Moontown

CARACAS, Venezuela (Bloomberg) — Venezuela cut electricity consumption last month after President Hugo Chavez ordered homes, businesses and government offices to save power as water levels plunged at hydroelectric dams.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. AFP PHOTO

The country used 9,557 gigawatt-hours of electricity in January, down 2.4 percent from a year earlier, according to preliminary figures on the Web site of the National Administration Center, the electricity-grid operator known as the CNG. Consumption fell 8.1 percent from December.

Water levels are less than half the capacity at the Guri Dam, which provides two-thirds of Venezuela’s power, according to the CNG daily report.

Chavez has called for a 20 percent reduction in electricity use to keep Guri from running out of water. Rationing has caused blackouts at homes and factories, while aluminum and steel plants have pared output to save power.

Year-over-year electricity use grew in December as month- over-month consumption declined, according to a monthly report posted on the CNG Web site today. Consumption was 10,401.6 gigawatt-hours, 6.7 percent higher than a year earlier. Daily consumption fell 3.8 percent from November.

Venezuela’s power plants increased consumption of fuel oil to 58,600 barrels a day, the highest since at least 2003, according to the oldest records available from CNG.

Generators reduced their use of hydro power, diesel and natural gas, according to the report. (Caribnet)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) — Sitting at a table under billowing bed sheets, David Delva tries to compile a list of around 12,000 people who now live in an open field below a hillside slum that collapsed in Haiti’s January 12 earthquake.

After fleeing their crumbled homes, local residents quickly built up a jumble of makeshift shelters out of corrugated tin, cardboard, plastic netting and sheets, similar to hundreds of squalid survivors’ camps scattered around Port-au-Prince.

With coming seasonal rains threatening to pile further misery on more than 700,000 homeless quake victims camped out in the shattered capital, Haiti’s government and its international aid partners are urgently debating how and where to shelter survivors while the recovery work goes ahead.

“If we do not get some tents, when the rains come we will be in big trouble,” said Delva, a former police chief who is now in charge of the security committee in the neighborhood previously known as the “Red Carpet” for its violence.

Struggling to get his impoverished country back on its feet after the catastrophic quake that killed up to 200,000 people, President Rene Preval’s government has appealed for aid groups to provide at least 200,000 tents to house the homeless.

Some ministers have said survivors will be relocated in temporary settlements outside the wrecked capital. But these tent cities have not materialized so far and international aid agencies say the focus should be on a longer-term solution.

“We don’t want to move, we need them to come here because we are already organized,” Delva said, neatly writing down residents’ names to receive handouts from an aid group.

As in many improvised camps born in the days and weeks after the earthquake, life is returning here, with people selling fruit and vegetables and children flying kites made of twigs and plastic bags. Volunteers patrol at night to guard against one of the community’s two major security worries: escaped prisoners and traditional “sorcerers,” who still strike fear in the minds of superstitious locals, Delva said.

The onset of the rainy season in March could threaten flash floods and further building collapses in the ruined city, and also increase the risk of diseases.

“If it rains it is a disaster. … What we urgently need is tents,” Haitian Senator Wencesclass Lambert told Reuters.

“We need big ones, for schools for example, and small ones — 200,000 for the time being is reasonable,” he said.

Government ministers in charge of housing and food distribution have echoed the plea for tents.

But the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which is spearheading U.S. government relief efforts in Haiti, says temporary tents can be expensive and impractical.

Instead, USAID is pushing a plan to reinforce the existing makeshift shelters with solid building materials and recycled rubble. USAID officials call it: “Thinking outside the tent.”

“We are playing catch-up here. A lot has already been done by those directly affected by the earthquake. We try to supplement and accelerate the process,” said a USAID official with experience of working in disasters around the world.

USAID says its proposals were well received in two meetings last week with President Preval.

“Past experience was such that the only thing anyone ever received was a tent, so that’s the only notion of emergency shelter they are aware of,” said the USAID official, who asked not to be named. He said it was possible to build semi-permanent housing for survivors in a matter of months.

But the Haitian government and some humanitarian workers worry that reconstruction might take too long and that tens of thousands might still be stranded out in the open when the season for Atlantic hurricanes — which have often mauled Haiti in the past — begins on June 1.

