Government-controlled carrier Belize Telemedia Limited has announced it has entered into a deal with London based Sony Ericsson AB to to provided 4G network upgrade services for its Digicell Mobile network in Belize. A press release published on Belize newspapers this weekend says that:

“On January 20th 2012, Executive Chairman of Belize Telemedia Limited, Mr. Nestor Vasquez and Chief Operations Officer, Mrs. Karen Bevans took evolutionary steps towards bringing the fastest mobile network to Belize, when they signed a contract with world renowned telecommunications giant Ericsson, for the provision of an advanced mobile cellular network that will offer 4G services to DigiCell customers across the Country.

“In the coming months, DigiCell customers can look forward to the most popular and superfast 4G experience. In signing the contract, Thomas Noble of Ericsson elaborates “we will be delivering one of the latest technologies to Belize and from a user perspective, means about 10 times faster than current data speeds with endless amounts of applications, a quantum Leap from where the country is today”. BTL’s Executive Chairman added that “this partnership with Ericsson will allow BTL to modernize its DigiCell Network – one with much more capacity and speed, making it comparable to international standards such as the AT&T’s and the T-Mobile’s of this world.

Over the past two years alone, BTL undertook major service upgrades and expansions in DigiCell coverage and now, the anticipated introduction of 4G services is testament that the company will continue to provide customers with new and emerging cutting edge services including mobile broadband, mobile TV, video streaming, social networking, cloud services and many more applications to facilitate both the communication and entertainment needs of DigiCell customers, while on the go.

In keeping momentum with the latest wave of technology, devices and services in the telecommunication space, “offering connectivity at superfast speeds using next generation technology is only one of the many ways BTL is adopting to better serve the telecommunication needs of our customers” comments Karen Bevans, Chief Operations Officer of BTL. “The Company commits to making the user experience of DigiCell customers ‘faster than ever’ and to introducing the latest in mobile broadband services and devices. This will ensure that we keep Belizean Customers on par with those in the region, while allowing BTL to remain the number one telecommunications provider in Belize”, Bevans further stated.”

The government of Prime Minister Dean Barrow last year expropriated the assets of Belize Telemedia from its Belize and U.K. based investors in a controversial move that has shaken investors confidence in Belize and led to the drying up of foreign investments in Belize. The government of the United Democratic Party at the same time seized the assets of Canadian based Fortris investments which owned the electrical generation company Belize Electricity Limited. Last month the Belize government went the house of representatives to provide a sovereign guarantee for an $8  million loan from Heritage Bank to Belize Telemedia to help finance the Ericsson deal. The government guarantee was required as the BTL expropriation is mired is mired in controversy and uncertainty and embroiled in ongoing litigation. Prime Minister Barrow admitted as much in a statement to the media when he said that “BTL’s assets are, as you know, caught up in litigation, over a US$22.5 million debenture BTL had gotten from the British Caribbean Bank – a debenture which Government had also included in the acquisition orders of BTL in 2009 and again in 2011, when the nationalization was redone to address legal concerns over its propriety.“

Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow arrives at the House Of Representatives on 13 January 2012 the last session of parliament prior to General Elections. Image © Copyright 2012 Belize.com Ltd.

Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow has today announced General Elections for 7 March 2012. In an official press release issued today by the Government Press Office Mr. Barrow who was elected to office for a five year term on 7 February 2008, stated that he had called on Governor General Sir Colville Young to dissolve the National Assembly on Friday February 3rd and set the date for Belize general elections one year before they are due. In his statement to the nation aired on all radio and television stations this morning Mr. Barrow said that as municipal elections are due on March 7th, he had decided to have General Elections on the same date to save resources and expenses. Under Belize law municipal elections are held every 3 years and General Elections every 5 years. The dates for municipal elections are set but the general elections can be called at any time with the prime minister giving 30 days notice.

