The Real Interests of the United States and the Transnational Corporations in Latin America and the Caribbean

Source:  Granma
December 2019

By Enrique Moreno Gimeranez, En.granma.cu

December 13, 2019

The history of Latin America has been one of plunder and the theft of our natural wealth.
Our America is again suffering escalating aggression by U.S. imperialism and local oligarchies. The region is experiencing a sad reality involving dangerous turmoil and socio-political instability, promoted by Washington. The hemisphere’s most reactionary forces are attacking sovereign governments with coups, methods of unconventional war, brutal police repression, militarization, unilateral coercive measures, rigged judicial persecution of progressive leaders, while proclaiming the validity of the Monroe Doctrine and McCarthyism.

What are the real interests of the U.S. and corporations in the region? Freedom, democracy, human rights? No. Their goal is to preserve imperialist domination of our natural resources

IS OUR AMERICA’S WEALTH ALSO OUR CURSE?

Since European empires first found important resources in the Americas, plundered and colonized our lands, the history of the region’s countries has been the theft of their natural wealth, a story similar to that of other geographical areas on the planet. In our case, Spain, France, Portugal and England came first, in the colonial period; later, the United States and giant transnational corporations. Once our formal independence was won, imperialist economic domination continued, and continues, in most nations in the hemisphere.

“Just like the first Spanish conquistadors, who gave Indians mirrors and trinkets for gold and silver, the United States trades with Latin America. To conserve that torrent of wealth, to seize more and more of America’s resources and exploit its suffering peoples: that is what is hidden behind Washington’s military pacts, military missions and diplomatic lobbies,” warned the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, in the Second Declaration of Havana, February 4, 1962.

Progressive governments challenged monopoly interests when they nationalized, and recovered for the people, a large portion of their natural resources. These economic emporiums, which see the world as a cake to be divvied up, cannot accept losing the “juicy slice” that is Latin America and the Caribbean.

Natural resources

Suffice it to say that several countries in the region hold a significant portion of the world’s mineral deposits: 68% of the world’s lithium (Chile, Argentina and Bolivia), 49% of silver (Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Mexico), 44% of copper (Chile, Peru and, to a lesser extent, Mexico), 33% of tin (Peru, Brazil and Bolivia), 26% of bauxite (Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela and Jamaica), 23% of nickel (Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba and Dominican Republic), and 22% of iron (Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico), according to the Natural Resources report: Situation and trends for a regional development agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

Hence the strategic importance to U.S. interests of this part of the world, also the region closest to its national borders. Any direct or indirect intervention, under any pretext, would be less costly as compared to others carried out in Africa or Asia, although these are not renounced either. A look back at regional history shows the astonishing clarity of the phrase expressed by Simón Bolívar in 1829: the United States “appears destined by providence to plague America with miseries in the name of freedom.”

WASHINGTON’S INTEREST IN VENEZUELA AND BRAZIL

The term petro-aggression refers to the tendency of oil-rich states to be targeted by foreign aggressors, using pretexts of all kinds. The recent wars in the Middle East (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria) promoted by the United States and its allies have this character.

According to data from the Venezuelan corporation Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), the Hugo Chávez Frías Orinoco Oil Belt is the largest oilfield in the world. On December 31, 2010, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) made official the certification of these reserves conducted by the country’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mining. In this way, OPEC “revealed the true situation of the oilfields that exist in the Hugo Chávez Frías Oil Orinoco Belt, with the certification of 270,976 million barrels (MMbls) of heavy and extra-heavy crude oil… With this certification, in addition to the certified reserves of 28,977 MMbls of light and medium crudes, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela totals 299,953 MMbls, attesting to the fact that the country holds the largest reserve of crude on the planet,” states PDVSA in its Oil Sovereignty Notebooks Collection.

According to the publication, Venezuela has 25% of OPEC’s reserves and 20% of those known on a world scale – oil that could provide for the country’s development over the next 300 years, at a recovery rate of 20%.

Likewise, in 2007, Petróleo Brasileiro S. A. (Petrobras) announced the discovery of substantial oil and natural gas resources in reservoirs located beneath an impermeable layer of salt on the country’s coastline, deposited 150 million years ago. The discoveries in Brazil’s pre-salt reserves are among the most important in the world, during the last decade. These reservoirs contain a large volume of excellent quality light oil, with significant commercial value, according to information from Petrobras.

The Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy highlights that the pre-salt field is currently one of the most important sources of oil and gas on the planet, and that around 70% of the nation’s reserves are located in these areas.

