Moontown

Speaking to journalists recently via satellite from Barbados, Collymore noted that Jamaica would continue to lead CARICOM’s efforts in its role as the CDEMA Sub-Regional Focal Point (SRFP) with responsibility for Haiti.

CARICOM has chosen to focus its aid in the area of health, and Collymore informed that about 350 CARICOM nationals are currently in Haiti helping with the relief efforts.

He said that in the previous 48 hours, members of the medical team had delivered more than 400 treatments and 30 surgeries, including amputations. The team has also, since being in Haiti, rescued three persons alive, while recovering several bodies.

“In terms of emergency supplies, though we have not quantified it, several shipments of water, emergency blankets, health materials, like pharmaceuticals, etc., have been moved into the area,” he told journalists.

CDEMA is also responding to airlift challenges by placing an aircraft in Jamaica to help move some of the emergency personnel and supplies into Haiti, while another aircraft donated by Bermuda will periodically airlift supplies out of Jamaica to Haiti. Collymore also informed that it is expected that by Jan. 25, 15 per cent of the port in the Haitian capital will be repaired to allow some access by sea.

“On the ground, the damage to the infrastructure is already impeding people’s ability to move on the ground. these are some of the issues that the Community is now looking at with respect of our own resources and already, plans are in place to identify a barge or some large vessel to move heavy vehicles and fuel into the operating area,” he told journalists.

CARICOM has also enhanced its presence in Haiti with a Special Coordinator appointed by CDEMA, who is working with the Haiti Civil Defence Protection, and the CARICOM security forces, international donors and the humanitarian community on the ground, to ensure sustained and effective coordination of the CARICOM relief efforts.

Collymore also informed that eight CARICOM countries have together contributed US$4 million towards relief efforts.

Meanwhile, four Caribbean nationals, who were in Haiti for a civil aviation meeting, remain unaccounted for. Two of them are from the Netherland Antilles, one from St Lucia and the other from Trinidad and Tobago. They were all staying at the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, which experienced massive damage from the earthquake. (Caribnet)

A group of police, pushed to keep control among a desperate population after the January 12 tremor which killed or injured many of their number and destroyed the city prison, opened fire on a warehouse from a building opposite.

An AFP photographer inside the scavengers’ building said two men were hit in the head, one of whom received medical attention. Two others were lying prone on the floor, one lifeless. The other was treated for a serious head wound.

A Haitian man in the street outside said he saw police pistol whip a man.

“This guy was trying to go inside (the warehouse), the cops took a gun straight to the back of the head. I don’t know why they do that. It’s not fair because everyone in Haiti is hungry,” the man, who declined to give his name, said.

Looters and scavengers have moved into the downtown commercial district, taking what they can from the ruins as bulldozers demolished damaged shops and warehouses.

The Haitian government has said the death toll from the January 12 quake, which shattered what little infrastructure existed in the capital and left a million people homeless, is expected to be around 150,000. (Caribnet)

President of Haiti, Rene Preval, was slated to assume the chairmanship when the term by Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerritt, comes to an end on June 30.

However, during a press conference on January 22, which was hosted by the CARICOM Secretariat and linked by satellite to journalists in several member states, Secretary-General of CARICOM, Dr Edwin Carrington, stated that the matter would be reviewed.

“All I can say at this stage is that the matter will be looked at, is being looked at, as to whether Haiti will want to, (or) would be able to, and if not, who will replace them. It’s a matter, which has not been missed and which is pretty close to conclusion,” Carrington said.

He noted that consultations would have to be held with all the CARICOM Heads of Government before a decision can be reached on the matter.

Any decision regarding Haiti’s chairmanship will also affect the Bureau of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM, which comprises the current Chairman; the outgoing and incoming Chairmen; and the Secretary-General. (Caribnet)

Already, Jamaica is making preparations to accept Haitians, who may arrive on its shores, and Dr Carrington stated that other Governments are also onboard.

