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Tonight, three withering weeks and a few days after the Minister filed a cyber-bullying complaint against an opposition figure, the Minister has been benched from Cabinet.
The Prime Minister's Office today confirmed that the Minister has gone on Cabinet leave and the high-stakes Ministry of Home Affairs now goes to the New Minister. This comes after damning leaks revealed that the Minister's family businesses systematically profited from government spending through a series of sub-$10,000 payments during his ministerial tenure.
The Reporter looks at the events that led to the major cabinet shift:
It all began to unravel for Oscar Mira on Saturday May 30, when police went to Alberto August's home in Santa Elena to arrest him. He was detained for over 24 hours and then charged for "using a computer system to disseminate a false statement" - namely a Facebook post mocking Mira. The police minister had made a complaint the day before - claiming that August had cyber-bullied him.
His fellow UDP and former Mira rival, John Saldivar came out of what he called a political slumber to call on public officers to leak material about Mira family dealings with government and they did.
An avalanche of smart stream screenshots revealing a continuous conveyor belt of payments to Mira Family companies for food items, with all the invoices all methodically kept under the $10,000 reporting threshold.
Mira denied any wrongdoing:
June 17, 2026
Oscar Mira, Minister of Home Affairs "I sit on no procurement committee."
"I had no say, I had no influence and I have never in my ministry or any other Ministry tired to influence the position of that committee."
Reporter "How is it that so many of your fmaily members are able to to benefit form lucrative government contracts?"
Oscar Mira, Minister of Home Affairs "Tenders are published in the newspaper. Any interested person can apply and pay for that tender."
"I had no say, I was not part of those committees. If they did so then they did on their own, not with my influence or with anything to do with me."
But the patterns were striking and so was the vastness of the enterprise: Jenny Mira Fruits and Veggies, Stanley and Brian Mira's MP Farms, then Stanely Mira in his own right.
And the correlation has to be made, MP farms for example did the most robust business with government when Mira was full Minister of Defence in 2025.
On Thursday, after returning from 12 days of leave - the PM said he had called for an immediate audit:
John Briceno, Prime Minister "Well, the first thing is that, today I am speaking with the Financial Secretary, for him to to ask the Auditor General to, to go and to do an audit into that period in question."
Jules Vasquez "From a political perspective, though, the PUP is hemorrhaging because this is seen as a family enterprise eating off the government."
"Do you think that maybe Mr Mira has to be moved from that ministry, or put on suspension."
John Briceno, Prime Minister "So, it is, this is before I can say mek we take a look at the report. And then I think I'd be in a better position to decide what would be the next step."
But, he couldn't wait - the revelations on 7news kept coming and coming, the pressure mounting - and the PM acted today: he put Mira on leave, and handed his hot button portfolio over to Julius Espat.
After we broke the news, a release this afternoon confirmed:
"Recent media reports have raised questions about procurement processes relating to Hon. Oscar Mira during a period when he served at the Ministry of Defence.
Hon. Mira has requested that the Prime Minister, in the circumstances, relieve him of his official Cabinet duties for the period during which an audit of those procurement processes is to be conducted by the Auditor General. The duration of the audit is expected to be three months.
"It is important for the public to know that concerns regarding Ministerial conduct are taken seriously," said Prime Minister Briceno. "Our duty is to secure value for taxpayer dollars as well as compliance with procurement regulations."
The be clear, the leave is enforced, not voluntary - Andre Perez was put on the same and came back from it in 8 months when an allegation of sexual harassment against him emerged. Whether Mira can re-emerge from the rubble remains to be seen, as mounting allegations of family enrichment threaten to bury him.
And the man who now has to pick up the pieces is the New Minister, who is presently the Minister of Infrastructure Development, Housing, and Home Affairs.
It's an odd combination-a mix of ministries that hasn't been tried before. But today, the New Minister told us he couldn't say no when he got the call from the PM. That then raises the question: Was the New Minister only chosen because no one else could - or wanted to - do the job?
