U.S.: Kerry on C-SPAN

Marvin Kalb is recounting how the media bought Kerry's story hook, line, and sinker. Sounds like the Senate did, too. What one can never forget is that Kerry presented false testimony to support his contention that Viet Nam was an unjust war. What decides whether Viet Nam was unjust? In my books, the hundreds of thousands of deaths at communist hands, the thousands of boat people who fled for fear of their lives, the darkness that fell upon Viet Nam after the American withdrawal declared that Viet Nam was an entirely just war. Democracy is something worth fighting for. Freedom is worth dying for.

Note: I'd planned to do a more in depth assessment of Kerry's speech. However, my sister needed help setting up an iMac, so I grabbed what bits I could.

Ah, here we go, the hearing begins with the racist mentor of Bill Clinton, J. William Fulbright, as the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. Why do politicians like the sound of their voice so much? Kerry's asked to give his bio.

Kerry's in uniform and wearing medals. His sitting before the Senate is symbolic, he says; he's a representative of a group of veterans whom he thinks would testify as he will. He's saying he's been up all night preparing. From what I understand, somebody else wrote the speech for him. Spokemas for Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Jane Fonda was linked to the group.

Kerry's recounting atrocities that U.S. soldiers allegedly committed. Thing is, if Kerry and the men he knew witnessed these atrocities, as officers, they had an obligation to do something about what they saw/heard. The Winter Soldier investigation, called so as a pun on Thomas Paine's words. America had no threat from Viet Nam therefore no need to be there. The Vietnamese were clueless, didn't know communism from democracy and only wanted to be left in piece. They waffled between VC and the U.S. and sided with whomever was there at the time.

America accepted My Lai. The war was basically racist, Kerry says. More blacks died fighting it, and the means of warfare were not the same as would have been employed in Europe or against whites.

Crowd applause. The media takes the bait. The war is framed as Nixon's war. It was actually Kerry's hero, John F. Kennedy, who got the U.S. into Viet Nam; it was Lyndon B. Johnson who ramped up U.S. participation.

Communism can't be fought all over the world, Kerry says. The Viet Namese are not free under the U.S. right now cuz people are dying. Kerry hasn't changed over the years. If freedom is not worth fighting for, then what is? He's indicated here that freedom is not a value he cherishes and the U.S. is not an agent for political change and freedom.

Focus on how black soldiers were impacted by Nam. No moral indignation in the U.S. The U.S. in the midst of a disaster because folks are dying in Nam, Americans and Vietnamese. Kerry is advocating that America leave and forget about communism which he doesn't seem to regard as a threat. Out of Nam now. He thinks the VC would've laid down their arms.

Problem of the war is not about diplomacy; it's about racism, use of weapons, U.S. is guiltier than anyone of violating Geneva Conventions. U.S. bad, evil, racist, killers, immoral.

Kerry trusts the North Vietnamese more than his own government, this I get from his answer to the questioning by George Aiken. The U.S. is bad, even how it trains soldiers to kill, from answers to Pell's questions.

A Nam soldier calling in says Kerry toed the Commie line. Another guy says he's a soldier, says he supports Kerry. He doesn't sound like a Nam vet cuz none of the Nam place names are part of his speech. So, IMO, he's suspect. Most of the callers are pro-Kerry. I think it's possible that the Kerry-ites are love-bombing C-SPAN, cuz that's not unusual.

In a nutshell, what do I think about what I heard? Kerry hasn't changed. He still thinks the U.S. is bad; he still thinks that freedom is not a value worth fighting and dying for; he still thinks opponents of the U.S. are better than the U.S.

I hope Kerry is not elected. No man should lead a country he despises. If he does, he'll run that country into the ground.

T&T: Caricom's backing Kerry

Selywn Ryan takes a long look at Caricom's moves in relation to Venezuela, Haiti, and the U.S. Read the entire.

To his fervent supporters, he's a new Simon Bolivar, the man on the white horse who's come to rescue them from decades of corrupt governments and irreversible poverty.

To his detractors, he's Hugo the Horrible, the man who's driving his critics up a wall, at home and abroad, even as he makes a mess of one of the richest countries in South America.

He, of course, is Hugo Chavez, the irrepressible President of Venezuela who last week also virtually let the Caricom cat out of the bag by declaring that he was recognising Jean-Bertrand Aristide as the lawful President of Haiti.

Just prior to Mr Chavez's declaration, he had a fleeting visit from Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning who, over dinner at Mira Flores, the presidential palace in the heart of Caracas, discussed the aftermath of the sudden, though hardly surprising, downfall of Mr Aristide.

Caricom is to declare its own position on the new Haiti government this week (even though that government has threatened to pull out of Caricom) but it's very likely that Mr Chavez has already broadcast that position on his own.
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There was a time, not that long ago, when the politics of Venezuela mattered very little, if at all, to Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean.

Those times are changing. Mr Chavez's stance on Mr Aristide could be the beginning of another and very serious row between Venezuela and Washington.

And it will be interesting to see how far Caricom is prepared to go in backing that fight.

People who think that Mr Manning might have a problem on his hands with the resignation of his labour minister Larry Achong (whose resignation Mr Manning says he's not accepting) don't know the half of it.
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If Washington decides to get even tougher with Mr Aristide, and his supporters, there's no telling where the dice might fall.

One hint of that also came last week when it was announced that the US was seeking to extradite one Oriel Jean, 39, from Canada. Mr Jean is a former top security aide to Mr Aristide who arrived in Canada recently with US$10,000 and apparently on the run from the turn of events in Port-au-Prince.
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If there are signs of a serious and brewing international row over Mr Aristide's fall from power, the US could respond by getting rougher-and where that will leave Mr Aristide's backers is another story.

In any event, does Caricom really want to go to the mat with the US?

Mr Chavez obviously has his own agenda -and it's hardly just about uplifting the poor and ennobling the disenfranchised. He has promised to remain in office long after his constitutional term limit is up-which, of course, has simply infuriated the opposition even more.
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For the first time since Venezuela's return to democracy in the 1950s, there are hints of a return to the instability and upheaval that characterised Venezuelan politics for decades.

Mr Chavez also obviously takes pleasure, if not pride, in attacking the old Goliath to the North-something that endears him even more to his supporters and makes his opponents even more furious.

But is Caricom seriously prepared to go along with the Chavez agenda? Are regional governments prepared to risk decades of their own favourable relations with the United States in order to throw their support behind the maverick Mr Chavez?

Or is Caricom betting heavily that come November, there will be a new tenant in the White House?

That Caricom would align itself with Chavez, who is busy running Venezuela into the ground and despises the rule of law, believing that GWB will not be re-elected is an indicator that Caricom believes there will be no repercussions from the U.S. in a Kerry administration. What Caricom, along with the rest of the world, does not take into consideration is that, where the rubber meets the road, Americans will not elect a president who is weak on national defense. The mantra around the globe may be that Americans need to get past 9/11; however, that is not the sentiment in this country. Caricom heads watching the Democrats bash GWB, over the past six months and more, may have erroneously got the impression that GWB is weak, when, in fact, he had no intention of responding until there was a clear Democrat nominee. Furthermore, we're now in March, and poll numbers don't mean anything much. Come October, the picture changes.

Therefore, Caricom would be unwise to develop alliances based on its misconceptions of who the victor will be in the American political process. A look at GWB's initial campaign speech in Florida, the link for which is on this blog, will demonstrate clearly that Kerry will have a hell of a fight on his hands. GWB, using a mixture of facts and humor, has already succeeded in painting Kerry as an indecisive waffler (yeah, a redundancy) who is at war with himself. Worse yet, GWB is laughing at Kerry and cleverly letting America in on the joke. There is no more potent tool than ridicule, and GWB is employing it to great effect. It doesn't help that Kerry is acting his usual pompous and condescending self. Worse yet, for Kerry, he is as humorless as he looks, and has been making statements (foreign leaders, anyone?) which have fed GWB's humorous ridicule mill.

Caricom would be wise to forget its pique over Haiti, and not let Venezuela dictate its relationship to the U.S.

U.S.: C-SPAN airs Kerry's anti-war testimony

John Effin Kerry, who, by the way, served in Viet Nam, will have his anti-war testimony before the Senate broadcast on C-SPAN. This broadcast will, by the way, serve to remind the nation that Kerry defamed the men who served in 'Nam. For, if Kerry spoke the truth about the actions of U.S. soldier in Viet Nam, then he, as an officer, was obliged to report any and all war crimes, under the Geneva Convention and the U.S. Military Code of Justice. Kerry did not, and, if the allegations were true, his silence alone makes him unfit to lead a platoon, much less a country. Moreover, the men whose testimonies Kerry used to support his anti-war rhetoric have had their claims of serving in Viet Nam descredited.

John Kerry’s controversial anti-Vietnam testimony is taking one step closer to haunting him during his presidential bid.

C-SPAN has announced that it plans to present it Sunday night at 6:30 and 9:30PM EST.

Atg: Will Antiguans vote?

Two working days before the general elections, there are approximately 2,000 voter identification cards still at the distribution centres throughout the constituencies, an official from the Antigua & Barbuda Electoral Commission said yesterday.

Assistant to the Chief Election Officer Ian Hughes told the SUN there was at least one constituency that still had about 300 voter ID cards that were yet to be collected and another had about 250.

The U.S. could learn a lot from the Caribbean on voter ID cards. Nobody is issued such a card without providing certain and sure proof of citizenship, thus reducing the likelihood of non-citizens and illegal aliens voting in elections.

Bdos: Depends on what the meaning of 'hijack' is

SPEAKING during the Estimates debate in Parliament, Minister of Education, Youth Affairs and Sports Reginald Farley opined that the United States of America (USA) had, through their preoccupation with “trade and terrorism,” succeeded in “hijacking” the whole free trade deliberation process.

The Minister recalled Barbados’ collaboration under a 1994 Summit of the Americas initiative where, along with 33 other hemispheric territories (Cuba excepted), succeeded in reaching agreement “on a broad framework so rais[ing] the tide of prosperity within the hemisphere, that all of the individual ‘boats’ of the countries would rise with the tide.”

Spanning such areas as good governance, justice, security, trade, education – “particularly focusing on the digital-divide” and health, the Minister therefore described the diversion of attention away from this promising regional initiative as “hijack.” He noted instead, that “all that we hear about, of all those broad areas are two: trade, through the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)...and the other issue that gets some attention is security, [if only when] pushed as a one-dimensional element, that is the fight against terrorism.”

Bdos: Constitutional change

GOVERNMENT is drafting a constitutional amendment that would allow Parliament to debate financial transactions by state agencies which it does not now scrutinise.

This disclosure was made in the House of Assembly by Prime Minister Owen Arthur in response to Opposition charges that Government had lent more than $440 million to state agencies without parliamentary approval.

Is this likely to happen everytime the Bajan government acts without parliamentary approval?

Bdos: Will riot for house

THE NATIONAL HOUSING CORPORATION (NHC) may meet resistance when it tries to evict tenants from Rosemont Housing Estate, Black Rock, St Michael, who have received notices during the week.

One angry tenant is promising a “riot” if he is moved, as threatened, in five days.

“There are people in the neighbourhood who are 18 years old and have received houses. I have been living here for 23 years and now they are telling me that the house is for sale. Let them know we are ready to start a riot,” the man said.

Blz: Vaccinating against rubella

For the next six weeks, the Ministry of Health will be holding a national campaign to immunize Belizeans against rubella. The effort is part of "Vaccination Week of the Americas" and will target people between the ages of five to thirty-five because statistically this is the age group most likely to contract the virus.

Hopefully, there are no wacky imams around to jabber about the vaccine causing AIDS or sterility, or it being an American plot to corrupt the people.

Bmda: Women smuggling guns

Women are being used to smuggle guns into private parties because they are less likely to get searched, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

An informed source said that, once inside, they were given to the male owners who would then brandish them to impress friends.

Looks like these idiots need to be patted down. How immature can one get, brandishing a gun to impress?

Cay: The accountants missed the boat with Parmalat

According to a report by Bloomberg News, filings with Maltese regulators show that a Deloitte & Touche examiner in Malta approved the accounts of a Parmalat subsidiary, without challenging profits that flowed from a $7 billion loan to Bonlat Financing Corp, another Parmalat subsidiary registered in the Cayman Islands.

Although, Deloitte helped precipitate the collapse of the Italian dairy group Parmalat Finanziaria SpA by raising questions in October 2003 about transactions at Bonlat, Deloitte auditors should have raised doubts about the transactions six months earlier, say three accountants who read the statements at Bloomberg's request. 

Cuba: The ends justify the means for Castro

Masiel Gutiérrez planned to participate in a rally for prisoners of conscience until she was advised of an unscheduled conjugal visit with her imprisoned husband, Rolando Jiménez Posada..

"It looks like the news [of the rally] came to the attention of the political police and, since I was one of the organizers, they manipulated me through the subtle means of a conjugal visit," Gutiérrez said.

When she showed up at the El Guayabo prison, she told her husband what had happened. "They set a trap for you," he exclaimed.
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The rally went on as planned, but in a private house instead of in public.

Cuba: What Castro's communist paradise will do for money!

Will Cubans soon be disallowed from visiting certain hospitals in Castro's ongoing quest for U.S. dollars?

The Miguel Enrique Hospital, built in the nineteenth century, might be turned into a medical center for foreigners in a move to bring hard currency to Cuba, sources say.
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The sources said that the hospital will undergo renovations to be able to attend to the needs of foreign patients. They said some rooms would be kept for Cubans.

First the doctors are farmed out to foreign countries, thus locals are deprived of quality medical care. Now they will be deprived of medical facilities, too. I wonder what Robert Redford and Steven Spielberg think about this?

DR: Was training for revolution part of IRI's democracy education?

The US embassy confirmed the existence of an agreement for the sale or donation of 20,000 semi-automatic M16 rifles to the Dominican Armed Forces, according to El Caribe newspaper. “The United States agreed to transfer 20,000 M-16 A1 rifles to the Dominican Armed Forces to assist in its campaign to modernize and professionalize the force.”

The US embassy also said that these arms have not yet been delivered, owing to US Senator Christopher Dodd’s suggestion to Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega during a recent hearing that the transfer of the 20,000 rifles to the DR would be used by the US as a platform to send arms to the Haitian rebels.

Armed Forces Minister Jose Miguel Soto Jimenez described Senator Dodd’s speculation as “surrealistic.”

“While at the transaction level, the documentation is complete, the rifles have not left the United States,” the embassy told El Caribe, also saying that the shipment is part of the US government’s Foreign Military Financing Program (FMF). On a military website, the US administration justifies the program: “The principal means of ensuring America’s security is through the deterrence of potential aggressors who would threaten the US or its allies. Foreign Military Financing, the US government program for financing through grants or loans the acquisition of US military articles, services, and training, supports US regional stability goals and enables friends and allies to improve their defense capabilities. Because FMF monies are used to purchase US military equipment and training, FMF contributes to a strong US defense industrial base, which benefits both America’s armed forces and American workers.”

Regarding the senator’s statement that the US assisted in training 600 Haitians in the Dominican Republic, the US embassy said that the training did not take place in the DR. “From December 2002 to January 2004, an estimated 600 persons (Haitians) participated in training programs of the International Republican Institute in the United States.”

El Caribe said that the United States Agency for International Development has a donation program for US$2.4 million to promote democracy in Haiti. Of this money, US$1.2 million was allotted to the IRI and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) to fund programs for education on democracy in Haiti.

Hti: Aristide paid through the nose for nothing

Here's how Haiti and several other governments spent money on U.S. lobbyists and legal help during the first six months of 2003, the most recent reporting period:

-- Haiti ($945,227): Legal representation, plus lobbying government officials, diplomats and the media, seeking the resumption of U.S. and multinational aid.

-- El Salvador ($746,228): Promoting investment, lobbying on trade and immigration issues.

-- Honduras ($249,090): Lobbying for the Central American Free Trade Agreement and on trade and immigration issues.

-- Dominican Republic ($172,509): Lobbying on sugar quota and trade issues.

-- Brazil ($259,895): For legal advice.

-- Chile ($27,942): For legal advice and work on the U.S.-Chile trade pact.

Hti: The silence of the church

Was it because Aristide was once one of them?

Whether preaching to peasants in mountain chapels or on radio to reach decision makers, Jacmel Bishop Guire Poulard has steadfastly condemned the killings in Haiti and the president he accuses of allowing them to flourish.

''This government was a disgrace,'' Poulard said at his home overlooking the Caribbean last weekend. Former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, he added, ``was corrupt and promoted nothing but violence and drug trafficking.''

But within the upper reaches of the church, Poulard has been on his own in his attacks against Aristide, himself a former Salesian priest.

Roman Catholic church leaders remained silent in the last few months about the increasingly violent reign of Aristide's Lavalas Family Party and the gunmen who attacked opposition leaders and marches, drawing the ire of human rights activists and many lay church members.

''As a Catholic, I'm appalled that the church has not come out against the state-sponsored violence in Haiti,'' said Charles Henri Baker, a businessman and leader of a civil coalition that opposed Aristide. "They knew where the violence was coming from, and they didn't say anything.''

Hti: GOP-linked group tried to promote democracy in Haiti

On the other side of the political fence, the GOP-linked International Republican Institute used $1.2 million it received from the U.S. Agency for International Development to arrange "party building'' seminars for members of the Haitian opposition in the Dominican Republic and Miami.

Like its Democratic counterpart, the IRI is a nonprofit group that tries to promote democracy with training sessions for political parties, labor unions and civic groups. It has programs in more than 50 nations.

But Democratic critics, led by Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, have complained that IRI staffers with ties to Haiti's former military rulers worked with the opposition to undermine the Aristide government.

Maguire and Alex Dupuy, a Haiti expert at Wesleyan University, said the close relationship between U.S. officials and the opposition's umbrella Democratic Convergence emboldened it to refuse to share power with Aristide as a bloody revolt in February spread through Haiti.

"In a sense, the U.S. bought their allegiance by pampering them,'' Maguire said. He added that the opposition may have received messages from friends in Washington to hold out and not negotiate with Aristide.

IRI officials say their efforts in Haiti mirrored work in other countries, have been above-board and will stand up to any congressional scrutiny.

"In all our work with the opposition we've always emphasized in sessions that you can't just be anti-Aristide,'' said IRI spokesman Thayer Scott ``The whole idea is to build democratic institutions.''

Ja: Is this how it begins?

Sharing a platform with rebel leaders, Haiti's interim leader yesterday praised the gunmen who began the uprising that chased Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power and even paid tribute to an assassinated gangster.

About 3,000 people cheered and clapped for Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, who held his first rally in his hometown of Gonaives, where Haiti's independence was declared 200 years ago and starting point for its recent rebellion.

"I ask you for a moment of silence for all the people who fell fighting against the dictatorship, and especially for Amiot Metayer," Latortue said as the crowd went wild. Metayer was the leader of the Cannibal Army street gang, and his death sparked the rebellion.

Rebel leaders who still run Haiti's fourth-largest city sat on a platform alongside Latortue, Organisation of American States representative David Lee, recently installed interim Cabinet ministers Bernard Gousse and retired General Herard Abraham, and new Haitian police chief Leon Charles.

Also, there is this:

At the rally earlier, Latortue promised his government would ensure clean drinking water in Gonaives, provide medical equipment and build at least 100 homes and a four-lane highway to replace the potholed two lanes that are Haiti's main south-north highway.

People shouted they also needed working telephones and electricity.

Latortue urged patience: "I cannot give you everything at once and I will not lie to you."

Perhaps Haiti needs to be weaned away from Big Brother government who "gives" things to citizens?

Ja: Stemming the flow of illegal guns

The American process, however, should not end only at the issuing of licences for the export of guns in the formal trading system. We would appreciate substantially more aggression on the part of the American authorities in seeking to detect weapons leaving their country as contraband.

The situation has improved in the two-and-a-half years since 9/11, but there is room, it seems to us, for far more rigour on the part of US Customs and other agencies in searching for illegal guns leaving the US, even if the effort does not reach the level of their attempt to prevent contraband entering America.

But the responsibility does not rest only with the United States. There is plenty to be done in Jamaica, not least of which is to deal with the corrupt practice in the constabulary of granting gun permits to persons who do not meet the criteria. In some cases, criminals and other questionable characters, it has been reported, are granted gun licences for a fee.

Gya: $1M stolen from families by gunmen

Fifteen gunmen beat and robbed two families in Lusignan on Friday night carting off $1M in cash and jewellery that they said they needed to replenish their armoury.

The attacks, which occurred days after bandits raided several shops in Betervwagting, have residents afraid with some thinking about moving out.
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Some time around 7:20 pm, the gunmen stormed into the home of Zarina Singh at 13-14 Lusignan, Railway Embankment and spent close to 2 hours terrorising the family before leaving.

Singh recalled that she was watching television with the family and a few neighbours. The door was open and everyone was relaxing when five armed men barged in and demanded cash. Singh said one bandit walked up to her and struck her in the head with his gun after she denied having any money.

The men then ransacked the home and found cash. Not satisfied with the amount they bound Singh and the entire household with rope and cloth and put a beating on them. Singh said the children were not harmed.

She and her family members yesterday showed several cuts from the beating.

The men kept asking and out of fear Singh sent them to her daughter's apartment that is attached to her home. Three of the men left and returned with money and jewellery.

I can't help but wonder, have these people ever heard of banks?

Gya: Enough is enough on death squads

"A luta continua...The struggle continues," declared PNCR leader Robert Corbin yesterday while warning that if the government refuses to address the death squad allegations, the country would grind to a halt.

Corbin was speaking at the Square of the Revolution at the end of a day of protest as part of the Rule of Law March and Rally which attracted substantial if not spectacular crowds. The event was organised by a committee comprising a number of civil society groupings and political parties.

In a speech that lasted well over an hour and by its end saw supporters wandering away, he said if there is no sign of action, a similar event would be held before the end of the week, "by which time we hope that [President Bharrat Jagdeo] wakes up."

Jagdeo and his boys aren't any better, but Guyana needs to keep an eye on Corbin. The first clue of a dictator is the inability to keep a speech to an hour or less. Seriously, though, this is a good sign for Guyana. Hopefully, Jagdeo's government will investigate Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj who is alleged to have ties with death squads.

