1. The 2nd biggest barrier reef in the world and the biggest barrier reef in the northern hemisphere. The majority of tourists visit the Northern cayes. Visit Southern Belize and you can dive some of the best dive sites in the world and there are NO other divers!

2. Whale sharks! The Whale sharks migrate via the Sapodilla cayes to Gladden spit where they feed on the spawning Snappers. The season for Whale sharks at Gladden spit is March through till June. If you visit the Sapodilla cayes, you get the opportunity to swim with Whale sharks for at 6-8 months of the year!!!

3. Idyllic island locations. Southern Belize is scattered with paradise islands and coral cayes, surrounded by pristine coral reefs.

4. It’s an adventure! You get to spear the invasive Lionfish! The Lionfish are not indigenous to the Caribbean. They are feeding on key species and spell potential disaster to the health of the coral reefs in the area. If you visit Southern Belize, choose a dive operator that gives you the chance to help remove these invasive fish and have lots of fun at the same time!

5. It’s different! Divers are always looking for that new, unique location where the diving is excellent. Visit Southern Belize and go home and tell tales of a place that your friends have yet to visit?

6. Never share a dive site!!! Are you tired of ‘diver soup’! Diving amazing dive sites that are ruined by other divers kicking up the reef, sand, silt and you! The roaring of boat engines, ruining your peaceful dive! Coming up under the wrong boat! If you visit the Sapodilla cayes marine reserve, situated at the foot of the barrier reef, you will NEVER share a dive site! There is one operator in the area, Reef Conservation International Ltd (ReefCI) they run unique scuba trips, for further information visit: www.reefci.com

7. A focus on conservation! Want to help preserve the coral reefs that you love? Learn about marine life. Complete reef surveys and commercial species surveys. Help spear and remove the invasive Lionfish. You can do all of this while staying on Tom Owens caye with ReefCI.

8. Southern Belize is not just about the diving! There are an abundant of other activities including Mayan ruins, waterfalls, swimming in caves, visit cacao farms and see how chocolate is made, learn to play the Garifuna drums, jungle tours or spend you weekend at a jungle lodge or staying in a real Mayan village.

9. They speak English!

10. The people! Southern Belize has yet to be spoilt by tourism, people are genuinely friendly and helpful. Belize is a melting pot of different cultures. Get to know the Garifuna, Creole, Mayan, East Indian or the Mennonites and learn about the way they live, the food they eat and their incredible music.

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Winner of the "Best Environmental Film" award at the 6th Belize International Film Festival, "Where have our sharks gone?" examines the plight of sharks and their important role in marine ecosystems, internationally and in Belize. Current research techniques and interviews with fisherman and tourists are presented along with suggested conservation measures. With stunning cinematography and a compelling narrative, 'Where have our sharks gone?' is a captivating tribute to this magnificent creature.

also by "BelizeSharks":

Wildlife Conservation Society's Belize Shark Project presents a short video from the Kids Meet Shark Project, illustrating the impact that one day out with sharks and rays had on the attitude of local kids. A true before/after success story!

The Ya'axché Conservation Trust has a cool short out about biodiversity when it comes to cohunes and gibnut. Some of the film is in Mayan, with English subtitles. Definitely worth a watch.

"The cohune, the gibnut and us is a short film produced by Ya'axché Conservation Trust in Belize, Central America. The film is explains the concept of biodiversity and what an ecosystem is, and why we humans need to take care not to break the links in the forest ecosystem. The film uses the example of the gibnut (paca), a ground dwelling rodent which disperses the nuts of the cohune palm, which is used for thatching. The paca is also hunted for meat by humans. Read more about Ya'axché at yaaxche.org or visit the Facebook page: facebook.com/yaaxche"

Notice: turn on Captions for English subtitles.

The third largest feline in the world (behind the tiger and lion) and the largest in the western hemisphere, the jaguar makes its home in the jungles from Northern Mexico to Northern Argentina.

Today this majestic giant, recognized by its pale yellow coat and black spots, is found almost exclusively in the forests of government-protected reserves and is considered a ‘near threatened’ species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Why are Jaguars ‘near threatened’?

Hunted heavily for its gorgeous coat in the 1960’s and 1970’s, thousands upon thousands of jaguars were killed annually until the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) brought the fur trade to an almost immediate halt in 1973.

Extinct in El Salvador and Uruguay, yet still living in 18 countries in Latin America, the best place to catch a glimpse of these mysterious animals is Belize.

Why Belize?

In Belize you will find the only jaguar preserve on the planet, the Cockscomb National Park. This park covers 150 miles of lush rainforest and is home to 200 jaguars.

And while there is no guarantee that you will spot a jaguar if you make the trip down to Cockscomb, here your odds will be better than any other place on earth.

Jaguars have binocular and color vision, an extremely heightened sense of hearing and are known for their stealth. Needless to say they are not the easiest animals to find and spotting one would be a rare and thrilling occurrence.

But with a little luck and these tips to direct you, you may just get to view one of these breathtaking cats stalking through their jungle home.

Follow these jaguar spotting tips:

1. Search at night: Jaguars are nocturnal, so the best time to go looking is at night when they will be out and about (although some lucky observers have seen them sunning themselves in the early morning). Cockscomb is equipped with rentable camp sites and cabins built specifically for jaguar spotting expeditions.
2. Go during rainy season: The best time to spot a jaguar is during the rainy season (June and July) when they are most active.
3. Hire a guide: Be sure to hire a licensed guide to help direct you through the rainforest. They will be able to track the jaguar’s prints and droppings which will increase your odds of a sighting. You can look for a guide in either Belmopan or Placencia. For added comfort, the guides at Ian Anderson’s Caves Branch just out of Belmopan are also trained medics.
4. Keep quiet: As hard is it may be, stay as silent as possible. Shy by nature, the jaguar will avoid foreign sounds at all costs.

