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Joseph Budna was kidnapped near the Orange Walk Police Station exactly one year ago. Tonight, 7News has obtained a leaked copy of one angle of the surveillance video showing his abduction. For a year, we've been showing the grainy, modified version. Tonight, we have it in full resolution-the video that the police and the state don't want you to see. Jules Vasquez reports:
posted (August 25, 2025)
One year and two days ago, Joseph Budna ended this Facebook Live with a sense of foreboding:
Ryan Joseph Budna: "(looks around) "I heah something just now. I heah somebody seh Budna. Nobody deh round. Mek me goh. Mek I goh because we have a big ghost tree back there. And me noh de pon they simpleness. Let me move from here now. Cause me one deh yah."
Within minutes, an unprecedented crime unfolded. Budna is walking to his car on Main Street when vehicle one pulls up on him. Two men jump out-and they try to capture him. Budna turns and dashes down Queen Victoria Avenue, towards the police station; it is the only place he feels he will be safe.
One of the pursuing men-who our research says is a police officer attached to the SPU-chases him. And vehicle number two, a Chevy Equinox, pulls onto Queen Victoria Avenue.
The pursuing officer wields a police baton in his hand. Budna is now sprinting towards the police station-the officer cuts him off-while the pursuing driver pulls up in the Equinox-police combat driving style-to stop him from running off.
Budna, literally runs for his life, pirouettes away from the Equinox-slips away, runs the other way-back to Main Street.
Another man-allegedly Police Constable Barry Flowers-comes jogging from Main Street to cut him off again. Budna now dashes back towards the Sandy Hunter Library. But, he falls, and that's where the first pursuing officer catches up with him and starts to club him.
A pedestrian walks up-and the kidnappers drive him away.
The beating continues-it would last for four minutes-while another one of the kidnappers strolls over. Remember all this is happening within feet of the town's police station-but there is no criminal urgency or stealth-they are doing this under streetlights on a public sidewalk.
Budna is fighting for his life-but the beating continues. One and a half minutes after it started, the station's duty officer, Corporal Carlos Choco-who was alerted by police constables in front of the station-ambles over to see what's happening.
One of the officers-stands up-no urgency-to also shoo him away-telling him this is police business-he allegedly said "instructions from the boss".
Seeing a uniformed officer, the concerned pedestrian returns again-and this time both Choco and the police officer-allegedly Constable Barry Flowers-shoo him off.
It's been two minutes now that police have Budna on the ground and they are still fatiguing him-trying to tie him up-for a long journey into night-halfway across the country to Arenal.
After three minutes on the ground, they lift him, cart him across the street, and shove him in the back seat of the Equinox:
Joseph Budna, Kidnapping Victim
August 26, 2025 "They grabbed me, they took me up from my two feet when I was knocked out and they dragged me into the SUV, Equinox sky blue and as a result they placed me on the seat and I was placed. One of them sat on top of my head, they handcuffed me to the front because they couldn't get my hand in the back."
It's 8:34 PM-a civilian vehicle comes down Queen Victoria Avenue-but the driver sees it is blocked by the Chevy Equinox. Only the police would be so brazen, they have a citizen tied up in the back seat, a citizen who faces no criminal charge. But they don't seem too concerned-and the civilian pickup just turns around. Budna is inside desperately fighting for his life:
Joseph Budna, Kidnapping Victim "As a result of that they had my mouth taped. They taped my mouth and they held one of my feet and they tied one of my feet and while I was fighting to get some air because the tape was covering my nose and they gun butt me into my head because I was screaming and that is when they cover my mouth."
Four and a half minutes after the operation started, the powder blue Chevy Equinox lazily pulls off, makes a U-turn and drives off into the night.
A few minutes later, the second vehicle, which looks like a Ford Escape, also drives off. That vehicle-a rental-would later be returned to the rental with the license plates under the front seat.
Today-one year later-Joseph Budna still has this wound from his injuries, from hours of taking blows. He limps and has chronic back pain-all from the events of that night.
Joseph Budna, Kidnapping Victim
August 26, 2025 "I am badly beaten by the Belize Police Department, I am badly beaten, I am hurt bad."
And Budna is still in a Guatemalan jail-he did not go there himself-Belize police delivered him to the Guatemalans.
And what have the police done: not one person has been arrested, not one charged. They delivered a file to the DPP-described as containing less than nothing.
And when she sent that file back to the Police Department to follow up, they buried it, it is gathering dust, they want it to die in darkness. Officers involved in that act of apex criminality have been promoted, same for the less than nothing file.
The Commissioner who spoke various telling mistruths days after the kidnapping remains in place. And what Budna said via phone one year ago is still true tonight.
Joseph Budna, Kidnapping Victim
August 26, 2025 "If this happens to me, it can happen to other Belizeans as well."
To be clear, the DPP's Office sent the Budna file back to police with specific, additional questions that the initial police probe failed to address. They have not returned it, which is not an uncommon practice with cases deemed controversial.
