Belize Times 101031 by Belize Times Press

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Belize Times

Were We Ready? SUNDAY OCTOBER 31, 2010

Issue No. 4717

$1.00 www.belizetimes.bz

Last weekend, the forty- nine year moratorium on hurricanes slamming the Belize District was r udely broken when a seemingly undersized , barely a Categ or y 1 Hur ricane Richard made landfall around Gales point Manatee in the Belize Rural Central, some twenty two miles southwest of Belize City. In its aftermath, the question

has to be asked “How prepared were we if a tiny storm can shut down schools for a week, damage the Bliss to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars and priceless lost heritage and cause severe storm surge damage to almost all public buildings along the Foreshore in Belize City? W h a t wa s t h e p r e p a r e d n e s s plan for the Judiciary and to what

extent was it implemented? We are aware that a large percentage of Public Officers did not show up to secure their offices and in the case of the Court of Appeals, even case files were reportedly not secured, resulting in a suspension of the activities of the Court as they now try to reconstr uct water damaged case files. Clearly, there was a lack

of preparedness here. Then there were the numerous 911 calls in the height of the storm and several near catastrophic rescues of residents in the Hattieville and Ya b r a a r e a s. H a t t i e v i l l e , i n t h e Tropical Park and Mile 17 sections, had no designated shelter. When the ang r y winds blew in just five (Cont'd on pg. 3)

For the first time since Monday, October 8th, 2001 when Hurricane Iris, a Categ or y 4 stor m on the Safir Simpson Scale pummeled the souther n por tion of Belize, the country was again str uck directly by another hurricane. Unlike Iris Hurricane Richard was albeit much weaker in strength as a Category 1 stor m and caused no deaths, but

it still caused its own share of damages, ripping up some of the weaker infrastr ucture around the central and southern portions of the country, and leaving many of the poorer families on Belize City's southside and areas south of the Belize District homeless. Richard star ted to get the (Cont'd on pg. 3)

The hot-button issue of the proposed sale of Belize Telemedia Limited’s shares to the public and the Social Security Board again took center stage this week. First the BTL Employees Trust, which had only last week argued before the Belize Court of Appeal that the takeover of the majority shareholding of the company’s last

year August was unconstitutional, issued at release warning prospective buyer to contemplate this salient fact. T h e Tr u s t s a i d t h a t h av i n g had the opportunity to review the prospectus and that in relation to the litigation brought by the Trustees, the prospectus provides only partial (Cont'd on pg. 3)

BTL Trust warns Richard causes millions in damages buyers of BTL shares

Mr. Barrow - Da Your Name Stink da Road!

The Belize Times

Is Richard Dean Barrow’s Katrina

Five days after Hurricane Richard cut across Belize, knocking down trees and homes, flooding coastal communities and causing $40 million in damages, displaced Belizeans are starting to question whether Prime Minister Barrow and his recovery team has what it takes to restore these affected communities across the nation. So far the Prime Minister’s public response to hurricane Richard has been to go on an aerial tour of the affected areas and hold a press conference. In his public statements Prime Minister Barrow promised that every house destroyed would be rebuilt; every damaged home would be repaired and every one in shelters feed. The Prime Minister made these promises while admitting that he did not have the money to complete the task, but insisted that the occasion demanded nothing less. While the Prime Minister’s words may have provided some short term comfort to those left homeless and in shelters, the reality on the ground is that so far the recovery has been all about talk. With five days gone since Richard made landfall in Belize City, the people are already showing signs of losing patience with local and national emergency personnel who continue to have meetings and have yet to start delivering aid to those most affected. Already people are beginning to complain about the delay in getting relief in the immediate instance. In La Democracia, residents are asking for something to be done about the lack of drinking water in their community. In Belize City, in areas like Yarborough, residents complain that all they keep doing is filling out forms and responding to surveys and that no real action is occurring on the pParty of Government. On television Mayor Zenaida Moya is seen posing for the cameras with supplies from Mexico while Minister of Works works minister Boots Martinez is on television talking about taking over the responsibility of the Housing Ministry in the reconstruction efforts. This is causing many to ask why is the Minister of Wworks not concentrating his resources and expertise on repairing the road infrastructure instead of taking on the task of building homes. What benefits will he be getting from such a project? This question arises since the Minister of Works is on record to say that his NGO organization, Port Loyola Housing for the Poor, is an organization that can earn profits. It is obvious that the expertise for home building and repairs should rest in the Ministry of Housing and not in Works, yet the Prime Minister took the decision to hand this task over to the Ministry of works, a clear slap in the face of Minister FinneghanFinnegan and his team at Housing. There is no question that the Government’s response to Hurricane Richard is once again showing the lack of competence and lack of leadership of the Barrow Administration. The fact that there was no plan in place to protect government property like the Bliss Center, where uncovered glass were broken resulting in costly water damage inside the Bliss is inexcusable. The decision not to insist that there be a hurricane plan for places like the Court of Appeal where important courts files have been destroyed by water damage also serve as an example of the lack of preparedness on the part of government to protect its assets. After the storm, the difference is clear between institutions like the Belize Electricity Ltd., who restored power to most of the affected areas within 48 hours, and was exceptional. eEmergency organizations like the Belize City Emergency Management OrganizationOrganization , (CEMO), who still seemseems unable to get organized and to start to roll out the much needed assistance to help Belizeans affected by the storm. When US president George Bush flew over New Orleans on his way home and did not take the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina seriously, he was criticized heavily for this action. The inability of the Bush administration to respond appropriately to Katrina will forever be a scar on the legacy of George Bush. The way things are looking in the aftermath of Hurricane Richard, it may very well be that Hurricane Richard maybe Barrow’s Katrina.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Belize Times

Were We Ready?

(Cont'd from pg. 1) miles above, the village was literally caught in the maelstrom. All over the rural areas and even in Belize City, police officers were sent on duty to man tiny wooden police booths, several of which were uprooted from their makeshift foundations. Again, planning and preparedness would have ensured the safety of the officers and of public property. And most disturbing is the

failure to evacuate the shoreline in Belize City. The City Emergency Management Organization, led by none other than “Superman” himself, a k a D e p u t y M a y o r W i l l o u g h b y, must have known the pre-existing conditions of the residences along t h e Ya b r a s h o r e l i n e. L e s s t h a n a month ag o when T.S. Matthew threatened, it was noted how quickly Yabra went under water, how high the tides came along the banks of

the canal and how much wave action there was as the winds picked up. To execute dramatic rescues a la Superman must also come with stern rebuke at foolhardiness - you should have known better and ordered the mandatory evacuation of the Yabra area. To the traumatized residents of the area who almost drowned, and the many more whose dwellings we r e d e m o l i s h e d , we o f f e r o u r sympathies and support. Do not let the PM off the hook: he has promised to build back every home destroyed by Hur ricane Richard.

Hold him to it and demand that the new buildings be sturdy in structure, off the ground at least five feet and NOT of plywood. At the end of the storm we hope lies a rainbow. Let this be a lesson to the powers that be: a tropical storm in May 2008 killed five people and washed away Kendall (which is still not rebuilt more than two years later), a tiny Category one shuts down things for a week, damages Belmopan, the hurricane rescue capital and takes out the citrus industry financially. Be prepared.

feet. In the Hattieville, Gales Point and Mullins River communities, they are still appealing for distribution of supplies in a timely fashion. Many, presumably thought to be caught off-guard by two recent false alar ms from other stor ms, relived the trauma they experienced as Richard pummeled their rooftops and swept through with winds strong enough to hurl a person across the street. Some stayed at home because they simply did not heed the warning call, while others admit they wanted to "see" what a hurricane was all about. After their frightening experiences, they now

feel differently about that. At a press conference the morning after the hurricane, Prime Minister Dean Barrow said estimates were well over $30 Million and that the government would do what it takes to help people rebuild their lives. While the restoration has already begun for some, those in the more isolated areas, many of whom have young childr en, are complaining that their needs are not being immediately met. Those people, displaced and discouraged by the setback, say because they can do no better, they are still waiting for the help to ar rive. For your sakes people, let's hope it's before another one hits.

amount to a misre presentation” because Telemedia’s lawyer, Lois Young Barrow, is on record, in court, as saying that if GOB loses the appeal, the shares will go back to its former shareholders. Two weeks ago on October 15th 2010, the Bar row administration launched its prospectus for the sale of 44.5 % of the ordinary shares in Belize Telemedia Ltd (Telemedia) at a price of $ 5.00 per share. A month ago the Investment Committee of Social Security Board “approved” the purchase of 20% of BTL’s shareholding for $50,000,000 over the objections of the social par tner re presentatives on the committee with the committee’s

chairman, Net Vasquez, claiming he had used his casting vote. A t t h i s m o n t h ’s r e g u l a r l y scheduled meeting of the SSB Board of Directors, the social par tner representatives said they needed more infor mation and more time before they could vote on the matter. A special meeting of the Board has been called for tomorrow morning and at this point none of the social partner representatives say that they are going to vote for the proposed purchase. In fact there is talk that they just might not attend. If that should happen it would be illegal for the Board to pass the proposal since SSB laws require the presence of at least one each of the social partners, and at least 3 government representatives.

Richard causes millions in damages

(Cont'd from pg. 1) attention of people monitoring the Weather Channel last Thursday when it began to become a more org anized weather system in the central Caribbean. It drifted slowly westward and then meandered near the Honduran/Nicaraguan border for about two days before it started to show a western track, aiming in at the lower Belize and upper Stann Creek Districts. When it's eye slammed into G a l e s Po i n t M a n a t e e V i l l a g e a t around 5 pm on Sunday evening, it packed sustained winds of up to 90 miles per hour, tearing down trees

and lamp posts with power lines, and ripping off roofs off stronger buildings, while totally demolishing the weaker ones entirely. It was not until the next morning when residents got up, that they realized the level of damag e that the hurricane had caused. In Belize City, many families whose old wooden or plycem homes were compromised by their own durability, their occupants were about tr ying to patch back their lives tog ether and salvag e what they could, while still others are washing out the thick layers of mud that the sea pushed into their homes with a storm surge of four

BTL Trust warns buyers of BTL shares

(Cont'd from pg. 1) disclosure of critical information that the public should be aware of. T h e r e l e a s e g o e s o n t o s ay that the prospectus contains only a brief reference to the Trustee’s constitutional challenge and that the Barrow administration is attempting to pass off the appeal as “a mere formality.” It notes that “the prospectus glaringly omits to point out that the Court of Appeal may grant an injunction prohibiting the sale of shares or that the BTL Employees Trust may win its case on appeal” and that if this should happen, “any mem b er o f th e p u b lic, w h e t h e r local or foreign, who bought shares

from GOB will lose their shares in Telemedia and will have to go to GOB to get back their money. There is no guarantee that the GOB will be in a position to reimburse such persons.” The release also points out that the “prospectus also fails to mention that Jeffrey Prosser still has cases pending against Telemedia that could affect both the value of the shares and GOB’s ability to give good title to shares in Telemedia.” And that “despite talk of a guarantee of profits, the source of this guarantee or expectation is not set out in the prospectus” It accuses GOB of “serious and selective omissions that could

Questions to Ministers

Happy 92nd Birthday to Narciso Urbina "El Gran Mariscal"

Will the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance please tell us what is the interest rate being paid to the Social Security Board on monies it has deposited in the Central Bank of Belize? Will the Prime Minister please tell us on what financial grounds did he make the decision to stop paying the noncontributory pension to the elderly poor and can he explain where and how he has found 50 million in SSB funds to bailout his hotheaded acquisition of BTL?

Left to Right: Narciso "Chicho" Urbina, Party Leader Hon. John Briceño, Leader Emeritus Rt. Hon. George Price, Josue Urbina, Rick Urbina Jr., Past Party Leader Rt. Hon. Said Musa

The Belize Times

From the Desk of the Party Leader

Weathering the storm â&#x20AC;Ś

Last week started with Belizeans bracing for its first real hurricane this season, Hurricane Richard. As preparations got underway across the country, I stopped in at the DEMO Headquarters in Orange Walk to see if I could be of assistance to those who were putting plans in place. As I spoke with the many dedicated professional men and women who were busy working the phones, checking in with NEMO Belmopan and keeping track of the storm, I could not help but remember my own experience 12 years ago. It was just around the end of October when Hurricane Mitch threatened Belize. The then Prime Minsiter, Said Musa was in Taiwan and I was acting Prime Minister. All the projections had Mitch as a Category 5 hurricane and headed straight for Belize. I remember sitting in my office with Eamon Courtenay, Stuart Leslie, Lisa Shoman, Bobby Leslie and the Rt. Hon George Price, getting a briefing from the then Head of our Department of Metrology Mr. Carlos Fuller, who kept telling us about the strike probability, wind velocity and about hurricane tornados, a phenomenon common in Category 5 storms. I clearly remember Mr. Fuller speaking of 25 foot waves and about the possibility of Belize City being completely inundated if it should get a direct hit from Mitch. October 1998 was only the second month in our first term in office and the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) was in its infancy. So as acting Prime Minister, my job was to assemble cabinet and get plans in place to ensure that Belize was prepared for what was to be its worst natural disaster in history. Based on the advice of our chief meteorologist Cabinet took the decision to evacuate Belize City, something that had never been done before and has not been done since. Our small group got together with the police, BDF and the CEO for the Public Service to figure out how we would be able to accommodate a minimum of 50,000 people moving from the City to Belmopan, as well as people from the south. We put every bus available into action, instructing that they must bring people west. We also evacuated San Pedro and Caye Caulker. Next we had to turn the Western Highway into a one way highway and control the speed limit of vehicles. While those plans were being drawn up, the opening up of additional shelters in Belmopan, San Ignacio and Benque Viejo had to be put in place. Working with the BDF, Police, Fire Department and other public officers was an amazing experience and the efficiency and professionalism of our men and women in uniform inspired all of us. The presence of our then Senior Minster, the Rt. Hon. George Price, who had experienced 3 major hurricanes, was also invaluable. As Belizeans converged on Belmopan, San Ignacio and Santa Elena and even Benque Viejo, the great challenge for the leadership team was how to keep everyone safe and as comfortable as possible. Hurricane Mitch lingered out there in front of Belize for days, before it decided to move south and over Honduras. This meant that for close to four days Belizeans were under lock down. Belmopanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s infrastructure, which had never before been tested by such an influx of people, held up. Of course everything from bottle water supply to food on store shelves had to be brought in from Belize City to accommodate the increase in demand caused by the large number of people who converged on Belmopan. The police command in Belmopan had to be significantly beefed up to maintain law and order and even the Belmopan Hospital had to set up auxiliary facilities to deal with the increase in traffic. In the end though Mitch never made a direct hit on Belize, its effects on San Pedro, where battering waves busted up piers and damaged the electrical and water supplies, ran into the millions. Add this to the loss of productivity and damage to agriculture due to flooding and the total damages reached $100 million. The lessons learnt from Hurricane Mitch were many and our experiences during the prolonged crisis helped us in setting up of a proper Emergency Management System. The effectiveness and efficiency of NEMO is based, to a great deal on planning, preparation and coordination. Agencies must work together to plan not only for the storm, but also for what happens after the storm has passed. More than anything else, leadership is required. Someone has to take responsibility for making decisions so that in the end there is accountability. Hurricane Richard was a Category 1 storm - had it been a category 4 or 5 storm, would our Government have been able to effectively and efficiently cope with the challenges that comes with such an event?

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Thank God for Japan… I am sure that most residents of Belize City breathed a sigh of hear tfelt relief when they heard last week that stupidity aficionado Deputy Mayor Philloughby will be heading to Japan for two months on a scholarship. From what we can g ather, Philloughby will spend

the time learning how to separate materials to put into a recycler and the other participants in this intensive course will range between the ages of 4-7 years old. According to sources in the Foreign Affairs Ministr y, they’ve been holding talks with their Japanese counterparts for months tr ying to find a suitable course for the intellectually challenged Deputy Mayor and this is the best they could come up with. Our source also repor ted that the Japanese Gover nment only had two conditions which absolutely needed to be met before signing off on the scholarship offer – (1) that Philloughby speak as little as possible so that he doesn’t taint the rest of the class with his stupidity and (2) that he absolutely must leave the Super man cap at home or the deal is off…If Da Noh Soh! $250,000 writeoff ? So what exactly is the deal with Baldy’s $250,000 Luxur y

The Belize Times

Land Cr uiser which went for a dip in the sea about a week ag o? Inquiring minds want to know but nobody’s talking. From unofficial sources we’ve been able to confir m that the vehicle was actually in the sea and heavy equipment had to be brought in to take it out. Also from some of the snooping we’ve done, we understand that there was significant water damage to the vehicle and we all know that baldy’s butt can’t be plunked down in anything that’s not top shelf…hell NO! So there are some nag ging questions, like what exactly transpired to land the royal vehicle in the sea; and happens to the $250,000 vehicle now… does it just get written off as one of those unfor tunate quar ter million dollar mishaps? And of course, since the royal butt must always be pampered and powdered…how much will Baldy’s new luxur y ride cost us taxpayers (cause sure as hell he will get another luxur y ride)? Inquiring minds want to know? If Da Noh Soh! $100,000 for a new ride… And though we know that baldy wouldn’t stoop to riding in any vehicle costing less than a quarter million, r umours from the Foreign Affairs Ministr y are that they are shelling out $100,000 for a new ride which was bought in the US at auction after suffering some water damage. As far as

we can tell…the vehicle hasn’t been delivered yet so we won’t say who’ll be handed the keys to the brand new second hand $100,000 ride. The thing is that the g over nment keeps saying it’s broke but ever y time a UDP minister or crony or family member coughs taxpayers are forced to dig deeper into their pockets to spring for a new fancy ride. That pisses me off…especially when I see people like ‘Fill his Pocket’ Castro using his g over nment ride and our fuel to train his

cycling team…If Da Noh Soh! Just wrong… Ever since Joe, Joeliet and the confused contrabandista Fonso jumped onto the UDP g ravy train, they’ve done

nothing but insult the people of Belize who helped to put the red rascals where they are right now. Ain’t no way the hair y Senator would be enjoying breakfast in bed cour tesy of the CEO if the UDP hadn’t won. Ain’t no way she would be enjoying 24 hour security on

her house and two luxur y SUVs with driver if the UDP hadn’t won. But apparently they’ve forg otten the people who put

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them there. I don’t listen to the idiots on WAVE anymore cause lately they’ve been lacking even enter tainment value, but I understand that they’ve been heaping insults on the people of Belize City who have been beg ging and pleading for assistance from this broken

down poor excuse for a g over nment and City Council. According to repor ts…they’ve been saying that those poor Belizeans should g o pawn out their jewelr y to buy food. That’s just messed up…even for you idiots. The last time the hair y Senator’s luxur y ride g ot vandalized she claimed that we put out the word on her. That time we didn’t but any time you fat and hair y UDP cats think you’ve g ot a license to insult the people of Belize who have been trampled by your idiotic bald boss, you’re fair g ame… Remember that! If Da Noh Soh!

