CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
ANTIGUA
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister,
Gaston Browne said that the
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has
wrecked the economies of the 15-member
Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
grouping, the United States announced
it is doubling its purchase of Pfizer’s
COVID-19 shots to share with the
world to one billion doses.
Brown, who is also chairman of the
15-member grouping
told the virtual Global
COVID-19 Summit
organized by the
White House that, in
some Caribbean countries,
more than 20 percent of Gross
Domestic product (GDP) has been lost;
unemployment has risen; poverty has
expanded; and demands on the state
have multiplied, even as revenues have
declined steeply.
He told the summit that recovering
from the economic effects of
COVID-19 will be protracted, because
hard-won economic progress has been
greatly reversed.
Browne noted that thousands of
people have been infected and thousands
have died, many who had not yet
enjoyed life and others who had much
to contribute.
He said the disease must be stopped
and nations must act together to build
a stronger, better and more prosperous
would.
The prime minister said CARICOM
governments are committed to a global
drive to inoculate 70 percent of the
world’s population by September 2022,
“including in our own countries.”
BARBADOS
Barbados parliament has given the
green light for the island to a transition
to a republic.
Parliament voted by a 25-0 margin
to amend the Constitution (Amendment
Bill) to bring the Republic into
force by Nov. 30.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley told
legislators her administration was not
rushing into republicanism and that
talks regarding the
transition began more
than two decades ago.
She described as a
“simple but functional
bill,” the constitutional
amendment would revoke the
Barbados Order of 1966 as an Order in
Council of her Majesty while keeping
complete the Barbados constitution
The amendment makes provision
for a Barbadian to be a head of state,
change the oath of allegiance from her
Majesty to now the State of Barbados
and to ensure continuity in all of the
other aspects of the functioning of
the state of Barbados through offices,
Caribbean L 6 ife, OCTOBER 15-21, 2021
People chant anti-government slogans during a protest organized by friends and relatives of Biana Velizaire, who was kidnapped
and held for several days by gang members, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Sept. 27, 2021. Haitian police on Monday launched a
special operation in response to the recent surge of kidnappings conducted by gangs. Associated Press/Rodrigo Abd
appointments and commissions.
The government said the change
would bring to an end a British head
of state of Barbados ever since English
settlers landed on the island in
1625 and claimed the island for King
James.
Prime Minister Mottley maintained
the time had come for the transition,
as Barbados needed to be in complete
control of all its affairs.
CARIBBEAN
The Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO) has said that nearly 8,000
confirmed new coronavirus (COVID-
19) have been reported in Caribbean
countries over the last three weeks of
September.
It said that the figure is a 52 percent
increase over the 4,231 cases recorded
in August in Barbados, Antigua and
Barbuda, Dominica,
Grenada, St. Lucia,
St. Kitts and St. Vincent
and the Grenadines.
PAHO said the increase of cases
is largely noted in persons who are
unvaccinated and that the new reported
cases also showed a proportion of
the cases, 15-25 percent to be children
under the age of 18 years old driven by
the highly transmissible Delta variant.
It said in the last seven days in September,
the increase in the number
of cases is led by St. Vincent and the
Grenadines, (282) new cases followed
by St. Lucia (872) new cases and Antigua
and Barbuda (74.2) percent.
“We are observing a situation of
community transmission with limited
additional capacity to respond and
a risk of health services becoming
overwhelmed,” said Dr. Yitades Gebre,
PAHO representative for Barbados and
the Eastern Caribbean.
HAITI
Kidnappers have released two persons,
including journalist Frantzie
Simeon, who had been abducted
recently.
The authorities confirmed that
Simeon, of National Television of
Haiti, was released three days after
her abduction, but gave no details as
to whether or not a ransom had been
paid for the release of the journalist.
The authorities
also confirmed that
former Gabel band
singer, Jean Junior
Marcelus, better
known as “Money G”, who was kidnapped
a month ago, had also been
released.
They also gave no information as
to whether or not a ransom had been
paid.
But the police are still searching
for Mackenley Mogene, an employee of
the Directorate General of the Budget
and his brother, who were kidnapped
recently at the Turgean gas station by
unidentified individuals.
Several countries, including the
United States and Canada, have issued
travel advisories urging their citizens
not to travel to the country as political
instability, crime, especially kidnappings,
have increased.
JAMAICA
Prime Minister Andrew Holness says
government is moving to make travel
with Jamaica’s vaccination card more
seamless by establishing a system for
verifying the validity of the vaccination
status of Jamaicans.
The prime minister’s
announcement
comes following concerns
being raised that the United
Kingdom’s government does not recognize
the vaccination status of Jamaicans
who travel to that country, based
on new travel guidelines established.
“If you need to travel and you arrive
in the foreign country and you present
your card, we will develop the appropriate
system to ensure that there
is the ability to validate that card so
Continued on Page 32
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