Belize Times June 14, 2015 by Belize Times Press

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14 JUN

The Belize Times THE BELIZE TIMES

2015

Established 1957

The Truth Shall Make You Free

14 JUNE 2015 | ISSUE NO: 4949

www.belizetimes.bz | $1.00

Chamber Blasts UDP Petrocaribe Feast Patrick Faber blows away $50,000 on liquor & tacos Belize City, June 9, 2015 The evidence of wasteful spending of Petrocaribe loan funds has come, as they say, from the horse’s mouth as UDP Collet representative Patrick Faber announced that he used his portion of the Mother’s Day cheers money for a spring-break type fest for his loyal UDP supporters. While speaking at a UDP rally in Belize City on Sunday June 7th, 2015, Faber arrived appearing highly influenced on some special beverage and when he took the podium he said that he used the $50,000 provided by the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance to pay for a grand feast for his specially selected UDP supporters. What was Faber’s feast all about? Under the Petrocaribe loan agreement, funds are to be spent on social development programs that bring about poverty allevi-

Business Senator Mark Lizarraga has echoed the Chamber of Commerce’s condemnation of the misuse of Petrocaribe loan funds

Killer Cops in Caye Caulker!!

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Post mortem confirms 18 year old Hilberto Sotz died from massive trauma while in Police Custody

BYM calls for objective investigation into death of Hilberto Sotz

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Barrow snubs Sarstoon Island questions Pg. 3

Caye Caulker Village, Belize District, June 10, 2015 A post-mortem carried out by Police Pathologist Dr. Mario Estradabran on the lifeless body of 18 year old Hilberto Sotz on Wednesday, June 9th, confirmed that the teenager died from massive trauma due to extreme physical violence. The post mortem listed the causes of death as

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The body of Hilberto Sotz at Caye Caulker Health Center

Ex-Fireman burnt up in bullet-riddled car

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PUP: NO TO SEDI, NO TO ICJ

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OPINION OUT

OUT

Belize Police Department: Animal Farm

An appeal to the people of San Pedro

Dear Editor, About 12 years ago I got International Actors Guild of New York to send down to Belize the first X-Ray Machine freely being the only one of a modern nature in Belize. Now I had an X-Ray machine that Mayo Clinic was to send down but instead they revitalized it and sent it to their new clinic in India. The Belizean government has given many of our tax dollars to build some of the best staffed hospitals around this country but so far didn’t help us finish the polyclinic that Ramon Nunez and I got $1,000,000 in contributions to build the first floor and when asked to complete the second floor they only built part of it for a dental office.

Dear Editor: Did you know that the Belize Police Department is a big animal farm? Yes, all the animals are not equal. All the good Commissioners have retired and from Henderson onwards it’s been a big joke! I don’t even know why Wiley is getting a fat salary as he is hardly in office. Is he running away from the media or from his shadow? The poor guy doesn’t even have a TV where he lives so he can’t keep up with the mess in his department. Some dumb officers are being promoted, but only if Wiley likes them. Qualified people are not accepted at police training school because they are not related to the senior clan at the Police Department. If you have a special name you will automatically be accepted for training and you will score high and guess what, you will receive the baton of honour. Yes, the surname is special. A cunning and wily thing! I am sorry for our Police Constables. They work the hardest and the lazy senior officers get the credit. Something should be done to reward the Police Constables. Many of them commute and buy lunch daily with their meagre salaries. The Corporals and Sergeants penalize them for stupid things because they want a promotion. The Constable has no say and if they are not liked, it’s even worse, as they will be picked on and frustrated until they get the hell out of the department. Instead of calling meetings to iron out problems, Senior Officers take sides. Some of them take their

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THE BELIZE TIMES

problems to work and take it out on officers of lower ranks. The welfare desk at police Headquarters is a big joke. That desk doesn’t even address problems that officers are facing. If an officer wants a transfer for real urgent personal reasons, it should be given to him or her. This is what welfare means. However the commander of the welfare desk hears your complaints and has to discuss first with Wiley and if you are not in Wiley’s good book, you might be stuck forever with your problems or until you decide to call it quits. Some junior officers also complain that the leadership at the Eastern Division is also a big joke. The leader gets very personal with people. Qualified people can’t get jobs, yet the OC can find a job for her daughter who is currently employed with the police

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People of San Pedro and our good friends from abroad I ask you to look in your hearts and then in your pocketbooks to help Dr. Danny finish his clinic that will benefit all of us. We need to send emails to our government officials such as Manuel Heredia to get government to give back part of the millions they receive in taxes from us to help us create better medical facilities and more physicians. Belize has just created the Belize Tourist Medical Association so let’s push for medical facilities and doctors and nurses that the rest of Belize has better than us. You may contribute by calling Dr. Danny Gonzalez. Go see what Dr. Danny has created so far. Dr. Roberts an Orthopedic Physician from Belize City has been coming to Dr. Danny’s office once a month for seven years so why can’t government send other doctors at least once a month or so. People over 65 especially would love to retire here but definitely are in need of proper medical facilities on an ongoing basis. Dr. Danny’s new bariatric chamber can not only treat divers with the Bends but can treat and cure many other diseases even possibly certain cancers and Alzheimer’s. This chamber is just one of the medical equipment he intends to put in his new building. Come see what he is trying to do for himself but also for all of the community. God Bless You. Signed: Corry McDermott department. When Phillips steps into the office she doesn’t even bid you the time of the day or salute back to officers. She is really on a high horse and will fall someday. The other senior officers are a part of the Wiley clan. This is why one of their wives in Belmopan got her promotion so quickly. They all look out for their kids and close associates. Some officers get promotion if they love to talk, gossip or show their connections to the ruling party. The police department is an animal farm, not all the pigs are equal. It’s a pity that the late Cantun who use to be the legal adviser for police is not alive to assist the junior ranks as he use to look after the welfare of junior officers and help them to address problems. Wake up Wiley! Get some thicker lens if necessary so you can see Continued on page 13

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2015

OUT San Pedro needs a Public Transportation System!

Dear Editor, Tourists don’t feel very comfortable while driving in a small golf cart often jammed between trucks and taxis. They don’t feel safe and high traffic during high season counteracts to tourists’ need to relax while on vacation. How about a Public Transportation System? Rather than expanding our current taxi service, a system of small buses could be the solution or at minimum be part of a traffic solution for our beloved Ambergris Caye. Any expansion of the current traffic situation would be hindering growth of tourism. A loss of reputation would be followed by less visitors as the result. A public bus system with electric powered, small to medium sized buses would be pleasant for everyone, locals and many tourists alike. Tourists would pay $5 or $7, locals/ residents $3, kids would be free for the ride. Three or four buses would be driving back and forward between the DFC area/or beyond and the soccer field in town. If these buses are electric powContinued on page 13

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The Belize Times

Established 1957

14 APR 2013

ISSUE NO: 4840

The Truth Shall Make You Free

www.belizetimes.bz

$1.00

serving Belize since 1957 as the longest continuous newspaper. Founder: Rt. Hon. George Cadle Price, People’s United Party Leader Emeritus EDITOR

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Chris Williams

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Roberto Peyrefitte Printed and Published By TIMES NEWSPAPER LTD. Tel: 671-8385 #3 Queen Street P.O. BOX 506 Belize City, Belize

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THE BELIZE TIMES

Chamber Blasts UDP Petrocaribe Feast

Continued from page 1 ation, but in the case of Faber’s Mother’s Day spree, it meant free tacos, pibil, alcoholic drinks and an outing along the Corozal coast-line. “…my friends we were able in the Collet constituency to roll twenty-two loaded buses to Corozal Town today and we had a wonderful family day courtesy of Petrocaribe and our Prime Minister the Hon. Dean Barrow. We danced to Jorge Ernesto Babb and the Caribbean roots band. We bathe up inna di sea… you know the beautiful Corozal Bay sea weh look turquoise and milky and beautiful…we eat tacos and we eat pibil and we eat BBQ…we had a feast,” Faber grovelled about shamelessly. Faber also added that he expected some of his supporters to be “kinda tipsy” when they returned to Belize City, because “they were having a fine time”. Since the statement on Sunday afternoon, there has been public condemnation and repudiating reactions over the use of Petrocaribe funds by the UDP Representative. One of the strongest reactions came from the Chamber of Commerce who issued a release on Tuesday, June 9th, lashing out at the Government for “blatant misuse of the Petro Caribe Loan Funds”. “Spending loan funds on a picnic

can in no way be seen as investing in our people’s future, and this activity underscores the need for procedures that uphold the principles of accountability, transparency and responsible spending, particularly in the use of loan funds,” the release further stated. Faber’s admittance that the Mother’s Day Cheer funds were used in this abusive and wasteful way is a direct challenge to the Prime Minister’s claims that the Government spends Petrocaribe Loan Funds in an accountable manner. The Prime Minister has said categorically that no cash is issued through these programs, and that only vouchers are issued for spending. If so, 22 bus loads of UDP supporters had to buy tacos and pibil with a bunch of Government Treasury vouchers. Clearly this is not logical – the UDP released loads of cash for this spree. Faber’s comments have cast tremendous doubt over the Prime Minister’s assertions and assurances, evoking condemnation among those calling for transparency and accountability, and vindicating those like the Opposition People’s United Party who have said the Government is abusing those funds. In fact, we are told that at the Cabinet meeting this past Tuesday, the Prime Minister did as much as scold Faber for his irresponsible words.

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Barrow snubs Sarstoon Island questions Belize City, June 10, 2015 In his usual arrogant style, Prime Minister Dean Barrow outrightly rejected attempts by news reporters to get his view, as the nation’s leader, of the recent highly-controversial standoff between Belize’s coast guard and Guatemala’s military near Sarstoon Island, which is inside Belize’s territory but within the area claimed by Gyatemalan. The news reporters were attempting to get direct confirmation that he had given instructions to our Coast Guard personnel to withdraw from the Sarstoon Island in the face of aggression from Guatemala’s military. Here’s how that interview went: Channel 5 News Reporter, Mike Rudon: “Sir the foreign minister has said you personally handled the Sarstoon situation”. Prime Minister Dean Barrow: “We’re not talking about that sort of thing, we’ll talk about politics. You’ve heard from the minister, the foreign minister. You heard from the CEO of national security and you heard last from the commander who was on the ground, Mr. Borland. There’s nothing more I can add. You got the whole story.” This was the Prime Minister’s coward response regarding the incident in which Guatemala showed blatant disrespect for Belize’s territorial sovereignty. His refusal to discuss whether or not he instructed our Coast Guard to surrender is proof that he is aware of the grave political repercussions of his actions and omission to act. Belize is in extreme danger, not only from our neighbours in the west who have held onto a bogus, age-old claim but also from a Government that has shown weakness and keeps bowing to Guatemala’s pressure over and over.

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THE BELIZE TIMES

Belize’s Shining Stars!!

Wesley College

Marnelle Castillo

Shawn Saldano

Ocean Academy

Leyvi Florian

Saira Reyes

Gisellie Hernandez

Ryan Chi

Fernando Novelo

Muffles College

Christian Molina

yah Marin, Salutatorian Ms. Jin Shaung (Sukie) Tan and 3rd Place finisher Ms. Jia Xi Xiao. Belmopan Comprehensive School in the capital had its Graduation ceremonies on Thursday, June 4th, at the University of Belize Gymnasium in Belmopan City, starting at 6:30 pm. 209 out of 225 students took the march, led by Valedictorian Ms. Josette McGann, from class Senior 2. The Salutatorian was Ms. Eudora Chiu. At Nazarene High School, students proudly marched on Friday, June 5th, at the nearby First Church of the Nazarene on Princess Margaret Drive. 67 of 75 students marched up, representing 3 different disciplines [Vocational, Business and Academic], led by Valedictorian Ms. Leanny Gonzalez (with an unconfirmed Grade Average of 81.5%), and 16-year-old Salutatorian Ms. Alisha Estell (of Class 4 Business, with a

Grade Average of 81%. Ms. Estell is the 2nd youngest of 7 children. She admitted that the most difficult part of her 4 years was trying to stay at the top of her class, with her colleague Ms. Gonzalez being ‘my biggest competitor’. She managed to be in the top 10 in 1st Form, with her finally able to vaunt into the top, staying in 2nd Place from 2nd Form to her final year. But even when she reached that peak of success, she found it difficult to maintain, and it would take the continued support and push from her parents, especially her dad, to keep her on track. “Every time I came home, so tired from school, and just wanting to sit and watch TV, my Dad would be like, ‘Gial, yu noh gat no homework or ting fi go do?’” she recalled. “He was really there, pushing me to maintain my grade average as much as possible.” And it is such tireless pushing that allows Ms. Estell to continue pursuing her dreams.

