balance PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - APRIL 21, 2013 counted as the first day in the rest of the life of the People’s Partnership, born exactly three years before in Fyzabad. Headlines yesterday reported the departure of Jack Warner, maybe the most fearsome of the political heavyweights in the Partnership that became the Government.
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PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - “Don’t cry for Jack Warner, you haven’t seen Jack Warner yet.” That was the message to supporters yesterday from Jack Warner who has resigned as national security minister and chairman of the United National Congress (UNC). Warner met executive members of his Chaguanas West constituency office yesterday to explain why he believed the time had come to tender his resignation.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce said yesterday it was “pleased” with the resignation of Jack Warner as National Security Minister as it was long overdue. The organisation, however, lamented a continued lack of transparency in the Government. The Chamber said while the adage of “innocent until proven guilty” should apply to each individual, the serious allegations raised against Warner warranted that his decision on Sunday to resign should have been one of his first actions.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - After Friday’s revelations at Fifa, enumerated in a damning report prepared by Sir David Simmons and released to the public, it was just a matter of time before the People’s Partnership Government and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar would have had to make a decision about Jack Warner. The report, which listed many troubling findings about Mr Warner’s role in Concacaf during his time as its president, demands a full response from the former football boss.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar said she accepted the resignation of her embattled national security minister Austin “Jack” Warner because he had become a major distraction to the work of her coalition People’s Partnership government.
“Mr Warner’s resignation from the Cabinet comes with a degree of regret as he was a highly industrious and productive member of the government, having served with distinction in the Ministries of Works and National Security,” she said.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - For decades, wherever he has stood, especially with regard to football, Austin 'Jack' Warner left a stench - of the type most people associate with corruption. That, of course, has never been proven where such things are determined - in courts of law. What was unique about Mr Warner, though, is that those closest to him seemed to lack the olfactory capacity for his range of scents. That deficiency, Mr Warner seemed to assume, was universal, particularly in Trinidad and Tobago, his home. Accusations against him were to be denied and toughed out. Life would go on.
China is continuing a massive rescue operation in Sichuan province, deploying thousands of workers, after a powerful earthquake on Saturday. Rescue workers are using dynamite and heavy equipment to get through roads blocked by landslides to reach remote areas, reports say. But reaching these areas has been a struggle, with bad weather and powerful aftershocks contributing to delays.
ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay — Horacio Cartes, a Paraguayan tobacco magnate, faced various challenges during his presidential bid. He was pressed to explain why antinarcotics police officers apprehended a plane carrying cocaine and marijuana on his ranch in 2000; why he went to prison in 1989 on currency fraud charges; and why he had never even voted in past general elections. till, voters across the country seemed ready to give Mr. Cartes the benefit of the doubt, handing him a solid victory in Paraguay’s presidential election on Sunday.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — The Roman Catholic Church weighed in yesterday on Venezuela's political crisis, with Pope Francis expressing deep concern and calling for dialogue in the wake of a disputed presidential election.
President Nicolas Maduro and Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles both welcomed the pope's statement on their Twitter accounts, while sidestepping the call for a dialogue.
CARACAS, (Reuters) – About the only tranquil place in Caracas over the last few days is a hilltop military museum housing the remains of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.
Visitors tip-toe around his marble sarcophagus, reprimanded by guards if their voices rise above whispers.
Outside, a shell-shocked nation is still reeling both from Chavez’s death from cancer last month and a week of violence and recriminations over the disputed election to succeed him.