Here's what he told us.
Julius Espat, Minister of Home Affairs "He explained that he needed my assistance and cooperation he went through details and there was no way I could say no."
"We are in the arena, we made a decision and commitment to serve and that comes with positive and that comes with negative and if the leader of the country and the leader of the party believes that he needs assistance then we are team players. And therefore there is no way we can say no, well we can say no but I didn't."
"I think what's lacking in our society is discipline and equitable distribution of funds. I fundamentally believe in that and if we can address that and convince Cabinet that that's the way to go instead of putting on military uniforms and walking down the streets with AK47s and M16s, I've always said it, I don't believe that the military should be police men."
"The hard line approach, I don't think we're ready for that, we've tried it and it works for a couple months, sometimes a couple weeks and then it goes back, it's like elastic."
Jules Vasquez: "Are you prepared to work with Dr Rosado who is the current commissioner of police?"
Julius Espat, Minister of Home Affairs "I have been in contact with him in the past, he seems to be a fair person, I have not met him personally, we've never had a long conversation, but it is my responsible to sit with everybody."
"It's not something I wanted, it's not something I dreamt of but I'm a team player and like if you're in the World Cup and the coach asks you to go in and you're a member of the team, what will you do? Not go in because they're beating you up 10-nil? You have to participate. If I would not participate then it would be a disservice to the government and to the party. It's not something I dreamt of, it's the last ministry that anybody would want."
But what does the New Minister think of the allegations of nepotism and family enrichment leveled against his party colleague?
He acknowledged that the optics aren't good and said that if there is something corrupt that needs to be revealed, well, let the audit reveal it in the name of transparency.
Julius Espat, Minister of Home Affairs "What I've seen is what you have put on the TV to be honest, so I haven't really delved into it in detail. I spoke to Minister Mira bout half hour ago and he was in fairly good spirits and he's responsive to letting the audit do its job and he believes that everything has been done above the board. I don't have much more to say to him except to tell him he's a colleague of mine and I hope that he can do the best to participate in the audit and to make sure that his name is cleared, that's all you can hope for. But as I told you the last time, we will get more information tomorrow and we will see how to move from there. The optics is a difficult one to justify no doubt, you've been pretty good at zooming into the details so if the information is there then what can one do? It's best to have the authorities deal with it if it has to be done that way."
Jules Vasquez: "But as a champion of probity in public life what you saw those hundreds of payments all hugging the threshold, it had to make your brown eyes blue."
Julius Espat, Minister of Home Affairs "I don't think that was necessary meaning that I saw some that were done under contracts and it went through so I saw where the need was but the optics of the nepotism is what you see, what everybody sees apart from the way it was done, the end result is the same, family members benefitting so people will look at it in a different way but there's no way to try and justify it, that's why I said you can't put it under the rug, let's look at it, let's analyze and let's be transparent about it. I think you have dug up enough to have the transparency be there."
And while he's not the first politician to serve as police minister without a law enforcement background, he is the first professional architect to hold the blueprint for national security. While drawing up law enforcement strategy is a far cry from designing buildings, the New Minister insists the core function is exactly the same: strict project management.
Jules Vasquez "It's not that police officers become ministers of national security or home affairs, as the case is, but you will be the first architect for sure to be the minister of home affairs. You know, you deal with physical structures. You said you're a project manager, but policing, as you know, is a mix of social science, behavioral science, sociology, all these things that socioeconomics as well, all these things that are, some would say, completely foreign to you. You're a man who works with drawings and structures."
Julius Espat, Minister of Home Affairs "That's part of the training, yes. But also part of the training is planning. I don't mean by design planning, but planning in general, where you sit with team players."
"And that is applicable to any opportunity that one has to manage. You have to understand the scenario. You have to understand what you've said, the socio-economic factor. You have to understand the policing factor."
"But as a manager, you rely on experience and you rely on people that know. At no point in time will I tell you that I know, but I know how to work with people. I know how to hopefully bring out the best out of people. Hopefully."