Those soaring electricity bills are crippling consumers across the country. We told you last week that consumers were reporting their bills doubling and tripling from the previous month, despite very little or no change in their daily activities.
And today, BEL held a press conference along with the Minister of Public Utilities, Michel Chebat, to address those concerns.
The press conference began with the Minister outlining the steps GOB is taking to strengthen Belize's energy sector. Some of the actions listed you might have heard before-in fact, you might have been hearing them for some years now.
Here's what he said today in response to the current energy crisis.
Michel Chebat, Minister of Public Utilities "The Government has been pursuing a diversified strategy that includes new solar generation, battery energy storage, strengthening BEL's investment capacity, expanding access through microgrids and standalone systems, improving the national transmission and distribution network and exploring greater regional interconnection including opportunities with Guatemala. We have mobilized and are leveraging support from international development partners including the World Bank, the Millennium Challenge Compact, the International Finance Corporation, and the Saudi Fund for Development. Among the major initiatives underway are the development of approximately 80 megawatts of solar generation supported by the TASA framework and IFC advisory assistance and the 40-megawatt battery storage system program supported by the World Bank. Battery storage is particularly important because it will allow Belize to better integrate renewable energy, strengthen grid security and manage electricity supply during periods of peak demand. Government is also supporting BEL's ability to undertake the capital investment necessary to strengthen the electricity system. The BEL Investment Bill provides for BEL to invest approximately 73.2 million dollars through preference shares, this is the best investment in the productive capacity and resilience of our national electricity system. Our objective is to build an electricity system that can support Belize's economic growth while ultimately helping to reduce the wholesale cost of power and protect consumers."
"At the same time we must ensure BEL remains financially capable of purchasing electricity, maintaining the grid and investing in the infrastructure necessary to keep the lights on. This is why Government has supported the development of a Cost of Power Adjustment mechanism. The intention is to establish a more responsive system for dealing with changes in the actual cost of electricity while incorporating measures designed to protect consumers from unnecessary hardship."
And another broken record you've definitely heard before is that your high electricity bill is due to the weather. According to BEL's Executive Chairman, the higher the temperature, the more your appliances and devices have to work to keep cool. And while that may be true, can it explain a spike of hundreds of dollars in your bill?
Lynn Young says yes.
Lynn Young, Executive Chairman, BEL "Cost of power is one thing, high bills is another thing. Your bill really is the rate multiplied by the consumption and we've said it before and I know a lot of people don't want to hear it but if you look at your bill and you look at it over the course of the year you will see it happens every year, around May, June, July, the consumption increases significantly. It increases because when the dry season kicks in and the heat kicks in a lot of electrical equipment burns electricity significantly more. Refrigerators, it's a heat pump basically, it's pumping air out to get the air in the refrigerator cool, same thing with AC. When the outside temperature is hot, then it's trying to pump hot air into hot air and it's bringing in hot air that is turned to cool. So what happens is that your ACs and refrigerators, they burn far more electricity when it's hot. But not only those, there are other equipment that also burns more electricity when it's hot. A lot of us including myself, we are not at home, but we find our bills are going up. But things like the fans in our computer, in our router, all these equipment when the outside temperature is hot, they have internal fans that just kick in to keep the equipment cool."
"There's another issue that has come to our attention and we need to be upfront about it, the issue of the new meters. So the company is implementing a system of putting in electronic meters which are far more accurate. The electronic meters are accurate between 1.5% plus or minus whereas the old meters have an accuracy between minus and plus 3% so they're more accurate to start with. Anybody that understands electric equipment knows that things like meters, if they're old they may actually be under-recording more than over-recording."
"So when we change an old meter for a new meter, we realize yes some people may be getting a more accurate reading but what also happens I think well we've investigated and we've found a lot of instances where for whatever reason the meter readers cannot access someone's meter and they do an estimate and if they've been doing an estimate for a few months and when we go and change that old meter to a new meter, which we can read directly electronically, then there's a bit of a bump, a catch-up of the under-readings that was taking place. So we've found that we've had some complaints with respect to the new meters but every one we investigated, we've found those kinds of situations."
But if it isn't the fridge working overtime to keep your drinks cold and meats frozen, Young says it could also be missed arrears:
Courtney Menzies: "How is it-the hot months, good, June, my bill let's say $200, July, it's $700. How much more-and I didn't do anything different-how much more can my daily activities have changed, or how much my refrigerator has to pump for it to go up that much more?"
Lynn Young, Executive Chairman, BEL "Like I said, each case is unique so I can't say for sure what's driving yours. Mine went up about $500 and when I looked at it, it was consumption, the consumption had increased, so I started to take some steps internally to try to reduce it. So we'd have to look at each case but like I said, every complaint that has come to us, we have looked at it, we have been able to find what is causing the increase in consumption and like I said, there are a couple cases where it was the fact that there was an arrear in there that the customer hadn't noticed, things like that, but each case is different but I must say again we've had a jump in the complaints about high bills and we're taking it seriously, we're investigating every one that comes to us."
