By Winsome Trudy:

HARDLY anything about Haiti should surprise anybody these days, but the return of Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier blindsided just about everybody on both sides of the Atlantic... well maybe with the exception of the French.

As if the January 12 earthquake wasn't bad enough, coupled with the uncertainties surrounding the general elections, in flies Baby Doc and with him more confusion. There has been much speculation as to his reasons for returning to his homeland where the threat of imprisonment has long loomed in the event of his return. So why now?

His arrival on January 16, the original date for the run-off elections, is seen as having some significance. If his intentions included creating added confusion, then he has already achieved that in spades.

The speculations about his reasons have been many and the influential US administration seems to have been taken off guard along with nearly everybody else. The Government of France, his hosts since his unceremonious ejection from leadership in Haiti in 1986, claim that they too were unaware of his plans and informed Haiti soon after he had boarded the flight home. After all, they noted, he was the holder of a Haitian diplomatic passport and so could not have been prevented in his return quest. Never mind the small point that it had expired.

That he was given a diplomatic passport in 2005 is also a curious point to note. Given the timing, he would have been then facilitated in this by the then interim prime minister, Gérard Latortue, who had seemed sympathetic towards US policies. It is hardly surprising to learn that it was not renewed by subsequent administrations in Haiti.

President Préval's move to make good on his long-standing threat to level corruption charges against the former dictator should he return, may have discouraged any immediate return plans by another former leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who still enjoys strong support on the ground in Haiti. That would certainly have further ignited more confusion and chaos, not to mention the wrath of the power base in North America.

One thing is certain, in the unlikely event that Baby Doc has any notion of being reinstated by his supporters, he is unlikely to be welcomed by Caricom leaders. Recalling the stance of the Caribbean Community when the former dictator was pushed from his perch, we can expect that relations would be icy.

His ejection in February 1986 was actively encouraged by Caribbean governments, notably Jamaica. Indeed, recent comments by former Prime Minister Edward Seaga confirm that the JLP-led administration helped to orchestrate deportation proceedings by giving active encouragement to Duvalier to leave post-haste.

France's role in his return would be something that Caricom would most likely be especially interested in, given that France has feigned ignorance of his plans prior to his boarding the aircraft. Indeed, taking into consideration the fact that his Haitian passport had expired before his departure from France, this begs the question of whether he travelled on a French passport.

While all this speculation prevails, Haiti's woes persist. The rebuilding programme and the effort to curtail the cholera epidemic that has so far claimed nearly 4,000 victims, have clearly been hampered. Besides everything else, the prevailing confusion makes it difficult for any positive action to be undertaken.

As Caricom citizens and close neighbours of Haiti, we need to be particularly concerned with this change of focus. If cholera were to spread to other Caricom nations we could be faced with a pandemic-sized problem, as no Caribbean nation has recent experience with the treatment of cholera or what it would require in terms of health facilities, personnel and communication.

But even as the Haitians have had to grapple with these concerns, including the menacing presence of the former dictator, the US administration has wielded the big stick in demanding that the Préval administration accept the recommendation of the report of the Organisation of American States (OAS) election team of observers and eliminate the president's favoured candidate, Jude Celestine, from the run-off in favour of a popular contender, Michel Martelly, who is warning of renewed protests if he is not on the ballot. In throwing down the gauntlet, the US State Department announced that it revoked the visas of about a dozen Haitian officials.

It would be interesting to know if President Préval and Prime Minister Bellerive are on that list.

The official statement by the State Department is even more ominous. It suggests that the US$1-billion aid pledged to the recovery programme may be on hold. The truth is that this money has been on hold since the day it was pledged at the New York meeting of donors in 2010. So nothing has changed except that before the statement there was some hope of funds being freed up. Now there is an excuse not to release funds any time too soon.

In a situation in which every week brings a new round of problems, the ball is in Préval's court. Just how he plays his hand is anybody's guess at this stage. At this point in time, he does not appear to have too many options. However, the Haitians are a feisty, resilient people and their current leader may well tell the State Department to go to hell. But at what cost?

Based on comments from diplomatic sources, should Preval choose to disregard the OAS's recommendation regarding the run-off candidates his presidency could become illegitimate after February 7, the date his constitutional term ends. And where does that leave Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive?

Under the Haitian Constitution, the president of the country's highest court would become president. Hence Bellerive could remain in place until a new president is inaugurated. Whether he agrees to that condition also remains an open question. But by the time this column is read we should have answers to most of these questions.

