CARIBBEAN TODAY

n e WS


LWW-crbbatoa.co


MIAMI The death toll from
a boating accident off the
Turks and Caicos Islands
climbed to 16 after rescue
officials found another body
late last month.
 Up to press time United
States Coast Guard officials
said at least 70 Haitian
migrants were still missing.
 "The main point is that
we continue to search with the
hope we will
find sur-
vivors," said
Petty Officer
Jennifer
Johnson,
adding "how-
ever as time
continues to
pass, the Bastien
chance to find
survivors is dwindling."
 So far 119 passengers have
been rescued after the boat,
with nearly 200 persons sank
as it tried to evade a police
vessel and hit a reef. The
authorities said that one sur-
vivor had also been found on
July 29 on the nearby island of
West Caicos

DESPERATION
 In their desperate attempt
to reach the U.S., Haitians
often use rickety, overcrowded
boats to make the dangerous
journey. In May 2007, an over-


crowded boat carrying over
160 Haitians capsized off the
Turks and Caicos Islands,
killing many, and last year a
boat carrying 30 Haitians sank
off the
Florida's
coast, killing -
nine people.
 Miami-
based Haitian
community
activist
Marleine
Bastien said Hastings
the tragedy
underscores
the need for the Haitian gov-
ernment to do a better job at
monitoring its borders.
 Democratic Congressman
Alcee Hastings, a Haitian
advocate, called the incident a
"sad reminder of the hopeless-
ness and desperation facing
the Haitian people," renewing
his call for temporary protect-
ed status (TPS) for Haitian
migrants. He said it was
"immoral and irresponsible"
to continue to deny TPS to
the estimated 30,000 Haitians
living illegally in the U.S., not-
ing that hurricanes and an
economic crisis have "practi-
cally dried up the remittances
on which so many Haitian
families rely."
0


Obama's victory a symbol of emancipation


from slavery Montserrat's chief minister


BRADES, Montserrat, CMC
- Montserrat's Chief Minister
Dr. Lowell Lewis says the
election of Barack Obama as
the 44th president of the
United States has completed
the journey from the humilia-
tion of slavery to the "very
top of our civilization."
 In a message marking
Emancipation Day recently,
Dr. Lewis said that Obama
and members of his family
"are the symbol of emancipa-
tion in today's world.
 "From their example our
children and grandchildren
will know, that they can and
must try to become all that
they can be and not worry


Lewis


about those people who say
that they cannot or will not."
 He said while in
Montserrat and many places
around the world many races


live together in harmony,
"there is still much work
to be done to make the
Emancipation that took place
real.
 "The cost of transforming
the Caribbean economies
from the sugar estates which
contributed to the industrial
development of Europe and
North America, to the mod-
ern diversified economies we
have today, is yet to be repaid.
The write off of national
debts, as reparation for gener-
ations of suffering and lost
lives, is still a justifiable
demand."
0


U.S. citizenship costs Jamaica's

ruling party another election seat


KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC -
The ruling Jamaica Labour
Party (JLP) has suffered
another setback after the
Supreme Court ruled late last
month that the seat held by its
Member of Parliament for
North West Clarendon,
Michael Stern, should be
declared null and void.
 The motion to declare the
seat vacant had been brought
by the Opposition People's
National Party's (PNP) Richard
Azan.
 During submissions on
July 27, Azan's attorney Abe
Dabdoub urged the court to
declare the seat vacant based
on Stern's admission that he
was a United States citizen on
Aug. 7, 2007, when he was
nominated to contest the gen-
eral election of that year.
 Dabdoub told the court
that Stern has admitted that
he was the holder of a U.S
passport and that he travelled
on the passport everywhere,
except in the Caribbean. He
told the court that the seat
should be turned over to
Azan.
 However, Stern's attorney,
while admitting that his client


was not properly elected, sug-
gested that a by-election be
held instead of the seat being
turned over to the Opposition
candidate.

PNP SUCCESS
 So far, the PNP has
brought two successful court
actions over dual citizenship
against JLP legislators, but the
party has lost the subsequent
by-elections, effectively ensur-
ing that the ruling party main-
tains its slim four-seat majority
in the 60-member Parliament.
 The PNP has filed anoth-
er petition against the JLP's
Shahine Robinson, the
Member of Parliament for
North East St Ann.
 Meanwhile, JLP General
Secretary Karl Samuda said
his party could make a deci-
sion on the outcome of talks
with the PNP regarding the
matter of dual citizenship.
Both major political parties
have been in discussions to
find a solution that would put
an end to the spate of by-elec-
tions.
0


AL AlidamnalcA~com Y-iij IhTnd
0 ourkwest fares, but that's not A.I

You can boo~k flights,. dietk-In View flight

you(Cr (JI) hipme`nl Sign IIl il'r~llh.Ail &rr~..
check your IAn Heaven Rewinds Miles
an d m uoi more,


Check out Airiamakaxcom today.
It's Easy + Convenient!


August 2009


Haitian death toll rises

from boating accident


ule


139