Fun, gifts, music and excitement were the order of the night last Saturday in Moon Town. There were crowded decks, a crowded dining area and a crowded sports bar as fans and party lovers chose Moon Town to party last weekend and to receive gifts from the Banks Beer Crop Over Spin the Wheel Promotion.
The young and old, visitors and locals danced the night away to the pulsating rhythm of Crop Over music and oldie goldies.
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| By Jeff Franks
HOLGUIN, Cuba (Reuters) — More belt-tightening may lie ahead for Cuba as President Raul Castro said on Sunday the government will look at making its second “adjustment to expenditures” this year due to the effects of the global financial crisis. He said Cuba needs to press ahead with his program for getting more land into the hands of private farmers, calling the lone major reform of his administration a top national priority.
Castro spoke to thousands of red-clad Cubans in the eastern city of Holguin to mark the anniversary of the July 26, 1953 rebel attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba that is considered the start of the Cuban revolution. The revolution ended January 1, 1959 when dictator Fulgencio Batista fled the country and rebel leader Fidel Castro took power. Raul Castro said Cuban ministers will meet on Tuesday to consider revising spending plans for the rest of the year because “of the effects of the world economic crisis on our economy.” In particular, he said there has been a “significant reduction in export income and additional restrictions to access external financing sources.” A recent government report said imports are expected to plummet 22.2 percent, or some $3.4 billion in 2009, while exports will decline by $500 million. Three hurricanes that caused $10 billion in damage when they struck the communist-led island last year have added to woes caused by the global crisis. In response, the cash-short government has taken belt-tightening measures such as scheduled blackouts to save energy, selected factory shutdowns, public transport reductions, spending cuts and the freezing of foreign business bank accounts. The latter has been partially rescinded after the account holders threatened to stop trading with Cuba, which depends heavily on imports of food and many other items. The worsening situation has frustrated many Cubans who hoped Castro would reform Cuba’s economy after taking over from Fidel Castro last year and quickly decreeing that Cubans could buy cell phones and computers and use previously off-limit tourist hotels. But his only major reform so far has been in agriculture, where he launched a program to let private farmers cultivate unused state land. He said that of 110,000 applications for land, 82,000 have been granted. More needs to be done to advance the land plan so Cuba can increase food production and cut import costs, he said. The island, 90 miles from the United States, imports about 60 percent of its food. “It is an issue of national security to produce the products in this country,” Castro said. “We spend hundreds of billions of dollars, and I don’t exaggerate, bringing them from other countries.” Castro did not mention US President Barack Obama or the United States by name, but referred to damage done by “imperialism” and the “blockade,” which is what Cuba calls the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo against the island. Cubans had hoped US-Cuba relations would improve under Obama, who has said he wants to end hostilities between the countries that began after the revolution. But Obama has moved cautiously, easing the embargo while saying it should be maintained until Cuba improves it human rights record. Cuba has said it does not have to make any concessions to the United States |
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| CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday the United States wanted Honduras’ de facto government to consolidate power and win upcoming elections but that he would recognize only the government deposed in a coup last month.
Chavez, a socialist anti-US firebrand, said the United States and its regional allies were stalling the return of deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, his ally.
“What they are trying to do is freeze the battle until the election in November, when the coup (leaders) will wash their hands,” Chavez told the national assembly in the capital, Caracas. “Any government that comes out of that coup, that comes out of elections even, we will never recognize it as the government of Honduras,” Chavez said. The United States, the United Nations and Latin American presidents have roundly condemned Zelaya’s forced removal from power on June 28 and demand he be reinstated. But Chavez said a mediation process by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias had been a trap and that the de facto government should not have been given recognition by inviting it to the negotiating table. “What the government of the United States and its allies want is simply for the coup (leaders) to consolidate themselves and be recognized, if not by law, then de facto,” Chavez told legislators. Zelaya, a timber magnate known for his trademark cowboy hat, had angered the traditionally conservative ruling elite and business interests in Honduras by allying himself with Chavez. The interim government of Roberto Micheletti insists Zelaya was acting illegally by trying to extend term limits and his removal was in accordance with Honduran law. It accuses Chavez of instigating violence in Honduras. Chavez applauded Zelaya for taking a symbolic step inside Honduran territory on Friday and ridiculed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for saying the move was reckless. |
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SPLIT PEAS AND RICE; COU COU
MACARONI PIE; SHEPHERD’S PIE
MELODY OF VEGETABLES; BAKED SNAPPER
BAKED PORK; BAKED CHICKEN
FRIED POT FISH; BEEF STEW
FISH GRAVY; TOSSED SALAD
Representatives of regional institutions meeting at the CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen last week, were urged to devise methods of implementation of decisions, particularly those taken by Heads of Government.
