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April 2000

Montserrat Volcano Nightmare is Back

Just when we thought it was safe to go back in the water...... ! Scientists announced in 1998 that Montserrat's Soufriere Hills volcano had ended a three-year eruption, weary islanders looked forward to moving back. But the scientists were wrong. In November, after months of silence, the volcano began spewing molten rock. And a few weeks ago it briefly exploded, thrusting glowing rock and a thundering ash cloud six miles high.
"This volcano likes to give us surprises," Gill Norton, director of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, said before Monday's explosion. ``The longer the quiet went on, the more certain we were that we had seen the end. But apparently it wasn't done yet.''
The Soufriere Hills' reawakening is yet another blow to Montserrat, this British Caribbean territory that saw its capital, Plymouth, destroyed by the volcano in 1997. It has been slowly rebuilding in a northern ``safe zone'' about five miles away from the volcano. Even before last month's (March 2000) explosion, islanders greeted the new activity with resignation. Scientists say more molten rock will produce more explosions, ash clouds and avalanches of fiery rock and gases called pyroclastic flows. One avalanche killed 19 people in 1997. Montserrat once was a relatively prosperous island with a strong offshore banking industry, a medical school, light manufacturing and tourism fueled by wealthy foreigners who built villas in its verdant hills and spring-fed forests.
When the volcano roared to life in 1995 after 400 years of quiet, it spread blankets of ash over the island and followed up with pyroclastic flows that raced into the sea. Montserrat's population shrank from 11,000 to 4,000 as residents left. The prolonged eruption brought a host of ills.

• Burglars looted the vault of the abandoned Barclay's Bank.
• The island's airport and pier closed.
• Insurance companies fled, and without insurance, residents couldn't build new homes.
• Plymouth, with its new hospital, government building and tourist markets, became a ghost town of blasted buildings and melted windowpanes.
• Acidic ash devours metal roofs and swallows all sound in the streets.

The new threat comes just as islanders were rebuilding. The government constructed 200 concrete homes and closed crowded emergency shelters. A new hospital and 18-room hotel have opened. British Gov. Anthony Abbott convinced a few insurance companies to return, and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank agreed to honor Montserratian cash again after police caught the Barclay's Bank burglars. But there are still few jobs, despite a British government offer of $56,000 to any company willing to return to the island.
The local government is lobbying Britain for a new airport and easier terms for a mortgage program to enable islanders to build homes. Many residents are still paying mortgages on homes in an off-limits zone near the volcano while trying to meet rent payments in the north. Fewer than 100 Montserratians abroad have taken up a British offer to pay their air fare home. Many are simply unwilling to live with the sticky gray ash. Gov Abbott describes the new growth in the volcano is massively demoralizing, and fears that if ashing starts, some of those tremendously resilient people who have put up with this volcano for years are just going to leave.

For more information check(click) here: Montserrat Volcano Observatory site:

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Guatemala Agitating for Half of Belize Again

Guatemala is at it again after years of relative calm. Guatemala has a long standing claim to more than 12,000 square kilometers of Belize, which is more than half the country. Reports are that it has reactivated its claim and relations between the two countries have worsened as evidenced by:

• Guatemala arrested 4 Belizean border patrol soldiers, claiming they were on Guatemalan territory.
• Guatemala charged them with illegal arms possession in their territory.
• They were imprisoned until a high court released them to house arrest in the Belize embassy pending review. Acting Belize ambassador, Salvador Figueroa obviously considered the charges against them to be bogus. So he promptly put them on a plane and sent them home to Belize in defiance of the court order, which he proudly declared in a Guatemala newspaper interview.
• Guatemala then ordered the acting-ambassador to leave the country and for Belize to replace him with another.
• The acting-Ambassador departed for Mexico where he also serves in the same capacity there.

Caricom leaders meeting in St. Kitts deplored this "act of hostility" against its fellow member Belize by Guatemala. This is indeed a grave threat as border disputes can lead to war and tiny Belize is no match for Guatemala.

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Clarendon Residents Win Suit Against ALCOA

Chalk up one for the little man versus the mighty multinational corporation, Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA). The case went all the way to the United Kingdom Privy Council, the highest court in the commonwealth. The Privy Council upheld a lower Jamaica court decision that ALCOA Minerals of Jamaica will have to pay millions of dollars to 60 residents of Hayes, Clarendon in Jamaica. The bauxite mining operations was held responsible for damaging their houses, and adversely affecting their health because of the pollutants, noxious gases and corrosive dust produced by its plant in the area.

