CARIBBEAN NEWS
Volume 4 ; Number 3
April, 2006 Pato's Note: I just returned from a month spent in the Virgin Islands- part of the time with my daughter on her Spring Break. These were the stories making the news during our stay. Unless otherwise noted, the Virgin Islands Daily News is the source.
ST. JOHN (3/21/06)- Sadness dulled the eyes of 27 illegal immigrants after they were caught on St. John as they made their way from Coral Bay to Cruz Bay on a VITRAN bus. V.I. police, working off a telephoned tip, intercepted the bus before it reached the Cruz Bay ferry dock.
The 26 Haitians (including 2 small girls) and 1 Dominicano were moved to St. Thomas to be processed and then transferred to a federal detention center in Puerto Rico. They have little chance of being granted permission to remain in the U.S.
Police also detained a Haitian man who lives on St. Thomas on a work permit. Federal agents suspect he has helped smuggle people into St. John and St. Thomas.
Signs of the hardships the immigrants faced after landing were scattered along a secluded valley trail up from the sea in Coral Bay. Battered shoes and bits of salt-stiffened clothing were scattered in the bush, evidence of their hurried effort to change into clothes less likely to draw attention.
ST. CROIX (3/26/06)- One of the year's first clouds of Sahara dust has drifted over the territory and is expected to cause hazy skies, colorful sunsets and problems for people with respiratory disorders. The dust cloud extends from south of St. Croix north over St. Thomas and east through the Leeward Islands.
Billions of tons of dust blow off the Sahara in Africa each year and are carried west by the tradewinds. The dust season usually begins in April and begins to ebb in August.
ST. THOMAS (3/20/06)- St. Thomas could get an official underwater graveyard if a permit to place artificial "eternal reef balls" off its shores is approved. The perforated hollow balls, already in place along the coastlines of Florida, Texas, New Jersey and other states, are made of concrete, with the ashes of cremated bodies mixed in.
Such balls allow loved ones to "live on" as their remains become part of a structure that shelters fish and provides coral and algae a place to flourish, according to Dependable Maritime Services who've proposed the project. They've applied for a major water permit from the V.I. DPNR to place reef balls in 3 locations around the island. The company would set up to 12 balls in Brewers Bay, 12 at Coki Point and 38 near Inner Brass Cay- the only ones to include ashes.
Environmental impacts are said to be slim if well placed and don't shift or move in major storms.
ST. CROIX (3/24/06)- A newly formed organization wants to save and preserve 1,000 acres on the island's northwest end as a Maroon Sanctuary Territorial Park to honor slaves who escaped the hardships of bondage by running away to the treacherous hills near Frederiksted's coastline. Community Action for a Maroon Park (CAMP) stated that a park is the best way to preserve and manage the cultural, historical and ecological significance to the sites where maroons once lived.
Dr. Olaf Hendricks, who is leading the effort, said slaves who escaped into the hills were called "marron", which means wild. He said Virgin Islands history shows that slaves ran away as early as the 1650's and that in 1733, when the French left St. Croix, maroons were the only people living on the island. They lived in the hills and formed small communities.
To designate the land as a maroon park, CAMP wants the Virgin Islands government to fulfill a law that dedicates 1,000 acres for a perpetual scenic and preservation easement. The law was established during the Luis administration to offset development in the area. The group plans to seek community input to determine exactly where the park should be.
Hendricks said, "We want people to go out there and feel the spiritualness of that place. If you go there, you will feel things you have never felt before."
ST. CROIX (3/8/06)- A dozen companies- including international powerhouses(?-ed.) Microsoft and GE-are touring the territory as part of a U.S. Interior Dept. mission to increase investment in the Virgin Islands. It is the culmination of several conferences held on the mainland by the department. Businesses that expressed interest in the territory applied for spots on the trade mission and the list was narrowed to these twelve.
