Moontown

RICE AND PEAS; MACARONI PIE

SWEET POTATO PIE; CREAMED BREADFRUIT

GREEN BANANA AND PIGTAILS 

STEAMED PUDDING; BAKED PORK

BAKED CHICKEN; FRIED SNAPPER

FRIED KING FISH; FRIED DOLPHIN

GRILLED KING FISH; GRILLED DOLPHIN

STIR FRY SEA CAT; BBQ SPARERIBS

LAMB STEW; PLAIN GRAVY

STEAMED VEGETABLES; POTATO SALAD

TOSSED SALAD

  By Ronald Sanders

In my commentary last week I made the point that the greatest destabilising force confronting the Caribbean and Central America is drug trafficking and its attendant crime, including illegal arms smuggling and distribution, robberies and executions.
I called on the United States to take the lead in organising collaborative arrangements with Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean to establish a comprehensive anti-narcotics programme that addresses both supply and demand.
This week, I take the appeal a step further by calling on the governments of the Caribbean Common Market and Community (CARICOM) to collaborate with Latin American governments in engaging the US government in a dialogue to fundamentally change the failed anti-drug trafficking policy that has been pursued so far.
I am agreeing with Professor Norman Girvan, former Secretary-General of the Association of Caribbean States, who regards such an engagement as crucial.
My commentary last week was taken from an address I delivered in London to military officers from all over the world. In the course of the address, I had said that “the US, Canadian and European governments have concentrated on cutting supply through eradication and interdiction with limited success, and it is clearly time to re-think this strategy. But, in doing so, the authorities in these countries must collaborate fully with both the producing and transit countries, both of whom are as much the victims of the trade as the countries in which the huge markets reside”.
The failure of a policy principally based on interdiction and eradication is now painfully obvious. The policy not only fails to tackle effectively the problem of demand in countries such as the United States of America and Canada, it also suffers from its imposed character. It is essentially a policy created by the US and imposed on the rest of the area.
This policy, along with the criminalization of the possession of even small amounts of heroin, cocaine and marijuana, has filled the jails of the Caribbean and Latin American countries.
Even worse, a large number of people in St Vincent and the Grenadines and Jamaica are criminalized because they grow or pick marijuana for a living. Largely, these people have no other means of livelihood, and are unqualified or untrained for anything but agricultural labour. In both countries, hundreds of banana farmers have been put out of business by the loss of preferential markets in the European Union, and the argument has been made that they should be allowed to produce marijuana, under regulated and supervised conditions, for the medicinal market. This is being done in some States of the United States, such as California, and is capable of replication in the Caribbean where it would provide employment and contribute to the economy.
The Caribbean alone will hold little sway with the bigger powers in the Hemisphere who, so far, directed the way that the problem of drugs is handled.
But, there is now a growing effort in Latin America for a new and different approach. It started with the Latin-American Commission on Drugs and Democracy co-chaired by former presidents, Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil), César Gaviria (Colombia) and Ernesto Zedillo (Mexico).
The Commission released a report in February in which it called for the decriminalization of cannabis and criticised “the criminalization of consumption”. Importantly, the report concluded: “The deepening of the debate concerning the policies on drug consumption must be grounded on a rigorous evaluation of the impact of the diverse alternatives to the prohibitionist strategy that are being tested in different countries, focusing on the reduction of individual and social harm”.
When the report was published, Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, observed that: “An ever growing number of Latin American leaders from across the political spectrum recognise that the prohibitionist approach to drug control has wreaked havoc throughout the region, generating crime, violence and corruption on a scale that far exceeds what the United States experienced during alcohol Prohibition in the 1920s. Many believe – and a handful has said publicly - that the better solution would be to abandon drug prohibition and move in the direction of legally regulating the global drug markets that are now illegal.”
Now, the Mexican government has announced that it will be eliminating jail sentences for possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana, freeing law enforcement officers to focus on the king-pins of the trade. The governments of Brazil and Uruguay have also announced the elimination of measures that penalize people carrying small amounts of drugs and Argentina is reported to be planning the exemption of drug users from the criminal justice system.
The Latin countries have taken bold first steps, but what is needed is collaboration by all Latin American and Caribbean governments and the elaboration of a strategy with the United States and Canada that is jointly devised, and collectively implemented.As University of the West Indies Professor Alston Chevannes, who chaired a Task Force on Drugs in Jamaica some years ago, recently noted: “Jamaica would like to decriminalise personal use of cannabis but is afraid of US decertification. Other CARICOM countries would probably like to but can’t for the same reason. An international movement that includes big players like Mexico and Brazil would prevent our small countries from being exposed. If the US can be won, then I reckon the UN would have to come to its senses and reconsider the Conventions”.
Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago has lead responsibility for security issues in CARICOM. He can initiate these discussions within CARICOM and with the Rio Group in time to place the issue on the agenda of the scheduled meeting later this year between Caribbean Heads of government and US President Barack Obama.
In conditions of economic decline and increased unemployment, drug trafficking and its attendant other crimes escalate, as they are doing now throughout the region.
The writer is a Consultant and former Caribbean Diplomat