Those of us who are waiting on Caricom to issue a statement seem to me to be placing far more weight on Caricom's position than is realistic. Sometimes a strategic silence is the best option.

Correction: Readers should note that OAS representative Albert R Ramdin is Surinamese and not Trinidadian as stated in my column published on Wednesday, January 19. I regret the error.

January 30, 2011

jamaicaobserver

Rough Cut

By Felix F. Bethel

The Bahama Journal

“As you age and as you learn more and more about life in all its awesome power, majesty and pathos, you come to understand what King Solomon sought to convey when he returned and reported that, there was a time for everything under heaven; inclusive of a time to be born and a time to die.

“You also come to understand that, what goes around comes around; that whatever you sow, you shall surely reap; and so it now arises that I now find myself wondering about some of the seeds I planted in times past.

“And as I wonder, I am impressed by the fact that, seeds planted in this life that has been mine are today blooming like nobody’s business – some for good and some for bad. And in it all, I consider it all the greatest of joys.” Felix Bethel.

Yesterday morning –as the thunder rolled and the lightning flashed – I listened in as Aretha Franklin sang her heart out with a most wonderful rendition of Amazing Grace; and she said it just right, Amazing Grace – how sweet the sound/ Grace, Grace – so safe in the arms of Jesus and grace will lead me on/ and as she cried, I wept, I once was blind, now I see!

O grace/ and the thunder rolled and the lightning flashed/

And so, it was just yesterday morning - as the thunder rolled and the lightning flashed – I listened in as Aretha Franklin sang her heart out with a most wonderful rendition of Amazing Grace; and she said it just right, Amazing Grace – how sweet the sound/ Grace, Grace – so safe in the arms of Jesus and grace will lead me on/ and as she cried, I wept, I once was lost, now I’m found.

O grace/ and the thunder rolled and the lightning flashed/

That is just how sweet it was in the time when I sat and wrote these words that provide –as it were- some background to a story that just begs to be retold in all its wonder, pathos and resurrection glory.

This story begins with the birth of a girl-child in Harlem Hospital; the theft of that child – and thereafter years of struggle with an identity this child knew happened to belong to someone else.

She grew up knowing that the woman who purported that she was mother-dearest was no such person; and so, when the moment came, this girl-child confronted this Hecate and learned that her ‘mother’ was not her mother.

We now know the rest of the story – this woman was a kidnapper.

And the girl child in question – once named Carlina White – could one fine day admit: “I Don't Know Who I am…”

And so it was that she called a Missing Person’s Hotline and said, "I don't know who I am."

Mercifully, this young woman had in her possession a document that did not lie – she had a photograph of the baby girl who was kidnapped from Harlem Hospital.

As we now know, the photo connected her to her mother, Joy White.

[And Aretha Franklin cried out, I once was lost and now I’m found – was blind but nooooooo w I see…Through, Through many dangers, toils, I have already come…Jesus was with me…!]

And as Carlina White cried out –safe thus far; that same old grace; and she said, "I'm so happy. At the same time, it's a funny feeling because everything's brand new. It's like being born again…"

I want the world to know, it was grace…

And now we know that, Lisa White said that her sister, Joy White, knew from the photo that Carlina was the baby that was snatched from her so many years ago.

So safe thus far…

"My sister Joy called me/ 'Lisa guess what, they may have found Carlina.' I was like, 'Are you kidding me?' She said, 'yes I'm going to send you these pictures of Carlina.' And I said, 'send them to me,' and she sent them and she said, 'Lisa, that is mini-me. That is me, I know that's my daughter…'" Lisa White said.

She said, 'Yes I'm going to send you these pictures of Carlina.' And I said, 'send them to me,' and she sent them and she said, 'Lisa, that is mini-me. That is me, I know that's my daughter…”

That is precisely what Lisa White said.

And she said that, it made me so happy.

Felix Bethel is also happy.

This former black bastard and former man-child growing up green and young in the old days Out East is happier today – on this blessed Thursday – precisely because Carlina White, who is now a mother of her a 6-year-old little girl named Samani, has [at long last] met with her biological family.

And as I have learned blood spoke to blood.

As the news report notes, "It was wonderful, she didn't even seem like a stranger, she just fit right in," Elizabeth White said. "We all went up there, we had dinner together, her aunts were there. She brought her beautiful daughter. It was magic."