The US government and aid groups are sending more than 10,000 rolls of durable plastic sheeting. Each roll can shelter a family of 10 while they begin rebuilding.

Many like 21-year-old Madeline Mylmond, who sleeps on the street front of her broken-down house with eight relatives, have nothing to cover them. Mylmond’s leg was gashed in the quake when a refrigerator fell on her and she has trouble keeping the dressing of her open wound clean.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders reports increased cases of diarrhea and skin rashes from the poor sanitary conditions of living outside. It warns that rains could bring more serious diseases like typhoid, measles or dengue.

From the early days of the disaster, there has been talk of building more orderly and cleaner survivors’ camps with basic services outside the city, but so far none have appeared and the government has no set date for them to be completed. (Caribnet)

Singh made this announcement on Wednesday, adding that the budget will be delivered under the theme: “consolidate, transform and sustain.” 2010 will see increased spending in a number of key areas.

Dr Ashni Singh

This year’s estimate of government’s expenditure is expected to see significant growth with heavy emphasis on the social sectors.

While the minister did not divulge the size of the budget and specific areas where emphasis will be placed, it is believed that the country’s estimates of expenditure for 2010-2011 will be much larger than last year.

President Bharrat Jagdeo said last month that economic advancement, job creation, expansion of the social sector and national transformation are the key pillars of the 2010 national budget.

“Children, education, health, single parents out of school, and young people are a big focus in our budget. Secondly infrastructure this year, I mentioned the Black Bush Polder Road, however we will also be paving the East and West Canje roads in Berbice, and we will be extending the four-lane road along the highway to Diamond…these are some of the thing you will see reflected in the budget,” Jagdeo said.

Jagdeo also told reporters that the 2010 budget will be aimed at building on the gains of his government over the years.

“So it is focused on the social sector dealing with the strategy transformative issues. It is fixing the economic infrastructure and generating more job opportunities. These are the main themes of the budget,” the president said.

He also revealed that the budget will reflect part of the first US$30 million Guyana received from Norway for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on forest preservation signed last year.

Singh said the Guyanese economy displayed striking resilience last year, despite depressed external demand and lower prices for certain key exports.

The 2009 Budget had projected real growth of the non-sugar gross domestic product at 1.8 percent while overall growth was projected at 4.7 percent- projections which were strongly influenced by the expected recovery of sugar.

Last year’s record GY$128.9 billion national budget represented an 8.1 percent increase over 2008 which was GY$119.3 billion (Caribnet)

The containers, which consist of water, clothes, crackers and other essentials, are being shipped by John Fernandes Limited at no expense to the committee.

Two of the containers packed with supplies that are being shipped by the National Committee for Haiti Relief through John Fernandes Limited. February 3, 2010 GINA photo

Committee Member and Director of the Civil Defence Commission, Chabilall Ramsarup said that most of the streets are cleared of debris and aid is now able to reach citizens in the earthquake-ravished country at a much faster rate.

The CARICOM state was hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on January 12 that left thousands dead and many more displaced and disabled.

Ramsarup stated that the supplies will go directly to the CARICOM contingent from Jamaica, who is being housed at the Food for the Poor Complex in Haiti.

He noted that the 11 containers are in addition to the four already sent to Haiti during last week.

Marketing Director, Bertie Fernandes disclosed that the cargo, which costs about US$200 per container, is expected to reach its destination by February 14.

Fernandes explained that the seaboard freight will have to stop in Trinidad where the supplies will be loaded unto another ship which is more compatible with the stage port in Haiti.

On January 26, a vessel with four containers of flour, refined coconut oil, pharmaceuticals, water and clothes departed the John Fernandes Wharf, for Jamaica.

Over $45 million worth in kind were collected since the establishment of the committee on January 13 and donations deposited in the committee’s bank account amount to over $254M.

There have been telethons, walk-a-thons and other aid efforts staged by concerned Guyanese to assist the impoverished island. (Caribnet)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) – The death toll in the Haiti quake has swelled to 200,000, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said Wednesday as angry protests over the slow arrival of aid flared on the rubble-strewn streets.

