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Vol. 30, Issue 9 QUEENS/LONG ISLAND/BRONX/MANHATTAN March 1–7, 2019
Brooklyn City Councilmember Jumaane Williams claiming victory in Tuesday’s special
election for city public advocate. Photo by Steve Solomonson
By Matt Tracy
Brooklyn City Councilmember
Jumaane Williams
emerged from a
crowded fi eld in the special
election race for New York
City public advocate and won
handily on Tuesday evening,
capping off a contentious
months-long race to fi ll the
vacancy left by State Attorney
General Letitia James.
With roughly 98 percent of
precincts reporting, Williams
had almost exactly one-third
of the vote, with Queens Councilmember
Eric Ulrich, the
only Republican in the contest,
garnering about 19 percent of
the vote, and former Council
Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito
winning roughly 11 percent
of the vote.
Continued on Page 25
By Bert Wilkinson
As disposed Venezuelans
continued to pour into neighboring
Trinidad and Guyana,
authorities in the two Caribbean
Community countries
are beefing up national systems
to deal with the growing
number of refugees seeking
help with food, shelter, and
medical treatment among
other state services.
The cabinet in Trinidad
this week said the situation
had reached a stage where
it is now necessary for government
to invest in a new
military base at Moruga at
the southern bottom of the
island to improve the monitoring
of activities in that
part of the island, as intelligence
officials have identified
that area as a haven for
human trafficking, gun, and
drug smuggling.
Only seven miles of water
in the Gulf of Paria separates
Trinidad from the South
American continent, so it is
easy for refugees fleeing the
dire political and economic
situation back home to make
their way to Trinidad’s southern
or western coasts and try
to settle on the island. Official
estimates have already put
the number of Venezuelans
living in Trinidad at 40,000
and growing. This is part of
the reason why the cabinet
has decided that the time is
ripe for the T&T Regiment to
have a presence there to better
monitor activities in that
portion of the island.
As it relates to Guyana,
meanwhile, the country is
topographically luckier than
Trinidad, its northern neighbor,
as populated areas in
Venezuela are far removed
from urban centers in Guyana,
saving the country from
a mass invasion of people
seeking help. The border
areas are largely jungle communities,
so refugees who
flee come mostly from nearby
areas across the relatively
narrow points of the Cuyuni
or Wenamu border rivers.
Still, the ministry of citizenship
this week said that
5,123 Venezuelans have been
officially registered in the
country, about 1,000 more
than the tally at the end of
2018. These desperate folks
Continued on Page 22
It’s Jumaane!
REFUGEES
POSING
PROBLEMS
Venezuelans continue to
pour into neighboring
countries
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