It was magic.

"I'm just so happy she's back. I said, 'you're going to get so many hugs! You're going to be sick of us.' She said, 'you know what, I never had hugs like that.' I'm just happy she's back. Thank you God thank you Jesus. I don't want her to ever go back I want her to stay here," Lisa White said.

Thank you God thank you Jesus. I don't want her to ever go back I want her to stay here," Lisa White said.

Here you may wish to know some of the news behind the news

Take note that, “Nejdra Nance, whose birth name was Carlina White, miraculously reunited with her family after 23 years.

“Nance was kidnapped at a Harlem hospital in 1987, just a few weeks after being born and ended up being raised in Bridgeport, Conn.

“Over time, she realized how much she did not look like the rest of the family, noticeably not like her alleged mother, Agnotta Pettway. The rest of the family also noticed the lack of resemblance.

“People would say little things, like she didn't look like Ann,” said Ashley Pettway, a “cousin” of Nance's. “But it was never spoken out loud, just things said under the table.”

“When the young girl got pregnant at 16 years old, she asked her “mother” for a birth certificate, but could not procure one. When she wanted to get a job, her mother could not provide any social security numbers or other documentation. Nance finally confronted her about it; Pettway admitted that she was not her real mother.

“The girl moved out and began a long search to find her biological parents. Nance went to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children where they showed her a picture of a little baby, Carlina Renae White.

“When Nance saw the picture, she knew it was her. And a DNA test confirmed it…”

The Center contacted Joy White, the mother of Carlina.

And so today, I can report that, Carlina has been reunited with her mother and her extended family – and that, God is good and yet again, He is right on time…

And as Carlina White said, “I'm so happy! At the same time, it's a funny feeling because everything's brand-new. It's like being born again."

Yes, Jesus, it's like being born again.

Thank you God thank you Jesus. I don't want her to ever go back I want her to stay here," Lisa White said.

Thank you God thank you Jesus. I don't want her to ever go back I want her to stay here," Lisa White said.

Sure thing, it is like being born again!

January 27, 2011

The Bahama Journal

Caribbean Blog International

By Rebecca Theodore:

Behold! The tyrant of the Andes -- Hugo Chavez. Staring into the mirror of mirrors, he laments on his misery because the natural order within him is disturbed. A soul dominated by mad lust and egoism. Oppressed by his own fanatic and narcissistic ambitions, he sees the reflection of eccentric objects – he sees Colombia’s TV soap opera featuring a troublesome dog called ‘little Hugo’. He sees Bogota granting the US military access to expand the fight against drug trafficking. He breaks the mirror in disbelief. He is raised to the absolute power that corrupts absolutely mantra -- the eerie talent that employs divisive rhetoric, hostilities and untold sufferings to humanity.
 

And like a wild wind blowing in disarray, the deadly Andean winds are calling out the shadows of war. Talks of breaking diplomatic ties and nationalization of Colombian companies have not diminished. Chavez’s tirade of open hostility towards Colombia has not subsided. Colombia is the cause of all the ills in Latin America. The winds of war are rashly sweeping by. Chávez characterizes the increased US military presence a threat to his country's national security. He speaks openly of an impending war.

Deemed the ‘Israel of the Andes’, Colombia is facing isolation in the region as it is surrounded by increasingly antagonistic neighbors. Reviled by Ecuador's leader Rafael Correa, Evo Morales of Bolivia and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, Colombia's decision to allow the US military to base itself in the country to tackle drug trafficking and leftist guerrillas in the region is not only interpreted as a security threat but has made the situation worse ever since Bogota-Caracas relations were fueled by allegations from the past Uribe administration that the Venezuelan government supplied Swiss anti-aircraft rocket launchers to the FARC.

There has not only been an escalating war of words between the governments of Venezuela and Colombia over the humiliating soap opera and the deteriorating security conditions along their shared 1,375-mile border but the biting winds of treason and threats to regional stability are blowing more on Colombia as Mr Chávez fortifies his argument that American officials are using Colombia to portray him as a supporter of terrorist groups to justify a US military intervention in Venezuela.

Although relations between Columbia’s Juan Manuel Santos and Chavez have improved tremendously, it is still feared that American presence in the area heightens tensions that might escalate into armed conflict between Venezuela, Colombia and the US.

