CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Bahamas
The Bahamas government
says it has
reached an agreement
with America’s largest
cruise company, Carnival
Cruise Line, for the construction of a
multi-million-dollar cruise ship port in
Grand Bahama.
Prime Minister, Dr. Hubert Minnis
said the agreement comes “after many
months of negotiations” and that he was
pleased the “government has delivered a
massive project for the people of Grand
Bahama.”
He said residents of and the entire
Bahamas will benefit from the Carnival
port development, which is going full
speed ahead.
Media reports said that the project is
estimated to cost US$100 million.
Earlier this year, Minnis said that the
project would result in more than 1,000
direct and indirect permanent jobs on
the island.
He said the new port will add to
the government’s plan for a revitalized
Grand Bahama.
Minnis also announced that another
Carnival Cruise Line development
project is progressing.
Barbados
A British woman
had died in Barbados
after being doused with
a flammable substance
and set alight as she
lay in bed.
The family of the London-born Natalie
Crichlow said they were “shocked and
devastated” by her death.
Crichlow, 44, was visiting family on
the island when she was attacked by
unknown intruder on July 28, the UK
Guardian reported.
The mother of three, who had survived
cancer twice and had two strokes
in the past decade, was on a trip to help
look after her disabled brother and was
attacked at his home in Christ Church.
She suffered 75 percent burns to her
body, but she died in hospital on Aug. 6,
the family said.
Reports are that the intruder broke
into the house, then strangled her and
set her alight.
Crichlow, also known by the names,
Natalee and Karma had worked in various
jobs, including as a make-up artist
and as door staff.
A GoFundMe campaign was launched
to raise money needed to bring her body
back to Britain.
Police are currently hunting for the
killer.
Caribbean
The Sugar Association of the Caribbean
(SAC) is urging CARICOM governments
to strengthen the regional market
Caribbean L 4 ife, Aug. 30, 2019
Updated daily at www.caribbeanlifenews.com
Tribute to Guyanese composer
Kavish, Yogini and Umadai Gayadin and Yashokamini during an Indian classical rendition of “The Weeding Gang” written by Ramcharitar
Lalla during a tribute to Guyanese composer Valerie Rodway. See story on Page 40. Photo by Tangerine Clarke
for Caribbean White
sugar by enforcing the
Common External Tariff
(CET) on imported
white sugar.
In a statement posted on its website,
the SAC said it may surprise Caribbean
consumers to know that currently the
lemonade or cola that they drink is nearly
always made with sugar shipped from
Guatemala, Brazil, Colombia or Mexico
rather than locally produced sugar in
the Caribbean.
It said reasons for this are historical
and a result of long-standing preferential
trade agreements with the European
Union (EU) that provided regional producers
with a guaranteed high market
price for raw cane sugar.
But the SAC said that these preferential
arrangements to end in October
2017, leading to an increase in European
production of beet sugar, and leaving
Caribbean producers to sell their sugar
at world market prices — a situation
not faced by any other sugar producer
world-wide.
The SAC is campaigning for change
in the trade rules for CARICOM governments
to adopt as soon as possible the
same approach as every other sugar
producing region on the planet, thereby
creating the right market conditions for
a sustainable and successful future for
the Caribbean sugar industry.
Guyana
Guyana raked in
US$495 million in Foreign
Direct Investment
(FDI) in 2018, which
was more than double
what it received in 2017.
This is according to the Economic
Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC) in its report on Foreign
Direct Investment in Latin America
and the Caribbean 2019.
The steep upturn was driven by investments
in the hydrocarbons sector, which
accounted for 77 percent of total FDI,
much of which was channeled into the
development of oil fields discovered by
ExxonMobil in 2015. In the first phase of
this venture, Liza oil field is expected to
begin producing up to 120,000 barrels of
oil per day by early 2020. The company
estimated these oil reserves at 5.5 billion
barrels.
The Economist had reported that in a
decade from now, Guyana could become
the second-largest oil producer in Latin
America and the Caribbean, after Brazil.
FDI inflows to sectors other than the
oil industry, accounting for nine percent
of the total, also grew.
As one example, the company MovieTowne,
of Trinidad and Tobago, has
invested US$50 million in an entertainment
center, which opened in 2018.
Jamaica
Justice Minister
Delroy Chuck believes
“charlatans,” including
members of the legal
profession are behind a
divorce racket in Jamaica.
He told television viewers many married
couples who have been granted a
degree absolute officially ending their
marriages may find that the document
has been forged.
Chuck said less than four weeks ago
a law firm “actually sent a letter to the
chief justice and copied to me where
about nine of 10 divorce cases, allegedly
coming from that law firm, were actually
issued decree absolute which were fraudulent.
Although the law firm’s name is
on the bottom of the decree absolute, the
law firm had nothing to do with that.”
The authorities are also investigating
a case in which a decree absolute contained
the signature of an acting judge.
Chuck said it means that there are
some charlatans, maybe attorneys, or
maybe paralegals who have taken it upon
Continued on Page 26
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