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Oscars 2021: Nomadland, Frances McDormand, Anthony Hopkins and Daniel Kaluuya share glory

Chloé Zhao, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Daniel Kaluuya were amongst the winners of the 2021 Academy Awards

Film drama Nomadland has scooped three Oscars including best picture, while British stars Sir Anthony Hopkins and Daniel Kaluuya have won acting awards.

Nomadland’s Chloé Zhao made history as the first woman of color and second woman to win best director.

Sir Anthony, 83, is the oldest winner of best actor, while Kaluuya is the first black British actor to win an Oscar – in the supporting category.

“I did not expect to get this,” said Sir Anthony, who missed the ceremony.

British actress-turned-writer/director Emerald Fennell won a screenplay award.

The star, who plays Camilla Parker Bowles in The Crown, won best original screenplay for Promising Young Woman, which she also directed.

Frances McDormand won best actress for her role in Nomadland, while veteran South Korean actress Yuh-Jung Youn won best supporting actress for Minari.

The trophies were handed out in one of the grand halls at Los Angeles’s stylish Union Station to allow for a Covid-safe ceremony, while many UK-based nominees were at a venue in London – although Sir Anthony was at neither.

2021 Academy Arawrd winners: Best film - Nomadland; Best actor- Sir Anthony Hopkins; Best Actress - Frances McDormand ; Best supporting Actor - Daniel Kaluuya; Best supporting Ctress - Yuh-Jung Youn; Best director - Chloé Zhao.
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Absent Sir Anthony beats Boseman

Olivia Colman and Sir Anthony Hopkins in The Fatherimage copyrightSEAN GLEASON
image captionOlivia Colman and Sir Anthony Hopkins star in The Father

Sir Anthony won best actor for his masterful performance as a man suffering with dementia in The Father, 29 years after he won his first Oscar for The Silence of the Lambs.

His victory was the biggest surprise of the night. The award had been tipped to go to the late Chadwick Boseman, who died aged 43 last August, for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Sir Anthony was neither in LA nor at the British Film Institute in London, the ceremony’s UK venue, so instead posted a message on Instagram on Monday morning.

“At 83 years of age I did not expect to get this award, I really didn’t,” he said in a video filmed in his “homeland” of Wales. “I’m very grateful to the Academy, and thank you.”

Sir Anthony went on to pay tribute to Boseman, whom he said had been “taken from us far too early”, and said he felt “very privileged and honoured”.

The Father, which will be released in the UK on 11 June, also won best adapted screenplay for Sir Christopher Hampton and director Florian Zeller, who called Sir Anthony “the greatest living actor”.

Big night for Nomadland

Nomadland producers Peter Spears, Frances McDormand, Chloe Zhao, Mollye Asher and Dan Janveyimage copyrightReuters

The slow-burning drama about a woman living in her van in the American West after the financial crash won the top prize for best film, plus best director and best actress.

McDormand, who now has three best actress Oscars, is one of the only professional performers in the film. Most of the rest of the cast is made up of real people playing fictionalised versions of themselves.

In her acceptance speech, Zhao thanked the real-life nomads “for teaching us the power of resilience and hope”.

Before Zhao, the only woman to have won the directing prize in the Oscars’ 92-year history was Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker in 2010.

McDormand spoke of her hopes for the revival of big-screen cinema, asking viewers: “One day very, very soon, take everyone you know into a theatre, shoulder to shoulder in that dark space and watch every film that’s represented here tonight.”

She then said: “We give this one to our Wolf,” and howled like a wolf – a tribute to the film’s sound mixer Michael Wolf Snyder, who took his own life at the age of 35 last month.

Meanwhile, black-and-white film Mank, which led the nominations with 10, picked up two awards, as did Sound of Metal, Judas and the Black Messiah, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Soul.

The big winners

  • Nomadland – 3
  • The Father – 2
  • Judas and the Black Messiah – 2
  • Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – 2
  • Mank – 2
  • Soul – 2
  • Sound of Metal – 2
  • The winners and nominations in full

Victorious Kaluuya ‘happy to be alive’

Daniel Kaluuyaimage copyrightAMPAS/Reuters

The 32-year-old Londoner won best supporting actor for his incendiary performance as Black Panthers leader Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah.

“What a man. How blessed we are that we live in a lifetime where he existed,” the actor said. “I am humbled to be nominated for portraying a man whose principles I deeply respect and for guiding me to walk in his footsteps.”