As a disciple of Iran and Moscow, Chavez’s threat of war in the Andes should not be taken lightly as it is not only a politics of words and ideology but of facing up to the entrenched alliances that Venezuela has paved with Russia and Iran.

Now that Venezuela has emerged as one of the southern hemisphere’s largest terrorist havens and a strategic focal point in Iran’s war against Israel and the United States, with roots firmly rooted by Iran and Hezbollah, the yo-yo effect continues against the US. While the US continues to support Colombian interests, Russia is deliberately arming Venezuela. As the US works to resist and detach Hamas’ presence in the region, Moscow is holding talks with its leaders, and treating terrorists as genuinely elected officials. As the US tries to install its ambassador Larry Palmer as the effective interlocutor to improve relations with Venezuela, Chavez stands by his decision to veto his appointment.

Commentators are now expressing mounting anxiety that the besieged Venezuelan regime of President Hugo Chávez is exploiting the explosive security environment in the region, especially at a time that Chavez is ruling Venezuela by decree for 18 months. As critics lament, this move turns the country into a near-dictatorship. It gives Chavez the right to govern without referring to congress for a year and blocks the opposition from any significant role in Venezuela politics until just months before the 2012 presidential elections.

Chavez’s plan of turning Venezuela into a socialist state now allows him to ratify measures involving telecommunications, the banking system, information technology, the military, and still considers it his moral duty of telling fellow leaders that the “winds of war are continuing to blow” because of an accord between Bogota and Washington.

While history will judge Venezuela ruthlessly for endangering the future of the Andes, Colombia's diplomatic and commercial relations with its neighbors continue to crumble and in the meantime the ravaging winds of war blowing between Venezuela and Colombia and the leftist leaders of the Andes intensifies. The real question is – Should the US further strengthen its Colombian ally in the face of escalating anti Americanism in Latin America?

January 26, 2011

caribbeannewsnow 

Caribbean Blog International

Civil Society and Nation-building

The Bahama Journal Editorial

For quite a long time now, we have sought to engage in a process aimed at widening the range of public discourse in our land.

Here we have achieved some measure of success.

This has happened in great measure because of the simple fact that we had and continue to have access to some of the human resources that conduce to making this kind of civic endeavor successful.

In addition, we here at JCN have also sought to play some part in recognizing the sterling achievement of some of this nation’s pioneering citizens and residents.

Note also that, we are comforted by the fact that we are not alone in this civic enterprise; here having on our side  for quite a while now people like Sir Arthur Foulkes and a coterie of others who might be described as ‘nation-builders’ of the first order.

In this regard, then, we are in total agreement with Sir Arthur when he notes that, “…We must make sure that the country is developed in an orderly fashion and that the best interests of the Bahamian people are the primary focus of development policies.”

We also agree with Sir Arthur when he charges that, “…Too many Bahamians are unable, for one reason or another, to take full advantage, or any advantage at all, of the opportunities created by development. That is a recipe for disaster…”

And by the same token we wholeheartedly agree with him when he indicates that, “Bahamians are a talented people and we have demonstrated throughout our history that we are capable of rising to world class heights in a multitude of disciplines and pursuits…”

But as he notes, capability is one thing, achievement is another.

Here the Governor-General explains that, “But there are some serious flaws in our society which are exacerbated by a dumbing down and excessive permissiveness in Western society. The result is that too many of our young people are ill-equipped and lack the motivation to participate in the development taking place all around them…”

This is the challenge now pregnant in this moment.

And for sure, this urgent challenge in this difficult moment is one that could and should be met by all who profess love and commitment to the Bahamas.

Evidently, this encompasses Government, Business, Labour, The Church – and Civil Society.

That Sir Arthur Foulkes is truly one of this nation’s greatest of sons is a proposition that wears on its back a mantle of truth; and that he is a nation-builder par excellence is beyond reasonable dispute.

It is also quite evident that, he is providing the Bahamian people – even now – with a polished style of leadership that surely resounds and reverberates whenever there is a need for a voice of reason.

In a sense, then, we see him and know him today for what he brings rather than for the long distance run that has been his path from the days he was a lad in Inagua to this time as he serves from the ‘prodigious’ social heights of Mount Fitzwilliam.

Thanks in some great measure to this great Bahamian, Government House is coming closer and even closer to the people of this great little nation.

Here we take as fact revealed that, this land and the communities it sustains is only as rich and as bountiful as its residents and citizens make it; we are today convinced that we are also called to do our bit to help make this place a better one.

