Tag Archives: caribbean

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Forward not backward

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley announced on Tuesday that Barbados will become a republic on November 30th of this year. This is significant, because Barbados gained independence from Britain on November 30th, 1966, 55 years ago. It would be done come Independence Day, according to Mottley.

Becoming a republic means that Barbados will remove the British monarch as its titular head of state. Most of the former British colonies, upon obtaining independence, continued with the British monarch as head of state. They joined what is referred to as the Commonwealth. Most have since became republics.

Ms. Mottley in a speech on Tuesday said,

“On November 30 this year, our great nation which we love shall become a parliamentary republic. The Cabinet has accepted the recommendations of the Forde Commission, with minor modification, [and] our parliamentary republic shall have a non-executive president.

[The president] shall be elected by the Electoral College of both houses of Parliament, and that president shall be entitled to serve initially for a period of four years, and thereafter can be reappointed for another term.

“We will make amendments to facilitate that transition to a new president to be sworn in on that day of November 30 of this year, and that in so doing, that we start from December 1 the journey of the settlement of the new constitution of Barbados, which will be the subject of extensive consultation and communication with the people of this nation,”

By contrast, in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), the British government is conducting a commission of inquiry into governments past and present. The inquiry was launched by the former British-appointed governor in January this year. The commission’s scope is very wide, and appears to continue in session into 2022.

Sir Gary Hickinbottom is the Sole Commissioner in the British Virgin Islands Commission of Inquiry.  He is an English lawyer.

Many in the British Virgin Islands believe that Britain will suspend the constitution of the BVI and implement direct British rule. The Observer is not in accord with this thinking. Barbados, which is also a former British Colony, gained independence in 1966. St. Kitts and Nevis was the last British Caribbean colony to gain independence. St. Kitts and Nevis became independent in 1983.

Contrast Jamaica declaring independence in August 1962, Barbados in November 1966, and St. Kitts and Nevis in 1983 to the British Virgin Islands returning to direct British rule in 2022. That will not set well anywhere. If the British commission of inquiry finds wrongdoing, then the accused should face the court of law while the British Virgin Islands  continues to greater self-governance.

That march has stalled. The last review in the Virgin Islands constitution happened in 2007. Britain suspended the constitution  of the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2009, and implemented day-to-day Home Office rule. Britain gave a reason for that move to be widespread corruption in that territory.

The islands that  formed the British Caribbean Islands started the march to independence 59 years ago, implementing direct British on any territory in 2022 is worse than any retrograde step that could be considered in modern times.

Britain says that China violated its promise to maintain a separate system in Hong Kong by imposing direct rule. If Britain imposes direct rule in the British Virgin Islands in 2022, can it even shake a candle at China?

A referendum on independence for the British Virgin Islands may fail, because it appears that most residents prefer to maintain a relationship with the UK. Given that constraint, local politicians may want to encourage greater self-governance; a reduced role for a British-appointed governor, and strong and enforceable  guidelines for governance; greater transparency, and an independent prosecutor’s office that can investigate and prosecute corruption.

Coming out of the European Union, the United Kingdom has labelled itself “Global Britain”, indicating that Britain will again be a dominant player in world affairs. The UK has built new ships, and is partnering with the United States – and very recently China and Russia accused the UK of illegally transiting through their waters.

It is the view of the Observer that the UK unnecessarily retreated from the world, and trying to return to the world stage cannot be at the sovereign expense of her few remaining colonies.
Global Britain could end up being a guide for any country that maintains colonies, ceding  the running of the territory to elected politicians with Britain maintaining big brother position for defense, assistance with technical assistance and training.1962 and 2022 .We should be moving forward and not backward.

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Stoney Grove man shot in his home

A young man in Nevis was shot early this morning in his home in Stoney Grove.

According to reports about six shots were heard at around 3:00 am.

The Police PRO Jacqueline Bryan has confirmed the Police in Nevis is investigating a shooting incident that occurred in Stoney Grove this morning at about 3 a.m.

She said a man was shot and injured and is warded at the Alexandra Hospital.

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Peru’s Castillo Assumes Presidency Amid Political Storms in Divided Nation

LIMA, July 28 (Reuters) – Peru’s Pedro Castillo will assume the presidency on Wednesday with little time to catch his breath as he battles the world’s deadliest COVID-19 outbreak, tensions in his socialist party and weak congressional support in a starkly divided nation.

Castillo, the son of peasant farmers, will be sworn into office at around midday local time (1500 GMT) in Congress and will then address the nation, which was split almost in half by a polarized June 6 ballot won by a margin of just 44,000 votes.

The abrupt rise of Castillo, a former teacher, has shaken Peru’s traditional political elite and stung copper producers fearful of his plans to hike taxes on mining to fund health and education reforms, and revamp the Andean nation’s constitution.

