizean people any at all." ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70077 The recently re-elected UDP mayor, Earl Trapp - who was never consulted - called it illegal and put the project on an indefinite pause following his win.

But the project might not be dead and buried just yet. Today the Tourism Minister said he's working alongside the mayor to bring it to life.

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism "We're working it out, I had a good meeting with Mayor Trapp and he and I are reasonable people so we quickly saw eye to eye and we're going to work on projects to uplift the community that you have asked about."

Reporter: "So we can anticipate that that project will proceed?"

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism "Yes." ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70078 It's the third annual festival, and last year, while no figures were published, multiple anecdotal reports say the festival staged in the city made a substantial loss.

We asked the Minister if that is the reason they're taking it back to the island for the second time.

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism "Like I said, I don't consider it a loss, I consider it an investment and for us it's building on something. San Pedro has the adequate room stock I believe and we want to attract more people from abroad, from what I hear, the hotel rooms in San Pedro are already booking up and so we'll continue to do our part in promoting music or culture, food, everything that is Belizean."

Courtney Menzies: "Do you anticipate that future concerts will remain at San Pedro?"

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism "Well I can't answer that, but the Food and Music Festival-"

Courtney Menzies: "That's the one I mean, future Food and Music Festivals, will San Pedro be the place to go?"

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism "Well, this music festival yes, it will be housed and resident in San Pedro." ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70079 Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "We have received information of a police officer extorting some people on Cristo Rey Road. That's the Cayo District and PSB is currently investigating that matter. We have not been able to confirm if in fact the information is true but there is reason to believe it is so PSB is dealing with it and as soon as they are through with the investigation then we'll update the media."

Courtney Menzies: "Have you gotten any complaints, because we have gotten some through our website, complaints of persons who say that police are using the new seatbelt law to extort more drivers?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Well I hope not. The complaint from Cristo Rey Road had to do with that issue of seatbelt and we will be lobbying to government or parliament to see how we can get the seatbelt law a ticketable offense as opposed to an arrestable offense. To arrest a person for a seatbelt is extremely tedious, it's a lengthy process so if we can make it a ticketable offense, it is easier to both the offender and the police officers because when we have to remove officers off the street to charge someone for seatbelt, we leave the street open because the police officers could be out there patrolling and preventing crime and don't have to be inside the station processing a person to charge them for seatbelt so just as we have the traffic offenses that are ticketable, we will ask that the seatbelt offense be a ticketable one as well."

Courtney Menzies: "Will that stop the instances of extortion because then they will say, well, give me so much and I won't write this ticket?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Well I think it won't stop it, it may minimize it because I think that a person would feel more at ease getting a ticket than being arrested. Being arrested is more coercive in nature and so people will more avoid being arrested than getting a ticket so we're hoping that this is going to alleviate the issue to some extent." ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70080 Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "We did charge some people for some offenses, or some crimes. You'll know that some people were charged for murder, including two who were charged for the murder of the police officer in Roaring Creek and we also are looking for two other suspects in respect to a murder in Belize City but as I had said before tat we needed more time to complete the gang investigation. So while the SOE has expired, we continue our investigation in terms of the gang membership and whenever the GI3 get through with those investigations then we'll be filing or levying charges against some people." ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70081 Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "That's a question to be asked of those persons who live on that island. But as police, we just need to do what we need to do, when we get information we act on it and that was the case on that particular situation, we got some information, we acted on it and the outcome is history."

Courtney Menzies: "In general is there police presence on that island?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "No we don't occupy islands, unless if it is those major islands like San Pedro or Caye Caulker. But other than that we don't and we don't police the waters, the waters are policed by Coast Guard. When we need assistance to go on the waters, we normally get from Coast Guard or fisheries but we don't per se police the waters like that anymore no."

Courtney Menzies: "But are you keeping an eye on the area where those guns and drugs were found?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Yes the area certainly remains on our radar in the event there may be a need for us to go back for whatever reason, yes." ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70082 The law was designed to displace the Central American - mainly Guatemalan- companies which were monopolizing the importation of LPG into the country. Under the new law, they were still allowed to retail, but not to import and wholesale.

