Belize Times July 21, 2013

SCAN HERE

The Belize Times

Established 1957

21 JULY 2013

| ISSUE NO: 4854

The Truth Shall Make You Free

www.belizetimes.bz

|

$1.00

Bishop vs. Barrow

Belize City, July 18, 2013 Prime Minister Dean Barrow has succeeded where even the brutal British Colonial government had failed. His arrogant and egotistic style of governing the country has antagonized every sector in Belize. He has personally and publicly cursed out the Judge of the Supreme Court, President of the

Pg. 4

Another baby dies at KHMH

Macebearer & Wallet Man Go Rogue UDP thugs charged for wounding Police Officer & Activist

Pg. 10

A Belize/Guatemala OIL ALLIANCE??

Faber Exposed!

IDB study reveals growing inequalities in Education Sector Belize City, July 15, 2013 The findings of an Inter-American Development Bank study on Belize’s education sector is damning for the Ministry of Education.

The study shows that while millions

Pg. 31

Pg. 31 Pablo Marin Belize City, July 18, 2013 There is another scandal under the disgraceful leadership of Minister of Health Pablo Marin.

Another newborn has died at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where 13 babies have already died, reportedly from a bacteria outbreak in May of this year.

Baby Lorena Bol was born at 8:25 on Friday morning as a healthy and promising baby girl.

Her parents, Lawrence Bol and

Elvira Ack, were overjoyed to see their newborn.

Lawrence told the BELIZE TIMES that his child was healthy and active, but the doctors took her to a special area for “safety”, they were told. The baby’s health improved steadily and by Saturday afternoon, the baby was consuming healthy milk.

But things turned for the worst

Pablo Marin MUST RESIGN!

Pg. 12

C

2 02

OPINION OUT

!

Dear Editor, Through this medium, we the Senior Officers of the Belize Defence Force reject being the subjects of “jokes” and the manipulation of our BDF by British agents and Prime Minister Barrow.

The handing over of some 17 Bedford 4 tonner (4 ton) trucks from BATSUB to the BDF Commander last week at Price Barracks would have us believe that the British were being generous to the BDF, following PM Barrow’s visit to the UK and meeting with the British Defence Minister.

These fourteen vehicles are not new trucks; they were sitting at Price Barracks (BATSUB) since the British Army downsized its troops in Belize. The truth is, Mr. Editor, the British who is a member of NATO has upgraded all their military equipment which included Bedford 4 tonner (Belize being the only British training that used 4 ton) to NATO standards and so BATSUB has reached its deadline to upgrade to the latest MANNS 16 tonner in Belize. The donated truck may have the remaining life span of some 5 or so years.

Since the PM has nothing to show Belizeans for his (and his whole family) visit/vacation in the UK to meet in secret with Lord Ashcroft at the expense of poor Belizeans, these English diplomats came up with the 4 ton “Jokes”.

The outgoing British High Commissioner, at the handing-over ceremony, tried to have us believe that thanks to PM Barrow’s secret Continued on page 20

19 Jul

OUT

OUT

Belize Defence Force exposes Barrow

LOCAL

21 JUL

THE BELIZE TIMES

Call to Action!

PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!

Restless in Buttonwood Bay

!

Dear Editor, On December 17th 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi reached his human limits with life. Like many young and old Belizeans, he yearned for a better life. He worked as a street vendor in Tunisia, as a committed family man at the tender age of 26 years. As his frustrations over his life began to grow, he felt compelled to seek another job. While street vending and selling his products which included apples pears and bananas, some of the corrupt officials came to his location and confiscated his products and even took away his scale used for weighing his products.

Mohamed did what any human would do. He stood up and tried to resist, but was badly beaten by one of the officials. Humiliated and enraged, Mohamed went to the nearby Continued on page 24

!

Dear Editor, It’s good to see some progress going on with the City’s streets, drains and two major parks; but how much of it was really urgent, and at what and whose cost? Wouldn’t it have been better to select the streets in more dire need of re-building in planned phases, and doing some repairs and renovations to the parks for a fraction of the cost instead of totally demolishing them and then re-building all over? Were the Parks a priority, and what about the completed designs?

Some booths behind Fort Street are the size of small restrooms or fitting rooms.

Much inconvenience is being caused by these renovations including downtime in getting late to work, dropping off children at school, not to mention the cost of fuel in slow traffic to get to your destination. So who’s paying for all this? To make matters worse, last week my Property Tax Collector dropped my bill for the current year only to find that it had increased by a whopping 100%, as if increase in Fuel, Light, Trade Licenses and the overall cost of living isn’t burdensome enough for a marginalized tax paying citizen.

We work hard every day to try to make ends meet and pay our bills, so we look forward to the weekend’s nights to get some quality rest, and as we desperately try to seek peaceful slumber, the ‘B’ Bar from across ‘Friendship Restaurant’ explodes with the most loud and disturbing noise in the neighborhood, sometimes until 3:00 am in the morning. On some nights a certain DJ shouts unharmonious slogans and lyrics over the microphone, only to compound the intolerable, pulsating decibels of what they call music.

Whatever happened to melody, and aren’t we still in City Limits? I say close it in or close it up. Until then I will need earmuffs or plugs to try and get some zzzz’s; damn, I hate those things.

Paul Rodriguez: Rhetoric vs.

Truth

!

Dear Pastor Wade, So, Ms. Alamilla wants to play hardball, attempting to label us as hatemongers, because one person unfortunately chose to hang a UNIBAM representative in effigy.

I accuse them of far greater offence than that! What has mankind from time immemorial called any person who helped a foreign group to subvert or overturn the interests or values of your own group? TRAITOR! The Minister lady cannot play hardball because all she can argue with is rhetoric - not TRUTH! The truth is the Gender Policy shall destroy our values and our Continued on page 21

Signed: Restless BBR

weather 20 Jul

21 Jul

22 Jul

2623Mar Jul

27 Mar Jul 6 24 Feb

2013

OUT Credit Master Systems sets the record straight Dear Mr. Editor, We would like to dispel any misinformation the public has about Credit Master Systems (CMS).

Credit Master Systems provides bad debt collections, investigation and tracking, settlement negotiations, account receivables collections and bad debt information reporting services to the private sector businesses as well as financial institutions and Government of Belize.

Since 1993, we pioneered the way in collections and the information reporting industry in Belize.

CMS has changed the way collections are done. Through gathering and storing data, we have information on over 50,000 consumer’s payment histories.

The information is processed with the strictest confidentiality and professionalism. Our primary objectives are to collect bad debts and provide meaningful information on consumers’ payment history. This will make it easier and beneficial for credit grantors to extend credit to potential borrowers.

Belize has become a credit society. A report on an individual is Continued on page 20

SCAN HERE

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

Alberto Vellos LAYOUT/GRAPHIC ARTIST

Chris Williams

OFFICE ASSISTANT

Roberto Peyrefitte Printed and Published By The Belize Times Press Ltd. Tel: 671-8385 #3 Queen Street P.O. BOX 506 Belize City, Belize

Email: belizetimesadvertisement@yahoo.com

editortimes@yahoo.com

Exchange rate of One Belize Dollar

United States (USD): $ 0.49

Barbados (BBD): $ 0.99

Eastern Caribbean (XCD):$ 1.34

Euro (EUR) : $ 0.38

Sterling Pound Guatemala Quetzal CANADIAN DOLLAR (GBP): $ 0.33 (GTQ): $ 3.87 (CAD): $ 0.51

CHINESE YUAN Trinidadian (TTD) (CNY): $ 3.05 : $ 3.17

INDIAN RUPEE (INR): $ 29.54

21 JUL

2013

THE BELIZE TIMES

03 3

Looming Economic Recession?

Belize City, July 17, 2013 Economic analysts are warning that Belize’s economy could be staring at the ugly face of a second economic recession after the first quarter analysis of the economy showed a contraction of 0.5%.

The first quarter of 2013, which covered the period January to March, recorded major losses for citrus and banana exports in an economy which has already been struggling to get back on track since the Barrow Administration announced a recession in 2009.

The 2013 second quarter, April to June, is already completed and while the statisticians are holding the numbers close to their chests, analysts are saying that things don’t look any brighter.

“From all indications it seems that we have not made a recovery since the first economic quarter,” declared Former Governor of the Central Bank, Sydney Campbell, while discussing economic issues on the Morning Buzz morning show on Vibes Radio 90.5 on Wednesday morning.

A second consecutive quarter with economic contraction means that “we have fit the strict description of a recession”, Campbell added.

Campbell said only the data gathered by the Central Bank and Statistical Institute of Belize can accurately indicate whether we are in a recession, but from his own analysis of the slow economy and comparison between the first and second quarter, it doesn’t seem like anything changed.

There is also the bad news of a med fly outbreak in southern Belize, which could devastate the already vulnerable agriculture sector.

Campbell pointed out that if Belize does enter another period of recession, the critical issue of how long the recession lasts

In Memoriam In memory of a loving Husband, Father, and Grandfather.

HAROLD MORTIS SR. We hold our tears when we speak your name But the aches in our heart remain the same.

No one knows the sorrows we share When the family meets, And you are not there.

You fell asleep without saying goodbye.

But memories of you will never die.

In heaven there is rest, no worry, no pain.

We will meet again, though your smile is gone forever, and your hand we cannot touch.

Still we have so many memories of the one we love so much.

We know for sure that your spirit is with us all the time.

And we communicate in silence. So continue to rest with our Lord.

Until that special day when we are together again.

Life will never be the same without you.

Sadly missed by children, grandchildren and other relatives and friends.

will depend on the Government’s response.

In October 2009, Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced that Belize was in an economic depression. The following year, the Prime Minister announced a US$60 million budget deficit, and introduced various new taxes including a 25% increase in GST and a fuel tax which was introduced as temporary, but tragically turned permanent.

Only July 3rd, Prime Minister Barrow expressed total surprise upon learning of the economic contraction for the first quarter of the year. When he was told about the 0.5% shriveling, Barrow said he wasn’t “expecting” it and he “sensed” that the “economy is humming along”. He couldn’t have been any more wrong.

4 04

Former Central Bank Governor says GOB must explain purpose of law

Problem Solving, Not Personality Politics that leaders must suppress egos and the urge to settle scores against those it views as the opposition, and focus on the task of building Belize.

I have had enough experience in Government as well as in Opposition to know that what we have to do is get the basics right.

Over time I will outline in much greater detail my thoughts on these “basics” but to start the discussion I offer a few examples: 1. Ensuring that all our hospitals have essential medicines and good, effective administration.

2. Providing quality accessible educational facilities to all Belizeans through to the Tertiary level.

2013

Sinister S.I. 63

on the

By Francis W. Fonseca Belize cannot afford to lose another decade; if we do not place our country firmly on the path to economic development and progress now, our legacy to future generations of Belizeans may be a Belize that is a failed state.

I do not believe that we are consigned to that fate. As the Leader of the PUP, my objective is to forge a movement for change that puts Belize squarely on the path to progressive growth and development by finally casting aside personality politics and adopting a problem-solving, solutions-based approach to governing.

The PUP will demonstrate that it has a credible plan to find solutions to our social and economic problems. This means setting aside grandiose plans and unrealistic goals and settling down to the basics of governing. It also means

21 JUL

THE BELIZE TIMES

3. Fixing our Land Administration once and for all to put an end to corruption and cronyism in the distribution of Lands in Belize.

4. Ensuring that we have good basic roads including at the village level and providing a clean, reliable public transportation system for our people.

These are but a few of the basics that we must get right moving forward. If Belize is to grow and develop, all of us, must be committed to a strong Belizean economy and society grounded in credible, practical plans and solutions to the social and economic challenges we face.

Belize City, July 17, 2013 Former Governor of the Central Bank Sydney Campbell has described the recently-passed Statutory Instrument 63 as a suspicious amendment that is wide open to corruption and abuse.

S.I. 63 is an amendment to the Exchange Control Regulations Act (Chapter 52 of the Laws of Belize). The S.I. was signed into law in secret by the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Dean Barrow.

No one was consulted.

Not the Opposition, nor business community or any other stakeholders.

Through the amendment, the Barrow Administration arbitrarily removed the Central Bank’s supervision and regulation of Govern-

Sydney Campbell

Bishop vs. Barrow

Congregation gathered at Memorial Park Continued from page 1 Chamber of Commerce, Head of several trade unions, caused the shooting death of a peaceful protesting cañero, and laughed away the scandalous deaths of 13 babies at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Now, finally, the Prime Minister has descended to mock the Church of the land.

In secret the Prime Minister and his ministers approved a gender policy, portions of which have sent the churches into public protest from north to south, east to west; congregations by the thousands have marched the streets denouncing the

high handed behavior of the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister’s behaviour was to throw down the gauntlet on the churches and the citizens of Belize by saying that there is no force on earth that can make him withdraw his gender policy.

