Important Note: This Internet version of 7 News is a verbatum
transcript of our evening television news script. Many interviews on our newscast
are conducted in Creole. In the interest of clarity for our foreign readers,
we attempt to paraphrase the Creole quotes in English
When we left you last night the Port of Belize was at a standstill; the Sugar Ship Emwika Naree had been abandoned by Stevedores who were demanding that Port Management deliver food to them - "Tea, dinner, tea" as they put it.
And that's where it stood this morning: two shifts of work had been lost, and no loading had been done on the 17,000 ton ship for 24 hours.
That's revenue going down the drain for Port of Belize, and it forced a crisis resolution meeting at 10 this morning at Port of Belize. The first round finished two hours later and 7news was there.
Jules Vasquez reporting
Coming out of the meeting at noon, McFoy said that no conclusion had been reached:
Jules Vasquez "What comes out of the meeting?"
James McFoy - General Secretary, CWU "Nothing, to be honest it's nothing. We went through and we gave some conditions or proposals again and we said that we are not dealing with all the demands. All we could be satisfied at this point in time is let the workers get their pay on a daily base and then forget about the food, then the other things in demand we will discuss when we start negotiation."
And, until then - they were ready to continue leveraging the sugar ship that's in port against their demands:
James McFoy - General Secretary, CWU "It's a lose lose situation. The storage will be going through expenses and the ship will be out there; no work. Revenue for the country will be on a hold too. Port will be losing money also. The workers will not be paid, so they will be losing too. That ship can't stay out there for too long losing money. Somebody would have to buckle."
Jules Vasquez "How much longer do you think it would be Mr. McFoy?"
James McFoy - General Secretary, CWU "Good question."
Fortunately, we didn't have to wait too long - right after our interview - which was a ten minutes after they had left the office, they were called back in - and went right back for a lunchtime negotiation session.
That came out at 2:20 - after another two hours of negotiation:
James McFoy - General Secretary, CWU "We finally got to an agreement. We sign a document just a while ago."
That is this document - a six point undertaking signed by both parties - the main point being that….:
James McFoy - General Secretary, CWU "We finally got to the point where we agree that they will pay on a day basis every time they come off their shift."
Deon Pitter - Stevedore "We are satisfied with the answer that we went around the table and negotiate with. That is what we want. We are satisfied that we can wait two weeks for them to put the system in place whereby we get our pay after every shift."
Raymond Rivers, Stevedore "I am satisfied with the outcome from the meeting today. I want them to remember that we have a sugar boat that is out there which will be out there for one month, so if they do or say the wrong thing and don't live up to their word it will be right back where we were on go slow."
"We are not worrying about the little hundred that we make, but it is they that have to worry about the thousands that they lose every hour or whatever."
Jules Vasquez "Do you consider this having worth the work stoppage?"
James McFoy - General Secretary, CWU "Yea, it is definitely and surely worth it because we manage to get them around the table. We manage to explain to them that we are serious and if things do not work to our satisfaction then we will again bring it to their attention anyway we can by hurting them this way by slowing down the work."
But for now the slow down is over - and things return to normal
James McFoy - General Secretary, CWU "At 6pm the gang will be going out there to resume working."
And both sides return to the negotiating table next week to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement:
Raymond Rivers, Stevedore "I say by July 4th when the declaration of Independence was sign I would want to sign our agreement."
Deon Pitter - Stevedore "The vibes that we have created in there - I think the process will be very short. The negotiation won't be long for us to come to a collective bargain agreement."
And while that is the union's side of it - what does management think?
Yesterday CEO Arturo "Tux" Vasquez told us that he could not cope with negotiation on one hand, and demands being made simultaneously on the other hand.
But today it seems he came around to deal with at least one of those demands. He told us why management agreed to grant the stevedores pay on a per day basis as they had requested.
Arturo "Tux" Vasquez - CEO, Port of Belize "Today the priority was really to get everything back on track. So I think it was important for us to meet and at least be compromise in what we agreed on."
Jules Vasquez "Were you force to give in because of the work stoppage?"
Arturo "Tux" Vasquez "In these negotiations you know and actual manner and behavior of the unions is always to try to get you to the table, try to force you into certain things but at the end of the day if it was not something practical for us or something that we can do even if it creates a little more work for us then I don't think I would have given into it."
