A business woman is left distraught after police officers broke into her house using a knife while she was away in Melchor.
The La Croix Boulevard resident says she has never been bothered by the police before but by the looks of the footage, it appears they were really intent at getting at something - so much so that they tried to break into her house. We spoke with homeowner Natalie Zalaya and this is what she said off camera:
Voice of: Natalie Zelaya, Home Owner
"I went to Melchor on Sunday. I left my home about nine thirty in the morning, 'cause I'm a business person. I went to pick up my purchase that I usually do, you know, on a probably,um, daily basis. Okay, while at Melchor, about two thirty in the afternoon, my daughter called me. She said, "Uh, Mom, someone entered home." And I was like: "Why would someone enter the home?" And then, like, she said, "Mom, I'm going to review the camera." So she went, and she reviewed the camera. When she reviewed the camera, she saw two police with guns at my door. They were knocking, but she was not at home. So, um, they knocked, they knocked with the video that she sent me, and look like because nobody was at home, they took it on their own hands to use a knife and got into my home."
Reporter
"Did they mention to anyone in the area why they were searching your home?"
Voice of: Natalie Zelaya, Home Owner
"No, they didn't mention to anyone. My neighbor said that they went to search their house, but because they were at home, they didn't get the chance to search their home. And then they just went over my yard to, um, to search my house. But what, what, what are they looking for?"
Reporter
"Have you filed a report as yet?"
Voice of: Natalie Zelaya, Home Owner
"No, I haven't filed a report as yet because I'm trying to seek some legal advices at the moment."
"I really feel bad because the thing is, if I never have a camera in my home I would have never known who entered my house."
Zelaya has still not lodged an official report and is currently seeking legal advice.
Land for "Loyolans"
300 Port Loyola Constituents received land titles for the first time today. Half of them got their land in the city and half received titles for properties in the surrounding villages. Area representative, Gilroy Usher spoke with us on how significant today's distribution was.
Gilroy Usher, Area Representative, Port Loyola
"Today we are going to enable at least 300 residents of the Port Loyola division to become first time land owners. And that is a tremendous achievement because for many years people have longed for the opportunity to own a piece of the jewel in order to build their homes build their farms and use the land as collateral to improve their families in terms of housing, education, healthcare and so on."
"Some of the land is located in the Port Loyola area, Arlington drive, Fabers Road extension, Penn Road extension some of the land is also located in Sand Hill, 8 mile, John Smith road and Ladyville."
"What happened is that years ago a large portion of the land on Pen Road belonged to the estate of one Mr Woods. And so government had acquired the property in 1998. So I followed it up and then I was able to identify the area for John Woods that was surveyed and I got the surveyor to survey it and then I gave it out to the people. One of the things that is good about that is that most of the residents who, most of the persons who have received land in Faber's road, Penn Road extension are persons who have been settling on those land, living on the land, some of them for decades when it was high bush but in getting it surveyed I gave the persons who have structure there who are living there the opportunity to apply for those places first."
Area Rep Calls For Access Roads for Village Lands
But what good is land if you cant even get to it? Some of the properties do not currently have access. Usher expressed that he hopes government will begin to allocate funds to create access roads in rural areas so more persons can get to their properties easily:
Gilroy Usher, Area Representative, Port Loyola
"When I began running in Port there was an area on Arlington Drive extension, people were living in swamp and previous area representatives said well they went to live there so leave them there. I took a different approach and so I took the necessary steps to get the place surveyed and give it out to the residents there so if you go there now you see the lots of, as a matter of fact, Hands in Hands is building a house for a family right there now, right? Yes."
"As the area representative for Port Loyola one of the things I am pressing for is for government to allocate at least 2 million in the budget yearly for access roads because that is a problem. This government has given out more lots to Belizeans that the previous government did in 13 years but we must go a step further now and that is that providing the access roads for people to get the opportunity to develop their land because yes you have a land on John Smith road or yes you have a land in Sand hill but when you go there if there is no road for you to reach your location then it is difficult, but if they have a main road there people can manage to build a little picador or whatever to reach their land nearby but if it is just raw bush then the access road is needed so I am asking the government. To allocate 2 million in the present budget for access roads and to make a commitment to reserve at least 2 million in future budget for access roads."
UDP San Pedro Strikes Up For Municipals
And finally tonight, The UDP Belize Rural South team held a press conference today in San Pedro Town. The goal was to discuss issues regarding municipal matters and the path towards 2027 local elections. One of the more pressing issues discussed was the dredging on the island. Senator Gabriel Zetina explained that they must protect the island more effectively:
