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Friday March 26 , 2021

India buys one million barrels of Guyana crude

Media loses a senior member GUYANA FIRE SERVICE SEEKS TO REORIENT ITSELF as Namela Henry dies

Guyana Post Friday March 26, 2021

India buys one million barrels of Guyana crude

The Indian market will have its first experience with oil coming from Guyana. One million barrels of oil have been shipped to the country for the first time since Guyana started production back in early 2020.

According to reports, the sale was a part of the

deal that saw Guyana’s fifth oil cargo being sold to Hess Oil Company in February. Hess in return sold it to the Indian Government.

This was confirmed by the Minister of Natural Resource, Vickram Bharrat, who said that this was a deal struck by the Hess company and

not the Government of Guyana.

Bharrat added that contrary to information circulated that a deal may have been struck with the Indian Government, this is not true. India would have expressed their interest in Guyanese Oil. The Minister said that indeed the High

opening of the service two-day conference under the theme “Understanding the challenges toward, and improving fire and rescue”.

The conference is aimed at looking at the work, and also to look at ways the service could be improved.

Fire Chief Edoo has announced ten key areas

to improve the service.

“Over the next two days, we focus on our areas of challenges with a view to identifying the gap and strengthening our weaknesses, so as to enhance the service that we provide to the citizen of our country.

“I, therefore, will present the ten-point strategic plan that has been designed to overcome the challenges that affect the entity by performing the means by which Guyana Fire Service can ensure the development need of the country and its citizen.”

Mr. Edoo said that the key areas to be addressed are the modernization of fire stations, more collaboration with Government agencies, the introduction of the fire safety building code,

Commissioner of India to Guyana, Dr. K J Srinivasa, recently indicated that India is willing to purchase Guyana’s share of Liza Crude at market value on an annual basis but no decision has yet been made by the Guyana government on such sales.

The sale, however,

by Hess saw Guyana earning its highest revenue from oil, which was on par with the market price for crude at the time.

From the sale, Guyana received just over US$61 per barrel for that shipment for US$61,090,968.03

representing 997,420 barrels of oil were sold.

The interest in Guyana’s Oil comes as India has asked refiners to speed up the diversification of imports to cut their dependence on Middle Eastern crudes after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC +) this month decided to extend production cuts through April.

As OPEC’s share in India’s oil imports fell to historic lows between April 2020 and January 2021, the refining powerhouse began making preparations to import Guyanese crude while renewing a key supply contract between top refiner Indian Oil Corp and Russia.

India was also a prominent importer of Venezuelan oil, but tight U.S. sanctions on the South American country have since 2019 limited the volume India can buy, if it is even allowed.

Guyana Fire Service seeks to reorient itself

Fire Chief Edoo

The need for the structuring of various aspects of Guyana Fire Service is needed, as the Service sees the need to improve in the face of challenges that have emerged through the years.

This is according to the new Fire Chief, Kalamadeen Edoo. He was addressing today’s

the setting up of a Legal Department, the need for occupations and safety department, training both regionally and internationally for staff,

system, an operation core training for all staff and an expansion of the emergency service unit.

Mr. Edoo said that once these systems are put in

the induction of a public relations department, the setting up of a management information

place then the Guyana taking place,” Edoo Fire Service will see a maintained. drastic improvement in its While noting that these work.

“We recognize that competence and enhanced performance can only be realized if supportive structural changes are

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Guyana Post Friday March 26, 2021

NOT CONCLUSIVE THAT FAGUNDES’S DEATH WAS DRUG RELATED–MINISTER ROBESON BENN

Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson

As a suspected associate of a convicted drug lord, Shaheed Roger Khan, who was murdered outside of the Palm Court in an executionstyle killing, Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, has debunked speculation that Guyana might be slipping in a time where execution

killings were deemed the norm.

Minister Benn while responding to a question posed by the Media on several concerns raised by the public after the killing, says that he wants to assure the public that it is not of such. He noted that the force is currently reviewing its procedures

several kidnappings, rapes, killings, and disappearances were rampant, as over 420 killings, between 2002 and 2006, are still yet to be solved.

These crimes are said to be related to the cocaine trade and to crimes that were linked to gang-related, etc.

As such, with the killing, the Ricardo Fagundes outside of Palm Court, the Guyana Human’s Rights Association has linked the killings to be one that is drug-related. However, the Minister noted that the notion of the crime may have been linked to the drug trade is not yet determined and that that GHRA must have known more than he does “Well, they seem to know better than I know.

I don’t know drugs in

so that such instances may not occur.

“I would want to assure the public that we are working hard to eradicate lawlessness and particular gun crimes in Guyana, and crimes of that sort. We are working hard at it; we are the posture, the procedures, and the reactions which should happen when there are such events so that we will mitigate, prevent and deal with those who would get into that type of activity,” Minister Benn added.

