Caribzone News Highlight

Compiled by Caribzone.com

Jamaica

Special guidelines for shelters and emergency operations are being developed by the Government as it prepares for the upcoming hurricane season while concurrently managing the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

This was disclosed by Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, who said the guidelines are being finalized by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and the Ministry of Health and Wellness and will be provided to all relevant entities.

Mr. Holness, who is Chair of the Council, said he has mandated that the re-inspection of shelters be accelerated by Municipal Corporations and other response actors at the local level, given the implications of the health crisis during the hurricane season.

The Prime Minister said Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie has been leading the reinspection process “and is spending quite a bit of time and effort to ensure that our shelters are up-to-date, including regular sanitization of the shelters and ensuring that they are properly equipped”.

He argued that “the stress that COVID-19 has already placed on our national disaster preparedness infrastructure and our economy” poses an added challenge that shelter managers will need to be prepared for going into the hurricane season.

The Prime Minister noted that ODPEM, which has national responsibility for disaster response must ensure that adequate relief resources are in place to respond to any eventuality and those arrangements are made to procure additional supplies.

He stressed that protecting the nation’s most vulnerable remains the priority, and the Ministry of Local Government, which has a portfolio responsibility for disaster risk management “must continue to engage and ensure that all necessary measures are taken”.

He advised that “all committees of the municipal corporations and the parish disaster committees that were already activated and engaged in the COVID-19 response need to remain on high alert for the hurricane season”, which, he noted, is likely to be above normal based on the forecasts.

The National Hurricane Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are predicting 13 to 19 named storms, of which six to 10 could become hurricanes.

The forecast includes three to six major hurricanes (of category 3 or higher). There have already been two named storms before June 1, the official start of the season.

--00—

International

Unless the world is unified in its outlook, the COVID-19 pandemic will cause unimaginable suffering across the world, Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General has warned.

He was addressing a high-level virtual meeting of world leaders, co-convened with Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Holness described the pandemic as a "wake-up call for the international community to reinvigorate a comprehensive system of global economic governance, one that can cope with global disruptions while promoting inclusive development.”

He remarked that without such strategic response amid declining economic growth and increasing uncertainty, the social and economic fallout could persist.

Holness further said that access to liquidity support for developing countries that can least withstand shocks to their respective economies are key.

Guterres stated that the pandemic has demonstrated the fragility of the globe. Guterres said that some 60 million more people could fall into extreme poverty and that there could be a loss upward of $8.5 trillion in global output, the largest decline since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

--00—

Trinidad and Tobago

Former Trinidad and Tobago prime minister Basdeo Panday turned 87 last Monday and promised guests at his birthday party that, not knowing what the government was doing with the economy, “I may have to intervene in the politics myself. I certainly cannot sit down quietly. I am ready and I am at a stage where I can handle anything.”

Speaking on his birthday on Monday, Panday, the wily elder statesman of Trinidadian politics said, “We are in a terrible position. I am not in the government and therefore, I do not have all the facts and I don’t know what they are doing and how they are going to deal with the economy. I may simply have to wait and see.

Panday who celebrated his birthday with family and close friends in an intimate setting at their home, said as the general election was due, he could not stand idly and watch the country continue along its current path.

Panday said he will be supporting his daughter, Mickela Panday and her party the Patriotic Front (PF). “I will certainly join her. I will certainly be her adviser and I hope she contests all 41 seats,” he said.

Last year, Panday celebrated his birthday with the launch of the PF and noted then that this was no coincidence. He said the PF will turn out to be the best political party in the Caribbean.

Panday, who served as prime minister from 1995 to 2001, added that the PF has a new structure of choosing candidates and it would not be that of the current system employed by political parties.

--00—

Guyana

The second million-barrel of crude from the Liza Destiny Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel was lifted on Thursday, May 21, onto oil tanker, Sonangol Namibe. Payment for the crude is expected within in the first week of June.

The country lifted its first cargo on February 19, under the entitlement regime that netted nearly $11.4Billion (US$55 M) for its approximately first 1 million barrels of oil.

This was the first of three cargoes that were sold to Shell Western Supply and Trading. The Energy Director announced that the revenue from the first sale was deposited into the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) on March 11, 2020.

Dr. Bynoe had assured that the Energy Department remains committed to guaranteeing the revenues garnered will be properly deposited noting that the department has been working with the relevant agencies to ensure this is done.