2015

its long-standing tradition of excellence, marching up 126 graduates of a class of 147 on Wednesday, June 10th, 2015 at the King’s Room of the Ramada Princess Hotel in Belize City. Leading them was 16-year-old Valedictorian Ms. Marnelle Castillo (of Class 4 Yellow, with a cumulative GPA of 3.15) and 17-year-old Salutatorian Mr. Shawn Saldano (also of Class 4 Yellow, with a cumulative

BMP Compre School

Nazarene High School

Josette McGann

Alisha Estell

She told us that she plans to attend the University of Belize, and study Business Science, up to her Bachelor’s, with the eventual goal to become an auditor. Her advice, although coming from a post-graduate perspective, can certainly apply to future graduates. “Never give up. It’s no an easy road to get to the top. Try your best to maintain a solid average. Always keep your head up, and make your parents proud.” Shifting to the North, we have two schools who marched up over the weekend. First, there was Orange Walk Technical High School in Orange Walk Town. They had 104 graduates marching up on Saturday, June 6th at the Multi-Purpose Complex. Their Valedictorian was Ms. Dalia Jolon, while the Salutatorian was Ms. Aurora Balam. The Vote of Thanks was delivered by the 3rd Place finisher Mr. Christian Badilla. Escuela Secundaria Mexico in Corozal hosted their ceremonies on Sunday, June 7th, at the School Campus, starting at 10:00 am. 117 students graduated, with the Valedictorian being Mr. Angel Chun of Class 4-4, and the Salutatorian was Ms. Samantha Morales of Class 4-2. In the Stann Creek District, Independence High School also had their ceremonies on Saturday, June 6th at the Omar Longsworth Auditorium at the school’s campus in Independence Village. 191 students took the march, with 53 graduating with honors, according to school officials. Their Valedictorian was Mr. Kevin Euceda, while the Salutatorian was Ms. Pallovi Romero. The Vote of Thanks was delivered by the 3rd Place finisher Ms. Sulma Perez. Next on our list is Belize City’s Wesley College. The venerable Methodist high school continues

GPA of 3.12). The duo sat with the BELIZE TIMES for separate interviews. Their stories, while seemingly different, intersect with an unabashed love of learning and a dedication to be their best. Both call Belize City their home, but both live under very different family structures. They both have had to battle with the pressures of their 4th year – Castillo navigating doing the research that went into her School-Based Assessments (SBAs), and admitted that “all of my focus went directly to doing those SBA’s. Those projects that I needed to do ending taking a lot of time.” Saldano simply said that 4th Form “just went by so fast”. Luckily, he told us that the camaraderie he built up with his fellow 4th Formers helped him to get through. And as far as cheerleaders who supported them to the fullest goes, Castillo gave sole credit for completing her secondary school journey to her Mom who “provided for me, and always deh behind me”, while Saldano said that his parents deserve most, if not the full credit for his success. “Despite the turmoil of being parents to a teenager, they motivate me to become good in all I do,” he admitted. He also credits his 4th form teacher Ms. Natalie Chan, who he says “motivates and inspires me to develop good leadership skills”. And last but certainly not least, his biggest and most unlikely supporter is none other than the current Governor General of Belize, Sir Colville Young, who has been a long-time champion of promoting music for young people in schools across the country. That, says Saldano, has struck up a surprising, if unlikely, kinship with the GG, who he says “supports and shares my passion for music.” It might not be that surprising that Saldano’s level of passion could lead him to pursue a music career down the line – after Continued on page 12

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2015

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EDITORIAL

A RIOT BROUGHT RESULTS

t took a riot, civil disobedience and the stoning of Police officers to bring about some semblance of justice for the residents of Caye Caulker. A frightened government in Belmopan, which had just turned tail and allowed our navy to be run off the Sarstoon Island, found itself at odds with the peaceful and law-abiding residents of Caye Caulker. Over three hundred residents rioted for over three hours to express their righteous anger. They threw bottles, stones and other missiles and faced the riot squad which was rushed in from Belmopan, in order to make their point. That one singular point was Police abuse. In this instance the abuse had gone so far as to claim the life of an 18 year old student, Hilberto Sotz. Hilberto was in Belmopan on Sunday the 7th June, where he is a student at the Belmopan Baptist College. On Monday morning he arrived on Caye Caulker where his mother, father and siblings live. Several vendors and residents saw him alight the boat and went to his father’s gulf cart taxi. He visited his mom, Carmelina at home. Along came Police officer Nunez. He told the father, Saturino, that Hilberto was wanted for questioning for a burglary which occurred Sunday night. Nunez seized the diminutive Hilberto by the waist in front of his parents and dragged him away. Saturino followed and went to the Police Station. Seeing the mood and behavior of Nunez, Saturino asked that his son not be ill-treated. It was to be a prescient request. Returning to the Station at mid-day to learn how things were and to take food for his son, he was denied seeing Hilberto. He waited around a while and having commitments with his work he left. “Your son is dead”. That was the shocking news which Saturino received from a friend. He rushed to the Poly Clinic thinking there was a mistake; the information could not be true. On arrival, the truth, like a metal fist, struck him square in the face. Hilberto was dead. The doctor explained to him Hilberto was dead on arrival. When the Police took him to the Clinic they were insisting that he give medical treatment, which he said he could not do as the person was as dead as a door knob. Over at the Sotz home, Officer Nunez and another Police arrived. They told Carmelina Hilberto had developed breathing problems and was taken to the Clinic where he passed away. Carmelina could not answer. She felt like she was developing breathing problems. Her first born could not be dead. He was so much alive and happy just a few hours ago. He has never had breathing problems all his life. This must be a cruel joke by the Police. The news then went like wildfire across Caye Caulker. Angry residents gathered at the Clinic. They had no doubts in their minds that Hilberto was the victim of police brutality. They too had suffered at the brutal hands of the Police. They knew what it was like to be slapped up in their face, punched and kicked over their bodies, burnt with cigarettes, struggle to breathe with plastic bags tightened over their heads. Hilberto’s untimely death was too much to ignore.

Many had friends and relatives at San Pedro where the brutality had gone wild. Riot! Yes riot on Caye Caulker. The government panicked. They blundered by sending the Gang Suppression Unit to the island. UDP Mark Flowers personally took Commander. He and his officers’ presence only inflamed the residents more. Having training only in brutality Flowers and the GSU were a hopeless lot. Full scale riot squad had to be deployed. Within hours of the riot, images of which were all over the social media, other sections of Belize were burning verbal fire against the government. The appearance of the humble father and mother in tears relating their disbelief at their son’s death touched the hearts of every Belizean. By Wednesday two Police officers were charged for murder and those at the Police Station during the detention of Hilberto were put on interdiction. The Minister of Police, who said not a word to the nation over the fiasco at Sarstoon Island for days, suddenly appeared on UDP Channel 7 with an interview condemning rogue Police and promising to do something about police abuse. He is not even in the country, as he travelled to the Dominican Republic to watch a football game. For years the government has turned a blind eye, and deaf ears to the hundreds of valid complaints of police abuse. Persons have been wrongfully detained, beaten in custody, tortured with tasers, have their ribs fractured and their limbs broken. A few have been killed including rap-artist Boco-T, on San Pedro. In the case of Arthur Young he was executed outright-in cold blood. None of these abuses have brought any response from any UDP Ministers of Police or the Prime Minister. The two exceptions being a statement from the Prime Minister when GSU beat up over a dozen residents of George Street in his constituency and a statement from the Police Minister when the GSU abused some young men in Taylor Alley, in Belize City. Nothing will change in relation to the government’s increasing and negligent attitude towards police abuse of Belizeans. Their record for the past 7 ½ years in office is the most telling proof. It is under their watch that the situation has so completely spiraled downwards to the unacceptable levels it has now reached. It took a riot in the small village of Caye Caulker to send a message to all of us. The government is the problem. The Police are agents of the government. They are failing in their duty to serve and protect Belizeans. Belizeans need to be protected from the Police. What a totally upside down state of affairs. By next week the Police will return to their bad old ways. A confirmation that the problem is now embedded in their ranks. A confirmation at the Cabinet and Ministerial level there is no solution and no commitment to finding any. This is the unhappy lot of the people living in Belize under this UDP government. It took a riot by the residents of Caye Caulker to remind us that we cannot rely on the government.

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THE BELIZE TIMES

PUP Position on Sarstoon Caye Incident

The Chamber Calls for Responsible Spending of Public Loan Funds

June 9th, 2015 The People’s United Party condemns the feeble response by the Barrow Administration to the armed incursion into Belizean territory by the Guatemalan Armed Forces on Thursday May 28, 2015. The conflicting accounts of the events given by the government are further cause for concern. Particularly so since, reportedly, no less than the Prime Minister ordered the withdrawal of the members of the Belize Coast Guard from the Sarstoon Island, an island well inside Belize’s borders. The declared mission, which was to conduct an overt reconnaissance patrol, does not in the normal course require Prime Ministerial approval to come to an end. The PUP therefore rejects the account given by the Belize Coast Guard that the mission had been completed and that that was what prompted their “extraction”. The PUP calls on the Prime Minister to: 1. Immediately explain to the Belizean people why he ordered the withdrawal of the Belize Coast Guard from Belizean territory in the face of such overt acts of aggression by Guatemala. 2. Immediately cause a temporary observation post to be established on the Sarstoon Island to be manned by both the Belize Coast Guard and the Belize Defence Force until such time that a permanent Forward Operating Base for the Belize Coast Guard can be established. 3. Urgently make the necessary strategic investments in Belize’s national security apparatus to ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Belize.

Ex-Fireman burnt up in bullet-riddled car

Dangriga Town, June 9, 2015 Dangriga Police are investigating the gruesome killing of 51 year old Ralston Patnett, an ex-fireman, who was found burnt to death inside his Toyota Camry car on Sunday night, June 7th 2015. Police responded to reports of a vehicle on fire in the Commerce Bight area of Dangriga Town, and upon arriving at the scene they were forced to contact Fire officials, as they met a car on fire. Once the fire was extinguished, they saw the charred remains of a body later identified as that of Ralston Patnett. Police have ruled the case as murder. The body of the vehicle had numerous bullet holes. The vehicle was found outside a property for which Patnett was the caretaker.

Tuesday, June 9th, 2015 The Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry emphatically condemns the confessed blatant misuse of the Petro Caribe Loan Funds as confirmed by the Minister of Education Patrick Faber and aired by multiple media houses on newscasts of June 8th 2015. The minister stated at the Caribbean Shores endorsement convention that he used Petro Caribe Loan Funds to take twenty two (22) busses of his constituents to Corozal Bay for a beach par-

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ty, using the said loan money to finance this outing. Spending loan funds on a picnic can in no way be seen as investing in our people’s future, and this activity underscores the need for procedures that uphold the principles of accountability, transparency and responsible spending, particularly in the use of loan funds. The BCCI remains firm in its resolve to uphold the principle of good governance and calls on the Minister of Finance and on the Government of Belize to act responsibly in its use of those public funds which every single Belizean must repay.

