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
He took over on May 19th, but the new CEO at the Kolbe Central Prison was abruptly dismissed yesterday. It came as a surprise since he had understudied the retired Virgilio Murillo, who had served as the prison's CEO for the past 20 years.
Less than 50 days after George Gomez fully took over, he was hand-delivered a dismissal letter and escorted from the prison grounds.
The chairman of the board, Francis Woods, who is now taking over as the Acting CEO, downplayed it in a phone interview saying that they will simply work with the board to recruit a new CEO.
Jo-Marie Lanza: "Would you be able to speak a bit about whether or not the new prison CEO George Gomez has been released from his post?"
Voice of: Francisco Woods, Acting CEO, Kolbe Foundation "Yes ma'am, that is true."
"He left yesterday, the 7th of July."
"As capacity of CEO, well, he started in December 2025 as Acting CEO because the existing CEO was ill, so he acted there for a while and with the former CEO."
"Definitely, I will assume all CEO's duties reviewing all the data, all the policies. I will be there a lot of the time and then we will work with the team from the board members to recruit another potential CEO."
We spoke with George Gomez today who told us, quote, "The termination was without merit and a lot of good work was being done under his tenure and a lot more can be done."
A high-stakes courtroom battle continued today in a $62 million Belize dollar fraud case over the future of the Stake Bank cruise port project.
Atlantic Bank Limited is suing prominent businessman Michael Feinstein and Stake Bank Enterprise Limited. The bank alleges that Feinstein secretly titled a 23.4-acre island extension into his personal name-creating what we have called the donut effect-leaving the Bank holding the title for the middle of the island while he filled in and got ownership of the surrounding outer edge.
Atlantic Bank financed the massive dredging and reclamation project to expand the island for a cruise ship docking facility. The bank says it provided the many millions under the agreement that the new land would be company property and used as mortgage security.
The questions about that led to this now infamous exchange on UNCUT in June of 2023:
Jules Vasquez "But one of the one of the concerns is that this 13.2 acres, you know, the bank had a certain security on it, But when they found out, they found out that this 13.2 is held by another company."
Mike Feinstein, Stake Bank "No, everything belongs to the Stake Bank."
Jules Vasquez: "Everything. So it's not in a, you see..."
Mike Feinstein, Stake Bank "Everything belongs to Stake Bank"
Jules Vasquez: "So now."
Mike Feinstein, Stake Bank "Well, I'm just."
Jules Vasquez: "They say It was carved out and put in another company's name was source for dispute. Denying it?"
Mike Feinstein, Stake Bank "Yeah, of course."
Despite that declaration, the bank discovered Feinstein put the title in his name. Because this new land completely surrounds the original island, his refusal to transfer it back legally blocks the construction of the cruise piers. Feinstein's defense counters that his personal land title is absolute and unimpeachable.
Today in court, he was rigorously cross-examined by attorney for Atlantic Bank, Eamon Courtenay. Courtenay put to him that the extension surrounds the entire 16 acres held by the bank-so how can they install piers for a cruise berthing facility when Feinstein has title for all the sea frontage?
Feinstein says they can use the 66-foot beach reserve, which would span across his land. The questioning continued along this line for hours and will continue tomorrow.
Atlantic Bank Managing Director, Greg Maheia, and attorney Aldo Salazar have also taken the witness stand.
The bank is asking the High Court to force Feinstein to immediately turn over the land and is seeking damages for fraud.
Eamon Courtenay and Iliana Swift are appearing for Atlantic Bank, Rumen Cholakov and Bryan Neal for Michael Feinstein, and for Stake Bank Enterprise (now in receivership): Dean Barrow and Agassi Finnegan.
Yesterday evening at 5:30 we got another set of screenshot leaks out of the Ministry of Defence, but these ones deal with a company named Meat Masters. That's a company out of Orange Walk that was selected to supply fish and meat for the BDF and the Belize Coast Guard.
