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August 8, 2009
Barbados Government Continues Cover-up In Archcot Building Collapse Deaths – Five Killed and No Inquest!
This article was first published on August 8, 2009. Every once in a while we bring important articles to the top of the blog again because, unlike the Barbados news media, we at BFP don’t keep silent about wrongdoing to keep those guvm’nt advertising dollars rolling in. We’ll leave the article here for a day or two to once again remind folks that when a whole family of ordinary nobodies dies because of criminal acts – it counts for nothing if some of the protected elites are involved.
JUSTICE NOW!
Home Affairs Minister Freundel Stuart continues cover-up of Codrington family deaths
“Government will be demolishing three properties at Archcot Terrace Britton’s Hill St Michael, as it moves to get the area to return to normalcy. This is in the wake of the collapse of apartment buildings there in August 2007.
Home Affairs Minister, Freundel Stuart says five properties will be acquired by government including those to be demolished and two that housed the collapsed apartment buildings.
His remarks came Friday morning in a ministerial statement to Parliament on the matter, noting that Cabinet met early last month and has agreed on the way forward for the area…”
…from a CBC News article that never once mentions the fact that five people died: CBC.bb – Archcot study
CBC article “disappears” five deaths – Codrington family not mentioned by CBC!
A sleeping family of five died in August of 2007 because somebody built a house over a known cave at Archcot Terrace Britton’s Hill St Michael, Barbados. The land had a prohibition on title to prevent just such an occurrence, but somebody removed that prohibition on the title. Somebody built a house on top of the cave for profit and never lived in the house themselves. Somebody owned the company that built the house. Somebody issued a building permit or maybe somebody built without a permit.
Then when cracks appeared in later years – probably aggravated by nearby construction – somebody issued a stop-work order. Then, four days later somebody removed that stop-work order and the construction continued. Somebody or many somebodies killed the Codrington family just as surely as if they had put a gun to the heads of the sleeping children and pulled the trigger.
Government & News Media Refuse to Name the Names
Many of the “somebody” people involved in one way or another with the deaths of five members of the Codrington are prominent people in Barbados politics and business – at least according to rumours and the little bit that has appeared in the media. Keep reading →
February 9, 2010
Unfair cartoon? The Truth? A little of both?
February 9, 2010
Barbados Government Official issues $400,000 in contracts to own company – but it’s legal thanks to Prime Minister Thompson
Smart Money predicts “No Charges” against Barbados Government Official
The Nation’s gossip writer at “Flying Fish & Cou Cou” is all excited and reports that a Barbados Government official has been caught out issuing government contracts to his own company without tender. The Nation writer is predicting that the government official will end up in court and wonders why a suspension hasn’t already been issued.
Let me say this about that…
1/ Barbados has a long tradition of elected and appointed Government officials issuing government contracts without tender to companies they have an interest in. Whether the company is actually in the name of the official or “owned and run” by their spouse or lover doesn’t matter. It’s all the same.
2/ This corrupt practice was SOP – standard operating procedure under the Owen Arthur / Mia Mottley BLP government.
3/ When in government the BLP had enough sense to toss a few “no tender” contracts to businesses run by DLP members. Now the DLP government can’t prosecute any BLP members because the DLP took part in ripping off the public too.
4/ During the 2007 election campaign, Thompson and the DLP promised to introduce conflict of interest standards that would prohibit elected and appointed Government Officials from issuing government contracts to companies they owned themselves. Thompson promised in writing to implement this Ministerial Code standard “immediately” upon forming a government. This was not the promised ITAL integrity legislation – this was a Ministerial Code to simply be declared as policy on day one as Thompson promised.
5/ Thompson lied about introducing a Ministerial Code and did not do so. Barbados has no policy or integrity legislation that prevents Government officials from issuing government contracts to themselves. As a result the Thompson government is unable to prosecute the government official involved in the current Flying Fish & Cou Cou story.
6/ The Barbados news media will probably not print the name of the government official involved in the current scandal because the official did nothing wrong in law and they fear being sued. (Consider our past article Cowardly pee-in-pants Barbados Nation Newspaper hides name of corrupt Government Minister)
Welcome to Barbados, folks! When we elected Thompson and the DLP two years ago we thought the corruption would be cleaned up. We thought that Thompson was different and he would implement the promised integrity standards that no Barbados politicians have ever wanted to implement.
What suckers we were.
Here is the Nation article in full because the Barbados news media (including the Nation) have long shown that they will remove past articles to change history anytime it suits them…
FLYING FISH & COU COU: Caught in the act
Published on: 2/6/2010.
A PROBE into a certain department has unearthed such damning evidence that a well-known civil worker could find himself standing before a magistrate, or judge.
Cou Cou has received confirmation that the individual, who has certain responsibilities, out-sourced certain contractual works without going through any tendering process.
The varied tasks amounted to almost $400 000. But that is not the greatest howler.
Word is that the official outsourced the works to himself. Yes, to himself!
He apparently formed a company and gave himself the work, ignoring every financial rule of Government.
But the questions which need to be answered are: Why is he not on suspension?
And when will he appear on the court pages?
February 8, 2010
Barbados refuses request to look after injured Haitians. “Even one is too many for our health care system” says Bajan Foreign Minister.
It didn’t take long to cut through the Bajan veneer of sincerity about Haiti, did it?
Barbados will not take in a single injured patient from Haiti. Not twenty. Not ten. Not five. Not two. Not even one.
Our sovereign nation was formally asked by the USA to take some patients from the hospital ship, the USS Comfort, because the ship is full and people are being turned away to die. We were asked to take critical care patients, but if we couldn’t manage that we were also asked to take amputees in stable condition to free up space and medical resources in Haiti.
Barbados said “No”
You might not like to hear that simple truth. I don’t.
Barbados’ refusal to take Haitian amputees is a Political Decision to refuse Haitian refugees. It’s not about our medical capabilities.
Before you get all defensive about what Barbados is doing and the limited medical resources we have for our own population, I want you to read to the end of this article so you will understand that our government’s refusal to take any injured Haitians at all is a political decision about immigration and not about our lack of medical resources.
By the end of this article you will also know that our refusal to take stable amputees will directly result in more deaths in Haiti.
That is not speculation on our part – it is based upon direct reports from our friends at the Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center where nurse Licia Betor and the other angels working with her are taking in dying patients from the USS Comfort hospital ship.
The medical staff at the USS Comfort and the other field surgeries are operating in disaster medical conditions. They are triaging patients who could be saved under ordinary conditions because there is no large scale airlift to remove patients from Haiti. The medical personnel are having to choose to save who they can save and that means that critically-injured patients are being sent back to Nurse Licia to die.
Some of the Haitian patients are taking weeks to die.
They could be saved if there was room and resources on the USS Comfort. If Barbados took ten patients from the USS Comfort, there would be ten more surgical beds available. That’s why we were asked.
Barbados said “No”
Our government will no doubt point to the Bajan money pledged for Haiti and our part in the medical clinic that Caricom has promised to deliver sometime in the future.
That doesn’t change the truth that Barbados was asked to receive and treat injured Haitians - to free up resources in Haiti so more lives could be saved immediately, and that Barbados said “No”.
The Barbados Media Spin
Our Bajan news media is full of stories of hope for Haiti; how Bajans and their businesses are raising money. How Barbados has pledged long term support for Haiti. How a few container loads of used clothing and personal care items were packed and sent. All that is true.
But then comes the big lie in the Barbados media: Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxine McClean states that Barbados was asked to take only the most critically injured, and that we don’t have the capability. (Stabroek News: Barbados turns down request to take injured Haitians)
The truth is that Barbados was asked to take in two types of patients: those needing critical care, and amputees who are stable but need longer term treatment. “Do whatever you can” was the overall request.
Barbados said “No” and people will die because of our refusal.
On January 29th our friends at the Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center reported that the US Navy hospital ship was filling up and that critical care patients were being sent back to their poor little clinic to die because there was nothing to be done and no other resources available.
If Barbados had taken ten patients from the ship, there would have been ten more beds available and some of those people might have lived.
Here is a photo of a dying girl who couldn't get a spot on the hospital ship. Click on the photo to read about her at the Rescue Center blog.
People who could be saved are taking weeks to die in Haiti
When Hell on Earth came to Haiti back on January 12th there were tens of thousands of people unlucky enough to be not killed outright. They are still dying by the hundreds every day with torn limbs and smashed bodies. Many are in excruciating pain and what’s left of their friends and families are praying for them to die soon because the morphine is gone and they’ve been in agony for almost four weeks.
That’s not hyperbole – that’s the story from our friends on the ground at the Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center.
The world’s news agencies feasted on the Haitian earthquake for a week or two and have now largely moved on to fresher stories.
I have the impression – perhaps wrongly I hope – that many organisations around the world loaded up an airplane or a container as an immediate response, but that’s where their active response will end. There will be no second wave of airplanes or containers from these organisations and indeed we see the reports of food shortages starting to surface again in the news.
The USA launched a massive response and was soundly criticized for being a “bully” by other countries and organisations that sent an airplane or two each, but if almost a month after the earthquake the US Naval doctors are still lacking space and resources and evacuations of critically ill patients then I guess the “ramp up” from the USA has slowed too.
CARICOM? Well, some of our leaders had a meeting during the first week of the disaster and were very pissed when their observation team was turned away from Haiti’s only airport. Barbados pledged some money and loaded some containers – or so the news media says. We’re “planning” helping out with a long term medical clinic on Haiti. I guess. Or so the news media and government say.
I don’t know how many Bajan medical personnel and equipment are on Haiti right now. I don’t know how many containers we’ve delivered or promised for the future, but I do know that we were asked to take in some injured Haitians and their close families. We were asked to save lives. To relieve some of the burden of those doing what they can with what they have.