Deputy Interior Secretary P. Lynn Scarlett said the department selected companies whose needs matched what the V.I. has to offer. The companies included representatives from agriculture, shipping, information technology, hotel, and real estate investment firms.
In addition to trade, Scarlett discussed EDC issues, a land trade to free up land for a St. John elementary school, fishing issues and the potential for a border patrol unit in the territory.
Pato's note: Here's the list of the "Dozen" that toured the islands. I'll leave it to you to decide if they'll truly benefit the Virgin Islands....
1.AgraCo- sells food processing tools
2.Container-It Inc.- builds containers in China, sells to domestic storage industry
3.D.S. Honda Construction- builds primarily in the L.A. high-rise market
4.Ecotech International- technology to provide chemical-free, low-energy water treatment. (this 1 gets **** from us-eds.)
5.Express Electronics- hardware/software supplier; technology
6.GE- exploring opportunities in the infrastructure sector here
7.Marriott International- looking for new opportunities in the Caribbean
8.Microsoft- not specific about its potential plans for the territory
9.Nekton Diving Cruises- provides seasick-free cruises for divers.
10.The Orbis Group- e-commerce, e-finance
11.Stanford Financial Group- wealth management services
12.World Information Technology Solutions- IT and telecommunication design, build and operational services
IN OTHER NEWS from THE CARIBBEAN:
KINGSTON, JAMAICA (AP-3/29/06)- Mourners remembered an intellectual mentor who brought international attention to the Rastafarian faith, as hundreds of Africans, Americans and Canadians attended the burial of Mortimo Planno. Planno, 76, a philosopher regarded as a key figure in the development of the Rasta faith, died March 5 from a thyroid condition.
His coffin was covered in red, gold and green fabric. A duo sang "Selassie is the Chapel", a song Planno wrote for Bob Marley. "He was a great tutor and motivator", said Alan Cole, a close friend of the late Marley. "He was one of the few Rastamen who got respect internationally."
SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REP. (AP-3/22/06)- A few hundred Dominicanos chanted "Yankees out!" and marched to protest what the U.S. military says is an aid program in the Caribbean nation. About 3,500 U.S. soldiers will pass through Barahona, a coastal city about 118 miles west of Santo Domingo, to build medical clinics and conduct training with Dominicano forces as part of the "New Horizons" Latin American aid program.
Protesters claim the soldiers are being stationed in the country to build a permanent U.S. base near the Haitian border. No more than 450 soldiers will be in the country at one time. They began arriving in Feb. and are scheduled to leave in late May.
OLVESTON, MONTSERRAT (AP- 4/3/06)- Montserrat's volcanic dome experienced quick growth in February, but it will be another year before it reaches proportions similar to those when it collapsed in 2003.
The Soufriere Hills volcano has been continuously venting ash recently, with sandylike ash falling in the island's north and out into the northern Caribbean region.
Pato's note: The ash was visible in St. John about the same time the dust was blowing in from the Sahara. A very hazy couple of days.
KINGSTON, JAMAICA (AP-3/14/06)- Portia Simpson Miller will be sworn in as Jamaica's first female premier on Mar. 30. She will take the oath of office on the same day P.J. Patterson give's his resignation. Simpson Miller said she will name her cabinet the next day. She defeated 3 opponents in the PNP's internal elections on Feb. 25 to replace Patterson.
SOUFRIERE, DOMINICA (AP-3/14/06)- The Dominican government will build hundreds of homes during the next 4 years and will sell land to squatters at below-market rates to help ease the island's housing shortage.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said the government would sell land for about 37 cents per sq. ft. to the squatters- about 1/10 its value. "Every Dominican will have a piece of Dominica", Skerrit said. There are an estimated 200 squatters on government-owned land. Skerrit also said the government would build some 500 houses by 2010.
SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REP. (AP- 3/24/06)- The government here is seeking damages from a U.S. company that it claims dumped tons of industrial waste on its beaches. The suit says that Virginia-based AES Corp., an electric-power company, dumped coal ash on its shores, causing 6 people to die from health complications, as well as harming the environment. The suit is seeking at least $80 million in damages.
AES claims the coal ash was not harmful and that the company had obtained the required permits to dispose of it in the Dominican Republic. The government claims the ash causes skin lesions and respiratory problems for children and the elderly, and has killed vegetation in the area where it was deposited.
MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA (AP- 3/24/06)- A fire apparently started by a cigarette broke out aboard a giant cruise ship as it sailed through the moonlit Caribbean Sea, killing a passenger, injuring 11 others and scorching 100 rooms. The Star Princess, carrying almost 2,700 passengers and over 1,100 crew members, bore evidence of the nighttime drama as it pulled into Montego Bay. About 85 exterior cabins were blackened from the fire, a stark contrast to the otherwise gleaming white exterior of the ship.
Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor at cruisecritic.com, said that she was surprised the number of casualties was not greater. "There they were at sea in the middle of the night", she said. "What really struck me, when seeing the damage was- how could only one passenger die in something so bad?" The passenger died after suffering cardiac arrest.
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO (AP- 3/24/06)- Aruban police suspect missing Alabama teen Natalie Holloway may not have been killed but died from complications involving alcohol and perhaps drugs during a high school trip to Aruba.
Gerald Dompig, deputy Chief of Police for Aruba said, "We feel strongly that she probably went into shock...with all the alcohol..and other drugs, which either she took or were given to her and that she just collapsed." A cover-up may have ensued after her death, he said.
ST. GEORGE'S, GRENADA (BBC/CARIBBEAN- 4/5/06)- The heads of Grenada's nutmeg and cocoa associations have held talks with Prime Minister Keith Mitchell to brief him on what they say is a crisis in their industries. Both remain casualties of Hurricane Ivan, more than a year and a half after the worst hurricane in Grenada's history.
Reginald Buckmire, chairman of the Cocoa Association said, "We are estimating 200 tonnes to be harvested this year. We have not been able to get more than 20% of that amount". The trees that shade the cocoa have fallen in and parasitic vines are strangling the plants. Rats are feeding on the cocoa beans.
Cocoa is 3rd only to tourism and nutmeg, earning Grenada 2 to 4 million EC dollars. More importantly, it employs about 1/3 of Grenada's population.
ENVIRONMENT:
ST. JOHN (3/8/06)- Building on a pilot project they began 2 years ago- virtual preservation of historic structures in the V.I. National Park- several University of Maine professors and engineering students have come to St. John to try the technique again. This time, improved software and heavier use of photographs will help make 3-dimensional models of Leinster Bay ruins more efficient to create and eventually, accessable to the public online.
The aim of the project is to record precisely how some of the park's more than 500 historic structures looked. Many are crumbling now, and funding and time constraints prevent them from being stabilized. With this modeling, the structures could be rebuilt just as they were when enough money becomes available.
ST. THOMAS (3/9/06)- Citing a lack of data, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has rejected a request from the V.I. government to list 2 native species under the Endangered Species Act. The agency announced that the plants, Agave Eggersiana and Solanum conocarpum, did not warrant protection due to insufficient information to determine the true status of either plant in the wild and a lack of evidence of any threats that affect the species.
Agave eggersiana is a tall aloe-like plant native to St. Croix. Solanum conocarpum, also known as marron bacora, is a bushy flowering plant native to St. John. The federal government has declared only 3 V.I. plant species as endangered. DPNR has identified 46 others that are at risk. For a complete list visit: www.vifishandwildlife.com.
ROSEAU, DOMINICA (AP-3/24/06)- A fungus has nearly destroyed a frog once considered a delicacy on this island. Now the govrnment is racing to save the species and prevent the disease's spread to nearby islands.
