CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Barbados
US-based carrier JetBlue is set to
launch a major Caribbean expansion in
November, with new routes across the
region from Aruba to St Maarten.
The airline announced that starting
Nov. 19, it will be launching seven new
non-stop routes to the wider Caribbean
region, all out of the Newark Liberty
International Airport.
The new routes will include one daily
flight to Aruba; one
daily flight to Montego
Bay, Jamaica; one daily
flight to The Bahamas;
one daily flight to the
Cayman Islands; two
daily flights to Cancun, one daily flight
to the Dominica Republic and one daily
flight to St Maarten.
The airline said the new routes are
aimed at immediately generating cash
and capturing traffic on a variety of
new, nonstop routes — many never
flown before by JetBlue.
Bahamas
COVID-19 deaths continue to rise in
the Bahamas. The country has recorded
four more deaths, bringing the total
to 71 and with 80
new cases which have
affected 2,265 people
so far the year.
The deadly virus
continues to impact a
number of Caribbean countries, including
Dominica, which has now recorded
new cases after having not done so for
several months.
Caribbean
Trinidad and Tobago-owned Caribbean
Airlines Ltd (CAL) will begin services
between Barbados and Dominica later
this month, pending regulatory approval
from the T&T Civil Aviation Authority.
In a release CAL said Dominica’s
addition to the airline’s network is part
of the airline’s current strategic plan to
expand into the Eastern
Caribbean. The
increase in commercial
flights will do well
for trade and economic
activity in the region,
the airline said.
The flight schedule times to facilitate
easy connections to regional and international
destinations including London
via expanded interline (transiting)
agreement with Virgin Atlantic.
The release said that the airline has
set up a temporary base in Barbados,
providing much needed airlift to Dominica,
St Vincent, Grenada and St Lucia,
with more destinations to be added in
the coming weeks.
Cayman Islands
The Governor of the Cayman Islands,
Caribbean L 4 ife, Sept. 18-24, 2020
JetBlue is set to launch a major Caribbean expansion in November. REUTERS/Chris Helgren
Martyn Roper, has approved a law making
same-sex partnership legal.
“Today we will end the discriminating
being suffered by Caymanians and
others on our islands whilst protecting
the institution of marriage,”
he said, adding,
“this action does not
alter or undermine the
strong Christian heritage
and values of the people of the Cayman
Islands. No one is being asked to
change their long-held beliefs”.
The governor said this is in line with
instructions from the UK government
ministers to use his reserved powers
under Section 81 of the Constitution.
The changes to the law came effective
on Sept. 4, after being gazetted.
However, the civil service requires
a delay of 21 days before starting to
accept and process applications for registration
of civil partnerships. Roper
said he hopes that citizens can now
move forward with their lives and come
together as a community.
Guyana
Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali says his
administration is committed to the survival
of the sugar industry and will soon
implement a comprehensive strategy to
that effect.
He said the approach
to the sugar industry is
one in which the government
has to bring
back three estates into
operation, which would
require capital investment, field investment
and infrastructure investment.
The president said the survival of the
sugar industry depends heavily on government’s
intervention, and accused
the former administration of failing to
conduct a socio-economic study on the
viability of the industry before closing
the estates.
“We have to look at the economic
and social impact of the industry and
the communities. We have seen the
tremendous impact on the communities
in which these estates were closed,”
Ali said, adding that his government
remains committed to the re-opening
of the estates.
Jamaica
The only woman who was convicted
in Grenada for the 1983 murder of Prime
Minister Maurice Bishop is dead. Phyllis
Coard, 73, who was born in Jamaica died
at a hospital in Kingston last week.
She was the wife of Deputy Prime Minister
Bernard Coard, who was believed
to be the mastermind of the bloody
coup in which Bishop was killed.
Shortly after the uprising, Coard, her
husband and several government and
army officials were rounded by troops
from the United States and Caribbean
forces that stormed the island on October
25, 1983.
Six days before
the invasion, Bishop
was executed at Fort
George along with
three ministers. As
one of the “Grenada 17,” Coard was
convicted in 1984 for her role in the
murder of Bishop.
In February 2000, she was diagnosed
with a cancerous tumor which doctors
said would require treatment by
an oncologist. At the time, Grenada
was without an oncologist or facilities
to treat cancer patients and Coard was
released on medical grounds to seek
treatment abroad for six months in the
first instance.
She left Grenada for Jamaica to
receive treatment where she was in and
out of hospital until her death.
Trinidad
Trinidad and Tobago has ranked sixth
in the region for suicide as a leading
cause of death, according to Dr. Hazel
Orthello, director of the Mental Health
Unit of the Ministry of Health.
Speaking at the ministry’s virtual
news conference about COVID-19, Dr.
Orthello emphasized that while suicide
is a generally spontaneous act, it could
be prevented with a holistic and multisectoral
effort.
She said for 2018, T&T recorded a
suicide rate of 12.9 per 100,000 people,
exceeding the global
average of 10.5 people
per 100,000 and 9.3
for the region. Orthello
added that the
COVID-19 pandemic
gripping the world since the start of
2020 has brought on added fears and
stresses, which may exacerbate negative
feelings.
The ministry, non-governmental
organizations and activists last week
observed World Suicide Prevention
Day 2020 under the theme “Working
Together to Prevent Suicide.
THE NEWS FROM BACK HOME
Caribbean expansion coming to JetBlue