Edwin Carrington
A CARICOM Secretariat release said that Secretary General Edwin Carrington in brief opening remarks Thursday at the start of the Third Meeting of the Secretary-General and Heads of Community Institutions, pointed out that implementation, which was considered the “Achilles heel” of the Community, should be the forum’s watchword.
“For, it is on the devising of methods of implementation of decisions, particularly by the Heads of Government, and on the execution of those methods that the success of this forum will be determined,” the Secretary-General was quoted as saying.
The release noted that Thursday’s meeting continued the process towards developing synergies among community institutions to advance a common regional agenda by pooling their resources and building on their collective strengths for the harmonisation of policies, practices and standards across the region.
The other meetings of the Secretary-General and Heads of Community Institutions were held in 2007 and 2008, the release added.
Carrington said further that the meeting had been established as a “key event on the Community’s calendar.” He contended that the synergy and interaction envisaged when this meeting was first conceived had begun to manifest itself, particularly with regard to the Memorandum of Understanding signed last year between CARICAD and IMPACS to provide standardized training of immigration officers across the region.
“It is critical in going forward that we look at this enterprise as a joint one with all parties being involved, all lending their skills, all pulling in the same direction against the dead weight of individual action,” Carrington was quoted as saying.
The delegates were expected to meet over two days in sectoral clusters – Agriculture and Food Security; Air Transportation and Security; Climate Change and Water Manage-ment; and Human Resource Development.
Antigua Sun
Antigua’s Carnival celebrations opened on Saturday with a colourful street parade that ended at the Antigua Recreation Grounds, which has since been transformed into Carnival City.
Besides the enjoyment and fun cultural activities in store, foremost on the mind of minister responsible for the festivities Eleston Adams was the safety of everyone.
Adams noted while addressing the crowd gathered for the opening that a zero tolerance policy as it relates to crime will be taken during the staging of this year’s summer festival.
He said while all precautions will be taken to ensure the safety of patrons attending the various shows, people caught engaging in any illegal activity will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Members of the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda will be deployed around the city and at Carnival City during the 11-day festivity.
The police have also promised to increase their customary patrols outside St. John’s during this period.
“I further wish to state to those who may be planning to engage in violence or any other unwholesome behaviour that the law will be brought to bear heavily on you. It is zero tolerance on crime and violence for Carnival 2009.
“Those who contemplate doing wrong or causing disruptions are reminded that Carnival’s closest neighbour is 1735 (Her Majesty’s Prison). The law will not hesitate in making it your new home,” Adams warned.
Jamaica Gleaner
Daraine Luton 
Watson
IMAGINE A mountain of unpaid taxes so high that, if collected, would be more than sufficient to conduct the day-to-day activities of the Ministry of Justice.
Now, think of a request for a tax waiver, the desired amount being so huge it could nearly run the Ministry of Tourism for one year or take care of recurrent expenses for the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sports, leaving ample change.
That is the height to which the Petroleum Corporation
of Jamaica (Petrojam), the country’s oil refinery, has allowed its tax and custom-duty liabilities to climb.
A forensic audit of the company has revealed that it owes approximately $4.9 billion in taxes and duties. At the same time, it has asked that the Ministry of Finance not to collect $2.61 billion of the taxes and duties it owes.
No explanation
Neither Ministry of Finance officials nor Petrojam was willing to explain why the oil refinery was seeking the waiver or whether it would be granted.
The amount being sought as waiver ($2.61 billion) is just under the Ministry of Tourism’s allocation in this year’s Budget to pay recurrent expenses ($2.77 billion) and far above that which has been given to the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sports ($2.2 billion) for its housekeeping bills.
The Ministry of Justice was allocated $3.1 billion for its operating expenses.
Operation Vapour, the final report from the forensic audit team headed by Dwight Moore, said Petrojam owed $3.07 billion in taxes and customs fees for the financial year 2008-2009 and $1.65 billion as at May 31, 2009. The report, which has not been released to the public, was obtained by The Gleaner earlier this month.