And one of the major pressures on the PM to remove the Minister was the financial system leaks - which reveal a troubling pattern of payouts from the Minister's Ministry of Defence to businesses owned by his family members.
This weekend we took a closer look at the latest tranche of financial system leaks. The Reporter reports:
Friday's data dump of 56 Smart Stream screenshots show what are believed to be almost all the payments made by the Government of Belize to the Mira family owned MP Farms between September 23, 2024 and June 8, 2026.
It's a total of 601 leaked transactions totaling $5,678,743.08 in revenue to MP Farms.
They show that year-on-year growth in revenue from sales to the government between fiscal years 2023-2024 and 2025 to 2026 was a solid 8%. But in the 2025 to 2026 fiscal year, it exploded, zooming up from just over $1 million to $3.28 million, a growth of 311%.
It is notable that the peak months for Ministry of Defence purchases from MP Farms occurred when Oscar Mira was the full Minister of Defence-May and September of 2025 - months when MP Farms was paid out more than $1.5 million.
Of the 601 invoices we reviewed - 591 were payments form Mira's Ministry of Defence to MP Farms for a total of 5.5 million dollars while the other 10 were for the Prime Minister's office
For the Ministry of Defence, 589 of those 591 payments were under the $10,000 reporting threshold, while for the PM office all 10 were above that threshold.
And most of those MOD invoices - 449 of them - were for between $9,000 and $9,999. In just 21 months, $4.3 million was paid out just in that band.
We also saw that one sequence of 8 invoices was used twice - in 2025 and 2026-but for different figures.
The Village witnessed a most heinous act on Saturday when a gunman targeted a pregnant woman in a fatal shooting. The 23-year-old Victim was with her mother, waiting for a bus to take them home to their town when she was shot multiple times, killing her and her unborn child. Two lives taken in an instant - one before it could even start - and this devastated family is asking why and demanding answers.
But was the Victim's murder revenge for her brother's alleged crimes? Back in January, a Police Officer relative was charged for the murder of a teenager which happened on the island. And the Victim's family house had been previously targeted. Now that he's in prison, did his sister become the target?
The Reporter went to her home and has this story.
23 year old Jane Urbina was set to give birth in about 2 months and was more than ready to meet her baby. But her journey to motherhood ended before it could really begin, since on Saturday, both she and her baby were killed.
At 3:55 Urbina was at this bus stop in Hattieville after visiting her brother in prison. And while her family may have had some trouble with the law, by her relatives' accounts, Urbina was innocent. That's why her cousin couldn't believe it when she got the news.
Voice of: Cousin of Deceased "Saturday my aunty called me and told me that they killed my cousin Jane. I don't know why they would do that to her, she hasn't done anybody anything. She went with her mom to visit her brother in prison. And when they told me that, I couldn't believe it, I thought my aunt was playing with me when she tell me they hurt my cousin. Why? Why would they hurt her for, she hasn't done anybody anything, she was pregnant, she was just joyful to have her kid. All we want please just give us justice at least for my cousin."
And she's begging for justice for Urbina since she said that the family hasn't received it for the murders of two other family members, including Urbina's grandmother, Miriam Castellanos.
Voice of: Cousin of Deceased "I guess in 2016 or 2015 or more back, they killed my cousin, we don't have any justice in this family, the same thing with my aunty Miriam, they just killed her, a cold blooded murder. My cousin's mom, she just grieved last year, now she has to grieve again for her daughter, the apple of her eye because she help her mom through everything. When her mom has sugar, bad sugar and lie in that bed, it's Jane who is there for her. Jane help her mom with everything, I don't know why they have to take away my cousin and kill her like that. And hurt that little baby so bad."
And aside from these two incidents, another of their relatives' had his house shot at after receiving threats.
But while it is an unspeakable act to target a pregnant woman and her unborn child, Urbina's cousin said that before the murder, she was also being threatened.
