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标签： Belize

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  • ‘We Are Exercising That Right for You’: MOHW Defends Contraceptive Enforcement Policy

    ‘We Are Exercising That Right for You’: MOHW Defends Contraceptive Enforcement Policy

    A public controversy over contraceptive access has erupted in Belize after the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) moved to enforce a long-dormant prescription requirement for birth control products, spurring widespread confusion and pushback from communities across the country, particularly in underserved rural regions.

    During a public press briefing held on the morning of April 13, 2026, Dr. Melissa Diaz Musa, Director of Public Health and Wellness, pushed back against growing criticism, framing the policy as a measure that protects rather than infringes on women’s reproductive rights. She emphasized that the government has not implemented any new laws or regulatory changes related to contraceptive access – the prescription requirement is already outlined in existing national drug policy, and the recent enforcement action has only reignited long-unapplied rules.

    Dr. Musa addressed widespread misinformation that spread across social media over the past week, where many critics framed the new enforcement as a direct attack on women’s bodily autonomy. “I am uncertain where the many views on social media over the last week regarding women’s rights have surfaced from, and why there is a perception that asking for a prescription equates to the violation of a woman’s right,” she stated.

    In her defense of the policy, Dr. Musa argued that mandatory pre-purchase consultations with doctors or nurses actually strengthen reproductive autonomy by ensuring women make fully informed decisions about their birth control. “The request for a prescription for contraceptives after having a proper doctor’s or nurse’s consultation ensures that your rights have been fully exercised as you have determined the safest, the most effective, and the best birth control method for you,” she explained. “You are now an informed and consenting woman. We are exercising that right for you.”

    She did, however, acknowledge critical missteps in the rollout of the enforcement: public outreach and education fell far short of what was needed to help communities understand the change, and distinguish between over-the-counter and prescription-only medications. Dr. Musa admitted that MOHW failed to pair its discussions with retail pharmacy operators and the Belize Pharmacy Association with a large-scale public health sensitization campaign that could have prevented much of the current confusion.

    She also noted that the updated national drug list actually expands access to a range of other medications, and that contraceptives remain widely accessible through multiple existing channels, including free public healthcare services, repeat prescription programs, and rural health clinics.

    Despite the ministry’s reassurances, critics of the enforcement warn that the on-the-ground reality for many women will create new, unnecessary barriers to reproductive care. For people living in remote rural regions of Belize, obtaining a prescription requires additional time, costly travel to urban or central clinics, and often out-of-pocket fees for medical appointments that did not exist when contraceptives were available over the counter, leading to delayed or denied access for low-income and geographically isolated women.

  • Last-Minute Sprint Steals the Show in Junior Cycling Race

    Last-Minute Sprint Steals the Show in Junior Cycling Race

    On a race day that delivered high drama and unexpected twists, the 25th edition of the BEL Junior Cross Country Cycling Classic concluded Sunday with two new champions crowned: Keith Enwright Junior pulled off a stunning upset in the men’s division, while Irani Baki defended her title in an unchallenged women’s performance.

    The 30-rider men’s field, which featured five international competitors — two from Mexico, two from Guatemala, and one from the Cayman Islands — departed the Succotz Ferry in Belize’s Cayo District early Sunday morning, kicking off a long-distance race that would shift dramatically across its route. By the 35-mile mark, the race kicked into high gear when young rider Amaad Cherington made a bold solo breakaway, pulling ahead of the peloton by an approximately three-minute gap. Cherington held his lead alone for more than 12 miles, but a small chase group of four riders reeled him in just 12 miles out from the finish line in Belize City. The final lead group that entered the city limits included three riders from G Flow, Griga Cycling’s Jamaal Tablada, and international competitor Ryan Thompson of the Cayman Islands.

    As the race entered its closing stretch, Cherington continued to set the pace at the front of the lead group, but Enwright Jr. launched a sudden, powerful surge from the back of the pack in the final meters, crossing the line first to claim the unexpected win. Thompson crossed second, while Tablada rounded out the top three. Even after his victory, Enwright Jr. said he never expected to take the top spot heading into the final sprint. “I had no faith in myself… I am not a sprinter,” he told reporters after the race. “But when I saw the rider from Cayman coming, I knew I could not let him win.”