We also know that, if we do what we must, we shall be sustained by a Providence that sees all, knows all and that rewards all who diligently search out for Him.

We are also quite aware of the fact that, we who labour in Civil society have a major [if not pivotal] role to play in crystallizing a so-called people’s agenda; one that goes well beyond some of the rancor that usually accompanies, inflects and infects partisan politics.

While our law-makers do have a leading role to play in establishing the rules of the game, we too have our own independent role in that plethora of community efforts aimed at building up the Bahamian Nation.

Like others in the business of nation-building, we have a part to play in this vitally important process and project.

Some of what we are called to do in media involves the creation of projects that recognize achievement and that show-case some of the work done by a broad cross-section of hard-working trail-blazers.

Here we reference men and women – some of them foreigners who are strangers no more to the Bahamas – who through grit, determination and with all their wits about them build the firms, employ the labour – and then and thereafter get the job done.

The fact remains; we have a God to serve and a nation to build.

January 25, 2011

The Bahama Journal Editorial

Caribbean Blog International

By Juan Diego Nusa Peñalver, Special correspondent
granma.cu 

THE sole mention of Haiti evokes images of destruction, poverty, disease, death, the same inferno, but in relation to the island of La Gonave, belonging to this sister Caribbean nation, there are no adjectives to describe the horrific poverty endured by its population, virtually abandoned to its fate, and now tormented by cholera. 

Located to the west of Port-au-Prince in the gulf of Gonave, to any outsider it presents a desolate landscape, barren and dry, which prevents agricultural cultivation, and where the lack of drinking water is threatening human life.

Nevertheless, on Gonave, Cuban doctors are wasting no time in confronting not only the cholera epidemic, but as many other health problems that they come across in the Cholera Treatment Center that they established their this month.

After landing in the dusty capital district of Anse á Gales, we arrived at the Cuban Medical Brigade’s area of operations: the hamlets of Gros Mangle, La Source and Pointe des Lataniers, with some 12,000 inhabitants, located in a straight line to the north, reached by rough roads over limestone and dog-rock, following the coastline with the sea on the right and the mountains on the left.

There people are living in run-down dirt floor dwellings with no toilet facilities, built with dry mangrove roots, stone or mud.

Manuel de Jesús Pérez from Holguín province, registered nurse and head of the Cuban brigade members in La Gonave, commented that prominent in these populations are skin infections, intestinal parasites, hernias and large tumors, eye conditions, malaria, typhoid fever and high blood pressure, the last condition brought about by drinking brackish water. There I witnessed the hopeless regards of men, women, children and old people barefoot and almost naked, but also expressions of relief after the Cuban doctors have treated their "aches and pains."

Manuel affirms: "Haiti is a shame on the world in the 21st century, many of these people are getting sick and dying without knowing why, when in many cases, that can be avoided."

A BLESSING

In these hamlets, which live off of rudimentary fishing and charcoal production for their own survival and to earn a few gourdes (Haitian currency), the presence of the Cuban doctors has been a "blessing," for which they express their thanks just by looking into their eyes.

In the 30-bed La Source cholera treatment center, 40 kilometers from Anse á Gales, nurse Alejandro Fores Arafet from Holguín, relates, still with emotion, how he saved the life of four-year-old Bagosya Eglais, a little girl with cholera, for whom incredibly they were able to perform an osteoclasis (introducing rehydration salts through bone tissue) in the upper third of her left tibia, given that her veins had collapsed.

Or the happy story of Dr. Fivelis Rodríguez Jova from Villa Clara, with international brigade experience in Pakistan and Bolivia who, together with Fores Arafet and Nurse Pedro Vladimir Caleiro Vera, also of Villa Clara, restored the health of young patients Angela Morris, Eltier Delega and Likne Wilse who, after recovering from their shock, now understand why it is necessary to wash their hands, cook food thoroughly, and chlorinate water before drinking it…

Manuel explains that in the nine days since the opening of the center, the first field hospital set up in that area, 19 local people had been saved from cholera.

"Given the demand, we have had to open an additional field hospital, outside the grounds of the treatment center, for medical consultations. Through today, we have already seen more than 1,750 people with other pathologies, to whom we are handing out free medications from the donations that are sent to us," he states.

Havana.  January 24, 2011 

granma.cu 

Caribbean Blog International