T&T: Fishy oil dispute making life iffy for Trinis in Barbados

It was a collective view among the group that relations on the job have been severely strained especially since the February 16 address by Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur, in which he imposed the sanctions on a range of goods being imported from Trinidad to Barbados. In the address, Arthur outlined the various aspects of the Barbados economy which were being dominated by the Trinidad presence, saying in some instances he was happy for it, and that it was welcome for strategic reasons. He said, however, that whereas there was Trinidadian investment in the signal Barbadian tourism sector there was no equivalent coming in the other direction. He said it in a way as to suggest that this was an unequal relationship.

It was not so much what he said, the group agreed however, as it was with the way he said it. It was the "frothing at the mouth"-type of delivery, they said, concluding that this could represent a touchstone for pent-up anti-Trinidadian sentiments being harboured by many of their host colleagues. Several of them in the group testified that discretion being the better part of valour, there has been an elaborately unspoken agreement on both sides not to engage in any discussion, on the job or off, about the current points at issue. This, they all agreed, is making for very stilted relations these days.

"Trinis with substantial investment here are feeling very nervous at the moment I can tell you," one man declared. "It starts with simple things, All you need is a trigger, and years of harmonious relations can be rent asunder," he said.

"I think Arthur is one of the most sensible of the current generation of prime ministers in the region, but on this issue I think he just lost it," one man said. "His body language was atrocious. It was almost frightening to watch."

If this is how Barbados wants to play it, the government could start by repaying all those millions of dollars in loans T&T made to Barbados, loans which have never been repaid. T&T is the little America of the Caribbean -- giving money and getting kicked in the teeth in return.

T&T: Don't lend Caricom countries U.S. dollars, economist warns

Economist Dr Dhanayshar Mahabir has warned commercial banks they should be careful lending Caricom governments millions of US dollars because of the possibility of significant exposure, and advised that they should look to other investments like Euro bonds.

Mahabir said for some time now he has been worried about the developing trend of regional governments being financed by local banks because the requirements were less stringent than those the governments would have had to face if they had had to deal with international lending institutions.

The University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer, who also worked at the Caribbean Development Bank, said: "The Caribbean is an emerging market and I would think that the banks would be careful about lending to Caribbean governments in any significant fashion because of the risks."

He added: "I know they are our trading partners and part of Caricom but we have also seen what happened to some large US banks who found themselves in trouble by lending to Argentina and then that country having to reschedule debts."

T&T: Venezuelan grenades found in Arima

Police seized a live hand grenade, 210 kilogrammes of marijuana with an estimated street value of $1.8 million, two pump-action shotguns, 22 rounds of 12-gauge cartridges and two 9mm magazines during a raid at a house in Malabar, Arima, at around 7 pm on Friday night.
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Acting Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul confirmed the grenade find when Sunday Guardian spoke to him yesterday.

“Yes, the police have it,” he said.

He said other information on the grenade was regarded as “sensitive.”

The is the second grenade find in this country in some four months, the last time being in November when at least five live hand grenades were found in South Trinidad.
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Those grenades were later said to have a Venezuelan link because of markings which read HE Fragmenticia.

Officers of the Firearms Interdiction Unit are still investigating the origin of those grenades.

“It’s a very serious thing, grenades being found in Trinidad,” one officer said.

Vzla: Standing up to Chavez

The Electoral Chamber of the Venezuela's Supreme Court took a very strong stand today when it issued a communiqué signed by its President Alberto Martini, where it ratifies that its role its to consider all cases relating to referenda processes and declaring that the request by the Constitutional Chamber to hand over all of its files was not valid.

U.S.: What appeasement really means

Compliments of Little Green Footballs.

U.S.: Marley rules, even in Saudi

We sat down, and I asked them to tell me about themselves. There were two reporters named Hasan—Hasan Baswaid and Hasan Hatrash—but they were strikingly different. Baswaid, thirty-four, was tall and broad-shouldered, with sideburns and curly black hair, and omnipresent earphones for his mobile phone, which rang every few minutes, playing the theme from “Mission: Impossible.” He wore jeans and a partly buttoned, untucked white shirt. His handsome face belonged on the cover of a romance novel. Hatrash, twenty-eight, was slight and short; he wore traditional Saudi clothes, a trim black goatee, and black glasses that tended to be at half-mast on his nose. Under his head scarf, however, there was a snaky mass of dreadlocks. At heart, Hatrash said, he was a musician, but that was a hopeless career choice in such a puritanical society. Both men had been working at the Gazette for several years; the third reporter, Mamdouh al-Harthy, had joined the staff only about an hour before I arrived.

“How do you like working here?” I asked them.

The two Hasans shrugged and looked away. “Maybe we can talk about this later, mon,” Hatrash said. It was several weeks before I learned why he had a West Indian accent: he had honed his English by listening to Bob Marley songs.

Yah, mon!

U.S.: How to make sure that no country in the Caribbean is bombed by Islamists

Michael Costello, "A target no matter how we stand" appeared in The Australian yesterday, 19 March, 2004. Costello wrote:

SO. What would we have to do to get rid of the threat of terrorism from al-Qa'ida? Pulling out of Iraq would not begin to be enough.

Here are some of the demands spelled out by Osama bin Laden and the head of Jemaah Islamiah, Abu Bakar Bashir:

Pull out of the UN;

Pull out of the US alliance;

Return East Timor to Islamic rule;

Support the return of the extreme form of Islamic rule to the following: Afghanistan, Southern Spain, southern Philippines, southern Thailand, Malaysia, significant parts of China, many of the republics created from the former Soviet Union and, of course, all of North Africa and the Middle East;

Drive the Jews of Israel into the sea;

Persecute homosexuals;

Ban alcohol;

Prevent women working or being educated, or appearing in public without full covering dress;

Require women to obey men.

No decent nation could accept any or all of these.

That's what makes this whole debate about whether our participation in the attack on Iraq increased the terrorist threat to Australia so absurd.

What bin Laden has been saying since September 11 makes clear that we were a terrorist target even before then.

Our alliance with the US, indeed the very fact we are a western nation, made us one. These are his words, not my assertions.
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It's particularly foolish of Prime Minister John Howard to act as though the second Iraq war has nothing to do with the terrorist threat. It does.

But it did not create that terrorist threat. Like our involvement in Afghanistan, it really only confirmed it. If we were to pull out tomorrow, that is not going to solve our problem.

And what is the problem? War has been declared on us by religious fanatics who are prepared to wage that war without limit.

Again, you only have to read bin Laden's and Bashir's words to know this. For example, bin Laden says the "killing of British and Australians in the Bali explosions were actions carried out by the zealous sons of Islam in defence of their religion and in response to the order of their God" - November 12, 2002.

And again: "Carrying out terrorism against the oppressors is one of the tenets of our religion and Shari'ah." On November 3, he said: "This war is fundamentally religious." Further: "Under no circumstances should we forget this enmity between us and the infidels. For the enmity is based on creed." And again on the same day: "This war is fundamentally religious," and "It is a question of faith, not a war against terrorism."
...
Instead of arguing over whether, or how much, Australia's involvement in Iraq has increased the threat to Australia, Howard should simply tell Australians the sober truth.

That truth is that we face an enemy whose every word and deed shows it is uninterested in anything but complete surrender from those it regards as its enemies, of which Australia is one; that it will use indiscriminate terror against its enemies, and Australia is likely to suffer a heavy terrorist attack at some time, possibly close to the next election; that we cannot and will not surrender to terror, or the threat of terror; and that our people must unite for a long, wearing, grinding struggle to find, capture or, as a last resort, kill those who would kill us. This is the harsh truth of our times.

Compliments of DhimmiWatch.

Now, where is the Caribbean and Caricom going to stand with regard to this? How much is Michael Burke willing to pay so Jamaica will not be bombed?

Me? I would want T&T to pay not a single cent; to yield not an inch, but to fight for the freedom of all men.

Life without freedom is worth nothing. The only bondage that is acceptable is bondage to Christ Jesus, and in Christian bondage is the ultimate liberty.

U.S.: The killers in our backyard

Situated between Argentina and Brazil, the sprawling Iguazu waterfalls are among the most popular tourist destinations in South America, with nearly 2 million visitors flocking annually to witness their extravagant beauty. In recent years, however, the area surrounding the falls has also attracted a far less savory element. In the shadow of the Iguazu lies the “tri-border” region, a lawless zone which has become a magnet for Islamic terrorists.

Located where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet, the area is home to roughly 20,000 Middle Eastern immigrants?mostly from Lebanon and Syria?and has long been a hotbed for terrorist fundraising, arms and drug trafficking, counterfeiting and money laundering. By moving freely through the region’s porous borders, operatives from the terrorist organizations Hizbollah, Hamas, and according to some reports, al-Qaeda, are able to conduct arms-for-drugs deals with secular Latin American terrorist groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and Peru’s Sendero Luminosos (Shining Path). All told, U.S. officials believe that between $10 and $12 billion is funneled through the tri-border region each year, with Hizbollah among the prime beneficiaries.

Please read the rest of the article. Compliments of JihadWatch.

U.S.: Coming attraction to a country near you in the Caribbean

It's not just Islamists against the U.S. Jihad is coming soon to a country near you.

The Colombian secret police, the DAS, have arrested a guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) who had allegedly been setting up a cell of suicide bombers.

Luis Hipolito Ospina, alias "The Muslim", who is actually a practising Muslim, was arrested in the capital, Bogota, after one of the guerrillas whom he indoctrinated turned himself in rather than carry out a suicide mission.

"The Muslim" was a familiar sight during the days of the failed peace process with the previous government of Andres Pastrana.

For three years he ran the social programme of the Farc in their 42,000sq km safe haven, the venue for peace talks.

Bearded and devout, he spoke of the divine mission of revolution to fight for equality for Colombia's poor.

Now he is in a prison cell, accused of training 22 youths to be suicide bombers.

One of the youths, known only as Heriberto, turned himself in to authorities before he was due to blow himself up at the army headquarters of the southern city of Florencia.

The Farc have traditionally been anti-religious, in keeping with traditional Marxism.

But according to the secret police, the rebel high command agreed to allow "The Muslim" to set up his suicide squad so that their sworn enemy, hardline President Alvaro Uribe, could be killed by one of the bombers.

This is how it begins; this is the nose of the camel.

Compliments of JihadWatch

U.S.: GWB's speech on the anniversary of the Iraq war

Go here to read it. It's definitely a must read.

Hti: Can Jamaica afford the price of Aristide

Apparently, the U.S. government is making a distinction between Jamaica and the rest of Caricom on the Aristide matter. Is that why PM Patterson is urging member countries to hold ranks on the Haiti issue? Is Patterson trying to cover his arse against U.S. sanction by using the other countries as a buffer, thus putting their economies at risk?

Jamaica's decision to welcome former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has infuriated Bush administration officials, who say U.S. relations with English-speaking Caribbean countries have reached a new low.

Senior U.S. officials refuse to speculate whether Washington will retaliate against Jamaica, which currently presides over the Caribbean Community(CARICOM) regional bloc.

But other U.S. officials say that if Aristide's return from Africa to the Caribbean triggers new bloodshed in Haiti and U.S. troops get in harm's way, there would be congressional calls for a strong U.S. reaction against Jamaica.

Asked whether the United States will take any concrete measures against Jamaica, U.S. officials say the Bush Administration will not cut aid to fight AIDS in the region or reduce other kinds of humanitarian assistance. But they hint that other non-humanitarian bilateral programs could be slowed down.

''We are reviewing the relationship to see what is the appropriate reaction,'' said one of the officials, who asked for anonymity.

True, Jamaica has a history of providing refuge to those in flight, and that is commendable. True, Jamaica is generously making it possible for Aristide to be reconciled with his daughters. However, let's take a closer look at those arguments.

When Aristide voluntarily left Haiti aboard a plane provided by the U.S., it is questionable whether he knew his intended destination because his arrangements with South Africa appeared to have fallen through. Thus, Bangui was, at best, a poor alternative to his first choice, South Africa, which was willing to and did send arms to help him defend against the rebels. Once in Bangui, the South African government appeared to be dithering about whether Aristide would be welcome; eventually, they decided that he would. Moreover, Aristide declared that he'd been kidnapped, and he proclaimed his intention to return to Haiti with South Africa as a stopping off point. From Bangui, Aristide went not to South Africa, but to Jamaica, instead. In effect, he eliminated South Africa as a jumping off point for the revolution that would propel him back into power, and he opted for Jamaica instead. There, Aristide promised that he would not do to Jamaica what he did to Bangui, which is create diplomatic problems by his false assertions nor would he foment revolution in Haiti. So far, Aristide has kept his promises.

However, Chavez of Venezuela has extended an offer of asylum for Aristide, and that makes on wonder with whom else did Aristide speak while he was in Bangui? Was Venezuela's Chavez one of the parties with whom he had had contact? Was the plan, then, for Aristide to use Jamaica as a stopping off point to Venezuela where, with the vigorously anti-American Chavez, he would not only hurl accusations that would further poison U.S.-Caricom and OAS relationships, but he would also stir up rebellion in Haiti which would result in further destabilization of that country? Logic dictates that this must be the case, and that Aristide is using Jamaica as a point of transit to the one country in the western hemisphere -- Venezuela -- that would entertain and aid his ambition to return to Haiti. Therefore, Aristide in Jamaica may not be not in flight from Haiti, but is instead on his way to reclaiming his position in that country. Therefore, the idea that Jamaica is a place of refuge for him lacks merit.

As to the notion that Jamaica is the place of reunion for Aristide and his daughters, well, modern aviation reveals the absurdity of that argument. For, there are regular flights to Bangui or South Africa, if Aristide had truly intended to either remain in the first or move on to the second.

Therefore, what ground is there for Aristide's presence in Jamaica? What remains is compassion and fellowship. However, what about compassion and fellowship for the average Haitian? Do they not deserve to live in relative peace, with expectation of economic and social advancement for themselves and their country, in homes that are better than hovels with amenities that many in the Caribbean take for granted? Compassion and fellowship for the average Haitian would dictate that Aristide, in spite of all his claims to having been kidnapped, would not be welcome in any Caricom country; for, his very presence gives hope to his chimeres who then use it as reason to trouble and kill their opponents and their countrymen who are living lives of quiet desperation.

Does this mean that change of government by coup is sanctioned? No, because there was no coup inasmuch as Aristide resigned; that he withdrew his resignation once ensconced safely in Bangui does not negate the fact that he wrote it and tendered it.

So, then, what happens if this analysis is proven to be true, Aristide winds up in Venezuela, and Chavez and the Colombians fund a revolution in Haiti? What happens not just to Haiti but to Jamaica, who will have facilitated Aristide's return to the Caribbean, and, in this way, may have inadvertently helped to mask Chavez's role in bringing Aristide back to the Caribbean? Well, this says it all: "if Aristide's return from Africa to the Caribbean triggers new bloodshed in Haiti and U.S. troops get in harm's way, there would be congressional calls for a strong U.S. reaction against Jamaica."

The question Patterson has to answer to all Jamaicans is this: in a time of economic hardship in Jamaica, is Aristide worth the further hardship that may come?

Ja: Making sense while toeing the liberal line

A major incident in a "neutral" country would, of course, alter this calculus. Until then, many European countries are trying to find a way to combat terrorism which does not entail backing US policy in the Middle East. Either way, the US administration is facing a difficult time, as the diplomatic cost of its recent unilateralism comes home to haunt it.

Almost as serious as the loss of some 200 lives in the train attack is the political influence on the elections which took place three days afterwards. This must be seen as a twisted victory for Islamic terrorism which has succeeded in using violence to change policy and the course of events in a major European country.

Jamaica cannot remain aloof to these events. Although there are, in our view, good reasons to oppose certain clauses in the proposed anti-terrorism legislation, we cannot afford to become complacent in playing our part in the war on terrorism. Nor should we allow any increase in anti-American sentiment by much of the population to blind us to the realities involved and our own vulnerabilities.

How is it that the writer of this peace can describe U.S. policy on terror as unilateralist when he's said this -- "For now, the most likely candidates are other countries which have supported the US in Iraq" -- a couple of paragraphs earlier? If other countries support the U.S., is the U.S. still acting unilaterally? Really, what does "uni-" mean?

Ja: Socialism is a luxury Jamaica cannot afford

THE PUBLIC debt is likely to reach $1 trillion by 2006, acording to Bruce Golding, Opposition Senator.

He made the charge in the Senate yesterday where a Bill was passed to enable the Government to legally borrow up to $650 billion.

"At the rate at which the debt is increasing by December 2006 the public debt of Jamaica will exceed $1 trillion," Mr. Golding projected.

According to him, based on the current public debt, an unborn child at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital has already been saddled with a $260,000 debt commitment.

The Opposition Senator proposed the implementation of an entrenched constitutional provision to cap the national debt. He also renewed calls for the decentralisation of the central bank which has responsibility for monetary policies.

Mr. Golding said the Government's frequent amending of the Loan Act to increase the borrowing ceiling was like a borrower "determining and approving his own overdraft." He also questioned the Government's effectiveness for periodically moving the "goal post."

Ja: Patterson to Caricom, cover my back

JAMAICA yesterday urged its Caribbean Community (Caricom) partners to hold ranks on the Haiti issue as Prime Minister P J Patterson signalled that he has no intention of engaging in a diplomatic spat with Barbados over Jamaica's decision to host deposed Haitian leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

But Patterson also disclosed that his foreign minister, K D Knight, notified Caricom governments, as well as the United States and Canada, about the Aristide visit on March 11 - five days before his arrival.

"In accordance with the principles by which the Community has been guided, it is essential to our unity of purpose (on the Haiti issue) be maintained and that there be total cohesion on all fronts," Patterson said in a statement.
...
The prime minister's remark was an obvious response to media portrayal of remarks in Bridgetown by Barbados' foreign minister, Billie Miller, that she was informed "after the fact" about Jamaica's decision to allow Aristide to come here for up to 10 weeks.

"This is clearly a matter between the government of Jamaica and Mr Aristide but there are clear implications for us..." Miller said in the Barbadian parliament.

So, who's telling the truth here? Patterson or Miller? If Patterson had informed Caricom partners of Aristide's impending visit 5 days before it occurred, then, clearly, the Barbados government is at fault for not conveying the information to Foreign Minister Miller. However, one wonders to whom Patterson's office conveyed the information? Was it directly to PM Arthur, or to FM Miller? Or, did PM Patterson forget to inform the Bajans, in the heat of the moment, in the excitement of arranging Aristide's departure, er, visit? The question still remains: what did Barbados know, and when did Barbados know it? Or, more comprehensively, what did Caricom know, and when did Caricom know it? Does PM Patterson's chairmanship of Caricom mean that when he knows a thing all of Caricom also knows it ... by osmosis?

Is Caricom thinking to side with the socialist bloc, consisting of many countries in South America in alliance with Cuba, to the detriment of its relationship with the U.S. out of some fear that the U.S. might destabilize the countries in the region? If that is the case, then Caricom is caught between Scylla and Charybdis. On the one hand is the U.S., free-trading and capitalist, promoting democracy and human freedom. On the other hand is the socialist bloc chock full of drug cartels, terrorists, human rights abuses, unlawful imprisonments, tortures of citizens, poverty, suppression of individual rights. It is a tremendously difficult choice to make. Perhaps, this question can help: can Caricom countries afford socialism or communism?

Bhms: No same sex absurdity

The Bahamas constitution clearly states that a same sex couple cannot get a marriage license, a government official confirmed Thursday.

PR: Peace at all costs

On the first anniversary of the invasion of Iraq the Puerto Rican Alliance in favor of Peace urged for the withdrawl of all troops arguing that is the only way in which a true peace process might begin.

“It is time to find a solution to the conflict through a civilized process of negotiations and dialogue not through war,” the organization said in a written statement.

For the alliance it has been clearly established that the invasion was unnecessary, illegal, and unfair.

Do these peaceniks ever thing in terms of cause and effect or action and consequence? Do they never learn anything from history? Did they learn anything from Neville Chamberlain?

St. Kts: Kittsian girl wins silver

Tiandra Ponteen from St. Kitts/Nevis, representing the University of Florida, secured a silver medal in the NCAA Indoor Championship in the Women’s Indoor 400 meter final. 

Ponteen also ran the fastest Indoor time by a female in St. Kitts/Nevis, which was 52.70s, breaking the old record which was held by Diane Dunrod-Francis in 1991.  Ponteen’s time at the meet, which helped her to secure the silver medal, stands at 51.23s. 

St. Lca: Does the judge have a weakness for pedophilic perverts?

Compare this story with the previous one.

Williamson Celestine, 48, alias Blackboy of Praslin, has been found guilty of indecency with a 12-year-old girl. The incident occurred at the victim's home on August 28, 2000.

Celestine was represented by Shawn Innocent. He was sentenced on Monday by Justice Indra Hariprashad-Charles who had presided over the three-day trial.

"The law prescribes a maximum of ten years for this type of offense," said the judge. "I cannot go above ten years. I must go into the mitigating and aggravating factors and do an evaluative process. There were reports from probation officer Mrs Myers and Mrs Matthews, a counselor. There were challenges to both reports from Mr Innocent who said the reports were not done by a qualified doctor as to the mental state of the complainant after the incident."

Justice Hariprashad-Charles said there were no reports from psychiatrist alleging that the complainant had suffered psychological trauma.

"I have to accept Mr Innocent's objections. I would have been happier, if she suffered so traumatically, to have had a psychiatrist's report, not a report from a family case worker. Therefore, I must not use the state of mind of the complainant as an aggravating factor. The Court of Appeal has laid down guidelines. I am left with no alternative but to impose a five-year prison sentence."

This judge needs her head examined. Does she really need a psychiatric report to tell her that a child is certainly harmed by sex with an adult? Is she of the NAMBLA school of thought which argues that adult-child sex is a positive and beneficial thing for the child? A 48-year old man has sex with a 12-year old, and he gets only five years! Five years!

If, in the case of Felix Dominique, Justice Hariprashad-Charles found that the age of the child was aggravating factor enough to sentence Dominique to 12 years with hard labor, but no cat, is not the age of the child also in play here in the Celestine case?If the law prescribes a maximum of ten years for adult-child sex, then why was the pervert Dominique given 12 years? Does Justice Hariprashad-Charles want St. Lucians to believe that a 12-year old child is an adult? Is that the reason for the measly 5-year sentence, minus the cat?

Justice Hariprashad-Charles appears to be dispensing arbitrary justice.

St. Lca: Pedophilic pervert gets 12 years for rape of 9-year old girl

This is the conclusion of the story of Felix Dominique, 39, who was found guilty of having sex with a 9-year old at his home on May 18, 2002. In sentencing Felix Dominique, rapist and pedophile, Justice Hariprashad-Charles commented that

[t]he upsurge in sexual offenses against young girls could not be ignored....

