Tag Archives: caribbean

headline

Cruise Passengers Coming To St. Kitts & Nevis Will Participate In Bubble Tours

Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 13, 2021 (SKNIS): The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis in its efforts to continue to protect its citizens against the COVID-19 has created bubble tours for the cruise passengers arriving from July 22 onwards.

This was stated by the Minister of Tourism, Honourable Lindsay Grant, during the Prime Minister’s Press Conference on July 8, 2021

“I would also like to indicate that when the passengers alight from the cruise vessel, they are going to go into bubble tours, and it means that they will not have direct contact with the citizens of St. Kitts and Nevis,”

“If they are going to tour at the Brimstone Hill, all the persons working at the Brimstone Hill would be vaccinated on that particular day that the ship and its passengers will go there,” said Minister Grant.

“So, they will leave from the ship to the designated transportation to Brimstone Hill in a bubble that means all the persons that they will come into contact with will be vaccinated; they will visit Brimstone Hill or whichever tour they visit, and they come back to the ship in the same bubble without being allowed to have contact with our citizens.”

“It, therefore, means that when they come off their ship on the 22nd, you are not going to see them in the town of Basseterre and we are not going to allow that in the initial stages,” said Honourable Grant.

He said also that the world is in a pandemic, and it is the number one priority of the Team-Unity Administration to keep its citizens as safe as possible.

“Of course, we understand that this is a time that persons are hurting; we understand that taxi drivers and tour operators haven’t worked sufficiently over the last 15 months, and this is why we have taken the decision to entertain the ships but entertain them in a way that we can manage,” Minister Grant said.

“We are hopeful that persons will adhere to the protocols, the non-pharmaceutical protocols, and that we would have a safe start or restart to the cruise industry,” said the Minister of Tourism.

The post Cruise Passengers Coming To St. Kitts & Nevis Will Participate In Bubble Tours appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

Seabourn Odyssey And Celebrity Millennium Scheduled To Dock At Port Zante In July

Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 13, 2021 (SKNIS): Minister of Tourism, the Honourable Lindsay Grant, said that the Seabourn Odyssey and the Celebrity Millennium are scheduled to arrive in July 2021 during the Prime Minister’s Press Conference on July 8.

He said, “Since the pandemic hit in March of 2020, we have been working assiduously behind the scenes getting our stakeholders ready for the eventual day of the start of the cruise and so we have trained in excess of 5000 of our persons in the industry ensuring that the new protocols that are now in place will be followed when we open up our cruise industry.”

“As it stands at the moment, we are ready and able to accept the first cruise ship which would be Seabourn Odyssey on Thursday the 22nd of July,” said Honourable Grant. “The Seabourn Odyssey will come every week thereafter and then we have the Celebrity Millennium which will come on July the 28th.”

“When the Celebrity Millennium comes on July the 28th, it will come every other week thereafter and I should also say that August looks or is looking pretty good as in fact we should have in August a number of ships including the Allure of the Seas, which is of the Royal Caribbean brand which is a huge ship,” said Minister Grant.

“We are basically beginning the phase of allowing ships in and I must tell you though that as far as we are aware, the ships that would come that is the Seabourn Odyssey and the Celebrity Millennium, will come with fully vaccinated crew and passengers,” he added.  “This means that we are expecting the crew onboard to be 98% vaccinated and the passengers to be 95% vaccinated.”

The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis has removed the 24-hour curfew that was in place from the 26th of June to the 11th of July and has now instituted a 9 pm to 5 am curfew for two weeks in the first instance.

The post Seabourn Odyssey And Celebrity Millennium Scheduled To Dock At Port Zante In July appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

US: Four Iranians Charged with Kidnap Plot Against Female Author

Prosecutors say the Iranian government-directed followers to kidnap the author to get her back to Iran.

By Pete Williams and Jonathan Dienst

Federal prosecutors have charged four Iranian intelligence operatives with plotting to kidnap a Brooklyn author and human rights activist.