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2015

WOMAN IN THE HOUSE By Dolores Balderamos Garcia

JAZZ ANYONE?? From time to time I revisit my jottings about Jazz, published in October 2009 by the Image Factory Art Foundation in the book “Jazz Sketches – Profiles of Thirty Greats.” Earlier, I had written this series of articles that appeared in the Belize Times under the heading ‘A World of Jazz.’ Yasser Musa and I compiled and put out these pieces as “Jazz Sketches”. One of my entries, which I wrote on March 8, 2009, was on the great guitarist Wes Montgomery. A month or two ago a professional associate of my husband saw a part of my jazz CD collection. He was so impressed that he bought and sent me as a gift a new double CD of very early Wes Montgomery recordings that I did not have in 2009 when I wrote about Wes. This new recording is

a treasure trove, which showcases Wes and his group in the mid 1950’s. Their music was recorded live at jazz venues in his hometown of Indianapolis, and reveals the phenomenal talent of Wes. He was playing along with his brothers Monk and Buddy and a few friends. I am certainly very happy to have this addition to my Wes Montgomery discography. I must make sure that I invite my jazz buddy, guitarist Mark Phillips, to have a listen. Last night I attended the opening night of the Belize International Jazz Festival at the House of Culture. The opening ceremony took place upstairs, and was attended by the Governor General, organizers, musicians, and fans. In his remarks the GG was clearly in a mischievous mood, as he explained the origins of the term juk (juke) box and referred to the activities

in a house of prostitution as well as the hot music played therein, as jazz had its origins in New Orleans and other Southern United States cities and towns. NICH Chairperson Diane Haylock welcomed attendees and thanked sponsors of this more than weeklong event of jazz in Belize City and Belmopan. I was particularly pleased that during the brief proceedings three posthumous awards of recognition were granted to persons who have played a seminal role in the development of music and jazz here at home. The first award was given to the late great Ted Burrowes for his significant contributions to music. His daughter Julietta, herself a talented music teacher in Belmopan, received the award for him. The second person to be honored was the late Frankie Rhys, a wonderful jazz musician who did so much to keep the music alive. His son Roscoe received the award. Finally, the late Leroy ‘Bass’ Castillo was honored for all that he contributed to the music and to jazz as well. His brother Elsworth received the award. Belizean/British musician and avant garde composer Errolyn Wallen then performed a few of her own pieces, accompanying herself on keyboards. Errolyn has performed in Belize before, and it was lovely to see and to chat with her once again, and also to hear her music. Artistic Director for the Jazzfest is

07 7 our own Carlos Perrote, whose group Omolewa Osain performed after the opening ceremony along with guest artists. Luciano Rosado, Liam Teague, Richard Pitts, Errolyn and musicians from Cuba, including an all-woman group Morena Son, will be sharing their talents over the next week or so. A jam session ensued, with a good time being had by the very small crowd. It is a pity that Jazz does not seem to attract great numbers of a Belizean audience. Jazz fan and friend Magali Perdomo commented that people here will fork out over a hundred dollars to flock to Tarrus Riley and other foreign artists’ shows, while they just do not turn out for our own very talented musicians and jazz artists. I feel, though, that with perseverance jazz can begin to attract more listeners and fans. The organizers, including Karen Vernon, Carlos Perrote, Lynn Young and others are to be commended. I look forward to attending more of the performances during the coming week, and I encourage Belizeans to come out to the Radisson, the Mexican Institute, the Bliss, Spoonaz, and other venues to take in some good vibes of jazz and fusion brought to us by local and international artists and lovers of the music. JAZZ ANYONE?

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San Pedro Tigersharks, 2015 NEBL Champs San Pedro Town, June 7, 2015 The San Pedro Tigersharks won their 2nd National Elite Basketball League championship and the $20,000 first prize by scorching the Cayo Western Ballaz 61-55 in Game 2 at the Angel Nunez auditorium in San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye on Sunday. Playoff MVP Darwin “Puppy” Leslie led the Tigersharks scoring, with 27 points in Game 1 and 18 points in Game 2. The Tigersharks led from the getgo and never let up, leading all the way to the 4th quarter. James Milton scored 22 points in Game 2, while Raul Roches and Densmore Edwards added 6 points apiece, and Andrew Ortiz slam-dunked 5 points. Cayo’s regular season MVP Richard Troyer scored 21 points, Ivan Flowers added 10 points, and Kurt “Chengo” Burgess tossed in 9 points, but the Ballaz were still down by two points at the end of the 3rd quarter. The game tied up 55-55 with 54 seconds remaining. The Tigersharks put up 6 crucial points in those final seconds, while the Ballaz came up empty.

San Pedro Tigersharks are back to back champs

Amado Cruz and Chris Guydis (K1, 200 M)

Holy Redeemer & St Joseph

win city football champs

Belize City, June 4, 2015 The Holy Redeemer RC School girls and the St Joseph’s RC School boys won the Belize City primary schools football championships at the M.C.C. Grounds last Thursday and Friday, June 5. On Thursday, the Holy Redeemer girls won 1-0 in a penalty shootout against the up-to-then undefeated Belize Elementary School girls who had drawn 0-0 with Holy Redeemer in the regular season. Holy Redeemer’s Yu Ting Li and Wareyni Gillett could not get through BES’ defense and goalie Melodie Robateau, but BES’s strikers Alyanna Musa and Rhyana Chebat were also shut down by the

St. Joseph RC School

Holy Redeemer School

Holy Redeemer defenders, offering no real threat to goalie Nathida Alvarado. In the shootout, BES Allyana Musa stopped 3 penalties while 2 others missed. Holy Redeemer’s Nathida Alvarado also stopped 2 penalties and 3 kickers missed the goal altogether, sending the shootout into sudden death, in which Nathida Alvarado scored the winning goal. On Friday, the St. Joseph’s RC boys won the championship: 2-0 against the St. John Vianney RC School boys when Eldon “Quincy” Byrd scored 2 goals. Both the champs and 2nd place winners go on to the Belize district finals at the MCC Garden on Tuesday, June 9, along with the Belize rural champs and the island schools champs.

Belize Canoe Team Wins Silver and Bronze Medals June 9, 2015 Belizean paddlers Chris Guydis, Wilberto Daniels, Bayron Cruz and Amado Cruz from the Belize Canoe Association have brought home a silver and bronze medal after competing in the Puerto Rico Olympic Cup held on June 6th and 7th, 2015. The team struggled to master the art of the kayaks due to their slender style, but after only 2 days of practice, all four men raced and even though they did not medal in the K1 or K2 events, they managed to place 2nd in the K4 1000 m and 3rd in the K4 200 m events. Working together, Belize managed to bring home silver and bronze medals from their first ICF sanctioned

Team Belize with the Coach of Puerto Rico

event. Mr. Amado Cruz also placed 9th overall in the 5000 M race with a time of 26 minutes 16 seconds. The top time was 22 minutes, 30 seconds. The Puerto Rico Canoe/Kayak Association hosts this grand event annually, which incorporates Kayak Sprint Races of distances of 200M, 500M, and 1000M in K1, K2 and K4 Categories. This year, the event was attended by Belize, Guatemala, Guadeloupe and Puerto Rico. Usually more countries are represented; however, due to the upcoming Pan-American Games in Toronto, Canada this summer, many countries were not represented.

14 14 JUN JUN

2015 2015

THE BELIZE THE BELIZE TIMESTIMES

Brown Bombers still No. 1 in SMART Mundialito football L-R: Marco Mendez, Richard Huang, Ian McField & Van Rodman

Ladyville Jaguars Djon Canello scored 3 goals

Belize City, June 6, 2015 The Brown Bombers is No. 1 in the 2015 SMART Mundialito annual football tournament, posting their 7th win in Week 8 at the M.C.C. Garden on Saturday. The Brown Bombers scorched the defending champs City Boys 3-0 with goals by Nigel Matus, Jaylen White and Jaheam Gillett. Other Results: Collet Strikers vs. Hattieville Youth FC - 1-1 Goals by Troy Gentle, Austin Shal Young Warriors vs. Heights FC - 1-1 Goals by Adrian Usher, Joshawn Usher Ladyville Jaguars vs. Carlston FC - 3-0 Goals by D’jon Canello (3) Ladyville Rising Stars vs. Third World – 0-0 London Strikers vs. Face of Belize - 2-0 Goals by Dereck Brown, Dexter Belisle

3rd World’s Shantell clears the ball

Ladyville Jaguars’ Destiny Smith defends

Belize City, June 8, 2015 This past weekend the Brodies & RF&G Insurance male doubles tennis tournament kicked off at the Belize Pickwick Club tennis court under the auspices of the Belize Tennis Association. This year the format was done as a round robin with every team playing every team and pro set style which meant the winner was who got 8 games first in one single set. In the Round Robin the two teams with the most points and who made it to the finals were young Marco Mendez and Richard Huang from Orange Walk (undefeated in the round robin) and Ian McField and Van Rodman hailing from Placen-

11 SPORTS 11 Richard Huang & Marco Mendez win Brodies/RF&G Male Doubles Tennis Tournament cia (one loss). The St. Mary’s team of Peter Quan and Roger Taylor and the Pickwick team of Samron Pott and Roland Thomas also competed in the round robin and made a good showing despite not making it to the finals. Notably missing were players from Belmopan and many of the Belize City players, and they are encouraged to get back on the courts and get active. In the final match, which was best of three regular sets, Richard Huang and Marco Mendez proved too good for the experienced Ian McField and Van Rodman, with Mendez and Huang taking

the victory in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 to become this year’s men’s doubles champions. Beautiful trophies were distributed to first and second place by RF&G’s Sonia Tun and Brodies’ Edward Musa Sr., both of whom committed to continue sponsoring the annual tournament. The Women’s Doubles, which is also sponsored by Brodies and RF&G, will be held soon and women are encouraged to practice and prepare. Thanks to the sponsors, all participants, and the fans that came out to support!!

Central Bank, Belikin & DigiCell win Interoffice basketball games Belize City, June 6, 2015 Belize Water Services won 67-44 against the Central Health Region, led by Jamir Enriquez with 15 points and Karim Thompson with 13 points. DigiCell 4G won 59-55 against Atlantic Bank, with Raheem Staine scoring 21 points and Ed Thompson adding 13 points. On Saturday, the Central Bank team won 69-55 over Complex Generals with Jacob Leslie scoring 21 points, Terry Benedict added 13 points and 16 rebounds. The Heritage Bank Heats scorched Ready Call Center 90-63 with Winston Pratt scoring 18 points and Devon Defour trailing with 16 points. Belikin edged past the Belize Bank Bulldogs 54-53 with Kadeem Olivera scoring 19 points and Alejandro Baptist added 10 points.

Heritage’s Steve Bonnell scored 14pts

Complex’s Rhetton Belisle scored 9pts

14 JUN

THE BELIZE TIMES

2015

Belize’s Shining Stars!!