Local observers have some months now been predicting early elections as the timing appears to be right for the ruling United Democratic Party. The opposition People’s United Party has been in disarray for some time now having undergone a change of leadership last year when party leader John Briceno stepped down. The UDP meanwhile has been facing economic challenges that can be expected to worsen as the country faces ballooning debt payments on its Super Bond payment schedule. While this debt was inherited from the previous government of the Peoples United Party, the current government further increased the country’s debt when it expropriated the telephone and electricity companies from British and Canadian investors last year. Court battles and the possibility of it having to pay compensation may have added to the urgency of holding elections before the economic climate worsens some observers believe. The full text of Prime Minister’s statement to the media follows:

“I have been proud and grateful to lead the United Democratic Party Government since February of 2008. And we have accomplished much in this first term. Acting always for the people and with the support of the people, our overall record is a stellar one. Economic growth has been consistent and we have recorded gains every year but one. This has been despite the continuing global crisis, despite the vagaries of nature, despite freak storms and hurricanes, and despite the super bond.

“We have given income tax relief to all employees on fixed salaries. And we have given GST and import duty relief to every single consumer. We have, for the first time in our nation’s history, chartered comprehensive pro-poor and pro- people programmes. These have included monthly cost-of-living allowances, subsidized food baskets, and cash transfers to thousands of families. We have awarded 300 dollar grants to first and second year high school students across the country; and educational opportunities have been expanded in unprecedented ways. We have built a record number of new classrooms, given a record number of scholarships, and we have excelled at creating second-chance, remedial, vocational, and apprenticeship initiatives.

“We have found resources to do new housing construction countrywide, and we have poured millions into home repairs and home improvement. In addition, we have written off almost fifteen thousand mortgages at the Ministry of Housing and the Social Security Board, allowing all those families burdened by repayment obligations to now own their homes free and clear. We have pushed infrastructure development in a way that has never been seen in Belize; and our roads and bridges network, especially in the South and North, has immeasurably improved as a consequence. The key to unlocking the foreign funding for all this, has of course been the fact that we have returned our homeland to credibility and honest stewardship.

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The Belize Agricultural Health Authority (BAHA) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries have today issue an alert informing the general public that neighboring Guatemala is experiencing a massive outbreak of Classical Swine Fever Disease in pigs. The disease has affected almost the entire country of Guatemala which has led to the disposal of over 7,000 pigs.

This disease however, only affects pigs and Belize is considered free of this disease. BAHA in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture is presently implementing emergency measures to prevent its introduction and spread.

The BAHA alert says that these measures include: public awareness, movement control, 24 hours inspection at the Western Border with Melchor De Mncos in Guatemala, active surveillance in high risk areas, improved bio-security at farms, prohibition of the importation of live pigs and pork products from Guatemala and the cleaning and disinfection of trucks used for transporting livestock to Guatemala.

The public has been advised not to feed table scraps containing meat to pigs. Pig farmers have been asked not to feed meat and other waste from slaughtering plants to their pigs and not to allow dirty trucks into their farms.

The authorities has asked the public to notify any BAHA or Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries office of any unusual health problems in pigs.

Maya vessel unearthed from Burns Avenue in San Ignacio, Belize. Image credit Belize Institute of Archaeology.

Construction workers laying new pipes and cables on Burns Avenue in San Ignacio in western Belize have stumbled upon a cache of Maya artifacts dating back more than 2 thousand years. The pottery and human bones were unearthed during work that is part of a $2.7 million dollar beautification project in the small town. The workers were using an excavator to open trenches on the street on Saturday when they made the find. The area is home to the nearby Cahal Pech Maya Site.

Director of Belize Archaeology Dr. Jaime Awe in a statement to the media today explained the find:

“What we have here are three jars or ollas as they call them in Spanish and by the style of it, by the way they were made we know that they date to the late Pre-classic period or between 300 BC to about the birth of Christ so over 2000 years old. The type of artifacts that we are finding indicates household, not elite, not the rulers, they lived closer to downtown Cahal Pech Maya Ruin. This summer for instance we found this amazing tomb up at Cahal Pech that is where the wealthy and the real elite people lived. Out here the common folks like me and you. We are in the suburbs of Cahal Pech. A lot of times people think you go to Cahal Pech and that is all the site, that is downtown but the rest of the ancient city of Cahal Pech extended all the way to where the two rivers meet, across into Santa Elena, towards Bullet Tree Falls. It was a big community so these objects were found in one of the houses that belonged to that ancient city.

