Carib Scope

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  • VN waarschuwt voor ‘extreme weersomstandigheden’ door intensiverend El Niño

    VN waarschuwt voor ‘extreme weersomstandigheden’ door intensiverend El Niño

    The United Nations has issued an urgent global alert, calling on national governments and humanitarian aid groups to ramp up preparations for a surge in extreme weather events — including prolonged heat waves, severe droughts, and intense rainfall — driven by the developing El Niño weather phenomenon, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced Friday.

    WMO confirmed that El Niño conditions have already emerged across the equatorial Pacific, and forecasters project the phenomenon will intensify rapidly between July and September. El Niño typically reaches its maximum strength between November and February of the following year, bringing far-reaching disruptions to global weather patterns.

    To help communities and authorities prepare for coming impacts, UN agencies have activated enhanced climate information services and early warning systems. These tools are designed to enable governments and first responders to roll out targeted support plans for vulnerable farming communities and at-risk populations that are most exposed to climate hazards.

    “El Niño amplifies the likelihood of drought, extreme rainfall, and deadly heat waves across both continental landmasses and ocean ecosystems,” explained WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. She emphasized that “advanced seasonal forecasting and early warning systems are absolutely critical to saving lives and reducing the devastating economic and social impact of extreme weather events.”

    El Niño is a naturally occurring climate pattern marked by unusual warming of surface waters in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. This warming triggers global shifts in wind patterns, atmospheric pressure systems, and precipitation distributions that can last between 9 and 12 months. On average, El Niño occurs every two to seven years, though its impact varies widely across different world regions. It alternates with its cool counterpart La Niña as part of the broader El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, which also includes neutral climate phases — even during these neutral periods, extreme weather can still occur.

    This year’s El Niño comes on the heels of record-breaking global ocean temperatures that hit an all-time high in June, with the phenomenon already cited as a key contributing factor. The previous major El Niño event helped push 2023 to become the second-warmest year on record, and 2024 to the hottest year ever recorded, with global average temperatures reaching roughly 1.55 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline of 1850 to 1900.

    Across Europe, the early impacts of the 2025 El Niño event are already being felt, with record-breaking heat waves causing widespread harm to public health. According to France’s national public health agency Santé publique France, an estimated 1,200 heat-related deaths were recorded in the country alone in June. In Spain, public health officials registered nearly 900 heat-linked fatalities, concentrated largely among elderly populations in southern regions and dense urban areas.

    In Italy, the country’s National Institute of Health reported that more than 700 people sought medical care for heat exhaustion and heat stroke, with the highest caseloads recorded in the central Lazio region and the island of Sicily. Even in northern Europe, Germany has seen a sharp rise in heat-related hospital admissions, with around 450 cases recorded over the past six weeks, most involving vulnerable demographic groups.

    In response to the ongoing heat wave crisis, national and local public health authorities have issued widespread heat warnings and emergency services have boosted preparedness, opening additional public cooling centers and free water distribution points in the hardest-hit areas. Local governments have urged residents to prioritize consistent hydration and sun protection to avoid heat-related illness.

    The rising death toll and public health burden across European nations underscores the direct, life-threatening impact of El Niño amplified by long-term anthropogenic climate change, and reinforces the urgent need for robust early warning infrastructure and proactive public health prevention measures to protect at-risk populations.

  • Elections : The Prime Minister’s Office approves an electoral budget cut in half

    Elections : The Prime Minister’s Office approves an electoral budget cut in half

    In a significant development for Haiti’s upcoming democratic process, top government officials and electoral leaders announced a landmark budget agreement for national elections on Friday, July 3, 2026. Following multiple rounds of collaborative working sessions, the Prime Minister’s Office and Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) have finalized a slashed budget for electoral operations, cutting the original preliminary proposal by nearly half.

    Technical oversight for the budget review was led by teams from Haiti’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), which conducted a line-by-line audit of every expenditure category in the initial funding request. The re-evaluation was grounded in practical, context-aware assumptions that balanced core operational needs with the country’s current fiscal realities. Planners incorporated key on-ground factors, including the incremental improvement of Haiti’s security landscape, the restoration of movement in previously hard-to-access regions, the Haitian government’s constrained financial capacity, and global best practices for responsible public financial management.