Well, Gas Tomza Ltd, Western Gas, Southern Choice Butane, Zeta Gas And Belize Western Energy Ltd challenged the law as unconstitutional. In 2022, the Supreme Court agreed and ordered the government to pay damages of 10.8 million dollars.

The government appealed the judgement - and had some success because that fine has now been sent back down to the lower court to be recalculated. But, the Court of Appeal found that the Act was in breach of the gas companies' right to property and in breach of their right to work

And, most importantly for their attorneys - the court struck down the law - which placed an impossibly high volume threshold for importers has been struck down.

Attorney for the gas companies, Godfrey Smith explained today:

Godfrey Smith, Attorney for Gas Companies "That requirement, that onerous, impossible to reach requirement of having to have a storage facility of 1.5 million US gallons to be able to import the LPG has been deleted from the law."

"So as it stands, therefore based on our interpretation of the judgment, Gas Tomza and the other litigants, Western Energy gas and so on, who would now be free to build a storage capacity within their economic costs, within their reach, that they see practical, that they are able to build and then apply for permission to bring in LPG."

The Court of Appeal also said that the compensation for the breach of the gas companies' rights must be re-assessed by the High Court. ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70083 So, government hired the very best attorney it could. Ed Fitzgerald, along with Andrew Marshalleck, and another British attorney Angeline Welch.

We asked Smith if these senior legal eagles point to the importance of the case for government:

Jules Vasquez]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70084 It had Douglas Mendes out of Trinidad - who is one of the Caribbean's top attorneys backed up by Godfrey Smith and Hector Guerra as well as another Trinidadian authority.

We asked Smith if this is reflection of how much they stand to profit from a favorable ruling:

Jules Vasquez "From the counsel they retained, in their wisdom, the importance I would say they see a very lucrative business opportunity, both lost and yet to be gained."

Godfrey Smith, Attorney for Gas Companies "I'm sure it is worthwhile for them."

Jules Vasquez "I'm sure it is not a symbolic victory they seek."

Godfrey Smith, Attorney for Gas Companies "No, no, it was not a symbolic, a real in-the-pocket victory." ]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70085

]]> Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70086 That's the one which placed restrictions on the imposition of certain fees and penalties by domestic banks regulated under the said Act.

The Belize Bank Limited sued and that led to settlement conversations.

A centralBank release says "further discussions were held between the Central Bank and the representatives of the banks with a view to resolve any objections relative to PD No. 7"

And it shows the banks have voluntarily implemented changes in fees.

We asked Smith about it today:

Jules Vasquez "The bank has relinquished Practice Direction Seven. How did we get here?"

Godfrey Smith "We got here, as you intimated, through a process of discussions between the Central Bank of Belize and the banks who stood to be affected by PD seven. There were discussions and as you rightly point out, Central Bank agreed to withdraw PD seven and the banks will put certain measures in place. I believe it is on the 1st of June and subsequent to that date as well, to voluntarily put in place certain measures."

Smith: Central Bank Responded To Letter

And we also asked Smith about his strongly worded letter to the Central Bank pin behalf of Mike Feinstein.

He wouldn't say too much on that:

Reporter "Feinstein, Michael Feinstein writing to the writing to the Central Bank, that letter calling for an investigation of some activities of Atlantic Bank, and he had said to you in that letter that if the bank would not conduct such an investigation, then you would go to court or your client would go to court to ask them to order the central bank to do that investigation. Has there been a response?"

Godfrey Smith, attorney For Michael Feinstein "As I understand it, the Central Bank is looking into the matter."

Reporter "They have acknowledged receipt of your letter?"

Godfrey Smith, attorney For Michael Feinstein "Yes, they have."

Reporter "But in terms of processes, what do you expect next? Like. Have they given a timeline or do you expect that by a specific time they should?"

Godfrey Smith, attorney For Michael Feinstein "No, I'm not aware of any timeline, but I understand the matter is being taken seriously and being looked at being examined."