Kaluuya also paid tribute to his mother, who was watching at the BFI, who he said “gave me my factory settings so I can stand at my fullest height”.

But she could be seen asking “What is he talking about?” when her excited son told the global audience of millions: “My mum met my dad, they had sex, it’s amazing. I’m here. I’m so happy to be alive so I’m going to celebrate that tonight.”

Yuh-Jung Youn with her Oscarimage copyrightReuters
image captionYuh-Jung Youn with her Oscar

Yuh-Jung Youn became the first South Korean actress to win an Oscar, for her role as the grandmother in Korean-American family drama Minari.

She beat Olivia Colman, Amanda Seyfried, Maria Bakalova and Glenn Close to the prize for best supporting actress. It was Close’s eighth nomination without a win. Youn told the crowd she “doesn’t believe in competition” and paid tribute to her fellow nominee, asking: “How can I win over Glenn Close?”

From Call the Midwife to the Oscars

Emerald Fennell at the Oscarsimage copyrightAMPAS/Reuters

The night’s other British winners included Emerald Fennell for her first film as writer and director.

Until now, Fennell has been best-known for appearing in front of the camera, playing Patsy in BBC drama Call the Midwife and Camilla Parker-Bowles in Netflix’s The Crown.

Her satirical thriller stars Carey Mulligan as a woman avenging the rape of her best friend. In her speech, Fennell recalled how they shot it in 23 days while she was heavily pregnant.

She thanked her family, including her young son, “who did not arrive until a couple of weeks after shooting, thank God, because I was crossing my legs the whole way through”.

She is the first British woman to win the best original screenplay award since it was established in its current form in 1958.

The other UK winners included Sir Christopher Hampton, who shared the best adapted screenplay award with Florian Zeller for The Father; and Atticus Ross, who shared the best score prize with Trent Reznor and Jon Batiste for Soul.

Fellow Brits Andrew Jackson and Andrew Lockley won best visual effects for Tenet; James Reed won best documentary feature for My Octopus Teacher; and Martin Desmond Roe won best live action short for Two Distant Strangers, which addresses the police killings of black people in the US.

More history-makers

Left-right: Mia Neal, Jamika Wilson and Sergio Lopez-Riveraimage copyrightReuters
image captionLeft-right: Mia Neal, Jamika Wilson and Sergio Lopez-Rivera won best make-up and hairstyling

Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson became the first black winners of the best make-up and hairstyling award, triumphing for their work on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. They shared the award with Spaniard Sergio Lopez-Rivera.

In an impassioned acceptance speech, Neal said: “Jamika and I break this glass ceiling with so much excitement for the future because I can picture black trans women standing up here and Asian sisters and Latinx sisters, and one day it won’t be unusual and groundbreaking, it will just be normal.”

The film also won best costume design for 89-year-old Ann Roth, making her the oldest woman to win an Oscar.

A very different Oscars

The red carpet was set up outside LA's Union Stationimage copyrightEPA
image captionThe red carpet was set up outside LA’s Union Station

The ceremony was delayed by two months and was inevitably different this year. At Union Station, nominees walked an unusually sparse red carpet before sitting, spaced out but mostly maskless, in one of the station’s converted halls.

Like last year, there was no single host, so the show was introduced by director and Oscar-winning actress Regina King, who began on a political note.

Referring to the conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin of the murder of George Floyd, she said: “If things had gone any different in Minneapolis I might have traded in my heels for marching boots.”

Most nominees and winners were there in person, but some were in London, while others appeared by satellite from locations including Paris, Prague and Sydney.

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Mexican Minister In Talks to Manufacture Russian COVID Vaccine

Reuters

Mexico’s top diplomat traveled to Moscow on Sunday for a visit with Russian officials, his office said, amid talks to hammer out plans for Mexico to bottle Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine domestically after delays in shipments.

The government is aiming to quicken its pace of vaccinations, with just more than 4% of its population of 126 million people fully inoculated.

Mexico has registered 214,947 deaths, the fourth most worldwide, and 2,328,391 infections from the pandemic. The government has said the real number of cases is likely significantly higher.

Mexico’s state-run vaccine manufacturer, Birmex, is working with Russia on a plan to bottle Sputnik V in Mexico, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said last week, just as Argentina produced test batches of the two-shot vaccine. read more

“Birmex is working jointly with Russian institutions so that Mexico can bottle the vaccine,” Ebrard told Russian media outlets on Friday. “There is already significant progress.”