Part 3 Featuring: St. Catherine’s Academy, Belmopan Comprehensive School, Nazarene High School, Orange Walk Technical High School, Independence High School, Escuela Secundaria Mexico, Wesley College, Ocean Academy, San Pedro High School, Gwen Lizarraga High School and Muffles College Continued from page 4 all, he shared the spotlight several years ago with a bevy of fellow singers and musicians in the ubiquitous hit song, “I Am Belize”. More tangible ambitions, however, await the pair of them. Castillo will be attending the University of Belize, with the goal of earning a degree in Social Work. She admits, “I love interacting with people; I can help people with their problems.” Saldano wishes to study either Human Rights or Corporate Law, with the eventual goal of becoming a politician. But it won’t be for any gain of wealth, as he puts it, “Politics is about how we live every day…. it’s about working for the best interest of all Belizeans.” With the mark of humility and true wisdom, he offers the following advice to his fellow graduates: “Life is never simple…. Be focused, determined and persistent, [because] life is short… it imposes beauty and other different characteristics and you must explore it to its fullest.” Representing the Cayes are Ocean Academy from Caye Caulker and San Pedro High School from San Pedro Town. The private Ocean Academy will host

Valedictorian Ms. Inga Miguel (of class 4A1), 17-year-old Mr. Malcolm Gentle (Salutatorian, of class 4C) and Ms. Kelsey Lovell (3rd Place, of class 4C1 (Business), will be delivering the Vote of Thanks). The BELIZE TIMES managed to get a sit-down with Ms. Miguel and Mr. Gentle at the school’s Antelope Street campus on Tuesday, June 9th. Miguel, a Science student, and Gentle, a Business student, admitted to us that blending into the world of high school wasn’t easy. For Miguel, interacting with fellow students was a challenge, because she felt that “some are distracting”. Gentle too, said that his first year was rather unnerving, as he admits that “starting out with different and unique types of students from all over was a little difficult for me”. Luckily, they weathered those storms with the support of loving and devoted parents. Miguel thanked her parents, citing their hard work and their ability to “always be there to help me”. Gentle cited his Mom as part of his success, admitting “she was always there to support me”. That support will carry them through their future career plans. Mi-

Call for Expression of Interest Deadline for submission: 02nd July 2015 The purpose of the Call for Expression of Interest is to identify eligible Civil Society Organisations for prospective partnership with UNICEF Belize on UNICEF Belize’s Sports for Development Initiatives, the objective of the Initiative is: Using Sports for Development activities to enhance community-based protection systems, ensuring that children and adolescents are thriving in environments that are enriching, free from violence, abuse and other violations that threaten their right to growth and development Eligible Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are invited to submit proposals for partnership to support achievement of results for children outlined in the 2013-2016 Country Programme. Organisations that wish to participate in this Call for Expression of Interest are requested to send or deliver their submission: • In a sealed envelope clearly marked “CSO Call for Expression of Interest: Sports for Development” to the following address:

One Coney Drive, Gordon House 3rd Floor, PO Box 2672, Belize City, BELIZE

OR • Sent, electronically to belize@unicef.org with subject header “CSO Call for Expression of Interest: Sports for Development” Deadline for submission: 02nd July 2015. All submissions must be completed in English. Interested applicants must complete all templates located at www.unicef.org/belize and http://bit. ly/1IVUBGY Full TORs are also available at this link. Any proposal submitted without these documents will not be considered. Applications will be assessed by an evaluation committee to identify CSOs that have the mandate, capacities and comparative advantage to support achievement of results for children using criteria outlined in section 3 below. It should be noted however that participation to this Call for Expression of Interest does not guarantee the CSO will be ultimately selected for partnership with UNICEF. Selected NGOs will be invited to review and finalise partnership agreements in accordance with criteria outlined in section 3.4 below and applicable policy and procedures on partnership with CSOs. Applicant CSOs will be informed of the outcome of their submissions by communication sent out to the email/ postal address that is indicated in the CSO submission. This call for proposals respond for Sports for Development Funds, expected results for this call include: •

Increased capacity among policy makers, teachers and service providers and other stakeholders to promote and support the development of safe and protective environments for children

•

Children and youth from disadvantaged communities benefit from S4D activities, as alternatives that diminish risks to their wellbeing and development and foster their protection and strengthen their resilience.

•

Increase in the number of communities with established safe spaces to protect children and adolescents from being victims or perpetrators of violence and crime.

Proposals must respond and implement projects directly, related to at least 2 of the expected results.

Gwen Lizarraga High School

Activities that will be considered:

Inga Miguel

Kelsey Lovell

their Graduation on Friday, June 12th, at the Caye Caulker Community Center, starting at 7:00 pm. 13 graduates will take the march, and at their head will be: Ms. Levyi Florian (Valedictorian), Ms. Saira Reyes Ruiz (Salutatorian) and Mr. Fernando Novelo (3rd Place, will be delivering the Vote of Thanks). San Pedro High School will have their ceremonies on Saturday, June 13th at the school’s Angel Nunez Auditorium in San Pedro Town, beginning at 5:00 pm. According to acting Principal, Ms. Maria Flota, there will be 83 students graduating, led by Valedictorian Ms. Magda Luz Guerrero and Salutatorian Ms. Brittany Garbutt. Belize City’s Gwen Lizarraga High School will have their Graduation on Sunday, June 14th, at the Ramada Princess Hotel in Belize City, beginning at 3:00 pm. According to school officials, 97 students will be graduating, and leading their ranks will be: 16-year-old

•

Partnership to promote afterschool and evening sports activities that also serve the purpose of building life-skills and coping strategies for children vulnerable to violence and/or abuse.

•

Partnership with civil society organizations, to promote sporting programmes that specifically target children with disabilities who, according to data, are especially vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, and suffer disproportionately from limited access to social services

•

Partner with children and adolescents to improve their ability to assume leadership roles in organizing programmes at the community level for those most hard to reach children and adolescents

•

Partner with NGO’s and civil society to create recreational and sports teams that aim to promote children’s participation and socialization to enhance their capacity to develop social and leadership skills. Their involvement in these teams will further develop their capacity to be agents change in their communities and further promote the creation of protective environment for growth and development.

•

Partner with national and local institutions including media, mayors, schools and cultural organizations to address children’s rights as one of the key pillars of UNICEF’s engagement in Belize. This is also key to ensuring that the project is sustainably integrated into national efforts.

Malcolm Gentle

guel, who wishes to study to become a brain surgeon, gave this advice to her fellow graduates: “Stay positive, and have a great sense of mind when doing any task.” Gentle, who wishes to become an Accountant in the banking sector, says this: “Keep on going forward, work hard and never give up”. And finally, Muffles College of Orange Walk will also have their ceremonies on Sunday June 14th, at the school’s Auditorium. 123 graduates will receive their diplomas. The Valedictorian will be Mr. Christian Molina, the Salutatorian will be Ms. Gisellie Hernandez and the 3rd Place (who will be delivering the Vote of Thanks) is Mr. Ryan Chi. We salute you all. Congratulations to all the graduates of the Class of 2015, and we at the BELIZE TIMES look forward to continue highlighting our talented Belizean youth!

The expression of interest shall include the following documentation: • Copy of CSO registration in country of origin • Copy of CSO registration in Belize • Attachment I - Partner Declaration signed by authorised official • Attachment II - NGO Identification and Profile signed by authorised official • Attachment III - Programme Proposal. [If the Call for Expression of Interest covers several results area this can be replaced by: Attachment III - Programme document(s). Each CSO submission may include 1 or more programme proposals, addressing two or more of the expected results outlined in section 1.3 above. However, a maximum of 1 proposal per result area may be submitted by the same CSO, with a maximum of 3 proposals per CSO applicant. All templates for the attachments and a more detail Terms of Reference can be found www.unicef.org/ belize and http://bit.ly/1IVUBGY CSO submissions are assessed by the Partnership Review Committee in consultation with technical specialists, using criteria outlined in section 3.2 and 3.3 below. Only CSO submissions which comply with the requirements of the eligibility and exclusion criteria will be eligible for further evaluation. Results from the review will be used for purposes of mapping and selection of CSOs in relation to the specific results outlined in section 1.3 above. It should be noted that participation to this Call for Expression of Interest however does not guarantee CSOs will be ultimately selected for a partnership agreement with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to invite selected partners to review and finalise proposals for partnerships in line with criteria outlined in section 3.4 below and in accordance with applicable policy and procedures on partnership with CSOs.

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2015

By Gilroy Usher, Sr. “Our youth deserve the opportunity to complete their high school and college education, free of early parenthood. Their future children deserve the opportunity to grow up in financially and emotionally stable homes. Our communities benefit from healthy, productive, well-prepared young people.” Jane Fonda Those are indeed inspiring words by Miss Fonda. In 2015 however the young people of this country (persons ages 15 to 35) have very little to celebrate although they have huge power in their hands as the largest voting bloc in the country. Our prison is filled with hundreds of young people, whose lives are being wasted with the serving of lengthy sentences for petty offences such as possession of a few ounces of marijuana or riding a bicycle contrary to the flow of traffic. One of the groups paying the heaviest price for the raging crime situation in Belize today is the young people of this nation. Of the over 60 persons murdered in the first half of 2015 almost 50% or 80% of them are young people of Belize. Sadly most of those murder cases remain unsolved. With double digit unemployment beyond 15%, thousands of young people across the county cannot find meaningful employment. Today that

OUT Belize Police Department: Animal Farm Continued from page 2 what your officers are going through. Get out of your air conditioned vehicle for a while and take the bus. See how much it costs your officers to travel. Visit the Belmopan Police Station. See how frustrated people are when they call only to hear there’s only one mobile and it’s out of Belmopan, checking on a report. How sad for the capital city to have only one mobile at its disposal. They waste government gas running around with sweethearts while the public suffer. If you can’t do the job get out Wiley and buy yourself a TV with the fat salary you’re earning and watch the news to see how your officers suffer daily. Signed, M. Dainton

THE BELIZE TIMES

Arise Young People of Belize situation is only getting worse as hundreds of students who are graduating from high schools, sixth forms, and universities in the month of June and July try to enter the already saturated job market. Today, June 9, 2015, the young people of Belize are landless as most of their parents and grandparents were. They see foreigners and Belizeans who are well-connected to the ruling politicians acquiring crown land left, right and center. Nevertheless all their efforts to own a house lot or farm land remains an elusive dream. Sports is one of the things that teaches young people discipline and creates employment. Yet the ruling politicians pay only lip service to the development of sports in the country. Many of our young people follow professional sports on the tube and would love to play and excel in those games, but not in Belize. Due to neglect, most of the sports facilities in the country are in a very deplorable state and unsafe for use by our young people. Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the Jewel, but there is no adequate facility to host a tournament in Belize City, the media and commercial capital of the country. The Civic Center, the home of basketball, was thrown down over a year ago, and the only court available, the privately owned Bird’s Isle, is rotting and becoming more un-

safe for use. While the government has spent some of the Petro–Caribe money to concrete a few streets, Petro-Caribe money is not rolling to provide our young people with better education, which is the best weapon to overcome poverty. In 2015 more than three fourths of our young people who finish primary school can’t access a high school education. Similarly more than three fourths of the young people who finish high school cannot proceed to sixth form due to financial constraints. As a country with many needs, many of our leaders are wasting thousands and thousands of Petro-Caribe dollars and other funds on sweet heart deals, political conventions, rallies, and various other election gimmicks. Those monies, from loans which must be repaid, should be used for programs that will address some of the main challenges that the young people of this country face on a daily basis. Among those challenges are meeting the high cost of education beyond the primary school level. The ruling politicians only remember the young people of Belize once every five years - Election time. On such occasion to distract our young people from their years of suffering and neglect they shower them with 20, 50, or 100 notes; offer them two weeks jobs, promise to ad-

dress all their concerns after the election, and simply forget the needs of the youths for the next five years if they are returned to office. Our young people have seen the political game that’s being played with repeated lies by the ruling politicians, many of who are corrupt, self-serving, incompetent, and victimizing individuals. As the largest voting bloc in the country, for justice and a better way of life for themselves and their fellow Belizeans we say: Arise! ye sons of the Baymen’s clan, Put on your armour, clear the land! Drive back the tyrants, let despots flee Land of the Free by the Carib Sea!

