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Feb_March 2014

 Oxfam reports on income equality disgrace

Jamaican reggae superstar Jimmy Cliff is right:
"They say the world is spinning around
I say the world is upside down"

The humanitarian organization Oxfam International has released a new research report, Working for the Few: Political capture and economic inequality, which finds that:

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Pope appoints Caribbean cardinals

Monsignor Felix was born in Roseau, Dominica in February 1933. He was ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church on April 8, 1956. In 1962 he left the West Indies for St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, where he attained a Diploma in Adult Education in 1963, gained a Masters Degree from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana in Sociology and Anthropology in 1967 and completed post graduate studies in Sociology at the University of Bradford in Yorkshire, England in 1970. Felix was the Principal of the Roman Catholic High School in Dominica from 1972–1975 and Associate General Secretary of the Caribbean Conference of Churches from 1975–1981. Felix was ordained Archbishop on October 5, 1981 and served as President of the Antilles Episcopal Conference from 1991–1997 and President of the Caribbean Conference of Churches from 1981–1986.

Les Cayes Bishop Langlois is from the Jacmel valley in the Southeast of Haiti and was ordained in September 1991. He moved to the Diocese of Fort Liberte in 2004 and most recently was named Bishop of Les Cayes in 2011. Felix was ordained Archbishop on October 5, 1981 and served as President of the Antilles Episcopal Conference from 1991–1997 and President of the Caribbean Conference of Churches from 1981–1986.

Jamaica’s healthcare card

The Government of Jamaica is about to roll out the long-awaited national health card. The card, which is available to all Jamaicans, will be the primary means by which citizens can access health services, including pharmaceuticals, in the public sector. Persons will be able to use the card to access drugs at public pharmacies and Drug Serv pharmacies as of March 3, 2014.

Speaking at a press briefing Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson said registration forms have been provided to all regional health authorities for distribution to their respective facilities. Registration will also be facilitated at the Ministry of Health's head office and the National Health Fund (NHF).

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Cuba hosts the CELAC summit

With the celebration in Havana of the 2nd Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Cuba's presidency of the organization comes to a close. Raúl Castro's government coordinated several regional cooperation initiatives in the areas of education, culture, anticorruption, and mitigating natural disasters. Havana also lead the diplomatic dialogue of the CELAC troika with Russia and strengthened the diplomatic coordination of the group in the United Nations. The summit declared Latin America a peace zone by reiterating the commitment of all member states to resolve their conflicts peacefully and to coordinate policies to confront poverty.

Cuba's CELAC presidency exerted a quiet diplomacy, giving preference to continuity and consensus rather than promoting dramatic changes or radical statements. As a Latin American integration project, CELAC is still just a mechanism for regular consultation between governments that lacks institutionalization and suffers from the low commitment of its members, particularly leading countries, to finance an integrative effort beyond bilateral trade and discretionary programs on education, health and other areas. There is no permanent secretariat and no economic and social integration beyond ad hoc meetings.

For Cuban diplomacy, the summit was an opportunity to show a country in reform, with a significant expansion of the private sector, increased freedom of travel, and in the process of opening up to foreign investment. Several presidents participated in the inauguration of the expanded Mariel port. The event coincided with visits by presidents Peña Nieto of Mexico and Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, the two largest economies on the subcontinent, associated with the rise of what has been called "multilatinas"-- large multinational companies based in the region. Ms. Rousseff inaugurated the new port built as part of a Cuban-Brazilian investment.

The organization was thought up at the Rio Summit in Mexico in 2010 and founded in Caracas, Venezuela, in 2011. It is comprised of 33 countries of the region, representing about 600 million people. The United States and Canada are excluded from this organization.

CELAC’s main goal is to become an alternative to the Organization of American States, which was set up in 1948 under the direction of the U.S. government to combat communist and popular struggles taking place in the region. After the Cuban Revolution in 1962, Cuba was excluded from OAS.

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Read Across Jamaica and First Book announce partnership

First Book and Read Across Jamaica Foundation announced a new partnership that will bring 10,000 brand-new books to Jamaican children and permanently connect educators and local program leaders in Jamaica with access to new books and educational materials for their students.

First Book, based in the United States, is a nonprofit social enterprise that provides new books to children from low-income families. Read Across Jamaica Foundation, is an international nonprofit that works to provide resources for schools and public libraries in Caribbean communities. Leaders from each group met with Jamaican Ambassador Stephen Vasciannie in Washington to discuss plans for addressing literacy and education initiatives in the country.

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Bermuda union members march over hotel firings

THE Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) recently staged a massive show of strength in the capital in support of 10 workers sacked by a historic hotel there. The dispute has gone to arbitration, but the BIU appears not willing to participate.

