After more than 50 hours in custody and amid an ongoing criminal investigation, Trinidad and Tobago’s Commissioner of Police, Erla Harewood-Christopher, was released from the St. Clair Police Station on February 1, resuming her duties as head of the police service.
Harewood-Christopher, who was advised by her lawyer not to make any comments upon her release, appeared visibly drained, with tears momentarily welling up in her eyes. Her lead attorney, Pamela Elder, SC, raised concerns about the competence of the police team investigating whether the Commissioner was involved in the importation of two sniper rifles for the Strategic Services Agency (SSA).
Elder described the questioning of Harewood-Christopher as “unrelenting” and stressed that she was cautioned as a suspect, not simply questioned. Elder’s main question was directed at the senior officer who authorised the arrest of the commissioner based on material that didn’t establish suspicion. She further questioned the basis for the arrest, wondering if there was an agenda to publicly humiliate Harewood-Christopher.
The investigation was triggered by a confidential Special Branch report, which raised concerns about a request made by former SSA director Major Roger Best to Harewood-Christopher between July 2023 and March 2024, seeking approval to import the sniper rifles for the SSA. Harewood-Christopher, who holds sole authority over the approval of firearm import permits, has not been charged, and the investigation continues.
Tracy Panton, who says she remains as the interim leader of the United Democratic Party (U.D.P.), addressed the party’s delegates following the court’s decision to grant Moses Shyne Barrow a temporary injunction to occupy the U.D.P. headquarters. In her messages, Panton reassured delegates that this is only a temporary situation, emphasising that the legality of the October 20th, 2024, Convention has yet to be fully addressed in court.
She clarified that the injunction does not determine the party’s leadership and warned against party members misrepresenting the morning’s court proceedings. She said the decisions made at the October 20th Convention remain valid, and no court ruling has overturned the will of the delegates.
This week, Belize launched a “Don’t Drink and Drive” campaign to promote road safety ahead of the Independence Day festivities on September 21. Led by the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the initiative started in the Cayo district with bumper sticker distribution.
In Stann Creek, local officials and police collaborated to spread the message, while in Punta Gorda, the National Drug Abuse Control Council teamed up with health services and police for awareness efforts.
Today, the National Drug Abuse Control Council, the Ministry of Health and Wellness, and the Belize District Office joined forces with the Central Health Region, and the Belize Police Department joined in, urging citizens to celebrate responsibly.
The Ministry encourages everyone to prioritise safety and to celebrate responsibly:
X, formerly known as Twitter, launched a high-profile antitrust lawsuit against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), and major corporations CVS Health, Mars, Orsted, and Unilever. The lawsuit, announced via an open letter from X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino on August 6, 2024, accuses these entities of orchestrating an “illegal boycott” against X and other companies.
The lawsuit follows a contentious period marked by Musk’s attempts to improve relations with advertisers at the Cannes Lions festival. “The illegal behaviour of these organisations and their executives costs X billions of dollars,” Yaccarino stated.
The open letter alleges that GARM and the WFA are engaged in unlawful practices aimed at undermining X’s position in the market. GARM, a cross-industry initiative formed in 2019 to tackle harmful content on digital platforms, and the WFA have yet to comment publicly on the suit.
Louis P. Di Lorenzo, a partner at law firm Davis + Gilbert with a specialisation in advertising and marketing, highlighted the complexity of antitrust cases involving trade associations. “Every industry has their own trade associations, and they do have to be careful. Typically, for a trade association, there will be rules and standards about what can be discussed, what can be on the agenda, and making sure that nothing is being done for an unlawful purpose,” said Di Lorenzo.
The legal challenge for X will be proving that the boycott was more than a moral stance and constituted anti-competitive behaviour.
As the lawsuit progresses, the implications for X and the named advertisers are still unfolding.
On Thursday, July 26,2024, the U.S. federal authorities apprehended Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of the notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, in El Paso, Texas. According to the U.S Justice Department, 76-year-old Zambada is a long-time leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. Zambada and Guzmán López were taken into custody after arriving on a private plane.
Zambada had evaded capture for decades despite a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest. The BBC reports that In February, Zambada was charged by US prosecutors with a conspiracy to make and distribute fentanyl, a drug more powerful than heroin. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland emphasized the significance of these arrests in the fight against drug trafficking contributing to the severe opioid crisis in the U.S. The Sinaloa cartel, once led by Zambada and Guzmán, remains a major player in the drug trade.
The arrest follows a complex operation involving Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI. Mexican authorities were informed of the detentions but were not involved in the operation. Zambada and Guzmán López are expected to face federal charges related to drug trafficking and organized crime.
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.”
This morning at the Government House in Belize City, a Museum of Belizean Art was officially launched. The gallery is important for the preservation of Belize’s cultural and artistic heritage, safeguarding important works of art for future generations. It also allows individuals to learn about art history, cultural contexts, and artistic techniques which can inspire both creativity and a deeper appreciation for the arts.