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa,  CMC – Half-centuries from Travis Dowlin and Andre Fletcher were not enough to carry West Indies over the threshold, and Australia outgunned them by 50 runs in the ICC Champions Trophy yesterday.

Dowlin gathered five fours in the top score of 55 from 87 balls, and Fletcher struck four fours and one six in 54 from 77 balls, as West Indies failed to successfully chase 276 for victory in the fifth match of the competition at The Wanderers.

West Indies captain Floyd Reifer made a workmanlike 28 from 56 balls, and his deputy Darren Sammy smote two sixes and a four in 20 from 23 balls, as the Caribbean side – batting one short because of an injury to opener Dale Richards – were dismissed for 225 in 46.5 overs.

The result meant that West Indies now have little or no chance of reaching the semifinals, after they lost their opening match against Pakistan last Wednesday by five wickets at the same venue.

West Indies play their final group match against current World No.2 India next Saturday at the same venue.

West Indies had been let down by their bowlers in the closing overs, as Australia – Mitchell Johnson in particular – made them pay.

The Caribbean side had fought back to restrict Australia to 171 for seven in the 40th over, but Johnson – later named Man-of-the-Match – gained a reprieve when he was eight from Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf, and proceeded to clatter eight fours and three sixes in a career-best 73 not out from 47 balls to give the Aussies a decisive, late boost.

As a result, West Indies conceded 69 from the Batting Power Play which was taken from the 45th to 49th overs, and Australia – sent in to bat – reached 275 for eight from their allocation of 50 overs, after their captain Ricky Ponting had set them up with nine fours and one six in the top score of 79 from 94 balls.

Left-arm spinner Nikita Miller was the pick of the West Indies’ bowlers with two wickets for 24 runs from his allotment of 10 overs, but he lacked meaningful support from the faster bowlers.

West Indies then suffered a setback even before they started their chase, when they learnt that Richards would not bat, following a dislocation of his right shoulder when fielding.

Devon Smith moved up to an accustomed role and with Fletcher gave West Indies a positive start before he was caught behind off Peter Siddle for 17 edging a hook at a short, rising ball in the sixth over.

West Indies remained in contention, when Dowlin joined Fletcher, and they resolutely added 86 for the second wicket.

Fletcher reached his 50 from 71 balls, when he turned a delivery from Nathan Hauritz to fine leg for a single in the 23rd over.

Just when it looked like he would get into the swing of things, he failed to beat Johnson’s direct hit at the bowler’s end going for a single off Brett Lee, and was run out in the 25th over.

Chadwick Walton – promoted to four – again gave proof that he was out of his depth, when he swiped at a full-length delivery from James Hopes, and was bowled for a two-ball duck to leave West Indies 128 for three in the 26th over.

Reifer came to the crease and settled things down again with Dowlin, as they put on a valuable 42 for the fourth wicket.

Dowlin reached his 50 from 73 balls, when he drove Hauritz to long-on for a single in the 33rd over, but he was one of two wickets West Indies conceded while adding only 29 runs in the Batting Power Play from the 37th to the 41st overs.

Dowlin top-edged a hook at a short ball from Lee and wicketkeeper Tim Paine held a fine catch running back towards the boundary in the first over of the Power Play, and three overs later, Dave Bernard Jr ill-advisedly gave himself room to drive, and was bowled by Siddle for eight with a fast, full, straight ball.

West Indies’ last chance of a late flourish, and a close call for Australia were decided in the space of five balls in the 45th over bowled by Shane Watson, when Sammy was caught on the cover boundary driving a waist-high full toss, and Reifer was caught at backward point slicing a drive.

Nikita Miller and Kemar Roach then meekly surrendered off successive balls in the 47th over bowled by Hauritz to bring the West Indies innings to a feeble close.
Earlier, the match was a genuine contest, after West Indies chose to field on another lively Wanderers pitch.

