Haiti, its history, its culture and its people

By Jean H Charles



Its history

Haiti, previously called Ayiti by the Tainos who inhabited the island, was the most populous and the most organized of the chain of the territories of the Caribbean. Their days were changed on December 5, 1492, when Christopher Columbus arrived in a northern bay renamed Bay of St Nicholas because of the feast of St Nicholas on that day. The Tainos received the Spanish explorers with genuine hospitality, offering gold chains to the men. Columbus returned to Spain to inform Queen Isabella of his discovery, leaving behind a crew of sailors.

Within a generation, the population of some one million Tainos was reduced to hundreds. Those who were not decimated through new disease brought by the Spanish men, such as tuberculosis, gonorrhea and syphilis, were destroyed through hard labour, alcohol and plain mutilation.

Yet, the gold exploration had to continue, and a priest by the name of Las Casas, under the pretext of protecting the Taino population from oblivion, obtained from the Queen of Spain, the authorization to grant the right for merchants to seek and bring Africans into the Western hemisphere to labour in the mines.

From 1503 to 1793, almost three hundred years, the black slaves toiled the land, producing sugar, cotton and cocoa that enriched principally the French colonists, who ruled the island with an iron fist.

It was as such until a Jamaican slave by the name of Bookman organized a voodoo ceremony in the northern part of St Domingue on August 14, 1791, to energize the slaves in revolting with the slogan: Better death than return to slavery!

The destruction of the plantations followed, but Bookman was seized and killed. Toussaint Breda, who became later Toussaint Louverture, continued the movement. A well educated and profoundly religious man, Toussaint was aware of the wind of human rights brought upon St Domingue first by the American Revolution in 1776 and later by the French Revolution in 1789.

Through several battles, he defeated first the British, later the Spanish and proposed a French Commonwealth to Napoleon Bonaparte, leading the destiny of the island with prosperity and hospitality for all. His reputation as a nation builder was sterling. Indeed the second president of the United States, John Adams, already trading with the governor of the country, was contemplating advising him to become king of the island.

Bonaparte responded with an armada supported by the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. Through a ruse, where family affection was at the root, two sons of Toussaint were on the boat coming from France, and he was lured into the hands of Rochambeau, Bonaparte’s brother in law, who was the commandant of the naval regiment.

Toussaint was captured, imprisoned and sent to die in a prison in France. He had predicted that the roots of freedom were strong and deep and they would not wither.

Jean Jacques Dessalines took up the revolutionary movement and, within three years, he had succeeded, with the support of other generals such as Henry Christophe and Alexander Petion, to root out all the French soldiers from the island. In a memorable battle on November 18, 1803, the ragtag army of slaves succeeded where Spartacus with his 6,000 men could not accomplish with the Roman Empire some 2,000 years earlier in 70BC.

They rang the song of freedom for all slaves on the island and foreshadowed the beginning of the end of slavery in the world.

This saga was a short glorious moment for Haiti. Two years after Independence Day, on January 1, 1804, Jean Jacques Dessalines was assassinated on October 17, 1806, by his comrades in arms. His ideas of nation building, making Haiti hospitable to all were not the vision of the majority of the other generals. They envisioned the spoils of the colony for themselves only, and their families.

Haiti has never recovered. Through internal revolts fomented by foreign powers such as France, Germany and the United States, with the assistance of, first, mulatto rulers and later poorly educated black generals, Haiti and its people descended into a spiral of ignorance, misery and environmental calamity until today.

The latest one, the earthquake of January 12, 2010, destroyed its capital Port au Prince, as well as sending to death some 300,000 people. This disaster was preceded by 150 years of neglected mulatto governments and recently 50 years of black dictatorial regimes, followed by illiberal democracy that is closer to criminality than good governance.

Its culture

The slaves that climbed the mountains of Haiti after the Independence Day became the Haitian peasants. No one has ever bothered to ask them whether they should have good institutions such as schools and hospitals or decent infrastructure such as roads, electricity and communications. They have preserved intact the African culture mixed with the century’s old acculturation taken from the remaining Tainos and French masters during slavery times. Haiti is at the same time a mosaic of purely African, Santa Fe, USA, and Provence, France, culture.

The aftershock of the Haitian revolution was varied and unnerving as a cause. The Latin American revolution with Bolivar, through the help of Alexander Petion, took place. Abraham Lincoln and Frederic Douglass, inspired by Haiti, brought about the black emancipation. As such, the nation was ostracized by the then world order of slavery.

