01 January 2000
Former Haitian
President, Leslie Manigat, indicated that he will run for president, in the scheduled
November elections, once convinced the vote will be free and fair. Manigat was elected
president in 1988, however he was overthrown five months after taking office.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
02 January 2000
A freighter with some
300 Haitian migrants was stranded off Miami's Biscayne Bay coast yesterday after trying to
outrun a USA Coast Guard patrol. Coast Guard vessels had surrounded the boat, stuck in
shallow waters about a mile-and-half (2.5 km) off Key Biscayne, and were trying to
transfer the Haitians.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
The
London-based human rights group Caribbean Justice yesterday, urged Caribbean governments
to abolish the death penalty this year. In a statement, the group asserted, "As we
end this year and century, Caribbean Justice appeals to all Caribbean governments for an
end to judicial killing."
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
Dominica Prime Minister, Edison James, announced January 1, the general election will be
held on January 31. In an address, the Prime Minister revealed that "In accordance
with the provisions of the constitution and the relevant law, I have advised the President
of the Commonwealth of Dominica to dissolve the parliament on Monday January 3, 2000, and
to issue the relevant writs for the holding of general elections on Monday 31, January
2000."
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
The
Jamaica Public Service Co., which supplies electricity to the entire island, is operating
normally with no computer-related failures reported, the National Y2K Office specified
January 1. Cable and Wireless Jamaica is also operating normally and operations at the
National Water Commission are also okay, the National Y2K Office disclosed. In addition,
the Civil Aviation Authority reported no Y2K failures or disruptions as the island ushered
in the new millennium.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
Despite the panic buying at supermarkets and long lines for financial statements at banks,
experienced prior to December 31, authorities in Trinidad and Tobago yesterday reported a
smooth rollover to January 1, 2000 without any computer failures. The national Y2K
Compliance Secretariat disclosed that there were no adverse effects in the country's key
sectors or utilities. "The banks, health, air and sea transportation, telephone,
power, energy (sectors) all reported that their systems had rolled over without any
glitches," specified a senior official at the secretariat.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
Caribbean states experienced a relatively smooth rollover to January 1, 2000 with all
essential services working as the first hurdle associated with the Y2K, or Millennium Bug,
was passed. Electricity, telephone, water and other services continued, with no reported
malfunctioning of date-sensitive equipment. However, regional officials stopped short of
giving the all-clear, saying that a full test of how systems that support Caribbean
everyday life, from banking and payment of bills to processing of a birth certificate,
will come when the normal working day begins January 3 or 4 in the various countries.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
03 January 2000
In an
address to the nation, January 1, in Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister, Lester Bird,
specified that Tourism, the main foreign exchange earner, and the offshore sector will
continue to be the major areas of economic development. Mr. Bird indicated that "the
prospects of both industries appear very good" based on their performance last year
and the projections for 2000. "We should have no fear of our capacity to continue to
grow these two significant elements in our economy for the benefit of all," he
continued.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
The
Cayman Islands government reported that banks, utility companies and telecommunications
companies are operating smoothly well into the third day of January 2000. "The latest
financial organisations to report "normal operations" and to give positive
verification of their Year 2000 technological status are the Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of
Butterfield, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), and British Caymanian
Insurance," the Government Information Services disclosed in a weekend release.
"They join other banks, utility and telecommunications companies that have already
issued positive reports," it added.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
04 January 2000
Hundreds of people were evacuated in Venezuela, owing to a warning that more lives could
be lost in landslides from heavy rains. An estimated 30,000 people were killed and about
400,000 made homeless in December, when flash floods and mudslides struck the country's
coast. With forecasts up to a month of further rains, evacuation efforts concentrated on
poor neighbourhoods on the fringes of Caracas.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
05 January 2000
The
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) approved two new
biosphere reserves in Cuba. The President of the Cuban Biosphere Program, Maria Herrerz,
noted that the first area went to the Zapata Swamp, considered to be one of the largest
wetlands in Latin America and the Caribbean. This new biosphere reserve was also
proclaimed as a Ramsar Site -- a UN category for wetlands that are turned into a
highly-protected fauna refuge. The second biosphere reserve is near Buena Vista.
(Press Release, Cuban Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago)
07 January 2000
Amnesty International yesterday urged the Government of the Bahamas to impose an immediate
moratorium on state-killings, following the hanging of a convicted killer, January 6.