Edwin Carrington, CARICOM Secretary General

“In fact, I saw a report where the Prime Minister of Bahamas was speaking very harshly, I think, to his officials, who sought to turn back a number of Haitians, who have already sought to get into the Bahamas at this point in time,” he said.

The CARICOM Secretary General was addressing journalists from across the regionat the weekend via satellite from Barbados.

He informed that there are also a number of injured persons, who will have to be taken out of Haiti for treatment and that Haiti’s CARICOM neighbours are also willing to accommodate them in their hospitals.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Ministry of National Security are currently mapping an operational plan for dealing with possible refugees, while the Government is developing a comprehensive budget so that funds can be identified for dealing with expenses associated with the initiative.(Caribnet)

Chavez is facing growing discontent over shortages of electricity and water and a sharp currency devaluation this month as he heads into legislative elections in September that could reduce his tight grip of the OPEC nation’s Congress.

Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez. AFP PHOTO

Chavez named the even-tempered and soft-spoken Carrizalez to the number two job in 2008, and in 2009 tapped him to simultaneously serve as defense minister.

“The President of the Republic … accepted the resignation that was presented for strictly personal reasons by Vice President Ramon Carrizalez,” Communications Minister Blanca Eekhout said in a statement on state television.

State-backed news network Telesur reported that Carrizalez’ wife, Environment Minister Yuviri Ortega, also resigned. Carrizalez denied the resignations had to do with differences with the government, Telesur reported.

The close Chavez confidant, who is a former army officer like the president, was seen as one of Chavez’s more capable administrators. This month, Chavez fired a recently named electricity minister for botching a Caracas electricity rationing scheme.

He has also changed his finance minister, Ali Rodriguez, who he named electricity minister this month. Left-wing academic Jorge Giordani took over at finance.

Carrizalez previously served as infrastructure minister and housing minister, where he took on some of the nation’s thorniest problems including its acute housing shortage and the 2006 collapse of a crucial bridge linking Caracas to the airport and its main port.

Chavez named Carrizalez vice president just after his first-ever ballot box defeat in a constitutional overhaul referendum in 2007, replacing the combative Jorge Rodriguez. (Caribnet)

“The international community must ensure we are working in sync. Aid coordination has long been a challenge in Haiti, even before the earthquake,” Clinton said at a donors’ meeting in Montreal.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton attends the Haiti Ministerial preparatory conference at the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal. AFP PHOTO

“We must find better mechanisms for coordination, oversight, and accountability to ensure that aid and investments are used effectively.”

Washington has taken a frontline role in the disaster relief effort since the January 12 quake, sending in 20,000 troops as well as rescue teams and anchoring a hospital ship offshore to treat injured Haitians.

On Sunday, Italy’s top disaster official Guido Bertolaso criticized the lack of a coordinated international aid effort in Haiti, saying that the United States had “too many officers” there and could not find a capable leader.

Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Franco Frattini, who briefly met with Clinton in Washington ahead of the Montreal meeting, sought to soothe tensions by recognizing US efforts at Monday’s talks.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper also alluded to criticisms, saying North American nations “know the conditions on the ground, maybe better than others who have the best intentions, but are seeing things from farther away.”

Clinton responded by calling on all donor nations to evaluate the progress of relief efforts honestly and to have the courage to change strategies in Haiti if necessary.

Clinton also repeated an earlier promise that the United States would not abandon Haiti and will remain its long-term partner.

She urged conference delegates to begin thinking now about the transition from disaster relief to long-term investment in Haiti, and preserve the current grouping of donor nations.

Clinton said in Washington earlier after meeting with Frattini that the international effort “could not succeed without additional military assets.”

“It’s just easier for the United States to get there first because Haiti is our neighbor,” she said.

Leading medical journal The Lancet last week accused major aid organisations of corporate preening and self-interest that had contributed to bedlam in the effort to help Haiti.

Left-leaning Venezuela and Bolivia have criticized the United States for its response to the quake, accusing US forces of occupying the country rather than helping its people.

The disaster killed around 150,000 people and left a million others homeless, according to Haitian officials. (Caribnet)