    “To be honest, I just feel shocked. I don’t understand how I did that,” he added.

    In the women’s junior race, 17-year-old defending champion Irani Baki dominated the route from Roaring Creek to Belize City, never facing a serious challenge from the field as she successfully retained her 2025 title. Despite her win, Baki expressed disappointment over the lack of close competition Sunday, noting that she rode alone for nearly the entire race and had hoped for a more competitive contest. The young cyclist is coming off a competing in the open Women’s Cross Country race two weeks prior, and is currently gearing up for an upcoming training trip to Paris.

    Full highlights of the race will be broadcast this evening on News 5 Live at 6 p.m.

  • Court Hears $9M Fairtrade Premium Dispute Between BSCFA and Tate & Lyle

    Court Hears $9M Fairtrade Premium Dispute Between BSCFA and Tate & Lyle

    A high-stakes legal battle over $9 million in unpaid Fairtrade sugar premiums moved to the Belize Court of Appeal on April 13, 2026, pitting the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association (BSCFA) against global sugar processing giant Tate & Lyle Sugars Limited (TLS). The dispute, which has already stretched more than two years through lower courts, centers on conflicting claims over eligibility for premium payments for two sugar crop cycles: 2021/2022 and 2022/2023.

    Tuesday’s appellate hearing stretched nearly four hours, with legal teams for both sides laying out their core arguments in front of the court. The appeal itself was filed by TLS, which is challenging a 2025 Belize High Court ruling that rejected the firm’s bid to dismiss the BSCFA’s original claim entirely. The BSCFA first launched its lawsuit in March 2024, naming both Belize Sugar Industries (BSI) — the local processor that holds a long-term contract to supply Fairtrade-certified sugar to TLS — and TLS as defendants.

    Per the BSCFA’s core argument, the association’s farmer members grew and supplied fully Fairtrade-certified sugar cane throughout the two disputed crop years. Because those harvests were sold to TLS as Fairtrade-eligible product, the farmers are legally entitled to collect the corresponding Fairtrade premiums, which are added payments intended to support community development and producer welfare under Fairtrade labeling rules. The association is seeking the full $9 million in unpaid premiums, plus accumulated interest, and is also pressing claims of damages for alleged unlawful conspiracy and violation of global Fairtrade operating standards.

    TLS, for its part, has pushed back on every element of the BSCFA’s claim. The company maintains that payment of Fairtrade premiums is only required when the producer association signs a formal Letter of Enhancement (LOE), a binding document that outlines the terms of premium distribution and dispute resolution. According to TLS, no valid LOE was signed by the BSCFA for the two crop years in question, disqualifying the farmers from collecting the premiums.

    Additionally, TLS has argued that the 2021 LOE — which was in place for the 2020/2021 crop cycle — included a binding arbitration clause requiring all related disputes to be heard in London, not in domestic Belizean courts. The firm has repeatedly called for the dispute to be moved to international arbitration rather than adjudicated locally.

    The BSCFA has directly refuted this position, countering that the 2021 LOE was explicitly written to cover only the 2020/2021 harvest, and expired fully before the start of the 2021/2022 crop cycle. With no new LOE agreed upon for the disputed period, the expired agreement’s arbitration clause cannot apply to the current conflict, the association’s legal team argues. The BSCFA further alleges that TLS and BSI intentionally withheld the new LOE for the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 cycles specifically to cut farmers off from the millions in premium payments they were owed.

    All three parties presented senior legal counsel for the appellate hearing: Magali Marin-Young and Allister Jenkins argued on behalf of the BSCFA, while Eamon Courtenay and Iliana Swift represented TLS. Though BSI is not an official party to the appeal, the court granted the firm permission to submit its own arguments, delivered by Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith, Hector Guerra, and Edgar Lord. Both TLS and BSI have denied all allegations of wrongdoing, asserting that global Fairtrade rules explicitly require a signed contractual agreement between buyers and producer associations before premium payments can be issued.

