Back to Hot Calaloo

AprilMay 2018

  Study says Hurricane Maria deaths soar from 64 to over 4,600 in Puerto Rico

Hurricane Maria, which pummelled Puerto Rico in September 2017, is likely responsible for the deaths of more than 4,600 people, some 70 times higher than official estimates, according to recent reports by US researchers.

The Government-provided death toll stands at just 64, but experts say an accurate count was complicated by the power outages and widespread devastation wreaked by the storm, which caused $90 billion in damages and is ranked as the third-costliest cyclone in the United States since 1900.

Independent investigations had earlier put the true toll at closer to 1,000. But the latest estimates, compiled by researchers at Harvard University, came back far higher — at 4,645 deaths from the day of the storm, September 20, until December 31, 2017.

Most deaths after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico are blamed on interruptions in medical care due to power outages and blocked or washed out roads, said the report published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Approximately one-third of post-hurricane deaths were reported by household members as being caused by delayed or prevented access to medical care Researchers went door to door at 3,299 homes randomly selected from across the US territory, home to some 3.3 million people

Survey takers used criteria from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine if a person's death could be blamed on the hurricane. By definition, this could be either forces related to the event such as flying debris or unsafe or unhealthy conditions in the three months afterward, including loss of necessary medical services.

The surveys were taken from January to February 2018, a time when, researchers noted, “Many survey respondents were still without water and electricity.” To avoid bias, people were not paid for their responses, and were informed that their answers would not gain them any additional government aid.

If a family member was reported missing, but not known to be deceased, researchers counted them as alive.

The data showed a 62 per cent increase in the mortality rate in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, compared to the same period a year earlier, corresponding to a total of 4,645 deaths. Even this is believed to be a “substantial underestimate” of the actual death count, said the report, noting it could be above 5,700.

“On average, households went 84 days without electricity, 64 days without water, and 41 days without cellular telephone coverage.”

Shamefully, even nine months after the hurricane, electricity, however remains a challenge. Recurring blackouts plague the island, and about 340,000 people, are still without power. The blackouts have upset traffic and interrupted water service to dozens of neighborhoods.

 Top       Back to Hot Calaloo  

Cuba to send workers to help in reconstruction of Dominica

Dominica says it will soon sign an agreement with Cuba for 100 skilled workers, including engineers, as it also urged nationals living overseas with such skills to return and assist in the reconstruction of the hurricane battered island.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said that five months after Hurricane Maria tore through the island, killing at least 30 people and causing widespread damage, there was still the need for skilled workers to help homeowners put a roof over the heads.

“We are finalising an agreement with the government of Cuba where we will be bringing in 100 skilled men and women into Dominica to help us fix the homes and reconstruct our country. But Skerrit also urged nationals with various skills residing overseas to assist, adding that many contractors have said to the government that they are experiencing challenges recruiting skilled workers.

“Many homeowners are complaining because the contractor comes for a few days and he does not show up for the next few days because he has to help somebody else. So we have a shortage of skilled people to help these contractors…in this country”.

 Top       Back to Hot Calaloo  

Antigua-Barbuda sign agreement for financial aid from Russia

The Russian Federation and the governments of Antigua and Barbuda have made a direct funding arrangement that will provide humanitarian financial aid for rebuilding Barbuda, which was seriously damaged by Hurricane Irma in September 2017. The agreement provides for the Russian government to put US$200,000 for financing Barbuda’s recovery effort. According to Charles Fernandez, Barbuda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, signed the agreement on behalf of the government and thanked Russia for its significant contribution, which will be used to pay for activities designed to revitalize the education sector by repairing the homes of 20 teachers, repairing homes of 20 students, and buying school and plumbing supplies for agricultural science.

 Top       Back to Hot Calaloo  

UK to legalize the status of West Indians from the Windrush generation

The United Kingdom will provide thousands of individuals from Jamaican & the Caribbean with legal status, the government announced. These people, known as the “Windrush generation,” are those who came to the UK between the years of 1948 and 1971. The name refers to the ship MC Empire Windrush that arrived in Essex carrying workers from several Caribbean countries to fill job vacancies in the UK. The largest percentage were from Jamaica. The ship carried a reported 492 people. many of whom were children.

Many of the individuals who traveled to the UK during this period have since been detained or deported following their inability to provide documents showing they were legitimate residents of the UK. Now, however, Amber Rudd, UK Home Secretary, stated that a team will be formed to work with the people who need their status legalized. She did not get a chance to as the Home Secretary faced countrywide outrage over authorities' mistreatment of long-term legal residents from the Caribbean. Opposition politicians forced her resignation over what has become known as the Windrush scandal.

May, Prime Minister of the UK, also apologized for the treatment the Windrush generation has received. Meeting with Caribbean leaders, May said, “The home secretary apologized in the House of Commons yesterday for any anxiety caused. And I want to apologize to you today. Because we are genuinely sorry for any anxiety that has been caused.” She went on to say that the people who arrived in the UK from the Caribbean before 1973 and lived in the country permanently over the past 30 years have the right to remain in the UK. “I don’t want anybody to be in any doubt about their right to remain here in the United Kingdom,” she said.