Health ministry official Ruy Lopez told reporters on Sunday that the government’s aim is to ramp up distribution of Sputnik V not only in Mexico, but also other parts of Latin America.

Russia has shipped 1.1 million Sputnik V doses to Mexico to date, far fewer doses than those originally slated to have arrived by now.

Mexico’s Health Ministry said in late February it expected to receive 7.4 million doses of Sputnik V by April and an additional 16.6 million shots in May. Mexico has signed an agreement to acquire a total of 24 million doses.

Mexico is increasingly aiming to bottle vaccines domestically following delays from providers, and has already bottled 2.6 million shots of China’s CanSino vaccine.

It also plans to bottle AstraZeneca (AZN.L) shots using vaccine material produced in Argentina. But the first doses are not expected until May due to delays at the Mexican production laboratory.

Ebrard’s visit to Moscow will last through Wednesday and include a meeting with his counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

The minister will also visit China, India and the United States as part of his government’s efforts to make sure that its supply agreements for vaccines against COVID-19 are honored.

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Costa Rica with Record High Corona Cases

Costa Rica on Saturday registered 1,830 new COVID-19 infections, its highest daily increase since the start of the pandemic, with space for the most critical patients at public hospitals nearly full, health authorities said.

There have been 238,760 cases and 3,143 deaths from COVID-19 in the Central American country of 5 million people, whose tourism-driven economy has been hit by the pandemic’s toll on global travel. read more

“We are living through the darkest health moment of Costa Rica in modern times,” Health Minister Daniel Salas said in a televised address to the nation.

He added that the 125 beds in intensive care units allocated for severe COVID-19 cases are 94% full, and said the remaining space could be filled in the coming days.

Salas said cars could no longer be on the road from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. as a measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but authorities would not impose a stricter lockdown to avoid hurting the economy.

“We have to take into account that people need to work,” Salas said, noting that government resources to disburse financial aid were depleted last year.

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UWI Report: St. Vincent Volcano Remains Active

The UWI St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago. Friday, April 23, 2021. — Experts at The UWI Seismic Research Centre (UWI-SRC) advise that La Soufrière volcano in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines remains dangerous despite pauses in explosive activity. 

file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/’Apocalyptic’%20landscape%20in%20aftermath%20of%20volcanic%20eruptions%20on%20St%20Vincent.%20-%20BBC%20News.html

During a virtual press conference hosted on Wednesday, April 21, Rod Stewart, Volcano-Seismologist from the UWI-SRC/Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) emphasized, “…although it is easy to identify the start of eruptions, conclusively saying when eruptions are over, often proves more difficult.” 

The UWI-SRC and Vincentian authorities continue to monitor developments at the volcano, as they have been since the onset of heightened activity in December 2020, which entered an explosive phase on April 9, 2021.  Advice provided by the UWI–SRC enabled the successful evacuation of 13,000 residents from the designated ‘RED ZONE’ 24 hours prior to the first explosion of the volcano. Thirty-two discrete explosions have been observed since the onset of explosive activity. To date, there has been no loss of life. Ash from these explosions has been the primary hazard. Buildings and infrastructure have suffered damage in Saint Vincent and nearby Barbados was also severely impacted for several days. Explosive events have become less frequent over time, with the period between explosions increasing as the eruption progresses.

Professor Richard Robertson, UWI-SRC, Scientific Team Lead estimates that the explosivity seen during this current eruption, is greater than in 1979, and more comparable to the 1902 eruption.  

The UWI-SRC Field Scientists based at the Belmont Observatory in Saint Vincent are part of larger team of seismic and engineering technicians, ground deformation specialists and communication experts based at the MVO and in St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. Several international agencies and academic colleagues have also made valuable contributions to the current understanding of the eruption. The UWI-SRC remains ready to serve the region despite a perennial challenge to secure resources. 

Dr. Erouscilla Joseph, Director of the UWI-SRC, invited donor agencies willing to partner with the UWI-SRC to “come on-board.”  She noted, “reducing the regions vulnerability to natural hazards will require many hands. Our University of the West Indies continues to demonstrate the value of regional integration and its capacity to supply leaders to meet any circumstance.”  

The UWI-SRC reaffirms its commitment to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, which will no doubt require substantial support to recover from this act of nature.