"It's a menace to society," the judge added. "Women are calling for the cat-o-nine tails. For a court to sentence a maximum penalty in my opinion, all the aggravating factors must be present, like a pregnancy, if the complainant is psychologically affected, or if violence was used.

"None of those were present in this case. The only aggravating factor was the age of the child. There was no violence in this case. I am forced to look at a nine to fifteen-year sentence. While the public is clamoring for life, I have to look at all the factors. A fair sentence is twelve years with hard labor."

Dominique didn't seem to understand. A court clerk repeated the sentence in Patois and he was led away by a police officer.

The judge is nuts. She should have given this pervert the cat because, though the 9-year old did not become pregnant, there is always psychological damage where rape is involved. Dominique had "threatened [the child] with death, if she told anyone of the attack"; moreover, her mother testified that the child had had trouble sleeping since the rape. Therefore, the judge's conclusion was wrong, on the face of it. All the aggravating factors were present, bar pregnancy. The age of the child -- she'd just turned 9 -- should have been enough to earn Felix Dominique more than twelve years with hard labor and the cat o' nine tails. Nothing concentrates the mind of a criminal like the cat.

Gya: Vat 19 trumps Demerara rum

Guysuco will have to go to court to justify why it entered into an agreement giving Angostura of Trinidad first call on its Berbice molasses at the expense of Demerara Distillers Ltd (DDL) despite a long-running arrangement with DDL.

Gya: School violence out of control

The other side of the coin to the abuse of schoolchildren by certain teachers, particularly in the primary schools, is the attacks on teachers by their pupils, particularly in the secondary schools. The reports coming out of Lodge Community High School, for example, suggest a disciplinary situation which has been allowed to get out of control. These are the kinds of stories which one associates with inner city schools in the United States, or the socially and economically deprived urban areas of the UK.

The issue of classroom safety came to public notice last week after Mr Brian Balgobin, a teacher at Lodge, sustained a fractured skull when a 16-year-old hit him on the head with a piece of wood. The boy was a member of a gang which appears to have been terrorizing the school population, and had been responsible for attacks on both teachers and students even before this incident. Now that things have deteriorated to this point, the Ministry has responded by arranging for regular police patrols at the school to monitor pupils' behaviour.

T&T: Crabs less trouble than ganja

His attorney told the court that he had been hunting crabs when he found a crocus bag with several packets of marijuana and took it, and 'flagged down' a car that was passing.

That was the explanation 53-year-old Daniel Guy, of Bon Accord, offered the Scarborough Second Court last week Wednesday when he pleaded guilty to being in possession of trafficking.

Guy, who was represented by attorney-at-law Lennox Phillips, was before Magistrate Joan Gill charged with being in possession of three packets of compressed marijuana amounting to 3.2 kilogrammes at Canoe Bay roadway in the wee hours of last week Tuesday, March 9.

T&T: Manning's taking stick from ALNG workers

Take a look at the signs. Manning's been suffering from laryngitis lately. Some say conveniently.

T&T: Patterson praises Caricom for doing nothing about Haiti

Prime Minister P J Patterson of Jamaica and current chairman of the Caribbean Community last evening praised the "remarkable sense of unity" by the member states of Caricom in relation to the Haitian political crisis, including the aftermath of President Jean Bertrand Aristide's sudden loss of power.

Patterson's statement came against a background of reports in and out Haiti and the USA suggesting differences of positions within Caricom about the temporary hosting by Jamaica of Aristide and his family and also the Community's non-recognition of the interim Washington-backed regime in Port-au-Prince.

As the Jamaican Prime Minister said: "The Caribbean Community has demonstrated considerable diplomatic capacity in formulating the Caricom Initiative in respect of the ongoing Haitian political crisis".

The Community, he added, "has achieved as well a remarkable sense of unity in its response to the aftermath of former President Aristide's sudden departure from office on February 29.

"These (responses) have earned marked respect from sections of the international community and the majority of our Caribbean citizens, local and foreign alike..."

So, apparently, Caricom is interested in gaining respect from the international community rather than doing anything constructive in relation to Haiti. Also, the way to gain respect internationally is to talk ad infinitum. Ah yes, Caricom's "remarkable sense of unity" is of more concern to the heads of state than is the welfare of the Haitian people. Thank you, Caricom. Now we know.

T&T: ALNG affair of concern to foreign investors

Country manager of Tractebel Trinidad LNG Corporation, Luc Speeleveld, yesterday said that the industrial situation at the Atlantic LNG site in Point Lisas had become more complicated than it should be. The issues at hand, he maintained, seemed very straightforward. Speaking to reporters at the Hilton Trinidad following his presentation at the March monthly meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham), Speeleveld revealed that as a foreign investor in Trinidad, Tractebel did have some concerns about the situation. “This is a development that, as a foreign investor, you would not like to see escalate,” he said. “Especially if the issues at hand seem to be straightforward.” “However,” he continued, “at the end of the day, I think that the process will take place and that there will be a solution found to the satisfaction of everyone... I hope.”

Questioned about whether Tractabel was now breathing a sigh of relief that it had pulled out of negotiations for the Atlantic LNG Train IV facility, Speeleveld replied that the company’s decision to remove itself was made because of circumstances taking place within the company at the time. “I don’t think happy is the right word,” he said. “We are interested in LNG and in participating in LNG expansion. However, Train IV was a bit of unfortunate timing because our parent company, Suez, went through a thorough reorganisation and some divestment at the time.” “This did not put us in the position to make an investment decision at that time. If the opportunity were to present itself today, the answer would be very different,” he stated. He revealed that Tractebel was still very interested in participating in the expansion of the LNG industry in Trinidad, but had yet to identify all the business opportunities. He said, “We are keeping an open mind and we have a very strong focus at the moment for North America, Europe and South America. Trinidad, being part of the Caribbean, we are really looking at synergies and integrations with other parts of the business, but being on an island does not always enable us to see those benefits.”

T&T: Prestige schools humbled by YTC

For the first time in the history of the institution, the Youth Training Centre Government School has entered a debating forum for secondary school students, and has succeeded in trumping some of the more prestigious institutions to secure a place in the semi-final round of the RBTT Roytec Young Leaders Debate. The debate, which began two years ago, welcomed all secondary schools as well as non-conventional educational institutions. The duo of Adrian Johnson and Javon Charles from YTC has proven to be quite a crowd favourite since the start, and has been lucky to secure a spot in each consecutive round of the debate.

The duo will come up against  El Dorado Secondary School in the semi-final round of competition on March 24. In delivering their arguments against the motion “Be it resolved that Creative Leadership is the key requirement for the Peaceful Co-existence of Mankind” Johnson and Charles drew a lusty round of applause from the audience, after claiming that creative leadership, along with universal education would ensure that mankind lived together in harmony. Both Johnson and Charles sought to establish a link between the motion which had been argued in rounds one, two and three, by stating that creative leadership was not the only pre-requisite for peace. They argued that qualities incorporated through universal education taught man how to accept one another, and hence determined what choices an individual made, and whether these were good or bad.
...
Kadisha Cox and Witney Pope, the winning duo from Barataria Junior Secondary argued that while there is a need for creative leaders, there was also a need for the establishment of a good value system which included honesty, humility and integrity. While creative leaders can continuously expound on what they want from followers, once someone is educated, they will have a choice and can exercise this ability in every situation, they argued. The team of adjudicators for yesterday’s round of debate included Margaret Walcott, Kim Morton, June Nathaniel, and J Errol Lewis, while Linda Francois acted as time-keeper, and Hans Geiser performed the role of chairman. The four teams which were successful in moving through to the semi final round were St Mary’s College, Youth Training Centre Government School, El Dorado Secondary, and Barataria Junior Secondary.

Way to go, Adrian, Javon, Kadisha, and Witney!

Vzla: Chavez endorses Kerry

[T]op-level delegations from the Peoples' Republic of China have visited Venezuela recently to negotiate supply contracts which could relieve Venezuela of its customer-relationship dependency on North American markets.

It is known that while there is a lot of pressure on the Chavez Frias administration to simply walk away from North American crude oil markets in view of the rapidly devalued US$, Chavez Frias is personally waiting for an electoral win by US presidential candidate John Kerry to remove George W. Bush from office before signing irrevocable long-term supply contracts with the Chinese.

If Venezuela signs long-term oil contracts with China, then Venezuela does not have to rely solely on the U.S. for oil sales. Part of the problem with high oil prices is the increased Chinese use of oil as China's industries start booming. In fact, increased Chinese consumption has also produced scarcity and concomitant higher prices in the steel market. If John Kerry is elected president, Chavez seems to be implying, Venezuela will continue to sell oil to the U.S. If GWB is re-elected, then Chavez will sell its oil to China and the U.S. will be left looking for a supplier for the 15% that comes from Venezuela.

So, what can the U.S. do? Either the U.S. elects Kerry so that Venezuela may continue to sell us oil; or the U.S. re-elects GWB and look for another oil provider. Alternatively, the U.S. could overthrow Chavez, to protect its oil supply. (Well, gee, the U.S. is always being accused of doing things like this for oil, you know. Why not overthrow Chavez for oil? You have the name, you might as well have the game.)

If the U.S. overthrows Chavez before the elections, there may be no economic repercussions from China because Chavez is waiting until Nov 2, election day, to determine whether he will agree to "signing irrevocable long-term supply contracts with the Chinese." China won't be able to bitch because, being pragmatists, they may still have the possibility of a deal with the new government. If the over-throw occurs after Nov 2, when the contracts with the Chinese are signed, then the Chinese come into play as defenders of Venezuela its trading and, possibly, military partner. Remember, Jimmy Carter allowed the Chinese to gain a foothold in this hemisphere, in Panama.

If John Kerry is elected in November, then Chavez may not sign the irrevocable long-term contract with China in favor of the U.S. This means that Chavez will expect some yet to be determined concessions on yet to be determined issues. If the Kerry administration complies, the U.S. will have a sweet relationship with the socialist bloc forming in South America, which is allied with Cuba. Kerry, then, will be forced to relax sanctions and restrictions on travel to Cuba. There will then be a tremendous in-flow of American dollars going in to Cuba. Consequently, instead of the communist regime, now being propped up by Venezuela, dying out for lack of funds, it will be reinvigorated by American dollars. More importanly, Castro, the aging communist lion will be in a prime position to challenge the U.S. because he will be supported by the socialist bloc in South America and a weak American president.

If the U.S. does not overthrow Chavez and GWB is re-elected, the U.S. will have to find a provider for that 15% of its oil supply which it currently obtains from Venezuela. The increased costs of shipping will raise the price of fuel and other petroleum based products slightly. Chavez, however, will have an adversary in the White House, one who may doing a count-down to Chavez's overthrow. Moreover, Cuba will continue to be choked, so Castro will continue to be reliant on Venezuela. Though Castro may continue to spout socialist rhetoric and foment unrest in South America, he is in his 70s and may likely die or be overthrown before GWB's second term is up. Thus, history will regard Castro as a failed president of a failed political ideology. His image will be further tarnished when the jails are opened and the stories of his oppression and tortures are brought to light. An aside here: why is oppression and torture always a feature of socialist and communist governments?

The other significant thing is that Chavez's socialist-communist credentials will be enhanced by his connection with China. The oil contracts may presage a closer China-Venezuela relationship that may not work to the U.S.'s benefit. However, the upside is the balance of trade between the U.S. and China. The U.S. can derail the Chinese economy without much effort. Yes, the U.S.'s own economy will take a huge hit, but China's could be destroyed. Thus, though the Chinese might play patty-cake with Chavez, they may not be willing to act against their own interests by forming any alliances with him that could damage the U.S. At least, not right now.

Now, given that the U.S. is forging strategic allies with oil producing countries in Africa (Nigeria, Mali, Cameroun, to name a few) as part of the ongoing fight against terror -- just recently, the Malienne government called on the U.S. for help in coping with Islamic terrorist. Note, they did not call France, though Mali had French ties once. -- then it is quite likely that the 15% loss from Venezuela will be replaced by oil supplies from these new trading partners. The interesting thing about this is, Africa has a very favorable impression of the U.S., and their governments are keen to be allied with this government. These countries recognize that U.S. involvement in their countries yields rewards in terms of economic growth, political and social stability, and technological advancement.

This is something that Iraq is still learning. This is also something that Europe and South America and the Caribbean are all despising.

Okay, so what does Chavez's endorsement of John Effin Kerry ultimately mean? Nothing much, as long as GWB is re-elected. Disaster, if Kerry takes the White House in 2004.

Vzla: Life in Chavez's socialist paradise

The coroner's report of the autopsy done on Juan Carlos Zambrano, killed in Lagunillas, Campo Turiaca, in Zulia State, "shows signs of vindictive cruelty (saña), it horrified us because his arm and his pancreas were crushed, his testicles burned. On top of fractures in the collar-bone, the jaw, and the shoulder plate (omóplato)," said William Barrientos, chairman of the Human Rights Commission of the Zulia State Legislature.

The autopsy also determined that in Carlos Zambrano's stomach there were traces of human feces, and hair. He also presented burn marks on his back.

"Zambrano's common-law partner," Barrientos added, "who is underage, 17 years old, told us she was raped repeatedly in front of her husband by the military police officials who arrested them."

Marcial Arguellez, a friend of Zambrano, was arrested together with the Zambrano family, filed a formal complaint about the tortures he was subjected to. "They made him eat hair," Barrientos explained that detainees had their hair cut and fed to them, and they were forced to drink filthy water and had panes of ice pressed to their backs.

Even worse, the case is being badly handled. Read the rest of the story.

USVI: Haitians arrested for illegal entry

Twenty-three illegal Haitian immigrants - 19 men and four women - are in federal custody after police and park rangers arrested them on St. John on Wednesday.

St. John Deputy Police Chief Angelo Hill said that residents began calling police to report illegal immigrants on the island at about 7 a.m. Wednesday. Stephen Clark, chief ranger of the V.I. National Park, said that the boat carrying the immigrants probably landed on the north side of the island, near Leinster Bay.
...
After coming ashore, the immigrants spread to different parts of the island. Hill said that they were apprehended in the Annaberg, Coral Bay, Maho Bay and Bordeaux Mountain areas. Unlike past groups of Haitian immigrants that have come to St. John, Hill said these immigrants were relatively easy to detain.
...
After being detained by local authorities, the immigrants were transferred to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on St. Thomas.

The Haitians will face federal charges of entry without inspection.

U.S.: Saddam tried to kiss up to Israel

A Palestinian academician, Dr. Ahmad Abu-Matar, said documents at his disposal will prove that Saddam Hussein offered to recognize Israel and provide her with information on Palestinian militant organizations if she succeded in convincing the allied coalition to refrain from attacking Iraq.

U.S.: VDH on Spain's appeasement of terrorists

In this FrontPage interview, Victor Davis Hanson is his usual retiring self.

Well, even before the terrorists' communiques were fully disseminated the Spanish electorate voted for appeasement and a socialist government that would distance itself from the United States. This is the most profound example of capitulation since Daladier and Chamberlain and sets a truly awful example: will British, Polish, Italian, and American elections now be presaged by mass murder on the assumption that decadent, affluent Westerners can be intimidated in fear of attacks?

Worse, this was not panic from a fickle leader but an overwhelming expression of public fear and intimidation. I am afraid it confirms what most of us have thought for some time about the Europeans: they want our bases and troops, but only in the shadows and with avenues of distance and denial, as a last guarantee only of their safety in extremis. I wish the Spanish had voted to expel our soldiers as well--but perhaps that will be in the next terrorist demand. And note that the Greeks, who slurred NATO in the Balkans, did nothing for it in Aghanistan, and trashed the US over Iraq, find a bomb at a Citibank office and suddenly are talking of NATO help in their Olympic security-even as the hated Americans are offering our commandos for joint practice operations with them against potential terrorist-like incursions.

As for Spain-and I say this with real remorse given their suffering and national catastrophe-not since Theodosius and the late Romans paid their annual bribe money to Attila have we seen such success in bullying and terrifying a Western nation. It is right off the pages of Gibbon in his discussion of how weak, wealthy, and fearful Westerners paid Goths and Huns before Adrianople and Chalons.  And this is the beginning not the end of it, as we shall soon see.

All Americans feel terrible about the Spanish mass murder, but how can we express our solidarity when the reaction is to repudiate both us and Spaniards who were allied with us? And contrast the American example: 26 days after 9-11 we were in Afghanistan attacking the Taliban and al Qaeda; the Spaniards n 48 hours were turning out to apologize. A sad day for the West.

Ooooh! The interview is priceless. Read the rest of it.

T&T: Singh is wrong on Latortue

Singh writes:

WHAT a shameful blunder by an unelected, interim Prime Minister of Haiti to have declared a suspension of that Caribbean nation's relations with the Caribbean Community.
...
Had the situation for Haiti not been so tragic, LaTortue's announcement that he had decided to "put to sleep" Haiti's diplomatic and other relations with Caricom would be greeted with hilarity.

What, pray tell, has Caricom done for Haiti besides talk? Worse yet, the one action that Patterson, the head of Caricom, undertook -- having Aristide stay in Jamaica -- is guaranteed to create unrest in Haiti. Latortue therefore concluded that suspending relations was the wisest course of action and would cost Haiti nothing because Caricom countries were missing in action when Haiti needed them most. The joke is not on Haiti; instead, it is on Caricom.

When Aristide was using gangs against his people and enriching himself at their expense, did a questionable election make his deeds more palatable to Singh?

Singh continues:

Except that this is not a time for laughter but to weep, as the chronically poor people of Haiti, existing in the most wretched circumstances in the entire Western Hemisphere, continue to risk their lives to find shelter in the "land of the free and home of the brave" that prefers Cuban asylum-seekers to Haitian refugees.

No more Haitians have put to sea trying to reach the U.S. since the Marines have taken control of the streets. Does the U.S. government have no right to determine whom it will admit into the country? Singh seems to think that the U.S. should be an open door for anybody who's in distressed circumstances, and he's also failing to note that the U.S. Coastguards have been vigorously implementing the wet-foot-dry-foot policy against Cubans. Furthermore, while Haitians lived in wretched circumstances, Caricom leaders puffed, pouted, and looked to have inquiries. They did nothing to improve the lot of the average Haitian; now the U.S. is, and all Singh and Caricom are doing is whining. How does that help the Haitians to find shelter? Far better than Haitians decamping for U.S. shores en masse, is that Haiti be stabilized so that Haitians can live full productive lives in their own countries. That way, fewer lives will be lost from setting out upon the seas in rickety boats. How would Rickey Singh like it if thousands of Haitians fled towards Guyana, I wonder? What would be the response of the Guyanese government?

He writes:

Debarred from turning up on America's shores as refugees, Haitians, whether for or against a government under Aristide, are now faced with the military presence of US, French and Canadian troops as an interim administration in Port-au-Prince which is not recognised by Caricom, suspends relations with Caricom.

Well, better the U.S. military presence than Aristide's; besides, Caricom didn't exactly rush to fill the void, did they? At least, with the U.S. in charge, there is a chance, providing that they remain long enough, that Haiti will actually become something. The U.S. Marines can get more done in a short space of time than the Caricom heads will in years of talking. Take a good look at what is happening in Iraq; read the Iraqi bloggers rather than the Biased Broadcasting Corporation.

Singh states:

Legal opinion, as considered up to Monday in preparation for Caricom's 15th Inter-Sessional Meeting next week in St Kitts, was that the Community is under no obligation to extend diplomatic relations to what currently exists as a "government" in Port-au-Prince.

Yep, that's Caricom for your money. Go strictly by the letter of the law no matter what is happening with the Haitians on the ground. In the same way, because Aristide was "elected," Caricom saw no reason to intervene in Haiti's affairs while Haitians suffered and died under Aristide's boot. Haiti will long remember Caricom.

He continues

But the Caricom leaders, constituting the highest organ of the Community, had decided at their emergency summit in Kingston, Jamaica, on March 11 to defer making a decision on Haiti's membership status until they meet for their 15th Inter-Sessional Meeting next week.

So typical. While Caricom defers, what's supposed to happen to Haitians?

Singh says:

Agonising over the desire for continuing solidarity with the people of Haiti and the dangerous precedent created by the reported forced removal from office of Aristide, the Caricom heads of government wanted to assess unfolding developments in post-Aristide Haiti in finally determining that country's status as a Community member.

Again, typical. Talk, talk, talk. That's the fun thing about talking; it ensures you don't have to do anything.

Singh argues that:

Now interim Prime Minister LaTortue has swiftly taken them off the hook, so to speak, by announcing a freeze in Haiti's relations with Caricom as an expression of official anger (more in Washington than Port-au-Prince?) over the temporary hosting of Aristide by Jamaica.

Here Singh's analysis is wrong. Latortue didn't take Caricom off the hook. Instead, he expressed his utter contempt for Caricom's inaction and vacillation. Instead, Latortue showed up Caricom as a bunch of chattering incompetents. Latortue demonstrated that he knows very well who will act to get things done in Haiti, quick, fast, and in a hurry, and, it ain't Caricom. So, having considered Caricom's talk and inaction with regard to Haiti, Latortue must've decided better deal with a strong horse than a dithering one.

He concludes with this:

Incidentally, it is relevant to note that Jamaica's decision to host Aristide and his wife for eight to ten weeks, along with their two children, was done with the full knowledge and concurrence of Caricom.

How could the decision have been made with the "full knowledge and concurrence of Caricom" if Barbados's Foreign Minister Miller had no knowledge of it until after the arrangements were made? How could Singh be right if the Patterson government itself stated that he only informed Carciom partners but did not discuss his decision with them?

What is noticeable about Singh's analysis is his reflexive anti-Americanism and his genuine lack of concern for the welfare and future of Haitians. Furthermore, Singh is careful to march in lockstep with the standard leftist view of what is happening in Haiti. Aristide has been done wrong; never mind that many Haitians are breathing a sigh of relief and have a chance for a real life; because the agent of change is the U.S. rather than Caricom, then that change must be condemned and Aristide's lies believed.

T&T: Unemployment is workfare

A new look Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) that includes special projects, a women's component and training will be launched in Tobago next month.

The programme, which has been the centre of controversy for many years with frequent claims of low productivity at high cost, was launched in Trinidad earlier this month. An expanded women's component, which was part of the programme under the former United National Congress (UNC) administration, has been reintroduced and would be run by women.