Only the Vatican, through a Concordat in 1860, accepted to send teachers to Haiti to educate the population. The priests and the nuns did what they could, they provided the bread of good formation to the tiny elite that peopled the cities, leaving behind the masses in the rural areas uneducated and ill advised.

Haiti is today a land of two cultures, the land of Catholic, refined, French-speaking and sophisticated city dwellers, as well as the land of voodoo practitioners, dispossessed former peasants living in squalid condition in shantytowns on the outskirts of prime land near the sea or peasants still forgotten in the mountains surrounding the cities.

Desperate, some have taken the ultimate chance of seeking a more hospitable sky through leaky boats to Florida, The Bahamas and all over the Caribbean islands, in particular, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, going as far as Suriname on firm land in Latin America.

Handy in arts and in art-craft, their production under different labels can be seen in the best hotels and shops on the tourist trail of the Caribbean, except that the label made in Haiti is removed. Good agricultural workers, from a native land that has been eroded by poor soil treatment and tree cutting for charcoal, they are replenishing the landscape of the Dominican Republic, Dominica and The Bahamas with fruit trees and hard wood that could have enriched their own country.

Its people

With a population of 10 million people, Haiti is in the enviable position of Sweden, Finland, Norway or Denmark; except it is not as cold. While the Haitian population is highly creative, it is not as educated and sophisticated as those Nordic countries, as such it miss the key ingredient that could propel the country into full employment and the bliss of growth and development.

It is a young population, eager to learn and pierce the world of modernity. Its adult population is resilient and willing to work hard for its daily bread. But its lack of education will continue to hamper the optimum utilization of its natural talents and the zeal to achieve.

In spite of this deficiency, Haiti, a small island with the proportions of the State of Maryland, has a brand name that goes beyond the Western Hemisphere. It has greatly contributed to the nation building process of several countries, through the utilization of its professional citizens, including the Congo, Brazzaville and Quebec, Canada. The famous Haitians, or celebrities with Haitian origins, include a roster that spans the arts, politics, sports and music. The list includes but is not limited to: E-W Dubois, James Audubon, Pierre Toussaint, Wyclef Jean, Edwige Danticat, Michaelle Jean, Andre Michael (boxer) Jean Michel Basquiat, Garcelle Beauvais, Jimmy Jean Louis, 50 Cent, Pierre Garcon, Jonathan Vilma, Maxwell Garcon.

Haiti experienced an avalanche of help from the nonprofit organizations and from the UN after the earthquake of 2010, but donor fatigue is languishing around because of a lack of good coordination and sound vision from the government. Will this new regime of Martelly/Lamothe deliver the goods to a nation and a people, so eager for so long to enjoy the bliss of hospitality?

It is too early to label the new regime as a Teflon government or a true agent of change that will transform the nation into the Tahiti brand of the western hemisphere, because of its natural and spectacular scenery, or the Bali brand of the Caribbean, because of its many cultural and religious festivals that are the staple of everyday life.

Anyway, Haiti has been too good for the region for humanity not to come to its help with enduring and sustainable tools that will change the lives of so many enduring and eager citizens ready to enjoy the bounties of God on this land that was once called the Pearl of the Islands.

August 25, 2012

Caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Gangs and Violence in Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) - Fox Hill - Nassau, The Bahamas

As Gangs Infest Prison

By Jones Bahamas

Something is going on in Her Majesty’s Prison in Fox Hill. And ‘that something’ does not have a good smell.

Whatever it is – it comes with stench attached.

We have heard enough and been told enough to believe that the public should have a full, frank and totally truthful accounting of what is going down in that complex.

Prison Superintendent Dr. Elliston Rahming continues to deny a senior prison officer’s claims that a “new breed of criminals” is infiltrating Her Majesty’s Prisons (HMP), but also is quick to add that gang activity is increasing at the state-run facility.

Perhaps this might be the key: Rahming concedes: – One of the new developments is that we now have discernible gang related groupings in the prison. That is a fairly new phenomenon…”

Ah, hah! Echo cries: – we now have discernible gang related groupings in the prison!

Could this not be evidence of some facts that should matter to the neighbors, family and friends of both the men and women in prison and those who work there?

As we have learned, Dr. Rahming said prison officials are making some headway in figuring out just why gang activity is increasing.

