Archives for Tuesday, January 25, 2005:

Barbados moving towards becoming a republic by year end

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: The people of Barbados could very well become nationals of the Republic of Barbados by the end of 2005.  This was made known by Prime Minister Owen Arthur while he addressed a meeting of the Christ Church West and St Michael South branches of the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP)... read more...

Guyana government waives duty and taxes on relief supplies

GEORGETOWN, Guyana: Government officials in Guyana have made a decision to waive Customs Duty and Consumption Tax on food and relief supplies being brought into the country for flood victims.  President Bharrat Jagdeo said if the rains continue, then forced evacuation will have to take place to move people to safety... read more...

Rumblings in Guyana over relief distribution

GEORGETOWN, Guyana: Head of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Brigadier Edward Collins, has suggested that the country's Civil Defence Commission (CDC) take over relief operations before the arrival of the international assistance. Collins is also suggesting that the CDC be given the responsibility for all relief supplies... read more...

French tourist declared missing, presumed dead after windsurfing in Barbados

MIAMI, USA (AFP): A French tourist was declared missing and presumed dead 10 days after he disappeared while windsurfing in Barbados, the island's Coast Guard said Monday... read more...

Haiti PM fires two aides; Argentina rotates UN troops

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue announced Monday that he had fired the director of his cabinet and his spokesman, while Argentina rotated a fresh contingent of UN troops to Haiti... read more...

Cuba buys 12 locomotives from China

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Cuba has purchased 12 locomotives from China to distribute food and other goods across the Caribbean island state, the Communist Party's newspaper announced Monday... read more...

Spain pressing constructive dialogue with Cuba

MADRID, Spain (AFP): Spain is pushing a "constructive dialogue" with Cuba that has begun to yield positive results, Spanish ambassador to Havana Carlos Zaldivar said in an interview with the daily El Pais published Monday... read more...

Cuba rejects Mexico's plan to help political prisoners

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (UPI): Cuba scoffed Monday at a proposal offered by a Mexican senator to provide support to Cuba's political prisoners... read more...

Foreigners claim beatings, rapes in Bahamas prison

MIAMI, USA (AFP): Foreign detainees, mostly Cubans and Haitians but also a Briton and a Jamaican, have claimed they were regularly beaten at a detention center in the Bahamas, The Miami Herald reported Sunday... read more...

20 Jamaicans receive scholarships from Mexico

KINGSTON, Jamaica: Twenty Jamaicans have been awarded scholarships by the Mexican government to pursue degree programmes at universities in Mexico.  Mexican Ambassador, Benito Andion presented 12 of the 20 awardees with their admission letters on Friday January 21, at the Mexican Embassy in Kingston... read more...

US sued for excessive use of force in Elian Gonzalez case

MIAMI, USA (AFP): Supporters of Cuban rafter Elian Gonzalez claimed in a lawsuit Monday that US police used excessive force when they seized the boy from his relatives' Miami home in an incident that became emblematic for Cuba's exiled opposition... read more...

St Vincent & Grenadines Green Party refuses dialogue with Taiwan Embassy

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent: The St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Green Party, the latest political entity to be formed in SVG, has refused an offer to dialogue with the Taiwanese Embassy.  The leader and co-founder of the party, Ivan O’Neal, says that the SVG Green Party has “nothing to discuss with the Taiwanese or its agents.”... read more...

Cayman Islands government suppresses insurance report

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands: Some six weeks after announcing that the Cabinet had asked the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) to investigate claims of unfair insurer practices, the Cayman government has indicated that the report will not now be made available to the public, on the grounds that it would have a negative impact on the insurance industry... read more...

Utility authority might pull the plug on USVI government

CHRISTIANSTED, USVI: The financial crisis facing the Water and Power Authority (WAPA) of the US Virgin Islands continues to worsen, forcing some officials to call the matter a complete scandal, adding that there is only a little bit of cash remaining to cover two weeks of average expenses... read more...

Chief Secretary of the Turks and Caicos Islands retires

TURKS & Caicos Islands: The Chief Secretary of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Cynthia Astwood OBE, is to retire after a long and most distinguished career in public service. Mrs Astwood has held the post as Head of the Public Service of the Turks and Caicos Islands since 1986, the first Belonger to hold this high office... read more...

Gerald 'Bogle' Levy killed in Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica (UPI): Gerald "Bogle" Levy, a leading dancehall choreographer, has been killed in a drive-by shooting in Kingston, Jamaica.  Levy, credited with creating the Bogle, a crossover dance move, was at a gas station when two men on a motorbike sped passed by and allegedly shot into his vehicle... read more...

COMMENTARY

Canada and the Caribbean: time to reconsider the relationship

There was a most remarkable event in Canada on January 18th.  Peter Goldring, Member of Parliament for the Opposition Conservative Party of Canada and Foreign Affairs Critic for the Caribbean, expressed his dismay at the Canadian government’s “lack of action and direction” in the Caribbean... read more...

Law and Politics: How much more must we take?

I was looking at a CNN programme last week Monday, in which the struggle of the Afro-Americans, or coloured people as they were called in those days, was being remembered on the public holiday in memory of the late, great, and very courageous human rights fighter, Martin Luther King Jnr... read more...

LETTERS

Vindictiveness, Idiots and Grenadian Economics

I trust that this New Year has meet all our Caribbean people with renewed vigor to move us forward into the still fresh millennium that seems daily to be throwing up more and more challenges for Small Island States as we ALL are in the Caribbean... read more...