Even if you don’t spot a jaguar, you will not leave Cockscomb disappointed. Alive with a diverse range of animals like peccaries (wild pigs), toucans, and howler monkeys and simply bursting with colorful flora and over 290 species of birds, Cockscomb is still worth the trip.

Jaguars in Costa Rica

Although your chances of seeing a jaguar in Costa Rica may not be as good as they were on the jaguar reserve in Belize, jaguars still roam the jungles of Costa Rica. Scattered across the country in numerous protected areas, the large cats have been spotted in places like the Children’s Eternal Rainforest, La Selva Biological Station, and the Corcovado National Park to name a few.

Corcovado National Park covers 475 square kilometres and is packed with 500 species of trees, 370 species of birds, over 4,000 insects and thousands of wild pigs.

Once an ideal habitat for jaguars, around 100 cats lived in Corcovado in 1997, but sadly the number dropped to 40-50 in 2004.

Despite being on a protected reserve, poachers continued to illegally hunt peccaries until the jaguars were forced to venture out to the neighboring farmland in search for food, where they were often killed on site.

Despite the low number of jaguars, your best chance of spotting one is by boat. Jaguars prefer the river bank to rest and hunt, so climb in a boat and scan the river bank for a glimpse of these spotted felines.

Are you ready to spot a jaguar?

No, it won’t be the easiest task, but if you are determined to see a jaguar in its natural environment, there is still a chance. Play the odds and head for Belize.

And once there, hire a guide, practice extreme patience, cross your fingers for a little extra luck and you just might get the rare opportunity to see this beautiful and secretive animal up close.

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The day marked my fourth month in Belize. We had spent weeks and shed buckets of sweat turning a dirty, dilapidated corner of a building into a medical clinic. Since then, day after day, for long hours I attended to patients while geckos climbed the walls and termites built fresh trails on the ceiling over my exam table. Though I was a nurse, my duties had expanded beyond providing basic health care. I also disposed of the occasional dead rat on the path to the clinic, swept mounds of dead bugs from the floor and waged daily war against mosquitoes big enough to ride. Once I even armed myself with a machete and battled an opossum that wanted to make my clinic his home. But on this particular day, I was taking a much-needed break from work.

I had arranged to spend the day with a young woman, Terese, who I met when I bought a small Jippa Jappa basket. After chatting with her for a short time, I explained that I would love to watch her weave baskets, as well as anything else she typically did as she went about her daily work. I told her I want to record a day in the life of a woman in her village. Terese seemed both shy yet excited about the idea. We agreed on a price and arranged a date. That was two weeks ago. This morning, without a telephone or any other way to confirm our plans, I wondered whether my visit would be welcomed. However, as the truck lurched up to the small grass-thatched hut, I saw that my concerns were unwarranted. Terese and her entire family -- mother, grandfather, two sisters, a pack of little boys and two babies -- were all waiting by the road with wide smiles.

Soon, I observed the well-choreographed bustle of daily work. Most efforts involved food preparation for the mid-day meal. I marveled at both the rustic simplicity of their life and at how creative they had been in adding modern "technology" to lighten their workload. For example, to grind corn for tortillas, Terese replaced the traditional flat rock and pestle with a hand-powered grinder much like the one my grandmother used to grind meat.

Once the corn was ground, I helped Terese and her sister, Justina, gather the laundry and carry it down a dirt path to a small creek that ran behind their home. All eight little boys of the house, ranging in age from 3 to 10 years old, accompanied us. On the way, I tried to memorize their names and identify who were Terese's sons and who were Justina's. I learned that one child was actually Terese and Justina's brother.

There were no technological advances for washing the clothes. Just as their ancestors have done for hundreds of years, the women simply laid each piece on a flat rock, rubbed it vigorously with homemade soap, rinsed it in the creek, and then wrung it out with their hands.

Soon, we headed back toward the house. There was more work to be done. The huge basket of clean laundry was carried back to the hut atop Terese's head and then hung on the line to dry. Next, Terese weeded the garden using a pointed stick and machete. I helped her dig and pull weeds from around tomato plants, yams, and chilies.

Later that afternoon, we sat crouched on low stools outside the thatched hut in the shade of the cashew tree, resting and chatting. Occasionally, the soft afternoon sounds of a birdcall or cricket were heard. The morning work was over. Children were bathed, laundry washed, garden weeded, yams dug, corn ground, tortillas cooked, the black hen killed, plucked and boiled. We had filled our bellies with the simple food. Now was the peaceful time of day when the children played quietly and the women sat undisturbed, enjoying a few moments of female companionship and tranquility.

"You are the nurse?" Terese asked hesitantly. "For my sister," she went on, "you have medicine to make no more babies?"

I smiled to myself. For my sister... how many times have I been approached since coming to Belize with that question prefaced by "for my friend, for my sister, for my cousin"? It was easier for most women to ask for someone else, more difficult to own their own questions. And so we talked. I learned that, at age 24, Terese had four children and that her sister, Justina, 26, was the mother of five. They had many questions and misunderstandings, which soon poured out. "If I drink the pill, I will catch the cancer," Justina said. "The injection -- will it make me crazy with sex? Will I want many men?" Terese asked.