We want to know what this means; how are they measuring headway.

We also want to know the facts behind Prisoner Officer Sergeant Gregory Archer’s statement to the effect that a new breed of more violent hardened criminals are infiltrating HMP, making prison officers’ jobs more dangerous.

The tit-for-tat between Rahming and Archer is itself revelatory of a system that is in need of urgent attention from the Minister of National Security and his colleagues around the Table.

This is most urgent.

Notwithstanding Rahming’s sophistry concerning human nature and all that blather of his about how Cain killed Abel where he so brilliantly opined: “I wouldn’t say that there is a new breed of inmates coming into the prison, but certainly the numbers are greater. But human nature has been the same ever since Cain killed Abel; human nature has not changed.

“We have certainly more persons to deal with, but the nature of mankind has not changed.”
The fact of the matter is this: the prison officer is the man in the middle of the mix.

If this man or woman ever becomes convinced that they should concede the fight, the prison would then and thereafter be in and under the command of the men and women in the gangs.

We must have none of this.

We need – as a matter of the most urgent priority – to know whether there is any truth to the word we are getting that speaks to prison realities where cell-phones are bought, sold and used by inmates; where recalcitrant men and women on remand are routinely being subjected to sexual abuse and where – for better or worse – money talks.

Then, there is all that talk about the extent to which the prison complex is pervaded and saturated with violence.

As Archer testifies: “…Despite prison already being a dangerous place to live and work, over the years the jail atmosphere has gotten even worse, mimicking scenes out of movies and the hit American television show Lock Up with the fights getting even more dangerous…”

And yet, Dr. Rahming maintains that Her Majesty’s Prison is safe.

Rahming’s parsing of prison reality would have us all believe that Archer is not lying; that Her Majesty’s Prisons is under control; that officers come to work with the fair expectation that they will return home to their families; inmates can go to bed at night with the fair expectations that, unless the Lord takes them home, they will wake up in the morning and those are signs of a well-run prison.

And then there is more of same: “A prison is not an easy place to run… But, that is not to say that danger is not ever present because it is ever present.”

Then he concludes danger is ever present as underscored by Rahming himself: “I think it’s fair to say that officers, although they work amongst the worst of the worst, they are in a safe environment insofar as one can call a prison safe.”

Quite frankly, we are not impressed.

We need hear no more to conclude that an end should come to this so-called ‘debate’ between Archer who seems to know what he is talking about and the Prison Superintendent Elliston Rahming who seems to have the public believe him when he says what he says.

We need to hear from the Minister of National Security; and we need to know what – if anything – he proposes to do about this mess.

23 August, 2012

The Bahama Journal

Bahamas Blog International

Venezuela and the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of our America (ALBA) Back Ecuador in Wikileaks Asylum Dispute

By Ewan Robertson:



Mérida, 17^th August 2012 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela and the ALBA alliance have backed Ecuador against “threats” from Britain, after Ecuador granted Wikileaks founder Julian Assange diplomatic asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London yesterday.

Swedish authorities want to extradite Assange from the UK to investigate allegations against him of sexual assault.

However Ecuadorian foreign minister Ricardo Patino voiced fears that Assange, whose website Wikileaks often publishes US government secret documents, could face “political persecution” if extradited to Sweden, including being handed over to US authorities.

UK foreign minister William Hague described Ecuador’s move as a “matter of regret,” insisting that “We will not allow Mr Assange safe passage out of the United Kingdom, nor is there any legal basis for us to do so”.

Patino also heavily criticised what he termed an “open threat” by the British government to enter the Ecuadorian embassy by force to arrest Assange. On 15 August he cited a diplomatic letter delivered through the British embassy in Quito, which stated “You need to be aware that there is a legal base in the UK, the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987, that would allow us to take actions in order to arrest Mr Assange in the current premises of the Embassy”.

“We sincerely hope that we do not reach that point, but if you are not capable of resolving this matter of Mr Assange's presence in your premises, this is an open option for us," the letter continued.

Reactions

Venezuela called for Ecuador’s decision to grant Assange asylum to be respected, and criticised the British government’s conduct over the issue.

“We hope that the British government respects not only international law but the right to political asylum that Assange has received,” said yesterday Venezuela’s foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro.

Speaking during an official visit in the Dominican Republic, Maduro also expressed his rejection of “the arrogance and predominance that the British government has had in the region [Latin America], directly threatening a democratic and sovereign government and announcing the possible violation of international law”.