OUT San Pedro needs a Public Transportation System! Continued from page 2 ered (noise and exhaust free), we could show the island’s dedication of becoming environmentally friendly. Parents of school kids would be pleased as kids receive free and safe transportation to and from school. A public bus system would accommodate the needs of many tourists and many of our island’s permanent residents. Such a bus system would also be helpful once traffic to the North would increase to a point of adversity. Sincerely, Dr. Giovanni Solorzano Medical Doctor San Carlos Clinic

14 JUN

THE BELIZE TIMES

2015

Guyana’s perspective:

The basic contradictions of PetroCaribe By Dr Clive Thomas Reprinted from Stabroek News, Guyana Introduction As I write this concluding column on PetroCaribe, global crude oil prices have resumed their decline. Presently these prices are at a new six-year low, below US$45 per barrel. After a four-week hiatus, most analysts link this resumed decline to a world-wide shortage of capacity to store oil purchased by speculators on the cheap for later sale, when as is widely anticipated prices will rise. From Guyana’s perspective three basic contradictions of this initiative form the focus of this column. To recall, at the November 2014 Caracas PetroCaribe ministerial meeting, Venezuela had announced its re-commitment to the initiative over the long run, and more broadly, to the Hugo Chávez/ Simon Bolivar vision of an energy-secure, integrated, independent, sustained, and people-oriented development model for Latin America and the Caribbean. In official statements this model is described as: “seeking to promote a well-developed, united, independent Latin America and Caribbean that consistently provides programs for the poor vulnerable and powerless.” This vision was endorsed by Guyana through its Minister of Finance who has publicly declared “PetroCaribe has proved to be tremendously transformational of the entire Caribbean region. Guyana is an appreciative beneficiary.” However several contradictions have emerged since the initiative was established in 2005. I will highlight three of these in the remainder of today’s column. Contradiction (1): State-centric and non-transparent First, despite the widely trumpeted ideological/political allusions to PetroCaribe as a grand peoples-based, anti-imperialist, solidarity, sovereignty and security-enhancing (especially energy security) initiative, both in its design and implementation the arrangement has essentially operated as a state-centric assemblage of states. State energy organizations and enterprises unmistakably dominate its oil operations. Organizationally, the leading decision-making/executing organs are the Council of Heads of State and Government, ministers of energy, and technical groups of public officials. There are no formal or indeed informal roles for political parties of Guyana’s opposition, civil society, private sector and other non-state actors. In truth the assemblage of states can be viewed as a coterie of leading members of the ruling political parties from among the initiative’s membership. As a result of these circumstances, PetroCaribe is steeped in a culture of secrecy, non-transpar-

ency and lack of public accountability. Its financial, economic and operational details in Guyana are literally hidden from the public. Thus even the prices, credit and quantities of oil supplied by Venezuela are not publicly notified by that country in a timely manner. The same applies for the oil received, outstanding national debt, payments made as well as credit received by the net oil importing members of the initiative. Further even the details of four debt compensation deals (rice for oil) completed with Venezuela and mentioned in the annual national Budgets have not been made publicly available, together with the operational details of the Development Fund. Contradiction (2): Asymmetry By every benchmark imaginable, the PetroCaribe arrangement is heavily lopsided and asymmetric. Under its terms, Venezuela provides benefits and the other members receive these. It provides oil through bilaterally negotiated terms under the rubric of a common framework of rising credit as the price of global crude oil increases and vice versa. Members receive benefits in the form of one or more of the following: 1) concessionary oil imports; 2) exports to Venezuela as part payment for oil received (for example, rice exports from Guyana); and 3) projects funded out of the Development Fund created by Venezuela from the delayed portion of the beneficiaries’ charges for Venezuelan oil that is transferred to the fund for use as a source of long-term loans repayable at one per cent interest over 25 years (for example, the Hugo Chávez Centre for Rehabilitation and Regeneration in Guyana, a G$400 million facility for the homeless in West Coast Berbice). Contradiction (3): Overly burdensome The contradiction in the asymmetric relation of Venezuela to other members of PetroCaribe is compounded by the fact that, from a global standpoint, Venezuela remains, despite its relatively abundant oil resources, objectively a small middle-income economy with restricted capability, no matter what its political leaders believe. This means its ability to support other members of the initiative is limited, even though they are much smaller and less well-endowed with energy resources. Added to this it is has become evident that in designing PetroCaribe, there was no scenario analysis for the situation now facing the initiative, that is, rapidly falling crude oil prices over the past nine months. There is clearly no Plan B. No Plan B exposes a stark reality of PetroCaribe. Its robustness is essentially a function of three variables, namely, 1) Venezuela’s economic situation; 2) Venezuela’s domestic political dynamics; and 3) the political willingness of its current leadership to embrace Hugo Chávez’s vision. As regards 1), Venezuela is in a deep recession. Its GDP fell by seven per cent in 2014. Its inflation rate last year was 70 per cent. Government revenue fell by one third. Shortage of imported items and foreign exchange

is widespread. Black markets for these are common and the parallel economy is flourishing. As regards 2), the political situation is turbulent at best. Rumours of coups, violence and public manifestations organized by the opposition are widespread. Further, PetroCaribe has been so demonized that it is likely it will be terminated if the opposition wins the next election. As regards 3) I am in no position to speculate. As evidence that there is no Plan B, it is also reported that Venezuela is presently pursuing several options including

1) seeking foreign loans to keep the initiative afloat, and 2) negotiating with hedge funds to purchase its PetroCaribe portfolio at a discount of about 40 per cent. From all reports Venezuela needs an oil price of US$120-140 per barrel to meet its obligations fully including those to PetroCaribe. Conclusion Under the stress of falling prices PetroCaribe now threatens to yield what it had set about to prevent, regional disintegration in the age of globalization. Perhaps the original fault is that Guyana and other Caricom members did not participate in the initiative as a group, thereby ensuring that their parliaments, civil society, private sector, and other non-state actors played their accustomed roles in the initiative.

BY ORDER OF CHARGEE NOTICE OF INTENTION TO SELL HOLY REDEEMER CREDIT UNION LIMITED a statutory body formed and registered under the Credit Union Act, Chapter 314 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2000, and whose registered office is situated at No. 1 Hyde’s Lane, Belize City, Belize District hereby gives notice of its intention to exercise its power of sale as Chargee under and by virtue of a Charge registered at the Land Registry between GLENNIS BARROW of the one part and HRCU of the other part. HRCU will at the expiration of three months from the date of the first publication of this notice sell the property described in the Schedule below. ALL offers to purchase the said property must be made in writing to Holy Redeemer Credit Union Limited from whom full particulars and conditions of sale may be obtained.

SCHEDULE ALL THAT piece or parcel of land comprising 603.8 square yards being Parcel 435, Block 45 in the King’s Park Registration Section situate on 13th Street, King’s Park Area, Belize City, Belize District, the freehold property of GLENNIS BARROW DATED this 10th day of June 2015 HOLY REDEEMER CREDIT UNION LIMITED 1 HYDE’S LANE, BELIZE CITY, BELIZE Phone: (501) 224-5644 Fax: (501) 223-0738 Email: hrcu@btl.net

14 JUN

THE BELIZE TIMES

2015

Killer Cops in Caye Caulker!! Post mortem confirms 18 year old Hilberto Sotz died from massive trauma while in Police Custody

Pic courtesy Channel 5

Detective Leonard Nunez & PC Hallet King have been charged for murder

Three officers facing interdiction

PC Edilberto Patt

Continued from page 1

PC Bernadette Ramos

“vascular shock; pronounced massive heart thrombosis; acute heart trauma and cerebral edema”. “Sounds like a brutal traffic accident”, one medical officer commented when we shared the results of the post mortem. But Hilberto was not involved in a traffic collision. He was being held by Caye Caulker Police officers and it is clear that he did not undergo a normal interrogation while in custody. He was physically and violently beaten, leading to the fatal swelling of his brain and blood cloths. Hilberto was detained by the Police on the morning of Monday, June 8th, 2015 for an investigation into a series of burglaries on the island. Our reports indicate that Hilberto, who attends 3rd form at the Belmopan Baptist School, was not on the island when the burglaries occurred. His parents had learnt that the Police were looking for him for questioning, so they called and asked him to travel to the island to address whatever concerns the Police may have. Hilberto complied with his parent’s request and upon arriving on the island before midday on Monday he was swiftly picked up by the Police. He was under police custody at the Caye Caulker Police Substation on Front Street for almost five hours when something went terribly wrong. Around 5:00pm the Police attempted to quietly transport his body to the island health center, but vigilant residents saw what took place and the word spread fast, eventually triggering protests and a small riot on the island later than night. Residents picked up information that that the well-known teenager was killed while in police custody, and they gathered outside the health center. They had also learnt

Cpl. Kirby Palma

that the police officers who were responsible were inside the health center. When they received confirmation that their neighbourhood teenager was dead, their anger peaked and they launched an attack, throwing stones and bottles at the building. The Police had to request back-up from a riot squad and the notorious Gang Suppression Unit to suppress the residents’ actions. Dressed in anti-riot gear, the Police marched through the streets warning residents to leave the streets and go home. The GSU, we are told, showed little regard for respect and safety. Reports are that they fired live bullets to intimidate and threaten residents. On Tuesday morning, a team of Police officers combed the island, retrieving expended shells from the streets on the island. Under pressure, the Police Officials tried to cover up the incident. A press statement released on Tuesday stated that Hilberto experienced health problems at the Police Station and had to be rushed to the health center. The release lied, saying that he died at the health center. “…while being interviewed, he reportedly started complaining of chest pain and had difficulty breathing. He was rushed to the poly clinic for medical treatment where he passed away,” misled the Police’s official release. On the island, the situation has remained tense. The Police, at the command of the

Commissioner of Police, have swarmed the island. The GSU have also increased their presence on the island. The leader of that known-chancey Unit, Mark Flowers, is himself leading the suppression tactics. Residents are not intimidated, however. They told the BELIZE TIMES that enough is enough. “The Police pan di island always di Hilberto Sotz try chance we, da bout time we stand up,” said one resident. An ex-pat on the island recounted an incident in which one of the officers stabbed her husband during an arrest. This was two years ago, and despite their attempts to get the Police to investigate, nothing has come out of it. Hilberto’s family have Caye Caulker Police Station been dragged through unnecessary painful moments. While they have their own accounts of Police abuse prior to this incident, they have had to endure the pain of having to fight for justice for their son’s murder. Now that they have been vindicated, they say the fight is not over. “My heart it feels like I’m not living. I adored my son, I love my son. All I’m asking for is justice, I want Caye Caulker Health Clinic them pay for my son’s life. They won’t bring him back alive. That’s what I’m asking, I want justice,” commented his mother Carmelina Sotz. S e nior Counsel Richard “ D i ck i e” Bradley has provided pro-bono legal representation to the family and has called on the authorities to do the right thing and, at very least, offer an apology and proper compensation to the family without having to drag them through the lengthy legal process.

