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
6 term Toledo East Representative Mike Espat died on Monday night - and while plans are being made for his funeral - there is still some internal discord in the PUP about events preceding his death.
Thats because two weeks before his passing - Espat was publicly challenged for his seat by CEO in the Ministry of Economic Development Osmond Martinez - the same Ministry where Espat is a Minister of State.
Now, to be fair, we will stress that the man they rightly called Iron Mike could hardly be frightened by a neophyte like Martinez - but today his cousin Julius passionately explained that its the disrespect:
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH "He was disrespected."
Jules Vasquez: "Yeah. You felt he was disrespected?"
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH "I dont feel so. He told me so."
"He was disrespected. His CEO went out to do something that was not authorized by the executive of the Peoples United Party. No, I am. Im executive member. And no, nothing was told to us. And and he was disrespected. His dignity was taken away. This man has won five times. This man, won six times. This man beat us up in cabinet whenever he come or whenever he sees us. nothing for himself. Always for his village, for his people. My CEO and I and my chief get texts from him on a daily basis. One timeI even blocked him andI told him,Mike I will block you because I am tired of you texting me. But I can tell him that he is my first cousin. And we have similar personalities so we know how to handle each other. Regrettably…the loved ones that we have love it."
"But we are passionate. He was disrespected and and I stand by that. And I called him and I said, Mike, whats happening? And I could feel it in his…. Mike is not emotional, but I am. He isnt. But I sensed it. And my God, one week after the man dropped dead. He should never have been disrespected. And I dont have anything against anybody vying for political office. But to make your CEO. CEO, I hope you dont do this. To make your CEO call, because Mike told me you know, he said they called me and they told me I want to hire you to advise me to run against you. You you can imagine that?"
"The Peoples United Party has rules and conventions are not open. Today.we are having a meeting at 2:00 to decide if conventions will be open or not. I want to see the cherry picking. I really want to see. But I called Mike, andI said anybody that goes after you, I. Im willing to go with you to a convention and stand beside you. Cayo South will stand with you. He said boy you are the last I think would call and tell me that. I told him its a matter of principle, its a matter of respect, Its a matter of dignity. And if we cant have that, we are lost. Thats how I feel."
Jules Vasquez: "When I spoke to Luke, he felt that Mike died with that. With that pain in his heart."
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH "Of course it is what it is, Jules. We all have….the strongest of men when they go out there an give you this facade that theyre Iron Mike? Deep down we are human beings and youre hurted, Jules."
6 term Toledo East Representative Mike Espat died on Monday night - and while plans are being made for his funeral - there is still some internal discord in the PUP about events preceding his death.
Thats because two weeks before his passing - Espat was publicly challenged for his seat by CEO in the Ministry of Economic Development Osmond Martinez - the same Ministry where Espat is a Minister of State.
Now, to be fair, we will stress that the man they rightly called Iron Mike could hardly be frightened by a neophyte like Martinez - but today his cousin Julius passionately explained that its the disrespect:
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH He was the master of the backbench. He could destabilize anybody, just that I knew him. And so when he would be as forceful as I am, I would tell him, Mike, let us not talk because we will quarrel. And we can't go down that road.
Jules Vasquez "He criticized housing."
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH "He criticized everything."
Jules Vasquez "But in the House."
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH "Yes!"
Jules Vasquez "He said that, you build houses and put no plumbing or piping for it."
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH "Yes. And Mike is Mike. And so when he told me that I go check with the guys, I said, boy did you put the plumbing or not? I don't want them to rale up."
"Who pressured us to do the Joe Taylor Bridge. Mike Espat. All those things we are paving right now in PG?Mike Espat. Beat us with a stick, literally. Bwai, CEO Mike is coming. Everybody dash!"
"All those area reps around there, Toledo West, Stann Creek, all those guys wouldn't be there if it wasn't for Mike."
"I remember when we were in opposition. All of them in one car eating sandwiches, bully beef. Come to Belize City to my office to try, lobbying again. I learned from him. I never agreed with him a lot of times. But I respected him and and his people loved him. You can't five times if your people don't love you!"
