Tag Archives: caribbean

headline

US-China Deal on Emissions a Welcome Surprize at COP26 Talks

UN and EU say the agreement could help pave the way to wider breakthrough, though concerns remain over ‘patchy details’

An unexpected agreement between the US and China to work together on cutting emissions has been broadly welcomed by leaders and climate experts.

The world’s two biggest emitters appeared to put aside their differences at the Cop26 climate summit and on Wednesday unveiled a joint declaration that would see close cooperation on emissions cuts that scientists say are needed in the next 10 years to stay within 1.5C.

The agreement calls for “concrete and pragmatic” regulations in decarbonisation, reducing methane emissions and fighting deforestation, Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua said in Glasgow.

Tuvalu's minister for justice, communication and foreign affairs, Simon Kofe, gives a Cop26 statement while standing in the ocean in Funafuti, Tuvalu.
Tuvalu seeks to retain statehood if it sinks completely as sea levels rise

The two countries will revive a working group that will “meet regularly to address the climate crisis and advance the multilateral process, focusing on enhancing concrete actions in this decade,” the joint declaration said.

US and China announce surprise climate agreement – video

Global leaders and climate experts broadly welcomed the agreement, with UN secretary general Antonio Guterres calling the move “an important step in the right direction”.

Genevieve Maricle, director of US climate policy action at WWF, said the world’s two largest economies “have the power to unlock vast financial flows from the public and private sectors that can speed the transition to a low carbon economy.”

A US-China bilateral agreement in 2014 gave a huge push to the creation of the historic Paris accord the following year, but that cooperation stopped with the Trump administration, which pulled America out of the pact.

“While this is not a gamechanger in the way the 2014 US-China climate deal was, in many ways it’s just as much of a step forward given the geopolitical state of the relationship,” said Thom Woodroofe, an expert in US-China climate talks. “It means the intense level of US-China dialogue on climate can now begin to translate into cooperation.”

EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans agreed the pact gave room for hope. “It shows … that the US and China know this subject transcends other issues. And it certainly helps us here at Cop26 to come to an agreement,” Timmermans told Reuters.

The Climate Council head of research, Dr Simon Bradshaw, described the focus on accelerating action this decade as “significant”.

Still, some experts noted the declaration was short on commitments that would significantly reduce heat-trapping gases.

“It’s a good sign that the world’s two biggest emitters can actually work together to face the biggest crisis of humanity but there’s not a lot of meat there after the methane stuff,” said Byford Tsang a China policy analyst for the European think tank E3G.

Bernice Lee, research director at Chatham House, said while cooperation between the US and China was positive “details remain patchy”.

“The statement is not enough to close the deal. The real test of Washington and Beijing is how hard they push for a 1.5C-aligned deal here in Glasgow.”

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report

The post US-China Deal on Emissions a Welcome Surprize at COP26 Talks appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

St Kitts & Nevis: Sugar Mas 50 Set to Launch Saturday – Calendar of Live & Virtual Events

Karla Berridge

Loop

The long-awaited calendar detailing the list of events for the 50th staging of St. Kitts and Nevis National Carnival has been released with a number of shows that are expected to be a hybrid of live and virtual events beginning Saturday, Nov. 13.

Activities for Sugar Mas 50 are under the theme “Sugar Mas 50! Fun, Vibe, Energy”.

A sneak peek of the calendar was released on Monday and the official release took place on Wednesday, where Chair of the National Carnival Committee Shannon Hawley detailed what is expected for each event.

“This year we have a hybrid. We know we’ve been in the middle of a pandemic and we’ve been working with the Task Force; we want to ensure that at the end of the day everyone is safe and we are having a live audience’” she said, “We will still have the opportunity to go virtual at every event that we are hosting this year. You will still have that opportunity to log on and view all of the national carnival events. Some of the major events and finals will pay-per-view, however, the majority of the shows will be free to view online.”

The calendar detailing the core events for Sugar Mas outlines the return of some shows that were not hosted last year due to the pandemic. Based on the calendar, pageants including the National Carnival Queen Pageant and the National Carnival Swimwear pageant are making a comeback. Also being reintroduced is the highly anticipated Soca Monarch competition.