Meanwhile, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), which includes Cuba, Venezuela, and Ecuador among its members, also released a statement yesterday criticising the British government’s message to Ecuador.

The statement raised concerns that by Britain’s “threats” made “against the integrity” of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, the British government was in danger of violating the Vienna Convention on [Diplomatic] Privileges and Immunities.

Declaring the ALBA’s “unfailing solidarity” with Ecuador, the statement further warned the British government of “the serious consequences for the relations with our countries that will follow in the event these threats are carried out”.

According to Maduro, regional organisations the ALBA, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) are being “activated…to accompany the Ecuadorian government” over the issue.

UNASUR is set to hold an extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers in Quito, Ecuador, this Sunday. The Organisation of American States (OAS) also held an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss the state of UK-Ecuador relations.

Published on Aug 17th 2012 at 5.30pm

Venezuelanalysis

Bahamas Blog International

MERCOSUR: Toward Latin American Integration

By Juan Diego Nusa Peñalver:


JULY 31, 2012 will be recalled in the history of Latin America and the Caribbean as a landmark, a giant step, with Venezuela’s full entry into the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), in the first extension of this customs association in the 21 years of its existence.

It will also be recalled as a resounding failure of the imperial policy of the United States in relation to a region which it can no longer dominate at its whim.

For Argentine political economist Atilio A. Borón, from the geopolitical point of view, Venezuela’s inclusion in MERCOSUR after a six-year wait constitutes the greatest U.S. diplomatic defeat since the disastrous Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

Beatriz Miranda, columnist in the Colombian El Espectador, defines it as a strategic accomplishment, given that the new entrant concedes the bloc a greater economic and commercial weight. Analysts consider that in geopolitical terms, Caracas’ arrival represents the possibility of increased Brazilian insertion in the Andes and Caribbean and Venezuelan access to the South Atlantic. Thus MERCOSUR is facilitating strategic integration, giving the group an Amazonian, Atlantic, Caribbean and Andean identity, and a strong energy component.

Doubtless, this bold step will affect U.S. interests in the region in the long term, given that it prevents Venezuela from signing a free trade treaty with this country, still set on re-conquering the Bolivarian Republic’s oil wealth.

It is no secret that with Venezuela‘s energy potential – according to the Organization of Oil Producing Countries (OPEC) it has the largest certified oil reserves in the world: 297,570 million barrels – the industrial vigor of Brazil (the sixth largest world economy), and the agricultural potential of Argentina and Uruguay, this regional bloc will acquire a strategic role. Created March 25, 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, it promotes the free circulation of goods and services, common external tariffs and trade policy, as well as coordinated macroeconomic policies among member states and compatible legislation.

In effect, the United States was unable to prevent MERCOSUR, now including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela (Paraguay’s membership is suspended due to the parliamentary coup d’état against President Fernando Lugo), from growing in strength and promoting sovereign economic and social policies in accordance with national interests, far removed from the dictates of the discredited financial institution of Bretton Woods and the anti-democratic Washington consensus.

The U.S. maneuver to utilize the Paraguayan oligarchy, entrenched in the country’s Senate, to block Venezuela’s entry backfired. In fact Paraguay’s suspension and Venezuela’s participation could make MERCOSUR more attractive to Bolivia, Ecuador and other nations in the region.

From the Planalto Palace, headquarters of the Brazilian government, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez emphasized the historic importance of the unity of Latin American countries in terms of promoting their independent development, within which MERCOSUR represents a platform for the changes needed.

"We are exactly in our historic position, our North is our South, we are where we always should have been, we are where Bolívar left it to us to arrive," the Bolivarian leader affirmed during the extraordinary session of the bloc in Brasilia.

What is being reconfigured is a balance which will allow South America to address, on more equal footing, other centers of power such as the United States and the European Union, which have demanded subordination and an anti-national submission to their transnationals.

BUILDING THE PATRIA GRANDE

According to analysts, Venezuela‘s incorporation into MERCOSUR makes the bloc the world’s fifth largest economic power, extending from Patagonia to the Caribbean over an area of close to 13 million square kilometers, linking more than 270 million inhabitants (70% of the population of South America) to form an impressive and gigantic bloc with the largest oil reserves, booming industrialization and excellent potential for food production.