But after years of hearing the same explanations, consumers just aren't buying it anymore. And today we challenged Young on it:
Jules Vasquez: "If I may, Mr. Lynn, for many years I think we've been having the same argument and you continue to use the tactics, faulty generalizations, ad hominem attacks on the consumers, cherry picking examples, you know these things are in the super minority when people have malfunctioning equipment but you make a faulty generalization. This is a habit of yours, I've seen it over many years. We are seeing a public trend where there are so many examples, a plethora, a surfeit of examples of jumps in this latest billing cycle of $300. I see it in my employees, in my own home, in every circle, where people who have $400, $500 bills are seeing $300 increases in this latest billing cycle."
"It's too widespread a pattern which suggests that something significant has changed in the billing process. Are you able to-apart from the increases which have been legislated-are you able to explain it by any means other than faulty generalizations?"
Lynn Young: "That's your view. We can only go by the data we have, we analyze the data and we have to go based on the facts and the data that we have. Like I said, we do have equipment that we can use to analyze a particular home where we have an instance somebody says something is wrong and when we do it, I'm honest, we have not found anything to say something is being manipulated, in every instance we have checked, there is a good explanation why the bill has gone up but like I said, and I was open, we have had more high bill complaints than we have had before, we agree with you on that, I don't think that means there's a plethora, I think that's a generalization on your part and an ad hominem attack on me but and if you forgive me, I will plead ignorance that we haven't found anything, we are still looking and we will continue to look, if we find something, we will say so and we will make the correction."
So if your bill jumped by hundreds of dollars and you just don't have the disposable income to compensate for the increase, will BEL disconnect you? Young says you can sign up for a payment plan.
Courtney Menzies: "What happens to all of those people who genuinely cannot pay, are you going to cut them all out this month when the bill is due?"
Lynn Young, Executive Chairman, BEL "I will leave the Minister to answer the Government part of it but within BEL we do a lot of payment plans and it's not only, sometimes people have equipment that malfunctions and pushes up their bills and they would call us and we would set up a payment plan where they pay for it over a few months. That's how we try to deal with it at BEL but I don't know at the Government level what they can do."
Michel Chebat, Minister of Public Utilities "We're not tone deaf to the cries of the people and this is a matter we're discussing in Cabinet to see what we can do to alleviate but at the outset, all the investment we're doing is with the ultimate goal to really reduce the cost of the consumers. And while we want to see an immediate effect it will take some time but we are confident at the end of the day when these investments kick in, we are going to see that reduction in cost of electricity."
And so while Young claims they are putting all their cards on the table, some consumers believe they're taking advantage of the public. Today we asked them what they're planning to do to regain the public's trust.
Reporter: "How do you assure Belizeans that BEL is not taking advantage of them because of the financial crunch that you find yourself in?"
Lynn Young, Executive Chairman, BEL "How do you suggest we assure them? This is what we're trying to do. But I understand people being skeptical about companies, big companies, that's something that all companies face, you are from Channel 5, I'm pretty sure you've had some skepticism about your news coverage and different things. So we have to live with that, we have to be factual and honest about what is happening, that's what we do. If we find that we've done something wrong we say there's a mistake here and we make the correction. There have been instances of people making mistakes when they read the meters, that has happened, somebody puts a 9 for a 6, that has happened and when we have that situation we correct it but to systematically be charging people higher than they should be charged, nothing is impossible, but if you understand the billing system, it's a computer system, it would take a lot of geniuses to go and manipulate it so they can pick out somebody."
Courtney Menzies: "How do you get back the people's trust? Yes, you're having this press conference, you're being open and honest, kudos to you, but there has to be more to gain back that public trust because the reality is that this is a monopoly, we can't go anywhere else. What else will you do?"
Lynn Young: "All we can do honestly is to be upfront about what we think is causing these issues and how we're trying to address them. I always go back to my father's advice, do the right thing for the right reasons and people will eventually see that you were right."
And to prove it, Young detailed the losses BEL has seen in recent years. He also explained that they have been bailed out by the Government before.
Lynn Young, Executive Chairman, BEL "BEL and Government, of course over the last couple of years has done its best not to have to increase the electricity rates to the point where the company absorbed almost 90 million dollars in excess cost, lost like 6 million dollars 2025, recorded a loss of 23 million last year, and we're headed to a loss of probably around 15 million this year."
