CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Antigua
Two St. Vincent and the Grenadines
nationals were denied bail and remanded
in custody on charges linked to an
EC$1.8 million drug bust.
The men, Godfrey King and Sydney
Norville, appeared before Magistrate
Ngalo Emanuel in a Kingstown court
charged with possession of marijuana,
possession with intent to transfer, and
drug trafficking.
They were refused
bail on the grounds
they are flight risks.
The case was adjourned
to May 8, 2019.
The Office of National Drug and
Money Laundering Control Policy
(ONDCP) said the two men were held
during a counter-trafficking operation
when a vehicle was intercepted and
several blocks of compressed marijuana
weighing about 469 pounds with a
street value of EC$1.87 million seized.
Barbados
The judiciary is moving to increase
the number of judges and additional
resources for the Department of Public
Prosecution (DD), which are some of
the initiatives to deal with the growing
incidents of crime across Barbados.
Attorney General, Dale Marshall,
took issue with the fact that Barbados
had in some cases as many as 1,000
matters on indictment waiting to the
heard in the High Court, some of which
date back to a decade.
He said if the criminal element feels
they could do as they please and appear
before the court and get bail and the
next thing they hear about the case
is five years from now they would feel
that they could do what they want in
the island.
The attorney general
said justice has to
be swift and the end
of that court justice is
the court system.
Marshall was at the time addressing
members of the media at Police Headquarters
before going on a tour of “hot
spots” in Bridgetown.
He was accompanied by the high
command of the Royal Barbados Police
Force and Minister of Maritime Affairs
and Blue Economy, Kirk Humphrey.
Marshall said that a number of
changes in the judiciary are coming
soon, while the DPP’s office will be getting
additional resources.
Guyana
The Guyana government is seeking
the assistance of the Pan American
Health Organization (PAHO) to assist
in the investigation into the circumstances
surrounding the deaths of three
children at the Georgetown Public Hospital
Corporation (GHPC).
Updated daily at www.caribbeanlifenews.com
A protester carries off looted items, during a protest demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti,
Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Protesters are angry about skyrocketing infl ation and the government’s failure to prosecute embezzlement
from a multi-billion Venezuelan program that sent discounted oil to Haiti. See story on Page 38 Associated Press / Dieu Nalio Chery
Minister of Health, Volda Lawrence
said PAHO’s assistance in the probe
into the deaths of Curwayne Edwards,
Roshini Seegobin and Sharezer Mendonca
is to ensure the process is open
and transparent.
Lawrence said that the Chief Medical
Officer (CMO), Dr. Shamdeo Persaud
has put together a team that will be
examining the drugs administered to
the children while at the hospital.
The hospital
recently issued a
statement urging the
public to “resist the
urge to speculate,” as
it announced its own probe into the
adverse reaction a particular medication
had on several children suffering
from cancer.
Chairperson of the GPHC board of
directors, Kesaundra Alves said the hospital
has since discontinued the medication
that was administered.
Haiti
More than 28 Haitians recently
drowned near the island of Abaco in
the Bahamas after the vessel carrying
them sank.
The death toll grew after divers with
the Royal Bahamas Defense Force said
it found an additional 15 bodies in the
submerged vessel.
Also, two Haitian migrants were
found alive on a nearby cay, bringing
the total number of survivors to 17 so
Caribbean L 4 ife, Feb. 15–21, 2019 BQ
far.
The latest Haitian
boat tragedy at sea
unfolded before dawn
and comes as the local
Haitian currency, the
gourde, continues its precipitous devaluation
against the US dollar, inflation
rises to 15 percent in the impoverished
Caribbean country and an ongoing fuel
shortage continues while the government
recorded an $89.6 million budget
deficit in the first few months of the
year.
The Support Group for Refugees and
Returnees, a Haitian nongovernmental
organization that works with returning
migrants, said it is worried about the
increasing number of Haitian nationals
risking their lives in search of a better
life.
Jamaica
The Jamaica government
says it is taking
steps to fully fund
the education of students
up to the age of
18 years.
This was revealed by Education,
Youth and Information Minister, Ruel
Reid, who said, “this is how we are
going to revolutionize Jamaica to make
sure that we have every one of our
young people trained and certified at
least to the minimum of an associate
degree, facilitated through the collaboration
of the Council of Community
Colleges.”
He said once the initiative is finalized,
this will be implemented over
three years.
Reid recently told the annual conference
of the Council of Community Colleges
of Jamaica (CCCJ) that he would
be meeting with CCCJ representatives
to outline the feasibility of the public
free-education strategy.
He said the government is seeking
to provide a better avenue for students
whose parents are unable to fund their
education, while pointing out the need
to stem the issue of persons being
employed without the required qualification
and training.
The minister said that the education
sector must be revolutionized to
prepare students for a modernized job
market.
Turks and Caicos Islands
Sandals Resort International (SRI)-
owned Beaches Resort Villages and Spa
has confirmed the “indefinite” closure
of its facilities in the Turks & Caicos
Islands (TCI) from January 2021.
Media reports indicated
that the shutdown
is linked to a
multi-million dollar
tax bill which is in dispute
with the TCI government.
In a statement Sandals Resort said,”
Continued on Page 20
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