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Spring 2020

1.5 million Caribbean jobs may be lost due to COVID-19

The International Labour Organization (ILO) says based on its latest data, 9.9 per cent of working hours, which is the equivalent of 1.5 million full-time jobs, in the Caribbean are expected to be lost during the second quarter of this year due to the impact of COVID-19.

The ILO said this employment outlook for the region presents, in line with the global pattern, a major drop in the second quarter of 2020 from the last quarter of the previous year.

By comparison, during the first quarter the hour loss was estimated at 1.7 per cent or 250,000 in full-time equivalent jobs.

The organisation said these latest estimates include only, due to data limitations, The Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States Virgin Islands.

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Covid-19 in the Caribbean (as of May 15, 2020)

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Covid-19  hospital in England to be named for Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole

A first-of-its-kind COVID-19 recovery community hospital in England will be named in honor of Mary Seacole. A Jamaican nurse who established a hospital to support British officers wounded in the 19th-century Crimean War. The National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom confirmed that the NHS Headley Court Hospital located in Leatherhead, Surrey, will be the site of the NHS Seacole Center. The venue has a capacity of 300 beds for patients. Health experts hope that the hospital will successfully provide capacity necessary to free up beds in neighboring hospitals so they can handle non-COVID cases.

Mary Seacole was born in Jamaica and was denied official approval from the UK War Office to travel to the Crimea with legendary nurse Florence Nightingale�s mission of mercy in the area. Seacole went ahead and paid her own way to the Crimea and established a hospital there in spite of the War Office. Seacole also made visits to the battlefield to nurse wounded soldiers, becoming known as Mother Seacole for her efforts. Her extraordinary contributions to community healthcare prompted the NHS to recognize her with the hospital�s name.

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Editorial

 Trump�s Racism Goes International

Trump�s racism is not limited to America, but is a menace to the world.Traditionally, Venezuela, like most Latin American countries , have been ruled by white elites, despite the variety of races in the country. The late President  Hugo Chavez disrupted that.  He was the first Venezuelan leader to embrace his Afro-indigenous heritage, His successor Maduro also did not come from white elites, with his indigenous roots. Throughout Latin America, the US has typically sided with the white ruling class and Venezuela is no exception.

So when an overt racist like Donald Trump becomes president of the US, he �chastises the non-white Madro government with scorpions�. He has imposed crippling, but illegal, sanctions on that country. These sanctions, in their first year alone, have caused the deaths of over 40,000 innocent men, women and children. Why kill them by invasion when you can starve them to death? As the corona virus has hit Venezuela, this evil vindictive racist master has increased the sanctions. He has also taken the unprecedented action of disregarding the election of Maduro to recognize non-elected member of the white elites, Juan Guido, as president of Venezuela. He followed that up by seizing the Venezuela embassy in Washington DC to turn it over to Guido. Simultaneously, he has put pressure on other countries to recognize Guido.

His racism has manifested itself in Bolivia too.  There the first indigenous elected president , Evo Morales, was overthrown by white elitists to make opposition senator Jeanine ��ez, the new president.  I suspect US complicity in this coup. Trump rushed to recognize the lilly-whiye usurper.

Let us move to Iran. One of the first things Trump did after he became president, was to break the nuclear treaty with Iran. None of the other signers,  the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany supported such an action but actually opposed it. Trump followed this up with harsh, but once again illegal sanctions, which took a severe economic toll on that country too. I am sure it has taken more than the 40,000 innocent lives that it took in Venezuela, but those figures are not available. Also, as that country has been hit by the corona virus, like this evil president did in Venezuela, he has increased sanctions also. Iran is a non-white Muslim country, This is a double whammy as they must deal with a racist Islamaphobe.  Let us not forget his Muslim ban.

There can be no question that Trump hated the very thought of a black president of the USA. First Trump declared himself a �birther�. By doing so, he claimed that Obama was ineligible to be president because he was not born in America. Now, Trump is doing everything to erase President Obama�s  legacy. President Trump has done away with nearly 100 environmental regulations in his first 3 years in office, in effect rolling back Obama�s legacy in that department. Even worse, he is moving heaven and earth to try to eradicate Obamacare, even though this would eliminate healthcare for millions of Americans.