It will have a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $3.3 trillion at current prices, equivalent to 83.2% of the Southern Cone GDP, and the largest global biodiversity and fresh water reserves, a reality very much to be borne in mind in terms of world geopolitics by the select club of the G-8 and emerging giants such as China and India, two nations which have a more constructive position in international economic relations.

In the internal context, Venezuelan José Gregorio Piña emphasizes that while, initially, the country was only offering MERCOSUR oil and hard currency, "the panorama has changed, given that it can develop its productive potential through a more complete relationship with bloc members, which includes complementary trade, a innovative financial architecture, internal regional investment and the free circulation of persons and jobs, among others."

Caracas has already invited MERCOSUR enterprises to participate in housing provision for the Venezuelan people, with a target of three million family units, as well as conjoint work with the state to promote other social, industrial and agricultural development projects. The new Venezuela wishes to leave behind the private model to which it was subjected by the United States, the only legacy of which was enormous social inequality and widespread poverty.

This effort will benefit from the bloc’s creation of a Structural Convergence Fund to reduce imbalances among its members, in a necessary spirit of solidarity with the less developed nations. "This is an experiment to reduce the imbalances of our countries and promote equitable regional development," stated Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff during the extraordinary summit. She also noted that 40 regional projects have been approved, with an initial start-up fund of $1.1 trillion, good news further boosted by MERCOSUR’s announced expansion of credit to promote the economy of this part of the world.

PROTECTING MERCOSUR

Given the blows the United States delivered to progressive processes in Honduras and Paraguay, a reaction to Venezuela’s inclusion in MERCOSUR is also anticipated. The country will use any possible means to prevent a united, prosperous and strong South America capable of defying its political hegemony and global economy.

This warning was given by Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who urged the member countries present at the summit "to create, sooner rather than later, the instruments and institutions which will make this new pole of power indestructible and indivisible." The Argentine leader strongly attacked attempts by imperialist nations to weaken South America.

MERCOSUR is thus moving ahead to create the Patria Grande to which Latin American and Caribbean nations rightly aspire.

August 16, 2012

Granma.cu

Bahamas Blog International

...the Government of The Bahamas is considering proposals for solar energy, waste-to-energy, ocean thermal energy plants and wind... ...The geographic and physical setting of The Islands lends itself to a myriad of alternative energy possibilities

Renewable energy in The Bahamas

thenassauguardian editorial

Nassau, The Bahamas

The Minister of Environment and Housing Kenred Dorsett addressed the House of Assembly on “Planning Our Electric Future”, on Wednesday, August 14.

Wednesday marked the PLP’s 100th day in office, so we were not surprised to hear of a plan to combat high electricity costs and promises of alternative energy production.

But The Bahamas does not need and does not have the time for any more plans; the PLP had five years to devise a plan.  We need action.

Integrating alternative and preferably renewable energy production into our power generation portfolio is certainly the way of the future, but was it not the way of the future years ago?  Diversified energy production — coal, diesel, nuclear, etc. — is not a radically new idea and is practiced in many jurisdictions around the world.

The dramatic rise in fuel prices is no excuse.  Fuel prices have consistently been on the rise for the past 10 years, at least, and we see no indication that OPEC intends to diminish rising profits any time soon.  Blaming high energy costs on the high cost of fuel is a dated argument, for which the past and present governments have only reinforced by building and upgrading power production with additional heavy fuel oil generators.

Any additional investment in heavy fuel generation should not be considered as part of reducing the cost of electricity, unless BEC enters a public-private partnership in which maintenance becomes a priority.  Abaco still suffers inconsistent electricity and it was the recipient of the $105 million new 48MW Wilson City plant.

Bahamians are left to bear the brunt of high costs and low reliability brought on by poor planning and management of operations and maintenance.

The minister went on to indicate that the Government of The Bahamas is considering proposals for solar energy, waste-to-energy, ocean thermal energy plants and wind.  The geographic and physical setting of The Bahamas lends itself to a myriad of alternative energy possibilities.

So why hasn’t The Bahamas invested or been the recipient of private investment in alternative energy?  In an ironic twist of fate, Bahamian legislation is our biggest obstacle.  The government must relinquish absolute control over the national grid to allow for some friendly competition to BEC.

As if amending our existing legislation was not difficult enough, pursuing diversification of energy production in The Bahamas will be encumbered by the announcement of a new sustainable energy unit, new renewable energy legislation, new electricity sector regulation and a new national review plan for cross-island sharing.