 

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US and UK Aiding India Fight Corona Devastation, World Stats

Washington reverses vaccine export ban while Downing Street dispatches ventilators and oxygen

People queue to get tested for Covid-19 in Hyderabad, India,
People queue to get tested for Covid-19 in Hyderabad, India, on Sunday. The spread of the virus has overwhelmed hospitals in major cities. Photograph: Mahesh Kumar A/AP
and agencies

 

International efforts to help India fight its devastating coronavirus crisis have stepped up as the White House said the US would immediately provide raw materials for vaccine manufacture and the UK announced it had dispatched ventilators and oxygen to Delhi.

France and Germany are also set to send much-needed oxygen to India in the coming days as it battles the world’s worst outbreak. Pakistan, a traditional foe, offered medical equipment and supplies after the prime minister, Imran Khan, tweeted prayers for a “speedy recovery”.

India reported 349,691 new cases on Sunday, a record increase for the fourth consecutive day, and 2,767 people dead. Hospitals are running short of life-saving oxygen and patients are dying while they wait to see doctors.

It is feared that the official statistics and a death toll of 192,311 are underestimating the scale of the crisis as experts believe many people are not going to get tested, or lack access to healthcare.

Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, said the country was facing a “storm” of infections. “Our spirits were high after successfully dealing with the first wave,” he said in a radio address on Sunday. “But this storm has shaken the nation.”

The US had been facing increasing pressure to lift export controls on raw materials intended to boost its own domestic vaccine supply, which Indian vaccine manufacturers said was slowing down their ability to produce jabs.

The National Security Council spokeswoman, Emily Horne, said in a statement that the US would send raw materials required for India to manufacture the AstraZeneca vaccine, as well as therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and protective equipment for frontline workers. “The United States is working around the clock to deploy available resources and supplies,” she said.

The UK package includes 495 oxygen concentrators, which can extract oxygen from the air when hospital systems have run out, 120 non-invasive ventilators and 20 manual ventilators. It is expected to arrive in Delhi on Tuesday with further shipments later in the week.

Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, said Britain stood “side by side with India as a friend and partner […] I’m determined to make sure that the UK does everything it can to support the international community in the global fight against pandemic.”

The US president, Joe Biden, has previously said the US will not supply vaccines to other countries until it has enough supplies at home but the US’s top infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci, said on Sunday the US would review how to help increase India’s vaccine supply or helping them “to essentially make vaccines themselves”. India is one of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers.

Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, Rhode Island, urged the Biden administration to go further and share excess vaccines with India and other countries in crisis, pointing out that the US had an estimated 30m unused doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine that has not been authorised by US regulators. The calls were echoed by the author Salman Rushdie, who said: “The US has something like a vaccine glut. India is in dire straits.”

The unprecedented spread of the virus has overwhelmed hospitals in major cities, which continue to face severe shortages of beds and oxygen.

Burial grounds in Delhi are running out of space with funeral pyres lighting up the night sky in other badly hit cities. In the central city of Bhopal, some crematoriums have increased their capacity from dozens of pyres to more than 50.

Crematorium

 

Crematoriums have had to increase capacity in response to the crisis. Photograph: Amarjeet Kumar Singh/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock

Workers at the city’s Bhadbhada Vishram Ghat crematorium said they cremated more than 110 people on Saturday, even as government figures in the entire city of 1.8 million put the total number of virus deaths at just 10. “The virus is swallowing our city’s people like a monster,” said Mamtesh Sharma, an official at the site told the Associated Press.

Modi’s government has faced mounting questions since the resurgence of the pandemic over its lax safety measures and failure to prepare for a rise in cases. It emerged on Sunday that Indian officials were attempting to censor such criticism, after Twitter confirmed it had blocked dozens of critical tweets following a legal demand from New Delhi.

A woman mourning the loss of her younger brother, age 50, after he was turned away by two hospitals and died waiting to be seen at a third blamed Modi for the crisis in a video shot by India’s weekly magazine The Caravan. “He has lit funeral pyres in every house,” she said.

The government has in response deployed special trains to move tanks of oxygen from steel plants to hospitals across the country in an effort to allow greater access to medical care. More than 500 oxygen-generation plants were also to be set up in government hospitals, the health ministry said on Sunday.

It said last week it planned to make vaccines available to all adults aged over 18 from 1 May, but the Serum Institute of India (SII), which manufactures the AstraZeneca vaccine, has warned it will not be able to meet its projected targets.

The SII also manufactures vaccines for the international Covax programme intended to help the developing world, which is set to deliver only one in five of the doses it had estimated it would supply by May.