Roach had given West Indies an early confidence booster, when he spectacularly bowled Shane Watson with the first ball of the match for a duck, extracting the Australian opener’s off-stump.

West Indies failed to use the momentum, and Ponting put Australia back on track with a stand of 85 for the second wicket with Paine.

Bernard made the breakthrough in the 20th over, when he had Paine caught behind for 33, and the defending champions stumbled through the middle overs against steady, if not menacing bowling from the Caribbean side.

Bernard added the scalp of Mike Hussey caught at fine leg in the 26th over, but the transformation took place, when Australia lost four wickets for 23 runs in the space of 53 balls between the 31st and 40th overs.

Miller had Ponting stumped and then bowled Craig White for four before Roach bowled Callum Ferguson for 20 and Sammy had James Hopes caught behind for five.

The closing overs could have gone differently for West Indies had Rauf been more astute and adjudged Johnson caught behind off Gavin Tonge in the 43rd over, when the Aussie left-hander edged a loose drive to Walton.

Unfortunately for West Indies, Johnson used the reprieve to batter their attack, and he added 70 for the eighth wicket with Lee to turn the tide.

President Bharrat Jagdeo has challenged world leaders to reach a climate change deal in his address last week at the 64th session of the UN General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York.

Bharrat Jagdeo

“We need to move beyond simply understanding the challenge. We need to work as a global community to shape a solution that is in all our interests,” Jagdeo is quoted by GINA as saying.

Noting that the vision exhibited by the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, and the work of leaders and citizens from countries across the world had led to a level of understanding of the nature of the climate challenge, President Jagdeo urged his fellow leaders to turn these building blocks into an agreement that could start to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

“In doing so, we should be guided by science and by the need for solutions that treat all countries fairly. But we also need to recognize that the challenge now is as much about political will as it is about scientific, economic or institutional considerations.”

Jagdeo contended that there was need to recognize that all countries, developed and developing, had concerns about the commitment of others to such a long-term partnership, GINA reported.

Developing countries questioned whether the international community would commit to the scale of financial transfers that were needed, while others were worried that acting on climate change now would stymie their national development, precisely at the time when many were poised for historical levels of economic growth and social advances.

On the other hand, Jagdeo argued, many developed countries were worried that the financial transfers required would be an excessive burden on their budgets during extremely challenging economic times. There were also fears from individual countries that they would be expected to carry a greater burden than other developed nations.

“These political concerns could be a recipe for a stalemate that the world cannot afford. Failure to overcome them now will mean misery for future generations, and the eventual costs of tackling climate change will be even greater than they are now,” Jagdeo warned.

In that light, Jagdeo said that he welcomed the proposals laid out by the United Kingdom, and subsequently supported by the European Union, to generate funding of about US$100B per annum to address climate change in the developing world.   This, he said, was a proposal that started to square up to the magnitude of funding that was required.

“What matters now is that we see it move from proposal to action, in a way that is fully additional to existing aid contributions from the developed world. We also need to learn from our experiences of the aid agenda – if we are to combat climate change, developing countries must not be seen as passive recipients of aid, but as equal partners in the search for climate solutions. If this happens, it can start to send the signal that the developed world is serious about solving the problem of climate change,” Jagdeo asserted.
Deforestation and forest degradation
The Guyanese head-of-state underscored that it was urgent that ways be found to work together to address the 17% of greenhouse gas emissions that resulted from tropical deforestation and forest degradation globally.

He observed that as with climate change generally, the world had a large degree of clarity around the nature of this specific problem.

“We know that it causes more emissions than the entire European Union, and we know that this is because the world economy makes trees worth more dead than alive. We also know that the only sustainable way to address the problem is national-scale action in forest countries coupled with international incentives that place a value on trees to make them worth more alive than dead,” he stated.

Jagdeo also  informed the UN Assembly that Guyana was ready to play its part and had launched the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) which set out how the country’s vast tropical rainforests could be placed under long-term protection to not only provide the world with badly needed climate services, but also to move Guyana’s economy onto a long-term sustainable low carbon development path, where jobs were created across the country in sectors that did not threaten the forests.

“Thanks to the visionary leadership of the Prime Minister of Norway (Jens Stoltenberg), our two countries are also working together to provide a functioning model of how low deforestation and low carbon economies can be created in countries such as ours,” the President stated.

And Guyana also continued to play its part in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process, he told his fellow leaders, which must provide the long-term framework for combating forest-based emissions through the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation mechanism, or REDD+.