"All that to say we understand the pressures and we're trying our best not to have to have an increase in the cost of power but most importantly we have to keep the lights on. Again I will say quite frankly we are being pretty open about this, there have been a few times when CFE has told us if you don't pay up, they wouldn't be able to supply us. Under those situations we have reached out to the Government and the Government has helped us to meet those bills. I'm being upfront here. We've put some steps in place to raise some money to be able to pay off some of the arrears to CFE, we've gotten the arrears down significantly but even so from time to time CFE itself has had some issues, I think we all see it in the news, and there are times when CFE cannot supply us, when they cannot supply us, we have to bring on the gas turbines with diesel and then we get with the cost of fuel. The price of diesel for BEL which is duty-free has almost doubled over the last few months. To give you a sense, for one kilowatt-hour that we produce with those gas turbines, it's costing us between 60 and 70 cents Belize per kilowatt-hour and it's being sold at 44 cents. Now there are times when CFE comes and tells us we can't supply you or if we supply you, it's gonna be 8 cents, a dollar US per kilowatt-hour, when we get those numbers from CFE then we have to run the gas turbine which is very expensive but it's cheaper. And if CFE says they can't supply us then we have to run them anyway. But even with that we don't have enough in-country capacity to meet the load if CFE cannot supply at all. Sometimes they just curtail but if they can't supply at all during the peak hours then sometimes we have to load-shed."
So, with losses in the millions every year, a $30 million debt to CFE-$20 million of which is overdue-an increase in consumer complaints, and no immediate way to lower electricity rates, is BEL at a crisis point? Here's how Young answered that question.
Lynn Young, Executive Chairman, BEL "I've laid it out to the Government and to the people that this is the situation we're in. The Government like I said in the last couple years did not want to see any increases in rates and have been helping the company to meet some of these costs. We have to keep the lights on, that's for sure, so to the extent we have to do that, the Government continues to help, the COPA like I said will help but the most important thing is for us to get the cost down and we have some initiatives that we feel pretty certain within the next year or two it will come down so in answer to your question, how long? Until we get these initiatives going or until the war comes to an end and the oil prices start falling back."
Reporter: "Where does the blame lie in terms of leadership of the energy sector, of BEL, have we had forward thinking leadership to foresee and address these issues?"
Lynn Young: "You're asking the wrong person."
Reporter: "We have the minister and the CEO."
Lynn Young: "I know that's a legitimate question for you to ask and my experience is that people make the best decisions based on information they have at the time. Nobody could have known that CFE was going to start having problems. I wouldn't have expected that either because it's such a big system and they're an energy rich country. So nobody could have predicted that so to the extent that we rely on CFE heavily, I can understand why people made that decision. Again, it's been a while since we added generation to our system, it might have looked like a good decision back then because CFE was cheap and reliable and now when CFE isn't working, but we all make decisions based on the information we have at the time so I don't care to go back and try to see well that wasn't a good decision or that was a bad leadership decision. We have to look forward and move forward with what we have now. You play dominoes?"
Reporter: "Yeah."
Lynn Young: "You know what they say right? You have to play the hand you're dealt."
Reporter: "You count as well, you count the board and predict what's ahead."
Lynn Young: "Yeah and if you make a mistake you just have to..."
Reporter: "The best ones don't usually make those mistakes, that's why they're the best."
But have no fear-Minister Chebat says that with all the money heads of households will be saving on free education and expanded NHI programs, they can afford to pay your electricity bills.
Michel Chebat, Minister of Public Utilities "As you know we have expanded free education through this country, we have increased minimum wage and we promise to increase it to $6 and I think the discussion with the business community needs to be intensified. We have also spread an increase in NHI coverage throughout the country. And so what we're hoping is that when our citizens don't have to pay the cost of these things, they're going to have to pay other things they're facing with but it's difficult when a single mother comes to you and says listen, I have three kids, school is starting, I can't pay my electricity bill, those are difficult circumstances and we need to address it in a very serious way."
Jules Vasquez: "But you're also saying you need to rob Peter to pay Paul. You don't need to pay medical anymore but pay BEL."
Michel Chebat: "It's not robbing, it's taking away the cost of these things from the consumer so they have extra in their pockets to face these circumstances."
And one of the main questions on everyone's mind is: what happened to the proposed solar projects?
In August 2023, Government signed a $77 million US dollar loan from the Saudi Fund for Development to finance the construction of a 60MW utility-scale solar energy plant.
But, the project has gone nowhere.
Chebat gave us an update.
Michel Chebat, Minister of Public Utilities "There are actually two solar projects, I think you're asking about the Saudi one. With the Saudis unfortunately it has taken much longer to get the funds that are necessary but now that is already in process, no funds have been dispersed because they are speaking to the engineers to be able to get the specifics so that the RFP can be drafted and sent out for procurement purposes. That's one. The other project we're working on is the 80 megawatts we're getting through with the assistance of the IFC."
Jules Vasquez: "Signed in January."
Michel Chebat: "Right. As you know back in March we had sent out an RFQ to get interest in it, we have I think there are five companies that have been shortlisted and we're anticipating that by October this year the RFP will be issued so we can then move towards establishing these solar farms so those are moving."
Jules Vasquez: "Would you say that the 3-year interregnum which will lead to six years before implementation or the operationalization of the Saudi solar, would you say it is indicative of the Government's incapacity for handling something of a high technical magnitude?"