Adar Poonawalla, the chief executive, appealed to Biden earlier this month to lift restrictions on supplies needed for production. “I humbly request you to lift the embargo of raw material exports out of the US so that vaccine production can ramp up. Your administration has the details,” he said on Twitter.

India, which has embarked on the world’s largest vaccination drive, has administered more than 140m doses of vaccine. So far, 8.47% of people have received one dose, and 1.55% are fully vaccinated.

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US Authorities Give Green Light for Johnson and Johnson Vaccine

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which had jointly recommended a nationwide pause 10 days ago, accepted the recommendation from the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Vaccination sites across should be able start administering the shots as early as Saturday morning.

There are about 9.5 million doses of the vaccine sitting on shelves across the country that could be deployed immediately, and states were already reacting in the hours after the panel’s vote.

Pharmacies and hospitals were also preparing to resume giving the J&J shot. CVS said it would make appointments available at its pharmacies next week. A spokesman said “all warnings and precautions will be communicated throughout the vaccination process.”

“This is not a decision the agencies reached lightly. Medical and scientific teams of both the FDA and CDC reviewed several sources of information and data related to the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine to reach today’s assessment,” acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said during a press briefing.

The FDA will update fact sheets given to patients at the vaccination site, as well as instructions for vaccine providers and health providers that include warnings of the risk of a rare complication involving blood clots in women under the age of 50.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the agency has been focusing most of its outreach in the past week on providers, like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who would be treating younger women.

Johnson & Johnson has also already negotiated language with the FDA, a company official told the CDC panel on Friday.

The FDA and CDC told states to temporarily stop using the vaccine last week out of an abundance of caution amid concerns over six cases of the clotting condition.

On Friday, officials said they were aware of 15 cases of the unusual clots amid nearly 8 million shots administered. All were women, most of them under 50. Three died, and seven remain hospitalized.

“Above all else, your health and safety come first. The American public should feel reassured about the safety systems and protocols that we have in place around the COVID-19 vaccines,” Walensky said.

The Biden administration has ordered enough vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to cover all American adults without the help of J&J, but public health experts have grown increasingly concerned about the impact of the pause, especially on vaccine hesitancy.

Even with the pause lifted, Johnson & Johnson is still facing major supply issues. Distribution of the vaccine to states has been extremely uneven, and it’s not clear how quickly the company can ramp up production.

Johnson & Johnson’s goal of delivering 100 million doses by the end of May could be in jeopardy as a result of a government investigation into Emergent BioSolutions, which contracts with J&J to manufacture vaccines in Baltimore.

Emergent produced tens of millions of doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, but the FDA launched an investigation that has unveiled serious safety and cleanliness issues. The agency has ordered a pause on manufacturing at the plant while the problems are addressed. No vaccines can be distributed until the FDA certifies the plant.

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WORLD STATS

Coronavirus Cases:

147,822,552

Deaths:

3,123,586

Recovered:

125,402,507
Highlighted in green
= all cases have recovered from the infection
Highlighted in grey
= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases)

[back to top ↑]

Latest News

April 26 (GMT)

Updates

  • 8,803 new cases and 356 new deaths in Russia [source]
  • 6,863 new cases and 7 new deaths in India [source]

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COVID Test: Puerto Rico to Fine Travelers $300 for Not Having One

Travel Briefs

Travelers will face a $300 fine beginning April 28 if they touch down in Puerto Rico without a negative PCR test done within 72 hours of arriving

By Jeanette Settembre | Fox News

There could be trouble in paradise for travelers arriving in Puerto Rico without proof of of a negative COVID-19 test.

Travelers will face a $300 fine beginning April 28 if they touch down in Puerto Rico without a negative PCR test done within 72 hours of arriving, according to Puerto Rico’s tourism website, Discover Puerto Rico. 

Rapid tests will not be permitted as proof of negative COVID-19 tests and the new mandate will be required to all travelers, even those who have been fully vaccinated against the virus, according to the new guidelines.

Travelers visiting the Island must upload the negative PCR test result to the “Travel Safe” platform online. Anyone with a positive test result must quarantine and get medical attention.

The new regulation comes after Puerto Rico put a curfew in place daily between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. to curb the spread of the virus. All businesses shut down promptly at 10 p.m. and getting into Old San Juan is guarded by law enforcement at a checkpoint where tourists and residents are only permitted past the curfew.  Travelers looking for late-night food and drinks are also out of luck – restaurants and common areas inside hotels are

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US: VP Harris Tackles Central America Immigration

The Biden administration’s policy toward Central America is starting to take shape as Vice President Harris takes the lead on a potentially treacherous portfolio that straddles diplomacy and migration.

