Minister of Transport Rodwell Ferguson recently returned from Quito, Ecuador, where he attended a regional conference on transitioning to electric buses. Organized by the Inter-American Development Bank, the meeting aimed to accelerate the shift from fuel-operated to electric buses across the region. The minister shared with News Five that Belize will need financial assistance to make this transition a reality.
Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Transport
“Their hope and dream is to figure out how the countries can go EV buses when it comes to transportation of the people. And they figured out they need to do a package for the entire Central America, South America, and the Caribbean to start the process. So they as a bank is trying to find a way [to see] how they can start to transform the industry into EV buses. That is the initial concept. We are hopeful that when we have the meeting next year, they would come and say we have found a solution to figure out how we can start to transform this nation into EV buses. So we are telling them that as a small country, we will need to be backed by the IDB or some other banking institution to help us reach the standard we want to reach and that is expected by the year 2050.”
Luke Martinez, the President of the National Trade Union Congress of Belize, was also present at today’s FECTAB press conference. He was merely there as an invited guest and observer. He spoke with reporters following the press conference. Here is what he had to say on the matter.
Luke Martinez
Luke Martinez, President, NTUCB
“We are still waiting for the prime minister to answer our questions that we sent him and pressing for him to give us a reasonable response. He sent us a page of nothing a few weeks ago. We are waiting to get around the table with him and his team to meaningfully discuss this issue. For NTUCB this is beyond those who are securing their investment. We are securing our democracy. We are ensuring to secure taxpayers’ dollars. So, for us it is a tax issue as well as a very serious governance issue. During COVID the government took over eighty million dollars. Now we have an acquisition that is about to happen. We hope it doesn’t happen, which will continue to consolidate what everybody is saying, we are facing a dictatorship. And so, as the vanguard of democracy, we have to ensure we follow this issue and that it works out for Belizeans.”
Reporter
“Does this MSC prospect validate the position of the NTUCB that the compulsory acquisition is not for a public purpose?”
Luke Martinez
“We have been saying that from the beginning, prove to us that it is a public purpose acquisition. Prove that to us. We want the prime minister and his technical team to prove that to the Belizean people, prove that to the investors.”
At Thursday’s cabinet meeting, the Government of Belize decided to scrap the old Food and Drug registration, licensing, and inspection regulations. They’re bringing in new, modernized laws to better oversee pharmaceutical products and make sure the medicines Belizeans use are safe and effective. Prime Minister John Briceño was asked how they’re ensuring the safety of pharmaceuticals without a drug inspector in the Ministry of Health. Here’s what he had to say.
Prime Minister John Briceño
“I think that the minister is working on that. We’re supposed to be appointing one soon But that’s the job not just of one person. It’s a department. And if you notice we have not had lately Issues that bad drugs come in like before with another previous government. We had a lot of bad drugs. We had, unfortunately, a person that I knew, a few million dollars plus of his goods were rejected because he was not meeting the standards. So it’s not just a person, but it’s a department we have strengthened department to ensure that the drugs that we put on the shelf are the ones that be able to meet the standards and to help our people. As opposed to, I remember, coming to 2020, I have a friend that was taking pressure pills, and he said, he said that the pressure pills weren’t helping him. And so he went to see a doctor, the doctor said, just take double, when you should not take double because the problem is that they’re not [working], so we’re dealing with it and we’re handling it and it’s not going to be a problem.”
An investigation into allegations the B.D.F. soldiers stationed at the Machakilha Conservation Post are being bribed by Guatemalans continues. The team of investigators met on Wednesday and is expected to produce its findings on October eighteenth. One of the wild allegations is that Guatemalans are bribing soldiers with chicken. Today, Prime Minister John Briceño responded to the startling allegations as the situation has sparked national debate about the challenges faced by underpaid soldiers tasked with defending Belize’s borders. Could something as simple as food sway their loyalty? Hipolito Novelo has been investigating and has the following report.
Prime Minister John Briceño
Prime Minister John Briceño
“A chicken can’t pay to protect the interests of this country .”