    Under the final agreement, total authorized funding for electoral operations stands at $120 million USD. The two bodies have also included a provision for future adjustments, stating that the budget may be amended at a later date via joint consensus if unforeseen operational needs arise. The revised total marks a sharp reduction from the $250 million preliminary budget initially submitted by electoral officials. Prior to this agreement, a joint commission featuring representatives from three United Nations bodies—the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), and the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH)—had already proposed a downward re-assessment, recommending a budget range of $220 million to $230 million. Even that revised UN-proposed range is nearly double the newly agreed $120 million allocation.

    Leaders from both institutions frame the budget deal as a critical milestone in moving long-planned elections forward. The Haitian government has reaffirmed its commitment to securing all necessary resources for every stage of the electoral process, working within the limits of state capacity and in coordination with domestic and international partners. For its part, CEP has reiterated its pledge to oversee the electoral process with impartiality, professionalism, and full independence, adhering strictly to Haiti’s constitutional and legal framework as well as globally accepted standards for democratic election administration.

  • Defense Ministry Paid J&J Imports $1.1M Through Repeated Small Invoices

    Defense Ministry Paid J&J Imports $1.1M Through Repeated Small Invoices

    A growing corruption scandal tied to Belize’s Ministry of Defense has expanded with new revelations of more than $1.1 million in improper payments to a private import firm, all routed through a pattern of small, under-the-threshold invoices designed to evade oversight. The latest findings, pulled from 163 leaked internal Smart Stream financial documents reviewed by News Five, show that between 2022 and 2025, J&J Imports collected the seven-figure sum from defense department coffers, with nearly all payments individually capped below the $10,000 reporting threshold that triggers stricter approval protocols.

    This exposure follows earlier disclosures of multi-million dollar questionable payouts to connected firms, including more than $9 million directed to businesses linked to the Mira family and $1.7 million earned by Kukulcan Company Limited, which has alleged ties to Belize’s Minister of National Defense Florencio Marin. Of that total, $1.4 million came directly from the defense ministry via the same small-invoice practice, leading investigators and journalists to suspect a coordinated scheme to avoid public scrutiny.

    Additional documents name Enrique Javier Requena, the publicly confirmed owner of J&J Imports, as having received more than $275,000 in separate payments between 2021 and 2022, again through repeated sub-$10,000 invoices. On a single day in July 2022 alone, for example, the Ministry of Defense disbursed a combined total of more than $109,000: $16,287.27 to J&J Imports across three small invoices, and $93,061.59 to Requena across 13 separate small invoices. Records also show a $10,000 payment from the Office of the Prime Minister to Requena in December 2021.

    Public scrutiny has now turned to potential political connections: Requena is a second cousin to Ramon “Monchie” Cervantes, the People’s United Party (PUP) Area Representative for Orange Walk North. When contacted by reporters this week, Cervantes confirmed his family relationship to Requena but denied any involvement in securing the defense ministry contracts or payments. “No, not at all, I had nothing to do with it,” Cervantes told reporters, distancing himself from the expanding controversy.

    As questions mount over who authorized these repeated small payments and what role political connections played in awarding the contracts, Prime Minister John Briceño has pledged full accountability. Briceño noted that his administration campaigned on a promise of cleaner governance, and has already ordered a full independent audit of defense ministry finances led by the Auditor General. “We made a promise that we are going to be different and as Prime Minister I think it was my responsibility to act quickly. I did not try to hide anything or push it aside,” Briceño said. “Once that came to my attention, I had to act and both former ministers are people I know over years, but we have a compact with the Belizean people that we will be different.”

    The audit is scheduled to take 90 days to complete, with Briceño confirming that any individual found to have engaged in misconduct — whether public servant or elected politician — will face consequences. “The Auditor General is starting to compile all information. The CEO, CEO Usher has assured me that they are complying to the full extent and the auditor general will do a full investigation and if there was any wrong doing, be it public officers or politicians, they will have to answer,” the prime minister added.

  • Monchi Breaks Silence on J&J Imports and Smart Stream Suspensions

    Monchi Breaks Silence on J&J Imports and Smart Stream Suspensions

    On July 3, 2026, Belizean area representative for Orange Walk North Ramon “Monchi” Cervantes has publicly addressed growing public and political scrutiny surrounding his alleged ties to J&J Imports, a local firm currently under investigation over questionable payment arrangements with the Ministry of Defense. The long-serving politician pushed back hard against any claims of involvement, denying any formal or informal connection to the import company despite its registration being held by members of his extended family, the Requena.

