Category Archives: Belize

Weather tracker: Tropical Storm Sara and Super Typhoon Man-yi wreak havoc

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Powerful storm systems bring heavy rainfall, widespread flooding and landslides to Central America and Asia

Tropical Storm Sara has caused significant disruption across Central America in recent days after forming in the Caribbean Sea on Thursday afternoon. It is the 18th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and the third this month. The large number of tropical storm and hurricane formations this season can be attributed to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico being warmer than average, thus providing more energy for the development and intensification of these systems.

Since its formation, Sara has affected Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Belize and Guatemala, bringing heavy rainfall, widespread flooding and landslides. The slow-moving nature of the storm has exacerbated the damage, prolonging the duration of its impact. However, Sara is losing strength; initially it had sustained winds of 45mph on Thursday but weakened slightly after moving inland, with winds dropping to 40mph by Sunday. According to the National Hurricane Centre, Sara is expected to dissipate into an area of low pressure as it moves north-west toward the southern region of the Yucatan peninsula on Monday.

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Belize crackdown on gang-related killings leads to dozens of arrests

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State of emergency imposes curfew on young people and gives police powers to detain suspects for up to 90 days

A controversial state of emergency in Belize to crack down on a surge of gang-related murders and other violent crimes has led to the arrest of nearly a hundred people.

The order, announced on Tuesday, gives police the power to search homes without a warrant and detain suspects for up to 90 days. Originally implemented for 30 days, the government announced on Friday that it was increasing its length to maximise its effectiveness.

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Deadly heat in Mexico and US made 35 times more likely by global heating

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Researchers find extreme heat four times more likely than at turn of millennium and urge reduction in fossil fuels

The deadly heatwave that scorched large swaths of Mexico, Central America and the southern US in recent weeks was made 35 times more likely due to human-induced global heating, according to research by leading climate scientists from World Weather Attribution (WWA).

Tens of millions of people have endured dangerous day – and nighttime temperatures as a heat dome engulfed Mexico – a large and lingering zone of high pressure that stretched north to Texas, Arizona and Nevada, and south over Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

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Socialite Jasmine Hartin fined after killing Belize police officer

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Ex-partner of Lord Ashcroft’s son discharged gun at Henry Jemmott in 2021 as the pair drank together

The Canadian socialite and former partner of the son of the billionaire and Conservative party grandee Michael Ashcroft has been fined after killing a police officer in Belize.

Jasmine Hartin, 34, was ordered to pay £30,000 by the supreme court in Belize City for manslaughter by negligence. She must also undertake 300 hours of community service and film a video about the dangers of “drinking and making foolish decisions”.

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Belize likely to become republic, says PM, as he criticises Rishi Sunak

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Exclusive: Johnny Briceño attacks his UK counterpart’s refusal to apologise for atrocities of slavery

The prime minister of Belize, Johnny Briceño, has sharply criticised Rishi Sunak’s refusal to apologise for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, and said it was “quite likely” Belize would be the next member of the Commonwealth realm to become a republic.

Speaking to the Guardian in the country’s capital, Belmopan, Briceño argued the British government had a moral responsibility to apologise for the atrocities of slavery and added to the calls throughout the English-speaking Caribbean for financial reparations from the UK.

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Commonwealth Indigenous leaders demand apology from the king for effects of colonisation

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Exclusive: Aboriginal Olympian Nova Peris says ‘change begins with listening’ as campaigners from 12 countries ask for ‘process of reparatory justice to commence’

Australians have joined Indigenous leaders and politicians across the Commonwealth to demand King Charles III make a formal apology for the effects of British colonisation, make reparations by redistributing the wealth of the British crown, and return artefacts and human remains.

Days out from Charles’s coronation in London, campaigners for republic and reparations movements in 12 countries have written a letter asking the new monarch to start a process towards “a formal apology and for a process of reparatory justice to commence”.

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Taiwan prepared ‘for all moves’ by China while President Tsai is abroad

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Tsai Ing-wen will visit allies Guatemala and Belize next week, and stopover in the US, after Honduras said it would establish ‘official relations’ with China

Taiwan’s defence ministry has contingency plans for any moves by China during Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit to the US and Central America, deputy defence minister Po Horng-huei has said ahead of Tsai’s departure next week.

China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, carried out large-scale, live-fire war games around the island last August after a visit to Taipei by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

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Two November hurricanes pose rare threat at end of 2022 Atlantic season

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Hurricane Lisa, which has battered Belize, formed at same time as Martin, now over Atlantic, for only third time since records began

Two November hurricanes have simultaneously formed in the Atlantic Ocean for only the third time since records began.

Hurricanes Lisa and Martin have brought an unusual amount of activity for this time of year, when hurricane season is usually nearly over. A third system in the Caribbean is also developing, reports the Washington Post.

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Royal tour ‘in sharp opposition’ to needs of Caribbean people, says human rights group

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Legacy of ‘colonial-era ideologies’ is condemned as community leaders demand reparations for imperialism

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s recent tour was in “sharp opposition to the needs and aspirations of the Caribbean people”, a human rights alliance from the region has said.

