Monday October 13, 2014
Kaieteur News
Environmentalist on hunger strike admitted to hospital PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - CMC – Environmentalist Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh was admitted to a private hospital yesterday after his health “deteriorated” according to a statement posted on the website of the Highway ReRoute Movement (HRM). “I know he is stable, he is okay, but I can’t say what the medical situation is,” said David Abdullah, who over the past few days has emerged as a spokesman for the environmentalist. Abdullah said he was urging people to participate in an event yesterday “not only for Wayne’s recovery but also the country in relation to finding a way forward out of this impasse”. Kublalsingh, 55, a former University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer, who heads the HRM, had embarked on the indefinite hunger strike 26 days ago to protest the construction of a segment of the seven billion dollar (One TT dollar =US$0.16 cents) highway in south Trinidad. Last week, Kublalsingh’s medical practitioner Dr. Asante Van West-Charles-Le Blanc, warned that the environmentalist is near death with his vital organs showing signs of deterioration. “Based on the laws of physiology, and on studies of hunger strikers, there is now organ damage including to the nervous system. Based on my observations, I have strongly and repeatedly
Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh advised Dr Kublalsingh to cease this hunger strike before it is too late and further irreparable damage is done to his organs,” said the doctor, who has since withdrawn her services. She said the ultimate result of a hunger strike of this nature is death “and to my mind this is highly probable and a rapidly approaching occurrence. “The true clinical picture is not a pretty one, there are no smoke screens or tricks, this citizen of Trinidad and Tobago is dying,” she said, adding that she would still be available to him if an emergency occurs, “and I will be happy to attend to him in any institution of his choice if he decided to stop this hunger strike”. He is also requesting a meeting with Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar to discuss new proposals put forward by the HRM to deal with the construction of the Debe to Mon Desir segment of the highway that
Kublalsingh said would not destroy the environment in the area, particularly the Oropouche lagoon. Prime Minister Persad Bissessar has said her government would not be held to ransom by the environmentalist and has so far refused to accede to the request for discussions. According to the HRM statement, Kublalsingh has been taken to the St. Clair Medical Hospital, near the office of the Prime Minister. “We wish him strength to continue the struggle for accountability and transparency,” the statement said, reminding supporters to gather at the Nelson Mandela Park near the hospital for “a candlelight vigil calling for mediation on the matter”. In 2012, Kublalsingh had embarked on a 21-day hunger strike over the same issue and called it off after there had been agreement for an independent commissioner to look into the controversy. The HRM said the commissioner, Dr. James Amstrong, had produced a report which should have been binding on all stakeholders including the government, and the environmental group has accused the government of reneging on the agreement to abide by the amstrong report. “Please come in your numbers to say Yes to Mediation, end this impasse and advocate for a win-win solution for all,” the HRM said.
Human rights group says justice denied by Duvalier’s death NEW YORK - CMC – A human rights group says the inability of Haiti’s courts to bring to trial former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier deprived countless Haitian victims of the justice they sought. Duvalier, who died on October 4, of a reported heart attack, was buried on Saturday in a low-key, nonofficial funeral. “It’s a shame that the Haitian justice system could not bring ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier to trial before he died,” said Reed Brody, special counsel at Human Rights Watch, who worked with Duvalier’s victims. “Duvalier’s death robs Haiti of what could have been the most important human rights trial in its history.” Human Rights Watch noted that Duvalier inherited
power from his father, the dictator François “Papa Doc” Duvalier, and ruled Haiti from 1971 to 1986. A Human Rights Watch report, “Haiti’s Rendezvous with History: The Case of Jean-Claude Duvalier”, examined the legal and practical questions surrounding the rule of Baby Doc and concluded that Haiti had an obligation under international law to investigate and prosecute the grave violations of human rights under Duvalier’s rule. The report, published in April 2011, also addressed Haiti’s capacity to carry out the trial, the question of the statute of limitations, and Duvalier ’s personal involvement in alleged criminal acts. “A Haitian proverb says ‘He who gives the blow forgets; he who
Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier carries the scar remembers,’” Brody said. “Duvalier may have forgotten the blows he gave to the Haitian people, but his victims remember.” Last week, another human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, called for the continued investigation of alleged wrong doing during Duvalier’s regime.
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Political scientist suggests Jamaica abandons Westminster-style government Jamaica Gleaner Political scientist Richard “Dickie” Crawford is suggesting that Jamaica abandons the Westminster model of governance given growing apathy amongst voters. Pointing to the findings in a recent poll by pollster Bill Johnson, Crawford underscored that the current political system has “outlived its usefulness”. The poll findings published in yesterday’s Sunday Gleaner show a migration of voters from the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) and a subsequent swelling of the undecided, giving the Jamaica Labour
Party (JLP) a 12 per cent advantage over the PNP, if a general election were to be called now. However, a very significant 41 per cent of enumerated voters say they would not vote and 16 per cent were undecided. Crawford argued that the state of apathy is evidence that the Westminster model of governance, which Jamaica inherited from Britain, is outdated beyond repair and should be discontinued. The lecturer in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, said pollsters were expecting the number of people who refuse
Richard Crawford to vote to increase very soon to 60 per cent. He said neither the JLP nor the PNP seem capable of addressing the growing problem of apathy.
Bermuda battered by Tropical Storm Fay, thousands left without electricity HAMILTON, Bermuda CMC – Thousands have been left without electricity and several roads were blocked by fallen trees as Tropical Storm Fay battered Bermuda with high winds and heavy rain early yesterday. The Bermuda Electric Light Company, sole provider of power in the island, reported more than 27,000 outages at the height of the storm. Early-morning bus services were also suspended due to high
winds. According to Meteorologists, Fay – the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, stayed on a more northerly track than expected and passed virtually right over the island around 4 a.m. local time. Maximum winds were recorded at 70 miles per hour, just short of the hurricane threshold. Forecasters said the back of the eye of Fay brought the strongest winds, enhanced
by thunderstorms. “Tropical storm conditions are likely for a few hours on the back side of the storm, with easing winds by late morning, as Fay moves slowly away,” said a release from the Bermuda Weather Service. The hurricane watch has been lifted but a tropical storm warning remained in effect. Fay started as Subtropical Depression Seven when it formed 590 miles south of Bermuda on Friday.