PARTY PAGE

The Belize Times

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Relief for Hurricane THE BLUE MACHINE Victims in Gales Point

We Da Blue

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Belize Times

UDP Politics as usual

Despair…! According to Prime Minister Dean Barrow, those affected by Category 1 Hurricane Richard can sleep easy at night, since they have his personal assurance that they will receive the assistance they need. Of course he didn’t say exactly when they would receive the assistance… he just made the commitment, stepped off the podium and into his air-conditioned ride for the chauffeured drive back to his seafront mansion equipped with an emergency generator for those pesky power outages and plenty, plenty steak in that fancy sub-zero freezer. The level of desperation displayed by residents of the city who have lost all their possessions, have no food to eat and no means of earning an income is lost on our Prime Minister. He feels that he has done his duty with a fly-by (can’t get his fancy Gucci loafers damaged in the mud) and a commitment made with his sincere face on. This morning on one of the talk-shows a woman called in railing up about the behavior of the people who were seeking assistance and for a brief moment I agreed with her…until I realized that she had probably eaten a hearty breakfast before calling in and my belly was also full. It’s hard to fathom the fr ustration and anger of those who have no money, no food, no home, no possessions and can do nothing but wait on assistance from a government which seems to have broken down on the roadside on the way to making the delivery. What we’re seeing is a reaction from a people who were already living in abject poverty before Hurricane Richard and have now been pushed even further into the pit by circumstances beyond their control. I agree that GOB can’t do it all…but in times like these they need to do something. After the stor m…! Seems like the sticky-fingered Mayor and the sticky-brained Philloughby didn’t get the memo infor ming them that dealing with a hurricane isn’t only about gesturing like mad when the cameras are turned your way and profiling at every opportunity. Guess they didn’t realize that the City Council also needs to try and help people affected by the stor m. I mean hell…this isn’t rocket science. Everybody knew the stor m was coming days before it did…everybody knew what winds it would be packing and everybody had an idea of what damage would be caused. Deputy Mayor Philloughby is always patting himself on the back for having CEMO in tip top shape but apparently all those so-called simulations he carried out were just a means of stimulating himself and nothing else. While people are bawling on the streets for help Zenaida and Philloughby can waste time at a press conference which does nothing to help the people. Can you imagine…after the stor m the incompetents at City Hall claim that they had to go out and do an assessment and then prepare a report which took 48 hours and then try to see how they can get stuff for the people. God help us with these people in charge of the city. It doesn’t take a damned Einstein to figure out what type of damages people suffered and what type of assistance they need. Then again this is the same City Council which tried for over a year to pave two streets before finally giving up and calling in the Ministry of Works to get the job done. We shouldn’t be surprised. Lawd Mr. Bar row… Two days after Hurricane Richard impacted the country of Belize, Prime Minister Barrow showed what a compassionate and caring leader he really is…by raising the price of fuel at the pumps. What the hell is wrong with that man? How can Mr. Barrow stand before God and the nation one day pledging assistance to alleviate the suffering, and then the next day raise the cost of fuel? Everybody knows that things are already really bad in Belize. Everybody knows that things will be worse after the stor m financially. But now Mr. Barrow decided that we haven’t suffered

enough so he is going to raise the price of fuel. Of course he’ll say that world oil prices have gone up and so acquisition costs have gone up…but a cursory search on the internet will reveal that nothing is further from the tr uth. And even if it had gone up, couldn’t Mr. Barrow have just decreased GOB’s take just a little so that Belizeans would be spared any extra hardships during this time of crisis due to natural disaster. Guess where Mr. Barrow’s at planning his next little junket there’s no hardship and no poverty. Kudos where due… To round off the stor m section…all thanks to God for sparing Belize from something much worse than a Category 1 hurricane. Thanks to the men and women of NEMO and other essential ser vices who did the jobs they were supposed to do before and during the stor m. Thanks to Love FM for providing coverage throughout the stor m. Thanks to organizations like the Red Cross who do not seek publicity but work tirelessly to assist those affected by disasters. Some unsolicited advice to the Red Cross and those organizations trying to help…stay far, far away from the Belize City Council and people like the Deputy Mayor because incompetence CAN be catching. Dat Liad Melvin Hulse… With the exception of Prime Minister Dean Barrow and my ex…nobody tells lies like Minister of Transport Melvin Hulse. Late last week the bus situation was center stage on the talk-shows cause let’s face it… two years after Melvin claims he fixed the bus problem, it is worse than it ever was. Commuters are being left in ter minals and on the roads because there are just not enough buses to deal with the r ush. I take buses regularly so I know. For almost the entire two years, Melvin has been telling the nation that the problem will be fixed in a few weeks…but dat man liad bad. So regular as clockwork, last week he called in claiming that finally everything is in place and the problem will be fixed. Get this..Melvin claims that there is no need to r ush into buses because every line will have a standby bus ready to transport anybody who doesn’t get a seat on the scheduled r un. No man, woman or child will be left behind, claimed Melvin. What a crock. I remember way back in the 1993-1998 UDP ter m when Melvin was Minister of Works and somebody called in to complain about the horrible conditions of the Boom to Hattieville road. It was a Friday and Melvin called in right after to assure the nation that all the materials were already on site and the paving of the Boom to Hattieville road was scheduled to begin on Monday. But anyway, some years after it was a PUP Government that finally paved the Boom to Hattieville Road. That is how liad Melvin is. Just a word of advice…don’t sit back and wait for the standby bus that Melvin claims will be there shortly…you’ll have a long, long wait. Placencia says NO… I’m not sure how much clearer it can be stated…residents and stakeholders in Placencia want nothing to do with a cr uise tourism village. They’ve said so time and time again and the consultations recently held there underscored that. But like everything else, this government tends to ride roughshod over everybody when it wants to get its own way. Hell…this cr uise tourism thing down south was a done deal and was even part of the BTB’s action plan…set in stone (so to speak) long before anybody in Placencia was even consulted in any way. According to some people in the know in Placencia, the Minister of Tourism denied any knowledge of the cr uise tourism thing even after the action plan was made public (what a moron). So it’ll be interesting to see how GOB will backtrack now (or if they will) considering that promises have already been made and deals brokered – all based on this cr uise tourism thing working out…

The Belize Times

Sunday, October 31, 2010

BTB Hires Foreigner to Head up Marketing Department

Last week Thursday, the BTB officially launched its 2 year action plan. The new team presented by the new BTB includes newly hired, Yanick Dalhouse as the Director of Marketing. Ms. Dalhouse was the Account Super visor at BvK, the advertising agency that BTB hired in 2008. One assumes then that BTB could not source a qualified Belizean (home or abroad or from within the existing pool of staff) to head up their marketing department. And for sure, an American coming from Milwaukee and having worked for an advertising agency will not be coming to Belize for small change or with an intimate knowledge either of the destination. Whatever infor mation she has is from the staff at the BTB. In any event, more hotel tax being used to pay high salaries, stipends and perks. But this should not come as any surprise under the directorship of Seleni Matus. Since taking office, in addition to her lucrative salary package and frequent travels, Ms. Matus has shown a distinct intolerance for local expertise. One of her first acts was to hire 4 of her NGO friends that she worked with at Conser vation International to do basically what she is being paid to do- develop a 2 year action plan for BTB. One of the areas her consulting friends worked on was BTB efficiencies in Finance, Ad-

what to do. The proof is in the pudding: the BTB Action 2 year plan alone calls for over 14 consultants to be hired under BTB in that 2 year period and based on her track record, these will be more of her friends in the USA. Imagining the possibilities, Prime Minister Barrow, to provide job opportunities for Belizeans is clearly not something your Director of Tourism believes in. And while consultants are being hired to write up pretty documents, on is left to wonder who is actually getting the work done?

Seleni Matus

ministration and Revenue Collection. So not even BTB’s own Director of Finance with input from the Board or from one of many of the qualified financial managers or auditors in Belize was good enough to get this part of the plan done. After Ms. Matus hired these four friends and paid them well including their travel, hotel and meals during their stays in Belize, she then hired the accounts super visor from the Milwaukee based advertising and PR fir m to be the BTB’s Director of Marketing. One assumes that all the paperwork for work per mits to work in Belize has been straightened out. Again, Ms. Matus does not feel confident in working with the expertise of the persons in the local Belize tourism industry to get

Yanick Dalhouse

the marketing done. Then after this, Ms. Matus hires another close friend of hers and her chair man, Mr. Lindsay Garbutt, from her NGO working days at Conser vation International to do the series of consultation on cr uise in Placencia and the south: Mr. Rich Wilson and without any process of selection just handpicked by the BTB. Clearly, Seleni and the BTB Board have no regards when it comes to job opportunities for Belizean or even Caricom Nationals. The Government of Belize in its manifesto pledge increased job opportunities but that won’t be the case in tourism as Seleni’s trend has shown. She believes the only way to get anything done is to not do the job she is paid for but to hire consultants to tell her

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Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Belize Times

SCRUTINIZING THE BTL PROSPECTUS

At a much awaited and publicized event on October 15, 2010 the now Government-owned Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) launched its prospectus in an effort to lure both Belizeans and foreigners into buying shares at what they have dubbed ‘the most profitable enterprise in Belize ever”. From the onset we must premise our analysis by saying that because of the way the financial statements are presented it is difficult to dissect all the areas and it is even more complicated to provide a more in-depth analysis. Various professionals have coincided in opining that the format used to present the information contained in this prospectus gives the impression that it is intended to hide some important facts. At a first glance, and after listening to the fanfare surrounding this issue, the prospectus presented by BTL makes the purchase of shares in BTL seem more than an attractive investment. However, in deeper examination of the document there comes to the fore many anomalies and concerns surrounding the data presented and assumptions made therein. The forecasts made in this document seem fundamentally flawed and many are advised to seek professional help before venturing to invest based on what is only evident to the ordinary eye. Based on the numbers offered in the prospectus we see the need to point out that BTL’s fiscal year 2009 remains unaudited. The fact that BTL is unable to present its latest audited financials is questionable as the audit is usually completed by June to July after their March year end. . As an investor it would be more than wise to demand that the Audit be completed as there may be more facts available to assist in decision making. It appears that the audit report due 2010 has been intentionally withheld because its report may contain information that could be detrimental to the prospectus. Usually, financial forecasting requires that one makes some general and many times specific assumptions that would need to hold to ensure that your business model is good. In economics this is referred to as “Ceteris Paribus” all other things remaining constant. However, it must be highlighted that the assumptions of the BTL prospectus, with regard to revenue, are very vague and generally point to its performance being linked to stronger economic growth over the next five years. Usually in a prospectus, details of growth by revenue stream should be disclosed together with pricing details and volumes; we do not have any assurances that the economy will rebound as they expect it to, this is a major risk. And based on the dismal performance of our economy over the last two and a half years of this UDP government, the assumption mentioned above seems ludicrous. The reversal of the Long Term Debt of $45m to the British Caribbean Bank and crediting it to the

formation contained in the prospectus, it is evident that the numbers were doctored to have the financial position of BTL appear in a more healthy position. Obviously this was done with the intention to entice investors to participate in the sale of shares. Potential buyers of BTL shares would be well served to seek some level of expertise in determining the true risk of investing in BTL whose true financial viability cannot be determined with the available information. Several questions go unanswered with the figures presented and projections made in the BTL prospectus made public October 15, 2010.

Telemedia’s equity in 2011 is not in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles (assumption 1.7). Prudent accounting policies generally require that contingent assets not be recorded or recognized but instead disclosed in the financial statements. In this case, the contingent asset is the award by a court that the $45M loan was unlawful which would give them the privilege to reverse the loan when that ruling is made. BTL has unilaterally decided to reverse the loan with no real solid court order and or other justification to back it up. It is our view, after consulting with various accountants that the debt should be kept in the books as a contingent liability and interest accrued up to the point when a court order rules otherwise. The effect of booking this transaction as BTL has chosen to do is to increase the Company’s equity which enhances its financial position. This again we believe was done with an express intention to make the company seem a more attractive investment. The recording of tax assessments creates a tax expense for the Company and a liability to the Government. In our view, assumption 1.6 of the prospectus erroneously credits the assessments to the Company’s Equity. This entry gives the impression that the Company is acting as the Government to rightfully collect/credit the assessment to its cash/equity. This particular entry needs further explanation as the expected result of the transaction differs from the forecast. The effect of the transaction is to increase the Company’s equity which again enhances BTL’s financial position. Is the intention again to misinform potential purchasers of shares? We also found discrepancies in the forecasted cash flow for 2010. In the prospectus it is reported that the dividend paid amounting to $18.3M represents the dividend payment for two years, that is, 2008/9 and 2009/10. It appears that the dividend paid for 2008/9, amounting to $8.9 M, has been double counted in 2011 as this was partially paid in February 2010 when Telemedia held its first Annual General Meeting (AGM) under the ownership of the Government. From our point of view, there is a double counting error in the 2011 forecast. Again we ask the question, is

this intentional act? Finally, the share price of $5.00 intends to undermine the true value of investments from the predecessor owners. Experienced professionals in the area are of the view that the share price valuation methodology omits certain key elements because at the current offer price, there is no premium to accrue to the predecessor owners. From our examination of the in-

The Belize Times

Sunday, October 31, 2010

One rescued, one drowned, one missing at sea during Hurricane Richard

While the central and portions of the southern areas of the country recoups from the ravages caused by Hurricane Richard, one family is mourning the loss of a loved one who perished in the storm, and another is hoping for the best for their missing brother. Three fishermen were returning to shore to take cover from the storm but they never made it together. Their boat capsized some 20 miles offshore near the Bluefield Range area and on Tuesday afternoon, Coast Guard personnel retrieved the body of 64 year old watchman Arturo Gilharry. The second angler, Edmund Forte, 33, was rescued on Tuesday morning after he pulled off an amazing feat, swimming for miles to safety. Forte said they left their camp on Sunday morning but on their way to the English Caye channel both of

Cop freed in case of slain comrade

On March eighteenth of this year, Corporal Gavin Sanchez, stationed then at the San Pedro Police Station, was killed when nine bullets that came from the gun of fellow cop, Sergeant Paulino Reyes, tore through his body. It was public spectacle at the nature of the news and the number of bullets wounds that Sanchez suffered, but from the onset, the question of charges against Reyes was iffy because Reyes, and fellow police anf BDF officers who were present on that fateful night, swore it was in self defense and that Sanchez had hurled death threats at Reyes after a confrontation at Wet Willies Bar on the island. Reyes, who was on duty at the business, decided to have Sanchez escorted back to the police station by his colleagues after Sanchez had, in a drunken stupor, caused a scene with another man at the bar. After the threats, Sanchez also allegedly sent death threats to Reyes through text messages that were stored and later used as part of the evidence-gathering. Late last week, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, decided that no charges would be filed against Reyes, based on the evidence presented and the coroner's report. That triggered Sanchez' wife, Taralee Sanchez, to publicly express her disatisfaction and disappointment with the decision. Her major concerns have to do with the number of bullets her husband endured and the locations of those wounds in relation to how Vidal described them to her. Sanchez said her husband was shot in his head, knees, ankle and pelvis, and that Vidal decribed the first seven shots as "superficial" or flesh wounds. Besides that, Sanchez said her husband´s one of his knees was also broken. Sanchez is convinced that Reyes should at least be facing a manslaughter charge. Taralee Sanches' cry for some for of justice is not alone. This week, the Belizeans for Justice Movement issued a press release recording its disatisfaction at this decision. The Movement feels that it should have been left up to the mercy of a jury to decide whether Reyes did act in self defense or not. They did not stop there, however, as now they are asking the Ombudsman to review the DPP`s decision. The Ombudsman has not yet indicated whether she will intervene or not.

their boat engines shut down and wouldn´t restart. That was when he and fellow fisherman, Barrington Gomez, decided to cling onto a small piece of lumber and return to their camp. But the waters had already

begun to churn up as Richard neared the coast and the boat tossed all three, including Arturo Gilharry, 64, overboard. Forte said he swam for hours overnight on Sunday and into

Monday morning while the hurricane dealt out its wrath over Belize. The Coast Guard rescued him at Spanish Bay on Tuesday morning, some nine miles away from where the tragedy struck. Someone who spotted the angler alerted the Coast Guard who responded in time to the area. In his recollection of the battle to survive, Forte admitted that he wanted to give in to exhaustion many times, but he stayed the course when he thought of his family and friends. Prayer, he said, became the foundation on which he depended for fortitude. The Coast Guard have located the fishermen´s submerged vessel and have handed it over to the Port Authority. The search still continues for Barrignton Gomez, whose family is hoping that because of his years of experience on the high seas, he will be found alive.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Belize Times

Max the Jaguar trapped, sedated and euthanized

While tragedy struck at sea for three fishermen, onshore Richard also brought another bout of bad luck when a jaguar that had escaped its cage killed a man. Bruce Cullerton, the son of the late Bridget Cullerton, was viciously attacked and killed by Max, a jaguar that was in the care of his neighbours Richard and Carol Foster, who had achieved world-wide acclaim for their photography and video work for the National Geographic. The incident happened just one day before Cullerton was supposed to travel to the United States. Sometime during the passage of Hurricane Richard Max escaped out of his cage when the storm ripped up a tree that then fell on the jaguar's cage. According to Richard Foster, he heard his dogs barking at around 10 pm on Monday night behind Bruce`s house and when he went to check outside he saw the three year old jaguar sitting in the middle of the road. He said he called out his name and the jaguar, which has been in captivity for the past 18 months and is used to him, started to run towards him. Foster said at that point he didn't yet know of the attack on Cullerton, and his body was not discovered until Tuesday morning near his gate with bites to his head, neck and arm. A bloody foot of his tennis shoes was not far away. It was discovered that the cat had also bitten one of Cullerton's dogs. That dog, and two more belonging to Cullerton, appeared to be depressed, presumably because they witnessed the attack. What triggered the killing,

Bruce Cullerton

however, will never be known, nor whether the dog was bitten while trying to save his master, or the other way around. Foster told the media that Cullerton, a mechanic who repaired and maintained his vehicles, would often come over to use the internet via the Fostersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; wifi, and may have done so Monday night. The cat apparently mauled Cullerton to death, dragging his body nearly 100 feet into the nearby bushes in an attempt to conceal it. On Tuesday night jaguar expert Omar Figueroa had set four leg-hold traps concentrated within 500 yards of the jaguar's cage at the residence of Richard Foster near mile 28 and a half on the Western highway. Around 9:35 that night Max was snared and Figueroa

along with a team from the Forest Department, a veterinarian and two members of staff from the Belize zoo moved in on it and sedated it. After it was brought in the veterinarian then euthanized it with an injection directly into its heart. Figueroa justified the killing by telling the media: "When an animal crosses a certain line, I mean it comes a time when you have to make some hard decisions and it's not to say that it was the cat's fault. I think it's wrong to start pointing fingers and say whose fault it was. But it's hard to really say what happened, there was a dog that got injured as well and so it's kind of difficult to really put the pieces together. It is a serious tragedy unfortunately but I believe that first and foremost human's safety has got to be safeguarded. In all

the research we do, in all our efforts we are driven first and foremost by human safety. When something comes that compromises that then we need to act in the best interest of human safety. It's just that something had to be done to relieve fears that people might have naturally and so I believe the Forest Department made the right decision."