Barbados said “No”
The above article was submitted by BFP reader West Side Davie, with additions and editing by Cliverton
Here is a report from the Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center blog. You can read the full report by clicking on any of the photos in our post… Keep reading →
February 7, 2010
Rihanna Who? Has Barbados let the girl down?
Is it us? Is it Rihanna? What is happening to our relationship?
OWN WON NOW (Three letters juxtaposed differently giving characteristically dissimilar meanings.)
by Khaidji
We have heard all the talk of promoting local talent, buying Bajan and all the promises by politicians to support indigenous talent, even celebrating the accomplishments of our own Loyal Sons and Daughters, with ambassadorships.
I watched the parades of joy on Bajan faces as our young daughter won her first Grammy Award then I saw how we turned our face to her second accomplishment, not even a notice in the media that she had been nominated for a Grammy this year. Then, it took a caller on one of the radio stations I’m often “Turned On” to, to announce and shout out her achievement, bringing it to the apparent attention of the radio host for the first time. It was followed by a deafening silence, and then the host continued without any endorsement.
Later that same day, there was finally some acknowledgement on television. I had previously checked the validity of the radio caller and found him to be right. In fact, on YouTube I saw that there was the entire run up to her Award, the nominees and she was amongst the eventual awardees. I saw her acceptance speech too. But, we were never told that she won two Grammy in this the 52nd award to now give her a total of 3 awards.
“Run this Town” received two Grammy awards, one for Best Rap Song and one for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration’, both of which now adds to here collection. I was very moved by her accomplishment and by the very professional way she appears on stage and on interviews. But our local television was unimpressive in their portrayal of this remarkable achievement. Here, this gracious daughter of the soil, who rose from a year of the darkest of publicity, with a blinding spotlight in her face, managed to get herself together, to practice and collaborate in the song “Run This Town” that was nominated and finally given the Grammy Award for Best Rap Song and also another Grammy for “Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. But what had our television presenter to say? If only I could quote the script, I was too stricken then to remember the exact words now, however, Rihanna was announced to have received another Grammy “but”, yes, he said a big screaming “but” and went on to tell us about Beyonce and her six and even featured her!
What ever happened to promoting our own? Why is it that Barbados still can’t get a television team or even a camera person at the Awards to return with proper footage of these historic moments? Why are we so brutal at preserving our own people? We bellow the importance of supporting local talent, but are we restricting talent to the portrayal of our heritage? My
“Views on the News” is not unique, it is the spirit and voices of many compiled to immortalized the things that we may forget to pass on to the younger generation. I offer opinions in Acrostic Poetry to draw attention to the things that are of concern to all of us. And today, I stray from my so quiet art form to speak more blaringly about this social injustice that is perpetrated by those in society who ought to know and do better, our leaders.
It has become apparent that we are closing our eyes to Rihanna because of the negativity that followed in the wake of the very stardom that earned her our initial respect and the many gifts we bestowed on her. We already knew the dangers of fame; we already knew that few ever emerge unscathed from all its glamour life. It should be our focus to publish as many positive things that we can find about her and that we continue to be supportive, not with the accolades of physical gifts like a piece of the rock, Jewelry and a motor vehicle, any of which she can easily afford to purchase. Not with the name of ambassador and then leaving her to fend for herself in the ocean of sharks and the airs of vultures that await her either. No, we must be supportive in the recognition of our own, in identifying with her and making her home a place she will always love to come back to. We don’t hold on to our sons and daughter of the soil by attaching virtual chains to their legs and thereby stiffening their will but rather we must condition their spirits and minds to know that there is no greater love than family, the island is her family and I feel even closer to my celebrity sibling because we share the same Alma Mater, Combermere School, a place I hold dearly, which I immortalized many of its characters in my book.
At her first Grammy we heard “Barbados, I love you, we got one!” I never heard Barbados in my brief listening of the YouTube clip on the second Grammy. There was no Barbados, we got three anywhere. Is this a telltale sign that we have managed to alienate ourselves from this young lady who is out there shooting down her Goliaths. Are we now too far away to be seen because our OWN WON NOW and is “A Robyn Flying High!”
Barbados, this is three, or is it? Has our OWN Rihanna WON three Grammy awards NOW?
Check out more about Rihanna at Khaidji’s usual lime: BajanPoetry.com
February 6, 2010
Caribbean-flagged merchant ship rescued from pirates off Somalia. Time for Q-Ships!
Danish warship Absalon saved the day
Pirates boarded, fired machine guns – Danish Naval Team stormed vessel & freed crew
* Some reports state ship is “Barbados-flagged”, some say “Antigua & Barbuda-flagged”
The crew of the Caribbean-flagged merchant vessel Ariella is back in control after a pirate attack off the coast of Somalia on Friday. The crew radioed for assistance and then took refuge in a “safe compartment” as the pirates attacked and boarded the ship.
Details are still coming in, but it appears that some of the pirates are unaccounted for. They may have gone over the side and ended up feeding the sharks.
No sympathy here. None at all.
Not to mention that the political rules of the game dictate that when pirates are captured by the patrolling navies they are often turned over to Somalian “authorities” for “trial”.
As if some government is actually running Somalia with authority and rule of law.
What should be done with pirates who fire weapons at merchant vessels in international waters?
In my opinion, the vessel under attack and patrolling warships should initiate an immediate, massive and overwhelming armed response that would see little need for post-action search and rescue of surviving pirates.
A couple of months of an 80% loss rate on the part of the pirates should take care of the situation.
Q-Ships – They worked before!
Back in World Wars I and II, the Allied merchant fleet came under attack by German and Japanese submarines, the Americans and the Brits took ragged-looking cargo vessels and loaded them up with concealed heavy guns. These were called “Q-ships” and were a classic wolf in sheep’s clothing ploy. When an enemy submarine surfaced and closed the range to fire on the lone “victim”, part of the Q-ship crew would make a great show of preparing to abandon ship – putting on life-jackets, lowering lifeboats and even rowing away.
As the submarine came within range with its guard down, panels in the sides of the Q-ship would open up and the concealed guns would blast away with overwhelming firepower. The tactic was successful in both wars not only in sinking enemy submarines but also forcing the enemy to give up surface attacks.
Today a few Q-ships working in conjunction with the Naval forces patrolling the African coast should make the remaining pirates think about a new line of work… but not if the world’s politicians continue to pussyfoot instead of taking the necessary action.
February 5, 2010
Dementia: New revelations are old hat to Colin L. Beadon
Dementia, and very old Hat.
by Colin L. Beadon
When you’ve lived a little too many years, you hear things that keep cropping up again, and again, as though they had been newly discovered.
And so some bright sparks in England have now, re-discovered that Dementia can be curtailed by keeping really fit, eating and drinking the right things, praying to the right Gods, staying slim enough, and not beating your old grandmother or grandfather, or your dogs, or your wife, so that you don’t unduly raise your blood pressure. ( We put in that last one, the wife part, as a means of self preservation ).
Anyhow, over fifty years ago, when we were a young seaman, we read copious books on the benefits of learning all there was to know about the various virtues and dimensions of Yoga.
Hatha Yoga, deals with the Body and the science of Breath. Ghani Yoga, deals with the Mind and the Overself, and Raja Yoga deals with what knowledge can be gleaned of Uncommon Wisdom, and what can be known of the Absolute Principle, which is the best term for God we know. Hatha Yoga explained, perfectly, what you needed to do to retain the balance of your body. Ghani Yoga explained, perfectly, what you needed to do with preserving the balance of your mind. Raja Yoga takes a lot more explaining, so further explanation will be short-circuited, due to the inability of this writer to find words adequate to express anything worthwhile or worthy, in dealing with the Inexpressible.
To cut a long story, all that has been recently said on the BBC concerning Dementia, has been copiously and adequately covered by those writers who had discovered the teaching of Yoga from writings going back more than two thousand years.
So now you can understand our fret at the repetition, and our vexation at those who tout ‘New Discovery’, when what they have discovered is actually just re-discovered, and really nothing more than re-disclosure of truly pertinent yet 2000-year Old Hat.
The problem is that people just don’t read much these days.
February 4, 2010
Eleven years for Dangerous Driving Death charge to come to trial in Barbados
ZR Death Driver had 197 prior driving convictions!
Sometimes you read the papers and you just don’t know what to think. Laugh at the absurdity of our so-called justice system? Cry for our people who are so inured to low performance by the public sector that they can’t recognise what standards are acceptable? Become angry that our leadership spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a bloody cricket oval but can’t be bothered to protect citizens from chronic dangerous or drunk drivers?
Today’s unbelievable-except-this-is-Barbados-where-such-things-are-normal story concerns ZR route taxi driver Cyril O’Bryan Archer who drove his vehicle so dangerously fast on February 8, 1999 that he killed Errol Thornhill. Archer’s trial for causing death by dangerous driving was held yesterday and he plead guilty to a lesser charge of dangerous driving.
That’s right folks – it took eleven years for a traffic death charge to make it to a trial.
Meanwhile the accused Archer racked up almost two hundred traffic convictions and up until yesterday was still driving on our roads and endangering our friends and loved ones.
Oh well – what do you expect? This is Barbados and we should feel lucky the driver was ever charged to begin with and that it only took eleven years to come to trial. I mean, the last few times we reported on justice delays it was 18 years of condo hell, and child-rape charges dropped after 10 years, and more child-sex charges took 7 years to come to trial, and a foreign resident who purchased land in Barbados can’t get title or deed for 34 years, and…
… and I’m getting tired of listing all the stories again, so I’ll just send you to a BFP story from last August where we listed a dozen or so examples of justice delayed in Barbados…
So… almost two hundred driving offenses convictions and eleven years to come to trial – and the Nation News and The Barbados Advocate report it like “what can you do?” and such performance from the courts and the police is normal in Barbados.
