Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. AFP PHOTO

We can’t think of surviving in a world affected by the crisis and the inordinate desires of the powerful, “unless we come together,” Chavez said at the Summit of the Latin America and the Caribbean Unity, attended among others by the Cuban delegation headed by President Raúl Castro.

After considering the present world as dangerous for poor and developing countries, Chavez noted that many scholars consider the current world situation marked by “the perfect crisis, because it concerns economics, finance, weather, food and many important aspects at once.”

He highlighted that 200 years after it was raised as an imperative by Simón Bolívar, the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean are meeting in Mexico with its sights set on the unity.

The Venezuelan president also dubbed the Organization of American States as “something obsolete and it serves no purpose and should no longer exist,” and added that the Mexico Summit can’t recognize the current Honduran government, as emanating from a coup.

He reiterated the support of Venezuela to Argentina for the recovery of the Malvinas Islands, while he underlined the need for the Cancun forum to speak with one voice in favor of that aspiration, which he described as legitimate. (Caribnet)

Charles Kao, chairman of the Innovation for Sustainable Development Centre (ISDC), pointed to the work of Airline Ambassadors International (AAI) (www.airlineambassadors.org) which he said had organized and “paid out of their own pockets for 17 airplanes full of aid and trained medical professionals.”

Charles Kao - Photo: Margot Jordan

“Over 600 medical personnel and some two million pounds of food, water, and other relief supplies,” Kao noted, “had not only been transported by Airline Ambassadors but their people on the ground in Haiti were able to land and distribute the aid quickly.”

“It’s not too surprising as Airline Ambassadors International brings together people from all sectors of the US carriers, from cabin to ground staff, logistics, catering, planning, construction and health - all skills much in demand,” said Kao who is also chairman of Green Globe International.

“The travel and tourism industry, through their sterling work in the wake of the earthquake, deserve to be heard when serious talks are underway for international assistance to help Haiti recover from this devastation,” urged Kao.

Formed 18 years ago by American Airlines cabin attendant, Nancy Rivard, Airline Ambassadors draws staffers from several US-based carriers. In addition to American Airlines and United Airlines, Airline Ambassadors is also supported by JetBlue Airways, individuals and foundations.

The Caribbean Media Exchange, in partnership with Canadian-based Pacific Island community organizer Maria Noa Habchi, will support AAI’s humanitarian efforts for Haiti at a “Haitian Carnival” cultural event this Sunday, February 28 at Toronto’s Lula Lounge at 7 p.m. (1585 Dundas St. West). (Caribnet)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) — Shifting debris and twisted metal by hand, Haitian workers backed by Japanese UN military engineers on Monday rescued remaining valuable paintings and sculptures from the collapsed rubble of one of Haiti’s most notable art museums.

The workers and UN troops were trying to salvage what they could of Haiti’s rich artistic heritage, ravaged by the January 12 earthquake that may have killed up to 300,000 people, according to the country’s president.

Port-au-Prince’s Nader Art Museum, which with 12,000 paintings housed probably the world’s most important private collection of Haitian art, was reduced to rubble by the quake, which also badly damaged the presidential palace, the city cathedral and many other historic buildings.

Since the quake struck six weeks ago, gallery staff have been carefully extracting the most important works from the wreckage. Brightly-colored canvases, many torn and smeared with dust, are piled to one side, while empty wooden frames are stacked in another pile.

Workers carry away wooden and metal sculptures, some missing arms and legs in a grotesque reflection of the horrific human injuries inflicted by the quake.

Georges Nader Jr., 40, son of museum owner Georges S. Nader, said the ’search and rescue’ phase of the museum salvage operation was almost over.

“We’ve been digging for a month … the hand removal stage is almost over, then heavy machinery will move in,” he said. “But if you put a mechanical digger in there right away, you will lose everything.”

He was philosophical about the loss to the collection.

“I think about 50 percent, with some kind of restoration, will be salvageable,” Nader said. A separate Nader gallery in Petionville district survived the quake.

About 95 percent of the Haitian masters part of the museum collection, including works by Hector Hyppolite (1894-1948) and Philome Obin (1892-1986), survived because they were housed in a front part of the collapsed building, Nader said.

“Some are not even scratched. We have someone working on restoration, where necessary, right now,” he added.

Asked if the collection was insured,” Nader laughed wryly: “If it was, I wouldn’t be here”.

Of the museum’s sculptures, reflecting the rich African heritage of Haiti, which won independence through an 1804 slave revolt, Nader put losses at 60-70 percent.

“When we pulled the sculptures out, some of them had broken arms and legs,” he said.

