A close-up view of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke

A close-up view of 'Dudus'
From Tivoli ‘don’ to accused international drug lord
jamaicaobserver:

Journalist Tino Geddes, who has frequented Tivoli Gardens for many years, gives a personal account of the rise of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke from a modest community 'don' to the international figure described by United States authorities as one of the most dangerous drug and arms dealers in the world today.

DESCRIBED by Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, a former head of the Jamaica Defence Force, who later became commissioner of police, as the "Mother of all Garrisons", Tivoli Gardens has been the most feared inner-city community in Jamaica for the past five decades.

Official crime statistics show that virtually no crimes are committed in Tivoli Gardens, although its best known residents are regarded as the most dangerous and ruthless persons in Jamaica. Such is the fear of the Tivoli 'dons' that blanket assurances can be given for the security of any person's property or life in the community on their say-so.

The world famous Wednesday night street dance "Passa Passa" is a classic example of this. Patrons are assured that if they leave their vehicles open and unmanned these will not be interfered with. This has held true since the inception of the event seven years ago.

Tivoli is a self-sufficient community, boasting schools, churches, a variety of shops, a state-of-the-art maternity and pre-natal clinic, tailor and barber shops, hairdressers, dressmakers, bars and food shops, shoemakers and an assortment of playfields.

The community is adjacent to the Coronation Market (now being rebuilt after being gutted during the ongoing unrest), and opposite the famed Miles Pharmacy which offers anything from prescription and over-the-counter drugs to good luck books and candles, fresh bread and even bar services.

It required someone of real and rare vision to conceptualise this community, and a special breed of men to maintain it.

Starting with Zackie, the 'High Priest', followed by Claudie 'Jack' Massop, then for a short while Carl 'Bya' Mitchell, through Lester Lloyd 'Jim Brown' Coke, to his son Anthony 'Jah T' Coke and now on-the-run Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

During the reign of the successive dons, there has always been a cadre of feared men 'upside' them. Zackie had a young Claudie Massop; 'Bobeye', who later became known as Jim Brown; Alvin George Gordon, 'Micky Jacques' and Desmond Paige, who was charged along with Gordon for one of the earliest politically motivated gun slayings back in the late 1960s.

Jim Brown was supported by Micky Jacques, George Dinall 'Rock', Donovan Jones, one of two enforcers called 'Left Hand', 'Hunch', and a host of others.

Jah T's reign ran concurrently with his father's, as Jim Brown died on February 23, 1992, the same day Jah T was buried. It was decided after the death of the elder Coke that adopted son, Christopher 'Dudus' would take over.

He had no shortage of lieutenants, and unlike his father, he shied away from publicity and attention. Jim Brown, chief enforcer for the feared Shower Posse, would occasionally showcase an awesome array of jewellery and silk clothing, while Dudus always dressed modestly.

They were dissimilar in other respects as Jim was a tall, imposing figure, with a sharp wit and an always ready, swift and often brutal response to adversity, while Dudus stands no taller than five feet seven inches and speaks softly, and only when necessary.

Dudus inherited a kingdom, handed down from the mainly US-based Shower Posse, and took it to another level. Once installed as head of Tivoli, Dudus ensured that politics would be no barrier to his organisation.

Persons deported from the US and the United Kingdom with only their shirts on their backs and pockets devoid of cash, could find a measure of comfort from Coke, who would ensure that all their overseas contacts were preserved, and utilised.

As a result, Coke was not seen as just the leader of Tivoli Gardens, but indeed the leader of all inner-city communities.

Media reports which claimed that Dudus often met with Matthews Lane strongman 'Zeeks' Phipps are incorrect.

Dudus would only see Phipps if Phipps came to Tivoli, and then only reluctantly would he have audience. He never saw himself on the same page as Zeeks and made that abundantly clear.

Dudus always kept himself in shape, playing hours of football in his kingdom. He also kept himself well-informed about current affairs and persons in the news.

I have met with Dudus on several occasions, always in Tivoli, and I know quite a bit about how he thinks about local public opinion.

I recall taking a curious television behind-the-scenes personality to meet "The President", and he was shocked that at the first mention of his name, Dudus was able to pinpoint his job position at the television station.

This was always the man: shrewed, informed, confident, unassuming and quiet but exuding an air of capability that would put anyone on alert.

This is Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

I clearly remember his anger, suppressed though it was, when policemen were killed, apparently in retaliation for the police shooting the day before of 'Chris Royal' Coke, another relative.