Because… it is.
Here’s the piece from the Nation News. You really should read it at their website – but you know it’s going to disappear so we’ll print it here too. Keep reading →
February 1, 2010
Community Video Makers to be trained at Future Centre workshop. Could this be something new for you?
Barbados Grassroots Community projects to be funded through Video Workshop
Twelve persons from local communities throughout Barbados will be given the opportunity to participate in an educational workshop focused on amateur video production and project planning to be held in February 2010. The aim of the project is to teach new skills to assist communities in the application of various funding opportunities with a focus on the Global Environmental Facility’s Small Grant’s Programme (GEF SGP) implemented locally in Barbados and the OECS by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Thanks to consultative work carried out by the UNDP under the auspice of the GEF SGP, it is recognised that communities need to be given alternatives in the process of applying for international funds, specifically under this programme which has a focus of environmentally related projects. Project Coordinator, Ms Nicole Garofano, and Administrator with the Future Centre Trust highlights “funding application procedures can act as a hindrance to the protection and conservation of our environments. It is for this reason that there is a clear need to modify funding application procedures in order to increase accessibility of funds to a larger range of groups”. The Future Centre Trust (FCT) has received funds from the GEF SGP to provide this workshop to further expand the SGP’s ability to assist local communities. Keep reading →
January 31, 2010
Does Environment Minister Lowe Pee in the Shower? He should… and so should you!
Leadership by Example!
The Caribbean Drought and Precipitation Monitoring Network (CDPMN) says that Barbados will be hit by a severe drought for the next three months. Newspaper editorials and the government are urging Bajans not to waste water, and further to do everything they can to reduce the amount they normally use. (Nation News editorial: Wasting of water has to stop.)
There is one thing that all of us can do right now that saves thousands of gallons of water a year in each home where this water saving technique is used.
We can pee in the shower every morning instead of using a gallon of water to flush a tiny bit of urine down the toilet.
How much water can be saved? Lots and Lots!
Walk to your front door right now, stick your head out and take a look at all the homes around yours. Let’s see – there’s three people in that home, two in that one, four in that one – and each morning most every person flushes the toilet and then heads for the shower. Add it up just on your street: number of people X 1 gallon of water X 365 days. Now think of the entire country and say that only 10% of the homes were “pee in the shower” members. That’s still a huge amount of water saved.
Brazil did the numbers and realized just how effective this simple technique could be. Here’s the television advertisement they ran to convince their people to pee in the shower…
Here are a few articles about how important this initiative can be to saving water:
Bohemian Revolution: Pee in the shower to save water.
The Guardian: Peeing in the shower – The Rules
Huffington Post: Brazil wants its residents to pee in the shower
How About Some Leadership from the Thompson Government?
The stakes are high, the drought is coming and this one simple step has the potential to save millions of gallons a year in Barbados.
Yup, peeing in the shower sounds icky and it probably offends the Victorian sensibilities of some politicians in the DLP government – but it is a simple step that could be very effective nationally if folks were convinced of the need.
Will Environment Minister Denis Lowe now come out publicly with a statement that he pees in the shower? Will he encourage everyone to do the same?
Over to you, Minister Lowe!
Further Reading at BFP
April 9, 2006: Can Barbados Pee It’s Way To More Water?
January 30, 2010
Takin’ it So Slow on a Saturday night in Bridgetown
Cliverton is Surfin’ the web on a lonely Saturday night
Woe is me! Alone on a Saturday night with no plans to party and a dead phone.
That’s no problem because I have the internet and I’m not feeling 100% anyway. Sniffles, feel something coming on. If it turns into a bad time I hope I’m able to go to work by Tuesday because it’s going to be a special day. 
I’ll share a few things I’ve come across lately. I love the spontaneity and unpredictable pathways of the internet, don’t you? One moment you’re reading the news headlines at Drudge or BBC and you see something in the sidebar. Three clicks later you’re watching a YouTube video posted by some Filipino kids out of San Diego, California and they are so fine and real and talented that you go through about five of their videos and hope they make it big someday.
Then a click or two later and you’re reading about how if everyone peed while showering in the morning it could cut a town’s water consumption by 20%. Someone did a study on that.
Here are a few of my recent surfing stops on the ‘net. Have a look and if you feel like posting a few of your own, well, that’s what the comments are for.
Enjoy!
Stop #1: Zandi & Justin – Two Filipino kids out of California recording songs in mom’s kitchen etc.
Zandi De Jesus, Justin Crisostomo and sometimes guitarist Mu Hua are ZSOS Music. Everybody has multiple gigs going and you can do some searches to find each of them on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and the rest of the standard places.
Have a listen to this for raw talent and beautiful guitar and voice. I musta played it a dozen times…
Stop #2: Essex County Cricket Club touring Barbados in March
Chief Executive David East said: “Having seen the excellent facilities in Barbados, we’re delighted to be going to the Caribbean this year.” He added: “The club pre-season tour is becoming an increasingly important part of our preparation for the new domestic season.”
Essex fly out to Barbados on 12 March and will return on 25 March, in time for a two-day friendly against Worcestershire in Chelmsford six days later.
BBC has the full story Essex County Cricket Club Barbados tour
Clive’s editorial comment: “Excellent facilities”… well I guess so! We paid over 200 million dollars for a little fix up for the Oval. Good to see the lights work now. Thanks Mia!
Stop #3: Barbados Sea Turtle Project needs volunteers!
Hey all you students in North America and the UK (or anywhere if you speak English), here’s your chance to spend some time in Barbados working as a field volunteer with other like-minded people trying to preserve and document the Caribbean sea turtle population. The job pays only a stipend but shared accommodations with cooking facilities are provided. You’ll have to tap out mum and dad for the airline ticket to Bim, but you’ll find some pretty low airfares for the summer season.
Best of all you’ll be doing something really worthwhile. Here’s an excerpt from the job information sheet…
The Barbados Sea Turtle Project is based at the University of the West Indies (Cave Hill Campus). For the last 20 years, we have been involved in conservation of the critically endangered marine turtle species that forage around and nest on Barbados, through monitoring and conservation of nesting females and hatchlings, research, education and public outreach. Barbados is currently home to the second-largest hawksbill turtle nesting population in the Wider Caribbean, with up to 500 females nesting per year. Turtle nesting occurs on most of the beaches around the island, many of which are heavily developed with tourism infrastructure. The Barbados Sea Turtle Project monitors an index nesting beach nightly and operates two mobile patrol groups that monitor up to 15 other nesting beaches per night. The mobile groups also respond to public reports of turtle activity made through the 24-hour Sea Turtle Hotline. Professor Julia Horrocks, the director of the Barbados Sea Turtle Project, is the Country Coordinator for the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST) in Barbados, and coordinator of the regional WIDECAST Marine Turtle Tagging Centre.
Duties:
Night Patrol:
You will be required to patrol beaches along the south and west coasts of Barbados from 7:30 pm to 4:00 am, six nights per week (i.e. one night off) for the duration of your time as a volunteer. During beach patrols, you will be required to record nesting/hatching events, tag nesting females, and to collect morphometric data and environmental data with a high degree of accuracy and reliability. You may also be required to rescue disoriented hatchlings and adult turtles, undertake relocations of nests laid in unsuitable locations and educate the public and tourists about marine turtles. Sea turtles often nest in front of hotels, and therefore are highly visible to the public. Ensuring the safety of the nesting female, collecting data, and answering questions are all aspects of a BSTP patrol.
Yes, the volunteers patrol in the daytime too and always in groups for safety and fun.
Further information and applications can be had at the Barbados Sea Turtle Project website and the job posting at the StopDodo environmental job website: Field volunteers required for nesting beach monitoring programme for hawksbill turtles.
January 30, 2010
You’ll come a Washing Matilda at the Barbados Future Centre
Washing your car? Here’s an Interesting Fact on Water Use
Nicole decided to count the number of buckets used to wash Matilda (that’s her photo above – ah, Matilda not Nicole) and counted the number of buckets of collected Rainwater used. It came to 9.5 5 gallon buckets. (She was well washed!) Thats 177 litres to wash one car if potable water was used. Think about that one a country wide level!
… from the website of Counterpart Caribbean at the Future Centre
What’s Happening at the Future Centre in February?
A little birdie told us that the Future Centre is running a workshop next month with funding from the Global Environment Facility – Small Grants Programme implemented locally by the United Nations Development Programme. We’d love to know more about the workshop, so if someone from the Future Centre could send us the information or a press release we’d be happy to run a story. (barbadosfreepress (AT) yahoo.com)
January 29, 2010
Barbados Corporation implicated in US$200 million Ponzi scheme. How will our government deal with David Krywenky?
Kingz Capital Management Corp. Barbados – Hundreds of Millions vanish
According to the Star Tribune of Minneapolis USA, Kingz Capital Management Corp. is a registered commodities trading adviser and commodities pool operator in Barbados. A simple Google search reveals numerous articles talking about Kingz involvement in several “gone wrong” investment schemes that took in hundreds of millions of dollars – that apparently vanished.
At Barbados Free Press our questions are: 1/ What is Barbados going to do about it? 2/ What laws does Barbados have at its disposal to prevent or to deal after the fact with occurrences like this?
Here are a few stories of the many online…
Trevor Cook’s ally won’t be trading for 3 years
By Dan Browning, Star Tribune, Minneapolis
Jan. 28–A Canadian-based commodities trader affiliated with embattled Minneapolis money manager Trevor Cook has agreed to give up his trading rights for three years in response to a complaint that accused him of letting Cook — who is not a registered trader — take control of an offshore currency investment pool.