The Belize Times

Court dismiss Roy Davis police assault charges

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Oct. 28, 2010 Tw o c h a r g e s, a s s a u l t i n g a police officer and harm, which were brought against freelance reporter and photographer Roy Davis, were dismissed today in Magistrate’s Court #1. Chief Magistrate Margaret McKenzie dismissed the charges after the complainant special constable Wellington Welch, 51, testified that he does not want any further court action. The Chief Magistrate told Welch and Davis that they must respect each other because they both work in the same

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Oct. 28, 2010 Leon Yorke, 25, a laborer of 4013 Berry Street, and his 16 year old step-son, a member of Belize Cadet Corps who was shot yesterday morning by police, were charged with burglary when they appeared today in #1 Magistrate Court. Yorke and the minor, whose mother was present in court, pleaded not guilty to the charg e. Chief Magistrate McKenzie offered each of them a bail of $3,000 and adjourned their case until December 29. The incident occurred around 7:30 a.m. yesterday. T he police reported that they were on mobile patrol on Jasmine Street when they saw two persons enter an abandoned

Bar owner foils robbery attempt – shoots one suspect

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Oct. 28, 2010 Shawn Edwards, 23, who was shot several times when he allegedly attempted to commit a robbery at Picame Bar on Mosul Street, could barely walk when he appeared in Magistrate’s Court #1 on Tuesday, October 26. Edwards was charged with 2 counts of attempted murder, 2 counts of wounding, 2 counts of use of deadly means of harm and one count of attempted robbery. Chief Magistrate

Margaret McKenzie explained to him that she will not take a plea because the offences are indictable. She also explained to Edwards that the court cannot offer him bail because of the nature of the offences and remanded him into custody until November 25. The incident occurred shortly before 10 p.m. on Saturday, October 16. Jose Santos Acosta, the owner of Picame Bar, reported to the police that he was behind the counter when two men entered, one of them armed with a pistol. Acosta said the man who was unarmed jumped over the counter and he started to wrestle with the man. He said the gun man opened fire and he was shot in the left side of his chest and in his hand. Acosta said he then drew his licensed pistol from behind the counter and returned fire and in the exchange, Edwards was shot in his testicles, navel, left upper back and left shoulder. He was apprehended and taken to Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where he was kept under police guard until he was well enough to leave. Besides, Acosta, a woman, Sumara Lopez, was also injured by gunshot.

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Oct. 28, 2010 Two persons, Eugene Neal, 21, and a 17 year old boy, who were caught allegedly attempting to break open an ATM machine, were charged with damage to property when they appeared yesterday in Magistrate’s Court #6. They pleaded not guilty to the charge and Magistrate Dorothy Flowers offered them a bail of $4,000 each and adjourned their case until December 1. The minor, who was granted bail at Belize Family Court for another matter on the condition that he is not arrested and charged for another offence for 1 year had apparently violated that condition, but Magistrate Flowers said

Belize Family Court will have to deal with it. The incident occurred on Monday night, October 25 at the Belize Bank ATM machine, located at the Caye Caulker Water taxi Terminal on North Front Street. Police reported that they were on mobile patrol on North Front Street when they saw two persons trying to break open the ATM machine. On seeing the police both persons ran and jumped into the river in an effort to escape. But the police, who were on both sides of the river, fished them out of the water. Nothing was stolen. The value of the ATM machine was estimated at $15,000.00

environment. The charges arose as a result of an incident which occurred on July 15 just outside of the holding cell at the Magistrate’s Courts. Welch had alleged that Davis pushed him against the wall and caused him to hit the back of his head. Davis had contended that he was acting in self defense when he pushed Welch because it was Welch who pushed him first. Both men have promised to abide by the advice of Chief Magistrate McKenzie.

Father and teen step son charged with burglary

house. The police said both persons ran when they saw the police and one of them, the minor, was shot in his left knee. They were both apprehended, taken into custody and charged. The minor was taken to Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where he was treated and released. His mother said her common-law husband, Yorke and her son left home about 6:45 a.m. to go visit a friend. She admitted that they went to the abandoned house but said that it was not a case of burglary because the house is a hangout for a number of persons. She claims her son was shot by the police when he was in front of his house.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Shawn Edwards

Alleged ATM Machine bandits charged with damage to property

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Belize Times

PRESS RELEASE

One pleads guilty to sensational Lord’s bank burglary case sentenced to 6 Years

GOB MISREPRESENTS IN TELEMEDIA PROSPECTUS On October 15th 2010, the Government of Belize (GOB) launched its prospectus for the sale of 44.5% of the ordinary shares in Belize Telemedia Ltd. (Telemedia) at a price of $5.00 per share. The Trustees of the BTL Employees Trust (the Trust) have had the opportunity to review the prospectus and state that, in relations to this litigation brought by the Trustees, the prospectus provides only partial disclosure of critical information that the public should be aware of. Firstly, the prospectus contains only a brief reference to the Trustee’s constitutional challenge. The GOB is attempting to pass off the appeal as a mere formality. Secondly, the prospectus glaringly omits to point out that the Court of Appeal may grant an injunction prohibiting the sale of shares or that the BTL Employees Trust may win its case on appeal. Thirdly, if this happens, any member of the public, whether local or foreign, who bought shares from GOB will lose their shares in Telemedia and will have to go to the GOB to get back their money. There is no guarantee that the GOB will be in a position to reimburse such persons. Fourthly, the prospectus also fails to mention that Jeffrey Prosser still has cases pending against Telemedia that could affect both the value of the shares and GOB’s ability to give good title to shares in Telemedia. Fifthly, of signiﬁcant interest is the fact that, despite talk of a guarantee of proﬁts, the source of this guarantee or expectation is not set out in the prospectus. These are serious and selective omissions that could amount to a misrepresentation. Telemedia’s lawyer, Lois Young Barrow, is on record as saying that if GOB loses the appeal, the shares will go back to its former shareholders. The Trustees state that such failure to disclose the uncertainty as to GOB’s ability to give good title to the shares, and leading the public to believe otherwise is an irresponsible and misleading act by the GOB which should be immediately corrected.

Dated 27th October 2010. -Ends-

PAID AD P.O. Box 1258, Belize City, Belize

Mervin Ramirez

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Oct. 28, 2010 Eric Lockwood, 24, one of five men charged in connection with the burglary of a house in Lord’s bank in which items amounting to $20,810 were stolen, pleaded guilty to burglary when he appeared in Magistrate’s Court #8on Tuesday, October 26, and Magistrate Emmerson Banner sentenced him to 6 years. H e wa s a l s o ch a r g e d w i t h handling stolen g oods but that charg e was withdrawn after his guilty plea was accepted. The others charged were Herber t Bowden, 26, a laborer of Tibruce Street; Michael Smith, 23, a construction worker of 1021 Partridge Street; Mervin Ramirez, 21, an auto mechanic of Tibruce Street; and Prince Lockwood, 23, a shoe repair man of Sandhill. Bowden, Smith and Ramirez were charged with burglar y and handling stolen goods while Prince Lockwood was charged only with handling stolen goods. Even though Eric Lockwood pleaded guilty to the charge of burglary against the others was not withdrawn. Bowden, Smith, Ramirez and Prince Lockwood were denied bail and were remanded into custody until November 25. The burglary occurred between October 18 and 19. Emile Young, the owner of the house reported to the police that he was in the United States when he was informed that h i s h o u s e wa s b u r g l a r i z e d . H e said when he returned to Belize he checked and realized that the burglars stole all his household items and electronic equipment. He said when he checked he discovered that the burglars gained entry to his house by forcing open one of the windows. Police detained three of the suspected burglars on October 19 when a vehicle they were in crashed into the roundabout at the Belcan Bridge after a high speed chase by the caretaker of the house. The police reported that they r e c o ve r e d s o m e o f t h e s t o l e n items from Bowden, Smith and Ramirez. They reported that they also recovered some of the stolen items from Eric Lockwood and Prince Lockwood.

for sale

by order of the mortgagee

for sale

by order of athe mortgagee Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., Company duly registered under the Companies Act, Chapter 250 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition, 2000, and having its registered office at Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., a Company duly registered unCor. Albert and Bishop Belize, der the Companies Act,Streets, ChapterBelize 250 ofCity, the Laws of hereby Belize, gives notice of its intention to exercise its power of sale Revised Edition, 2000, and having its registered office at as Mortgagee under a Deed of Mortgage made the 7th day Cor. Albert and Bishop Streets, Belize City, Belize, hereby of December, betweentoEmerson gives notice of2004, its intention exercise itsBurke power of of Citron sale Street, Cohuneunder Walk,a Belmopan City, Cayo District, ofday the as Mortgagee Deed of Mortgage made the 7th one part and Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. ofBurke the other of December, 2004, between Emerson ofpart Citron and recorded in Deeds Book Volume 39 of 2004 at folios Street, Cohune Walk, Belmopan City, Cayo District, of the 337 366; the said Scotiabank (Belize) one –part andand Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. of theLtd. otherwill part at therecorded expiration of twoBook months from the date of the first and in Deeds Volume 39 of 2004 at folios publication of this sell the property described in the 337 – 366; and thenotice said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will Schedule hereto. of two months from the date of the first at the expiration publication of this notice sell the property described in the All offers hereto. to purchase the said property must be made in Schedule writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may be All offersfrom to purchase said property mustLtd. be made in obtained the saidthe Scotiabank (Belize) writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may be obtained from the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

THE SCHEDULE ABOVE THE REFERRED SCHEDULE TO ABOVE REFERRED TO

ALL THAT piece or parcel of land being Block 146 in the PRIVASSION ENCLAVE, Mountain Pine Ridge area, ALL THAT or parcel of land being Blockas146 in Cayo District,piece containing 6.263 acres, bounded shown thePlan PRIVASSION Mountain Ridge area, on No. 848 ofENCLAVE, 2004 and lodged at thePine Ofﬁce of the Cayo District, containing 6.263 acres,TOGETHER bounded as shown Commissioner of Lands and Surveys with on Plan No. 848 of 2004 and lodged at the Ofﬁce of the all buildings and erections standing and being thereon. Commissioner of Lands and Surveys TOGETHER with all buildings and erections standing and being thereon. DATED this 14th day of October, 2010. DATED this 14th day of October, 2010.

MUSA & BALDERAMOS 91 North Street, MUSA &Front BALDERAMOS Belize CityFront Street, 91 North Attorneys-at-Law for Belize City Scotiabank (Belize)for Ltd. Attorneys-at-Law Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

NOTICE NOTICE Notice is hereby given that the company named

Notice is hereby given that the company named

“LINGA INTERNATIONAL S.A.” “LINGA INTERNATIONAL S.A.”

has been dissolved and struck off the International has been dissolved struck with off the International Business Companiesand Register effect from the 22nd Business Companies day of October, 2010.Register with effect from the 22nd day of October, 2010.

The Belize Bank Limited The Belize Agent Bank Limited Registered Registered Agent

FOR SALE Sunday, October 31, 2010 BY ORDERfor OF THE MORTGAGEE sale by order of the mortgagee FOR SALE for sale

The Belize Times

BY ORDER OF THE MORTGAGEE Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., a company duly registered by order of the mortgagee under the Companies Act, Chapter 250, of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition, 2000, and having its registered Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., a company duly registered unoffice at Cor.(Belize) Albert and Bishop Streets, Belize City, Scotiabank Ltd., a company registered der the Companies Act, Chapter 250 of duly the Laws of Belize, Belize, hereby gives notice of its intention to exercise its under the Companies Act, Chapter 250, of the Laws Revised Edition, 2000, and having its registered officeof at Scotiabank Ltd.,2000, a under company duly of registered unpower ofRevised sale(Belize) as Edition, Mortgagee Deed Assignment Belize, andahaving registered Cor. Albert and Bishop Streets, Belize City, its Belize, hereby derMortgage theatCompanies Act, Chapter 250 of the Laws of Belize, of made the 2nd September, 2003, recorded office Cor.of Albert and Bishop Streets, Belize City, gives notice its intention to exercise its power of saleatas Revised Edition, 2000, and2003 having its registered office in Deeds Book Vol. 32 of at Folios 1243 – 1258, Belize, hereby gives notice of its intention to exercise Mortgagee under a DeedStreets, of Mortgage made the 30thhereby dayitsof Cor. Albert and Bishop Belize City, Belize, between Belize BankBENSON Limited Assignor) and power ofThe sale as Mortgagee under a (the Deed of Assignment November, 2000, between RAMCLAM, of theas gives notice of its intention to exercise its power of sale of Mortgage made the 2nd September, 2003, recorded Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., which said property was one part, and Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., of the part, Mortgagee under a Deed of Mortgage made theother 30th day of in Deeds Book Vol. 32 of 2003 at Folios 1243 – 1258, mortgaged by BENSON RAMCLAM to the said Belize and recorded at the Land Titles Unit in Deeds Book Vol. 61 November, 2000, between BENSON RAMCLAM, of the between The Belize Bank Limited (the Assignor) and Bank Limited on the 17th day of April, 2002, recorded of Folios 627 – 650, and Supplemental Deed part, madein one2000 part,atand Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., of the other Scotiabank said 1007 property was and Deeds Book Vol. 19 ofLtd., 1995which at Folios 1044; the day (Belize) ofat January, at the–Land and18th recorded the Land2002, Titlesrecorded Unit in Deeds Book Titles Vol. 61 mortgaged by BENSON RAMCLAM to the said Belize the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will at the expiration Unit in Deeds Book 4 ofand 2002 at Folios 581Deed – 588, the of 2000 at Folios 627Vol. – 650, Supplemental made Bank Limited on the 17th day of April, 2002, recorded in of two months from the date of the first publication of this said Scotiabank (Belize)2002, Ltd. recorded will at theatexpiration of two the 18th day of January, the Land Titles Deeds Book 19 ofof1995 at Folios 1007 – 1044; and notice theVol. property inatthe schedule months from the date the publication of notice Unit insell Deeds Book Vol.described 4 offirst 2002 Folios 581this – hereto. 588, the the said Scotiabank (Belize)inLtd. will at the expiration sell the properties described the schedule hereto. said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will at the expiration of two of two months from ofproperty the first must publication of in this All offers to purchase thedate said made months from the datethe of the first publication ofbethis notice notice property in the schedule hereto. All tothe purchase thedescribed said must be made writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may in be sell offers thesell properties described inproperties the schedule hereto. writing and fullthe particulars and conditions of sale obtained from said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.may be All offers to purchase the said property must be All offersfrom to purchase said properties must be made made in in obtained the saidthe Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may bebe obtained the said said Scotiabank Scotiabank(Belize) (Belize)Ltd. Ltd. obtained from from the

SCHEDULE SCHEDULE ALL THAT lot piece or parcel of land being Lot No. 335 SCHEDULE SCHEDULE ALL THATofpiece or parcel of land comprising comprising 1237.720 Sq. Yd. (1034.883 S.M.)16.907 situ-

acres situate along Savannah Road, Independence ate at THAT Independence Village, Stann Creek District andArea, ALL lot piece or parcel of land being Lot No. 335 ALL THAT piece or parcel of land comprising Stann Creek District, bounded and described as16.907 shown bounded and described as shown by Plan No. 828 of 1999 comprising ofalong 1237.720 Sq. Yd.Road, (1034.883 S.M.) situacres situate Savannah Independence Area, on a Subdivision Plan prepared by Kirk M. Emmanuel, attached to Minister’s Fiat Grant No. 828 of 1999 dated ate at Independence Village, Stann Creek bounded andCreek described as and shown Licensed landDistrict, Surveyor andStann registered atDistrict the Lands De24th day of September, 1999 TOGETHER with all buildon a Subdivision Plan prepared by Kirk M. Emmanuel, bounded and described as shown Plan No. 828 of 1999 partment in Belmopan, Cayo District in Register No. 29 ings and erections standing andregistered being thereon. Licensed Surveyor atofthe Lands Deattached toland Minister’s Fiatand Grant No.all828 1999 dated Entry No. 9928 TOGETHER with buildings and erecpartment Belmopan, Cayo District in AND Register 29 24th day ofinSeptember, 1999 TOGETHER withEXCEPT all No. buildtions standing and being thereon. SAVE Entry 9928 TOGETHER allthereon. buildings and erecings andNo. erections standing andwith being Lot No. 18. DATED this 18th of October, tions standing andday being thereon.2010. SAVE AND EXCEPT

Lot No. 18. DATED this piece 18th day of October, ALL THAT or parcel of land2010. being A Parcel comMUSA & BALDERAMOS prising of 19.68 acres of land situate at Southeast of ALL THAT piece or of landStreet being A Parcel com91 parcel North Independence Village, StannFront Creek District bounded and prising of 19.68 acres of land situate at Southeast of MUSA &of BALDERAMOS Belize City described as shown on Plan Subdivision prepared by Independence Village, Stann Creek District bounded and 91 North Front Street Attorney-at-Law for Guillermo E.shown Valdez, Land Surveyor, dated by the described as onLicensed Plan of Subdivision prepared Belize City Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.Lands Depart14th December, 2005 and registered the Guillermo E. Valdez, Licensed Landat Surveyor, dated the Attorney-at-Law for ment in Belmopan, Cayo District in Register No. Entry 14th December, 2005 and registered at the Lands4DepartScotiabank (Belize) Ltd. No. 9394 TOGETHER with all buildings and No. erections ment in Belmopan, Cayo District in Register 4 Entry standing and being thereon. SAVE AND EXCEPT Lot No. 9394 TOGETHER with all buildings and erections No. 2 comprising of thereon. 3.037 acres, LotAND No. 3EXCEPT comprising standing and being SAVE Lotof 2.691 and Lot 4 comprising of 2.344 acres. of No. 2 acres comprising of No. 3.037 acres, Lot No. 3 comprising 2.691 acres and Lot No. 4 comprising of 2.344 acres.

