Bissessar PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar has said that four people, including two who had refused to accept the Trinity Cross in previous years, would be given Trinidad and Tobago’s new highest national awards as the country prepares to mark its 48th anniversary of political independence from Britain on Tuesday. Persad Bissessar said that the Order of Trinidad... 

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Acting Prime Minister Freundel Stuart has given an assurance that the harmonious relations that exist between Barbados and Cuba will continue, as Cuban Ambassador, Pedro Garcia Roque’s tour of duty ends. Stuart said that ties between the two nations had deepened and strengthened since diplomatic relations commenced more than 30 years ago. He pointed to the upcoming... 

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – A one-day Caribbean workshop on human rights in the Western Hemisphere is taking place here on Friday with gays and lesbians preparing the ground-work to file complaints of discrimination to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Co-chair of Guyana’s Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), Joel Simpson told the workshop that the Organisation... 

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago government has defended the multi-million dollar package given to two Canadian nationals to head the local police force. Cabinet on Thursday approved the salaries and other perks for the new Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs and his deputy, Jack Ewatski. Both men will assume duties next month. National Security Minister Brigadier John Sandy... 

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago police have made an about turn and will now participate in next Tuesday’s Independence Day military parade following talks with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Wednesday. “The best way I can describe the meeting is that it was a win-win situation. We have decided to call off the planned boycott and resume working overtime,”... 

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Police Social Welfare Association (PSWA) has warned that its members would boycott the Independence Day celebrations on Tuesday as law enforcement officials called on the new Kamla Persad Bissessar government to increase their salaries. The police are also protesting the decision by the government to employ retired Canadian police officer Dwayne Gibbs, as the island’s... 

Garvey KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government says it will provide funds for the restoration of the birthplace of the island’s National Hero, Marcus Mosiah Garvey. “The Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) has estimated that it will cost $3 million (US$35,377) to restore the birthplace of Marcus Garvey, and the Department of Local Government is placing publicly on record that we... 

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The Human Rights Council will discuss Guyana’s report at its meeting in Geneva next month, head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon has said. Luncheon said  that the second visit by Presidential Advisor on Governance, Gail Teixeira to Geneva in September, will allow for Guyana’s presentation of the updated submission which now includes the official... 

JAMAICA is the top-ranked Caribbean nation to live in terms of education, health, quality of life, economic competitiveness, and political environment, according to Newsweek magazine. Assisted by experts including Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E Stiglitz, the magazine compiled metrics across those five categories, which ranked the island 47th, three places above Cuba, among 100 countries surveyed. Newsweek’s... 

Bissessar PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The public auction of 10 properties belonging to Yasin Abu Bakr, the leader of the Jamaat al Muslimeen group involved in the failed coup here in 1990, ended here on Tuesday, with buyers purchasing all but one of the properties. Heavily armed police officers were visible near the Port of Spain City Hall where the auction was held. The newly elected People’s... 

CASTRIES, St Lucia, CMC – St Lucia’s queen of folk culture, Dame Marie Selipha Descartes, has died at the age of 96. Dame Marie, “Sesenne”, as she was more affectionately called, was declared a National Cultural Hero by the Folk Research Centre in 2005. From her discovery by the late Harold Simmons and Eric Branford in the 1950s, Sesenne has inspired several generations of St. Lucia... 

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) has put the management of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), the island’s main health insititution, on notice that it could face industrial action next week. In a statement, the NUPW said action was looming because of the tardy response by the QEH management to their worries about breaches in the recruitment policy at the... 

THE AMBASSADOR AND DR. ISHMAEL PRESS RELEASE: CASTRIES ST. LUCIA – The OECS and the Republic of Finland have established relations at the diplomatic level. At a ceremony at the OECS Headquarters on Wednesday May 26th , OECS Director General Dr Len Ishmael accepted Letters of Credence from Finland’s first Ambassador to the OECS, H.E. Mikko Pyhala. Dr Ishmael described the occasion as a happy... 

Blooms from the 2008 Chelsea Flower Show. *Photo credit: theenglishmanner.wordpress.com Grenada’s theme this year is ‘The Spice of Life’.  Chosen because in Grenada the perfect climate and rich volcanic soil necessary for the production of nutmegs and other spices, lends itself well to the growing of tropical and subtropical plants of every description, and gardeners on the island have traditionally... 

From left to right: Governor Duncan Taylor, Pastor Miles McPherson, Darren White of Elite Marble and Granite, Designer Luelan Bodden, and Premier McKeeva Bush with the Do Something World sculpture. CAYMAN ISLANDS (May 14, 2010) – The premier of the Cayman Islands, the Honourable McKeeva Bush says the local government “just cannot pay” for the kind of goodwill shared by the California-based... 

Director of Fisheries and Marine Resources James Gumbs represented Anguilla  at two regional fisheries meetings and a leadership training workshop held  in Belize. The first meeting was the Sixteenth Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Caribbean Fisheries Forum (CFF), and immediately following that one day meeting was the Eighth Meeting of the CFF.  The two-day Forum meeting was chaired... 

Dignitaries at the lecture. Sean Douglas photo PRESS RELEASE: Dominica’s Ambassador to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, His Excellency, Dr. Philbert Aaron has stated that the relationship that Dominica now enjoys with Venezuela would not have been possible without the  bold actions of Simon Bolivar who liberated Venezuela and Latin America from Spanish colonial rule. Dr. Aaron made the... 