14 JUN

THE BELIZE TIMES

2015

VACANCY

A Reputable firm, operating in La Demoracia area, has the following vacancy:

Accounting/Office Clerk

(to perform accounting and office support activities) Duties will include: –

• Operate office machines and personal computers with word processing, spreadsheet, power point and accounting software to record, store, and generate information; • Classify, record, and summarize numerical and financial data to compile and keep financial records, using journals and ledgers or computers; • Debit, credit, and total accounts on computer spreadsheets and databases, using specialized accounting software; • Answer telephones, direct calls, and take messages; • Maintain and update filing, inventory, mailing, and database systems, either manually or using a computer; • Communicate with customers, employees, and other individuals, disseminate or explain information, take orders, and address complaints; and Skills should include the use of computer software; excellent multitask and interpersonal skills, the ability to work well with management and others outside the office; and strong written and spoken communication in English and Spanish. The post also requires flexibility in working hours. Minimum requirements of the applicant are a first degree in Business, must be over the age of 25, have a minimum of five years’ experience in related field and lives in the surrounding area between La Democracia Village and City of Belmopan. Salary is negotiable dependent on qualification and experience. Application letter with resume and two recent references should be submitted to:

Closing date is Friday, June 19, 2015

BY ORDER of the Supreme Court Licensed Auctioneer Noel J. Codd will auction the following property on the date and time below: ON Friday 19th June, 2015 at the time and place below: AT 2:00 p.m. on site

ALL THAT piece or parcel containing 113.5 acres of land situated some 3 miles south of Bacalar Chico River, the boundary on the peninsula between Belize and Mexico. It is approximately 2.25 miles north of Rocky Point and approximately 18.5 miles north of the San Pedro River being the Freehold Property of Pebbles Belize Limited. NOEL J. CODD Carmelita Village, Orange Walk District Telephone: Office: 677-5184 or Cell: 624-5184 Email: noelcodd@yahoo.com TERMS: Strictly Cash

The Administrative Officer No. 3 Eyre Street P.O. Box 1843 Belize City, Belize

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THE BELIZE TIMES

Reid Petrofied! By G. Michael Reid The blatant and continued abuse of Belize’s Petro Caribe Funds should be of major concern to not only those who are not benefitting, but to each and every Belizean. The fact that the loan is being secured at a very low interest rate should in no way justify us just squandering this money. Even if we were being charged absolutely no interest, or even if it was simply a grant, just out of respect and consideration for those who make it available, then we should do our endeavor best to ensure lasting value for the monies spent. The people of Belize, all of whom will have to pay this money back, must not relent in their demand for transparency and accountability where these funds are concerned. These monies do not belong to Dean Barrow or to the United Democratic Party but to every citizen of this country. All of us are contributing and it is our hard taxed dollars that will eventually go toward paying back this loan. The way it has been going, it is only UDP ministers and their cronies who have been enjoying the bulk and only UDP supporters who have been getting the crumbs. Something is not right! The irony in all this is that while this United Democratic Party is having a grand time squandering and sharing this borrowed money among themselves, the people of Venezuela, who have been kind enough to grant us this loan, are suffering. Venezuela is presently confronting a major economic crunch and as Pedro Palma, one particular economic expert from Caracas laments, “We are on the verge of getting into a much deeper economic crisis”. Venezuela’s currency, the Bolivar, hit a new record low last month and its international reserves have fallen to its lowest level in decades. The local media in Venezuela have been reporting power outages all across the country stunting Industrial activity and forcing the government

of people wanting to have a good time but there is something very unfair in what is happening here. One can be sure that no PUP supporter was allowed on any of those buses, even if they were leaving empty; the UDP just does not play that way. Nobody has been able to determine exactly how much money was squandered and probably no one will ever know because, “notwithstanding anything contained in the Finance and Audit Reform act of 2005, or any other law to the contrary”, accountability is not required when Petro Caribe monies are being spent. Just last week, Krem broke the story about twenty million dollars draw-downs from the funds for three consecutive years under the heading of “salaries”. What needs to be understood is that while the monies come at a low interest rate, there is a stipulation that requires it to be used in a specific way. The monies are to be used for poverty alleviation, development and infrastructure. One cannot be sure under which of those headings would fall a political picnic and barbecue. Of course, while Faber and Bradley were busy enjoying Petro Caribe funds, motorists were du-

means more money to the Petro Caribe fund because for every dollar spent, 60% goes into the government’s coffers. Those “millions and millions and millions” that the Prime Minister keeps bragging about and that he keeps using for political mileage comes courtesy of everyday hard working Belizeans. We are also the ones who will be paying to implement a nationwide electhis money back. The first tranche tricity rationing plan. Inflation in of payment to Venezuela for the that country hovers around 64% Petro Caribe loan becomes due and “normal” Venezuelans have this year following a two year to stand in line for hours, just to grace period. The country is supbuy basic items such as milk, soap posed to have twenty years to and diapers. Food shortages have pay back the loan but conditions become an exhausting reality of are changing. Guatemala recenteveryday life in Venezuela and Poly pulled out of the program after lice have begun enforcing a “two Venezuela changed repayment shopping days a week” policy as terms on their Petro Caribe loan. current stocks and supplies run Apparently this can be done and low. a few countries in Latin America So while all this is happening and the Caribbean have been hit in Venezuela, last weekend, Eduwith interest rate increases and cation Minister and Area Repreheftier up-front payments. sentative for the Collet Division Experts have long been warnPatrick Faber, gathered family ing countries like Belize to not members, close associates and get too dependent on Petro Caparty supporters and “rolled” ribe for it is a program that the them to Corozal Bay to “bathe up bottom can all too suddenly fall in the sea”. While the people of out of. Listening to our leaders, Venezuela starve, the UDP conyou would think that Petro Caribe tingent ate tacos, pibil and barbeis all that we have and that Petro que, drank liquor and collected in Caribe will last forever. The thing is that they don’t care and don’t Patrick Faber, gathered family members, close have to care. Many have associates and party supporters and “rolled” them feathered their nests luxuriously and have life to Corozal Bay to “bathe up in the sea”.While the rafts ready to sail once this ship starts taking people of Venezuela starve, the UDP conon water. Many of our tingent ate tacos, pibil and barbeque, drank leaders have green cards liquor and collected in advance for their sup- and some even maintain homes abroad. The port in the upcoming elections. rest of us might do well to be saving a few pentifully putting it back by exhaustnies from those fifty dollar notes advance for their support in the ing fuel in long lines caused by and some bits and pieces from upcoming elections. checkpoints. Police and Traffic those free barbecues. As the old Faber himself had to rush back Officers take their time in checkfolks used to say, “same thing that to city because he was a featured ing licenses and insurance sticksweet you will sour you”. Maya speaker at an endorsement ralers and often have idle chats with Angela once warned that we can ly for Darrell Bradley; that event people who they know, while the hope for the best but we had betreportedly also financed through rest of us inch along watching the ter be prepared for the worst and the same Petro Caribe Funds. fuel gauge moving closer toward then be unsurprised by anything in Upon taking the microphone, the “E”. Every stop at the gas station between. May GOD bless Belize! minister boasted to the audience that “we were able in the Collet constituency, to roll 22 loaded buses to Corozal Town today and we had a wonderful family day courtesy Petro Caribe and our Prime Minister Honorable Dean Barrow.” How nice it must be to have access to an unlimited supply of money with no need to account to anyone on how it is being spent! Now folks, nobody can begrudge any group

THE BELIZE TIMES

14 JUN

2015

Elections & Boundaries Department Charles Bartlett Hyde Building Mahogany Street Extension P. O. Box 913, Belize City Telephone: 501-222-4992/4042 Email: electbound@btl.net 10th June 2015

Fax: 501-222-4991 Website: www.elections.gov.bz

PRESS RELEASE DANGRIGA BY-ELECTION (INCLUDING THE AREAS OF HOPE CREEK AND SARAWEE)

A By-election for the Dangriga Electoral Division (including the areas of Hope Creek and Sarawee) will take place on Wednesday, 8th July 2015. Polls will open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 6:00 p.m. Nominations for persons wishing to contest the election will be received on Monday, 22nd June, 2015 between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. at the Dangriga Town Hall, Dangriga Town. Nomination forms can be obtained from the Elections and Boundaries Registration Office in Dangriga Town or Mr. Colin Griffith, Returning Officer, at the Customs and Excise Department, Ceasar Ridge Road, Belize City or from Ms. Sylvia Usher, Election Clerk, at the Immigration and Nationality Department, Dry Creek Street, Belmopan City. Section 57(1) of the Representation of the People Registration Rules states â&#x20AC;&#x153;The persons entitled to vote at the election of a divisional representative shall be those persons whose names appear on the register for that division as existing on the Nomination Day.â&#x20AC;? With nomination day being the 22nd June, 2015 only persons who registered on or prior to 10th May 2015 are persons whose names appear on the register and are therefore eligible to vote in this by-election. This is in conformity with the time table mandated by the Representation of the People Act to ensure that the period guaranteed by law for making objections and the hearing of appeals by the Revising Officer is complied with. Persons who applied to be registered after 10th May 2015 would not have gone through the process required by law as of nomination day. The Register for the Dangriga Electoral Division (including the areas of Hope Creek and Sarawee) is presently posted at the Elections and Boundaries office and all registered electors for the Dangriga Electoral Division (including the areas of Hope Creek and Sarawee) are invited to visit the office to peruse the Register. ----------END-----------

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THE BELIZE TIMES

2015

For Sale By Order of the

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 THAT LEASEHOLD INTEREST IN ALL THAT piece or parcel of land being Lot No. 132 situate in Hope Creek Village, Stann Creek District, Belize, and bounded as follows:- On the North for 22.856 Metres by a Street; On the South for 22.856 Metres by Lot No. 111; On the East for 33.523 Metres by Lot No. 133; On the West for 33.523 Metres by Lot No. 131, containing 766.202 Square Metres as shown on Plan No. 2080 at the office of the Commissioner of Lands and Surveys TOGETHER with all buildings and erections standing and being thereon. DATED this 4th day of June, 2015. MUSA & BALDERAMOS LLP 91 North Front Street Belize City Attorney-at-Law for Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

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 THAT lot, piece or parcel of land situate South of Stann Creek Valley Road, Hoffman Estate, near mile 11, Stann Creek District, being Lot No. 5 comprising of 771.893 s.m. of land as is shown on the said sub-division plan dated 29th July, 2008 made by the said J.H. Hertular, Diploma Community Planner and Licensed Land Surveyor and recorded at the Lands and Survey Department, Belmopan on Entry No. 1389 Register No. 7 TOGETHER with all buildings and erections standing and being thereon. DATED this 4th day of June, 2015. MUSA & BALDERAMOS LLP 91 North Front Street Belize City Attorney-at-Law for Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

For Sale By Order of the

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 Gift subject to existing mortgage registered as Instrument No. LTU-201200869 made the 28th day of April, 2012, made between Miria Anita Romero and Anthony Alexander Romero to ALEXANDER ROMERO, which said property was mortgaged to the said Scotiabank by a Deed of Assignment and Transfer of Mortgage made the 13th day of May, 2008, recorded in Deeds Book Vol. 18 of 2008 at Folios 145 – 176, which said property was mortgaged to the Development Finance Corporation on the 10th day of July, 2007, recorded in Deeds Book Vol. 27 of 2007 at Folios 229 – 274, 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.

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 THAT piece or parcel of land being Lot No. 63 comprising 461.849 Square Metres situate in Pomona Village, (Del-Oro Site), Stann Creek District, bounded and described as shown by Plan No. 178 of 2006 attached to Minister’s Fiat Grant No. 178 of 2006 TOGETHER with buildings and erections standing and being thereon. DATED this 4th day of June, 2015. MUSA & BALDERAMOS LLP 91 North Front Street Belize City Attorney-at-Law for Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

SCHEDULE ALL THAT piece or parcel of land being Lot No. 28 situate in Pomona Village, Stann Creek District, and bounded as follows: On the North for 22.860 Metres by Lot No. 15; On the South for 19.874 Metres by A Street; On the Southeast for 4.329 Metres by A Daylight Cut; On the West for 36.570 Metres by Lot No. 27; And on the East for 33.523 metres by A Street; Containing 831.304 Square Metres (994.31 Square Yards) of land as shown on Plan No. 1992 at the Office of the Commissioner of Lands and Survey. TOGETHER with all buildings, erections and developments standing and being thereon. DATED this 4th day of June, 2015. MUSA & BALDERAMOS LLP 91 North Front Street Belize City Attorneys-at-Law for Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