I had heard these same misunderstandings about contraception from other women who came to my clinic. The pill would cause cancer, injections increase the libido dramatically and my personal favorite, "If a man jumps up, then I won't get pregnant." I talked with Terese and Justina and tried to dispel each of the myths. We talked. We laughed. We talked some more.

Both agreed they wanted "to make no more babies." I felt like Margaret Sanger floating diaphragms into the New York Harbor in whiskey barrels as I arranged for the women to walk ten kilometers to my clinic during their next moon time. They both chose "the injection." They smiled. They sighed. They seemed so grateful, it more than made up for all those wretched mosquitoes, rats, termites and opossums. As dusk approached my day in the life of Terese came to an end.

"We will come see you in your clinic soon," Terese promised as she hugged me hard and long. Then the entire family -- all sixteen of them -- followed me to the truck and waved good-bye I drove off, leaving the small village in a dusty cloud.

When I reflect back on that hot, dusty afternoon in a remote village in the middle of the rainforest, I am filled with gratitude. Terese and Justina are a new generation who will bridge the centuries between pounding clothes on a rock and using modern birth control. I sat under a cashew tree with two lovely young women and witnessed the power of simple conversation to change women's lives. We talked. We listened. We laughed. We connected.

Source

Last week was Caribbean Fashion Week in Kingston Jamaica – and a number of notable Belizean ladies were turning heads.

Prominent among them was the Prime Minister’s wife, Kim Barrow seen here on Friday night, wearing and posing with Belizean designer Joris Hendrik.

Barrow told the Jamaica Gleaner she was there to foster the fashion industry in Belize and networking for a fashion show in Belize. Also there was singer Jackie Castillo, also seen in a Joris Hendrik design.

And while they watched – Belizean model Chante Guy did her thing on the catwalk alongside supermodels from the Caribbean modeling agency, Pulse. She modeled on Friday, Saturday and Sunday wearing outfits form a number of designers. These images are from Glympze Magazine.

Chantae Guy at Caribbean Fashion Week

Joris Hendrik captured Chantae Chanice Guy who is representing Belize in Jamaica, while walking the runway during Caribbean Fashion Week 2013. Looking good!

Chantae Belizean model.

According to the Ministry of Health, Belize recorded a fatality rate of 19 traffic deaths per 100 thousand inhabitants last year.

That was the highest fatality rate of all the member countries of the Caribbean Development Bank, and as a result the CDB is trying the help the Government of Belize to lower that number.

It is a big task, and they’ve come up with an intervention strategy called the Belize Road Safety Project.

It is a multi-departmental approach which has ambitious goals for the next 3 years, and for the past 2 days, the facilitators have been meeting with the different representatives for a training workshop.

To examine the importance of this project, our Daniel Ortiz took a look at its context in this report.

Daniel Ortiz reporting
In March of this year, the Government of Belize, by way of the Minister with responsibility for Economic Development, announced the launch of the Belize Road Safety Project. It is being funded by the Caribbean Development Bank, with a loan to GOB of 14.5 million dollars.

Hon. Santino Castillo - Minister of State with Responsibility for Economic Development

"I recognize the importance of that stretch of highway, the Western Highway which is the one most utilized by cyclist. I know how important it is to improve the highway, having been brushed many times by vehicles. The high death rate on our highway is a serious health concern, given the resulting lost in productivity, and increase venerability to poverty has significant social and economic repercussions. The launching of the road safety project is therefore with very good timing. The project represents the first phase of what is expected to be a long-term initiative, of the Government of Belize to improve road safety in Belize. Its overall objective is to reduce deaths and serious injuries associated with road traffic accidents."

Since the launching of that project, there have been 2 multiple traffic fatalities on the very same Western Highway which Castillo was referring to. The first occurred at mile 6 on April 18, which claimed the lives of 3 hard-working Belizean men, and the other took place 2 weeks ago at mile 60. In that accident, 3 international students and a Belizean taxi driver were killed.

With such vivid representations, it is not difficult to digest that according to the Ministry of Health’s statistics, Belize continues to have the highest traffic fatality rate among the CDB member countries.

The Road Safety Project is a targeted approach to this problem, however, because it is a pilot, the area being targeted will not include sections of the highway past Belmopan.

Hon. Santino Castillo
"The project, as you know, will focus from the Belize City round about, at the junction of Cemetery Road and Central America Boulevard, to the junction of the Humming Bird and George Price Highway in Belmopan, and along the Humming Bird highway to its junction with Constitution Drive in Belmopan and around the entire Belmopan Ring road. The road safety project commenced in January this year will run initially for 39 months. It will be financed by the Government of Belize through a loan from the CDB, along with counterpart financing from GOB."

Mavis Johnson - International Road Safety Consultant
"The project has been funded by the Caribbean Development Bank and the Government of Belize because Belize is actually the highest country in the Caribbean with death rate due to road crashes based on the population. It's a three year project designed as a demonstration project on the corridor between the city of Belize and Belmopan. On this corridor there is going to be an integrated approach to improve road safety on many fronts. There will be improvements to the road infrastructure, policing - there will be two more highway patrol vehicles that will have modern equipment, there will be two new ambulances to assist in picking up and attending to collisions along there. There will be curriculum developed for teachers to work with children in the schools and understand and learn about road safety. There will be campaigns using the media."

Today was the second meeting with representatives from the different government agencies that will be a part of the project. The consultant says that in the next 3 years, they want to decrease the fatalities on the Western Highway by 20%.

Members of the public will also be able to recognize the project at work.