The world could quickly move, he said, to slow down deforestation starting now, not in 2013.

“Guyana was pleased to participate in the April G-20 side meeting that addressed how this can happen. We support the proposals from the Informal Working Group on Interim Financing for REDD report, which was set up after the G20 side meeting, that lays out how the world can achieve a 25% reduction in global deforestation rates by 2015 with an investment of less than €25B in total,” Jagdeo said.

Using highly conservative estimates of forest carbon, this could lead to seven gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions being avoided between now and 2015, which would be the single biggest contribution to averting climate catastrophe over this period.

“And it can be done – rainforest countries representing the vast majority of the world’s tropical forests worked with the informal working group, and are willing to act. The question now is will the developed world understand the enormous potential this offers our world, and will they act to generate the finances that are needed,” the President challenged.

The skirmish between police and the six US citizens has now turned into a major headache for cruise tourism stakeholders as the ship that brought the American visitors here two weeks ago announced yesterday that it would be dropping Antigua from its itinerary.

The Carnival Victory cruise ship was the vessel that brought the six US tourists to Antigua on Friday 4 Sept. It is not clear if this incident was the only reason that caused the ship to stop calling Antigua.

This was, however, very bad news for many taxi drivers and storeowners in St. John’s who have been depending on this ship to drop anchor every week.

Cruise tourism stakeholders feared that there was going to be serious fallout from Carnival Cruise Line because of the incident, which reportedly began over a misunderstanding between a taxi driver and the six tourists.

Taxi drivers have been reporting that since the incident with the tourists they have hardly been getting any business. “Antigua and Barbuda is a tourist destination and many persons were of the view that this matter should have been handled in the interest of tourism,” one taxi driver told the SUN.

“We could have always depended on that ship. It came here all year round.”

Tour operators have also been complaining that they have been experiencing a drastic decline in passengers going on tours.

When contacted by the SUN, president of the Antigua and Barbuda Cruise Tourism Association (ABCTA) Nathan Dundas said he was told about the matter and will be calling an emergency meeting with his members to discuss it today.

Dundas is also expected to meet with Minister of Tourism John Maginley.

The president has promised to give a more informed statement about the matter in a few days.

Maginley, however, told the SUN that he heard about the matter via the radio and was not officially informed.

While speaking on Observer Radio yesterday, Maginley said the incident with the tourists would spell trouble for Antigua and Barbuda. According to him, some recommendations into the regulation of taxi operators are being reviewed. “It is not going to end well in Antigua.”

The tourists: Shoshonnah Henry, Rachael Henry, Mike Pierre Paul, Dolores Lalanne, Joshua Jackson and Nancy Lalanne are currently facing trial in St. John’s Magistrates’ Court after being accused of beating the police.

The tourists are, however, disputing the police’s version of the matter. They are claiming police brutality and abuse.

Carnival Victory is the only cruise ship that presently calls in Antigua all year round. It visits the island every Friday with between 2,800 to 3,000 passengers.

Prime Minster Baldwin Spencer has reiterated his country’s support for the Venezuelan administration citing the strong considerations its leaders have offered to the Caribbean.

PM Spencer speaking at the 64th session of the United Nation’s General Assembly yesterday, also urged his international colleagues to continue to look for ways and means through which they could help alleviate some of the problems that lead to difficult economic times in small countries such as the one he is representing at the United Nations.

“Mr. President, in responding to the crisis, all parties must admit that the old methodologies as reflected in the Washington Consensus and similar models are obsolete.

“As we actively pursue the creation of new structures and strategies, Antigua and Barbuda encourages the Community of Nations to explore alternative models such as that represented by the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA).

“With its foundation principles of complementarity as an alternative to competition; solidarity as opposed to domination; co-operation as a replacement for exploitation; and respect for sovereignty rather than corporate rule, ALBA represents an innovative and viable model of integration and development,” PM Spencer said.

He acknowledged that Antigua and Barbuda along with many of our Caricom brothers and sisters welcome the paradigm shift which now characterises engagement with agencies such as the International Monetary Fund.

“The decision to limit conditionalities to those critical to achieving the objectives of the country programme being supported, and the commitment to play a more supportive role and allow the objectives to be set by the borrowing country, are welcome responses to earlier calls to recognise the absolute necessity of using factors other than per capita GDP as a criteria to access concessionary financing. We maintain that herein lies the key to mitigating a downward spiral into economic and social chaos.

“Mr. President, decision making on issues of international financial governance remains a privilege of the few when such decisions have great impact on the lives, livelihood and basic well-being of millions of people the world over.