    The controversy has already spilled over into the broader Smart Stream public procurement scandal, which has seen multiple sitting colleagues of Cervantes placed on administrative leave, including senior cabinet member Florencio Marin Junior—one of Cervantes’ closest political allies in the northern region of the country. When reporters pressed Cervantes for his reaction to Marin Junior’s decision to step down from his cabinet post pending the investigation, the lawmaker clarified that the move was entirely Marin’s personal choice, noting he had not spoken with his ally about the decision and would respect whatever path Marin chose to take.

    In a series of questions from local political reporters, Cervantes refuted every allegation of improper influence tied to the company. When asked whether J&J Imports had ever provided pantry or grocery aid packages to his Orange Walk North constituency, Cervantes flatly denied the claim. He also rejected suggestions that he had lobbied senior minister Marin to help J&J Imports secure a favorable public supply contract, telling reporters he never held any such conversation. When pressed on whether the company was specifically created by his relatives to win lucrative Belize Defense Force (BDF) supply contracts, Cervantes said he had no knowledge of the company’s founding purpose.

    Most recently, unconfirmed reports have circulated that Cervantes was once considered a top candidate to take over the national defense portfolio, but that the prime minister ultimately ruled out the appointment because of his familial connection to J&J Imports, a major current supplier to the BDF. Cervantes dismissed any insight into the appointment process, repeating once more that he holds no connection to the import firm at all.

    This report is adapted from a verbatim transcript of a local evening television newscast that conducted the on-the-ground interview with Cervantes this week.

  • Chamber to PM: Fix the System, Not Just the Scandal

    Chamber to PM: Fix the System, Not Just the Scandal

    The ongoing Smart Stream procurement and payment irregularities scandal in Belize has sparked a widespread call for systemic public financial reform from the nation’s leading business advocacy group, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry (B.C.C.I.). In an official letter addressed to Prime Minister John Briceño released on July 3, 2026, the chamber voiced its support for the government’s ongoing investigation into the scandal, but pushed back against the idea that resolving the controversy alone is enough to address longstanding risks to public funds.

    The B.C.C.I. argues that Belize’s current reactive approach to public financial mismanagement – waiting for scandals to emerge before taking action – is unsustainable. Instead, the organization is calling for proactive safeguards to be embedded into public financial systems before any public funds are allocated or disbursed, to prevent misuse before it occurs.

    A top priority for the chamber is an urgent upgrade to the country’s Smart Stream accounting platform, the digital system at the center of the current scandal. The B.C.C.I. has outlined a clear set of technical improvements, including built-in automatic fraud alert systems, duplicate payment detection tools, more rigorous invoice verification protocols, and stricter access controls that limit which public officials can approve and process payment transactions. The chamber notes that these upgrades would enable real-time flagging of suspicious activity, closing the regulatory and technical gaps that have allowed public money to be misappropriated in the past.

    Beyond technical changes to the accounting platform, the B.C.C.I. is also advocating for broader governance reforms. These include strengthening external and internal audit processes, accelerating the public release of completed audit reports, and enforcing tangible consequences for public entities and officials that ignore audit reform recommendations. Crucially, the organization emphasizes that many of these changes do not need to be delayed until the current Smart Stream investigation concludes; work can begin immediately to strengthen public financial safeguards.

    In its statement, the B.C.C.I. framed the reform push as a foundational step for stronger governance in Belize. Accountability for public funds should not be an afterthought addressed only after a scandal breaks, the group argues. Sustainable good governance relies on three core pillars: robust, secure financial systems, strong independent institutions, and a public sector culture where every taxpayer dollar is fully traceable from allocation to expenditure.

  • Will Smart Stream Scandal Hurt the P.U.P. at the Polls?

    Will Smart Stream Scandal Hurt the P.U.P. at the Polls?

    As the Smart Stream public procurement scandal continues to unfold in Belize, growing public concern over mismanagement of government contracts and public payments has put the ruling People’s United Party (PUP) on the defensive ahead of upcoming municipal elections. Prime Minister John Briceño has outlined a sweeping policy response to address systemic weaknesses in public contracting, proposing the establishment of a new Central Procurement Unit to centralize all government purchases of goods and services. Briceño confirmed that the administration intends to table enabling legislation for the new body before the National Assembly, with a target to secure passage through both the House of Representatives and the Senate by the end of 2026.