The four — Alireza Shavaroghi Farahani, Mahmoud Khazein, Kiya Sadeghi and Omid Noori, all living in Iran — are accused of conspiring to kidnap a Brooklyn journalist, author and human rights activist who has been critical of the Iranian regime.

A fifth, Niloufar Bahadorifar, is accused of providing financial support.

The author was not named in court documents, but Masih Alinejad told NBC News that she was the target.

A law enforcement official familiar with the case also identified the author as Alinejad.

“I’ve been targeted for a number of years but this is the first time that such an audacious plot has been hatched and foiled,” Alinejad said by email Tuesday night.

In 2020, Alinejad wrote in The Washington Post that she learned of the Iranian regime’s intention to kidnap her. “It’s been a horrifying experience, but I can’t say that it’s been entirely unexpected. The regime has tried many forms of intimidation to silence me over the years,” she wrote.

Prosecutors say the Iranian government directed followers to kidnap the author to get her back to Iran.

Farahani is an Iranian intelligence official who lives in Iran, and Khazein, Sadeghi and Noori are Iranian intelligence assets who work for him, the Justice Department said.

The charging documents say the men hired private investigators, by misrepresenting who they were and what they wanted, to surveil the author in Brooklyn during 2020 and 2021.

The post US: Four Iranians Charged with Kidnap Plot Against Female Author appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

UWI Officials Gather to Discuss New Operational Plan

THE University of the West Indies’ executive management team will embark on a planning retreat today during which they will discuss the roll-out of a new operational plan to deal with the financial challenges facing the institution as a result of shortfalls in revenues.

A release said a number of students and governments experienced difficulties in meeting financial obligations to the university in respect of tuition fees and related economic costs for teaching and learning.

The regional university said it is committed to cutting expenditure and increasing revenues by 10 per cent yearly in each of the coming three years, thereby significantly eliminating cash shortfalls that frustrate operations. Each UWI campus is expected to implement bankable commercial projects in an effort to strengthen its entrepreneurial functions and rewards, it said.

Regional governments currently fund about 50 per cent of The UWI’s total operational cost, down from nearly 80 per cent 25 years ago.

At the retreat, Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles will present, for discussion and approval, his “Operation Revenue Revolution” which seeks to confront and improve the financial difficulties facing the institution, and to transform its business management culture.

In 2017, the university launched its strategic plan entitled the ‘Triple A Strategy’ with pillars of access, alignment, and agility. Phase one of the Operational Plan, 2017-2022, called for a “Reputation Revolution”.

According to Beckles, “The outcome was spectacular. The reputation of the University soared regionally and globally — ranked number one in the Caribbean, top one per cent in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, and top three per cent of the best universities internationally. The strategy has delivered great success and the projected time has come to roll out part two of the operation — The Revenue Revolution, 2022-2027.”

The post UWI Officials Gather to Discuss New Operational Plan appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

SKN, 4 Other Caribbean Nations Open for Vaxed Travelers

Several Caribbean countries, including St. Kitts and Nevis, are open for business, but only if you’re COVD vaccinated.

St Kitts and Nevis

Effective Monday, July 12, the Vacation in Place period for fully vaccinated international air travellers has been reduced from nine days to three days.

Travellers will be tested on day four and have the ability to fully integrate into the Federation upon receipt of a negative test result.

Non-vaccinated children under 18 travelling with fully vaccinated parents are welcome. Non-vaccinated children under 18 traveling with fully vaccinated parents will observe the same period of Vacation in Place as their parents.

A traveller is considered fully vaccinated when two weeks have passed since receiving their second dose of a two dose vaccine series (Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna or AstraZeneca/Oxford) or two weeks after they have received a single dose vaccine (Johnson + Johnson).

Proof of vaccination is a scanned copy of the traveller’s official COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card. Upon submission of their vaccination card and completion of their travel authorization form, once verified, international travellers will receive authorization of their vaccination card and a KN number.

Travellers must complete the Travel Authorization Form on the national website (www.knatravelform.kn), including uploading your proof of vaccination and proof of booking at a Travel Approved hotel.