“The core events have been released. We felt it was absolutely necessary, people were asking where are the events, what’s happening for carnival, is there a carnival and we felt that it was necessary to release our core events so that people could recognize and confirm that there definitely will be a Sugar Mas 50. The intention is to build on it, the situation is fluid with the advice and instructions of the National COVID-19 Taskforce.”

Hawley informed that while this calendar details the core events which are the staple events for Carnival in St.Kitts and Nevis, discussions are underway for the hosting of fringe activities to be hosted by other stakeholders. Before the pandemic, these events included Inception Fete, Cooler Fete, Glow Parade, Flag Fest etc.

Based on the calendar, the Sugar Mas activities essentially kicked off with a series of virtual competitions: photography and creative arts competitions and the Facetime MUA Challenge.

Calypso tents will begin on Saturday, November 13and will be a virtual event. The Carnival Chair said as the committee works on the production of the show, this first event will not have a live audience, however, the upcoming calypso tents on November 20 and 27 will be both virtual and in person.

The opening of Sugar Mas 50 is slated for December 3. Hawley said last year’s opening is still being talked about today and so the committee intends to make it an even greater event than last year’s.

“We will be going down memory lane for the grand opening. We are here today because of what was started 50 years ago and prior to that. The grand opening of Carnival will be held at Carnival Village before a live audience and virtual as well.”

The reintroduction of the Soca Monarch Competition saw 50 soca artistes, new and returning, registering to take part in the event. Eliminations for soca monarch will be done through a virtual CD format where judges will listen to each submission and make the decision in terms of which songs will make it into the finals. This event will take place on December 4th and will be live online. Following the eliminations, 8 persons will be selected for the power soca segment and 7 persons will be selected for the groovy soca segment where they will come up against groovy soca king Rucas H.E on December 23.

At the end of the registration process for the Senior Calypso Monarch, 70 Calypsonians had registered to participate in the show. Eliminations for the Calypso competition will take place on December 10, 11and 12, with the finals expected to be hosted on December 30.

Hawley also used the opportunity to welcome back pageants that were on a hiatus due to the pandemic. The Queen Pageant and Swimwear pageant will each see five ladies vying for the title. The National Carnival Swimwear Pageant will be held on December 22 and the National Carnival Queen Pageant will take place on December 29.

Hawley also used the opportunity to humorously clear up the misconception that this year’s J’ouvert dubbed ‘Bubble J’ouvert’ will involve actual bubbles. She explained that the concept of the ‘bubble’ is that unlike J’ouverts of the past, which moved through the streets of downtown Basseterre, this bubble J’ouvert will be stationary in a big area where people can go and be entertained by bands and DJs as is done on J’ouvert morning. This event will take place on December 27.

Other events on the calendar include In the Spirit of Christmas, the Celebrate SKN Christmas Decorating Contest, Folklore Avenue, Festive Friday, Panorama SKN, Sugar Mas Track and Field Invitational, Culcha Pot (Sugar Mas Edition), Icons Road March Edition and Folklore Caravan.

Sugar Mas 50 officially wraps up on January 3 with the Sugar Mas Awards.

 

The post St Kitts & Nevis: Sugar Mas 50 Set to Launch Saturday – Calendar of Live & Virtual Events appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

Dominica to Build Quality International Airport with CBI Funds

The government of Dominica has signed documents paving the way for the construction of a new international airport that would allow some of the world’s heaviest jet aircraft to land there.

This would ease the need for visitors to board island-hopping carriers to get to the tourist paradise.

Long touted as one of the tourism jewels of the Caribbean and nestled between the French Overseas Territories of Martinique and Guadeloupe, successive governments in Dominica have struggled to find the financing to build an airport that could accommodate the larger jet aircraft as the main Melville Hall Airport in the rocky north of the island can only accommodate small private jets and propeller aircraft.