The British monarchy’s historic role in the slave trade continues to damage the Caribbean’s society and economy, Jamaica’s Advocates Network said in an open letter published jointly with representatives from Belize and the Bahamas.

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William and Kate: what matters is better future for people of Commonwealth

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Royal couple say they are ‘committed to service’, which is not ‘telling people what to do’, at end of Caribbean tour

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have insisted they are interested only in a “better future” for the Commonwealth, not in who leads it, at the end of their tour of the Caribbean.

William said foreign tours were an “opportunity to reflect” and he and his wife were committed to “serving and supporting” the people of the Commonwealth, not “telling them what to do”, in a statement published on the couple’s Twitter account.

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Caribbean: William suggests monarchy will respect any decision to become republic

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Leaders of Bahamas, Jamaica and Belize present as duke says ‘we respect your decisions about your future’

As the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s controversial tour of the Caribbean draws to a close, William has signalled that the UK would support with “pride and respect” any decision by Jamaica, Belize and the Bahamas to break away from the British monarchy.

It comes after the couple visited the three countries during a week-long tour to mark the Queen’s platinum jubileeand were met with criticism and protests amid calls for slavery reparations and fury over the Windrush scandal.

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‘Perfect storm’: William and Kate’s awkward Caribbean tour

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Calls for slavery reparations and Jamaica’s PM insisting country was ‘moving on’ signal sea change in relations with royals

It was supposed to be a visit to mark the Queen’s diamond jubilee – a chance to present the modern face of the British monarchy to a region where republican sentiment is on the rise.

But it really didn’t turn out that way.

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William and Kate cancel Belize village trip due to protests

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Chairman of Indian Creek village tells media residents don’t want Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to land helicopter there

Protests by local residents have forced the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to cancel a trip to a Belize village that was scheduled to kick off their Caribbean toursidents.

Opposition to the royal excursion had arisen from a dispute between residents of Toledo district and Flora and Fauna International, a conservation charity Prince William is a patron of.

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Belize gripped by arrest of Ashcroft son’s partner over officer’s death

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Discontent simmers over police handling of investigation as Canadian Jasmine Hartin awaits bail hearing

A late-night stroll in the moonlight, then a sudden and fatal gunshot. What exactly happened between the socialite partner of the son of a billionaire Tory donor and a senior police officer in the early hours of last Friday in the resort of Mata Rocks has gripped the small Caribbean nation of Belize and turned into an international drama. It is now a major test for the country’s legal and criminal system.

This week a 32-year-old Canadian woman, Jasmine Hartin, was accused of the negligent manslaughter of a local police superintendent, Henry Jemmott. The case has attracted attention because Hartin is the partner of Andrew Ashcroft, son of Michael Ashcroft, the Conservative party donor and Belize’s most influential resident. Lord Ashcroft is a former Tory party deputy chairman, a one-time member of the House of Lords, and a billionaire.

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Partner of Lord Ashcroft’s son questioned over killing of Belize police officer

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Jasmin Hartin was arrested near to location of body with ‘what appeared to be blood on her arms’

The partner of the son of Lord Ashcroft, a Conservative party donor and former treasurer, is being questioned in Belize over the killing of a police officer.

Jasmine Hartin was arrested on Friday following the discovery of the body of Supt Henry Jemmott on a pier in the resort town of San Pedro.

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Sharon Matola obituary

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The founder of Belize Zoo and a champion of native species including the tapir and the scarlet macaw

In 1983, after a wildlife film-making project she was working on fell apart, Sharon Matola found herself in Belize, Central America, with a menagerie of homeless native creatures. She scrounged some land, wrote a sign on a piece of wood, and the Belize Zoo was open for business. Suddenly, she became “the zoo lady”, responsible for housing, feeding, cleaning and maintaining the health of the 20 animals.

The “office cat” was a jaguar, and there was a baby tapir in the bedroom on several occasions. It looked chaotic, but Matola, who has died aged 66 of a heart attack, was scrupulous about animal husbandry and determined that Belizeans would have a chance to learn about their tiny nation’s biodiversity.

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China to prosecute first foreign national over Hong Kong protests

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Belizean national Lee Henley Hu Xiang accused of ‘colluding with foreign anti-China forces’

China is prosecuting its first foreign national for involvement in the Hong Kong protests, which racked the city for much of last year.

State media said on Friday that Guangzhou city’s national security bureau had finished investigations into Lee Henley Hu Xiang, a Belizean national and Taiwan resident, and his case had been transferred to the Guangzhou people’s procuratorate for prosecution.

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Two questioned in death of Canadian woman in Belize have been released

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Two people who were questioned by Belize police in the deaths of a Canadian woman and her American boyfriend have been released. The mother of the American man says the U.S. embassy in Belize told her both people being questioned were released and no one is currently in custody.