His latest manifestation of racism is probably the worst.  The World Health Organisation  (WHO) Director-General,  Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is not white and hails from Ethiopia. He has the distinction of being the first WHO Director-General to have been elected from multiple candidates from the World Health Assembly. As expected, the director-general  has played a prominent role in dealing with the corona virus pandemic. He has earned the respect and admiration of the world in grappling with this disaster. Trump has not. Suddenly, Trump announced that he was withdrawing America�s money from the WHO, knowing full well this would  be a calamity for that valuable organization. Shockwaves reverberated around the world  by such irresponsible mean action in such troubling COVID-19  times. If the WHO director was a blue-eyed blonde from Norway, Trump would never have taken this callous ruthless act.

The leaders of non-white countries worldwide cannot afford to forget that they are dealing with a racist in the Whitehouse. Trump considers them �shithole� countries and to expect respect and fairness from him is a pipe dream.  Instead, they can expect to be bullied and threatened if they do not submit  to his ego.  Even Trump-loyal Jamaica is bullied by  the Trump administration by  cancelling visas to America of prominent Jamaicans without rhyme or reason.

Even worse, some like Venezuela and Iran, might suffer deaths of thousands of their innocent people because of him. He is on a rampage. That�s bad enough but where is the moral outrage?

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UN warns US to lift Cuba embargo or risk many lives  to COVID-19

This Thursday, a consortium of experts from the United Nations released a joint statement insisting that the U.S. government �lift its blockade on Cuba� and ease its restrictions on other sanctioned countries to facilitate their response to the current COVID-19 outbreak. The group, made up of special rapporteurs, independent experts, and UN working groups, emphasized that the sanctions are impeding Cuba�s access to vital food, medicine, and medical equipment. According to the experts, �the lack of will of the US Government to suspend sanctions may lead to a higher risk of such suffering in Cuba and other countries targeted by its sanctions.� Similar statements have been issued by civil society organizations across the Americas. On March 26, CDA and seven other non-profits with a focus on the Americas issued a joint call for the U.S. government to suspend the sanctions to facilitate aid to Cuba during the pandemic.

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US blocks Emergency Swiss aid for Cuba

 Three organizations recently denounced the blocking of Swiss humanitarian aid to Cuba according to Swiss news site SwissInfo. The aid was meant to help the island combat COVID-19. Cuba�s medical equipment management firm MediCuba, along with the organization MediCuba Switzerland and the Swiss-Cuban Association, jointly criticized restrictions that prevented Swiss organizations from making cash transfers and sending medical equipment to Havana.

According to OnCuba, Switzerland has openly rejected the U.S. embargo on Cuba since the 1960s. Despite this, Swiss banks have blocked financial transfers to Cuba in order to avoid the consequences of indirectly violating U.S. sanctions. In addition, the organizations denounced the recent purchase of two major Swiss ventilator producers by the U.S.-based Vyaire Medical Group, preventing the firms from selling life-saving ventilators to Cuba.

The news of U.S. embargo-related complications on the delivery of international aid to Cuba to combat COVID-19 follows an April 4 statement by Cuba�s Ambassador to China that a medical aid package from billionaire Jack Ma�s charitable foundation was prevented from reaching the island due to U.S. sanctions affecting the air carrier meant to deliver the aid.

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Jamaica Ranked 6 in World Press Freedom Index

Jamaica has the distinction of being ranked as No. 6 in the world in the Freedom Press Index. The rankings are compiled by Reporters Without Borders and are based on the degree of freedom that journalists, news organizations, and citizens have in each country. The Index doesn�t gauge the quality of the journalism but does measure the efforts by leaders in each country to respect that freedom.

