FIND THE LATEST NEWS UPDATED EVERY DAY AT CARIBBEANLIFENEWS.COM
Vol. 30, Issue 21 QUEENS/LONG ISLAND/BRONX/MANHATTAN May 24–30, 2019
Guyanese celebrate
Barbara Atherly, consul general of Guyana to NY, and H.E. Rudolph M. Ten-Pow,
permanent representative of Guyana to the UN, accepting a citation from Angela
Chambers, on behalf of the offi ce of Brooklyn District Attorney, Eric Gonzalez. See
story on Page 3 Photo by Tangerine Clarke
By Nelson A. King
Governor Andrew M.
Cuomo on Wednesday, May
15 signed the Domestic Violence
Survivors Justice Act
(DVSJA), legislation first
introduced in 2011 — now
sponsored by Brooklyn Senator
Roxanne J. Persaud —
that reduces prison sentences
for survivors of domestic violence
and allows judges to
order them to communitybased
programs instead of
incarceration.
Persaud, who represents
the 19th Senatorial District
in Brooklyn, said the Domestic
Violence Survivors Justice
Act allows judges in New York
to sentence male and female
victims of domestic violence
convicted of a crime to lesser
prison time — determinate
or indeterminate — if the
defendant was largely influ-
Continued on Page 14
By Bert Wilkinson
While authorities in Trinidad
and Tobago battle to stabilize
its economy, grapple with
gangland violence, a murder
every 24 hours and prepare the
country for general elections
next year, government is also
being forced to cope with a
multifaceted problem involving
Venezuelan refugees including
sex rings, refugees and possibly
acts of piracy at sea.
Authorities say that the Venezuelan
refugee problem is
beginning to take its toll on
state resources including additional
pressure on the coastguard
to monitor waters in
the Gulf of Paria where a vessel
with 32 people went under
last month killing all aboard.
Authorities have estimated
the number of Venezuelans in
Trinidad in the past two years
at between 40,000 to 60,000.
In the past week for example,
authorities were pushed to
respond to reports that another
Continued on Page 14
New law protects domestic violence survivors
CRISIS
TAKES
ITS TOLL
Trinidad and Tobago faces
complex problems with
Venezuelan refugees
/CARIBBEANLIFENEWS.COM