The trader, David Krywenky of Toronto, has run Kingz Capital Management Corp., a registered commodities trading adviser and commodities pool operator in Barbados, for two years. The National Futures Association (NFA), a self-regulatory body that oversees the futures markets, filed a complaint against Krywenky and Kingz Capital in September accusing them of failing to uphold ethical standards, cheating customers, and failure to supervise business activities properly…
… continue reading the full story at American Chronicle’s article Trevor Cook’s ally won’t be trading for 3 years
Click image for Patrick Pretty's take on this story
$300 million Oxford trail leads into Canada
By DAN BROWNING, Star Tribune
November 4, 2009
Investors looking to recover their money from a suspect currency investment program have a new, $300 million trail to follow into Canada.
Regulators are quietly pursuing a complaint against a Toronto commodities firm and one of its executives, alleging they helped Minneapolis money manager Trevor Cook facilitate the currency trading program.
The $300 million that passed through the Toronto firm — KINGZ Capital Management Corp. — is the largest chunk of money found so far in the still-unfolding case, which drew investors from across the United States and several other countries. They have been unable to withdraw their money from what many were told was a Swiss-based currency trader since at least early July.
continue reading this story at the Star Tribune.com article $300 million Oxford trail leads into Canada
Further Reading
Thanks to BFP readers A & R for tipping us to the story!
January 28, 2010
Needham Point = Opportunity!
Adrian Loveridge, small hotel owner, tourism visionary
Tourism Potential
While I fully understand all the fiscal restraints Government currently has and the historical and possibly political desire to complete the recently re-named Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Conference Centre, I would like to propose a second option.
There is no doubt that Trinidad and Tobago stole a march on the Southern Caribbean by constructing a new conference facility and an adjacent first class hotel.
It’s no secret that most people attending conferences, for all sorts of reasons, want to stay close to where the event is taking place. The very last thing is they wish to endure is to spend indeterminate amounts of time fighting with rush hour traffic to reach where the function is taking place.
For whatever reason, ‘we’ missed a golden opportunity with the construction of the Hilton. 354 rooms, but not one large enough space to host major exhibitors and trade or consumer shows.
In hindsight it would have been so easy to have incorporated a single meeting area on one level of at least 10,000 square feet. Whether it was rooftop, basement or even formed part of the car park!
It’s not too late!
Needham Point still offers one of the most desirable locations for further development and if we seriously want to maintain and attract further airlift year round, this is our chance, even during a recession.
The former refinery land could be used and the barracks together with other buildings currently used by the Royal Barbados Defence Force be tastefully incorporated while protecting their architectural heritage.
Even the derelict pier could be transformed to provide a spectacular waters edge restaurant.
Much discussion has taken place over the years about the proposed Pierhead development, and I am still in full support of this project to help revitalise historic Bridgetown. Not only would it to attractive to long stay visitors but also within easy walking distance of the quoted 700,000 cruise ship passengers entering the port each year.
I believe that the development of Needham Point into a major conference and event centre would provide the catalyst to ensure that Pierhead becomes a viable project. Restaurants, shops and other facilities generating valuable foreign currency!
The chairman of one of our major construction and development companies recently stated that it was time to put back.
Could his company together with others in partnership with Government make a world class conference facility a reality?
Very few of the above are new ideas. Many have been voiced before. But now is perhaps the time to turn the concept into reinforcing the viability of our entire tourism industry.
Adrian Loveridge
28th January 2010
January 28, 2010
C.L. Financial Bailout – Turmoil, Instability and Unanswered Questions
CL Financial bailout – The Governor speaks
by Afra Raymond
My last column on this important matter was published on 31st December, almost a month ago, with several major developments since then. The main development in my view is that we had some truly remarkable statements from the Governor of the Central Bank.
The messages on the CL Financial group are now so confused that the most charitable phrase possible, is that the public is getting ‘mixed messages’.
The Top-level resignations – The group CEO, Steve Bideshi – a former senior manager at Citigroup – was reported on 12th January to have tendered his resignation, effective 31st January. (See – Bideshi quits CL after 6 months or Trinidad Express article here)
We are told that his reason for resigning is the breakdown of negotiations for his compensation package. Our governments have a serious track-record of agreeing and then secreting the terms of compensation for its high-fliers. Just think of Caribbean Airlines, PetroTrin and UdeCOTT. It is unbelievable that government was unable to agree terms with this one CEO. Arguably, Mr. Bideshi was heading the largest and most complex group within the State’s control.
On 19th January, we were told that Michael Carballo, the group Finance Director, was resigning, also effective 31st January. (See – Guardian’s Another executive leaves CL Financial or Trinidad Express article here)
Carballo had the unique position of being the only senior executive to survive the crisis at the group and keep his position. We were not given any reason for his departure, but we were told that Carballo is to continue acting as a Director on CL Financial’s Board.
Bideshi and Carballo were the two top executives at CL Financial. What is going on?
To date there has been no proper explanation as to the causes of these major resignations or clear statement on the way forward. To have both the group CEO and Finance Director resign within a week of each other, effective within less than a month, speaks of turmoil and jostling. That kind of thing would not happen if the situation was stable. The purpose of this bailout was said to be the avoidance of systemic risk and the maintenance of confidence in our financial system. The official silence on this startling development only adds to the impression of ‘more in the mortar than just the pestle’.
… continue reading the full article at Afra Raymond’s blog article CL Financial Bailout – The Governor Speaks
January 27, 2010
Newsday Disaster: The future of Barbados internet news?
Newsday, the 10th ranking newspaper in the USA in terms of circulation, spent US$4 million revamping its website last October before going to a pay format of $5 a week for full access. (Newsday.com)
So after three months, how many paid subscribers does Newsday’s website enjoy?
35
That’s right: “Thirty-five” – as in about a bus-load of people heading into the city – producing gross revenues of US$175 per week on an investment of US$4 million. (New York Observer – After 3 months only 35 subscriptions for Newsday’s website)
I’m not sure what that means when the kind of talent you can hire for $4 million dollars produces that kind of results. They probably thought they had it all figured out. Undoubtedly they produced the projected growth charts with the little circles, lines and arrows to convince the bosses to invest big money – but how could they blow it so badly?
Perhaps it means that the internet is still a crap shoot for news organisations.
What does it mean for newspapers in Barbados? I guess it means that in a small market like this island, newspapers can’t expect any direct revenue generation from their web presence – at least nothing worth talking about.
Maybe that’s why The Nation’s web presence has shrunk to a fraction of what it was only two years ago with the paper’s website displaying only a handful of articles compared to the printed dead tree edition. Maybe they don’t see the internet as being worth it. Google searches seldom if ever return Nation online articles anymore because the newspaper’s website is set up to block search engines.
Similarly the Barbados Advocate publishes only a few articles online. The .jpg photos of the entire newspaper don’t really count because they are structured to prevent indexing by search engines. This means that the two largest newspapers have for the most part abandoned representing our country to the world on the internet. They leave this task and responsibility to other websites and the blogs.
Once again, I don’t know what it all means, but it’s something to think about as we hear rumours of another newspaper being born in Barbados.
Further Reading
Talk about synchronicity… as I finished writing this article I was Googling “freedom of the press” and I came across an old BFP article about the media by Sungoddess… Sungoddess Says “Let The Traditional Media Die… No Longer Serves The Interests Of The Common Man…”
January 26, 2010
DLP Propaganda: “Meetings are the level of accountability the Barbadian public agreed to last election”
Commending therefore the Government’s decision to have the constituency reports to outline what the Members of Parliament had done within their respective areas, he said this showed the public a certain degree of accountability.
“The level of accountability is what the Barbadian public has agreed to when they handed the Democratic Labour Party a landslide victory in 2008!”
… Joseph King, Chairman of the Christ Church South Democratic Labour Party branch, re-writes election history in the Barbados Advocate article DLP supporting accountability
Memo to the DLP: Public Relations Meetings are not accountability!
“Listen Ah went to the meeting but left before it started. Choir, Performances, Opening Remarks, Prayers, PM Address, Featured Address by Chris Sinckler and Constituency Report John Boyce and Question & Answer was too much for me an EAGER BEAVER. Ah left when I realise it was a Constituency Conference and the Agenda format.”
… BFP reader Anasa comments on the Dog & Pony Show the DLP calls “accountability” (read Anasa’s full comment here)
DLP Re-writes Election History – Barbados News Media asks no questions
Truly you have to give credit to the Democratic Labour Party for their ability to re-write history and have the Barbados news media remain silent while the lies flow. Who else could get elected two years ago on a platform of the immediate implementation of Freedom of Information and Integrity laws – then break every promise – and now have the Barbados Advocate write an article praising the Thompson government for being accountable?
Then again – the BLP did the same thing and the media whores published their lies too, without so much as a question.
Hmmmmm… perhaps our problem is the media whores of Barbados who trade their silence for government advertising revenues?
Need some proof?
Okay, here we go…
Fact #1: 2007 DLP Election Manifesto “Pathways to Progress”
Hey… see the nice lady giving David Thompson a hug? She believed his promises in the DLP’s “Pathways to Progress” election manifesto. Nice lady, but a sucker like the rest of us.
Fact #2: Email from DLP Communications Director Reudon Eversley
“Hello BFP folks
Apologies for not getting back to you much sooner.
DLP leader David Thompson hosted a press conference today where he distributed the attached documents dealing with a proposed legal framework to promote accountability, transparency and accountability in public life and fight corruption.
The Ministerial Code takes effect immediately after a DLP government is elected. The Freedom of Information Act and Integrity legislation will be dealt with in the first 100 days in office.
Any questions, give me a call. If you were part of the traditional media, you would have been invited to the news conference where you could have asked whatever you wanted.