The Index ranked 180 countries. Since Feb. 2009, no serious threats to media freedom or violence to reporters have been reported. Findings also showed that there were some attempts to undermine the press by officials. Jamaica increased its ranking to 6^th over 2019 when it was listed as No. 8. By Comparison, the UK ranked 35 and the US 45.

The Freedom Press Index advocates globally on behalf of journalists and a free press. The international organization is non-governmental and non-political. Rankings are based on a number of criteria that includes transparency, media independence, infrastructure, self-censorship, and attacks/violence against the media.

Jamaica�s No. 6 ranking in the Freedom Press Index is an indication of the value that the nation and its people place on honesty, transparency, and truth from its TV and radio stations, and newspapers. As in any society, journalism in Jamaica still has problems to overcome and is working to do so with integrity.

Scandanavian countries Norway, Finland Denmark and Sweeden came 1.2.3. and 4. Other Caribbean countries,
Suriname 20
T&T � 36
Guyana � 49
Belize � 53
Haiti � 83
Cuba � 171

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Guyana is the world's newest petrostate

Guyana is set to become one of the world�s best performing economies in 2020 thanks to 6 billion barrels � and counting � of offshore oil deposits found by ExxonMobil. The discovery is sufficient to completely transform the economy of this small South American country.

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The Ocean Cleanup awards US$1 million to clean up Jamaican harbor

Jamaica�s Kingston Harbor has been awarded $1 million in funding from The Ocean Cleanup organization. The funds will be used in a multi-year project designed to help clean up Hunts Bay that empties into Kingston Harbor, the island�s most polluted waterway.

The Ocean Cleanup organization was founded by Dutch inventor, Boyan Slat, when he was just 18. He launched the initiative from his hometown of Delft, Netherlands and it has grown to encompass a team of more than 90 scientists, engineers, researchers, and computational modelers focused on ridding the world�s oceans of plastic.

The funds will be used to install an Interceptor, a floating barrier that attaches to a floating processing plant. The Interceptor funnels plastic waste to the plant where it�s fed to a conveyor belt and extracted from the water. The Interceptor is 100 percent solar-powered and is scalable to accommodate individual situations. The installation will be performed in collaboration with Recycling Partners Jamaica.

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 Carnival Cruise says it will resume Caribbean trips in summer

Carnival Cruise Line announced Monday it will start cruising again, from Florida and Texas, beginning in August. These Caribbean trips will be the company's first new itineraries since the coronavirus pandemic forced a near-total pause in the global cruise industry. The ships will sail from the ports of Miami, Cape Canaveral and Galveston, Texast. The eight ships named by the company have itineraries showing stops in the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica and Mexico, among other places.

The US State Department began warning against cruise travel on March 8, and the CDC issued a no-sail order on March 14, which was extended and set to expire on July 24. The order prompted several countries to reject cruise ships suspected of carrying infected passengers and crew members, stranding some ships at sea for weeks.

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 Jamaica sends its 1st shipment of toilet paper to the United States

Jamaican company Quality Incorporations VII Ltd. made history recently by packing and shipping Jamaica�s first shipment of toilet paper to the United States. There has been a shortage of toilet paper in retail outlets in the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic. This shortage is mainly due to consumer hoarding and supply/demand issues.

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Usain Bolt becomes a father

Usain Bolt, an eight-time Olympic gold medalist, world-record holder and fastest man in history has becme a father. Bolt�s longtime girlfriend, Kasi Bennett, gave birth to a baby girl.

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Millie Small dies

 Millie Small, the Jamaican singer who introduced the world to ska with her hit My Boy Lollipop in the 1960s, died yesterday in England. She she suffered a stroke.and was 73.  Producer and founder of Island Records Chris Blackwell, who along with Ernie Ranglin produced the song � Jamaica's first million-selling single � described Small as a special person. 
�I would say she's the person who took ska international because it was her first hit record,� He recalled that Ranglin played guitar and did the arrangement on My Boy Lollipop, which became the first Jamaican song to make it on to the British and American music charts, reaching number one in Britain and number two in the United States in 1964.

 
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