This morning, the Caribbean Court of Justice held its latest monitoring hearing on the implementation of the Maya Land Rights Consent Order. In April 2015, the Maya Leaders Alliance and the Government of Belize entered a consent order in which G.O.B. agreed to develop a mechanism to recognize the land rights of the indigenous Maya people, among other things. The last monitoring hearing was held in October 2023. Parties in the matter are required to provide updates to the court prior to these hearings. In today’s session, C.C.J. judges noted that the recent reports are the most positive they have received since the start of these hearings. There is, however, one matter of concern that was raised by the government’s lead attorney, Senior Counsel Andrew Marshelleck. He told the court that certain Maya villages are distributing homemade land titles to residents. Marshalleck called on the court to put a stop to this exercise.
Andrew Marshalleck, Lead Government Attorney
“Over the period, some concerns, and we raised it in the report, is the discovery by the government that some villages have been issuing out what we call homemade titles to land. We think that has the potential of derailing the process and we will ask for restraint in that kind of activity. You will notice that paperwork being distributed a logo, the coat of arms along with others gives the impression that this is some formal document, a formal title from the state and I am sure it can lead to unrealistic expectations. It might well be some of these things that fuel strong objections to the policy. We are asking for restraint in these activities on the part of the respondent.”
Justice Adrian Saunders, President, Caribbean Court of Justice
“Were there discussions between the parties about the dissemination of the homemade tittle?”
Andrew Marshalleck
“No it was not raised at the meeting, it was not dealt with at the meeting. We just raised it. It has been in the compliance reports that we are aware and to the fairness of the respondents I don’t think it is all the respondents that are engaged in this activity. As far as we are aware it is maybe two but we don’t have all the information or fully apprised to the extent of what has been happening in this regard. But instead of being confrontational I am asking for restrain in these types of things, that this won’t help us along even if only from a political perspective.”
In response to Senior Counsel Marshalleck’s concern, Leslie Mendez, attorney for the Maya Leaders Alliance, told the court that her clients are open to organizing a meeting with government and those villages engaged in the distribution of homemade land titles. Mendez contended that these communities are well within their right to distribute residential lots and that the certificates are simply being used to formalize that process.
Leslie Mendez, Attorney for Maya Leaders Alliance
“As it concerns the home titles, we from our perspective we would definitely be open to supporting a meeting between the government and the village or villages that are participating in this. But I would make two observations, but I can only assume, but I believe that the Belizean logo with the coat of arms that my learned senior referred to I believe it is in fact being used in response to the sensitivity which the community would have with regards to the accusations of balkanization. I have seen it used very much, the organization also uses it, but the idea is certainly to ensure that what is being communicated is that this remains Belize and we remain under the jurisdiction of Belize. It is not intended to be any misrepresentation of your honor, so I would just make that observation. And the second observation that I would make is that the communities would have the right to distribute residential lots at this time and they have been distributing residential lots. These certificates are simply to try to formalize that process and give it some formality.”
Justice Winston Anderson, President, Caribbean Court of Justice
“Because there is a connection between that activity and the delimitation exercise. And, as I understand it, last I was reading the report sent in, there is still some disagreement with that process. We seem to have moved away from the delimitation and moved to some circular scheme.”
A deadline of October 2025 has been set for the passage of Maya land rights legislation through the National Assembly. The government’s recently proposed draft policy was met with strong objections from Maya communities in the Toledo District. G.O.B. has since returned to the drawing board and has decided to omit the section limiting automatic communal lands to one kilometer from the center of each community. With the amendments, Maya communities will be able to apply for any amount of space. Marshalleck noted that those applications will have to be backed up by some evidence.
Andrew Marshalleck and Justice Anderson
Andrew Marshalleck, Attorney
“That approach ahs been done away with, met with a very strong negative reaction, though conceptually I thought it was not a bad idea given the reactions to it we have rethought it and there will no longer be an use of it.”
Justice Anderson, President, Caribbean Court of Justice
“In its stead you have what?”
Andrew Marshalleck
“You could apply for any space, no automatic recommendation of any space and certain threshold evidence needs to be met to see if the application is to be granted or not and it is setting that threshold requirement that discussion not center, on exactly what it will be.”