But tender or not, we found familiar patterns and those same telltale signs of structured payments when analyzing a few weeks of payments:
The latest screenshots we received contain 54 records for total transactions of $435,455.73 between April 13 and May 11, 2026, for an Orange Walk vendor named Meat Master. And it shows the same patterns of what financial experts call structuring-all 54 invoices are for below $10,000.
What jumped out at us is that on a single Monday afternoon-May eleventh, 2026-the software logs show forty consecutive invoices processed back-to-back for Meat Master. That includes an eleven-invoice carbon-copy cascade capped at exactly nine thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars each-hugging that ten thousand dollar threshold. All told, the train of sub-threshold invoices totaled 304 thousand dollars in a single day.
The CEO for Defence, Francis Usher, told us, quote, "They are paid how they are submitted, and the BDF/BCG submits them for payment in batches."
And while it remains a puzzlement how the invoice batches always fall under that 10,000 scrutiny threshold, these 2026 leaks prove that the practice is almost institutionalized in the Ministry of Defence and perhaps many others.
Usher told us yesterday they are changing that now:
Francis Usher, CEO - DEFENCE "What we're doing now is that multiple invoices or multiple purchase orders, when they become invoices, with the way the bills are submitted, we compile them into one big invoice for one payment by suppliers so that when you look at that invoice, the details will say reference invoice, this, this, this, this, and then you, it will have, the accompanying documents and by doing it like that, we are sending it over to the Ministry of Finance. We're sending it over to the contractor general, just in an attempt to show that, hey, there is the audit will reveal…We currently are not doing anything outside the realm of what is legal, what is possible."
As for the company, it is owned by relatives of CEO Usher by marriage. He told us it was established as a sole proprietorship in 2022, and in 2025 it transitioned to being owned by Kerr Gomez and his wife.
Usher adds, "The (owner went) through the entire open tendering process and I can ensure I intervened at no point."
But we should note that there are disgruntled applicants who bid for that tender but felt that they didn't receive it because they didn't know the right people.
CEO Usher told us those screenshots are payments for 2 months' worth of fish and meat for the BDF and BCG.
To bring CEOs back to the basics of managing public finances and meeting legal requirements, yesterday the PM held a Special Cabinet Meeting on Procurement Best Practices and Legislative Compliance.
Now it might seem like a masterclass in political damage control, but if it was playacting, they took it very seriously.
According to an official release issued today, Prime Minister Briceño hauled his entire Cabinet, along with every single CEO and administrative head, into an emergency, all-day session on Tuesday. The topic on the table was a sudden, mandatory crash course on public procurement best practices, legislative compliance, and how to strictly follow Belize's financial laws.
The Financial Secretary, the Contractor General, and the Auditor General made presentations on "common irregularities," highlighted recurring audit failures, and lectured the executive branch on the key provisions of the Finance and Audit Reform Act.
The Prime Minister has established a new technical working group to review the law and design a mandatory training program to teach senior government officers and politicians how to properly disburse public money.
And our next story is not about irregular payments, but unusual items on the BDF menu. Do the soldiers really get lobster, jumbo shrimp, and baby back ribs? We saw it in the 2023-2024 tender which was leaked to us. So we asked the CEO about it:
Jules Vasquez: "You know, we saw on the tender we reviewed-the one that was leaked to us-we saw certain things like baby back ribs, fish fillet, lobster, shrimp, the jumbo shrimp as well. You know, that we saw bacon as well. Were these supplied to the soldiers or were they for someone else? Are soldiers eating lobster? I would hope they are, but are they?"