Amnesty International issued an statement declaring, "Amnesty International urges the
government of the Bahamas to uphold its obligations under international law, and to impose
and immediate moratorium on executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty
permanently."
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
09 January 2000
A
space exploration deal between a USA company and Guyana may shortly be finalised. Beal
Aerospace Technologies Incorporated and the Guyana government have been engaged in
discussions for about nine months on establishing a space rocket launch site in the Waini.
Last November, the government indicated it hoped to seal the deal for `Spaceport Guyana'
by the end of 1999.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
10 January 2000
Three
Cuban men are in custody after landing on Cayman Brac Island, apparently seeking political
asylum. Immigration officials have two of the men in custody while the third is in the
hospital suffering from dehydration.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
11 January 2000
Caribbean travel agents are set to boycott American Airlines in response to a cut in AA
commissions from nine to six percent. AA, last week, informed agents in the region of the
cut as of January 16. The Caribbean Travel Association of Travel Agents (CATA) has
responded by urging members to slap a boycott on the airline from January 14. Agents in
Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados disclosed that they will heed the call and those in
Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda meet yesterday on the issue.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
12 January 2000
St.
Lucia is the first of the four Windward Islands to receive its yearly quota EC$23.8
million (US$8.8 million) in European Union (EU) funds, allocated under the Special
Framework of Assistance (SFA) to traditional producers in the African, Caribbean and
Pacific (ACP) countries. The funds will be used for the commercialisation of the banana
industry, agriculture diversification, and for a social recovery programme for farmers
displaced as a result of the restructuring of the banana industry. Officials indicated
yesterday that St. Lucia was first to receive its allocation due to the progress it has
made under the action plan.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
The
CARICOM's Chief Trade Negotiator, Sir Shridath Ramphal, revealed, yesterday, that there ha
been significant progress made in negotiations with the European Union (EU) which would
lead to a new trade and aid pact for African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Sir
Shridath, at a news conference at the Barbados headquarters of the Regional Negotiating
Machinery (RNM), indicated that meetings between the two groups last year on a successor
to the LOME IV convention, "had brought us very close to the conclusion of the first
phase of the post-Lomé negotiations". "We are within sight of a final agreement
on what these negotiations will ultimately yield," Sir Shridath further commented.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
13 January 2000
Warning that jobs were on the line, St Lucia travel agents are falling in with their
counterparts in other Caribbean islands in boycotting American Airlines as a protest of an
AA cut in commissions. The St Lucia agents asserted, yesterday, they plan to request that
the government formulate a response to the cut and for the island to break AA's
stranglehold.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
Anguilla's Chief Minister, Hubert Hughes, yesterday asked outgoing Governor, Robert
Harris, to set a March 10 date for the next general election. The last election here was
held March 4, 1999 and was not scheduled until five years from the date.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
The USA Coast Guard
and Dominican Republic personnel are continuing an air and sea search for survivors or
bodies from a vessel, which sank on an alleged smuggling run to Puerto Rico from the
Dominican Republic. About 40 persons have been reported missing and nine bodies were
recovered.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
Regional travel agents fighting a commission reduction by American Airways are now facing
a larger fight as British Airways announced that it too was slashing commissions. Some two
weeks ago AA announced a Caribbean-wide cut in ticket sale commissions from nine to six
percent, and Air Jamaica followed suit. In light of the situation, British Airways
officials indicated "The risk of remaining at our current commission rate, while our
competitors operate at a lower cost of distribution, is simply too great."
