La polémica por el nombramiento de Oswin Blease en el comité asesor de la Compañía Nacional de Autobuses sigue creciendo, y ahora surgen más dudas sobre su verdadera relación con la Asociación de Autobuses de Belize. Al ser consultado directamente sobre si Blease es miembro de la BBA, el ministro de Transporte, Dr. Louis Zabaneh, evitó dar una respuesta clara.
Zabaneh aseguró que Blease tiene experiencia en el negocio y ha estado presente en todas las reuniones desde principios de mayo, participando activamente en las discusiones. Según el ministro, su aporte ha sido equilibrado y valioso para el proceso. “El Sr. Blease tiene una amplia experiencia en el negocio. Ha asistido a todas las consultas. Creemos que será clave para aportar esa perspectiva al proceso. Por eso lo elegimos. Supongo que es un operador registrado, y si alegan que todos los operadores son miembros de la BBA, entonces supongo que lo es. El Sr. Blease estuvo presente en todas las reuniones desde principios de mayo, participando activamente y expresando sus opiniones. Sus contribuciones fueron equilibradas, ofreciendo tanto críticas como apoyo al proceso. Estoy seguro de que ejercerá un buen juicio y guía en el proceso”, declaró Zabaneh.
A pesar de sus palabras, la Asociación de Autobuses sostiene que Blease no forma parte de su membresía y cuestiona el verdadero motivo de su inclusión en el comité.
La Asociación de Autobuses de Belize acusa al ministro de Transporte, Dr. Louis Zabaneh, de jugar a la política y marginar su voz en la conformación del nuevo comité asesor de la Compañía Nacional de Autobuses. El conflicto surge por el nombramiento de Oswin Blease, dueño de “Fu We Transport”, como representante de los operadores de autobuses. La Asociación sostiene que Blease no forma parte de sus filas, tiene poca experiencia y está estrechamente vinculado al partido gobernante, lo que despierta dudas sobre el motivo real de su designación.
El ministro Louis Zabaneh respondió que el proceso fue transparente y que la selección de Blease se basó en la participación de operadores que respaldaron esta etapa del proyecto, la cual incluye auditorías realizadas por contadores elegidos por ellos mismos. Explicó que durante los últimos dos meses se sostuvieron conversaciones con los actores involucrados para conformar el comité asesor. En este grupo participan sindicatos representados por la NTUCB, así como el MIDH, el Ministerio de Transformación Económica, el Instituto de Estadística de Belize y la Universidad de Belize.
“Lo que ha ocurrido en las últimas semanas es que hemos tenido a varios operadores de autobuses firmando para esta fase del proceso, que incluye auditorías profesionales realizadas por contadores que ellos mismos eligieron a través de un subcomité. Luego decidimos formar un comité asesor con los mismos actores. Hemos estado conversando durante los últimos dos meses aproximadamente. Ya publicamos la lista de los miembros de ese comité, que incluye sindicatos representados por la NTUCB, miembros de otras entidades gubernamentales útiles como MIDH, el Ministerio de Transformación Económica y el Instituto de Estadística de Belize. Queremos asegurarnos de contar con aportes profesionales y comunicación constante de la UB, que también está en el comité. El Sr. Oswin Blease fue elegido como uno de los operadores que firmaron para representar esa perspectiva en el comité. Luego vimos el comunicado de la BBA cuestionando esa elección. Es una interpretación desafortunada de su parte; no hubo intención de faltarles el respeto”, afirmó Zabaneh.
La Dra. Laura Friesen, Oficial Médica del Ministerio de Salud y Bienestar, advirtió sobre la creciente preocupación por el aumento de casos de dengue en el país, mientras el principal hospital de referencia urge a la población a tomar medidas de inmediato.
Friesen explicó que además del dengue, la región enfrenta un brote de tos ferina que también está siendo monitoreado de cerca. Destacó la importancia de mantenerse seguros, vacunarse cuando sea posible y proteger especialmente a los niños.
“Siempre enfrentamos diferentes enfermedades. Actualmente tenemos un brote de tos ferina en la región y también un incremento de dengue, que es un problema estacional. Estos también están siendo monitoreados. Y como siempre, exhortamos a todos a mantenerse seguros, vacunarse cuando sea posible y así conservar su salud. Así que realmente instamos a las familias a tomar esto en serio y proteger a sus hijos de cualquier riesgo de estas consecuencias”, dijo la Dra. Friesen.
El reciente brote de sarampión en Belize ha sido oficialmente contenido, según confirmó el Ministerio de Salud y Bienestar. La autoridad de salud explicó que ya se han cumplido dos ciclos completos de incubación sin que se registre ningún caso nuevo.