Michel Chebat: "I would not characterize it that way. I think Government has undertaken huge projects over the last five years and we've successfully implemented them, unfortunately the Saudis have a longer procurement process and more conditions that you have to fulfill. As a matter of fact I think one of their conditions is that you have to use Saudi engineers for many aspects of this project and so that is a little bit more involved but I can assure you we have our thumbs on this and we are pushing it as fast as we can that we wish we would have had it, yes we want to have it because as the ambassador has indicated, we have a major shortage in the country and we are working as you know we just signed 125-million-dollar compact with the Millennium Challenge Corporation and part of that really is to reduce the cost of power in this country and so all of these investments are geared towards that."
Tonight, police are investigating the murder of 23-year-old Christopher Smith which happened on Sunday morning.
Initial investigations indicate that shortly after 1:00 a.m., residents in the area heard several gunshots. Six hours later, Smith was found in the yard of a residence on McKenzie Lane.
But who might have wanted him killed? Jaleeza Roberts went looking for answers:
A 23-year-old Belize City baker was found dead in this yard on Arlington Drive on Sunday morning, hours after residents reported hearing gunshots in the area. Christopher Smith was found with what appeared to be two gunshot wounds, one to the left side of his head and another to his left shoulder.
Despite having a record of his own and having a murder charge withdrawn last year, his grandmother said he has intentions of changing:
Voice of: Grandmother of the Deceased: "He told me that he's going to change his life he said Grandma I'm not living those life anymore I'm going to get a job and do the right thing and I said okay son, his uncle was going to put him on to a job."
And she raised him for a period of time up to age 5 so when she got the news, it was as if she had lost her own child:
Grandmother of the Deceased: "I wasn't here so I got the news way in the evening when I made a phone call to my daughter because and I just felt something was wrong so I said I just had to call my daughter and she said Mom I have bad news and I said what's the news? She said make sure you eat a garlic you know Mom before I tell you, I said alright then I ate my garlic because I have pressure right and I ate my garlic and I told her tell me now. She said Mom your grandson is dead and I said which one of my grandsons? She said Jr., I said Oh my God what happened to him? And she said Mom they shot him up and right there I hung up on her because I couldn't take it."
But even in her grief, his grandmother says that her first grandson will be remembered as helpful and loving.
Grandmother of the Deceased: "Every time he comes to visit me he would say I love you so much Granny, Granny you know how much I love you Granny, I would say yes grandson I love you too, he's always helpful always willing to do whatsoever I have to do. He's the first to do whatsoever I have to do. If I have fish to scrape, don't worry he's gone, fish doesn't even soften and he will go and scrape them. That was him always helping, always sold his coconut water to make a little money."
But to the person who did this, she wants them to know that God isn't sleeping:
Grandmother of the Deceased: "They took away my first grandchild, what goes around comes around, God is not sleeping, that's one thing I know, God is not sleeping."
Jaleeza Roberts, 7News
Smith Jr. was killed on the anniversary of his teenage sister's drowning.
Notably, he was jointly charged along with two others for a high-profile double murder in Hattieville, but the Office of the DPP ultimately withdrew charges against him leading to his release on November 28, 2025. And last month he pleaded guilty to burglary but was fined and not confined.
If you believe the ultimatums in their press releases, there's only one week left before the Belize Bus Association shuts down operations, immobilizing commuters in a large part of the country.
That's after they demanded that Cabinet reinstate their fuel subsidy. They extended the deadline-which was supposed to be today, to tomorrow, and then to next week Tuesday-to accommodate the Cabinet meeting that was supposed to discuss their plight. In their press release issued today, they stated that they have unanimously decided to absorb the cost after the Minister of Transport asked for additional time.
And why September 1st and not tomorrow?
That's because reports to our newsroom are that there won't be any Cabinet meeting because the Prime Minister won't be in the country. The Cabinet Secretary told us this evening, "The PM is in Honduras, so no Cabinet tomorrow." Reports tell us that he plans to travel as soon as he returns.
An 80-year-old pastor was robbed at gunpoint at his home in Biscayne Village in the early hours of Saturday.
The pastor reported to Sandhill Police that between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m., he was awakened by loud banging at his front door.
He said they identified themselves as police before four masked men dressed in dark clothing forced their way into the house through the back door. Two of them brandished firearms.
One of the armed men struck the pastor on his head, causing pain and bleeding.
They then demanded the keys to his 2024 Toyota Hilux and 2016 Toyota Land Cruiser, which they took from his TV stand along with the TV. They then drove off with both vehicles.
Police have not recovered the vehicles, which have likely been smuggled over to Guatemala.
A band of 3 robbers held up a store in Independence Village on Saturday. ASP Stacy Smith shared that report with us this afternoon and the identity of the three robbers who were caught and charged.