Ilona Smiling, Museum of Belize
”For generations, artists in Belize have toiled tirelessly, pouring their hearts and souls into their craft, often amidst adversity and limited resources. Today, we honor their legacy by providing a space solely dedicated to the exhibition, research and development of Belizean art. But before I delve deeper into a vision for this museum, let’s take a moment to reflect on the significance of this venue. Today, as we gather in this historic government house, we are not merely opening a museum, we are expanding on the reclamation of this space that holds significance in our nation’s history. This space is now a beacon of inclusivity, creativity and empowerment. This museum is more than just a building, it’s a symbol of our resilience, a space where voices of the past, future and present artists converge.”
Francis Fonseca
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Culture
“It’s a fantastic, exciting initiative. I am very proud of the fact that NICH has been able to do this, to develop our first museum of Belizean art to showcase the great talent and creativity and innovation of our Belizean artists. So it’s a very, very proud day for us at NICH, it’s a historic day, you know. Culture is so important to the identity of a nation and the visual arts are an integral part of culture and we have not done a sufficient job in Belize of documenting that visual art history. So this is an opportunity for us to do that to showcase, you know, on the walls of what was once the colonial governor’s mansion, the art of our people, the strong, proud, Belizean people, diverse cultures. So we have many, many different artists from many different cultures represented here today. And, of course, it will be a revolving display. We have, I think, sixty-eight different artists represented here and that will be on display for a few months and then we will bring in and engage other artists as well. So it’s an exciting initiative.”
The entire People’s United Party’s slate won convincingly in the City of Belmopan. This is the second straight municipal victory for the P.U.P. in the Capital City. In a municipality with ten thousand registered voters, fifty-five percent showed up to cast their ballots. That is a two percent increase from the 2021 municipal elections voters’ turnout. But unlike past years, the majority of those registered voters were from Belmopan East, where both Mayor Elect Pablo Cawich and Area Representative Oscar Mira reside. This is also the second consecutive loss for Jacklyn Burns as the United Democratic Party’s mayoral candidate in Belmopan. News Five’s Paul Lopez was in the Garden City. He filed the following report.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Belmopan voters began streaming into their respective polling stations as early as seven a.m. when the polls were opened. Between seven and eight a.m., a total of five hundred and seventy-nine voters had already cast their ballots. We spoke with a few voters to get a sense of their thought process going into the polling stations.
Jasmine Rhamdas
Jasmine Rhamdas, Belmopan Voter
“I look for someone like myself, a leader, someone that goes out and work for us, I don’t want anyone to think about themselves. Because being mayor or councilor we need you guys to step up and work for the community.”
Christopher Broaster
Christopher Broaster, Belmopan Voter
“Election time is one of those important time of the year where we come out to make our voices be heard and to put in the people that we believe will help move our area forward you know.”
Both political camps had their machineries on the ground working. And if the number of political shirts on each side was a foreshadowing of how the day would end, the People’s United Party would have won at the start of the elections. But, the polls were still open and both slates remained confident of a victory.
Chris Enriquez
Chris Enriquez, P.U.P. Councilor Elect, Belmopan
“I think our supporters are coming out. So far like I said this morning was a bit slow but it is starting to pick up. This afternoon we are going to see majority of our supporters are out. We are confident and we are just going to wait until the results are out.”
Jacklyn Burns
Jacklyn Burns, U.D.P. Mayoral Candidate, Belmopan
“You know when you do your homework you are confident in the grade you are going to get. I have done my homework. I have walked in many house as I could. Now it is just to get our voters out to cast their votes.”
The lowest number of voter turnout was between twelve and one p.m., but those numbers began to increase throughout the afternoon. And by five p.m. more than four thousand Belmopan voters had already cast their votes.
Pablo Cawich
Pablo Cawich, P.U.P. Mayor Elect, Belmopan
“The day in my view went very well. The machinery executed what it had to do and in our view this victory has been sealed.”
Jacklyn Burns
“You know when you do your homework you don’t get scared when the teacher asked the tough questions. I am like eight-five percent confident, that is where it is.”
Burns ran on the support of former Belmopan U.D.P. Area Representative, John Saldivar. He was Burn’s campaign manager, but remained out of the spotlight throughout the course of the day. Saldivar showed up to vote half an hour before the polling stations closed.
John Saldivar
John Saldivar, Former U.D.P. Area Rep, Belmopan
“Now I am coming to vote. I will put my ex there for my team. All morning I have been working hard to make sure that things work out well and I am very happy with the results so far and I am waiting on the counting, I am very confident.”
Polling stations closed at six p.m. At the end of the day a total of five thousand, five hundred and eighty-five registered voters exercised their democratic right in Belmopan. Boxes from two other polling stations began arriving at the counting station an hour later and the counting process officially began. By nine p.m., unofficial numbers began trickling out of the counting room. Early indications were that Cawich and his team were in the lead, much to the delight of the PUP supporters who were on the outside waiting. Three hours into the counting process, Area Representative Oscar Mira emerged to unofficially declare victory for the PUP in Belmopan.