Francis Usher, CEO, Ministry of Defence and Border Security "So all of the items you just listed, I would class them as luxury items. I have no issues with the soldiers, the sailors, the officers, the warrant officer, the NCOs getting them for formal events, for regimental dinners, for things like that. But I did notice when I became CEO last year that these were things that were on the delivery schedule, which I immediately stopped. And you can, you can ask the BDF when I went there and I said, 'No, no, no,' I was like, 'Look, I disagree that these should be things that are regularly bought.' Because even if they're only used every few months, why would we buy, for example, baby back ribs and allow it to catch freezer burn before we use it? It doesn't make sense. We're not going to buy it every month, so we immediately stopped buying baby back ribs, the shrimp, the conch, the lobster-all of that we stopped buying when I became CEO. And I told them, if you want those items for special events, all you need to do is send it up with the justification, and we'll procure them. It's not a problem, but we won't buy them regularly, because I don't believe these are things that need to be regularly in stock."
Jules Vasquez: "And shrimp? Because I know that you are buying jumbo shrimp, but when I talked to soldiers they say the only shrimp they get are the kind found in the noodle soup in the cup of noodles."
Francis Usher: "So I can confirm personally that during the same time, early on in my CEO tenure, when I was making the changes to what the type of meats and seafood that were bought on a monthly basis, I went to the walk-in freezer and I saw boxes and boxes of jumbo shrimp, and I said, 'Why are we buying so much every month if they're just sitting here?' And they were only used for special events. They are used for various regimental dinners. That one I can say that I have eaten in my career in the BDF, so... But we stopped buying it on a monthly basis and we started buying it on an event basis."
Organized criminals have targeted another major business for aggravated burglary. This time it's Public's northside located at mile two on the Philip Goldson Highway.
Around 2:00 this morning, the Security Guard reported that 6 men came onto the property and one of them held him at gunpoint.
The men then forced their way into the Public's store and removed a safe containing an undisclosed amount of money.
The 6 assailants then made their escape with the safe in a vehicle that drove into the compound. The amount of cash in the safe is undisclosed, but we understand it is in the 5-figure range.
They gained entry to the store by cutting the padlocks and lifting the shutters. Police are reviewing surveillance footage.
We note that there have been a number of recent aggravated burglaries of large business establishments and warehouses-all involving more than 5 men moving in a vehicle or vehicles.
And, police have refused to comment on the trend or alert the public.
In Orange Walk Town on Wednesday, June 24, a crew of six masked, armed suspects committed an aggravated burglary at the residence of a prominent businessman near Fort Cairns Market. His Security guard was struck in the head with a suspected firearm, robbed of his wallet and bag, and later beaten with a crowbar when he attempted to flee.
25 hours later, a second strike occurred at the Puma Gas Station on Chan Pine Ridge Road involving seven suspects in a white van. They tried to steal an ATM from the gas station.
And the police have also kept a shooting in Blackman Eddy, Cayo under wraps. A group of Belize City men came under fire from police even though they did not have any weapons or illegal items. They say it was an unjustified use of lethal force and at least one man was shot in the back.
A relative spoke with us off camera:
Voice of: Relative Of Shooting Victim "The reports that police have circulating on the social media is that there was a home invasion over the weekend in Blackman Eddy and the information is false, I can say and I can attest to that from reports we've heard including from police in the station that are trying to help is that there was no home invasion, the police mobile apprehended the suspects, when they stopped to use the restroom and they didn't even identify themselves. They came, saw the vehicle and opened fire from behind and to my knowledge that's attempted murder right. However, one of my relatives who was in the vehicle at the time, he was shot twice, one time to the left side of the shoulder and his back the lumbar area. The other relative of mine who was the one urinating, he had to jump on the top of the vehicle because they almost knocked him down. The vehicle sped off not knowing that it was police, they said that no light, no siren, nothing to indicate that it was police officers shooting at them. Also, in the reports they have that shots were fired back to the police, that is also false, there was no gun found at the scene of the crime, no gun found in the vehicle at the time either. According to my relative, the one who was shot, he is saying that they were on their way to Cayo when they stopped for my brother to use the restroom and this was what happened."
"Police did fire upon the vehicle, also when the vehicle crashed shots were fired because they got out to try to run and that's when my relative was shot in the back."