ASP Stacy Smith, Police Staff Officer "Police have formally arrested and jointly charged Dorian Garnett, 36 years of age, Krishna Flores, 35 years of age and Anthony Smith, 42 years of age, all of Belize City for the crime of robbery. The charge follows police investigation into the robbery of Wendy's Store which is located in Independence Village which occurred on Saturday, 22nd August at approximately 2:30 PM. The investigation has so far disclosed that 2 male persons entered that establishment, one of whom was armed with a firearm whereby they made demands of the store owner. The male persons took items belonging to the store owner and made their good escape. The department was aware of this report and the information in relation to the identity of the suspects was communicated, as a consequence of this a vehicle was intercepted whereby all three persons were found on board and were subsequently charged."
There was also a string of motorcycle accidents that occurred over the weekend-three of them fatal.
One of them happened on the George Price Highway and claimed the life of a 55-year-old cyclist. ASP Smith told us what police observed at the scene:
ASP Stacy Smith, Police Staff Officer "Police are investigating a road traffic accident which led to the death of 55-year-old Patrick Chun which occurred on the 22nd of August 2026 near Mile 76 on the George Price Highway. The investigating officers reported that acting upon information at approximately 7:20 PM they visited that location where they observed a bus which was parked on the left-hand side of the road which showed damage to the driver's side and on the right-hand side of the road they observed an extensively damaged Meilun motorcycle. What the investigation has so far suggested is that Chun was in the process of overtaking a vehicle when a collision occurred between the bus and the motorcycle resulting in his grave injury and ultimate demise. The bus has been impounded for inspection and a Notice of Intended Prosecution has been served on the driver of the bus. The circumstances of the collision remain under investigation."
And also on Friday another fatal motorcycle accident happened in the Cayo District. This one occurred between 2 cyclists that were traveling in the direction of Duck Run and Billy White Village.
ASP Stacy Smith, Police Staff Officer "Police have detained one male person in connection with an ongoing investigation into a road traffic accident which led to the death of 46-year-old Jaime Catelan of San Marcos Village. The investigation commenced on Friday, 21st August 2026 just before midnight when police were advised of a traffic accident between Duck Run and Billy White Village. Upon the arrival of the officers they observed an unresponsive Catelan whose body exhibited grave injuries and also observed on the scene was a damaged Lifan brand motorcycle which was believed to have been operated by Catelan. Also on the scene was another motorcycle which was off-road which had minor damages, which was being driven by the detained male person. So far the investigators believe that a collision occurred between the 2 motorcycles, however the circumstances of the collision remain under investigation. Police have obtained a urine sample from the detained individual."
Police also made a crystal meth bust in San Pedro last week Tuesday. ASP Smith told us what police found.
ASP Stacy Smith, Police Staff Officer "Police have formally arrested and charged 24-year-old Marcus Tun of San Pedro Town for the offense of possession of controlled drugs with intent to supply to another. The arrest of Tun follows an anti-drug operation conducted by Special Branch and GI3 personnel on the 18th of August which led to a search of Mr. Tun resulting in the discovery of a manila envelope that was inside his backpack and inside that manila envelope was suspected crystal methamphetamine. The suspected crystal methamphetamine was weighed in the presence of Mr. Tun where it amounted to 932 grams."
And in the third fatal accident, a 3-way collision resulted in the death of a BDF volunteer soldier in Silk Grass Village on Sunday. The deceased was traveling on a motorcycle when it happened. ASP Smith gave us the details:
ASP Stacy Smith, Police Staff Officer "Police are investigating a road traffic accident which led to the death of 23-year-old Elvin Chu, a Belize Defence Force volunteer soldier of Maya Mopan Village. The investigation commenced on Sunday, 23rd August 2026 at around 2:30 PM when police were advised of a collision in the vicinity of Silk Grass Village involving a motorcycle, an SUV and a delivery truck. The investigators responded and upon their arrival they observed a gravely injured male person and a motorcycle that was partially lodged under the damaged front bumper of the SUV, also observed was the damaged delivery truck which showed signs of damage to the rear. The circumstances of the collision remains under investigation and police have issued a Notice of Intended Prosecution to the driver of the SUV."
Police made a double arrest in Ladyville on Sunday for guns and ammunition. ASP Smith gave us the details of GI3's report on the 2 persons that were detained.
ASP Stacy Smith, Police Staff Officer "Police in Ladyville have formally arrested and charged 30-year-old Anderson Martinez for the offense of kept firearm without a gun license and kept ammunition without a gun license. The arrest follows the execution of a search at the residence of Martinez on Manta Ray Boulevard on Sunday, 23rd August which led to the discovery of a black Remington pistol with a magazine containing 14 rounds of 9mm ammunition. Police have formally arrested and charged 33-year-old Lloyd Parchue of Croton Lane, Belize City for the offense of kept firearm without a gun license and kept ammunition without a gun license. The arresting officer GI3 personnel reported that they were on anti-crime operations in the St. Martin's area when their attention was drawn to an SUV traveling at a high speed at around 3:40 AM. That vehicle was pursued and intercepted and a subsequent search of that vehicle led to the discovery of a Smith & Wesson brand pistol."