Frustrated government and travel industry officials say this was a turn off for some tourists. Booking agents have complained about the reluctance of travelers to transit several islands before settling down to a vacation but all this is set to change in the coming years.

Roosevelt Skerrit, island prime minister since 2004, said last week that the dream of many generations past to have a world-class airport like neighboring Caribbean Community countries, is about to be achieved. The project is estimated to cost about $400 million and will open new economic gateways for the country as non-stop flights from Europe and

Financing for this transformational project will come mainly from the controversial citizenship-by investment scheme through which Dominica and a number of neighboring countries sell citizenship and national passports to foreigners for a fee or if they invest in real estate and other developmental projects identified by authorities.

PM Skerrit says the money raised from the investment scheme is proof that the program is useful despite widespread criticism and fears that it is a haven for people with dubious backgrounds.

“Fellow citizens, we continue to make good progress towards the development of our international airport. We have completed the construction of the lab where all of the material testing will be conducted for the international airport and the equipment is now being installed.

“Site clearance has started, and this will facilitate continued geotechnical and other site-specific surveys. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been completed and mitigating measures identified are being addressed. We are engaging in discussions with airlines operating in target source markets, so that when the airport is completed, we would have already secured Dominica as one of the new and exciting destinations on their route,” Skerrit said.

When completed, Dominica would be among the last nation in the 15-member Caricom tourism-dependent bloc to have a full-fledged international airport.

Nearby St. Vincent which had similar runway limitations and frustrations like Dominica in 2017 completed and activated the Argyle International Airport six years behind schedule. American and Caribbean Airlines, Air Canada among others make regular non-stop flights to St. Vincent which spent $260 million to construct the new facility and minimize the smaller one near the capital.

St. Lucia, Antigua and St. Kitts have for decades completed work on world-class airports and runways. Montserrat, still a British colony but a full member of Caricom, is the lone standout in this regard.

Others like Barbados, which recently upgraded the Grantley Adams International Airport and Guyana which extended its previously limited 7,400-foot main runway, have seen the need to improve a visitor’s first impression on landing while Suriname also has plans to upgrade its main airport and related facilities.

Guyana also constructed a brand-new terminal building and added four jetways with plans to add four more in the future. In doing so, it is eyeing plans to make the country the northern South American-south Caribbean an aviation hub in the future.

The post Dominica to Build Quality International Airport with CBI Funds appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

T&T Surge in COVID-19 Deaths Leads Caribbean Region

With more than 100 COVID-19 deaths in the first 10 days of November, Trinidad and Tobago is among four countries with the highest mortality rates in the Caribbean.

While most Caribbean countries have COVID-19 mortality rates below 2 percent, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) says T&T, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas and Grenada are under three percent. At PAHO’s weekly COVID-19 media conference yesterday, Director of Health Emergencies Dr Ciro Ugarte told Guardian Media that many other countries had higher mortality rates.

“When we look at the number of cases in most countries in the region, some countries in the Caribbean have shown an increase although the numbers are still low. The proportion and the temporality of these increases are worrisome for some countries. Most of the countries in the Caribbean show a case mortality rate below two percent. Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago have more than two percent, but below three percent,” Ugarte said.

He said that measures taken to protect the population, including the availability of health facilities, hospital and Intensive Care Units, and controlling rapid spread, are working quite well, but with economies reopening, this increases the possibility of transmission among populations and international travellers. Therefore, Ugarte said countries must keep track of the availability of ICU beds because many Caribbean countries have limited capacity.

“Although we have been working very closely with many of those countries to increase the capacity of ICU beds, there are still some limits, not only on equipment and ICU beds themselves but also for health personnel to support and supply to treat the patients.”

After two consecutive months of decreasing trends in the Americas, COVID-19 infections are increasing in some countries.

In the Caribbean, T&T, Barbados and The Dominican Republic experienced a rise in infections, while Cuba, Jamaica and Puerto Rico saw decreases. The Cayman Islands and Dominica are also reporting high case counts. There were increases in Columbia and Bolivia as PAHO noted the relaxation of public health measures.