We spoke to Espat at the opening of the Haulover Bridge. It was one of two big official openings today. The other was at the BDF Forward Operating Base at the Sarstoon.
Now, bear in mind, both the bridge and the base were already opened in February - but that was like a political opening, in time for municipals.
Today was the big deal, with all the official bells and whistles. Jules Vasquez was at Haulover for the clang and the clatter:
The old riddle asks, how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Well, today we wondered how many political personalities cut the ribbon on a single bridge? Today it was 7 - call them the Haulover Avengers. They moved with grace and gravitas -
and influence! See the Prime Minister here posting an instagram story. "Hello from Haulover, Everybody!"
This was the culmination of what can only be called a ten-tent event - major outlay on the eaves of the southern approach to the 30 million dollar Haulover Bridge.
It was an event crowded by political A-Listers, CEO's, diplomats, and political operators
with a parking lot that would make a car dealer weep with envy.
For a project first started by the UDP who initially sourced the OPEC funding - today seemed to be an effort to paint it blue, for now, and for all time:
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH "And a bridge so nice you had to open it twice. Explain to me why you all felt such a need to underscore the importance of this bridge."
Jules Vasquez "It's a wonderful bridge"
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH "It's a wonderful bridge. It is an accomplishment for Belizean engineers and for the government of. And what is wrong with it? It's flawless. Then why do we need to go in a direction of negativity?"
Jules Vasquez "Yeah, but I'm just saying you had already opened it. Like...¦"
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH "There was a time frame that was needed for the handrails to be put in, but the bridge was structurally safe so that people could utilize it. That's the reason we did it. Most bridges and most projects have a soft opening before the formal opening."
Jules Vasquez "Whenever there's a PUDP project that you have to open, you have a euphemism that you use, a political euphemism, or a neologism, that it's a "Belizean project." Is is this one of those since it's Dean Barrow who got the loan originally in 2017."
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH "Are you on a political campaign platform or you stated it right, it is a Belizean project. Can we leave it at that?"
Jules Vasquez "Okay, but was it important for the PUP to come out here and establish that you see the presence of state that we put out here? This is a project that will be etched in history as a PUP project. Is it important to own it like that?"
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH "For me It's not. To me, it's important that that it is a project that benefits the people of Belize. But to me it does not matter if it's a PUP project or UDP, it shouldn't matter once it's something positive for Belize, why do we have a go down that road?"
Jules Vasquez "Do you lose any sleep over that, you know, you and the Prime Minister were on the wrong side of history. You all voted against this loan, or didn't vote ins support of it when it went to the - of the original OPEC 12 million US dollar loan, when it went to the house in 2017. The. PUP didn't support it."
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH "I don't remember. Maybe I was concentrating on something else at the time."
He could laugh it off today because Espat and his MIDH staffers had praises heaped upon them for a stellar piece of infrastructure:
Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister "But this one is a thing of beauty, a testament to Belizean ingenuity, Belizean artistry. Belizean mettle, Belizean skills, Belizean genius, Belizean commitment to what's best for Belize."
"They build something here that has risen to the expectations of our citizens. We are proud of this ya bridge This may not be the longest or fanciest bridge, but this will stand the test of time."
But - at 1,400 feet - it is the longest bridge in the country and the 6th longest in Central America.
And it may also be the busiest bridge in the country:
Megan Martinez, Engineer - M & M Engineering "When we conducted a traffic survey in 2017"
"When we conducted a traffic survey in 2017, it showed us that there were over 13,000 vehicles crossing over the old Haulover bridge. Today, that number is around 17,000 vehicles. That makes this bridge the most important conduit for Belize's connection between the northern districts and Belize City."
Martinez said the scale of the project gave her sleepless nights:
Megan Martinez, Engineer - M & M Engineering
"This type of work is not for the faint of heart. You can ask my colleagues. I found my first white hair two weeks ago and I completely attribute it to the construction of this bridge."