NOTICE NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that the company named DATED this 18th day of October, 2010. Notice is hereby given that the company named DATED this 18th day of October, 2010LTD.” . “STICKELS INVEST

“STICKELS INVEST LTD.”

has been dissolved and struck off the International BusiMUSA &effect BALDERAMOS ness Companies Register with from the 22nd day of has been dissolved and struck off the International BusiMUSA & BALDERAMOS 91 North Front Street October, 2010. ness Companies Register with effect from the 22nd day of 91 North Front Street Belize City October, 2010. Belize City Attorney-at-Law for Attorney-at-Law for Ltd. (Belize) ICAZA BELIZEScotiabank TRUST CORPORATION Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

LIMITED ICAZA BELIZE TRUST CORPORATION LIMITED

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Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Belize Times

rod says: October 21, 2010 at 6:26 am resign barrow resignnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn MT says: October 21, 2010 at 5:49 am The resignation of the president of the court of appeals is devastating in that there was a change in his tenure. The Bar has all the legal rights to provide a statement in this regard for the change that was neither discussed or debated with the input of all involved in the business of justce, both the veterans and newcomers, since this has resounding impact for the future. It appears now that we have a term for the President of the Appeals Court, let us pay attention to how this entire scenario is going to play itself out. We should be watchful of his successor, and pray it is not family. There are legal situations emanating from our takeover of BTL and we would hope that this does not play a part in the other decisions for the court. I do not have the capacity to be a part of the nomination, but I would respectfully request the bar association be involved with the vetting process of a new president selection. This should give us the transparency and remove any bias that any other member of the justice system, including the bar association may have during the process. cindy says: October 21, 2010 at 8:50 am I guess every one showing dean barrow they cant operate with his system. crime high he does nothing. soon we will have the worst country belize. it sad to see the news every day. how every person that committs murder is left to be free. come on people lets rebell Skywalker says: October 21, 2010 at 10:25 am Another one bites the dust as they say… How this PM can say that no one can accuse him of corruption is beyond me. He hasn’t done anything but advance a personal agenda since he got into office. rd says: October 20, 2010 at 5:38 am damm what a corrupt gov. they just do it openy now with no consequence i guess when their is no leader who cares sick sick gov. Sugarboy says: October 20, 2010 at 8:28 am Corruption at its best…….how U think people get busted with coke and heroin and the test cum back ‘negative’??…..these things stink way up to the top of the Ministries involved……lee small-fry cyant di set this up by themself……. if only the Minister could be caught sober for once so he could explain Marvala says: October 20, 2010 at 12:41 pm Corruption starts and continues from the top down, not bottom up. It’s clear that the criminals are controlling the Government of Belize. Too many crocked Attorneys, who making millions, if not billions, defending the $ss…. who needs to be burnt abnd stoned in the presence of their victims families. The Prime Minister MUST be impeached. He is as useless as these thogs, but then again, he is gaining BIG TIME from it all…………. Posts are from www.belizetimes.bz, Belize Times Press Facebook Account, John Briceño Facebook Account, www.channel5belize.com

The Belize Times

Every cop in town quits after Mexico attack

A policeman walks among bulletriddled patrol trucks after an attack at a police station in the town of Los Ramones, some 43 miles from Monterrey, Mexico. The entire police force of a small northern Mexican town quit after gunmen attacked their recently inaugurated headquarters, according to local reports on Wednesday. Los Ramones Mayor Santos Salinas said nobody was injured

in Monday night's attack, during which gunmen fired more than 1,000 bullets at the building's facade, according to Noroeste newspaper's website. Six grenades, of which three detonated, were also flung at the building, the newspaper reported. "Fortunately, those who were inside the building threw themselves on the ground and nobody was hurt," Salinas told the newspaper.

Fifteen people were killed Wednesday at a carwash in the western Mexican state of Nayarit, the state attorney general's office told CNNMexico.com. The attack happened at a business called the Gamboa carwash in the capital, Tepic, and is presumed to be the work of a drug cartel, the state-run Notimex news agency reported, citing local police. A man had been killed the night before in the same area, police said.

Initial reports by investigators said witnesses heard the gunfire Wednesday morning, only two blocks away from the offices of the federal police, Notimex reported. The federal police responded to the scene to find 15 people dead, including clients and employees of the carwash, the news agency said. Investigators found hundreds of shell casings from assault rifles. The mass slaying resulted in the closure of nearby businesses and schools.

Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson has died at age 48 of pancreatic cancer, the government of the Caribbean island said Saturday. Deputy Prime Minister Freundel Stewart was sworn in as Thompson's successor hours after his death, according to the state-run Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Elected as prime minister in

2008 on a platform of community development, Thompson was credited for restoring the Democratic Labor Party to a parliamentary majority, according to the Barbadian government website. Thompson had served in government since 1991, and his main priorities were decentralizing government, strengthening social services and empowering the Barbadian economy, the government said. "Barbados has lost its loyal son and faithful servant before he had the time to realize his lifetime dreams. ... We enjoyed and endured his public service experiences. He was always indebted to the people and the party for affording him the opportunity to see the mountain top," Thompson's wife, MarieJosephine Mara said in a statement to the CBC. Thompson was born on Christmas Day in 1961, one of seven siblings. Thompson is survived by his wife and three daughters.

15 shot dead at carwash in Mexico, officials say

Barbados PM dies at 48

Sunday, October 31, 2010

UN votes to end Cuba embargo

T he UN General Assembly overwhelmingly voted yesterday for a resolution calling on the United States to end its fivedecade old embarg o of Cuba. T he 19th straight annual condemnation of the embarg o was suppor ted by 187 countries, with only the US and Israel ag ainst and three smaller US allies abstaining. T he embarg o was first par tially imposed in 1960, just after Fidel Castro stag ed his revolution, tur ned into law in 1962 and is now the big g est remaining hang over from the Cold War. T he US bans trade with and travel to Cuba. US President Barack Obama last year called for a "new beginning" with communist Cuba. But the island's Foreign Minister Br uno Rodriguez Par rilla told the UN assembly the blockade has been "tightened" this year and that the United States has no intention of lifting the sanctions. "T here is not even a sign showing that its g over nment is willing to dismantle the most ir rational aspects of what is already the most comprehensive and long-lasting set of sanctions and coercive measures ever applied ag ainst any countr y," he added. "Its ever yday impact continues to be visible in all aspects of Cuban life," the minister said, listing a number of medicines that Cuban children get no access to. Par rilla estimated that the blockade had cost Cuba more than US$750 billion at cur rent values. He ag ain called the blockade "an act of g enocide". Ron Godard, a US mission representative, called the annual motion at the assembly "rhetorical posturing" and condemned what he called "the eg regious misuse" of the ter m g enocide. But the US official also highlighted some of the chang es made since Obama took power. He said the US sold US$526 million in ag ricultural products to Cuba in 2009 and a few million dollars in medical devices and medicine.

"We lifted restrictions on family visits and remittances and expanded the amounts of humanitarian items that the American people can donate to individuals in Cuba," the official added. T he US administration has welcomed Cuba's release of more than 40 political prisoners since July and signs that more will be follow. "T he US hopes to see the fulfillment of these promises," said Godard. "However, it is the view of the US that a new era in US-Cuban relations cannot be fully realised until the Cuban people enjoy the inter nationally --recognised political and economic freedoms that this body has done so much to defend in other countries around the world," he added. European Union nations and other US allies all voted for the motion. "We cannot accept that unilaterally imposed measures impede our economic and commercial relations with Cuba," said Belgium's ambassador to the UN, Jan Grauls, speaking for the European Union. Latin American countries -whether friends or foes of the US -- all rallied around Cuba. Nicaragua's representative called the US measures "the most heinous blockade in the histor y of mankind". T here are signs of g rowing suppor t in the US, even among some conser vative voices, for at least an easing of the blockade. "T he embarg o had a national security rationale before 1991, when Castro ser ved as the Soviet Union's proxy in the Wester n Hemisphere. But all that chang ed with the fall of Soviet communism," said a repor t by the conser vative Cato Institute think tank in Washington released this month. It called Cuba "a poor and dysfunctional nation of 11 million that poses no threat to American or regional security" and said the blockade had "completely failed" to chang e politics in Cuba.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Belize Times

Mariposa’s Diary

Last week Sunday, hurricane Richard passed through Belize. It was my first hurricane and I was scared. Richard stayed with us all through the night. The wind was blowing fiercely, rain was pouring down heavily, water came in through some of our windows, electricity got cut off, water was low and we camped out on our living room floor. We listened to the radio, ate vienna sausage sandwiches and prayed. My Daddy and Mommy played games with me to make me feel safe. My parents were awake most of the night but I fell asleep. The next morning we saw the damage. Part of my neighbour’s roof was blown off, a lamp post was broken, almost leaning on someone’s house and a few nieghbour’s were flooded out. Then we heard news about what had happened to other people. Houses were crushed by trees or blown down completely by the wind, roofs were blown off and homes were flooded. Some people were breaking into homes and shops. I prayed and told God thank you for keeping us all safe. I thanked him that our neighbour’s were all alive and I prayed for other Belizeans. I don’t ever want to go through another hurricane but I know no matter what God is still with us… If you want to write us about how you felt during hurricane Richard, please email your letters to 501kidsclub@gmail.com.

Colour Me!

The Belize Times

for sale Amazin

Grace

by order of the mortgagee

Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., a Company duly registered under the Companies Act, Chapter 250 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition, 2000, and having its registered ofﬁce at Cor. Albert and Bishop Streets, Belize City, Belize, hereby As I lay on the of my house down hugging my wife gives notice offloor its intention tobuckled exercise its and power of sale and daughter, I put on a brave face, listening to the wind howl outside the as Mortgagee under a Deed of Mortgage made the 7th day windows and banging on the roof top to come in. Hurricane Richard was here and although 2004, by God’s grace to Emerson Belize City, it had side stepped us to of December, between Burke of Citron go a bit south, the winds were a reminder by our Lord that his power is Street, Cohune Walk, Belmopan City, Cayo District, of the real and his ways are absolute. one (Belize) Ltd.toof Butpart whenand we Scotiabank cuddled together and waited seethe theother extentpart that the hurricane would spare or mercifully humble us, I realized there was nothand recorded in Deeds Book Volume 39 of 2004 at folios ing I could do. Nothing. There were no weapons I could use. No money I 337 –then 366; andNo thetechnology said Scotiabank Ltd. will could spend. I could boot(Belize) up. We were helpless. remembered thisof story was told the shadow flashatIthe expiration twowhich months fromunder the date of theofﬁrst lights and over the trembling of cold feet. The story goes like this: publication ofWar thisII,notice sell the property in on thea During World a US marine was separateddescribed from his unit Pacific Island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the Schedule hereto.

When I am Helpless

crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades. Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direcAll Scrambling offers to purchase said his property made in tion. for cover, the he found way up must a highbe ridge to several small cavesand in the Quickly heand crawled inside one themay caves.beAlwriting fullrock. particulars conditions of of sale though safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy soldiers obtained from theupsaid (Belize) Ltd. all the caves looking for him swept the Scotiabank ridge, they would quickly search and he would be killed. As he waited, he prayed, "Lord, if it be your will, please protect me. Whatever your will though, I love you and trust you. Amen." After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw close. He thought, “Well, I guess the Lord isn't going to help me out of this one." Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave. As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave. "Ha,”THAT he thought. “What I need of is aland brick being wall and what the ALL piece or parcel Block 146Lord in has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor." the PRIVASSION ENCLAVE, Mountain Pine Ridge area, As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout Cayo District, acres, bounded shown and could see themcontaining searching one6.263 cave after another. As theyascame to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, on Plan No. 848 of 2004 and lodged at the Ofﬁce of theafter glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on. Suddenly, he realized Commissioner Lands andentrance, Surveys that with the spiderof web over the hisTOGETHER cave looked as if with no one had for quite while. "Lord, forgive me," prayed the young man. all entered buildings and aerections standing and being thereon. "I had forgotten that in you a spider's web is stronger than a brick wall." We all face times of great trouble. When we do, it is so easy to forget the victories that God would work in our lives, sometimes in the most surprising the great leader, Nehemiah, reminded the people of DATEDways. thisAs 14th day of October, 2010. Israel when they faced the task of rebuilding Jerusalem, "In God we will have success!" [Nehemiah 2:20] Looking through the Bible there are many verses which remind us that God will be our protector. A few that inspire me are included in the Psalms:” He shall cover MUSA thee with & hisBALDERAMOS feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall91 be North thy shield and buckler.” Front Street,Psalms 91:4 That entire Psalm 91 is very reassuring. In fact, from it we learn of the City Security of the One WhoBelize Trusts in the LORD; Safety in the Lord and the Attorneys-at-Law certainty of having a refuge and fortress in our for God. This entire psalm praises God as Savior. InScotiabank saving us, God responds to our love for Him, (Belize) Ltd. just look at verse fourteen. After an affirmation of the security and loving care of God for his people, the Lord addresses them, inviting their love and their petitions, and promising them support in trouble. In fact, this is a quick outline of that chapter of trust: the bases of security found in the character (verses. 1-2) and care (verses. 3-8) of God; and the blessings of security--His protection (verses. 9-13) and His love(verses. 14-16). We are the very apple of God’s eye if we obey his commandments. Look at Psalm 17:8: “Keep me as the apple of thine eye, hide me under Notice given theafraid company the shadowisofhereby thy wings,” So I that was not of the eyenamed of Hurricane Richard as we prayed: “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast. Psalm 57:1 When I am helpless I know I am protected. The prophet Isaiah reminded us of God’s promise: “When thou passest through the waters, Ihas willbeen be with thee; and through the rivers, not overflow thee: dissolved and struck off they the shall International when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither Business Companies Register shall the flame kindle upon thee.” Isaiahwith 43:2 effect from the 22nd Remember: Whatever is happening in your life, with God, a mere spiday of October, 2010. der's web can become a brick wall of protection. Believe He is with you always. Just speak His name through Jesus His son, and you will see His great power and Bank love for you. The Belize Limited Let us pray for those affected by the storm. Get out of your house and Registered Agent help someone even if it is just to rake up their yard or cut down a tree or nail a sheet of zinc back down. We sure have reasons this week to get to our weekly church services. We give thanks for we have tasted of his abundance, his protection and his mercy.

THE SCHEDULE ABOVE REFERRED TO

NOTICE

Sunday, October 31, 2010

for sale

by order of the mortgagee

Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., a company duly registered under the Companies Act, Chapter 250 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition, 2000, and having its registered ofﬁce at Cor. Albert and Bishop Streets, Belize City, Belize, hereby gives notice of its intention to exercise its power of sale as Mortgagee under a Deed of Mortgage made the 30th day of November, 2000, between BENSON RAMCLAM, of the one part, and Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., of the other part, and recorded at the Land Titles Unit in Deeds Book Vol. 61 of 2000 at Folios 627 – 650, and Supplemental Deed made the 18th day of January, 2002, recorded at the Land Titles Unit in Deeds Book Vol. 4 of 2002 at Folios 581 – 588, the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will at the expiration of two months from the date of the ﬁrst publication of this notice sell the properties described in the schedule hereto. All offers to purchase the said properties must be made in writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may be obtained from the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

SCHEDULE ALL THAT piece or parcel of land comprising 16.907 acres situate along Savannah Road, Independence Area, Stann Creek District, bounded and described as shown on a Subdivision Plan prepared by Kirk M. Emmanuel, Licensed land Surveyor and registered at the Lands Department in Belmopan, Cayo District in Register No. 29 Entry No. 9928 TOGETHER with all buildings and erections standing and being thereon. SAVE AND EXCEPT Lot No. 18. ALL THAT piece or parcel of land being A Parcel comprising of 19.68 acres of land situate at Southeast of Independence Village, Stann Creek District bounded and described as shown on Plan of Subdivision prepared by Guillermo E. Valdez, Licensed Land Surveyor, dated the 14th December, 2005 and registered at the Lands Department in Belmopan, Cayo District in Register No. 4 Entry No. 9394 TOGETHER with all buildings and erections standing and being thereon. SAVE AND EXCEPT Lot No. 2 comprising of 3.037 acres, Lot No. 3 comprising of 2.691 acres and Lot No. 4 comprising of 2.344 acres.

DATED this 18th day of October, 2010.

“LINGA INTERNATIONAL S.A.”