He had no hesitation in advising the security forces who wished to interview him, about his whereabouts and the time when he would be in various places. He had nothing to do with those killings and thus, had nothing to fear.

He always felt that he had an obligation to the Tivoli community and he provided for the residents.

Labelled a criminal fugitive at the time of writing, Dudus may be all that he is made out to be by the US authorities, but he has always been a caring person, just as his predecessors were.

No matter what, as the residents of Tivoli Gardens maintain, they are prepared to die for the man, do anything for him, and display what seems by all accounts to be a genuine affection for him, not born from his generosity, but from his concern for them.

Dudus is not a run of the mill ordinary Joe, looking to make some money and in search of power. He has never been and he will never be regarded by those who have known him, in that light.

I have personally known all the previous 'dons' of Tivoli Gardens. I had a special affection for Massop; I was closely involved with Bya; I watched Jah T go through high school at Wolmer's; I was particularly close to Jim Brown, and although not as close to Dudus as I was to his father, the younger Coke has commanded my respect.

Having no way of communicating with him, I can only hope that, somehow, though highly unlikely, something positive will work out for him.

June 06, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International

Greek tragedy, Caricom, economic lessons for Jamaica

By Franklin Johnston



It is time for a mature discussion on Caricom and Jamaica and the EU/Greece crisis can guide us. Caricom is Jamaica's most costly overseas project. What do you know about it? Federation morphed into CARIFTA, now Caricom/CSME. I am "Carisceptic", as it hasn't delivered economic growth and I don't think it can. Jamaica is a global brand. Caricom is not, and for growth we must help our own first!

T&T is right to favour its industry and not give away its LNG. If we give away our bauxite, so be it. We need to chart our own growth path as they do. The Cabinet, PSOJ, UWI, Opposition must come clean. If Caricom is a device to draw down EU and other benefits, fine, but we need more to grow. Caricom has no traction here; most don't know it, the new HQ in Guyana does not affect us and as we are all "British" it is culture neutral.

Caricom is secretive. Where are its accounts? We work, sell and go on vacation north, so an oil spill off Louisiana concerns us, not in the Eastern Caribbean (EC). Caricom is of the cognoscenti; an elite club, those who make up the glitterati at its cocktail parties and banquets; workers have no part in it.

We need an independent inquiry. What can Caricom do for our economy? It went from common market to "single economy". What does this mean? Cabinet must publish full Caricom accounts, staff, expenditure, source of funds, etc. It cost us "a bag" since 1968 - for what? Now, with the shift from regionalisation to globalisation and WTO, is it relevant to our economic growth? No more speculation, we need answers!

What does Greece/EU teach us about Jamaica/CSME? We love Britain and our ex-slave, ex-colonial English-speaking brethren, but Caricom cannot just idolise "Britishness". The EC is not a destination of choice for us and the hostility at Air Jamaica's sale to T&T speaks volumes! Love at long distance is doomed as we are intimate with those close by! Notice, even our men go to Cuba, not the EC, to find wives and mistresses? Very French!

Caricom is our intergenerational project, but it does not work for us. The reason?

The preconditions to economic union are not met in our case. Consider the following:

*The EC is far from us and thousands of sea miles form a barrier to trade, travel, intimacy as they did for the Caribs and Columbus. English heritage is our only link with the EC.

*The union of several small, poor, distant island states with no major natural resource or intellectual property base cannot benefit our economy. CSME is politics, not economics!

*Our large population relative to the size of Caricom (ours is equal to the combined islands), our chronic poverty and failure to be sustainable in our heyday of bauxite and export preferences give our partners no confidence, and though rich, they are too small to support us. Let's now compare some common EU and CSME goals:

*Free movement for work, play and study. This works for Greece but not for us. Greeks can travel in the EU cheaply by air, car or on foot. Only UWI, government officials and the rich can travel in Caricom. Workers from poor members go to rich EU states to find jobs. Our workers are not allowed into the EC to seek employment.

*Common currency. If CSME had a common "cari" our debt would hurt all members. The euro is inflexible, so Greece can't devalue to help itself as it would hurt the eurozone. But the EU has mobilised US$1 trillion to help it. What does Caricom do to help us? Nada! One euro buys little in the north, but a lot in the south, so UK citizens live or work in Greece for the good weather and cheap living. Life is cheaper in the EC but we are not allowed to live there. Britain is not in the euro, but gives billions of pounds to save it as Greece's demand keeps UK factories open. Does T&T, our "trade gorgon", do this for us? No siree!