“As part of the infrastructural work, the construction workers  they were excavating down the middle of Burns Avenue to put in place storm drainage and also they are going to be burying some of the power lines and while doing that they came across this deposit of Maya artifacts. This happened on Saturday and the Belize Institute of Archaeology was informed and some of our staff arrived on the scene and since then we have met with the contractors and stopped the further excavation of this part of Burns Avenue and we are working closely with the contractors again and in the process we have started to find several other objects.  We now have some whole and some fragmented vessels. We have some stone tools and also some human remains. An interesting aspect about the artifacts discovered is  that we believe that they represent a few houses of the ancient Maya that were there way back before the birth of Christ as part of Cahal Pech and that sometime around that time these buildings may have been covered over by flood waters from the nearby Macal River and the people probably abandoned them and moved to higher ground.”

Belize archaeology researchers recovering a human skeleton from Maya site found under Burns Avenue, San Ignacio Belize. Image Credit Vanessa Chan.

The work supervisor Mr. Omar Tut told the media that:

“We are putting down the pipe that is going to take the water to the river and then we are going to get all the utilities, BEL, BTL and WASA, cable everything is going to go underground and we are going to pave it to make it nice and neat. We stopped because of the Maya artifacts that were found below. At the moment we are cooperating with the Archaeological Department to make everything be documented.”

Burns Avenue downtown San Ignacio Belize where Maya artifacts were discovered. Note construction workers at site of the discovery.

The Belize Institute of Archaeology has proposed that when the new Welcome Center in San Ignacio is completed, the Burns Avenue Maya Artifacts be placed there on permanent display. The Welcome Center is a project that will replace the old park and related buildings with a modern facility including modernised park, public auditorium, tourist information kiosks and space for tourism related activities. The project is under construction as part of the town center modernisation project that led to the discovery of the Maya artifacts.

Bob Jones and Belize girl with two of the Maya vessels discovered. Mr. Jones runs a tour company on Burns Avenue San Ignacio Belize.

The Belize Government has today officially confirmed that Prince Harry will visit Belize in March.

A press release issued today states: Prince Harry will visit Belize, The Bahamas and Jamaica on behalf of The Queen as part of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations from 2nd March to 8th March. In addition, Prince Harry will visit Brazil in support of the United Kingdom Government and his charities from 9th to 11th March.

The visit, organised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is designed to enhance the partnership between the United Kingdom and Brazil. Prince Harry will visit Belize (including the Belize and Cayo Districts) from 2nd – 3rd March. The Belize District is home of the old capital Belize City, the largest population center in Belize. El Cayo is in western Belize and is site of the City Of Belmopan, the new capital of Belize. The Cayo District is the home of the twin towns of San Ignacio and Santa Elena near the border with Guatemala and the second largest population center in Belize.

Prince Harry goes to the Bahamas (New Providence Island) from 3rd – 5th March, Jamaica (Kingston and northern Jamaica) from 5th – 8th March, and Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and the State of Sao  Paolo) from 9th – 11th March.

The complete official itinerary will be announced in due course. Notes to Editors Prince Harry has never before visited Belize, The Bahamas, Jamaica or Brazil in either an official or private capacity. The Diamond Jubilee tour to Belize, The Bahamas and Jamaica is the first Royal tour during which Prince Harry has represented The Queen.

Prince Harry will visit Brazil in support of the United Kingdom’s interests in the region, as well as in support of his charities. Following the official visit to Brazil, Prince Harry will stay on privately in Brazil until 14th March.

Belize Public Opinion Poll by GS Strategy Group January 2012.

The first scientific public opinion poll conducted in Belize has revealed an interesting perspective on what Belizeans are most concerned about – crime and the economy. The poll commissioned by The Independent newspaper of Belize was carried out late last year by Greg Strimple of the Boise, Idaho, U.S.A. based GS Strategy Group – an independent and highly regarded public opinion and research and consultancy group.

The analysis unveiled today at a press conference held at the Belize Chamber of Commerce in Belize city provides a wealth of information on the pulse of Belizeans and what concerns them the most over a wide range of social, economic and political issues.

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