Vaccination among people in Latin America and the Caribbean climbed to 48 per cent over the past week.

But PAHO Director Dr Carissa Etienne said that while COVID-19 vaccinations pick up in the region, less than one in five people in Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Guatemala got the vaccines. In Nicaragua, coverage remains at single digit.

Less than 1 percent of Haiti’s eligible population is fully vaccinated.

PAHO Director Dr Carissa Etienne admitted that the situation in the region was still concerning as infections rose in some countries and the pace of vaccination was not adequate. Etienne said PAHO also observed rising vaccine hesitancy in the Caribbean.

“While many people may be tired of the pandemic, it is not over yet, and this is not the time to relax public health and social distancing measures, and this is what we are seeing,” Etienne said.

The post T&T Surge in COVID-19 Deaths Leads Caribbean Region appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

WORLD VIEW: Saudis Deny COP26 Claim, China Warns of new Cold War, Black WW2 GIs to Get Benefits, More

Nov 11, 2021

The Associated Press

The Rundown

I'm an image

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — The tightest of smiles on his face and the fabric of his traditional thobe swirling about him as he strides through a hallway at U.N. climate talks, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister expresses shock at repeated complaints that…Read More

I'm an image

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Thursday against letting tensions in the Indo-Pacific cause a relapse into a Cold War mentality….Read More

I'm an image

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — The world’s top carbon polluters, China and the United States, agreed Wednesday to increase their cooperation and speed up action to rein in climate-damaging emissions, signaling a mutual effort on global warming at a time …Read More

I'm an image

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Kyle Rittenhouse told jurors at his murder trial that he tried to get away from his pursuers the night he shot three men during street unrest in Kenosha, saying he never wanted to kill anyone: “I didn’t do anything wrong. I def…Read More

I'm an image

For Veterans Day, a group of Democratic lawmakers is reviving an effort to pay the families of Black service members who fought on behalf of the nation during World War II for benefits they were denied or prevented from taking full advantage of whe…Read More

OTHER TOP STORIES

BRUSSELS (AP) — Fears that the authoritarian leader of Belarus is using migrants as a “hybrid warfare” tactic to undermine the security of the European Union are putting new…Read More

STILWELL, Kan. (AP) — Traffic whizzing behind her, Rep. Sharice Davids gathered reporters at a transportation facility along U.S. 69 in eastern Kansas this week to celebrate…Read More

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The head of lighting on the film “Rust” filed a lawsuit Wednesday over Alec Baldwin’s fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico…Read More

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — An 89-year-old Rhode Island man has achieved a goal he spent two decades working toward and nearly a lifetime thinking about — earning his Ph.D….Read More

The post WORLD VIEW: Saudis Deny COP26 Claim, China Warns of new Cold War, Black WW2 GIs to Get Benefits, More appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

UK Scandal: MP Geoffrey Cox Made at least $10M from 2nd Job at BVI

Exclusive: former Tory attorney general also recently skipped 12 Commons votes on days when he was engaged in paid legal work

Tortola, British Virgin Islands
Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Sir Geoffrey Cox is representing some government ministers at the BVI commission of inquiry over allegations of corruption. Photograph: GmbH/Alamy

Sir Geoffrey Cox has earned at least £6m from his second job since he entered parliament, a Guardian analysis reveals, and records show that he skipped 12 recent votes on days when he was doing paid legal work.

The revelations came as Boris Johnson, the prime minister, took the unusual step of seeking to reassure the public that the UK was “not remotely a corrupt country” as the Conservative party continued to be engulfed in a slew of sleaze allegations.

Johnson pointedly did not defend the under-fire Cox, however, whose earnings since becoming a Conservative MP in 2005 have come under intense scrutiny in recent days following the revelations that he spent a month in the British Virgin Islands this year doing paid legal work.

Further questions about Cox’s commitment to his job as MP are likely to be raised after the Guardian also discovered that he had skipped at least 12 parliamentary votes on four days when he appeared by video link in a hearing for the British Virgin Islands (BVI) authorities this autumn.