Harris and other administration officials laid out a new approach to the region that will try to tackle both the challenges created by Central American governments and why so many of their citizens are deciding to make the trek to the U.S.

“The bottom line is that this initiative, from my perspective, must be effective and relevant to the underlying issue, which is addressing the acute and the root causes of migration away from that region,” Harris tolda group of philanthropists working in the

President Biden last month appointed Harris as the administration’s point person on regional migration. Since then, she has been in close contact with top Mexican and Guatemalan officials and on Wednesday announced plans to visit Guatemala and meet with President Alejandro Giammattei.

Migration from the Northern Triangle — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — is driven by a wide range of reasons, ranging from systemic corruption and political oppression to near-famine and the aftermath of tropical hurricanes.

The administration’s strategy is an attempt to prioritize which to address in the short and long term by separating them into acute issues, like natural disasters, and chronic problems, like corruption.

Ricardo Zúñiga, the State Department special envoy for the Northern Triangle, told reporters Thursday that the administration’s ultimate goal is to “create enabling conditions that allow for these societies to thrive.”

“When something goes wrong in Central America, we feel it in the United States,” said Zúñiga. “We are very connected as societies. The truth is, we are very closely linked.”

Advocates and experts in the region say that while many in Central America consider migration to the United States as an option, there are often specific events that prompt an individual or a family to relocate.

Those are the acute causes the Biden administration is zeroing in on as opportunities for short-term success in stemming the level of migration that’s created a crisis at the U.S. southern border.

The aftermath of hurricanes Eta and Iota, which hit Honduras and neighboring Nicaragua within weeks of each other last year, is currently among the top drivers of migration.

Noah Bullock, executive director at Cristosal, a human rights advocacy organization in El Salvador, said targeted assistance for crises like natural disasters can often be enough to persuade a family to remain in their home.

“On those very acute causes, we need to be able to find individual actions to reduce vulnerabilities,” said Bullock.

Alongside food and storm reconstruction assistance, often channeled through international aid groups and other nongovernmental organizations, experts note that the United States has the capacity to offer COVID-19 vaccine support that could lessen the health care repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic.

But it’s the chronic governance and corruption conditions facing the region that will likely prove a heavier lift for the administration.

“These countries are unsustainable almost by design,” said Dan Restrepo, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress who advised former President Obama on Western Hemisphere issues.

Restrepo said a common trait in all three Northern Triangle countries is that a small group of elites profit at the expense of the majority of the population.

Those elites are “increasingly colluded with criminal groups,” said Adriana Beltran, director for citizen security at the Washington Office on Latin America.

And their control over the power structures in each country “has translated into an inability to provide basic services, invest in education, health care, and respond to emergencies when disaster strikes,” she added.

At the same time, the U.S. has leverage since the elite groups that support much of the region’s political structure are especially vulnerable to pressure from Washington.

“These elites, the thing they perhaps fear the most is being limited to living, working and doing business only in their own countries,” said Restrepo. “Access to the United States is very important to these folks.”

Although the three countries suffer similar structural issues, they each present unique challenges.

An indicator of the U.S. government’s relative trust in each of the three governments is Harris’s decision to meet with Giammattei, instead of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández or Salvadoran President Nayib Bukkele.

Hernández, whose brother is serving a life sentence in the United States for drug trafficking, has in the past played the role of a Washington ally in the region, although U.S. officials have kept him at arm’s length, given multiple credible allegations of his involvement in organized crime.

“As a bare minimum, the United States should publicly declare [Hernández] can no longer enter the U.S.,” said Restrepo.

Meanwhile, Bukkele and the Biden administration got off on the wrong foot. The flamboyant Salvadoran president was denied a meeting with Biden, after showing up in Washington uninvited. He then refused to meet with Zúñiga when the State Department envoy was in El Salvador.

Although democratically elected, Bukkele has shown authoritarian tendencies, and Salvadoran police forces and semi-official online trolls have grown increasingly aggressive toward journalists and civil society leaders in the country.

Guatemala’s Giammattei leads a country with similar structural deficiencies but has reason to avoid corruption scandals as his predecessor, Jimmy Morales, is in serious legal jeopardy for toppling a United Nations-led anti-corruption mission in 2017.

