Tag Archives: caribbean

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Haiti: Ambassador to US Calls for International Support in Talks with Opposition

 

The Ambassador of Haiti in Washington DC, Bocchit Edmond called on the international community to support talks between the government of President Jovenel Moïse and the opposition as the constitutional crisis worsens, but he rejected calls for the resignation of Head of State.

Let us recall that this crisis was born of a dispute between President Jovenel Moïse and the opposition on the date on which his mandate is supposed to end with regard to 2 contradictory articles in the Constitution : article 134.1 on which the Head of State https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-32954-haiti-politic-16-political-parties-for-an-end-of-the-president-s-mandate-on-february-7-2022.html and article 134.2 invoked by the opposition.

Ambassador Edmond told reporters he did not believe there should be a situation where President Jovenel Moïse leaves office before February 7, 2022, when his 5-year term expires.

“I believe that the international community, our international partners, should work with us and with the opposition parties to make sure that we come to some kind of dialogue or political agreement, so that we can have a better way of ‘move forward “said Ambassador Edmond adding “We have a legitimate President. The international community must support it, accompany it, so that we can carry out the electoral process successfully.”

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Tourists Claim Barbados COVID Quarantine ‘Like Being in Prison’

British tourists have told how they experienced ‘prison camp’ conditions at a Covid quarantine facility in Barbados. Holidaymakers said they had to fight to be released after being escorted to the compound which they say lacked basic amenities.

They were taken late at night to the Harrisons Point Isolation Facility, which they described as a makeshift centre fenced off with little outdoor space and armed guards in military fatigues posted outside.

The tourists claim that the rules kept changing after they tested positive for Covid on the Caribbean island, despite being fit and healthy and having returned negative PCR results in the UK.

One couple found themselves separated on a two-week trip after flying out on December 20, before non-essential travel was banned as England’s third lockdown came into force.

Kirsten Day was escorted from her hotel at 11.30pm on Christmas Eve after a positive test. The healthcare assistant, 47, said: ‘Harrisons Point was like a prison. ‘They told my partner I would have my own room with a television but I was put straight into a ward with people who were quite poorly.

‘The care when they realise you are poorly is quite good but if you’re ok, you’re just stuck there. ‘You are fenced off from the outside world and while there was a small area outside with chairs no one was cleaning them afterwards. If the door wasn’t open, you had to ask. ‘I didn’t touch the kettle or the microwave because people with symptoms were touching them and they were not being cleaned afterwards. I just drank water. It was just a battle to find out what was going on, different doctors told you different things.’

Ms Day was in Harrisons Point for six days while her partner, Jason Green, who tested negative throughout their stay, continually demanded answers. She says it was a constant battle to find out the testing criteria but she was eventually allowed to leave in a taxi after returning a blood test, which showed Covid antibodies, and a negative swab test.

The couple paid a total of around £900 for the tests they took on the island and are trying to get the money refunded. Kirsten and Jason, 52, an accountant, both complained to the management and Barbadian authorities throughout their stay on different parts of the island and since returning home to Cambridgeshire.

Ms Day said: ‘The food was just horrendous, we had chicken nuggets and bread and butter for breakfast one morning and there were no knives. ‘They did eventually provide knives but the basics just weren’t there. ‘They would ask you to take medicine and give it another patient.’

Ms Day tested positive for Covid antibodies in July but followed all the travel rules before leaving for her holiday. She added: ‘We knew we took a risk, but nothing was ever explained. ‘I knew the isolation centre wouldn’t be a hotel but if I’d have known if I could have ended up somewhere like that I would have stayed at home.’

Another tourist, who travelled to Barbados with her baby daughter on a budget deal with a holiday club, says she was left thousands of pounds out of pocket after being taken to Harrisons Point. The 38-year-old had also been given the all-clear for Covid with PCR and lateral flow tests before leaving the UK on December 28. The teacher and her eight-month-old daughter were taken to the 200-bed isolation facility after they and a friend arrived at the Blue Orchid resort to begin a two-week break.

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Squeezed by Sanctions, Pandemic, Cuba Turns to Capitalism

By Katell ABIVEN (AFP)     9 hours ago in Travel
Cuba is undergoing a paradigm shift: after decades of tight, centralized control, the communist government is opening up the bulk of its economy to the private sector.

