New York Governor Kathy Hochul appears with her choice
for Lieutenant Governor, Democratic New York State Senator
Brian Benjamin. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Caribbean Life, Dec. 31,2021-Jan. 6, 2022 3
YEAR IN REVIEW
Caribbean community’s
top stories in 2021
By Nelson A. King
As 2021 draws to a close, we
reviewed some of the top stories
that affected the Caribbean
community in the US Diaspora,
particularly in New York,
ranging from the Venezuelan
refugee crisis to New York City
Mayor-elect Eric Adams’ decision
to postpone his indoor
inauguration in the heart of
the Caribbean community in
Brooklyn amid the spike in
COVID-19 cases.
JANUARY
In January, the Washington,
D.C.-based Organization
of American States (OAS)
warned in a new report that
the number of Venezuelan refugees
and migrants could rise
to 7 million in 2021 if regional
countries reopen their borders
and the government in Venezuela
remains in place.
“The Situation Report”
highlights that the COVID-19
pandemic worsened the Venezuelan
migration crisis in
2020. The report notes that,
before the arrival of the pandemic,
about 5,000 Venezuelans
fled their country daily.
It also underscores that 2020
concluded with a total of 5.4
million Venezuelans exiled.
Also in January, Caribbean
American former United States
Senator Kamala Harris created
history when she was sworn
in as US vice president by US
Supreme Court Justice Sonia
Sotomayor.
Harris, the daughter of a
Jamaican father and an Indian
mother, became not only
the first Caribbean American
to hold the US vice president
office but also the first Black
and Indian American to do so.
She was sworn in 212 years
after John Adams became
America’s first vice president.
In November 2020, after
four years of tumultuous rule
by Republican Donald Trump,
Democrats Joe Biden and Harris
were elected president and
vice president, respectively.
“There is icing on this cake
for all Jamaicans, because we
can’t be more proud of the
fact that the US Vice Presidentelect
Kamala Harris has strong
Caribbean roots,” said veteran
New York State Assemblyman
Jamaican N. Nick Perry in a
Caribbean Life interview. “May
God bless and keep our new
president-elect and vice president
elect safe and healthy, as
we prepare to march them into
the White House. God bless
America!”
FEBRUARY
In February, two immigration
advocacy groups in New
York called on newly-elected
Biden to intervene immediately
in stopping what they described
as the mass deportation of Haitians.
The New York Immigration
Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella
policy and advocacy organization
for more than 200 groups
in New York State, and the
Brooklyn-based Haitian Women
for Haitian Refugees said that,
since Feb. 1, the US Immigration
and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) agency has deported
roughly 300 Haitians.
“ICE’s aggressive approach
is in line with the Trumpera
policy of targeting Black
migrants,” said the groups in
a statement, demanding “the
immediate intervention from
the Biden White House.”
The reported mass deportation
came as a major Haitian
immigration advocacy group
in Miami in mid-December
2020 wholeheartedly welcomed
the United States’ extension of
Temporary Protected Status
(TPS) for nationals from Haiti
until Oct. 4, 2021.
The US Department of
Homeland Security (DHS)
announced in December that it
was also extending TPS, until
the same time, for beneficiaries
from El Salvador, Honduras,
Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan.
Later in February, Congresswoman
Yvette Clarke joined
California Congresswoman
Linda T. Sánchez and New
Jersey Senator Bob Menendez
in introducing the bicameral
United States Citizenship Act
of 2021 that seeks to overhaul
America’s immigration system.
The Act is in keeping with
Biden’s “bold, inclusive and
humane” plan for the future of
the United States immigration
system, opening up a pathway
to citizenship for millions of
Caribbean and other immigrants
The legislation would provide
millions of hardworking,
undocumented Caribbean and
other immigrants a pathway to
earned citizenship, including
Dreamers, TPS recipients and
“essential workers who have
made enormous sacrifices during
the pandemic.”
The measure would also
prioritize family reunification,
keeping families together; and
bolster the country’s long-term
economic growth.
As Americans in February
celebrated Black History
Month, Clarke also introduced
a resolution the US House of
Representatives calling for
the exoneration of Jamaica’s
first national hero and human
rights activist Marcus Mosiah
Garvey.
The congresswoman highlighted
Garvey’s accomplishments,
identifying him as a
champion for the liberation of
people of African descent. The
resolution, H. Res. 148, hails
Garvey as a human rights
activist and seeks to preserve
his legacy by exonerating him
of unfounded charges brought
against him by the US Government.
The resolution also
called on President Biden to
exonerate Garvey.
The BOI began investigating
Garvey on unfounded charges
of mail fraud.
APRIL
In April, the United Nations
said that the explosive eruptions
of La Soufrière volcano
in St. Vincent and the Grenadines
had left the entire population
of the main island without
clean water and electricity.
The UN said that although
the volcano had been dormant
since 1979, it started spewing
smoke and actively rumbling in
December 2020.
The explosive eruptions
blanketed mainland St. Vincent
in a layer of ash and forced
some 16,000 residents to evacuate
their homes to safer parts
of the island.
At the request of Prime Minister
Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves,
the UN said it had mobilized
experts through the UN Environmental
Program (UNEP) to
develop and implement a debris
management plan, including
to clean up ash, and to promote
environmental health
and safety.
In late April, the US Department
of Justice (DOJ) announced
that a former Minister of Industry
and elected member of Parliament
of Barbados was sentenced
to two years in prison for
his role in a scheme to launder
bribe payments from a Barbadian
insurance company through
bank accounts in New York.
The DOJ said Donville Inniss,
55, a US lawful permanent
resident who resided in Tampa,
Fl., and Barbados, was convicted
by a federal jury of two
counts of money laundering
and one count of conspiracy to
commit money laundering on
Jan. 16, 2020.
According to the evidence
presented at trial, in 2015
and 2016, Inniss took part in
a scheme to launder into the
United States about $36,000
in bribes that he had received
from high-level executives of
the Insurance Corporation of
Barbados Limited (ICBL).
In exchange for the bribes,
Inniss leveraged his position
as the Minister of Industry
to enable ICBL to obtain two
insurance contracts from the
Barbados government to insure
over $100 million worth of government
property.
President Joe Biden recognizes Sandra Lindsay — the fi rst
American to receive a COVID-19 vaccine — as an “Outstanding
American by Choice,” for her efforts to promote publica
health. Associated Press/Patrick Semansky
Continued on Page 14