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
20 January 2000
American Airlines will introduce non-stop flights between Boston and St Thomas in the
USVI, beginning February 18. AA last week cut its commissions to Caribbean travel agents,
and is currently facing a boycott in response by agents.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
21 January 2000
Foreign Affairs Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Ralph Maraj, will visit Guyana January
25-28, according to a Guyana Foreign Ministry release January 20. While in Guyana,
Minister Maraj will pay courtesy calls on President, Bharrat Jagdeo, and Foreign Affairs
Minister, Clement Rohee. During his visit, Maraj will also participate in the inaugural
meeting of a Guyana/Trinidad and Tobago bilateral commission.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
Britain's Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, called on soldiers serving in the Caribbean's
Regional Security System (RSS) to bond together in an effort to accomplish more for the
area, as he officially named a new Britain-funded training vessel for the Caribbean
Maritime Forces in Antigua and Barbuda.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
22 January 2000
The
grandmothers of Elian Gonzalez, the six-year-old Cuban boy at the centre of an
international custody battle, arrived in the USA yesterday on a mission to press for the
boy's return to his homeland.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
The
Venezuela government asserted, yesterday, that the cost of repairing damage caused by
December's mudslides, which killed up to 30,000 people, could total $30 billion, nearly
one-third of its gross national product. "Even if the government carries out an
austere policy ... it will have to turn to the international community for help with this
emergency," Deputy Foreign Minister Jorge Valero indicated to reporters. Private
sector business chamber Fedecamaras estimated that the cost of repairs in the worst-hit
Vargas state would be about $15 billion.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
23 January 2000
The
Montserrat Volcano Observatory will continue to monitor the growth of a new dome on the
Soufriere Hills volcano even though there was a period of relative calm over the past few
weeks. The dome, which was first sighted in mid-November 1999, now has a volume of
approximately 15 million cubic meters.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
24 January 2000
A
Guyana forestry and wood products company, Wood Associates Industries, signed an agreement
with the Government, last week, allowing it to enter joint-venture deals with European
firms to exploit some 65,000 acres of forests in Berbice. In this 25-year lease
arrangement the company will focus on production of wood products such as lawn
furnishings, park benches and decks in ready-to-assemble form.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
Jamaica authorities may delay the Seaboard Mariner until it pays the clean up operations
resulting an oil spill along Jamaica's Montego Bay coastline. The vessel, is reported to
have accidentally released the oil from its ballast onto the coast of this tourist resort
town, but did not notify authorities until some two hours later.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
25 January 2000
The
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) will sponsor a
seminar to exchange views on a range of current issues affecting the Caribbean. The event,
scheduled for February 8 and 9, will bring together regional ministers of finance,
financial secretaries, governors and senior officials of regional central banks, as well
as representatives of the private sector, the University of the West Indies, and regional
and multilateral institutions.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
A new
date will shortly be announced for the twice-postponed summit of Organisation of Eastern
Caribbean States (OECS) governments, Grenada's Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell,
indicated yesterday. Dr Mitchell, the incoming chairman of the OECS Authority, specified
that a date will be decided after next week's general election in Dominica. The summit
originally scheduled for last December was postponed because of the unavailability of two
Prime Ministers.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
26 January 2000
The Dominica Labour
Party (DLP) will run one less candidate for the January 31 elections. DLP yesterday. This
emerges as part of the strategy of co-operation between the two opposition parties -- the
DLP and the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) -- which have been consulting on how to defeat
the incumbent United Workers Party.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
27 January 2000
St Lucia Travel agents
are prepared to take action against British Airways over a decision to cut commissions in
keeping with American Airlines. President of the St Lucia Travel Agents Association,
Gerald Bergasse, attested that the agents have agreed to redirect customers to alternative
carriers.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
LIAT staff is back on
the job. Pilots, the last to threaten to strike January 25, agreed to return to work after
hearing that all staff will be paid on time for January. Various small strikes and strike
threats hit the cash-strapped airline in the past few weeks after management announced a
deferral of January pay, leaving passengers uncertain of flights and sometimes stranded.
The Airline indicated, however, yesterday that all flights were back to normal.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
28 January 2000
Trinidad and Tobago's
Foreign Minister, Ralph Maraj, wants strengthening of bilateral relations not only between
member countries of CARICOM but also with countries of other hemispheric trading blocs.
Maraj and his Guyanese counterpart, Clement Rohee, signed the Final Act of the
Guyana/Trinidad and Tobago High Level Bilateral Commission, paving the way for technical
co-operation and joint ventures in various industries, between the nations.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
30 January 2000
At the launch of the
Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange (ECSE) Logo January 28, the Eastern Caribbean
Central Bank (ECCB), indicated that it is one step closer to meeting the target date for
the launching of the ECSE. "The fusion of all of these elements is indicative of the
economic expansion anticipated with the establishment of the Eastern Caribbean Securities
Exchange," the ECCB communicated.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
31 January 2000
Venezuela's
Constitutional Assembly announced yesterday that presidential elections in the
flood-stricken country would be held on May 28. President Hugo Chavez is expected to be
the immediate front-runner.
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
Dominicans vote today
in the country's general election. The race is seen as a straight fight between the
incumbent United Workers Party (UWP) of Prime Minister Edison James, the main opposition
Dominica Labour Party (DLP) and the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP).
(Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Web Site)