*Free trade. Caricom trade just makes us owe the EC more. Greece gets subsidy for farms and industry from the EU. In our distress do we get Caricom subsidy? No!

*Integration, fiscal, monetary discipline. The EU rides its members hard. They have to be prudent and balance their budgets. In the EU crackdown on Greece, they require cuts in spending, wages; higher taxes and oversight - it's done; budgets may soon be sent to the EU for approval and banks to pay a levy to fund bailouts. Germans cuss Greece as "lazy freeloaders" and Greeks cuss the EU and Germany as "Nazi", but Greece submits as the subsidies are good! Would we send our budget to Guyana for approval? No way!

The non-economic benefits of Caricom are modest and not unique. Check this:

*Our knowledge-based goals as CCJ can be had without union, some from "English" Canada, or India. We can get weather, legal services etc, based on treaty or payment.

*We all need new friends. EU masons, waiters, etc, work in Greece, the UK, and make friends - this is not so in Caricom. Only our officials and the rich have friends in Caricom!

*Our neighbours offer richer cultures than Anglocentric Caricom. Why not embrace all - French, British and Spanish? Let's unite with our close neighbours and enjoy their opera and ballet, then save up for that costly once-in-a-lifetime trip to T&T carnival!

*We share an ocean, geology, tectonic, climatic, security and air space with Haiti, DR, Puerto Rico, Cuba and our growth, environment and security future is with them. Will Caricom protect us from thousands of miles away? UWI has the EC and UTech must build joint campuses in Cuba, Haiti, DR; exchange students; train multilingual technologists, professionals, managers for job opportunities in the global economy.

We have Usain, Asafa and Bob but the EC states have Kim, Viv, Ato, Rihanna, Armatrading, some Nobel laureates and surpluses - Caricom works for them. Only growth and jobs can save us, so we need to do things differently. Do we focus on a distant market of 3m in Caricom or the 30m market of our close neighbours? A "no-brainer!" Stay conscious!

Alert: To raise standards, top UK universities may no longer admit students who resit A-levels and qualifying exams. One-one coco won't do, so if you got the subjects, but not at the first sitting, then apply to a second-rate university. UWI and UTech, please note!

Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston Consultants, currently on assignment in the UK

franklinjohnston@hotmail.com

June 04, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International

Caribbean credibility at stake in International Whaling Commission (IWC) vote

Caribbean credibility at stake in IWC vote
By Sir Ronald Sanders:


When people around the world think of whale-hunting nations, the Caribbean is the last place that crosses their minds. Yet, the governments of Suriname and the six independent members of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) are in a pivotal position to end or continue a moratorium on commercial whaling that has been in place for 24 years.

There is no benefit for these Caribbean countries if commercial whaling is resumed since none of them are commercial whalers. But they are members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) which is likely to face a vote on whether or not to abandon the ban on commercial whaling when its 88 members meet in Morocco from June 21.

Several authoritative reports suggest that Japan’s pays the membership fees of Suriname and OECS governments to the IWC and also pays the costs of their delegates’ attendance at IWC meetings directing how they vote. In return, these countries get Fisheries Complexes from Japan.

A United Nations Environmental Programme publication, “Caribbean Currents” put the issue in stark terms, saying: “It currently appears that not only are whales in danger, but so are the autonomy and self-determination of Caribbean nations”.

If, at the June meeting of the IWC, the seven Caribbean countries side with Japan, Norway and Iceland – the only three remaining nations that favour commercial whaling – they could help to open the armoury on whales and resume a slaughter that the world has resisted for almost three decades. In the process, they could damage their tourism image in the world as an eco-friendly area.

Since 1992, all the Caribbean members of the IWC have consistently voted in favour of repealing the moratorium until 2008 when Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerritt declared that his government would no longer be doing so. In 2009, he repeated that his government “will not renege on that commitment of staying clear of voting for whaling”. However, Suriname and the other OECS members of the IWC - St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Kitts and Nevis – have continued to vote with Japan, the most aggressive of the three remaining countries that favour commercial whaling.

All eyes are on the Dominica government to see whether it sticks to its commitment despite the facts that Japanese officials have been active in OECS countries in the past few weeks.

