PetroCaribe ministerial meeting opens in Nicaragua

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (ACN) -- The regional energy program known as PetroCaribe held its ninth ministerial meeting in Nicaragua on Friday, prior to the summit of heads of state and government of the 18-member cooperation bloc.

The heads of state will hold their meeting on Saturday, with Bolivia as guest country. President Evo Morales is expected to arrive in Managua on Friday, according to the Communications Council, PL news agency reported.

Several airlines slash their Caribbean flights

Dear Sir:

Airlines are slashing their flights into the Caribbean. Virgin has cut its daily 747 flight into Barbados to two small aircraft a week from Manchester.

Thank heavens we have Venezuelan and Cuban tourists to fall back on. Venezuelans, who have gasoline for their cars at 20 cents a gallon, $15 a night bed and breakfast and $35 dollars a night hotel rooms. They will flock to SVG at our rates of $12 dollars for gasoline, $75 dollars bed

Cackalack For A Job - An Employment Nightmare by Norbert Williams

Norbert Williams

A few weeks ago news reports told the story of a prominent businessman who had been arrested for incest with his daughter. Committing this most despicable of acts daddy-loose-draws remains unnamed because of provisions in the law which dictate that both the victim and alleged perpetrator remain anonymous until a verdict is reached in the case. Don't worry, St. Lucia is a small place and we all know the salop! This jolted my mind to recall the intention which I have had for a very long time to write on a serious malaise which is very prevalent in St. Lucian society. In fact this has gone beyond simply a malaise and has attained epidemic proportions.

More than twenty years ago in St. Lucia I was friends with a rather attractive young lady who had been seeking employment in Castries.

General Bakes Bo Performance .....We moving Labour and Putting Flambo

UWP Soufriere/Fond St. Jacques Constituency Responds

 

PRESS RELEASE

UWP Soufriere/Fond St Jacques Constituency Branch Responds to Calls from SLP Soufriere Branch for Clarification on Policy

The United Workers Party Soufriere/Fond St Jacques Constituency Branch is aware of a Press Release issued on June 25^th, 2013 by the SLP Soufriere Constituency Group calling on Mr. Allen Chastanet to address matters of policy. This call by the SLP Soufriere Constituency Group will obviously be viewed with great amusement by many especially the constituents of Soufriere/Fond St Jacques. It is obvious that the Branch in issuing this Press Release is following the trend and dictates of their national leaders who are increasingly exhibiting concern and fear over the ascension of Allen Chastanet to the leadership of the United Workers Party.

The SLP Soufriere Constituency group would be

A Free Exchange To The Future

Melanius Alphonse

When the stakes are high, who would you rather turn to for economic advice? While you decide, consider the following.
In today’s challenging economy, listening to the silent voices of citizens and businesses that are feeling its impact is perhaps the greatest indicator of how an economy is doing.
Therefore, when a government fails to heed the cries of the people, or that of the business community, it essentially means that this government is missing an opportunity to exchange ideas, which could have enabled it to establish the right economic atmosphere for job creation, entrepreneurship and investment.
When governments are faced with economic challenges such as those currently faced in Saint Lucia, one would expect that a coordinated strategy of cutting taxes, the implementation of new incentives for business to hire, thus enabling the middleclass and working family’s to make ends meet; and a reduction of the deficit to enable a return of confidence in the economy!

EU warned of market instability, damaged ACP economies if sugar quotas cut

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The African, Caribbean Pacific (ACP) Sugar Group has warned the EU Council of market instability and the acute risk to their developing economies if the proposal to abolish EU sugar quotas in 2015 – rather than 2020 – is passed this week. The last ditch appeal comes as high level negotiations on EU agricultural policy are expected to close this Wednesday in Brussels. At the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly last week, ACP countries also expressed serious concerns at the lack of clarity from the European

Jamaica moved off Tier 2 watch-list in US trafficking in persons report

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) -- Jamaica has been upgraded from the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Tier 2 Watch List to Tier 2. The adjustment is contained in the State Department’s 2013 Trafficking in Persons report. Minister of National Security, Peter Bunting   Minister of National Security, Peter Bunting, who made the disclosure on Wednesday, during his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives, said he is pleased with the improvement. He said Jamaica was downgraded from Tier 2 to the Tier 2 Watch List in 2012, and once a country is on the watch list for two successive years, “then you would automatically go to Tier 3 the following year.” This, he said, would have implications “for our assistance from the US and our international reputation.” Bunting commended the various stakeholders and agencies for the role they have played in addressing human trafficking. “We have worked very hard and I would like to acknowledge, in particular, the permanent secretaries in the ministries of justice, and national security, who chaired the taskforce involving persons from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), and the agencies of both ministries, as well as the agencies of the ministry of youth, that have worked tremendously hard to do a number of things, which has led to us being removed from the watch list,” he stated.

