Month: July 2013
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T&T needs good neighbour policy
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Venezuela, now in international headlines as a likely asylum home for US espionage fugitive Edward Snowden, is also worthy of heightened attention in bilateral relations with Trinidad and Tobago. As he registered his presence in T&T during this month’s CARICOM talks, Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro followed a trail blazed by US Vice President Joe Biden…
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Toward a New Venezuela-Caribbean relationship
KINGSTON, Jamaica – SINCE 2005 when the late president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez introduced the PetroCaribe initiative, several Caribbean governments have enjoyed a vital lifeline. But the time may have come to review the scope and expectations of the PetroCaribe relationship in the interest of the beneficiary Caribbean countries and Venezuela itself. Under PetroCaribe, the beneficiary countries have been allowed…
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Transparency’s barometer: Caribbean under pressure?
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Corruption: it’s the big story in the Caribbean. Only here? In one view, it’s a universal problem; we should pay up quietly, tolerate a world of overpriced contracts, runaway crime and substandard services. In another, it’s controllable. Sweden is cleaner than Serbia. Democracy allows aware voters to keep bad stuff in check. Transparency International last…
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Clash over CARICOM – Let’s take a break!
KINGSTON, Jamaica – The following is an edited version of a speech delivered to the Lions Club of Kingston recently. Many Jamaicans are still uncertain as to the net benefits of our membership of CARICOM. The primary concern has been our trading relations with Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) within this free-trade framework. The Jamaica-T&T trade issue has been caught up…
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Caricom ballistics tracking system to help cut case backlog
The 15-nation Caribbean Community (Caricom) hopes a new ballistic information system will help track down guns used by certain gangs and reduce the backlog of criminal cases across the region. The Regional Integrated Ballistic Information Network (RIBIN) would be empowered by a Charter and Participation Agreement. the Caribbean Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) said in a statement that…
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CARICOM youth to benefit from regional after-school programme
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Young people in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will benefit from an after-school programme designed to use creative techniques to reduce at-risk behaviours, increase health-related awareness, impact educational aspirations, self-esteem and social connectedness among the youth in all CARICOM Member States. Framed through a partnership among the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) sub-regional Office…
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Address by Dr. the Right Hon. Keith Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada, to the Opening Ceremony of the Thirty-Fourth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013
Madam Prime Minister, it is a joy to be back in Port of Spain again. We are grateful for the arrangements, and continued hospitality of your government and people. I will also like to thank the Secretary General and his staff at the CARICOM Secretariat for their arrangements for this meeting. I return to this Heads of Government conference after…
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U.S. Is Pressing Latin Americans to Reject Snowden
CARACAS, Venezuela — The United States is conducting a diplomatic full-court press to try to block Edward J. Snowden, the fugitive American intelligence contractor, from finding refuge in Latin America, where three left-leaning governments that make defying Washington a hallmark of their foreign policies have publicly vowed to take him in. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. took the unusual…
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WI players weak in mind games
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – On yet another occasion, the mental brittleness of West Indian cricketers, the batsmen in particular, has been demonstrated as the major weakness in the team performing consistently at a high level. After winning (even though they tried desperately to lose their first game against India) their first two games in the tri-nation series with India…
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