Courtney Menzies: "When Lionel's house got shot up, he was receiving threats, was Ms Jane receiving any threats?"
Voice of: Cousin of Deceased "Yes she was, on her phone. Sometimes they go to visit me and she was receiving threats on her phone but she doesn't have anything, she's innocent so she told the guy I don't have anything to do with this so she just, they don't report it, the police don't do anything, I'm not sure if they reported it but I saw the police didn't do anything about it, they just based on what my cousin did. He was an officer, he was helping the other guy that they were chancing and for some reason that got out of hand and now he's the bad person for being an officer for helping the community."
And now while this family grieves yet another time, they're demanding more from the police.
Voice of: Cousin of Deceased "From those things happened the police should have done their job and let us feel safe around this neighborhood, they don't do patrols here, maybe they said they would do it one or two times after that they just forget about this family."
"A little justice at least for the family to feel at ease, you know, don't make this go like that, it's unfair for them to just take away her life and leave it just like that."
"Jane was a loving girl, always happy, and smiling, I can't [crying]."
"It would have been her first baby, she was so happy about this baby. She told me, I can't wait to meet my baby."
And she would have met her baby in September, but now this family will have to lay both mother and child to rest.
Today, police announced they are searching for two suspects and investigating multiple motives, including retaliation. Here's what the Assistant Commissioner told us.
ACP Hilberto Romero, HNCIB "One of them came off the motorcycle, approached her, and fired several shots towards her direction, causing her fatal injuries. The motorcycle went towards Beli City. Thereafter, it was followed by a vehicle that was passing in the area."
"And the motorcycle was run off the road about a quarter mile away from the scene, where the motorcycle was abandoned, two male persons, and run into the bushes. Several searches were done, but they were not found."
Jules Vasquez "Do you all have any motive?"
ACP Hilberto Romero, HNCIB "We have several theories, and we continue to follow those."
Jules Vasquez "Now, we know that her brother is a police officer charged for the murder of Kevin DePaz on Caye Calker. Is this related to that murder?"
ACP Hilberto Romero, HNCIB "That is one of the angles we are following up at this time. We are interviewing persons, and that along with another angle, we are following up on."
Jules Vasquez "And so, but from what you all have been able to determine, was it a targeted attack on this individual?"
ACP Hilberto Romero, HNCIB "Yes, we have information it was a targeted attack. She was there and the gunman approached her and fired the shots towards her."
Jules Vasquez "We remember that I believe it was that same police officer who was shot at at his home in Santa Elena sometime after that Caye Caulker incident happened."
"Are you able to speak on that? Is it related?"
ACP Hilberto Romero, HNCIB "The person that was shot at the time is from Hattieville. And so, yes, we are following up on that likewise because he has family members in Hattieville."
Jules Vasquez "Might this have been a retaliation for that?"
ACP Hilberto Romero, HNCIB "Again, like I mentioned previously, we are following up on that angle and we are doing several interviews with persons connected to that case."
A police officer and a former soldier were hospitalized following a violent, armed altercation in the Village.
An argument reportedly broke out between the 38-year-old Police Officer and the ex-soldier.
The Police Spokesperson provided details on the incident today.
ACP Hilberto Romero, HNCIB "Last night around 12:30am police responded to a shooting incident in Lemonal village. Upon arrival, they learned a male person had been shot. He was identified as Pharon Muslar, a police officer. He received several gunshot injuries, he was taken for treatment at the KHMH. Information is that Muslar was at a repass along with another male person, Alexander Reynolds, a BDF solider when they got into an argument. Information is that Muslar chopped Reynolds to the head and then Reynolds pulled out his firearm and shot him, they are both at the KHMH receiving treatment, they are both in stable condition, a through investigation carried out to determine charges."
"Yes the information is that they were drinking at the time. We do not have any information that this is related to any previous incident; we have no reports regarding them this just occurred last night."