Under the special projects component contracts would be granted to undertake construction projects in communities. The programme has been reorganised and would be remarketed in an effort to ensure that its negative image was changed to one of productivity, providing for the family, ensuring community development and also an avenue to access other programmes and training.

Ja: Fathers are essential

Delphrene linked her son's inability to talk to the disappearance of his father from their life 14 years ago. She said Franze stopped talking at age six when his father migrated to England.

"He used to say more words like mommy, daddy, and would say when he needed water, and would also ask for food when he was hungry but he stopped talking entirely when his father left," she explained.
...
She said despite his inability to communicate his feelings verbally, he has continuously pined for his father. She said whenever he wanted to speak to his father he would pick up the telephone and when she asked if he wanted to talk to his father he would nod and she would dial his number. The one-sided conversations that have ensued over the years are rays of light in her son's life as she said he is obviously overjoyed when he is listening to him on the telephone.
...
She said sometimes he would be so overwhelmed that his very few words would fail him and he would resort to nodding in response to his father and she would have to remind him to answer yes or no as his father could not hear his nods over the telephone.

In fact, Delphrene said it is his father who might have been indirectly responsible for her son's mysterious disappearance for eight of the longest days of her life.

She said Franze saw his father for the first time in 14 years in January. She said she was told that her son recognised his father on sight without being told by any one that he was his father. She said Franze's father told her that when he saw him, Franze dropped a biscuit and drink he was drinking and started jumping up and down with glee.

She said her son's father returned to England two weeks before Franze disappeared and they surmised that the youth might have been trying to find his father when he wandered off.

In 14 years in the UK, why could not this man have arranged for his wife and child to go live with him? The boy needs a father, and the father has yet to be a man.

St. Maart: I'm going to tell on you

Commissioner Sarah Wescott-Williams has warned that if the Central Government continues to neglect its responsibility to provide safety and security for the people, she will approach the Kingdom Government on this matter.

Commissioner Roy Marlin accused Justice Minister Ben Komproe of being "insensitive" to St. Maarten's problem of understaffing of the police force and the solution by local government to have members of the Voluntary Corps of St. Maarten VKS assisting the force. "Shame on the Minister," he said.

Ja: WTD for Jamaica -- men of spine, like ANR and GWB

In an otherwise interesting essay on Jamaica's history as a temporary refuge for deposed leaders/dictators, there's this sweet little gem that makes me wonder; who would've thought that the rude bwoys are really soft men?

P J Patterson may well have saved us from tragedy as happened in Spain recently. He differed publicly with the United States of America on the matter of invading Iraq....In standing up to the USA, Patterson might have prevented a bomb or two.

The answer to Michael Burke's absurd thesis that terrorism is a state of affairs between the U.S. and jihadis, and that not being allied with the U.S. will prevent a nation's citizens from being murdered by Islamic terrorists is this, and this, and this, this, and this which concludes with what Osama bin Laden himself has stated:

Al-Qaeda's end goal is a pan-Islamic state, a new "caliphate", a Muslim empire where sharia holy law reigns supreme. So those who want to follow Spain's path of appeasement should also be ready to ... convert to Islam.

Michael Burke, who professes to know and understand history, apparently is wilfully ignoring history. If he thinks that the Caribbean need not fear coming under the Islamic sword of terror, as long as it does not side with the U.S., then he should remember T&T in 1990. The coup in T&T was intended to impose Islam on the republic, whether or not the citizens wanted to have their butts in the air five times a day. Would the Islamic horde have stopped at T&T? No. Not when there were reinforcements coming in from the Mid-East and Suriname, one of whom I saw at Piarco myself ? he was fully decked in Islamic gear and was prostrated on the ground with a soldier's boot on his neck, a huge gun at his head.

While I fully understand the desire of Burke not to have bombs added to the arsenal with which the everyday Jamaican must cope, he would be better off preparing himself and Observer readers for the coming war. For, come war will. Just as the U.S. did not seek a war with Islamists, neither has the rest of the world, including Caricom countries, but war is what we have all got because of who we are. We are Jews, Christian, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Orisha/Santeria, whatever. In sum, we are Western; we are not Muslim Arabs.

Moreover, the subtext of Burke's piece is that the U.S. deserved what it got September 11th, 2001, and so will any of its allies in the future. Given the liberal way Islamic terrorists have bombed countries around the world; given Islam's official attitude to non-Muslims, it is just a matter of time before bombs begin to explode in Kingston. Surrendering before the bombs fall will not prevent their occurrence. Converting to Islam will not either, unless one converts to the brand of Islam the terrorists promote, and one lives ones life the way terrorists want one to.

If Burke believes that Spain will no longer be bombed because of the cowardice of its people and the craven attitude to terrorism of its new prime minister, let him rest assured; it is just a matter of time before terrorists bomb the hell out of Spain again. It's just a matter of time before terrorists bomb the hell out of Jamaica. It's just a matter of time before terrorists bomb the hell out of Caricom countries. It is just a matter of time before terrorists bomb the hell out of any country that wants to appease rather than take the fight to them. It's just a matter of time before terrorists try to bomb the U.S. and its allies again. However, the U.S. and its allies won't roll over and play dead. Instead, we will fight back and never surrender.

To Michael Burke, and all those who think like him, when the bombs of Islamic terrorists start killing your people, deal with it. Don't call the U.S., we'll be too busy killing the terrorists, who want to kill us, to bother with you.

Ja: Terrorists chase PC official from job

CHRISTOPHER POWELL, secretary-manager of the St. James Parish Council, has taken administrative leave with immediate effect after his home was riddled with bullets by unknown assailants early yesterday morning.

For months the Parish Council official had been receiving threats on his life, which he reported to the police, he told The Gleaner.

Powell has now asked for an immediate transfer from the parish, having been in the job for two years.

The Council administrator, who lives in the upscale Leaders Avenue neighbourhood in Montego Bay, said he heard shots fired from outside his gate at about midnight. The bullets hit the verandah, kitchen and a side door.

"When I heard the shots, I rolled off the bed in order to protect myself," he told The Gleaner.

Hours after the incident he said he had no intention of returning to the Council at the end of his leave.

"Whoever wants the job can have it; it's not worth it," said Mr. Powell. He said he had received enough death threats in the past six months to make him take heed.

Ja: Listening to a windbag on Haiti

Go here.

Ja: Barbados pissed off at Patterson's unilateralism

It seems that PM PJ Patterson has done to Barbados, and, possibly, other Caricom members, precisely what he is ired that the U.S. did to Caricom. I guess that means Patterson has no respect for Barbados. I guess Patterson decided to strike while the iron was hot and, thus, had no time to contact other Caricom members until everything was settled. Heh.

BARBADOS FOREIGN Minister Billie Miller poured more fuel into the deepening diplomatic row over Jamaica's decision to host former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, when she claimed yesterday that Barbados was left out of the loop of that decision.

The Barbadian minister, in an address to the House of Assembly in Barbados, declared that the oversight would "clearly have implications" as she was not aware that Mr. Aristide was coming to Jamaica until "after the fact."

But Government sources here pointed out that Patterson's March 11 statement announcing the visit had not claimed prior consultation but said Jamaica's decision had been communicated to Caricom colleagues.

Notwithstanding, indications are that Jamaica is taking Miller's comments very seriously, and is anxious to smooth ruffled feathers, in an attempt to maintain a unified Caricom voice on Haiti.

Ah-wo! So PJ did not feel compelled to contact his Caricom partners before engaging in action that could potentially harm their interests? How arrogant of Jamaica's prime minister. Just because Jamaica is one of the biggest islands in the region, Patterson thinks he can throw his weight around and the other islands will have to fall in line. After consulting with the other Caricom partners re Aristide, what would it have cost Patterson to contact them before acting decisively to bring Aristide to Jamaica? Jamaica's Caricom partners ought to go complain to Caricom (oh, Patterson has the chair), to the OAS then, to the UN. Whomever. Caricom countries ought not to take this insult lying down.

Foreign Minister Miller also said this:

In a voice clip carried on the radio programme 'Nationwide', the Barbadian minister is quoted as saying that Mr. Aristide's move from the Central African Republic back to this region was not the subject of a Caricom initiative.

"I as Foreign Minister of Barbados was informed by the Foreign Minister of Jamaica after the fact," she said.

"This is clearly a matter between the Government of Jamaica and Mr. Aristide but clearly there are implications for us and in no way could I dream of pre-empting what the Heads might conclude when they meet in St. Kitts next week."

Now, I thought that Patterson had been speaking for all of Caricom? Oh, PJ, PJ, PJ! Tut-tut-tut!

Hti: OAS electoral chief says forget Aristide

Amb. Orlando Marville, chief of OAS electoral mission to Haiti, founding board member of Haiti Democracy Project.

A recent session of the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee on the situation in Haiti immediately revealed that everybody was interested in Aristide (to demonise or beatify him) but no one seemed really interested in Haiti.

Oddly, the situation as it is now represents probably the last window of opportunity left for that great country, riddled with poor governance and abominable leadership. The first need is to disarm the various thugs that control or roam the streets of Port-au-Prince. That has evidently vaguely begun.

The next step would be to provide food, clean water and other humanitarian needs to the people of Haiti. This would have to be followed by the reconstruction of the police force as a non-political control within the country and the rebuilding of the justice system.

Then one could begin the long – at least over two years – the process leading to a general election. This would require bending the constitution, which requires that an election for the presidency be held within forty-five days after the resignation of a president. That deadline is likely to be exceeded under any set of circumstances.

It is necessary to forget Aristide, even if he is back in Jamaica. He was elected in circumstances that would not have been acceptable anywhere else in CARICOM and he has polarised the country, put murdering gangs on the street and created a great deal of wealth for himself and poverty for the people. He is unlikely to be a positive force in any Haiti of the future.

What role does Amb. Marville envision Caricom will play in creating a viable Haitian state, one wonders? Also, has PM Patterson heard what Marville has had to say? Does he care?

Bdos: The key to the fishy oil dispute with T&T?

LOCAL crude oil reserves will increase by 400 000 barrels and natural gas by eight million cubic feet with the drilling of six wells in Phase 2 of Barbados National Oil Company Limited’s (BNOCL) drilling programme.

This was disclosed yesterday by Minister of Energy Anthony Wood at the start of the programme at Lower Greys, Christ Church.
...
While the focus had always been in Woodbourne, Wood said it was now necessary to find new areas.

The planned exploration well recognised that the fields in that area were in production for several years and were declining, Wood added.

Bdos: Bishop's killers win appeal

An appeals court overturned the life sentences given to 17 Grenadians for the 1983 killing of Marxist leader Maurice Bishop, saying Tuesday the sentences were unconstitutional.

The prisoners will be resentenced within 42 days, Grenada’s Court of Appeal said, also ruling that the initial mandatory death sentences passed in 1986 were illegal.

Hti: Democrat discovers Democrats not democratic

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said he would have sent American troops to support Aristide.Ý As a Haitian-American Democrat, active in the American political process, I shuddered.Ý Indeed, the discourse coming out of the Democratic Party regarding Haiti is remarkably one-sided, in support of Aristide.Ý Whatever happened to Democrats supporting democratic values?Ý Do these leaders truly believe Aristide governed Haiti democratically?

From Randall Robinson, the champion of the fight against South African apartheid to Congressman and ?woman Charles Rangel (NY) and Maxine Waters (CA), to Jesse Jackson, what we get is strident support for the failed Haitian former President and his kidnapping charges against the United States.

Do their views reflect those of the majority of Haitians and Haitian-Americans?Ý Apparently, they do not.

Dude, the first thing you learn is that liberal Democrats love leftists no matter how bad they are. So, they'll bitch about how the U.S. overthrew Aristide, and they'll screw over the people of Haiti cuz they don't really care about the average everyday Haitian. Remember Charlie Rangel? Big Aristide fan. Rangel has never spoken to a single Haitian other than Aristide.

The writer is Paul A. Barthole, president, Democrats of South Dade Club. Somebody out there in FL, send the man a whole pack of brand new electoral registration forms; make sure GOP is written in, too.

The first thing immigrant blacks to these United States ought to learn is DO NOT GET ON THE PLANTATION!

Hti: Liberal discovers liberals stifle diversity and free speech

The co-founder of a left-wing foreign policy think tank has told CNSNews.com that he was forced out of his job two years ago for complaining about the think tank's growing support of then-Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the financial connections between Aristide and the Congressional Black Caucus.

In 1975, James Morrell helped create the Center for International Policy (CIP), a Washington, D.C.-based group that pressures the U.S. to consider a foreign government's human rights record when it hands out foreign aid.

But in 2002, Morrell said, he grew increasingly unhappy over the CIP's support for Aristide, who was facing growing criticism at home and abroad for failing to enact promised reforms in his poverty-stricken country; for the fraud that attended the Haitian elections of 2000; and for the violence that was allegedly being committed by the president's supporters.

Read the rest.

Gya: Bauxite for Brazil

A HIGH level technical team of experts from neighbouring Brazil is currently in Guyana exploring options for the supply of metallurgical bauxite.

THIS double bridge at Success, East Coast Demerara, is almost completed. It is one of the many bridges that are being built as part of the rehabilitation of the coast's public road.

The way was paved for the mission through a recent one-week bauxite visit to Brazil by a Guyanese team that included Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Robert Benn, and Head of the Privatisation Unit, Winston Brassington.

Gda: Politician wants guns for farmers

Demand the right to bear arms for all citizens, except criminals, dude.

An opposition Senator in Grenada is calling for the issuing of firearms to farmers in the country.

The call was made by the newly appointed Farmers Representative in the Senate Keith Clouden. He told a sitting of the Upper House recently that guns should be given to farmers so that they can protect themselves when they go to their fields.

Senator Clouden complained about the serious impact Praedial Larceny is having on the farming community in the country. The Farmers Representative pointed out that thousands of dollars are lost each year by farmers as a result of theft of their crops.

DR: Dodd thinks U.S. staged coup in Haiti

Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut spoke out on the notion that US taxpayers may have paid to train the Haitian rebels who forced the departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from Haiti. The Democratic senator from the Eastern state is questioning whether the US supplied arms to the anti-Aristide rebels. As reported in El Caribe and Hoy newspapers, Dodd speculated that the DR was used to transfer weapons to the rebels for strategic planning of the effort to depose Aristide. El Caribe reports that sources indicate the US had sold the DR 20,000 arms in the past two years. Dodd felt an investigation should be carried out of sources who alleged that 600 armed Haitian men received training in the DR, funded by US sources and called for an inquiry into the US’s role in the Haitian political changeover.

What matters is not the truth of the allegation, but the seriousness of the charge. That's the standard Democrat mantra.

Cuba: The old lion still has teeth

There is growing but unnoticed threat to U.S. national security. A new terrorist, nuclear/bioweapons and geopolitical threat may well come from an axis including the regimes of Castro in Cuba, Chavez in Venezuela and the pro-Castro presidents of Brazil and Ecuador.

Together, these four countries have a population of 223 million.

Castro, Chavez, and Brazil's President Lula da Silva all have years of links with Iran and China. Visiting Iran in May 2001, Castro said, "The peoples and governments of Cuba and Iran can bring America to its knees."

Cay: Opposition questioning Bush's commissions

The Leader of the Opposition, Hon Kurt Tibbetts described the Legislative Assembly statement made by the Hon McKeeva Bush concerning recent allegations made against him in the on-line newsletter Offshore Alert as "unsatisfactory" and "alarming." 

The allegations involved Mr Bush receiving a number of payments totaling over $345,000 from The Ritz-Carlton developers in 1999 and 2000.
...
Mr Tibbetts said that Mr Bush's admission that he personally received payments gave rise to more questions. "Instead of castigating the source of these allegations and maligning me as he did this past week in the Legislative Assembly, the Leader of Government Business ought to provide some answers."

Some of the questions Mr Tibbetts had for Mr Bush included asking why the payments were made directly to Mr Bush by The Ritz-Carlton developer and not to Cambridge Realty and Windsor Development, and why the payments, if they were for commissions and expenses, were not made to these companies in the usual wa

Cay: FBI looking at Black's dealings

According to the London Times, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is believed to be helping the American regulators in their investigation into Lord Black, former boss of Hollinger International, and, through his holding companies, a 40 percent shareholder of Cayman Free Press.

Sources close to the investigation claim the FBI is assisting the Securities and Exchange Commission probe into millions of dollars paid to Black, David Radler, his former deputy, and others. 

Black has also been called to account for some $1.5 million in dividends from Cayman Free Press, which he has so far reportedly failed to do.

Bmda: Kerry not to be taken seriously

Government officials said yesterday that fears that US presidential hopeful John Kerry's Bermuda-bashing could wreak havoc on the Island's reputation have been blown out of proportion.

Sen. Kerry, the certain Democratic nominee for the Oval Office, has vowed in several speeches given along the campaign trail to shut down the so-called 'Bermuda tax loophole' enabling companies to invert their place of incorporation offshore to trim their US tax bills.

But Government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was important to separate what was, in effect, campaign rhetoric from Sen. Kerry's track record of supporting free trade policies.

They said Sen. Kerry had, during his 19-year career in the Senate, proven that he was unlikely to espouse "protectionist" policy if elected president.

"Kerry has voted for every free trade agreement," one of the officials said.

Instead, Sen. Kerry's Bermuda bashing should be seen not as a ploy to win votes from the average American but as an appeal to organised labour, knowing he needs the support of the unions if he is to make a successful bid for president.

Does Kerry ever mean anything that he says? Obviously, Bermuda doesn't think so, since they know his talk doesn't correspond to his walk.

U.S.: Virgin gives men at JFK a chance to hit the sweet spot

Even though they allow for high-volume servicing and back-in-a-flash trips to the john, the point-and-shoot-a-stinky-deodorizer-cake oddity known as the men’s restroom urinal has been, for women, a constant enigma. But nothing will prepare you for the men’s room in the newly-designed Virgin Airways Clubhouse in New York’s John F. Kennedy airport, terminal 4: Urinals shaped like a woman’s mouth, dolled up with red lipstick, wide open and ready for business.

“In anything that we do there has to be a smile, and that’s the smile in this Clubhouse,” said John Riordan, Vice President of Customer Services for Virgin Airways.

Ja: Pleasure doing business with you

JAMAICA IS in the top 10 of list of countries that is easy to do business with says Karen Turner, Mission Director of United States Agency of International Development (USAID).
...
He said in a recent world ranking report entitled 'Doing Business 2004', Jamaica was ranked in the top 10 countries that regulates business the least.

"Jamaica is the only developing country on the list together with countries such as Singapore, United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Australia," she said.

Great news! Now, if other Caricom countries relaxed their bureaucracies, business could boom for the entire region.

Ja: No more guns from the U.S. for a little while

GUN DEALERS are analysing the implications for their businesses after it emerged yesterday that the United States had ordered a freeze on the licences of all dealers to import guns and ammunition into Jamaica.
...
A member of the Police High Command who spoke with The Gleaner yesterday said the problem between the US and the dealers began about three years ago after questions were raised about the quantity of firearms and ammunition that were being imported to Jamaica by some dealers within what they determined to be too short a period.

The Gleaner understands that at one stage the State Department had contacted Police Commissioner Francis Forbes on the matter and for several months both parties exchanged correspondence.

Further reports are that at least one dealer almost lost his licence following a court matter in which the local police seized a large cache of ammunition from unauthorised persons. The ammunition was purchased from the particular dealer.

Gleaner sources say that it was reports of that nature that prompted the State Department to began taking a closer look at the importation of guns and ammunition to Jamaica.

Hey, gunslingers, don't worry about how you're going to get guns. In fact, you'll have access to more guns now that the freeze is on. Look at T&T; it's Dodge City down there with guns that are smuggled in from South America and every last place else. So, take heart, you Djangos and Sanchos.

U.S.: The enemy we face

It's always a good thing when the enemy reveals himself. This enemy, against which we fight, has never been shy about declaring his true ideology and sentiment concerning us in the West. We have been shy about believing that the enemy means what he says. Be shy no more.

The obligation of hating false religious

This Saturday's LIVE talk on Paltalk will discuss one of the greatest forgotten obligations in Islaam - Hating false religions. Allaah (swt) orders the believers to hate all other religions, way of lives, creeds, doctrines and beliefs that contradict with Islaam, and one cannot be Muslim without to declare animosity and hatred towards kufr, bid'ah, shirk and nifaaq (Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Democracy, Freedom etc.).

For you adherent of multiculturalism out there, I don't want to hear it. I'll stand for the superiority of Christianity, and of Western civilization, in spite of all its flaws. If these guys stopped at hating, nobody would care. However, their ideology demands that hate be lived out in action, hence jihad.

Ja: Caricom had no Plan B

At the same time, Prime Minister P J Patterson yesterday betrayed scepticism of the emerging accusations from "our erstwhile partners" against Haiti's overthrown leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, when they were not so long ago willing to sit with him in hemispheric councils.

This from the same PJ Patterson who did not think it fit to attend Haiti's independence celebrations because of concerns re the legitimacy of Aristide's election.

Did Caricom even attempt to discover why the Opposition did not trust Aristide? It seems not. Instead of investigating whether there was any merit to the Opposition's distrust, which would have informed Caricom that Plan A was without merit, Caricom leaders may have regarded Haiti's Opposition in the same light as they would the oppoisition in their own countries. How could they be so short-sighted as not to take into consideration the oppressive history of Haiti's past political leaders? How could they ignore the words of Aristide's former supporters?

In the aftermath of his Parliamentary statement, Patterson was asked by Seaga if it had come to the attention of Caricom that there were grounds laid down by the Haitian Opposition why they did not want Aristide to remain in office.

The prime minister's response was that there were a number of allegations made, which perhaps could be summed up "in the simple term, that they did not trust Aristide".

"It is not an unusual allegation for persons in Opposition to make of any duly constituted government," Patterson said.

Moreover, Aristide's government was not "duly constituted." Instead, even Caricom acknowledged that there were just grounds for doubts about the legality of the elections. Thus, Caricom had two red flags in relation to Aristide and ignored both.

As if this isn't bad enough, Patterson reveals that Caricom had no Plan B in case the rebels did not consent to share power with Aristide.

Asked by Seaga whether Caricom had a back-up in the event the initiative they had placed on the table failed, Patterson said what was proposed, in the opinion of the Community, had "all the ingredients" to preserve the constitutional framework of Haiti, promote democratic governance and create a situation where free and fair elections could be held in an atmosphere of stability.

"We were prepared, after discussions, had the Opposition parties brought proposals to the table, to consider the effect of those proposals, but there were certain fundamental principles which we made clear from the start," Patterson said. "That is to say, we were never going to support a coup d'etat, in any shape or form.