"Overall, the biggest accomplishment of this project was the successful launching and placing of 140 foot long pre stress concrete Bulb-Tee girders, each weighing 150,000 pounds across the Belize River."
And while it is an engineering feat, the Prime Minister says it is so much more:
John Briceno, Prime Minister "This bridge is more than just steel and concrete. It's a pathway to new beginnings, a conduit for growth and development."
"It is my hope that all Belizeans will see this bridge as a symbol of what we have become, a strong nation, ready to look to the future with hope and optimism, knowing that this bridge is not just a physical structure, but a symbol of our potential."
Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister "It stands as a wonderful, welcoming landmark to epic Belize City, the old capital, still the financial capital, the media capital, the population capital, home to the few, the proud, the New York City of Belize."
"This bridge, this Belizean beauty, this new pride of ours, may it last forever and remain a tribute to Belize and Belizean genius. Made in Belize. That sounds real good. Made by Belizeans. That sounds even better."
So since this historic bridge now stands proud - what's next? There are a number of bridges that need urgent replacement - and the Belcan bridge is foremost. Here's how the Minster put it today:
Jules Vasquez: "So since this historic bridge now stands proud - what's next? There are a number of bridges that need urgent replacement - and the Belcan bridge is foremost. Here's how the Minster put it today:"
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH "Since we have done such a fine piece of work here, what bridge next? tThere are urgent Bridges to fix most, most notably in the city. There are four bridges in the proposed George Price Highway project, the Swing bridge, the Belcan bridge, the Burdon Canal bridge and the one that is by Hattieville. Those are the main bridges that will have to be done within that project."
"So, yes, we are hoping that that that that the Ministry of Finance sees it in the benefit of Belize, that those projects are done."
"The Government of Japan has stated that they are interested to give us a grant to do the swing bridge and that negotiation is ongoing. We are also aware that Section three of the George Phase Highway, which is the highway portion that leads from Albert St, all the way to Hattieville, which we call BLOCK Three, has been approved by the board of CDB, and that letter was sent to the Ministry of Economic Development and we are awaiting their approval of that."
"If the Ministry of Finance, in their wisdom, does not see that it's priority, then we can't proceed."
"And that's where we are right now."
"The boss said today I am impatient. Maybe, but that's the only way you'll get things done. Priority for us is development. If somebody gets hurt, it will be a problem. We have been signaling it for three years now. Our engineers just came under the bridge again. And and it's obvious. The bridge that fell in Baltimore can give you an idea what can happen. It's a smaller scale. We don't have the level of traffic, but it can happen if we have enough money to spend on other things. I think we should spend on priority project- that being one."
The Brigadier General of the Belize Defense Force today came face to face with a Guatemalan Armed Forces soldier in Belize's side of the Sarstoon River.
The events that led up to the encounter began with the official opening of the BDF's Sarstoon forward operating base. The base was deemed unfit for soldiers back in the summer of 2022. In February of this year, there was a soft opening, but today, the base was officially inaugurated.
And after all the speeches and photos, the soldiers took the media around Sarstoon Island, through the southern channel, which borders the Guatemalan side but is the internationally recognized boundary of Belizean territory. That didn't stop the GAF from following our team and declaring that they were in Guatemala.
Courtney Menzies went south today and has a recap of the encounter. Here is that story.
The Sarstoon River is all that separates Belize from Guatemala, which makes this BDF forward operating base one of the most important security points in the country. However significant erosion made it unsafe for the soldiers to maintain a permanent presence. Now, almost two years later, the soldiers have returned to ensure the river is monitored, day and night.
And the importance of the BDF's presence at that strategic location was underscored today when our vessel had an encounter with the Guatemalan Armed Forces in the river.
As we are going around the Sarstoon Island, the Guatemalan Armed Forces are here beside us, keeping a visual on us as we move past the Sarstoon Island. They followed us from their base, all the way around the island. Even though we are in Belizean waters, they have insisted to us that it is Guatemalan waters. They also said that they did not want problems, they are just here providing security for us. However, we are onboard with the Coast Guard and BDF soldiers, to ensure that it did not escalate.