Businessman Leon Perez has been acquitted of the murder of Elston Morter. On Independence Day 2021, Morter, a coast guard seaman, was stabbed to death in Hattieville during a misunderstanding in the American Site area of Hattieville. Perez, who maintained his innocence from the beginning, was freed of the charge earlier today in the courtroom of Justice Candace Nanton. During the trial, crown called a witness to the stand who testified that Perez wasn’t the one who inflicted the deadly stab wounds on Morter. According to Perez’s witness, on the day in question, his wife informed him of an altercation taking place outside of their residence. When he went outside to enquire about the altercation, he observed an individual take a knife out of Perez’s pocket, ran behind Morter and proceeded to stab him. Justice Nanton noted that while the court went through the guidelines of Perez’s case, it also considered the case of the crown. After deliberating, Justice Nanton acknowledged that a case was indeed made out by the crown; however, in her view, there was reasonable doubt put forward by the defense which is why she found Perez not guilty.
Businessman Alvin Godfrey was shot inside his place of business in April 2003, during an attempted robbery. He died several months later. The man who pulled the trigger has remained incarcerated for more than twenty years and on Wednesday, convicted murderer Louis Gillett was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole until he has served twenty-nine years in prison. Justice Nigel Pilgrim considered the sentence and, despite the fact that Gillett has served more than half of the sentence and is eligible for parole, he has shown little reform, having only enrolled in one rehab program since being locked up.
Thirty-two-year-old Emmanuel McFadzean was accused of causing a fire that destroyed three coast guard vessels back in 2022. He was subsequently charged with arson after it was alleged that he was stealing fuel from one of the boats. Today, the former coast guard seaman was acquitted of arson when a jury of nine returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty. Tears of joy ran down McFadzean’s face as he embraced his daughters following the High Court decision. This afternoon, attorney Bryan Neal said there was insufficient evidence to prove his client guilty of the charge that was brought against him.
Bryan Neal
Bryan Neal, Attorney-at-law
“This jury really considered the evidence in this case and returned a not guilty verdict because, simply put, there was no evidence of arson against this coast guard, or former coast guard, because I understand that he was relieved of his position last year.”
Reporter
“So tell us, give us an idea of how the vessels, as said in the evidence, or the alleged evidence against Mr. MacFadzean that the Boston Whaler, valued at over six hundred thousand dollars went up in flames. They alleged that he da di man weh dehn sih di run from it and he was charged for arson. What was actually those evidence to support that the jurors saw…”
Bryan Neal
“If there was any evidence, I didn’t see it, and that was our submission. Mr. Arnold and I represented Mr. McFadzean. There was no evidence that he was stealing gas, there was no evidence that he was lighting fuse, there was no evidence that he was doing anything negligently to cause the fire and the jury considered it. The only evidence came from the fire expert and he conceded quite honorably that the fire was accidental and that nobody could have started the fire. So I think the jury, that weighed heavily on the jury’s mind and they returned, in my mind, the right verdict. Justice has been served.”
An eleven-year-old boy was bitten by a venomous snake earlier this week and his mother is seeking your help to pay the hospital bills. Dorita Caliz told News Five that the eleven-year-old boy, Adrian Cus, went to get the family’s horse from a nearby creek in Silver Creek Village, Toledo when the incident happened. She named the snake as a Fer de Lance, known also as the Tommy Goff, one of Belize’s most venomous snakes. The child was first taken to the PG community hospital but was transferred to the Southern Regional Hospital where he is receiving treatment and is being monitored by specialists. But the time he spends hospitalized is causing financial issues for a family, which is already strapped for cash. So Caliz is hoping that you can assist them.
Via phone: Dorita Caliz
Via phone: Dorita Caliz, Mother of Snake Bite Victim
“He came from school from 3:30, and he reached home and he reached at his auntie’s home, but I wasn’t at home that time. And then I told my sister-in-law to send him to get the horse across the creek. So he went to get the horse across the creek, and then when he was coming back home, right there the snake bite him inside the creek. She took him to the hospital at Punta Gorda and then they sent him here in Dangriga, so he’s in Dangriga Hospital right now. He’s staying in the hospital. I don’t know how long he will stay in the hospital because his foot is still swelling. He has a swelling on his foot and hospital bills – I don’t know how much – and I don’t want to owe the hospital. And then, after that, I don’t know how long he will stay at home because I need to see what I can do after that when he leaves hospital, if the swelling doesn’t come down. I don’t have a job, I just do my little business. I just make coconut oil, yellow ginger to support my kids. That’s what I do with my business, and I have my common-law (husband), he only do farming. He doesn’t go work nowhere. And then we just do that to provide and that’s the only thing we do at home. And they burn my common-law farm and everything is damaged there.”
