Caribbean RoundUp

BAHAMAS

The Prime Minister and CARICOM Chairman Phillip Davis recently made the announcement that the Bahamas government has taken the decision to provide gang members with employment opportunities in order to combat rising crime in the communities.

Speaking at a media conference, Davis said that they have rolled out an initiative where they have asked former gang leaders and members to reach out to current gang members to lay down their arms and try to broker peace among their rivals.

“One of the things that we also find is that a number of the gang members are also unemployed. And so, we are about to initiate a programme where we are going to engage them in work that they can do,” David added.

The jobs offered will be cleaning a particular community for a period of 6-8 weeks. Their plan is to keep the gang members busy.

Davis also said that through the Ministry of Education they are trying to make early interventions in primary and secondary schools, where some students are being recruited by gang members.

The government will go all out to protect these children from falling into bad company or criminal activities by having after-school programs that will teach them about making the right choices, Davis added.

CARICOM 

While Caribbean leaders call on the US to do more to stem the influx of illegal guns into the region, United States Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, Candace Bond says the US has invested millions of dollars and implemented many initiatives to help stop the flow of illegal guns into the Caribbean.

Bond sought to highlight the United States’ contribution to the fight against the illegal gun trade while speaking recently at the closing ceremony of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative‘s (CBSI), along with the Caribbean Implementation Agency for Crime and Security three-day seminar on preventing illicit trafficking of firearms.

Her comments came following the appeal by T&T Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley and other CARICOM members to the US, to do more to prevent guns manufactured in that country from illegally entering the Caribbean countries.

At the CBSI meeting, Bond responded that the US has been acting on the issue. ” The United States has undertaken significant actions to illicit firearms trafficking in the region, unbeknownst to some of the folks that were on attendance last week,” she said.

“Through CBSI, the United States has invested over US$832 million in the Caribbean to reduce illicit firearms trafficking, increase public safety and security, and promote social justice,” she added.

Bond said the United States’ commitment to stemming the flow of illegal guns could also be seen in landmark legislation, recently passed, and enforced to prevent gun violence and strengthen border security.

Bond said the US Congress had allocated US$3.4 billion towards modernizing ports of entry on US northern and southern borders, supporting increased border security efforts and enhancing information sharing on illicit firearms trafficking.

GUYANA

Immigration officials in the United States have refused to give an explanation after the seizure of a mobile phone belonging to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mae Toussaint Jr. Thomas, who was travelling through the United States en route to China.

Permanent Secretary in Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Elizabeth Harper, sought an explanation after the incident took place but was told that nothing could be provided.

“We do not have any specific information to share,” US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission, Adrienne Galanek told Ms. Harper in response to an inquiry.

However, the American Embassy’s correspondence merely reproduced standard CBP reasons for conducting secondary checks on all incoming foreigners and American citizens.

The American Embassy advised the Guyana government that CBP agents could ask detailed information about the purpose of visiting the US, travel history and they and their belongings can be searched thoroughly.

“Such inspections may include a search of all electronic information stored on your laptop, cellphone and other electronic device.”

During an interview with Demerara Waves Online News, a senior Guyana government official said the United States is not obligated to offer an explanation concerning the seizure of the phone and that the Guyana government was not formally notified of the incident and so the government would await the return of the Permanent Secretary.

HAITI

The police has pledged to crack down on unrelenting gang violence that has paralyzed swaths of Haiti’s capital and pleaded with Haitians to end a string of grisly vigilante killings.

The appeal came after residents were armed with machetes, bottles and rocks in the hilly suburbs of Haiti’s capital. The residents fought back against encroaching gangs in a series of clashes, a day after a crowd burned 13 suspected gangsters to death in a gruesome outburst of vigilante violence.

Tired of relying on an under-staffed police department, scores of men in the Canape Very neighborhood of Port-au-Prince spent the night on roofs and patrolled entrances of their community blocked with big trucks spray-painted with the words, “Down with gangs.”

Six other suspected gang members in the neighborhood of Turgeau who allegedly were shot by police were also set on fire recently.

The United Nations estimates that gangs now control 80 percent of Port-au-Prince as lawlessness has escalated since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

The new UN special envoy for Haiti called for the immediate deployment of a specialized international force that Prime Minister Ariel Henry first requested in October, echoing a similar plea from UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez.

JAMAICA

The number of tourists flocking to Jamaica’s sun-drenched beaches soared nearly 100 percent in the first three months of the year, causing long queues and hours-long waits for arriving passengers at the island’s main airport.

Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett told The Associated Press that the problem stemmed from a shortage of airport staff to process the unexpected volume of people flying into Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay since the end of the pandemic.

Bartlett told parliament that there were 1.18 million arrivals from January to March — 94 percent more than the same period of 2022 and a record high for Jamaica’s tourism high season.

“The recovery has been stronger than anticipated and everybody all over the world is having difficulty with their airports because many of the workers have not come back,” Bartlett said.

He said authorities plan to spend more on technology as they strive to do away with paperwork at the airport, including ending a requirement for visitors to fill out a form upon arrival.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the problems with Sangster underscore the need to push through the $70 million modernization and expansion project that was already under way.

The work is scheduled to be completed by 2025, and Holness said the improvements at the Caribbean’s largest and busiest airport “will make Jamaica more attractive and make Jamaica more competitive with other countries in the region, which have also invested heavily in improving their infrastructure.”

Bartlett said the Ministry of Tourism’s growth plan aims to have the island draw five million visitors annually by 2025. That would be a 35 percent increase from Jamaica’s peak of 3.7 million tourists in 2022.

TRINIDAD 

Police from all 10 divisions across Trinidad and Tobago are working with the Cyber Crime Unit in tracking the origin of a threatening e-mail that was sent to several schools across the country early last Friday, which led to the disruption of classes and CSEC examinations.

Police said the e-mails, which threatened the use of explosives to kill, were sent to early childhood care facilities, primary schools and secondary schools as early as 7:30 a.m. After which school officials immediately contacted the Ministry of Education and the police, who initiated evacuation procedures.

Senior police confirmed that members of the police canine unit using bomb-sniffing dogs and the Explosive Devices Unit of the police Special Branch visited schools and searched the compounds. However, no explosives or suspicious devices were found at any of the schools.

Throughout the country, teachers and principals were seen leading students out of schools to muster points as parents hurried to pick up their children. The threats led to early dismissal of schools.

During a media conference that afternoon, Minister of Education, Dr. Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said, “we have to be more mindful of the effects of our actions on our children, so I would really, in the strongest terms, condemn what happened today and I would appeal to those involved to not do this again to our children.”

“This has happened before and could happen again and, really, the only thing that we can do is to do exactly what we did, and allow the police and the experts to make those checks to ensure our students are safe.”

“That is why this is such an insidious action, because it affects and disrupts and there is nothing the ministry can do to prevent this. We must at all times err on the side of caution for the safety of our children,” she said.

Minister of National Security, Fitzgerald Hinds said he condemned the threats, describing the incidents as “abominable” but was also pleased with the response of the protective services.

He appealed to all citizens to assist the police if they have information, which can be helpful in the national effort to control and eliminate criminal behavior which disrupts and damages our citizens.

— Compiled by Devika Ragoonanan