Australia's foreign minister Stephen Smith on Thursday said the relationship with CARICOM had been regrettably neglected. ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Australia is seeking to repair its relationship with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which the country’s foreign minister Stephen Smith on Thursday said had been “regrettably neglected”. Addressing his CARICOM colleagues during a two-day... 

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) foreign ministers Wednesday began a two-day meeting here with the host cost country calling for a review of the effectiveness of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR). “All organizations from time to time need to review their effectiveness in carrying out their mission in an environment that is constantly in change,”... 

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) foreign ministers will discuss ways of  strengthening of the region’s role in Haiti’s reconstruction during a two-day meeting that gets underway in Dominica on Wednesday. A CARICOM Secretariat statement said that the April 5-6 meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) will allow the foreign ministers to... 

The Open Skies agreement represents a market-oriented approach to aviation relations and airlines, not governments, will decide which cities to serve, the frequency of flights, the equipment used, and the prices charged. WASHINGTON, CMC – The United States and Trinidad and Tobago have agreed to a comprehensive Open Skies agreement that will allow for an expansion of their bilateral civil aviation... 

Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas. HAMILTON, Bermuda, CMC — St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas arrives here later this month for a visit aimed at improving relations between the two Caribbean countries. “With such close links between Bermuda and St. Kitts, it is a tremendous honour to welcome Dr. Douglas during our Heritage Month celebrations,” said Premier Ewart Brown.. “The... 

“The OECS and its Member States have long enjoyed excellent relations with Germany, and have benefitted tremendously from programmes of cooperation pursued at the bilateral as well as the regional level.” CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – Director General of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Len Ishmael has hailed the establishment of diplomatic relations between Germany and the... 

BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC – The Belize government Saturday called on the social partners here to assist in providing employment opportunities for citizens saying that too many nationals were out of work. Labour Minister Gabriel Martinez said that the Dean Barrow government was also concerned over a recently conducted Country Poverty Assessment survey that women and young people “continue to be constrained... 

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – More than one thousand workers are Friday spending their last day on the job as Air Jamaica employees before the national carrier is taken over by Trinidad-based Caribbean Airlines (CAL). Air Jamaica president Bruce Nobles said US$24 million in redundancy payments and other entitlements will be disbursed at various locations across the island. It is expected that... 

Cheryl White (left) from Meals on Wheels accepts a cheque for EC$600 from Director of Tourism Ernestine Cassell (right). (Brades, Montserrat – April 30th, 2010): The Montserrat Tourist Board (MTB) recently handed over a cheque for EC$600 to Meals on Wheels Montserrat.  These funds were raised by the UK-based Travel Agency, Stoke Newington Travel, one of the MTBs travel partners.   The... 

Prime Minister Bruce Golding. KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Prime Minister Bruce Golding has been invited to return to Brazil as part of efforts to strengthen economic bilateral cooperation with the South American country. A government release said the invitation was issued by Brazil’s President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to following Monday’s inaugural Brazil-CARICOM Summit in... 

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – St Lucia is participating in a study of its administrative systems and procedures to determine whether its laws facilitate the free movement of people, goods, services and capital under the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy (CSME). A CARICOM Secretariat statement said that the study is also investigating the island’s “conformity with the... 

Caribbean and Brazilian leaders in Brasilia for the Summit. BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, APRIL 28TH 2010 (CUOPM) – The inaugural Caribbean Community (CARICOM) – Brazil summit ended in Brasilia, Brazil on Monday, with the Caribbean expressing confidence that the meeting provided  an opportunity for productive discussions on issues of mutual interest to both sides and improve their relations. “While... 

WASHINGTON, CMC – A study done on behalf of the Organization of American States (OAS) shows that drug treatment courts contribute significantly to the rehabilitation of drug addicted offenders as well as a reduction in the costs of incarceration. The study by the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) of the OAS and a research team from American University in Washington, DC,... 

New figures published today by The Royal Commonwealth Society suggest that over 1 million Commonwealth citizens living in the UK could vote in next week’s General Election. Potentially representing more than 2 per cent of the UK electorate (roughly 45 million) and sometimes clustered in key marginal seats, these Commonwealth nationals could swing the election. All adult citizens of Commonwealth... 

PRESS RELEASE: The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean, in collaboration with the World Bank, will be convening a five-day Caribbean regional training workshop on Microdata Documentation and Dissemination (IHSN Microdata Management Toolkit Software ). The workshop, which is funded by the Partnership in Statistics for Development... 

BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC – Two Jamaican fishermen lost at sea for more than a month have been rescued 36 miles northeast of Chinchorro, off the coast of Mexico, by a shipping vessel that was en route to Belize. Steven Spence, the captain of the vessel, Caribe Navigator, told reporters that when the fishing boat was spotted on Sunday, it had no engine and” one person was lying on the deck so he... 

BRASILIA, Brazil, CMC – The inaugural Caribbean Community (CARICOM) – Brazil summit got underway here on Monday, with the Caribbean expressing confidence that the meeting will provide an opportunity for productive discussions on issues of mutual interest to both sides and improve their relations. “While the close ties between CARICOM and Brazil have been established for a number of years,... 

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – The Grenada team which negotiated a maritime boundary delimitation treaty with Trinidad and Tobago has bushed aside opposition claims that the talks should have been guided by the location of hydrocarbon deposits. Head of the team Carlisle Mitchell says knowledge of the sea’s contents is not a pre-condition for boundary negotiations which he says are done purely...