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Poverty, Women, and Jamaica

Seems a lot like poverty
According to a 1998 United Nations Development Program report, Jamaica is not considered. It is ranked internationally as a middle-income level country. So much for the good news, as the report goes on to state that Jamaica's development continues to be compromised by:

• low levels of economic growth
• high debt-servicing obligations,
• relatively high levels of unemployment
• growing under-employment
• high lending interest rates in the financial sector
• increasing inequality
• persistent poverty

Women
"... Large numbers of women, especially those in the lower socio-economic groups, continue to be marginalised, and to suffer the effects of gender and poverty based discrimination. The economic dependency of poor women and their high levels of unemployment are matters of great concern as they are key factors in determining the reproduction of poverty and its impact on children in the home."

• Women head approximately 45 per cent of Jamaican households.
• They tend to have lower consumption expenditure levels than male-headed households
• Unemployment levels can be as high as double that of men because the jobs available to unskilled women are often precarious and pay low wages.
• Female-headed households are more vulnerable to the increased risk of persistent poverty and economic hardship.

Teenage pregnancy
Every year, more than 14,000 babies are born to teenagers under the age of 19, just under one-quarter of all births in Jamaica. "The incidence of teenage pregnancy in Jamaica is closely linked to the vulnerability of female-headed households. This is due to the limitations it places on girls' education and the economic dependence that develops as a result."

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Women Ahead at UWI, Mona

It seems like there are only a few good men. Preliminary enrollment for 1999/2000 at the Mona Campus (Jamaica) of the University of the West Indies stood at 10,980 students in February 2000, with females accounting for 71 per cent and males for 29 per cent, the UWI says. It is expected that total enrolment for 1999/2000 when complete will marginally surpass that of last year-end, but ill be below the planned 11,800 for the year. The Principal pointed to a maturing of the campus, noting that approximately one-third of the total student body was under 25 years of age, with approximately another third in the 25-34 age group. Three per cent of the student body is over 50 years of age, he said.

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Help on the Way for Men in Dominica

".....over the years men have been marginalised, belittled and abused yet they have not come out to tell the world about it". From these words and subsequent action by Matthew Walters, it seems that the women are ahead of the men in Dominica too. Matthew Walters is Dominica's Minister of Community Development and Women's Affairs. He says the men need help too. So he is changing the name of his ministry from Ministry of Community Development and Women's Affairs to Community Development and Gender Affairs in order to accommodate men. Mr. Walters said that there are organisations like the Women's Bureau looking after the affairs of women and his Ministry has to take the lead in catering to the needs of men.

Editor's Note: That's what happens when a man is put in charge of women's affairs.

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Help Needed For Children

Readers, the New Hope Children's Home in Manchester, Jamaica, needs your help. New Hope operates 6 independent homes in Manchester, May Pen, and Santa Cruz. It caters to children from birth to 18 years. The homes do receive a government subsidy, but it is not enough. So, Director Amanda Williams has launched an appeal for more financial support in this worthy cause. Not only money, but she says clothes and sporting equipment would be greatly appreciated too. To help contact the Jamaica Embassy. For the address for this embassy and other Caribbean embassies in Washington DC follows: 1520 New Hampshire Ave NW Washington DC 20036 USA Phone: 202-452-0660; Fax: 202-452-0081 e-mail emjam@sysnet.net URL: http://www.caribbean-online.com/jamaica/embassy/washdc/

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New Tax For Antigua and Barbuda

Free trade is not free. Somebody always pays. This time it looks like the citizens of Antigua and Barbuda will pay via a new tax. The Government coffers are running low because of the reduction of the CET, the Common External Tariff on imports. Reduction and removal of tariffs may be a step towards free trade but it reduces government income. So, to make up for the loss, the Government is proposing a Value Added Tax or simply vat. This is basically the equivalent of the US sales tax.

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St. Kitts-Nevis General Elections

The ruling St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party lead by Dr. Denzil Douglas won all 8 seats in St. Kitts in the recent general elections there. . In Nevis, the Concerned Citizens Movement won one seat and the Nevis Reformation Party won the other.