While economic decline and spiralling unemployment are the main drivers, analysts say the liberalization measures can also be seen as an overture to a new US president.

“It is definitely a strong signal at a crucial moment when the US administration said it is revising the policies of (Donald) Trump towards Cuba,” said Ricardo Torres, an economist at the University of Habana.

Six decades of US sanctions, toughened during Trump’s term in office, have claimed a heavy toll on Cuba’s economy, worsened by the coronavirus crisis and a steep drop in tourism, a critical sector.

Last month, Havana said Trump’s sanctions cost the country some $20 billion, adding that “the damage to the bilateral relationship during this time has been considerable.”

The Cuban economy shrank 11 percent in 2020, and exports declined by 40 percent.

At the weekend, the government in Havana announced it would authorize private enterprise in a bid to boost its economy and create jobs, though limited to individual entrepreneurs for now, not businesses.

The number of authorized private activities would grow from 127 to over 2,000, but excludes 124 sectors including the press, health and education, which remain in government hands.

The reform represents a major ideological shift in a country where the government and its affiliate companies have monopolized most of the economy since 1961.

– ‘Long overdue’ –

Cuba began timidly opening up to private capital in the 1990s before fuller authorization in 2010, followed by a boom after the historic warming of ties with Cold War rival the United States in 2014 under then-president Barack Obama.

Today, about 600,000 Cubans — some 13 percent of the workforce — are employed in the private sector.

 

Today about 600 000 Cubans -- some 13 percent of the workforce -- are employed in the private secto...

Today, about 600,000 Cubans — some 13 percent of the workforce — are employed in the private sector. Most work in gastronomy, transportation and tourist accommodation
YAMIL LAGE, AFP/File

Most work in hotels, restaurants, transportation and tourist accommodation.

Millions of people work for the government, but the exact number is not known.

Trump reversed many of Obama’s moves to ease tensions with Cuba.

He banned American cruise ships stopping over on the island, blacklisted a range of Cuban companies and bosses, prosecuted foreign companies doing business there, and made it difficult for Cubans working abroad to send money home.

The new US President, Joe Biden, has promised to bring back some of Obama’s policies to normalize ties, while also paying attention to human rights concerns in the country of some 11.2 million people.

Some in the United States have welcomed Cuba’s policy shift, which will for the first time see private salary earners in sectors such as agriculture, construction and IT.

“This is long overdue, it’s welcome news. And the United States should affirm that the embargo was never intended, and will not be used, to penalize private enterprise in #Cuba,” US Senator Patrick Leahy said on Twitter.

Former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes tweeted the announcement was “a big step forward for Cubans and a welcome signal. The Biden Administration can make this more beneficial for the Cuban people by resuming the opening to Cuba as soon as possible.”

– Skepticism –

For many of Cuba’s leaders, the change may be difficult to swallow.

“There is still a lot of skepticism regarding the word ‘private’,” which many see “as people who can conspire against power,” said Cuban economist Omar Everleny Perez.

But politicians appear to have read the writing on the wall just like in Vietnam in the 1980s, where the Communist Party managed to stay in power by heavily liberalizing the economy.

“We are still a little far from that, but (the Cuban leaders) have it in mind,” said Perez of the Vietnam example.

The southeast Asian country, too, was under US sanctions, lifted in 1994 after rapprochement with Washington.

“So from a geopolitical point of view, there is a lesson that is important to recognize,” said Perez.

 

Cuba's policy shift will for the first time see private salary earners in sectors such as agric...

Cuba’s policy shift will for the first time see private salary earners in sectors such as agriculture, construction and IT
YAMIL LAGE, AFP/File

For his part, Torres said Vietnam’s economy was smaller and the country more rural, making change easier.

But there is a lesson to be learnt from the fellow Communist country’s experience: “if you want to create jobs, you have no choice but to create a framework for the private sector to grow”.

John Kavulich, president of the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, said the Cuban government must now convince the Biden administration that it is serious about restructuring the economy.

“If the Biden administration believes the (President Miguel) Diaz-Canel administration is prepared to do what is difficult, maintain the processes despite challenges, then far

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SV&G First Caribbean Country to Order Russia’s Sputnik 5 Vaccine

MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has confirmed registration of the anti-coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V in Montenegro and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Fund said in a statement.

“The Russian Direct Investment Fund announces the approval of Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus in Montenegro and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. In total, 26 countries have already authorized Sputnik V. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is the first island nation of the Caribbean to register Sputnik V,” the statement said.

The vaccine was approved in Montenegro and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines under the emergency use authorization procedure without additional local clinical trials.

Sputnik V was approved earlier in Russia, Belarus, Argentina, Bolivia, Serbia, Algeria, Palestine, Venezuela, Paraguay, Turkmenistan, Hungary, UAE, Iran, Republic of Guinea, Tunisia, Armenia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Republika Srpska (entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina), Lebanon, Myanmar, Pakistan, Mongolia and Bahrain.

Moreover, the Russian preparation is one of the world’s top three coronavirus vaccines in terms of the number of approvals issued by government regulators. It is the third after those produced by Pfizer and Astra Zeneca (35 and 31 countries, respectively).

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Thousands of Virus Patients Sent to New York Nursing Homes, World Stats

More  than 9,000 virus patients were sent into New York nursing homes; Biden says US is securing 600 million vaccine doses by July

More than 9,000 recovering coronavirus patients in New York state were released from hospitals into nursing homes under a controversial directive that was scrapped amid criticism it was accelerating outbreaks.

That’s according to new records obtained by the AP, report Bernard Condon and Jennifer Peltz.

The new number of more than 9,000 recovering patients sent to hundreds of nursing homes is more than 40% higher than what had been previously released by the state health department.

And it raises new questions as to whether Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s March 25 directive helped spread sickness and death among residents. That’s a charge his administration disputes.

Overall, New York has lost more than 45,000 people to the virus, more than any other state except California.

U.S. Vaccination Drive: President Joe Biden says the U.S. will have enough supply of the vaccine by the end of the summer to inoculate 300 million Americans. Biden toured the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory at the sprawling National Institutes of Health complex just outside Washington that created the COVID-19 shots now manufactured by Moderna. Biden says the U.S. had secured contractual commitments from Moderna and Pfizer to deliver the 600 million doses of vaccine by the end of July — more than a month earlier than initially anticipated, Zeke Miller and Jonathan Lemire report.

Australian city of Melbourne begins third lockdown due to cluster; Portugal’s relief at falling cases tempered by fear; Pandemic’s toll on exhausted UK funeral directors 

Australia’s second-largest city of Melbourne will begin its third lockdown due to a rapidly spreading coronavirus cluster centered on hotel quarantine. The five-day lockdown will be enforced across Victoria state to prevent the virus spreading from the state capital.

The Australian Open tennis tournament will be allowed to continue but without spectators.

Only international flights that were already in the air when the lockdown was announced will be allowed to land at Melbourne Airport.

A population of 6.5 million will be locked down from 11:59 p.m. until the same time on Wednesday because a contagious British variant of the virus first detected at a Melbourne Airport hotel has infected 13 people. Some Australian states have imposed border restrictions on travelers from Melbourne.

Portugal’s Peak: After about two weeks last month as the world’s worst-hit country by size of population, the anxiety in Portugal over the recent pandemic peak has eased slightly. The number of COVID-19 patients in hospital and in intensive care fell for the third straight day. But Portugal’s seven-day average of daily deaths remained the world’s highest, at 2.05 per 100,000 people. One doctor had a nagging fear as the Iberian nation’s January surge of cases threatened to overwhelm his intensive care unit at the capital’s Curry Cabral Hospital: He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to care for his patients. Helena Alves reports from Lisbon.

Britain’s Undertakers Under Pressure: Funeral home staff are under intense pressure in many countries, but the burden is especially intense in Britain, where more than 115,000 people with the virus have died. That’s one of the highest per-capita death tolls in the world.

One London funeral director says her phone hasn’t stopped ringing, and she worries that “I don’t have what it takes.” Undertakers, embalmers and others who deal with death for a living often regard the burden on them as less important than the pain felt by bereaved families. But many are exhausted by the sheer amount of mortality they have faced, and the pandemic is increasing awareness that their own mental health also deserves consideration, Jill Lawless and Jo Kearney report from London.

Brazil Vaccination-Amazon: Traveling to remote communities in the Amazon is only the first challenge for health workers vaccinating Indigenous and riverine people. They can also face deep skepticism about receiving the shot. Much of that stems from the doubts that Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro repeatedly sowed about the efficacy of the vaccines. Although Indigenous communities have gained greater access to technology and the internet in recent years, information often arrives in a very distorted way, Diane Jeantet and Fernando Crispim report.