"Paying them on a daily basis as I said two weeks from now we will look at it and as we get into it if there is any complications I am sure that we will discuss it further in the negotiation."
"Today on both parties the interest really here was to get things back on track and to agree to something like this I don't think it's that much of a deal for us to agree. It is not what we would prefer to do but it is not that as the person here making that decision - is something that I would have said absolutely no and create a bigger problem."
Jules Vasquez "To hear the union say that you all have abandoned or failed to live up to your side of the negotiation framework and this industrial action has force you all to now come back to the negotiating framework. Do you accept that characterization?"
Arturo "Tux" Vasquez "What it did also for us is to bring them back to where we were day before yesterday. My thing here is to get back to the overall negotiation that he have and try to get that out of the way. I think that is also something that was important not to lose. There were two things; trying to get the ship back on track and also trying to get us back on that negotiation that we sign in April. For me that is very important to do. We need to get that done; otherwise there will be many more fights if we can't get all these particular things that we have listed in that framework agreement discussed."
"For me, I think both sides gain."
Negotiations resume on May 24th.
We should note that while there was a work stoppage on the sugar ship - work continued as normal on other cargo vessels during the go-slow and work stoppage.
Last week, we received word of a case of alleged police brutality of in San Antonio, Toledo. Now, we get stories like this all the time here in the city, but this one is from a southern village, and what makes is serious is that it's not just one person alleging police brutality; it's an entire family.
The Sho family mailed a letter to our newsroom last week, and when we couldn't respond to them because they had no contact number, they came all the way to Belize City to speak to us.
According to the family, a police officer barged into their home and brutalized them. This very same cop has since charged them with serious criminal offenses, and they say that he did this to cover up his brutish, outlaw behavior.
It's a very serious allegation, for which they provided medical forms which proved that they received injuries, which they say the officer inflicted.
We've decided to use this officer's name because he is the one who has brought all the charges against 4 members of the family, and it's his name that appears on all the charge sheets.
Here's how they explained the entire ordeal today:
Daniel Ortiz reporting
The Elders of the family, Emiliano and Casalina Sho, sat with us and recounted their feelings of blatant disrespect and disregard for their rights as citizens. Their description of the entire ordeal may seem dramatic, but trust us; this is no laughing matter.
Casalina Sho was the first up, and she explained Officer Rodriguez's initial, explosive contact with her family members. She struggled to put words to her distress and rage at the situation, but here's how she explained it:
Casalina Sho - Family Claims brutality "This incident happened on the Thursday, 3rd of May at 2pm. My son's wife took the police into my son house. The police officer did not come with a warrant for my son."
"The officer told my son that he will kill him. He kicked my son and choked him and put him on the ground and told him that he will kill him. The officer took out his pistol and pointed it at my son saying that he will kill hm. "
"When I saw what was happening I started to scream, I told the officer please don't do that, don't kill my son. The officer kicked me in my stomach and he said that he will shoot all of us in the house. He fired a shot in the house. I scream at him telling him not to do that; "please don't do that P, please left my son alone." That is what I told him."
"He told us again that he will shoot all of us."
And if you notice, Sho began to drift out of our frame while she relived the abuse. And it's at that point where we had to ask her to sit back down and explain as best she can what happened next.
She then continued on describing how each of her 3 other sons tried to intervene in a respectful manner on their brother, William Sho's, behalf. According to her, this seemed only to enrage Officer Rodriguez even further.
Casalina Sho - Family Claims brutality "So now I am screaming, my other son Solomon Sho reached and saw what was happening. When the police saw him he came towards my son and hit him in the head with his pistol. He fell to the floor bleeding from his head and unconscious for 5 minutes."
"My other Emeterio Sho reached and saw what was happening. The same police officer hit him also in the head. He fell to the ground."
"My next Placido Sho arrived. He told the police officer to stop doing that. He said that he is the oldest son, 'please stop beating brother,' that was what he said to the police. When the police heard that he kicked my son in the belly. My son stopped talking to him and went to call the police."
And a lot of help that did them… and in the meantime, the police officer continued his calculated assault on the remaining family members. According to Mrs. Sho, her neighbors started to arrive, which gave them plenty of witnesses.