Japanese UN officers wearing blue caps and helmets and the shoulder patches of Japan’s Central Readiness Regiment, supervised laborers and a mechanical digger.

Around 200 Japanese troops are participating in the international relief operation in Haiti, and this number would rise to over 300 in March, said Captain Shingo Hayakawa.

Nader’s father George, 78, who started the collection in 1966, and his mother, both survived the quake.
Nader said he believed much of the Caribbean’s country’s artistic patrimony, including the famed 1950s mural paintings of the Sainte Trinite Cathedral, had been lost.

But amazingly, many of the city’s oldest houses, which are built of wood in the elaborate “gingerbread” Caribbean style, withstood the magnitude 7 quake, while hundreds of more modern concrete, steel and mortar structures crumbled.

“This would a good time to restore the old houses,” Nader said.

France, Haiti’s former colonial master, will draw up a preparatory study for reconstruction of the wrecked presidential palace, and has offered to restore a damaged 1822 painting depicting Haitian independence heroes which was salvaged by a French team from inside the ornate white palace.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Bloomberg) — US Senators John Kerry and Evan Bayh asked Western Union Co. and MoneyGram International Inc. to eliminate or reduce fees on money transfers to earthquake- damaged Haiti through June.

US Senator John Kerry AFP PHOTO

Kerry, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, and Bayh, a member of the Banking Committee, said suspending the fees of about 7 percent to 9 percent would help fund recovery efforts after the Jan. 12 temblor, which may have killed 300,000 people, according to Haiti’s president, Rene Preval. They praised both companies for cutting their fees in the immediate aftermath of the quake.

“While we appreciate your initial efforts, the need for a longer commitment is great because for many Haitians remittances will act as a lifeline,” the two Senate Democrats wrote in a letter today. “With your help, Haitian Americans who sacrifice to send remittances will see more of that money reach their families in Haiti who are in desperate need.” Kerry represents Massachusetts and Bayh represents Indiana.

Messages left with spokesmen for both companies weren’t immediately returned.

The Inter-American Development Bank on Feb. 16 estimated that it may cost as much as $13.9 billion to rebuild from the quake, the deadliest-ever in the Western Hemisphere, according to the US Geological Survey. The economic damage is equivalent to 104 percent to 117 percent of Haiti’s gross domestic product, more than any other nation in modern times has faced, the bank said.

World Bank economist Dilip Ratha said in a statement on his Web site that Haiti receives between $1.5 billion and $1.8 billion in remittances each year.

The United Nations said Feb. 18 that the $1.4 billion is needed to provide food, water, shelter and sanitation to 3 million Haitians throughout 2010, the largest appeal following a natural disaster in the world body’s history. (Caribnet)

The Ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) said, as the country marks this significant milestone, all citizens should recommit themselves to unity.

“As Guyanese we should use this opportunity to reflect on our history and to commit ourselves to the task at hand, which is to ensure that we continue on the path to national development, peace, progress and prosperity,” the PPP/C said.

It added that this is a unique opportunity for Guyanese “to display to the world how we as a nation have achieved unity and social cohesion.”

The party said it has been part of the initial struggle for Independence and republican status.

Meanwhile, the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) said during the forty years as a republican state Guyana has seen a people driven by hope, love of country and “charting a developmental scale of unknown proportions in our country.”

The party added that the celebration this year marks the beginning of another decade and shows the nation is still young and has significant potential that still needs to be fully explored.

“On this Republic Day let us recommit to love our nation and fight for our rights, let us do our duty, let us be principled stateswomen and men, patriots, and heroes who love our nation more than our own private interests.” the PNCR said.

“We must continue to agitate for justice and fairplay, safety in our neighbourhoods and in our schools, restoration of decent values, good corporate behavior, protection for our children and the disabled and challenged. We must begin to refresh and fertilize our dear land of Guyana, our nation, with hope, and stake an action plan that will ensure a destiny to mould.”

Guyana will mark its 40th Republic Anniversary on Tuesday with a ceremonial flag raising ceremony at public buildings and the annual Mashramani Float parade in the capital and all other administrative regions.

This country achieved its republic status on February 23, 1970. (Caribnet)

Habanos SA executives said on Monday sales fell 8 percent to $360 million in 2009, so they have created the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, aimed specifically at female smokers.

Cuban Cigars’ marketing director Ana Lopez, smokes a cigar during a press conference for the opening of the XII Cigar Festival in Havana. AFP PHOTO

Women now make up only 5 to 10 percent of customers for Habanos, the worldwide distributor of Cuban cigars, marketing director Ana Lopez told a news conference kicking off the annual Habanos cigar festival.

The Julieta is an attempt to overcome perceptions among women that Cuban cigars are made up of “only strong tobacco for men,” she said.