And the BDF soldiers say that this is a common occurrence as they conduct their daily patrols, and when civilians traverse the river.
The GAF base is exactly across the river, and when the soldiers manning it saw our vessel heading around the island, they swiftly boarded theirs and chased behind us.
Without hesitation, or resistance, they sped into Belize's side of the Sarstoon River. Fortunately, Brigadier General Azariel Loria was with us, and he assisted in deescalating the situation.
GAF Soldier:
"Vamos.."
"belice"
Brig. General Azariel Loria, Commander, BDF "It's not frustrating to me because this is not the first time that they are there following us and we have been here on numerous occasions and they always follow us but we what we need to do it to have a bit of common sense and report it through the channels. It's not for me to decide on what to do here, so I have directed my deputy commander, as soon as we reach on camp, to document it, send it to the Ministry of Defense and National Security and they in turn will send it to Foreign Affairs and then it becomes diplomatic, they will find a solution, they will know what else to do, to send a protest note to Guatemala, call them, I don't know, that is above me."
Reporter: "Does it actually work because next time somebody comes in this area, it'll happen again?"
Brig. General Azariel Loria, Commander, BDF "We will keep patrolling what is ours and we will not stop."
But even with the highest ranking member of the Belize Defence Force onboard our vessel, the Guatemalan soldiers kept pace with us, following us around the island, and remaining in Belize's side of the river. And the BDF soldiers did not aggress them for crossing boundary lines.
According to Loria, it's all about maintaining diplomacy.
Reporter: "While you are very calm about the situation, in the eyes of the rest of the Belizeans, it's very unfair to say the absolute least, that we can't go in our own waters, not only that, but they are in our waters, they are on our side."
Brig. General Azariel Loria, Commander, BDF "Agreed, it's on our side, disputed waters. And our best weapon in this case is diplomacy. That is what we have to do. Diplomacy is our weapon, our pen is our swords, and that is how we have to treat it right now, to treat it diplomatically at this point in time."
And that's why Loria also explained that if any civilians want to visit the Sarstoon, they must check in with the base, or they will likely be harassed by the GAF soldiers.
But now, BDF soldiers are maintaining a permanent presence, and their forward operating base is built to withstand the waves of the river and the sea.
Major Miguel Tuyub - OC, Sarstoon FOB "When we compare the 2016 forward operating base the renovations is far different than the last one. Since we have this conference room, we have the booth, we have the bathroom, a complete bathroom this side, we have the water catchment system, this is better renovated than the last 2016 location."
Brig. General Azariel Loria, Commander, BDF "The erosion was something that we couldn't control it got out of hand and eventually the sea and the river ended up under the building but now it's night and day difference, the solders are at peace they can have a good night's rest not worrying if the building will collapse anymore."
And the main reason the FOB was in disrepair was because the ground beneath the base had eroded significantly. So while the buildings needed renovations, the construction crew also needed to figure out how to prevent the same problem from recurring. The operations manager of AK Aggregates and Concrete Supplies, who worked alongside the Ministry of National Defense, explained that the renovations were a challenge from the start, but they found the perfect method to prevent erosion.
Ray Olgaldez, Operations Manager, AK Aggregates and Concrete Supplies "It was all water, folks, it was all water from the beginning. If any one of you could remember what the base used to look like, it would tell what it is now to what it used to look like. It was, of course, a challenge, one of the challenges that we faced, one of the materials that we used to stabilize to correct the erosion was far different than what we work with in the south it was all slush it was all muck that would take forever to dry to stabilize so we worked around that, we found ways, and we stabilized the island, and the Christmas break gave us a good time so we filled the island before Christmas leave it to stabilize during the Christmas break so when we came back we could've landed our construction equipment on the island, that's when the real work started. 11:23
"You would refer to it as a riprap type. We stabilized it with clay or whatever we could get in the immediate area but that wouldn't stand so we had the rocks as the riprap to support the clay."