This Tuesday, Mr. Barrow and his Cabinet were in panic mode in Belmopan. The reason: none other than Right Rev. Bishop Dorrick Wright was leading a parade of thousands through the streets of Belize City against Barrow and his gender policy.

As word got out that it

was the Bishop himself at the head of the protest, at 9 o’clock Tuesday morning Belizeans were leaving their workplace to make it to the street-side to witness the historic occasion.

In offering prayers to the congregation at the rally in memorial park, Bishop Dorrick Wright took on the role of his Pontiff in the Vatican and spoke directly of the Prime Minister’s barefaced defiance of the Church’s concern.

He referred in his prayers to Barrow‘s high-handed remarks. His Lordship said as follows: “We ask the Lord

One of the protesters, Pauline Rodriguez to form the minds and hearts of our leaders so they will change their minds, even though it’s been said that nothing on the Earth will change their minds. Lord, we know that you can do it and we ask you to change their minds.”

We dare the Prime Minister, who has a long history of petty, vindictive public assaults against citizen groups of this country, a man who takes glee in attending House of Representative meetings belittling and

ment’s foreign exchange transactions, specifically with foreign bank accounts. This is for all Government departments and ministries, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which pays millions to Belize’s embassies to the suspicious Belize Infrastructure Limited, which already has no Government oversight.

Campbell, who appeared on the Morning Buzz morning show on Wednesday morning, exContinued on page 21

cursing the elected members from the side, to do such a thing to the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church.

Mr. Barrow has been getting away, literally and figuratively, with murder in this country. He has lied, bamboozled, and press-conferenced away the most outrageous events to take place in this country. What the churches and the people of Belize are saying is that they have had enough of this man and his outrageous method of governance.

The only thing left for Bishop Dorrick Wright to have said is a reminder that Mr. Barrow bribed and stole the 2012 elections.

Indeed, Barrow is a man who is governing by the skin of his teeth, but is behaving as if he has a large majority. The day of reckoning is coming. This is the beginning of the end for Mr. Barrow.

21 JUL

THE BELIZE TIMES

2013

05 5

EDITORIAL Two left feet in Education

T

he Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) was created in 1959. It is the leading source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean. The Bank is promoted as having a strong commitment to achieving measurable results, increased integrity, transparency and accountability.

Surely this is a formula for a crash course with the UDP government, who would fail those tests each and every time.

The latest international shame brought on by the UDP to the people of Belize is explained in the May 2013, IDB report entitled “Challenges and Opportunities in the Belize Education Sector”. The credence of this bank is founded on the fact that it is a huge lender to Belize’s educational system.

This report is also important because the UDP would never admit that they are messing up. It takes independent outsiders to be whistle blowers.

But the unmistakable fact is that this report is devastating.

It is stunning to realize that in the context of a knowledge-driven world, the UDP have steered us into the dark ages. The report has gone so far as to say that, as a country we are at risk of losing an entire generation.

One damning example is that UNESCO has an index dealing with books published per country per year. This is an important index of the standard of living and education. It is a marker for a country’s self-awareness. Imagine, on the current listing of 126 nations - Belize is not even on the list. Oman, posted as number 126, rounds out the bottom with 7 books published, while the USA is ranked number one with 328,000 books published per year.

This report simply confirms that the UDP are clueless again. It confirms, as noted in the report, that the initiatives, which were launched under the past, PUP administrations, were right. The PUP, as confirmed by the statistics in this report, had begun solving these challenges.

The PUP’s massive school and classroom expansion boom from 1998 to 2008 was clear evidence of our deliberate and visionary effort to expand even the physical space required for formal education.

The UDP and Patrick Faber are politically and

intellectually challenged and are confirmed to be unable to fix the education system or the country.

The UDP are not problem solvers.

The PUP has long maintained that education is the engine of a modern society.

Unfortunately, this kind of report is a grotesque body of evidence confirming the incompetence of the UDP. As a Party, the PUP believes and champions the fact that technology must play an instrumental role in the lives of how we educate our children.

If you put a pack of educated people in a room to solve this problem it would take decades to reach consensus. History teaches us that radical intervention like the literacy campaigns of the Cubans in the 1960s and 70s are the only way to approach this kind of crisis.

The UDP should take our good and free advice.

Instead of reducing us to a crack head nation toward Taiwan and the United States, we should approach our relationship with them in a civilized way and enter into a 10 year transfer of technological tools especially in the area of education.

But do not expect much from the UDP. To be fair to them they are not capable of intelligent thought.

They are really an opposition Party. That is their history.

There will be other reports of confirmation of the failure of the UDP Administration. They will lash out in name-calling. Patrick Faber will get desperate and ashamed that the world sees his failure. He will call teachers child molesters. He will put all the blame on parents. He will say the church is the problem.

But this IDB report, which is based on a report done in 2009, is clear. Patrick Faber is failing in his leadership of our educational system. He is killing off an entire generation with his failure.

Insult the IDB now. Call them Ashcroft Alliance.

Call them wicked church people. In the mean time, Belize loses a generation of real leaders because of the UDP’s failure.

Belize will have its fingers crossed that the failure and the incompetence of the UDP is still capable of being fixed when the PUP take office in the next three years.

6 06

21 JUL

THE BELIZE TIMES

2013

Honourable

Francis Fonseca

tours Corozal Bay

PUP Leader Hon. Francis Fonseca met with officials and supporters in Corozal Bay. After appearing as a special guest on Radio Bahia, Hon. Fonseca held a meeting with supporters at the PUP Corozal Bay Office.

21 JUL

2013

THE BELIZE TIMES

07 7

Airport Fingerprinting: Invasive and Unlawful Belize City, July 16, 2013 In typical UDP style, the Government of Belize, without any notice to

PUP Marshalls organizes in northern districts

Corozal Town, July 15, 2013 As Party Leader Hon. Francis Fonseca met with party official and supporters in the Corozal Bay division on Saturday July 13th, the PUP Marshalls President Steve Latchman was leading members of the Orange Walk service corps in a successful meeting.

The Orange Walk Marshalls discussed upcoming projects in skills and trade development.

On Sunday, July 14th, the MarContinued on page 8

In Memoriam

The death is announced of Louise Fernando Gibbs. He passed away on the 15th of July, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is survived by 2 brothers: Robert and Ernest Gibbs, sisters Mrs. Rita Waight and several nieces and nephews and a host of other family and friends. He is also the uncle of former Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Said Musa.

May his soul rest in peace.

the public, has embarked on a scatterbrained scheme of taking fingerprints of passengers arriving at the Philip Goldson International Airport.

American officials were at the opening ceremony giving speeches and naturally, that was all the assurance that Godwin Hulse needed to jump on the US bandwagon, implementing a policy that is not only an invasion of a person’s privacy but also completely and entirely unlawful.

Understandably, following the attacks on New York’s Twin Towers in 2001, the United States government decided to pass legislation in 2002 that would authorize the government to take biometrics (fingerprints) from

individual visitors their country. The name of this legislation is the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, which mandated that all non-residents of the United States had to give their 10 fingerprints upon entry into the United States.

Belize on the other hand, has never been the target of any terrorist attack. As a matter of fact, we don’t even have legislation authorizing our government to take a person’s fingerprints. Yet, Godwin Hulse and his boss, the Prime Minister, seemed to have caught American Fever. Just because the mighty America has done it, does not mean that we need to “follow-foot” every-

thing that they do. But to make matters worse, even Belizean nationals must give their fingerprints upon entering the country at the PGIA. Not even the United States treats its citizens and residents like common criminals.

This is just another typical example of a foreign nation imposing its will on our incompetent and clueless leaders. Dean Barrow, the supposed brilliant attorney that he is, ought to have known that he needs to enact legislation to invade an individual’s privacy like that. But then again, as we have seen from Barrow’s reactions to legal decisions that have gone against his government, he is not only bigger than the law, he IS the law.

0 88

21 JUL

THE BELIZE TIMES

WOMAN IN THE HOUSE

By Dolores Balderamos Garcia

Another Abomination The definition of abomination in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary 2002 Edition is “a cause of disgust or hatred”. I thought I would look it up, because many times we throw words around without regard for their true meaning.

It was a veritable abomination when the Mayan Site of Noh Mul in the Orange Walk District was destroyed in order to provide quarry material for road upgrades and construction. Archaeologists and concerned citizens, all Belizeans and indeed the international community literally shook our heads in disbelief that this wanton act could have occurred.

There was no mere negligence here.

There was deliberate and calculated disregard for a marked Mayan Site.

The persons accused of being responsible have only just been taken to court, and who knows what the outcome will be?

Most people do not think that justice will come in this case. An important and vital piece of our national patrimony is gone forever. The Archaeological Commissioner dourly stated that the site can never be fixed or made whole again.

During the week after the destruction of Noh Mul, I appeared on the Morning Show Despierta Belice at Centaur Television in Orange Walk Town with host Sani Baeza. I mentioned at the time that I thought that another abomination was taking place in Belize City. And I am referring to the removal of Memorial Park as we have known it and the razing to the ground of the old Jeffery home on North Park Street in the Fort George area of our old capital.

I grew up at No.14 Eyre Street, only a block or two from Memorial Park and the Jeffery home, and some of my happiest memories of childhood are of playing with my brothers, sisters and friends in Memorial Park and climbing on and running around the cannons, cenotaph and band stands, and visiting my classmate Stellie Jeffery on North Park Street.

In those days Memorial Park was just that, a park dedicated to the memory of our World War One and Two heroes, and a place of wide open spaces where many people could enjoy strolling and sitting on the park benches, where children could play and where come September time we could go to see the Battle of the Bands and other performances near the bandstand at the front of the park. Hundreds if not more than a thousand people could fit easily in the park.

If you have not been in that neighborhood lately I invite you to go

and take a circle. There is no Memorial Park as we have known it. There is a space that has been turned into a market for tourists, complete with large stalls that cover more than three quarters of the site. How this can be compatible with remembering and honoring our war veterans I just don’t know. And I passed around the neighborhood in April only to feel my heart jump at not seeing the Jeffery home any more.

This home was one of the finest examples of the old colonial architecture in the entire city. Perfectly built and situated, it boasted high ceilings, wrap around verandahs and wide front stairs, green jalousie windows, low picket fence, and a vat in the back yard. As a structure of historic and cultural importance why couldn’t it have been acquired for the public purpose of placing a tourist market or gift shop, instead of using Memorial Park and instead of the home being demolished?

Mini tours could have been offered, showing all the fine aspects of this building style. The carpenters and woodwork artists who constructed the home could have been honored.

As a matter of fact the last time I was in the Jeffery home was for the repast after the funeral of Stellie’s mother Viola Arguelles Jeffery. At the time I sat and admired so much about it. Now it is only a memory in the mind’s eye of those of us who so enjoyed the beauty and character that it brought to the Fort George area.

Although the Jeffery home might not be considered to be as important a piece of our national patrimony as was NohMul, I believe that it should have been preserved. Further, I think that Memorial Park should have been preserved as much as possible in its original state. I don’t know what the architects and planners were thinking.

In relation to the Jeffery home I understand that Stellie’s belongings were actually put out on the verandah as she was out of the country, and a friend had to come to the rescue and claim her personal effects on her behalf. Of course it may have taken significant resources to restore the Jeffery home, but I believe that for Belizeans it would have been well worth the cost.

And in relation to Memorial Park, isn’t there already a Tourist Village? In trying to please tourists we are removing a great deal of our historical and cultural heritage as well as the character of the Fort George area, and we are creating a site that can hardly be recognized. In my view you may as well change the name. Regarding both, it is a great loss - which I call another abomination.

2013

PUP Marshalls organizes in northern districts Continued from page 7 shalls President moved to the Corozal District where he had a similar meeting with Marshalls coordinators and members of the northern constituencies.

The Marshalls are constantly on the move, helping to build the Party and work towards victory.

The members of this important unit of the Party have shown impressive support, loyalty and enthusiasm.

Members of the Eastern Caucus division Marshall Service Corps are invited to a General Meeting to be held on Sunday July 21st, 2013, at 2:00pm at Independence Hall.

NOTICES Ultra Fund Ltd. #28,239 (“the Company”) Pursuant to Section 102 (4) of the International Business Companies Act, Chapter 270 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2000, notice is hereby given that Ultra Fund Ltd.: a) is in dissolution b) commenced dissolution on the 1st day of July, 2013; and c) Mrs. Anna Pritsker whose address is 1/43, St. Francis Street, Balzan, Malta is the Liquidator of the Company Cititrust International Limited Registered Agent

21 JUL

2013

THE BELIZE TIMES

Chiquibul

Opening a Can of Worms

By Norris Hall A national symposium on the enormous threats to the Chiquibul National Park which sits in the Western region of Belize on the border with Guatemala gets underway in Belize City this weekend.