Hipolito Novelo, Reporting Prime Minister John Briceño is speaking on allegations that Guatemalan loggers are bribing Belize Defense Force soldiers stationed at the Machakilha Conservation Post. That investigation continues, as News Five has learned that the investigating team met on Wednesday, October ninth, and is expected to submit its findings by Friday, October 18.Our own investigation has revealed allegations of Guatemalans bribing soldiers with chicken. Is that all it takes—chicken—for a BDF soldier to abandon their duties, not to mention their sense of pride and patriotism thrown out the window? But if you put yourself in the soldier’s boots, you will realize that they do work hard and get paid very little. That’s no excuse to sell out your country, but when you get food like this—expired Pan Crema, expired Tang, expired peanuts, ramen noodles, some rice, granola bars, and canned food—you might understand the dynamics at play. We asked Prime Minister John Briceño about it.
Britney Gordon, Reporter
“So there’s some claims that some of the BDF soldiers, due to poor payment and food rations, are even taking bribes of foods such as chickens. Have you heard of that?”
Prime Minister John Briceño
“That will happen any place. You get 1, 000, and somebody can’t give you another 100; you’re going to take it. So I don’t think it’s a matter of that. I think it’s a matter of that our BDF have to be more disciplined in what they’re doing. And that’s one of the things that we’ve been talking to the general about: that we feel that the BDF was at the pinnacle when it comes to discipline, and it’s, I think we’re slipping. And so it’s important to hit the reset button to ensure that these people or BDF soldiers say that we have to be able to at all times look after the interests of Belize. A chicken can’t pay to protect the interests of this country.”
Take this as a contributing factor: an entry-level B.D.F. soldier earns about forty dollars a day, and if that same soldier remains in the force for more than five years, then that figure increases to forty-two dollars. If increments are given in a timely manner, then it should be more. Again, trekking thick forests for long hours in whatever weather condition, sometimes for more than two days, is no easy task. And as our investigation revealed, one of the Guatemalans who attempted to bribe the B.D.F. patrol commanders said that he has been bribing soldiers for more than five years.
Prime Minister John Briceño “These allegations are always going to, I’m sure, always come up. We just have to be on top of it and ensure that we protect Belize at all times. And that is not for compromise. We have had these issues all along. We have to be able to put more checks and balances. One of the issues with FCD, Friends for Conservation and Development, that they have been talking to us to say that we have to ensure that the BDF would track, walk the borders, and because there’s no way then how we can be able to track that they were saying that they were not doing the patrols the way they did. So what we’ve been doing is getting them the equipment—some trackers that would mark where they’re walking—to ensure that we do the traveling.”
That tracking device will assist in keeping soldiers on this side of the border because some of them are known to frequent specific establishments on the Guatemalan side. These allegations stem from a September seventh mission when soldiers detained Guatemalan loggers operating in the Columbia River Forest Reserve. The men and their chainsaw were detained. A woman and two minors were released, and later in the evening, soldiers found themselves surrounded by over ten potentially armed Guatemalans near the conservation post. Communication with Fairweather Camp was lost, gunshots were heard, and the outnumbered soldiers released the detainees to avoid violence. The mission to destroy two illegal bridges was abandoned. Communication failures involving Harris and VHF radios exacerbated the standoff, prompting questions about the need for equipment upgrades.
Prime Minister John Briceño
“Well, that’s what I just said—that we have to be working at it. We have to use more technology, better technology. We’re using the tracking system so that we know where they are at all times. And where is it that they’re walking? And I think we know the issue of probably satellite radio when it is necessary. But these are all challenges that we face. So there is, you’re not in an office. So you’re going to meet the challenges at all times. And as we meet them, we need to see how best we could address it.”
And we’ll keep investigating. Reporting for News 5, I am Hipolito Novelo.
Two weeks ago, the results of the Belize Survey 2024 were released and shared with the public by the media. This annual survey examines various aspects of Belizean life, such as crime, the economy, corruption, and politics. Earlier today, a press conference was held to discuss the survey’s findings. The principal of Viking Strategies kicked things off by explaining how they gathered the information. This year, the survey includes new data on cartel-related crimes, adding a fresh and important dimension to the analysis.
