THE YEAR IN REVIEW:
TOP 10 BELIZE NEWS STORIES OF 2010
By Lan Sluder
10. CHINESE PROTEST CRIME Virtually all of the many Chinese stores and shops across Belize closed August 19 to mark the funeral of Hellen Yu, 14, who the previous week was shot dead in the robbery of her parents' store in the Collet Division of Belize City. Her father, Ziren Yu, was also shot in the robbery but recovered. Chinese merchants frequently have been the targets of crime, especially in Belize City.
9. BRITISH ARMY PULLING OUT OF BELIZE Nearly all the remaining British Army forces in Belize will be pulled out of the country, and the British Army Training Support Unit Belize (BATSUB) base near Belize City will be effectively closed, leaving only a skeleton staff, according to an announcement by the British government in December. The move is part of a British cost-cutting effort. As many as 3,000 British troops per year have been undergoing jungle training in Belize. The closure of BATSUB could mean the loss of up to 160 local jobs.
8. BELIZEÕS PROFILE AS RETIREMENT DESTINATION RAISED A series of articles in large-circulation U.S. magazines and on the Yahoo internet main page raised Belize's profile as a possible retirement destination. An article in U.S. News & World Report touted Belize as one of the 10 best retirement options outside the U.S., and the article was picked up by Yahoo and given prominent space on the site's web page. Another article in AARP Magazine profiled Corozal Town as an expat haven.
7. TOURISM INDUSTRY STRUGGLES TO GET TRACTION After suffering a more than 5% decline in tourism arrivals in 2009, BelizeÕs tourism industry struggled to gain traction in a soft world market for travel. While many tourism businesses in San Pedro and other tourism centers saw increasing numbers of visitors in 2010, several large hotels closed, including Bela Maya on the Placencia peninsula and Sue–o del Mar and Belize Legacy Resort on Ambergris Caye.
6. LEADING BELIZE BUSINESSES SUFFER IN DOWNTURN In a tough economic environment, with the GST raised to 12.5%, several prominent Belize businesses closed or showed signs of trouble. In December, the license of National Transport Ltd., formerly Novelo's, and its subsidiary Bel-Bus were pulled by the Ministry of Transport. First Caribbean International Bank placed the Mena group of companies in July into receivership. Fresh Catch Limited Belize, the tilapia farm which opened in 2002, defaulted on loan payments. Another Mena company, Wood Depot, also ran into financial troubles. An official of the Belize Central Bank said in August that about 28% of BelizeÕs BankÕs loan portfolio was non-performing. Although some observers claimed that the disclosure of Belize BankÕs problems was a political move by elements of the UDP against the PUP, which has been closely allied to Belize BankÕs ownership, Prime Minister Dean Barrow went on the record saying he thought Belize Bank, BelizeÕs largest local bank, could resolve the problems.
5. HURRICANE RICHARD STRIKES CENTRAL BELIZE After dodging the bullet on Tropical Storm Matthew in September, Central Belize including Belize City and Belmopan took the brunt of Cat 1 Hurricane Richard that came ashore October 24. Two fisherman died, an American expat was killed by a jaguar that escaped during the storm and the Belize Zoo, Guanacaste National Park and a number of homes in Belmopan and Belize City were damaged by the storm.
4. NO ONE SAFE: PROMINENT BELIZE CITY RESIDENTS SHOT AND STABBED Rodwell Williams, Prime Minister Dean Barrow's long-time law partner and friend, was shot down in cold blood on May 31 around 8 pm leaving his law offices on Albert Street West in Belize City. The perpetrators, two alleged members of a South Side gang, were arrested for the shooting but later released on nominal bail. Williams suffered severe injuries but is recovering. In September former Secretary General of the PeopleÕs United Party and educator Carlos Espat was found dead in his apartment in Belize City, a victim of blunt trauma to the chest. Richard Stuart, a prominent attorney, and his wife, Maria Stuart, an accountant and former teacher, were brutally stabbed to death at their home in the upscale West Landivar area of Belize City the night of October 16.
3. TOLEDO VIGILANTES BURN CROC SANCTUARY The American Crocodile Education Sanctuary (ACES) facility near Punta Gorda, operated as a volunteer reptile rescue and rehab center by a young American couple, Vince Rose and wife Cherie Renee Chenot-Rose, was burned to the ground September 5. A group of about 100 villagers from San Marcos village, armed with rifles and machetes, came to the ACES property looking for two missing children they believed were at the ACES facility. The villagers shot some of the crocodiles and the property was set ablaze, burning down the ownersÕ home, laboratory and two guest cabanas. Two young Maya children, Benjamin and Onelia Rash, 9 and 11, from San Marcos village, had gone missing earlier in the week, after being in Punta Gorda selling craboo and limes. A local fortuneteller allegedly had claimed that the missing children had been fed to the crocodiles at ACES. Police had been to the crocodile facility but had found nothing linking it to the childrenÕs disappearance. The incident raised anti-foreigner sentiment among some Belizeans. The missing children have never been found. The American couple moved their crocodile operation to Ambergris Caye.
2. SIR BARRY BOWEN DIES IN PLANE CRASH Sir Barry Bowen, 64, a seventh-generation Belizean, the country's most prominent entrepreneur and one of Belize's wealthiest men, and a former Senator and financier of the People's United Party, died February 26 in the crash near San Pedro of a private airplane he was piloting. Four other people in the Cessna 206 also died in the crash.
1. RECORD 132 MURDERS RIP BELIZE Belize had at least 132 murders in 2010, a record. Of these, 86 were in Belize City and elsewhere in Belize District; 20 were in Cayo District; 13 in Orange Walk; 12 in Stann Creek; 3 in Corozal; and just 1 in Toledo. Based on an estimated population of 340,000, BelizeÕs homicide rate per 100,000 is about 39, almost seven times higher than the homicide rate in the U.S., and among the highest homicide rates in the world.