La Dra. Laura Friesen, Oficial Médica del Ministerio de Salud y Bienestar, explicó que este logro fue posible gracias al esfuerzo coordinado de las autoridades de salud pública, los trabajadores sanitarios y las comunidades afectadas.
“Este éxito fue, por supuesto, resultado del incansable trabajo de las autoridades de salud pública, los trabajadores sanitarios en el terreno y las propias comunidades afectadas. La estrategia fue multifacética, incorporando varios componentes críticos. Primero, la comunicación jugó un papel vital: educar al público sobre la situación, guiarlos sobre medidas de protección y aconsejarles qué hacer si enfermaban. Segundo, las campañas de vacunación fueron centrales en la estrategia, ya que la inmunización sigue siendo la forma más efectiva de prevenir el sarampión. La vacuna no solo es altamente segura, sino también extremadamente efectiva, por lo que la vacunación masiva fue una prioridad. Además, se desplegaron equipos de vigilancia para monitorear e investigar casos de fiebre y erupciones, asegurando la identificación temprana y el manejo adecuado de infecciones confirmadas. En resumen, nuestro enfoque fue una estrategia multidimensional”, detalló Friesen.
Belize and the United States have signed a memorandum of cooperation to enhance border security and public safety through the exchange of information.
The agreement was signed in Washington by Belize’s Foreign Minister, Francis Fonseca, and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem.
The U.S. Embassy in Belize said on social media, “The memo lays groundwork for a Biometric Data Sharing Partnership to help Belize develop new border management tools to combat illegal immigration and transnational criminal organisations.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade confirmed the signing on X, noting that the agreement focuses on strengthening information sharing between the two countries.
The partnership comes as Belize prepares to roll out a national ID system that will use biometric technology. Jose Urbina, CEO in the Ministry of E-Governance, told News 5 it will not immediately replace existing IDs such as social security cards, driver’s licences, or voter IDs, but the long-term aim is to streamline identification and security. The aim is for the national ID to eventually replace all IDs.
Urbina reassured that the system will be built with strong safeguards. “It’s not something that’s being prepared loosely,” he said. “We are ensuring that all the security layers are in place to protect the transmission of the information and also to safeguard the database.”
Scientists investigating crocodile health in the New River Lagoon say the animals are showing alarming signs of decline linked to pollution. A team from Rio Bravo observed crocodiles suffering from emaciation, necrotic tissue, skin discolouration, fungal infections and acute damage.
“Some were unable to heal even minor wounds, clear signs of possible immune system dysfunction,” the Crocodile Research Coalition reported. Blood samples were collected to study immunological markers and determine the impact of waterborne pollutants.
The team says the likely culprits include agricultural runoff, heavy metals, and chemical pesticides such as Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE).
Researchers also found a reduction in phallus size in several crocodiles, which is the intromittent reproductive organ normally concealed within the cloaca and only everted during mating. According to the team, this finding suggests “endocrine disruption caused by long-term chemical exposure.”
As apex predators, crocodiles are considered key indicators of environmental health. “Their decline signals a broader environmental crisis,” the team warned. “This is an urgent issue that needs attention, not just for the sake of the crocodiles, but for the health of the entire watershed.”
Belize’s Ministry of Health and Wellness has added the rotavirus vaccine to the National Vaccination Schedule to combat diarrhoeal disease in children under five.
The vaccine is administered orally in three doses at two, four, and six months of age. It is now available at all public health centres and through MoHW mobile clinics.
“While the need for rigid and frequent hand hygiene practice is important, vaccination remains the most effective defence against rotavirus,” the MoHW stated.
Rotavirus is the leading cause of acute diarrhoea in children globally. Symptoms include diarrhoea, vomiting, and severe dehydration. The virus spreads through the faecal–oral route and is highly contagious via contaminated hands, surfaces, and materials.
Severe cases of rotavirus are more common in developing countries. Most Central American nations, including Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, introduced the vaccine years ago. Until now, Belize had not.
We begin tonight with heartbreaking news out of Bella Vista Village in the Toledo District. A family is grappling with unimaginable loss after two young sisters, just seven and eight years old, tragically drowned in an open septic pit on a private property. Angie and Laury Pimentel were sent on a simple errand to their grandmother’s house, but they never made it. What followed was a frantic search that ended in devastation. News Five’s Tanya Arceo traveled south this morning and brings the following story.
Tanya Arceo, Reporting
It was just after four o’clock on Monday afternoon when tragedy struck in Bella Vista Village. Seven-year-old Laury and eight-year-old Angie Pimentel were sent on a quick errand to their grandmother’s house nearby, but they never made it back. As minutes turned into panic, their mother, Delmy Argueta, began searching. What she found was every parent’s worst nightmare, her daughters had drowned in an open septic pit.