THE LITHIUM TRIANGLE IN SOUTH AMERICA

Who doubts that the recent coup in Bolivia, promoted by the United States, was motivated by economic and political interests? The nationalization of hydrocarbons and strategic companies led by President Evo Morales meant economic freedom for Bolivia, but also a blow to the energy monopolies. For imperialism it was intolerable that the Bolivian people recover earnings from oil and gas, or that U.S. companies lose out on the business of mining a coveted mineral like lithium, in the nation with 30% of the world’s deposits.

This metal is referred to as “white gold” or “the mineral of the future” for many reasons. Its chemical properties make it the lightest solid element known, with half the density of water, excelling as an efficient conductor of heat and electricity. These electrochemical properties make lithium ideal for electric batteries (Li-Ion batteries), essential to the manufacture of electronic devices (cell phones, tablets, etc.) and electric cars, among other uses.

Access to this mineral is now at the center of global disputes. “Coincidentally,” the world’s largest known reserves are located in the so-called Lithium Triangle, in the border region between Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. Some 68% of the global reserves are concentrated here, and Bolivia has 30%, with the largest deposit on the planet in the Uyuni salt flats; Chile has 21%, and Argentina 17% of the total, according to a study published in the Revista Latinoamericana Polis, quoted by RT.

Some analysts are already predicting future wars over lithium, as has occurred with oil. Another sign to alert those of us south of the Rio Bravo, all the way to Patagonia, as to the importance of defending the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, against the voracity of the United States and local oligarchies. Only regional unity can prevent a new predatory war and the balkanization in Our America.

Challenges facing the Latin American left

Source: Granma
September 13 2018

The right wing offensive in Latin America and the Caribbean demands that the left develop a “counter plan” in accordance with Martí’s ideas

by: Yisell Rodríguez Milán | informacion@granmai.cu

Calls for Lula’s freedom are being heard across Latin America. Photo: Ntn24.com

Forces on the left are mobilizing in Latin America and the Caribbean to confront the right wing offensive which, encouraged and financed by the United States, is underway in the region, with the use of strategies meant to foment political destabilization and discredit progressive governments in power and former elected leaders.
Political leaders, intellectuals, and representatives of social movements are evaluating the unfavorable correlation of forces developing over the last few years, and charting action plans, taking the victory of progressive candidate

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in Mexico, as a positive sign.
“The storm arrived and shut the window opened at the end of the 90s… The question now posed, for the Brazilian left especially, is how to open the window again,” recently wrote Valter Pomar, a member of Brazil’s Workers’ Party and a professor of International Affairs at the Federal University, in his essay on how to move forward.

In his opinion, the left needs strong candidates to challenge the right in elections, but this is not enough since the strategic “utility” of legislators and government leaders rises and falls in accordance with political perspectives and the level of organization outside of the institutional environment, implying the need for a change in methods on the left, and a recovery of spaces lost alongside the working class.

In Latin America, “The challenge for this possible left is that of building alternatives to capitalism in the economic field, where the current plan is the Uber-ization of the economy; total deregulation – except when the state is needed to dismantle a progressive gain; but above all, build alternatives in the cultural field, challenge capitalist hegemony in the cultural (and media) environment to construct a people, not consumer citizens deluded with false middle class hopes,” writes political analyst Katu Arkonada on the teleSUR blog.

Likewise, essayist, journalist, sociologist, university professor, and political analyst Olmedo Beluche, wrote in Rebelión: “Without nationalization of the national banking and financial system, without state control of foreign trade; and without the nationalization of large industries, that is, without truly socialist measures, Latin American governments in general are at the mercy of the bourgeoisie, of imperialism, and economic sabotage, as the case of Venezuela has repeatedly shown.”

This contradiction, he argues, explains the limitations of the left and the difficulty it faces in responding to the offensive being mounted by national right wing forces supported by U.S. imperialism, plus the reformist attitude of leaders who docilely accept the formalities of bourgeois institutions.

The majority of analysts agree that the progressive cycle on the continent is in crisis, but not coming to an end. Although some popular governments were removed from office via elections (Argentina) or through semi-legal or judicial maneuvers (Brazil), the progressive era’s hard core of change has not collapsed: Bolivia and Venezuela, accompanied by Nicaragua and the Cuban Revolution.

“The two projects, along with Nicaragua and Cuba, which propose going beyond capitalist relations in the long run, are on their feet, indicating that the strategic battle of our time is defending these processes,” as was made clear during the 24th annual meeting of the São Paulo Forum, held in Havana this past July.