Upon submission of a completed KNA travel form, the traveller must upload their official COVID-19 RT-PCR negative test result from a CLIA/CDC/UKAS approved lab accredited with ISO/IEC 17025 standard taken 72 hours prior to travel. There are no exceptions to the 72-hour timeframe.

Upon submission of the copy of their official vaccination card and copy of their COVID -19 RT-PCR test negative result, the traveller’s information will be reviewed and they will receive the approval letter to enter the Federation.

For their trip, the traveller should bring a copy of their COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card and their negative COVID-19 RT-PCR test.

More and more countries have updated their travel protocols to only allow entry to vaccinated people at this point.

The new protocols come as most countries in the region ramp up their vaccination drives and some are reopening to regular activities.

With the safety of their own citizens at the forefront, these countries, many of whom depend on tourism, are also seeking to ensure the safety of their guests.

We urge you to check out the official tourism website of the destinations you wish to visit to make sure you satisfy all entry requirements when planning your trip.

Below are the countries which have recently updated their protocols.

Anguilla

Effective Thursday, July 1,only fully vaccinated adult travelers are allowed entry to Anguilla. Children under the age of 18 years and women who are pregnant are exempt from this requirement.

The following four vaccines are approved for entry by Anguilla’s Health Authorities: Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Modern and Janssen.

International travelers must apply for Entry Permission at www.ivisitanguilla.com and must submit a negative COVID-19 rt-PCR test from a nasopharyngeal swab taken three to five days prior to arrival on the island. Proof of vaccination must be uploaded to the entry application – the legally issued card/identification by the country administering the vaccine will be reviewed by the Anguillian authorities to ensure authenticity.

Applications will not be accepted later than 12 pm EST the day before the day of arrival.

All visitors will be tested on arrival; however, there are no fees charged. Visitors are required to stay in place at their hotel or villa while awaiting their test results, which are usually delivered within 12 hours.

All restrictions on fully vaccinated guests’ movements have been lifted, which means that upon receipt of their negative test results, guests are free to roam around the island at will.

Guests are asked to adhere to and respect the COVID-19 protocols of businesses and establishments on the island, which may include wearing a face covering at places where social distancing cannot be maintained, and observing proper hygiene with frequent hand washing or using hand sanitizer.

For more detailed information on Anguilla’s travel protocols please visit the official website of the Anguilla Tourist Board: www.IvisitAnguilla.com/escape.

St Eustatius

All travellers to St Eustatius (Statia) are required to get a Vaccination Certification,

The certificate can be requested via email va*********************@*******ov.com or via WhatsApp +599-318-5146.

The full name (as noted in the applicant’s passport), date of birth and also an email-address of the applicant must be provided.

Within one week the Public Health Department will email the applicant the letter with the QR code.

If the applicant has no email address, the request can be sent via WhatsApp. In this case, the QR code can be picked up at Public Health on the Cottage Road (on Mondays) during the week following your request.

It is recommended that persons that were vaccinated, keep their current vaccination card. In most countries outside of the EU, the current vaccination card will still be proof of the COVID-19 vaccination.

In addition, the card is required when a person uses the Electronic Health Authorization System (EHAS) to ask permission to enter Statia. Also, if there is a mistake in the system, the current vaccination card will allow the Public Health Department to still provide the applicant with a proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

Grenada

Only fully vaccinated travellers will be allowed to enter Grenada via sea and airports.

Fully vaccinated people are those who are fully immunised two weeks after they have had their second dose in a two-dose series such as Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, Sinopharm or Sinovac and two weeks after a single-dose vaccine such as Johnson and Johnson Janssen vaccine.

All visitors who are fully vaccinated will be required to spend no more than 48 hours in quarantine and are mandated to do an on-island PCR COVID test.

Once the test is negative the individual will be allowed to mingle with the citizens. A positive result will result in the person remaining in quarantine.

Those with only one dose of the vaccination are required to spend up to seven days in quarantine and must test negative before they are allowed to mingle with citizens.