MUSA & BALDERAMOS 91 North Front Street Belize City Attorney-at-Law for Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Belize Times

Belize #1 Sports Page

Bombers, Aces & No Mercy win in BTTA team table tennis

Despite the looming threat of Hurricane Richard the 2nd annual Brothers Habet Team League Table Tennis Tournament 2010 continued as scheduled at the BES auditorium, the home of table tennis, today Saturday, October 23, 2010. The Bombers, Aces and Suga City teams posted wins in the 1st Division, while the Hurricanes, Phoenix and Cobras enjoyed wins in the 2nd Division The Bombers’ David Jones, Hector Lopez, Gabriel Guerrero and Alvin Amoa lead the 1st Division

standings with 4 wins after they won 5-4 over the Rivero’s Welders team of veteran Ernesto Rivero, Nicholas Martin, Sheran Murillo and Moses Babb. Nelito Ayuso led the Aces team of Carlos Cui, Jorge Espat and David Huan to a 5-3 win against the Racqueteers team of Arturo “Tux” Vasquez, Peter Wong, Amir Vasquez and Rober t Peyrefitte, The No Mercy team from the Cayo District, Daniel Habet, Jamil Bedran and Orlando Habet, picked up their 1st

win of the tournament, by spanking the Suga City Team, Mandy Gomez, Tyrone Tun, Amir Grajalez and Roy Rosado, 5-3. The undefeated Phoenix Team of David Ho, Wen Te Chen, Ted Marin and Hollis Parham now lead the 2nd Division table with 5 wins after they won 5-3 over Mike Sanchez, Wilfredo Chang, Emilio Perera and Harold Young of the Garage Crew. The Young Stars, Victor Quan, Harim Ochaeta, Raheem Pitzold and Gian Lisbey, drew the fangs of the

Cobras, Ivan Locario, Christopher Neal, Charlton Roches and Eric Neal, for a 5-0 win, their 3rd win of the tournament. The Hurricanes, Joseph, Samuel and Ravesh Sukhnandan and Jason Lin, picked up an easy win by default when Team “L” who were a no show for their scheduled match The Assassins, Ricardo Bailey, Clifton Williams and Mark Babalola assassinated the Cobra Team of Ivan Locario, Christopher Neal, Charlton Roches and Eric Neal, 5-0.

Holy Redeemer girls & St John’s Anglican boys win in primary schools volleyball

The Holy Redeemer RC primary School girls and both St John’s Anglican Primary School and St John Vianney RC School boys posted big wins in the primary schools volleyball competition organized by the National Sports Council at the Belize City Center this evening, Friday, October 22. On Wednesday the Queen Square Anglican School girls had beaten St. Luke’s Methodist School girls 25-11 and 25-20, while the Queen Square boys had beaten the Central Christian School boys 25-19, 17-25 and 16-14. This afternoon, the Holy Redeemer School girls won their 2nd game over the St. John Vianney RC School girls 25-15 and 25-22. The St. John’s Anglican Primary School boys won over the St. Luke’s Methodist School boys 25-17 and 25-14, and the St. John Vianney RC School boys won over the Holy Redeemer School

boys 25-23 and 25-23. The champions of the Belize City competition will meet the champions of the Belize District rural schools in the Belize District finals. In that competition, Crooked Tree Government Primary School girls won the rural championship in Burrell Boom last Thursday, by a 2523 and 25-21 win over the Burrell Boom Methodist girls who also qualify to the district finals. The Burrell Boom Methodist boys hosted and won the rural championship by a 25-23 and 25-21 win over the Our Lady of the Way boys from Ladyville, who also advance to the district finals. In the one day tournament, Pancotto Primary School girls from Sand Hill had won the opening game over the Ladyville 7th Day Adventist School girls: 25-5 and 25-7. The Burrell Boom boys also won their opening game by outlasting the

Biscayne Government School boys: 19-25, 25-18 and 15-6. The Burrell Boom girls won over the La Isabella Primary School girls from Bermudian Landing: 25-8 and 25-16. The Our Lady of the Way RC School boys won over the St. Thomas Anglican School boys from Double head Cabbage: 25-11 and 25-8. The Crooked Tree girls won over the Hattieville Government school girls in 3 sets: 25-15, 2-25 and15-11. The Hattieville boys had won over the Our Lady of Lourdes School boys from Maskall: 25-6 and 25-10. The Lucky Strike girls won over the St. Thomas Anglican girls 25-20, 25-14, while the Lucky Strike boys won over the St. Stephen’s Anglican School boys from Flowers Bank: 25-14 and 25-15. The Crooked Tree boys easily won over the Ladyville 7th Day Adventist School boys 25-8 and 25-7

The Pancotto Primary boys also took out the La Isabella Primary school boys 25-6 and 25-7. In the 2nd round, the Burrell Boom Methodist girls advanced to the semifinals by a 3 set win over the Pancotto girls 25-21, 15-25 and15-8 The Our Lady of the Way boys advance to the semifinals by eliminating the Lucky Strike boys 25-17 and 2519. The Pancotto Primary boys also advanced to the semifinals by eliminating the Crooked Tree boys 2522, 25-22 The Burrell Boom boys sent home the Hattieville boys 19-25, 26-24 and 17-15. In the semifinals, the Crooked Tree girls eliminated the Lucky Strike girls 25-8 and 25-11, while the Our Lady of the Way boys sent home the Pancotto Primary boys 25-27, 25-11 and 15-2.

The Belize Times

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Belize #1 Sports Page

SCA girls & Wesley college boys win CSSSA volleyball championships

The defending national champs, the St Catherine’s Academy girls, and the Wesley College boys will represent the Central Division in the upcoming National Secondary Schools Sports Association (NSSSA) volleyball championships to be hosted by the Escuela Secundaria Tecnica Mexico in San Roman, Corozal, on November 5-6. The St Catherine’s girls won the Central Secondary Schools Sports A s s o c i a t i o n ( C S S S A ) vo l l e y b a l l championship finals for the consecutive 4th year, after taking out the Anglican Cathedral College girls in 3 sets each, in both games of the finals series at the Belize City Center last Thursday

and Friday. The Wesley College boys won the CSSSA volleyball championship by eliminating the top-seeded Nazarene High School boys in 5 sets on Thursday and 4 sets on Friday. SCA’s Analisa Habet and Sherika Burton had led their attacks spiking on plays set by Xiomara Quan, with Brianny Staine and Emily Evans serving and receiving to win in 3 sets 25-20, 25-21 and 25-14 on Thursday. The ACC girls tried to recover in Game 2 of the finals on Friday, and Vanessa Rose and Shauryce Flowers did win some points, with the support of Agnes Lucas, Ena Encalada and Joani Magana, but the SCA girls dominated

25-19, 25-14 and 25-14. Wesley’s Jermaine Madrill and Brandon Lopez led their attack, spiking on balls set by Kieron Zuniga, while Calbert Jeffries and Mark Rhaburn received and served to win the first set on Thursday night. Nazarene’s Avery Gordon led his team to win the 2nd and 3rd sets 25-19 and 25-21, with the support of Frank Malic, Kadeem Courtenay, Raheem Richardson, Aaron Samuels and Devon Flowers but the Wesley boys took it away winning the 4tth and 5th sets 25-13 and 15-8 The Nazarene boys tried to recover n Game 2 of the series to force a Game 3, but it was not to be: the Wesley boys won the first two sets 25-

21 and 25-19. The Nazarene boys won the 3rd set 26-24, but the Wesley boys took the championship by winning the 4th set 25-14. At the nationals, the SCA girls will be going up against the Western Division champs, the Sacred Heart College girls, the Northern champs, the San Pedro High School girls, and the southern division champs, to be decided at their regionals this weekend The Wesley boys will be challenged by the Western Division champs, the Belmopan Baptist High School boys, the Northern champs, the San Pedro High School boys, and the southern division champs.

Digicell Avengers whop Hurricanes 18-3 in U-19 softball The Digicell Avengers blew away the Hurricanes 18-3 in the under-19 female softball competition at the home of softball at the Rogers Stadium on Friday. Aveng ers’ pitcher Cr ystal Hernandez gave up only 1 run in the 1st inning and none in the 2nd and 3rd innings, while Deenah Garbut, catcher Kaylee Mcfadzean, first base Nyasha Higinio, Crystal, and third base Sheena Gillett all came home in the top of the 1st inning to lead 5-1 when only Kesilyn Lizama crossed the plate for the Hurricanes in the bottom

of the 1st. Avengers’ Kathleen Panting, Nyasha Higinnio, and Crystal added 3 more runs for an 8-1 lead at the end of the 2nd inning. Hurricane’s pitcher Sasha Brown shut out the Avengers in the 3rd inning and Sasha and Hurricanes’ Marcie James came home in the fourth inning, but the game ended with the application of the mercy rule when Kaylee and Nyasha rounded the bases twice in the top of the 4th inning, and Kathleen, Deenah, Crystal, Sheena and Alys Flowers each scored once for the 18-3 victory.

B.C.C., Ministry of Education, & SJC Alumni win in interoffice softball The Belize City Council posted their 7th win, an 8-5 victoryover Nestle’s Oh Henr y Barber Shop to lead the Belize City interoffice softball competition, while St John’s College Alumni drilled the Ministry of Education 18-14 at the Rogers Stadium last Friday, and Ministry of Education had won 15-8 over British Caribbean Bank on Monday. Oh Henry’s Leonard Linares, Scott Johnson and Tommy scored 3 runs in the top of the 1st inning, but BCC soon got into the driver’s seat when reynaldo Duran, Glenford Flowers, Dar mine Myles, Desiree Moralez, and Brian Audinett came home in the 3rd inning to lead 5-3. Oh Henry’s Linares and Jason

Jenkins tied the ball game at 5-5 in the 4th inning, but the BCC won when Duran and Enid Dakers came home in the 6th inning. The Ministry of Education won 15-8 over British Caribbean Bank on Monday. BCB’s Marc Marriott scored the first run in the 1st inning, but MOE soon took over the lead as Cindy Joseph, Joe Domingo, Jerry Crawford, Earl Noralez, Delmott Samuels, Marco Villanueva, and Orin Middleton came home in the 2nd inning to lead 8-1. BCB’s Marriott, William Smith, Bryan Grant, Mertell Bailey, Shane Pollard, and pitcher Evan Lamb scored 6 runs in the 4th as they trailed 7-8, MOE’s Crawford, Noralez, Samuels and Rhonda Flowers soon added 4

more runs and Domingo, Noralez and Samuels came home in the 5th inning, while only BCB’s Mertell Bailey added an 8th run in the 5th. SJC’s Shane Williams led the offensive on the Ministry of Education on Friday, scoring 2 runs in the top of the 1st inning, while Ryan Bennett, Roman McCulloch, Cojac Smith, Karique Marin, Nikki Lizama, Latoya Belisle and Samuel Nicholson also came home, to lead 9-2, as only MOE’s Jamela Bradley and Jerry Crawford came home in the bottom of the first. Cojac Smith came home again in the top of the 2nd and Kiri Lizama came home in the top of the 3rd to lead 11-2.

MOE’s Delmott Samuels, Jamela Bradley, Joe Domingo, Earl Noralez, Claudette Williams, and Shantel Ovado came home in the bottom of the 4th to narrow the deficit to 8-11. SJC’s Kiri Lizama and Shane Williams increased the lead to 13-8 when they came home in the top of the 5th, but MOE’s Bradley, Domingo, Williams, Yvonne Davis, Er nest Anderson and Shantel Ovado came home in the bottom of the 5th to lead 14-13 at the end of the inning. SJC’s Karique Marin and Samuel Nicholson scored a 2 more run in the top of the 6th, and the Alumni won when Ryan Bennett, McCulloch and Cojac Smith came home in the top of the 7th inning

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Belize Times

Meditation’s anti-aging effect: The Effective Way to Take Back Control of Your Life AND Slow the Aging Process

"OUR MENTAL STATES AFFECT OUR BRAINWAVES AND EQUALLY, OUR BRAINWAVES AFFECT OUR MENTAL STATES" When life is busy and stressful, higher frequencies of brainwaves are produced, creating feelings of stress and anxiety which cause the production of heaps of cortisol which is known as the “stress hormone,” and this is extremely bad for your health. But we cannot live life as a spectator sport and we cannot stop and get off, we are in it till death do we part (pun intended). And if fraying your nerves was not bad enough, the more cortisol you produce, the more stressed you feel and the more vulnerable to disease you are and the faster you age! And cortisol is the culprit in increasing belly fat, the subsequent increase in the Body Mass Index and all the related health risks such as Type II diabetes and hypertension. This overload of stress can cause you to experience headaches, irritability and tension, and to suffer sleepless nights. You may even experience panic attacks, lack of sleep, feelings of dread or constantly feel tired, run down, stressed out and overwhelmed. When you are calm and become relaxed, slower frequencies of brainwaves are produced and within specific brain wave frequencies the brain releases great quantities of healing hormones, including human growth hormone (HGH) which increases longevity. So how do you train your brainwaves to naturally slow down in these stressful times? How do you regulate your healing hormones? Hollywood stars pay up to $20,000 a year for synthetic human growth

hormone injections, because it brings back youthful energy, looks, and stamina. And I agree, the effects of HGH are dramatic: • Greater muscle tone, • Stronger bones, • Healthy libido levels, • Less fat,

• Increased brain function and younger-looking, tighter skin! Many Fortune 500 companies provide meditation for their top executives because of all the scientific evidence that proves meditative practices should be at the very heart of our healthcare system. They understand that meditators’ minds are sharper, and their problem-solving abilities are better. And I agree, the benefits of meditation can be phenomenal. People who meditate daily are much happier, healthier and live longer than those who don’t and advanced meditators, (who can reach deeper levels), develop the ability to use their whole brain and to live in a more balanced state characterized by brain synchronization and whole brain functioning. But what they don’t know is…

HGH injections are dangerous and can cause frightening side effects: Traditional Meditation takes years, even decades of practicing and very few ever achieve the lower levels where natural healing takes place. Recent research performed by Dr. Vincent Giampapa, M.D., a prominent

anti-aging researcher and past-president of the American Board of AntiAging Medicine, revealed that regular deep meditation dramatically affects production of important hormones related to in-

ing and disease. High DHEA levels increase the immune system, the body is at its peak--vibrant, healthy, and able to fight disease successfully. At the slower Alpha and Theta brainwave patterns, production of DHEA increases significantly. Melatonin is a hormone that helps to create restful sleep. We make less of it as we age, and since during sleep many important rejuvenating substances are created in the brain, the inability to sleep soundly can dramatically decrease the quality of your life and greatly speed up the aging process. New research also reveals that Melatonin is a powerful antioxidant. In fact, it is more powerful than Vitamin E. At the slower Alpha and Theta brainwave patterns, production of melatonin increases significantly. Human Growth Hormone (HG-H) One of the hormones you release within deep delta meditation is human growth hormone which we make much less of as we age, resulting in many symptoms and diseases associated with aging. H-G-H is one of the reasons kids have endless energy

creased longevity, stress, and enhanced well-being. Cortisol, DHEA, Melatonin and Human Growth Hormone (H-G-H): According to Dr. Giampapa: Cortisol is the major age-accelerating hormone which also has a negative effect on memory, learning, health and well-being. The adrenal glands produce Cortisol when you are over stressed. It is widely recognized as the "stress hormone," and the more of it you have, the more stressed you feel... the more vulnerable to disease you are and the faster you age! DHEA is extremely important. DHEA is a hormone also produced by the adrenal glands. Unfortunately the production of DHEA slows down on average, once we reach our 30s and sometimes even earlier than this. The average 75 year old only has 20% of the DHEA they had when they were 25 years old. When DHEA levels are low, we're more easily affected by ag-

– their pituitary glands spew out heaps of the stuff! By practicing meditation on a regular basis, you are truly taking care of your future physical, mental and spiritual health and happiness. "By quieting the mind, which then quiets the body, and the less turbulent the body is, the more the self-repair healing mechanisms get amplified. In fact, scientists have shown that the better your DNA, your genetic machinery is at healing itself, the longer you live. That's how meditation lowers biological age." - Deepak Chopra So now that you know WHY you should meditate - find the quiet center - we will talk about how, with the use of new technologies and and MP3 players, it has become relatively easy in a short period of time to reach the alpha and delta brainwave levels that will bring about the peace and creative genius we all need to survive and thrive in these turbulent times - hurricanes and all! More next week.

The Belize Times

Sober

Reflections That Facebook thing…

By: Mike Rudon Jr. This Facebook phenomenon is completely nuts…but good nuts. Trust me when I say that as far as social networking goes it’s absolutely amazing. Hell, I don’t like people much and I’m pretty much addicted to following the lives of a whole bunch of people who seem quite willing to post intimate, private, personal tidbits for the world to see. Who am I kidding…I’ve done the exact same thing too? Somehow it helps to get problems and issues out there in the open where everybody who gives a damn (or just wants to interfere) can put in their two cents. It’s hard to explain…it just helps! Trust me on that. I know that when I first did the Facebook thing it was only for fun…it appealed to me because I was able to catch up on the exploits of old girlfriends and girls I lusted after who never gave me the time of day. Yeah call me shallow but it’s the truth. Then it got to be more fun because I realized I was genuinely interested in what people had to say. I liked finding out that Aurora was happily married and doing great…I sympathized when Stan’s heart was broken - again…I smiled at pictures of Andrea celebrating her birthday with loved ones! See, these were people I hadn’t seen in years and maybe wouldn’t see again, but with the click of a button and the glide of the mouse I was invited into their lives, so to speak. With that same click of a button and glide of a mouse I could find out if Leticia was pissed off…I knew who was happy, who was having a bad day, who was in a complicated relationship, who was cheating, who was being cheated on. This damned Facebook was the real pulse of the people, I learned…and as easy as that I was hooked. At this point you’re probably asking…what the hell does this all have to do with politics? Hold your horses, I’m getting there. Last week there was a post on Facebook courtesy my good friend Edith – a post with a picture which showed Dean Oliver and his wife Kim lifting champagne flutes in a toast to God only knows what in Mex-

ico City. And just like that…there were better than 150 comments on the post. With the exception of a couple comments from people on the UDP payroll, the input was tremendous. People are really, really pissed off at the Prime Minister, standing there in Mexico grinning from ear to ear with champagne flute in hand while here at home things are going to hell in a handbasket. People don’t like Dean Oliver very much and from what I saw

on Facebook last week, they’re not afraid to put their opinions out there. A friend of mine keeps telling me that my articles are too harshly critical of Dean Oliver. He says that I should have a little more respect for the man who holds the office of Prime Minister. My response to him cannot be printed here, especially since one of my readers recently chastised me for the slight profanity which sometimes slips into my work when I’m really pissed off. My thinking is that everybody from the Prime Minister to the underpaid writer (that’s me) needs to earn respect. To my mind none of those positions or any other for that matter comes with ‘automatic respect attached.’ To my mind Dean Oliver has done absolutely nothing to warrant my respect and quite a lot to warrant my disdain and disrespect and I’m not bashful about making that known. Last week on Facebook I realized that there are quite a few persons out there who feel exactly the same way…and I like it very much. The truth is I’ve noticed it happening more and more in re-

Sunday, October 31, 2010 cent months…in comments posted on the local news-sites and various blogs. I was talking to a friend over the weekend and I asked him if he thought Dean Oliver realizes just how unpopular he is…because he is. My friend replied by asking me if I thought Dean Oliver cares about how unpopular he is…and he doesn’t. Talk about cold fish. I think that the point to all this is that the world is moving right along and right about now Facebook is an excellent barometer of the pulse of the people. There’s nothing nice about Dean Oliver on Fb or on any of the other popular blog sites. Check this out if you’re not convinced…about three months ago Dean Barrow had about 47 friends on Facebook. I just clicked on his page again just this minute. Guess how many friends he has now? Yup…he has 47 friends. Nobody’s interested in what he’s selling anymore. Nobody wants his input. Nobody wants to be like him. Nobody wants to be his friend. Just out of curiosity I checked the Facebook page for the Leader of the Opposition Johnny Briceño…he has 2,793 friends. See what I’m saying…?