Mavis Johnson
"Over the last three years, we experienced about 60 fatalities a year and about 6 and 700 injuries per year. What we'd like to see that when this project finishes there will be a 20% reduction. So we want to reduce those numbers from 60 downwards between 40 and 45 fatalities - even now it's too many. They will some improvements to the highway, some improvements that are needed on the highway such as the road's surface - road sides so that you can't fall off the side because there has to be some shoulder, you will probably see a more reflective road markings so that the lines in the roads actually show up. There will be rumble strips down the sides of the roads so that if you are falling asleep then you can be awakened by the rumble strips and correct your steering and stay on the road. You will see infrastructure improvements. You will see two very visible highway patrol units, this sort of things you see on the TV, you rest and a cop shows. These will be SUV's - they are painted Blue and Yellow checkered sides, you might see it with orange reflection on the back to show that this is a Highway Patrol vehicle. The police presence alone will provide some deterrent because some people will not want to get a ticket - they will not want to be stopped. Children will come home from school with information about road safety for their parents because children can be very good influences."

The facilitators met with 34 department representatives yesterday in Belmopan, and 30 representatives today in Belize City.

The Caribbean English speaking country of Belize (know by locals as The Jewel) is seeing an increasing expat population as retired people are moving there from Europe to benefit from an incentive programme, it is claimed. Only a few years ago the number of foreign retirees living in Belize amounted to a few dozen but now there is an expanding community of expats attracted by the Retired Persons Incentive Programme. Click To Download Free Tourism Guide To Belize.
 

They are also attracted by the location and lifestyle which includes the Belize Barrier Reef, the world’s second largest, nature and water sports. The country is bordered to the north by Mexico, to the west and south by Guatemala and to the east by the Caribbean and the country considers itself to be both Caribbean and Central American. According to Luke Smith, managing director of Crystal Investment and Real Estate, the Retired Persons Incentive Programme permits people to live tax free. To qualify the individual can come from any country, must have a minimum age of 45 and should have a qualifying non-Belizean based income of a minimum US$2,000 US per month.

‘The tourism, agriculture and construction sectors are progressing rapidly in Belize. Among Central American countries it has the largest foreign population who enjoy a low cost of living. Water, electric, telephone and local goods are inexpensive, however imported goods are costly,’ said Smith.

Quote from ExpatForum.com : “Currently living in U.S. Seriously considering moving to Belize. Anyone with words of wisdom or advice? Any would be appreciated.”

He added that real estate is very affordable too. It is difficult to say how much house prices have changed in Belize recently, as there are no official house price figures. They declined by as much as 25% to 30% after the global economic crisis in 2008, according to Michel Chebat of local firm Chebat & Company. He said that the real estate market saw significant improvement in 2012 after slow sales in 2010 and 2011 as a continued reaction to the financial situation in the US. Despite problems selling their homes in the US, Americans found ways of purchasing property in Belize. This trend is continuing in 2013.

‘In Belize, there are two prices for everything, the local price and the rich foreigner price. Since the majority of properties for sale are not advertised, the best way to get a feel of the difference between the Belizean price and the non-Belizean price is to travel to the country and spend time there,’ said Smith.

He gives, as an example, plots of land at The Palms at Corozal, in Northern Belize some nine miles from the Mexican border starting at $15,000 which are minutes from the sea. ‘The Palms offers the opportunity to buy and own real estate in a prime Caribbean location, with land plots from plots of between a quarter and a third of an acre and the ROI is between 25 to 30% due to capital appreciation of land values,’ explained Smith.

He added that there are tax and residency breaks to foreigners with the status of a Qualified Retired Person (QRP). These include being exempted from all taxes on income and receipts and from all import duties and taxes on personal and household effects upon first importation into Belize up to a maximum value of US$15,000. It also means that people can conduct business within Belize if their business activities are mainly outside the country, and not with Belizeans. QRPs can also own rental properties.

Source

“I got schooled, man,” he says. “In North America, everything we’ve been taught and told is the right way to record and the right sounds to get, they go for the exact opposite. They think those sounds that we would get are cheesy, in a sense. To have a really, really good guitar and a really great amp and a really good mic and get a good sound, they kind of giggle at that. Which is such a mind-blower for me. It’s a lot scratchier and a lot more rough. If you make a mistake when you’re recording, tough s — t, you move on. It was a really good lesson in vibe and groove and energy and stuff like that.”

And so Black Birds was born, an endearing world-music blend that mixes the collective’s instinctual vibes and understated virtuosity with Michel’s measured pop smarts. For longtime fans of the songwriter, the adventurous nature of the project shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. The Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., musician’s work has always showcased a certain artistic restlessness over a 25-year career, whether it be his early run in the late-1980s as part of reggae-ska act The Rhinos or his decision in 2004 to release an album of David Bowie covers.

His fans are happily following him on this off-road excursion as well, Michel reports.

“The CD sales at my shows with my good-old songwriter fans in Canada are through the roof,” he says. “It’s beautiful. I’m so proud of my fans, I’m proud of the band and proud to be a part of everything that is happening.”

Whether or not Michel records another album in this style remains to be seen, but he has certainly shown commitment not only to the music, but the region as well.

He established the Ocean Academy Fund and has so far raised $50,000 towards educating youth in Belize. He recently returned to the island to emcee the Academy’s graduation services.

It’s his way of giving back to a community and culture that gave him such an artistic boost these last couple of years.

“This music they are doing is bigger than music,” Michel says. “It’s kind of a mission. I know that sounds grandiose, but the Garifuna culture — which is a people and a language — is something they are trying to preserve.”

