CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Bahamas
Seven Bahamian nationals have been
selected to participate in the next staging
of the Caribbean-Canada Emerging
Leaders’ Dialogues (CCELD), making
it the largest contingent at the event,
which will be held from March 24-30
in Jamaica.
The program, which is held annually
in the Caribbean region is offered
by the Duke of Edinburg’s
Emerging Leaders’
Dialogues Canada
and organized under
the patronage of the
Princess Royal, Princess Anne.
The event is billed on the proven
model of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth
Study Conferences and is
part of the University of the West Indies
(UWI) and the Institute for Study of
International Development at McGill
University in Montreal, Canada.
The six-day CCELD program will
bring together a wide range of highcaliber,
mid-career individuals selected
from business, government and civil
society across the Caribbean and Canada
for a leadership exchange.
CCELD is an important part of local
and regional leadership development
since the l980s.
Caribbean
Five former CARICOM prime ministers
have rejected the use of force to
stop humanitarian relief from entering
Venezuela and to bring relief to
the thousands who are destitute and
hungry.
The former Caribbean leaders — PJ
Patterson of Jamaica; Said Musa of
Belize; Owen Arthur, Barbados; Kenny
Anthony, St. Lucia and Lester Bird,
Antigua and Barbuda
recently issued a
statement indicating
that humanitarian
assistance should not
be politicized and should enter Venezuela
under the auspices of the United
Nations.
In their joint statement, the former
prime ministers shared concern about
the maintenance of the Caribbean as
a zone of peace and expressed “great
disquiet” about events surrounding the
situation in Venezuela and the prospects
of any action that is inconsistent
with the principles of independence,
sovereignty and territorial integrity.
”In this connection, we are concerned
that no action be taken that
would jeopardize these fundamental
principles of international law,” the
statement said.
“We appeal to all governments to
contribute to the process of peaceful
negotiation by the Venezuelan parties
in the interest of the people of Venezuela
and the wider hemisphere,” they
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added.
The statement comes as Venezuela
continues to be gripped by turmoil
under the leadership of President Nicholas
Maduro.
Grenada
The Grenada government believes
the crisis in Venezuela is one that can
lead to a human trafficking problem
that will have an impact not just on
Grenada but on the entire region.
The observation was made by the
Permanent Secretary
in the Ministry
of National Security,
Sally-Ann Bhagan-
Logie who noted that
Venezuela is just over 500 miles from
Grenada and with this close proximity
will increase the likelihood of spillover
effect from ongoing crisis there and
human trafficking maybe one of the
problems that Caribbean countries will
face,
Speaking to participants attending a
recent two-day workshop on the Impact
of Human Trafficking, Bhagan-Logie
said the training was one of government’s
initiative geared at taking measures
to safeguard the country from
becoming a jurisdiction that facilitates
or condones this dehumanizing crime.
She said as a transnational crime, victims
of human trafficking can become a
problem without notice.
The senior government official said
Caribbean L 4 ife, March 15–21, 2019 BQ
that at any point the threat can materialize
on Grenada’s shores bringing “us
face to face with the problem whether
on a small scale or a large scale.”
Jamaica
Four police officers are being questioned
in connection with the recent
heist of over J$17 million worth of jewelry
and US$3,500 in cash and other
items from two senior citizens in Hellshire,
St. Catherine, who returned to
Jamaica three years ago after living
in the United States for more than 40
years.
The aged citizens had been visiting
relatives in Florida, USA, when a neighbor
who went to water their plants
noticed things amiss and informed the
police of the break-in at their house.
The couple had planned to travel
from Florida to New York, but canceled
the trip and returned to Jamaica. They
reported the matter to the Hellshire
Police Station.
The Major Organized Crime and
Anti—Corruption Agency said the four
police officers have
been detained while
investigations are
being carried out.
The suspects
dressed in police uniforms had gone to
the couple’s home pretending they were
making investigations when they held
them up and ordered them to lie on the
grounds and pointed guns at them and
they carried out a search of the house.
St. Lucia
Health authorities in St. Lucia are
raising an alert about dengue after
several countries in the region, including
neighboring French territories have
reported an increase in cases of the
mosquito-borne disease.
Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Merlene
Fredericks, said that alerts have
been issued by the
Trinidad-based Caribbean
Public Health
Agency (CARPHA) and
most recently by the
Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO).
She said while St Lucia has not
recorded an increase in dengue-related
cases, but a few things are different in
the Caribbean this year.
The CMO noted that certain countries
in the region, namely Jamaica, and
the French territories, have been experiencing
an increased number of cases
of dengue fever outside of the typical
cyclical pattern where normally there
is an increase in dengue fever around
the rainy season.
Dengue fever is transmitted by the
Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which mostly
bites in the day and likes to breed in and
around homes, Dr. Frederick said.
St. Lucia last had a dengue epidemic
in 2013, with type four of the illness
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