Guyana, in the early 2000s under the then PPP/C Government, was seen as a high crime area.

Hundreds of persons lost their lives through execution-style killings, etc.

The crime spree, which had included the Bartica and Lusignan massacres,

Guyana Fire Service.....

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changes are important since they will help to improve the service, these strategic areas aren’t limited to the overall improvement.

Fire hydrants and other ancillary equipment should be looked at.

However, Mr. Edoo emphasized that to improve the immediate surroundings and human

info@guyanapostonline.com

capacity the ten strategic areas are first needed to be improved.

He noted that the Guyana Service will look to incorporate best practices, in their further works.

Over the next two days, the Guyana Fire Service will be looking at ways to improve the service through continued

discussion on the way forward.

And on the occasion of the conference, the Government of Guyana handed over four fire trucks to the service.

Minister of Home Affairs, Roberson Benn, who was at that opening of the conference handed over the keys and said that truck will help reduce the

deficiency in the force, especially in the interior region.

“We have acquired four new fire tenders to boost to the issue of fires in the country. While there will be some of these assets on the coast there will also be in the interior where there continues to be a deficit in terms of our response to fire, sometimes arsonrelated.

“So, this is a significant move, a significant milestone in the history of the Guyana Fire Service, We will continue to build in this area. So, I want to commend and give over these assets to the Chief Fire Officer,” Benn Maintained.

Over the past 63 years of the existence of the fire service, the body has come under criticism for its work. However, this time, according to the Fire Chief the Force will be looking at those criticisms and looking at ways to improve.

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themselves have to do with Human rights. I’m saying that I’m not sure what’s the connection between the two. There has been great criminal activity with loss of life.

“Any loss of life is regrettable and we want to prevent that in any way shape or form and we are working hard to prevent these issues; we are working hard to deal with the issues,” Benn added.

He said that if the GHRA had any piece of information as to murder being drugrelated it should come forward with that piece of information.

“I don’t know, I don’t want to speculate on the GHRA. Well, whoever they can bring it to the attention of the police but I can’t deal with speculation.” Benn said

He further noted that as soon as there is solid information, the public will know. At the moment no solid information has been given.

Fagundes was gunned down Sunday night outside Palm Court while taking a phone call.

As he was standing at the corner taking his call, two men came out of the white Toyota Wagon and opened fire on him.

The two men repeatedly shot Fagundes multiple times and later escaped in their getaway car.

A post mortem examination has deemed Fagundes death from injuries sustained by gunshots. Three mental fragments were removed from his body.

So far no one has been arrested and the investigation continues.

Ricardo Fagundes died of multiple gun shot wounds As the Guyana Police Force Continues its investigation into the death of gold dealer, Ricardo Fagundes, called Paper Shorts, post mortem results have disclosed that Fagundes died of multiple gunshot wounds to his body.

He was gunned down execution-style outside Palm Court, Sunday night.

In a short statement by the force, on Wednesday morning between 08:15hrs and 08:30hrs, a post mortem was conducted on the body of Fagundes at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation Mortuary by Doctor Nehaul Singh.

The statement further emphasized that three metal fragments were retrieved from the body and that the body was positively identified by the

dead man’s mother, Carol Fagundes.

Fagundes met his demise just outside of Palm Court after taking a phone call. He was approached by two men armed with guns who after exiting a white Toyota Wagon opened fire on Fagundes.

CCTV Footage has shown that as the two men approached Fagundes, they opened fire on him.

Fagundes collapsed on the roadway almost immediately.

The two men later drove away in their getaway car, as Fagundes was left in a pool of blood, with multiple gunshot wounds to the body.

A car similar to the getaway vehicle was torched on the SoesdykeLinden Highway

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Guyana Post Friday March 26, 2021

No, the idea of CARICOM is not dead

By Sir Ronald Sanders (The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and Massey College at the University of Toronto. The views expressed are entirely his own) A commentary, published on March 8 by Camillo Gonsalves, a Minister of the Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines, was headlined “Every Island for itself’. The first line was unequivocal in stating that “The idea of CARICOM died on December 16, 2020”.

Camillo Gonsalves is a Caribbean man and an integrationist.

Only deep frustration could have occasioned his decision to publish the commentary on his blogsite. In the event, his remarks prompted a series of questions to me from Johnson John rose, a Caribbean journalist of known repute. I reproduce below the questions he posed and my answers.

Q. Do you agree that the idea of CARICOM – the principle of info@guyanapostonline.com

solidarity, the ethos of all for one, and one for all – has died? Why? A. The ‘idea’ of CARICOM is not dead.