For more information on Covid protocols visit HERE.

Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago’s borders are opening after almost a year and a half.

Effective July 17, only citizens or legal residents who are fully vaccinated will be allowed to enter T&T. They must show proof of a negative PCR test, no older than 72 hours, and will not be required to quarantine. Children of fully vaccinated parents will also be allowed to go home.

A citizen who is not vaccinated, however, must go into state-supervised quarantine for 14 days at their own expense. These individuals must also show a negative PCR test no older than 72 hours.

The post SKN, 4 Other Caribbean Nations Open for Vaxed Travelers appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

World View: Tigray Tragedy, Pope Leaves Hospital, Cuba-Haiti Worry for Biden, More

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Jul 14, 2021

Alternate text

The Associated Press

The Rundown

I'm an image

MEKELE, Ethiopia (AP) — The 16-year-old girl hoped to go to war. Inspired by the sight of resurgent local forces marching in to retake the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region six months after being forced to flee, Meron Mezgeb waited in a crowd…Read More
Learn more about RevenueStripe...
I'm an image

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis was seen leaving the hospital on Wednesday, 10 days after undergoing planned surgery to remove half his colon….Read More
I'm an image

The COVID-19 curve in the U.S. is rising again after months of decline, with the number of new cases per day doubling over the past three weeks, driven by the fast-spreading delta variant, lagging vaccination rates and Fourth of July gatherings…Read More
I'm an image

WASHINGTON (AP) — They are two tiny Caribbean states whose intractable problems have vexed U.S. presidents for decades. Now, Haiti and Cuba are suddenly posing a growing challenge for President Joe Biden that could have political ramifications …Read More
I'm an image

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Joe Biden declared preserving voting rights an urgent national “test of our time” on Tuesday but offered few concrete proposals to meet it. Texas Democrats took their own dramatic action to stymie Republican effort…Read More

OTHER TOP STORIES

BERLIN (AP) — Neck rubs, pricy dinners, allegations of phone tapping, awkward handshake moments. Angela Merkel has just about seen it all when it comes to U.S. presidents….Read More

BLY, Ore. (AP) — Fierce wildfires in the northwest are threatening American Indian tribal lands that already are struggling to conserve water and preserve traditional hunting…Read More

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Three weeks after Britney Spears ‘ dramatic comments in court condemning the conservatorship that has controlled her life for 13 years, a Los Angeles judg…Read More

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “The Crown” tied with “The Mandalorian” for the most Emmy nominations Tuesday with 24 apiece, but the Marvel universe also got bragging rights with runner-…Read More

 

*****@***il.com&p=24489913&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> *****@***il.com&p=24489913&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ />

The post World View: Tigray Tragedy, Pope Leaves Hospital, Cuba-Haiti Worry for Biden, More appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

More than 5,000 Detained in Cuba, Including 120 Activists & Journalists

14ymedio, Havana — The wave of arrests in Cuba for the protests that began Sunday continues to come to light. 14ymedio confirms, through sources, that more than 5,000 people were imprisoned or are being investigated, among them more than 120 activists and independent journalists.

Olga Xiomara García Rivas, a resident of the municipality of Alquízar, in the province of Artemisa, reported to this newspaper that her husband, the activist Nomar Castellanos Romero, was arrested this Monday at their home. “At seven in the morning they took him away. Two patrols came with about ten policemen and they took him away handcuffed. They have him at the station here in Alquízar.”

García Rivas stated that they want to blame her husband for being the leader of the demonstrations that occurred in the municipality. “As he has many posts on Facebook against the Government denouncing all the things and barbarities that happen here and for his participation in the Emilia Project and in the Union for Free Cuba Party, they want to prosecute him as if he were the leader of the protest.”

Castellanos Romero belongs to these opposition projects, says his wife, but “he was not the one who launched the people into the streets, everyone went because they wanted to. He launched himself into the streets like a great part of the people did.”