Best regards
Reudon Eversley
Communications Director
DLP General Election Campaign 2008″
… from BFP’s article David Thompson Reveals DLP’s Integrity and Freedom Of Information Plans – Much Cut and Pasted From The Internet Only A Few Days Ago
Fact #3 – No Ministerial Code Declared “immediately”
Oh… that’s right. Didn’t happen. Thompson lied.
Fact #4 – No Freedom of Information Legislation Introduced after 100 days
Yup, Thompson lied.
Fact #5 – No Integrity Legislation introduced after 100 days
Oh, that’s right. Thompy lied.
In Opposition, David Thompson promised "immediate" conflicts of interest rules for Ministers. He lied.
Folks, we wish we had the staff at Barbados Free Press to publish an article in response for every unquestioned lie published that government lapdog, the Barbados Advocate. Sadly, it sure looks like the DLP government buys the newspaper’s loyalty and unquestioning silence with government advertising revenues.
We want you to think back to January 2008. Think about how you felt when the corrupt government of Owen Arthur fell. Think of the pride you had in January 2008 that Barbados was finally going to have transparency and accountability laws for elected and appointed government officials.
We, the People of Barbados, thought that WE won the election.
We were wrong. Now we know – the people of Barbados didn’t win the election.
Thompson and the DLP did.
“Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss”
January 25, 2010
Lack of Shareholder Rights laws in Barbados makes investors “meat on the table”
“Although saying that the laws of Barbados permit directors to issue new shares by means of a private placement (that is, selling to private investor without an initial public offering) without shareholder approval and without first offering the shares to existing shareholders, Group Chairman and CEO Dodridge Miller yesterday admitted in a statement that the private placement effectively resulted in diluting existing shareholders shares by four per cent of their previous holdings.”
… from the Caribbean360.com news story Sagicor says no money problems despite private sale of shares
Sagicor’s silent memo to its shareholders is a warning to all investors: “We, the Directors, own you.”
Early in January we covered the story of how Sagicor issued an additional 11.7 million common shares to the National Insurance Board of Barbados via a private placement at a 5% discount to the trading price on the BSE at the date of the issuance. (See BFP’s story Did Sagicor’s private placement of additional shares dilute the holdings of existing shareholders?)
What did Sagicor use the money for? Why was there no prior offering to current shareholders? Why was there no explanation to shareholders until the complaints started to roll in to the news media?
On one level, these questions don’t matter at all because everything the Sagicor Directors did was apparently legal under the laws of Barbados. So what if they reduced the value of shareholders’ assets by 4% overnight with no notice? It was all legal.
The newspaper articles have faded out, but the bad taste in the mouths of thousands of Sagicor investors still remains – which is why we’re publishing this reminder to facilitate discussion.
Moral of the Story
Let this be a lesson to Barbados investors both foreign and domestic… Under the laws of Barbados, you’re meat on the table for the big boys.
January 24, 2010
Barbados Ambassador to USA and wife highlight China’s repression of Falun Dafa Religion
Ambassador’s wife urges more people to fight religious oppression in China
In a surprising but welcome interview on January 20, 2010, Barbados’ Ambassador to the United States and his wife both made statements acknowledging the repression of religion by the government of Communist China.
In the context of China, the Ambassador’s wife went much further and urged more people to become involved in fighting for human rights and religious freedom.
Ambassador John Beale and Mrs. Beale attended the Wednesday night performance of Shen Yun – a New York based Chinese performing arts troop that uses dance and music to tell the story of the persecution of Falon Gong members by the Government of China. (Shen Yun Performing Arts website here)
After viewing the performance with its message of religious repression in China, Ambassador Beale told an Epoch Times reporter “I think the message is clear, but at the same time it comes across in … a very relaxed method as opposed to being offensive. I think it’s a very good message that they have, and I think it’s extremely well done.”
Mrs. Beale left no doubt where her sympathies are. Here’s part of what was reported in the Epoch Times article Ambassador from Barbados: ‘It’s a magnificent show’…
“…I also like the strong messages of the persecution of those who fight for the right to have a religion and to pray to whatever god they want to pray to or for. And that for me came as a very powerful message,” Mrs. Beale said.
(The Barbados Ambassador’s wife) was referring to the dances which featured the plight of Falun Dafa practitioners, currently undergoing brutal repression by the Chinese Communist Party for their beliefs. Mrs. Beale said human rights is an issue worth getting involved in:
“The more we can get people involved, I think, the more we can do, to not finish with the problem (because I think we’ll never be finished), but at least to have more people fighting for that, or joining in the forces.”
Mrs. Beale also cited her daughter’s involvement in international affairs and human rights issues and said she would be seeing the Shen Yun performance a second time with her daughter.
FBI Investigates Chinese Consulate for trying to prevent Shun Yen show in Arkansas
Meanwhile, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into Chinese efforts to block the Shun Yen troop from performing in Arkansas. A news story details how the Chinese Consulate in Houston sent an anonymous letter to an Arkansas theatre where the troop is scheduled to perform again.
Our Support for Ambassador Beale and Mrs. Beale
We at Barbados Free Press have no doubt that the Communist Chinese Ambassador to Barbados will soon voice his government’s displeasure that our Ambassador to the USA and Mrs. Beale even attended the Shen Yun performance let alone made the statements that they did.
We hope that Prime Minister Thompson backs the Beales one hundred percent.
If the Chinese ambassador is so upset that his country is seen to be brutal in repressing human rights, then perhaps he should advise his government not to beat people to death for their religious beliefs.
And while Prime Minister Thompson is talking with the Chinese Ambassador, he might want to ask him why it is that China still runs the world’s largest slave camp system.
Well Done, Ambassador and Mrs. Beale!
January 23, 2010
Ragin’ Bajan Carl Yard in Winsted Connecticut, Saturday February 13th
Warning! Ragin’ Bajan is pee-your-pants comedy
Okay – it’s a long story that involves a broken down auto one winter’s night ten years ago in New Jersey. Out of that bit of serendipity came an appreciation for comedian Carl Yard, otherwise known as the Ragin’ Bajan.
Carl is playing the Elks Lodge at 75 High Street, Winsted Connecticut on Saturday, February 13, 2010. The doors open at 6 p.m. and dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. Remember to make a pee stop before Carl comes on at 8pm or you’ll be sorry! For more information, call 860-379-8045.
Big News for Ragin’ Bajan fans
Carl and his partner in crime Dave Reilly are shooting a movie. “Roadkill Comedy Tour” is a docu-comedy about their time on the road and how they came to be making a living doing stand-up comedy. Those who have seen Carl the Ragin’ Bajan and Dave Reilly know how much fun they have on stage and how they can deliver adult fun without being crude. Even Auntie Moses would laugh at everything.
Can’t hardly wait for the movie.
January 22, 2010
CLICO news media blackout continues in Barbados
As CLICO's lawyer, PM Thompson helped to build the CLICO house of cards
“Can anyone say what has happened to the 2008 financials of Clico Insurance Barbados, Clico General Insurance and Clico Mortgage and Finance? According to Barbados law the financial statements for these companies should have been made public by April 30, 2009″
… comment left by BFP reader “Donald Duck, Esq”
According to research by independent citizens like “Donald Duck, Esq”, CLICO and associated sub-entities haven’t filed their bookkeeping accounts and are now 9 months past due.
That’s actually just following the old pattern established when David Thompson was CLICO’s lawyer in the days before he became our Prime Minister. Consider this folks: CLICO filed it’s 1993 financial statements in 2006 so the monkey-business has been going on for a long, long time.
The events surrounding CLICO, parent company CL Financial and all the other associated entities are, thus far, the scandal of the century – but you’d never know that by reading the Barbados news media where “investigative reporting” is confined to regurgitating government press releases. Both The Nation and The Barbados Advocate newspapers continue to sanitize anything they write about the CLICO – CL Financial mess – and neither paper asks any questions.
Questions such as “Why is the Barbados Government bailing out CLICO when they can’t even produce up-to-date accounts?”
Oh… the papers do continue to print adverts for CLICO and receive payments for the same. Golly… do ya think that the advertising revenues are connected with the absence of real reporting on the CLICO story? Nah… couldn’t be. The journalists and editors of the Barbados news media are far more ethical and professional than to kill a story for advertising revenues… aren’t they?
As to the reason why the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) doesn’t do any in-depth investigative reporting on CLICO or CL Financial, I’m sure it’s just an oversight that has nothing to do with the fact that CLICO big guy Leroy Parris is in charge at the CBC thanks to his friend Prime Minister David Thompson.
The CL Financial – CLICO scandal is huge and the people of Barbados deserve better from their news media than they have been getting. C.L. Financial’s assets vanished into thin air – $100.7 billion down to $23.9 billion in just 12 months! There were phony shell companies, executives who took bribes to have the company purchase land in Florida for more than its real value and on and on and on.
When compared to the CL Financial – CLICO scandal, Sir Allen Stanford looks like a kid who pocketed a sweet without paying – but until the Barbados news media decides that they serve the public interest, Barbados citizens will continue to be kept in the dark about how much of their money went missing, where it went and who profited from their losses.
Further Reading
October 1, 2009: C.L. Financial’s assets vanished into thin air – $100.7 billion down to $23.9 billion
September 22, 2009: Conflicts of Interest and Sinister Secrecy Continue in CLICO Scandal
July 14, 2009: How CLICO Barbados Supported Trinidad Politicians With Your Barbados Tax Dollars & Insurance Premiums
January 21, 2010
No Strange Move by Mia Mottley: Hartley Henry’s latest column smells of cow dung
PM David Thompson & Henry Hartley
Sorry folks, I couldn’t leave this one alone so I’ll make it quick.