At this gathering of the region’s political forces, proposals were made for sustained action based on the idea that government positions won by the left must reinforce their legitimate hegemony and build popular power. Peoples with political consciousness are always the best antidote to the return of the right in the Americas.

STRATEGIES FROM THE LEFT

– Systematically and creatively disseminate the economic, social, and political gains of popular governments that, for one reason or another, have suffered reverses, as well as those which have endured.
– Strengthen a constructive, serene debate on the historic, political, and ideological limitations of each process.
– Seek more efficient mechanisms for organization, consciousness building, and political participation of the social base committed to post-neoliberal change.

– Renovate relations between government political parties and popular movements with nationalist and patriotic positions, taking a favorable position on the need for a state that assures democratic functioning in the construction of consensus.
– Build consensus among segments of society that share, or could share, demands, interests, and revolutionary or progressive change.

– Strengthen the cause of Puerto Rican independence, as a symbol of the anti-colonial struggle to be defended.
– Build active participation of the people and national majorities in the political process of each country.

– Provide decisive support and encourage liberation efforts and anti-capitalist ideas within social movements.

– Promote efforts to advance the integration of what Martí called Our America.
– Support, in all international spaces available, any action taken to reduce the level of domination and hegemony of the United States in our countries, as essential and possible.

The Caribbean: The challenges of integration on the empire’s frontier

Source:  Granma
December 7 2017

by: Sergio Alejandro Gómez | internet@granma.cu

 

Cuba sent as much humanitarian aid as it could to the islands most severely affected by hurricanes Irma and Maria. Photo: Sergio Alejandro Gómez

Former President of Dominica Juan Bosch described the Caribbean as an “imperial frontier,” and point of conflict between the economic and political interests of global powers, a reality which hasn’t changed since the time of Christopher Columbus.

A long history of exploitation, underdevelopment, and power struggles

Behind the façade of beautiful beaches and multi-colored neighborhoods which cover the front page of magazines all over the world, the region has a long history of exploitation, underdevelopment, and power struggles.

It seems therefore that despite language and cultural differences, integration among the peoples of the Caribbean is the only possible way to wipe away the vast debts of its colonial past, which some countries, like the United States, are trying to reimpose today.

December 8 1972 – a turning point

December 8, marks the 45th anniversary of a gesture which transformed Cuba’s relationship with other Caribbean nations. On that date in 1972, the heads of state of Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, and Guyana, which had recently gained their independence, decided to establish diplomatic relations with the revolutionary government led by Fidel Castro.

The decision set off alarms in Washington, which was using all the political means at its disposal to isolate Cuba, whose economy was growing rapidly despite U.S. attempts to sabotage it.

“Probably, the leaders of these countries, also considered the founding fathers of the independence of their nations and of Caribbean integration, – Errol Barrow from Barbados, Forbes Burnham from Guyana, Michael Manley from Jamaica, and Eric Williams from Trinidad and Tobago – realized that their decision to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba was paving the way for the future foreign policy of the Caribbean Community, which to this day stands on three major pillars: independence, courage, and concerted action,” stated Fidel on the 30th anniversary of the seminal event.

Over 5000 Caribbean youth

One would be hard pressed to find a single corner of the Caribbean where Cuba has not left its mark. Tens of thousands of collaborators from different sectors, including healthcare, education, engineering, and construction, have helped to transform the reality of some of the region’s most impoverished communities, the ones that don’t appear on tourist posters.

Likewise, according to official sources, over 5,000 youth from the Caribbean have been trained in Cuba over recent decades, and are now serving their communities in their native countries.

6th Caricom-Cuba Summit

The 6th Caricom-Cuba Summit, which took place on December 8 in Antigua and Barbuda, provided a new opportunity to review the work of the mechanism since its founding 15 years ago, in Havana, 2002.

There currently exists broad cooperation across various strategic sectors such as health, sports, education, culture, and construction. But, as has been noted in previous encounters, there remains much more potential to be exploited.

Trade between Caricom nations and Cuba

According to information presented in March of this year by Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, trade between Caricom nations and Cuba exceeded 120 million USD in 2016, almost double that of the previous year. However, this figure still falls below its real potential.  The event in Antigua and Barbuda enabled delegations from commercial and business sectors to sit down and evaluate new opportunities in this area.

Regional solidarity

This year the powerful hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated several Caribbean nations, proving the vulnerability of small island nations of the region to increasingly severe natural disasters which affect the area.

The force of the winds, and the scale of the disaster, put Caribbean institutions and international solidarity to the test, however it must be noted that neighboring countries were the first to send aid to the most affected zones.