All eyes will be on his first message as president and the make-up of his cabinet of ministers, still under wraps amid horse trading between the more radical wing of his Marxist Free Peru party and more moderate advisers and allies.

“Castillo’s message will set the guidelines for the start of his government. But the Cabinet and team he announces will tell us even more about the direction we’re headed in,” said Jeffrey Radzinsky, a Lima-based governance expert.

A key signal will be the economic portfolio, with sources close to Castillo indicating it will go to Pedro Francke, a moderate left-wing economist, who has helped soften the outsider candidate’s image and calm jittery markets in recent months.

The inauguration comes after Castillo, 51, edged out right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori, though his win was not confirmed until last week. Fujimori had alleged fraud with no evidence and challenged the result, gaining comparisons with Donald Trump’s tactics after he lost the 2020 U.S. presidential election. read more

Castillo will have to contend with a fragmented Congress where he lacks support for key pledges including plans to redraw the constitution, as well as tensions with the hard-left wing of his party, led by Marxist doctor Vladimir Cerrón.

He also faces a balancing act between the powerful mining sector in the world’s No. 2 copper producer and the need to hike taxes to ease rising poverty and fulfill promises to his rural base that drove his unlikely rise to the presidency.

“Castillo needs to unite the hard core of his party, but he has to do it without destroying the image the people have of him, which is that he is against radicalism,” Radzinsky added.

Presidents from Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Ecuador, as well as the king of Spain and a U.S. delegation, will be in Lima, Peru’s capital, for the inauguration, which coincides with the country’s 200-year anniversary of independence in 1821.

Reporting by Marco Aquino; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Leslie Adler

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World View: Biles Quits Games, Olympics News, Racism of Rioters, More

Jul 28, 2021

The Associated Press

The Rundown

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TOKYO (AP) — Simone Biles will not defend her Olympic title. The American gymnastics superstar withdrew from Thursday’s all-around competition to focus on her mental…Read More

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s latest leap into the Senate’s up-and-down efforts to clinch a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure deal comes with even more…Read More

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KANE, Pa. (AP) — A crank caller ordered an “insurrection pizza” from Pauline Bauer’s restaurant. A profane piece of hate mail addressed her as a domestic terrorist. …Read More

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It had only been hinted at in previous public examinations of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection: Scores of rioters attacked police officers not just with makeshift wea…Read More

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — As a member of the secretive Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Angus King has reason to worry about hackers. At a briefing by security staff t…Read More

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US: Officers Offer Harrowing Accounts at 1st Jan. 6 Committee Hearing

By Cristina Marcos and Rebecca Beitsch –

Officers who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection offered powerful and often emotional testimony before lawmakers on Tuesday, recounting scenes of chaos, violence and destruction as the House select committee kicked off its investigation into the insurrection.

The civil and somber hearing marked the first meeting of the select committee to investigate the day’s events, a panel with just two Republicans after the party’s leaders — allied with former President Trump — decided to boycott the investigation altogether.

The four police officers on the stand described fearing for their lives as they were overwhelmed by the sheer size of the pro-Trump mob — and how many of them are still suffering from physical and emotional trauma more than six months later.

Aquilino Gonell, a Capitol Police sergeant and Army veteran, recounted how he and other officers trying to fight off the rioters were punched, kicked, sprayed with chemical irritants and beaten with flagpoles.

“On Jan. 6, for the first time, I was more afraid working at the Capitol than during my entire Army deployment to Iraq. In Iraq, we expected armed violence, because we were in a war zone. But nothing in my experience in the Army, or as a law enforcement officer, prepared me for what we confronted on Jan. 6,” Gonell said.

The officers seethed at the GOP lawmakers and Trump defenders who have tried to minimize the severity of the day’s violence, like one House Republican who compared it to a “normal tourist visit.”

“The indifference being shown to my colleagues is disgraceful!” said Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone as he slammed his fist on the table.

“My law enforcement career prepared me to cope with some of the aspects of this experience,” said Fanone, whose image was captured in the melee as he was surrounded by rioters and shocked repeatedly with his own stun gun.

“Nothing has prepared me to address those elected members of our government who continue to deny the events of that day, and in doing so, betray their oath of office.”

Gonell said some lawmakers’ subsequent attempts to whitewash the events of Jan. 6 have diminished the sacrifice officers made on that day.

“We were all fighting for our lives to give them — to give you guys — a chance to go home to your family, to escape. And now the same people who we helped, the same people who we gave them the borrowed time to get to safety, now they’re attacking us, attacking our character,” he said.

Trump’s comments on both Jan. 6 and afterward praising the attendees at his rally ahead of the riot were seized on by lawmakers. Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), one of the two Republicans on the panel, asked about the former president’s claim that the crowd that day was “loving.”