    The scandal has quickly shifted from a policy debate over public financial management to a core political test for the PUP. When pressed by reporters on whether the ongoing controversy would erode voter support for the party in the upcoming municipal contests, Briceño acknowledged the severity of the scandal, calling it a “serious blow” to the party’s standing. Even so, he remained confident in the PUP’s electoral prospects, pointing to a track record of tangible delivery from incumbent PUP municipal councils and highlighting a strong slate of candidates. In particular, he praised the two dynamic young candidates running to represent the party in Belize City, saying he remained convinced the party would hold its ground at the polls.

    Beyond the political fight over voter sentiment, new questions have emerged about the credibility of the official audit probe into alleged corruption at Belize’s Ministry of Defense. Sources within the Auditor General’s Office speaking exclusively to News Five have raised concerns over the qualifications of the audit team assembled to investigate allegations of improper and corrupt payment practices within the ministry. According to the well-placed sources, multiple members of the special investigative audit team have less than a decade of professional auditing experience, with some holding fewer than five years of practice in the field. While a specialized ad-hoc team was put together to support the inquiry, lingering doubts remain over whether the team possesses the combination of expertise, institutional experience, and resources required to fully unpack the extent of the alleged wrongdoing and uncover all potential misconduct. As public scrutiny of the scandal grows, observers continue to question whether meaningful accountability for improper practices will be delivered, or if critical evidence of misconduct will be overlooked in the final audit report. News Five has committed to continuing comprehensive coverage of this developing story as new details emerge.

  • NTUCB Says Transparency, Not Surnames, Is the Real Issue

    NTUCB Says Transparency, Not Surnames, Is the Real Issue

    As the ongoing Mira Millions controversy continues to escalate in Belize, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) has announced it will hold off on formal public action until independent investigations uncover the full facts of the alleged improper government contracting.

    NTUCB President Ella Waight has laid out the union’s clear stance on the unfolding scandal, acknowledging widespread public concerns over government contracts being disproportionately awarded to well-connected political families. In a careful framing of the union’s position, Waight emphasized that Belize’s small social fabric means familial connections are unavoidable across all sectors, and blood ties alone should not automatically disqualify any citizen from competing for public sector work. Instead, the core issue at the heart of the scandal is not family relationships themselves, but whether contracts were awarded through a fair, open, and properly regulated process.

    “There are clear signs that nepotism has played a role here,” Waight stated. “A large number of contracts have been handed to a single family, when we know there are many other qualified Belizean businesses and individuals equally capable of delivering the required services and goods. The critical questions we need answered are: Were other qualified candidates given a fair shot at these contracts? Did they even know the opportunities were available? Were the contracts advertised properly to the public?”

    Waight stressed that all these unanswered questions will be addressed through the ongoing official audit and investigation. Once the full findings are released, the NTUCB will determine what concrete action is needed in response to the results. The union is currently monitoring the investigation closely, waiting to move forward until all facts are on the table.

    Waight went on to clarify that the union is not opposed to family members of public officials winning government contracts entirely. “We have to be realistic: Belize is an extremely small country. Most of us are related in one way or another, whether through close cousinhood or distant family ties,” she explained. “We don’t want to give the impression that the NTUCB opposes any family member of a public official holding a government contract under any circumstances. That’s not our position at all. What we oppose is limiting public contracting opportunities to only one family or connected group of individuals. That’s the key point we need the public to understand.”

    She added that the stakes of the controversy are far higher than just procedural fairness, noting that unnecessary waste of public funds comes at a time when Belizean households are already grappling with sky-high cost of living. “We cannot afford to keep squandering public money right now,” Waight emphasized. “With living costs already pushing many families to the brink, every public dollar needs to be spent responsibly and openly.”

  • Landmark CCJ Decision Strengthens Belize’s Financial Services Rules

    Landmark CCJ Decision Strengthens Belize’s Financial Services Rules

    On July 3, 2026, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) delivered a historic precedent-setting judgment that clears the path for Belize to strengthen its financial services regulatory framework, resolving a high-stakes legal challenge that questioned the compatibility of the nation’s rules with CARICOM trade agreements.