In his new Barbados Advocate column Strange Move by Mottley, DLP front man Hartley Henry expresses dismay that BLP Leader Mia Mottley is calling attention to the $63 million dollar judgment that Barbados owes to contractor Al Barack (or Al Barrack – both spellings abound).
According to Hartley, he couldn’t believe his eyes because “when the true story is told and whatever normally hits the fan, smashes into it, that some will splash on her.” In other words, Hartley is saying that the BLP has done so much wrong and corrupt in relation to the story surrounding Al Barrack that Mottley should keep her mouth shut in case the truth outs and the public finds out.
Now THAT is truly the cow dung in this piece and it is Harley Henry that is shoveling it.
You see, in the two years that the DLP Thompson government has been in power, no member of the previous BLP government has been charged with any offense by the DLP government. Oh, there’s lots of evidence alright, but the DLP has agreed with the BLP that there would be no charges filed – only strong words. The DLP doesn’t want the same treatment back when they lose office.
My friends, in that context the latest column by Hartley Henry becomes just so much noise and cow dung. Mia Mottley isn’t worried at all about the DLP posturing regarding Al Barack.
The DLP is NOT going to do anything about BLP corruption. They haven’t in two years and they are not about to start now.
BLP = DLP = Elites.
Same old, same old ’bout hey!
January 21, 2010
Errol Barrow Day – An Acrostic Poem by Khaidji
Errol Barrow Day
Every Bajan should celebrate in a special way
Remembering our hero who was born on this day
Realizing the wonders that he had done
Opportunities sowed from whence our pride sprung
Lords and Sirs, Honorable and the ordinary man too
Barrow lived to uplift all of you
And freed us from our Imperial ties
Royal chains which limited our mind’s eyes
Restrictions no longer bind our hands
Our skills compete favorably with foreign lands
We have progressed to be a number one country
Developing in our social standings, education and economy
And as you delight in your successes tomorrow
You must remember we owe it all to Errol Walton Barrow
Submitted by Khaidji of Bajan Poetry.com
January 21, 2010
Guilty plea in killing of Canadian tourist Terry Schwarzfeld raises official hopes that the story will now go away
Murdered Canadian tourist Terry Schwarzfeld
Curtis Joel Foster 25, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Barbados High Court on Wednesday, January 20, 2010. He will be sentenced on February 17th next. (Canada.com news here)
Canadian tourist Terry Schwarzfeld was walking at Long Beach at the south coast on February 28, 2009 with her daughter-in-law when Foster attacked and robbed them in broad daylight. When the women resisted, Foster used a piece of wood to club them. Mrs. Schwarzfeld never recovered from her head injuries and died in Canada after she was flown back in a coma.
On the surface this brings some small resolution for the victim’s family and friends, but as much as the word “closure” is thrown around by the news media, we know that the people who loved Terry Schwarzfeld will never forget the circumstances of her passing. Good Bajans everywhere offer their sympathies and regrets and pray that her family and friends will not be lacking in strength and support.
Tourist Murder happened after police ignored a year of robberies and rapes at Long Beach
As much as everyone now regrets the murder of Terry Schwarzfeld, it turns out that a blind man on a fast horse could have seen months in advance what was eventually going to happen to some poor soul at Long Beach.
The Royal Barbados Police Force had to admit publicly that the organisation failed to note the violent crime rampage against tourists at Long Beach for over a year preceding the murder. Long Beach was a robbery and rape “hot spot”, but we Bajans and the tourists were never warned. Neither was there a coordinated police response to stop the attacks.
It turns out that the Commissioner of Police failed to appoint staff to record and analyze crime types and locations to note “hot spots” so that sufficient police resources could be assigned to protect the public or to arrest Curtis Joel Foster and stop his reign of terror. It took the murder of a tourist before anyone paid attention, and even then the police, the government and the Bajan news media initially went into their standard “cover-up” mode that happens when a tourist is attacked. (See BFP’s article Ottawa Citizen Newspaper, National Canadian Coverage: “Bajan Media Ignores Attack On Women. Feisty Barbados Free Press Only Outlet To Speak Out For Schwarzfeld”)
Have Barbados Police Ever Heard Of A Crime Map???
Locating crime hot spots and detailing sufficient officers to protect the public and arrest the culprits is not rocket science, ya know.
As we’ve seen in countless television shows: the police put a big map of the area on the wall. When there is a robbery or violent crime, the officer puts a pin into the map at the location. The colour of the pin tells the type of crime. Then the officer says, “OH! Look at all the pins at Long Beach over the last few months. Rape, robbery, assault. I guess we’d better have a closer look.” Then the officer reads the descriptions of the culprits as given by the victims, notes the time and day of the week and other circumstances and says, “Hey, this looks like one guy is doing this, does his attacks late in the afternoon against lone women tourists at Long Beach. I guess we’d better watch the place or dress up a female police officer like a tourist, have her partners remain hidden and see if we can arrest this man before he kills somebody.”
The police don’t even have to use a fancy computer program, just pins on a map. If our police want a fancy program to map out the crimes, they might want to try using Google Maps for free as many other police forces do. It is really disgusting that Google offers a solution that could have saved Mrs. Schwarzfeld. But, hey – Commissioner Dottin didn’t see fit to put up an ordinary map and some pins on the wall so ya can’t really expect him to be knowledgeable ’bout something as sophisticated as Google Maps that children use to assist them with their school geography projects.
“Somebody” failed to note the violent crime rampage against tourists at Long Beach for over a year. “Somebody” failed to detail sufficient police resources to protect the tourists and arrest the suspect.
And because of those police failures, Canadian tourist Terry Schwarzfeld died – and our most important industry is further imperiled as it is being pummeled by the economic crisis.
“It is time for the Royal Barbados Police Force to have the dynamic leadership and resources that it needs to protect Barbadians, our visitors and our economy. It is time for our government to realize that policing and public safety are more important to our economy than our beaches. It is also time for Commissioner Dottin to do the honourable thing.”
Further Reading
For more background on the year of violent crime at Long Beach and crime statistics, check out BFP’s article Barbados Advocate Covers Up Police Failure To Respond To Theft, Gunshots At Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary
BFP articles about Policing and the Terry Schwarzfeld Murder
October 12, 2009: Police urge Bajans to not walk alone in secluded areas, be wary of strangers approaching your home
September 7, 2009: Terry Schwarzfeld Tourist Murder: Preliminary Hearing Begins against accused Curtis Joel Foster
August 30, 2009: Murdered Canadian Tourist Terry Schwarzfeld Called “White Trash” – Senior Advisor to Barbados Prime Minister Publishes Articles on Same Racist Website!
March 23, 2009: Arrest In Terry Schwarzfeld Barbados Tourist Murder – But Can We Trust Our Police?
March 19, 2009: Barbados Tourist Attack Now Murder: Canadian Victim Terry Schwarzfeld Dies In Ottawa
March 8, 2009: Update – Barbados Tourist Beating Victim Terry Schwarzfeld – Condition Worsens “Significant Brain Damage”
March 5, 2009: Canadian Women Attacked On Barbados Beach – Shocked Barbadians Offer Regrets, Sympathy and Best Wishes To Victims, Families and Friends
January 20, 2010
Barbados Allegiance blog calls a town hall meeting. Will it be well attended?
Taken from the Barbados Allegiance blog (and yes, we’ve added their link to our sidebar)…
Allegiance Town Hall Meeting
Ready or not here we come!! In order to bring this dialogue to the people of Barbados ALLEGIANCE will be holding its first Town Hall Meeting during the first quarter of 2010. We are working on getting participants together so much will depend on their schedule. We propose that the topic will be the first one discussed in this Forum.
Is there room for a Non-Partisan Political Dialogue in Barbados?
We propose that there should be one speaker and two commentators. Most of the time during the session will be allocated to open discussion. Let’s have your thoughts at Barbados Allegiance blog
January 20, 2010
A word about former Prime Minister Sir Lloyd Sandiford, Trevor Prescod, Transparency & Political Corruption
Former PM Sir Lloyd Sandiford
I am hurt like any other rational thinking patriotic Barbadian at the pronouncement by Mr Trevor Prescod in the Tuesday`s Daily Nation under the caption “Prescod: Why Honor Sir Lloyd?”
Mr Prescod you should tell us what you would have done? Devalue the dollar or cut the government`s wage bill. I shudder to think what damage you would do to our country if you were to given oversight of the country`s affairs.
Grassroots thinking Mr Prescod cannot be responsible for this sub base level of ungrateful thinking in the history of our politics as a former member of the DLP. If its one person who deserved a Knighthood its Sir Lloyd. He made a tremendous sacrifice to the whole country`s benefit. Prime Minister Owen Arthur as the great economist he is recognized to be, appreciated the sacrifices of Prime Minister Sandiford. The most honorable thing Barbados could have done for him was to offer a knighthood.
What has me more disappointed is that you failed to express your disapproval of this appointment to your leader. Are you the same Trevor Prescod who was in the DLP, NDP and now BLP. What is your legacy? Is it empty eloquence and manipulation of the mind of voters. We need to say to all who aspire to serve as politicians we need a new level of representation. The times of flowery talk, manipulations of minds and offerings of rum are no more. A Non Partisan Movement is the only option if we are to keep 30 persons from destroying these fields and hills we call our own.
What the Political Parties in Barbados need to be concerned more about is their inability to show Transparency be it the publishing political donations and the introduction of Integrity Legislation. The person who pays the piper calls the tune . I will not accept that bribes,corruption and a lack of transparency is the acceptable norm in politics worldwide. Corruption is just as devastating as money laundering and we only need to look at Haiti, Guyana, Trinidad, Nigeria and others.
You can make a difference by finally saying something that makes sense as flowery words are most often empty. I invite more persons to respectfully speak out in the best interest of our country. Too many Politicians aspire to office and have not a clue about managing people or even solving problems. Oh how sad!