This renewed Japanese activity has caused Caribbean business people and Caribbean environmentalists to argue publicly that it is not in the interest of the OECS countries to continue to support Japan’s whaling position.

Caribwhale, an organization of Caribbean tourism business people and their employees, has recently urged the governments of Suriname and the OECS not to vote for a resumption of commercial whaling since the region has a thriving whale watching industry as part of its tourism product. “Dead whales”, they said, “are no good to the Caribbean; live ones bring revenues and employment from the whale watching industry”.

This call was followed by an appeal by the Eastern Caribbean Coalition for Environmental Awareness (ECCEA), a grouping of Caribbean environmentalists, who wrote to the OECS representatives to the IWC and their heads of government, saying: “Commercial and ‘scientific’ whaling do not serve a Caribbean purpose”.

Suriname and the members of the OECS owe Japan nothing particularly as the balance of trade between them is entirely in Japan’s favour year after year. Japan’s aid for Fisheries Complexes is far less than the millions of dollars spent every year by the Caribbean countries on imports of Japanese motor vehicles, computers, printers, cameras, outboard motors, and agricultural equipment.

What’s more Japan has shown little concern for the Caribbean, repeatedly ignoring protests from Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government over the shipment of Japanese nuclear waste through the Caribbean Sea. One accident, however, small would destroy the fragile ecology of the Caribbean Sea and destroy Caribbean economies.

As far as the whale watching industry in the OECS countries is concerned, Dominica, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenada are already earning millions of dollars from it. The potential exists for an equally thriving business in St Kitts-Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda. But if Suriname and members of the OECS support any form of commercial whaling at the upcoming IWC meeting, they will harpoon this possibility.

Proponents of the proposition at the IWC to legitimise whale catches by Japan and others, argue that it will reduce the number of whales that are killed. However, leading world environmentalists refute this claim, saying the proposition as worded will open the floodgates to unrestrained commercial whaling.

Among these respected environmentalists is Dr Justin Cooke, who represents the International Union for the Conservation of Nature on the IWC Scientific Committee. In testimony to the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, he described the proposed deal as a “scam”. He testified that “the true nature of the scam only dawned on me after reading the text several times. And even then only with the benefit of many years of experience with IWC procedures, that enables me to relate such a text to how it would actually be implemented in practice. Those without the benefit of such experience will find it even harder to discern what the text really implies and to spot the scam”.

Several IWC Latin American members, known as the Buenos Aires Group and comprising Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay, also strongly oppose the proposition before the IWC. Joined by non-IWC members Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras and Venezuela, the Group stated that they will propose at the IWC meeting that "over a period of 10 years... there must be a significant and increasing reduction of quotas (catch limits)... until lethal research is completely eliminated.”

Just as the Latin American nations have done, there is every reason why, in making their decision on how to vote at the IWC, the governments of Suriname and the OECS should listen to a range of voices beyond the Japanese. Such voices should include environmental experts and their own business people and workers who make a living and earn sustainable revenues for their countries from whale watching.

Caribbean economies are small and in need of help, but such help should be genuine and concerned with sustainable development. Large industrialized nations, such as Japan, should not be taking advantage of the vulnerabilities of small countries to advance their own agenda. And, when they do, Caribbean countries should reject it in their own interests, or they will never assert their independence and command respect as sovereign nations.

For Suriname and the OECS governments, the IWC vote will be about more than the fate of whales; it will also be about their international reputation.

June 4, 2010

caribbeannetnews

Bahamas Blog International

Caribbean Consumer law: Developing a legal and regulatory framework

By Abiola Inniss LLB, LLM, ACIArb:


It is that noteworthy that among its undertakings for its mandate on the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME), the Caricom Secretariat undertook the hosting of a seminar on Competition Policy and Law in Georgetown, Guyana on May 3, 2010. The programme outlined topics such as “Caricom Competition Policy in a challenging economic environment”, and “Competition Policy in Caricom”, though if the truth be told, it carried the semblance of a man’s bikini; significant for what it suggested, concealing of that which was crucial.

Consumer law and competition policy and law are almost inextricably intertwined at times and so are affected one by the other, it therefore means that any cumulative legal framework must be reflective of this relationship. It seemed that while the importance of this relationship was recognized, the creation of a regulatory framework complete with law harmonization and dispute resolution mechanisms (alternative and normative legal systems, such as arbitral tribunals and courts of law) still remains a distant idea which would be “looked into”;instead there was the espousal of a consistent piecemeal approach which considered the individual state mechanisms and the equipping of those systems in the hope that an eventual equality would result across the region.