"I've been hearing a lot of things since this came out that the police in Roaring Creek area have been targeting people from Belize City-once the vehicle has license plates that look suspicious, they've been targeting them, so I guess this is one of that case."
No charges were filed and the suspects were supposed to have been released today.
The 51st Regular Meeting of Heads of Government of CARICOM concluded today with a press conference featuring leaders of various Caribbean countries. The summit was hosted in St. Lucia and the conference was led by their Prime Minister, and the chair of CARICOM, Philip Pierre.
Pierre noted some of the discussions that the heads of government had, including an interregional ferry, rising cost of living, responsible AI usage, and welcoming French Guiana as an associate member. Here is a snippet of the speech he gave:
Philip Pierre, Prime Minister of St. Lucia / Chair of CARICOM "We agreed to strengthen regional cooperation to protect consumers, improve affordability, and explore additional measures that can provide relief to vulnerable members. We also agreed to strengthen consumer protection and work together to address rising prices across the community. We made further progress towards the free movement of CARICOM nationals while additional member states advance into its full participation. We also accelerated a law towards establishing an affordable interregional ferry service that will improve travel, facilitate trade, strengthen food security, and make our community more connected. On food security and economic resilience, we reaffirm our commitment to the Vision 2025 by 2025 + 5 initiative to reduce the region's food import bill and strengthen agriculture production. Recognizing that technology will shape our future, we also agreed to establish a regional blue ribbon commission on artificial intelligence to guide the development of policies that will enable the Caribbean to benefit from AI while responsibly managing its risks. We reaffirm our commitment to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and for advocating for the special circumstances for small island developing states. We also agreed to advance a regional insurance strategy to better protect our people, infrastructure, and economy against hurricanes and other natural disasters."
"We also welcome French Guiana as CARICOM's newest associate member following the recent ascension of Martinique."
And the issues Belize currently faces aren't unique to us-like the high fuel prices. When asked about what CARICOM is doing to mitigate this, Pierre explained that it's out of their hands.
Philip Pierre, Prime Minister of St. Lucia / Chair of CARICOM "There is one factor we have no control over, which is the price of fuel. The price of oil basically-we have no control over the price of oil. But what we've done is that we've shared experiences from islands like St. Lucia; we've removed the VAT on certain items. In the case of Barbados, certain measures have been taken. Every island, every government has taken certain steps to reduce the cost of living, but the main fact which we have to consider is that we have absolutely no control over the price of oil."
And the head table was also asked about where CARICOM stands as it relates to Venezuela and Cuba. Following the devastating earthquake in Venezuela, Barbados' PM Mia Mottley explained that the Caribbean is sending supplies. She also gave CARICOM's stance on Cuba's humanitarian crisis.
Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados "Guyana's coordinating a ferry, and there are 88 containers going from the majority of CARICOM on that boat that Guyana has coordinated. Barbados through the RSS would have sent in people within 48, 72 hours, I believe, to be able to help with the rescue efforts."
"I think that we are agreed that the discussion and debate must take place but without prejudice-discussion and debate for a peaceful resolution of what is transpiring with Cuba, that there is a humanitarian crisis and you cannot continue to ignore that reality. The United States of America, I believe, has said itself it will contribute to the relief of the humanitarian crisis. The Caribbean has been resolute in saying that we want to do it. In Barbados' own case, we had to spend 5 months and the money was returned twice, and this is the third time for us to buy baby milk for the children of Cuba, which was one of the clear priorities so that the region will continue. We recognize that this is always going to be a complicated and complex issue, as was reflected in the United Nations debate on Tuesday, but we want to remain focused on the humanitarian efforts and we want to remain focused on the dialogue that should continue to take place."