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THE BELIZE TIMES

2015

BELIZE TIMES WEEKLY

SCIENCE & TECH R

All you need to know about conceiving babies from thawed ovaries 10 June 2015 by Jessica Hamzelou For the first time, a woman who had an ovary removed as a child and part of it re-implanted as an adult has given birth. Her right ovary was removed at the age of 13, before she had started menstruating, because she was about to receive immunosuppressive therapy that would damage her fertility. Ten years later, it was thawed and part of it implanted, enabling her to become pregnant naturally. This is good news for the many other girls and women who have their ovaries stored in freezers, but how does the treatment work, and what are the risks? Why would someone have their ovaries removed? Some medical treatments can trigger ovarian failure – essentially bringing on the menopause. Cancer drugs are particularly damaging, as are drugs used to lower your immune defences before receiving organ or tissue donation. In this case, the woman was given immunosuppressive therapy alongside a bone marrow transplant to treat her sickle-cell disease. Although women who are about to undergo a damaging treatment can have their eggs frozen, girls who haven’t yet started to menstruate don’t have this option. Instead, girls can have part or all of an ovary removed and frozen, until they are ready to start a family. How effective are ovarian transplants? We don’t know. Thousands of women are thought to have had their tissue stored, but we don’t know how many have had their tissue thawed and re-implanted. We do know that there have been at least 30 successful pregnancies worldwide, using transplants of ovarian tissue that had been taken from adult women. It was unclear whether parts of an ovary taken from a child would work in the same way. This case shows that it can, and that the transplanted tissue has a promising lifespan. The woman was 24 when she received the transplant, but shortly afterwards stopped trying to conceive while she was experiencing relationship problems. It was only

Snail’s demise suggests sixth mass extinction is under way

Some people opt to freeze ovarian tissue if a medical treatment is likely to affect their future chances of producing eggs (Image: Gary Martin/Visuals Unlimited/Corbis)

later, at the age of 27, that she decided to try again. The doctors who treated the woman are confident that she should be able to have more children in future, should she want to. What does it mean for other women? The result is relevant for other women who had their ovaries frozen as children. Surgeons began to remove and store ovarian tissue in this way in the mid-1990s, and many of the children who had their tissue frozen then are now reaching child-bearing age, so we are likely to see many more cases like this soon. But we still can’t be sure that very young children can expect as good results. By the time the woman in this case had her ovary removed, she had already started puberty. We have yet to learn whether tissue collected from 2-year-olds, for example, will help women conceive further along the line. Are there any risks? Yes. There is a chance that tissue taken from people before cancer treatment will be contaminated with their cancer cells. Implanting the cells could trigger a return of cancers like leukaemia in these people. This wasn’t a problem in this particular case, because the

woman didn’t have cancer. And there is a chance that harvesting and freezing ovarian cells could be harming them in ways that we don’t yet understand, says Sabine Sarnacki, a paediatric surgeon at Necker Hospital for Sick Children in Paris, France. She says there is growing evidence that some IVF procedures may increase the risk of some disorders in children. We won’t know if similar risks apply to children born from thawed ovarian tissue until more people have tried the procedure. What about boys and men? Medical treatments can also damage the testes, leaving men infertile. Before starting such a treatment, men can choose to freeze and store ejaculated sperm. A few clinics have started offering young boys the option to remove and freeze parts of the testicle, but none have yet been implanted back. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t store the tissue anyway, though. Until 2004, when the first woman became pregnant after having her frozen ovary transplanted, doctors didn’t know if they’d be able to do anything useful with the pieces of ovary they had been freezing.

8 June 2015 by Fred Pearce The meek may, as the Bible says, inherit the Earth. But the spineless are going extinct. While vertebrate species like mammals and birds are mostly surviving the human-dominated epoch of Anthropocene better than expected, invertebrate species are disappearing in droves. Some 7 per cent of non-marine animals may already be gone, according to a new assessment. Conservationists have estimated that up to 100 species are disappearing from the planet every day because of human activity – a biological catastrophe amounting to a sixth mass extinction, the biggest since the disappearance of the dinosaurs. But the evidence of actual extinctions has been thin. Only around 800 species have been recorded as extinct so far, out of the 1.9 million species we have named. Now Claire Regnier of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, and colleagues, say this is because few researchers are tracking invertebrate extinctions, which account for some 99 per cent of species diversity. They have investigated databases, museum collections and expert assessments to estimate losses in land snails – one group of invertebrates with relatively good records. They conclude that around a tenth of the 200 known species have probably disappeared. Alarming losses Because there are many endemic snails on small islands where extinction is more likely, land snails may not be typical of other invertebrates. But allowing for this, they think we have probably already lost 7 per cent of land animal species. That means an estimated 130,000 previously recorded non-marine animals have disappeared from the Earth since we described and classified them. Other analysts welcomed the study. “This is an important paper,” says Julian Caley of the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences in Townsville, Queensland. It suggests that other invertebrate taxa are likely to have been experiencing extinction on higher levels than we know about, he adds. Ben Collen of University College London says the same approach could produce quick and informative results for other invertebrate taxa, too. But, while the estimated percentage losses are alarming, they don’t answer the continuing conundrum of how many unnamed and unknown species the planet has – species that may disappear before we even know they exist. Estimates in recent years have been as high as 100 million, although that figure seems unlikely. After a detailed study of insects, researchers at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, this week put the number of insect species on the Earth at between 2.6 and 7.8 million, many millions less than once thought. And in March, a world study of marine species cut the known list from 418,000 to 228,000, after eliminating massive duplication. One sea snail turned out to have 113 different scientific names.

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THE BELIZE THE BELIZE TIMESTIMES

Thousands rally to call for Honduras president to quit 06 Jun 2015 Thousands of protesters have marched through the capital of Honduras calling on President Juan Orlando Hernandez to resign after he admitted his 2013 presidential campaign took money from companies linked to a major corruption scandal. Many of them bearing torches, demonstrators on Friday shouted “JOH out, JOH out”, using Hernandez’s initials, as they marched through the centre of Tegucigalpa to the local offices of the UN, where they demanded the

REGIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Los Angeles approves $15 minimum wage City council gives final approval to ordinance raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020 A report released on Friday said that business people linked to a corruption scandal gave $280,000 to Hernandez’s political party [AFP] creation of an anti-corruption commission. Protest organisers said up to 20,000 took part in the demonstration, while a reporter from the Reuters news agency estimated about 8,000 were in attendance. The protest came after Hernandez acknowledged that his election campaign received financing from business people linked to a social security embezzlement scandal that investigators allege involved millions of dollars misspent on marked-up goods and services.

Kidnapped daughter of top Colombian official released Eleven year-old daughter of a high-profile security official freed days after being abducted, Colombian president says. 07 Jun 2015 The daughter of a high-profile Colombian security official has been released by her abductors, President Juan Manuel Santos has said. “We welcome the news that Daniela Mora has been released and is with her parents. Congratulations to Colombian Police for going after her captors,” Santos wrote on Twitter. Her father, Diego Mora, is director of Colombia’s National Protection Unit (UNP), which is in charge of protecting high-profile public figures, including ministers and members of congress. Mora, 11, was abducted on Thursday by unknown assailants as she left school in Cucuta, a city on the Venezuelan border. Police found her on Saturday on the road from Zulia to El Cornejo in Norte de Santander province, 400km northeast of the capital, Bogota, said Donamaris Ramirez, mayor of Cucuta. Authorities had announced a reward of 250 million pesos ($96,000) for information leading to Mora’s whereabouts after protests were held calling for her release. Cucuta, a northern city of 650,000 people, suffers from rampant crime, drug trafficking and smuggling, and the area is a bastion for the country’s two largest rebel groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN). The UNP, created in 2011, spends $600,000 a day guarding politicians, journalists, activists and others deemed to be at risk. It is charged with protecting some 7,500 people deemed to be threatened by Colombia’s five-decade civil war, a conflict rife with kidnappings and assassinations that has at various times drawn in leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs.

NEWS

Demonstrations were held in in Cucuta calling for the release of Daniela Mora [EPA]

June 10, 2015 The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday gave final approval to an ordinance raising the minimum wage in America’s second-largest city to $15 an hour by 2020 from the current $9. The measure, which still must be signed into law by Mayor Eric Garcetti, would require businesses with more than 25 employees to gradually increase wages to meet a $15 hourly pay level by the deadline, while smaller businesses would have an extra year to comply with each step. Garcetti, a Democrat, has said that he would sign the wage hike into law, seen as a victory for labor and community groups that have successfully pushed for similar pay hikes in other major U.S. cities, including Seattle and San Francisco. “Today is a great day for Los Angeles and all the people who work hard to make our city a vibrant place to live and work,” Rusty Hicks of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor said in a written statement issued after the vote. “After months of public debate and study, the City Council’s vote puts us one step away from changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of hardworking Angelenos,” he said. “Though there is still work to be done, all of us in Los Angeles will see the fruits of raising the wage in L.A.”

Nigerian offline library opens access to all An ambitious offline project plans to give millions of students in the developing world access to online resources. 9 Jun 2015 More than 110 million people in Nigeria are still not connected to the internet largely because of poor infrastructure and a lack of fibre and mobile networks make it expensive and unreliable. But now an ambitious project aims to give millions of students in the country access to a vast library of digital content. But rather than depending on an internet connection to access it, the project has developed the resource for offline viewing. The eGranary Digital Library - also known as The Internet in a Box - has been developed by a US-based non-profit called the WiderNet Project. “It gives me up-to-date information unlike the normal library, where textbooks sometimes are outdated,” Abubakar Mo-

hammed, a final year law student at Ahmadu Bello University. “It gives me an opportunity to access libraries not only in Nigeria but libraries outside.” The project puts millions of digital documents, including websites, multimedia and academic texts, onto a server in a school or university. This information is then

available to local users at no cost, even when the internet goes down. For Zainab Ismail, an Islamic law student, the project means she no longer needs to visit the university book library. “[I find] anything I search for,” says Ismail. “It is fast and works even without a connection. It helps me a lot before and after classes.”

THINK ABOUT IT DEATH IN POLICE CUSTODY The tiny tourist island of Caye Caulker will never be the same after Monday night 8 June 2015. Hundreds of residents erupted into a mini riot that lasted for hours. They had gathered in front of the village Police Station on hearing news that a young man had died in Police custody. Yes, even in a small tourist village the Police conduct themselves so unprofessionally that it becomes easy for the villagers to lose faith and believe the worst. All across Belize this is what our Police officers have come to. They have been working diligently to achieve the terrible reputation of behaving like criminals. They verbally and physically abuse people. They tighten hand-cuffs on persons. They detain persons for no reason. They keep people in Police Stations for days with no charges. They torture suspects. Their new technique is to pepper spray inside a black plastic and pull it over the head of persons in custody. Belize being small, everyone knows what the Police do. The only persons who do not know and do not care are the Police Commissioner, the D.P.P, the Ombudsman, the C.E.O, the Minister, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. They pretend to be blissfully ignorant of this cruel reality that exists among many Police for several years now. The death of 17 year old Hilbert Sotz at the Caye Caulker Police Station is of no importance to Government. It is just a matter of time for the Police to face a real hard-core riot in Belize City. Just a matter of time, God forbid. WITHOUT A SINGLE SHOT Without firing a single shot on 28 and 29th May, Guatemala was able to claim and enforce its sovereignty over Sarstoon Island. There is supposed to be a diplomatic protest sent by the Belize Foreign Ministry, but it is more likely the Ministry merely requested an explanation. Guatemala has not bothered to reply. As for a government explanation of what exactly occurred, and why the Prime Minister instructed the Coast Guard to abandon the island; none has been forthcoming. Even the Coast Guard, eager to talk and show that they acted bravely, has been ordered to keep their mouths shut. BELIZE/GUATEMALA-SOME FACTS

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THE BELIZE TIMES

1821 - Guatemala becomes an independent nation from Spain. 1824 - New Constitution of Guatemala defines its territory. It includes Peten and Vera Paz areas but no mention of the area then called British Honduras. 1839 - Guatemala claims it has sovereignty of Belize which it says it inherited from Spain. 1859 - Britain and Guatemala signed a boundary treaty. Clause 7 sets out the provision for both countries “to use their best efforts by taking adequate means for establishing the easiest communication (either by means of a cart-road, or employing the rivers, or both united, according to the opinion of the surveying engineers), between the fittest place on the Atlantic coast near the settlement of Belize and the capital of Guatemala…” 1863 - Britain and Guatemala signed a Supplementary Treaty to substitute Clause 7 of the 1859 Treaty whereby