The Biden administration’s strategy toward Central America has been relatively well-received by regional experts, but the biggest critics are on the other side of the aisle on Capitol Hill. Republican lawmakers have centered many of their political attacks on Harris, increasingly trying to make her the face of the border crisis.

The administration also came under fire this month from fellow Democrats and immigration advocates after it announced a continuation of former President Trump‘s cap on refugees. The White House later reversed course and said it would set a new, higher cap in May.

But when it comes to the current migrant surge at the border, some congressional Democrats still point the finger at the previous administration.

“President Trump ended the aid to the Northern Triangle, causing the very destabilization that he then attacked as a border crisis a few months later as people tried to get into the country,” said Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.).

“That is one of the root problems they created, and now no one on the Republican side wants to take ownership of that,” he added.

Some conservatives, however, say the problem with the Biden administration’s plan is that it doesn’t go far enough in helping Central Americans help themselves.

Eddy Acevedo, former national security adviser for the U.S. Agency for International Development during the Trump administration, said for any program to succeed, a strong security component must be added to aid and development.

“Everybody’s focused on root causes and development, but we do need to do more on the security side,” said Acevedo, who pointed to U.S. aid to Colombia and Mexico as examples.

“The successes we had in Plan Colombia and the Mérida Initiative proved that doing strong security programs alongside development programs is a system that works.”

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SKN in play to host entire CPL 2021

After an unsuccessful attempt to bring the entire Caribbean Premier League (CPL) to St. Kitts and Nevis last year, the government is aiming to do so for the 2021 tournament.

The last tournament was played entirely in Trinidad and Tobago, at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy and the Queens Park Oval. Previously, the CPL had a three-year contract with the government of Trinidad and Tobago to play the finals of the tournament in that country that expired in 2020.

Last week, CNC3 news in Trinidad and Tobago had revealed that their sources have indicated that there was a high possibility that the entire 2021 competition would be played in St. Kitts and Nevis, with the announcement confirming expected shortly.

The Observer spoke with Minister of Sport Jonel Powell who indicated that the government was interested in the federation hosting the competition, but could not go into detail.

“We had made an unsuccessful bid last year, and we are looking at the options that are there now, to see if there is any possibility, but outside of that I can’t say anything else really.”

He said if the bid was successful, there will be significant benefits for the people of St Kitts and Nevis 

“I think it will be tremendous economic benefits. The benefits are evident when we have the usual five home matches, in terms of hotels, restaurants and vendors to the actual event, drivers, cleaners, groundsmen and all of that. To be able to host the entire tournament in one territory, like they did last year and are proposing again because of COVID, the economic impact really skyrockets.”

Powell said the impact would be more significant, based on COVID-19

“I think it is even more impactful, based on our situation as it relates to the pandemic, with many people who are unemployed or earning significantly less than they would normally earn.”

No details as to how the competition will run or when it will take place were disclosed.

Powell this week also confirmed that St. Kitts and Nevis is interested in hosting games for the 2022 ICC U19 World Cup.

Sixteen teams are anticipated to travel to the Caribbean for that tournament.  It will be the fourteenth edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, and the first to be held in the West Indies. In March 2021, Cricket West Indies confirmed that the format would be the same as previous editions, with teams competing to progress to the Plate and Super League phases of the tournament.

 

It is also expected for St. Kitts and Nevis to host three ODIs between West Indies and Australia in July of this year.

 

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Seabourne Oddessy set to return to St Kitts in July

Cruise ships are set to return to St. Kitts and Nevis in July, after the St. Kitts Tourism Authority (SKTA) announced the Federation was on the itinerary of the Seabourn Odyssey, a ship in the ultra-luxury Seabourn cruise line, which resumes Caribbean sailings in late July, 2021.  

The SKTA says that the 7-day itinerary also includes Antigua, Barbados, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Maarten.

“The Odyssey will be calling in St. Kitts every week, and is our first scheduled port of call for the phased re-opening for cruise tourism, announced Lindsay F.P. Grant, Minister of Tourism, Transport and Ports today,” the SKTA said in a statement.

Minister Grant said they were looking forward to welcoming Seabourn Odyssey to St. Kitts. 

“The benefits of the cruise industry have been vital to the economies of St. Kitts & Nevis, and we are delighted to welcome our first vessel back, as we begin our phased approach to resume cruise tourism.” 