The Belize government’s incompetence to protect and defend the Baird’s Tapir calf captured for the illegal pet borders and in securing trade by a poacher in the Chiquibul Forest this nation’s territorial integrity, will undoubtedly come under very serious scrutiny.

Environmentalists have said that apart from the issue of national security, this crown jewel of Belize’s natural environment and its bio-diversity is under pressure.

Frustrated with the failure, or indifference, of the governments on both sides of the border, environmental groups in both Belize and Guatemala are seeking to strengthen their collaboration for the protection of this important forest. They are also expected to publicly demand that both governments up the ante against farmers, loggers, poachers and gold pan-handlers.

The inability of Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s administration to address the problem of the incursions by Guatemalans into Belize’s territory is one of the key catalysts for the up-coming talk shop on border security and environmental degradation.

But this deteriorating situation which is leading to the destruction of our national forest is also exacerbated by the government’s inability to properly equip the Belize Defence Force with the tools they need to effectively patrol the borders.

The Belize Defence Force recently received a donation of used British Army truck to move soldiers. Prime Minister Dean Barrow, on his recent “Royal visit” to Britain, also ate humble pie, begging the British government to return its forces to use Belize as a military training ground. What the Prime Minister did not say is that his government has become totally dependent on British support and military hardware and more. This represents an embarrassing fallback to a pre-independent Belize.

Mired in rampant corruption in every faucet of his government, from the very top and down to all levels of his administration, the Belize military is seriously handicapped. They are now relying on mule-trains to move equipment in and out of forests and other rough terrain. The government has not even been able to equip the BDF with a small military helicopter. Its air wing of two small Cessna aircrafts has been virtually grounded, or simply, not cleared for take-off because of budgetary constraints, despite the top-of-the- line and high priced SUVs driven by Cabinet Ministers.

Continued on page 17

09 9

10

21 JUL

THE BELIZE TIMES

Macebearer & Wallet Man Go Rogue

2013 Yellowman as Macebearer

UDP thugs charged for wounding Police Officer & Activist Belize City, July 15, 2013 Two known UDP thugs who are no strangers to behaving like hoodlums and ruffians took things to a total extreme when they beat up a Police Officer who was attempting to stop them from brutally assaulting a known and outspoken activist in Belize City.

Police Officer Wilbert Chi has publicly identified UDP’s Brian “Yellowman” Audinette as the man who knocked him unconscious and brutally beat him in plain public view on Friday, July

PC Wilbert Chi

12th morning. Chi said he was attempting to stop Yellowman and another UDP fanatic, identified as Allan Kelly, from attacking well-known activist Phillip “Faada” Henry, but instead he was attacked.

The UDP, we are told, tried their best to protect their thugs but taking into account the heavy public outcry against the suspiciously botched Mark King criminal case and the foot-dragging with the Denny Grijalva criminal matter, they had to allow the Police to press charges. The Police themselves are all too eager to defend this attack against one of their own.

31 year old Yellowman and Kelly appeared at the Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday July 17th afternoon and were arraigned for six charges: one count each for Using Insulting Words, Harm and Common Assault and Using Threatening Words upon Faada; and Assaulting and Wounding of Police Officer Wilbert Chi. The UDP thugs pleaded not guilty.

Despite the grave charge of wounding, even more so on a Police Officer, Yellowman was granted and met bail of $3,000, plus one surety of the same amount. The Court stipulated that he must stay away from Faada and his family. Kelly was given bail of the same amount, plus surety, but he also had to pay the Court for outstanding fines from past traffic offenses.

Belizeans will recognize Yellowman, the rowdy Michael Finnegan-loyalist who was awarded the post of National Assembly Mace-

Phillip “Faada” Henry

bearer when the UDP took office.

Kelly is a less known UDP creature, but he did jump into the public spotlight when he carried out a mission for the UDP and assaulted Marcel Cardona inside the National Assembly. Kelly, who sat at the edge of the public benches inside the National Assembly, directly above Cardona, pulled out a wallet and stoned Cardona with it, who was at the time a UDP member of the House. For the rest of his House appearances, Cardona wore a hard hat to protect himself. Kelly escaped criminal charges and only got a slap on the wrist by being banned from the National Assembly a few times.

The UDP believes they are above the law, and this was apparently the frame of mind Yellowman and Kelly had when they drove near the East Canal terminal early Friday morning.

In the area also was Faada, who had taken persons to the bus terminal. Faada had stopped along the street side to buy food, when a grey in colour pickup driven at the time by a female person approached.

He said he recognized two of the four male persons inside the vehicle, one of them being “Yellowman”.

“See the effing PUP there, we will deal with him and kill him”, Faada said he heard someone in the truck say.

Allan Kelly strikes inside The vehicle the National Assembly stopped and the male persons stepped out. Faada said he did his best to ignore them, until he felt a sudden blow to his face and then more punches.

“I dropped on top of the vendor’s stand and I lost focus for a minute or two and that’s when he came and hit me flush into my eye and this time I was not seeing at all through my left eye,” Faada recounted.

PC Chi was in the area at the time, but off duty, when he saw the ambush at play. He said he went to the men, identified himself as a cop, and told them they were not doing the right thing. But instead of following advice and respecting the officer of the law, the UDP thugs including “Yellowman” who is an officer of the National Assembly, showed callous behavior. PC Chi said Yellowman attacked him first.

“I tell them relax unuself, calm Cardona wearing unuself down. Unu noh need to go protective hat through all ah this. When I talk to this person now, Yellowman come from behind and hit me from right der liquor - they were calling yah. I drop and I gone knock out,” me names like “PUP”, “madda recalled PC Chi. effa” and chanting “you’re going Chi has cuts on his face, abraaround the country causing probsions on his head and bruises lem for the party”. Well, I want on his body. He was left on the them to know that you cannot ground in a bloody state. Faada has go about and do things like this a dislocated jaw and a bruised and to people. You just picked on the blood-shot left eye. He said he is wrong person,” he said. unable to eat properly.

The Office of the National AsFaada said he has been humble sembly has not indicated whether in the face of threats from the UDP, “Yellowman” will be stripped of the but a line has been crossed now.

Macebearer title for the disgraceful “These individuals were unbehavior.

21 JUL

2013

THE BELIZE TIMES

11

12

21 JUL

THE BELIZE TIMES

Sinister S.I. 63 Continued from page 4 plained that the Central Bank has always played a critical role in supervising Government’s bank transactions. This is to allow the Bank to collect data and report on the stability of Government’s accounts.

To remove this authority and responsibility, said Campbell, is to say there will no longer be a reporting mechanism, and no way in which the Central Bank will be able to keep track of Government’s accounts.

Campbell said he was perplexed about the purpose of such a law, because the Central Bank’s role is to monitor transactions, and not to grant permission to Government to conduct transactions.

“If it isn’t broken, why fix it,” asked Campbell.

He added that without the Central Bank’s monitoring/supervisory role, there is room for serious abused.

The former Bank Governor said that without any explanation from Government, the public will be open to suspi-

cion. “It is incumbent on the Government to come back to pubic and say ‘don’t panic, this is the purpose’, but in the absence of that it is open to people asking whether this law is part of a bigger problem”.

Campbell said this amendment to the law will be viewed with suspicion by the business community and international partners, particularly, bondholders who will question the integrity of Government’s balance of payment.

The controversial amendment to the Exchange Control Regulations Act was kept secret by the Barrow Administration until it was exposed by the Opposition last week. The PUP has called the amendment “a retrograde, abusive and arrogant overreach of power” by the UDP Government. They are demanding that PM Barrow withdraws the dangerous S.I. immediately and restores the lawful authority and oversight of the Central Bank of Belize over Government of Belize Bank Accounts.

Another baby dies at KHMH Continued from page 1 when at 2am on Sunday morning, Bol’s phone rang and a stranger’s voice just said to him “emergency”.

Bol panicked and ran out of his Nargusta Street home, thinking his wife, who was recovering at the hospital, had become ill. When he arrived at the hospital Recent photo of the baby unit at the KHMH he learnt the devastating news that his baby girl was dead. said he doesn’t believe the results Lawrence said he was shocked, of the examination and thinks that and even more disturbed when no one something else happened to his baby. could offer an explanation.

Could there be another outbreak of “We are terribly hurt. It’s not bacteria? The BELIZE TIMES has obpossible to explain. We just need tained recently taken photos of the help and justice for our baby,” he baby unit which continues clustered told our newspaper. and susceptible to contamination.

But justice may never come. It The KHMH, which falls under the never did in the case of the 13 babies Minister of Health Pablo Marin, has who passed in May, and from all inlost tremendous public confidence dications the hospital is protecting itsince the revelation of the 13 newborn deaths. The head of that institution, Dr. Gary Longsworth operates from somewhere in the clouds, as he admitted to not learning of the infection outbreak until he watched the evening news.

An evaluation of the hospital conducted by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) found that the health facility was negligent with its infection control and prevention standards, and this led to the deadly outbreak. Even with this indictment, no one at the hospital has been found responsible for the mass deaths.

It is incredible that in the face of Lawrence Bol such calamities and evidence of gross failure which has led to the loss of inself. The Minister of Health has, again, nocent lives, Pablo Marin can continchosen to remain silent in the face of ue as the Minister of Health for this country. It is clear that Prime Minister yet another scandal.

A post mortem carried out on the Dean Barrow has no real care for peobaby on Tuesday found the cause of ple of Belize, but only for the winning death as heart failure. But Lawrence of elections.

2013

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 Mortgage made the 22nd day of August, 2006, between LYNETTE RODRIGUEZ AND CLINTON D. RODRIGUEZ both of Belize City, Belize (Borrowers) of the first part, the said CLINTON D. RODRIGUEZ of Belize City (Surety) of the second part, and Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., of the third part, and recorded at the Land Titles Unit in Deeds Book Vol. 31 of 2006 at Folios 231–298, the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will at the expiration of two months from the date of the first publication of this notice sell the property described in the schedule hereto.

All offers to purchase the said property must be made in writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may be obtained from the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. SCHEDULE ALL THAT piece or parcel of land containing 691.983 S.Y. and being Lot No. 721 in Hopkins Village, Stann Creek District, Belize , shown and described by Plan attached to the Minister’s Fiat Grant No. 554 of 2006 dated 2nd June, 2006 TOGETHER with all buildings and erections standing and being thereon.

DATED this 26th day of June, 2013.

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

21 JUL JUL 21

THE BELIZE TIMESTIMES THE BELIZE

2013

TOPMODEL 13

ENTERTAINMENT

NEWS

The winners of the 8th Annual Belize International Film Festival held from are: Best Feature Length Narrative Winner: Toomelah (Australia, 2011) Director Ivan Sen Best Feature Length Documentary Winner: The Abominable Crime (Jamaica, Holland, UK, Canada 2013) Director Micah Fink Best Short Film Winner: CEBU (Cuba, 2012) Director Pablo Belaubre Best Short Documentary Film Winner: AGAPE: Story of a Dream (Spain, Thailand 2012) Director Carlos Quiles Most Notable Belizean Film Winner: MAROONS: Africans on the Move (Belize, 2013) Director Michael Flores Best Music Video Tanya Carter’s “Ex-Boyfriend”, directed

by Carlo Habet Melonie Gillett’s “Come Away”, directed

by Ben Hudson

Location: Best Western Belize Biltmore Plaza Hotel

8th Film Festival Winners!

Giselly • • • •

Height: 5’ 8” Career Plan: Entrepreneur Sign: Aquarius Favourite Food: Pizza

• • •

TOP MODEL Clothing and Accessories provided by CATWALK FASHIONS

Cor. North Front Steet & Queen Street Belize City

Likes: Modeling, Family Time Lives in San Jose Succotz, Cayo District Fav. Quote: “Strive for the Best and Never Give Up.” Follow us on facebook

visit us at www.belizetimes.bz or Facebook/ Belize Times

14 SPORTS

THE BELIZE THE BELIZE TIMES TIMES

21 JUL

2013

Excellence wins SMART Harrison Parks cricket finals

DHC Excellence are champs

Lawrence Banner took 3 wickets

Burke Howard made 33 runs

Double Head Cabbage, July 13, 2013 Double Head Cabbage Excellence became repeat SMART Harrison Parks cricket champs, bowling out the 4x national champs, Crooked Tree Brilliant, in the championship finals on Saturday.