Submitted as a comment by a BFP reader using the name “Kammie Holder”
January 20, 2010
Vicky Merrick, Nicole Garofano and all at The Future Centre – Barbados Environmental Heros work without the backing of laws
A marvelous article about the Future Centre’s leadership in recycling appears in the current edition of the McGill Reporter – the newspaper for McGill University in Montreal Canada.
Writer and undergraduate student Sibeal McCourt spent some time in Barbados last fall during a Field Study Semester and she was some impressed with Vicky Merrick and Nicole Garofano.
Sibeal McCourt
“…I also did an internship with the Future Centre, a local, not-for-profit organization promoting sustainable/environmental initiatives in Barbados. They were focusing on recycling while I worked with them.
Vicky Merrick and Nicole Garofano, who run the Future Centre, are so energetic and driven that you can’t help but be swept up in their mission to get Barbadians (locally referred to as Bajans) to recycle. Under the tutelage of Vicky and Nicole, my eyes were opened to the serious waste management issues present in Barbados. Their main landfill, the Mangrove Pond Landfill, is so overflowing that Bajans refer to it as “Mount Stinkaroo.”
Recycling in the Shadows of Mount Stinkeroo
The article goes on to talk about Miss (?) McCourt’s surprise that the Barbados government is not showing leadership in recycling and that we lack a government recycling programme…
“Coming from Canada, where recycling is government-run with scheduled pickups every week, I took waste management for granted. I thought that Vicky and Nicole were simply trying to expand on an already present recycling program, or educate people on how to recycle more efficiently. As it turns out, there is NO state recycling program in Barbados.”
Barbados: A country with no Environmental Laws
Although Miss McCourt’s article shows a very positive image of the folks who do such good work at The Future Centre and of Barbados and Bajans generally, left unsaid is the big truth about Barbados: Our country has no environmental legislation.
Oh, we’ve been promised environmental laws by every government since we gained independence back in 1966, but so far promises is all we have. I wonder if Miss McCourt is aware of the Shell Oil pipeline spill in Barbados where our impotent government has done nothing while Shell ruined the land and water and then pulled out leaving a big mess?
Shell could only do that because we have no environmental laws.
So thanks to Sibeal McCourt for her positive article and well-deserved congratulations to Vicky Merrick, Nicole Garofano and all those heros at The Future Centre. We hope that Sibeal will return to Barbados in 2010.
We also hope that the long promised Environmental Legislation is delivered soon by the David Thompson government and that it doesn’t have so many holes in it that a Shell tanker could motor through.
Well, Environment Minister Lowe… where is the legislation?
Further Reading
McGill Reporter: Recycling in the Shadows of Mount Stinkeroo
January 19, 2010
Maritime Lawyer Jim Walker comments on the pathetic failure of Royal Caribbean to help Haiti
Royal Caribbean’s Haitian response called “A Sick Joke”
Our article Royal Caribbean passengers frolic in Haiti as the screams from the rubble continue touched a few raw nerves, but BFP isn’t the only blog questioning the cruise industry’s failure to respond with their full might to the mass deaths still happening in Haiti. As a matter of interest, a Google search reveals dozens if not over a hundred critical articles out there so far.
Maritime lawyer Jim Walker runs Cruise Law News blog out of his Miami law office where he specializes in representing crew members and passengers who have been injured, assaulted or otherwise had a bad experience with the cruise line industry.
Mr. Walker is naturally much more knowledgeable about the cruise industry than we are, and even if he is normally on the opposite side of the industry, when you read his articles, you’ll pay attention. Here are some samples from his article Royal Caribbean “Returns” to its Trademarked, Private Fantasy Island of Labadee® – While Haiti Suffers.
The photos are supplied by Royal Caribbean through Mr. Walker. Royal Caribbean probably intended that the photos would be evidence of their worthy response, but we at Barbados Free Press find them totally pathetic…
“In the last few days, Royal Caribbean has made a big deal talking about offloading pallets of food for Haiti. Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas sailed with only 60 cases of food and water last Friday according to the Royal Caribbean President’s “Nation of Why Not?” blog. That’s just four pallets. The blog has some photographs of the few pallets from the Independence of the Seas – four pallets of flour, tomato sauce, can goods, and water bottles. Four pallets?
Considering that on a typical seven-day cruise Labadee – Haiti – Royal Caribbean “Private Destination”the cruise ship’s passengers consume over 100,000 pounds of food and 12,000 gallons of alcohol over the course of over a hundred thousand meals- the photograph of the meager provisions sitting on the dock dwarfed by the huge Independence of the Seas seems like a sick joke.”
“Now a million dollars is a lot of money to me and probably anyone reading this article, but it is peanuts for a cruise line like Royal Caribbean.
Royal Caribbean collects around $6,000,000,000 (billion) a year. And because it registered its business in Liberia and its cruise ships fly the foreign flags of Liberia or the Bahamas, it pays $0 in federal Income taxes. $0.
Why only a million dollars? That will accomplish little. Even Royal Caribbean’s competitor Carnival promised to send $5 million to Haiti, and it has no relationship with Haiti. The $6 a passenger deal which Royal Caribbean struck with the leaders of Haiti rips the Haitian people off. $6 to go into a 260 acre private paradise? Well established ports in Alaska collect $50 a passenger in head taxes just to step off of the cruise ship.”
Royal Caribbean tosses a few coins to the native swimmers.
“The executives at Royal Caribbean know how to make a hard bargain with Caribbean islands which have little economic bargaining power. CEO Richard Fain cut a deal where for only $6 a passenger (paid by the passenger), Haiti turned over a 260 acre tropical waterfront paradise of Haitian sovereign land for Royal Caribbean to consider it “private property” bearing the trademarked name “Labadee®.“ Yes, that’s right. This is a name that Royal Caribbean trademarked as a variation of the French slave owner Marquis de La’Badie who settled in Haiti in the 1600’s.
Many years ago an article revealed the hypocrisy of this whole endeavor. Entitled “Fantasy Island: Royal Carribean Parcels Off a Piece of Haiti,” the article explained that Royal Caribbean began docking in Haiti in January 1986 after the ruthless dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier leased the land to Royal Caribbean. He thereafter fled to France and the country turned into chaos for the next decade.”
… read the entire article at Jim Walker’s Cruise Law News: Royal Caribbean “Returns” to its Trademarked, Private Fantasy Island of Labadee® – While Haiti Suffers.
January 17, 2010
Royal Caribbean passengers frolic in Haiti as the screams from the rubble continue
Caribbean Cruise Ship Fleet could save Haitian lives or entertain tourists out of Miami. What did they choose? You guessed it!
Labadee Beach, Haiti
Passengers from the Royal Caribbean cruise ships Independence of the Seas and Navigator of the Seas continue to enjoy themselves at the “five pristine beaches” leased from the Haitian government.
No need to worry about the tourists being bothered by those pesky injured and starving Haitians because the Royal Caribbean beaches are surrounded by 12 foot high fences and armed guards.
Two people pulled from the rubble and brought to the Haiti Rescue clinic Sunday, January 17, 2010. (Click the photo to visit the Haiti Rescue Center blog by missionaries Licia & Enoch Betor.)
And the screams from the rubble? No problem there either: the happy tink of steel pan covers any moans or pleas to “help my son who has to have is leg amputated“. I guess the fences are far enough from the beaches that the overweight retired whales sunning themselves and downing rum drinks with little bamboo umbrellas won’t see the barbed wire and shotgun toting guards.
You can read the Guardian article yourself and see where Royal Caribbean is saying that 40 pallets of food were dropped off (or maybe “are going to be”) – but many are sickened at the decision by Royal Caribbean to continue with business as usual.
Oh sure, Royal Caribbean did the big press release saying they are going to donate US$1 million and each ship that visits Haiti will drop off a few pallets of beans and rice – a few deck chairs. Whatever they can spare without disrupting the party too much. Considering what they could do, the size of the company and the resources at their disposal it’s much like tossing some coins over the side to watch the happy darkies dive and surface with de big smile for to get de shiny coin.
You think that’s too harsh? Do a little online research about the capabilities of Royal Caribbean and then apply it to the entire industry.
Coins over the side for the happy darkies.
Caribbean Cruise Industry fails to answer the call of humanity
There are only two entities that had the ability to deliver major quantities of food, water, medical supplies and shelter to the Haitian people during the first week of the disaster: The United States military and the Caribbean Cruise Ship industry.
President Obama waved his hand and the might of the United States headed for Haiti. American Special forces teams secured the airport within hours of the earthquake and the airplanes started to arrive shortly thereafter. The US Navy and their helicopters started to arrive before sun-up the next day and a carrier group arrived on day 2.
Say what you will about history, the past US abuses in Haiti, and the concerns of the pundits (but not those trapped in the wreckage) that the US has just invaded again: the bloody Yanks are coming through in Haiti like nobody else can. Donating money is all well and fine, but thousands more will be dead before the money can do any good at all. Those people need supplies and feet on the ground now and the USA has come through in a big way.
Yes, other organisations are loading airplanes and sending them too. The Canadians are on the ground and more are going to arrive tomorrow. The Jamaican military are there or soon will be.
Now consider the cruise ship industry.
The Port of Miami is the world’s largest cruise ship port and it is not unusual to see seven to ten cruises departing in a single day. Royal Caribbean alone operates six super liners from Miami that I can find and they have the infrastructure and personnel in place to stock these ships with military efficiency. (Royal Caribbean operates 42 ships total and owns 25% of the worldwide cruise ship travel market. They are huge.)
Now think about this: On January 22, 2010, the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas will depart Miami and again head to Labadee Haiti for fun on the beach.