    The dispute originated when prominent Belizean businessman Anwar Barrow, alongside seven domestic companies, launched a legal challenge against requirements that mandate certain companies with cross-border links to use locally based registered agents to handle official documentation and filings. The claimants argued that the regulation placed unjustified additional costs and administrative burdens on firms whose shareholders or directors held ties to other CARICOM member states, claiming the rule violated the regional trade bloc’s competition and free movement provisions.

    This case marked a milestone in CCJ history as the first ever referral matter to come before the regional court. In the ruling delivered by CCJ President Justice Winston Anderson, the court sided firmly with Belize’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the national Attorney General, rejecting the claimants’ challenge on interpretative grounds.

    Justice Anderson clarified the scope of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC), the foundational agreement governing CARICOM. He explained that Article 177 of the treaty is explicitly designed to target anti-competitive business practices undertaken by private enterprises, not regulatory policies enacted by national governments. “The court held that Article 117 is concerned with the conduct of enterprises, not regulatory measures of the state,” Anderson stated in the court’s official reading of the judgment. “Applying this interpretation, the court concluded that the requirements imposed in the instant matter are regulatory matters enacted by the state and do not arise from the business conduct of an enterprise.” While the court acknowledged that state regulations that distort regional competition may be reviewed under other provisions of the RTC, Anderson noted that the current referral did not request interpretive guidance on those clauses, leaving the core original rule intact.

    Legal teams for all parties brought senior regional counsel to the case: the FSC was represented by Senior Counsels Eamon Courtenay and Pricilla Banner, with Samantha Matute and Alea Gomez acting for the Attorney General’s office. The claimants were represented by Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith, alongside Hector Guerra and Edgar Lord.

    This ruling carries substantial long-term implications for Belize’s financial services sector, one of the key pillars of the nation’s economy. By upholding the local registered agent requirement, the judgment reinforces Belize’s ability to enforce robust regulatory standards for international and foreign-linked firms operating within its jurisdiction, supporting efforts to maintain transparency and compliance in the country’s fast-growing financial services industry. This text is adapted from a transcript of an original televised evening news report.

  • National Tourism Day : A passionate appeal from Minister Stéphanie Smith

    National Tourism Day : A passionate appeal from Minister Stéphanie Smith

    On July 3, 2026, Haiti’s Ministry of Tourism gathered a broad cross-section of stakeholders at Port-au-Prince’s Oasis Hotel to celebrate National Tourism Day, centered on the unifying theme “Heritage, Investment, and Territorial Recovery.” The high-level event brought together top government officials, private sector leaders, members of the diplomatic corps, international development partners, and representatives from across Haiti’s fractured tourism industry to chart a path forward for an sector that holds enormous untapped potential for the Caribbean nation.

    Attendees included Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé and six cabinet ministers spanning the tourism, diaspora, public works, trade, planning, and culture portfolios, reflecting the government’s framing of tourism as a whole-of-economy priority. The day’s discussions centered on positioning the sector as a core engine of inclusive economic growth, job creation, and post-crisis territorial recovery for Haiti.

    In his keynote address to the assembly, Prime Minister Fils-Aimé underscored tourism’s unique cross-cutting strategic value to Haiti’s economy. He stressed that meaningful revitalization of the sector depends on close, sustained collaboration between public agencies, local municipal governments, domestic private businesses, and global partners. He reaffirmed the national government’s pledge to build a policy and security environment that encourages renewed investment, noting that a thriving tourism sector would deliver widespread benefits across all segments of the Haitian economy.

    The Prime Minister also publicly recognized the remarkable resilience of Haiti’s private tourism sector, which has continued to allocate capital to new projects even amid ongoing economic and security challenges. Most recently, Haiti has seen progress on a private $20 million tourist complex development that signals growing confidence in the sector’s long-term prospects. Beyond economic commitments, Fils-Aimé reiterated the government’s core priorities: restoring widespread security across the country, advancing the national electoral process, and strengthening democratic state institutions. He closed his remarks by extending an invitation to international partners, friends of Haiti, and Haitians living in the diaspora to join the sector’s revival by rediscovering the nation’s unique cultural, historical, and natural treasures.