The ex-soldier was released from the hospital this morning and handed over to police while they continue their investigations. The Police Officer is said to have suffered gunshot injuries to his left chest and left shoulder area. No formal charges have been filed yet.
A fatal collision between 2 motorcycles in the District resulted in the death of one of the drivers. The Police Spokesperson gave us more details:
ACP Hilberto Romero, HNCIB "On Saturday there was a fatal RTA in the Cayo district, police responded to an area on the Cristo Rey road, upon the arrival they saw two motorcycles that had been damaged."
"Found at the scene were 3 persons Aurelio Bonell, Kevin Miranda and Cristaly Miranda information is that the motorcycles were traveling in the opposite direction when they collided and as a result Aurelio Bonell succumbed to his injuries an investigation is being carried out and thereafter will determine if any charges are to be levied."
Today the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples' Affairs brought together several parties that would be affected by the implementation of the 2015 Court Consent Order. This included local environmental groups, the Land and Lease Owners, and Non-Indigenous villages. However, notably the Indigenous Leaders Association and the local Alcaldes Association were absent - possibly boycotting the meeting. We asked the Minister about it.
Dr Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Indigenous Peoples' Affairs "We certainly would have wanted them to be here, it would have been a great opportunity for them to share in fact what they really believe in and how that whole process unfolded up to the point of the consent order in 2015. They have their own reasons where recently they sent a letter to the CCJ for further clarifications because they don't feel like things are going how they expect them to go."
"Each of the various stakeholders have made clear their perspectives, our council from our ministry represented the government's perspective, we had someone from the Big Falls Village who spoke about why it is they as a village are not interested in being a part of communal land rights. We also had a representative of 3 non-Maya communities who also explained why it is that they need their voices heard and how it is that some of the actions taken so far may be adversely affected their wellbeing, their livelihoods. We also heard from the Toledo Private and Leader Owners Limited, they're also stating that they feel the draft legislation does not address their interest properly, questions for example where will the funds come from to compensate them if their land titles are extinguished and we also heard from SATIIM where they themselves expressed their feelings that the draft legislation was prepared without consultations with them and that they feel their voices need to be heard before such a draft legislation would have been put together."
Oscar Requena, Area Rep., Toledo "It is very heartwarming to hear the presentations by the various panelists, their perspectives I think that that is very important, that we get an opportunity to hear from them their perspectives and they're also making recommendations and suggestions to government, they have certain concerns and as a government it is important we listen to everybody including the appellants but also the interested parties."
This is just the start of the educational campaign and according to the minister there will be more sessions.
As we reported earlier, the Prime Minister has sidelined the Minister for a three-month leave of absence following a string of revelations involving government contracts awarded to his family's businesses.
But the political controversy surrounding the multi-million dollar financial system leak hasn't cooled down. Tonight, both the National Union movement and the Opposition Party rejected the government's temporary compromise, calling a 'leave of absence' a shallow substitute for genuine accountability.
First out the gate was the National Trade Union Congress, which fired off an urgent demand for the Minister's total resignation or immediate termination from Cabinet. Hours later, the Opposition United Party joined the chorus and declared that 'administrative leave is not accountability'.
The Union also calls for a complete dismantling of the CEO model, reverting back to the traditional, merit-based Permanent Secretary system to reduce political interference.
High-level officials met with representatives from the neighboring Federal Government to discuss planning several initiatives for investment promotion, trade, and other economic development through its signed memorandum of understanding. These discussions involved the progress of expanding the neighboring country's Regional Train Project into the country, which would ultimately provide them with an opportunity to connect to the regional market. Here's what that meeting looked like from the neighboring country's standpoint. Their Coordinator provided more details.