At least 6 persons are dead due to boat strikes by the US in Caribbean waters in February of this year. According to the US, these strikes are part of their anti-narcotic operation. However, many have considered these extrajudicial killings murders. Little information is known about the identities of the men, but one journalist from Al Jazeera English has been investigating the deaths of two St. Lucians. In today's press conference, he got into a back-and-forth with St. Lucia's Prime Minister after he asked what justice the families should receive, and whether the US has immunity to kill citizens in the region. Here's how that went:
Philip Pierre, Prime Minister of St. Lucia / Chair of CARICOM "We are very concerned about the loss of life for anybody, particularly these people who lost their lives at sea. We've requested information from the United States, and we've not got any information as to what happened. As I speak, we still consider it a missing persons case and our own reinforcements are trying their best if they can see what happened. As far as we are concerned, the United States have given us no information on that issue."
Reporter: "Are you on the record saying that the United States is obstructing your investigation? It's been five months since that happened."
Philip Pierre: "I'm not on record as saying that."
Reporter: "What possible information could they provide to you?"
Philip Pierre: "I'm on the record as saying that they've given us no information."
Reporter: "What possible information could you get from the United States so you could proceed with your investigation? And I return to the families-they've told us you haven't contacted them. What should justice look like for these families?"
Philip Pierre: "Let me assure you, these families are our people, they're my people, so I'm very concerned about them, I'm sure more than you. They're my people, I'm very concerned about them, but all I can tell you-I can only tell you what I know, and what I know is we have not gotten any information from the United States, that's what I know. But I'm very concerned about them, I'm sure I'm more concerned about them than you."
Reporter: "I would just challenge that. I've spent the week with them, I can name their children. Can you?"
Philip Pierre: "After this week you're going to be leaving; I'm here for them."
Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Leader of the Opposition, Trinidad and Tobago "All our investigation, our local law enforcement, everything, nothing has given us any evidence of the alleged murders, as you're calling them-I'll come back to that in a moment-of the alleged killing of these persons being national citizens of Trinidad and Tobago."
Belize's delegation to the summit was led by Attorney General, Anthony Sylvester.
Lieutenant Colonel Jermaine Burns of the BDF is in charge of the Force's Directorate of Training. As such, he is responsible for ensuring that instructors have the training to properly develop recruits.
But, he was caught on a secret recording chastising lower-ranking soldiers about their abuse of BDF recruits-which is a widespread and documented problem in the forces.
But, was his language too strong? Well, officers who leaked it to us suggest he was abusive and intimidatory. But, you be the judge:
Voice of: Lt. Col. Jermaine Burns "And I don't know if it's something inside your head that's not clicking that we are transforming training, that you can't abuse recruits. You cannot abuse recruits. But it seems like you guys don't like these things that you have on your mind."
"So we have two sergeants right now on the chopping block and a Lance Corporal and I will tell you that now. Before you go on trial, That's what I recommend."
"As long as those reports point to any evidence of you abusing."
Colonel Burns referred us to his commander, Brigadier General Anthony Velasquez, who told us, quote, "I have no issues with the message that Lt Col Burns was conveying to those non-commissioned officers under his command. There is zero tolerance for unwarranted abuse of recruits. His language served a clear professional purpose and is well within ethical and organizational parameters. He definitely got their attention quickly and his message was reinforced in a memorable way. His message was tailored to his audience. He was unambiguous and his communication was immediate and effective."
While some kids spend their summer learning to swim, fish, and play sports, we visited with some youths at the Bliss who are learning about the skill, the art, and craft of theatre production. It's one out of the three camps the Bliss hosts every year, and today we stopped by to see for ourselves how they are creating a new generation of theatre kids.
New to policing and an architect by training, interim Minister of Home Affairs Julius Espat met today with former police commissioners and commanders to get professional policing input and background. The group included former commissioners Jeffries and Westby as well as Deputy Commissioners Maureen Leslie and Mike Segura.
Notably absent was the most recent and readily available past commissioner Chester Williams-who brought the murder count to a 20-year low during his tenure.