    The appellate hearing marks a key turning point in a dispute that has major implications for Fairtrade labeling practices, smallholder farmer rights, and contract enforcement in global agricultural commodity supply chains, with a ruling expected to set a precedent for future premium disputes in the region.

  • President Vs. Pope

    President Vs. Pope

    A high-stakes public confrontation has erupted between sitting United States President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born leader of the global Catholic Church, with escalating sharp verbal exchanges centered on the ongoing Iran conflict. Tensions flared after the pope used a high-profile CNN interview to push for an immediate diplomatic off-ramp to de-escalate tensions and end the conflict, a call that built on a series of peace advocacy efforts the pontiff led during the recent Holy Week and Easter observances.

  • Guatemalan Military Killed Guatemalan Fisherman But Falsely Blamed Belizean Authorities

    Guatemalan Military Killed Guatemalan Fisherman But Falsely Blamed Belizean Authorities

    A deadly cross-border diplomatic row has erupted after a fatal shooting incident near Guatemala’s Punta de Manabique, where Guatemalan military forces are accused of killing a local fisherman, wounding a second, then deliberately shifting blame to neighboring Belizean security units.

    The deceased fisherman has been identified as 32-year-old Jaime Geovanni Ich Ramos, a father of two children aged 9 and 11. The second man on the vessel, Julio Cesar Pineda, sustained a gunshot wound to the shoulder and is currently receiving ongoing care in a local hospital. In an exclusive on-the-record interview with News 5, a family member of the two men based in Livingston, Izabal, shared new details about the sequence of events that led to the tragedy.

    According to the relative, the pair set out on a routine fishing trip early last Thursday, and had made a short stop in Belizean territorial waters to cast lines before heading back toward Guatemalan territory with a full catch of snapper. As they neared Punta de Manabique on their return journey, the relative claims, the unarmed fishing boat came under sudden fire from Guatemalan military personnel patrolling the area.

    “They were shot at without any warning or challenge,” the relative told reporters in Spanish. “When the soldiers boarded our family’s boat, they saw immediately that they were nothing more than working fishermen bringing in their daily catch. Even after realizing they had fired on unarmed civilians, the soldiers only brought the wounded men to the hospital and left them untreated while bleeding out. Then, they told local officials that Belizean security forces were the ones who opened fire.”

    The relative laid out a clearer timeline of the attack: Pineda, who was steering the boat, was hit first in the shoulder. When he collapsed from injury, Ramos took over control of the vessel, and was immediately shot and killed by the military personnel. “They are throwing blame on Belizean authorities because they refuse to take responsibility for their own mistake,” the family member added.

    Pineda’s mother has publicly echoed the family’s claims, rejecting the Guatemalan military’s false narrative. “This attack did not come from Belize – it happened right here at Punta de Manabique, which is Guatemalan territory,” she said. “I am demanding nothing less than full justice. They had no right to shoot unarmed, innocent people.”

    News 5 reached out to Belizean security officials for comment on the accusations, and Commandant of the Belize Coast Guard Gregory Soberanis issued a categorical full denial of any involvement in the incident in an exclusive response. “We are not engaging with this false propaganda or this manufactured narrative,” Soberanis stated. “The shooting happened in the Punta Manabique area, which is located deep inside Guatemalan territorial waters. Belizean security forces do not operate or patrol outside of our own jurisdictional waters, and we were nowhere near that location when the incident occurred.”

    As of April 12, 2026, Guatemalan defense officials have not yet issued an official response to the family’s allegations or the denial from Belize, leaving the cross-border dispute unresolved and the family still waiting for accountability.

  • Another Belize City Teen Missing

    Another Belize City Teen Missing

    In Belize City, a distraught family is desperately seeking answers after their 17-year-old son, Alwin Marin Jr., disappeared following a planned fishing outing that left another teen dead earlier this month. The case has shaken the local community, as authorities and family members continue combing through key areas for any clue to the missing teen’s whereabouts.