"...We did make it clear, however, that if in the event President Aristide chose voluntarily to submit his resignation then that was a reality with which we would have to deal and the provision within the Constitution would then have to be triggered and come into effect."

Yet, when Aristide resigned, because he didnot contact any Caricom leader previous to his resignation; because he lied to Caricom and the world when he claimed the U.S. kidnapped him ? the same way he had lied to his past supporters who had left him ? Patterson and Caricom chose to believe Aristide against all the evidence of past performance. Caricom chose to place its trust in Aristide rather than in its reliable partner the U.S.

How could Caricom expect to play politics on the global stage if it comes to the game without a contingency plan? Absent a Plan B, all that was left to Caricom when its only Plan failed was sheer disappointment and a sense of betrayal. Worse yet, Caricom regarded the U.S. as their betrayer, rather than Aristide and Caricom's own inability to devise or envision the need for contingency plans. Having been caught out, Caricom, rather than breaking for tea and coming back to the field refreshed and with a new perspective, continues playing the same old lousy game that led the region into a rift from its nothern ally. Moreover, Caricom is compounding the problem by being amenable to the ardent whispers of its southern-most socialist neighbor.

Caricom still has no Plan B, and, worse yet, appears to have no clue as to how the winds are blowing globally, and thus will not have the sense to get out of the big rains when they begin to fall.

There is a price that Caricom will have to pay for its alliance with the increasingly socialist South Americans, and that price is economic viability. Hopefully Caricom has a Plan B for that.

Dca: Clemency plea for jailed students

There has been a call for pardons for the 3 Dominican students presently in jail in Cuba. Convicted on drug charges, they could be in jail for up to 15 years, and a charity is asking Govt. to intervene. Source: Marpin TV News

PR: Who will adopt Vieques?

The government is inviting people to "adopt a beach" in Puerto Rico and help authorities keep the island's shorelines free of debris, an official said Wednesday.

The Natural Resources Department does not have the resources to maintain its 132 beaches, spanning 140 kilometers (87.5 miles) along the U.S. Caribbean territory's coasts, department Secretary Luis Rodriguez said.

"The beaches are one of our natural resources most used and visited by thousands of people every day," Rodriguez said. "These visits generate thousands of pounds of garbage" left strewn on the sand instead of thrown in trash cans.

PR: Velez Arocho buckles to anti-ROTC students

The camp sites that were set up by students last semester in opposition of the ROTC program’s at the Mayaguez campus were being dismantled Wednesday after proterstors reached an agreement with dean Jorge Ivan Velez Arocho.
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"The ROTC’s will remain in their old buildings and will also move into the Army ROTC’s installations in the Sanchez building,” said the dean in his letter.
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However, the agreement doesn’t guarantee that further conflict won’t occur given that the ROTC will keep operating inside the campus. Protest had rocked the university for about a year.

Lesson to be learned: no compromising with terrorists.

St. Kts: Bird confident of electoral victory

"Show me your voting finger!" A confident Lester Bird said, echoing the refrain of one of the popular political musical commercials (called politmercials) now deluging the airwaves.

The Prime Minister, who will be dissolving Parliament this coming Thursday, made the declaration as he had the 1200-plus delegates at the Antigua Labour Party (ALP) Convention cheering and waving, earlier today, when he confidently told them that, "the ALP will win the next election."

St. Kts: Working current events for political gain

The recent spate of criminal activity in our Federation has caused much concern among citizens and visitors.  The entire Nation is angry and outraged over the upsurge in serious crimes mostly committed by our youths.  As the crime wave increases, our society is forced to its knees and criminals are going about their business with impunity.  Daylight robberies, open street shootings and gang warfare are now everyday occurrences.   Compounding this problem is criminality infecting the police force.

Recent shuffling in the police force suggests that a plot is being hatched to make a corrupt cop Commissioner of Police.  If such a plot succeeds, we can tell ourselves that our Nation will surely be driven into anarchy.  The reputation of the corrupt cop is well-known.  What manner of man will intentionally run his car over his wife’s foot?  What manner of man will falsify evidence in court against his co-workers?  What manner of man will undermine his superiors for thirty pieces of silver?

The police force is short of money, short of vehicles, short of specialized skills, and very short on morale.  We need to give the police all the resources they need to effectively fight crime.  That is why the PAM will professionalize the police force by giving it its own budget and clear roles of responsibility, and expand training opportunities for its members.  The PAM believes that the police force must become an independent law enforcement entity, free of the present practice of political interference by the Ministers of government.  PAM will chart a new course for crime fighting in this country.This is part of our pledge to the people of St.Kitts and Nevis.

St. Lca: They should lose the key of the jail on him

Yesterday 39-year-old Felix Dominique of Ciceron was found guilty of having sexual intercourse with a nine-year-old girl at his home on May 18, 2002.

Justice Indra Hariprashad-Charles presided over the trial that began on Monday. The girl, now eleven, testified about her sexual molestation.

Dominique pleaded not guilty. He had no lawyer. Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Victoria Charles-Clarke appeared for the Crown.

The victim, now age eleven, fiddled with her hair as she related the horrific details of her abuse.
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The girl said the man had pulled down her pants, unzipped his and proceeded to have intercourse with her.

“It was hurting. When he finished he just sat down. He told me to stand in a corner and then said I had to sit on his laps. He said if I told anyone he would cut my neck. I heard my uncle calling,” she went on. “My uncle went on top of the house. I saw my uncle peeping through a hole. He called me and I answered. My uncle broke the window. Then Bouden Poule put his hand through the window and unlocked the door. My uncle asked me what he was doing to me. I said he was bulling me. My uncle told me to go and get my clothes. We went to my grandmother’s. She told me to bathe, then we went to the police station and the hospital.”

Outside the courtroom the girl’s mother spoke with reporters.

“I feel very bad about what happened to my daughter,” she said, “very bad. I want him to go to jail for the rest of his life. They must not put him out again. She was just nine years old. She is very small.”

The mother said her daughter had stopped eating and wasn’t sleeping well since the incident.

BI'm surprised the kid's uncle didn't put a thorough beating on this pedophile dog.

St. Maart: Big coke bust

Curaçao police officer H. van Capella, a St. Maarten-based businessman whose initials were given as J.V. and his son were among a dozen people arrested when a major Colombian cocaine smuggling organisation was dismantled and 200 kilos of cocaine confiscated.

Chief Prosecutor Cor Merx said J.V. , a national of Colombia and the owner of World of Silver, a jewellery store on upper Front Street, was believed to be the head of the drug-smuggling organisation.

Merx also disclosed that as a result of this major drug bust, "everything in World of Silver" had been confiscated.

Among the detainees were seven Colombians (four men and three women), two Dominicano men and three Antilleans, including the woman A. van der G. and the Curaçao policeman. Seven homes were searched in Curaçao and several in St. Maarten as well.

Drug dealers are like terrorists; they're ubiquitous.

Gya: Corruption in government

Quacks and invalids run Guyana. Truly.

A reading of the report into the investigation of the issuance of duty-free concessions to remigrants leaves the very clear impression that there was pernicious fraud and corruption cutting across the Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs.

While the President has quite appropriately ordered that vehicles in question be seized and an investigation into the granting of concessions prior to August 2003 be done, it is unclear why the report has not also been submitted to the police for their immediate action.

T&T: Caricom cutting off its nose

The United States says it expects Caricom to recognise the interim Haitian government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue but Caricom says there is no guarantee that would happen.

Deputy US State Department spokesman, Adam Areli, told the Express: "I think Caricom and the members of Caricom have been fairly outspoken on the matter but they have said they are willing to work with the government of Prime Minister Latortue so we have every expectation that Caricom will recognise the Haitian government. We expect that will happen."

The Jamaican government has already said it does not recognise the Haitian government and will not do so until a collective decision is made by Caricom which is expected to meet next week on the matter.

Meanwhile the Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez has announced that it also does not recognise the interim administration and has further offered Aristide asylum in Venezuela.

Chavez has also announced that as far as his government is concerned Aristide is still the President of Haiti.

What would it take, for once, for Caricom to make a decision that does not have to be delayed by a week? How does Caricom expect to be taken seriously if it will not move expeditiously? How can Caricom be regarded as having Haiti's best interests at heart if it takes action that will foster instability and upheaval in Haiti?

T&T: Feel good ribbons adorn PoS

I can't help wondering how much those stupid ribbons cost. All things being equal in T&T, it must have been a lot. Since the ribbons are in support of the fight against HIV/AIDS, might that money not have been more wisely spent? If the ribbons are any indicator, the "$570 million National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan 2004-2008 [launched] at Hilton Trinidad" will include a whole lot of waste.

T&T: Time to settle the LNG matter

It's a very reasonable argument. Here's an excerpt:

I accept the argument, and indeed it is age old, that Bechtel International and Atlantic LNG, on whose behalf Bechtel is constructing Train IV at Point Fortin, are in the business not because of altruism, but to make a profit. Without that profit neither can for long remain in business, and not only they but the workers and their families suffer. What the workers would be entitled to question, but it can only be through reasoned argument, would be the intent of the business, domestic or international, maintaining a level of profits at the expense of worker dignity.

However, as long as the workers receive a reasonable return for their labour, that is, are provided wages and/or salaries both in keeping with norms for the industry and likely profits for the employer, they would not be likely to see themselves as underpaid. With specific reference to the workers on the construction of Atlantic LNG’s Train IV, they are temporary workers, id est workers not only without security of tenure, but whose jobs end with the completion of the project.

T&T: Venezuelans infringing on T&T's territorial integrity

THE Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard will soon acquire two additional patrol boats to complement its fleet which will be used to curtail piracy on the high seas and to prevent illegal fishing in territorial waters. Minister of National Security Martin Joseph made the disclosure in the Senate yesterday in response to a question from Opposition Senator Wade Mark, who wanted to know the steps being taken by Government to curtail the resurgence of piracy in the Gulf of Paria and other territorial waters. In 2003, there were three reports of robberies at sea, where crew members on fishing vessels were robbed of their engines, fuel and fish, said Joseph.

So far there have been two incidents of robbery on the high seas for the year. Both incidents occurred in February; one off the Five Islands and the other at the Felicity River. In most of the incidents, the perpetrators were “Spanish-speaking men,” said Joseph.

"Spanish-speaking men" is code for Venezuelans. Unless the "Spanish-speaking men" are Arabs from the Muslim Triangle who have begun infiltrating not just T&T's waters, but T&T itself. If that is the case, then Enyahooma-El, who had attempted to import Mac-10s with silencers, requires closer scrutiny.

Vzla: Chavez manipulating Caricom

President Chavez Frias' offer to President Aristide comes at the critical moment, as Aristide touches down in Jamaica for a visit and frenzied US State Department mandarins implement measures to curtail possibilities of Aristide returning to power in Haiti or dictating policy to followers from a Caribbean base.

Analysts suggest that Caribbean Economic Community (Caricom) leaders hold the key to pushing the Aristide issue and this latest offer from President Chavez Frias may force their hand to lobby the OAS,  at least to review the case in the light of OAS Democratic Charter, which the Venezuelan opposition and the USA government has waved in front of President Chavez Frias since the political conflict in Venezuela escalated.

From PM Manning's visit to Venezuela, it is clear that Manning is willing to be an anti-U.S. patsy.

Vzla: No law in the land

Venezuela got closer today to a huge Constitutional crisis as most institutions aligned with the Government refused today to even consider accepting the validity of yesterday’s decision by the Electoral Hall of the Supreme Court.

The division reflected the deep polarization of Venezuelan society, except that this time, it is institutions and high ranking Government officials refusing to recognize a decision by the highest court of the land.

Vzla: The local argument why the recall will not happen

Chavez cannot, will not go to a Recall Election. If he loses it, his international career is over. He might still have some future in Venezuela but he can forget about becoming Castro's heir.

His people cannot let him go to an election that he might lose, because without Chavez they are nothing. After 5 years, perhaps the most amazing thing in chavismo is that it has produced no one with a shred of leadership, except, wits will say, for Lina Ron.

We are not talking politics here, and even less ideology or sense of mission. We are talking about a group of people that made off with power, and privilege, and as any good Mafia or street gang, they are not going to let go.

It is really quite simple. Everything else are mere words of justification.

This is most likely true at the local level. At the international level, it is highly unlikely that the nascent socialist bloc in South America, allied with Cuba and, perhaps, the new socialist leader of Spain, will allow the Venezuela's recall election to come to pass. Too much is depending on it.

The Caribbean, in which there is an unhealthy amount of anti-U.S. sentiment, may be caught in the middle, as well as it may decide to toss in its chips with the socialists in South America, seeing them, in the post-Aristide world, as a counter-weight to U.S. power in the region. Enough Caribbean countries have flirted with socialism, or have had semi-socialist or outright socialist governments (T&T, Grenada, Jamaica, Guyana all come to mind) to make these countries make the wrong decision of aligning themselves with the anti-free trade socialists.

The recent Chavez moves in relation to Guyana; T&T's PM Manning's visit to Venezuela seeking support for Caricom's position, in relation to Aristide, are enough to raise questions.

Vzla: Recall likely to be bloody

At this moment, the possible ratification process and the very recall election are unimportant. The government counts on the guns in hands of the civilians, international support from the neo-socialism and the majority of the Armed Forces. This is "the mother of all wars." But there are battles yet to come. After the February 27, 2004, tragedy, crime and perversion will continue harassing peace. The media have contributed to create a fictitious freedom leading to many protests and causing serious problems that have kept a dictatorship from strengthening and growing. This dictatorship would possibly have generated conditions for a civil war. It is clear, then, that this polarized politics-war will be followed by an armed confrontation.

Meanwhile, a non-aligned majority is expecting to go beyond the wars and the deaths. It is a community of nearly 40 percent of the Venezuelans, who do not support any of the polarized blocs and feels that the solution of the problems requires the elimination of this government and this opposition and the installation of a new way of constructing the society.

Read the entire essay. It's very good. Bear this in mind, too. The recall is likely to be bloody because the stars are aligned for the socialist governments in South America — with a socialist government in Spain — and lead by that aging communist lion, Castro, to consolidate power in order to form an anti-U.S. bloc intent on challenging the U.S. with nuclear weapons. Consider this report:

Since the days of FDR the U.S. has pursued America’s "Good Neighbor policy," aimed at fostering close ties and friendship with the nations south of the Rio Grande.

But today that policy is in shambles as one major Latin country after another has fallen to anti-American leaders who admire Fidel Castro. Behind the growing anti-U.S. atmosphere is a carefully planned and executed drive to turn South America into a Marxist stronghold challenging the U.S. and eliminating every shred of its influence there.
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And while the White House feels all warm and cuddly about Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's economic policies, he is busy plunging his nation into communism and allying himself with Castro and Castro's puppet in Venezuela, Chavez.

Moreover, there is friction between the U.S. and Brazil over new U.S. security measures that include photographing and fingerprinting foreign visitors. Brazil has retaliated by imposing similar measures for U.S. travelers entering crime-ridden Brazil.
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But these are merely symptoms of the turmoil in U.S. relations with its southern neighbors. The danger lies in the steady advance of a Latino version of the Soviet Union.

Already three major South American countries are infected with the Marxist virus: Venezuela, a major source of oil for the U.S.; Brazil; and Cuba, where Fidel Castro is acting as the midwife for communism’s rebirth.
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Brazil is the locus of the newest Marxist threat to the region. As NewsMax.com has reported, since "Lula" da Silva took office in January, 2003, Brazil has become a new staging area for communism in our hemisphere. It has toyed with becoming a nuclear threat.

Working behind the scenes is Lula's foreign policy adviser, Marco Aurelio Garcia, a notorious hard-line Marxist operative and founder and executive secretary of Sao Paolo Forum, a coalition of leftist parties and revolutionary movements dedicated, he admits, to "offsetting our losses in Eastern Europe with our victories in Latin America."

In an article he wrote about Marx's "The Communist Manifesto," he concluded: "The agenda is clear. If this new horizon which we search for is still called communism, it is time to re-constitute it."

In other words, rebuild shattered world communism in Latin America.
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Brazilian-American Gerald Brant, a former candidate for federal deputy (Congress), wrote that in his native land, "a country of significant social inequalities, Marxism in Brazil has always been a force, but it has never been as close to realizing true power in this country as it is now. By abandoning the traditional Marxist strategy of launching an armed insurgency and revolution, Brazil's Workers' Party, known as the 'PT,' has been able to effectively elaborate a 'Gramscian' [inspired by renowned Italian Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci, widely read in PT circles] strategy of penetrating the key institutions of civil society and democracy first, and then using the legitimate authority conferred by elections to abridge constitutional restraints to establish a Marxist state."
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The Times reported that Brazil would resist a plan by the International Atomic Energy Agency that would allow for spot inspection of nuclear sites.

In addition, "Brazil has announced that by mid-2004 it expects to join the select group of nations producing enriched uranium and that within a decade it intends to begin exporting enriched uranium. But it is balking at giving international inspectors unimpeded access to the plant that will produce the nuclear fuel.

"Government officials say efforts to enrich uranium are entirely peaceful in purpose … as a peaceful nation, Brazil, which has the world's sixth-largest known deposits of uranium, should not be subject to the same regimen of unannounced spot inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran and Libya have recently accepted."

Brazil has refused to allow inspections that would reveal the capacity, characteristics and scope of the equipment developed by its navy to enrich uranium. These inspections, if allowed, would assist in determining whether Brazil is indeed seeking the enrichment of uranium for peaceful purposes or is pursuing a weapons program that many officials within the Brazilian government have occasionally alluded to in the past.

These are indicators of movements toward development of nuclear weapons.

Luiz Vieira, president of Nuclear Industries of Brazil, admits that the technology developed by the navy's Sao Paolo Technology Center could be used to build an atomic bomb.

USVI: School violence has authorities wringing their hands

An assistant principal of Charlotte Amalie High School said Tuesday that police surveillance of the campus is inadequate to curb what he called a "huge discipline problem."

"We don't have enough coverage, we don't have enough people and we need to be more consistent about where we are patrolling," Assistant Principal Eric Blake said at a Parent Teacher Student Association meeting.

The school has been denied authorization from the Education Department to hire more campus monitors. CAHS, with 1,600 students, employs the same number of security staff members as does Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, which has 900 students.
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The school's PTSA president, Shastri Hendricks, said that parents are feeling a sense of urgency as incidents of violence - such as a stabbing last week across from the school - continue to be reported.
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Responding to questions from parents about the safety of the school, Blake said that many of the recent fights can be traced to a rivalry between residents of certain housing communities.

The Barbel Plaza stabbing across from CAHS last Friday, in which witnesses reported seeing about 10 boys in CAHS uniforms attack a man who was holding a baby, was rooted in one of those rivalries, he said.

Blake said several students suspected of involvement in the stabbing were asked to stay home from school pending a disciplinary hearing later this week in order to prevent more violence from breaking out.

The problem is not the number of guards, but the students themselves. If they and their parents are serious about education no extra guards would be required to improve the school's security climate. Putting an end to the violence doesn't necessarily require additional cost outlays but firm parenting, strict educational supervision, and the state's willingness to prosecute offenders, regardless of age. It is astonishing that "students suspected of involvement in the stabbing were [only] asked to stay home from school pending a disciplinary hearing." A stabbing is not just a school discipline matter, it is, and ought to be treated as a law enforcement matter. That way, the students involved are confronted with the seriousness of the law, their parents are encouraged to clamp down on them, and the state signals it will not tolerate lawlessness in the schools. Mollycoddling perpetrators of school violence and treating them with psychobabble only ensures more of the same, piled higher and deeper.

Hti: Jamaica joins with Venezuela in rejecting Latortue

Jamaica and Venezuela say Jean-Bertrand Aristide is the rightful leader of Haiti and refuse to recognize the new Haitian government, the BBC reported.

The announcements came after Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue introduced a new 13-member cabinet, excluding all members of Aristide's former ruling Lavalas party.

"We don't recognize Haiti's new government," said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. "The president of Haiti is named Jean-Bertrand Aristide and he was elected by his people."

Chavez then said Venezuela was prepared to offer Aristide asylum. He is now in Jamaica visiting his daughters after seeking exile in the Central African Republic last month.

Jamaica also said it would not recognize Latortue's authority, at least until after a regional summit of the Caribbean Community scheduled for next week.

The sheer folly of this act by Jamaica, in particular, is incredible because Patterson's decision is bad politically and economically.

In the first case, Patterson's decision to invite Aristide to Jamaica and to not recognize the Latortue government contribute to instability in Haiti. If Aristide's supporters take strength from Jamaica's position and Aristide's proximity, and they are, every attempt will be made to foster a civil war that will result in the deaths and flight of many Haitians. Instead of stability and movement towards the development of infrastructure and a civil society in Haiti, there will be further erosion of what little infrastructure that remains. How does this help Haiti? It doesn't, but Jamaica apparently does not care.

Furthermore, an additionally destabilized Haiti is one from which refugees will take flight. The U.S. will not permit an influx of Haitian refugees, and GWB has already stated this unequivocally. The most likely beneficiaries of this influx of refugees will be Bermuda and Jamaica. Already experiencing budgetary problems, Jamaica can ill afford to bear the costs of new refugees. The chances are non-existent that Jamaica will be able to secure U.S. aid to help with the problem. Neither can Jamaica look to Caricom, Venezuela, or South America for that aid for each of these have their own fiscal problems. Caricom needs Haiti to be a productive and contributing regional partner. The Haitian people are resourceful and hardworking enough that, with the proper infrastructure, Haiti can be that partner.

Additionally, Jamaica is alienating a key ally, the U.S., and allying itself with the socialist and terrorist supporting Chavez in Venezuela. Caricom does not have to like Republican politics (which are better for American and world economy), but that is not an excuse for doing that which would facilitate Chavez's aims to destabilize this entire region (allowing Aristide to return to the Caribbean). Furthermore, nobody says that Caricom has to jump to do the U.S. bidding. In fact, it is a good thing if Caricom can show that it is a reliable but, at times, independent partner to the U.S. on regional issues. However, the Aristide affair is not one of those times. It is not a demonstration of Caricom's independence, but of its pique that rapidly moving circumstances precluded the U.S. from advising Caricom that Aristide had resigned. It is quite possible that both the U.S. and Aristide failed to inform Caricom because both parties knew that Caricom would have pushed for more dialogue at a time when talk would only permit slaughter and instability to continue. A State Dept spokesman, appearing on a news conference shown on Fox News, stated that Aristide had called and said he was ready to go. The official informed that when the soldiers arrived at Aristide's house, he and his wife were already packed, and the letter of resignation was in his suitcase! The prospect of a bullet to the brain is marvelously persuasive.