More than three weeks after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake, Bellerive said his tiny Caribbean nation had been ravaged by “a disaster on a planetary scale” and detailed the tragic toll suffered by his people.

Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive sits in his office during an interview with AFP on the situation in Haiti following last month’s earthquake. AFP PHOTO

“There are more than 200,000 people who have been clearly identified as people who are dead,” he said in an interview with AFP, adding that another 300,000 injured had been treated, 250,000 homes had been destroyed and 30,000 businesses lost.

At least 4,000 amputations have also been carried out due to horrific crush injuries — a shocking figure which is likely to strain the impoverished nation’s already meager resources for years to come.

Bellerive said he has proposed the formation of an “emergency government” in Haiti to focus on the crisis, but insisted that the authorities, devastated as their ranks have been by the disaster, remained “in control of the situation.”

Despite a massive aid operation, a lack of coordination and the sheer extent of the damage have hampered the distribution of food and water leading to mounting tensions among a million people left homeless.

“The Haitian government has done nothing for us, it has not given us any work. It has not given us the food we need,” Sandrac Baptiste said bitterly as she left her makeshift tent to join angry demonstrations Wednesday.

In separate protests after a tense night when shots were fired in the ruined capital Port-au-Prince, some 300 people gathered outside the mayor’s office in the once upscale Petionville neighborhood.

“If the police fire on us, we are going to set things ablaze,” one of the protesters shouted, raising a cement block above his head.

Another 200 protesters marched toward the US embassy, crying out for food and aid, and about 50 protestors also gathered late Tuesday outside the police headquarters where the Haitian government of President Rene Preval is temporarily installed.

“Down with Preval,” demonstrators shouted at the president who has only spoken to the people a few times since the disaster struck.

“There are no tents! There is no food!” protested Bousiquot Widmack, while demonstrators who said they were government workers complained their homes had collapsed, they had not been paid, and that they had nothing to eat.

Meanwhile, a group of US Christians were to learn Thursday whether they would be charged with trying to illegally take children out of the quake-stricken nation, a judge told AFP.

The 10 Americans from the Idaho-based Baptist group New Life Children’s Refuge have been detained in Haiti since the weekend after they tried to take some 33 children out of the country to neighboring Dominican Republic.

The case has drawn the attention of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said Wednesday it was “unfortunate that, whatever the motivation, that this group of Americans took matters into their own hands” in trying to take the children across the border.

“We are engaged in discussions with the Haitian government… and looking for the best way forward on this,” she added.

Amid the mounting frustration in Haiti’s streets, UN chief Ban Ki-moon asked former US president Bill Clinton to assume a leadership role in coordinating the international aid.

“The trick is to get the Haitian people back where they can stop living from day-to-day and start living from week-to-week or month-to-month and then start the long-term efforts,” Bill Clinton said.

Related article: Mistrust in the eyes of rescued Haitian children

An aid group warned Wednesday against “quick-fix rebuilding” plans before sufficient studies had been done on how to best protect Haiti from future hurricanes and earthquakes.

“Right now the Haitian people need good quality temporary accommodation and emergency relief. But we are also looking at how we can help people to rebuild their lives over the next three years, leaving Haiti better prepared for future natural disasters,” said Brendan Gormley, chief executive of the Disasters Emergency Committee, a British aid umbrella group.

For most of Haiti’s one million homeless, the focus was on how to improve on the dire day-to-day conditions.

Marjorie Michel, the Haitian minister in charge of women’s affairs, said neighborhood committees were reporting a rise in the number of rapes in the tent camps, although women were reluctant to make a formal complaint.

She said teams were being sent into the camps to try to deal with the situation, and promised segregated bathroom facilities would be installed in new camps. (Caribnet)

Anna Ramdass aramdass@trinidadexpress.com

fuming: Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday at Rienzi Complex yesterday. -Photo: Dexter Philip

Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday yesterday stormed out of the Rienzi Complex, Couva, after he unsuccessfully tried to raise a motion at the party’s parliamentary caucus for there to be a public enquiry into the January 24 internal elections which saw his defeat by Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

At approximately 5.20 p.m loud voices were heard from the closed-door meeting and, a few seconds later, an upset-looking Panday, accompanied by Opposition MPs Subhas Panday, Mickela Panday, Kelvin Ramnath as well as Opposition Senators Adesh Nanan and Mohammed Faisal Rahaman, walked out and entered another room of the complex, where they held discussions for 20 minutes before leaving.

