CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
By Azad Ali
Barbados
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley
said that the novel coronavirus
pandemic has the capacity to “upend
developing countries” and that it is necessary
“to put down the tools to avert a
debt crisis which is potentially on us if
we do not get it right.”
Mottley made the remarks while
addressing the World
Health Organization
(WHO) at a recent
media briefing. She
repeated calls for equitable
access to COVID-
19 vaccines and technical resources.
The prime minister said there is an
urgent need for coordinated action in
fighting the virus and is looking forward
to continued support from the
WHO and the Pan American Health
Organization.
Mottley also said there is no measure
that is too much on the personal,
national or global level to safeguard
lives and reminded the importance
of the personal protocols in curbing
COVID-19.
Bahamas
Police in the Bahamas were bracing
for revenge killings after gunmen shot
and killed six men in a hail of bullets on
a street in the capital city of Nassau.
Police Commissioner Paul Rolle
ordered officers to move into known
criminal hot spots to prevent potential
retaliatory incidents by rival gangs.
According to police, men wearing
black clothing and brandishing highpowered
assault rifles and handguns
ambushed the six men as they drove in
a vehicle.
‘We will establish
a formidable presence
to ensure that
every household, every
member in this city remains safe until
we find these individuals and bring
them to justice,” he said.
National Security Minister Marvin
Dames called the perpetrators “monsters”
and insisted it was time for relatives
and friends harboring such people
to stand with the police to fight the
scourge of violence.
Canada
The Canadian government says it
will contribute nearly a million U.S.
dollars to support the efforts of the Pan
American World Health Organization
(WHO) against COVID-19 in six Caribbean
countries.
The donation by the Canadian government
will be used to acquire essential
personal protection equipment,
laboratory and medical equipment, as
well as supplies to be used by healthcare
Caribbean L 4 ife, APR. 30-MAY 6, 2021
Updated daily at www.caribbeanlifenews.com
Ash and smoke billow as the La Soufriere volcano erupts in Kingstown on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent April 9. REUTERS/
workers and hospitals in the Bahamas,
Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname
and Trinidad and Tobago, as part
of PAHO’s technical cooperation in the
fight against the pandemic.
The contribution is part of a five-year
sub-regional program between PAHO
and Canada, which aims to reduce
health consequences of emergencies
and disasters in the Caribbean, through
better preparedness and a more resilient
health sector.
Since the beginning of the pandemic,
the government
of Canada has
donated more than 8
million U.S. dollars to
support PAHO’s technical
cooperation to
tackle the Covid-19 pandemic in the
Americas.
PAHO’s Director Dr. Carissa Etienne
said Canada’s contribution will help
save lives and shows how we can all join
forces in solidarity to defeat the virus.
Jamaica
Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Edmund
Bartlett is calling on regional tourism
leaders to meet to discuss the impact
of La Soufriere volcanic explosion in
St. Vincent and the Grenadines on the
Caribbean tourism sector.
He said such a major disruption calls
for an urgent discussion with tourism
leaders to examine the implications for
Caribbean tourism given the negative
impact that it is having on lives, livelihoods
and ultimately
tourism.
The volcano, which
last erupted in 1997,
has become active
again, forcing the
evacuation of thousands of people in the
designated “Red Zone” on the island.
Bartlett said the time to act is now
to plan the way forward including resilience
building to recover stronger and
thrive and this is where the Global
Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management
Center is able to assist.
Support has been pouring in for St.
Vincent and the Grenadines as families
continue to manage the post-volcanic
effect.
Haiti
Haitian Prime Minister Joseph
Jouthe has resigned as the country
faces a spike in killings and kidnappings
and prepares for an upcoming constitutional
referendum and general election
later this year.
Jouthe had served as prime minister
since March 2020.
He did not provide an
explanation for his resignation.
He had previously
tried to quit office, but
President Jovenel Moise rejected it at
the time. Moise accepted Jouthe’s second
resignation, and nominated Claude
Joseph as Haiti’s new prime minister.
Joseph previously served as a foreign
minister.
Haiti has had a number of changes of
prime ministers, eight of them appointed
to the position since 2015.
St. Vincent
The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk
Insurance Facility (CCRIF) said it would
be paying out an estimated US $2.2 million
for relief and recovery efforts following
the eruption of La Soufriere volcano
in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The volcano first
erupted on April 9,
forcing the evacuation
of more than 16,000
people. Scientists monitoring
the volcano have warned of continued
seismic activity.
The CCRIF, a segregated portfolio company
owned and operated and registered
in the Caribbean, said it had provided
financial support in the form of a grant of
US $2.209 million to the government of
St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
CCRIF said it believes that this support
will provide much needed liquidity to
respond to the ongoing relief and recovery
efforts on the Caribbean island.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines has
been a member of CCRIF since 2007,
CCRIF said in a statement, extending
its sympathies to St Vincent and the
Grenadines.
Robertson S. Henry/File Photo
Continued on Page 22
THE NEWS FROM BACK HOME
Clouds filled with ash in St. Vincent
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