Coronavirus Cases:

108,358,209

Deaths:

2,380,471

Recovered:

80,409,652
Highlighted in green
= all cases have recovered from the infection
Highlighted in grey
= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases)

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Latest News

February 12 (GMT)

Updates

  • 127 new cases and 2 new deaths in Nepal [source]
  • 6,379 new cases and 247 new deaths in Poland [source]
  • 15,089 new cases and 507 new deaths in Russia [source]
  • 10,677 new cases and 1,474 new deaths in Mexico [source]

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Biden Stops Mexican Border Wall Construction

President Biden has rescinded the emergency order used by former President Trump to justify construction of the border wall, the White House announced Thursday.

“I have determined that the declaration of a national emergency at our southern border was unwarranted,” Biden wrote in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

“I have also announced that it shall be the policy of my administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall, and that I am directing a careful review of all resources appropriated or redirected to that end.”

The nail in the coffin: The proclamation is a final step from Biden after issuing an executive order on day one of his presidency questioning the validity of Trump’s national emergency and ordering a pause on all border wall construction.

It also comes after the administration asked the Supreme Court to cancel an upcoming hearing on the legality of the border wall, which the court then granted.

The background: Trump issued the national emergency at the border in early 2019 after repeatedly butting heads with lawmakers over funding for the project. The emergency declaration loosened the limits on taxpayer funding, paving the way for Trump to divert funds originally intended for other agencies, including the Defense Department.

But the move landed his administration in court, as environmental groups and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenged $2.5 billion in Pentagon spending that had been diverted to complete construction.

Trump first floated the idea of a border wall on the campaign trail, repeatedly insisting that Mexico would pay for its construction. But in early 2020, Customs and Border Protection reported it had found $11 billion in funding for the wall.

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Senate Trial: Dems Warn Trump a Future Threat to Nation

Democrats closed their case against former President Trump Thursday by pleading with their Republican colleagues to convict him or risk more political violence in the future.

Lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) argued that “any president could provoke insurrectionary violence again” if Trump were to be acquitted. His colleague Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) asked, “who’s to say it won’t happen again?” if firm action is not taken now.

Raskin argued that Trump’s pattern of incitement, which Democrats say led a mob to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, would resume if he were to become president again.

“My dear colleagues, is there any political leader in this room who believes that if he is ever allowed by the Senate to get back into the Oval Office, Donald Trump would stop inciting violence to get his way?” Raskin asked. “Would you bet the lives of more police officers on that? Would you bet the safety of your family on that? Would you bet the future of your democracy on that?”

The Democratic argument is, in essence, that the Senate needs to redraw the norms of American political life that Trump so repeatedly transgressed. here is, however, little chance of Trump becoming the first president in history to be convicted, given that the overwhelming majority of GOP senators are expected to vote to acquit.

Thursday’s arguments, which were more legalistic and theoretical, lacked the emotive power of the previous two days, when Democrats played harrowing video from the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Even some Democratic commentators worried that the prosecution was losing steam as time when on.

Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) on Thursday afternoon tweeted her view that “some of the House managers’ case is getting too repetitive.” David Axelrod, a key aide to former President Obama, mused whether “the managers would have been smart to quit and simply sum up with the lack of remorse argument after their incredibly tight powerful case yesterday?”

There were some signs within the chamber itself that senators were less compelled by Thursday’s proceedings.

At one point at least 18 GOP senators were missing from their seats. Some of their Democratic colleagues, including Sens. Cory Booker (N.J.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y), stood for periods rather than remain seated throughout.

Trump’s lawyers will now have the floor, and it is expected their defense will be concluded within a single day. If that happens — and assuming witnesses are not called — the entire proceedings could conclude by Saturday or Sunday.

Trump’s lead lawyers, Bruce Castor and David Schoen, will be hoping to improve on their opening arguments from earlier in the week. Castor’s performance, in particular, was widely panned and was reported to have left the former president irate as he watched at his Florida resort of Mar-a-Lago.

The Trump team doesn’t need to do very much to gain an acquittal for their client. No more than six Republican senators have so far even agreed that the impeachment trial is constitutional. The chance of the necessary number voting to convict — 17 Republicans, assuming the Democrats all vote to do so — seems vanishingly small.