In a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Johnson stressed that MPs should always put their constituents’ interests first, and avoid paid lobbying.

Johnson added: “The rules say … you must put your job as an MP first and you must devote yourself primarily and above all to your constituents and the people who send you to Westminster, to parliament. The most important thing is, those who break the rules must be investigated and should be punished.”

Boris Johnson defends MPs’ second jobs but says they must follow rules – video

 

He was speaking a week after whipping Conservative MPs to back an amendment that sought to avoid punishment for Owen Paterson – a former cabinet minister found to have engaged repeatedly in paid lobbying – by tearing up the parliamentary standards system.

Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, condemned Johnson’s failure to say sorry for the Paterson fiasco. “Boris Johnson’s refusal to apologise proves that he doesn’t care about tackling the corruption that has engulfed Downing Street, his government and the Conservative party,” she said. “He thinks it’s one rule for him and another rule for everyone else.”

Johnson, speaking in Glasgow, where he was paying a brief visit to the Cop26 climate negotiations, said there should be “appropriate sanctions”, for MPs who were “not putting the interests of their constituents first”.

Cox, a former attorney general, originally came under scrutiny when the Daily Mail reported that he had been voting by proxy from the BVI where he was working during part of the pandemic, representing BVI authorities at an inquiry into allegations of corruption ordered by the Foreign Office.

He is now facing questions over his behaviour following MPs being obliged to vote in person again after June, including whether he prioritised his paid legal appearances over attending parliamentary proceedings.

Cox has been approached for comment on whether any absence to do paid work was permitted by the party.

A Whitehall insider who worked with Cox defended his continuing to work as a lawyer, saying for most MPs the role in parliament “makes them money” but that his “loses him money”.

Only last month Cox missed eight votes on the environment bill, one on a Labour fire-and-rehire bill, and one on the Independent Expert Panel Recommendations for Sanctions and the Recall of MPs Act 2015.

He was also not present for a Labour opposition day debate on squeezed living standards in September, and one on small businesses in October. On all the dates – 22, 20 and 19 October and 21 September – he was appearing at the public inquiry, according to videos on the British Virgin Islands Commission of Inquiry website. It is not clear from his video background where Cox was on these occasions.

On a fifth occasion, on 14 September, Cox appeared to be present in a parliamentary office while on video for the inquiry, leading to a complaint that he had breached the rules banning MPs from using Commons facilities for private work.

Footage appears to show Geoffrey Cox conducting legal work from Commons office – video

Making his first public comments on the affair on Wednesday, Cox did not deny that he had used his parliamentary office for paid work. He insisted that he “regularly works 70-hour weeks and always ensures that his casework on behalf of his constituents is given primary importance and fully carried out”.

A statement said: “As for the allegation that he breached the parliamentary code of conduct on one occasion, on 14 September 2021, by being in his office while participating in an online hearing in the public inquiry and voting in the House of Commons, he understands that the matter has been referred to the parliamentary commissioner and he will fully cooperate with her investigation. He does not believe that he breached the rules, but will of course accept the judgment of the parliamentary commissioner or of the committee on the matter.”

The whips’ office believe Cox did qualify for a proxy vote earlier in the year and that the chief whip, Mark Spencer, was told in advance he would be working on a big case abroad.

However, a source insisted it was not right that the government necessarily approved of his location and what he was doing. “It’s not our place to sanction MPs’ locations and travel plans, even if he was raking it in from a nice sunny island.”

Some Conservative MPs are furious with what they regard as liberties being taken by the “old guard”, including Cox. One predicted there would be “major trouble” with the whips’ office given the level of dissatisfaction, saying: “We’re heading for civil war.”

A spokesman for the chief whip said: “Around 330 Conservative MPs, and a majority of opposition MPs, were granted … proxy votes in order to assist with tackling the pandemic at a time when physical attendance in the Commons was actively discouraged by the parliamentary authorities. All MPs were expected to follow proceedings and participate virtually. They were also expected to continue performing their primary task of serving their constituents.”

The BVI inquiry videos show that Cox made arguments against “open registers” for politicians’ interests at the public inquiry in June.