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Belize Times

Strictly Personal

Barrow is Bogus

by glenntillett@yahoo.com At Monday’s press conference in the aftermath of Hurricane Richard’s cross country passage, the Minister of Emergency Management Hon. Melvin Hulse’s relief was evident. It was obvious that the storm, which was relatively small, swift moving and dry, had not caused tremendous damage, at that point there was no reports of fatalities and no reason to believe there would be, and therefore the situation was manageable. In a rambling peroration Hulse gave nearly all the credit to NEMO, the National Emergency Management Organization which he heads, and then handed the metaphorical hot potato of recover y efforts to the Prime Minister. At no time did he give credit to the people who conceptualized, designed and implemented NEMO. And he certainly did not refer in any way to the derisive way that his party’s members and supporters used to criticize NEMO.

He surely did not wish to draw attention to June 2008, when Tropical Storm Arthur “surprised” him and NEMO, and while he slept it took lives in his own Stann Creek West constituency. He would not want Belizeans to ask him if he was willing to take responsibility for not only sleeping on the job and costing us lives, but also for the UDP policy of political tribalism that decimated NEMO, and almost destroyed it. Hulse and the UDP believed their own propaganda when they took over the reins of government. Because some of the people who headed up some of the various sectors of NEMO were politically affiliated, they charged that their appointments were simply political favouritism and that the posts and positions were the plums of political patronage. And they acted as such. The Barrow administration had little clue as to what constituted disaster preparedness, management and recover y. It used to show in their propaganda. In their zeal to accuse the Musa administration of corruption, for example, they would reflexively dismiss their assertions that Belize had suffered serious neg ative economic impact from Hurricane Mitch (1998), Hurricane Keith (2000), Tropical Storm Chantal (August 2001) and Hurricane Iris (October 2001). The UDP would instead accuse the PUP government of exag g erating that impact for

political purposes. Although it was obvious that they knew nothing of damage assessment, they still were successful in making the charges stick partly because the PUP recovery efforts were so stellar. Within a year of those disasters hardly a trace could be found that they had impacted Belize. Homes and businesses, and even an entire industry, were quickly re-built, in most cases better than they were before. Belizeans who care to can remember that the UDP used to complain that the shelter system was woefully inadequate, and that was at one point, one of the spear points of their propaganda campaign. I was dismissive of their claims because I thought that anyone who applied a modicum of logic to the matter would swiftly come to the realization that it was nonsense since the facts of the circumstances hardly could be made to fit their conclusions. But it is obvious that there are some who drank the koolaid and voted for their ludicrous propositions, one of which was that they were going to purpose build shelters that would be able to withstand Category 5 hurricanes. It may have been Hulse himself, if memory serves me right, who was proposing some sort of “shelter town” I suppose, out in the middle of nowhere on higher ground, for coastal residents to use when the storms threatened. The sheer expense of it is breathtaking, since we would be talking hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars for something that may be of use only once every few years. And then there are those who tr uly respect the power of these storms and who know that you simply stand a much better chance of survival by simply getting out of

23 their way. Cuba is probably the nation most hit by tropical cyclones in this region, and they long ago abandoned any thought of building super shelters. W h e n a s t o r m a p p r o a ch e s t h e y simply move their people out of its destructive path and as a result they have a stellar record of having lost very few lives over the years. Even in the United States, that great respecter of civil liberties and the world’s richest nation, evacuation in the face of storms is considered the best policy and this has been so for some time now. But in Belize, the Minister of Emergency Management is also the Minister of Transport and as the latter, he helped to destroy our national public transport system in his zeal to practice his party’s policy of political tribalism. God forbid, we are ever faced with the mass evacuation of the nation’s coastal population centers – remember hurricane force winds extended over 150 miles from the center of Hurricane Mitch. In fact at one point, Mitch was packing 200 MPH plus sustained winds over an area that was more than 100 miles in diameter. In short if it had made landfall in the same place Hurricane Richard did, every coastal community from Sarteneja to Barranco would have experienced hurricane force winds of more than 125 miles per hour, and a storm surge conservatively estimated at 12-15 feet. But Barrow and the UDP regard disaster preparedness and the passage of small stor ms as just another opportunity for political mileage. They think Hurricane Richard is a political boon for them. For the rest of us their posturing in the face of suffering makes a mockery of all of us.

The Belize Times

Sunday, October 31, 2010

A New Style of Politics…

ceno ascended to the leadership of the Party, with a platform of inclusivity and participatory, transparent and accountable leadership. He committed then to opening the Party, and with the support of the National Executive, initiated a conversation with the people. It was the genesis for a new style of politics, and one which is destined to have necessary and unprecedented consequences for the Party and country. That conversation directed that the Constitution of the Party be amended to plug the gaps and weaknesses that contribute to unCarolyn Trench-Sandiford certainty, to provide clarity of roles Deputy Party Leader Yesterday, I officially handed and responsibilities, to strengthen, over to the Party Chairman, the deepen and broaden our democraminutes and notes of National cy, to reconnect with our base, the Executive Meetings for the period workers of Belize, and the social 2008-2010. Prior to doing this, I partners and civil society, to entook some time out to peruse the hance our communications capacdecisions of the National Executive, ity and outreach, and to fortify our BYstruck ORDER OFonly THE MORTGAGEE commitment to returning to our and what me, was not the magnitude of the work done for philosophical moorings of social this period, but the implications of justice. As well, it directed that it the decisions made. This may have contribute to the process of unifying the Party, provide for sucescaped a few, who are onlyLtd., able to Scotiabank (Belize) a company dulyand registered cession and continuity conceptualize the visible and the under the Companies Act, Chapter 250, of the LawsofofLeadership. tangibles. Belize, Revised Edition, 2000, andOfhaving its registered significance, is also at the But for many others, it was clear, the memberthat reforming, andBishop the National ofﬁce at Cor.rebuilding Albert and Streets,Convention, Belize City, ship gave a resounding and forceful repositioning of the Party’s ideoBelize, hereby gives notice of its intention to exercise its logical compass was a prerequisite message to our Leadership. It not saleand as Mortgagee Deed ofthem Assignment only amandated by resolution, to power restoringoftrust confidence inunder to continue the reform and change theofParty. This didmade not always entail Mortgage the 2nd September, 2003, recorded agenda, but was unambiguous and public performances or loud noises. in Deeds Book Vol. 32 of 2003 at Folios 1243 – 1258, Neither was it always quantitative, explicit in what the result was to The Belize Limited (the Assignor)ofand be…decentralization decision butbetween rather, qualitative. ForBank a brief deepening moment, I was (Belize) able to capture a making Scotiabank Ltd., which saidand property wasthe empowerment of to thethe people. The resoluprofound periodbyinBENSON the Party’s hismortgaged RAMCLAM said Belize tory. I realized then, that I not only tion reads as follows: Bank Limited the 17th day ofRESOLUTION April, 2002, ON recorded in THE REwitnessed somethingon immeasurable, I actually participated in it. was at FORM Deeds Book Vol. 19 of It1995 FoliosAND 1007CHANGE – 1044; AGENDA and WHEREAS the People’s thethe transferring of power to the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will at the expiration Unitpeople. One demanded in this new ed Party record is one of real reof twoera. months from the date ofform the ﬁrst of mindful this and publication change, we are political still in that is much more that Now, power not something notice sell theis property described thethere schedule hereto. that is readily relinquished. In fact, needs to be done to fulfil our purthose who enjoy power will do all pose as a Party to create a New BeAllis offers purchase the said must be made in lize which will bring to all Belizeans that earthly to possible to hold on property better life and just may sharebe of the to writing power, and there is nothandwhile full particulars anda conditions of asale national wealth. ingobtained wrong infrom seeking power, it is the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. AND WHEREAS the People’s what you do with the power that defines you. Thus, any attempt at United Party is committed to delivdislodging power from those who ering a new kind of politics which have, and who enjoy the benefits of can only be achieved by a radical, that status quo, to those who seek forward thinking, open and demoto give the voiceless and powerless cratic agenda to transform the way ALL THAT or parcel ofare land being and Lothow No.decisions 335 governed a greater stake in lot the piece decisions that we comprising 1237.720 are(1034.883 made in ourS.M.) Party situaffect their lives,of is not an easy Sq. task.Yd. It ate requires bold, unselfish Village, and cou- StannAND at Independence CreekWHEREAS District andour Party wishes to send a clear and unequivrageous leadership. bounded described asdeshown Plan No. of 1999 ocalby message to the828 Belizean people This was and manifested when attached to Minister’s Fiat Grant of 1999 thatNo. so as828 a Party we willdated reform and cisions of the National Executive change to better our memculminated presentation1999 and TOGETHER 24th dayinoftheSeptember, withserve all buildbers, so will we reform and change adoption of sweeping and far reachings and erections standing and being thereon. ing amendments to the Constitution government to better serve them. BE IT RESOLVED, this 17th of the Party on October 17th, 2010 at the Party’s National Convention. day of October 2010 at the NaIt is important that the contribu- tional Convention of the People’s DATED this 18th day of and October, 2010. United Party, that we the members tions of everyone be recorded, as well, the sobriety of our mem- of the Party mandate the National bership, to their commitment for Executive to continue the reform meaningful change and reform in and change agenda to: MUSA & BALDERAMOS 1. Move towards the decentralthe way we operate. 91 North izationStreet of decision making in the Perhaps though, what stands Front out, is the definitive wayBelize in which CityParty to provide increased opporthe membership, overwhelmingly tunities for members to have more Attorney-at-Law for over how they elect validated the reform and change say and control (Belize) leadersLtd. and what happens in agenda of the Party, that Scotiabank once again their took root when the Hon. John Bri- their constituencies and regions.

FOR SALE

SCHEDULE

2. Empower regions to have full administrative, financial and decision making authority but to be guided by the decisions and direction of the National Executive. Thus the success of forwarding the Party’s purpose at the regional and constituency levels will be determined by the decisions they make, and the quality of their participation in implementing them. The message of the National Convention to the National Executive 2008-2010, is that we are satisfied with your performance, and support unconditionally, your decisions. To the new executive, its message is, if you continue the journey with the coordinates we have mapped for you, we will travel

with you. Their message must not be taken lightly. The Hon. John Briceno has introduced a new style of politics, the people’s politics. He has had the resolve to carry through on his promise, in the midst of dissent, of transferring power to the people, for he knows, as did those before him, that the Party belongs to the people, and not to any leader or any one person. Party Leader, Hon. John Briceno, our people have spoken, reform and change is the agenda, so let us continue the revolution , for only so will we be able to create a NEW BELIZE, which will bring to all Belizeans a better life and a just share of the national wealth……

FOR SALE

BY ORDER OF THE MORTGAGEE Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., a company duly registered under the Companies Act, Chapter 250, of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition, 2000, and having its registered ofﬁce at Cor. Albert and Bishop Streets, Belize City, Belize, hereby gives notice of its intention to exercise its power of sale as Mortgagee under a Deed of Assignment of Mortgage made the 2nd September, 2003, recorded in Deeds Book Vol. 32 of 2003 at Folios 1227 – 1242, between The Belize Bank Limited (the Assignor) and Scotiabank (Belize Ltd., which said property was mortgaged by BENSON RAMCLAM to the said Belize Bank Limited on the 24th day of January, 1995, recorded in Deeds Book Vol. 3 of 1995 at Folios 1407 – 1436; and the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will at the expiration of two months from the date of the ﬁrst publication of this notice sell the property described in the schedule hereto. All offers to purchase the said property must be made in writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may be obtained from the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

SCHEDULE ALL THOSE LEASEHOLD INTEREST IN ALL THAT piece or parcel of land being Lot No. 334 situate in Mango Creek Village, Stann Creek District and bounded as follows: On the Northeast for 46.970 metres by Lot No. 289; On the Southeast for 35.690 metres by a street; On the Southwest for 47.004 metres by Lot No. 335 and on the Northwest for 34.282 metres by Lot No. 333 and portion of Lot No. 336; containing 1643.250 square metres (1965.327 square yards) as shown on Plan No. 1887 (2 of 2) at the Ofﬁce of the Commissioner of Lands and Surveys TOGETHER with all buildings and erections standing and being thereon.

DATED this 18th day of October, 2010. MUSA & BALDERAMOS 91 North Front Street Belize City Attorney-at-Law for Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

The Belize Times

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Category 5 Dean Still Battering Belize!

By: Mike Rudon Jr. Hurricane Richard has come and gone, leaving behind the damages to infrastructure typical of a Category 1 storm. In time the debris will be cleared away; toppled structures will be rebuilt; roofs will be replaced; new trees will be planted and floodwaters will recede. As far as I can tell, none of the damages were unexpected considering the anticipated wind and rain and to make a long story short… Richard came and he went and now we move on. Life will return pretty much to normal in a relatively short period of time. But see, nor mal isn’t really a good thing right about now. The reality is that Hurricane Richard wasn’t but a whispering wind compared to the Categ or y 5 monster currently battering our jewel. Rebuilding after Richard will be a breeze (pardon the pun) but recovery from the damage caused by Dean Oliver is a horse of a totally different colour. Case in point…already reeling from the strain of Hurricane Richard which wreaked havoc on personal finances that were already stretched to the breaking point, Belizeans were g reeted with the news this morning that the price of fuel at the pumps has gone up. Lawd Mr. Prime Minister…things already really rough out here! Man don’t you understand that the majority of Belizeans had to beg, borrow or yes, steal enough money to buy basic provisions for the storm? Are you getting this concept of real, abject, absolute poverty, Dean Oliver? It sure doesn’t look that way? A raise in the price of gas just a

day or two after the devastation of a hurricane may seem like a small thing to you, but it goes a long way to show that this government just doesn’t give a damn about people. If indeed the acquisition costs for fuel went up in tandem with rising world oil prices (which investigations show isn’t the case at all), Mr. Barrow could very easily have instructed that GOB lower its taxes just a smidge so Belizeans wouldn’t feel the pain so soon after the storm…just this once. I seem to remember a time when Dean Oliver stood in front of the nation and vowed that if fuel went even a cent past the $7 mark GOB would lower their take so that consumers wouldn’t suffer. T hat was a long time ago and boy, would I love to have a shilling for every promise our Prime Minister makes and breaks. I listened to the Prime Minister, recently retur ned from a junket in Mexico City, issue his sincerest

For Sale By Order of the Mortgagee Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., a company duly registered under the Companies Act, Chapter 250 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition, 2000, and having its registered ofﬁce at Cor. Albert and Bishop Streets, Belize City, Belize, hereby gives notice of its intention to exercise its power of sale as Mortgagee under a Charge made the 8th day of March, 2007, between PETER MORGAN of No. 76 King Street, Belize City, Belize, of the one part, and Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., of the other part, registered as Instrument No. 3566/2007, and the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will at the expiration of three months from the date hereof sell the property being Vista Del Mar – Registration Section, Block 16 Parcel 2144.

commitments that ever y Belizean affected by Hurricane Richard would receive the assistance they needed. I also watched Boots practically salivating as he mentally calculated how much money could be hustled from an expanded housing restoration project but that’s for another story. Anyway, the thing is that the minute the cameras were turned off and Dean Oliver stepped off the podium, those promises were rendered as insubstantial as his integrity. For two and a half years the Prime Minister has done nothing to help the poor people of this nation. In fact he has done nothing to help anybody whose last name is not Bar row. Politics and propag anda aside, the reality is that under the UDP things are really bad….the economy, education, tourism, crime, industries – you name it, it’s bad. Under Dean Barrow an unprecedented number of Belizeans are really poor…not kinda broke poor but seriously no food to eat poor. Under Dean Barrow an unprecedented number of Belizeans are at risk of being that level of poor. Ag ain putting politics and propaganda aside, the fact is that Dean Oliver has not been able (or willing, more like it) to help those poor Belizeans! Back in the old campaign glory days Dean O had all the answers to all the questions in the universe. In those days he made a lot of those sinceresounding promises and commitments. In those days he also swore an oath to serve all Belizeans without fear or favour or ill-will. Nowhere in that oath did it say to serve all Belizeans

related by blood or by affections… but that’s what we got anyway. Well actually that’s what they got….Lois and Kim and Anwar and Deanne and Denys all got oodles of service from sugar daddy Dean Oliver. The rest of us common folk got nothing but the promises. See, pover ty was here before Hurricane Richard. Miles of London Bridges; broken down shacks; families living without electricity and running wa t e r ; ch i l d r e n b e g g i n g o n t h e streets; no food to put on the table; businesses closing down; hundreds laid off to wander the growing ranks of the unemployed; the struggle to make that daily bread; desperation and frustration…that was all here before Hur ricane Richard. We’ve been feeling all this since the days of that catastrophic phenomena known as Dean Oliver Bar row. So you’ll forgive me if I say that the Prime Minister’s commitment to help those poor people affected by this little storm doesn’t ring true…actually his commitment stinks just as much but is worth much less than a steaming pile of cow dung. Yup…we’ll get past Hurricane Richard just fine. I can’t say the same for the monster we’re saddled with… the man made disaster crippling our economy, battering our nation and hurting our people. No, we won’t recover from Dean Oliver Barrow in a hurry…that’s for damned sure!