    Marin was last spotted leaving his residence on Thursday, heading out to fish alongside 17-year-old Jaheil Westby. Tragically, Westby’s body was recovered the very next day, bearing multiple gunshot wounds, near the Dyke Area located just behind the Port of Belize. According to Marin’s father, the two teenagers traveled to their intended fishing spot on horseback, each riding a separate animal. When the pair failed to return home at their expected time, worried family members launched an immediate search of the area where the teens were thought to have been heading.

    During that initial search, the only items recovered were the two horses the teens had ridden, plus Marin’s shirt and slippers. The discovery of his personal belongings, with no sign of the teen himself, has only amplified growing fears that he has met with harm.

    With little information coming forward in the early days of the investigation, Marin’s relatives have turned to social media to call for prayer from the community and ask any member of the public with relevant details to contact authorities or the family. A cousin of Marin spoke to local media, describing the 17-year-old as a hardworking, deeply respectful young man who had never caused trouble in the community. The cousin added that the entire extended family has been left devastated by the sudden, unexplained disappearance, with many unable to process what has happened.

    Family volunteers have organized independent search parties, focusing their efforts on the corridor stretching from Jane Usher Boulevard toward the Port of Belize, where Westby’s body was found. They are urging anyone who saw either teen on the day of their disappearance, or who has any information that could help locate Marin or explain what happened, to step forward immediately to assist the investigation.

  • PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar Vs CARICOM

    PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar Vs CARICOM

    A public dispute has emerged between Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) over the recent reappointment of the bloc’s top administrative leader, throwing into question regional governance procedures and transparency amid a high-stakes diplomatic standoff.

    The conflict follows the Twenty-Fifth Special Emergency Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government, held Friday to address governance concerns raised by Trinidad and Tobago — a meeting that neither Persad-Bissessar nor any of her government representatives attended. In an official statement released after the session, CARICOM Chairman Dr. Terrance Drew, who also serves as Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, laid out the regional bloc’s account of the events that led to Secretary-General Dr. Carla Barnett’s reappointment at the 50th Regular Meeting of the CARICOM Conference of Heads of Government, hosted in St. Kitts and Nevis between February 24 and 27, 2026.

    According to Drew’s statement, all CARICOM member states received formal advance notification of the February meeting’s official schedule, draft agenda, and working breakdown, including clear details of which topics would be discussed in plenary sessions, caucus meetings, and the closed Heads-only retreat. All heads of government offices received official correspondence confirming the retreat’s date and island venue, and every member state acknowledged receipt of the materials, CARICOM claims.

    The narrative continues that Persad-Bissessar departed St. Kitts on the evening of February 25, one day before the scheduled Heads-only retreat on February 26. That same night, Trinidad and Tobago’s Foreign Minister Sean Sobers contacted Secretary-General Barnett via WhatsApp to ask whether he could attend the retreat in the prime minister’s absence. He was reportedly told that foreign ministers could stand in for heads of government if needed, but Sobers replied that he suffered from seasickness and would likely be unable to complete the boat ride required to reach the remote retreat venue.

    In response, Barnett informed Sobers that the Chairman would excuse his absence if the trip posed significant discomfort. Sobers never followed up to confirm his attendance, per CARICOM’s account. When heads of government gathered for the closed retreat to discuss community financing and governance, members approved Barnett’s reappointment in line with Article 24 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, with Barnett recusing herself from the discussion.

    As a courtesy to absent leadership, heads agreed to delay the public announcement of the reappointment to allow time to notify Persad-Bissessar. CARICOM says multiple attempts were made to contact the prime minister via phone and email, but none were successful, and the Chairman ultimately reached out directly to Sobers to share the outcome. Alongside the reappointment, CARICOM leaders agreed to form a subcommittee with representatives from Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, and Jamaica to conduct a full review of the bloc’s institutional governance and financing frameworks. Leaders also approved a formal statement on their recent meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio focused on evolving global geopolitical developments.

    In his closing remarks, Drew emphasized that CARICOM has long relied on its internal diplomatic mechanisms to resolve internal challenges, warning that “unfortunate and erroneous statements” from member states risk eroding years of progress toward deeper regional integration.

    But Persad-Bissessar has pushed back aggressively against CARICOM’s account, releasing a counter-statement on her official Facebook page that disputes key details and calls into question the entire reappointment process’s transparency.

