More than 150 priceless Maya artefacts are back on Belizean soil after spending over a decade on display across the United States as part of the acclaimed travelling exhibition Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed.
The National Institute of Culture and History (NICH) announced the safe repatriation of the collection, which was on loan to the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) since the exhibit’s launch in 2012. The partnership between NICH and SMM allowed millions of visitors in cities like Minnesota, Denver, Boston, San Diego, and others to experience the rich cultural heritage of the ancient Maya civilisation.
The returned artefacts include ceramic vessels, jade ornaments, stone tools, and ritual objects, each offering unique insights into Belize’s ancestral past. Now safely back in the country, the collection has been entrusted to the Institute of Archaeology under NICH, where it will continue to be conserved, studied, and protected as part of Belize’s national patrimony.
NICH described the return as a major milestone in international museum collaboration and a testament to a shared commitment to preserving and promoting Belize’s cultural legacy.
“We express our deep appreciation to the Science Museum of Minnesota and all partner institutions for their stewardship of the collection and for helping bring global attention to Belize’s archaeological heritage,” NICH said in its statement.
Belize will receive a grant of US$5,194,000 to launch the eleventh cycle of the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF), a flagship regional initiative aimed at tackling poverty and improving living conditions for vulnerable communities.
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) approved the funding during its 310th Board of Directors meeting on June 9 and formally communicated its decision to the Government of Belize on July 9. The new phase will be implemented by the Belize Social Investment Fund (BSIF) with oversight from the Ministry of Economic Transformation.
The BNTF 11 Programme will target low-income and underserved communities across the country, prioritising sustainable upgrades to basic infrastructure and livelihood opportunities. Areas of focus include quality education and training, improved water and sanitation systems, better community access and drainage, livelihood enhancement, and human resource development services.
Implementation will be guided by strong safeguards for transparency, environmental protection, and social responsibility, along with robust monitoring and evaluation to ensure accountability. BSIF, as the executing agency, will work alongside other national partners to roll out the projects efficiently.
“This significant investment in our communities underscores the Government of Belize’s continued commitment to inclusive and sustainable development,” the Ministry said in its announcement. “With the support of the CDB, GOB is targeting those most in need to ensure equitable access to basic services and uplift the quality of life for all Belizeans.”
Belize has secured praise for protecting over 30% of its marine territory ahead of the global 2030 target. But hitting a number is only part of the work. The real test is whether these areas are actually being protected or simply marked on a map.
Since 2022, the Belize Fund for a Sustainable Future has channelled financing from the Blue Bond into marine conservation, funding ranger salaries, coral restoration, research on declining marine species, and surveillance in no-take zones.
“The Blue Bonds money is not infinite,” said Dr Leandra Cho-Ricketts, the Fund’s Executive Director. “We have a total of 80 million US coming in until 2041… We’ve invested roughly twenty-five to twenty-six million Belize already of that eighty million US.”
When the fund ends, who pays to keep these protections in place?
Dr Leandra Cho-Ricketts, the Belize Fund for a Sustainable Future Executive Director, explained that a big focus of the fund is “trying to make sure we find the right partners to connect with to support initiatives and projects that can create meaningful and impactful changes and lasting changes on the ground. So all our grantees, they’re selecting true calls, and those calls look at particular areas of priorities, and today the areas we’re looking at are directly related to protection for biodiversity and focus on marine protected area management.”
Meanwhile, climate change continues to threaten Belize’s reefs, with sites like Laughing Bird Caye suffering severe coral loss. Natasha Gibson from Fragments of Hope said, “We have had devastating losses, especially last year. We have lost a tremendous amount of corals around Laughing Bird Caye.”
Despite years of replanting, climate-driven bleaching is wiping out progress. If reefs die faster than they can be restored, what happens next? The fact is that a rich marine ecosystem is vital for tourism.
However, some key species are disappearing. Whale sharks, once a southern Belize draw, are disappearing. “We’re not seeing those numbers,” says MarAlliance’s Kirah Foreman-Castillo. “As a matter of fact, we’re not seeing any at all.”
To resist these threats, new technology like 360-degree surveillance cameras now monitor protected zones day and night. “I think it also gives them a sense of security that if something goes wrong, that they feel that someone is watching,” says Elizabeth Mushchamp of the Southern Environmental Association.
However, while the cameras, drones, and patrols are catching more illegal activity, enforcement depends on local buy-in.
This is the reality of ocean protection: it’s expensive, it’s constant, and it’s vulnerable to political and financial shifts.
Conservation demands perseverance. Mushchamp added, “We don’t have challenges; we just have situations that we deal with. Because when you put the word challenge, it seems like something so difficult to overcome. I think each area, whether it’s financing, sustainable financing, or enforcement, for each one of them comes with its own level of challenges.”
With just seven rangers and growing threats from cross-border illegal fishing, the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE) is stepping up protection of the Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve with the support of the Belize Fund for a Sustainable Future.