People in the Windrush generation have experienced difficulties with their residence status since 2012, when immigration laws changed in the UK and required people to show documentation to work, rent property, or gain access to benefits like healthcare. Those who do not have such documentation were informed that they could not continue working, receive treatment through the National Health Service, or even stay in the country. The newly organized government task force will now work with them to legalize their status.

Windrush is celebrated every year with ceremonies to commemorate the arrival of the workers 70 years ago. A model of the ship on which they traveled was featured in the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The lead-up to Windrush Day, June 22, 2018, will feature exhibits, church services, and other cultural events.

There is the case of a Jamaican woman who was stranded in Jamaica for a decade.
Gretel Gocan, who is part of the Windrush generation, said she left the UK to attend a funeral in Jamaica in 2009 and was not allowed back. When she tried to board a flight back to the UK in 2009, she was told she did not have the correct documentation, sparking years of heartbreak for her and her family. She was eventually granted a passport after the scandal broke recently and the emotional pensioner said it was “good to be back” as family members greeted her at Gatwick Airport.

 Top       Back to Hot Calaloo  

US sanctions against Russia threaten Guyana and Jamaica

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced fresh sanctions against Russia last month following a major diplomatic crisis sparked by the poisoning in Britain of former double agent Sergei Skripal. The sanctions hit oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin, including Russian business tycoon Oleg Deripaska .

Deripaska. is the main owner of the EN+ conglomerate, which is the co-owner of Rusal. Rusal is one of the largest aluminum producers in the world and has operations  in Guyana and Jamaica. In Jamaica, Rusal owns 93 per cent of the WINDALCO alumina company and operates the Ewarton Works and Kirkvine Alumina Refinery in Manchester.Up to two years ago, it owned the Alpart refinery in St Elizabeth.

Individuals, companies and governments around the world who do business with Rusal face the risk of being blacklisted by the United States.

The sanctions have scared customers, suppliers and creditors who fear they too could be hit by sanctions through association with the company. Another supplier, who asked not to be named, questioned whether his status as a US citizen may create legal problems for the company. He said the company is now trying to determine whether it can take products from other parts of the world to supply UC Rusal. The sanctions on US Rusal should be considered seriously because there are 600-800 people employed in Jamaica and another 500 in Guyana, so there can be implications if some solution is not sought to address this.

The US Government indicated Rusal could avoid being caught up in the sanctions by cutting ties with Deripaska, Since then, Rusal announced that Oleg Deripaska had resigned his seat on the board, a key step in the company's efforts to escape US sanctions. Let us hope it works for the sake of Guyana and Jamaica.

 Top       Back to Hot Calaloo  

JamaicaEye to utilize network of CCTV cameras in crime fighting

 A national closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance program, geared at improving public safety and disaster response, was launched by the National Security Ministry today.

Dubbed 'JamaicaEye', the public-private partnership is designed to network CCTV cameras owned by the Ministry as well as accommodate feed from privately owned CCTV cameras. The feeds will provide useful footage in relation to criminal activity and other emergencies and will be monitored by a team of security professionals.

Minister of National Security, Robert Montague, reported that $181 million has already being spent on the initiative, which, he noted, aligns with the ministry's five-pillar crime-reduction strategy. Cameras have already been installed in Kingston, St. Andrew, Montego Bay, St. James, Mandeville, Manchester, Ocho Rios, St Ann; May Pen, Clarendon; and Negril in Westmoreland.

“Before now, they were never networked, never connected. We are going to have one central control centre and then we will be having five monitoring centres. The control centre is the nerve centre of this system,” he said.

 Top       Back to Hot Calaloo  

ST. Lucia Resorts reduces plastics

 St. Lucia's Anse Chastanet and Jade Mountain resorts are reaffirming their commitment to the environment with the elimination of 90 percent of single-use plastics from their operations.

 Carefully built to ensure minimum disturbance to a lush 600-acre estate in the Soufričre hills of St. Lucia, Anse Chastanet and its sister property, Jade Mountain, are award-winning resorts dedicated to responsible tourism. Mindful of the impacts of plastics on land and marine environments, the resorts' management teams began their internal focus on the reduction and elimination of plastics from their operations in 2015.

 Since then, the resorts have made great strides in reducing plastic usage and in finding creative alternatives to plastics for food containers, cutlery, cups and straws. This includes the use of wooden, metal and melamine products as well as cornstarch- and sugarcane bagasse-based items, and putting an immediate stop to the purchase of certain plastic products and Styrofoam.

For example:

 Top       Back to Hot Calaloo  

 Jamaican First Lady of Liberia

A Jamaican has become the first lady of Liberia following the election of her husband as the new president of this West African nation. Clar Weah's husband, George Weah, a former FIFA World Player of the Year, won the presidency in the Liberian electoral run-off on December 26.