He told the inquiry: “Let me be quite candid. There are real drawbacks to open registers. It becomes a political tool for every … many, many, frivolous complaints are made. It is a profound invasion into a legislator’s private life, because what happens is, as you can imagine, stories get written, minor infractions are written up to be morally shameful or even impute dishonesty.”

Cox is also facing a conflict of interest claim after it emerged that he had lobbied against imposing tougher financial regulations on the Cayman Islands just months after he gained more than £40,000 from legal firms based in the tax haven.

On Wednesday, Cox’s whereabouts remained a mystery, despite his statement. Staff at the MP’s office declined to respond to questions about where he was, or even whether he was in the UK.

Officials from the BVI commission of inquiry, for which Cox is representing some government ministers over allegations of corruption, said they did not know if or when he would return to the Caribbean.

In his most recent role in the inquiry, from 19 to 22 October, Cox appeared at hearing sessions for almost 30 hours in total. While he was listed in the official transcript as being there in person, on associated video footage Cox was shown appearing virtually, but with the background blurred, meaning it was difficult to know where he might be. An official from the inquiry said he was appearing remotely.

The post UK Scandal: MP Geoffrey Cox Made at least $10M from 2nd Job at BVI appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

Caracas Cafe Culture Flourishes as Venezuela Dollarizes Economy

By Mayela Armas

CARACAS, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Restaurateurs Melanie Angulo and Marwin Hernandez have begun serving lattes and specialty coffee in a small storefront in downtown Caracas, joining a new wave of cafe entrepreneurs encouraged by creeping dollarization in Venezuela.

Cafes are springing up across the teeming capital, their owners hoping the currency change will spur green shoots in an economy scorched by seven years of severe recession and hyperinflation.

The new outlets slinging flat whites and cortados (espressos) are no longer just in upmarket eastern Caracas – with its leafy streets, expensive restaurants and large homes – but in the bustling streets of the city center.

“There are many cafes in the east of the city, but they are needed in the center,” Angulo said. “We all need a distraction.”

Although cafes have existed for years in the South American country, they have not been as abundant or glamorous in Caracas as in other capitals across South America, like Buenos Aires with their awnings and fine pastries.

Venezuelans, in fact, have typically drunk their coffee in their homes or in bakeries.

Now, however, about 20 cafes – from chains with their own coffee brands to small family shops – have opened this year in eastern, central and southern Caracas, while provincial cities such as Valencia and Barquisimeto are following suit.

“Coffee is all the rage,” said Pietro Carbone, a coffee shop owner and president of an academy that trains baristas, aiming to capitalise on consumer demand for higher quality. “Now there are young people pushing to make better coffee.”

The trend emerged after socialist President Nicolas Maduro decided at the beginning of 2019 to relax price controls and allow for widespread transactions in foreign currency, which had previously been forbidden.

The move has given Maduro’s government and businesses breathing space while grappling with a protracted recession and U.S. sanctions.

As stores with imported goods sold in dollars, known as bodegones, have flourished, the number of shops offering national and imported coffee has also multiplied.

COFFEE PRODUCTION STILL DOWN

Until the middle of last decade, Venezuela exported coffee but with the onset of the economic crisis production fell, amid price controls and nationalizations.

With the relaxation of economic regulations, some coffee growers have been able to increase the cost of a bag of beans, but the boom in coffee shops has yet to impact production, which is remains around 500,000 quintals per year, according to producers, just half of what it was 15 years ago.

“Less than 10% of coffee growers produce gourmet coffee, which is what the new stores use,” said Diolegdy Paez, director of Fedeagro, an organization of agricultural producers.

The cost of a coffee in the new shops ranges between $1.50 and $5, a price unheard of in Venezuela before dollarization and prohibitively high for many in a country where the minimum wage is equivalent to about $3 a month.

“Those who used to go to a restaurant now go to a cafe, because it gives them enjoyment at a lower cost,” said Ivan Puerta, president of the national chamber of restaurants.