Britain would pay Guatemala £50,000 to allow Guatemala to build the road themselves. Guatemala asked for one year longer to consider. The British then backed out of the agreement to substitute Clause 7. Why the British backed out? Their engineers estimated the cost of building the road would be in excess of £100,000 and the British Parliament would not have approved such a large amount to be paid to Guatemala. 1884 - Guatemala announced that the 1859 Treaty was either going to be treated as being in force or as being null and void, i.e., of no effect. Guatemala said: “If it (1859 Treaty) is in force, nothing prevents the two governments from proceeding to its fulfillment…If the Treaty is void, things will return to that state in which they were before its signature, and consequently the two contracting parties are freed from the engagements then undertaken… “But what the Government of Guatemala, CANNOT and DOES NOT ACCEPT is that the consent favorable to Great Britain which it gave in Article 1 of the Treaty of 1859, should alone remain in force when the other compensatory Articles are not fulfilled.” (Editor’s Note Article 1 dealt with the boundary of Belize.) 1878 - The British government was given legal advice from the government’s Law offices. The advice was that Guatemala was saying it had territory which Britain occupied prior to signing the 1859 Treaty. Guatemala would never have signed the 1859 Treaty or agreed for there to be a Clause 7 if there were not some inducements. Article 7 of the Treaty was in fact a fine paid to secure and obtain the consent of Guatemala. The 1863 Supplementary Treaty DID NOT purport to satisfy the obligation on Britain as laid down in Article 7. Britain had an obligation to take steps to give effect to Article 7. 1929 - Following negotiations between Britain and Guatemala, joint Commissioners were appointed to inspect the original marks set down in 1860 and 1861 at Garbutt’s Falls and Gracias a Dios Falls and these markers were replaced with cement monuments. Notes were exchanged by Britain and Guatemala agreeing that the Monuments were part of the boundary line between the two countries. 1933 - Guatemala raised Article 7 during discussion with Britain which promised to look into the matter. 1934 - Britain offered to build a road from Belize City to the frontier of Peten and said Guatemala could then build the connecting road from Peten to Guatemala City. Guatemala refused. 1936 - Britain offered to pay the £50,000 but Guatemala refused making it clear the cost was now nothing less than £400,000. 1936 - Guatemala made an offer to Britain as follows: Instead of paying the £400,000 which Britain owed for failing to build the road, Britain could hand over Belize to Guatemala and the matter would be settled. Or pay the £400,000 plus give up the piece of land up to the Rio Grande including Punta Gorda. Or give the same piece of land and pay the £50,000 with all interest from 1859 at 4 percent. Britain refused and repeated its £50,000 amount. 1939 - Guatemala published a WHITE

BOOK detailing the claim to part of Belize. 1940 - British government suggested Arbitration to settle the matter, by going to the Court at the Hague, or appointing international lawyers to review the matter in accordance with the Hague Convention, or three international lawyers-one each for Guatemala and Britain and one from the U.S.A. This proposal was rejected by Guatemala which announced that the 1859 Treaty was no longer valid and said the claim was now for the whole of Belize. Guatemala also stated “…that the non-compliance of the obligations on the part of Great Britain has caused to the Republic, material and intangible damages because of the loss of advantages which the country would have derived from its development or from its foreign trade if the expected highway to the Atlantic Coast had been constructed. The British occupation of British Honduras cut off all maritime communications with the Department of Peten closing it off there by orographic and political barriers that have prevented its progress and development.” 1945 - New Constitution declares whole of British Honduras to be part of the territory of Guatemala. 1946 - Britain offers to take the claim to the International Court but Guatemala refuses unless it would be determined on the principle of EX AEQUO ET BONO, a principle of equity, which means on the basis of what is right and just. Guatemala also bases its claim on UTI POSSEDETIS, which means she inherited all the adjoining lands left behind when Spain left the area. (to be continued next week)

2015

where they ate tacos, pibils, barbecue, and had a jolly good time. He thanked his Prime Minister and the use of Petro Caribe money for this party political benefit. PetroCaribe monies are made available to Belize through a loan from Venezuela to help poor people through sustainable programs. The money is not for use by the UDP government for political events. There is widespread abuse of Petromonies by the government. Big respect to those at the Chamber for standing up for important principles. We wonder why in the face of the disgusting boast by the Minister, the Public Services Unions, the NTUCB, the Churches and COLA remain silent. THE BATTLE FOR BELIZE “… the battle of France is over. I expect that the battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilizations. Upon it depends our own British life…the whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free....But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States… will sink into abyss of a new Dark Age… Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour.” From a speech by Winston Churchill in 1940 as the British began to prepare for invasion by Adolph Hitler who had just defeated France and other European countries.

CEO SUSPENDED A Chief Executive Officer in a government Ministry has been suspended from her duties and will be placed at another Ministry after her one month suspension. No reasons have been given to the country as to what the C.E.O did to warrant being disciplined. The Ministry which the C.E.O was responsible for is also in charge of the scandal-ridden Government Department where the sale of visas and other forms of hustling have resumed. GOVERNMENT CRASH IT A public forum scheduled for Thursday evening at the U.W.I. building on Princess Margaret Drive was abruptly cancelled with no public explanation. It was organized by the Trade Union Congress and University branch of U.W.I. There was to be a panel discussion on the PetroCaribe law. When the government learnt that speakers included Evan Mose Hyde, Audrey Matura and Senator Mark Lizarraga they called the U.W.I office and had the event cancelled. WHAT SILENCE DOES “First they come for the Socialist, and I did not speak out-because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionist, and I did not speak outbecause I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me- and there was no one left to speak for me.” CHAMBER SPEAKS OUT The Chamber of Commerce has issued a public release decrying a statement made by the Minister of Education at a political rally last Sunday. Minister Patrick Faber was shown on television boasting how he took 22 bus loads of his supporters to Corozal Town

ETHIOPIAN TREASURES Fabulous treasures have been discovered in Ethiopia by archeologists last week at a place in Aksun which in ancient times was the capital of the Aksunite Kingdom and a major trading power from the first to the seventh centuries. Eleven burial sites were opened including some for warriors which had brass and iron works. One grave was for a beautiful woman, lying on her side facing an ornate mirror. She wore fabulous jewelry, including a necklace with 1,065 colored glass beads. Not far from the site was a former gold mine which the experts say explains where the Queen of Sheba got her amazing wealth. If you don’t know your Bible the beautiful and sexy Queen Sheba from Ethiopia visited the great King Solomon and amazed all Israel with her pomp and wealth. Described in the Bible as “a very great caravan, with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones”. See 1 Kings, verse 10 in the Bible. Solomon fell in love with Sheba and the rest as they say is history. NIM LI PUNIT Meanwhile in a tiny, beloved country, blessed by the Almighty maker of the heavens and the Earth, in Toledo, southern most district of Belize, a fabulous discovery of more Maya amazements. Archeologists found a royal site with tombs which include precious jade and pendants and potteries, dating back almost two thousand years ago. CHANCEY Have you heard this song before? It’s worth hearing again and again until many voices start to sing it. The chorus is like this, “the government and the oil company is ripping us off.” Regular gasoline is $9.00 a gallon and premium is $10.00 a gallon. Thieves control us.

14 JUN

THE BELIZE TIMES

2015

GOB Disrespects Dangriga Dangriga Town, June 10, 2015 The United Democratic Party Government has disrespected the residents of Dangriga once more. Last week the Government announced that two contracts had been signed for projects in that town. You would have thought that the contracts were awarded in a fair and transparent manner and with the aim of ensuring that the local residents benefit. Lo and behold, the contract recipients are persons closely connected to the UDP in Dangriga. The first contract went to Hubert L. Usher, who is a close relative of the UDP standard bearer of Dangriga. It isn’t a coincidence that the Usher company with such close links to the UDP. The second

contract, awarded to Coleman Construction Ltd., is not only another slap to the face of Griga residents because once more another UDP crony will benefit, but because the company is based all the way in Hattieville. With the UDP virtually controlling all contracts, they are disrespecting the residents, telling them that only residents who bow to them will benefit. This is the same practice which landed the Dangriga Market project into corruption some years ago. The UDP-controlled SIF officials were caught making under the table deals with special UDP contractors, putting the entire project at risk and leaving the residents out in the cold.

Darrell Bradley: “we will turn streets into drains”

Castro won convention with big money, not integrity nor record Sandhill Village, June 8, 2015 It was all about the money at the United Democratic Party’s Belize Rural North convention held on May 30, 2015, which saw the scandal-ridden politician, Edmond Castro, defeat a long-time educator and pastor, Dwight Tillett. Castro’s head has been on the chopping block, he was aware of this. He has become a political liability for the UDP.

His name is synonymous with scandals. He is the politician which the longest political rap sheet. His antecedent report would include hustling from public funds, land scams, confessed abetment to visa hustling, alleged sexual offence while on official business, and the ugly list goes on. An influential section of

BYM calls for objective investigation into death of Hilberto Sotz June 9, 2015 The Belize Youth Movement stands in solidarity with the community of Caye Caulker and calls for an objective and thorough investigation into the unexplained death of 18 year old Hilberto Sotz who was under Police custody at the time of his death on Monday, June 8, 2015. The Police’s account of what occurred does not hold when compared with the accounts of the local residents. The Police’s accounts makes no mention of alleged bruises on the teenager’s body, and while authorities claim that the young man died after experiencing respiratory problems, his family vouches that he had no such medical complication. Furthermore, the reports that the teenager passed away at the local health center have been disputed by witnesses who saw the lifeless body moved from the Police Station to the health centre on Monday evening. The question is: did the Police use excessive force while interrogating young Hilberto? The members of our Police De-

partment and other security forces have a much higher duty to exercise care and responsibility over the citizens of our country, even those suspected of wrongdoing. There have been too many reports of abuse and excessive use of force at the hands of law enforcement officials which have gone insufficiently investigated and therefore unsolved and unanswered. This clearly shows that the Police Department is also incapable of providing the necessary answers, and so we call on the Attorney General’s Ministry to lead this investigation; the Police cannot objectively investigate the Police. The case of Hilberto Sotz’ death has infuriated the peaceful residents of the tourist island, leading to protest action on Monday night, and the threat of more protests in the days to come. The residents are demanding that a proper investigation be carried out and that those responsible for the teenager’s death to be held responsible. We reiterate our support for their demand and will join their efforts to achieve justice.

the UDP wanted to get rid of Castro and the baggage he placed on the UDP. This section included Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley, who openly campaigned against Castro and attacked his integrity. This is how it came to be that Castro has been the only elected UDP representative to face a contested convention, and with his political existence in question, he had to outmatch Tillett with financial prowess. According to Tillett, big money was involved. “I think a lot of the red you see out here in

PUP Belize Rural South demands justice for slain teen June 9, 2015 The People’s United Party Belize Rural South Office and standard bearer Mr. Jose Elito Arceo extend the most deepest and sincere condolences to the family of the late Hilbert Sotz. We are hereby demanding a full investigation by an independent party so that justice can be administered. We understand the anger and discontent the residents of Caye Caulker expressed yesterday as these sad events unfolded. We hope a fast and fair resolution is found so that residents and visitors can return to feeling safe in Caye Caulker. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Hilbert Sotz and the entire community of Caye Caulker.

Castro’s shirt, are out here because of the money they are going to get for it,” said Dwight Tillett in a television interview on the day of the convention. Tillett had gravely mis-calculated that the people would have taken the money and kicked Castro to the curb, but it didn’t happen. The UDP’s candidate in Belize Rural North will continue to be the embattled Castro. They are stuck with him, even though allegations of wrong-doing continue to surround him. The Supreme Court is currently reviewing legal arguments in a case in which he was accused of visa hustling. Furthermore, pending recent allegations of illegal use of land (squatting) Castro could face another round of legal battle and much more public scandal.

THE BELIZE TIMES

14 JUN

2015