The reserve, which is just 37 miles off the coast of Punta Gorda, is home to rich biodiversity and contested territory but is also one of its most vulnerable.
In recent years, the area has seen a spike in illegal activity by Guatemalan and Honduran fishers who have been using destructive gear like gill nets and longlines. Some are even armed, prepared to resist arrest. Despite the scale of the task, the area is patrolled by just seven TIDE rangers.
“Under the Belize Fund Project, what we do is that our rangers are fully equipped, so we have the vessels to undertake effective patrols. We have the different capacity building for rangers under the project and the living facilities,” said TIDE Executive Director Leonardo Chavarria Jr.
The Belize Fund for a Sustainable Future has been critical in bolstering the effort, providing patrol vessels, ranger training, and even paying ranger salaries. But resources are stretched thin, and illegal activity persists.
The reserve was expanded in 2020 from 38,000 acres to over 300,000 acres. Since TIDE began co-managing it in 2023, patrols have intensified. Still, with limited manpower and no direct Fisheries Department presence, the team relies heavily on partnerships.
In just the past two years, the Belize Coast Guard has intercepted 98 vessels and removed over 15,000 feet of illegal gill nets. Much of it traced back to the same stretch of sea.
Two surveillance drones and a long-range camera on Hunter’s Caye now aid in identifying illegal activity up to 10 miles out, especially when conditions are too rough for sea patrols.
“The drone team would then use these drones to go out, monitor the area, and once we encounter or see any Guatemalan fishers in the area, then of course the patrols would then go out and then intercept these vessels,” Lieutenant Allen Armstrong of the Coast Guard stated.
“One of the primary concerns that we have is the issue of this; by nature, this is a transboundary area,” said Leonardo Chavarria Jr, Executive Director of TIDE. “We have a lot of illegal fishing that is carried out by our Guatemalan and Honduran neighbours. So we have fishing communities from Guatemala and Honduras that are in close proximity, about forty-five minutes from here. And then they engage in illicit fishing activities. So they use gill nets, which are very destructive,” Chavarria added. “They use long lines. They do night fishing. They use illicit spears, for example. And so these types of things are already a major concern to us because they do not fish like Belizeans.”
Belize banned gillnets in 2020, which was considered a landmark accomplishment for marine conservation. Yet, while the law protects Belizean waters on paper, enforcement at sea remains a challenge.
Foreign fishers continue to flout these regulations, threatening both marine ecosystems and Belize’s sovereignty and efforts to secure its southern blue frontier.
Lord Michael Ashcroft has weighed in on reports that Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) is considering acquiring Speednet Communications, better known as Smart.
“I mean, well, first of all, I would have to declare where my interest is in this particular one before I answer the question. Speednet, which is one of the companies that is talked about whether it comes in with the cable companies, is majority owned by Waterloo Charitable Trust. And that trust also owns the hospital here, Universal Health Services,” Ashcroft disclosed.
“Competition in the telecommunications industry changes all the time. If you just cast your mind back, we had a lot of problems here when voice over internet protocol came in. The law here said that was illegal to protect the domestic BTL at the time. But eventually, that had to be abandoned because the internet, WhatsApp, and all the rest of it came in and took the revenue away. And then the telephone companies have to compete on that.”
On whether BTL’s reported interest in acquiring Smart should raise alarm, Ashcroft said concerns about monopoly must be balanced with the fact that the state owns nearly all of BTL. “Now, where BTL is concerned, the first reaction is, how’s this going to affect the consumer? ‘Monopolies are terrible, awful, and shouldn’t be allowed,’ is the first reaction. In this particular case, there are some fundamental differences. The monopoly through BTL is owned 95 percent by the government and the Social Security Board. So whatever happens to BTL and whatever the profits are, low or high, is in control of the government.”
Ashcroft noted that strong BTL earnings can help ease pressure on taxpayers. He also stressed that BTL is already facing competition that will only grow. “In the future, BTL will be under competitive pressure from things like Starlink, which will be the next thing that comes. So it won’t be a monopoly per se. It will be them reorganising to get into place for this country to compete with the international carriers that come in.”
He also warned that failing to adapt could backfire if global players dominate the market. “If they decide that they want low cost here, which they may have to in any event when Starlink and other satellite-based companies come in, do you want a BTL and a Speednet to both go bust and give Starlink the monopoly?”
Belize and Cuba are celebrating 30 years of diplomatic ties, a relationship that’s brought Cuban doctors to Belizean hospitals, sent Belizean students to Cuban universities, and offered support through tough times.
Since establishing ties on 15 July 1995, both nations have built strong cooperation across health, education, disaster response, and technical training.
Belize’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the milestone as “a milestone of enduring friendship, mutual respect, and unwavering solidarity.” It reaffirmed Belize’s commitment to deepening ties with Cuba in “the spirit of solidarity and shared progress.”
Cuba’s embassy in Belize also commemorated the occasion, stating the “excellent relations between our two nations, based on respect, mutual cooperation, friendship, and solidarity.”