Clar, who was born in Jamaica to Jamaican parents, migrated to Fort Lauderdale in the United States where she ran a thriving Caribbean restaurant and grocery store. According to reports, the couple met in a bank in the US where Clar worked as a customer service officer.

 Top       Back to Hot Calaloo  

Oil discovered in Jamaica

For the first time in history, oil was found to be flowing naturally onshore in Jamaica in two locations. This could be just the beginning for oil exploration in the region, according to the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica and CGG GeoConsulting. Jamaica is considered to be “frontier territory,” although Tullow Oil, a British company, has been conducting operations there since 2014. The discovery marks the first documented occurrence of “live” oil from onshore Jamaica and will create increased interest in oil exploration focusing on the Caribbean and Central America, said the two Caribbean oil firms in a joint statement. Tullow said that oil and natural gas were found in ten of 11 onshore and offshore wells drilled in Jamaica since 2014.

 Top       Back to Hot Calaloo  

Guyanese pirates terrorise fishermen off Suriname coast

 The targeting of mostly Guyanese fishermen off the coast of Guyana and Suriname by pirates has been an issue for the past several decades but the ongoing lawlessness and mayhem reportedly culminated recently in a “reign of terror” when, on April 27, four fishing boats with 20 fishermen were attacked in Suriname waters. Up to recently, 16 were still missing and feared dead after being chopped, tied and thrown overboard.

Pirates armed with machetes tied victims’ legs and arms, chopped them and dumped them into the sea on Friday evening. They forced fishermen to jump overboard, some with weights tied to their legs. Four fishermen managed to swim to shore, the remaining 16 are missing.

According to survivors, the attackers, judging from their accent, were from neighbouring Guyana and it’s not the first time that Guyanese criminals have terrorised fishermen off the Guyana and Suriname coast.

The two countries are very much aware of the ongoing terror that Guyanese fishermen have been facing for the past decade but Guyana and Suriname both lack the resources to protect their sea and land from terror, banditry, drug and human trafficking.

Authorities and locals are had to search the for missing fishermen. The scale of this violence is rare, fishermen are attacked regularly, but usually pirates take the catch or boats’ engines.  This been going on for years. Fishermen have no protection. The policemen go to the river mouth and go back. They lack the resources to protect fishermen.”

 Top       Back to Hot Calaloo  

Hundreds of human trafficking victims rescued in the Caribbean

Nearly 350 potential victims of sexual exploitation and forced labour have been rescued in an INTERPOL-coordinated operation targeting human trafficking in the Caribbean, Central and South America. More than 500 police officers in 13 countries also arrested 22 individuals during Operation Libertad (3 – 9 April), held under the INTERPOL Project to Combat Human Trafficking in the Caribbean.

The Joint Regional Communications Centre (JRCC) in Barbados hosted the operational coordination centre, with specialist officers from INTERPOL’s Trafficking in Human Beings unit deployed to the region.

Support was provided by the INTERPOL Command and Coordination Centre at the General Secretariat in Lyon, France and at the INTERPOL Regional Bureau in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In addition to coordinated police raids, searches were carried out against INTERPOL’s criminal databases, generating 30 hits, including 25 for stolen and lost travel documents. Computer equipment, mobiles phones and cash were also seized.

Both men and women, including minors, were discovered working in night clubs, farms, mines, factories and open-air markets. With thousands looking to cross borders in search of work, traffickers are targeting the most desperate and vulnerable members of society with promises of a better life.

During this operation, investigators found women being forced to work out of spaces no bigger than coffins, for example.” In Guyana, young women were found working as prostitutes next to extremely remote gold mines, from which they could not escape. This is a common modus operandi as the geographical location of the mines also complicates investigations.

To ensure victims received the necessary care following their rescue, social services and NGOs were involved in conducting post-operation interviews and providing support services to victims.

Because they can earn more than they would in their home countries, some victims don’t identify as such, making it difficult to gather evidence and prosecute cases of suspected trafficking. Other victims are manipulated and intimidated into providing false information.

In St Vincent and the Grenadines, Asian ‘employees’ at a factory had been stripped of their passports and made to be completely dependent. Having never received wages, they relied on their handlers for housing, transport, food and the most basic necessities.

The operation was the culmination of the two-and-a-half year project funded by the government of Canada, which provided specialized training to investigators and immigration officers in order to enhance operational expertise and regional coordination to combat human trafficking.

  Top       Back to Hot Calaloo  

 Damian Marley wins fourth Grammy award

Damian “Jr Gong” Marley, international reggae star, took home his fourth Grammy Award on January 28, 2018, winning the award in the Best Reggae Grammy category. Marley won for his album “Stony Hill,” which was released in 2017. The album has been selling well since its release, currently at Number Six on the Billboard Reggae Charts. It reached Number One several weeks previously and has been on the charts for 26 weeks. Marley also won Grammys for “Half-Way Tree” in 2002, and Best Reggae Album and Best Urban/Alternative Performance for “Welcome to Jamrock” in 2006.

 
 Top       Back to Hot Calaloo