April 18th, 2012

WASHINGTON, USA — Thierry Mayard-Paul, Haiti’s Chief of Staff and Minister of the Interior, Territorial Collectivities and National Defense, led a Haitian delegation that shared Haiti’s disaster risk management and recovery experience with a cadre of top-level experts from approximately 38 nations, at the Consultative Group meeting of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR).

Haiti was the only Western Hemispheric country invited to attend the event as a developing country, for the period 2012- 2013.

Mayard-Paul described the Martelly administration’s vision for emergency preparedness and response, stating: “the 2010 earthquake demonstrated that development will never be successful if we don’t build risk reduction at our core….

PHILIPSBURG, St Maarten — An 86-year-old grandfather and a plucky crew of over-50s recently set sail from St Maarten in the Caribbean, bound for the Bahamas, on a raft made from water pipes. They hope to raise £50,000 for the international charity WaterAid.

Writer and explorer Anthony Smith last year made history by crossing the Atlantic Ocean on the raft ’An-Tiki’, travelling 2,600 miles in 66 days. Smith and his three-man crew of ‘mature and intrepid gentlemen’ arrived safely in St Maarten on 6 April 2011, proving you’re never too old to have an adventure. However, they had been blown off course from their destination, the island of Eleuthera in…

ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands — Police in the British Virgin Islands are investigating a report that a couple from the cruise ship ‘Costa Luminosa’ is missing.

According to the Police Information Office, the port agent for the M/V Costa Luminosa stated that the ship arrived in the Virgin Islands on Wednesday April 11 with the two passengers, who first boarded in the Dominican Republic.

After delaying its departure to await the passengers’ return, the cruise ship left the territory without the passengers. Their passports, which are now in police possession, identify the two passengers as Elicia Garciaposo (female) and Aguilar Aller (male), both of Peru. Police inquiries, however,…

CARTAGENA, Colombia — The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was assured of the support of Mexico with respect to advocating for small vulnerable economies in the upcoming meeting of the G20, which is being hosted by Mexico in June.

The assurance came at a meeting between CARICOM heads of government and the president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, held on Friday prior to the Sixth Summit of the Americas being held in that city.

The CARICOM leaders used the opportunity to impress on their Mexican counterpart the importance of the G20 revisiting the basic premise upon which countries are classified in the International Financial Institution framework. Such…

BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CUOPM) — St Kitts and Nevis Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Sen. Richard Skerritt, wants Caribbean governments to reach out to grounded low-cost airline REDjet to ensure its return to the Caribbean skies soon.

Skerritt, in Guyana for the 13th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development, told journalists in Georgetown on Monday that there is a “pent-up” demand for air travel in the region, especially with the spiral cost for regional airlift.

Skerritt, who also chairs the Caribbean Tourism Organization, said high air travel cost will have dire consequences on regional tourism in the very near future.

He noted that REDjet’s recent suspension of its services, presents…

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (GINA) — Impediments to sustainable development within the Caribbean region were brought to the fore by former president of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, as delegates gathered on day two of the 13th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development.

Jagdeo, because of official duties overseas, was unable to attend the conference on Monday, where he was scheduled to deliver a keynote address; however, he spoke to the gathering via a video message, expressing hope that it leads to a strong focus on solutions to climate change.

Given the concomitant consequences of natural disasters on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and a World Bank study which places the Caribbean in the 10…

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) — Jeff Bingaman, a US senator from New Mexico and member of the Democratic Party, who serves as chairman of Committee Outreach for the Senate Democratic Caucus, acknowledged on Monday that Washington’s policy towards Cuba is ‘out of step’.

“We are out of step with our policy with Cuba. It is past time to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba and end the embargo,” Bingaman said.

According to press reports, the senator noted that the US policy towards Cuba “has been heavily dictated by Cuban Americans, while ignoring the example set by other Latin American countries, which openly trade with the communist country.”

Bingaman was reacting to what he…