Moontown

Lolita Applewhaite, CARICOM Deputy Secretary-General said on Tuesday that as the global community prepares to participate in the COP-16 in Mexico later this year, CARICOM was keen on “strengthening its voice and its partnerships with like-minded states to advocate its position on issues critical, not merely to its continued development, but to the very survival of its People.”

Caricom’s deputy secretary general, Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite

She was at the time speaking at the Turkeyen, Guyana Headquarters of the CARICOM Secretariat, at the Ceremony for Presentation of Credentials of Mikko Pyhälä, Finland’s Ambassador to CARICOM.

Expressing the Region’s concerns about its vulnerability to the climate change and natural disasters, Ambassador Applewhaite said, CARICOM was “only too conversant” with the “extraordinary vulnerability” of its Member States to natural disasters.

Against this backdrop, she told the newly accredited Finnish Ambassador that CARICOM was seeking his government’s support of its call for the world temperature to be stabilised at 1.5Ëš C.”

“We view the pursuit of a legally binding agreement to address climate change as the most fundamental responsibility of our generation,” she stated.

Most countries in CARICOM, Ambassador Applewhaite said, had been hit by hurricanes, floods and mudslides, which had resulted in “significant loss of life” as well as a severe impact on social and economic development.

“We are therefore gravely concerned that our Region is becoming even more susceptible to such disasters, in part, as a result of the irresponsible stewardship of the environment practised by many,” she stated.

The Deputy Secretary-General said that the Region’s position in respect of climate change was that the “global phenomenon constitutes a very real threat to the countries of the Caribbean Community.”

“More specifically for us, it is a threat to our very survival. Climate change and the related phenomena of bleached coral and ruined marine life, coastal erosion, rising sea levels and flooding, are not collateral damages that we can accept.”

In this context, she said, “it is more than unacceptable that the global community should walk away from the negotiating table in Mexico, without a legally binding agreement.”

She said that the Region was also looking forward to Finland’s support of its efforts to implement resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly to protect the Caribbean Sea as a special marine environment.(Caribnet)

In accepting his Letters of Credence on behalf of the CARICOM Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary-General, Lolita Applewhaite, said that the accreditation was “important and historic” and was viewed by the Community as a “significant step” in the deepening relations with Finland.

She said that given the country’s strategic position on the world stage, the Community was hopeful it would become a partner in the Region’s endeavour to bring substantive and substantial change to the global governance system, beginning with the governance of International Financial Institutions (IFIs),.

The need for IFIs to become more responsive to the needs of the CARICOM Member States was critical, Ambassador Applewhaite stated, as most of them were “highly indebted middle-income countries” and have been among the nations “most severely affected by a financial and economic crisis not of their making.”

Those Member States, she added, had been additionally disadvantaged by their inability to access concessionary financing due to the process of graduation consequent on their classification as middle-income countries – a process which ignores their vulnerability.

“We believe that it is imperative that the global financial and economic architecture - most notably the institutions which have traditionally taken decisions that influence the international economy - be thoroughly revamped and reformed to render them more relevant, transparent and participatory,” the Deputy Secretary-General stated.

Further, in attempting to have international decision-making bodies more responsive to the needs of the Region, Ambassador Applewhaite said it “must have a voice” in the institutions which take decisions that affect its economic viability.

“At present we speak only through the voices of our friends in fora to which they have access but we do not. But in a world in pursuit of good governance, democracy and justice, this situation cannot be perpetuated. Change is necessary and we wish to partner with countries which will support our call for just that change,” she stated.

Noting that Finland was no stranger to CARICOM, Ambassador Applewhaite said that through its observer status in the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), it had developed a knowledge of and familiarity with the countries of the Community. As a member of the European Union (EU), the Deputy Secretary-General said Finland had been linked to the Region through the historical agreements that characterise EU-CARICOM relations, notably the successive Lomé Conventions, the subsequent Cotonou Agreement and since 2008, the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

Through these associations, she said that Finland had been exposed to some of the “inherent challenges of small vulnerable states with special circumstances and needs,” which she anticipated, would “no doubt” form the basis of a “meaningful and substantive relationship.”