Remembering Mike Espat, Teacher and Pig Farmer

And in less heavy news, we asked Smith about Mike Espat. The two of them were at Toledo Community College in 1987. Smith was a teacher and Espat the principal. He had fond memories.

Godfrey Smith, Former Mike Espat Colleague "I actually lived in Mike's house for for a couple of months until I was able to find a place of my own and I was involved with him in various things. For instance, I have a vivid memory of entering a big sty with him. He was a hands on person, very practical, involved in the rice production, involved with the pig program at the campus. I remember stepping into this sty with him and wading in the mud and the muck and assisting him, just generally dealing with dealing with the livestock, as I said, very hands on, very practical, very focused on improving communities, for sure."

"Always outspoken, always a party man, never fearful to speak through to the leadership and always willing to lead a backbench revolt, but only going so far."

Jules Vasquez "So then you met him in later life as a politician is when you were both in the Musa administration in various capacities."

"Was he a political, forever condemned, let's say, or forever exiled on the political fringes because of that strong self-reliance and that sense of self which make him seem defiant and disrespectful to authority?"

Godfrey Smith, Former Mike Espat Colleague "Yes, I suppose that characterization is correct. But his defiance was really always just to to ensure that backbenchers had a voice, that the ministers, as we were won't to do, don't run roughshod with all the finances, taking all the finances for constituencies and leaving out the backbenchers. That was and remains the major gripe. And Mike would have none of it. He was representative, in fact a pillar of the old guard while we were viewed as the young Turks. And of course there was the G7 where we rebelled."

Jules Vasquez "And where Mike came to Said Musa's rescue."

Godfrey Smith, Former Mike Espat Colleague "And he was one of the old guards, along with Mr. Price, who said "off with their heads, don't let them who that go the government hostage off with their heads and move on." That was the kind of party man that he was."

What the Guats Really Said

And from Toledo East to south of Toledo in theSarstoon....

Belize's Brigadier General's trip around Sarstoon Island with the media last week was met by an aggressive Guatemalan patrol which harassed the Belizean boat - and told them they are in Guatemalan waters.

Since then the Guatemalan military has doubled down with a hard talking press conference over the weekend.

But what did those Guatemalan military brass say exactly? We translated and transcribed their press conference and here's what we learned.

BEL Living Its Worst Case Scenario

And, finally tonight...

Right now, San Pedro Ambergris Caye is in the ninth hour of what will be a punishing 13 hour blackout.

At this hour, BEL crews are working assiduously to fix the problem, but no bill paying Belizean wants to hear that. They want continuous power supply, not engineering quick fixes.

For BEL, the power deficit on a failing system is a worst case scenario, the most difficult of situations they say. Here's how they put it in yesterday's press conference.

Jose Moreno, General Manager, Transmission & Energy Supply "BEL Is not responsible for the procurement regulations. BEL tells the regulator what our forecast is and then they are suppose to go and open up the market to attract those investments right. But we have a saying that since 2014. In 2013 there was a RFP for 70 megawatts of generation, new generation. We only managed to finalize 8. So since then we haven't added any new generation and our demand has been growing. So here we are, last year we said we will have to invest in generation because at the end of the day those are our customers and we need to be responsible to guarantee their supply and that is why we are doing the upgrade of the gas turbine at mile 8 and the new addition of 20 megawatts of another gas turbine that is going to San Pedro"

"In the case of San Pedro the plan calls for battery storage. That hasn't realized itself yet. We also have a new cable there is a project for a new cable we are working arduously on that to get that project off the ground. And hopefully by 2026 or earlier we will have that supply there. But as far as generation resources are concerned we believe that after this weekend we are supposed to be in a better situation because we are going to add 30 additional megawatts and by the end of May we will have an additional 20 megawatts from that turbine we are deploying to San Pedro."

Jules Vasquez "Are you guys living right now through a worse case scenario is this like a worse case scenario for you all?"

Jose Moreno, General Manager, Transmission & Energy Supply "It is one of the most difficult situations, times that we have been facing."

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