Visit Us Online at: www.belizetimes.bz

PUBLIC AUCTION SALE: VEHICLE 169 Beltex Avenue, Belama Phase 1, Belize City

BY ORDER of Messrs. The Belize Bank Limited, Licensed Auctioneer Kevin A. Castillo will sell the following Vehicle at No. 169 Beltex Avenue, Belama Phase 1, Belize City on Saturday the 30th October 2010 at 10:00 am:

2009 Mitsubishi Sportero

All offers to purchase the said property must be made in writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may be obtained from the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. Dated the 18th day of October, 2010. MUSA & BALDERAMOS 91 North Front Street Belize City Attorneys-at-Law for Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

(View at No. 169 Beltex Ave., Belama Phase 1, Belize City)

TERMS: STRICTLY CASH KEVIN A. CASTILLO TELEPHONE: 224 4473 Email: kevinacas@yahoo.com

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Belize Times

Thank you...

To my f e l l ow PUP’s and th e th o u s a n d s of Belizeans wh o joi ned u s in Da ng ri g a , I wr i te th i s letter to say th a n k you for g ivi ng me you r en d or s em e n t a n d choosing me to r e p r es en t yo u as the new PU P Pa r ty C ha i r ma n. A s a s ta u n ch PUP, my hear t wa s b u r s ti n g wi th pride to see th e over wh el m i ng suppor t at o u r N a ti o n a l C onvention on S u n day. A t a ti me when being a PU P m ea ns bei ng vi cti mi z ed a n d d i s cr i m i na ted a g ai ns t by a co r r u p t U D P Gover nment, i t i s r ea s s u r i n g to know that o ur Pa r ty a nd o u r Par ty s u p p o r ter s wi l l n o long er be ke pt d own , wi l l no l ong er be s u p p r es s e d . A t t i mes like these, i t i s r ea s s u r i n g to know that yo u h ave h ea r d the battle cr y to u n i te, to co me tog ether, to wo r k to g eth er to remove the s h a ck l es th a t the UDP has u s ed to tr y to imprison our m i n d s a n d ou r s pi ri ts. L i ke th e p h oenix, we have a ri sen fr om the as hes of s l u m b e r an d h o p el es sness with the cr y “P. U. P. A l l the Way.” We a r e r ea d y! We want chang e a n d we wa nt it n ow! T h er e i s n o dou bt i n any o n e’s m i n d th a t Belize needs a ch a n g e. O u r beau ti fu l cou n tr y, th a t wa s once so ripe wi th p o ten ti a l , has seen some o f i t s d a r kes t days recently. C ri m e i s o u t of c ontrol , the eco n omy is s ta gna nt and s u f f eri n g, the s ta nda rd of l iv i n g h a s d ecl i n ed significantly. T h e g over n m ent has fi gu ra tivel y d eva l u ed our dollar. We a re s a d d led wi th a g over n m en t wi th n o v ision. Yes, we h ave a U D P G over nment that ch o o s es to s er ve onl y i ts cho s en f ew-th o s e who are more equa l to them a n d ha s forg ot ten ab o u t th e countr y and its p eo p le. We have a UDP Gov er n m ent who u s es vi cti mi z a ti o n a n d o p p r ession to kee p B el i zea n s a f r a i d to speak up. We c a n r em a i n q u i et no l on g er. We ca n r emain afraid no m o re. I t i s ti m e f o r us to begin th e wo r k o f r ebuilding the co u n tr y. I t i s time for us to wo rk tog ether, U NI FI E D u n -

der the leadership of Hon. John Briceño, to take back Belize. It is time for the PUP. T he par ty is nothing without i ts s u ppor ter s. We need you al l . We need you to stand to g ether and wor k f or Belize. As the new Chair man, I

will do my best-to s er ve yo u , to kee p the Blue M a ch i n e moving forward. I wi l l d o my best to kee p the Par ty wo r k ing. I will do my bes t to m a ke sur e that all your in ter es ts and concer ns ar e always r e p r esented and consid er ed .

S er ve th e Peo p l e – th e Pa r ty’s m o tto – my p r o m is e – I th a n k yo u . Q u e v iva PU P! Q u e V iva B el i z e! L o n g l ive o u r Pa r ty ! L o n g live o u r B elize! Sin cer ely, H en r y C. U s h er

Buttonwood Bay Park

Sunday, October 31, 2010

SUNDAY OCTOBER 31, 2010

The Belize Times

Issue No. 4717

$1.00 www.belizetimes.bz

Richard azota a Belice como huracán de categoría 1, causando millones de dólares en daños y perjuicios

Por primera vez desde el lunes 08 de octubre 2001 cuando el huracán Iris, una tormenta de categoría 4 en la escala Safir Simpson, azotó la parte sur de Belice, el país fue atacado de nuevo directamente por otro huracán. Aunque mucho más débil en fuerza como una tormenta de categoría uno y sin causar muertes a diferencia de Iris, el huracán Richard causo su propia parte en daños, arrancando parte de la infraestructura más débil alrededor de las porciones central y sur del país, dejando a muchas de las familias más pobres en lado sur de la ciudad de Belice sin hogar. Richard comenzó a llamar la atención de la población al sintonizar The Weather Channel el jueves pasado cuando comenzó a convertirse en un sistema meteorológico más organizado en el centro del Caribe. Se derivo lentamente hacia el oeste y luego serpenteaba cerca de la frontera hondureña y Nicaraguense unos dos días antes de que empezara a trazar su camino del oeste, con el objetivo de Belice en la parte inferior y superior de los distritos de Stann Creek. Cuando el ojo se estrelló contra Gales Point en el pueblo de Manatee a eso de las 5 pm del domingo por la no-

che, habian vientos sostenidos de hasta 90 millas por hora, derribando árboles y postes de luz con cables eléctricos y arrancando techos de fuertes edificios, pero demoliendo totalmente a los más débiles por completo. No fue sino hasta la mañana siguiente, cuando los residentes se percataron de la importancia de los daños que el huracán había causado. En la ciudad de Belice, muchas familias cuyas casas antiguas de madera o de Plycem se ven comprometidas por su durabilidad propia, sus ocupantes

intentan restaurarlas de nuevo mientras que otros lavan las gruesas capas de lodo que el mar empujo en sus hogares en una marea que trajo la tormenta de cuatro pies. En Hattieville, Gales Point y comunidades circunvecinas de Mullins River, siguen necesitando apoyo para la distribución de suministros en el momento oportuno. Muchos, probablemente los tomo desprevenidos ya que las últimas dos alarmas de tormentas resulto ser falsa y revivieron el trauma que experimen-

taron cuando Richard golpeaba sus tejados y arrasó con vientos lo suficientemente fuertes como para lanzar una persona al otro lado de la calle. Algunos se quedaron en casa porque simplemente no tomaron la llamada de alerta, mientras que otros admiten que querían experimentar a un huracán. Después de su experiencia de terror, ahora se sienten de manera diferente. En una conferencia de prensa después del huracán, el primer ministro Dean Barrow dijo que las estimaciones fueron más de 30 millones de dólares y que el gobierno haría todo lo necesario para ayudar a la gente a reconstruir sus vidas. Mientras que la restauración ya ha iniciado para algunos muchos de los de las zonas mas aisladas y muchos de ellos con niños pequeños se quejan de que sus necesidades no se han satisfecho inmediatamente. Esas personas, desplazadas y desalentadas por este desastre porque se encuentran impotentes ante la adversidad todavía están esperando por ayuda para. Por el bien de nuestro pueblo, esperemos que así sea antes de que experimentemos otra golpe.

en Spanish Bay en la mañana del martes, unos nueve kilómetros de distancia de donde ocurrió la tragedia. Alguien que vio el pescador alertó a la Guardia Costera que respondió rápidamente. En su recuerdo de su lucha por sobrevivir, Forte admitió que él quería darse por vencido muchas veces debido al agotamiento, pero cuando pensaba en su familia y amigos sentía fortaleza. La oración, dijo, se convirtió en la base sobre la que dependía su fuerza. La Guardia Costera ha localizado la embarcación de los pescadores sumergida y la han entregado a la Autoridad Portuaria. La búsqueda continúa por Gilharry, cuya familia tiene la esperanza de que debido a sus años de experiencia en alta mar, se encuentre con vida.

Mientras que la tragedia en alto mar afecto a tres familias debido al huracan Richard, una tragedia terrestre también trajo mala suerte para un amaestrador de un jaguar. Máx, el jaguar, atacó y mato a Br uce Cullerton, el hijo de Bridget Cullerton. El incidente sucedió apenas un día antes de que Cullerton supuestamente viajara a los Estados Unidos. Máx era mantenido en cautiverio por Richard y Carol Foster que trabajan para el National Geographic. Según parece en algún momento durante el paso del huracán Richard, Max logro escapar de su jaula, alrededor de una milla más allá del parque zoológico de Belice. El logro escaparse cuando un árbol cayó en la jaula del jaguar. Según Richard Foster él oyó sus perros ladrar aproximadamente a eso de las10 P.M la noche del martes detrás de la casa de Br uce y cuando él fue a comprobar vio el jaguar de tres años sentado en el medio del camino. Él dijo que él lo llamo en voz alta y el jaguar, que ha estado en cautiverio por los últimos 18 meses y lo conoce bien, comenzó a caminar hacia él. Foster declara que en ese momento no sabia de lo que le había sucedido a Cullerton, pues su cuerpo aun no había sido descubierto. Su cuerpo fue descubierto hasta la mañana de martes cerca de su portada con mordeduras a su cabeza, cuello y brazo. Un zapato sangriento se encontró cerca de allí. También se descubrió que el gato había mordido a

uno de los perros de Cullerton. Ese perro, y dos que pertenecen a Cullerton, parecen encontrarse en estado de depresión probablemente porque atestiguaron el ataque. Qué fue lo que origino el ataque? Quiza nadie lo sabra, sin embargo se supone que el perro fue mordido mientras que intentaba proteger a su amo o viceversa. Mientras que Brian Cullerton ahora tiene que hacer frente a la pérdida de un hijo, Foster está intentando obtener justicia rápida. Se ha puesto una trampa para la captura del felino y mientras que no era un gato agresivo y salvaje, ya no es seguro y pr udente tenerlo alrededor. Se le practicara la eutanasia si lo capturan. Máx fue utilizado en el pasado para hacer los documentales educativos para el National Geographic.

Pescador perece en el mar Jaguar mata a su amaestrador, experto durante el huracán Richard dice que se le debe practicar la eutanasia

Mientras que las porciones centrales y de las áreas de los del sur del país se recuperan de los estragos causados por el huracán Richard, una familia llora la pérdida de un ser querido que pereciera en la tor menta, y otra espera tener buenas nuevas. Tres pescadores regresaban a la costa para refugiarse de la tor menta, pero nunca lo lograron juntos. Su lancha se hundió a unos 20 en alta mar cerca de la zona de Bluefield área y en la tarde del martes, personal de la Guardia Costera recuperó el cuerpo de Gomez. Por otra parte, Edmund Forte, de 33 años, fue rescatado el martes por la mañana después de que logro una hazaña increíble, nadar varios kilómetros para salvar su vida. Forte dijo que estaban dejando su campamento en la mañana del domingo, pero en camino hacia el canal de English Caye dos de los motores del la lancha dejaron de funcionar. Eso fue cuando él y sus compañeros pescadores decidieron aferrarse a un pequeño trozo de madera y volver a su campamento. Pero las aguas ya habían comenzado a batir porque Richard se acercaba a la costa y el barco arrojo a los tres incluyendo a Arturo Gilharry, de 64 años, por la borda. Forte dijo que nadó durante horas la noche del domingo y hasta la mañana del lunes mientras el huracán azotaba su ira sobre Belice. La Guardia Costera lo rescató

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¿ES EL HURACAN RICHARD EL KATRINA DE BARROW?

Cinco días después de que el huracán Richard atravesara Belice, der ribando árboles y casas, inundando las comunidades costeras y causando $ 40 millones en daños y perjuicios, los beliceños desplazadas están comenzando a preguntarse si el Primer Ministro Barrow y su equipo de recuperación tiene todo lo necesario para restaurar las comunidades afectadas a través de la nación. Hasta ahora la respuesta del Primer Ministro sobre Richard ha sido la de ir en un viaje aéreo a las zonas afectadas y dar una conferencia de prensa. En sus declaraciones públicas, el Primer Ministro Barrow prometió que todas las casas destruidas serían reconstruidas, cada casa dañada sería reparada y proveer alimento a los refugios. El primer ministro hizo estas promesas aunque admitió que no tenía el dinero para completar la tarea, pero insistió en que la ocasión exigía nada menos. Mientras que las palabras del Primer Ministro pueden haber proporcionado un poco de consuelo a corto plazo para los damnificados y refugiados, la realidad sobre es que hasta el momento la recuperación ha sido solo palabras. Con cinco días ya desde que Richard tocó tierra en la ciudad de Belice, la gente ya están mostrando señales de estar perdiendo la paciencia con el personal de emergencia local y nacional que siguen teniendo reuniones y aún no han comenzado la entrega de ayuda a los más afectados. Ya la gente está empezando a quejarse por la demora en obtener ayuda en instancia inmediata. En La Democracia, los residentes piden que se haga algo por la falta de agua potable en su comunidad. En la ciudad de Belice, en áreas como Yarborough, los residentes se quejan de que todo lo que siguen haciendo es llenar for mularios y responder a las encuestas y que ninguna acción real está ocurriendo en el Gobierno. En la televisión el alcalde Zenaida Moya se ve posando para las cámaras con los suministros procedentes de México, mientras que el ministro de Obras Boot Martínez está en la televisión hablando de asumir la responsabilidad del Ministerio de Vivienda en los esfuerzos de reconstrucción. Esto está causando a muchos preguntarse por qué el Ministro de Obras no esta concentrando sus recursos y conocimientos especializados en la reparación de la infraestr uctura y carreteras, en lugar de asumir la tarea de constr ucción de viviendas. ¿Qué beneficios tendrá que estar recibiendo de este proyecto? Esta cuestión se plantea desde que el Ministerio de Obras está en el registro por la organización ONG, por sus siglas en Ingles, Vivienda para los Pobres de Port Loyola, una organización que puede obtener beneficios. Es evidente que los conocimientos técnicos para la constr ucción de vivienda y reparaciones deben descansar en el Ministerio de Vivienda y no en Obras, sin embargo, el primer ministro tomó la decisión de entregar esta tarea al Ministerio de obras, una clara bofetada en la cara del Ministro Finneghan y su equipo de Vivienda. No hay duda de que la respuesta del Gobierno al huracán Richard una vez más demuestra la falta de competencia y falta de liderazgo de la Administración Bar row. El hecho de que no existía un plan para proteger la propiedad del gobierno como el Centro Bliss, donde vidrios no cubiertos se rompieron resultando en daños costosos por agua dentro del Bliss es inexcusable. La decisión de no insistir en que haya un plan de huracán para lugares como el Tribunal de Apelación en donde los archivos de tribunales importantes han sido destr uidos por daños por agua también sir ve como un ejemplo de la falta de preparación por parte del gobierno para proteger sus activos. Después de la tor menta, la diferencia es clara entre instituciones como Belize Electricity Ltd., que restauró la energía a la mayoría de las áreas afectadas dentro de 48 horas, y fue excepcional. Organizaciones de Emergencia como la Organización para el Manejo de Emergencias de Belice, (CEMO) por sus siglas en Ingles, que todavía parecen incapaces de organizarse y empezar a desplegar la ayuda muy necesaria para ayudar a los beliceños afectados por la tor menta. Al presidente de EE.UU., George W. Bush volaba sobre Nueva Orleans en su camino a casa y no tomó el desastre causado por el huracán Katrina en serio y fue duramente criticado por esta acción. La incapacidad del gobierno de Bush de responder adecuadamente a Katrina será por siempre una cicatriz en el legado de George Bush. A como se ven las cosas después del huracán Richard puede muy bien ser que el huracán Richard quizá sea el Katrina de Barrow.

l o ñ a p s En E

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Esa cosa llamada Facebook…

Por: Mike Rudon Jr. Este fenómeno llamado Facebook es una locura. ... pero de la buena, confía en mí cuando digo que cuando se trata de socializar atravez de la red es absolutamente increíble. Caray, no soy muy sociable que digamos pero tengo que admitir que me he vuelto un tanto adicto a raíz de la vida de un montón de gente que parecen muy dispuestos a publicar sus cositas íntimas, privadas y personales para que el mundo lo vea.... y bueno, lo cierto es que yo hago exactamente lo mismo. De alguna manera ayuda aminorar los problemas si las compartes en un lugar en donde sea a quien sea que le importe o quiera interferir exponga un consejo o una opinión. Aunque es un tanto difícil de explicar y confíen en mi cuando les digo que si ayuda! Sé que la primera vez que me introduje a Facebook fue sólo por diversión... me llamo la atención porque tuve la oportunidad de ponerme al día sobre las hazañas de antiguas novias y chicas que codicie pero que nunca se fijaron en mi. Pueden llamarme frívolo pero es la verdad. Luego llegó a ser más divertido porque me di cuenta que estaba genuinamente interesado en lo que la gente tenía que decir. Me gustó saber que Aurora estaba felizmente casada y muy bien... me simpatizó cuando el corazón de Stan se rompió - otra vez... me sonríe al ver las fotos de Andrea celebrando su cumpleaños con sus seres queridos! Lo que pasa es que eran personas que no había visto en años y tal vez no volvería a ver, pero con el clic de un botón y el deslizamiento del ratón pude enterarme de sus vidas por así decirlo. Con ese mismo clic de un botón y el deslizar de un ratón podía saber si Leticia estaba enojada... o quien era feliz, quien estaba teniendo un mal día, o si alguien estaba en una relación complicada, o siendo infiel, o los estaban engañado y así sucesivamente. Aprendí que este bendito Facebook es el pulso real de la gente y sencillamente me enganche. En este momento probablemente usted se esté preguntando... ¿qué diablos tiene esto que ver con la política? A lo que quiero llegar es que la semana pasada mire un mensaje en Facebook cortesía de mi buena amiga Edith - una postal con una foto que mostraba a Dean Oliver y su esposa Kim brindando con flautas de champagne a Dios sólo sabe que en la Ciudad de México. Y había más de