The president’s team is expected to argue that Trump did not directly spark the riot that enveloped the Capitol. They may also cite what they see as belligerent rhetoric from Democratic politicians in other contexts, in order to assert that Trump is being unfairly singled out.

The core of the pro-Trump case rests on trying to separate the haunting scenes at the Capitol from the issue of his culpability. Schoen called the way in which Democrats presented their argument “an entertainment package” during a Thursday appearance on Fox News.

But even if Trump escapes conviction, the trial has put his behavior — and the disgraceful scenes that played out on Jan. 6 — back in the center of the public stage.

Over the three days when Democrats made their case, new video footage emerged of lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), only just avoiding the mob.

Senators, and the public, were also reminded of the violence inflicted upon Capitol Police officers as they sought to contain a group of rioters that vastly outnumbered them.

And, undergirding it all, was Trump’s penchant for inflammatory rhetoric, stretching all the way back to his 2016 White House candidacy. On Thursday, Democrats replayed clips in which the then-candidate encouraged his supporters to “knock the hell” out of protesters.

The Democrats have sought to avoid falling into the political trap of hyper-partisanship where possible. They foregrounded Republican voices, including former members of Trump’s administration, who blamed the then-president for the violence in the immediate aftermath of the riot.

They also repeatedly praised former Vice President Mike Pence and sought to portray the effort to convict Trump as a necessary action to protect American democracy itself.

Lawmakers, Raskin reminded the Senate on Thursday, were made to “literally flee for our lives.”

The outcome of Trump’s trial is basically a foregone conclusion.But the events that he stands accused of inspiring will not easily fade from memory.

The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage. Alexander Bolton contributed reporting.

 

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Immigration Officers sport new uniforms to mould their identity

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — The Immigration Department introduced new uniforms across the Federation this week as part of efforts to mould its identity as an independent institution. Immigration Officers in St. Kitts and Nevis came to work smartly dressed, donning new blue button-down tops and dark grey bottoms, with shoulder straps that display one, two, or three bars depending on the officer’s rank.

The Immigration Department previously fell under The Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force. It became a separate entity in July 2018, with former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Merclyn Hughes, at the helm as the first-ever Chief Immigration Officer. Since that time, under her leadership, steps have been taken to shape the department’s image. A logo was created and social media platforms, in addition to a webpage, are being developed. The new uniforms are the latest step towards achieving this goal.

Ms. Hughes registered how pleased she was to see the Immigration Officers sporting new uniforms.

“I think this uniform makes us look more like the law-enforcing body that we are,” said Ms. Hughes. Customs Officers posted around the Federation at ports of entry help to create the first impression visitors have of the country. It is important that they look the part, in addition to being professional on the job.

“We have Immigration Officers at the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport,” she said. “We have the private jet facility, the Kayan Jet section. There are Officers at the Port Zante Marina, Marina Telca at New Guinea, and Christophe Harbour on the Peninsular.

“There are Immigration Officers at the Vance W. Amory International Airport, and the Long Point and Charlestown Piers,” said Ms. Hughes. “We also want to be a body that nationals can take pride in due to the way we present ourselves.”

Deputy Immigration Officer, Jacqueline Browne, was assigned to the Immigration Department for several years prior to its separation. Formerly an inspector of Police, she is excited about the changes being made.

“The new uniforms took a long time to make due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Ms. Browne. “We are finally here and are very pleased with the results. With the new look, the team feels re-energized, reinvigorated, and motivated to carry out our mission. We provide an efficient and professional service to all arriving and departing our ports, to prevent people from entering illegally, and to liaise with local, regional and international agencies. We discharge our functions in a courteous and friendly manner.”

The officers gave the new uniforms their nod of approval and said they were thrilled with the direction the department is taking.

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Federation supports ILO ‘Intl. Year for Elimination of Child Labour’

Minister of Labour, Hon. Wendy C. Phipps.

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — St. Kitts and Nevis joined the rest of the regional member states of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on February 11 in the launch of the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour in the Americas, under the theme #EndChildLabour2021.

This year-long campaign against Child Labour is deemed appropriate by the ILO, particularly given the persistent child labour practices in some Caribbean and Latin American countries.
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