"It was one of the more readily available and proven stability erosion control and it was accessible."
Details are scarce at this time, but multiple reports are telling us that there has been an apparent murder in Corozal. It happened in the Consejo area less than an hour ago - and the victim is a male.
A man named Johnny Arana was shot and killed behind his house. So far, police believe that a high powered .223 type rifle was used. More on this tomorrow.
A taximan was robbed of his car today - and then the thieves reportedly used his cab to rob a block factory.
46 year old cabbie Bruce Mangar drove to Hibiscus street to drop off a female passenger - who likely lured him there for a car jacking. That's when two men wearing police type tactical uniforms jumped into his cab and held him at gunpoint. They dragged him into a nearby house, tied his hands and taped his mouth, and threw him in the back seat. They took him to mile 11 on the George Price Highway, tied him to a tree and left him there. He managed to get back to the city and report it to police.
Police suspect that same vehicle then went on to rob a business in the area. Mangar was also robbed of almost two thousand dollars in cash which was in his vehicle.
Businessman Osmar Edward Correa hung his head low as he left the Magistrate's Court this afternoon. That's because he will be extradited to the USA to stand trial for offenses he allegedly committed in 1998.
The extradition proceeding began in November 2023 in front of Chief Magistrate Jayani Wegodapola after a formal request from the US government. The offense which he is accused of is "Intoxication Manslaughter" and the allegation is that Correa drove a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and collided head-on with an ambulance, killing one person in Texas back in March 1998.
In April 1998, the grand jury in Texas returned a bill of indictment which charged Correa with two counts. That same month, he was given bail, and one of the conditions was that he was to appear in court on August 10th, 1998. He failed to do so, and in March 2000, FBI officials discovered that he was living in Orange Walk District. In 2022, a warrant was issued for his arrest, and he was produced before former Chief Magistrate Sharon Fraser.
During his arraignment, Correa was represented by attorney Bryan Neal. Today Neal said his client was disappointed by the outcome, but that he will be making an application to the high court for habeas corpus.
Correa has fifteen days before the proper proceedings conclude for his extradition, which includes preparing the necessary documents.
It is estimated that only around 17% of ICT specialists are women, creating a large gender gap in the ICT workforce. In an attempt to encourage more females to take an interest in this field, MOE has branched out and partnered with UNICEF to host an annual ICT event for girls. Jomarie Lanza was there today in Cayo and here's what she learned.
Dian Maheia, CEO MOE "Lead like a girl is our second annual celebration of motivating, encouraging and exposing girls to the ICT world. What we have done here is collaborated and brought together over 100 girls from secondary school second form girls and it's 100 who are in second form there are 10 who are out of school girls and they are brought together for coding challenges and computer science exposure."
"Fun Fact: the girls are randomized. No one girl is sitting at a table with another girl from the same school so as they work together in teams to complete the various challenges they have to learn to get to know each other. I was taking with someone just now who pointed out the wonderful nature of girls. They just met each other but they are hugging each other for pictures and that sort of thing so that is what we want. We want girls to get to know other girls as well as hopefully gather a chance to have exchanges with some of the professionals who are here today."
The competition is broken down into three phases, giving each group of girls a set amount of time to put their heads together and achieve points for their team at the table.
Namrita Balani, Director of Science and Technology "So our idea is that we want to do something hands on we want to give them some basic concepts into ICT."
"And so there are three phases. Phase one is binary. Right so we are teaching them what binary is and how you convert, so binary is computer language zeros and ones. And there is five questions in phase one. We have it set up with MENTI so when they are finished the people who answer correctly and the fastest that's how we are getting the points so each table has one chrome book set up. Phase two is a code.org activity computed python and it sort of teaches them functions. And phase three we have developed with group theology so they have to decode the message using the cryptology we have created. And you know as the phase goes it gets a bit harder and we are encouraging them to work together and to do this."