It is an unhappy occurrence that the intellectual prescience in the Caribbean community has not come to bear on the necessity to establish a common regulatory framework which will dispense the resolution of disputes in an efficient, cost effective manner. Any mention of the establishment of a regional arbitral tribunal is customarily met with the “that costs money” and “we can’t afford it” responses in an answering machine mode. It is even more disturbing that the legal intellectuals have not seemed to examine the subject from the point of establishing a multi-purpose tribunal which will be constituted of the talents of a variety of specialists in the areas of law which are of especial importance at this stage of the development of the Single Market and Economy.

The laws of International Trade, Intellectual Property, Private International Law, Competition Law and Consumer Law fit this prescribed construction perfectly. The fact remains that whatever excuses Caricom officials may give there is a dire need for a legal and regulatory framework which will allow the resolution of disputes in whatever form it may assume, be it in courts of law or by the preferred time and cost effective method of arbitration.

The Caribbean may look to the European Union for guidance on the resolution of disputes which arise from and various jurisdictions and provide the added challenge of the mixing of civil and common law systems. The Caribbean community as it is now constituted comprises countries which have Civil law systems, as in the case of Haiti and Suriname and in the case of Guyana, the land law system, which is Roman Dutch in constitution, is common in large part to that which obtains in South Africa.

The other Caricom countries have fewer anomalies in their legal systems, since for most part the common law systems inherited from the British became the dominant legal systems. The legal system of St Lucia is a hybrid of French Civil law and English Common law which is unique and outstanding and carries its own challenges (see Belle-Antoine, Commonwealth Caribbean Law and legal systems, Cavendish 2009).

The example of the European Union shows the Court of First Instance attached to the European Court of Justice and a tribunal for the Civil service of the entire European Union. The idea for the Caribbean is that there should be a tribunal which will deal with consumer affairs in the Caribbean and which may also incorporate issues arising from the Law of competition, the Law of Trade and general Business Law.

Multidisciplinary tribunals have worked in other areas of the world and therefore if adapted to requirements of the Caribbean should prove to be quite successful. The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) of the United Kingdom is a specialist judicial body with cross disciplinary expertise in economics, law, business, and accountancy. It is empowered under United Kingdom law to hear and decide appeals, claims and other applications involving competition or economic regulatory issues. This tribunal came into being on April 1 2003.

It is safe to say that should the Caribbean planners spend a little more time constructively engaging the more advanced, modern thinking in these areas, and less time on talk shops which have to little to offer apart from the usual excuses of too little resources and a penchant for perpetually “looking into” matters, there will be substantial development in key areas of law and development. There is little point in the establishment of a Single market and economy which has little to offer in its legal and regulatory framework of the key issues of International trade law and development law and regulation, consumer and competition law and policy.

Multinational corporations and investors need to be assured that their disputes will be handled by competent, expert, fair Jurists in an efficient and effective manner. The Caribbean stands to gain much in terms of the development of a common jurisprudence, the development of expertise and substantial revenue generated by such a forum. The Law courts of England are a renowned choice of jurisdiction for international claims and can stand testimony to the verity of all the above mentioned benefits. Where there is a lack of expertise in the region, it may be sourced elsewhere through various projects. There is less and less excuse for the lagging efforts in the regulation of our legal systems. It is time to strip away the bikini and face the facts.

June 3, 2010

caribbeannetnews

Bahamas Blog International

Bahamas: Jehovah's Witnesses in National Insurance Contributions Court Battle

Jehovah's witnesses in NIB Battle
By KRYSTEL ROLLE ~ Guardian Staff Reporter ~ krystel@nasguard.com:



In a dispute that stretches back nearly two decades, the attorney representing a group of Jehovah's Witnesses made a final attempt yesterday to convince the Court of Appeal to overturn a Supreme Court decision which requires his clients to continue to make National Insurance contributions.

Attorney W. P. Cathcart, who represents Glen Alexander Colebrooke and the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses of The Bahamas, laid out several reasons yesterday why the appellate court justices should do so.

The Jehovah's Witnesses are appealing the entire ruling of Justice Stephen Isaacs, who dismissed their application for a review of a National Insurance Board's (NIB) decision that requires 28 Witnesses to make the contributions for a small monthly stipend that they receive.