Brilliant batted first but Excellence’s bowlers Orson “Big Dawg” Flowers took 5 wickets, while MVP Marlon “Camala” Nicholas, aka “Beach Body”, and Ian Broaster took 2 wickets each to hold the visitors to 124 runs all out.

Young Jermaine Smith led Brilliant with 24 runs, Brandon Lewis batted 23 runs, Landis “Ciego” Wade added 17 runs, while Rodwell Conorquie scored 14 runs.

Eldon “Pia” Wade and Lawrence Banner scored 8 runs each and Varron Westby batted 7 runs.

The Brilliant bowlers tried to hold them down as Lawrence Banner and Brandon Lewis took 3 wickets each and Rodwell Conorquie took 2 wickets for zero runs.

Emmanuel “Tweety” Mcfadzean Jr was the Man of the Match for Excellence as he partnered with Burke Howard to score 33 runs each and both remained not out. Excellence captain Ian Broaster scored 24 runs; while Kenny Broaster batted 10 runs and Brandon Broaster hit a single six to score 128-124 win.

Alburn Rivero sponsored this year’s trophies. Marlon “Camala” Nicholas won the Most Valuable Player award.

Camalote United still No.1 in women’s softball

Las Flores, July 14, 2013 The undefeated Camalote United is still No. 1 after defeating the Capital City Emeralds 9-1 win in the Cayo Softball Association’s women’s competition.

Pitcher Francine Salazar struck out 4 batters and walked 2, giving up only 3 hits and allowing no runs in the first 4 innings as she almost shut out the.

Belmopan’s pitcher Dana Mae King gave up 11 hits and walked 6 batters, allowing Nadina Coye, Frances “Fanny” Coye, Shadine Salazar and Bridgett Fuller to come home in the 1st inning; Nadina came home again in the 2nd and 3rd innings. Fanny, Francine and Sherlet

Gamboa came home in the 3rd; while only Felicia Gillett came home in the bottom of the 5th. Camalote had left 8 runners on base, while Belmopan left 4 runners on base.

The Capital City Emeralds will challenge the Las Flores Shooting Stars to a rematch and the Ontario Rebels take on Roaring Creek Grace Kennedy when competition continues in Blackman Eddy on Sunday, July 21.

Other matches: Roaring Creek Grace Kennedy vs.

Esperanza Wolverines – 17-8 Ontario Rebels vs. Las Flores Shooting Stars – 13-6 Winning pitcher – Indira Ireland

Delmi Hernandez scores

Weekend Warriors race results

Top 3 winners

Francine Salazar struck out 4 batters

Belize City, July 14, 2013 Team Scotiabank’s Barney Brown, Digicel 4G’s Anwar Barrow and Team Zitro’s Salvador Alvarado won the A, B and C division respectively of the Weekend Warriors’ 40-mile race from Cotton Tree to Leslie’s Imports in Belize City on the George Price Highway on Sunday morning.

Here are the Division Top 5 Continued on page 15

21 JUL JUL 21

2013

SPORTS 15

THE BELIZE TIMESTIMES THE BELIZE

2 victories for Moen Stars in volleyball competition Belize City, July 14, 2013 The Moen Stars enjoyed back to back wins when the 2013 female volleyball competition continued at the Belize Elementary auditorium Belize City over the weekend.

The Moen Stars’ Shelmadine Cacho, Emma Hoare, Nerisa Ramirez and Jahshema Saunders spiked home points on the national under-16 team on balls set by Xiomara Quan and Shantel Casimiro to make short work of the U-16 girls: 25-16, 25-5 and 25-16 on Saturday night.

On Sunday, the Stars gave equally short shrift to the Lady Jaguars taking the 1st set: 25-21. Shantel Arnold, Tichelle Solis, Marissa Williams and Ianni Garbutt rallied the Jaguars’ counter-

Weekend Warriors race results Continued from page 14 results: A Division 1st place – Barney Brown – Scotiabank - 1:44:02 2nd place – Fitzgerald “Palas” Joseph – Team Santino’s 3rd place – Mark Gentle – British Caribbean Bank/F.T.Williams 4th place – Wilbert Jones – Digicel 4G 5th place – Kirk Sutherland – Digicel 4G B Division 1st place – Anwar Barrow – Team Digicel 4G - 1:55:00 2nd place – Andrew Ordonez – Team Digicel 4G 3rd place – Eustace Ireland – Team Scotiabank 4th place – Maurice Kelly – B.C.B./F.T.Williams 5th place – Isaiah Willacey - Digicel 4G C Division 1st place – Salvador Alvarado – Team Zitro team – 1:22:29 2nd place – Sean Duncan – Team Zitro 3rd place – Curtis Bradley B.C.B./F.T.Williams 4th place – Dennis Mckoy - Truckers Posse 5th place – Lawrence Craig - Truckers Posse There will be 4 more races in the series. The next is set for Sunday, July 21, from mile 21 to the Busman Arnold Bridge at mile 60 on the George Price highway.

attack, scoring points on balls set by set by Tanesha Encalada and Leann Garbutt to win the 2nd set: 25-21, but the Moen Stars took the next 2 sets: 25-21 and 25-18.

The Lady Warriors had humiliated the Lady Jaguars 3-1 a week ago, but it was payback time for the Lady Jaguars last Saturday night they hammered the Lady Warriors in 3 sets: 25-15, 259, and 25-20.

The Lady Warriors did better on Sunday, as Barbara Cadle, Kaylani Reid Jasmine Anderson, Esther Middleton and Crystal Jones schooled the U-16 girls in 3 sets: 2516, 25-23 and 25-13.

In the “Jungle Rules” interoffice competition Saturday night, Cody Kuylen, Mar-

tin Gongora and Judith Hoare led the Belize Bank Bulldogs to a 25-11, 22-25, 15-11 win over Scotiabank, for whom Oscar Arnold, Michael Hernandez,

Arthur “Fish” Neal and Robbie Gongora had fought hard to win the 2nd set.

In the men’s competition the Scorpions stung the

defending champs, the Rebels 20-25, 25-9, 23-25, 25-21, 15-13. The competition continues on Tuesday night.

Cui & Sen win table tennis tournament

All winners

Belmopan Bombers leads Cayo men’s softball Camalote, July 13, 2013 The Belmopan Bombers hammered Camalote 11-7 to lead the Cayo Softball Association men’s competition at the Denbigh Fuller Stadium.

In the game last Saturday, Camalote’s pitcher, Herman Burke, struck out 8 batters, and gave up no runs for the first 3 innings, but his pitching fell apart after that. He gave up 6 hits and walked 6 batters.

Camalote was lead-

ing 3-0 when Shawn Lopez and Jhavon Gamboa came home in the 2nd inning and Burke came home in the 3rd. Belmopan’s pitcher Dion Guzman gave up 6 hits and walked 6 batters, but Belmopan soon took over the lead: 7-4 when Randy Joseph, Stephen “Muerte” Williams, Arthur Young, Dennis Myles, Francisco Gutierrez, Linsford Reneau, and Isidoro Ho came home in the 4th inning.

Noah Moro came off the

Camalote bench to score in the bottom of the 4th, but Myles came home again in the 5th.

Camalote’s Karim Flores and Chris Barnes came home in the 6th, but Belmopan’s pitcher Dion Guzman also came home in the 6th and Williams hit an in the park homer in the 7th. Camalote’s Shawn Lopez also homered in the 7th but Camalote left 7 runners on base as Belmopan still posted an 11-7 win.

Belize City, July 14, 2013 Carlos Cui and Sen Sen won the 2013 Brodies Strong & Weak table tennis tournament held under the auspices of the Belize Table Tennis Association at “the home of table tennis”, the Belize Elementary School Auditorium this past Sunday, July 14, 2013.

The tournament began with a double elimination format with 16 Doubles pairs participating and continued throughout the day for a total of 32 matches played. Cui and Sen won 1st place, while Tux Vasquez and Aaron Stock were 2nd; Harim Ochaeta and Hollis Parham were 3rd; and Tyrone Tun and Willie Chang came in 4th.

Billy Musa Jr., representing the sponsor BRODIES, awarded prizes to the winners and delivered the trophies to the winners along with cash prizes. He thanked the association for their work and promised to make it an annual event. The sponsors also provided free Monster energy drinks throughout the day to all participants.

Camalote made two errors.

The Bombers face the Warriors, and Las Flores take on Camalote when the competition continues at the Denbigh Fuller Stadium on Saturday, July 20.

Other match: Esperanza Royal Devils vs.

Las Flores - 16-12 Winning Pitcher: Patrick Jones

16

THE BELIZE TIMES

21 JUL

2013

21 JUL

17

THE BELIZE TIMES

2013

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 Mortgage made the 28th day of May, 2003, between RAY OGALDEZ of Independence Village, Stann Creek District, Belize of the one part, and Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., of the other part, and recorded at the Land Titles Unit in Deeds Book Vol. 19 of 2003 at Folios 539–566, the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will at the expiration of two months from the date of the first publication of this notice sell the property described in the schedule hereto.

All offers to purchase the said property must be made in writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may be obtained from the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. SCHEDULE ALL THAT piece or parcel of land being Lot No. 66B in comprising 311.778 S.M. situate in Independence Village, Stann Creek District, being more particularly shown on a Plan of Survey done by Licensed Surveyor John Hertular registered at the Lands and Survey Department, Belmopan City in Register No. 7 at Entry No. 5793 TOGETHER with all buildings and erections standing and being thereon.

DATED this 4th day of July, 2013.

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

Chiquibul

Opening a Can of Worms Continued from page 9 The Ministry of National Security appears to be unaware, or probably is hoping that the public will not become aware, of the increasing destruction of the Chiquibul Forest by Guatemalan incursions into Belize and the persistent presence of Guatemalan settlers on the Belize side of the border, because of official paralysis and the inability of our security forces to deal with the problem.

However, it is not surprising, given the government’s almost tacit support for the plundering of rosewood forest in the Toledo District by political criminals with close ties in the Cabinet.

The Guatemalan government will soon be facing mounting pressure to deploy military forces along its border with Belize. The drug cartels have been establishing themselves in at least five strategic locations in the Peten. They continue to seek alternative routes, possibly through Belize, for the shipment of drugs into the United States of America while trying to establish high level connections here..

As Belize’s National Security officials sit and twiddle their thumbs, given this new development, it would not be surprising that the U.S. government will make a considerable contribution to beef

Illegal Guatemalans caught panning for gold inside the Chiquibul forest The threat to Belize’s national security along its borders with Guatemala gets worse by the day. This is also because of the intransigence (perhaps deliberately) by the Guatemalan government and the Organization of American States (OAS). The Belize government continues to depend on quiet, or do-little diplomacy by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They have chosen to ignore the progress made by the former People’s United Party government towards a settlement with Guatemala over the border problem by strengthening trade agreement and through “Defence Diplomacy”. These have been replaced by stupidity, profiling and arrogance which look more like ignorance.

up the capabilities of the Belize Defence Force, in the hope that they will be able to choke off these new drug routes.

Belize’s dependency on Foreign Aid now comes from just about any country that is prepared to give. The dependency on aid is at an all time high. This includes donations and other forms of assistance from the Republic of Taiwan (the big godfather), Venezuela, Mexico, the United States of America, Canada, Britain, Japan, Israel and other “Friends of Belize”.

NOTICES Terena Inc. #82,593 (“the Company”) Pursuant to Section 102 (4) of the International Business Companies Act, Chapter 270 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2000, notice is hereby given that Terena Inc.: a) is in dissolution b) commenced dissolution on the 1st day of July, 2013; and c) Cititrust International Limited whose address is 35 Barrack Road, Belize City, Belize is the Liquidator of the Company Cititrust International Limited Registered Agent

18

THE BELIZE TIMES

21 JUL

2013

21 JUL

19

THE BELIZE TIMES

2013

Scales of JUSTICE

by anthony sylvestre

The Trayvon Martin of Belize!

On the night of 28th April, 2010, he, his boss and his co-worker were all unsuspecting occupants in a vehicle of events which would unfold. It was some minutes to nine that night when the trio was returning to their families and homes. Exhausted and hungry after a hard day at work, all they wanted was to reach home.

They drove onto Kraal Road from the direction of Guerrero Street, one of the designated “Police Special Patrol” crime ridden areas in the city; a designation which gives the police sweeping powers in the area to stop and search and which powers many residents swear the police exercise oppressively.

Some police officers who were in the area saw the approaching vehicle. Guns drawn, they demanded the occupants to exit the vehicle.

The occupants of the vehicle were in the process of complying. But then something happened. Pellet shots were fired from the direction of the police into the vehicle.

In the aftermath, Stephen Buckley lay gravely injured, twelve shot gun pellets having caught him in the head and some other pellets tattooing other parts of his body.