Government said bus services were hit, while ferries were cancelled, as union workers downed tools in support of the workers dismissed by the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel.

Five of the dismissed workers are members of the union. The industrial action escalated when staff at the resort's sister hotel, the Fairmont Southampton, voted to walk off the job. Unionised hotel workers marked that decision with a march through the streets of the capital at lunchtime. Hundreds of union members took part in the lunchtime march through Hamilton, which caused traffic along Front Street to be diverted. Marching 10 abreast, the ranks of workers stopped outside the Cabinet Office and the offices of Workforce Development, where an arbitration hearing into the dispute got under way on Wednesday.

Union leaders said staff would not return to work and the union would not take part in any arbitration until the dismissed staff had been reinstated -- a move the hotel has so far refused to countenance.

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U.S. issues travel advisory against CAL flights out of Guyana

The United States Embassy in Guyana on Sunday February9, 2014 slapped a travel advisory against Trinidad & Tobago-based carrier, Caribbean Airlines. The Embassy warned all U.S. Citizens in Guyana traveling on Caribbean Airlines (CAL) to the United States from today, Monday, February 10 through Wednesday, February 12, 2014, to make alternate travel arrangements.

A statement said they have received unconfirmed threat information relating to Caribbean Airlines flights destined for the United States departing today, February 10, 2014.

The message posted Sunday on the embassy’s website gave no details of the potential threat.

Caribbean Airlines for its part issued a statement insisting that special security measures have been put in place.

The airline asssured "passengers and the travelling public that specific layers of security have been added at our Guyana Airport Operations and we are working closely with all authorities to ensure appropriate security protocols are followed to ensure, safe, comfortable and on-time flight departures."

CAL officials added that all Caribbean Airlines flights are operating as scheduled.

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Tunisia leads the way

This week, Tunisia passed a truly historic constitution widely heralded as a progressive and monumental document.  Here's just some of what these brave elected representatives agreed upon in the face of strong pressure from the more extreme factions of their parties:

In one stroke, Tunisia's become more democratic than many Western countries have been for years. This is a revolution of democracy and a great victory for human rights — and the more we recognize that, the more Tunisia can shine as an example for the Western and the Arab world!

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Anger management comes to primary school in Jamaica

The Yallahs Primary School in St. Thomas, Jamaica, has adopted an Anger Management Program for its students. The program is an innovation of the Guidance and Counselling Department and is designed to identify students with behavioural issues who have difficulties operating in the school system. It aims to help them learn stress-management strategies and behaviour modification.

Before Christmas several of the children enrolled in the program travelled around the Yallahs district to distribute Christmas gifts and toiletries and food supplies to the less fortunate. The students, who were mostly boys, got a chance to choose the beneficiaries in advance and most chose shut-ins and elderly persons in their own communities with whom they were acquainted.

The Anger Management Program has proven to be a success in the eyes of teachers and parents alike. Twenty-two students, three girls and 19 boys between the ages of nine and 12, are currently enrolled in the program, having been identified by their teachers as students who required individual attention. Many have been marked as troublemakers, disruptive, and increasingly inattentive to lessons. Many of the students are plagued by poverty; sexual, physical, and emotional abuse; and neglect. Others react to conflict that exists in their home and act out to get attention.

Several efforts have also been made to reach out to parents in an effort to help them understand how to help their children.

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Cuban Five hero to be freed from U.S. prison

On Feb. 27, 2014, when Fernando González is released from Safford federal prison in Arizona, he will have completed 15 years, 5 months and 15 days of an unjust imprisonment imposed after a U.S. government political prosecution.

Each day has been a cruel punishment for Fernando and his Cuban Five brothers, who courageously sacrificed their well-being to defend their homeland and the people of Cuba from the scourge of terrorism that emanates from Miami with the full knowledge and protection of Washington.

But Fernando will not simply walk out of Safford on Feb. 27. As one of his appeals attorneys Richard Klugh explains, since Fernando is not a U.S. citizen, he will be detained temporarily by immigration authorities.

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Caribbean connection at Golden Globes

Caribbean-Briton director Steve McQueen’s "12 Years a Slave" was named best motion picture, drama at the 71st annual Golden Globes awards in Beverly Hills, California, beating out "Captain Phillips," "Gravity," "Philomena" and "Rush." It was the lone award for the film at the Golden Globes. McQueen’s historical biopic of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free man abducted and sold into slavery, "12 Years a Slave" was long considered a front-runner in the best picture Oscar race.

McQueen was born in West London to Grenadian and Trinidadian parents.

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Infectious Caribbean music

"A Trini Just Like You"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeLGv-FcNQY