“It’s upsetting. It’s a pathetic excuse for his behavior, for something that he himself helped to create — this monstrosity. I’m still recovering from those hugs and kisses that day,” Gonell said.

Gonell sustained injuries on both hands, as well as his left shoulder, left calf and right foot, after fighting off the mob. He said he’s been on medical and administrative leave for most of the past six months and expects to need further physical rehabilitation for possibly more than a year.

“To me it’s insulting, its demoralizing, because everything that we did was to prevent everyone in the Capitol from getting hurt and what he was doing — instead of sending the military, instead of sending support or telling his people, his supporters, to stop this nonsense — he egged them to continue fighting.”

Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who is Black, shared accounts of rioters repeatedly screaming racial slurs at him — the first time he had experienced that while in uniform.

But he said the day’s events differed from the numerous MAGA events he had patrolled before.

“They had marching orders, so to say. When people feel emboldened by people in power they assume that they’re right,” he said.

“One of the scariest things about Jan. 6 is that the people that were there even to this day think that they were right. They think that they were right, and that makes for a scary recipe for the future of this country.”

Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges, who was captured in a viral video showing him being crushed by rioters and stripped of his gas mask when trapped in a doorway, encouraged the committee to specifically target those in power who may have aided those who stormed the Capitol and who are beyond the reach of police.

“I need you guys to address if anyone in power had a role in this. If anyone in power coordinated or aided or abetted or tried to downplay, tried to prevent the investigation of this terrorist attack. Because we can’t do it. We’re not allowed to,” he said.

The hearing further underscored the lingering emotional trauma more than six months after the deadly attack on the Capitol.

The police officers on the stand and lawmakers on the dais alike struggled to contain tears at times.

Gonell said that his wife and relatives frantically tried to reach him as they watched the terror unfold on television, but he wasn’t able to answer their messages until hours later “to let my own family know that I was alive.”

When he finally returned home around 4 a.m., he said, “I had to push my wife away from me because she wanted to hug me. And I told her no, because of all of the chemicals that my uniform had on.”

Gonell then teared up and paused to collect himself. “Sorry,” he said, wiping his eyes with a tissue.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), an Air Force veteran, began his round of questioning by telling the police officers that they “won” despite perhaps feeling “a little broken” by the trauma they’ve suffered.

“You guys won. You guys held,” Kinzinger said, fighting back tears. “You know, democracies are not defined by our bad days. We’re defined by how we come back from bad days.”

Moments later, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the panel who also chairs the House Intelligence Committee, became emotional after asking Dunn about his experience being called a “n—–” by the mostly white crowd of rioters donning Trump campaign gear.

“If we’re no longer committed to a peaceful transfer of power after our elections if our side doesn’t win, then God help us. If we deem elections illegitimate merely because they didn’t go our way, rather than trying to do better the next time, then God help us. And if we’re so driven by bigotry and hate that we attack our fellow citizens as traitors if they were born in another country or they don’t look like us—” Schiff said, stopping as he struggled to maintain his composure.

After a full 12 seconds, Schiff said again: “God help us.”

“But I have faith because of folks like you,” Schiff told Dunn.

After the hearing, Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said lawmakers may have to forgo some of their August vacation as the committee continues its work over the summer.

“We’ll have to digest a lot of the testimony today. But it will look at some of the failures as to how it came about,” he said of the committee’s second hearing, adding that subpoenas would come “soon.”

Scott Wong contributed.

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St. Lucia Labour Party Seals Big Election Win

The Saint Lucia Labour Party will form the country’s next government with a supermajority after a landslide general election victory.

On Monday, with 49.89 percent of the popular vote, Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) took 13 of the 17 seats available in Saint Lucia’s parliament, winning by its largest margin of victory since 1997, and SLP leader Philip Pierre is set to be named Prime Minister after a single term in opposition.

The Labour Party made substantial gains at the polls, retaining the six seats it had held since 2016 and adding seven more, covering the country’s electoral map in the party’s traditional red. The incumbent United Workers Party (UWP) led by outgoing prime minister Allen Chastanet only managed to retain two seats in the House of Assembly.

SLP leader Pierre took to social media to thank Saint Lucia as the result became apparent, saying his administration’s first priorities will be health and youth economy.

The incoming prime minister has represented Castries East since 1997, and previously served as a government minister the last time the Labour Party was in office. He was elected to the role of SLP leader after the party’s defeat in the 2016 general election and has been the leader of the opposition since then.

The incumbent UWP lost two seats it has traditionally won in the country’s capital to former party members running as independent candidates, Castries North – won by former Prime Minister Stephenson King, and Castries Central – won by Richard Frederick, who served as a government minister under King. The SLP did not contest these seats.

