News
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Opposition blanks new security plan under Rohee
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Leader of the opposition grouping, a Partnership for National Unity (APNU), retired Brigadier David Granger says the opposition will not support a new security reform programme outlined by Home Affairs Minister Ckement Rohee earlier this week. “We are committed to supporting security sector reform, yes we will support any reasonable measure that will make the country…
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Region experiencing finest moments despite challenging economic problems
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The International Labour Organization (ILO) Wednesday said that new labour indicators for Latin America and the Caribbean portray a region that is experiencing its finest moment despite the crisis in other areas. “We now face the challenge of taking advantage of this platform to remedy deficits that dampen prospects for development,” said Elizabeth Tinoco,…
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Public spending reduced region’s fiscal balances
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – The region’s fiscal balances for 2012 deteriorated compared to 2011, mainly due to increased public spending. This according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean’s (Eclac) report on the region’s growth prospects for 2013. It said in Latin America, primary balances (before interest payments on the public debt) averaged a deficit of 0.3…
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Don’t ignore the Leucaena project
KINGSTON, Jamaica – A perfect example of the shortage of vision affecting CARICOM governments is their dropping of the ball on the Leucaena project in the early 1980s. Ambassador Byron Blake, former CARICOM assistant secretary general, reminded us of that last month during a sitting of the Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange. For those who missed it, the Leucaena project was…
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‘IMF pact not our salvation’; ‘Butch’ Stewart urges J’cans to look out for each other as never befor
KINGSTON, Jamaica – GORDON ‘Butch’ Stewart yesterday urged Jamaicans to hold each other’s hands and face the challenges of 2013 in an exemplary spirit of unity and teamwork. Stewart, the Caribbean’s leading hotelier, said co-ordinated teams win big games, and if Jamaicans work as a team, by “helping each other, protecting each other, and supporting each other, as never before,…
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Chavez Cancer Imperils $7 Billion Caribbean Oil Funding: Energy
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s battle with cancer threatens $7 billion of subsidized oil exports that help prop up Cuba’s economy and contain inflation in Caribbean nations from Jamaica to the Bahamas. Chavez, hospitalized in Havana after a fourth operation, sent Cuba $3.6 billion of oil in 2011 through the Petrocaribe program that serves 70 million people across Central America and…
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Haiti protests U.S., Canada travel advisories
The Haitian government is “vehemently” protesting travel advisories recently issued by the United States and Canada. The U.S. State Department last week strengthened a travel advisory on Haiti. It warned Americans planning to visit the Caribbean nation about kidnappings, robbery, lawlessness and cholera. Canada followed with a similar statement. Foreign Affairs said there is no nationwide advisory in effect for…
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Dominica seeking permission to cut ties with Privy Council
ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC –Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit says he intends writing Britain later this month seeking permission for Dominica to sever ties with the London-based Privy Council in order to join the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). “This month, January 2013 God’s willing, we shall write formally to the British government indicating to them our intention of severing ties…
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Haiti President Michel Martelly new CARICOM Chairman
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Haiti’s President Michel Martelly has started his six-month role as chairman of the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping pledging to help CARICOM unite and overcome its economic problems as well as improve the socio-economic wellbeing of the region’s population. “In my capacity as Chairman of the Community, I resolutely commit myself and my country to this…
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