The vehicle was then searched, but nothing illegal was found- no drugs, no gun. Their crime, for sure, was that they were three black men in a hood at a time they shouldn’t have been there. They fit the profile of gangsters, thugs, criminals who were up to no good.

But it is a profiling that is done so consistently and routinely that this was bound to occur at some point, at some place.

In May of this year, Supreme Court of Jamaica in a case Gary Hemans v Attorney General of Jamaica held that such arbitrary stop and search profiling policy practiced by the police is unconstitutional.

The Jamaica Supreme Court indeed commented that: “… [T]he court is not unmindful of the high level of crime and the difficult circumstanc-

es in which the security forces are asked to operate. However experience [Jamaica] and other countries tells us that the fight against crime will be lost if, in the course of that fight, war is declared on the citizens of the country.

That is one of the important reason why the rights of all citizens must be respected, as the police carry out their very challenging duties.”

The court further reminded that: “The reasonable cause to suspect that an individual has or is about to commit a crime must relate to the peculiar characteristics of the persons or the vehicle he is driving or the manner in which it is operated … [T] he citizen is free to move about without an obligation to carry a pass, and is not to be subjected to arbitrary and random search.”

It is an amazing coincidence that two years after Stephen Buckley was shot and almost killed, an innocent 17 year old youth named Trayvon Martin, some 900 miles away in the state of Florida would be gunned down by an ex-policeman because he was guilty of the same crime: being a black man in a hood at a time he shouldn’t have been there.

And as it has been for the family of Trayvon Martin ever since that night when tragedy struck, life for Stephen Buckley and his family has changed altogether; has become terribly dehumanizing and emasculating.

He was before, a hard worker and the breadwinner for his family.

But he is now unable to work, as the left side of his body is partially paralyzed. He has therefore been relegated to a beggar, through no fault of his, in order to still feel like

a man and provide something for his family.

But as he explained in his interview with Channel5News earlier this week, it is something he would prefer not to do: “This dah weh dehn wah want me to do for the rest of my life? Di beg? I noh need fi di beg nobody or thing. I need help.”

And like the Trayvon Martin’s family, Stephen Buckley has asked for only one thing- JUSTICE. Far from getting justice, the cruel and unusual punishment meted out by the functionaries and agents of the state and system towards him continue.

The police department which had accepted some liability in April, 2010 for the shooting of Buckley and promised to assist him has long reneged on that

his surreal frustration with the system and the state, one wonders whether he doesn’t believes otherwise.

But Mr. Buckley must be told that the system and the state has a face. It is not illusory. It is the man in charge and those around him. Yes, it is you Mr. Prime Minister and your government. When will you help Mr. Buckley? When will you make meaningful changes to our justice system which affect and impact the lives of tens of thousands of ordinary Belizeans everyday?

You have written off loans for tens of thousands dollars for political expediency and mileage. You will get no political mileage if you help Stephen Buckley at this stage, for the people have already seen the true person you are. But as a taxpayer (he pays GST when he buys at the store) Mr. Buckley contributes to the paying of your salary. Help him. In doing so, you will only be doing what you are paid to do!

Their crime, for sure, was that they were three black men in a hood at a time they shouldn’t have been there. promise. Buckley is yet to receive the mere token groceries he was promised by then police commissioner Crispin Jefferies. Indeed the Ministry of Human Development has not even done a basic thing like putting Mr. Buckley on its much touted food pantry program.

And they can’t say that they know not of Mr. Buckley and his plight. Indeed, the UDP government’s mouthpieces on their morning show have been so debased that they have resorted to ridiculing Mr. Buckley and his plight.

And, as if that were not enough for this modern day Belizean Job, a month ago, the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital through its agents, was contemptuously cruel and heartless to the poor man. They sent him a letter informing him that he had to pay the medical bill which remains outstanding at that institution, they say, in the sum of $6,561.00. And if he failed to do so, he would be taken to court to recover same. Nobody disputes that the bill must be paid, but haven’t these people heard of the expression: “don’t kick a man while he is down”.

As Job did a few millennia before him, Mr. Buckley is surely asking “Why do the righteous suffer?”

For, as he explained, he was shot by the police and “I wasn’t bothering anyone”. Like Trayvon Martin, he was chanced because of profiling: he was a black man who was in a hood at a time he shouldn’t have been there.

Some will say that Stephen Buckley is a little better off than Trayvon Martin, if that can be said, because he is still alive.

But when I watched Stephen Buckley on the news the other night expressing

20 OUT

THE BELIZE TIMES

OUT

Paul Rodriguez: Rhetoric vs.

Truth

Credit Master Systems sets the record straight

Continued from page 2 Constitution if we allow it to become law.

The Anti- Discrimination law and measures that would be implemented will deprive us of these three most basic rights:

Continued from page 2 essential when extending credit.

To this end, CMS has developed two new online programs; 1) creditmastersystems.com. Will assist the business sector in making informed decisions prior to extending credit as well as provide the consumer with a personal complaint debt information (PCI) report. 2) cmssearch.bz Is used for tracking/researching the whereabouts of individuals. Our system is designed to obtain, organize and disseminate information about payment histories and debt profiles. This will: (1) assist the general public in acquiring credit, (2) allow credit grantors to increase their customer base and (3) allow the credit grantor to make informed decisions and reduce the risk of extending credit – moving goods and services and creating jobs.

Sharing bad debt information is vital to the development of Micro-Credit, Micro-Enterprise and the enhancement of the first information reporting system in Belize. Overall, Credit Master Systems is an essential partner to the social and economic development and credit education in Belize.

Thank you.

CREDIT MASTER SYSTEMS

1. freedom of religion 2. freedom of conscience 3. freedom of speech The Minister may be able to live without these rights, but We CANNOT. Paul Rodriguez

OUT Belize Defence Force exposes Barrow Continued from page 2 visit, the British Minister of Defence gave us these trucks valued at some $30,000. (Will the donation come out of the British defence aid to Belize?).

Since 2008, because of the failed administration of the UDP Government, the BDF has had major challenges in procurements, upkeeps and maintenance of it equipment and infrastructure at every BDF location in this country. The BDF naturally welcomes all help, particularly from Her Majesty’s British Government, our former colonizer who boasted richness and success from this country. But, when the BDF becomes their morning “tea party” jokes, we the Senior Officers of the Belize Defence Force reject these political games.

This nation must know that those 17 used Bedford 4 tonners to the BDF by the British High Commissioner had nothing to do with PM Barrow’s visit/vacation to the United Kingdom where his secret meeting with Conservative Lord Michael Ashcroft was exposed by the Opposition.

Lt. Col. Roger L. Jones LSM For BDF Senior Officers

21 JUL

2013

Stories of a

Political Inequality

By Sufferah I remember in 1987 when my father got laid off from this company called “Crown Agent”. My mother was a stayat-home mom and my father was the breadwinner. It was seven of us back then and my eldest sister was getting ready to go to high school, while my two brothers and I were going to primary school. After getting laid off, my father went to see the then area representative for the Queen’s Square division, as he is now, Dean Barrow, to see if he could get some assistance for my sister. My sister had graduated at the top of her primary school class at the St. John’s Primary School, which was in Dean Barrow’s constituency, and was across from where he then had his office on Kut Avenue, which the PSU now has its office at.

I was ten years old at the time, but I remember it like it was yesterday because as a poor family, we were all very proud and happy that our sister would be going to high school. We were all very sad when my father came back from visiting Dean Barrow. Mr. Barrow told him “I can’t do anything for you cause you’re a PUP”. Yes we were PUP and to this day continue to be PUP, but at the time, Dean Barrow was elected to be the area representative for everyone who lived in the area-UDPs and PUPs. Besides, we were poor, my mother and father were without a job and all we wanted was educational assistance for my sister to attend high school.

Luckily for us and my sister, she did so well in the then Belize National Selection Examination (BNSE) that she received a scholarship from USAID. It wasn’t until two years later that my other

brother would have to go to high school and so my mother and father were able to struggle through and put my sister through her first year. God being a good God, my father was then able to find a job sometime later working as a security guard.

My family’s experience is contrasted to the way Dean Barrow treats his family and close friends. He has always managed to secure scholarships for his close friends and family, not based on their intellectual merit, but because of political affiliation. And today in Belize you see it going on even more. Of the recipients that receive a scholarship four years ago, I can’t make mention of even one person from a PUP family who have been given a scholarship.

But I know and see several high profile UDPs that are presently enrolled in UWI and the Norman Manley Law School.

Just a few to mention are the daughter of the Minister of Human Development, Boots Martinez; the daughter of the former Attorney General, B.Q. Pitts; the daughter of the Housing Minister, Michael Finnegan; the daughter of three time UDP Albert division loser, Thomas Morrison; the son of the now Minister of Works, Rene Montero; the son of Hubert Elrington; and the former UDP Mayor of Orange Walk Town. All of these closely connected UDPs are on scholarships. Not to mention, three of Denys Barrow’s children who also have studied law as well. This cannot be coincidence.

Dean Barrow, if “education is the key” then why not give the keys to the well-deserved Belizeans so they could open up their doors?

21 JUL

2013

THE BELIZE TIMES

Reid Football Lessons

By G. Michael Reid Football was the big craze over the past two weeks as our beloved Jaguars broke ground into the realm of higher competition.

As one announcer on Fox Sports put it, “this is our World Cup”. To this point he is right but given the encouraging showing of our boys, he might at some point, be made to change that tune.

That of course, will depend on how we handle our minimal success. Given that six one loss to the US, a one nil loss to Costa Rica and a four nil loss to Cuba would not ordinarily qualify as success for most countries, but for Belize it is a step up. This is the first time we have ever competed at this level and normally, we are used to our teams going abroad and “taking a lot” from much less competent competition. Of course, the Gold Cup is still not the biggest stage as the real competition resides even higher up at the World Cup. Teams like Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are consistently in the top ten. To put things in perspective, the US is currently ranked at 22nd while Belize sits in 130th. Again though, for us it is a step in a good direction and now it will be up to us to ensure that the next step is further up and not back down. That will take some doing.

Belizeans “talked big” going into our match against the US, but in our hearts, we knew that it was only wishful thinking. We hoped only, that our boys would show heart and put up a good fight. Even the players themselves admitted that they fell short in that department but having watched the US team demolish Guatemala six nil, we were comforted by the fact that we were able to at least score

21

less competitions each year. What are we doing wrong and why are we still at this level? What has stymied our growth?

Growing up on southside Belize City, I watched many heated matches at then Edward’s Park. In our spare time, us kids would find any open lot to make a field. This is a part of what is lacking. There are so many empty lots in Belize City that could be cut and filled to proa goal. Vicente’s asinine comments vide playing space for our children. about “embarrassing the US” did litIt is a simple plan, add the cost to tle to help and I would suggest a gag the property tax of the owners and order for any future matches. when they refuse to pay, acquire We then saw a much better the properties to cover the cost showing against Costa Rica and reand for the public good. Until they alized that our boys had taken some are sold or put to other use, the notes from the loss to the US. We children would have a place to play. saw better ball movement, better If we want this thing to work, it control and more cohesion. In fact, will take some planning and some had it not been for a goal inadverwork. Funding yes, but just pouring tently scored on ourselves, we were funds into sports in and of itself, is in an excellent position for a tie. A tie not the panacea. There must be is as good as a win in these compeLittle Leagues and primary school titions and would have done much competitions. This is where the for the moral of the team. I think “soccer mom” aspect comes into that we all feel sorrier for, than anplay. Parents must also be involved and encourage their children and support them.

The Prime Minister just returned from a very exEvery school should have a football field and sports pensive junket to the UK which he boasted was must be fully incorporat“paid for by the people and government of Belize”. ed into the curriculums.