The result illustrates a remarkable downturn in the UWP’s fortunes, with Chastanet’s party having won 11 of the 17 seats in Saint Lucia’s parliament in the last general election. However the departing prime minister did retain his seat in Micoud South.

Monday’s elections were observed by a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) team led by Fern Narcis-Scope of Trinidad and Tobago. Commonwealth and Organization of American States (OAS) observers were also present.

The Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS/EOM) present in Saint Lucia for the General Elections of July 26, congratulates citizens on their strong civic commitment, which was amply displayed during the Advanced Poll on July 23 and on Election Day, July 26.

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Haitians Displaced by Gang Violence Face Bleak Future

PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 27 (Reuters) – Haitians displaced by gang incursions into swaths of the capital Port-au-Prince now live on the sharpest edge of insecurity in the Caribbean country, which is reeling from the assassination of President Jovenel Moise earlier this month.

Officials say thousands of people have lost their homes to creeping encroachment by violent gangs into central and southern parts of the city, where urban sprawl envelops more than 2.5 million people.

“I’ve got no future in this country as a young man. I’m in an unstable situation, I can’t build a home, the situation is really critical,” said one youth, staying at a shelter in the Delmas 5 neighborhood of Port-au-Prince.

Like others who spoke to Reuters at the center, which gives refuge to some 1,800 people, he declined to give his name for fear of reprisals from gangs.

Gang violence in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, increasingly marred Moise’s rule before he was shot dead in his official residence on July 7. The government says the attack was carried out by a group of largely Colombian mercenaries, though many questions about who was behind his killing remain.

Ariel Henry was formally appointed as prime minister of Haiti last week, calling for unity, stability, and international support.

But the gangs are powerful and security institutions are weak. Georges Michel, a Haitian historian, said the gangs can muster a firepower superior to official security forces and are highly mobile, used to deploying guerrilla-like tactics to prey on the population and do battle with rival outfits.

“I hope that (the government) finds a way to destroy them because they create terror in all the neighborhood,” he said.

Gangs have threatened to occupy the streets to protest the assassination of Moise. One of the most prominent bosses, Jimmy Cherizier, a former cop known as Barbecue, on Monday led hundreds of followers to a commemoration of the dead president.

“We never knew this situation before,” said another youth at the shelter. “This stems from the political crisis.”

Reporting by Herbert Villarraga, Writing by Dave Graham, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien

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Brazil’s Bolsonaro Turns to Center-Right Senator for Political Survival

BRASILIA, July 27 (Reuters) – Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has asked Senator Ciro Nogueira to be his chief of staff to shore up support in Congress in the face of falling popularity and growing outrage over his handling of the world’s second-deadliest COVID-19 outbreak.

Nogueira, a leader of the center-right Progressives Party(PP), tweeted on Tuesday that he has accepted the job and is expected to be sworn in this week as Bolsonaro’s closest minister, replacing a retired general.

He will be the first heavyweight politician to enter Bolsonaro’s inner cabinet as the embattled president seeks allies to shield himself from calls in Congress for his impeachment and a Senate investigation of irregularities in the government’s purchase of COVID-19 vaccines.

Nogueira belongs to the same PP party as House Speaker Arthur Lira, who has refused to take up any of the dozens of impeachment requests filed against Bolsonaro.

“The appointment solidifies the presence of this key party in the government and gives Bolsonaro some peace of mind,” said Lucas de Aragao, a partner at Brasilia consultancy Arko Advice.

Bolsonaro has yet to decide which party he will join to seek re-election next year and the PP will likely become the main component of any coalition he will try to build, Aragao said.

Recent opinion polls show Bolsonaro’s popularity plummeting over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as he has minimized the gravity of the situation despite the deaths of 550,000 Brazilians. The polls also show him being defeated handily by former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva if the election were held today.

To make matters worse, the Senate probe has implicated the government’s chief whip in the lower house of Congress, Ricardo Barros, also of the PP party, in a scandal surrounding a purchase contract for 20 million doses of the Covaxin vaccine made by India’s Bharat Biotech.

A health ministry whistle-blower accused the president of ignoring warnings about the 1.6 billion-real ($316 million) deal. Bolsonaro and Barros have denied all wrongdoing, and the government has since canceled the contract.

Nogueira is a leader of the “centrao” or big center coalition that Bolsonaro has embraced to survive politically, even though dozens of their lawmakers have faced graft investigations. read more

Critics say Bolsonaro has joined corrupt politicians he vowed to bring down when he campaigned for office in 2018.

In an interview on Monday, Bolsonaro said he would lose the support of “almost half of Congress” if he did not deal with lawmakers under investigation.

“For now, this is what I have to work with,” he told Radio Arapua.

Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Dan Grebler

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