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Vol. 31, Issue 30 QUEENS/LONG ISLAND/BRONX/MANHATTAN JULY 24-30, 2020
POMPEO
BULLIES
CARICOM
CARICOM pushes back
against American threats
By Bert Wilkinson
Several Caribbean Community
governments have in the
past week been forced to spar
with the Trump Administration
and extremists lawmakers
in Washington over the US’s
propensity to force sovereign
nations to do its foreign policy
bidding with the region pushing
back against what they deem
as absurd American demands
that governments expel Cuban
nurses helping in the COVID-
19 pandemic fightback.
Still dreaming up ways of
chocking Cuba to economic
death after decades of failed
policies, a group of very rabid
set of Florida lawmakers have
moved to introduce a bill in
Congress to sanction CARICOM
and other countries which hire
Cuban nurses to help them battle
the Corona virus pandemic
and other health challenges.
Republican lawmakers, of
course, want Congress to pass a
bill called the Cut Profits to the
Cuban Regime Act that would
require the State Department
to sanction independent countries
which have Cuban nurses
and other medical professionals
working alongside their
own. Most CARICOM governments
say they care little for
the bill, noting that the United
States is free to do what it
wants with it.
Senator Rick Scott is listed
as the main architect of this
bill and as widely expected,
is supported by Cuban-born
Texas Senator Ted Cruz and
Cuban American Marco Rubio.
Cuban nurses, those who
came in sizeable numbers
since the COVID-19 outbreak,
are in St. Kitts, Haiti, Jamaica,
Suriname and Barbados, Antigua,
Dominica, St. Vincent and
Grenada with Jamaica getting
the largest group with 140, St.
Lucia 112, Barbados 101 and
St. Kitts about 40. Barbados,
for example, said on Monday
that it has no plans to end the
program at the behest of Washington.
“Barbados is a sovereign
country and we make decisions
in the interest of the country
just like other countries large
and small,” said Minister of
A rendering of Clarkson Estates housing project.
Offi ce of Assemblymember Diana Richardson
New Flatbush housing project unveiled
By Nelson A. King
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on
Tuesday announced plans for
Clarkson Estates, the latest
winning proposal under the
Vital Brooklyn initiative, which
will construct 291 affordable
and supportive apartments in
the Flatbush, Brooklyn neighborhood.
Cuomo said the $1.4 billion
Vital Brooklyn initiative
targets and invests in eight
integrated areas, from health
care to housing, establishing
a new standard for addressing
chronic economic and racial
disparities in Brooklyn’s highneed
communities.
“As the pandemic creates
significant hardships for New
Yorkers, it’s more important
than ever that we expand access
to safe, affordable housing
during these difficult times,”
Cuomo said.
“This project is going to
result in nearly 300 new affordable
and supportive housing
units that will help hundreds
of our friends and neighbors
in Central Brooklyn, and the
state will continue to find ways
to support the New Yorkers
who need it most as we address
the unprecedented challenges
of today,” he added.
Cuomo said Clarkson
Estates, which is being developed
by CAMBA Housing Ventures,
will have 291 affordable
apartments for families
and individuals and half of the
apartments – 146 units – will
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