150 comentarios. Con la excepción de un par de comentarios de la gente en la nómina del UDP, la reacción del publico era tremenda! La gente está muy, muy enojada con el Primer Ministro, de pie en México sonriendo de oreja a oreja con una copa de champán en la mano, mientras que aquí en casa las cosas están muy mal. En estos momentos Dean Oliver no es del gusto del público y por lo que vi en Facebook la semana pasada, no tienen miedo de exponer sus opiniones al respecto en Facebook. Un amigo me dice que mis artículos son demasiado y duramente críticos de Dean Oliver. Él dice que yo debería tener un poco más de respeto para el hombre que ocupa el cargo de Primer Ministro. Mi respuesta a él no se puede imprimir aquí, sobre todo porque uno de mis lectores hace poco me llamo la atención por la blasfemia leve que a veces se desliza en mi trabajo cuando estoy realmente enojado. Mi pensamiento es que todo el mundo sea el Primer Ministro o el escritor mal pagado (o sea yo) tiene que ganarse el respeto. Para mi nadie independientemente del cargo que tenga, estatus social, raza o credo viene con "respeto automático conectado." En mi opinión, Dean Oliver no ha hecho absolutamente nada para merecer mi respeto y bastante para justificar mi desprecio y falta de respeto y yo no tengo inhibiciones para hacérselo saber al publico! La semana pasada en Facebook me di cuenta de que hay muy pocas personas por ahí que se sienten de la misma manera... y eso me agrada mucho. La verdad es que lo he notado ocurriendo más y más en los últimos meses... en comentarios publicados en el local de noticias, sitios y blogs diversos. Estaba hablando con un amigo el fin de semana y le pregunté si pensaba que Dean Oliver se da cuenta de lo impopular que es... porque lo es. Mi amigo respondió preguntándome si yo pensaba que a Dean Oliver le importa lo poco popular que es... y llegue a la conclusión que quizá no le interese la opinión del publico hacia el. Hablando de peces frios! Creo que el punto de todo esto es que hoy día el mundo se mueve a lo largo y ancho de Face Book. Facebook es un excelente barómetro del sentir real de la gente. No hay nada positivo de Dean Oliver en FB o en cualquiera otro sitio de blogs populares. Mire, si usted no está convencido... Hace unos tres meses Dean Barrow tenia cerca de 47 amigos en Facebook. Acabo de hacer clic en su página de nuevo justo en este instante. Adivine cuántos amigos tiene ahora? Pues bien tiene 47 amigos. Nadie está interesado en lo que dice. Nadie quiere ser como él. Nadie quiere ser su amigo. Sólo por curiosidad revisé la página de Facebook para el Líder de la Oposición Johnny Briceño ... y tiene 2,793 amigos. Ahora ve lo que estoy diciendo?..........

Sunday, October 31, 2010

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Huracan Dean Categoria 5 azotando a nuestro pais!!

Por: Mike Rudon Jr. El huracán Richard llegó y se fue, dejando tras de sí los daños a la infraestructura típica de una tormenta categ oría 1. Con el tiempo, los escombros se disiparan; estructuras der rocados serán reconstr uidos; techos serán reemplazados; nuevos árboles se plantarán y las aguas se retiraran. Hasta donde yo sé, ninguno de los daños fue inesperado, teniendo en cuenta el viento y la lluvia prevista y para hacer el cuento corto... asi como llego asi se fue. La vida volverá casi la normalidad en un período relativamente corto de tiempo. Pero miren, normal no es lo que estamos viviendo en la realidad, la verdad es que el huracán Richard no era más que un susurro del viento en comparación con el monstruo d e c ateg oría 5 en la actualidad que maltrata a nuestra joya. La reconstrucción después de Richard será una brisa (perdón por el juego de palabras) pero la recuperación de los daños causados por Dean Oliver es un caballo de un color totalmente diferente. Ejemplo de ello... ya recuperandonos de la cepa del huracán Richard que causó estragos en las finanzas personales que se extendían ya de por si al punto de la ruptura, los beliceños despertaron esta mañana con que el precio del combustible en las gasolineras ha aumentado. Señor Primer Ministro... las cosas ya están muy difíciles aquí! No entiende usted que la mayoría de los beliceños tuvieron que rogar, pedir prestado o sí, robar el dinero suficiente para comprar provisiones básicas para la tor menta? ¿Dean Oliver, comprende usted el concepto real de los que estamos en la pobreza absoluta? Un aumento en el precio del gas sólo un día o dos después de la devastación de un huracán puede parecer una pequeña cosa para usted, pero va un largo camino para demostrar que este gobierno simplemente no le importa un comino la gente. S i , e f e c t iva m e n t e, l o s c o s t o s de adquisición de combustible subieron en tándem con el aumento

de los precios mundiales del petróleo (que las investigaciones demuestran que no es el caso en absoluto), el Sr. Barrow podría muy fácilmente haber dado instr ucciones de que el Gobierno de Belice redujera sus impuestos sólo una pizca para que los beliceños no sintieran el dolor tan pronto después de la tormenta... sólo por esta vez. Me parece recordar un momento en que Dean Oliver de pie en frente de la nación prometió que si el combustible incrementaba un centavo más allá del precio de $ 7 el GOB reduciría su asimilación para que los consumidores no sufrieran. Eso fue hace mucho tiempo y me encantaría tener un peso por cada promesa que nuestro Primer Ministro hace y se rompe. He escuchado al Primer Ministro, que acaba de regresar de un viaje turístico en la Ciudad de México, emitir su más sincero sentido de apoyo que todas las personas de Belice afectadas por el huracán Richard recibiría la ayuda que necesitaban. También vi a Boots prácticamente salivando cuando mentalmente calculaba cuánto dinero podría ser extraído de un proyecto de restauración de vivienda ampliada, pero eso es otra historia. De todos modos, la cosa es que en el momento que las cámaras se apagaron y Dean Oliver se bajó del podio, esas promesas se quedaron tan insustanciales como su integridad. Durante dos años y medio, el Primer Ministro no ha hecho nada

para ayudar a los pobres de esta nación. De hecho, él no ha hecho nada para ayudar a alguien cuyo apellido no es Barrow. Dejando la política y propaganda a un lado, la realidad es que en las cosas debajo del UDP están muy mal... la economía, la educación, el turismo, la delincuencia, las industrias -. Lo que sea, esta mal. Bajo Dean Barrow, un número sin precedentes de beliceños son realmente pobres... no un poco p o b r e s, f a m i l i a s q u e n o t i e n e n para comer! Bajo Dean Barrow, un número sin precedentes de beliceños están en riesgo de estar en el nivel de pobreza extrema. Una vez más poniendo a un lado la política y la propaganda, lo cierto es que Dean Oliver no ha podido (o no quiere) ayudar a los beliceños pobres! Regresando a los días de gloria en la antigua campaña de Dean Oliver, El tenía todas las respuestas a todas las preguntas en el universo. En aquellos días hizo un montón de promesas y compromisos que sonaban sinceras. En esos días también prestó el juramento de ser vir a todos los beliceños, sin temor ni favoritismo o mala voluntad. En ninguna parte de este juramento lo hizo decir a servir a todos los beliceños relacionados por sangre o por afecto... pero eso es lo que tenemos de todos modos. Bueno, en realidad eso es lo que ellos tienen.... Lois, Kim, Anwar, Deanne

y Denys tienen todo otorgado por papá Dean Oliver. Gente común o sea el resto de nosotros no tenemos nada, solo promesas. Véase, la pobreza estaba aquí antes del huracán, Richard. Chozas destr uidas, las familias que viven sin electricidad y agua corriente, los niños que mendigan en las calles, no hay comida para poner sobre la mesa, el cierre de empresas; cientos de despedido uniéndose a las crecientes filas de los desempleados, la lucha por conseguir el pan de cada día; la desesperación y la frustración... eso lo teníamos antes del huracán, Richard. Hemos estado sintiendo todo esto desde los días que el fenómeno catastrófico conocido como Dean Oliver Barrow llego a gobernar nuestro Pais.. Así que me perdonan si digo que el compromiso del Primer Ministro para ayudar a las personas pobres afectadas por esta tormenta no suena a verdad ... en realidad su compromiso apesta igual, pero vale mucho menos que una pila humeante de estiércol! Sí... se nos pasara lo del huracán Richard. No podemos decir lo mismo del monstruo que gobierna este país. El hombre que esta paralizando nuestra economía, maltratando a nuestra nación y per judicando a nuestro pueblo. No, no nos recuperaremos de Dean Oliver Barrow de prisa... de eso estoy seguro!

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Request for Expression of Interest The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Belize, is looking for potential suppliers for the following main commodities: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

Computer technology (hardware and software services and subsequent support and maintenance) Internet/VOIP service PBX/telephony maintenance Ofﬁce maintenance Catering Cleaning (supplies and services) Ofﬁce supplies Kitchen supplies Warehouse leasing Travel services Personnel transportation Freight forwarding Conference services Temporary help services from employment service providers Translation services Vehicle maintenance and provision of fuel services Graphic art and advertising Design, layout, printing and publishing Photocopying and binding

Suppliers, interested in providing commodities and services to UNICEF, should obtain The Supplier Profile Form, free of charge, from UNICEF, tel. 223-3609/3864/7294, belize@unicef.org, on any working day between 8:00am- 5:30pm (Mon-Thurs) and 8:00am-1:00pm (Fri). The Form should be completed and returned to UNICEF by 30 November, 2010 along with the substantiating documents such as copy of company profile, including legal registration, VAT number, and bank details, references list, copy of your catalogue, including valid price list, if applicable, any additional/ substantiating document you deem appropriate. Suppliers are requested to show UNICEF the original substantiating documents which will be returned to them after making copies. If you need any clarification, kindly contact the UNICEF Office.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Births Ashanee Rebecca to Deshaun Richard and Tanya Therese Sosa nee Pollard Colton to George and Katharina Friesen nee Klassen Gabrielle to Darrell and Julie Bradley nee Ellis Raneera Clara to Rafael Alexander and Annette Ann Caliz nee Ramirez Zahara Alexandria to Maynor Alexander and Vicky Stephany Paz nee Cawich

Marriages Elvis Felipe Garcia to Leonela Estrella Perez both of Guinea Grass, Orange Walk Joselito Karel Garcia to Brenda Massiel Garcia both of Guinea Grass, Orange Walk Antonio Benigno Copo to Nely Elizabeth Montalban both of Fireburn, Orange Walk Miguel Angel Perez Jr. to Emelda Veronica Yah both of Belmopan, Cayo Wayne Phillip Francis to Una Ann Mary Fitzgibbon both of Belize City Rennon Linberth Pandy to Samantha Leticia Moody both of Northern Highway, Belize William Jose Estrada Alvarado to Marla Lucille Pratt both of Belize City Steven Melarao David to Vera Michele Lock both of Phoenic, Arizona, USA Xiyuan He to Yan Qin Lin both of Corozal Town, Corozal Martin Segura of Santa Elena, Cayo to Azalee Kinberly Warrior of San Ignacio, Cayo Philip Henry Tate of Belmopan, Cayo to Marcene Yvonne Coleman of Belize City Jenaro Roman Reyes to Dianery Damary Santoya both of Ladyville, Belize Rafael Auriano Ramos of Belmopan, Cayo to Lendy Lizzanie Cowo of Santa Clara, Corozal Joel Neftali Cruz of Corozal Town, Corozal to Dilcia Damiri Bonilla of San Narciso, Corozal Stephen George Ladd of Paciﬁc Washington, USA to Virginia Elizabeth Phelan of Los Angeles, California, USA Everildo Amani Reyes to Taniery Tamara Flores both of Sarteneja, Corozal Joel Evaristo Casanove of Chunox, Corozal to Lorena Melissa Flores of Copper Bank, Corozal Roland John Flath to Vilma Florildma Ramirez Vasquez both of Copper Bank, Corozal Jian Chang Chen to Zong Rong Huang both of Corozal Town, Corozal Peter Michael Iwaskiewych of Corozal Town, Corozal to Helen Carolina Martinez of Trial Farm, Orange Walk Benito Castaneda to Rocilli Arleni Keme both of San Narciso, Corozal Kirk Monima to Delmy Indiany Bey both of Xaibe, Corozal Rene Villanueva to Iris Yiselle Yah both of San Narciso, Corozal Doyle Lee Wesley Jr. to Maria Teresa Lopez Leguizamo both of Corozal Town, Corozal Orlando Silvester William to Hilaria Canabas both of Lord’s Bank, Belize Bryan Michael Sears of Sarteneja, Corozal to Lucilla Hilaria Teck of Copper Bank, Corozal Miguel Pan to Abrelia Chun both of Dolores, Toledo Calistro Saki to Ihiginia Cal both of Punta Gorda, Toledo Juan Choc of Indian Creek, Toledo to Rymonda Ack of Laguna, Toledo Herberto Jaime Shol of San Pedro Columbia, Toledo to Diana Cho of Maya Mopan, Stann Creek Edward Alexander Bochub to Rhoda Henra Flores both of Hopeville, Toledo Sebanias Reyes Choc to Carolina Elisa Choc both of Corazon Creek, Toledo Juan Pop to Olivia Chun-Asig both of San Vicente, Toledo Roberto Luis Vairez of Cattle Landing Toledo to Fedelis Crescencia Sanchez of Punta Gorda, Toledo

Deaths Christopher Nahum Galvez, 23 Loice Leonie Martinez, 77 Alton Rudolph Bradley, 66 Diana Flores, 31 Albert Hamid Musa, 74 Gwendolyn Wilhelmina Lindo, 77

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Belize Times

Prayer To The Holy Spirit

NOTICE I, GILROY LLEWELLYN USHER Jr. hereby give notice that I have applied to the Belize City Magistrate’s Court sitting at 11 o’clock on the 26th day of October, 2010 at Belize City for a certiﬁcate to be granted to me under the Moneylenders Act, Chapter 260 to authorize me to carry on business as a moneylender in the name of FIRST STOP “Speedy Money” at Booth #53 Commercial Center, Belize City.

NOTICE I, GILROY LLEWELLYN USHER Jr. hereby give notice that I have applied to the Belmopan Magistrate Court sitting at 11 o’clock on the 26th day of October, 2010 at Belmopan City for a certiﬁcate to be granted to me under the Moneylenders Act, Chapter 260 to authorize me to carry on business as a moneylender in the name of FISRT STOP “Speedy Money” at Capital Garden Plaza, on Constitution Drive in Belmopan City.

Liquor License Notice Notice is hereby given that Perfecta Leal is applying for a Publican Special Liquor License to be operated at “El Paso Bar”, Libertad Village, Corozal District under the Intoxicating Liquor Licensing Ordinance Revised Edition 1980.

Prayer To The Holy Spirit O Holy spirit, you who are the fountainhead of all knowledge, who illuminate the pathway which enables me to reach my goal. You who share your divine gift permitting me to forgive and forget past insults and injustices, and who are always at my side within reaching distance. I desire in this short supplication to thank you for all that you have done for me, and to assure you once more that I never want to be separated from you under any circumstances, no matter what the incentive. I want to be with you, I along with my loved ones, cradled in your unending love. Thank you for your never failing kindness towards me and those I call my own. (Prayer to be offered for three consecutive days; faith in the Holy Spirit will cause him to respond to your request no matter how difﬁcult the problem might be.) Publish prayer as soon as request has been granted.

R.E.R.

S.H.M.

R.E.R.

Oración a la Virgen de Guadalupe

Rezar 9 Aves Marías durante 9 días con una vela encendida. Pedir tres favores, uno economic, dos imposibles. Al octavo día publicar, al novena día dejar que se consuma la vela. Aún sin tener fe se cumple.

M.D.L.A.G.

O Holy spirit, you who are the fountainhead of all knowledge, who illuminate the pathway which enables me to reach my goal. You who share your divine gift permitting me to forgive and forget past insults and injustices, and who are always at my side within reaching distance. I desire in this short supplication to thank you for all that you have done for me, and to assure you once more that I never want to be separated from you under any circumstances, no matter what the incentive. I want to be with you, I along with my loved ones, cradled in your unending love. Thank you for your never failing kindness towards me and those I call my own. (Prayer to be offered for three consecutive days; faith in the Holy Spirit will cause him to respond to your request no matter how difﬁcult the problem might be.) Publish prayer as soon as request has been granted.

D.Y.B.

S.H.M.

R.E.R.

U.N. investigates allegations of cholera source in Haiti

Preliminary tests on a suspected source of the cholera outbreak in Haiti were negative, U.N. peacekeepers said Thursday. The U.N. mission in Haiti is testing waste and sewage water at the back of a Nepalese military base that is part of the U.N. operations. The first tests showed no signs of cholera, officials said. The mission said it "has taken very seriously the allegations that sewage water coming from latrines at the back of the Nepalese military base in Mirebalais could be the source of the cholera outbreak in Haiti." U.N. workers took the initial samples last week from the camp and an adjacent river. Additional samples were taken this week and results are expected by Friday. The death toll from the cholera outbreak has risen to 305, and the number of confirmed cholera cases has reached 4,649, the Haitian government said Thursday. Suspicions about the Nepalese base arose from reports that water was collecting at the back of the base. It was believed to be overflow from the latrine or a septic tank. U.N. engineers examined the base and concluded that the standing water was not from the latrine of septic tank, but from a soak pit that receives water from the kitchen and the shower area, the U.N mission said. "This soak pit is located three meters from the latrines, hence misleading passers-by into believing that the soaked ground close to latrines is caused by the overspill of human waste," it said. All human waste from the camp is collected in seven septic tanks that are emptied out and discharged in a local landfill as authorized by the local government, the United Nations said. The agency also noted that all 710 Nepalese soldiers underwent medical tests, and tested negative for cholera, before deployment to Haiti earlier this month.

The Belize Times

Sunday, October 31, 2010