Ambassador Applewhaite noted that in addition to Finland’s pledge - in the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York - to contribute to the CARICOM Development Fund in September 2009, the Community was looking forward to deeper cooperation in other sustainable development efforts including the redevelopment of Haiti; environmental sustainability and climate change; critical areas of renewable energy, maritime transport and port development.

With regard to Haiti, she said CARICOM was “happy to note” Finland’s contribution to the World Bank’s recent decision to cancel outstanding debt owed by Haiti as part of its effort to contribute towards the earthquake ravaged country’s recovery. (Caribnet)

Robert Antoine, 62, pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering in the scheme which took place when he was director of international affairs for Haiti Teleco from May 2001 to April 2003.

According to US prosecutors, Antoine, who lived in Miami and in Haiti, admitted that he accepted bribes from three US telecommunications companies and thereby and that to disguise the origin of these funds, laundered them through intermediary companies.

US District Judge Jose Martinez in Florida sentenced Antoine to to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term and ordered him to pay 1.85 million dollars restitution and to forfeit an additional 1.58 million dollars.

Others have pleaded guilty in the scheme including some sentenced to prison.

Antoine’s successor at Haiti Teleco, Jean Rene Duperval, and Duperval’s sister, Marguerite Grandison, were indicted along with Antoine in December, 2009. Trial for these remaining defendants is scheduled to begin July 19.

US authorities said the government of Haiti provided “substantial assistance” in gathering evidence during this investigation.

Fidel Castro. AFP PHOTO

Castro, 83 convalescing away from government since 2006, writes regular columns for Cuban media commenting on world events.

“Is it possible,” Castro wondered, for Obama to be re-elected “without the Pentagon of the state of Israel… use nuclear weapons against Iran?” Castro wrote.

Castro described Israel’s interception of aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip as “Nazi fascist fury,” and that Israeli commandos that boarded the ships fired “frenetically” into the aid workers.

“Obama can deliver hundreds of speeches trying to smoothe over contradictions that are irreconcilable with truth, dream with the magic of his well-articulated speeches, while he makes concessions” to unethical people and groups, Castro wrote.

Obama “can paint worlds of fantasy… that unscrupulous advisers, knowing his tendencies, plant in his head,” Castro wrote. (Caribnet)

“We have been granted access to Alan Gross in Cuba five times, the most recent consular access being on May 25th,” spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

“And we continue to ask that Mr Gross be released immediately, on humanitarian grounds, and be allowed to return to his family,” the US spokesman said.

Gross worked for an NGO contracted by the State Department to supply computer and communications material to civil society groups on the island, according to the United States.

Cuba insists however he is a spy who had sophisticated communications equipment for dissidents in the Americas’ only one-party Communist regime.

The US company that employed the contractor, Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), also denied the espionage charges.

Gross was arrested December 5, reportedly while distributing cell phones, laptops and other communications equipment. (Caribnet)

This by virtue of a US$10 million promotional and advertising campaign, being spearheaded by the Ministry of Tourism and Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), which gets underway on June 4 in the country’s main tourist markets of the United States, Canada and United Kingdom.

Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett, makes a point during an interview with JIS News on May 31 (JIS photo)

The campaign is intended to prevent a projected US$350 million loss in earnings by the sector, as well as allay safety concerns among travel agents, and potential visitors.

The three countries, which account for some 95 per cent of visitor arrivals to the island, all issued precautionary advisories to their citizens, both resident in and who were contemplating travelling to Jamaica, during the events in West Kingston.

Speaking with JIS News, Bartlett, while lamenting the negative publicity, contended that decisive action in dealing with the fall-out should yield positive results for the sector.

“The most important thing to know is that. the destination is, in fact, safe and that our record of being, perhaps, the safest destination for tourists, still stands. Less than one per cent of all crimes committed in Jamaica are against visitors, and that’s a huge track record to work with,” the Minister noted.

He also pointed out that Jamaica had, arguably, the best repeat business record of any destination in the region, adding that some 52 per cent of visitors to Jamaica have been to the country on at least one previous occasion. He contended that, in light of last week’s events, Jamaica’s credibility as a destination that is “always hospitable.warm, friendly.and safe” is retrievable.

“If we are able to move fast, as we anticipate and if, also, we are able to deal with the elements of insecurity, as we expect to do then, perhaps, we will be able to recover much of what we may have lost for summer. But, definitely, our winter season would be very strong,” he asserted. (Caribnet)