When the officer sobered up and finally left their home, he apparently went and concocted an entirely different version of the incident. And of course, He had to provide a version to counter the pending report that this whole family would make against them.
As a result, 4 of the family members were criminally charged with very serious offenses like, harm to a police, attempted theft of a firearm, obstruction, aggravated assault with the police officer's service weapon, assaulting a police officer, and resisting lawful arrest. All of the charges are sworn by this same exact police officer who this family says assaulted them.
One of sons, Solomon Sho, is at the Belize Central Prison right now, and as you would expect, the family is not very happy about it.
Casalina Sho - Family Claims brutality "Why is the police telling lies about my son Solomon Sho - that he took the pistol from him. That is what the police said, but that is not true. Totally not true. I believe because he hurt my son in the head that's why has twisted the story."
"We don't like what this police officer did to us. He committed a crime in our house. It is not my son who committed a crime on him. It is he the police who committed a crime on us."
"I need justice for me and all my children. I don't like what the police did to us. So now I am seeking help for my son who is in jail because of the lies that the police officer says."
"I want my son to be release. I don't want my son to be in that jail."
The patriarch of the family, Emiliano Sho, told us that he will not let this matter rest because this officer has brutalized his family, and the department is covering up by pressing these charges.
Emiliano Sho "We spoke to the police but they will not listen to us because you see they trust their own. But their officers are totally crooked. They are abusing us and don't want to hear us."
"Don't we have a right to speak for our rights? We have a right to speak. I hope that the commissioner of police is listening to what we are saying so that they could look into this matter."
"I need my son to be release and I will continue to fight this battle because the police should know their job and investigate this matter."
This evening, we contacted Police Press Officer, Inspector Fitzroy Yearwood, who told us that he was having difficulty reaching the commanding officer from the San Antonio Police Station. He did assure us, however, that he is looking into this matter seriously, since the family has filed their report at the IAD Office.
The family also told us that they are seeking legal counsel on how they can fight this battle against the police officer.
Last night we told you about the strike out motion for Orlando Habet's Election Petition against Elvin Penner that was being heard in front of Justice Minette Hafiz.
So far, the interpretation of the rule of time limits has been a major issue for Habet's petition.
Back when they filed for leave to bring the petition, Habet's attorneys, Said Musa and Anthony Sylvester, also filed the actual petition that they intended to bring if the court granted leave.
The court determined that this filing was irregular because Habet needed to get leave before they could file the petition.
As a result, it was struck out, but the leave was heard on April 10, and it was granted. Confusing, right?
But, it put Habet's attorneys in a time crunch, they had only a few hours to re-file a petition before the deadline at the end of the day.
But, haste makes waste, and some mix-up happened causing sections of the petition to be improperly filed.
Elvin Penner's attorney, Rodwell Williams, submitted in court today that because of this, and because of the fact that they quote, "cut and pasted" sections of the petition document which Justice Bertram already ruled inadmissible, this new document should also be struck out based on abuse of process.
This would effectively put an end to the Habet election petition at the Supreme Court level.
He and Sylvester argued their points this afternoon in court, and we spoke to both sides when they came out.
Here's what they had to say about the current situation:
Reporter"He is saying that your case should be struck out for base on non-compliance and abuse of process. Explain to us how you feel about that."
Anthony Sylvestre "There has in fact been no non-compliance. There has been no non-compliance of none of the election petition. That is the representation of the People's Act and that was the point we made to the judge that there has been no such non-compliance."
Rodwell Williams, Penner's Attorney "Our submission really is the document that they filed - the petition they filed dated 2nd April is the same petition that the court struck out which petition is also dated 2nd April. The court struck it out on the 10th April and turn around and gave them leave to present a true petition."
"Instead of doing that, incidentally the court also ordered that the registry be kept open late to facilitate their filing. Instead of doing that, they cut, paste and jammed up papers together and presented the same petition dated 2nd April which the court just struck out and the same two affidavits dated 30th March even before the petition of the 2nd April came into being."
"So they filed those same documents once more. That is our view makes those documents a nullity because the court when it gave the leave on the 10th, you can't have a petition pre-dating the date of your leave. You are given leave to file one - to swear one and you can't therefore file and swear one which existed before you get leave, which makes it a nullity and an abuse."