The government must be transparent and honest with the Bahamian people.  When will we see public or private investment in alternative energy?  Private industry does not have years to twiddle its thumbs while we form new committees.

Should a renewable project be approved tomorrow, it would take years for such projects to ultimately be built and for new electricity to be put into the grid for consumption.  Action must be taken and quickly.  The time for action is not now, it was yesterday.

It is encouraging that the government has received proposals that intend on saving BEC $100 million annually, though such enormous sums of monetary savings leave us intrigued.  The government need not only approve a single entity for alternative power production but an array of alternatives, as some are bound to fail.

It would be a remarkable feat of the PLP’s tenure if alternative power production from a private entity was to enter the grid and coexist with BEC.  It is possible, but only if the government acts as a facilitator rather than a hindrance.

August 17, 2012

thenassauguardian editorial

Caribbean Blog International

Although abortion is currently illegal in The Islands ...the Bahamian government stated that abortions are performed in The Bahamas on “grounds of foetal deformity and rape or incest ...as well as on health grounds

Bahamas Called Out On Abortions

By NOELLE NICOLLS
Tribune Features Write
nnicolls@tribunemedia.net

Nassau, The Bahamas



Although abortion is currently illegal in the Bahamas, the government revealed that it is aware of cases where licensed physicians perform abortions in private and public hospitals for justifiable reasons.

Such abortions are made possible because “the law is interpreted very liberally”, according to a report submitted by the government last month to the international committee of the United Nations governing discrimination against women.

During its fifth periodic report to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the government stated that abortions are performed in the Bahamas on “grounds of foetal deformity and rape or incest, as well as on health grounds”. CEDAW is an international human rights treaty that focuses on women’s rights and women’s issues worldwide, ratified by the Bahamas in 1993.

“Abortions are usually performed within the first trimester, although they are often allowed up to 20 weeks of gestation. The abortion must be performed in a hospital by a licensed physician. Government hospitals bear the cost for non-paying patients,” states the government’s CEDAW report, which is available online.

Despite the report’s detailed account of the practice as it occurs in the Bahamas, the Bahamian government “avoided answering specific questions” posed by the experts on the CEDAW committee about the availability of statistics regarding state-sanctioned abortions, according to observers.

“Their fall-back position that abortions are illegal was inadequate, because the committee was not asking about illegal abortions. The committee was asking for statistics on state-sanctioned abortions, which the government, in its written report, suggested occurs,” said Donna Nicolls, civil society representative for the Bahamas, and presenter of the Bahamas Crisis Centre’s shadow report.

“The Cuban representative on the committee said she was not convinced by the government’s response. She said that normally statistics on illegal abortions are not shown; however, if the state says that abortion can be practised in a safe space, she questioned why the state doesn’t have statistics. If it is being done, certainly a register would be maintained,” said Ms Nicolls, who participated in the forum through the assistance of the International Women’s Rights Action Watch (IWRAW), Asian Pacific.

Former Minister of Health Dr Hubert Minnis said he had “no comment” on the abortion issue, because he was in “Abaco campaigning.” When asked if he was aware of any state-sanctioned abortions from his five years in government, he replied: “No comment.”

A respected medical doctor, who works in the public system, told The Tribune, there are no statistics on abortion because the market for abortions in the Bahamas is underground. The physician said the practice is governed by a “nod and a wink” culture, quietly supported by some licensed physicians.

“Don’t ask, don’t tell,” said the physician, but you can obtain an abortion in the Bahamas for around $750, although the price varies above and below depending on the physician or the location. Access to abortions, he said, is rife with class discrimination.”

“If you have the means to an abortion, it is not a big deal. You can travel, or you can have it done here safely, but if you are a poor woman, then dog eat your lunch. This becomes a massive issue, but how do you deal with this issue, when it is taboo. It is absolutely taboo,” said the physician.

“You have such a strong pseudo-Christian movement that is so hypocritical. Many people are just not prepared to deal with the backlash, despite the fact that quietly they will either perform abortions or see to it that they get done. Some of the most active abortionists who have moved away from it in the later years, you wouldn’t think they have ever performed an abortion,” the physician said.

“Ethical and less than ethical means of abortion exist in the Bahamas. The challenge is that it is not codified.”