In Dominica, where almost 90% of homes were damaged, the most critical victims were transported by air to neighboring islands to receive urgent medical treatment.
Likewise, search and rescue teams from Cuba and Venezuela were among the first to arrive in the country to save those trapped by mudslides and floods.

Regional organizations such as the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) mobilized vital resources and the Regional Security System, in partnership with Caricom, helped to impose order at the most crucial moments.

Although Irma caused a fair amount of damage across a good part of the island, Cuba offered help to the most severely affected countries, including Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda.

The island also sent a shipment of hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid, including food, construction materials, and brigades of linemen, as well as forestry and construction workers, to support recovery efforts on the ground.

Alongside the local people, Cuban healthcare professionals stationed in both countries weathered the impact of the hurricanes, but continued to offer their services throughout.

Meanwhile, a special brigade from the Henry Reeve Contingent was deployed in Dominica for a month, in case epidemics broke out.
Irma and Maria showed that increasingly severe weather events are just one of many other challenges facing the region, above all attempts by the U.S. to re-exert its dominance in the area.

Cuban national hero, José Martí, believed that if Cuba and Puerto Rico secured independence it would prevent the United States from extending its control over the rest of Latin America.

In this regard, the position taken by Caribbean nations this year in the Organization of American States (OAS) is proof of the region’s strategic role in blocking maneuvers by the U.S., such as in the case of Venezuela, whose government has come under attack from Washington for attempting to implement profound changes to benefit the population in a country with the largest proven oil reserves in the world.

Furthermore, the Caribbean’s longstanding rejection of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the U.S. on Cuba, show that the fundamental principles of justice, even when defended by small and vulnerable island nations, prevail over pressure and coercionl by a global power.

“We face similar challenges that can only be met through close unity and efficient cooperation,” stated Army General Raúl Castro during the inauguration of the 5th Caricom-Cuba Summit, held in Havana.

Caribbean and Latin American integration, concluded the Cuban President, is “crucial to our survival.”

Marcus Garvey’s Glowing Praise of Lenin

Source:  TeleSUR  The Russian Revolution and the Caribbean
November 20 2017

by Earl Bousquet

The Caribbean, then called the “West Indies”, expressed solidarity with and admiration for the Russian revolution and its leader when it shook the world in 1917.

History records that Marcus Mosiah Garvey, the Jamaican who led the largest organization of Black people in the Western hemisphere ever, quickly dispatched a letter from the United Negro Improvement Association, on behalf of its millions of members in the United States, the Caribbean and South America.

 

Marcus Garvey’s UNIA parade in Harlem 1924

Garvey’s letter to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin expressed support from the UNIA on behalf of all the workers of the Caribbean region, which was under complete colonial rule.

The colonial rulers resisted his attempts to organize the tens of millions who were not only UNIA members, but also unattached workers of all types on all islands and in all British colonial territories across the region.

Lenin the “Greatest”

Following Lenin’s death in 1924, Garvey also heaped glowing praise on the leader of the Russian Revolution.

In a speech in New York on Jan. 27, soon after Lenin’s death, Garvey said, “‘One of Russia’s greatest men, one of the world’s greatest characters, and probably the greatest man in the world between 1917 and 1924, when he breathed his last and took his flight from this world. We as Negroes mourn for Lenin because Russia promised great hope not only for Negroes but to the weaker people of the world.”

IN DEPTH: Russian Revolution at 100

 

Cuba’s Casa de las Américas receives UNESCO Award

Source:  Granma
October 11 2017

by: Prensa Latina (PL) | informacion@granma.cu

Cuba’s Casa de las Américas has become one of the most renowned and prominent cultural institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean

The institution is set to receive the 2017 UNESCO-UNAM/Jaime Torres Bodet Award in Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts at the beginning of next year.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) announced October 11, that Cuba’s Casa de las Américas will receive the 2017 UNESCO-UNAM/Jaime Torres Bodet Award in Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts.
In a statement the organization noted that its Director General Irina Bokova, announced the decision which was made on the recommendation of the international judging panel, while the presentation ceremony will take place in early 2018.

The text went on to highlight that the Casa de las Américas was founded in 1959 with the aim of developing and expanding socio-cultural ties with countries from Latin America, the Caribbean and the rest of the world.

Since then the “entity has become one of the most renowned and prominent cultural institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean,” according to the statement.

