Belize Mennonites: News

      A vehicle accident was caught on camera yesterday morning in a scene reminiscent of Hollywood action movies. A dark 4-door pickup truck driven by a resident of Spanish Lookout pulled out on the main road directly in front of a small blue 2-door car which in turn swerved to the left to avoid a collision but unfortunately crashed into an oncoming white SUV. The dark pickup which clearly caused the accident was seen speeding away but a few seconds later came to a complete stop. The driver of the blue car sustained head and neck injuries while the condition of the persons in the white SUV is not known.   An interesting incident also recorded was that of a journalist who was filming the scene. During the recording a member of a civil service department in Spanish Lookout approached the journalist and informed him that this was private property bought and paid for by Spanish Lookout and therefore the reporter had no right to film anything. While there were some who agreed with him, the

      A man from the community of Shipyard, Orange Walk, has been arrested and charged for committing incest with his two teenage daughters, both minors. He was charged with 19 counts of incest on his 13 year old and 17 year old daughters. Billy White

   Cattle are herded to safety from a wildfire in Spanish Lookout in this Whatsapp screenshot   In what seems to be a first for this country, uncontrolled forest fires mainly in central and south Belize have been raging for weeks. The south has been hit especially hard, with hundreds of acres of farmland destroyed and hundreds of families directly affected, not to mention the thousands of acres of forest reserves turned into soot and ashes. As Belizeans, we are used to yearly forest fires most commonly during the dry season but never to this extent where fires actually burn for weeks and cause the displacement of residents and destruction of property.   The Prime Minister himself did a flyover of the destroyed areas this week to assess the extent of the damage. See report by 7News:  200familiesaffectedand600acres   In western Belize, we have been suffocating from a combination of smoke and Saharan dust while farmers are becoming anxious about their crops. Usually the first rains, accom

    They began last month, several random power outages country wide which BEL (Belize Electricity Ltd) declared was caused by the Mexican energy supplier CFE curtailing the flow of electricity to Belize due to a surge in consumer demand in both countries caused by the heatwaves affecting Central America and southern Mexico. Belize consumes an average of 85 megawatts but during peak season that number can climb to 100, far exceeding the local supply provided by our own generators located in the central south as well as the imported amount. To make matters worse, a generator near Belize City is currently out of service due to maintenance which caused a popular tourist town to experience more than 12 hours of power outage last week. All of which led BEL to declare the commencement of load shedding, a series of scheduled power outages countrywide to reduce the amount of energy to consumers in order to avoid overloading the national grid. Unfortunately this week some villages actually en

     The National Agriculture & Trade Show which is held yearly in Belmopan, istaking place this weekend from today Saturday until Sunday evening, April 28. A few businesses from Spanish Lookout, such as        Farmer's Trading Center, will be there Mennonites in Belize Blog Billy White

Salvatore Lopes, Laura Fiorito and their two children Megan (Klassen) Petkau A shooting on Tuesday afternoon in the capital has left surrounding communities reeling and the whole nation of Belize in shock at the absolutely senseless and cold-blooded targeting of a family who were enjoying ice cream near the market square. According to multiple sources, a couple from Agua Viva, a rural community a few miles away from Belmopan which is composed of ex-Mennonites, practicing Mennonites and various immigrants from Europe, were at the marketplace in Belmopan. Along with the couple and their two children was a little girl, the daughter of a friend from the same community. The gunman and his grown son walked up to the family, greeted them, then suddenly the perpetrator pulled out a gun and fired at the father but missed while the mother and three children were pursued by the gunman who continued firing at them, killing the woman and little girl and injuring the couple’s two children. The gun

      An individual by the name of David Friesen of northern Belize was arrested and charged for murder last week. The charge is concerning the death of one Alexander Elbir Viamil, who according to police investigation was strangled to death. Four other male persons were also detained. Billy White