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Vol. 32, Issue 13 QUEENS/LONG ISLAND/BRONX/MANHATTAN Mar. 26-Apr. 1, 2021
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Female likely to break
through as new CARICOM
secretary general
By Bert Wilkinson
Sometime in the middle of
next month, the Caribbean
Community’s council of ministers
will meet online to, among
other matters, review the list
of applicants for the top civil
servant’s job in the region and
all roads appear to be leading
to a woman heading up the
bloc’s secretariat for the very
first time.
Nominations for the position
of chief executive are scheduled
to close at the end of this
month and the word making
the rounds among governments
and diplomatic missions is that
it will be tough for the selection
panel to avoid giving strong
consideration to the slew of
highly qualified and competent
women whose support teams
say they will throw their hat in
the ring.
And once the council shortlists
the best of the lot and sends
its recommendations to heads
of government scheduled to
meet in May, also virtually, the
race to replace Dominican Irwin
LaRocque would be nearing a
conclusion, unless the team of
leaders deem the applicants as
unsuitable.
Officials say that both the
council and the leaders want to
wrap up the selection process
sometime in May to at least give
the new incumbent a month or
so to settle down and prepare for
the main heads of government
summit in early July.
An early indication of how
the ‘horses’ might run emerged
last weekend when veteran Surinamese
diplomat and long serving
deputy secretary general,
Monarma Soeknandan dropped
more than a veiled hint about
being interested in moving up
to the number one position. She
has been in the number two slot
at the Guyana-based secretariat
since 2014.
She feels that authorities in
Suriname should not miss this
golden opportunity to push the
candidature of one of its own
In this Aug. 6, 2020 fi le photo, New York State Attorney General Letitia James takes a
question at a news conference in New York. Associated Press/Kathy Willens, fi le
AG gets a win for basic human decency
By Nelson A. King
New York Attorney General,
Letitia James on Wednesday
announced that the ruling
she secured striking down the
former Trump administration’s
attempt to deny food assistance
to nearly 700,000 Americans,
including Caribbean immigrants,
by changing the rules
for the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP) will
continue to have the force and
effect of law following the dismissal
of the federal government’s
appeal from that ruling.
“This decision is a win for
basic human decency,” James
said. “The former administration’s
rule would have needlessly
pushed hundreds of thousands
of vulnerable Americans
into greater economic uncertainty.
“The attempted restrictions
do not represent who we are as
a nation– a nation that uplifts
the communities that need it
most,” she added. “I am grateful
that this rule will not be
implemented, and I join my
colleagues in urging a muchneeded
expansion to the SNAP
program.”
In January 2020, James and
District of Columbia Attorney
General Karl Racine filed a lawsuit
challenging the US Department
of Agriculture’s (USDA)
rule that would limit states’
ability to extend benefits from
SNAP beyond a three-month
period for certain adults.
The lawsuit argued that the
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