If you would like to assist the boy with his medical bill, you can contact his mom, Dorita Caliz at six, three, four, seven, four, six, one.
While Adrian Cus might take a while to recover from the snake bite, taking him to the medical clinic was the right thing to do, says Jamal Andrewin-Bohn. Since the child was bitten, quite a few persons have commented that his family should have sought a herbal healer, otherwise known a bush doctor, to treat the snakebite. But Andrewin-Bohn, who is the conservation program manager at the Belize Zoo, told News Five that the best treatment for snake bites is clinical medicine.
Via phone: Jamal Andrewin-Bohn, Conservation Program Manager, the Belize Zoo
“With venomous snake bites, the challenge is that this venom that the snake produces, it’s a naturally occurring compound, they produce it, and really the only cure that there is for a venomous snake bite is derived from the venom itself, it’s the anti-venom which they develop in a lab and everything. They use the same compounds to create the cure. And so to completely cure the body or neutralize the effects of venom, you need anti-venom. The challenge is, in Belize we live in a developing nation where medical facilities might not be close by or the amount of the antivenin that they carry might be limited. But generally what we recommend is the priority is getting any snakebite victim to the closest medical facility so they can start the process of administering the anti-venom. What we have encountered over time, and this is the feedback from medical professionals, nurses, doctors that work in Belize and treat medical cases that deal with venomous snakebites. It’s usually when they get the referral it’s late. It’s very late and the situation is dire. This is when they would oftentimes see fatalities from snakebites, the victim waited too long to receive traditional medicine. They would have relied heavily on herbal remedies, home remedies to treat the symptoms, right? And so we don’t put down, or it’s not to discourage the use of traditional medicine, but it’s to recognize the difference between treating the symptoms and treating the cause. No compound has been universally accepted to, to neutralize venom in the same way that antivenom does. So what you have are a lot of things that might help with the swelling, the pain, and elevated heart rate. We know that there’s things we take when it’s cold or flu season to boost our immune system. So there are things that can help with alleviating the pain and discomfort, but those shouldn’t be relied on as the sole cure. And I think that’s where a lot of the education and sensitization comes when dealing with venomous snakebites. There’s a lot of supportive auxiliary medicine that has to go into that. They have to worry about allergic reactions to the antivenin because it’s ultimately a foreign body and our body will treat it as such. Our body will attack it. So this is why it’s safer to do it in a medical facility because if there’s any allergic reaction, anything like that, they can manage it. And then they will give medication for pain, for swelling, all this stuff that we would try to solve in the home. But the priority is to get the venom under control. Then you could delete the secondary symptoms. We might take something home and that’s We feel better and that, that leaves the pain and that gives the impression that the venom has been dealt with when really it’s just, again, one of the symptoms that has been brought into under control and it gives the false hope that the venom has been neutralized. And so this is the kind of information we put out when we do education and training with respect to snake bites.”
In a world where technology and innovation are rapidly reshaping the landscape of employment and creativity, a new educational model is emerging in classrooms around the globe. STEAM is not just an acronym; it’s a revolution in learning. Tonight’s Belize on Reel feature delves into the vibrant classrooms at Itz’at where STEAM is coming to life, exploring how this interdisciplinary approach is preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s challenges. We’ll uncover the impact of integrating arts into the traditional STEM model, witness the transformation of young minds, and understand why educators and industry leaders alike are championing STEAM as the key to unlocking a brighter, more innovative future for Belize. Here’s News Five’s Isani Cayetano.
Elroy Tucker
Elroy Tucker, Student, Itz’at STEAM Academy
“They had a very interactive approach towards learning because the first thing that they did with us was an activity where we were supposed to collaborate with our teammates in our primary school.”
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
STEAM education prepares students like Elroy Tucker Jr. to tackle real-world challenges by engaging in project-based learning that stimulates actual problems and scenarios they might encounter in their future careers. It’s an approach that piqued his interest from the onset.
Elroy Tucker
“My sister is in St. Catherine Academy which is a traditional school and the rest of my family insisted that I should go to a traditional school until I saw Itz’at STEAM Academy. It was roughly the first school that I actually felt interested in because I knew for a very long period of time that other schools were just a challenge that you get through so that you can get into the workforce.”
As the job market evolves, STEAM education equips students with the skills necessary to succeed in careers that may not even exist yet, ensuring that they are adaptable and ready for the future.
