Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) has announced scheduled power interruptions across various service areas in response to temporary in-country generation shortages and a reduction in supply from Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) in Mexico.
Over the past few weeks, daily electricity demand has fluctuated between 85 MW and 125 MW, while in-country generation capacity is currently capped at a maximum of 95 MW. This has led to increased reliance on CFE, which typically provides up to 55 MW of capacity to the grid. However, BEL has received communication from CFE indicating challenges in sustaining energy supply to Belize, with potential curtailments expected over the next 48 hours.
To manage these supply shortages, BEL will implement load shedding measures starting at 10:00 a.m. this morning. Initially, areas such as portions of Orange Walk will experience interruptions. In the early afternoon, load shedding will extend to portions of Corozal, San Ignacio, Dangriga, and Independence. This action is necessary to balance the available energy supply effectively.
Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) has provided an update on its efforts to enhance power generation capabilities amid ongoing challenges with supply from Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) in Mexico.
The gas turbine at Westlake on the George Price Highway, a key backup power source for BEL, is currently undergoing upgrades and is temporarily offline. This unit is expected to resume operation early next week. Additionally, BEL is in the process of installing a gas turbine in San Pedro, with completion anticipated by the end of May. These additional generation sources will significantly bolster BEL’s capacity to meet demand over the next year, even in the event of supply curtailments from CFE.
BEL expresses gratitude to its customers for their patience and understanding during this period. The company remains committed to maintaining a safe, reliable, and sustainable energy supply across all service areas nationwide.
The selection of Fritz Bélizaire as Haiti’s new prime minister has caused a rift within the transitional council entrusted with appointing new leaders for the country. Four out of the seven voting council members announced their choice of Bélizaire on Tuesday, surprising many Haitians and revealing an unexpected political alliance.
Now, council members who oppose Bélizaire, a former sports minister during René Préval’s second presidency from 2006 to 2011, are considering their next steps, which may include challenging the decision or resigning from the council.
The transitional council, tasked with preparing for elections and tackling security challenges, announced Edgard Leblanc Fils as its president and proposed Fritz Bélizaire, a former sports minister, as the new interim prime minister.
Established with support from the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), the nine-member council, sworn in at the National Palace last week, includes seven voting members. Its responsibilities include appointing a new prime minister and cabinet.
The council will wield certain presidential powers until a new elected president takes office by February 7, 2026.
Disunity is stirring within the Benque Viejo del Carmen Town Council as Deputy Mayor Jenny Martinez publicly announced her resignation via social media on Tuesday night. Martinez, appointed to the position following the recent municipal elections, attributed her decision to a perceived preference for a male deputy mayor over a female counterpart.
Martinez voiced her concerns, stating, “We women have the capability. Four men voted in favor of appointing a new deputy because they believe women are incapable of holding high government office.”
Despite receiving the second-highest number of votes and officially assuming the role of deputy mayor on March 19th, the council opted to reassess her appointment last month after being informed that the highest vote count does not automatically secure the position.
In a social media video, Martinez conveyed her disagreement with this decision, ultimately leading to her verbal resignation from the role of deputy mayor.
One person lost his life following a vehicular crash on Tuesday afternoon. The victim has been identified as twenty-nine-year-old Marcelino Pop, a delivery man from Belmopan.
According to police, at around 12:30 p.m., officers responded to a traffic accident on St. Mathews Street in the Maya Mopan Area of Belmopan City. They arrived to find a silver Nissan Rogue and a blue Meilun 100cc motorcycle, both damaged.
Investigations revealed that twenty-one-year-old Calvin Martinez was driving the Nissan Rogue on Saint Matthew’s Street. As Martinez approached the corner of St. Jude Street, the motorcycle traveling collided with the left front side of the Nissan Rogue.
The collision caused Pop to be thrown off his motorcycle into the truck’s windshield and then onto the ground. Pop sustained serious head and body injuries and was rushed to the Western Regional Hospital. Unfortunately, he passed away while receiving treatment.
We begin our newscast tonight with an escalation in deadly cartel violence just north of the Belize border with Mexico, in Chetumal, Quintana Roo. The popular Belizean destination has become a warzone for feuding drug gangs that operate in that southern Mexican state. Violent encounters between heavily armed gunmen have prompted the Mexican military to dispatch two hundred members of the Mexican army, air force, and national guard to the Othón Blanco municipality to quell growing insecurity among residents. This follows the murders of a businessman, as well as the head of the Secretariat of Citizen Security, and a minor whose father is a municipal police officer. Authorities have made several arrests and there has also been the kidnapping of a captain of the Mexican Army, who was released hours later. The rash of violence between the cartels has raised serious concerns among Belizeans who travel to neighboring Chetumal. News Five spoke with Oscar Arnold, Belize’s Ambassador to Mexico, about the recent upheaval and his safety advice for Belizeans traveling to Quintana Roo.