Danny Michel and the Garifuna Collective play the Calgary Folk Music Festival main stage.

Source

Tropic Air is looking at linking Belize and Chetumal in Mexico through scheduled flights.
According to Honorary Consul of Belize in Chetumal, Juan Valencia Gomez, the state Ministry of Tourism – Sedetur – along with the Ministry of Transport and Communications are the entities that will have to finalize the new air routes. In speaking with Mexican media, Honorary Consul Valencia Gomez said the connection is highly anticipated by both entrepreneurs and tourist from Belize and Mexico. In April this year, the same airline re-initiated its flights connecting Belize with Cancun Mexico. It’s expected the flights should start by November this year or February next year.

The Belize Defense Force is looking for men and women to join its ranks. The recruitment exercise will take place tomorrow across the country. Love News spoke with Major Thomas Cal.
MAJOR THOMAS CAL
“The Belize Defense Force will be having a recruit selection examination tomorrow across the country and it is going to start at 7am. I want to inform all those who will be sitting the examination to be on time. The different locations to report to are: the Corozal Drill Camp in Corozal; the Orange Walk Aisles Camp in Orange Walk; Militia Hall, the volunteer training base in Belize City; Belmopan Comprehensive High School in Belmopan; Central Farm Belizario Camp in Central Farm, Cayo District; the Volunteer Camp in Dangriga and the Fairweather Camp in the Toledo District. People who will be attending will be those who are interested; they are to bring along a police record or the receipt for the application of the police card; birth certificate; a form of identification and copies of educational qualifications. The age range is from 18 – 23 years. Anyone that has these requirements can attend and sit the examination.”
Major Cal says the Ministry of Education will assist in grading the papers. He also advises applicants to bring their water and a packed lunch and prepare for a long day.

The Productive Organization for Women in Action, POWA gave certificates to 48 adolescents for completing the POWA youth empowerment program in Dangriga. Correspondent Ifasina Efunyemi has more in this report.
IFASINA EFUNYEMI
“During the past five weeks, the participating youths were involved in several 3-hour sessions that covered the topics of self-esteem, healthy relationships, teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections including HIV. The sessions were done with boys and girls separately and involved mini lectures, group discussions and role play. Women Development Officer for the Stann Creek District, Michelle Irving explained that popular music videos were also used as a teaching tool in this program such as Vybz Kartel, Teenage Pregnancy to capture the youth attention and engage discussions about social issues impacting youths. The participants who received certificates on Friday in Dangriga at the Dangriga Community Care Centre at the New Site Area were 25 females and 23 males. This was intentional because gender and relationships was the major theme of this program which taught both female and male participants to be responsible for their behavior. The Power Youth Empowerment Program was done in collaboration with the Women’s Department and the WDO, Michelle Irving told Love News that the youths who participated have agreed to meet once per month to continue dialogue about community issues; she hopes this follow-up meeting would result in a leadership program in which the participants can become care leaders.”

The Youth Apprenticeship Program has been in existence since 2010. Since then the program has had a positive impact on hundreds of young people. Today was another special day for the program as we hear in this story from reporter Hipolito Novelo.
HIPOLITO NOVELO
“With their heads high sixty four young men and women proudly marched up the isle as they formed part of the fourth commencement exercise of the Youth Apprenticeship Program. The program has been assisting youths since 2010 and has steadily grown from its first graduation which saw 29 graduates. Today that number has almost tripled and according to the Coordinator of the Program, Dianne Finnegan, this year over 200 applicants were received out of which 150 were sent to intern at different businesses for a six month period.”
DIANNE FINNEGAN
“Today we are here celebrating another milestone; the fourth intake of the youth apprenticeship program began on February 8, 2013 with a total of 220 young people participating in the orientation process which lasted for two weeks and at the end of that period 150 youths were placed at various employers. These young people worked four days per week, Monday thru Thursday and every Friday we meet at ITVET where the youths benefit from life skills sessions, basic remedial subjects like English, Math and Reading. We give every single person who registers, the opportunity to aspire for greatness by participating in this initiative but because of the level of discipline demanded from each of them, some do not make it to the final step.”
HIPOLITO NOVELO
“The graduates hail from all walks of life including single mothers and high school drop outs. But this did not allow their circumstances to dictate what they could accomplish. For most of the graduates, their goals have been set. Some of them have already been hired as full time staff at several business institutions; others will be returning to high school to obtain their diploma and others are looking to contribute back to the community. Whatever the case may be, they have turned their lives around for the better, as expressed by guest speaker, Mose Hyde.”
MOSE HYDE
“You are not apprentices; you are revolutionaries; you all made a revolutionary decision that not only changes your life and change the path of your life because when our young men and young women change from within and start to go the right direction, it is a betterment not only for them but for our neighborhoods, our communities and our nation. Every person in this country should celebrate the fact that you all made the decision that you made.”
The fifth intake begins on September 15th. Finnegan says that so far over five hundred applications have been submitted.