Alfonso Noble, Guardian "Is this sloppy legal work?"
Rodwell Williams, Penner's Attorney "I am not the author of it, so I wouldn't want to categorize it. Others are the authors of that work and you will have to draw your own conclusion. But certainly in my view it was an abuse of the court's process to have put that document before the court especially after the circumstance that the court gave you an opportunity by holding open the registry beyond the usual time to allow you to present a true petition. Not a petition that the court struck out that same day and not a petition that is sworn on the 2nd April before you get leave. Not an affidavit that is sworn before the petition exist on the 30th March and put that before the court. In my view that is a nullity and has to be treated as though it never happened, therefore it means that the 21 days expires and you have nothing before the court to commence the election petition process."
Justice Bertram has reserved judgment on the strike out motion for May 24.
Yesterday afternoon a 75 year old man from Benque Viejo was tied up and assaulted by robbers - who attempted to suffocate him.
At around 3:00 yesterday afternoon Juan de Dios Garcia, a 75 year old farmer in the Santa Cruz area of Benque Viejo Town, was at his farmhouse located at camp 6, when 4 Hispanic men armed with machetes ambushed him.
One of the men held a machete to his throat, and they demanded money and a chainsaw - which Garcia did not have. The men then tied him up and beat him before stuffing a towel in his mouth and covering his nose, leaving him to suffocate.
But he still had his wits about him, and Garcia pretended to be unconscious, so the robbers proceeded to the bedroom where they stole a licensed shotgun valued at $350, ten 16 gauge cartridges and 4 machetes.
After the men fled into nearby bushes, Garcia managed to untie himself and reported the robbery to the Police.
Our next story is about a woman who broke her ankle when she fell into a hole in the sidewalk.
Today Lovine Welch is walking on crutches after she cracked her ankle in two.
According to Welch, on Sunday night, she was walking on Mahogany Street -when she didn't notice that one of the sidewalk covers was missing. She stepped into the massive hole that was filled with water and broke her ankle.
Today she is putting the blame on the Belize City Council who she says should be more vigilant in the upkeep of pedestrian walkways.
And to make matters worse, she told us an employee of the Council contacted her today and wasn't showing any sympathy when he asked her to find her way on crutches to City Hall.
Here's Welch's story:..
Lovine Welch "We were going to visit my mother because it was mother's day and so we decided to go visit her. When my husband and I were walking I saw the hole and I told him that I pray to God that no one falls into this hole."
"On our back I was the one that fell into the hole. I didn't know that I would have drop in that hole. I hurt my foot and my back; I sprain my ankle, broke and crack it."
"When I call the city hall they told me that I must go there. I told them that I am on crutches, I am not use to crutches, I am use to my two feet."
Monica Bodden "Someone from city hall called you?"
Lovine Welch "Yes ma'am Mr. Gonzalez and he told me to go there at 2pm. I told them that I am on crutches and I cannot reach there. I drop and knock my foot on the cement walkway, my foot was bleeding. My husband bought two bags of water from the shop and he washed it off and he catch a taxi because I couldn't walk."
Reporter "I see your foot in a cast right now. What did the doctor diagnose you with? You crack you ankle in two places?"
Lovine Welch "The ankle cracks that why they had to put in a cast."
Reporter "In terms of the council, you received a call earlier from the council and what were the instructions? did they say that they would come visit you?"
Lovine Welch "They told me to try to reach there and then they will take care of me. I am a nice person, but I get ignorant when I am being turned around. They must have thought that I am telling them a lie because they ask me where it happened and if anyone else was with me. I told them that my husband and my father was with me, it was my husband that took me out of the hole. People were around when I fell in there. I told them that I don't tell lies to get help."
Monica Bodden "What kind of hole was this on the street?"
Lovine Welch "It was on the sidewalk, people called it "manhole," it had water in there."
Reporter "People have complained about the state that these streets are in and these holes. You are a victim of it. How do you feel and do you think that it's a urgent need that the council needs to start fixing the streets?"
Lovine Welch "They should have done something before something happens. That is their job. They should not wait until something happen to people before they fix the situation. They should walk or drive around to see the conditions of the streets."
