Category Archives: Caribbean

Rudi wanted to lead PNM

By George Alleyne
August 19, 2009 – newsday.co.tt

www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

Basdeo PandayThe scarcely concealed leadership battle in the United National Congress (UNC) between the Party’s Political Leader, Basdeo Panday, and one of its Deputy Political Leaders, Jack Warner, as to which of them will command the UNC in the immediate days ahead is not uncommon to Caribbean politics.
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Caricom: backward ever, forward never

By Raffique Shah
Sunday, June 14th 2009

www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

Caricom LeadersCARIBBEAN unity is an imperative for the survival of small island states like ours. But it seems to be coming apart at the seams, thanks to our tactless and egotistic leaders. Our disintegration comes at a time when much of the world is moving towards some form of unity, if only to sustain their economies in a time of crisis and in the longer term. We are drifting apart as never before. From the draconian immigration policies of Barbados to confusing signals on free and fair trade between Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, our leaders seem to be working overtime to dismantle what little unity we now enjoy.
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PM again boasts of Summit

By Sean Douglas
Thursday, April 30 2009

Fifth Summit of the AmericasPRIME Minister Patrick Manning said the Fifth Summit of the Americas is earning TT and Caricom more respect and foreign investment. Addressing the 20th anniversary celebration ceremony of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) on Tuesday, at the Diplomatic Centre, he boasted: “There can be no doubt about the gains to our country and the region from this undertaking. Tourist arrivals will increase and it will certainly be much easier to market our region as a single tourism destination.”
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Cry, the Unforgiven Country: Obama’s ‘Continuity’ in Haiti

The area of Bas-Ravine, in the northern part of Haiti
The area of Bas-Ravine, in the northern part of Haiti
Photo taken by Rémi Kaupp wikipedia.org

By Chris Floyd
April 28, 2009 – chris-floyd.com

Haiti has been a cursed nation throughout its existence. As I noted in a piece in 2004:

Exactly two hundred years ago, Haitian slaves overthrew their French masters — the first successful national slave revolt in history. What Spartacus dreamed of doing, the Haitian slaves actually accomplished. It was a tremendous achievement — and the white West has never forgiven them for it.

In order to win international recognition for their new country, Haiti was forced to pay “reparations” to the slaveowners – a crushing burden of debt they were still paying off at the end of the 19th century. The United States, which refused to recognize the country for more than 60 years, invaded Haiti in 1915, primarily to open it up to “foreign ownership of local concerns.” After 19 years of occupation, the Americans backed a series of bloodthirsty dictatorships to protect these “foreign owners.” And still it goes on.

It certainly does — even under the “enlightened” foreign policy of Barack Obama. As John Caruso reports (in separate pieces in A Distant Ocean and A Tiny Revolution), Obama and his “superstar” secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, are loudly championing the latest egregious, brutal farce that Washington and the West have foisted upon the uppity natives of Haiti.
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Lack of a CARICOM Strategy at the Fifth Summit

By Stephen Kangal
April 24, 2009

Fifth Summit of the AmericasThe hosting of the recently concluded Fifth Summit of the Americas was portrayed as a CARICOM initiative and, as usual, T&T bore the full costs involved.

I am very disturbed that T&T/CARICOM did not act collectively in an effective manner to maximize returns on T&T’s huge and staggering investment. The CARICOM meeting that was scheduled for Thursday 16 April was not held. No effort was made to concretize a CARICOM strategy at the Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Heads of Government held in Belize prior to the Summit.
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The Summit and the lie

By Fidel Castro Ruz
April 22, 2009 – granma.cu

Fidel CastroSome of the things that Daniel told me would be hard to believe if it was not him who told me them and it was not at a Summit of the Americas where they occurred.

The unusual thing is that there was no such consensus on the final document. The ALBA group did not sign it; that was confirmed in the last exchange with Obama in the presence of Manning and the other leaders in the morning of April 19.
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5th Summit of the Americas News: April 19, 2009

Bolivian President Evo Morales at the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

The Fifth Summit of the Americas in pictures

Drummit 2 Summit at the St James Amphitheater in pictures
Photos were taken after the rally was allowed to continue

Obama must denounce plot
BOLIVIA’S PRESIDENT Evo Morales yesterday charged that Americans were behind a plot to assassinate him.

Tensions run high at St James protest
Officers of the Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB) squared off with a coalition group over a drum protest at the St James Ampitheatre.
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5th Summit of the Americas News: April 17, 2009

The Fifth Summit of the Americas in pictures

The Fifth Summit of the Americas in pictures

Obama, Chavez arrive today
After months of preparation, the Fifth Summit of the Americas gets going this evening at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port-of-Spain.

Michelle opts out of Summit

CHAVEZ WARNS OBAMA
Don’t try to set me up at summit

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ramped up his verbal artillery yesterday saying US President Barack Obama should not follow the example of Spain’s King Juan Carlos who told him to shut up during a 2007 summit…
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