A shooting took place on Carpenter Street in Ladyville Village on Thursday night but the victim and the accused are little boys. The one who got shot is ten years old and he had to undergo surgery to remove a portion of his intestine that was ruptured when the bullet ripped through his body. The other child who had the gun was his 14 year old cousin who lived in the same yard. Officer in Charge at the Ladyville Police Sub-formation, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Chris Noble, says that the incident happened just before eleven o’clock on a street that runs parallel to the Ladyville Police Station, and that investigations are ongoing to determine who is the owner of the gun recovered. He said police heard a loud bang and went to investigate.
A.S.P., Chris Noble, O.C., Ladyville Police Sub-formation
“There was a noise heard in the area of the station; a minor was brought to the station suffering from injuries; he was taken to the taken to the hospital at the Military Camp and he was subsequently transferred to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. A parent brought in another minor and an item which we believe may have been the item that inflicted the injury and we have been looking into why and we have clarified certain points and our investigation continues. The incident occurred directly behind the station on Carpenter Street. The item brought in was a firearm; we have not verified if that is the weapon that did the injury. We have not confirmed if the weapon is a licensed firearm, we are still working on what it is. This incident may have been the result of child’s play but we are still looking into it.”
MARION ALI
“Reports reaching the media is that the firearm belongs to either a police officer or a BDF soldier.”
A.S.P., Chris Noble, O.C., Ladyville Police Sub-formation
“That information to the media, I cannot deny or confirm but I know we do have a weapon and it is in our custody at this time.”
MARION ALI
“Will anybody be held accountable?”
A.S.P., Chris Noble, O.C., Ladyville Police Sub-formation
“Like I said, that part of the investigation we are looking into and the DPP is going to make an ultimate decision on it.”
Following the shooting reporters visited the residence where the boys lived and we spoke with Elaine McCulloch, the mother of Dion Samuels Junior, the ten year old boy who was shot in the abdomen. She says that the family is still at a loss trying to figure out where the gun came from. The shooting, she said, occurred on the street side in front of the yard and a third child witnessed what happened.
ELAINE McCULLOCH
“According to my nephew, they had the gun and they put the bullet in it and shut it.”
MARION ALI
“They were playing with it?”
ELAINE
“I guess.”
MARION ALI
“Is the gun for anyone in the yard? Have you asked anybody where they got the gun from?”
ELAINE McCCULLOCH
“No. Not yet.”
MARION ALI
“Is the 14-year-old in police custody?”
ELAINE
“Yes. Right now, it is confusing; everybody is asking the same question as to where the gun came from and we have no answer to that yet.”
MARION ALI
“What is the doctor’s prognosis?”
ELAINE
“Right now, they are saying that he is stable but if it gets infected they may have to do another surgery because they had to put tubes in. The small intestine and the large intestine; they had to take off about 4 centimeters and they had to put tubes. He is talking now and saying he wants to come home and he asked for his brother and sisters. I asked him if he remembers the incident and he said yes and that he remembers that he got shot. He says the same thing, that his cousin had the gun and he put in the bullet, snap it and just fired it.”
Ten year-old Dion Samuels had just started a camp with the Police Youth Cadet Corps early on Thursday. He is scheduled to return to school in September as a standard three student. Police are awaiting a directive from the Director of Public Prosecutions Office before charges are laid against anyone.

The BTIA held a meeting on Thursday marking the end of consultations with all of its chapters to ventilate the proposals for large scale development in the Placencia area for cruise tourism. Appearing on Love FM’s Morning Show were the President of the Belize Tourism Industry Association, Herbert Haylock and Stuart Krohn, the Chairman of the Placencia chapter.
HERBERT HAYLOCK
“It’s not only Harvest Caye, there was an initial effort at Crawl Caye Development site and we had put out a public statement on May 29 on that matter in relation to development in the south and then again, a few weeks after that we started hearing and the information came out that Harvest Caye is a next option. We essentially went back to the table in terms of looking at this matter; the two chapters in the south, both the Toledo chapter and the Placencia Chapter, both put forward early positions on that matter and again, now from a national perspective, we are once again underscoring the initial position that we put out in the May 29 release that we are not supporting and not in support in the level of development that is being proposed with the Harvest Caye location and site. We want to take it one step further, beyond not necessarily being in support of that particular development and for all the reasons that we put forward before, the environmental concerns, the developmental concerns, the concerns as it relates to moving completely away from what again has been laid out as a direction strategically, as it relates to the master plan but we want to also look at what is now a matter that has now surfaced as it relates to the MOU that is in the media and that has been circulating over the recent week or two. There are some very specific concerns in there that we are not supporting and cannot support because of the dynamics of those particular clauses and agreements; we have seen it in a draft format; obviously, we understand and we hear that there are changes to be made but notwithstanding that you are still looking at an agreement that provides and essentially gives away much more than what we would receive as a country and those are glaring concerns that need to be looked at, voiced and considered and there perhaps need to be some reconsideration of some of these things that have been put forward in that MOU.”
Meanwhile, Stuart Krohn explained that tourism has been the bread and butter industry from year to year for Belize and allowing large scale cruise tourism in the south will pose a serious threat to the way investors have planned that area. The described the Memorandum of Understanding and the concept of mass cruise tourism in southern Belize are a disaster.
STUART KROHN
“What we cannot understand is why when you have an industry that is going on such a great path and you see the releases from BTB, we grew ten percent in 2012 and we are going to grow another 8 or 9 percent in 2013; far beyond what our competitors are doing. Why would you want to inject a low class, cheap mass product to an area that is doing so well on what has been the traditional path of tourism; it doesn’t make any sense. For years in the tourism industry we said there is no plan, we don’t know where we are going, let’s get a plan; well, quite brilliantly, a couple years back the BTB and the Ministry of Tourism spent hundreds of thousands of dollars with an independent set of consultants to establish a plan. They brought it to Cabinet; Cabinet approved it, there it is: the National Sustainable Master Tourism Plan. That plan clearly states, words have meaning, you know; it clearly states that pocket cruise tourism is the only acceptable form of tourism on the south eastern coast of Belize; ‘only’, I don’t know what different interpretation you can use for the word, ‘only’. Pocket cruise tourism, in the same document, defines it as cruise ships of under 250 passengers. Now, NCL comes along or the Ministry of Investment comes along and says, ‘guess what, we have this deal and NCL wants to buy an island and the biggest ships they would bring would bring 400 people; 4000 vs. 250; so, how do you go from this master plan of 250 and under to suddenly having ships of four thousand people and you the Ministry of Tourism saying, this is a good thing. The Minister of Tourism and the CEO in the Ministry of Tourism have been utterly silent on this issue. This is a huge issue for the industry; this isn’t just about Placencia and how many people are walking on the sidewalk; it is a huge change, a 180 degree change of direction for the industry and ministry has not consulted one iota and has not made one public statement.”
Krohn says that the Placencia BTIA will internationalize the issue.