"When elections are near, every minute they come to your house. You don't have time to see them because every minute you see them. They come into your yard. That's why now that they are in; they should ride around the city streets to see where needs fixing before people get hurt."
When we tried to get the City Council's side of the story, we were told that they will not be commenting at this time.
It is not the first time we are covering a story on a city resident who has gotten injured on a broken sidewalk.
35-year-old Brian Smith, accused of raping a 17-year-old high school student, was acquitted in the courtroom of Justice Herbert Lord today.
Crown Counsels Meagan Francis and Christophe Rodriguez called several witness to testify against Smith, but their main witness was the 17 year female who accused him.
She told the court that on February 19, 2011, she was called to the home of the accused, who is well-known to her family. She said that Smith then made sexual advances at her, and when she refused him, he grabbed her, pinned her to bed, and raped her.
Smith, who was represented by attorney Bryan Neal, testified under oath that he and the 17 year-old agreed to have sex on that date, and that she who came on to him.
The jury deliberated for less than 3 hours, and when they came back, they acquitted him of the charge. As a result, Smith was able to walk out of court a free man.
Last week we told you about 25 year-old Leo Palacio Jr., who was murdered on Thursday night - while two others, including cyclist Byron Pope - were shot.
Well, police say a teenager did, and the 16 year old minor was arraigned in Family court today for murder.
He has been remanded to the Wagner's Facility on the prison compound until June 27.
This minor's mother told reporters outside of court that her son was falsely arrested and charged, and he wasn't given an identification parade.
As we reported Palacio, Byron Pope and a 17 year old were hanging out at the corner of Central American Boulevard and Pelican Street when 2 men ran out from the direction of Curassow Street.
One of the men pulled out a firearm and fired shots which killed Palacio, grazed Pope and injured the 17 year old.
It's education week - well, actually, education week two. Indeed, the footprint of the education sector has gotten so big that it requires two weeks - not just one to sound out all the issues.
Yesterday was the launch of the Quality child Friendly School initiative. The programme actually started in 2009 - and was piloted in piloted in 9 schools in the Belize and Toledo Districts.
So, what does a child friendly school mean? And shouldn't schools be inherently child-friendly? Well, the truth is they aren't and Dativa Martinez of the Education Support Services told us that listening to children is a major part of that:
Dativa Martinez, Education Support Services "It is an initiative that is intended to help schools as much as possible to help themselves to create child friendly environments for students."
"It gives schools an opportunity to examine themselves. It calls for reflection on how their schools are and what is the profile of their school and that needs to take into consideration everything about their school. Everybody has a role to play particularly the students. You have to listen to the students for it to work well."
And, while that was yesterday, today as part of Education week, the Ministry of Education opened its first biennial Teachers Education Conference. The two-day conference has participants examining current education issues and getting up to speed with recent education research findings.
7news spoke with Cecilia Smith who is the Director of Teacher Education and Development Services.
Cecilia Smith, Director of Teacher Education and Development Services "Today we are hosting an academic conference on teacher education. We are together to examine issues, challenges and successes that we've been having with respect to teacher education and development."
"We've brought a wide cross section of stakeholders together; we have teacher educators, we have managing authorities, we have teachers in service, we have teachers in training, we have school leaders. We have a wide cross section of stakeholders that are today and are tomorrow discussing issues in teacher education."
"I can speak to two particular features that are going to be the highlight of the two-day session; one is a panel discussion that is going on right now. We have selected panelist that have particular functions or responsibilities with respect to the development of teachers."
"We have one of the employers of the largest numbers of teachers in our country on the panel, sister Barbara Flores. We have with Dr. Thompson who has been the principal of the Belize Teachers College who will bring to the table the perspective of lessons learnt. We have Dr. Wilmer Wright from the University of Belize. We have Dr. Marcia Stuart from the joint board of teacher education and for the most part our discussing will focus on what it is we are currently doing with respect to developing 21st century ready teachers."
"You probably know that the Ministry of Education has in the last recent years dedicated quite a number of energies and effort into creating expansion or creating access to more teacher education program and services and at the same time the ministry has taken a concerted effort to look at ways in which we can enhance the quality of the program and services offered."
"So we are here today to dialogue, to reflect what it is we have been doing and to begin to chart a way forward."