Now that Chavez has offered Aristide asylum, an offer that he will most likely take, Jamaica's folly in permitting Aristide to come, ostensibly to be reunited with his daughters (are there no flights to South Africa?), will have ramifications for the entire Caribbean. Lest we forget, South America, increasingly becoming socialist, is home to the Muslim Triangle (the nexus of Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil) and to the drug running cartels of Colombia. This combination of terrorism and drugs, in alliance with Chavez, Castro, and Aristide (who allegedly already has drug ties, and who will surely accept Chavez's offer and use Venezuela as a base to foment war in Haiti) will pose a danger not just to the U.S., but to every Caribbean country. In the Spanish election of last Sunday, terrorists demonstrated their ability to topple a U.S.-friendly government and elect a socialist one which is soft on terror. Similarly, the equally soft on terror socialists in South America have demonstrated their unwillingness to prevent terrorists from entering their countries and congregating in the Muslim Triangle. Chavez is reputed to already have Islamic terrorists in Venezuela and to be using these to stifle dissent.

It is quite likely from these circumstances, therefore, that Chavez would use Aristide, supported by terrorists from the Muslim Triangle, as a spear-head, first against the U.S. Marines who are seeking to bring order in Haiti; second, against other Caribbean countries and Guyana; and, third, against the U.S. itself. For, as T&T and Guyana well know, Venezuela has long had territorial aspirations concerning these two countries. Which Caribbean country, already infiltrated with drug courriers and drugs from South America, has the resources to prevent terrorists from coming in and launching attacks against their populace? None. Why would terrorists want to do that anyway? They would, as part of the global jihad to bring the entire world under the oppressive flag of Islam.

Thus, by giving Aristide a temporary home in the hemisphere, instead of letting him go directly to South Africa (in spite of his assertion that South Africa is a stopping off point to Haiti) Jamaica will be seen as having provided the means to destabilize the entire western hemisphere. South Africa could not provide Aristide with the arms and men (terrorists) with which he can reclaim his position in Haiti. Venezuela can.

Hopefully, Patterson will wise up in short order and realize that a thumb in the eye is not the way to conduct regional affairs.

U.S.: Wonder no more

Get out of that wonder bag!

I've got unimpeachable info about the identity of the foreign leaders who are supporting John Effin Kerry. They're wonderful men, all. Go take a look see.

Ja: Latortue to Caricom, bugger off!

We are surprised, and deeply disappointed by the decision of Haiti's interim, UN-elected prime minister, Gerard Latortue, to recall that country's ambassador to Jamaica and to freeze relations with the Caribbean Community (Caricom).

Mr Latortue, it seems, has taken the action to protest Jamaica's decision to permit a two-month sojourn in the island by the deposed Haitian leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and Caricom's expression of unease over the coup d'etat that was fomented against Mr Aristide.

But in his actions, Mr Latortue has displayed patently poor judgment, a lack of diplomatic skills and, we suppose, a susceptibility to bad advice. Indeed, we would suggest to Mr Latortue that he review his decisions and adopt a more measured approach to policy formulation before he causes irreparable harm to his nascent administration and Haiti's ultimate ability to find consensus, a critical ingredient to democratic governance.

Jamaica Observer to Latortue, grow the hell up!

The editorial writer of the Jamaica Observer must've spent a lot of time listening to Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD).

Ja: Maybe the U.S. isn't so bad

The current cat-and-mouse game being played out which has led to strained relations between the present dispensation in Haiti and the United States government does not augur well for us as a country and can only be justified if indeed all along Aristide, the angel, has been speaking the truth and it is the United States that has been the devil in this scenario.

The unfortunate thing is that Aristide's presence may well be the Patterson administration's latest act of distraction as "Rome burns". And if this is so, then Prime Minister PJ Patterson must be reminded rather forcefully that you can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time.

The current imbroglio surrounding Jean Bertrand Aristide's sojourn in Jamaica must be seen against this background and not be narrowed down into an anti-Bush campaign. The bottom line is that America has been good to this country in many ways. It can also be successfully argued that America on occasions has been a big, bad bully and has only looked out for its self-interest.

Hey, thanks, dude. Read the rest for yourself.

Ja: Is partying more important than cricket for Windies?

WEST INDIES team manager Ricky Skerritt expressed surprise at allegations that several members of the team were partying until close to 4:00 a.m. on Sunday morning.

That was just hours before being blown away for a record low 47 runs later that morning in the second innings of the first Test against England at Sabina Park.

"Players were seen out partying last night? ... Do we have evidence of that?" he queried when asked by The Gleaner to comment on the situation.

"If anybody can bring any evidence to me, I can assure you that very serious action will be taken," assured Skerritt, when asked how badly partying during the middle of a match affected the players' performance on Sunday.

Informed sources told The Gleaner the players were observed partying at two places on Saturday night.

It is not the first time that the West Indies team has been linked to partying in the middle of a match. During their recent tour to South Africa, The Daily Despatch newspaper reported that a number of players were spotted at an East London nightclub at 3:00 a.m., the morning before the second day's play of their tour match against Border.
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When asked if players can party after a match, he said:

"We don't party after a match when we lose."

Maybe Windies parties before the matches and that's why they lose? I mean, if your head is banging from a hang-over, and you're running on an hour or two sleep, nobody can expect you to take the field and score as if you're serious about playing cricket, you know.

Ja: Kidnap victim free to roam

Huntley Medley, the former press secretary for Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, who has been assigned Mr. Aristide's media liaison officer, told The Gleaner yesterday that Mr. Aristide was "in very good spirits."

"He thanked the Government and people of Jamaica for agreeing to his request to stay for a short time," Mr. Medley said. "He also thanked the Government of the Central African Republic for the hospitality there."

How is it that Aristide was under guard in Bangui and yet was able to request that Jamaica put him up for a space? How is it that his jailers in Bangui let the kidnapped one escape?

Ja: JLP says Patterson's gaming the country

THE OPPOSITION Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is charging that Jean-Bertrand Aristide's visit to the island is part of a design by Government to divert attention from the budget presentation scheduled for next month.
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"We already know that when he stays here for 10 weeks, the budget debate will come and go and instead of the issues of taxation... coming to the fore, they are hoping that the newspapers will tell us what Aristide ate for lunch each day."
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"The whole intention is, if we can get everybody talking about Aristide and if you can get them quarrelling over Aristide, then people won't know that come the first of April (when) property tax gone up, people won't be talking about that, all they will be talking about is Aristide," said Senator Golding.
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We won't allow ourselves to be distracted; we have a focus. The Haitians have got rid of Aristide. Our purpose, our mission, our task must be to get rid of Aristide and the Haitians (as distractions)..."

Also, the JLP chairman is cautioning that the country could find itself entwined in a serious diplomatic controversy for inviting Mr. Aristide here.

Mr. Golding said the former Haitian President's lawyers announced on Friday that they would be filing a suit against the United States Government and four officials of the French Government, including the French Ambassador to Haiti and the sister of the French Foreign Minister who is reported to have visited Haiti in December and encouraged Aristide to step down.
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At the South St. Catherine constituency conference held at the Old Harbour Primary School, much concern was expressed about the cost of hosting the ousted Haitian president. Audley Shaw, the JLP deputy leader, said K.D. Knight, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, could not give an answer as to how much it would cost to host Mr. Aristide and his family in the island over the eight to 10 weeks, when asked.

"Well, come hell or powder house they are going to answer my question in parliament, how much it is costing to bring Mr. Aristide to Jamaica?" he demanded with much applause and shouts of endorsement from the gathering.

Sharon Hay-Webster, Patterson's emissary who escorted Aristide here yesterday from Central African Republic, said on radio that the trip by private jet was funded under arrangements made by U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters, with support from the US Congressional Black Caucus, Randall Robinson, and TransAfrica.

Bobby Montaque, Mayor of Port Maria, expressed his displeasure at the Government extending support to the Haitian refugees.

He said huge sums are being spent to construct proper infrastructure to accommodate them, while the citizens of St. Mary and surrounding areas continue to suffer from a lack of proper social and economic infrastructure.

The honeymoon is surely over. Now, Jamaicans should make Patterson and his party pay the price for this bit of theatre.

Gya: Hands off Gajraj

THE People's National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) staged another walkout from the National Assembly after it unsuccessfully sought to adjourn the agenda of the National Assembly yesterday to discuss what it described as a matter of urgent public importance was disallowed by the Speaker, Ralph Ramkarran, on the grounds that it did not meet the requirements of a matter of urgent importance and it was not tabled in accordance with the time schedule for submitting such a motion.

Leader of the Opposition and the PNC/R, Mr. Robert Corbin sought to bring to the National Assembly the issue of the alleged existence of death squads and their linkage to Minister of Home Affairs, Ronald Gajraj as a matter of definite urgent public importance, contending that it poses a serious threat to human rights in Guyana.

Reading from a letter he sent earlier to the Speaker indicating his intention of moving the motion, Corbin reiterated the PNC/R's call for an independent inquiry into the allegation of the minister's involvement in death squads, and his removal from office to accommodate such an inquiry. He added that similar calls have been made by local political parties and reputable human rights international organizations.
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The PNC/R members then proceeded to join a protest outside the National Assembly held at Ocean View Convention Centre, calling for the removal of the Home Affairs Minister.

Imagine that! The Guyanese Minister of Home Affairs may not travel to the U.K., Canada, or the U.S. because his visa has been revoked because of allegations concerning his links with death squads. Worse yet, Guyanese citizens who have knowledge of murders, allegedly committed by the death squads and police officers, dare not come forward for fear of their lives. Yet, the party in power does not consider that those allegations are of "urgent importance" so no discussion can occur; moreover, the government puts petty parliamentary procedure as a stumbling block to justice.

As long as there are death squads in Guyana, there can be no rule of law. There can be no open government or law enforcement. If Gajraj cannot be brought to account, then one must wonder who is the real power in Guyana? Clearly, it's not PM Jagdeo ... unless he's in league with Gajraj.

Bmda: Kerry flip-flops on companies that outsource

"Just as we predicted earlier, now he has the nomination he appears to be backing off from his anti-Bermuda rhetoric because he will have to appeal to a broader base of Americans," said Deborah Middleton, chief executive officer of Bermuda International Business Association.

"He will need to move more to the right and win over corporate America if he wants to be able to raise money and compete with Bush." And he dropped any mention of Bermuda from his victory speech on Tuesday night ? the first time he has not had a go at Bermuda in weeks.

"My campaign is about replacing doubt with hope, and replacing fear with security," he said. "Together we will build a strong foundation for growth by repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to cut the deficit in half in four years and invest in health care and education.

"We will repeal every tax break and every loophole that rewards any corporation for gaming the tax code to go overseas and avoid their responsibilities to America.

"We will provide new incentives for manufacturing that reward good companies for creating and keeping good jobs here at home."

Ms Middleton said that there was a change in tone in the Kerry speech, which meant he was not going after big business directly.

"Interestingly, instead of talking about penalising companies, he's now talking about rewarding them with incentives if they stay in the US," she said."There is the belief that he will concentrate on the issue of outsourcing which does not affect us, except that in one of his speeches he confused outsourcing with corporate inversions and we all know, there's not much manufacturing in Bermuda!"

I guess this means that Kerry is in favor of corporate welfare for big business. So much for no tax cuts for the rich. Give them a tax increase, and then give them tax-payer monies. I guess that's not a tax cut for the rich. Heh.

Bmda: Caribpundit gets results! Well, partly

Vanity dictates that I take some slight redit for this, so I will.

Government is to launch a public inquiry into the death of prison inmate Steven (Pepe) Dill.

Mr. Dill died at the Farm Facility in St. George's on December 19, 2001 after pleading for medical assistance for seven hours after suffering an asthma attack.

An inquest into the death in October last year ruled that Mr. Dill, 41, died as a result of "the absence of timely medical intervention from the complication of bronchial asthma, which was possibly exacerbated by poly-drug abuse".

But last month Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser ruled that no criminal charges would be brought in the case, adding that, "a prosecution would not be in the public interest".
Yesterday Home Affairs Minister Randy Horton said: "During the past week, I have discussed the issue of an inquiry with His Excellency the Governor, the Commissioner of Prisons, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and the remainder of my Cabinet colleagues.

"I wish to announce a public inquiry will be held to determine any weaknesses in the Island's correctional system relating to the medical care of inmates, and to determine which changes should be made in keeping with modern day medical care for persons who are incarcerated."
Details of the composition of the board and its terms of reference will be announced during the coming weeks.

Go here to see what I said about the Dill case on February 21, 2004.

As I said at the time and still say today, in Bermuda, "prison authorities have been reliably informed that they can do as they please with prisoners because the state says 'it is not in the public interest' to prosecute for the death of a prisoner." Minister of Home Affairs Randy Horton concurs with DPP Ratneser because, instead of addressing the core of the problem itself, prison conditions and the brutality of the guards, he addresses the ancillary issue which is that of medical care for prisoners.

Steven Dill died because the guards on duty that day failed to do their jobs; when the prisoner called for medical assistance, the guards refused to answer. Consequently, Steven Dill died before he could receive any medical care. Whether the prison's medical facilities were up to the task of saving Dill's life, we will never know because the man was allowed to choke to death in his cell. During the long time it took him to die, before he gasped for his last breath, the amount of terror Steven Dill experienced makes the guards crime more heinous. There can be no worse sensation than knowing your bronchioles are closing themselves off and you can't do anything about it. There's nothing worse than lying there panting and fighting for every last bit of air, and receiving none. It was absolute horror of staring down this preventable death to which the guards subjected Steven Dill.

Even if the Bermudan government makes changes to correct "any weaknesses in the Island's correctional system relating to the medical care of inmates," Steven Dill would have still died because, in this instance, the problem was not with the medical care but with getting Dill to it.

Meantime, the government boys, in their suits, white shirt, and ties, speak smugly of "weaknesses in the Island's correctional system relating to the medical care of inmates," thinking that what happened to Steven Dill will never happen to them. Like Stalin sang several years ago, "the table turning round, round and round, all them oppressor now the oppressed one."

Now, let's hope that Bermuda gets justice for Steven Dill.

Bdos: Bureaucratic gods

Gods unto themselves! That is the way some Government departments behave. When the taxpayers of this country approach them with legitimate concerns, they treat us like common beggars. They want us to literally go down on our knees and entreat them to get their attention.

Read the rest of it. Governmentitis is the same around the globe; in the Caribbean, it is at its worst. What to do with bureaucrats? Electing them doesn't seem to change them. In fact, elections ensure that the populace will be pandered to and buttered up during the election cycle and largely ignored once it's over and the lucky bureaucrat assumes office. Then, the excuse for indifference becomes "the conscience of the bureaucrat." So, what's the best way of ensuring that bureaucrats are responsive? Here's a modest proposal: every bureaucrat is hired on a one year contract and his case files and their disposition must be a matter of public record. At the end of the year, the bureaucrat may be hired for another year only if thirty-five percent of those he served during the year reccomend the continuation of his services. Yes, there are disadvantages to the process, bureaucratic continuity being one of them. That's fine. What matters is that the gods will know that they are not gods but are slaves serving the at the will and pleasure of the people.

T&T: Labor strife in sugar and oil

In the sugar industry, sugar workers are making waves.

The Trinidad Islandwide Cane Farmers Association (TICFA) has issued the government an ultimatum, demanding that either the "farmers are allowed to take the lead role in resuscitating the [sugar] industry or government shuts it down and pays off the farmers".

The sugar industry in T&T is not likely to survive because the industry is badly run; the government has been pouring money down this hole for decades. T&T can purchase sugar more cheaply from Guyana, which will result in lower shelf prices.

Meanwhile, unrest is still bubbling in LNG and oil

Police yesterday arrested seven men at the campsite of striking sub contractors employees working on the expansion of the Atlantic LNG plant at Point Fortin. Three of the men later alleged they were beaten by police.

But police officials said they were not aware of anyone being beaten.
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Lennox Ronnie, 42, of Gerard Street, New Village; Angus Prince, 37, Warden Road; Milton Quammie, 48, of Reyes Street; Reynold Cato, 19, of Concrete Trace; brothers David, 31, and Kerwin Williams, 18, of Hollywood Road and Paul Sylvester, 20 of Warden Road, pleaded guilty .
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Back at the campsite, workers representative, Ernest Thompson, said the men were not only wrongfully arrested but claimed that three of them were beaten by police. David Williams, who was not employed on the Train Four expansion, said he was beaten and suffered a cut on his chin. He told the Express said he went to the campsite to call one of the workers when the police arrived. Cato and Rennie claimed that they too came in for blows from the officers.

T&T police are well known for liking to dispense body music. Whether or not these men have been beaten is still up for debate; meantime, public opinion in T&T is likely to side with the men. It's all about reputation, guards. Police have to learn to police themselves when nobody is looking.

Also

At Point Fortin, police spent several hours early in the morning, ridding roads of debris, which was said to have been thrown by striking workers at the liquid natural gas plant Train Four, and which hampered motorists. They arrested seven men for preventing the free flow of traffic (See separate story).

The workers, who are employed by sub-contractors, have been on strike for the past month for higher wages.

Their spokesman, Ernest Thompson, said they were not satisfied with Prime Minister Patrick Manning's handling of the situation and charged that the Government was allowing ALNG to "exploit workers and treat then with no respect".

He slammed newspaper reports that the lowest hourly rate paid by Bechtel was $25.40. "Foremen are he only people who get $25 an hour. The lowest rate now is $18," he said.

ALNG's manager Public/Government Affairs Esther Le Gendre explained how the hourly rate was calculated. "The basic rate is $18 an hour and $2.80 is added to that sum as a safety bonus. The workers are also paid $140 each week as a fringe benefit. But this amount is paid after the end of the work stint," she said.

At least one area is quiet.

At Point Lisas, tug operators employed with PLIPWIJS will meet company officials at the Ministry of Labour on Monday morning. PLIPWIJS is a joint venture company between Dutch firm Svitzer and Plipdeco (Point lisas Industrial Port Development Corporation Limited).

Rawle Baddaloo, vice-president of PLIPDECO, said the workers had reported for work and ships were berthing "as usual".

The Express was told that PLIPDECO and its workers' representatives had also started negotiations for the period 2004-2007 and were expected to meet next week to continue discussions.

And at Pointe-a-Pierre some 150 temporary workers at State-owned Petrotrin continued protest action outside the company's refinery gates yesterday morning.

Prices are way too high in T&T for workers to be earning these miserably stingy wages. At $25 an hour, the foreman at LNG earns approximately $4 USD.

T&T: Keeping an eye on the nuts

ONE of the three Muslim fundamentalist organisations listed by the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force, as being under "constant surveillance" is no longer in existence.

The Express was informed yesterday that the Masjid Al Murabiteen, one of the three groups named by the Security Officer of the TTDF as a Muslim fundamentalist group which is under constant surveillance, once operated out of Marabella, but closed its doors sometime last year.

That mosque was headed by fallout Jamaat al Muslimeen member Hasan Anyabwile. Anyabwile is said to be abroad in a middle eastern country.
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Meanwhile, head of another named group, the Waajihatul Islamiyyah Umar Abdullah said he is not worried about the Defence Force surveying of his organisation.
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"As Imam Bakr said all of us are already under surveillance from Allah."

He added, "I am not accountable to the people who have me under surveillance. I am accountable to Allah. There are certain things Allah will allow them (the disbelievers) to see and certain things Allah will not allow them to see.True Muslims do not engage in activities that oppress people. We are not criminals."

Somebody ought to tell this guy about the plight of women and non-Muslims under Islam.

As for Anyabwile, on general principle, the government of T&T ought to deny him re-entry, especially if he's been to Saudi Arabia or Pakistsan. The Jamaat Al-Muslimeen already attempted to pull a coup in 1990, who needs Anyabwile to return with and most likely disseminate that nutty Wahhabism? T&T can't afford to have that preached.

T&T: Ramesh slams Caricom

FORMER ATTORNEY General, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj yesterday hit out at Caricom leaders for their support of former President of Haiti, Jean Bertrand Aristide.

Responding to questions on Caricom's stance in support of Aristide, Maharaj told reporters: "By their silence, it is as if Caricom has encouraged corruption in Haiti. Caricom heads do not seem to really want to deal with Governmental corruption. Leaders of Government and ministers of Government have plundered their treasuries."

Maharaj had earlier said some of the Caribbean prime ministers had sat and allowed corrupt acts to be carried out in Haiti, adding that before Aristide was leader of Haiti, he was a priest and after assuming leadership, became the richest man in Haiti "stealing the peoples' money".

Maharaj, who was fielding questions from reporters after addressing squatters in Arima of their rights, said Caricom leaders did not want to talk about corruption in leadership and the poverty of the people because they were only interested in amassing the wealth for the few, pointing to Venezuela, where he said the vast majority of the people cannot enjoy the wealth of the country.

Well, Ramesh, you've come a long way, baby! He's dead right, though. Caricom displays no hesitancy in talking about constitutional processes and rule of law, according to which, in their view, Aristide would be ruling the roost in Port-au-Prince. Yet, not one Caricom leader has spoken out against the corruption of the Aristide government and its human rights abuses. Rank hypocrisy, to be sure. Instead of standing up for the Haitian people, Caricom leaders have attempted to cover their own rear ends against coups, even though the history of the Caribbean shows it not to be coup-prone. Speak on, Ramesh.

U.S.: Why appeasement is not an option

THE terrorist murders in Madrid have but one message for all Australians: we must stand firm against those who wish us harm for no reason other than their hatred for our way of life. It now seems likely the Madrid bombs were the work of Islamic terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qa'ida terror network. As Prime Minister John Howard has warned, there is every reason to fear these madmen will try to kill Australians, either at home or abroad. It is a danger we must confront. There is no other path that would end the terrorists' dream of slaughter.

Those who say we have brought the threat upon ourselves, and that renouncing the war against Saddam Hussein and abandoning the US alliance would take us off the target list, ignore the lessons of history, and defy commonsense. Such arguments are directly descended from those of the European appeasers in the 1930s, who were willing to give Nazi Germany whatever it wanted as the price of peace. But bullies feed off fear, and for the three years before World War II every concession by France and Britain only generated another demand for more territory or changes to treaty terms. The appeasers were doomed to fail in the face of their foes' contempt for their very reasonableness. As Winston Churchill put it in 1940, "an appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last". We face a similar situation today. Hitler dreamed of European dominion and of slaughtering millions of ordinary people – Jews, Gypsies and Slavs – on the basis of a grotesquery of ignorance and hate. For Australia to seek peace in our time by pandering to the similar objectives of Osama bin laden and his confederates would be treason to our foundation ideals of democracy and equality.