The Award meanwhile, bears the name of eminent Mexican poet, author, essayist and diplomat Jaime Torres Bodet, also a founding member of Unesco, serving as Director General of the organization from 1948-1952.

Proposed by the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the prize celebrates the close ties between the educational institution and Unesco.

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casa de las americas

Founded in 1959 by Haydee Santamaría, and currently chaired by Roberto Fernández Retamar, the Casa de las Américas promotes, researches, sponsors, awards and publishes the work of writers, artists of the arts, musicians, theater artists and scholars of literature, and the social sciences of the continent.

Just four months after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, the Revolutionary Government, by Law 299 of April 28, 1959, created the Casa de las Américas, an institution with its own legal personality, which carries out non-governmental activities aimed at developing and expand socio-cultural relations with the peoples of Latin America, the Caribbean and the rest of the world.

Conceived as a space of encounter and dialogue of different perspectives in a climate of renovating ideas, Casa de las Américas encourages the exchange with institutions and people from all over the world. When all the governments of Latin America, with the exception of Mexico, broke off relations with Cuba, the institution contributed to prevent the total destruction of cultural ties between the island and the rest of the continent. The House disseminated the work of the Revolution and encouraged the visit to Cuba of intellectuals who came into contact with the new reality of the country.

Haydee Santamaría (1923-1980), heroine of the revolutionary struggle, presided over the House of the Americas from its founding until her death in 1980. Her clear and inclusive vision of Latin America, her sensitivity and talent, her generosity and understanding Home your present.

From 1980, the institution was presided over by the painter Mariano Rodríguez (1912-1990), and since 1986 by the poet and essayist Roberto Fernández Retamar (1930)

Cuba Dispatches Over 750 Medics to Crisis-Plagued Caribbean

Source:  TeleSUR
September 9 2017

Debris washes up on a beach in Cap-Haitien, Haiti as
Hurricane Irma approaches. | Photo: AFP

Responding to the most powerful hurricane to hit the Caribbean in decades, Cuban medical brigades have taken action to assist in recovery efforts.

More than 750 Cuban physicians have been dispatched to several Caribbean islands in the wake of Hurricane Irma’s destruction.

RELATED: Cuba Leads the Way in Hurricane Irma Preparedness

They will maintain daily communication with Havana in order to stay informed about unfolding events, said Dr. Regla Angulo Pardo, director of Cuba’s Central Unit of Medical Cooperation.

Facing the most power hurricane to hover across the Caribbean in decades, “measures have been taken to preserve the lives of our 771 employees, and logistic assurances have been implemented,” the official said.

She noted that Cuba has sent medical brigades to six of the countries in the subregion that, in recent days, have been or will be in the the tropical storm’s orbit. Those islands include Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Bahamas, Dominica and Haiti.

In Haiti, heavy rains forced nine of 23 total collaborators to evacuate their locations. However, the remaining medical staff are assisting local health authorities and serving residents.

Guidelines provided by Cuba’s Ministry of Public Health, MINSAP, and corresponding embassies located on each island have kept members of the medical brigade safe and sound. The preparation has enabled staff to participate in subsequent recovery efforts.

“Collaboration with the Central Medical Cooperation Unit, together with the MINSAP Management Center and our embassies, have maintained communication to assess the damage and gauge what help our own collaborators can provide,” Pardo added.

She emphasized that in Antigua and Barbuda, particularly in the latter island due to the hurricane’s destruction of most of the infrastructure as well as 95 percent of homes, Cuba’s 43 physicians weathered the storm unscathed and have joined recovery efforts.

Cuba Leads the Way in Hurricane Irma Preparedness

Source:  TeleSUR
September 7 2017

View of the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Saint Maarten in the
Caribbean Sept. 6, 2017. | Photo: Reuters

Cuba’s hurricane and tropical storm protection measures, compared to the limited financial resources available on the island, is second to none.

As Hurricane Irma churns its destructive path over the Caribbean, Cuba’s storm preparation measures are operating at full throttle.

RELATED: A Lesson for the US: Cuba’s Response to Hurricanes

Speaking about the tropical weather system carrying winds up to 185 mph, and having caused 10 casualties and widespread property damage in the northeastern Caribbean, Cuba’s head of the National General Staff of Civil Defense Ramon Pardo stated that the storm’s trajectory is “threatening.” He added that the risk factors include heavy “winds, rain and waves that cause flooding,” according to Sputnik News.

Addressing a publicly televised meeting coordinated between the National Defense Council, the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, Pardo urged everybody to remain updated on information provided by the Institute of Meteorology and Civil Defense.