The two day conference is being held under the theme "Creating 21st Century Ready Teachers. Where are we?"
On 14th May, 2012 at 6:45pm San Ignacio Police conducted a search at an area on Joseph Andrews Drive, San Ignacio Town where Walter Leonel Boteo Ralda, 21yrs, Guatemalan who was wanted for questioning in connection with a burglary report made by a Canadian Businessman of Santa Elena Town on 24th February, 2012. Upon seeing the Police vehicle Ralda ran into 11th Street towards Guadalupe street where he was caught and a search conducted on a bag that he had in his possession led to the discovery of a Glock 19C 9mm pistol with an empty magazine. The firearm was found to be the property of Alian Langlois. On Tuesday 15th May, 2012 Walter Ralda was arraigned at the San Ignacio Town Magistrate's Court, where he pleaded guilty to the charge of Kept Firearm Without a Gun License and was sentence to 5 years imprisonment. Ralda was also arraigned for the charge of Handling Stolen Goods where he pleaded not guilty and his case was adjourned until 6th August, 2012.
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When we left you last night the Port of Belize was at a standstill; the Sugar Ship Emwika Naree had been abandoned by Stevedores who were demanding that Port Management deliver food to them - "Tea, dinner, tea" as they put it.
"Nothing, to be honest it's nothing. We went through and we gave some conditions or proposals again and we said that we are not dealing with all the demands. All we could be satisfied at this point in time is let the workers get their pay on a daily base and then forget about the food, then the other things in demand we will discuss when we start negotiation."
"We are satisfied with the answer that we went around the table and negotiate with. That is what we want. We are satisfied that we can wait two weeks for them to put the system in place whereby we get our pay after every shift."
"I say by July 4th when the declaration of Independence was sign I would want to sign our agreement."
"Today the priority was really to get everything back on track. So I think it was important for us to meet and at least be compromise in what we agreed on."
"This incident happened on the Thursday, 3rd of May at 2pm. My son's wife took the police into my son house. The police officer did not come with a warrant for my son."
"We spoke to the police but they will not listen to us because you see they trust their own. But their officers are totally crooked. They are abusing us and don't want to hear us."
"There has in fact been no non-compliance. There has been no non-compliance of none of the election petition. That is the representation of the People's Act and that was the point we made to the judge that there has been no such non-compliance."
"So they filed those same documents once more. That is our view makes those documents a nullity because the court when it gave the leave on the 10th, you can't have a petition pre-dating the date of your leave. You are given leave to file one - to swear one and you can't therefore file and swear one which existed before you get leave, which makes it a nullity and an abuse."
"We were going to visit my mother because it was mother's day and so we decided to go visit her. When my husband and I were walking I saw the hole and I told him that I pray to God that no one falls into this hole."
35-year-old Brian Smith, accused of raping a 17-year-old high school student, was acquitted in the courtroom of Justice Herbert Lord today.
Last week we told you about 25 year-old Leo Palacio Jr., who was murdered on Thursday night - while two others, including cyclist Byron Pope - were shot.
"It is an initiative that is intended to help schools as much as possible to help themselves to create child friendly environments for students."
"Today we are hosting an academic conference on teacher education. We are together to examine issues, challenges and successes that we've been having with respect to teacher education and development."
On 14th May, 2012 at 6:45pm San Ignacio Police conducted a search at an area on Joseph Andrews Drive, San Ignacio Town where Walter Leonel Boteo Ralda, 21yrs, Guatemalan who was wanted for questioning in connection with a burglary report made by a Canadian Businessman of Santa Elena Town on 24th February, 2012. Upon seeing the Police vehicle Ralda ran into 11th Street towards Guadalupe street where he was caught and a search conducted on a bag that he had in his possession led to the discovery of a Glock 19C 9mm pistol with an empty magazine. The firearm was found to be the property of Alian Langlois. On Tuesday 15th May, 2012 Walter Ralda was arraigned at the San Ignacio Town Magistrate's Court, where he pleaded guilty to the charge of Kept Firearm Without a Gun License and was sentence to 5 years imprisonment. Ralda was also arraigned for the charge of Handling Stolen Goods where he pleaded not guilty and his case was adjourned until 6th August, 2012.