“My government calls on the developed countries, the members of the OECD, to ensure that their response strategies involve better international cooperation on tax issues through inclusive and cooperative frameworks that ensure the involvement and equal treatment of small jurisdictions, as stipulated in the outcome document of the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis,” Spencer said.

“The outcome document is a welcome one, and I applaud the president of the 63rd Session of the General Assembly for giving voice to the G-192, including the developing countries and those most vulnerable.

“The genesis of the crisis lies in the capitals of the developed world, but its effects are global, and the response must be truly global.

“It is in our power to change the operating principles of global capitalism such that economic prosperity is shared equally among countries and within countries.

“Drastic change is needed in theory and practice, in economic assumptions and in the institutions of governance. It’s the sustainable path to development and a challenge to which this assembly of nations and leaders must rise.” Spencer added.

Jamaica Gleaner

Avia Collinder, Business writer

From left, Metcalfe … FCIB think of rate cuts and Latibeaudiere … says recent cuts triggered by market stability.

Under pressure from the Government, opposition politicians and vocal clients to slash lending rates in line with recent central bank cuts in benchmark rates, the island’s commercial banks are for the most part adopting a wait-and-see attitude. Most were noncommittal in their responses to Sunday Business questions whether interest rate reductions are in the offing soon, although Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) and National Commercial Bank (NCB), the island’s two biggest financial institutions, say they are thinking about it.

response to the mounting pressure

From left, Powell … argues Scotiabank did not hike rates to same extent as the BOJ and Sheree Martin … says corporate rates are negotiated.

But it appears that even if they respond to the mounting pressure, it is consumer loans primarily, rather business borrowings, that are likely to get cheaper. For, NCB suggests, its business customers, who can bargain in the boardrooms, are already getting better rates than the current numbers in the public domain suggest.

“We are currently reviewing our base lending rate,” NCB spokesperson Sheree Martin said this week. Its base lending rate is 21.75 per cent.

At the same time, she suggested that the bank was already responding to signals from the central bank having recently cut auto loan rate for new vehicles to 19.75.

Added Martin: “… We wish to point out that the majority of our loan portfolio is to the corporate segment and the rates on those loans are negotiated with the borrower. This means that when a corporate loan is being booked, the current interest rate environment is taken into account and the loan is priced accordingly. The rates on corporate loans recently booked will typically be lower than those booked, say, a year ago, when the interest rate environment was different.”

Like his counterparts at NCB, Wayne Powell, executive vice-president from branch banking at BNS, hedged on immediate cuts.

“At this time, we cannot say there will be further cut by year-end.” He insisted that Scotiabank was the first to respond positively to the BOJ’s cue by slicing one percentage point off base lending rates in July.

The central bank has shaved 4.5 per cent off benchmark rates since July, the latest being last week when it clipped one percentage point of its six-month certificates of deposit (CD), bringing benchmark rate to 17 per cent.

“The adjustment to policy rates follows the better-than-expected inflation out-turn for August, which showed a further drop in the 12-month point-to-point inflation to 6.1 per cent from seven per cent in August,” (BOJ) said then.

held strain

According to Powell, when the BOJ was its benchmark rates 10 percentage points to 24 per cent and demanding commercial banks park more of their cash with it, his bank held strain.

“When they went up, we increased our base rate by 2.3 per cent, which was a nominal amount compared to their increase,” he said. “When they came down one per cent in July, we also came down by one per cent. It represented 50 per cent of the increase that we had put on.”

And even when BNS rates were increased, it was not all their loans, Powell noted.

Our retail portfolio including Scotia plan loan was increased by two per cent only on new loans,” he said.

That argument finds sympathy with financial analyst John Jackson.

“When you are faced with the situation like that, you are likely, in my view, to be a little bit more cautious in how you adjust rates because you may need to have some cushion in case of things deteriorating,” Jackson said.

Moreover, said Jackson, big banks like BNS and NCB “have a large pool of their own funds” at stake on which they earn less money.

Additionally, Jackson argued, the sharp reduction in the benchmark rates over a short time span “may have created a level of uncertainty”.

“It has also come at a time when demand for foreign exchange is higher than the expected flow,” he said. “It is a period when the banks may consider it more prudent to be cautious than to adjust the rates.”