The search for new markets is needed because even though Cuban cigars are considered the world’s finest, sales are slipping with the rise of anti-smoking laws around the world, said Habanos vice president Manuel Garcia.

The 8 percent sales drop in 2009 was preceded by a 3 percent fall, to $390 million, in 2008.

Even with the creation of the Julieta, Garcia said Habanos has only modest hopes for 2010 sales, due largely to a weak economy in Spain, the biggest market for Cuban cigars.

“We think it would be a very good result if we can at least maintain the (sales) we reached in 2009,” he said.

Habanos is a joint venture between Cuba and British tobacco giant Imperial Tobacco Group Plc.

Habanos — which produces other well-known brands such as Cohiba, Monte Cristo, Trinidad and Partagas — has about 71 percent of the sales in its markets, Garcia said.

The US market, the largest in the world with 230 to 250 million cigars smoked annually, is off limits to Habanos due to the US trade embargo imposed against Cuba since 1962. (Caribnet)

World Bank president Robert Zoellick and the Colombian artist, representing her ALAS Foundation, signed an agreement launching the “Early Childhood Initiative: An Investment for Life” at the bank’s Washington headquarters.

The partnership agreement also included Columbia University’s Earth Institute.

Shakira. AFP PHOTO

The initiative is aimed at expanding development programs for children through age six to provide them adequate nutrition, health care and other positive supports.

It also will focus on cost-effective policies and resources in the region, and attempt to mobilize public support to improve opportunities for young children and thereby help overcome deep inequalities, Zoellick said.

“ALAS — and Shakira in particular — have made an enormous contribution to placing young children at the heart of the public policy priorities in Latin America,” he said.

“We are pleased to work with her, ALAS and the Earth Institute to offer hope and opportunity for children who deserve a better future.”

The Colombian artist is the founder of ALAS, a coalition of Latin American artists and business leaders that promotes early childhood development programs in the region.

“If we want to build a better world, we have to give children the chance to improve their lives, no matter where they are born or how difficult their circumstances. By giving every child a fair start in life, we are improving our collective future,” Shakira told an audience of 100 ambassadors, officials and representatives of other international organizations.

The initiative will provide 300 million dollars over the next two years in loans, grants and trust fund resources, as well as technical support, towards the design and implementation of child development policies in Latin America and the Caribbean, the 186-nation development lender said. (Caribnet)

by Renuka Singh, Joel Julien

Beyonce’s I AM… Concert was a ’national fiasco and disgrace’, the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) said yesterday, as it again called for an in-depth investigation into the tendering process for the event.

’Which executive manager decided that LAY Events Management Company should be contracted to manage this event?’ CWU secretary general John Julien asked in a press release. The union represents TSTT workers.

The CWU, Julien said, is also calling for an immediate public investigation into the concert and also called for the immediate resignation of the chief executive officer, the board of directors and the Line Minister, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid.

’They publicly endorsed this ill-advised and ill-conceived event as a good corporate business venture,’ the union said, adding the concert brought ’tremendous shame’ to the company.

Julien’s call come on the wake of several complaints from members of the public who attended the concert, but complained of the shabby treatment they received, even in the VVIP sections. Most fans agreed that while Beyonce’s performance was well worth the entrance, they deserved much better with regards to the other facilities which were supposed to be provided for their money.

In response to the questions raised by the union last evening, Graeme Suite, TSTT’s manager of media relations, said they had answered those very questions when the union raised them before the concert.

’The procedures for the tendering process was followed for the concert,’ he reiterated.

Suite also noted that LAY has often been subcontracted for TSTT’s events and they also passed through the tendering process.

’Everything was done above board,’ he said.

In a release last week, TSTT said it was pleased with the performance of the US R&B star and local entertainers Machel Montano and Destra Garcia. It also promised to investigate what went wrong.

Meanwhile, no one attempted to enter the Beyonce concert using tickets stolen from Brian Lara’s stolen safe, Suite confirmed over the weekend.

A vault containing 100 Beyonce concert tickets, and close to $1 million in cash and jewelry was stolen from Lara’s Knagg’s Hill, Port of Spain home on February 2.

In an effort to halt the use of the stolen tickets, TSTT removed them from the electronic register, Suite said.

’The removal made all the stolen tickets unusable for entry. And anyone using any of them would have been detained by police,’ Suite said.

However, Suite said no one was held with any of the ’flagged’ tickets at the event. Three patrons were, however, held with VVIP concert tickets bearing similar numbers to the stolen Lara batch. They were all released. Investigations are continuing into the heist at Lara’s home. (Trinidad Express)

-Reporting by Renuka Singh, Joel Julien