Damion DaSilva, proprietor of Nicky’s Natural Fruit Juices showing off cherries on one of many trees located on
fi ve acres of land in Parika, West-Demerara region of Guyana. Photo by Tangerine Clarke
Touting healthy juice blend
to help boost immunity
Caribbean L 16 ife, JAN. 28-FEB. 3, 2022
By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The
U.S. Justice Department said on
Thursday it had charged a second
man — Rodolphe Jaar — for his role
in the assassination of former Haitian
President Jovenel Moise in July 2021.
Jaar, 49, a dual Haitian-Chilean
citizen, was arrested on Wednesday,
the department said. He is charged
with conspiring to commit murder
or kidnapping outside of the United
States and providing material support
resulting in death.
He is now the second defendant
to face charges in connection with
Moise’s murder.
Earlier this month, the United
States charged Mario Palacios
https://www.reuters.com/world/
americas/us-arrests-suspect-haitipresidential
assassination-sourcesays
2022-01-04, a former Colombian
military officer, saying he was part of
a conspiracy that first planned to kidnap
Moise, but later evolved into an
assassination plot after conspirators
were unable to find a plane to take the
president out of Haiti.
The government contends that
Jaar and a group of about 20 Colombian
citizens and a few dual Haitian-
Americans conspired in the plot.
Its complaint, unsealed on
Wednesday in the U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of Florida,
alleges that Jaar was present when
an unnamed co-conspirator obtained
a signature from a former Haitian
judge on a request for assistance to
arrest and imprison Moise.
The unnamed co-conspirator,
referred to only as “co-conspirator
#1,” is described as a dual Haitian-
American who traveled from Haiti
to the United States to help lay the
groundwork for the plan before flying
back to Haiti from Florida on July 1,
2021 to participate in the operation.
The person is currently in custody
in Haiti, the complaint says.
Moise was assassinated at his residence
in Port-au-Prince on July 7,
2021. He was shot 12 times.
Jaar voluntarily consented to an
interview with FBI agents on Dec. 9,
2021, the complaint says.
He “admitted that he provided
firearms and ammunition to the
Colombians to support the assassination
operation,” an FBI agent said
in a sworn statement supporting the
criminal complaint.
“He stated that the operation
changed from an arrest operation to
an assassination operation after the
initial plan to ‘capture’ the Haitian
President at the airport and take him
away by plane did not go forward.”
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch;
Editing by David Gregorio and Sandra
Maler)
By Tangerine Clarke
Damion DaSilva, proprietor of Nicky’s
Natural Fruit Juices in Guyana, is touting
his lemon, lime, ginger, and turmeric
blended juice, as the next big
immunity booster to combat the raging
omicron variant of the coronavirus,
that has taken the lives of hundreds of
nationals since the pandemic started
in 2020.
As the desire for healthy options to
combat the coronavirus continue to
grow across the country, the businessman,
who is adamant that fresh juices
are healthy for the body, and is somewhat
a medicine to help sufferers of the
virus slow symptoms, and help curb
transmission, is stepping up his crop of
citrus fruits to meet the demand for the
blend that has been selling out at his
Camp Street location, and other outlets
at Albert Street, and the City Mall in
Regent Street, Georgetown.
During a recent interview with Caribbean
Life on his expansive four farms
in the rural area of Parika, in the Essequibo
Islands-West Demerara Region,
DaSilva, took this reporter on a tour,
and showed off his variety of fruits, he
said are grown, specially to meet the
fruit juice market.
Five acres of land are dedicated to
growing ripe sweet cherries, crushed to
make one of his biggest selling juices,
while another five acres produce soursop,
another super fruit along with the
leaves, known for its health properties,
that is said to slow the growth of cancer
cells, and supposedly cure diabetes
and thyroid diseases, and heals other
chronic ailments.
For almost two hours, the farmer
walked along acres of rich lands planted
with fruits, neatly designed to showcase,
turmeric, guava, passion fruit,
plum, lichee, banana, golden apple,
coconut, sweet tamarind, limes, lemon,
cinnamon, spice, and fig, among others.
Some he transplanted, from purchases
made in the United States.
DaSilva exuded joy as he chronicled
his hard work and dedication to the soil,
and his mission to help feed, and meet
the needs of “juice lovers,” for over 20
years, noting he was proud that he gets
to use the finest crops from his own
farm, to produce the most delicious,
daily fresh fruit juices, to quench the
thirst of thousands of Guyanese across
the city.
“I visit the farm three times a week to
pickup whatever harvest is ready,” said
DaSilva, who also offers a menu of pastry
and other breads, to meet customers
needs when they purchase their favorite
juice, added the agronomist, who is
proud of his children, who help run the
business efficiently.
He claimed that each juice has significant
levels of vitamins A, B6 and
C, lots of lycopene, antioxidants and
amino acids called citrulline, which
relaxes and dilates blood vessels.
DaSilva lives by his slogan – “We
make the best naturally made fruit
juice and ice cream. Nicky’s only use
the best fruits and ‘ultraviolet’ water
purification.”
In addition to meeting the needs of
their customers at home and abroad,
DaSilva, and his wife, Nalini, a native
of Parika where the farms are being
cultured, also grow crops of cassava,
lettuce, and other veggies to feed their
family.
A poultry farm produces eggs for
sale to some of the biggest restaurants,
hotels and resorts in Guyana. Some of
these businesses also serve products
of Nicky’s Natural Fruit Juices in their
establishments.
According to the businessman,
Nicky’s Natural Fruit Juices, has recently
rebranded its ice cream, and is once
again serving various flavours including
Cherry, Plum, Passion Fruit and
Soursop, at the three locations on 7
Camp St Werk-en-Rust. 227-3880; 51
Albert & Robb streets, Bourda, 223-
8487, and ground floor City Mall, Camp
St., 654-3235.
For more information, check out
Nicky’s at https://www.facebook.com/
nickysjuice, or email:
nickysjuice@hotmail.com.
Caribbean Life contributor/photographer
Tangerine Clarke, enjoying
jelly from the coconut, picked from
one of the farms owned by Damion
DaSilva in Parika, West-Demerara,
Guyana.
U.S. charges
second man in
assassination plot
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