Edward Robert Broaster is a Belizean police officer and writer.
In 2005, while holding the rank of Assistant Superintendent, Broaster was assigned as Deputy Commander of the Patrol Branch. [1] In September 2006 he was promoted to Superintendent. [2] After the 2008 election, a conflict arose between Broaster and fellow officer Chester Williams with whom he had worked before, for example in 2007 on responding to Belize's first bomb threat against an outgoing flight. [3] Media reporting on the relationship between the two officers added fuel to the fire by pointing out that Williams was an alleged People's United Party supporter who seemed to have lost favour due to Minister of Home Affairs Ralph Fonseca's fall from power, while Broaster was on the United Democratic Party's side and thus alleged to be the new administration's favourite. [4] Broaster accused Williams of making threats on his life, and also accused him of having murdered a man who later turned out to be alive. [5] [6] He became the object of further political controversy in 2012 when a document he had written about internal affairs in the police department, known as "The Broaster Report", came to public attention. [7]
Broaster is known for his work against gang violence. In 1995 he helped broker the Bird's Isle gang truce involving George McKenzie. [8] He is the director of the Conscious Youth Development Program, an anti-crime initiative aimed at at-risk youth. [9] In that capacity he brokered another gang truce in 2010 among Belize City gang leaders from Kraal Road, George Street, South Side Gangsters, Supaul Street, and Martins. [10] In 2011 he represented Belize at the CARICOM's Fourth National Consultation on Youth Gangs and Gang Violence in Trinidad and Tobago. [11] Under his leadership, CYDP youth summer camps added life skills training and anger management courses through cooperation with Restore Belize. [12]
Broaster is a founding member and the treasurer of the Belizean Poets Society. [13] In 2007, he released a book of short stories entitled All About Lawful Affairs!, tackling the tough subject of exploitation within romantic relationships. [14]
Belize is a Caribbean country located on the northeastern coast of Central America. Belize is bordered on the northwest by Mexico, on the east by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west by Guatemala. It has an area of 22,970 square kilometres (8,867 sq mi) and a population of 408,487 (2019). Its mainland is about 290 km (180 mi) long and 110 km (68 mi) wide. It has the lowest population and population density in Central America. The country's population growth rate of 1.87% per year is the second highest in the region and one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere.
The Caribbean Community is an organisation of fifteen Caribbean nations and dependencies having primary objectives to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, to ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared, and to coordinate foreign policy. The organisation was established in 1973. Its major activities involve coordinating economic policies and development planning; devising and instituting special projects for the less-developed countries within its jurisdiction; operating as a regional single market for many of its members ; and handling regional trade disputes. The secretariat headquarters is in Georgetown, Guyana. CARICOM is an official United Nations Observer.
Politics of Belize takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, whereby Queen Elizabeth II serves as head of state and the prime minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of Belize.
The Caribbean Court of Justice is the judicial institution of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Established in 2003, it is based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
Belizean passports are issued to Belizean citizens to travel outside Belize. The passport is a Caricom passport as Belize is a member of the Caribbean Community.
The Belizean Writers and Poets Society is a literary organization established in 2005 to promote Belizean writing and poetry.
The CARICOM passport is a passport document issued by the 15 member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) for their citizens. It can be used both for intra-regional and international travel. The passport was created to facilitate intra-region travel; however, citizens of the OECS that are citizens from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines may use a member-state issued drivers licence, national identification card, voters registration card or social security card for travel within the OECS area.
The following is an alphabetical list of topics related to the nation of Belize.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Belize face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT citizens. Same-sex sexual activity was illegal in Belize until 2016, when the Supreme Court declared Belize's anti-sodomy law unconstitutional.
Wilfred Peter "Sedi" Elrington is a Belizean politician who has been the Foreign Minister of Belize since 2008.
Her Majesty's Government of Belize, also referred to as the Belizean Government is the democratic administrative authority of Belize, a constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. It was formed in 1981 after gaining sovereignty from the United Kingdom. The constitution is the supreme law of Belize.
Edmee Yolanda Schakron-Rodríguez is a Belizean activist and People's United Party candidate, best known as the aunt of murder victim Chris Galvez and a founder and president of Belizeans For Justice. Schakron was briefly the PUP standard bearer for the Lake Independence House constituency in 2012, but her candidacy was disallowed due to her dual citizenship at the time in Belize and the United States, after which she renounced U.S. citizenship. Schakron was the unsuccessful PUP nominee for Mayor of Belize City in 2015.
Cheryl-Lynn Branker-Taitt Vidal is a Trinidadian lawyer, who serves as Belize's Director of Public Prosecutions.
Oscar D. Ramjeet is a Guyanese journalist and lawyer. He has served in a variety of positions throughout the Caribbean, including as Belize's Solicitor-General from 2009 to 2011.
Elson Kaseke (1967–2011) was a Zimbabwean lawyer. A long-time resident of Belize, he served that country in a variety of capacities including as a legal draftsman and as Solicitor-General before becoming an attorney in private practice there.
Chester Williams is the Commissioner of Belize and highest police officer of the Belize Police Department. His rapid rise through the ranks of the police was interrupted by fellow officers' allegations that he had committed a murder. The government of Belize pursued a dubious disciplinary action against him despite the objections of the Solicitor-General, and he was reduced in rank for six months. Williams was eventually reinstated, but the accusations continued to dog his career until it was revealed that the man he had allegedly murdered was actually alive and well in the United States, a fact that had been known to his superiors for some time. Thus vindicated, Williams took up a new post as Officer Commanding the Cayo District Police, but the following month announced that he would be taking study leave in order to attend law school.
In the Commonwealth Caribbean, a Legal Education Certificate is a professional certification awarded to a person who has completed a course of study and training at a law school established by the Council of Legal Education. It was created by Articles 4 and 5 of the 1970 Agreement Establishing the Council of Legal Education.
Rollin 30s Harlem Crips is an African American and Belizean Creole street gang which originated from Los Angeles. It is known for being one of the most powerful and organized sets within the larger Crips gang.
Maurice Tomlinson is a Jamaican Attorney-at-Law and law lecturer. He has been a leading Gay Rights and HIV activist in the Caribbean for over 20 years and is one of the only Jamaican LGBTI human rights advocates to challenge the country's 1864 British colonially imposed anti gay Sodomy Law. This law predominantly affects men who have sex with men (MSM) and carries a jail sentence of up to ten years imprisonment with hard labour.
Sue Courtenay is a Belizean architect who was selected as the first female president of the Federation of Caribbean Associations of Architects and served from 2012 to 2014. She is an advocate of regional building standards and mutual recognition agreements for architects of the CARICOM alliance.