The disease, caused by the chytrid fungus, was first reported in 2002. Since then it has virtually wiped out the "mountain chicken", a large green frog named for its traditional use as a food. The fungus has been linked to the extinction of amphibians from Australia to Costa Rica. It grows on frog skin, blocking pores and causing imbalances in the frog's system.
The government here has banned hunting and is beginning a captive breeding program. The London Zoological Society has launched a program to conserve Caribbean amphibians.
AGRICULTURE:
ST. CROIX (2/22/06)- Developing the Virgin Islands as the breadbasket of the Caribbean- a notion bandied about for decades- may prove to be a difficult task even as agriculture continues to be one of the fastest growing industries nationwide.
Despite St. Croix's flat terrain and climate, sustainable farming has been elusive as many local farmers consistantly face major hurdles: lack of water, land and funding to purchase farm equipment. Acess to water is the most critical. Farmers need hundreds of gallons of water daily for crops and to feed animals. The Agriculture Dept. fills the void by providing water to farmers at a minimal cost.
The idea that the Virgin Islands may one day export produce at a large scale is unlikely. Large enough tracts of land hardly exist. The Virgin Islands government owns 2000 acres of agricultural land. But the land is slowly being used up for other purposes. Since the 1990's, 500 acres has been used to build homes at Castle Burke and the Educational Complex.
The Virgin Islands imports more than $9 million in fruits and vegetables annually compared to a local market of only $800,000. As in the U.S., competition from corporate farms is plaguing the small farm industry. The Agriculture Experiment Station at the University of the Virgin Islands is trying to help local farmers develop successful farms. Although the model farm has yet to yield a substantial profit after 5 years, the project is far from over. James Rakocy, the experiment station's director says: "The big question is- Is this going to be an economically viable system and is it going to be practical for the Virgin Islands? We just don't know yet."
In a related story:
ST. CROIX (4/1/06)- The USDA Natural Resources and Conservation district office will return $635,000 in federal funding that farmers have failed to take advantage of. The funding is part of the US Agricultulture Dept.'s Environmental Quality Incentive Program- a program that reimburses farmers and ranchers between 50 and 90 percent of money spent to implement recommended practices that conserve soil and water.
Farmers must sign a contract that outlines the conservation practices. As
of this year, 186 farmers signed on but only 46 contracts were filfilled. As District Conservationist Rudy O'Reilly said, "If they don't do anything, we can't do anything."
The return of funds does not jeopardize the future funding of the program and farmers are not penalized for defaulting on the contract and may apply again. The Agriculture Dept. initiated the program in 1997, and since then the Virgin Islands has received $978,000 in funding as part of about $2.5 million awarded to the Caribbean region.
ENTERTAINMENT & CULTURE:
Be sure to go to THE MARKETPLACE for new music reviews and mp3's and to INNER VISIONS ON THE ROAD for the latest on this year's U.S. Tour!
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO (AP- 2/25/06)- Thousands of Puerto Ricans danced to the beat of conga drums at a memorial for Ray Barretto, a world-famous percussionist known for integrating the conga into jazz music, who died at age 76 after undergoing heart by-pass surgery. Fans were regaled with live performances of the grammy-winning artist's music at a ceremony in the Old San Juan district.
Barretto grew up in New York City listening to the music of Puerto Rico and the jazz of Duke Ellington and Count Basie. In the late '50's, he played in Tito Puente's band. His popularity grew in the city's jazz scene. Over the years he recorded with Cannonball Adderley, Keith Tjader and Dizzy Gillespie. He won a Grammy in 1989 for Best Tropical Latin Performance for the song "Ritmo en el Corazon". In 1990, Barretto was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame. This year, he was named one of the National Endowment for the Arts' Jazz Masters of 2006, the nation's highest jazz music honor.
ST. THOMAS (2/25/06)- Brought to the Caribbean by enslaved Africans, the bamboula is a dance with a fighter's spirit- surviving in the Virgin Islands despite centuries of European repression. The underdog to the more popular quadrille is unapologetically African, blending sacred and sensual movement and sound that could at times stir up rebellion.