It's the second ICT annual event being hosted by the ministry with support from UNICEF, only this time with a few unexpected guests like the GG and special envoy who stopped in to see what's it all about
Dian Maheia, CEO MOE "We have had such wonderful responses. The schools are really supportive. We can't ask for that many students but whatever we ask for the schools help with supporting there are schools from across the country that are represented here 25 schools so that is great. Our partner support is also significant UNICEF Belize as much in the importance of this event as we do and we have seen where girls are already benefiting from exposure"
For most of us, no matter where we live, a banana or plantain tree is always nearby. They are literally everywhere, and provide us with a multitude of benefits - from a quick and healthy snack, to leaves for our tamales, to a side dish for any meal.
But if you look deeper at the fiber of the tree itself, there might just be a purse, a lamp shade, or a 6 foot carpet, waiting to jump out at you.
A group in Unitedville has managed to harness the untapped potential of these trees by processing the fibers and handcrafting them into beautiful products.
It's created a livelihood for a number of families and is slowly changing the aesthetic of high end resorts and businesses. Jomarie Lanza stopped by today to see how it gets done.
Three years ago when the banana fiber braiding craze hit the market, the owners and the artisans wouldn't have dreamed that some of their wildest creations could be hanging from the ceilings of banks and resorts, or filling up the gift shops of hotels.
Their unique industry has grown and along with it so has the demand for handmade products, and the curiosity of students, artists and anyone with a desire to learn how to work with the banana fiber.
Jerri Dennis, Owner, Belize Banana Fibers
"Yes it's been a while and we have done a lot since you were here. Oh my goodness we have added a new section back here for our workshop and that's where Chulin welds and we make all kinds of designs. We do new things all the time and we are adding. We are thankful and God has been good."
"We have schools coming and we teach for free. We show them what we do we show them the process here as we bring the stalks in and victor over there he splits the trees and we go from there showing the machines the whole process and even teach some roping if we have time."
The team here in Unitedville have hit some major milestones it's true, but with that comes the challenge of ensuring that there is sufficient product to keep up with the progress of this project.
Reporter: "Have you been able to keep up with the demand and source enough material? I know you only have two machines and I know it probably requires a lot of banana trees and plants."
Humberto Chulin, Mechanical Engineer, Belize Banana Fibers "That has been something a little bit hard right but sometimes when we are going into that we would go all up to mile 20 in the Pomona area where we can get until we can get over in this area."
"So what the machine does as it goes inside it starts to break it into pieces so as you pull it out the barrel cleans the waste that is on the fiber so when you take it out it is clean already. So when we hand it over there with the breeze and everything it drops a lot of the waste that stays over there."
"At the beginning it was a little bit hard but then right now things have been good in that area so we have no problems right now. We have one on standby incase one breaks down we have the other one to run, while we fix the other one but it does not take too much time to fix because I made them so I know what the problem can be."
"The only thing is when we do the lamp shades because we need those people from Arenal who makes the ropes right. They are the rompers we have so. As much fiber we have we sell it to them and sometimes we pass through a time that we don't have any material but we still have our targets to meet. We have about two or three weeks to make an order but if we finish orders before then we just call them before right."
They continue to experiment and create a number of unique designs, from massive lampshades, to purses and rugs, it's become an art, a labor of love, and a blessing for families who thrive off the extra income in making these products
Reporter: "Did you ever think that this whole project would have grown the way it has over these past two years?"
Jerri Dennis, Owner, Belize Banana Fibers "No but I am super pleased it has we have been blessed and there are families that now have income and the things that have come from that like they have increased their house size and they are doing things they never could have done."
"With all that we have actually started a new art as well so it's been wonderful."
One of those women is Olga Garcia here in Buena Vista Cayo. She tried her hand in working with the material a little over a year ago, and for her it's been one of her favorite pastimes at home without disrupting her daily duties of mothering.
Reporter: "Pero te gustas por que es mucha trabajo?"
Olga Garcia, Artisan "Me gusta si. Alguna dicen que es muy aburrido otros dicen que hay que tener mucha paciencia y algunos dicen que no tienen paciencia. Pero para mi pues es bueno a bueno me gusta hacerlo."