Cristine Coc
Cristine Coc, Vice Principal, Itz’at STEAM Academy
“There needs to be a mindset shift. When you come from traditional schools, you are expected to stand up when the teacher walks in, say good morning, and, you know, write a lot of notes and carry a lot of books. And they come with that expectation. And some of them come with dislike for math, they come with a dislike for science. “I don’t like science, I don’t like math, give me art. I love art.”
By including the arts with STEM, students are encouraged to think creatively and innovatively, combining analytical thinking with resourceful problem-solving. This is necessary for the development of future innovators. At thirteen years old, Tyler Gabourel is already thinking ahead.
Tyler Gabourel
Tyler Gabourel, Student, Itz’at STEAM Academy
“I want to be technological engineer and Itz’at is kind of like the perfect school for that because everything we do is on computers and we learn about the different machines and how to use them and how to use them appropriately and professionally.”
The STEAM approach provides an inclusive educational framework that allows all students, regardless of their natural aptitudes, to engage and contribute, ensuring that each student can find their niche within the curriculum.
Melanie Arias
Melanie Arias, Student, Itz’at STEAM Academy
“The curriculums are different than normal high schools but they are also fun and they show your creative and innovative side.”
It is not just about teaching individual subjects; it’s about preparing students for life, providing them with a versatile skill set that goes beyond traditional academic boundaries and empowers them to become lifelong learners and contributors to Belizean society.
Melanie Arias
“I decided on this because it was a new school and then I read a lot about it and then it was like very… it was a “wow” experience when I started reading about the school.
STEAM education can positively impact cognitive development, increase literacy and math skills, and help students reflect meaningfully on their work and that of their peers.
Jahzhia Morales
Jahzhia Morales, Student, Itz’at STEAM Academy
“So I really like the classroom experience because they make you feel very comfortable and safe where you can share your answers and you don’t feel. Itz’at is more tailored to my future career path that I would like to go. I want to be an architect and in the STEAM school there is science, technology, engineering, arts and math which I would all need for my future career path.”
A holistic learning environment integrates various disciplines, encouraging students to make connections across subjects and apply their knowledge in a comprehensive manner.
Cristine Coc
“When we started, it was myself, Mr. Smith, Ms. Chable, Mr. Palacio and the principal. We did not have this fancy campus, we were in a tiny room and that was where we came together and it came to my knowledge that everybody sitting in that room wanted a different type of schooling. And as one of the administrators, my job was to hear them out. What are your ideas, what are your thoughts? And you know, they would express that and I would say, “Wow, we all have that same vision of what a different school may be.”
If you ask most people which peak is the highest in Belize, you will likely get Victoria Peak as an answer. Doyle’s Delight is, however, the tallest peak in Belize, with an elevation of one thousand, one hundred and twenty-four meters, it is four meters higher than Victoria Peak. And whereas many successful expeditions have been carried out on Victoria Peak over the last decade, the last time a team reached the top of Doyle’s Delight was in 2008. That changed on May tenth, when a team of twenty-two people completed the summit. The crew consisted of seven foreign nationals, eight B.D.F. soldiers, five Santa Cruz and San Jose villagers and two park rangers from Ya’axche Conservation Trust. We spoke with the organizer of this latest expedition, who told us that the grueling journey took the team five days, which is two days less than when it was done sixteen years ago.
Bruno Kuppinger
Bruno Kuppinger, Organizer, Doyle’s Delight Expedition 2024
“We started the planning process in January so it was a long period of time, almost four months to get it off the ground, because safety is an issue, with satellite phones, back up of helicopters, snake bites and especially the lack of water. We knew we had done it before, where the rivers are and creeks but this year it was very challenging because of the drought. They started May fifth that was a Sunday at four o’clock in the morning and they came back safe with climbing the summit, Doyle’s Delight on the seventh and they came back the tenth of May in the morning eight o’clock in San Jose. It was a trek of sixty-three miles but it really is a rough terrain. It is going up and down. And then of course, the rations are a little bit of rice here and there, some of the ramen and cheese and whatever we have and a little bit of corn tortilla the first two days and the rest we would find in the jungle, like the heart of palms and other stuff. My wish for the past fifteen or twenty years, what I have done, I have done Victoria Peak, I have done The Maya Divide Trail, it is a trail from Toledo all the way to Cayo. Las Cuevas, Caracol, that takes eight days. I call it grand slam if you can do all three, Victoria Peak, Doyle’s Delight and the Maya Divide and I believe this is something that will definitely create jobs here for the tour guides, operators and other entities on the ground.”