Amanda Hernández Celaya is only 18 years old. She is a professional dancer. On July 11 she was heading to rehearsals for a video clip. The car she was riding in along with other co-workers stopped on the esplanade of La Punta, in Havana, because the traffic was interrupted by the crowd protesting against the dictatorship.

“When she got out of the vehicle, she began to film what was happening with her cell phone and almost immediately she was detained by the forces of order,” the young woman’s aunt, the independent journalist Miriam Celaya, told this newspaper.

After hours without knowing Amanda’s whereabouts, her family learned that they first took her to the Fourth Station and from there they transferred her to the station at 100th and Aldabó. “The mother asked and the officers told her that the young woman is under investigation,” added Celaya.

The regime’s cutting off of internet services has prevented reports of the arrests from coming to light promptly. This was the case of the playwright Yunior García Aguilera, one of the protagonists in the November 27 meeting with the Vice Minister of Culture, Fernando Rojas. The artist spread through messaging and on his Facebook profile hours, after being released, what the detainees experienced in front of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT), in Havana.

There he says, upon seeing the images of the protest in San Antonio de los Baños, a group of artists to requested “15 minutes in front of the Cuban television cameras to exercise the right to reply, to make a call to resolve our conflicts by democratic means, condemn the repression and find a solution without blood to the total crisis we Cubans are experiencing.”

“We didn’t mind being called naive, again, from any extreme,” he explains. “For us, staying at home with our arms crossed, watching the fratricide from a sofa, was not an option. We know, like few others (because we have lived it before), that rage is deaf, but we had to try.”

After the attempt at dialogue, García says, “a horde of radical conservatives and several Rapid Response groups denied us the minimum space of 15 minutes.” The group was beaten, forcibly dragged and thrown “on a cargo truck, like a sack of rubble.” They were taken to the Vivac Detention Center where they remained under arrest until Monday afternoon. “We saw dozens of young people arrive and we gradually learned about the protests in various areas of the country.”

In the multiple interrogations that the detainees went through, he says, “it was clear that no one from outside directed us to go out into the street, that absolutely no one paid us a penny for doing what we did. But we also made our position and our ideas of CHANGE very clear, in a country that is not stopping its own fall into the abyss.”

The group of artists was released under a precautionary measure and an investigation process is being carried out against them. “Those from Vivac who were at the ICRT, we all left, but there are still brothers imprisoned or disappeared, among them, Manuel Alejandro Rodríguez Yong. No one can silence our right to be honest, to demand that they release all of them and to express what we feel” demanded the playwright.

“Cuba is crying, Martí is crying right now from his grave. Let’s save our land from hatred and barbarism. Let all those guilty of this nightmare resign! Let all worthy Cubans who do not share the fascist discourse rise from their silence!” Garcia concluded.

____________

The post More than 5,000 Detained in Cuba, Including 120 Activists & Journalists appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

Colombia: Pres. Dugue Pressed on Ties to Haiti Assassination Team Boss

Colombia Reports- Colombia’s President Ivan Duque will have to clarify his ties to a dodgy businessman who allegedly recruited veterans who ended up accused of assassinating Haiti’s president.

State propaganda chief Hassan Nassar insisted that Duque “had no meeting with or ties to” Antonio Intriago despite evidence indicating the opposite.

According to Colombian and Haitian police, Intriago’s security company CTU recruited the Colombians who ended up being suspected of assassinating President Jovenel Moise.

As for Intriago, he is nowhere to be found.

The non-existent photo of the meeting that never took place

Hassan Nassar (Image: RCN Radio)

News website La Nueva Prensa alerted Nassar on Sunday already that Duque met with Intriago when the then-candidate was campaigning in Florida on February 10, 2918 in an open information request.

The propaganda chief responded that “there exists no registry of the photographic material” of the campaign meeting where the two allegedly never met.

The news website published the photo of Duque and the owner of CTU after which The Miami Herald confirmed its veracity.

The New York Times additionally said that the suspected key suspect in Moise’s assassinate wasn’t just friendly with Colombia’s president, but also had a “history of debt, evictions and bankruptcies” in Florida.