Oscar Mira
Oscar Mira, Area Representative, Belmopan
“Unofficially but we have won in Belmopan, the east has won significantly, the west has won significantly, in central we were even, we won north. Unofficially, but in Belmopan the People’s United Party remains in City Council.”
But it was not until midnight that the official counting process was over and a winner was declared in the Capital City. Chris Enriquez received the most votes for the day, while most of Cawich’s slate won by five hundred to a thousand votes.
Pablo Cawich
“The first thing we need to do is to get into the city council and start doing an analysis as to what is presently in place and what has been happening over the past term.”
Jackyln Burns
“The people have spoken. This is the electoral process, congratulations to the winners. I need time to sleep, with that said goodnight.”
The Generation Amazing Foundation is establishing its grassroots football program in Belize. The foundation is described as a legacy movement from the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. An official ceremony was held in Belmopan this morning to celebrate the introduction of the program in more than two dozen primary schools. Here is more from that event courtesy of TNC.
Nasser Al Khori
Nasser Al Khori, Executive Director, Generation Amazing Foundation
“We started at the very early stages of the bid for the World Cup. Countries put together a bid and there is a legacy component that you have to put together for FIFA. Generation Amazing was one of the projects that we presented and we continued, regardless of the bid, Generation Amazing was created as a foundation and we use sports, mainly football as a tool for social development and we are aligned with the UN’s sustainable development goals and we really believe that people have the power to come together and unite and to kind of embed different values and create more coherent societies and that is what we have been doing over the last fourteen years. We have been able to impact the lives of one millions boys and girls over seventy-five countries around the world.”
Sergio Chuc
Sergio Chuc, President, F.F.B.
“What we have done here is introduce it to the primary school kids, to a number of primary schools, twenty-five and we have been begging for more. I know Jennifer committed she will throw in another ten. The legacy will go on because the ministry for Education has seen the value with what we are doing and when they realigned their curriculum they made physical education a priority. I believe with the meeting we had, they had five major educational components and one is physical education.”
Today the Belize City Council put on display a fleet of heavy-duty equipment and two brand new electric vehicles that it will assign to the taxi stand in front of the Battlefield Park. According to Belize City Mayor, Bernard Wagner, the council has been able to increase its vehicle fleet from one pickup truck in 2018 when it first took office to twelve in 2024. Today, the mayor invited the media to show us three pieces of equipment and the electric vehicles that were purchased at a total cost of over nine hundred thousand dollars. Part of the display was a brand new compactor truck – first of two donated by Japan. News Five’s Marion Ali brings you this report on the new acquisition.
Marion Ali, Reporting
To improve the quality of work it does, the Belize City Council has purchased a fleet of heavy-duty equipment and electric cars. Mayor Bernard Wagner invited the media to have a look at the vehicles.
Bernard Wagner
Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City
“We wanted to continue to add to the fleet. And as you can see here, we have backhoes, we have graders, and we want to continue to build along that line.
These equipment are have been purchased by the city. It’s Gili brand. It’s a Chinese made brand. I think each one of them cost about $50,000.”
The compactor truck was the first of two, valued at over half a million Belize dollars, that the government of Japan has gifted to the council, after contracts were signed in 2022. According Kaya Cattouse, the councillor responsible for sanitation, the vehicles will help the municipal government, in improving its efficiency in collecting garbage.
Kaya Cattouse, Councillor for Sanitation, Belize City Council
“The impact of this new equipment at the sanitation department cannot be overstated. With enhanced capabilities and efficiency, we will be able to accomplish more of our mission to keep the City clean. These compactors will enable us to streamline our waste collection processes, improve our response times, and enhance the overall cleanliness of our streets and neighborhoods.”
These two white EUVs, as they are called, will be assigned, in this first instance, to the Battlefield Park Taxi Association. The mayor explained that the taxi drivers and the council will have lease agreements with their members to run the vehicles as taxis that they can someday own. Wagner said that eventually, all taxi associations in Belize City will be introduced to this eco-friendly means of transportation.
Bernard Wagner
“The taxi owners associations all across the city will really benefit from this initiative because our agreement is a lease-to-own eventually. Certainly we look at how we depreciate the vehicle. We want to ensure that we have the financial model, to ensure that we are able to meet the investment that we got for the e-taxis, we want to ensure that we have a maintenance component in it. We also want to ensure that we are able to pay the drivers out of that. And also the city has to get back its little return on investment, obviously. And at the end of the term, we are able to say to the taxi driver, here is this taxi, it’s now yours. The taxis will be run on the type of system that you have in the United States, similar to Uber.”
Wagner explained that the reason for the investment in electric taxis is to promote a cleaner and more sustainable environment.
Bernard Wagner
“We wanted to do this as an investment, right, to ensuring that we drive The e-mobility we build the ecosystem here in Belize City. We are not driving any of the taxi owners. And it’s starting the ecosystem of e mobility of really transforming the, local public transportation in the city.”