Since the 1990s, over 1,000 Cuban professionals have worked in Belize, especially in healthcare. Hundreds of Belizeans have studied in Cuba, many returning as doctors, teachers, and technicians.
The University of Belize Faculty and Staff Union (UBFSU) staged a peaceful march in Belmopan this morning to demand the government honour its long-standing promise to increase the university’s annual subvention to 10 million dollars.
Union members and students gathered outside of the Prime Minister’s Office during the weekly Cabinet. UBFSU President Julianne Pasos explained that the Briceño government has failed to live up to its 2020 election pledge to gradually raise the subvention by one million dollars each year. After nearly five years in office, no increase has materialised.
Pasos added that when UB was created in 2000, the government granted a 10 million dollar subvention to support operational costs. That figure peaked at 11 million in later years but was cut under the UDP administration. The current administration, then in opposition, condemned the cut and promised restoration and annual increases.
Despite that, the national budget tabled earlier this year by the Briceño administration in its second term included no such increase.
She pointed out that the staff were promised a 9% salary increase in January, with confirmation that it would take effect by the end of UB’s fiscal year on July 31st. But earlier this month, the university’s board announced the raise would now depend on whether the government increases the subvention.
“When the joint unions were negotiating, we did not have an issue; we had already been promised the 9%. We had already been told that 9% will take effect by the end of UB’s fiscal year. The board met on July 3rd, and at that July 3rd meeting, they then said that the 9% is contingent on the subvention. And so that is why we are out here now, because the ballpark changed after that meeting,” Pasos said.
She clarified that while the government provides the subvention, it is ultimately the responsibility of UB’s administration and board of trustees to ensure salaries are paid and adjustments are met. She stated that if the subvention does not come through, the union plans to hold the university’s leadership accountable for finding the money to cover salaries.
Pasos also pushed for a more sustainable funding model. She stated, “One of the things that the union has been saying is let’s link it to our GDP. Most countries link the subvention to their tertiary institution to the GDP, and if we do that, then it’s based on the profits of the country. So it is linked to that. And so it won’t be an issue of when or how it would be increased; there is a formula that would be in place for it.”
Lord Michael Ashcroft has weighed in on the ongoing rift within the United Democratic Party (UDP). He is urging the embattled opposition to open its doors to new leadership or risk failing the country’s democracy.
Ashcroft’s comments were made during this appearance on OYE earlier this month.
Ashcroft warned that the country faces a dangerous imbalance of power if the UDP remains fractured. “For me, it is always important in any country that there is a thriving democracy. The thriving democracy means an effective opposition. And opposition is often a combination between the main opposition party and the media,” he explained.
Ashcroft pointed to what he described as unchecked wrongdoing within the current administration. “Now we have a situation with the fight, with the PUP having absolute control. And I don’t think I’m saying anything that any citizen doesn’t know, but the level of naughtiness that is happening in the government today is very high indeed,” he said.
He noted that the governing People’s United Party holds enough seats to make sweeping changes. “It’s very important that the UDP get their act together and together with the media, hold this government to account with the vast majority that they have in the House, which even gives them the okay if they wish to change Belize’s Constitution.”
Ashcroft described the UDP’s internal dispute as a clash of egos between factions loyal to Moses “Shyne” Barrow and those who back Tracy Taegar-Panton. “Shyne wants a future in politics, Tracy and many others do not want Shyne to have a future in politics. And so you have oil and water here trying to mix in the same pot. And egos are running am mock on the old established UDP at the moment.”
“The only way the UDP can get itself together is if there is an open election for the leader and an open election for who will be the representatives for the various constituencies around the country. And this is where the resistance is at the moment,” Ashcroft said.
He warned that the power struggle could drag on indefinitely if both sides remain stubborn. “They have the headquarters, they by law are the appointed representatives of the party and they’re doing everything they can to ensure that there is not a free choice for UDP supporters to decide who should be the leader. And until that is broken, this can go on for a long time.”
A heated family dispute turned violent in Santa Martha Village on Sunday night, leaving a 26-year-old man hospitalised with stab wounds and another relative in police custody.
Police reports indicate that around 11 p.m. on July 13, Miguel Angel Valledares, who is self-employed, visited the home of his brother-in-law, Jairo Godoy Cortez, who was asleep at the time.
According to investigators, Valledares entered the residence and woke Cortez, which sparked a heated argument that quickly escalated into a physical altercation. During the fight, Cortez allegedly armed himself with a knife and inflicted three stab wounds to Valledares’ left abdomen.
Cortez has since been detained by police and is expected to be formally charged and arraigned in the coming days. Meanwhile, Valledares remains hospitalised while recovering from his injuries.
Adrian Venicio Cruz, a resident of Benque Viejo del Carmen, has reportedly succumbed to injuries after being knocked by a vehicle in Melchor de Mencos, Guatemala, over the weekend.
He had been hospitalised following the accident. According to reports, Cruz sustained head and body injuries.
Following the accident, one family member explained that Cruz had travelled to Melchor to purchase items for his farm.