Delmy Argueta
Delmy Argueta, Mother of Drowning Victims
“I sent them on an errand to my mother’s house, but they didn’t go there. Instead, they went to the pit and hid their bicycles. One of them took off her clothes, perhaps to take a bath in secret. I don’t know what happened to the other one, but when my mother found the bicycles, she called me. I went and jumped into the pool and pulled out the first one, and then I found the other one. After about half an hour, when they hadn’t come back, I sent someone to look for them and called my mom to see if they had arrived there, and she told me she hadn’t seen them. They went out to look at the house that was being built and found the bicycles hidden inside. They found the youngest girl’s clothes”.
The girls were supposed to be heading to their grandmother’s house, but they never made it inside. Instead, they wandered near a construction site, where an open septic pit sat uncovered. Their grandmother, Ligia Contreras, knew something was wrong when she spotted one of the girls’ slippers nearby. Her heart sank and her worst fears were confirmed.
Ligia Contreras
Ligia Contreras, Grandmother of Drowning Victims
“I found a stick, I stuck it in, I felt there was something there, and I called out to her to hurry up because they had fallen into the well. When I saw that the bicycles were inside that house, I saw her slippers and her little clothes, so I quickly grabbed the stick and stuck it where I stuck it. I felt there was something inside.”
We spoke with the girls’ father at the cemetery. He is still trying to come to terms with the unimaginable loss. He says this tragedy should be a wake-up call. More needs to be done to prevent accidents like this, and he’s urging property owners to take responsibility when digging dangerous pits. Leaving them uncovered, he says, is a risk no family should have to face.
Selvin Pimentel
Selvin Pimentel, Father of Drowning Victims
“I have something to say. When we have a construction project, please, as I tell many people, even if an old man is drunk when he opens his pit, he closes it with anything. Other people just open the pits and leave them there.” 0When my wife called me while I was working, she said, “Selvin, something terrible has happened.” “What happened?” I asked. “Angie and Laury drowned,” she said. “Don’t joke like that,” I told her. A little while ago the property owner where the pit is left me four bars of steel. I told him I didn’t need them. Do you think four bars are worth your daughters’ lives? Of course not.”
We attempted to contact the owners of the property but were not successful. Tanya Arceo for News Five.
Another member of the Espat family is behind bars tonight and this time, it’s twenty-eight-year-old Karim Nazim Espat, who’s been remanded to the Belize Central Prison after being accused of gang involvement. Espat, along with twenty-seven-year-old Bryan Anthony Correa, both from the DFC area of San Pedro, was brought to the Belize City Magistrate’s Court this afternoon to face a single charge each of being a member of a gang. They appeared before Magistrate Ludlow Black just after two p.m., and while both men pleaded not guilty, the charge falls under Section Sixteen of the Crime Control and Criminal Justice Act, which means the magistrate couldn’t offer bail. They’ll have to apply to the High Court if they want a shot at release. Espat was represented by attorney David McKoy, who raised concerns about how his client was treated while in police custody. McKoy told the court that Espat was allegedly denied food while detained in San Pedro, even when his family brought meals for him. Both men are due back in court on September eighteenth in San Pedro. And this isn’t an isolated case. Just yesterday, two other island residents, Alexander and Mark Anthony Logan, were also charged with gang membership. Like Espat and Correa, they pleaded not guilty and are expected back in court on September twenty-fourth.
The Belizean Bus Association is calling out Minister of Transport, Doctor Louis Zabaneh, accusing him of playing politics and acting in bad faith. At the heart of the controversy is the newly formed pro temp advisory committee for the National Bus Company. One of its members, Oswin Blease, owner of Fu We Transport, was appointed to represent bus operators. Here’s where things get interesting: the BBA says Blease isn’t one of them. In fact, they claim he’s a newcomer with little experience and a strong political affiliation to the ruling party. So, is this a strategic move to sideline the BBA’s voice? We put that question directly to Minister Zabaneh today.
Louis Zabaneh
Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Transport
“What happened in the past couple of weeks is that we have been getting quite a number of bus operators coming in to sign on to this phase of the process that will see their operations audited by professional auditors they chose from a subcommittee. We then decide we will form an advisory committee of the same stakeholders we have been talking with over the past two months or so. We have already published the list of the members of that committee that would include the unions represented by the NTUCB, membership from other government entities that will be helpful like MIDH, Ministry of Economic Transformation, the statistical institute of Belize. We want to make sure we have quite a bit of professional input and continued communication from UB as well, who were on that committee. Mr. Oswin Blease was chosen as one of the members of the operators who signed on to be the person with that perspective of the operators on the committee. Then we saw this press release from the BBA with respect to that choice. So that is an unfortunate interpretation from their end. It was not with the intent to disrespect them in anyway.”