"The search of the vehicle resulted in the discovery of a 9mm Smith & Wesson brand pistol which contained a magazine with 8 live rounds of 9mm ammunition."
As we reported last week, the NTUCB has detailed several demands of Government with a 90-day deadline. Well, today, they put it in writing in a 9-page letter, and some of those demands have a timeline of immediately and others of 45 days.
As we told you, their demand for the removal of the BTL Chairman and several of the board members is one they want to be done immediately. Along with that is the appointment of a dedicated liaison person in the Office of the Prime Minister.
In terms of the 90-day deadline, they're asking for the implementation of a tripartite structure at BTL, restructuring of the Public Utilities Commission, the finalization of Whistleblower Protection Legislation and the Campaign Finance Reform Legislation, and finally that they fill the vacant post at the Ombudsman's Office.
And in the next 30 days they're expecting the enactment and enforcement of the Civil Asset Recovery and Unexplained Wealth Act.
The NTUCB's list goes further and lists union-specific demands-particularly the BNTU and the UBFSU.
At the end of their letter, they added that they are requesting a response on each item by August 28th.
Public Service Union Rejects PM Remarks and Criticizes Proposed Revenue Authority Bill
And the Public Service Union is pushing back against Prime Minister John Briceño following comments that the Government alone sets national policy. In a statement today, the PSU insisted it has a duty to scrutinize legislation and raised serious concerns over the proposed Revenue Authority Bill. PSU President Dean Flowers warned that the bill concentrates excessive power in the hands of the Minister of Finance. The union is urging the Government to revise the legislation to guarantee institutional independence, transparency, and proper checks and balances.
Demolition of Historic North Front Street Building Reveals Hidden Colonial Brickwork
If you drove down North Front Street in Belize City this morning it would have been hard not to notice the change in view of the Haulover Creek.
That's because the old Belize Distributors building is no longer there. It was demolished over the weekend and you won't believe what was nestled deeply inside its structure.
Jomarie Lanza spoke to Chief Evondale Moody this morning via Zoom and he told us what they found.
Under Belize's laws, any man-made structure or building in existence for at least 100 years qualifies as an "ancient monument," extending legal protection to historic colonial properties alongside pre-Columbian Maya remains.
UDP Opposes Proposed Increase in Hotel Accommodation Tax From 9% to 12%
The Government of Belize is proposing to increase the hotel accommodation tax from 9 percent to 12 percent. The proposed increase would represent a 3-percentage-point increase, or a 33 percent increase in the current tax rate.
The UDP issued a press release calling on the Belize Tourism Board to publicly justify the proposed increase and provide information on its expected impact on visitor arrivals, hotel occupancy, length of stay, and visitor spending. The UDP argues that the Government should instead focus on expanding the tax base and addressing expenditure before increasing taxes on the tourism industry.
National Institute of Culture and History Inaugurates Belize Music Archive Lab
The Belize Music Archive Lab was inaugurated today through a national initiative made possible through NICH and the Belize Archives and Records Service.
According to a release, the project features a "specialized facility housed at Archives for the digitization, preservation, restoration, and documentation of Belizean sound recordings. Belizeans with recordings and historical audio materials in private and family collections will be encouraged to bring them forward for digitization and preservation." Here are highlights from the launch in Belmopan provided by the Government Press Office:
Ivan Duran, Director of Belize Music Project "Well today we are inaugurating the Belize Music Archive which is the first attempt to collect and preserve our musical history and we are also launching the Belize Music Archive Lab which is a dedicated facility to digitize all different formats of music recordings all the way from magnetic tapes to cassettes and all kinds of different digital formats."
"I think that all Belizeans would agree that music has always played an important role in Belizean society and it is really what makes us who we are in great part sadly a lot of that history has already been lost whether it wasn't recorded, or recordings that never saw the ray of light after they were broadcasted at a radio station for example and this is truly the drive behind this initiative is to make sure that we don't lose anything else whether it is on a hard drive in somebody's studio, the idea is to deposit these recordings so they can be available for the future generations and really map out what makes Belizean music Belizean."
Gina Scott, Research and Education Specialist at Archives "But this idea of focusing on Belizeans and what we create has always been with me the beautiful thing about this project is that I get to connect with others who have shared the same vision and so for example I found out in the 1970s Patrick Barrow had started to collect materials for music archive, so he had conceived of a music archives from the 1970s but who knew this? And this is a music archive that was not launched until much later on which is now Belize Music World on the internet. So what this project does, what the Belize Music Project does is to compile all efforts pool all the materials and the idea is to have one landing space whether digitally or physically where this information can be accessed."
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Culture "The recorded music of Belize is an essential part of our nation's cultural heritage, history and collective memory, for generations Belizean artists and musicians have documented through music the languages, traditions, experiences and creativity of our people in recognition of the importance of preserving this legacy, the Government of Belize through the Ministry of Culture, the National Institute of Culture and History and the Belize Archives and Records Service, hereby establishes the Belize Music Archive a national initiative dedicated to preserving and safeguarding Belize's recorded musical heritage."
