Murder count for 2024 may be lowest in over 15 years – Belize at 78 confirmed murders through November

Published by BBNTEAM at December 5, 2024

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Posted: Thursday, December 5, 2024. 10:07 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: Entering what is traditionally one of the most trying times of the year for crime, police face an almighty battle to fulfill their Christmas wish – delivering Belize’s lowest number of murders in 16 years.

Last year’s count was 88 and our unofficial count is 78 through the month of November, with five confirmed murders reported and a sixth pending formal classification.

Taxi driver Shawn Ortiz Campbell was ambushed outside a popular establishment in the Fabers Road Extension area early in the morning of November 4 – several men were charged in that incident.

Three days afterward, violence visited a rare corner of the country in Independence village, where Selvin Humes was stabbed dead near the village cemetery after a dispute.

Guillermo Martinez’s body was found floating in Dangriga Town the following morning after he had been reported missing the previous day. Police have yet to identify a motive or suspect for the former murder accused’s killing.

In the village of San Lazaro, Orange Walk on November 11, the body of Julio Carillo was discovered in a cane field with multiple stab wounds. Two of his relatives wound up charged with murder.

And the most recent incident was the death of Jonathan Leonardo, shot outside an establishment on November 20 following an argument with Abraham Shal of Belmopan.

Matthew Moses was shot dead in the Secret Beach area of Ambergris Caye following a dispute but a classification of that incident has yet to be reached.

Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa told reporters that police are applying the pressure: “We just have to keep, applying the pressure whether it is active policing within these crime prone areas, the LIU of course doing a great job in terms of rehabilitation reform and offering alternatives. I think all these different strategies that we have been employing over the last few years have been the cause and the result, we are seeing the results today of all these strategies being employed.”

Commissioner of Police Chester Williams offered more details in his own briefing earlier this week, giving thanks to those who have been assisting the Department, especially in Belize City: “At the forefront of that is Brother Nuri and Footy Gongora, two individuals who I have tasked to meet twice weekly with those persons who were under the SOE. You would know that one of the things that affected us was that when the SOE would normally be over, there is no follow up with the guys and so we find that very quickly they would be back doing the things that would have landed them in prison under the SOE and so what we did this time, we got the team of Brother Nuri and Footy Gongora and on occasions I would join them, I would meet with these guys twice weekly to see what are the issues that confront them and to provide some semblance of guidance and it’s a continuation to what they did while they were in prison. As you know, as a part of the SOE, we had Nuri going into the prison twice a week to meet with them and we also had the prison administration doing the journey to freedom program with them while they were there and so now that they’re out we just try to have that continuity working with them. And then we also have the LIU which continue to do what they can to provide some sense of employment for these young men in different areas where they reside. And then the efforts of the police, patrolling these areas, making sure that we enforce the law, particularly the quality of life offenses, preventing the loitering, the public drinking and so forth. All of these are things that are leading to what we’re seeing now in the reduction of crime in the country.”

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