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He took over on May 19th, but the new CEO at the Kolbe Central Prison was abruptly dismissed yesterday. It came as a surprise since he had understudied the retired Virgilio Murillo, who had served as the prison's CEO for the past 20 years.
"As capacity of CEO, well, he started in December 2025 as Acting CEO because the existing CEO was ill, so he acted there for a while and with the former CEO."
A high-stakes courtroom battle continued today in a $62 million Belize dollar fraud case over the future of the Stake Bank cruise port project.
Mike Feinstein, Stake Bank
Yesterday evening at 5:30 we got another set of screenshot leaks out of the Ministry of Defence, but these ones deal with a company named Meat Masters. That's a company out of Orange Walk that was selected to supply fish and meat for the BDF and the Belize Coast Guard.
"What we're doing now is that multiple invoices or multiple purchase orders, when they become invoices, with the way the bills are submitted, we compile them into one big invoice for one payment by suppliers so that when you look at that invoice, the details will say reference invoice, this, this, this, this, and then you, it will have, the accompanying documents and by doing it like that, we are sending it over to the Ministry of Finance. We're sending it over to the contractor general, just in an attempt to show that, hey, there is the audit will reveal…We currently are not doing anything outside the realm of what is legal, what is possible."
To bring CEOs back to the basics of managing public finances and meeting legal requirements, yesterday the PM held a Special Cabinet Meeting on Procurement Best Practices and Legislative Compliance.
And our next story is not about irregular payments, but unusual items on the BDF menu. Do the soldiers really get lobster, jumbo shrimp, and baby back ribs? We saw it in the 2023-2024 tender which was leaked to us. So we asked the CEO about it:
Organized criminals have targeted another major business for aggravated burglary. This time it's Public's northside located at mile two on the Philip Goldson Highway.
And the police have also kept a shooting in Blackman Eddy, Cayo under wraps. A group of Belize City men came under fire from police even though they did not have any weapons or illegal items. They say it was an unjustified use of lethal force and at least one man was shot in the back.
The 51st Regular Meeting of Heads of Government of CARICOM concluded today with a press conference featuring leaders of various Caribbean countries. The summit was hosted in St. Lucia and the conference was led by their Prime Minister, and the chair of CARICOM, Philip Pierre.
"We agreed to strengthen regional cooperation to protect consumers, improve affordability, and explore additional measures that can provide relief to vulnerable members. We also agreed to strengthen consumer protection and work together to address rising prices across the community. We made further progress towards the free movement of CARICOM nationals while additional member states advance into its full participation. We also accelerated a law towards establishing an affordable interregional ferry service that will improve travel, facilitate trade, strengthen food security, and make our community more connected. On food security and economic resilience, we reaffirm our commitment to the Vision 2025 by 2025 + 5 initiative to reduce the region's food import bill and strengthen agriculture production. Recognizing that technology will shape our future, we also agreed to establish a regional blue ribbon commission on artificial intelligence to guide the development of policies that will enable the Caribbean to benefit from AI while responsibly managing its risks. We reaffirm our commitment to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and for advocating for the special circumstances for small island developing states. We also agreed to advance a regional insurance strategy to better protect our people, infrastructure, and economy against hurricanes and other natural disasters."
"Guyana's coordinating a ferry, and there are 88 containers going from the majority of CARICOM on that boat that Guyana has coordinated. Barbados through the RSS would have sent in people within 48, 72 hours, I believe, to be able to help with the rescue efforts."
Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Leader of the Opposition, Trinidad and Tobago
"And I don't know if it's something inside your head that's not clicking that we are transforming training, that you can't abuse recruits. You cannot abuse recruits. But it seems like you guys don't like these things that you have on your mind."
New to policing and an architect by training, interim Minister of Home Affairs Julius Espat met today with former police commissioners and commanders to get professional policing input and background. The group included former commissioners Jeffries and Westby as well as Deputy Commissioners Maureen Leslie and Mike Segura.