Trygve Olson
Trygve Olson, Viking Strategies
“They have a pattern where first one, they go the right, then they go to the left and then we collect it via online, via mobile phones and tablets. So the questions are being asked and they are responding. We can see the GPS location of where they are, which is one check. In addition to that, it tells them, say we’re only running into men who are fifty years and older, once the quota gets filled it will be telling them that the next set of interviews they need to be doing younger women or grandmothers or whatever. So it ends up being that the survey is balanced nationally for gender, age, racial breakdown and demographic breakdown, and then, of course, for regions of Belize. The biggest concerns of Belizeans in the fifteen years that we’ve been doing surveys down here are always one of three things. They’re always either economic, which could fall under a few different pockets: jobs, prices and just general economic issues, there’s crimes which ebbs and flows. Sometimes, like in 2014 or now, it’s seen as a huge problem, and the last one is government corruption. We ask about other issues, but it is always some combination of the three of those for about ninety percent of Belizeans. Right now, crime is ascending. I was talking with one of you about a kidnaping that had occurred up in Corozal. What is new in the survey this time which we had not seen in the past as was mentioned in various ways, is this sort of cartel-related crime.”
The high cost of living continues to be a major concern for Belizeans, chipping away at their economic confidence. While the findings show that Belizeans are doing better year after year, the rising prices and cost of living are really hitting their wallets hard.
Trygve Olson
Trygve Olson, Viking Strategies
“Declining economic confidence. So the cost of living, inflation and economic inequality is a significant issue for many Belizeans. What is unique, though, is in all the times that we have done surveys here in Belize, people are better off, actually feel better off about their ability to provide basics for their families, pay the electric bill, food, clothes than they have at any other point that we’ve been doing surveys. But what’s really taking a toll on Belizeans, and this won’t surprise you as Belizeans, is rising prices and cost of living. While people feel like they’re doing better, they also don’t feel like it’s keeping up. As somebody who’s worked on a lot of campaigns around the world, I would say if you had a president who ran just on a popular vote where party is less important, anybody could run, this is a country where you have a third of the population, they might consider somebody who’s outside of the two parties, if it were the right candidate. That is only going to grow. There eventually will be an election where either those voters will stay home en masse or they rise up and sort of go with it and it’s an interesting dynamic for the two parties because at some point, if voters are demanding it, the question will be, you know, they’re still sort of tied to that structure as it was. Which party sort of evolves to that new reality and starts to represent them will be the party, at some point, it may not be this election maybe the next, but it’s going to have some tremendous success with a very different coalition than has previously been winning coalitions.”
Just three weeks ago, the contract to pave three miles of the San Carlos Road was signed, and now the project is in full swing. This development is set to transform the lives of local farmers and residents, making it easier for them to travel to their farms and markets where they sell their produce. Today, Agriculture Minister Jose Abelardo Mai and MIDH Engineer Irving Thimbriel visited San Carlos to discuss the project further. News Five’s Marion Ali was on the scene to report on the event.
Marion Ali, Reporting
The paving of three point zero seven miles of the San Carlos Road under the Resilient Rural Belize Program will begin shortly. The project is valued at one point one nine million dollars. Today Minister of Agriculture, Jose Abelardo Mai said that the current road has been traversed by villagers who are now engineers and persons at university level.
Jose Abelardo Mai
Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture
“We have a highway now that leads you straight to the village of San Carlos. In those days, there wasn’t even a school in San Carlos. The kids had to walk to Indian Church to get their education. Those same kids who had to walk from San Carlos to Indian Church, are now engineers today. They’re agricultural engineers, one of them is studying in Cuba, he’s getting his Bachelor’s in Business. Those same kids who had to walk.”
Engineer with the MIDH, Irving Thimbriel explained that there had to be studies done before the work could begin.
Irving Thimbriel
Irving Thimbriel, Civil Engineer, MIDH
“Many times we have gotten roads that have affected the people who live near the edge of the road. So those things we have to take into account so that we can have an effective solution that covers all those things in the case of that project. Even though we didn’t do a complete study several times we came here to see the people of the village to know what can happen. When the road itself is finished, we take those things into account and we include them in the design of the road itself.”
Thimbriel says that after the technical studies are completed, they had to come up with a workable concept for the project.
Irving Thimbriel
“After that, we went to the office to do a development plan to come up with a concept. After all that, how high we have to raise the road, how wide it has to be, the places where there are weaknesses. And after going through all that, we came here to talk to the chairman to present the things we found.”