    The Trinidad and Tobago prime minister claims that while her government received multiple communications about ceremonial meeting details — including required attire for official events — no notification was ever sent indicating that Barnett’s reappointment would be on the retreat’s agenda. She further alleges that a WhatsApp message sent from the Chairman’s office on the morning of February 26 explicitly stated the retreat would remain strictly limited to sitting heads of government, directly contradicting CARICOM’s claim that Sobers was welcome to attend in her place. That message, Persad-Bissessar says, instructed foreign ministers to remain at the separate Community Council meeting instead of attending the retreat.

    Persad-Bissessar is also demanding access to key internal documents that have not been made public, including the official minutes of the closed retreat, a formal performance appraisal of Barnett’s first term as Secretary-General, and full records from Barnett’s original 2021 appointment to the post. She has labeled the entire process fundamentally lacking in transparency, and has called on the CARICOM Secretariat to fulfill a formal request for documentation submitted in an April 9 letter from Foreign Minister Sobers.

  • US and Iran Hold Direct Peace Talks in Pakistan, CNN Reports

    US and Iran Hold Direct Peace Talks in Pakistan, CNN Reports

    On April 11, 2026, a long-awaited diplomatic breakthrough got underway as senior official delegations from the United States and Iran convened for the highest-level direct face-to-face talks between the two nations in decades, CNN reported. Hosted in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, the negotiations operate as trilateral discussions with Pakistani officials serving as neutral mediators, ending a years-long stretch of almost exclusively indirect dialogue between Washington and Tehran.

    The U.S. delegation is headed by Vice President JD Vance, and counts among its members special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and a cohort of senior national security and regional policy advisers. A White House official confirmed to CNN that alongside the in-person negotiating team, Washington has deployed a full group of subject-matter experts, with additional backup support operating out of U.S. capital to back the talks. On Iran’s side, state media cited by CNN confirms the delegation totals 71 people, including lead negotiators, technical specialists, media liaisons, and security detail to cover all aspects of the complex discussions.

    The opening of the talks comes against a backdrop of soaring regional instability and a fragile, temporary ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. Even as negotiators sit down in Islamabad, multiple connected flashpoints continue to test the fragile diplomatic push. Most notably, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his administration has launched a process to “clear out” the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most vital global oil and shipping chokepoints. As of the latest reports, however, the specific scope and actions involved in this process remain undisclosed. Ship tracking data analyzed by CNN shows that a number of commercial vessels, led by Chinese-owned tankers and bulk carriers, have continued regular transits through the strait even amid escalating tensions in the area.

    The ongoing unrest has already sent ripples through global commodity markets, most sharply hitting the global fertilizer trade. Since late February, global urea prices have skyrocketed by more than 50%, triggering widespread alarm among U.S. agricultural organizations that warn the spike could cascade into broader disruptions across the international food supply chain. In response, President Trump has issued a warning against price gouging and confirmed that his administration is maintaining close, continuous oversight of fertilizer price movements to mitigate consumer and producer impacts.

    Another major sticking point for the broader negotiations sits on the Israel-Lebanon front. In recent days, the Israeli military has continued its large-scale offensive strikes against Hezbollah targets positioned inside Lebanese territory. Israeli defense officials confirmed that the force carried out strikes on more than 200 Hezbollah sites in a single 24-hour period. Tehran has made its position clear: any comprehensive, lasting ceasefire agreement that emerges from the Islamabad talks must include a binding commitment to end all Israeli strikes across Lebanon.

    While Israeli officials have so far rejected calls for direct ceasefire negotiations with Hezbollah, they have confirmed that Israel will launch formal peace negotiation talks with the Lebanese government next week, per CNN’s reporting. For his part, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has chosen to postpone a planned official trip to Washington D.C. and the United Nations Headquarters in New York, saying he needs to remain in Beirut to coordinate closely with the country’s leadership amid the fast-moving regional developments.