Public television also broadcast informational programs about hurricane preparedness, including how solar panels, irrigation machinery and construction materials are dismantled and warehoused in local schools.

The National Electrical Union televised warnings for people to turn off their electricity when Irma strikes to avoid being shocked by poles or wiring.

Cuba’s hurricane and tropical storm protection measures, compared to the limited financial resources available on the island, is second to none.

RELATED:  Hurricane Irma Continues Devastating Route Through Caribbean, Claiming Several Lives

A comprehensive national and local emergency response plans combined

Marguerite Jimenez, senior associate for Cuba at Advocacy for Human Rights in the Americas, told teleSUR that Cuba’s hurricane preparedness measures combine a comprehensive national and local emergency response plans, as well as education about disaster protection.

She emphasized that the Caribbean island’s response strategy is designed so that “everyone survives and that their response protects people of all socioeconomic classes no matter where you live. It means that poor people are not disproportionately affected,” by dangerous storms.

Jimenez also noted that Cuba’s rapid detection systems are coupled with “rapid mobilization through local community groups called the Communities for the Defense of the Revolution,” which have “existed in Cuba since the mid-60s.” This vital organ is very efficient at spreading information and responding to people’s needs.

Marijuana, Alternative Cash Crop to Bananas in the Caribbean?

Source:  TeleSUR
February 3 2016

Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves on Wednesday said marijuana would be a suitable alternative cash crop to bananas for Caribbean countries, adding that five decades of commercial banana production has left many islands in the region in conditions of disaster.

“The upshot of the banana sector has been deforestation, erosion of the hills and valleys … it has been going on for nearly 50 years with bananas. So that when the rains come and you have flooding, the land gets washed away into the river. Trees themselves get dug out and they block up the rivers, mash up the bridges, destroy homes. And they kill people,” he said.

Research on marijuana as a viable commercial product

He told a major university forum in Barbados that it is time for the Caribbean to conduct serious research on marijuana as a viable commercial product, a statement that caused a positive reaction across the region, including in Saint Lucia, where residents have said his suggestion has merit.

“I feel, trust me, there will be more to export than the bananas, because you have more youth in the ghettos who will be happy to plant it, to sell it. The banana will not really sell fast like the marijuana,” said Saint Lucian chef, Valentine Clement James.

The economic benefits of marijuana

The Director of the Caribbean Drug and Alcohol Research Institute Marcus Day said it is time to give serious consideration to the economic benefits of marijuana.

“I think that we are being very shortsighted in our cannabis policy; our drug policy. I also think that looking at all the science that’s been revealed recently, there are not many downsides to using cannabis and there are much more benefits in terms of therapeutic use. So I think that it’s about time that we move into the 21st century and stop this prohibition that has caused much pain on a lot of people,” he stated.

Marijuana is illegal in most Caribbean countries

Currently, marijuana is illegal in most Caribbean countries, including Saint Lucia, but the 15-member Caribbean Community (Caricom) has established a regional Cannabis Commission to analyze the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

While opponents of decriminalizing marijuana say it will make it too widely available in society, citizens like Marius Modeste believe otherwise.

“The same way for rum. Rum is legal but some people choose to drink and some people choose not to drink. So the important thing you have to weigh is whether it is beneficial, whether it will help people when it comes to medicinal purposes and so on,” he said. “That is what is most important. So if at the end of the day the government sees that you can do something beneficial, the people can benefit and the government can benefit, I don’t see a problem with it.”

Proponents who support making marijuana the Region’s new cash crop have said that at the very least a collective needs to be created in order to have a Caribbean-wide approach to study the economic and other benefits of cannabis cultivation in the region.

CAAP: How Israeli Apartheid Negatively Affects the Caribbean

On Nov. 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for Palestine to be partitioned between Arabs and Jews.

On this, the 68th anniversary of this partition, the Caribbean against Apartheid in Palestine, CAAP, in Barbados, invites you to an evening of solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Jamaicans demonstrate in support of Palestine in front of the US Embassy, August 2014

Update: Caribbean Statement Of Solidarity With Venezuela

CARIBBEAN  STATEMENT  OF  SOLIDARITY  WITH  VENEZUELA

WE, the undersigned citizens and leaders of civil society organizations of the Caribbean CALL upon our Governments and their multi-lateral organization– the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) — to take urgent steps to make it absolutely clear to the Government of the United States of America (USA) that the nations and people of the Caribbean consider Venezuela to be an integral sister nation of our Caribbean Civilization, and that we denounce and repudiate all attempts at illegal neo-imperialist interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela, including attempts to unlawfully attack, subvert and remove the democratically elected Government of President Nicolas Maduro and his United Socialist Party.

We make this CALL against the background of the impending 6th  of December 2015 Parliamentary Elections of Venezuela and the clear evidence that has emerged of a permanent illicit conspiracy between the political establishment of the USA, elements of the traditional wealthy elite sector of Venezuelan society, and the right-wing political Opposition forces of Venezuela.

This CALL is also based on our understanding that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has emerged as an outstanding symbol of hope — perhaps the pre-eminent symbol of hope — for masses of people all over the world who suffer the exploitation, poverty, insecurity and indignity that is caused by national and international elites appropriating the resources and wealth that rightfully belong to the people, and who yearn for an alternative existence characterized by peace, humanity, freedom, national sovereignty, dignity, solidarity, brotherhood and human well-being.

We are aware that Venezuela’s still unfolding Bolivarian Revolution has demonstrated to the world that it is possible for a determined people blessed with committed and patriotic leaders to rise up and assert themselves; to take control of their national resources; to use the nation’s resources for the development of the people of the nation; and to extend their arms in a spirit of brotherhood and sharing to other nations and peoples.

The Bolivarian Revolution — under the leadership of the late Hugo Chavez and current President Nicolas Maduro — for the first time in Venezuela’s history EFFECTIVELY  nationalized the Petroleum industry and directed the bulk of the country’s enormous natural resources to developing programmes in public health, education, housing and food security, thereby radically lowering the poverty rate, eradicating illiteracy, and elevating virtually all human development indicators in Venezuela.

Furthermore, the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela led the campaign to defeat the USA’s neo-imperialist “Free Trade Area Of The Americas” and to establish in its stead the “prosper-thy-neighbor” Bolivarian Alliance For Latin America and the Caribbean (ALBA), the Petro Caribe Energy Cooperation Agreement, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Africa-South America Summit, the International Bank of the South (Banco del Sur), and the Television Network of the South (Telesur), among many other initiatives.

These and other similar initiatives have — among other things — strengthened the spirit of cooperation between Venezuela and the rest of the Caribbean, thereby creating an environment which has equipped our Caribbean region to be able to resolve tensions which occasionally arise as a result of historically contested issues such as the border issue between Venezuela and Guyana, and to strive towards the fostering of a Caribbean zone of peace.

But we are only too aware that none of these historic achievements have gone uncontested by those forces that wish a return to the bad old days of US multi-nationals and a wealthy Venezuelan elite controlling and gorging themselves on the country’s precious petroleum resources!!!

The Bolivarian Government and people of Venezuela have had to contend with a broad and open conspiracy involving the State Department of the US Government, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) and its powerful Latin American right-wing media conglomerates, and the Venezuelan elite and their “Opposition” political forces led by the likes of Leopoldo Lopez, Corina Machado and Antonio Ledezma.

This ongoing and implacable conspiracy against the Bolivarian Revolution has been manifested in such abominable acts as the 2001 sabotage of the petroleum industry of Venezuela; the 2002 unsuccessful coup against then President Hugo Chavez; a 15 year campaign to engineer commodity shortages in Venezuela; the permanent propaganda war waged by the right-wing media; the 2014 La Salida (The Exit) campaign of orchestrated violent street protests; President Obama officially declaring Venezuela to be a threat to the national security of the USA; the 2015 Operation Jericho attempt at a violent military coup against President Maduro; and the list goes on and on.

It is against this background that WE — citizens and leaders of civil society organizations of the Caribbean — are saying that enough is enough! This criminal imperialist subversion of our sister Caribbean nation of Venezuela must come to an end now!