Members of the faith are not paid for service in the congregations, however, full-time branch workers like Colebrooke and traveling representatives get a modest monthly allowance.

NIB has said that this arrangement constitutes a contract of employment and the funds must be taxed. But the Witnesses said Colebrooke's duties at the branch were voluntary and that he should not be required to make the payments to the NIB fund because the money is a stipend, not a salary.

In September 2008, Isaacs ruled that there was no basis on which the court can grant the review. He said the Witnesses did not avail themselves of the appeal process to the Supreme Court as allowed by law. He noted that the appeal had to be launched on a question of law within 21 days after delivery of a decision by the Board, and a judicial review had to be launched within six months after that decision.

Isaacs noted then that NIB made the decision on January 27, 1992, that the ministers were employed persons and must pay contributions under the Act. Isaacs, in his judgment, noted that there was no appeal from that determination. However, he added that NIB should have allowed the Witnesses to be a part of the process. They were not told of the decision until after an NIB meeting had already convened.

On several occasions, the Witnesses, through their attorney, wrote NIB asking it to revisit the decision. However, on April 12, 2005 and again on February 16, 2006, NIB continued to reaffirm its original decision.

It wasn't until August 16, 2006 that the Witnesses sought leave to apply for a judicial review.

Isaacs said although the procedure for convening and conducting the hearing in 1992 was not strictly followed, the applicants stated in writing that they were not seeking a formal review.

In the Court of Appeal yesterday, Cathcart said the decision of NIB has to be an error. He said the Witnesses never entered into an employment contract with The Worldwide Order of Special Full-Time Servants of Jehovah's Witnesses. He also pointed out that the Witnesses are volunteers and have all taken a vow of poverty.

Court of Appeal President Dame Joan Sawyer said her difficulty with the matter is that while the Witnesses help the poor and perform other social services duties, the tax that they are now required to pay to the government is used to help the same type of people who they want to assist.

She also questioned whether NIB presented sufficient evidence to the court to make a proper determination.

She told attorney Harvey Tynes, who represents NIB, that he was not given all of the facts by the people who were directing him.

For instance, she said she does not know whether Baptist ministers or Mormons are made to pay taxes.

She said if a tax exemption for ministers is a constitutional norm, then it must be applied across the board.

Dame Joan said she is unsure how she will frame her judgment.

She wondered what effects her decision would have on society and the administration of justice.

She added that while it is not her job to mull over such issues, in a society that is as small as The Bahamas, justices have to think about the effects of their decisions.

In addition to Dame Joan, Justices Christopher Blackman and Stanley John presided over the case.

They reserved judgment in the case.


June 02, 2010

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

International Maritime Organisation (IMO) team to assess Bahamas oil spill emergency plan

IMO team to assess Bahamas emergency plans for oil spill
By TANEKA THOMPSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
tthompson@tribunemedia.net:


EXPERTS from the International Maritime Organisation are in Nassau to liaise with the National Oil Spill Contingency Team to ensure that the Bahamas' emergency plans are adequate should the massive oil spill spreading in the Gulf of Mexico enter our waters.

Environment Minister Earl Deveaux said the two member IMO team will work with local officials until the week's end, assessing the Bahamas' risk of oil exposure and to provide expertise on crafting an oil spill response.

"They will quantify the potential risk of the oil coming ashore, assess our capacity, review the national contingency plan, review the bilateral and regional arrangement to identify where additional capacity is needed, and to provide technical advice and guidance on established practices related to oil spill response.

"They will also prepare a report for us and standby and assist us as the need arises," Mr Deveaux explained, adding that his ministry was currently reviewing an IMO report on conditions at Cay Sal where they searched for evidence of oil contamination.

Mr Deveaux said the report found no indication of oil in the Cay Sal area.

The experts, along with local environmental stakeholders, are expected to hold a press conference today to brief the media on emergency contingency plans related to the massive Gulf oil spill.

Meantime, international weather experts are anxiously watching the movement of the spill. Michael Stubbs, chief climatological officer at the Department of Meteorology, said so far favourable weather conditions have kept the spill near the Gulf of Mexico.

"We've been fortunate that the weather has been keeping the oil confined to its present location in the Gulf of Mexico. The wind patterns shifted slightly over the weekend which sort of raised some concerns, however the wind patterns have resumed their seasonal position which protects the shores of the Bahamas from surface oil and residue like tar balls."

