San Pedro Daily
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Ambergris Caye, Belize Tuesday August 14, 2007 Belize's only Daily- Seven Days a Week |
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Sparks Fly Over
Chispas
Free Textbooks  The word chispas is Spanish for sparks and that’s just what flew on Friday when we reported that many of the new free Spanish textbooks by the same name have Belize drawn as a part of Mexico. It’s caused outrage among some teachers who saw the Spanish textbooks in workshops for the first time last week. But today Education Minister Francis Fonseca said it’s just a hiccup. Hon. Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education “As we’ve said from the very beginning Jules, the implementation of the free textbook program will not be without its hiccups and I think this is one of them. Obviously the Spanish book is a Spanish book. It is not a geography book and there are errors in that book and people have pointed to that one; the glaring error of the map with Mexico. But that is exactly what we are trying to correct. We will be able to sit down with the publishers who now have a commercial interest but they have a vested interest in Belize because we have a long term relationship that we have with them. So every year now we will sit down with them and correct those errors and make the books more relevant to the needs of our Belizean children. Many of the books are being used already in Belize. I think four out of five of them are being used by many schools in our country. So even with the problems that have been demonstrated, those problems exist already. They are using the books as they are now, so our objective is to make sure we correct those problems.” Read More Ombudsman’s
investigator
arrested for extortion  This morning, thirty three year old
Lionel Castillo, the
investigator at the Ombudsman’s Office, appeared in Belize City
Magistrates’ Court where he was arraigned on the charge of Extortion
following a sting operation by police. Authorities say Castillo
received an initial payment of five thousand dollars after he
purportedly helped an inmate serving time at the Belize Central Prison
received an early parole. According to court reports the former prisoner, Kelvin Reneau, who had been incarcerated for Conspiracy to Murder, was sentenced in early two thousand to eighteen years in prison but last month was paroled. In a police press release authorities state that it was prison officials who contacted them after they became aware of the interaction between Castillo and the inmate. Police say based on the information Friday they launched the special operation. Today, Ombudsman Paul Rodriguez would not discuss Castillo’s case but says that at the time of the alleged incident Castillo has not been working at the Ombudsman’s Office because he is on vacation leave until September. According to Rodriguez, since Castillo started working with him in 1999, he has not received any complaints of wrongdoing by Castillo concerning money matters. Furthermore, Rodriguez says he is not aware of any incident where Castillo while employed at his office received any payments for any case he may have investigated. Read More Belize, Brazil strengthen
health co-operation A
team of officials from Brazil on Friday concluded a one week visit to
Belize. The four-member team visiting Belize included their technical
advisors in the fields of HIV/AIDS, environmental vigilance, human milk
bank and other health reform projects.
> Discussions were held with key personnel and technical advisors from the Ministry of Health, which included the exchange of professionals in public health, training and specialisation for Belizean doctors and other medical personnel in Brazil and assistance in setting up a human milk bank in Belize. The team toured the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, the Western Regional Hospital, the San Ignacio Hospital and also met with the Minister of Health, Jose Coye, who expressed his appreciation for the visit and for the interest expressed by Ambassador Roberto Coutinho and the Ministry of Health of Brazil in advancing the health system of Belize through bilateral cooperation. Through dialogue with Ambassador Coutinho from the Brazilian Embassy in Belize, the bilateral cooperation between the Ministry of Health, Belize and the Ministry of Health, Brazil has reportedly seen great strides lately. This visit paves the way for an official visit later this year to Brazil by Coye and other Belizean health officials. Read More PETROCARIBE SUMMIT
Prime Minister Rt. Hon.
Said Musa led a delegation representing Belize
to the Third Heads of Government and States, and Second Meetings of
Ministers for the Petro Caribe Summit held in Caracas on Aug. 10th. to
11th. The delegation included Minister Ralph Fonseca and Chief
Executive Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador H.E.
Amalia Mai.
The Ministers’ meeting was chaired by Minister of Energy for Venezuela, Rafael Ramirez and the Heads’ Summit by President Hugo Chavez Frias. The meetings concentrated on the accomplishments to date and the difficulties being encountered by the fourteen member countries in attendance. Members agreed that much had been accomplished during the two years of the cooperation agreement. Belize reported on the activities of the Belize government-owned Belize Petroleum and Energy Ltd. (BPEL), and the joint venture company formed with PVD Caribe Venezuela registered as Alba Petro Caribe Belize Energy Ltd. in Belize. Discussions also centered on five major topics: -The expansion of exploration and refinery capacity among member countries including Belize. -Expansion into the production of petrochemicals and utilization of gas resources. -Cooperation in electrical energy generation. -Renewal energy projects including hydro, wind, solar, geo-thermal and ethanol. -Energy conservation including the replacement of incandescent bulbs with energy saving bulbs. In attendance were representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Surinam, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Belize. Heads signed a communiqué and a Petro Caribe Energy Security Treaty. Both documents reiterated the spirit of the Petro Caribe agreement that aimed to develop energy security with the assistance of Venezuela’s resources but also expanded on the original agreement by extending it for five more years and covering the topics discussed in the meetings. The meeting ended with an agreement to meet to review developments every six months starting with a December meeting in Managua, Nicaragua. While in Caracas the delegation met with the relevant authorities to conclude negotiations for some US$10 million in grants for poverty alleviation in Belize. Read More NOTICES/LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
BRUNCH
Served every Saturday and Sunday at Beachin' Kitchen. Cathy's great
cooking!
All
parents of
registered Holy Cross Anglican School
students are required to attend the parent/teacher conference on August
26 at 2 pm. The new school year begins Monday, September 3.
For any
additional information, please call the School office at 226-3456.
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 www.grandcaribe.bz debbiewade@gmail.com
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