 NAME, ORGANIZATION, COUNTRY

1. David Comissiong: Clement Payne Movement, Barbados
2. Don Rojas: Black World 21st Century, US
3. David Denny: Friends of Venezuela Solidarity Committee, Barbados
4. Lalu Hanuman: Network in Defense of Humanity (Car. Chapter), Barbados
5. Keith Ellis: Jose Marti Cultural Alliance, Canada
6. Felipe Noguera: Car. Pan-African Network, Trinidad
7. P. D. Memelik: World Africa Diaspora Union, US
8. Khafra Kambon: Car. Pan-African Network, Trinidad
9. Keith Layne: Car Movement for Peace and Integration, Barbados
10. Cheryl Hunte: Israel Lovell Foundation, Barbados
11. Onkpha Wells: Pan African Coalition of Organizations, Barbados
12. John Howell: Pan African Coalition of Organizations, Barbados
13. Trevor Prescod MP: Israel Lovell Foundation, Barbados
14. Benedict Wachira: Kenya/Venezuela Solidarity Association, Kenya
15. Gerald Perreira: Organization for the Victory of the People, Guyana
16. Russel Bell: Network in Defense of Humanity (Car. Chapter), Jamaica
17. Bobby Clarke: Peoples Empowerment Party, Barbados
18. Alicia Jrapko: International Committee for Peace, Justice & Dignity, US
19. Terence Marryshow: Network in Defense of Humanity, Grenada
20. Line Hilgros: Sixieme Region de l’UnionAfricaine Zone Caraibe Francophone, Guadeloupe
21. Colin “Jah Bone” Cumberbatch: Antigua & Barbuda Reparations Support Commission, Antigua
22. Cikiah Thomas: Global Afrikan Congress, Canada
23. Esther Stanford-Xosei: Pan- Afrikan Reparations Coalition in Europe, UK
24. Kofi Mawuli Klu: Pan- Afrikan Reparations Coalition in Europe, UK
25. Garcin Malsa: Mouvement International Martinique pour les Reparations, Martinique
26. Sidney Francis: ADEPHCA, Nicaragua
27. Muhammad Nassar: Barbados/Venezuela Ass. of Business & Commerce, Barbados
28. Anne Brathwaite: Justice for Walter Rodney Campaign, UK
29. Isis Amlak: Global Afrikan Congress, UK
30. Marta Johnson: Afro Costa Rican Research Centre, Costa Rica
31. Gerrit Antrobus: Network in Defense of Humanity (Car. Chapter), Barbados
32. Iraklis Tsavdaridis: General Secretary of the World Peace Council, Greece
33. Ras Miguel Lorne: General Secretary of the Marcus Garvey Peoples Political Party, Jamaica
34. Ezemoo Yahya: African Revolutionary Movement, Nigeria
35. Fuad Abu Bakr: New National Vision, Trinidad
36. Mario Molina: Org. of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America, Cuba
37. Robert Sae: Conseil National des Comites Populaires de Martinique, Martinique
38. Kay Grazette: Pan-African Coalition Of Organizations, Barbados
39. Aisha Comissiong: Clement Payne Movement, Barbados
40. Zakiya Uzoma-Wadada: Caribbean Pan-African Nerwork, Trinidad & Tobago
41. Rawle Harvey: Humanistic Solidarity, St. Lucia Association (St. Lucia/ Cuba)
42. Donna Mc Farlane: National Commission On Reparations, Jamaica
43. Harold Drayton: Justice for Walter Rodney Campaign, US
44. Adiel Batson: National Council for the U N Decade for People of African Descent, Barbados
45. James Early: Institute for Policy Studies, US
46. Camille Chalmers: Executive Director of Plate-forme haitienne de Plaidoyer pour un Developpement Alternatif (PAPDA), Haiti
47. Angella “Ideisha” Jackson: Director of the Lazaras Foundation, St Vincent & the Grenadines
48. Cheryl Moore: Network in Defense of Humanity (Car. Chapter), Barbados
49. Yamil Eduardo Martinez Marrero: Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples, Cuba
50. Sandrine Haguy: Culture Caribbean, France
51. Ras Yacob Laurent: Vice-President of Inivershall Rastafari Movement Inc., St. Vincent & the Grenadines
52. Empress Modupe Olufunmi-Jacobs Jacobs: Education Officer of Inivershall Rastafari Grenadines Movement Inc., St. Vincent & the Grenadines
53. Nadia Raveles: Foundation Koni-Ku-Libi, Suriname
54. Michael Jones: International Sagacious Community of Positive Endeavours, Barbados
55. Suzanne Laurent: Martinique National Reparations Commission, Martinique
56. NswtMwt Chenzira Davis Kahina: Caribbean Pan-African Network, US Virgin Islands
57. NswNeb KaRa HerishetaPaHeru: Per Ankh M Smai Tawi, US Virgin Islands
58. Sadia Acosta Brooks, Network in Defense of Humanity, Cuba
59. NeswNeb Asarkasaamsu Herishetapaheru, Per Ankh M Smai Tawi, US Virgin Islands
60. Theresa Reece, Clement Payne Movement, Barbados
61. Femi Cheeseman, Clement Payne Movement, Barbados
62. Jamila Reece, Clement Payne Movement, Barbados
63. Akins Vidale, Network In Defense of Humanity – Caribbean Chapter, Trinidad and Tobago

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