  • Cayo Sweeps Farmer of the Year Awards

    Cayo Sweeps Farmer of the Year Awards

    In a historic clean sweep that has cemented Cayo District’s reputation as a powerhouse of Belizean agriculture, three local producers have taken home every top prize in the 2026 National Farmer of the Year Competition, claiming all three available award categories. The official results of the prestigious annual contest were publicly announced by the National Agriculture and Trade Show (NATS) Organizing Committee this Thursday.

    Taking home the coveted Male Farmer of the Year crown was Saulo Mesh, while Yoalma Pocasangre earned recognition as the 2026 Female Farmer of the Year. The third award, Junior Farmer of the Year, went to rising agricultural talent Jeshua Tzib. All three winners hail from Cayo District, marking the first time in recent competition history that a single district has claimed all top honors.

    Hosted annually by the NATS Committee, which operates under Belize’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and New Growth Industries, the Farmer of the Year Awards were created to honor producers across the country who demonstrate extraordinary dedication to their craft, implement innovative growing and business practices, and make tangible contributions to the strength and growth of Belize’s national agricultural sector.

    The award announcement comes exactly three weeks ahead of the opening of the 2026 National Agriculture and Trade Show, one of the largest annual gatherings for Belize’s agricultural community. This year’s event will run from April 30 through May 3 at the permanent NATS Grounds in the capital city of Belmopan, held under the forward-looking theme “Advancing Smart Agriculture: Building a Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Belizean Food System.” Industry leaders and attendees expect the show to draw hundreds of producers, agricultural vendors, and community members from across the country to discuss the future of food production in Belize amid shifting climate conditions.

  • Officers Destroyed Evidence In Drug Plane Landing? ComPol Says, No!

    Officers Destroyed Evidence In Drug Plane Landing? ComPol Says, No!

    Two back-to-back anti-drug operations in northern Belize’s Corozal District have sparked a growing controversy over evidence handling, with the country’s top law enforcement official pushing back against viral online claims that security agents deliberately destroyed key evidence.

    The first incident unfolded early Friday morning along the Old Northern Highway, when a team of customs patrol officers spotted a suspicious individual acting erratically. When officers moved in to question the person, they fled into nearby brush, prompting a search of the surrounding area. The search led investigators to a remote seafront landing zone in the Bomba region, where a Chevrolet SUV was found stocked with nine large canisters of aviation fuel. Law enforcement detained multiple people at the scene and also recovered an unregistered 9-millimeter pistol from the area. Before officers could secure the vehicle and its contents for forensic processing, the Chevrolet was intentionally set on fire, destroying the fuel and any potential forensic evidence that may have been held on the vehicle itself.

    Hours later that same evening, a large-scale coordinated multi-agency security operation launched in the region scored a major win against transnational drug trafficking. Teams made up of Belizean national police, the Belize Defence Force, and the Belize Coast Guard, backed by aerial support from Mexican security partners, intercepted a small drug plane that had just touched down in the Nuefeld area of Corozal. Operation teams successfully took both pilots into custody and seized an undisclosed amount of cocaine bound for distribution networks. Aviation sources familiar with the plane confirmed it is a Cessna 206, a single-engine aircraft commonly used by drug traffickers for its ability to land on unimproved airstrips and carry cargo loads of up to 900 kilograms.

    In the wake of the two operations, unsubstantiated claims began circulating on social media and local messaging platforms claiming that Belizean law enforcement officers deliberately set fire to the Chevrolet Tahoe to destroy evidence. But Belize’s Commissioner of Police Dr. Richard Rosado has forcefully rejected these allegations, calling them outright misinformation in an exclusive interview with local outlet News 5.

    “Contrary to false reports circulating online, the claim that officers deliberately set the vehicle on fire is entirely untrue. This is another instance of misinformation,” Rosado told reporters. The Commissioner, who was on the ground in Corozal during the operations alongside the national security minister and the ministry’s chief executive officer, declined to immediately name who he believes was responsible for setting the fire, asking for patience from the public and press as investigators complete their internal review.

    “Kindly allow us some time to put together the release. In the fullest of time a full press briefing will be done,” Rosado added, noting that a full, detailed account of the day’s events will be published publicly once investigators have finalized their initial findings.