The ‘dream’ of a more perfect union is not lost. The idea and the dream are too basic to our future for them to be abandoned. CARICOM as a whole is extremely rich in natural and human resources, but individual member countries are weak and vulnerable.

In the international community, individual countries have little or no bargaining power; only when they act collectively do they have any strength. Fourteen votes collectively have a modicum of power; one vote, backed by no military might or economic clout, is by itself of little value.

Q. What’s your greatest concern about the future of the movement?​ A. That only the demands of survival, resulting from the disaster, will cause leaders of the individual countries to recognize that the ‘sovereignty to which they cling is only exercised against each other; it is meaningless in the global power theatre where powerful countries and regions dictate their relationships.

Leaders should see the disaster looming in Climate Change and its threats to the very existence of islands and mainland territories with low-lying coasts, agriculture, tourism, and human habitats. Lack of individual capacity is evident in each country’s inability to respond robustly to pandemics, such as COVID-19.

None of them has large enough populations or enough money to compete with richer nations that have bought the available vaccines, depriving the rest of the world.

Q. CARICOM has endured a lot of internal

strife but has managed to survive, could it be that the issue of Venezuela’s sovereignty will be what destroys the movement?​ It is not Venezuela per se that has caused division and conflicting positions in CARICOM. The real cause is dependency.

Some CARICOM countries depended on Venezuela for oil and ran up a large debt in deferred payments; others depend on the US and Canada for aid, markets, and help with borrowing. When CARICOM countries recognize that they could be less dependent on external forces and less obliged if they pool their resources and their sovereignty, they will be more independent in their decisions and action.

This same argument applies to the cruise ship industry and to foreign airlines which play them off against each other, resulting in fewer revenues to each of them and greater advantage to the airlines and cruise operators.

Q. Why didn’t Antigua and Barbuda join Trinidad and Tobago in seeking a boycott of the OAS until Guaido is removed? ​ Trinidad and Tobago have not boycotted the OAS ‘until Guaido’s representative is removed’.

Trinidad and Tobago is an active member of the OAS. Eleven of the 14 independent countries of CARICOM at the OAS do not recognize Guaido or his representative’s legitimacy in the OAS. These 11 countries, including Antigua and Barbuda, do not recognize Guaido’s representative or his vote or participation in any decision-making in the OAS. Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Haiti do deal with Guaido’s representative – this latter point was what motivated Gonsalves’s

blog.

Q. How do you feel about CARICOM’s current path?

A. ​It is not good for the autonomy of individual states in the international community.

Such autonomy as they enjoy is being eroded.

Economically, unless the leadership – at both the political and business levels – acknowledge that their markets are puny and their production minuscule in global terms, and that integrating their markets and production would strengthen each of them as integral parts of a larger, more competitive unit (in terms of raising money on better term and bargaining for better terms of trade) the current path will weaken each of them still further.

Perhaps the truth is that they all know that, ultimately, they need CARICOM which is why none have left it, and none have chosen to destroy it. It may well be that those who encourage the notion of their own vehicle, keep the engine of the CARICOM bus running because they know that they will need to board it to drive to salvation.

I understand Camillo Gonsalves’s frustration.

I share it. But I also know that we cannot pronounce CARICOM dead.

Its lifeblood continues to pump in the veins of Caribbean people everywhere who long for a single region in which they can travel freely on one passport, move to jobs, set up businesses anywhere in

the region, just like the people of the 50 states of the United States do.

The imperatives of survival rest not in separateness but in togetherness where the bounty of the region is shared by all in a truly integrated single area, and where standing together in the international community gives the Caribbean solid meaning.

This does not mean giving up national identity; it means recognizing that we can also benefit from a Caribbean identity – just as people from Texas are Texans and Americans; and people from Italy are Italians and Europeans, so too we can be Jamaicans, Barbadians, Antiguans and yet be the Caribbean.

and slipped into a coma during her hospitalisation.

Later, Henry regained consciousness and later passed away during the course of the day.

Henry served as a teacher before entering the media career, where she started Channel 9’s First Look, a news production. She spent 15 years in the media.

She later then took her experience to the Department of Public Information, a

Press Officer within the Attorney General Chambers, and later to the Society Against Sexual Orientation and Discrimination (SASOD).

Henry was also was the founder of the Comforting Hearts group in Berbice that deals with a person living with HIV. With her passing, the Guyana Press Association has so far extended sympathy to her family and close friends.

Media loses a senior member as Namela Henry dies

Namela Baynes-Henry

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The Guyana media fraternity has lost one of its own. Former Communication Specialist and Journalist, Namela Baynes-Henry has lost her battle with the deadly COVID-19 Virus, today.

According to information, Henry was hospitalized for weeks with the virus and lost her battle a few hours ago.

She was 63-years old, at the time of her death. She reportedly suffered a heart attack