Duque’s murky foreign policy contacts

La Nueva Prensa additionally reported that Intriago and Duque met for a second time in February 2019 at “Venezuela Live Aid,” a concert in support of the opposition against Venezuelan tyrant Nicolas Maduro organized by the Colombian government and businessmen from the two neighboring countries.

The concert turned out to be a PR disaster after images emerged of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido posing with members of drug trafficking organization “Los Rastrojos.”

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido poses with drug traffickers “Brother” and “El Menor.”

Both Nassar and Guaido claimed the politicians posed with all kinds of people and were unaware that they were also posing with alleged criminals.

Duque made a similar claim after photos revealed the president’s ties to a late money launderer until wiretaps triggered criminal investigations into the president’s party and his political patron, former President Alvaro Uribe.

President Ivan Duque and late money launderer Jose Guillermo Hernandez. (Image: Instagram)

Colombia’s National  Security Adviser Rafael Guarin denied knowing his own cousin after admitting that also his family member had been arrested by Haitian police.

Police, soldiers and family claim deceit

Haiti’s police chief claimed that Intriago’s security firm deceived the former Colombian soldiers who either died or ended up in jail in the Caribbean island state.

According to Haiti’s chief of police, Leon Charles, Intriago’s firm hired the Colombian veterans to protect, among others, businessman Emmanuel Sanon who has been arrested for allegedly masterminding the assassination.

The mission of these attackers was initially to ensure the safety of Emmanuel Sanon, but later the mission was changed…and they presented one of the attackers with an arrest warrant for the president.
Haiti police chief Leon Charles

The sister of one of CTU”s main recruiters in Colombia, Duberney Capador, confirmed that her brother agreed to recruit others for to “protect important people” in Haiti, according to Reuters.

The former soldier told his sister that “we got there too late” and that “the person we were going to protect” was already dead.

“In the last conversation I had with my brother, he told me, ‘We got here too late; unfortunately, the person we were going to guard, we couldn’t do anything,’” Jenny Carolina Capador

Hours after this alleged phone call, Capador would be killed himself.

Colombia investigation Moise’s security chief

Colombia’s police chief, General Jorge Luis Vargas, confirmed on Sunday that CTU regularly contacted Capador and another soldier, German Rivera, who is being detained.

Vargas added that his men were also investigating why Moise´s personal security chief, Dimitri Herard, had traveled to the South American country at least five times this year.

The activities of Commissioner Dimitri Herard during these trips in Colombian territory are being verified. Colombia’s National Police chief, General Jorge Luis Vargas

The fact that none of the presidential guards were injured in the attack has raised questions since the first reports of the assassination.

Duque’s apparent ties to Intriago and the involvement of the cousin of Colombia’s national security chief in the Haiti affair raised even more questions.

Intriago hasn’t been able to answer any questions as the CTU boss appears to have vanished.

The post Colombia: Pres. Dugue Pressed on Ties to Haiti Assassination Team Boss appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

South Africa Zuma Riots: Looting, Unrest Leaves 72 Dead

BBC- The death toll in South Africa has risen to 72 as violence continues across the country following the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma.

Crowds looting and setting alight shopping centres clashed with police in several cities on Tuesday.

The BBC filmed a baby being thrown from a building in Durban that was on fire after ground-floor shops were looted.

A day earlier, 10 people were killed in a stampede during looting at a shopping centre in Soweto.

The military have been deployed to help police overstretched since the unrest began last week.

South African police said in a statement they had identified 12 people suspected of provoking the riots, and that a total of 1,234 people had been arrested.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called it some of the worst violence witnessed in South Africa since the 1990s, before the end of apartheid, with fires started, highways blocked and businesses and warehouses looted in major cities and small towns in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces.

Ministers have warned that if looting continues, there is a risk areas could run out of basic food supplies soon – but have ruled out declaring a state of emergency.

What happened to the baby?