Artemio Sanchez, Coordinator, Proyectos Emblematicos, Q Roo "This is the sixth decision they've made in trying to reach an agreement, and the first phase is to establish a training memorandum between the two parties: the state of Quintana Roo and the government of Belize, with the support and supervision of the federal government through the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We are now close to achieving this first phase, where we will specifically identify what we are seeking with this meeting and this memorandum. Now we must move on to the next step, which is how we can achieve this. This involves a very important task that will take time, but we are confident that, given the knowledge of the Belizean authorities, who have a clear understanding of the CARICOM market and Mexico's potential to supply it, and on our side, knowing all the facilities offered by the federal and state governments to be an open economy, a platform for the production and marketing of Mexican products to the CARICOM market, we can succeed."
It's called the Super Nationals 2026 and the National Sports Council is calling it the premier national youth sporting event, a first of its kind for young athletes to showcase their skills against the best in their peer groups from other parts of the country.
And today saw the first round of games between primary school students from across all districts. The Reporter stopped by at the event and here's her report.
The games close tomorrow afternoon. The venues are the local stadiums, complex halls, and sporting facilities.
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Tonight, three withering weeks and a few days after the Minister filed a cyber-bullying complaint against an opposition figure, the Minister has been benched from Cabinet.
"Well, the first thing is that, today I am speaking with the Financial Secretary, for him to to ask the Auditor General to, to go and to do an audit into that period in question."
"He explained that he needed my assistance and cooperation he went through details and there was no way I could say no."
And one of the major pressures on the PM to remove the Minister was the financial system leaks - which reveal a troubling pattern of payouts from the Minister's Ministry of Defence to businesses owned by his family members.
The Village witnessed a most heinous act on Saturday when a gunman targeted a pregnant woman in a fatal shooting. The 23-year-old Victim was with her mother, waiting for a bus to take them home to their town when she was shot multiple times, killing her and her unborn child. Two lives taken in an instant - one before it could even start - and this devastated family is asking why and demanding answers.
"One of them came off the motorcycle, approached her, and fired several shots towards her direction, causing her fatal injuries. The motorcycle went towards Beli City. Thereafter, it was followed by a vehicle that was passing in the area."
A police officer and a former soldier were hospitalized following a violent, armed altercation in the Village.
A fatal collision between 2 motorcycles in the District resulted in the death of one of the drivers. The Police Spokesperson gave us more details:
Today the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples' Affairs brought together several parties that would be affected by the implementation of the 2015 Court Consent Order. This included local environmental groups, the Land and Lease Owners, and Non-Indigenous villages. However, notably the Indigenous Leaders Association and the local Alcaldes Association were absent - possibly boycotting the meeting. We asked the Minister about it.
"We certainly would have wanted them to be here, it would have been a great opportunity for them to share in fact what they really believe in and how that whole process unfolded up to the point of the consent order in 2015. They have their own reasons where recently they sent a letter to the CCJ for further clarifications because they don't feel like things are going how they expect them to go."
Oscar Requena, Area Rep., Toledo 
As we reported earlier, the Prime Minister has sidelined the Minister for a three-month leave of absence following a string of revelations involving government contracts awarded to his family's businesses.
High-level officials met with representatives from the neighboring Federal Government to discuss planning several initiatives for investment promotion, trade, and other economic development through its signed memorandum of understanding. These discussions involved the progress of expanding the neighboring country's Regional Train Project into the country, which would ultimately provide them with an opportunity to connect to the regional market. Here's what that meeting looked like from the neighboring country's standpoint. Their Coordinator provided more details.
"This is the sixth decision they've made in trying to reach an agreement, and the first phase is to establish a training memorandum between the two parties: the state of Quintana Roo and the government of Belize, with the support and supervision of the federal government through the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We are now close to achieving this first phase, where we will specifically identify what we are seeking with this meeting and this memorandum. Now we must move on to the next step, which is how we can achieve this. This involves a very important task that will take time, but we are confident that, given the knowledge of the Belizean authorities, who have a clear understanding of the CARICOM market and Mexico's potential to supply it, and on our side, knowing all the facilities offered by the federal and state governments to be an open economy, a platform for the production and marketing of Mexican products to the CARICOM market, we can succeed."
