KINGSTON, Jamaica - Last week's death of the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, happened as the Jamaican Government was advertising its appointment of Dr Wesley Hughes, the former financial secretary, as manager of its PetroCaribe Development Fund.
WASHINGTON, CMC - With the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a major think tank here is querying the future of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) and the Petrocaribe oil agreement with Caribbean countries.
Chávez died last week after a long struggle with cancer.
The Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) noted that the ALBA bloc is made up of a number of Caribbean and Latin American states, whose leaders were “friendly to Chávez, such as Ecuador’s Rafael Correa and Bolivia’s Evo Morales.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - BARBADOS IS MISSING out on housing, environmental and agricultural benefits by not signing on to the Petrocaribe oil agreement. So says Venezuela’s Ambassador to Barbados Jose Gomez Febres, who wants to see Barbados join the list of 17 Caribbean states which have signed the deal with Venezuela to purchase oil at preferential prices. “There are benefits for this country and I hope that soon Barbados will sign up.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Seventeen countries of the Caribbean face a heightened period of economic uncertainty now that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has died. Twelve of the 17 Caribbean countries are members of the Caribbean Community (Caricom). They have become highly reliant on their oil supplies from Venezuela on a part payment-part loan scheme, called PetroCaribe, without which their difficult economic circumstances would be decidedly worse.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - THE death of Hugo Chavez, who led Venezuela for the last 14 years, has brought to an end a type of politics that many would not have associated with a region on the doorsteps of the USA, were the global environment similar to what existed 40 or even 30 years ago.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Good morning, on behalf of Prime Minister the Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the Government welcome to Trinidad and Tobago.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Julian Hunte is unlikely to get the support of the Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control he once headed in elections later this month.
In a peculiar set of circumstances for the March 27 poll in Barbados, the Windwards seconded Jamaican Dave Cameron for president and Dominican Emmanuel Nanthan for vice-president.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Prof John Arnott Spence, who died on Wednesday night at 83, will be remembered for his sterling service to T&T and the region as a scientist, academician and spokesman for agriculture. As a UWI lecturer, public servant and independent senator, even in his retirement years his vast knowledge added value and inspired positive developments, not only in his area of expertise—agriculture—but in many other matters of national importance.
THE VALLEY, Anguilla, CMC – Former home affairs minister Walcott Richardson is due to re-appear in court on May 10 on two charges of indecent assault.
Richardson, who resigned from the Hubert Hughes administration last month, has been granted EC$110,000 (One EC dollar = US$0.37 cents) bail.
In announcing his resignation last month, Richardson said he felt “in the current circumstances it is right for me to tender my resignation as Minister of Home Affairs at this time” while he defended his reputation against the allegations.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Former academic and legislator, Professor John Spence has died. He was 83.
Relatives said that he died of a heart attack late Wednesday.
Spence was a Professor of Botany and also Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and served as an Independent Senator from 1987 to 2000. He was also awarded the Chaconia Medal Gold in 1980.