And why are those who say we have created this threat so wrongheaded? In the first place, even if the terrorists were to target us because we helped liberate Iraq, that would not make our decision wrong. And second, the line of reasoning that says Spain was targeted because of its role in the coalition of the willing, and hence we will also be targeted, is flawed at every step. We were already targeted – in Bali – months before the Iraq invasion. And as the comments of the Bali bombers made clear, that was because of who we are, not because of anything we have done. Values such as secularism, equal rights for women and even allowing the consumption of alcohol simply make us unfit to live in the eyes of the Islamofascists. Which of these values would the appeasers have us sacrifice first, when abandoning the US alliance – a true act of suicidal madness in any case – failed to do the trick? The brief of Mantiki 4, the branch of Jemaah Islamiah responsible for Australia, is not to change the direction of Australian foreign policy, but to incorporate Australia into the group's messianic vision of a pan-Islamic state, spreading from Malaysia to the southern Philippines, in which values such as freedom and tolerance will simply no longer exist.

If participation in the war on terror or in the war against Saddam Hussein are now what make countries a target for terrorists, how does that explain the devastating attack on the Marriot Hotel in Jakarta last August, which killed 12 people and left another 200 injured? Most of those victims were devout Muslims, citizens of a Muslim country that fiercely opposed the Iraq invasion. Russia, like Germany and France, opposed the invasion of Iraq, but that did not help the 39 commuters killed by a bomb on the Moscow subway last month, an act also linked to al-Qa'ida. Among international institutions, none threw more obstacles in the way of the Iraq invasion than the United Nations, but that did not save Sergio Vieira de Mello, the veteran UN official, or the 16 others killed last August when the UN headquarters in Baghdad was bombed.

In Turkey, another Muslim country, a bomb in November killed dozens of innocents. Critics of US policy will say that is because Turkey allowed its air-bases to be used in the invasion of Iraq, but just how far do they want to lower the bar of what is permissible for a country before it is targeted? Even Saudi Arabia, the origin and stronghold of the strain of Wahabbist Islam practised by Osama bin Laden, and a country with intricate links to the September 11 terrorists, did not meet the required standard: a series of co-ordinated suicide bombings in Riyadh last May slaughtered dozens.

Nor is there any reason to believe Madrid was bombed last week solely because of Iraq or the war on terror. Spain did not even participate in the invasion of Iraq: it is one of 30 nations that have sent troops since the war ended. The fundamentalists' argument with Spain is far crazier. In October 2001, a videotape by Osama bin Laden broadcast on the Al-Jazeera network began as follows: "Let the whole world know we shall never accept that the tragedy of Andalusia will be repeated in Palestine. We cannot accept that Palestine will become Jewish." In other words, bin Laden has still not forgiven Spain for turning back the tide of Muslim expansion in 1492. The hardline Islamist program, in all its raging madness, is to throw into reverse every historical event that has resulted in a Muslim country becoming a non-Muslim country, or even resulted in non-Muslim troops being stationed on Muslim soil. There can be no reasoning, no compromising with such a vision. because, far from being a rational political program, it is not even a fanatical ideology: it is a millenarian religious doctrine which believes that through vicious and random violence it can wind the world back to the Middle Ages.

Because such a doctrine can never fulfil its aims, but is nevertheless being prosecuted by murderers who believe they will go straight to heaven if martyred in its service, appeasement is a fatal mistake and can only result in more bombs. Sunday's election result in Spain can be read in many ways, including some that have nothing to do with appeasement. For example, voters were clearly and understandably unhappy that the conservative government rushed to blame Basque separatists before any hard evidence was in. One grave danger in the result, however, is that it will be read as a success by the terrorists: "We bombed the Spanish government out of power." Another danger is that, throughout the West, political opportunists on the far Left or far Right may take the Spanish example as a cue to ramp up their campaign to blame terror on the very leaders who have taken a strong stand against it, such as Tony Blair, George W. Bush and John Howard. This will also provide great solace and hope to the suicide bombers-in-waiting.

We have no option then but to stand firm against our enemies and accept that the risk of a terror attack in Australia is a fact of life, just as the people of London, Moscow, New York and Tel Aviv have done for years. The grim reality is that Madrid's fate can be ours. But while there is no price we can pay that will buy peace, this does not mean we are defenceless. We need a bipartisan approach to national security. Labor must support any further legislation that strengthens the ability of the police and security services to hold and question suspects. As international terror expert Rohan Gunaratna warned yesterday, the fact that the local head of JI left Australia legally a week after the Bali bombing demonstrates the need for tougher laws to restrict the movement of suspected terrorists and their confederates. And we must increase the resources we devote to defeating terrorists so they do not have a chance to strike. The only thing that can protect us from terrorism is our vigilance and understanding that we are at war with an enemy as remorseless as it is irrational.

The great pity of it is that Spain has secured more bombings for itself.

DR: Tragedy strikes home

The sad news of two confirmed Dominican deaths in the train blasts in Madrid, Spain last week was carried by most of the weekend papers. Martha Scarlet Plasencia Hernandez and Enrique Garcia Gonzalez were listed as dead by the Dominican embassy in the Spanish capital city. Other Dominicans injured in the terrorist attacks were Nelly Grullon and Sandra Severino, who were treated and released from hospital, and Julio Cesar Martinez Morillo, who sustained three broken ribs and metal fragments in another rib and is awaiting surgery. Spanish authorities do not discard the possibility that other Dominicans are among the unidentified victims of the tragic bombings.

The pity of it is that Spain was so eager to appease the terrorists that it regards the 200 lives lost as worthy only of mounring and not as cause for retaliation. Cowering in a corner and begging "don't kill me" cannot be a response to terrorism... except in Europe.

DR: Haitian rebels kidnapping Dominicanos

A group of between 12 and 36 Dominicans was said to have been kidnapped by Haitians identified as "rebels" by Dominican authorities. Apparently, the kidnapping was in retaliation for the arrest of one of the Haitian rebel leaders from Juana Mendez identified as John Robert, alias "Ovep." While the numbers vary in the Hoy and El Caribe reports, both stories say the armed revolutionaries were demanding the release of Robert, who was jailed along with the Dominican Ivan Garcia, in connection with the murder of two Dominican soldiers patrolling the Haitian border last 14 February. Sources said the Dominican hostages had been transferred to Fort Liberte and that most of the detainees were drivers or businesspeople who had been at the local market in Juana Mendez when abducted. According to El Caribe, some of the victims come from as far away as San Pedro de Marcoris, Mao, Santiago and Santo Domingo.

DR: IMF has Santo Domingo by the short and curlies

A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that arrived in the country last week suggested tighter fiscal controls over the electoral process, all the while maintaining that the country was fulfilling its obligations in relation to the economic recovery program. The IMF mission met with President Mejia over breakfast at his residence. Anoop Singh headed the IMF team as director of the Department for the Western Hemisphere, and was joined by Jose Fagembaum, Stevens Philips and Ousmend Mandeng. In his statement to the press, as reported by Hoy, Singh said that this election period "requires the application of more fiscal controls, as well as monetary, but what we have seen tells us that this is being done."

Cuba: Castro a resurgent threat to the U.S.

This is an excerpt form a reportby Dr. Constantine C. Menges, an acclaimed expert on Latin America at the Hudson Institute in Washington.

There is growing but unnoticed threat to U.S. national security. A new terrorist, nuclear/bioweapons and geopolitical threat may well come from an axis including the regimes of Castro in Cuba, Chavez in Venezuela and the pro-Castro presidents of Brazil and Ecuador.

Together, these four countries have a population of 223 million.

Castro, Chavez, and Brazil's President Lula da Silva all have years of links with Iran and China. Visiting Iran in May 2001, Castro said, "The peoples and governments of Cuba and Iran can bring America to its knees."

Chavez also visited Iran in 2001 where he declared a "strategic alliance" with that sponsor of terrorism.

Since 1990, Lula da Silva has chaired the Forum of Sao Paulo, a Castro-initiated international group that has convened all the communist and terrorist organizations of Latin America, many terrorists from the Middle East and Europe, as well as representatives of Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Vietnam and China.

The new pro-Castro axis could expand to include more than nine countries with 340 million people. There is also the possibility that thousands of Islamic and newly indoctrinated regional terrorists could try to attack the United States from Latin America.

Combining the strategic experience of communist Cuba, its Soviet-provided bioweapons technology with the oil derived financial resources of Venezuela and the long-established nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs of Brazil could mean that the pro-Castro axis might be able to threaten its neighbors and the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.

Also, communist China has established close political and military relations with Cuba (1999) and Venezuela (2000). It is flying two reconnaissance satellites with Brazil, and President Lula da Silva has announced his plans to greatly expand Brazil's relations with China. Therefore, it is likely that the pro-Castro axis could soon be geopolitically aligned with and militarily helped by communist China.

Cuba: Having food is a crime

At six o'clock in the morning March 10 about 10 travelers getting off the bus from Pinar del Río were arrested by police when a search of their luggage revealed they were carrying cheese, fish, coffee and cockroach poison, among other products.

The two police officers involved in the operation later transported their prisoners in small groups in a patrol car.

Typically these arrests result in fines and confiscation of the products being transported.

Imagine that, these people have the nerve to want to eat! How dare they? Fortunately, police in Castro's socialist workers paradise are there to ensure that lucky Cubans don't get ideas above themselves and think about eating.

Cay: Parmalat's shell game

Parmalat's Brazilian units transferred $1 billion to the company's accounts in other countries, including the Cayman Islands, reports Italian newspaper Il Sole/24 Ore, citing documents from the Brazilian central bank. 

The money was shifted from Parmalat's Brazilian accounts between 16 April, 1999, and 27 December, 2002, the newspaper reported, citing the central bank's official records of capital movements. About $250 million entered Parmalat's Brazil holdings over the same period, Il Sole said. 

Parmalat, Italy's biggest dairy company, was declared insolvent on 27 December after saying a bank account with almost $5 billion purportedly held by a Cayman subsidiary didn't exist. Founder Calisto Tanzi and 18 other people have been detained in connection with the criminal investigation by Italian prosecutors.

Bmda: On independence

BRITAIN is neither embarrassed nor ashamed that it still possesses overseas territories and, despite what the ruling Progressive Labour Party says, there is no ulterior motive to push Bermuda towards independence, British MP and chairman of the All-Party Britain-Bermuda Parliamentary Group Ian Davidson said yesterday.

The PLP has been gaining mileage out of recent comments and decisions by the British Government to support its position that it’s time to cut the apron strings and move towards independence.

Bmda: No more U.S. visitors for Castro

AMERICANS banned from flying to Cuba from the U.S. will be able to do so from Bermuda when new charter flights are introduced this summer, but a crackdown by the Bush administration means they could face stiff penalties when they land on home soil.

Read the resto of the story. It's worth it.

T&T: Human rights for "sex workers" the route to legalization of prostution

"THE human rights of the sex worker are not protected when their activities remain illegal," according to Dr Brader Adaleine Brathwaite, of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine.

Brathwaite spoke yesterday, the final day of the university's three-day symposium on Gender Sexuality and the Implications for Substance Use and HIV/Aids. Her topic was "The Situation of Commercial Sex Work in Trinidad and Tobago in the context of the HIV/Aids Epidemic".

In a paper she wrote, she said the legal system that attempted to control commercial sex workers was either corrupt or weak, and trying to curb the trade using existing legislation was difficult.

What about the impact of prostitution on the female sense of self-worth, Brader? No matter how much the politically correct attempt to prettify the language, women will always be demeaned by and feel diminished by prostitution.

T&T: Manning seeks Chavez's support vs U.S.

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning's recent visit to Caracas was in an effort to get support from Venezuela for Caricom's position that there was need for an investigation by the United Nations into the circumstances surrounding the departure of former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Highly-placed diplomatic sources in both Caracas and Trinidad said Manning went to Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez to explain to him Caricom's position on the matter and to get Venezuela's support.
...
Venezuelan diplomatic sources said: "The President listened to what Mr Manning had to say and indicated that Caricom could depend on his Government's support because Haiti was a member of Caricom and if the regional grouping felt there was a need for an investigation, then there should be one."

Chavez subsequently released a statement calling for an investigation and has also decided to give US$1 million to aid Haiti.
...
Aristide has alleged that the United States Government facilitated a coup d'etat and kidnapped him as rebels were about to take the Haitian capital.

Caricom has since been demanding an investigation into the matter, which the US has rejected as unnecessary, dismissing Aristide's claim as wild and false.

Manning had better remember that the friend of my enemy is my enemy, and that, when the chips are down, it's not Venezuela who answers the call.

T&T: Becoming a litigious society

A DEBE widow whose husband was murdered last year has been granted leave to challenge Prime Minister Patrick Manning's failure to appoint a Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.

She is claiming that had the Board been in operation, as provided for by law, she would have been entitled to monetary compensation for her husband's death.

T&T: Soldiers guarding at LNG

Police confirmed that the company had sought police intervention because it said some 80 percent of the workforce wanted to return to work but were scared of workers on the picket line. The plan is for police to escort some 300 workers into the company this morning, the Express was told.
...
The soldiers are working in conjunction with the police. Officers from the Patrol, Guard and Emergency and Crime Suppression units were dispatched to Point Fortin yesterday.

"They are armed to the teeth, down to dogs and tear gas if needed," said a source.

The striking workers are employed by sub contractors. The main contractor, Bechtel International Inc, said in a number of newspaper advertisements at the weekend that the protest had cost the average worker $1,500 a week. It said the minimum wage of a worker who works the 50-hour work week on Train 4 projects was $25.40 an hour.

The workers are asking for a $35 an hour minimum.

Ja: Calls for compulsory school attendance

For several years now, Jamaica's average attendance rate at the primary level of education has ranged between 75% and 80%. There are schools in certain geographical areas where the rate has been as low as 70%. There is little evidence to suggest that this situation will improve any time soon. Indeed, a deficit attendance rate among the nation's 320,000 primary school students of approximately 20%, must have very serious consequences on learning time and achievement in schools. This situation therefore begs correction.
...
We can compare the foregoing scenario with that of Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, where school attendance is virtually 100% and the students do relatively better in external examinations, other variables concerning examination results remaining constant.

For example, in these countries the success rates in CXC's Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations in English and Mathematics have been between five and 10 percentage points higher than in Jamaica. These two countries, along with several in the hemisphere, including Cuba, have instituted compulsory school attendance for several years now and the results are partially seen in the high success rates in many common external examinations.

Bdos: T&T screwing the region over

While high-powered businessmen from Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago have expressed concern about regional structures to deal with trade disputes, Barbados says it has evidence the twin-island state has been exploiting its strengths to the detriment of the rest of the region.

This position was outlined by Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kerrie Symmonds in an interview with BUSINESS AUTHORITY, following the latest efforts by Trinidad and Tobago to try to get Barbados to remove its licensing regime on regional imports.
...
“What has been happening is that Trinidad and Tobago has sought to, in many ways, exploit certain sectoral strengths that its economy possesses to the detriment of the rest of region.

“We have evidence of this in the area of petroleum; we have evidence of this in the area of trade in goods and we have evidence of this in the area of air transport and on the question of fishing.”

In fact, the price at which the oil-rich nation offers liquified petroleum products to its CARICOM neighbours vis-à-vis the United States of America is now the subject of a dispute within CARICOM, with Jamaica seeking a legal opinion on the matter.

Bdos: Windies stink!

When your own opponents say this:

“I can’t believe what just happened,” the tall England fast bowler said after condemning West Indies to their lowest total in a Test match with a cheap seven-wicket haul.

you know you stink.

Well, Windies does.

In a sensational one hour and 31 minutes, a match which started the fourth and penultimate day with the possibility of an intriguing finish was turned on its head by a combination of the impressive Harmison and inept West Indies batting.

No one in their wildest dreams would have predicted the Test would have been over 15 minutes before lunch.

From the time Chris Gayle slashed a catch to third slip 18 minutes into the morning to when Fidel Edwards edged a ball to one of seven fielders waiting in the slip cordon, the West Indies were in complete torture.

They were eventually freed of their misery at 11:24 a.m. when they were shot out for 47.

Bdos: COTED orders Bajans to drop license on T&T goods

BARBADOS has been ordered to remove, as soon as is practicable, the recently imposed licence regime for goods imported from Trinidad and Tobago.

Trade and Industry Minister Ken Valley told yesterday's post-Cabinet meeting at Whitehall, Maraval Road, Port of Spain, the orders came from Caricom's Council of Trade and Economic Development (COTED) Meeting in Belize last week.

Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur announced the need for the special licence to be granted to Trinidad and Tobago goods entering his country following the arrests of two Barbadian fishermen allegedly found fishing illegally in Trinidad and Tobago waters last month.

COTED waffles a bit in the "as soon as is practicable" rather than ordering an immediate removal.

Vzla: Chavez a danger to democracy

Somebody else thinks this besides me.

Venezuela will probably not be the next Haiti, but if something is not done soon, it could end up being the next Cuba.

Read the rest of the story.

Vzla: Manipulating the U.S. electorate

Terrorists saw bombs create political change in Spain. OPEC is hoping that oil will do the same in the U.S.

There is a consensus within the OPEC to slash production on April 1 and moves towards raising the oil cartel's price target are gathering steam, Venezuela's Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said.

"Are you expecting us to change our decision in April? No. We have the consensus to cut in April," he told reporters at the end of a gas exporters' conference in Cairo.Advertisement

"We have the consensus to call for more discipline," he added, referring to current production by members of the Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries above their quotas, estimated by some ministers here at more than two million barrels per day (bpd).

See also here.

International crude prices are expected to continue to rule high even during the low-consumption summer months.

The ongoing political unrest in Venezuela, the world’s fifth largest producer of crude, and the decision by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to cut production by 4 per cent from April are keeping sentiments hard.

Low oil stocks in the US, the world’s largest consumer of petroleum products, has also pushed up prices above the level prevailing during last year’s Iraq war. Last week, Brent crude touched a two-year high of $34.73 a barrel.

Unless non-Opec oil producers raise production and Iraqi oil exports register a significant growth, oil industry experts see no softening of crude prices any time soon.

Expect oil prices to drop November 7th, 2004.

Vzla: Well, duh!

Venezuelan soldiers and police killed nine people and tortured others during a week of protests by opposition groups demanding a recall vote against President Hugo Chavez, a human rights group said.

Jose Miguel Vivanco, executive director of New York-based Human Rights Watch's Americas division, said Venezuela was responsible for the deaths during the protests and that the group has seen evidence and heard witnesses describe "cruel and inhuman treatment'' of protesters arrested by the National Guard between Feb. 27 and March 4.

"There is unquestionable evidence of human rights violations by agents of the Venezuelan state,'' Vivanco told Union radio.

Vzla: Who's he gonna call?

Venezuela's Supreme Court on Monday ordered electoral authorities to lift their objections against more than 800,000 disputed opposition signatures seeking a referendum against President Hugo Chavez.

The ruling by the court's Electoral Chamber, which heralded a bitter legal battle over the referendum process, boosted opposition hopes to secure a recall vote this year on the rule of the leftist leader.

Well, it looks like the Venezuelan recall may be on again.

Ja: Diplomatic ties with Haiti suspended

Is Aristide worth destroying the comity of Caricom?

Haiti's interim prime minister withdrew his ambassador to Jamaica on Monday and suspended relations with the fellow Caribbean country over ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's return from African exile.
...
Aristide's imminent arrival - to temporary asylum in Jamaica - has increased tensions in Haiti, where his followers plan more protests to demand the return of the country's first democratically elected leader.

Haiti's new PM is playing hardball. PM Patterson's actions are directly contributing to political instability in Haiti, and may well lead to further loss of life in that country.

See here. The usual suspects escorted Aristide to Jamaica. So much for Aristide being held incommunicado.

U.S.: Posting to the blog today

Bear with me, people. I'm still working on my computer problems. The blog does not load in Internet Explorer, I haven't a clue why. That means that all my online news sources are mostly inaccessible. Anyway, I'll have to Google some news today before I take Baby over to get him fixed. Later.

U.S.: Gunner's mate says Kerry ran like a girl

It was reported last night that Steven Gardner, a gunner’s mate on the first patrol boat commanded by Kerry in the Mekong Delta, contradicts accounts of the senator’s military career that depict him as a brave and aggressive lieutenant who won three Purple Hearts, which are a key element of his campaign against George Bush.

He personally killed a Viet Cong fighter in one action and was wounded three times, though not seriously.

However, in an interview with the Boston Globe, which contacted him about the presidential candidate, Gardner claimed: [Kerry] did not want to engage the enemy"He [Kerry] absolutely did not want to engage the enemy when I was with him.

"He wouldn’t go in there and search. That is why I have a negative viewpoint of John Kerry.

"His initial patterns of behaviour when I met him and served under him were of somebody who ran from the enemy, rather than engaged it."

Is this why, after mocking GWB with "Bring It On!", Kerry has begun whining now that GWB has taken the war to him?

A lengtheir version of the story is also carried here. This one attempts to discredit Steven Gardner. However, as Gardner says, he kept his story to himself and didn't go looking for an outlet to tell it. Kerry's biographer, Douglas Brinkley, went to Gardner!

Thanks to Instapundit for the link.

U.S.: Computer query

Anybody have any idea how I can back up my computer files? Normally, I'd burn everything to CD, but the hard disk problem makes burning anything impossible. Here's what the HD problem looks like: HD space reading begins at the actual figure and the amount of free space gradually decreases. Any suggestions? If the suggestion is a new computer, I'll go to Apple's online store, choose one, and wait for you to send it to me.

Anyway, any help with this problem is welcome. I've never had this kind of HD problem before.

Hti: Multilateralism didn't work

Read the story of the Bush Administration's efforts on Haiti. Here's a bit of it:

On Dec. 15, as the crisis boiled, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice scheduled a meeting at the White House with Trinidad's prime minister, Patrick Manning. In a planned drop-by, President Bush arrived and said he had something to discuss.

Bush told Manning that the situation in Haiti was growing more dangerous, posing risks to the region and to the impoverished nation itself, said two U.S. officials. The president said the 15-nation Caribbean Community needed to show more leadership in finding a peaceful solution.