Ten days of high life comes at a pretty high Every district should have a FIFA certified football price. Yet, the football team which gave Befield and must be proplize invaluable international exposure had to erly maintained. Many of rely on panhandling and barbecue sales for these players from our financing. national team came up playing football in places it to audiences in that country. It gry at young Eiley for after all, this like Berger Field. Have you passed was almost two decades later, in is not Columbia. This is Belize where there lately? After much political the mid to late nineties that a Major we are more compassionate and pandering and promises, it is still League Soccer (MLS) association forgiving. a just an open space with hardly was formed. That is when the sport There have been many excusany grass. And we want to create really began gaining popularity and es given for our failure, in particuchampions that will embarrass the when “hockey moms” gave way to lar against the US team; some are US? People please! “soccer moms”. That aspect of the legitimate. The US team is well We can do this! But we must sport is more relevant than we refunded and their players eat, sleep start now. We have seen what a alize. and live football while many of our successful sports team can do for In Belize now, competitive socboys have full time jobs. They get our nation. With all else dividing cer, or football as we knew it, was way better training and for a certainus, here is something that unifies a rage from way back in colonial ty, even their kindergartens have us. We know what sports has done times. Teams like Dunlop, BEC, better facilities than our university. for many young people who would Landivar, etc. were drawing huge These are all correctable realities. have gone wayward had they not crowds to the MCC and such places The amount of money that is stohad an opportunity to play sports. like Edward’s Park from way back in len, squandered and shared among We don’t need politicians profiling the fifties. Men like Angus Vernon, corrupt politicians and their families for mileage and we don’t need Louis Garbutt, Winty J and others from our public funds can be put to so-called owners and managers like them were household names better use in providing funding and exploiting our young people. What and legitimate stars of the game. facilities for our athletes. The Prime we need is a holistic, coordinated The older folks always brag about Minister just returned from a very effort. All of us, working together how well they played in the older expensive junket to the UK which he to make this happen Let us begin days and to this day, we have countboasted was “paid for by the people this journey to excellence! and government of Belize”. Ten days of high life comes at a pretty high price. Yet, the football team which gave Belize invaluable international exposure had to rely on panhandling and barbecue sales for financing. Is it just me or is there something awfully wrong here?

Minister of Sports Herman Longsworth, in an interview given on June 26th, stated that his government could not spend money on “1 or 2% of the population”. Interestingly enough, he was up front and center profiling when the team played their first game in Portland.

Upon returning, Longsworth was heard doing some serious back-peddling and claimed that what his government is doing is to “ensure that we build the base”. Exactly where is this base being built Mister Minister?

Actually, that is exactly what needs to be happening. We need to promote sports and in particular football, from early in our primary schools. Funding is not the only thing that the US athletes have over ours. Those athletes are brought up through a system of discipline and good coaching. Most of our schools hardly have space for classrooms, much less playgrounds.

Another reason given why the US team was so much better than ours is because they have been together for a longer time. Let us look at that! Soccer as a sport is fairly new to the US. It was not until the late seventies that the legendary Pele was recruited to give the sport exposure and to properly introduce

22

Gender Equity: A Girl’s Right to Obtain an Education

By Dr. Angela Banner Joseph “Marriage can wait; education cannot” - Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns We must empower girls to pursue higher education. We need to determine what kinds of opportunities we can provide to allow young girls the choice not to marry young and not to have multiple births, which can place a heavy burden on them both economically and emotionally. Our young girls should not remain “barefoot and pregnant,” and they should not have to spend the majority of their young lives raising children. Even a married woman should not be co-dependent on a man for monetary survival. The World Bank contended, “When the proportion of women with secondary schooling doubles, the fertility rate is reduced from 5.3 to 3.9 children per woman. Providing girls with an extra year of schooling increases their wages by 10 to 20 percent.”

A young girl without an adequate education grows up to become a woman with limited options. Paul Glewwe, senior economist for The World Bank, asserted,“(1) Formal education directly teaches health knowledge to mothers; (2) Literacy and numeracy skills acquired in school assist future mothers in diagnosing and treating child health problems; and (3) Exposure to modern society from formal schooling makes women more receptive to modern medical treatments.” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon once said, “You will change a family if you empower a woman, but you will change the world if you empower a group of women.”

We have to motivate and encourage our young girls to remain in school and to pursue careers in all fields to better our country. We need to level the playing field and allow our young

21 JUL

THE BELIZE TIMES

girls to become first-class citizens, equal to our young men.

Ghanaian visionary educator, Dr. J.E. Kwegyir Aggrey, declared, “The surest way to keep a people down is to educate the men and neglect the women.

If you educate a man, you simply educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a family.”

Gender equality is necessary for the future success of our country, and it begins by providing all young girls with an adequate education. Girls need the opportunity to attain their full capacity, as noted in the Millennium Development Goals, which emphasize gender equality and empowerment. There is a strong need to improve the lives of our young women. The need is urgent to teach our young girls that their future growth and development is just as important as the growth and development of young men of this country.

The more education we provide our young girls, the greater their future opportunities are. With an education, a young girl can decide where and when she will marry and can plan how many children she would like to have.

She will be able to decide the best options for raising her children if she has a good education.

Collectively, we need to empower our young girls to exercise their basic human rights of living in an equitable society, where they can engage in positive changes in education, gender, and human rights. Further, we must support our girls by giving them the resources to excel academically. Former Secretary of State and First Lady of the United States, Hilary Clinton, asserted, “What we are learning around the world is that if women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women have a chance to work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families will flourish.

And when families flourish, communities and nations do as well.”

Dr. Angela Banner Joseph holds a doctorate degree in Educational Leadership and Change from the Fielding Graduate University

2013

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 Mortgage made the 4th day of August, 2005, between ROBERTO COC of Hope Creek Village, Stann Creek District, Belize of one part, and Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., of the other part, and recorded at the Land Titles Unit in Deeds Book Vol. 23 of 2005 at Folios 1215–1242, the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will at the expiration of two months from the date of the first publication of this notice sell the property described in the schedule hereto.

All offers to purchase the said property must be made in writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may be obtained from the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. SCHEDULE ALL THAT LEASEHOLD INTEREST IN ALL THAT piece or parcel of land being Lot No. 78 situate in Hope Creek Village Extension, North of Stann Creek Valley Road, near Mile 8.5, Stann Creek District and as bounded as follows: On the North for 22.856 metres by Lot No. 89; On the South for 22.856 metres by 27 feet road; On the East for 33.523 metres by Lot No. 77; On the West for 33.523 metres by Lot No. 76; containing 766.202 square metres of land 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 26th day of June, 2013.

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

21 JUL

23

THE BELIZE TIMES

2013

Home Economics

Belize’s Fiscal Reform

By Richard Harrison Here are TAX MEASURES (CURRENT & PROPOSED) and their NET EFFECTS in dollars and sense!

GST: 12.5% on 40% of consumption vs. 10% on ALL consumption (No exceptions nor exemptions) = $210 million vs. $525 million: RESULT of +$315 million Taxes on fuel: 26% on $200 million imports vs. 10% GST = RESULT of -$52 million Personal Income Tax: 25% on income over $25,000 vs. 10% on income over $18,000 (with deductions allowed for investments in education and housing) = $25 million vs. $10 million: RESULT of -$15 million Business Income Tax: 1.75% of sales vs. 1.0% of sales = $150 million vs. $100 million: RESULT of -$50 million Customs Tariff: Average of 9% raised to Average of 15% = $140 million vs. $230 million: RESULT: +$90 million Road Maintenance Contribution (NEW): $200/year for private, $400/year for commercial = RESULT of +$15 million

Environmental Tax: 2% on selected goods (Many exemptions) vs. 2% on ALL goods (No exceptions nor exemptions $10 million $26 million = RESULT of +$16 million Competitive Education Fund (NEW): 100% of ALL petroleum royalties = RESULT of -$20 million National Health Fund (NEW): 25% of all Business Income Tax = RESULT of -$25 million National Security Fund (NEW): 25% of all Business Income Tax = RESULT of -$25 million National Sports and Culture Fund (NEW): 25% of all Business Income Tax $0 $25 million RESULT: -$25 million TOTAL NET EFFECT +$224 million Richard Harrison is a local businessman and investor in the manufacturing and service industries. Mr. Harrison holds a Masters in Business Administration degree from Lancaster University, United Kingdom. Send comments to harrisonbz@yahoo.com

Unity and Will-Power We have seen how Belizeans naturally come together in unity.... when we are under threat from external forces....Guatemala, football, hurricane, etc. UNITY IS STRENGTH. UNITY IS POWER. Unity can protect us, defend us....bring out the best in us...and even heal us.

However, I will propose that the greatest threat to our national development...in all areas....are internal forces. How we look at ourselves.... how we look at each other....at our surroundings....at our past, present and future.

We have to be more willing to see each other get ahead....to help each other get ahead....to help each other up when we stumble and fall.

We have to be more of our brother’s

keeper. We are so few....all of us can get ahead.

This is not an issue of resources....nor of talent... this is an issue of will-power. The will to see beyond our nose....to acknowledge our wrongs.... and to work in unity towards deciding and making corrections....with mutual respect and honesty....so that we can achieve our common goals.

Resources don’t beget will-power....as much as will-power beget resources.

Belizeans....let’s ask ourselves these questions: Do we actually need a threat from Guatemala, a hurricane, or an international football challenge....for us to become unified? Do we have the will-power to change this about us?

Notice to Contractors Sam Stone International, an innovative export/import trading company operating out of South Florida, USA, offers Construction equipment and Parts, Motor Vehicles and Parts, Marine Equipment and Parts, Tools, General Hardware and Hospitality Supplies (new or used) at the very lowest prices.

We invite you to visit our website – www.samstoneintl.com; or, e-mail us at sales@samstoneintl.com; or, telephone 7868704-8420. Our highly skilled staff will be happy to listen, advise and give you a quote.

STATUTORY NOTICE OF CREDITORS IN THE ESTATE of NESSIE BURN Deceased of #63 Eve Street, Belize City

NOTICE is hereby given pursuant to Section 36 of the Administration of Estates Act, Chapter 197 of the Laws of Belize that all creditors and other persons having any claims and demands upon or against the Estate of NESSIE BURN, deceased, late of #63 Eve Street, Belize City, who died on the 1st day of February, 2013, and in whose estate Grant of Probate has been granted to ALAN STOLF BURN; should lodge such claims or demands with the said ALAN STOLF BURN c/o MUSA & BALDERAMOS, Attorneys-at-Law of No. 91 North Front Street, Belize City, on or before the expiration of three months GIVEN that at the expiration of the said three months the said ALAN STOLF BURN shall proceed to distribute the assets of the entitled thereto, having regard only to claims and demands of which they shall then have had notice.

DATED this 25th day of June, 2013.

MUSA & BALDERAMOS

Attorneys-at-Law for ALAN STOLF BURN

Executor in the Estate of Nessie Burn

STAUTORY NOTICE TO CREDITORS IN THE ESTATE OF DORA ESTELLA CHANONA Deceased of Belize City, Belize

NOTICE is hereby given pursuant to Section 36 of the Administration of Estates Act, Chapter 197 of the Laws of Belize that all creditors and other persons having any claims and demands upon or against the Estate of DORA ESTELLA CHANONA, deceased, late of Belize City, Belize, who died on the 2nd day of October, 1997, and in whose estate Grant of Administration has been granted to ANTHONY CHANONA; should lodge such claims or demands with the said ANTHONY CHANONA of No. 2 Lamanai Street, City of Belmopan, on or before the expiration of three months from the first publication hereof AND NOTICE IS ALSO HEREBY GIVEN that at the expiration of the said three months the said ANTHONY CHANONA shall proceed to distribute the assets of the said DORA ESTELLA CHANONA, deceased, amongst the beneficiaries entitled thereto, having regard only to claims and demands of which they shall then have had notice.

DATES this 26th day of June, 2013.

ANTHONY CHANONA No. 2 Lamanai Street, City of Belmopan

Administrator in the Estate of Dora Estella Chanona

24

21 JUL

THE BELIZE TIMES

2013

Recipe of the week Black beans and mashed sweet potato are seasoned with garlic, cilantro and lime juice then formed into patties in these hearty bean burgers.

BLACK BEAN BURGERS This recipe is suitable for little cooks between the ages of 8-11.

INGREDIENTS: 1 1/2 cups black beans, drained 6 Tbsps. fine breadcrumbs 3/4 cup sweet potato, baked and mashed 3 Tbsps. cilantro, chopped 1/3 cup white onion, diced 1 tsp. garlic powder 1 tsp. garlic, chopped 3/4-teaspoon salt 1 tsp. black pepper 2 Tbsps. olive oil 1 Tbsps. cider vinegar 2 Tbsps. lime juice 1/2 jalapeno, diced and deseeded

(optional) 5 whole-wheat buns

burger

Optional Toppings: 1 lime sliced into wedges 1 avocado 1 onion, sliced 1 tomato, sliced DIRECTIONS: Adult: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare a baking sheet with a light layer of vegetable shortening or nonstick cooking spray.

Together: Place the black beans, bread-

crumbs, mashed sweet potato, cilantro and onion together in a food processor or large bowl. Season the bean mixture with garlic powder, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, vinegar, lime juice and jalapeño, if using.

Together: If using a food processor, pulse the bean mixture together until all ingredients are well combined and evenly distributed. If using a bowl, mash the bean mixture together with a potato masher until well combined.

Kid: Shape the black bean mixture into 5 patties of equal sizes with your

hands. Roll the unbaked black bean burger patties in additional breadcrumbs if you like your burgers crispy.