Today marks the start of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season - projected to be one of the most active seasons on record - and weather watchers are concerned that cyclones could exacerbate an already disastrous and unpredictable situation.

A hurricane or other storm system could stifle efforts in the Gulf to contain and clean up the oil. It could also generate strong waves or wind that would spread surface oil, oil residue or particles, and chemical disspersants into the area of the north-western Bahamas.

International reports indicate that BP will launch another attempt to plug the gushing oil well - triggered by an April 20 explosion of its Deepwater Horizon drilling rig which killed 11 workers - in the coming days after its recent try failed.

June 01, 2010

tribune242

Bahamas Blog International

Haiti, a peon of international politics

By Jean H Charles:


This connotation seems gratuitous but a preponderance of evidence will convince the reader that indeed Haiti is the quintessential victim of misfeasance and malfeasance from the international community with “centuries of invasion, blackmail, plain robbery of Haiti’s natural resources and the impoverishment of its people”.

The latest manifestation of that malfeasance is happening today. Edmond Mulet, the United Nations representative in Haiti has decided to use the leverage and the prestige of that august body to embark upon the Preval government mulette (a mulette in French or Creole language is a donkey that provides the only means of transportation for rural Haiti) to mortgage the next generation of Haitian children into squalor and ill governance. We will come back to this latest manifestation of misfeasance but, it is imperative to start at the beginning to understand the extent of the wrong committed by governments on both sides of the Atlantic upon the people of Haiti.

I will not dwell into three hundred years of hard labor upon countless generations of Haitian people to produce the sugar, the coffee and the coco sold all over Europe by the French merchants who accumulated enormous wealth on the backbone of men and women who were not paid one cent for their sweat, their tears and their sorrow. Instead “they were hung up with their heads downward, crucified on planks, buried alive, crushed in mortars, forced to eat excrement, cast alive to be devoured by worms and mosquitoes.”

I will start instead with the gallantry of a Haitian Spartacus, the man Frederick Douglass described as the best black known and moving hero of the Western world, Toussaint Louverture. He transcended the weeping and the vexation to become the father of a nation that was hospitable to all, hospitable to the old white masters as well as the newly liberated slaves. He wrote to Napoleon as a black emperor to the white emperor suggesting the building of a French Commonwealth in Haiti akin to the British Commonwealth that we have today, with a semi-autonomous Haiti that would respect the human rights of all the citizens within its territory.

The answer to Toussaint Louverture was an army of some 10.000 French soldiers, facilitated by a grant of $750,000 by the newly elected American President Thomas Jefferson, to re-establish slavery in Haiti. The protracted war and the destruction in infrastructure and in physical assets that followed set Haiti back to a scorched land as it won its independence from France in 1804. Some 100.000 lives were lost during the struggle.

To add insult to injury, Charles X demanded and exacted from the second and the third President of Haiti, Alexander Petion and Jean Pierre Boyer a debt of independence amounting to some 21 billion dollars in today’s money. It was not enough that their forefathers have labored for three centuries without pay; it was not enough they have won their freedom through their own bravura they must pay the planters for the slaves who were their prized possession.

To ensure that the odious contract was signed, French diplomacy took an active part in facilitating the secession of the country. Henry Christophe would have nothing to do with such stipulation; as such, he was denied the authority to rule over the entire country. The culture of acting patriotically internally while plotting externally with foreign powers for the spoils of the country has became the staple of successive Haitian governments until today under the Preval governance.

Haiti’s tradition of service and hospitality to liberators was greeted with a cold reception not a thank you by the same freedom fighters. Miranda and Bolivia received arms, food, and support from Alexander Petion on his way to liberate Venezuela, Bolivia, and Columbia from slavery. Yet at the first international meeting of Latin American States, Haiti was an uninvited guest. Even the Vatican, the pillar of moral authority, refused to recognize as well as sending educators to Haiti.

To repay the French debt, Haiti without financial resources had to borrow money at usurious rate on the French and the American market to meet that obligation. The country has been the theatre of international intrigues by the German, the Dutch and, of course, the French, who armed one faction against the other to ensure that peace and development was never on the agenda. Finally, to repay the First National Bank, the directors convinced the American government to invade Haiti and seize its custom entries as a guaranty for the unpaid debt.