When Steven and Robin Fine started searching for a place in Latin America to spend their early retirement, they looked at spots in Mexico and Costa Rica, both popular destinations for American retirees. On a trip two years ago, they decided to stop by Panama, too.

"We thought we would like Panama the least," Mr. Fine, 51 years old, a former communications executive said, "but we liked it the best."

The combination of luxury apartment buildings, good restaurants and modern hospitals drew the couple to Panama City, where 1½ years ago they spent $1.1 million, plus about $250,000 on renovations, on a 48th-floor penthouse with a view of the Pacific. It is now their full-time home.
 

The Central American nations of Panama, Belize and Nicaragua are increasingly competing with Costa Rica and Mexico for North American retirees and second-home buyers. New luxury developments, outfitted with spas, restaurants, marinas and golf courses, are on the rise. Builders say they are using more high-end materials and adding upscale amenities designed to appeal to affluent American buyers.

These countries offer packages of residency and breaks on taxes and fees that imitate Costa Rica's pensionado program, which was introduced in 1971 and helped set the groundwork for a boom in retiree emigration from North America. Nicaragua added such a law in 2009, offering foreigners with retirement incomes tax breaks on everything from cars to construction materials. Last year, Panama, which has a long-established retiree program, created a path to citizenship for retirement residents and introduced a new residency program for people under retirement age that has lowered requirements for investment in property, business and other ventures.

"The message of this law is simple," said Panama City-based attorney Manoj Chatlani of Panama Offshore Legal Services. "It's 'Come to Panama.' "

The number of Americans who collect Social Security in Panama jumped 65% to 2,164 between 2006 and 2011, the latest year for which there is information. In Nicaragua, the figure more than doubled in the same period, from 595 to 1,322. Belize's number, too tiny for the Social Security Administration to track in years past, was 560 in 2011.

Panama's explosive growth—gross domestic product increased by an average of 8.5% annually since 2008, according to International Monetary Fund estimates—has drawn American workers and businesses to Panama City over the past decade. Now, local developers are courting another population, focusing on building amenity-rich planned communities outside the city to appeal to North American retirees.

Boquete, a town about 40 miles from the Costa Rican border, offers high-end gated communities, an established expat community, cool mountain temperatures and tropical-rainforest landscape. Justin Harper, co-owner of Playa Chiquita Development Corp., is developing about 200 acres of virgin land 20 miles east of Boquete. The community, Bella Vista del Mundo, has 76 lots and plans for a boutique hotel, spa, pools, tennis courts and horseback trails. Single-family homes with mountaintop and Pacific Ocean views can be built by the developer for about $400,000.

David Hatton Urriola, 43, moved to Boquete three years ago from Kansas and set up Panama Connection Real Estate, which provides tours, relocation help and real-estate sales to expats. Among properties he is currently marketing is a 6,716-square-foot house on 34 acres, once used as the summer home of Panama's military leader, Manuel Noriega, who is serving a 20-year sentence in El Renacer prison in Panama City. The house, listed at $2.3 million, is a 25-minute drive from where an international airport is being expanded.

Bobby Pereira for The Wall Street Journal

Steven and Robin Fine renovated a $1.1 million, 48th-floor penthouse in Panama City.

On the east side of Panama City, a 700-acre community called Santa Maria Golf & Country Club is being built to include 4,000 colonial-style houses, townhouses and condominiums, and a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus's company. The homes, yet to be completed, sell for about $278 a square foot, a "top price" in Panama City, said Kent Davis, broker at Panama Equity Real Estate.

"Santa Maria is a product that hadn't existed in Panama before: the luxury suburban community—more American-style larger lots," Mr. Davis said. Most pre-delivery buyers have been Panamanians; local agents say they expect American interest to rise as the development nears completion in five to 10 years.

Belize, a small, English-speaking nation with a population of about 330,000, has been popular for years as a scuba-diving and ecotourism destination. High-end properties had to be custom-built until the early 2000s, when developers started putting up "single homes here and there," said Hugo Moguel, president of the Association of Real Estate Brokers of Belize, which is launching the country's first multiple-listing service in August.

Now, developers are attempting to sell Belize as a luxury-living place to retire. New developments include Sanctuary Belize, a 14,000-acre development slated for completion in three years that will have 2,000 residential lots, 250 condominiums and townhouses, and a 220- to 250-slip marina. The buildings' poured-concrete construction meets Dade County, Fla., hurricane-resistant standards, said Luke Chadwick, a partner in Eco-Futures Development. Developer financing is available.

Of the 600 lots Sanctuary has sold so far, 80% of them have been to Americans, he said. The core demographic is "50 to 65 year olds, either in retirement or planning for retirement," Mr. Chadwick added. Lot prices range from $149,000 to $1 million for an acre overlooking the Caribbean, he said.