Adult: Place the burger patties into the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Add the whole-wheat buns to the oven and bake 5 minutes more, or until the burgers have cooked through.

Kid: Squeeze the wedges of lime over the avocado slices.

Together: Line up all 5 toasted burger buns. Top each whole-wheat bun bottom with a slice of tomato, onion, avocado and bean burger.

OUT

MARRIAGES Duane Richard Daniels, 52, to Tina Marie Bernardi, 51, both of Montoursville, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Pedro Bernaldo Ku, 36, to Maria Elia Woodye, 37, both of Teakettle, Cayo District David Penner, 30, to Eva Braun, 27, both of Lower Barton Creek, Cayo District Sparsh Siddharth Khandeshi, 30, to Stephanie Lola Ellis, 31, both of Washington, District of Columbia, U.S.A. Simon Vincenzo Alongi, 33, to Sydney Lynn Taylor, 26, both of Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada Taylor Luke Lanham, 36, to Andrea Leann Henley, 41, both of Stafford, Texas, U.S.A. Ryan Andrew Huebsher, 30, to Heidi Jean Follis, 26, both of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, U.S.A. Chris Anthony Burns Cowette, 27, to Danielle Lee Gagnon, 31, both of Bangor, Maine, U.S.A. Michael Bryant Roberts, 46, to Angela Renee Raley, 45, both of Justin, Texas, U.S.A.

Alejandro Aniver Avilez, 26, to Thalia Adilene Ek, 24, both of San Narciso, Corozal District Kareem Joseph Smith, 30, to Betty Christine Palacio, 30, both of Belize City Jianfu Xu, 32, to Mavelia del Cid, 18, both of Ladyville, Belize District Patrick Francis Scott, 38, to Aura Janneth Osorio, 25, both of Belmopan Andres Sevilla, 52, to Melba Marina Morales, 51, both of Valley Community, Stann Creek District Alberto Luis August, 39, to Valerie Rushell Vernon, 24, both of Belmopan Ludwig Bowen, 21, to Morticia Grinage, 19, both of Ladyville, Belize District Jesus Lopez, 23, to Kristina Hernandez, 20, both of Cowpen, Stann Creek District Mario Alvaro Bol, 47, to Sandra Judith Ruano, 33, both of Independence, Stann Creek District Rong Chang Chen, 34, to Suzhen Zhen, 29, both of Belmopan Russell Wayne Young, 54, to Elena Ann Bradley, 54, both of Belize City

BIRTHS Born to Charles Edsel McCoy and Megan C. McCoy nee Galvez, a girl, Cali Camille Born to Uzzen Shafawn Ysaguirre and Emily Jayne Ysaguirre nee Barton, a boy, Evhian Shazawn Born to Travis Jamar Williams and Rena Emelle Williams nee Martinez, a girl, Arynn Brianne Born to Carnie R. Wolfe and Neta Wolfe nee Dueck, a girl, Mindy Dawn

DEATHS Wilhelm Charles Howard Gullap, 64 Lilian He, 49 Cecilia Albertha Young, 97 Beatrice Gonzales, 59 Eficaris Gongora, 75 Lloyd Alexander Stanford, 73 Earl Edward Villanueva, 43 Maria Alberta Coc, 14 Margaret Rose Bent, 55

Call to Action!

PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!

Continued from page 2 government office to seek redress and to complain.

But he was denied even a hearing. He stood in front of the same office and shouted, “How do you expect me to take care of my family and make a living?”

He then left the area and came back with a can of flammable liquid of which he doused himself in, struck a match and set himself ablaze. He later died some three hours after from the burns he sustained. Mohamed’s desperate act resonated with people in his home country, Tunisia, and beyond. Many now consider his actions/protest, the trigger for an uprising that helped to topple the country’s regime, and for many other protests that continue to foment daily in our world.

The question may be asked: why are different protests springing up in isolation of each other here in Belize? The answer is that more and more people are becoming extremely dissatisfied with the social, political and economic systems which were put in place to serve us justly.

When our government dishes out the right things,

and we believe as a people that their action are serving our needs, there is then very little need or desire for any protest at all. On the other hand, what we are now seeing an experiencing in Belize is that our systems and institutions are being rigged by more and more corrupt persons who work and bid for a chosen few. They have created the very conditions that are now ripe thus creating a condition for urgent social unrest. An urgent unification of all our people needs to trigger action to change from resignation to a belief that we must do something now.

As this UDP dictatorship continues to reign havoc by ruling with no compassion, some scattered fragmented protest have begun: COLA, Oceana, Mothers of Babies who died at KHMH, Teachers demanding pay, UB students protesting fee increase, aggrieved land seekers and now the Churches.

While some protests might get someone’s ears and attention, none have really brought the government to its knees.

Some have brought about major changes and should be viewed by all of our society as a way of fostering and strengthening our fragile democracy.

The time now seems right.

Who said we need to wait for five years to remove this tyrannical UDP government? The opposition PUP must rise, gather its troops, dialogue with organizations and lead a protest that will remove the tyrants in Belmopan. Belizeans, courage is not the lack of fear, it is acting in spite of it.

Signed, Stanley Lemus

21 JUL

THE BELIZE TIMES

2013

CONNECT THE DOTS Help the flower grow by connecting the dots!

A-MAZE- ME! Help the mother and her children through the maze to get ice cream!

25

26

21 JUL

THE BELIZE TIMES

2013

BRAIN

Handing over T-shirts along with Hattieville Chairman Kevin Carcamo to Inspector Banner for the Hattieville Cadet Youth Camp

TEASER

SUDOKU PUZZLE #26/2013

Hon. Dolores contributes to summer programs Belize District, July 17, 2013 As the summer of 2013 is now in full swing Area Representative for Belize Rural Central Hon. Dolores Balderamos Garcia has been making sure to make contributions to several summer programs for young people in Belize Rural Central communities.

Already Hon. Dolores has contributed water and refreshments for a football summer camp for children ages 7 to 14 being conducted by football instructor and physical education teacher Daniel Smith of Ladyville Technical High School. Daniel recently received a special citation for full passes in Physical Education at Ladyville Tech and once more this summer he is conducting a summer camp in football for

Ladyville children.

Hon. Dolores has contributed T-shirts for a summer program conducted by the Hattieville Police for young cadets from Hattieville. The program will engage the children in meaningful activities like camping and other outdoor sports so as to occupy their time and inculcate positive values.

Also, Hon. Dolores is donating food and refreshments to the Christian Youth Summer Program spearheaded

by The Redeem Christian Church of God at Mahogany Heights led by Pastor Thomas Mortis and Ms. Lorna Milligan. This venture is geared towards keeping the youth participants of Mahogany Heights focused and positive during the summer.

See answers NEXT WEEK

Hon. Dolores handing over a cheque to Ms. Lorna Milligan of The Redeem Christian Church of God.

Answers for last week’s puzzle SUDOKU PUZZLE SOLUTION #25/2013

Answers for last week’s puzzle

See answers NEXT WEEK

21 JUL

27

THE BELIZE TIMES

2013

BELIZE TIMES WEEKLY

SCIENCE & TECH R

E

V

I

E

W

Selected By Chris Williams

Down’s syndrome cells ‘fixed’ in first step towards chromosome therapy Researchers shut down the extra chromosome responsible for Down’s syndrome, paving the way for future treatments The Guardian, Wednesday 17 July 2013 Scientists have corrected the genetic fault that causes Down’s syndrome – albeit in isolated cells – raising the prospect of a radical therapy for the disorder.

In an elegant series of experiments, US researchers took cells from people with DS and silenced the extra chromosome that causes the condition. A treatment based on the work remains a distant hope, but scientists in the field said the feat was the first major step towards a “chromosome therapy” for Down’s syndrome.

“This is a real technical breakthrough.

It opens up whole new avenues of research,” said Elizabeth Fisher, professor of neurogenetics at UCL, who was not involved in the study. “This is really the first sniff we’ve had of anything to do with gene therapy for Down’s syndrome.”

Around 750 babies are born with DS in Britain each year while globally between one in a 1000 and one in 1100 births are DS babies. Most experience learning difficulties.

Despite advances in medical care that allow most to live well into middle age, those who have the disorder are at risk of heart defects, bowel and blood disorders, and thyroid problems.

Though a full treatment is still many years off, the work will drive the search for therapies that improve common symptoms of DS, from immune and gastrointestinal problems, to childhood leukaemia and early-onset dementia.

“This will accelerate our understanding of the cellular defects in Down’s syndrome and whether they can be treated with certain drugs,” said Jeanne Lawrence, who led the team at the University of Massachusetts.

“The long-range possibility – and it’s an uncertain possibility – is a chromosome therapy for Down’s syndrome. But that is 10 years or more away. I don’t want to get people’s hopes up.”

In a healthy person, almost every cell in the body carries 23 pairs of chromosomes, which hold nearly all of the genes needed for human life. But glitches in

People with Down’s syndrome are at greater risk of heart defects, leukaemia and early-onset dementia. Photograph: Getty Images

the early embryo can sometimes leave babies with too many chromosomes.

Down’s syndrome arises when cells have an extra copy of chromosome 21.

Lawrence’s team used “genome editing”, a procedure that allows DNA to be cut and pasted, to drop a gene called XIST into the extra chromosome in cells taken from people with Down’s syndrome.

Once in place, the gene caused a buildup of a version of a molecule called RNA, which coated the extra chromosome and ultimately shut it down.

Previous studies found that the XIST gene is crucial for normal human development. Sex is determined by the combination of X and Y chromosomes a person inherits: men are XY, and women are XX. The XIST gene sits on the X chromosome, but is only active in women.

When it switches on, it silences the second X chromosome.

Lawrence’s work shows that the gene can shut down other chromosomes too, a finding that paves the way for treating a range of other “trisomy” disorders, such as Edward syndrome and Patau syndrome, caused by extra copies of chromosomes 18 and 13 respectively.

Writing in the journal Nature, the team describes how cells corrected for an extra chromosome 21 grew better, and developed more swiftly into early-stage brain cells. The work, the researchers write, “surmounts the major first step towards potential development of chromosome therapy”.

The work is already helping scientists to tease apart how an extra chromosome 21 causes a raft of problems that strike people with Down’s syndrome at various ages. “By the time people with Down’s syndrome are in their 60s, about 60% will succumb to dementia. One question is, if we could turn off the extra chromosome in adults, would that stop or ameliorate their dementia?” said Fisher. Another approach would cut the risk of leukaemia by silencing the extra chromosome in bone marrow cells.

The US team has already begun work that aims to prevent Down’s syndrome in mice, by silencing the extra chromosome 21 in early-stage embryos.

“That would correct the whole mouse, but it’s not really practical in humans,” said Lawrence.

A chromosome therapy for humans would be fraught with practical and ethical difficulties. To prevent Down’s syndrome, the genome editing would have to be performed on an embryo or foetus in the womb, and correct most, if not all, of the future child’s cells. That is far beyond what is possible, or allowed, today.

Giant camera turns its redseeking eye on the darkness 17 July 2013 by Jacob Aron This explosion of colour is an assault on the eyeballs – but the device in the centre is designed to look for darkness.

The Dark Energy Camera (DECam), being assembled at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois, is now installed at the Blanco Telescope in Chile.

It captures light that has been stretched to higher wavelengths by the accelerating expansion of the universe, which is believed to be caused by a mysterious entity known as dark energy. Cosmologists hope that studying the extent of this stretching, known as redshifting, will teach them more about the true nature of dark energy.

DECam captures 570 megapixel im-

ages, about 100 times higher resolution than those taken by a typical smartphone, but the camera also has a wide view. A single image records an area of the sky 20 times larger than the moon as seen from Earth.

That’s not the only difference between DECam and more down-to-earth snappers.

Cylindrical controls called hexapods, which you can see sitting roughly in the middle of the camera, constantly tweak the camera’s focus to ensure a high image quality. The black box just to their left is a cartridge of swappable filters that let different wavelengths through.

Perhaps the only thing DECam can’t do is upload its snaps to Facebook in a single click.

28

THE BELIZE TIMES

21 JUL

2013

Pablo Marin

shows no confidence where it truly matters

Keep Bad Company

T

he misconception that Jesus is a shy, docile man is prevalent today, especially in a world that refuses to acknowledge Christ as Lord on any occasion but Christmas, where He is represented as an impotent baby. In reality, Jesus Christ was adept at breaking rules, making his followers rebels by association. In fact, Jesus went so against the grain that authority just had to get rid of him. He made absolutely no sense while making the most perfect sense. It’s confusing right? He loved contrasts like ‘to live you must die’ and ‘be in the world but not of it’. Jesus himself was a walking paradox, being both fully God and fully man.