Guyana commenced oil production in December 2019 and sold its first three cargos to Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited.

In February, Guyana lifted its first one million barrels of crude in time for its 50^th anniversary as a republic.

The crude was transferred onto the oil tanker Cap Philippe, which was chartered by Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited.

Dr. Bynoe explained that the one million barrels were part of the country’s profit oil allocation and did not include the two percent royalty, which would be paid on gross productions. For 2020, Guyana is entitled to approximately five million barrels of oil plus the two percent royalty.

Guyana is nearing a court-mandated recount of votes cast in the March 2 national and regional elections, with the 2 major political parties, the incumbent APNU/AFC coalition and the opposition PPP/Civic, claiming victory of amidst widespread instances of fraud at the polls.

 Agents have also found that the wrong lists were in wrong ballot boxes. He explained that documents for all ballot boxes are placed inside those boxes and sealed at the end of every count.  However, for this “mix-up” to happen he suggested, “some hand had to have gone into those boxes after they were sealed and mixed up the lists.”

Some 800 boxes were still to be counted from the total of 2,339 at the Arthur Chung Convention Center, where the CODID 19 Task Force had earlier denied a request for additional work stations to be installed to speed up the recount process.

--00—

Suriname

Suriname's main opposition party was poised to win the country's general election, preliminary results at mid-week showed an outcome likely to end the long-time rule of President Desi Bouterse, who was convicted months earlier of ordering the murder of political opponents.

Chan Santokhi's Progressive Reform Party (VHP) was set to win 20 seats in the 51-member parliament which elects the president, ending Bouterse's majority, according to results released by the interior ministry with more than 80 percent of the votes counted.

Bouterse's National Democratic Party (NDP) was likely to win 16 seats following the May 25, polls, a collapse from its 26 seats in the outgoing parliament.

Opposition parties have previously ruled out forming a coalition with the NDP.

Counting was still in progress in the ethnically-diverse oil and gold-exporting country of 600,000, which sits on the northeastern shoulder of South America. One report said the voter turn-out was 72 percent.

The election went ahead despite the coronavirus pandemic, with authorities easing a strict curfew to allow voting to take place under social distancing guidelines.

The country has so far only had 11 confirmed cases and one death. A special polling station was set up at a Paramaribo hotel for 187 people in quarantine.

Bouterse's party has ruled the former Dutch colony for a decade, and campaigned on its record of increasing social welfare spending and healthcare, as well as a raft of infrastructure projects.

The former military strongman ruled as a dictator from 1980-87 and seized power briefly a second time in a bloodless coup in 1990. Bouterse was first elected president in 2010.

--00—

Regional

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is now declaring Latin America the new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic as cases in that region “continue to rise” by the thousands daily.

PAHO Director Dr. Carissa Etienne, addressing a virtual news briefing yesterday, said “two of the three countries with the highest number of reported cases are now in the Americas. There can be no doubt our region has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic”.

According to PAHO, as of May 25, there have been more than 2.4 million cases and over 143,000 deaths due to COVID-19 reported in the Americas, as global cases topped five million this week. It said Latin America surpassed Europe and the United States in the daily number of reported novel coronavirus infections, numbers, it suspects, is even higher than it now knows.

--00—

Sports

Suspended president of the Haitian Football Federation (FHF) Yves Jean-Bart said Wednesday that he expects to be exonerated and reinstated at the end of ongoing sexual abuse investigations that triggered FIFA to provisionally ban him from the sport.

Announcing the decision, which took immediate effect on Monday, football's world governing body said Jean-Bart, also known as “Dadou”, would not be allowed to take part in any national or international football-related activities for 90 days.

It is alleged that within the last five years, Haiti's 73-year-old football boss coerced several underage females at the country's national training center in Croix-des-Bouquets into having sex.

Jean-Bart, who is under investigation by the juvenile protection brigade of the Haitian judicial police have denied the allegations.

--00—

President of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), Keith Wellington, says that the organization is not in a position to provide funds to schools to offset losses incurred due to the cancellation of events because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The high-school sporting scene has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with several events and competitions, such as the extremely popular Boys and Girls? Athletics Championships, being canceled by the organizers.

Wellington, when asked if there would be any monetary support for schools that had already spent towards the execution of their respective programs and competitions, said that any support would have to come from elsewhere.

--00--