    Tourism Minister Stéphanie Smith delivered a passionate, urgent appeal for global and local audiences to re-examine Haiti as a travel destination, highlighting the extraordinary diversity and richness of the country’s heritage that remains largely underpromoted. Smith outlined three clear strategic priorities guiding her ministry’s new policy agenda: elevating and preserving Haiti’s unique national heritage, rebuilding investor confidence to stimulate new capital inflows to the sector, and revitalizing regional tourism ecosystems across the country. The framework is rooted in an inclusive development model that centers local community participation and ensures regional communities capture shared benefits from tourism growth.

    Smith called on all stakeholders – domestic citizens, the Haitian diaspora, the private sector, and international partners – to align efforts to rebuild Haiti into a competitive, welcoming, and sustainable travel destination for future generations. Echoing Smith’s call, Minister of Diaspora Kathia Verdier emphasized the outsized strategic role that Haitians living abroad can play in promoting Haiti as a credible tourist destination, reaffirming her ministry’s commitment to supporting sustainable, inclusive tourism development projects.

    As part of the day’s celebrations, organizers presented public awards to three institutions that have made notable contributions to raising Haiti’s global profile in recent years: the Haitian Football Federation (FHF), the Haitian Tourism Association (ATH), and domestic carrier Sunrise Airways. By the close of the event, Smith reaffirmed her ministry’s commitment to partnering with every stakeholder group to roll out an ambitious national tourism policy that advances the core goals of heritage preservation, investment promotion, sustainable territorial development, and the repositioning of Haiti as a one-of-a-kind global travel destination.

  • BEL to Test New Rate System with PUC

    BEL to Test New Rate System with PUC

    Belize Electricity Limited (BEL), the country’s primary power utility, will move forward with a pilot trial of its proposed dynamic electricity pricing framework after the nation’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) rejected its full request for automatic monthly rate adjustments. In a July 1 Initial Decision ruling on BEL’s 2026-2027 annual tariff review, the PUC confirmed that current residential and commercial electricity rates will remain frozen for the coming 12 months, a move that brings immediate stability to household energy costs across the country.

    The decision comes as BEL faces mounting financial pressure driven by volatile imported power costs. In 2025, the utility recorded a net loss exceeding $23 million, with energy procurement costs eating up 76% of its total annual revenue. BEL Executive Chairman Lynn Young revealed that the company faced repeated supply threats last year from Mexico’s state power utility Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), which at one point warned it would cut off cross-border power supplies over missed payments. To address both its own financial strain and protect consumers from sudden large rate hikes, BEL submitted two key requests to the PUC: to hold base tariffs steady for the coming year, and to approve the new Cost of Power Adjustment Tariff (COPA), a mechanism that would allow automatic monthly rate changes tied directly to fluctuating wholesale energy costs.

    While regulators granted the first request to freeze base rates, they opted to test COPA through a tightly monitored regulatory sandbox rather than approve full implementation immediately. Under the proposed framework, BEL will calculate monthly adjustments based on a rolling six-month average of wholesale power costs, compared to the baseline cost already built into current tariffs. Any rate increase or decrease per kilowatt-hour will be capped at 1.5 cents, and no additional goods and services tax will be applied to adjustment charges. BEL executives emphasize that the system is designed to avoid the sharp, unpredictable rate hikes that occur when adjustments are delayed for a year or more, and that any reduction in wholesale costs will be passed directly to consumers.

    “When there is a decrease in the cost of power, meaning that we pay our power suppliers less than what the PUC approves for the cost of power, that savings would then also be passed on to our customers,” explained BEL General Manager Dawn Sampson-Nunez. “So key thing there is making sure that increases in cost of power is passed on in a way that customers could manage the variations. There’s no sharp fluctuations.”

    The pilot trial comes as Belize works to address long-term energy insecurity tied to its reliance on imported power. Two utility-scale solar projects are currently under development, set to add 95 megawatts of new clean generation capacity to the national grid. The country is also procuring two 40-megawatt energy storage systems to provide backup power during supply disruptions and emergency outages. In the short term, BEL is also in talks with independent power producers including BABCO and Belcogen Santander to expand domestic generation capacity and reduce dependence on imported energy.

    Details of the sandbox trial’s scope are still being finalized between BEL and the PUC, but the utility will submit monthly performance reports to regulators for the first six months of the trial, with oversight to ensure consumer protections are maintained and the framework operates transparently.