Parents have been cautioning, probably since the beginning of time for their children to watch who they hang out with. “Don’t keep bad company” is a popular warning. But Jesus never really learned that particular lesson. In this way, he abandoned the normal customs.

The guy just attracted the whackos. His friends consisted of ex-politicians and thieves. He hung around with prostitutes and the religious enemies of his people.

His close friend was an ex-dead man named Lazarus (John 11:38-53). He was pretty weird.

Take His interaction with Zacchaeus in Luke 19:110. This man was a cheat, a liar and a thief. He was heartless and stole the hard-earned money from the people. He was hated by all and even the religious leaders scoffed at him and his corruption. But do you know what Jesus did? He said, “Zach, mein, come buy me some fry chicken mek ah eat suppa dah u house”.

I am borrowing the liberty of ‘Creolizing’ our Lord, but basically Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus’ house.

In those days, breaking bread together was an act of friendship. Jesus extended his friendship to sinners.

Exactly what does this mean for us? It means not ignoring that girl in your class or at your workplace that’s loose with her body for fear of losing your salvation. That means you can’t just look down your nose at the guy doing drugs. Jesus saw beyond the sin to the people inside. He knew that all of us are just beings hungry for love. Don’t get me wrong though. Don’t follow the actions of the lost. This is not an excuse to hang around the boys on the block and mimic the bad habits of this world. Your testimony and actions should influence them. So, don’t cross the street and look the other way because ‘you won’t keep counsel with the wicked’. Jesus did it and so can we. Besides, if believers would keep bad company, maybe more people would find the Truth.

Contributed Belize’s national health system has been under constant scrutiny for the past months. This has been due to the outcry of people who have felt that the delivery of quality health services within our public hospitals is very poor.

The deaths of thirteen premature babies at the KHMH provided us clear, objective evidence that indeed our health system is failing.

The PAHO report showed that standard precautions for hospital infection control and prevention and National Infection Prevention Guidelines lack of monitoring and of a supportive environment. It showed that there is poor coordination within the KHMH. Thus, it is evident that the ministry of health is unaware of their responsibility of steering role as the National Health Authority and it lacks clear policies within its ministry. The northern regional hospital has had a fair share of poor quality health care and so has the western regional hospital.

But these problems could be due to managerial mishaps at the regional levels, thus let’s take a look at the latest health indicators of the Americas published by PAHO/WHO 2012.

As a summary we can conclude that the Ministry of Health is neither ensuring access to quality maternal and child health care nor intensifying prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases at the national level.

The report indicates that Belize has a population of 324 thousand compared to millions in each Central American country. Its annual births average is 8 thousand while in Guatemala it is 483 thousand, in Salvador it is 125 thousand, Honduras 206 thousand, Nicaragua 136 thousand, and Panama 69 thousand.

Even though much less children were born in Belize, its infant mortality is one of the highest in the region and it has deteriorated compared to the previous year. It was at 17 but now it shows that 20.1 children out of 1,000 live births under the age of 1 year died according to PAHO’s report 2012.

Infant’s mortality is of great value since it is associated with maternal health, quality and access to medical care, socioeconomic conditions and public health practices. This indicator is the most important HEALTH indicator of a country’s health status and it has deteriorated under this government. The report also indicates that maternal mortality is at 55.3 per 100,000, compared to 0 for the previous year.

With respect to the incidence rate in HIV and Tuberculosis, Belize ranked # 1 in Central America and in death rate from all communicable (contagious) diseases per 100,000 it ranked # 2 at 105.6, Costa Rica 21.4,

Pablo Marin El Salvador 80.1, Guatemala 110.2, Nicaragua 42.1 and Panama at 67.2. This indicator is linked to a country’s poverty rate, nutritional status and its immunization coverage. Although immunization coverage is high in our country, deaths from communicable diseases is high because the other factors as poverty, nutritional status, food supply and the quality of essential medical services are poor.

According to the report on non-communicable (non contagious) diseases, Belize is also ranked # 1 in death rate from diabetes mellitus: Belize 78.8, Costa Rica 19.1, El Salvador 39.2, Guatemala 53.9, Nicaragua 63.8, and Panama 31.4. We also have one of the highest deaths rates from strokes, heart attacks and fatal road traffic accidents in the region.

And lastly the report showed that compared to our Central American countries the national health expenditure in the public health sector as a % of GDP is as follow: Belize- 1%, Costa Rica-4.3%, El Salvador-3.7%, Guatemala-2%, Honduras-3.6%, Nicaragua-4.6% and Panama-3.9%. Figures and numbers don’t lie.

If this is the amount allocated because of what can be afforded given our economic situation THEN it is imperative to ensure that there is increased efficiency of health system spending.

It is the MOH responsibility that budget allocated to KHMH and the regions are monitored. As a country we need to invest more in primary health care.

As a country we need to invest more in primary health care. We need to roll-out country-wide the national health insurance program introduced by the People’s United Party. Prevention is not only better than cure, prevention is cheaper than cure. We need to invest more on our people. The greatest resource of any country is not oil and gold, which we do welcome, but it is our human resource. It is the human resource that manipulates the other factors of production to create wealth and develop countries. Thus we can say that a healthy nation is a wealthy nation. These basic indicators show clear data that Belize is headed in the wrong direction and we are off track with the millennium goals.

21 JUL

2013

THE BELIZE TIMES

29

30

THE BELIZE TIMES

21 JUL

2013

EDITORIAL Spanish Dos Pies Izquierdos en Educación

E

l Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) fue creado en 1959. Es la principal fuente de financiación del desarrollo para América Latina y el Caribe. El Banco se promueve como tener un fuerte compromiso para lograr resultados mensurables, mayor integridad, transparencia y rendición de cuentas.

Sin duda, esto es una fórmula para un curso intensivo para el gobierno del UDP, que fallaría estas pruebas cada vez.

La vergüenza internacional más reciente provocada por el UDP a la población de Belice es explicado en el informe del BID titulado “Desafíos y Oportunidades en el Sector de Educación de Belice” emitido mayo del 2013. La credibilidad de este banco se basa en el hecho de que es enorme prestamista para el sistema educativo de Belice.

Este informe también es importante porque el UDP nunca admitiría que están decayendo. Se requiere a alguien independiente para hacer los pitazos denunciantes.

Pero el hecho inequívoco es que este informe es devastador.

Es impresionante darse cuenta de que en el contexto de un mundo basada en el conocimiento, el UDP nos han conducido a la Edad de Opacidad. El informe ha ido tan lejos como para decir que, como país estamos en riesgo de perder toda una generación.

Un ejemplo irrefutable es un índice del UNESCO sobre libros editados por país y por año. Este es un índice importante de la calidad de vida y educación. Es un indicador de la auto-conciencia de un país. Imagina que en la lista actual de 126 países - Belice ni siquiera está incluida. Omán, quien es listado como el número 126, llega completa con 7 libros publicados, mientras que los EE.UU. está número uno con 328 mil libros publicados por año.

Este informe simplemente confirma que la UDP no tiene ni la menor idea como siempre. Esto confirma que las iniciativas que puso en marcha la última administración PUP, eran ideales. El PUP, como confirman las estadísticas de este informe, había emprendido a solucionar estos problemas.

El auge masivo del PUP en la expansión de aulas y escuelas desde 1998 - 2008 fue una clara evidencia de nuestro esfuerzo deliberado y visionario para ampliar hasta el espacio físico necesario para la educación formal.

El UDP y Patrick Faber están políticamente e intelec-

tualmente desafiadas y está confirmado que son incapaces de desarrollar progresivamente el sistema la educación o del país. El UDP no es la solución de problemas.

El PUP siempre ha mantenido durante mucho tiempo que la educación es el motor para el desarrollo de una sociedad moderna.

Desafortunadamente, este tipo de informe es un cuerpo grotesco de pruebas que confirman la incompetencia de la UDP. Como Partido, el PUP cree y promueve el hecho de que la tecnología debe jugar un papel fundamental en la vida de la forma en que educamos a nuestros hijos.

Si pones un grupo de personas educadas en una habitación para resolver este problema que tomaría décadas para llegar a un consenso. La historia nos enseña que la intervención radical, como las campañas de alfabetización de los cubanos en la década de 1960 y 70, es la única manera de enfrentar a este tipo de crisis.

El UDP debe tomar nuestro buen consejo gratuitamente. En vez de reducirnos a una nación de adictos hacia Taiwán y Estados Unidos, deben acercarse hacia una relación con ellos de una manera civilizada. Entrando en un acuerdo en la transferencia de herramientas tecnológicas, especialmente en el área de la educación durante 10 años.

Pero, no esperes mucho del UDP. Para ser justo con ellos, no son capaces del pensamiento inteligente. Son realmente un partido de oposición. Eso ha sido su historia.

Habrá otros informes que confirmen las insuficiencias de la Administración de UDP. Ellos atacaran con insultos como respuesta. Patrick Faber se va desesperar y humillado de que el mundo vea su fracaso. Él llamará maestros abusadores de niños. Pondrá toda la culpa a los padres. Él hasta dira que la iglesia es el problema.

Pero el informe del BID, que se basa en un informe realizado en 2009, está claro. Patrick Faber está fallando en su liderazgo de nuestro sistema educativo. Está aniquilando a una generación entera con su fracaso.

Insulte el BID ahora. Llámele la Alianza Ashcroft.

Llámenle a aquella gente malvados de la iglesia. Mientras tanto, Belice pierde una generación de verdaderos líderes debido al fracaso UDP. Belice se mantiene con sus dedos cruzados que el fracaso y la incompetencia del UDP siempre es capaz de resolverse cuando el PUP asuma el gobierno en los próximos tres años.

21 JUL

2013

31

THE BELIZE TIMES

Faber Exposed!

IDB study reveals growing inequalities in Education Sector

Continued from page 1 of dollars is pumped every year into the education system, the results are glaring inequalities in access and quality at all levels.

While 95 percent of the primary school-aged children were attending school in 1999, the numbers have rolled back as only 92 percent were going to school in 2009.

The study indicated that this decreasing trend makes it unlikely that the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education coverage will be reached by 2015. The report also shows that over the last decade, Belize has made some progress in expanding education at the secondary and tertiary levels. The record shows

that all of this progress occurred during the PUP Government.

More than half of Belize’s secondary school-aged children remain out of school, 56 percent in 2009, according to the study.

Inequality persists in access to education. The study cited that the enrolment gap between the wealthiest and poorest groups of primary school students increased by 300%, from 2 percentage points in 1999 to 7 percentage points, in 2009. It also indicates the disturbing trend that children living in urban areas are more likely to attend school than those in rural areas, especially at the secondary level. The urban-rural gap in primary schools has remained largely constant at 2 percentage points over the last decade.

In 2009, 93 percent of primary-aged children in urban areas attended school, compared with 91 percent in rural areas. The gap is much more pronounced at the secondary level. In 2009, while five in ten students living in urban areas were enrolled in secondary schools, only three in ten residing in rural areas were attending school.

This is a shameful and intolerable.

The Minister of Education Patrick Faber loves to boast about his performance, but he is walking on melting ice and is like the naked emperor. The reality is that under Faber the UDP, education is not improving and not treated as a priority. Imagine that this study was conducted long before fees at the University of Belize were INCREASED in January of this year.

A Belize/Guatemala OIL ALLIANCE??

Belize City, July 17, 2013 According to several online news reports, the Governments of Belize and Guatemala are negotiating terms for a sort of oil exploration alliance along the border area.

As highly controversial as it sounds, reports published on various online news websites such as oilexploration.net and prensalatina. com are that Belize, Guatemala and Mexico are currently in discussions

about an agreement that would see them unify exploratory efforts to find oil along the border area that covers Chiapas (Mexico), Peten (Guatemala), and the Orange Walk, Cayo and Toledo Districts in Belize.

The area is believed to contain significant amounts of black gold.

But what exactly is this agreement about? How can Belize consider an oil alliance with Guatemala, who has disrespected Belize’s territorial

sovereignty by aggressively claiming Belize territory? The BELIZE TIMES could not find out as Ministry officials are tightlipped, as usual, but the suspicious move is coming at a peculiar time. Belize and Guatemala recently decelerated talks about holding a referendum to seek public approval to resolve the territorial dispute before the International Court of Justice. Guatemala arbitrarily withdrew from the talks after it accused Belize

of bad faith with the passing of legislation that raised the threshold to validate referendums.

During the talks, there were tense episodes as Guatemalan officials reacted furiously to incidences where Belizean soldiers shot and killed Guatemalan trespassers.

The news reports of an oil alliance among the three countries indicate that the idea was introduced

by Mexico.

CARTOON

32

THE BELIZE TIMES

21 JUL

2013