I will quote J Michael Dash an expert on Haiti customs and culture to describe the outcome of the American occupation: ‘perhaps the greatest single lasting effect of the occupation was the centralization of state power in Port au Prince, the ostracism of the peasantry and the elite divided by class and color rivalry.’

We are living today the consequences of these policies adopted during the occupation. There was a fleeting moment of peace and prosperity during the Paul Magloire presidency during the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s. Magloire committed the mistake of trying to remain in power beyond his mandate as Rene Preval is trying to do now, extending his term beyond February 7, 2011. Magloire was forced into exile and the country has been in convulsion since.

The Duvalier father and sons maintained their criminal grip on the throats of the Haitian people for thirty years with the overt support of the American government under the pretext that they were a bulwark against communism in the region.

The Haitian people’s liberation day of February 7, 1986 was of a short stay. The populism of Jean Bertrand Aristide and Rene Preval that followed the militarism of Henry Namphy was concocted in Washington at the White House and in New York at the United Nations.

I was at the meeting at the White House when the Clinton Administration designed the Haitian plan in the 1990s; such a plan destroyed the Haitian rice industry. To my suggestion that Haiti should engage in its natural agricultural vocation, the answer was swift and unequivocal. ‘Agriculture is for Mexico, Haiti is for small assembly industries’. I was again at the White House lobbying for the withdrawal of the embargo against the country. The answer was a stronger embargo, causing major destruction to the flora for future generations.

The international community in spite of its outpouring of financial support (10 billion dollars) after the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010 is charting a dangerous course for Haiti’s rebuilding. With the Strategic Plan of National Recovery (PSSN) an elite group of intellectuals from the Diaspora and the motherland has labored in Santo Domingo to chart a course to rebuild Haiti. Yet through sheer arrogance bordering hubris, neither the Haitian government nor the international community has called upon this select group to share their findings with and incorporate their vision into the making of the new rebuilt Haiti.

The political parties, the civil society, the intellectual elite, the political candidates, the masses have all been united in refusing to go to the polls under the Preval government. The streets of the cities are rumbling with protest. All his elections have been flawed, stolen and disfranchised. He is inimical to the concept of political mouvemance. His claim that he wants to deliver power to an elected president is as hollow and shallow as his ten years of governance. In fact, the only time there was a minimum of decent standard of free and fair elections in recent times in Haiti, was during a transitional government. The transition of Ertha Trouillot produced a free election that gave the power to Arisitide, and the transition of Latortue organized the election leading Preval into power.

As president, Preval has exhibited a glaring indifference to the needs of, and the solutions to the problems haunting the Haitian people. He has never visited Cape Haitian, the second city of the Republic of Haiti. He would have seen an historical city that has sunk into decrepit and physical decay due to lack of public hygiene, population pressure and no minimum care from the national government. With the hurricane and the rainy season on the horizon, countless lives will be destroyed. The camps are a fetid hotpodge of physical and psychological no man’s land, where the unnatural is happening: mothers throwing their children into the garbage because they are so overwhelmed and so despondent.

The United Nations is now the new oppressing force in Haiti, the enforcer behind which the western powers are hiding to continue the malicious practice of doing wrong to Haiti. Having lost some three hundred members, I would like to believe sharing this thought of Frederic Douglass that sharing in common a terrible calamity and this touch of nature would have made us more than countrymen, it made us kin.

This election is a breaking point to change the practice of treating the majority of Haitian people as peons. Handing the baton to Preval to conduct the presidential and the legislative elections will seal Haiti into a life of squalor and ill governance that has been its lot for the past fifty years. It will, as said Andrew Flold, condemn future generations of Haitians to remain enslaved by poverty and desperation.

The United Nations’ credibility is at stake these days. A recent news report has indicated that a major drug dealer, who is consolidating Guinea Bissau as a hub for drug transshipment, has found refuge in the United Nations compound, where he has plotted his next move into power. Facilitating the status quo in Haiti after fifty years of ill governance with a government that has little interest in and little concern for the Haitian people is detrimental to the very essence of what the United Nations should stand for.

Some two years ago, the Haitian people have tried to storm the Haitian palace to force Preval to resign, because they were hungry while the food was rotting at the port. The UN occupation forces repelled the assailants. The critical mass of Haitian people revolting this time might be too large for any UN forces to contain!

I am seeing at the horizon the debacle that happen in Saigon/Hanoi some sixty years ago! History is unfolding in front of our very eyes. Stay tuned!

May 29, 2010

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