Abortion is criminalised in the Bahamas through the Penal Code of 1924. In its “very limited” references to abortion, it allows “for abortions to be lawfully permitted under specific circumstances relating explicitly to the preservation of the mental and physical health of the woman and to save the life of the woman.”

However, the law also states that acts that lead to an abortion or are intended to cause an abortion that done “in good faith and without negligence for the purposes of medical or surgical treatment” are justifiable. According to the government report, the code does not define what constitutes medical or surgical treatment, and in practice, the law is interpreted very liberally.

The CEDAW committee reiterated its “concern” in its concluding observations, and called on the government to “broaden the conditions under which abortions can be legally available.”

Ms Nicolls said she concurred with the committee’s recommendations.

“Women should be able to access legal abortions without question in cases of rape and incest and in other circumstances where a woman’s health is at risk. The law should explicitly provide exceptions in those cases. It should not be ad hoc, or based on a ‘liberal interpretation’. Everyone should have equal access,” said Ms Nicolls.

Melanie Griffin, Minister of Social Services, could not be reached for comment and did not return calls. Barbara Burrows, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Social Services, who was a member of the Bahamas’ delegation, said she would seek answers to written questions provided by The Tribune.

August 14, 2012

Tribune242

Bahamas Blog International

Venezuela leads the world in increasing internet usage ...according to a study by internet marketing research firm Comscore

New Study Claims Venezuela a World Leader in Increasing Internet Usage

By Ewan Robertson


Mérida, 13^th August 2012 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela leads the world in increasing internet usage, according to a study by internet marketing research firm Comscore.

The study revealed that between April 2011 and April 2012 the number of people using the internet in Venezuela increased by 62%, ahead of India (34%) and Indonesia (29%).

The findings contrast with Venezuela’s own national telecommunications body CONATEL, which reports that internet access here has increased by 7% in the past year.

According to CONATEL 40.27% of Venezuelan’s have access to the internet, up from only 3.4% in 2000, and there is a higher level of access than all countries in South America apart from Chile (58%), Argentina (57%) and Colombia (50%).

However, by using a new methodology focused on measuring the number of internet users rather than the number of connections, for example in households with a wireless router, Comscore claims that the increase in internet usage in Venezuela is actually much greater.

“Our sources are experts in Venezuela who tell us how internet use is evolving. We also take a census measurement, we take the CONATEL measurements into account, and other media contribute their [internet] traffic data to us,” Comscore director for Venezuela and Colombia, Alex Castro, explained to BBC World recently.

Factors

According to digital market research firms Comscore and Digital Trends (TD), increased access to previously marginalised communities has been an important factor in explaining the sharp rise of internet usage in Venezuela.

“What has grown most in [internet] penetration is access by poor; you don’t even need to get the exact number. The poor are connecting to the internet more,” claimed Carlos Jimenez, president of TD.
The government of President Hugo Chavez has introduced a number of policies over the previous twelve years aimed at increasing internet access in Venezuela.

A key initiative has been the Infocentros; free to use internet cafes that now boast a network of 700 centres in low income and rural communities throughout the country. In January the Infocentro Foundation was awarded a prize by UNESCO in recognition for their role in providing access to information technology for traditionally excluded sectors of the population.

Since 2009, the government has also provided almost 2 million Canaima laptops to primary school children in order to incorporate technology use in the education system.

The public telecommunications company CANTV, nationalised in 2007, offers credits and loans to allow lower-income users who solicit an internet connection to buy computers, an initiative that has “born fruit” in increasing internet access, according to Jimenez.

Private television companies offering combined internet and television packages, and a sharp rise in the number of users of cell phones with internet capabilities have also contributed.

Alex Castro further commented that Venezuela’s index of a more equal distribution of wealth has likely been a factor in increasing internet usage among Venezuela’s poorer communities. “When I passed through the poor neighbourhoods of Caracas, it really surprised me that many had Direct TV, and I asked myself “What’s this?” In Colombia for example, we see that the marginal sectors really are just that”.

Challenges

However, Venezuela is also considered to have one of the slowest internet connections in the world, and is currently ranked on speedtest.net as 157 (at 1,7Mbph) of 176 countries measured by internet speed. Internet connectivity is also still largely limited to cities.

The government is currently constructing 5.796 km of fibre optic cable, with continuing to increase internet access part of Chavez’s Socialist Plan of the Nation 2013 – 2019.

Venezuelanalysis

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