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Joseph Budna was kidnapped near the Orange Walk Police Station exactly one year ago. Tonight, 7News has obtained a leaked copy of one angle of the surveillance video showing his abduction. For a year, we've been showing the grainy, modified version. Tonight, we have it in full resolution-the video that the police and the state don't want you to see. Jules Vasquez reports:
"I heah something just now. I heah somebody seh Budna. Nobody deh round. Mek me goh. Mek I goh because we have a big ghost tree back there. And me noh de pon they simpleness. Let me move from here now. Cause me one deh yah."
Michel Chebat, Minister of Public Utilities
"Cost of power is one thing, high bills is another thing. Your bill really is the rate multiplied by the consumption and we've said it before and I know a lot of people don't want to hear it but if you look at your bill and you look at it over the course of the year you will see it happens every year, around May, June, July, the consumption increases significantly. It increases because when the dry season kicks in and the heat kicks in a lot of electrical equipment burns electricity significantly more. Refrigerators, it's a heat pump basically, it's pumping air out to get the air in the refrigerator cool, same thing with AC. When the outside temperature is hot, then it's trying to pump hot air into hot air and it's bringing in hot air that is turned to cool. So what happens is that your ACs and refrigerators, they burn far more electricity when it's hot. But not only those, there are other equipment that also burns more electricity when it's hot. A lot of us including myself, we are not at home, but we find our bills are going up. But things like the fans in our computer, in our router, all these equipment when the outside temperature is hot, they have internal fans that just kick in to keep the equipment cool."
But if it isn't the fridge working overtime to keep your drinks cold and meats frozen, Young says it could also be missed arrears:
"Like I said, each case is unique so I can't say for sure what's driving yours. Mine went up about $500 and when I looked at it, it was consumption, the consumption had increased, so I started to take some steps internally to try to reduce it. So we'd have to look at each case but like I said, every complaint that has come to us, we have looked at it, we have been able to find what is causing the increase in consumption and like I said, there are a couple cases where it was the fact that there was an arrear in there that the customer hadn't noticed, things like that, but each case is different but I must say again we've had a jump in the complaints about high bills and we're taking it seriously, we're investigating every one that comes to us."
Michel Chebat, Minister of Public Utilities
Tonight, police are investigating the murder of 23-year-old Christopher Smith which happened on Sunday morning.
BBA Extends Bus Shutdown Deadline
An 80-year-old pastor was robbed at gunpoint at his home in Biscayne Village in the early hours of Saturday.
A band of 3 robbers held up a store in Independence Village on Saturday. ASP Stacy Smith shared that report with us this afternoon and the identity of the three robbers who were caught and charged.
ASP Stacy Smith, Police Staff Officer
And also on Friday another fatal motorcycle accident happened in the Cayo District. This one occurred between 2 cyclists that were traveling in the direction of Duck Run and Billy White Village.
Police also made a crystal meth bust in San Pedro last week Tuesday. ASP Smith told us what police found.
And in the third fatal accident, a 3-way collision resulted in the death of a BDF volunteer soldier in Silk Grass Village on Sunday. The deceased was traveling on a motorcycle when it happened. ASP Smith gave us the details:
Police made a double arrest in Ladyville on Sunday for guns and ammunition. ASP Smith gave us the details of GI3's report on the 2 persons that were detained.
As we reported last week, the NTUCB has detailed several demands of Government with a 90-day deadline. Well, today, they put it in writing in a 9-page letter, and some of those demands have a timeline of immediately and others of 45 days.
And the Public Service Union is pushing back against Prime Minister John Briceño following comments that the Government alone sets national policy. In a statement today, the PSU insisted it has a duty to scrutinize legislation and raised serious concerns over the proposed Revenue Authority Bill. PSU President Dean Flowers warned that the bill concentrates excessive power in the hands of the Minister of Finance. The union is urging the Government to revise the legislation to guarantee institutional independence, transparency, and proper checks and balances.
The Government of Belize is proposing to increase the hotel accommodation tax from 9 percent to 12 percent. The proposed increase would represent a 3-percentage-point increase, or a 33 percent increase in the current tax rate.
The Belize Music Archive Lab was inaugurated today through a national initiative made possible through NICH and the Belize Archives and Records Service.
"Well today we are inaugurating the Belize Music Archive which is the first attempt to collect and preserve our musical history and we are also launching the Belize Music Archive Lab which is a dedicated facility to digitize all different formats of music recordings all the way from magnetic tapes to cassettes and all kinds of different digital formats."
Gina Scott, Research and Education Specialist at Archives
preserving this legacy, the Government of Belize through the Ministry of Culture, the National Institute of Culture and History and the Belize Archives and Records Service, hereby establishes the Belize Music Archive a national initiative dedicated to preserving and safeguarding Belize's recorded musical heritage."