Indeed, before the latest rate cut last week, on July 24, the BOJ, having previously removed its longer tenor one-year instruments from the market, cut the benchmark 180-day CD by one percentage point to 20.5 per cent, then followed a week later with another 1.5 percentage point reduction,

On August 20, another point was sliced from the rates before yesterday’s movement. But even that seeming aggressiveness on the part of the central bank, argued Powell, leaves rates still well ahead of where they were less than a year ago.

“The 41/2 per cent that they have now reached is just about 50 per cent of where they (the BOJ) were in the beginning,” he told Sunday Business, comparing the reductions with earlier hikes by the central bank.

NCB and BNS are not the only commercial banks declaring they have been responding to the BOJ signals by reducing their lending rates. Clovis Metcalfe, the FirstCaribbean Jamaica boss, has also pointed to his bank’s reduction of auto and general purpose loans.

“We are in the process of lowering prime lending rates,” he said of the June rate reduction by his bank.

First Global Bank is, however, making no claim to have cut rates recently on any of its loan products.

Rates subject to change

“Rates are subject to change and will vary depending on various terms and conditions pertaining to the respective loan being offered,” the bank said in a vague response to Sunday Business queries.

“First Global is not the only bank pointing to the variable rate policy to explain their current interest-rate policy.

“Our consumer loan and credit card products all have varying interest rates, some of which are not affected by movements in our base lending rate,” NCB’s Martin, the senior assistance general manager for marketing and communications, said.

“But the NCB representative appears more sensitive to public sentiments over the banks’ refusal to cut rates at a faster clip.

“NCB supports an interest rate environment that facilitates vibrant business and consumer activity - it makes sense for our customers and it makes sense for us. Lower rates on loans will always be favoured, since the ability to access credit is likely to be easier; however, there are several macroeconomic and other factors that must be taken into account when pricing loans,” Martin said.

expect the lobbyist

In the meantime, the banks can expect the lobbyist for rate cuts, such Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association President Omar Azan, will continue to be vocal.

“Internationally, the banks are averaging three per cent,” he complained. “Ours are averaging 14 per cent. The banks need to offer money at lower rates. Bankers need to get out and be bankers, not paper traders.”

Nation News (Barbados)

Jerome Jarreau pointing to the area under these grape trees where he found a newborn baby in a tied plastic bag.

by MARIA BRADSHAW

A NEWBORN BABY who was found inside a tied plastic bag, with the umbilical cord still attached, on Fitts Village Beach, St James, yesterday evening is alive and doing fine.

The baby girl was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) by ambulance where she was admitted to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit for observation.

When contacted yesterday, Dr Chaynie Williams, consultant in charge of the Accident & Emergency Department at the QEH, said the baby was healthy and doing fine. She said it was carried to term and would have been born within the last 24 hours.

Police described the baby as Caucasian with blue eyes.

Miracle baby

The newborn was being called a “miracle baby” by Jerome Jarreau, the man who found her hidden under a cluster of grape trees on the beach.

Jarreau said he was walking along the beach around 4:30 p.m. when he heard a faint cry from under the bushes.

“I tell myself somebody must be in there with a baby or it must be a monkey or something. I heard the crying again, so I went and look under the bush and I see something wriggling in a plastic bag. I burst open the bag and the baby look at me and let out a gasp and started to cry louder. I felt so relieved but scared,” he said.

So shocking was the discovery that Jarreau ran up the beach where three people were standing and frantically told them about his find, but nobody moved.

“I told them to come that a baby in the bushes but I know I am Rastaman and they would think that I coming to rob them or something, so I told them that I telling the truth, to call the ambulance and the police. They were staring at me as if I was mad or making sport,” he said.

Cord attached

Eventually the people did go over and see the baby. Jarreau said the umbilical cord was still attached as well as the afterbirth, and the blood in the bag was fresh.

But when somebody suggested cutting the cord, his protective parental instincts kicked in and he told them not to touch the baby.

The 28-year-old man said he instinctively ran over to the Jordan’s Supermarket complex at the doctor’s office there but it was closed. So he ran back to the baby and stood over her until the police and ambulance personnel arrived.

“This thing hurt me because I have two children and one is three months old. I know God was watching over this child,” he said.

Anthony Roopchand, who was on the scene when Jarreau found the baby, said he thought Jarreau was crazy when he saw him running up the beach shouting that he had found a baby.

Jarreau’s sister Joyann Walcott said she was hurt when she saw the baby lying in the plastic bag.
“She is such a sweet baby. I have christened her Shekinah’s Glory. She is in God’s hands.”

The residents said they hoped they would be able to visit the child at the hospital.
Police from the Holetown station cordoned the area where the baby was found and are investigating the matter.