ENGLISH ( They taught us the basics, how to roll the fibers and braid them as well. And that's how we began to extend our ideas by working, making baskets or something small and that is how we learned how to make other things like rugs. There are some that are three feet, others six it depends on the size they ask for and we do it.)
(It helps us make extra money without the need to leave our homes. We van be here taking care of the family and working from home as well.
But do you like it? Because it is a lot of work
Yes i do, some say it is boring others say you have to be patient and some say they have no patience but for me it is good, its good and I like doing it )
You can contact Belize Banana Fibers on Facebook or call 652-6823.
"Engage now to protect your future" and the first step in that is with a vaccine. As we celebrate Vaccination Week of the America's, the Ministry of Health and Wellness has taken on a collaborative approach by joining with our neighbors in Mexico to host a binational Vaccination pop up at the Corozal Freezone. Our Minister of Health and Wellness was there, and he shared with us a gentle reminder as to why it is important to get vaccinated.
In the event of an accident, or a medical emergency, who is the first person you call? The Police are considering whether they are responsible for transporting injured persons and there is never a guarantee that the hospital ambulance is available. The Belize Emergency Response Team is your best bet, but where exactly are they based? How do you get in touch with them? and how do they operate? The Minister of Health answered our questions today:
A young Belizean basketball player has been awarded a full scholarship to Yale University in Connecticut, USA. It's an Ivy League school with a prestigious athletic program and the very talented Douglas Langford Jr will be leaving his hometown in Dangriga to play Division One ball.
Langford is the son of the owner of Griga Dream Ballers and currently plays U18 competitions. He will be participating in the FIBA Americas Championship, which is set for June 3rd to 10th in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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"He was disrespected."
"And a bridge so nice you had to open it twice. Explain to me why you all felt such a need to underscore the importance of this bridge."
"But this one is a thing of beauty, a testament to Belizean ingenuity, Belizean artistry. Belizean mettle, Belizean skills, Belizean genius, Belizean commitment to what's best for Belize."
"When we conducted a traffic survey in 2017"
"This bridge is more than just steel and concrete. It's a pathway to new beginnings, a conduit for growth and development."
"It's not frustrating to me because this is not the first time that they are there following us and we have been here on numerous occasions and they always follow us but we what we need to do it to have a bit of common sense and report it through the channels. It's not for me to decide on what to do here, so I have directed my deputy commander, as soon as we reach on camp, to document it, send it to the Ministry of Defense and National Security and they in turn will send it to Foreign Affairs and then it becomes diplomatic, they will find a solution, they will know what else to do, to send a protest note to Guatemala, call them, I don't know, that is above me."
"When we compare the 2016 forward operating base the renovations is far different than the last one. Since we have this conference room, we have the booth, we have the bathroom, a complete bathroom this side, we have the water catchment system, this is better renovated than the last 2016 location."
"Lead like a girl is our second annual celebration of motivating, encouraging and exposing girls to the ICT world. What we have done here is collaborated and brought together over 100 girls from secondary school second form girls and it's 100 who are in second form there are 10 who are out of school girls and they are brought together for coding challenges and computer science exposure."
"So our idea is that we want to do something hands on we want to give them some basic concepts into ICT."
"We have schools coming and we teach for free. We show them what we do we show them the process here as we bring the stalks in and victor over there he splits the trees and we go from there showing the machines the whole process and even teach some roping if we have time."
"That has been something a little bit hard right but sometimes when we are going into that we would go all up to mile 20 in the Pomona area where we can get until we can get over in this area."
"Nos enseñaron lo más básico es enrollar la fibra y trenzarlo también. Y asi nosotros fuimos extendiendo más haciendo nuestras ideas. Trabajando haciendo alguna canasta o algo pequeño y luego pues llegamos a aprender lo que es la alfombra trenzada de bueno. Hay unas de tres pies otras de seis pies depende de el tamaño que nos piden asi lo hacemos."