Tom and Tricia Herskowitz moved into their 7,000-square-foot compound in Sanctuary this past September, lured by the boat slip and Caribbean access. "The fact that the country is English speaking and is a Commonwealth country was attractive to us," said Mr. Herskowitz, 68, a retired executive and business-school professor.

Amid growing tourism—and aided by the lowering of a foreigner transaction tax in 2006—there has been a boom in luxury-condo developments, especially on the island of Ambergris Caye, popular with expats.

"There are beachfront condos going up that are going to feature elevators, which didn't exist in Belize before. Most of the buyers are baby boomers and they are aging," said Dmitri Ioudine, owner of Coldwell Banker Ambergris Caye Ltd. Local builders say building materials have improved as local suppliers bring in higher-end materials.

Despite their inroads with American retirees, these countries still don't attract the same numbers as more established destinations, such as Mexico and Costa Rica. In 2011, more than 50,000 Americans collected Social Security in Mexico and more than 5,000 in Costa Rica. But Mexico's well-publicized drug war and escalating violence are starting to push Americans to look at new places for retirement.

Central America, however, has its own problems with crime. The U.S. Department of State labeled the crime rate in Nicaragua "critical" and the murder rate in Belize "extremely high," though concentrated in Belize City and not in tourist areas. In Costa Rica, petty crime such as theft and "smash and grab" muggings have increased in the past couple of years, along with home invasions.

In Panama, murders and gun violence have decreased in recent years, but reported rape and theft have increased. "Panama remains relatively safe when compared with other Central American countries, yet crime rates are higher than one would encounter in most of the United States," says the State Department's 2013 report.

Dan Prescher, who leads conferences by International Living, a provider of information for people interested in retiring abroad, says urban crime rates can exaggerate safety issues in other areas of a country. Still, he warns that public security isn't always adequate in the region.

Nicaragua is the latest country to attempt to grab North American interest. In Guacalito de la Isla, a 16,070-acre coastal development—with 600 residences, a pool, restaurant and gym—is under construction. A two-hour drive from Managua's international airport, the project includes a plan to open a small airport by 2015. The first homes—28 single-family houses—will be turned over to owners in September. The four-bedroom, four-bath pool houses sold for between $700,000 and $750,000, said Jeff Lawrence, director of real estate. A luxury hotel-resort on the property, Mukul, opened in January and has helped boost sales, he said.

"The buyers right now are 85% Nicaraguan and 15% U.S. based," Mr. Lawrence said. "There is an education hurdle for us to convince people that Nicaragua is safe and is a tropical paradise."

Source

Mayor Bradley also confirmed that no part of negotiations with Belize Waste Control involved an extension or amendment of that company’s contract with the Belize City Council. So with garbage matters out the way, the issue is city infrastructure – specifically the seemingly unending street works which have resulted in the loss of revenue to businesses, frustration, inconvenience and traffic congestion. News Five’s Mike Rudon got an update from Mayor Darrell Bradley.

Mike Rudon, Reporting

If you’re a glass half full kind of person, then there is good news coming out of City Hall today. Mayor Darrell Bradley says that it’ll only be another three months or so before the street insanity ends and things start looking up as far as traffic is concerned.

Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor

“We will see substantial alleviation in the traffic woes going into October and November of this year and that is when we will substantially move away from the downtown areas. A major headache has been the substantial delays and I will concede that there has been substantial delay with respect to the North Front Street Project. That’s a major artery going into the downtown community. We are working on that simultaneously with our efforts on New Road. And that is one street going in and one street coming out—major arteries. And when you close down those roads, it is going to cause a problem. B.W.S. had to go back on North Front Street and that’s the difficultly in terms of the delay. We are trying to have them accelerate their works and as soon as they move out of the ending portion of that, then our contractors will go back. It is only from the area of Victoria Street to the Swing Bridge. About sixty percent of the work has already been completed, but that area again is causing substantial delay.”

A lot of that delay and inconvenience seems unnecessary to observers. Case in point a large portion of Baymen Avenue, which was broken up by B.W.S. months ago and still hasn’t been touched by the City Council’s contractors.

Darrell Bradley

“People may not appreciate that there is a legal process that is involved here…that they will indicate to us when they have signed off on a street. Just because a street appears to be dormant; that there is no work crew on that street presently, does not mean that the work has been completed on that street and it does not mean that B.W.S. has signed off on the street. When they sign off on the street and they have passed the street over to us; that means that we go there and we concrete the road. And when we concrete the road, any further problem that occurs on the road is then the responsibility of B.W.S. because we have allowed them the full time. If we move before they have given us that sign off, then there is that difficulty because they will say that we have interrupted the finishing of their work and we don’t want to do that. We are spending public funds and when we spend public funds, we want to ensure that we allow maximum time to the utility companies to do what needs to be done so that when the streets are completely, they don’t have to in a week later or months later, go into the road.”

With some semblance of an end in sight, even if still months away, the Mayor says that they are moving as fast as they possibly can.

Darrell Bradley

“We had done the BelChina approaches; we have done the BelCan approaches; all of that is complete. We are waiting to do the roundabout. We are on several streets in the downtown area. We are going to do East Canal. So like our works on the downtown: we are going to do Douglas Jones Street. As soon as these works are completed, you will have substantial alleviation because when these works are done, then we will no longer be in very critical, traffic intensive areas of this city and people will have less concerns.”

Currently the City Council is working on eighteen streets in addition to large projects like the B.T.L. Park and the Battlefield Park. Mike Rudon for News Five.