No cruise has been to St. Kitts and Nevis since March 2020, and the SKTA said it signals the continued rebuilding of tourism and the economy. They noted that it was not the official opening of the cruise sector, which is projected for October 2021, when St. Kitts and Nevis would have achieved herd immunity.  

They also reminded that the minimum protocols for any cruise ship, visiting in St. Kitts & Nevis include:

  1. All crew and all passengers over the age of 18 must be vaccinated.
  2. All passengers, crew and children under the age of 18 must present a negative RT-PCR test within 72 hours of homeport embarkation.
  3. Only bubble-vaccinated tours and attractions will be offered to cruise passengers.
  4. All personnel interacting with cruise vessel operations including ship agents, port staff, taxi and tour operators must be vaccinated.

The Ministry of Tourism and St. Kitts Tourism Authority are currently working with all taxi/tour operators and attractions, to ensure compliance with the vaccination requirements, health and safety protocols for cruise to be Travel Approved. 

“We continue to work with our stakeholders on the resumption of cruise, just as we did for the phased reopening for Stay Over on October 31st, 2020,” said Racquel Brown, CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority.

 “Safety of our nationals, residents and visitors remains a top priority for us, and we are working to ensure passengers can enjoy the exceptional and diverse attributes of the destination and can have a memorable shore experience while being confident in their safety.”

Seabourn is recognized as one of the world’s leading luxury cruise lines. Its boutique ships are known for their all-suite accommodations and their industry-leading service.  Known for providing its guests with unique experiences, selecting St. Kitts as a destination on its itinerary reinforces the island’s position as an attractive destination that offers guests one-of-a-kind experiences.

 

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Attorney Wayne Panton Sworn in as Premier in Cayman Islands

Attorney Wayne Panton was elected unopposed as Premier of the Cayman Islands one week after a general election.

“Despite the events of the past week, where there was certainty and uncertainty, this is how democracy works, and more importantly this is how democracy was designed to work,” Panton told the ceremony after being sworn into office.

He said that the occasion on Wednesday “is no doubt a precious gift, so we should be forever thankful to the former premier….”

Former premier Alden McLaughlin had asked Governor Martyn Roper to dissolve Parliament on February 14 and the change was seen by political observers as a move to avoid a no-confidence motion against Speaker McKeeva Bush, who had received a two-month suspended jail sentence in December 2020 for assaulting a woman in February that year.

Bush was re-elected to the post of Speaker on Wednesday and told the legislators “the campaign is over, we have a tremendous responsibility before us to serve our people”.

He praised the election of Panton as head of the government, describing him as a “capable lawyer and businessman” and vowed to help him “control us for the betterment of our people.”

“This cabinet is as good as any I have seen. They must be given the chance to do the work they were elected to do. With the manifestos of all of us and the demands and needs of our people, we have enough to do,” Bush said, adding “Caymanians must pull together and there is no time to bicker and plot.”

Governor Roper in a brief speech during the first sitting of the new Parliament, praised the election supervisor Wesley Howell and his team, making mention of the high turnout at the polls.

“You are privileged to have been chosen by our people to represent them… I urge you to have the best interests of the people of these wonderful islands in your hearts and minds,” Roper said, adding that the challenges ahead are to “reopen the borders and build back better in the midst of this global pandemic”.

Roper praised McLaughlin for his service and his leadership during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, saying he is looking forward to working with the new government, respecting the autonomy of Cayman’s parliament and playing his part as the UK representative to ensure a bright future for the islands.

Of the 19 elected members of the new Parliament, seven are chosen to serve as government ministers in a cabinet headed by the Governor, who also appoints the Premier.

“I want to thank all Caymanians for giving all of us a life of purpose. It is the Caymanian people why we are gathered here today to witness the peaceful transfer of an administration as required by our Constitution,” Panton told the ceremony.

“This represents the collective will of the Caymanian people and everyone that was sworn in today has the constitutional and moral responsibility to ensure that the will of the Caymanian people is reflected and respected in our policies and priorities over the next four years.

Panton told the ceremony that the event would not have been possible without the voters “coming out by the thousands to exercise your democratic franchise and for that, all of us who contested the general election are very thankful for your participation”.

Former finance minister and the leader of the Progressives party, Roy McTaggart, was sworn in as the Opposition Leader.

Prior to the ceremony, McTaggart had been canvassing for the position of head of government but conceded that the battle for the government was and that Panton had been able to muster the necessary support to form the new government.

CMC

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