Entrepreneurs and analysts say that while small businesses are able to operate because of the use of dollars and euros, deregulation is still insufficient to offset the broader economic collapse and weaknesses in basic services.

In Venezuela, aside from hyperinflation, business owners have to spend extra money on water tanks and power plants to fill in the gaps of decrepit public services.

After losing his job as a pilot during the coronavirus pandemic, Enrique Perrella opened a cafe in eastern Caracas in December that offers Italian coffee and desserts.

Since July, his store has had more visitors but he has yet to recover his investment. Nevertheless, he believes it is a good moment for Venezuelan entrepreneurs.

“We believe that we must invest,” he said.

Reporting by Mayela Armas with additional reporting by Tibisay Romero in Valencia Writing by Sarah Kinosian Editing by Mark Heinrich

The post Caracas Cafe Culture Flourishes as Venezuela Dollarizes Economy appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

Cuba: United States, Facebook Helping to Foment Planned Nov. 15 Protests

By and

HAVANA, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Cuba’s foreign minister on Wednesday said the United States was behind protests over human and civil rights planned for Nov. 15 in the communist-run country, and alleged U.S.-based social media platform Facebook was helping to promote them.

Dissidents on the island, organized under a Facebook group called Archipielago, in September requested permission to conduct the rallies. Cuban authorities denied their request, alleging protesters were working with the United States to overthrow the government.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez reiterated those allegations before a meeting of foreign diplomats in Havana, saying the United States had helped to underwrite and organize the protests in a bid to destabilize the government. read more

“U.S. policy…is doomed to failure. It is unfeasible. It hasn’t worked for 60 years. It does not work now (…) and it will not work in the future,” he said.

Rodriguez specifically called out the role of Facebook, saying dissidents organized in groups on the platform had violated the social media platform’s own policies, “altering logarithms, altering the geolocation mechanism to simulate the massive presence in Cuba of people with accounts that are known to reside outside our country, primarily in Florida and in the U.S. territory.”

Rodriguez said these practices violated both U.S. and international law.

“As has already happened, Facebook could perfectly be, with strict adherence to the laws, sued for these practices against Cuba.”

Neither the U.S. State Department nor Facebook, which recently changed its company name to Meta, immediately responded to a Reuters request for comment.

The recent expansion of web access in Cuba has given new ways for people to share criticisms and mobilize online.

The Facebook group behind the protests, Archipielago, says it has 31,501 members, more than half of which it says reside in Cuba.

Cuban dissident leader Yunior Garcia, of Archilpielago, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Cuba’s government has a monopoly on telecommunications, and regularly blames trolls and foreign agents on social media for stirring unrest.

The island nation suffered disruptions in access to internet and social media following large anti-government rallies in July, in an apparent bid to dampen further calls to protest . read more

Rodriguez also told diplomats that the United States last week had offered Cuba one million doses of vaccine against coronavirus. He criticized the offer as “opportunistic” and irrelevant, given that Cuba has already vaccinated nearly its entire population with home-grown drugs.

Instead, he made a counter-offer, suggesting that Cuba and the United States each offer a donation of their respective vaccines to a country more in need of them.

Reporting by Dave Sherwood and Nelson Acosta, additional reporting by Elizabeth Culliford in New York, Editing by Nick Zieminski and Alistair Bell

The post Cuba: United States, Facebook Helping to Foment Planned Nov. 15 Protests appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

UK Taxpayer Funded Deportation Flight to Jamaica Left with Only 4 People

A deportation flight from the UK to Jamaica left with just four people on board, the Home Office has said.

Several last-minute legal challenges meant 33 people did not board Wednesday morning’s flight as planned.

Some of them were guilty of crimes such as murder and child sexual offences, Home Secretary Priti Patel said, adding it was “absolutely galling” they had been stopped from being deported.

Lawyers for some of those due to be on board said it wasted taxpayers’ money.

According to the Home Office, 13 of the 33 legal challenges were made in the 24 hours before the flight left the UK.

The sentences of the four people on board the flight totalled more than 16 years, the Home Office said.