Residents of More Tomorrow, in the Cayo District, were alarmed on Tuesday when they stumbled upon thousands of used tires dumped along the road to their village. Initially, it seemed like these old tires were just being discarded there. However, News Five later discovered that the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing had placed them there for roadwork purposes. Chief Engineer Evondale Moody explained that the road to More Tomorrow is prone to flooding, and the ministry is experimenting with using these rubber tires in road construction to address the issue.
Evondale Moody
Evondale Moody, Chief Engineer, MIDH
“The ministry has just over three thousand, one hundred miles of road that we have to maintain countrywide and one such road is the More Tomorrow Road which is a secondary road within the Cayo District. That road normally is susceptible to flooding. As you may be aware, I think a few weeks ago, there were some complaints from the school in that area about access to the village and also to the school. And so, we had to go in and do some remedial works in terms of periodic maintenance, but that is our fourth trip to that area just in this year. And so, what we are trying is an engineering technology called mechanical concrete whereby you utilize old tires to construct a formation basically, and you would utilize that in areas where you have areas that are susceptible to flooding or you have major consolidation. And so, the old tires are basically set up in a grid formation, similar too what we call a geo-grid, which you would have to import; however, utilizing the old tires is beneficial to us because it also prevents erosion from happening and also acts as a confinement for the aggregates that we’re placing on the road. Within the area that we’re doing this test, this pilot project, on the More Tomorrow Road is, as I said, usually susceptible to flooding and we thought that trying this technology it would also be environmentally friendly. So the idea is that you place these tires in a grid formation and we infill these tires with aggregates and then compact over it. We have done that today, for approximately five hundred meters. We intend to try and complete at least one point six kilometers which is about a mile and we want to do that by the end of this week as a pilot project.”
When we visited the location earlier today, we met a team of workmen laying down the tires in what Moody describes as a geo-grid which is used to reinforce soils and similar materials. Geogrids are much stronger in tension compared to soil. This strength lets them spread forces over a larger area of soil, making the ground more stable and secure than it would be otherwise. Here’s more from MIDH.
Santiago Juan
Santiago Juan, Ministry of Infrastructure Development & Housing
“It’s an old technology in which, basically, you’re providing a firmer base for low-lying parts of the road. You dump over them and form like a cell, like a honeycomb, and once you dump over them, they stay in place and you raise the road. It’s much cheaper and very environmentally friendly and easy to do. So that’s what, basically, they are for.”
Evondale Moody
Evondale Moody, Chief Engineer, MIDH
“The ministry, itself, has a large fleet of equipment and we continuously have to be changing out tires but there’s no use for those old tires. We can’t burn them, there’s no way we can discard them and so the process that we are implementing, as far as we know, it’s an environmentally friendly process because we are basically just burying the tires and using them within the road construction industry to help us elevate the road formation and also protect it from being inundated by floodwaters. So the idea that we are implementing on the More Tomorrow Road, we believe that it will be more beneficial to the community. Once this is proven to be successful in Belize, then it’s something that we would be able to try in other areas throughout the country. This is not the first country that is implementing this technology, it is being done in Central America, it’s being done in the U.S. and also in Canada and some parts of Europe as well.”
What’s the latest on the Belize City Swing Bridge? The crossing near the mouth of the Haulover Creek is in dire need of being replaced. Earlier today, we also asked Chief Engineer Evondale Moody for an update on the pending project which will be funded by the Japanese government.
Evondale Moody, Chief Engineer, MIDH
Evondale Moody
“In respect to the Belize City Swing Bridge, yes, I have been involved in discussions with JIICA. It is the Japanese that will be financing that project. In the last discussion I had with them, just over a month ago, there’s a consultancy team that’s supposed to be in the country within the next week or two weeks to carry out the final studies with respect to the design of that structure. That is because this project will be funded by Japan and so they intend to engage a Japanese consultant to do the design and also a Japanese contractor to construct that bridge. So we expect that by early next year, by the first quarter, we should get confirmation from them with respect to the financing and then those works would commence on the Belize City Swing Bridge. With respect to the BelCan Bridge, there is no new update on that. We are still waiting on a decision from the Ministry of Finance on how we proceed with the implementation of that project.”