Speaking to the Express last night and asked why he left the meeting, Panday said, ’I moved a motion that having regard to all the complaints and irregularities coming out of the internal elections that the caucus agree that we have an enquiry into the elections and Harry Partap, the chairman, refused to entertain the motion. I asked him to have a vote on it and he refused.’

Panday said he raised the motion at the caucus because he was not a member of the Executive.

He stressed the need for an enquiry and added that if the Executive does not make any move to do so, he and his supporters would use whatever resources they have to ensure there was one.

Asked if he would attend future parliamentary caucus meetings, Panday said, ’I don’t see any point. They cannot take any decisions in the absence of Jack Warner. In the absence of Jack Warner, Kamla cannot take any decision.’ Warner was out of the country and in his absence Partap chaired the meeting.

Speaking at a press conference following the meeting, Persad-Bissessar said Panday was free to leave if he wanted. She was flanked by the majority of the Members of Parliament as well as Senators who chose not to leave with Panday. These include Panday loyalists such as Wade Mark, Roodal Moonilal, Tim Gopeesingh, Jennifer Jones-Kernahan, among others.

’Mr Panday came and he wanted to move a motion in the caucus that there should be a public enquiry into fraudulent and gross irregularities in the internal elections. The view was taken by some that that was not a matter for the caucus whilst the caucus can note the concerns any issue of an enquiry must be referred to the executive and the caucus did in fact take the decision that the matter be referred to the Executive,’ she said.

As the newly elected political leader, and Executive member, Persad-Bissessar said that the Executive already decided to look at the irregularities coming out of the internal election.

’At the Executive it was already decided, because many people suffered, this was no one-sided bias, it was everybody who were candidates at election and all those people who couldn’t vote. There must be some way that we can find out why. I saw people crying outside those stations, old people, young people, they were so hurt and upset and so yes we will look into that to make sure our party does not subject people to that again, we will,’ she said.

Panday, however, told the Express that no decision was taken by the Executive and if one was he would have known about it through deputy political leader Roodal Moonilal, the only candidate from Panday’s slate who won a place on the Executive.

Questioned on how close she was to getting majority support from MPs with respect to the position of Opposition Leader, Persad-Bissessar said, ’The issue was not discussed - I make the point again, I am in no hurry to hound anybody out of office, I can do my job very well as political leader of the party and as a Member of Parliament.’ (Trinidad Express)

re-hired in 2009: Claude Musaib-Ali

Claude Musaib-Ali, the chief executive at struggling insurance giant CLICO, resigned yesterday, sources close to the CL Financial subsidiary said.

Musaib-Ali, a former CLICO and British American Insurance executive, was brought back to the failing insurance company last year after Government and the Central Bank rescued the company and its parent conglomerate, CL Financial.

At that time, CLICO was unable to pay creditors and depositors who were owed hundreds of millions of dollars.

Government has approved $5 billion to rescue CLICO in an exercise expected to take several years.

So far, more than $1 billion of this amount has been spent to repay creditors and policyholders.

Reached by telephone yesterday, Musaib-Ali said only that he was in a meeting.

Central Bank Governor Ewart Williams said he could not comment yesterday but would talk today.

Contacted for comment last night, Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira said: ’I am sure the more appropriate persons to ask would be Mr Ali or the Governor of the Central Bank, under whose remit the Colonial Life Insurance Company falls under Section 44 D of the Central Bank Act… If it is so, I am sure it would be made public soon enough. If, in fact, your information is correct, that is not something that would not be made public. It would be disclosed at the appropriate time.’

Musaib-Ali’s resignation at CLICO follows several at CL Financial.

CL managing director Steve Bideshi left the group on January 31. Former group financial director Michael Carballo also resigned. Last year, former Central Bank governor Dr Euric Bobb resigned as CL chairman, but remains a director on the board. (Trinidad Express)