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Only 2% Online in Jamaica

It is estimated that only 2% of Jamaicans have access to the internet. It is no wonder considering the price. Internet Service Provider (ISP), Cable & Wireless, just announced that it was cutting its price by an average of 37% across the Caribbean. In Jamaica after April 1, sign-up fee will drop from US$50 to US$34.50. The lowest monthly pricing plan will cost US$57.50 for 10 hours. Ouch! That new "low" rate is so high that Jamaicans will be only hitchhikers on the electronic superhighway and makes even logging on to Hot Calaloo a real luxury (even though well worth it). This is a serious problem. Compare this with here in the US, where subscriber service for unlimited internet access, that's unlimited not a mere 10 hours, from ISP's like AOL runs about US$20 per month or less. A lot less too, as totally free unlimited access is becoming more and more available. The internet is too valuable a medium to be denied to so many Jamaicans. Already it is revolutionizing the world, with a lot more beneficial potential ahead. The innovative Senator Philip Paulwell, Jamaica's Minister of Technology, has announced a plan to provide more public access at newly designed postal centers.

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SPORTS

West Indies Sweep Zimbabwe
Jimmy Adams made a very successful debut as captain as the West Indies swept Zimbabwe 2-0 in the test cricket series at home in the West Indies. Even though it was lowly Zimbabwe, who has yet to win a test match, it meant a lot to the West Indies, who has been struggling after humiliating recent defeats and team disarray.
In the first test, the batsmen failed again and it was the heroics of the bowlers which rescued WI from what seemed like a certain defeat. The scores were :

• 1st Inning: WI 187 (Wavell Hinds 46 n.o., Streak 4 for 45); Zimbabwe 236(A. Flower 113 n.o., Ambrose 4 for 42)
• 2nd  Inning: WI 147 ( Chanderpaul 49, Streak 5 for 23); Zimbabwe 63 (Rose 4 for 19)

In the second test, Jimmy Adams showed his mettle as captain to be named man-of-the match. After Zimbabwe put 308 runs on the scoreboard, and with WI wickets falling all around him, he teamed up with unlikely batsman, bowler Franklyn Rose, for a gritty stand. With the score at a mere 170 for 7, they hung in there until the Zimbabwe total was passed, with a 9th wicket partnership of 148 runs. Adams got his century and number 9 batsman, Rose, scored 69, his highest ever in test cricket. Once again the bowlers came through. For Courtney Walsh it was history making as he took his 435th test wicket to become the leading wicket taker of all times in test cricket. Walsh took 3 second innings Zimbabwe wickets as the visitors were routed for 102. The scores are as follows:

• 1st Innings: Zimbabwe 308 (MW Goodwin 113, A. Fowler 66, King 5 for 51) WI 339 (Jimmy Adams 101 n.o., F. Rose 69, Johnson 4 for 77)
• 2nd Innings: Zimbabwe 102; WI 75 without loss (AFG Griffith 54 n.o. S. Campbell 24 n.o.) Man-of-the-Series: Franklyn Rose for his match saving 69 and 9 wickets series total.

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Venezuela Fight Crime With 10 min Trials

Just about 30 miles off the Trinidad coast is the South American oil rich country of Venezuela. Oil rich, yes, but widespread poverty abounds. Moreover, it is battling all sorts of economic and political woes. Most recently its crime wave has mushroomed. Lets hope it does not spread to the Caribbean. Things are so bad in Venezuela that:

• Funeral parlors are hiring security guards so mourners do not get robbed.
• All-night pharmacies are shutting their doors early.
• Electric fences are going up around middle-class homes.

Now, Venezuelans have found yet another way to combat their nation's recent surge in violent crime: 10-minute criminal trials for suspects caught red-handed. Interior Minister Luis Alfonso Davila announced this week that officials will set up 24-hour temporary courts at four places in Caracas to conduct "fast-track" trials for suspects caught committing a crime. Buses may be stationed at the temporary courts to whisk those who are convicted off to prison - either to the notorious El Dorado prison in the jungles of eastern Venezuela, or to other equally harsh jails.

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U.S. Sales of Medicine to Cuba OK'd

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has finally voted to authorize sales of food and medicine to Cuba after the chairman, Sen. Jesse Helms, dropped his opposition to easing the 40-year-old embargo. The sales can not be federally subsidized. The Cuba provision was included in a foreign assistance bill that also authorizes $600 million in debt relief to developing countries and $300 million in aid for victims of the African AIDS epidemic.

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