The child was caught by a crowd of people who rushed to help those trapped in the apartment block in the central business district of Durban, a coastal city in KwaZulu-Natal, on Tuesday afternoon.

Those stealing from shops on the ground floor of Smith Street had started the fire which spread, affecting those living upstairs.

The BBC’s Nomsa Maseko in Durban says that after catching the baby, the passers-by and neighbours rushed to get ladders to help other residents, including children, escape.

The mother was reunited with her baby, but was too emotional to talk. The rescue services arrived after about 20 minutes to help douse the fires.

How bad is the damage?

More than 200 shopping malls had been looted by Monday afternoon, Bloomberg news agency quoted the chief executive officer of Business Leadership South Africa, Busisiwe Mavuso, as saying.

Several shopping centres in Soweto – South Africa’s largest township which was once home to Nelson Mandela – have been completely ransacked, with ATMs broken into, restaurants, stores selling alcohol and clothing shops all left in tatters.

Soldiers working with the police managed to catch a few rioters; in total almost 800 have been arrested, but law enforcement remains heavily outnumbered, he reports.

In KwaZulu-Natal – where livestock has also been stolen – the unrest continues with ambulances coming under attack by rioters in some areas, South Africa’s TimesLive news site reports.

Video footage shows that a blood bank was looted in Durban as Mr Ramaphosa addressed the nation on Monday night.

line

Analysis: What’s behind the riots?

By Farouk Chothia, BBC News

The catalyst was the arrest last week of Zuma, with his supporters blockading major roads – the economic arteries of the nation – as they demanded the release of their political hero.

Low income levels and unemployment – standing at a record high of 32.6% among the workforce and even higher at 46.3% among young people – are seen as the ticking bombs that have exploded.

Many South Africans have been shaken by the riots that have swept through Zuma’s political heartland of KwaZulu-Natal and the economic hub of Gauteng.

And many feel that his successor as president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has failed to provide decisive leadership – either to calm anger over Zuma’s imprisonment or to reassure South Africans that they will be safe.

Mr Ramaphosa was accused of belatedly deploying troops – and only 2,500 of them compared with the 70,000 he deployed to enforce a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 last year.

But there is no agreement over the deployment – the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) opposition party has opposed it, saying the solution lies in “political intervention and engagement with our people”.

Many residents in affected areas have remained at home, and some have formed what local media call “defence squads” to protect their neighbourhoods and businesses as looting and burning continues.

There is no doubt that the unrest is the biggest security challenge that Mr Ramaphosa has faced since he became president in 2018 after ousting Zuma. It is bound to worsen the economic crisis, already hit by the pandemic, given the scale of destruction.

line

Why is Zuma in jail?

He was convicted of contempt of court last month after failing to attend an inquiry into corruption during his presidency.

The 79-year-old, who denies corruption, was given a 15-month prison sentence. He handed himself in to police last Wednesday.

He is hoping to get the sentence rescinded or reduced by the country’s constitutional court. However, legal experts say his chances of success are slim.

A business is set on fire during widespread looting and protests in Durban, South Africa - 12 July 2021image copyrightEPA
image captionPeople are being investigated for inciting the violence

Police Minister Bheki Cele has warned that “no amount of unhappiness or personal circumstances from our people gives the right to anyone to loot, vandalise and do as they please and break the law”.

There has been some concern over fake news online fuelling the unrest, while the governing African National Congress (ANC) had already revealed it was looking into tweets sent by Zuma’s daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla.

State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo said officials were “busy sorting fact from fiction” after receiving information that former security agents linked to Zuma had instigated the violence.