ST. LUCIA (Tier 2 Watch List)

  St. Lucia is a destination country for persons subjected to forced prostitution and forced labor. Legal and illegal immigrantsfrom Haiti, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, andSouth Asia, especially those working in domestic service, reportedly are the groups most vulnerable to human trafficking.There are indications children under 18 are coerced to engagein commercial sex in St. Lucia. Sex trafficking victims are likely found among foreign women in prostitution. According to the police and NGOs, the most likely sex trafficking perpetratorsin the country are pimps, strip club operators, and brothel owners.

The New GrosIslet Market (A Signature Project of The Former District Rep Lenard spider Montoute

This beauty is in the Gros Islet Constituency. A project initiated by our former District Representative Mr. Lenard 'Spider' Montoute and o.ked. by the UWP government (2006 - 2011). This project adds to the number of achievements accredited to the UWP in the development of St. Lucia.

United Workers Party Women and Youth Activities

Women and Youth of Laborie the Interim Committee for women and youth will be in Laborie today Sunday from 3pm to meet and speak with you regarding formation of your executive committees for the upcoming women and youth convention scheduled for July 7th 2013 at the Micoud Secondary School. At that conference a national executive will be elected. Be part of the change.

'ROVERS CAREGIVER PROGRAM SCRAPPED' SAY LABOUR GOVERNMENT

The roving caregivers program is an informal early childhood development initiative that seeks to reach children from birth to 3 years of age who do not have access to any formal childhood development initiative. According to a source, at least 35 persons will be sent home as a result of the Saint Lucian Labour Party government's decision to suspend the program. The initiative served 402 families and 429 children across the nation where there is inadequate access to early childhood development facilities. In an interview with a former education minister, he lamented the importance of such initiative and has asked the government to rethink this detrimental decision it has taken.   This latest decision further highlights the policies of this current administration, which seem to be destroying anyone or anything in its path.

How much more before we explode?

By Rick Wayne:

Some 30 years ago, after I had ended my partisan relationship with the day’s prime minister—largely because of his shocking tolerance of repeated intolerable behavior on the part of the more influential members of his party . . . (his own particular proclivities had not yet come to light)—and had taken to criticizing his  policies, I had an early Saturday morning visitor who invited me for a drive around a not-yet-awake Castries.
We had barely pulled away from my front door when he said: “How long have we known each other? Since my law-student days in London? You know I’m not a violent man. I abhor all kinds of violence. But while reading your article in this morning’s paper, the thought actually occurred to me that I should pick up a gun and do Saint Lucia a favor by shooting the prime minister in the head.”
I laughed, albeit uneasily. How absurd that of all people, Primrose Bledman, one of the founder members of George Odlum’s ill-fated ‘60s pressure group the Saint Lucia Forum—whose peace-and-love approaches often had suggested bald cowardice—was even capable of such thinking. Besides, the ostensible target of his anger on the morning in question was among his closest friends!

I Blame You

KENNY ANTHONY LAYS THE BLAME ON SMALL BUSINESSES FOR THEIR DEMISE

Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony in an interview with HTS says he is not surprised by the closure of so many small businesses here in Saint Lucia. This comment came in the wake of numerous complaints lodged by small businesses about the current economic environment in Saint Lucia citing the Value Added Tax VAT as the principle cause of these businesses shutting their doors. Dr. Anthony went on to blame the small business owners for their demise noting that it was inevitable for the closure of these businesses as their eminent demise started prior to the downturn.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_McU0S8Lpf6ODUzOXQyYzN5Zm8/edit?hl=en&forcehl=1

Local group wants immediate review of contract for facility at airport

CONCERNS OVER AWARD OF CONTRACT TO BUILD AND OPERATE FBO AT HIA

United Pac, a local advocacy group, has called for the immediate and independent review of a decision by the Saint Lucia Air and Seaports Authority (SLASPA) to award a contract for the construction and operation of a private jet operating facility at the Hewanorra International Airport.
In a press release, United Pac called on the ministers of finance and infrastructure to commission, without delay, a review into the processes leading to SLASPA’s granting of the contract to an association comprising four firms namely, L-Caribbean, Herzog, Metro Caribbean and a United States-based fixed-based operator (FBO).