Oscar Arnold
Oscar Arnold, Belize’s Ambassador to Mexico
“The official word coming out is that it’s two rivalling groups, two groups who are feuding and as such, the incidences have been targeted to people who supposedly are on a list. The entire Quintana Roo area as is a tourist hotspot, is a tourist destination. It includes everywhere from Calderitas, Bacalar, Xcalak, Tulum, Playa, Cancun. For Mexico, tourism is a $40 billion US a year industry, so it’s not something that they take lightly, and as far back as 2019, the federal government had dispatched national guards. They had dispatched 1500 national guards, so the Cancun and Tulum area to address and arrest the issues that were flaring up there in crime. So we’re seeing it at a smaller scale in Chetumal, and what they’ve been doing is that they’ve sent these National Guard men to try to support and assist and try to quell any further incidences from occurring. As it relates to Belizeans, I believe that the Government of Belize, the Foreign Affairs office as well as the security apparatus in Belize have been monitoring it. There’s been numerous meetings. I’ve been asked to send whatever, intelligence, whatever report that we have on the ground so that they can review it and take a look at it to see if there’s a decision that needs to be taken. I don’t think we are there yet, but Belizeans should observe some caution if they’re traveling across the border. I know that we go there for recreation we go there to shop we go there to visit family members, we go there for medical reasons. But I would advise them to stay on the major roads, don’t travel at night, don’t travel alone. Make sure that you have all your requisite paperwork. If you’re taking a vehicle over their insurance registration, and also to ensure that you check in formally at the immigration checkpoint at the border crossing. We’ve had several instances where Belizeans just drive across and then they run into a roadblock or a checkpoint later on down the road and then they get charged for committing some sort of immigration violation. Belizeans going over to Chetumal should expect to see increased security, increased roadblocks in and around Chetumal.”
On the home front, Belizean authorities met earlier today to discuss citizen and national security in the face of mounting cartel aggression in southern Mexico. With concerns being raised among business owners in the Corozal Free Zone, as well as travelers, and residents near the northern border, the security apparatus came together this morning to discuss a strategy should the violence seep into northern Belize. Commissioner of Police Chester Williams spoke with the media this afternoon.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“I guess by now the information coming out of Chetumal has been widespread within the Belizean population and there is some cause for concern by Belizeans in the event that what is happening there may trickle into Belize. And while we can look at the information coming out of there as reliable, there is also some that is not reliable. We know how your colleagues in the media can be at times, but as the security apparatus of the country it is important that we meet and so we met this morning to discuss our strategy in terms of how we are going to address the issues locally. There is no cause for concern or alarm as there is no information at this time to indicate that any of the players from Chetumal have or is coming into the country. But just as a means of precaution, to give the Belizean people that sense of safety and security, we met to discuss how we’re going to deploy our resources in the northern area and to see how we can reorganize our current northern operations to make sure that we can cover as much ground as we can. Our team, police and BDF, remains extremely vigilant along the irregular border crossing, as well as the regular border crossing. So there is where we are at this time.”
Are the Mexican cartels and their operatives establishing themselves inside the Corozal Free Zone? It’s a question that was put to the Commissioner of Police following dubious reports that individuals believed to have been members of the warring drug gangs are taking hold of the CFZ. Here’s how ComPol Williams responded to that question.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“No. At this time, no. We did have an operation in the Free Zone yesterday where we had seen two vehicles that we were told had been left abandoned and we went to retrieve those vehicles but when we got there the owners came out and the vehicles were checked. They were legitimate vehicles and the owners were also checked out as well, and so those vehicles were released to their respective owners.
Reporter
“There was a report at some point that there was a cartel operative living within the Free Zone. What ever happened with that?”
Chester Williams
“I guess we had done something about that. I personally had put out a notice or a warning in respect of that and that person no longer resides or in any way is around the Free Zone area. He has removed himself from there and so currently there is no information to indicate that any of the bad actors from over on the Mexican side are operating or are living within the Free Zone area.”
Reporter
“So you would not say, then, that the Free Zone is compromised by cartel operatives from Mexico.”
Chester Williams
“At this time, no. The Free Zone is very safe. The security of the Free Zone remains in place and the police go there now and then, we also have a team of police officers who work the Free Zone area and so far all remains in order at the Free Zone.”