Bush's message that day reflected what U.S. officials and foreign diplomats describe as his administration's consistent approach to Haiti: persuading other nations and institutions to do the diplomatic heavy-lifting to produce a political compromise, a strategy the White House pursued until days before Aristide's Feb. 29 resignation.

Hti: Jamaica living in the fast lane

James Foley, the United States’ ambassador to Haiti, said on Saturday that "Jamaican authorities are certainly taking on a risk and a responsibility" by accepting Mr Aristide. Jamaican officials say he will stay only eight to ten weeks while he finds permanent asylum. That has proved elusive since many countries appear reluctant to shoulder the diplomatic fallout from Mr Aristide’s charges that the US forced him from power.

The allegation has had his militant supporters venting their resentment on US troops leading a multinational peacekeeping force that arrived in Haiti the day Mr Aristide left.

This seems to provide some slight confirmation that Aristide was forced to leave Bangui because he will not keep his mouth shut on his false claims that he was kidnapped.

Let's see how long before Aristide ticks off Patterson. it didn't take him too long to get on the wrong side of the folks in Bangui. Patterson will have to learn that those who don't hear will feel.

Read Aristide's story about how he was duped into leaving Haiti. Aristide's logic goes like this: Foley told Aristide to leave to avoid a bloodbath. He left. There was no bloodbath.. Therefore, Foley duped him.

Aristide's supporters rounded up.

Check out the 10-year solution for Haiti.

Hti: Aristide arriving on a jet plane

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ousted as Haiti's president two weeks ago, left his home in exile in the Central African Republic for Jamaica, Agence France-Presse said.

Aristide will be allowed to stay for as long as two months to see his two children who are in the U.S., Jamaica's government said last week. Jamaica intervened for humanitarian reasons, AFP cited Jamaican Foreign Minister Sharon Hay Webster as saying yesterday on arrival in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, to accompany Aristide

U.S.: Computer woes

Folks, it looks like my trusty and true iBook is dying,hard disk failure. I've spent much of today trying to get Baby up and running without luck. Ran Norton Disk Doctor, and that made Baby burp big time. Next thing I know, I've got /etc/master.psswd: not a directory.

I'm praying that Baby recovers miraculously cuz right now I can neither afford to fix Baby or to get a new baby, especially since the month-long job hunt is not going very well.

Right now, I'm running OS 9.2 since OS 10.3 isn't coming up. I've already had problems with 9.2; so, who knows how long this bad boy will continue running. Anyway, I'll blog as I can. Gotta go find a browser to work with 9.2.

Apart from not browsing, I'm not able to do mail. How come not? Well, since I was using OS 10.3, I'd trashed the Classic Mac programs like Eudora and IE. Safari only works in 10.2, so here I am stuck with OS 9.2 and lost without all my files. I should have mail up and running by tomorrow, please God.

U.S.: From the front page of Al Muhajiroun

How the Islamists envision the White House. Explore the page and discover this little treat in store for you.

"AQD UL AMAAN: THE COVENANT OF SECURITY
The Muslims living in the west are living under a covenant of security, it is not allowed for them to fight anyone with whom they have a covenant of security, abiding by the covenant of security is an important obligation upon all Muslims. However for those Muslims living abroad, they are not under any covenant with the kuffar in the west, so it is acceptable for them to attack the non-muslims in the west whether in retaliation for constant bombing and murder taking place all over the Muslim world at the hands of the non-muslims, or if it an offensive attack in order to release the Muslims from the captivity of the kuffar. For them, attacks such as the September 11th Hijackings is a viable option in Jihad, even though for the Muslims living in America who are under covenant, it is not allowed to do operations similar to those done by the magnificent 19 on the 9/11. This article speaks about the covenant and what the scholars have said regarding Al Aqd Al Amaan - the covenant of security."

Go check out both sites to discover the glories that await the conquered.

Thanks be to Allah for the link.

U.S.: Bush to terror masters, "Dismantle the nukes or else."

Dag, I love this cowboy!

NewsMax has learned from a senior State Dept. official that President Bush has, Alamo-style, drawn a line in the sand with Iran and its nuclear weapons programs.

Bush warning: either they dismantle their nuclear weapons program or else.

Read the rest of the story yourself.

U.S.: Al Qaeda's lays out the terms for Spain's surrender

Fox News has just reported on an Al Qaeda tape which claims that the bombing was retaliation for Spain's support of the U.S. in the war on terror.

If the report of the Al Qaeda tape affects the outcome of Spain's election tomorrow, the voters will be signalling to Islamofascists that Spaniards are pacifistic cowards who can be manipulated with a few well placed bombs. Such a blatant act of submission will not cause the terrorists to leave Spain alone. Instead, it will pave the way for the second step, the further bombing of Spain to bring it under Islam.

A declaration of war cannot be met with pleas for peace. Peace can only be declared when victory is won and the enemy knows, accepts, and declares that he has been defeated. When those who are attacked cry "peace," they signal their unwillingness to fight and, thus, their weakness.

Today, millions of Spaniards sent a loud and clear signal to the Islamofascists that Spain is unwilling to fight. In response, Al Qaeda, which is the tip of the Islamic sword against the West, demanded a further sign of submission — the elections must not go to Jose Maria Aznar's party.

Tomorrow will teach us if Spain will turn its grief into strongest armor against which the Islamic sword will break, or whether Spain will surrender and so let loose the Islamofascist dogs to wreak havoc on the rest of Europe.

In this war there is no neutral ground. That is something the Europeans seem unwilling to learn. The Islamofascists recognize no boundaries, no rights of national sovereignty, no rights of the attacked to defend themselves. All they recognize is their own sense of the rightness of their cause; their own ideology-driven right to impose Islam on the rest of the world and so return it to 7th century barbarism.

For those of us who do not wish to live under a barbarous and alien ideology, there can be no surrender, no other path but war. They started it; we will end it.

U.S.: Surrender cannot be an option

Let's hope that all those peace and Aznar's to blame signs, that I've just seen on Fox News, belong only to a minority. If it is not, then Spain has surrendered and will certify that surrender at the polls tomorrow.

The Dutch have already folded without a bomb being exploded on their soil. It seems that the Dutch desire dhimmitude more than freedom.

The war against Islamic terrorism is not for the faint of heart. The Islamists are seeking to impose their vile ideology on the entire world, and they will do so via the modern version of the Islamic sword, which is bombs and terror. Whether or not a nation joins the war against terror will not insulate it against attack by Islamists. These nations who will not fight are only buying for themselves a brief delay in their murders. For, surely, the day will come when citizens of Europe, whose people include the Netherlands and Spain, if its people fold now, will be forced to make a choice under the threat of a bomb in the hand of some Islamist nut. That choice will be the same as Islamists historically have confronted nations with: convert, accept dhimmitude and pay jizyah, or die.

What Spain does at the polls tomorrow determines whether its citizens will ever be presented with that choice.

Breaking news. Via Instapundit, Spain announces five arrests which includes three Moroccans and two Indians.

Hti: Marines taking care of business

U.S. Marines said on Saturday they killed two more gunmen after coming under fire in Haiti, bringing to six the number of people killed by U.S. forces struggling to restore order in the Caribbean nation after a revolt ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Marine Staff Sgt. Tim Edwards said Marines patrolling on foot and in armored vehicles near the National Palace in downtown Port-au-Prince were fired upon by several gunmen Friday night.

"The Marines returned fire and two gunmen were killed. There were no Marine casualties," Edwards said.

Read the rest for yourself.

Hti: Duped, not kidnapped

PM Patterson, Caricom, are you guys listening?

As Jean-Bertrand Aristide prepared to depart this destitute African capital for exile in Jamaica on Sunday, he charged in an interview that the United States had effectively duped him into leaving Haiti and his presidency on his final night in office last month.

The accusation of deception added a new layer to his longstanding complaint, lodged on his arrival here 13 days ago, that he had been the victim of an American-led "political kidnapping."

But it did little to clear up the question of whether Mr. Aristide willingly fled Haiti that morning, as the United States insists, or whether he was forced into exile against his will, as he implied.

Michael Wines, the author of the piece, is wrong that this statement of Aristide does not clear up whether he left willinglly or was kidnapped. If someone tells you something — truth or lie — and you act on it, you cannot blame your action on the party who told you the thing. After all, you have choice. Aristide could have chosen to stay when the U.S. spoke with him; he did not. The issue now is whether the U.S. lied to Aristide when they told him that they'd not protect him and his paid bodyguards. If Aristide left because he would be without protection, then he wasn't even duped. He was told the truth and made the best choice based on the truth he was given. If Aristide was lied to (duped) and decided to leave based on the lie, then he is still responsible for the choice he made because lying to or duping a person is not synonymous with kidnapping him. Either way, Caricom should withdraw its absurd U.N. request for an inquiry.

Aristide, Randall Robinson, the CBC have suckered you guys in the Caribbean who are dazzled by the blackness of these politicians. When a man's own friends leave him because they can't trust him, that should send a clear signal that he's radioactive. Aristide himself has begun to unravel his own kidnap lie. What's the next stage? Only Aristide knows.

I'm holding to my theory that Bangui asked Aristide to find someplace else to go because they were tired of his anti-U.S. lies. Jamaica, it's your turn. Here's hoping you can live with it.

Spain: Never surrender, never give up!

Spain is angry, too. That's a good thing.

More than 8,000,000 people marched in protest against terrorism in Spain.

Pictures compliments of Power Line and Tim Blair.

Go check out either blog for more images.

Ja: Aristide's security chief arrested in Canada

Canadian authorities have arrested Oriel Jean, the security chief to ousted Haitian leader Jean Bertrand Aristide, after he flew in from the Dominican Republic, an immigration official said yesterday.
...
The Sun said that Jean was in a holding cell after being detained while travelling with his wife, carrying 17,000 dollars in cash and a cheque for about 300,000 dollars.

Since when did Canada begin interdicting war criminals? Amazing how a security chief of a seriously poor country has all this money, eh? I wonder if it was in a condition comparable to the stash found in Aristide's house?

Ja: Patterson's seeing the thing in broad daylight

So why does he want to wait to light candle in the night? Yet, that is precisely what PM Patterson is about. He knows that Aristide will cause problems, yet that will not cause Patterson to withdraw his invite to Aristide. Patterson seems to be depending on the goodwill that Aristide lacks. I suspect that the government of Bangui must have politely asked Aristide to leave because he would not shut up. Thus, because of his wild accusations of being kidnapped by the U.S. and his indifference to the political concerns of his host, he proved to be an embarrassment to Bangui.

Jamaica has warned ousted Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, that he won't be allowed to use Jamaica as a "launching pad" to regain power in his country.

But the government's decision to host Aristide for up to 10 weeks has raised concerns in Port-au-Prince and appeared yesterday to place in the balance a visit to Kingston by Haiti's interim prime minister, Gerard Latortue, to lobby for his government's recognition by the Caribbean Community (Caricom).
...
Aristide would be able to communicate freely, Knight said, "so long as this is not an attempt to use Jamaica as a launching pad for his desired reinstatement".
...
At the same time, Patterson signalled Jamaica's and Caricom's acceptance of the changed situation on the ground in Haiti, referring to Aristide as the former president, acknowledging that a new president had been sworn-in and that Latortue was a man who commanded respect.

Caricom's insistence on taking Aristide's absurd claims to the UN will prove to be their undoing because Aristide will milk them for all they're worth. However, there are signs that Caricom will jettison the unstable Aristide for Latortue, the new Haitian prime minister.

Bhms: The loss of the vision thing

"I believe that in the beginning, [Aristide] did have the interest of the Haitian people and he was certainly sincere, but he lost his vision, he became corrupted by the system and then he lost contact with the base," he said.

It's a good article. Read the rest of it.

Dca: Productive squatters

Marpin TV reported that farmers who are squatting on land in Woodford Hill and who have been issued with eviction notices, have produced 180 tons of bananas, bringing in around EC$600,000. It was reported that the land is a possible tourism development. Source: Marpin TV News

Does this mean that the farmers will now have squatters' rights?

PR: Brrrrrrrr!! The island's freezing!

Nine days short of the end of the winter season the National Weather Service’s San Juan Director, Israel Matos, said they have recorded temperatures as low as 44 degrees fahrenheit.

Who knew Puerto Rico got this cold?!

St. Kts: Shooting spree sparks call for PM's resignation

The Prime Minister must understand that he has an obligation to the nation to ensure that its citizens live in an environment that is safe and void of fear.  The Prime Minister is supposed to provide the strong leadership that is required in times of crisis situations.  Instead we have a Prime Minister who is totally unconcerned about the increasing crime and its effects on our society.  It is no surprise that the Prime Minister cannot remove the monster that he created in 1993.  Therefore, with no solution in sight from the labour government, the Prime Minister must resign.

Douglas and the labour party sowed the seeds of violence in 1993.  The murder of Billy Herbert and his friends, the assassination of Jude Mathew, the murder of Seiko Morris and his girlfriend, the burning of canfields and the mashing up of businesses in downtown Basseterre were all orchestrated by the labour party.  It is this same labour party that recognized the criminals at one of their party functions when they called them ‘freedom fighters’ and gave them a standing ovation for their criminal acts against a lawfully elected government. 

Gya: Had to be

A report into a remigrant concession scam has concluded that a ring of officials at the Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs clearly colluded to defraud the government of revenue.

The report is said to recommend that criminal charges should be considered against one individual at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and three officials at Finance. All the applicants should also be charged for falsely declaring they were remigrants and importing about fifty vehicles without paying duty. They will also be required to pay all outstanding duties.

T&T: Must've been a Pepsi lover

Cocaine valued at $9 million yesterday washed ashore in Tobago, one day after 30 kilos estimated at $13 million of the illegal narcotic was seized on the island.

The Express understands that it was shortly after midday that 22.5 kilos of cocaine washed ashore on a beach located off Belmont Road, near Charlotteville.

One man is said to have made the find and immediately contacted the Charlotteville police.

Coke might be it, but this is ridiculous. 52.5 kilos in two days?! The upside is that some punk drug runner is diggin' the blues somewhere.

What do cops do with coke seizures of this volume?

T&T: Not the way to go

WHILE urinating in some bushes off the Solomon Hochoy Highway, a 61-year-old man was killed by a car which spun out of control after blowing a tyre.

The driver of the blue Chevy Monza, Gerard Pegus, also died on the spot after his car overturned several times.

Vzla: The journey to serfdom

The Constitutional Chamber of the Venezuelan Supreme Court ordered the Electoral Chamber this afternoon NOT to make any ruling on matters related to the National Electoral Council, (CNE) and the recall referendum. The decision was made by three justices, which violated the court’s norms requiring at least four justices to make valid rulings.

It is the first time in Venezuela's judiciary history that a chamber prohibits another chamber from ruling on the matters that it oversees.

USVI: Some things just don't make sense at all

Things like this:

Opponents of the delegate's proposal to create a chief financial officer and financial management system for the territory have said that it would represent a return to colonialism. Such fears have generated a resolution of condemnation from the V.I. Legislature and a resolution of non-support from the Territorial Committee of the Democratic Party.

The writer of this piece takes the time to present and explore

... three reasons why creating a CFO and instituting a transparent financial management system does not represent a return to colonialism:

Go here for the reasons.

U.S.: In The Gayelle

Today, I was doing some of the job hunt dance. Job hunting is the vicious price you pay for withdrawing, even temporarily, from a grad program. Anyway, whilst I was making myself some soup, some of that Ramen noodle stuff, it popped into my head that I should set myself up in business via the web, of course, doing what I'm really good at.

So, my new working blog In The Gayelle was born. Please God let it succeed! I hope it does succeed, cuz it means I can enjoy work. Anyway, I've got some info on there about In The Gayelle, a very brief bio. Go take a look. If you need the service, gimme a hail. If not, well, pass the word on to someone who does.

Gya: Caricom's deadly games with Haitian lives

There were conflicting reports as to whether Aristide wanted to be temporarily in Trinidad and Tobago or in Jamaica, the latter country which, like The Bahamas, is often the choice of Haitian refugees fleeing their homeland with the US as their preferred ultimate destination.

But yesterday, as lawyers for Aristide in France and the USA were moving to mount legal challenges to the circumstances of his removal from office amid widespread violence and chaos, Prime Minister Patterson was ready for a public statement.
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"Mr. Aristide has expressed a wish to return to the Caribbean with his wife and to be reunited with their two young children who are currently in the United States.

"At his (Aristide's) request", the statement added, "arrangements are being made for his travel and accommodation in Jamaica. He is expected to arrive here early next week.

"We have communicated our decision to our CARICOM colleagues and to the Governments who were originally involved in working together to seek a solution to the Haitian crisis".
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Prime Minister Patterson, having communicated to CARICOM, and other involved governments, his administration's decision to "host" Aristide and his family for the requested period, said:

"I wish to emphasize that Mr. Aristide is not seeking asylum in Jamaica. His stay in Jamaica is not expected to be in excess of eight to ten weeks. He is engaged in finalizing arrangements for permanent residence outside of the region."
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Aristide himself has, however, stated from Banqui, capital of the Central African Republic, that should he eventually move to South Africa, it would be "a stop on my way back to Haiti, where I rightly belong...I am still the lawful President of Haiti".

Prime Minister Patterson said that CARICOM remained "committed to the goal of restoring and nurturing democracy in its newest member state as well as to social and economic development of the people of Haiti".

There are four significant points. The first is that the possibility of Aristide's return to Haiti will stir more violence as his supporters agitate and kill. Naturally enough, the rebels and their supporters will retaliate. The result is that Haiti will once more descend into chaos, and Haitians will head out to sea in rickety boats. The U.S. will not take the refugees; so one can only hope that the Bahamas and Jamaica will have the resources so to do, especially in light of PM Patterson's irresponsible meddling.

The second point is Aristide's claim that he is not seeking asylum in Jamaica. If not Jamaica, then Haiti is Aristide's goal, and his intent to return is a contradiction of his soi-disant concern to halt bloodshed in Haiti. The rebels will not accept Aristide's return with equanimity, and the U.S. will not allow its Marines to be a buffer between Aristide and the rebels. Then, one must ask, from where will Aristide's support come? Are his supporters in Port-au-Prince so well armed as to stave off a rebel attack? Does the sale of 300K rounds of ammunition to some unknown party in the DR have anything to Aristide's determination to return to Haiti? Is Aristide's alleged Colombian drug and, by extension, terrorist connections in the Muslim Triangle (the nextus of Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina) the reason for his confidence that he will be able to return to Haiti without getting a rebel bullet in the head? It is possible that Aristide is just interested in martyrdom, which will have a drastically negative public relations impact for the U.S. which refuses to support him. This is an election year, and many factors, apart from campaigning by the candidates, may be in play. Will Aristide be willing to give up his life after running from Haiti like a girl? It is possible, pride and ego are wonderful things, and he may be seeking to cover his shame over having fled. Hence his claim that he was kidnapped at gunpoint; his declaration that his resignation was unofficial; his lawsuit filed against the U.S.; and his assertion that he will return to Haiti because he is "still the lawful President of Haiti."

The third point is the contradictory claims of PM Patterson's and of Aristide. Either Aristide is seeking permanent residence outside of the Caribbean or he is not. The issue of where Aristide will be is not a matter of both-and, unless Patterson's choice of "permanent" is significant. Which is to say, PM Patterson might be signaling that Aristide will be frequently enough in the Caribbean. If this is so, then Aristide's ongoing presence is enough to maintain turbulence and instability in Haiti, which is not good for Caricom. Instability in one island can spread to another only too quickly. The slave masters of an earlier age knew that, so the governments of this age had better learn it quick, fast, and in a hurry.

Finally, Patterson assertion that "CARICOM remained 'committed to the goal of restoring and nurturing democracy in its newest member state as well as to social and economic development of the people of Haiti'" is highly questionable and open to interpretation. Does Caricom mean that it will act to restore Aristide to power in Haiti? If Caricom does, then each country had better lay in a healthy supply of body bags because their soldiers will be going up against the Marines, the most feared and seasoned fighting force in the world. Caricom's principal objection to Aristide's demittal was that because the U.S. had pulled a coup in Haiti, the constitutional process and rule of law had been set aside and democracy harmed. Therefore, it must follow that Caricom's "goal of restoring and nurturing democracy" has to do with the re-installation of Aristide as president of Haiti.

Words mean things, and the heads of Caricom, clever men all, know this for Caribbean people are logophiles. They are very attuned to the subtleties and nuances of language because, historically, attentiveness to such was the difference between life and death. Therefore, it is particularly distressing not only to learn PM Patterson's welcome to Jamaica, but also of his commitment to the "goal of restoring ... democracy" especially when that goal may be interpreted to mean civil war in Haiti for the sake of Aristide. Blind adherence to constitutional process and to rule of law will only serve to create greater harm for Haiti. Aristide, quite frankly, is not worth the loss of one more Haitian life.

DR: Requiem for CAFTA

Federico Cuello, a professor at the PUCMM School of Economics of the PUCMM and the DR's former trade negotiator and ambassador before the World Trade Organization, writes today in El Caribe newspaper that a majority of legislators of two Central American countries will reject the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Likewise, he speculates that the US Congress has said it would be difficult to authorize in an electoral year. Furthermore, he points out that US negotiators said in Central America the deal would not go into effect before 2006. Cuello states that from now until then, the US should move ahead with the passage of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). "Thus, no advantage will have been obtained, and lots given up for having reached FTAA and having given it all in CAFTA," he concludes.

In his opinion, the deal would only serve to open regional markets to US exports. "The barriers that impede us from exporting are still there. The apparel manufacturers will still have to solely purchase US materials, losing out to China. The pharmaceutical companies will not be able to compete and will disappear. Farmers will be flooded by subsidized US products. Dominican suppliers will have to compete with Canada, Central America, US and Mexicans for any contract of more than US$58,500. Builders will have to compete for contracts more than US$6.7 million."

The rush to sign the agreement this week is strange, he reports, especially when he says it would have made more sense to wait for the negotiations surrounding the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, which is due to be ratified on approximately same timeline. Cuello explains that the DR had nothing to lose because the Caribbean Basin Initiative preferences continue to be in effect until 2008.

Cuba: Freedom is contagious

The parents of imprisoned dissident Librado Linares García, who traveled from Havana to see their son for the first time in six months, were denied permission to do so on the grounds he was rejecting re-education efforts.

The Movimiento Cuba Reflexión, of which Linares is the general secretary, said he was refusing to attend all prison activities, salute the guards, stand up during the daily head count or wear prison garb.

How dare he!