"What it is, is you ready to fight!", says dance instructor Mary Ann Christopher. "It was more than revolutionary dance", says Chenzira Kahina, who teaches bamboula. "It used to make enslavers nervous."
Marked by swaying hips, trembling of the body and climactic drum accents, versions of the bamboula have been found in the Congo, Cameroon, Senegal, Guinia-Conakry, Burkina Faso, Guadaloupe, St. Lucia, Puerto Rico and Louisiana. To a large extent, the dance has gone underground now.
With a bit of cassava root and bleaching in the sun, the women of old knew how to convert the coarse flour sack into a fresh bamboula costume. Personal business could become public knowledge with the help of a bamboula song, accelerated by a rigorous drum beat. The main drum was the ka, a big drum straddled by one person who would play the head with the hands and rub their heel against the skin for a whooping sound effect. Another person with 2 katta sticks would compliment the rhythm by playing the barrel of the drum.
Once the rhythm started, the bamboula queen would lead while others would answer. A traditional heartbeat riddim played on the drum speeds up, encouraging gestures, facial expressions and quick movements from the dancers.
The date was Sept. 1, 1892. The location was Main St.- Charlotte Amalie. The occasion was angry coal carriers, ready to mash up something.
"Roll Isabella Roll
Ah went to the shop with a quart
To buy 15 cent ting
When ah look in meh hand
Dem shopkeeper gimme tally
for change."
Because of its connection to acts of resistance, bamboula was the constant subject of government bans. Dancers were forced to practice in secret, and those who kept it alive passed it on to those who were interested later. "Bamboulla dancing is just as much a part of our African heritage as are Anansi stories, jumbie stories, mocko jumbi and kallaloo", says Educator Jean Esannason. "We should endeavor to preserve what is left of this dance".
SPORTS:
from the ARAWAKROOTS Sports desk:
Well, I don't have an actual report to give. I DID see a heart-breaking cricket loss by West Indies to New Zealand on SPORTSMAX at Trini Charlie's house. It was played in Aukland and was phenominal to watch. Both Lara and Santerpohl were lackluster, but the new W.I. blood played strong and were constantly giving them a chance against New Zealand.
I promised Charlie and all the other West Indies Cricket lovers in the V.I. that, with the World Cup 2007 being played in the West Indies, I would plug SPORTSMAX so that we can watch the CUP here on the continent. I've already given notice to DISH that I WANT MY SPORTSMAX! Join the chorus and let your provider know that you want to see the World Cup!
EDITORIAL:
So what to make of my journey.....Well, after landing in Charlotte Amalie in late Feb, and casually picking up my Cape Air baggage from the tiny carousel in the back while all of the passengers on the big name carriers climbed over each other to get their luggage from the 2 broken carousels in the main terminal.... I praised Jah for my frugalness. While reading of the plight of the immigrants landing on our shores praying for a better life....I praised Jah that I&I still have relative ease trodding thru Babylon. After hearing of the callous removal of a landmark Ficus tree by a new land owner over on St. Thomas....I praised Jah for Trinidad Charlie and his farm in Guinia Ghutt, where every tree is sacred. After reading about how a radio tower being built is more important than an ancient Taino village site being preserved.....I praised Jah, for radio personalities like Lord Blakey and Ras Reg of KS-101 in Cruz Bay that keep the true spirit of the music alive. When I view the wickedness right before my eyes of man ah man in St John.....I praise Jah for the family of man that I feel only there in St. John. And to that family I always give Thanks and Praises to the Most High! Blessings to you all!
Oh yeh- as I pulled up to the airport and saw the line of tourists at American's ticket counter that winded its way almost to the parking lot, while I was being casually greeted by Cape Air's reservationist at their empty kiosk..... I PRAISED JAH!