The National Agriculture and Trade Show was held this past weekend under the theme, “Integrating Sustainable Food Systems: Mitigating Climate Change, Strengthening Agricultural Resilience”.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security, and Enterprise, this year’s show welcomed and hosted over 41,000 visitors, regional delegates, and guests. In its press release, the ministry said it thanked all those who attended the show as well as the committee members who gave their time and energy to help plan and coordinate this year’s event.
The drawing for the raffle of the 2024 Ford Ranger pickup truck was postponed. The ministry said that “at the time of drawing, the minimum threshold for tickets sold had not been met, hence the decision to postpone was made. Given the concerns of entrants and with consideration for the reputation and brand image of the supporting partners, namely BEC and DigiWallet, the Ministry assures that this was a legitimate undertaking that will proceed and for which there will be a winner. Tickets bought have been secured and will remain valid. Ticket sales will resume with the raffle scheduled for May 24, 2024.”
According to a new special report by the agencies, the cost of inaction on hunger and food insecurity represents an average of 6.4% of the GDP of the countries studied.
The new report Financing Food Security and Nutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean, jointly produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the World Food Program (WFP) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), warns that the costs of not combating hunger and malnutrition may be higher than the costs of solutions to ensure food security and better nutrition.
According to the report, the cost of inaction in the face of the impact of hunger and malnutrition represents an average of 6.4% of the GDP of the countries studied. In contrast, the average cost of working to close the income gap with transfers for access to healthy diets is 1.5% of GDP, not including management and implementation costs.
The report identifies different types of financing for food security and nutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean and their relationship to regional GDP: (i) financing of food consumption and production; (ii) public spending related to agricultural and non-contributory social protection expenditures; (iii) international development flows; and (iv) financing from the banking system and capital markets.
The publication highlights the importance of investing in agriculture and the need for other interventions to reduce food insecurity and malnutrition. It shows that the main problem does not stem from a food shortage, but from a lack of physical and economic access, especially in rural areas with high level of poverty. The document underlines the need to estimate the costs associated with implementing policies, programs, and interventions as a prior element to analyzing food security and nutrition financing. It also highlights the importance of improving information collection on the different financing flows.
“Aligning social, economic, and trade policies and the objectives of improving food security and nutrition in our Latin America and the Caribbean region is critical, even more so when food spending represents 22% of regional GDP,” said Mario Lubetkin, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Mario Lubetkin, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Lubetkin also emphasized that comprehensive interventions that address income and access to nutritious food, consumer preferences, regulations on nutritional front-end food labeling, and support to family farming through public procurement systems can contribute to strengthening agrifood systems and equitable access to healthy diets.”
For his part, ECLAC Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs indicated that “the incidence of extreme poverty in the region was 11.4% in 2023, according to ECLAC estimations, which means that more than 70 million people in the region do not have sufficient income to purchase a basic food basket.”
“That incidence is higher among women, the indigenous population, and people living in rural areas. Therefore, it is imperative to foster inclusive public policies and promote better targeting of public spending, which can directly impact populations in vulnerable situations. Currently, more than half of all cash transfers in Latin America and the Caribbean go to households with per capita incomes above the poverty line,” said Salazar-Xirinachs.
ECLAC Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs
“Lack of income to access a healthy and nutritious diet is among the main causes of hunger and food insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean. In fact, this region has the most expensive healthy diet in the world,” said Lola Castro, WFP regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, adding that ‘it is unacceptable that the most vulnerable populations continue to pay such a high cost on account of undernutrition, overweight and obesity or double burden of malnutrition when the continent produces enough food to feed its entire population.’
The Director General of IICA, Manuel Otero, said that “the task ahead of us now is to conduct similar analyses at the country level in the context of comprehensive plans and programs for strengthening and improving food systems, operationalizing the objectives, instruments and institutional framework, with a clear estimate of costs and, of course, their financing, taking a broad view of the six main financial flows, as set out in the document.
Israel has expressed concerns over potential arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court (ICC) targeting government officials for actions during its conflict with Hamas. The ICC is investigating Hamas’ cross-border attack on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent military operations in Gaza.
In response to reports that the ICC may issue warrants against senior Israeli officials, Foreign Minister Israel Katz urged Israeli embassies to enhance security due to the risk of increased antisemitism. Katz emphasized Israel’s expectation that the ICC refrain from targeting its political and security leaders. He said that Israel is determined to resist any such actions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that ICC decisions would not impact Israel’s policies but could establish a dangerous precedent. Israeli officials fear potential arrest warrants for Netanyahu and others over alleged violations in Gaza. The ICC is also reportedly considering warrants for Hamas leaders.
Israel, not a member of the ICC, disputes its jurisdiction, but Palestinian territories were admitted as a member state in 2015. The U.S., an ally of Israel and not an ICC member, does not support the investigation.