Ms Patel said she made “no apology for removing foreign national offenders”.

The Home Office said extensive checks have been carried out to ensure none of the people deported were British citizens, British nationals or members of the Windrush generation.

A Movement for Justice survey of 17 Jamaicans detained for the flight found that 10 of them had lived in the UK since they were children.

Wednesday’s flight was reportedly the subject of protests by activists called “Stop the Plane”.

The plane, an Airbus A350-900 which has a maximum capacity of 350 passengers, departed Birmingham Airport at 01:20 GMT.

The Home Office said a new plan for immigration to change the law will make it easier to remove foreign national offenders and prevent them from taking advantage of what it calls a “broken system”.

The government regularly uses charter flights to deport people with serious criminal convictions or those who’ve received a custodial sentence of at least 12 months.

On average, a deportation flight costs around £200,000.

Since April 2020, 75 charter flights have returned people to other countries including Albania, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Nigeria, Poland, Romania and Spain.

There were more than 5000 enforced returns in the year ending June 2020 and around half of these were to EU countries.

Jamaica represented 1% of the government’s overall enforced returns in 2020.

The post UK Taxpayer Funded Deportation Flight to Jamaica Left with Only 4 People appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

Haiti Water Shortage: ‘We Pray for Rain Every Day’

BBC- A fuel and water shortage brought about by gangs blocking the access roads to distribution terminals is throwing Haiti into further chaos.

Residents of the capital Port-au-Prince say they cannot get hold of drinking water as water pumps have stopped running due to the lack of petrol.

Deliveries of bottled water have also been disrupted meaning that many residents have to rely on rain water.

“We pray every day that it rains,” one woman told Reuters news agency.

No fuel

National Police Chief Frantz Elbé said on Tuesday that measures taken so far to allow for the safe distribution of fuel had failed to work.

Mr Elbé said that the police had set up a security corridor from the Varreux terminal in Port-au-Prince and that goods such as rice, cooking oil and cement were getting through to consumers.

But tanker lorries carrying fuel were not being allowed to pass by gang members blocking the entrances to the port.

Armed police ride in the back of a truck after the streets of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.

AFP

Haiti gangs

  • 162number of gangs reportedly active in Haiti
  • 3,000estimated number of gang members
  • 20,000estimated number of Haitians who have fled their homes due to gang violence

Source: BBC Monitoring

1px transparent line

Haitian gangs have long extorted delivery drivers, but the situation has escalated since the assassination by mercenaries of President Jovenel Moïse in July.

In the power vacuum following the president’s killing, gang leaders have become more brazen and stepped up their criminal activities, which include kidnappings for ransom and extortion.

Jimmy Chérizier, better known under his alias, Barbecue, is one of them.

The former police officer, who leads an alliance of nine of the most powerful gangs in Port-au-Prince, demonstrated his power last month when his followers opened fire at a monument just as Prime Minister Ariel Henry was about to lay a wreath.

The leader of Haiti"s main armed gang, Jimmy Cherizier, alias Barbecue, speaks to the media during a tour of the La Saline neighbourhood, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 03 November 2021.
Jimmy Chérizier holds news conferences and gives the media tours of areas he controls

The prime minister and his security detail fled, and surrounded by heavily armed masked men, Barbecue made a show of laying a wreath himself.

In a news conference last month, he said that his criminal alliance, G9 and Family, was behind blockades around the fuel terminal.

He said he would not allow fuel to be delivered until Prime Minister Ariel Henry stepped down.

The fuel shortages have been so severe that they have threatened the lives of patients in hospitals, which rely on fuel-powered generators to run life-saving equipment.

But they have had also had a domino effect on many other key goods which rely on lorry drivers for delivery or on fuel for production.

Guito Edouard, who leads Haiti’s Drinking Water Directorate, says some gang members have grasped people’s need for water, but others have not: “We have large infrastructures hijacked by armed groups. We use various social strategies to explain to them that water is a public need. Some understand but others do not accept the message.”

The post Haiti Water Shortage: ‘We Pray for Rain Every Day’ appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.