Last week, Winston Watson, managing director of Petrojam, said he has not seen a copy of Operation Vapour.
“I know an audit was done, but I have not seen the report,” Watson told The Gleaner.
He said Petrojam did not withhold taxes from the Government. “Never. We don’t,” he responded when asked if it was a practice of the company.
“I am not aware that we owe $4.9 billion. I don’t know what you are talking about. I don’t know how much we owe, ” Watson said.
The forensic audit of Petrojam followed a below-budget receipt of the newly announced special consumption tax (SCT) of $8.75 on gasolene and an increase in customs user fees (CUF).
Data from the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service show that revenue from SCT on imported and domestically produced goods, including gasolene, was $2.52 billion ($1.79 billion below projections).
It was at that time that the Public Accountability Inspectorate Division of the ministry was sent in to conduct the forensic audit, which revealed in June that Petrojam had failed to pay nearly $700 million in petrol tax and CUF to the Inland Revenue Department.
Outstanding taxes owed by Petrojam, including liability on SCT for the period April 27 to May 31, 2009, was $938.9 million plus $177.2 million.
Of the amount owing for the period April 27 to May 31, 2009, the SCT component of $8.75 per litre accounted for $522.1 million, plus $177.2 million in taxes for inventory held, resulting in a total of $699.3 million.
The Road Maintenance Fund, which was to benefit from 20 per cent of the $8.75 fuel tax, should have received $139.9 million of the $699.3 million in unpaid taxes.
The report said Petrojam utilised petrol for personal use in three of its vessels and had neither accounted for nor remitted tax in keeping with the GCT Act.
It said that for the 2007-2008 financial year, Petrojam failed to pay over $17.4 million in taxes from petrol it consumed, $13.3 million in the financial year 2008-2009 and $8.2 million between April and May 31 this year.
With the national purse in need of every penny, Operation Vapour has advised the minister that “the Revenue Department should immediately commence collection procedure in respect of the $2.61 billion, while the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service assess the situation regarding the waivable amount of $2.32 billion”.
It was unclear, up to yesterday, how much money has been paid over to the Inland Revenue Department by Petrojam since the intervention of Operation Vapour.
Jamaica Gleaner
Minister of Transport and Works, Mike Henry, has expressed optimism that last week’s visit of a Singaporean business delegation to Jamaica, will lead to increased cooperation, especially in improving air and sea links.“Nowhere else in the world is there a seamless connection of air and sea, and Jamaica offers that,” Henry said during a luncheon meeting with the delegation at his ministry last week.
Henry noted that as a result of the discussions Jamaica was looking for local partnerships.
“We are looking for partnerships between the public and private sectors, with the government facilitating the expansion and development of these programmes,” Henry said.
Leader of the Singaporean delegation, Dr Aloysius Tay, suggested that Vernamfield in Clarendon offered huge potential for a multi-modal transportation and logistics hub, as well as tourism spin-off.
“Vernamfield is not too far away from Kingston, and Milk River Bath is not too far away. There are so many things that are advantageous to Vernamfield that can be used. Trans-shipment is something that Singapore has been relying on, and it is very possible that we can grow Jamaica through Vernamfield,” Tay suggested.
He said that there are also great possibilities for a Jamaican airline that goes beyond the region, and into the Far East.
“What excites me is that I can get from the Far East to Kingston, Jamaica, within 24 hours. That really could enhance tourism for Jamaica,” Tay said.
Benefits from relationship
“We have been working hard to ensure that all of us enjoy the fruits of what is being done, both in Jamaica and Singapore, for companies to benefit from the relationship. We, at the trade office in Singapore, will ensure that we do our best to promote brand Jamaica, not only in the Caribbean, but in the Far East, as well,” he promised.
Tay has been Jamaica’s trade consul in Singapore since January. It is Jamaica’s first trade office in South East Asia.
The delegation was in Jamaica for high level discussions with various government agencies and a number of private sector interests, and is the result of a similar visit to Singapore by a Jamaican delegation led by Henry, in May.
Since the visit of the Jamaican delegation to Singapore in May, a Jamaican trade office has been established in Singapore, and discussions have begun on the extension of the Singaporean-based Air Transport Training College’s aviation maintenance training curriculum, as well as; the launch of the Jamaica Ship Registry in Singapore and re-opening of negotiations on a bilateral Open Skies Air Services Agreement between both countries.