Adam Goldstein, CEO Royal Caribbean - Doing just enough in Haiti to sound good on his blog - Decided that tourists were more important than using the full resources of his company to save more Haitians
Will God damn Royal Caribbean & the cruise ship industry?
Here’s what should be done:
The CEO of Royal Caribbean, Adam Goldstein, should order that the January 22 cruise is canceled. Refund the 2,500 passengers or send them to Orlando Disney World or anywhere.
Royal Caribbean should coordinate with the US military who seem to be in charge. Load the Jewel of the Seas with everything it can carry. Ask for medical volunteers from Miami. You’ll get lots. Take the ship full of food, water and medical supplies to the people of Haiti. Anchor it offshore and do what you can for a few days then head back for more, or perhaps fill it full of children and feed and care for them. Think “floating orphanage” or “floating hotel” for the rescue workers.
Anything but depositing more tourists on the beach. Anything but continuing to cruise the Caribbean and Panama Canal with tourists instead of devoting the entire might of the largest cruise ship company in the Caribbean to saving lives now.
Will God damn Royal Caribbean and the rest of the cruise ship industry? I don’t know, but I do. No no doubt the people on the other side of the barbed wire and shotguns at Labadee will too.
Further Reading
Personal Blog of Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein (Hmmm…. no comments on the guest post yet. Maybe the people of the Caribbean can say a few words to Mr. Goldstein and John Weis, Associate Vice President, Private Destinations, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.)
January 17, 2010
Where is God? – Trapped & Dying in Haiti text, blog for help as the cell phones come back on
Pray for missionaries Licia & Enoch Betor at Ground Zero in Haiti
If you can take reading her words, seeing her photos: Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Centre blog
“We are asking you to pray about..
- The Rescue Center location. The damage is getting worse with each tremor that we have. We need to make some decisions soon. The kids have been living and sleeping outside since Tuesday night. We are thinking a new location that is not far away.
- Infant formula and food for the kids
- fuel for generator and vehicles
- the kids in the RC and my kids peace in their hearts
- some way to be able to get some Haitian cash. All banks and places we usually exchange money are closed.
I am a wife and mother to three wonderful and wild boys. I have lived in Haiti since 1995 and run a Rescue Center that houses around 60 children that are sick and suffering from severe forms of malnutrition.”
“I do not pretend to understand the suffering that is happening right now in this country. I know we all feel like we had had enough over the years. The staff has come in to work. They are praying for their loves ones in town. They are hoping for news and believing that they will soon here from them. Mothers and father are weeping for their lost children. Children are crying for their lost parents.
One of Enoch’s friends was trapped inside his house with his (the friends) two brothers and his mother. They all died and people were trying to rescue him. He kept yelling at them to stop and leave him alone. He wanted to die with his family.
“They asked what they could drop down to him and he asked for a gun to kill himself.”
The reality is even when the outside world begins arrives what can be done. Most of the city is damaged and needs to be torn down. Thousands upon thousands of dead bodies are laying all over the place. We have heard they are digging huge mass graves in the dump area.”
"We are still having patients coming in from Port-au-Prince, most are from the village out here but just live in town. This boy got here yesterday afternoon. He had been trapped under blocks at his house. His right left was broken in two places. He left leg was smashed below the knee. It was cold and turning black. His father walked into the yard and just fell apart. He lost his wife and four other children. He was so thankful that he was able to pull out the son above. He just wanted to go someplace other that back to Port-au-Prince. Then we had to tell him he had to return to the hell he had just left. He son’s leg needs to be amputated for him to survive."
January 15, 2010
50% increase in entrance fee to Harrison’s Cave but no re-opening date yet!
“Only a Government entity could consider hiking rates by 50% in the worst global economic recession in more than eighty years.”
Adrian Loveridge, small hotel owner
Sometimes, (make that frequently) I really question whether or not ‘we’ are serious about tourism, even though we are constantly reminded that it is our single largest generator of foreign currency!
We recently received a letter from Caves of Barbados announcing that while they are not sure when the enhanced facility will re-open, when it does the entrance fee will be increased by 50% to BDS$60 per adult.
Only a Government entity could consider hiking rates by 50% in the worst global economic recession in more than eighty years.
Government and other social partners have pleaded with the Hotel sector to maintain employment, almost at any cost. That has only be achieved in many cases by dramatically discounting room rates and/or adding value with free nights, meals and other incentives.
Obviously this comes at a cost and you only have to read the recently released financial highlights of Almond Resorts Inc, to see this.
Even based on an overall annual occupancy of 75% across five properties, the BDS$62 million in revenue would only equate to US$74 per occupied room for an all-inclusive property.
Yes! there has been a significant investment in the Caves infrastructure, but will glass fronted elevators attract more visitors?
Correct me if I am wrong, but average visitation of the caves has rarely exceeded 150,000 persons per year.
With child, tour operator, local and other discounted rates even if the net admission price of BDS$50 per person is achieved, that is only an annual turnover of $7.5 million before repayment of interest and capital on the loan and operational costs. What contribution are the new shopping and restaurant facilities likely to make?
Once again, as with Hotels and Resorts Ltd (GEMS) the poor old taxpayer is being kept in the dark with regard to their investment.
Adrian Loveridge
15th January 2010
January 14, 2010
Haiti destroyed, Airport closed to rescue flights, seaport unusable – How many new Haitian Immigrants is Barbados willing to take?
Anarchy as machete-wielding gangs fight to establish turf, loot.
Obama pledges US$100 million “to start”
US Special Forces Teams seize and secure airport
Two days after the earthquake, current aerial photographs of Haiti show a country a place so utterly destroyed that one wonders if any buildings will be found worth preserving when some assessment is done years from now.
There is no Haitian government emergency response worth talking about. The government and infrastructure were never worth talking about anyway, and I’d bet that the government no longer exists as a real entity. That is the situation being reported from the rubble. Haiti right now is not a country in the organised sense of the word.
Haiti is a place where eight or nine million people are sitting out in the open as aftershocks make it dangerous to seek shelter in any of the damaged buildings still left standing. Most of those who are still alive and trapped deep in the rubble will never see the sun again because it will be weeks before “rescue” teams with heavy equipment and hydraulic jacks make it to them. That’s not me talking, that’s rapidly becoming the message from those in charge of the relief efforts.
Remember how Barbados struggled when one house collapsed into a cave?
We couldn’t rescue five people with everything we had on the island and a special team in from the United States. Now think about Haiti.
(See BFP’s March 17, 2009 article Expert: Arch Cot Cave-In Victims May Have Been Killed By Wrong Decisions, Actions and Inaction By Barbados Emergency Officials)
Reports state that clean water and food are simply not available. Soon even relatively healthy and uninjured people will begin to succumb. If you think that is not what is going to happen, I hope you’re correct. But when I consider what it would take to give every man, woman and child just one bottle of water and a disaster cookie starting tomorrow and every day thereafter… Well, that isn’t going to happen for a few weeks anyway.
The world couldn’t (or wouldn’t) supply every Haitian man, woman and child with a drink of clean water and one meal a day before the earthquake. What makes you think it will happen within a few days now?
Don’t forget: it’s not as if there are warehouses and stores that have adequate supplies if the people could only get to them and dig out what they need. Haiti is was a country were dirt cookies were sold as food right up to the day of the earthquake. Haiti was a country where tons of food aid sat rotting in the sun every day because the charity organisations didn’t have enough money to bribe the government officials to release the containers so the poor could eat. (See BFP’s March 7, 2008 article Tons of food aid rotting in Haiti)
Haiti’s Airport now Closed to Rescue & Aid Flights
(As of Thursday, January 14, 2010 – 22:00 hours local time)
Airport Closed – Port-au-Prince cargo docks “unusable”
“Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) — Rescuers from around the world poured into Haiti, overwhelming its only international airport as the Haitian Red Cross estimated as many as 50,000 people died in the country’s Jan. 12 earthquake.
With little time left to find those still buried in the rubble, rescue teams were stuck at the Port-au-Prince airport and civilian relief flights couldn’t land after its ramps filled with craft, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said in a notice. The airport also lacked fuel for planes to fly home.”
“…the U.S. Coast Guard said cargo docks in Port-au-Prince were unusable.”
… from Business Week article: Global aid pours in as Haiti searches for survivors
How many new Haitian immigrants is Barbados willing to take?
Alright folks, it’s time for Barbados to put up or shut up.
After the world (read “Primarily the United States of America”) saves as many Haitians as can be saved in the next few weeks, then what?
Haiti wasn’t a country that worked to begin with. At this point, it doesn’t really matter why it didn’t work, but merely shipping in food and shelter isn’t going to solve much in the long run. It may take decades to physically rebuild something from the rubble, but unless Haiti and Haitians develop new cultural and social values and skills along the way – unless they learn to be a workable society – the country will continue to be as close to hell on earth as we have in the Western Hemisphere. (And that was before the earthquake)
So here’s a suggestion: The Caribbean community should agree to take 10% of Haiti’s population from the island and to sponsor the immigrants for five years. The number of Haitian immigrants arriving in each country would be based upon that country’s abilities and space, but in total the Caribbean community would see about a million Haitians immigrating to the various member countries for five years.
During those five years, the Caribbean countries would try to teach the Haitians skills and the cultural values that work. This would relieve significant pressure upon the rebuilding of Haiti, and in five years the 10% of the population would return and hopefully be in a better position to move Haiti forward.
If someone has a better suggestion for rebuilding Haiti, I’d like to hear it.
Meanwhile, let’s ask the question of our fellow Bajans…
How many new Haitian immigrants are you willing to bring to Barbados if that’s what it takes to save people and rebuild Haiti as a working society?
Further Reading
You must read this New York Times op/ed: The Underlying Tragedy