Map
1px transparent line
line

The post South Africa Zuma Riots: Looting, Unrest Leaves 72 Dead appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

U.S Warns Refugee Cubans Against Sea Crossings, Most Use Mexican Border

Anilet Ramirez from Cuba takes part in a protest against the Cuban government in front of the offices of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico July 12, 2021. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez/File Photo
Cubans gesture during a protest against the Cuban government in front of the offices of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico July 12, 2021. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez/File Photo
Demonstrators hold placards and bang pots during a protest against the Cuban government outside the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City, Mexico July 12, 2021. REUTERS/Luis Cortes/File Photo

Cubans gesture during a protest against the Cuban government in front of the offices of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico July 12, 2021. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez/File Photo

NEW YORK, July 13 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday told any migrants fleeing unrest in Cuba: “Let me be clear: If you take to the sea, you will not come to the United States.”

But Cuban migrants are largely flocking to the U.S.-Mexico land border, not the U.S. coast. And in a sharp break from his predecessor Donald Trump, President Joe Biden has been letting most in pending the outcome of their asylum applications, according to government data.

Since Biden took office in late January, the number of Cubans arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border has risen sharply. This fiscal year through May, which began in October, border officials encountered more than 22,000 Cubans, the highest level in more than a decade.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows vividly the sharp contrast between the approaches of the Trump and Biden administration toward Cuban migrants.

In December 2020 – the last full month of Trump’s presidency – nearly two-thirds of all Cubans caught crossing the border were expelled to Mexico under a pandemic-related health order known as Title 42. By May of this year, the last month data is available, around 96% of Cubans were allowed into the United States to reunite with U.S.-based family members and seek legal status in immigration court.

The majority of Cuban migrants being allowed in are single adults, a notable development because Biden has continued to expel the vast majority of individual adults arriving from Central America and Mexico. He has made exceptions only for unaccompanied minors and most families.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

UNREST ON THE ISLAND

In Cuba, thousands have joined recent protests in cities across the nation amid frustrations with widespread shortages of basic goods including medicine, power outages, rising prices and a surge in COVID-19 cases. Some demonstrators also called for political change. The Cuban government has blamed the shortages on U.S. sanctions and says the United States has backed the opposition. read more

It is not yet clear whether the unrest could lead to even more people trying to flee the island. Mayorkas said in his press briefing that the United States has not seen an uptick in migration via sea.

“Any migrant intercepted at sea, regardless of their nationality, will not be permitted to enter the United States,” Mayorkas said. “This risk is not worth taking.”

He said 20 people have died in recent weeks during these voyages. ​The U.S. Coast Guard recently sent two cutter boats to back up others in nearby waters off the coast of Haiti, which is also experiencing a political crisis following the assassination of its president. “Our priority is to preserve and save lives,” Mayorkas said.

U.S. Republican Senator Marco Rubio voiced concerns this week an explosion in anti-government protests in Cuba could spark a return to the era of massive boatlifts of Cubans seeking refuge at U.S. shores. Rubio, a Cuban-American representing Florida, raised the specter of the iconic Mariel boatlift in the 1980s and a 1994 surge in rafts leaving the island, saying on Twitter that the Cuban government could use the protests as an excuse to lift travel restrictions and spark another crisis at sea.

Pedro Ruiz, 51, who said he had to flee Cuba in 2016 because of his involvement in an opposition political party, encountered the stark difference between Trump and Biden policies on his journey to the United States.

Ruiz first escaped to Brazil, then discovered he could try for U.S. asylum and headed to the U.S.-Mexico border in 2019. But when he tried to cross, border agents sent him back to Mexico under a different Trump-era policy, known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, that forced migrants to wait in Mexico for U.S. court hearings.

Ruiz was stuck in a shelter in the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez for two years until Biden reversed the policy soon after he took office this year. Ruiz was finally allowed across the border in March to start a new life with his family in Miami while pursuing his asylum case.

“The only thing that Biden did was restore internationally protected asylum laws that Trump had violated,” said Ruiz in a phone interview. “That was the only change.”

(Corrects typo in paragraph 8)

Reporting by Mica Rosenberg in New York; additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Jan Wolfe in Washington D.C. and Jose Luis Gonzalez in Ciudad Juarez, Editing by Ross Colvin and Aurora Ellis

 

The post U.S Warns Refugee Cubans Against Sea Crossings, Most Use Mexican Border appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.