Jamaica Gleaner
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter 
The Jamaica Private Power Company in east Kingston is an independent power supplier that assists in boosting the national grid. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer
Ten years after the telecommunications industry
was opened up to competition, a similar move could be on the cards for the electricity sector.
This would give Jamaicans the chance to choose the company they want to supply them with electricity, in the same way persons can select their telecommunications suppliers.
While no serious negotiation has started, it appears that the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) are agreed on the need to end the Jamaica Public Service Company’s (JPS) monopoly on the distribution of electricity.
Competition necessary
“We believe that it is now necessary to reconsider the value of maintaining a monopolistic structure in respect to distribution and transmission of electricity,” declared Energy Minister James Robertson in Parliament recently.
“As such, similar to power generation, power transmission and distribution must now be open to competition,” Robertson added.
“The proposal is to unbundle the grid to allow new producers of electricity to reach their consumers because they would be able to market directly,” Phillip Paulwell, the opposition spokesman on energy, told a Gleaner Editors’ Forum last week in a rare show of unity across the political divide.
“What we are saying is that there ought to be an interconnection price for people to traverse the (JPS) grid and you also need a universal-access fee that would enable the incumbent to take care of areas that are uneconomic,” Paulwell added.
20-year hold
However, the political leaders will have to get the buy-in from the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) of the United Arab Emirates, which recently acquired an 80 per cent stake in the JPS. The Government holds the remaining 20 per cent.
TAQA’s interest in the JPS was undoubtedly buttressed by the exclusive licence under which the company currently operates.
The All-Island Electricity Licence (2001) gives the JPS the exclusive right to transmit, distribute and supply electricity throughout the island for a period of 20 years.
The licence, which was modified in 2006, is not slated to expire until 2019 and the Government would have to make a compelling case to convince TAQA to give that up.
On Friday, the JPS said it was awaiting further discussions with the minister of energy on the proposal.
According to the company, it “remains open to any proposal that will contribute to the delivery of improved service to customers at a reasonable cost while enhancing the value of JPS”.
That is a challenge Robertson and Paulwell accepted would be difficult but not impossible to overcome.
“Be that as it may, our technical experts … are currently studying all aspects of the electricity grid from generation to distribution to see what can be introduced into the market to ensure that the Jamaican consumers pay the least cost for electricity,” Robertson told Parliament.
Use of smart grids
“This includes the possible use of ’smart-grid’ applications, including broadband over power-line technologies and smart metering,” Robertson added.
A smart grid delivers electricity from suppliers to consumers using digital technology to save energy, reduce cost and increase reliability and transparency.
This is a modernised electricity network being promoted by many governments as a way of addressing energy independence, global warming
and emergency resilience issues.
 Trinidad Express |
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Should it happen again, they’ll be better prepared. Head of the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment, Lt Col Colin Mitchell, said yesterday that his leg of the armed forces will be in a better position to defend the country again, should there be another attempt to overthrow the Government. Today marks the 19th anniversary of the 1990 attempted coup by the Jamaat-al Muslimeen group, led by Imam Yasin Abu Bakr and Bilaal Abdullah. On that day 19 years ago, 114 members of the Jamaat attempt to take power from the then Government, the National Alliance for Reconstruction. Forty-two insurgents invaded Parliament, taking then Prime Minister Arthur NR Robinson and most of his Cabinet hostage. The others attacked the lone television station at the time, Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT)-through which Bakr told a stunned population that the Government had been overthrown. Yesterday, Lt Col Mitchell said his regiment was ready for the Jamaat or anyone else who decides to stage a coup. “We were ready then and we will be better prepared now,” Mitchell said in an interview with CCN TV6. He made the remarks after a celebration of the 47th anniversary of the regiment in T&T, at the First Church of the Open Bible, Ruth Avenue, San Fernando. “Some of the challenges that we had then would been in terms of equipment and intelligence gathering but we are prepared now,” for any organisation that might have the same intent, he said. In the meantime, those who have over the years called for an enquiry into the events of 1990 seem no closer to getting their wish. In the past week, several people involved in the insurrection, including former President Robinson, have renewed their call for a State investigation. Others who have insisted on an investigation in the past are prominent NAR members Wendell Eversley, Joseph Toney and Rawle Raphael. See Page 16. Repeated requests have been made by former Central Bank governor Winston Dookeran, who was also in Parliament at the time and who was offered the chance to govern by the Jamaat, an offer he turned down. |
