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Cuba to establish embassy in Castries
Cuba will be opening an embassy in St. Lucia sometime later this year, creating "a permanent presence to facilitate and expedite cooperation efforts". This was announced by Cuba's minister of Foreign Affairs, Felipe Perez Roque, last Tuesday, after the signing of cooperation agreements with the St. Lucian government. These agreements will open the way for the establishment of joint cooperations between the two foreign ministries and for St. Lucia to secure technical assistance from Cuba in the areas of agriculture, health and others yet to be established. Earlier this year, St. Lucia opened a diplomatic office in Cuba - a move which according to Perez Roque has been well-received in Cuba. There are currently 173 St. Lucians studying at Cuban tertiary institutions. Perez Roque on Tuesday also discounted a warning from the United States that Cuba would pose a threat to the touristic development of the smaller Caribbean islands once the country is opened up for foreign investments. "Cuba is not a competitor of the Caribbean and never will be. Cuba is an ally of the Caribbean and it intends together with its Caribbean brothers to turn the Caribbean into a single destination", said Perez Roque. The Star, Mirror and Thursday Voice all report on the Cuban minister's announcement.
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21st independence celebrations sweep nation
All newspapers this week pay ample tribute to St. Lucia's 21st anniversary of the attainment of independence in 1979. Messages from the prime minister, the leader of the opposition party and leading members of society, special commemorative articles, historical overviews, reprints of 1979 speeches and photographs, congratulatory advertisements and other memorabilia fill several pages in each paper.
Independence activities are scheduled for various communities throughout the island during the week, with Tuesday 22nd February, Independence Day featuring as the high point. The Star, moreover, lists activities to be held in various St. Lucian communities overseas: from Toronto to Japan.
The national independence exhibition is being held outside of Castries, at the newly-built Freezone in Beanefield, Vieux Fort. The exhibition is open until the 27th while events to celebrate the 21st anniversary of independence continue until April.
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Vieux Fort hotel project allegedly down the drain
Plans for a large-scale hotel development in the Shanty Town area of Vieux Fort have fallen through. This is claimed by local property owner and developer Martin Devaux, as reported on the HTS Evening News, last Friday. One of the possible reasons cited by Devaux for the investor's withdrawal is the fact that a large drain is currently being constructed in the area, traversing beach lands and eventually to discharge into Anse de Sable Bay. Other reasons suggested are that the developer had sought to acquire more land, and also to raise a certain amount of local funding - both requirements that were not met. None of the newspapers have yet reported on the issue.
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Three years in jail without charges
A Nigerian national has spent the past three years in prison in St. Lucia - without ever having had charges laid against him. This is reported in The Crusader. "He sits in the jail, in detention, in custody, in a foreign land, a land that prides itself on democracy, waiting for an answer from the powers-that-be, to his plea of refugee status", writes The Crusader. The newspaper announces that it intends to investigate the matter more fully next week.
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Supermarket and optical store robbed
Two more robberies marred public life in Castries last week. On Friday, around 7:15 pm, the Windtrades Supermarket in La Clery was robbed for the second time within one year. Three masked man with revolvers held up the cashier at gunpoint and made away with $3,000 in cash. A security guard was held at gunpoint. After fleeing the supermarket, the robbers shot twice at the building but nobody was hurt. Both the owner and staff are said to be "very shaken up" by the incident.
Also reported in The Crusader is the smash-and-grab robbery of St. Lucia Optical, last Tuesday morning around 3:00 am. The robber smashed the shop window with a large piece of concrete and proceeded to grab optical frames and sunglasses worth approximately $12,000. The police have a suspect in custody. It was the fourth time within one year that St. Lucia Optical has been robbed.
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Japan/Cuba motive suspected in turtle hunting
Is St. Lucia relaxing its protection of marine turtles in the face of sizeable Japanese monetary investments in fisheries complexes in St. Lucia? This possibility is examined by both The Mirror and Crusader newspapers this week. The ban on turtle fishing, which was lifted for the duration of one month last December, has not yet been formally put back into effect and may, in fact, not be reinstated at all. The Mirror newspaper quotes Chief Fisheries Officer Horace Walters as saying: "The moratorium was never intended to be permanent". The Mirror further alleges that local fishermen continue to hunt turtles - at least up until early February.
Both The Mirror and The Crusader speculate that local turtle protection regulations are being relaxed because of a Japanese-Cuban intention to start trading in turtle shells. According to The Mirror, environmentalists fear that "St. Lucia's downgrading of turtle protection is just one step in a global move to start up an international turtle trade" - something which has hitherto been strictly forbidden.
Both Japan and Cuba are interested in re-opening the trade in turtle shell. Both countries are expected to move to downscale the Hawksbill turtle one notch on the list of endangered species, at the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) next meeting in April. "With Japanese support, they expect to get other Caribbean countries, including St. Lucia, on their side", writes The Mirror. Already, Cuba has a stockpile of turtle shells which Japan is eager - but as yet forbidden - to buy for making into combs, hairclips, earrings and other decorative items.
"It may be that the shells of St. Lucian-born turtles are already in the Cuban stockpiles that may be traded to the Japanese by as early as April this year", writes The Mirror.
Horace Walters denies that St. Lucia has anything to do with the Cuban-Japanese connection but the Fisheries Department "is raising no objection to the turtle trade deal". According to The Mirror, Walters was in Cuba earlier this week, although the Chief Fisheries Officer claims that he was on personal leave at the time.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) considers the Hawksbill turtle 'critically endangered', while the other turtles that occur in St. Lucia's waters are considered endangered by both IUCN and the CITES. But Chief Fisheries Officer Walters queries these classifications. "There is nothing scientific about the IUCN list. They have everything on their list. They sit in offices in other countries and write a lot about our islands. They want to globalise the issues, but we don't have to look at the wider picture", Walters is quoted as saying in The Crusader. And The Mirror cites him: "We are satisfied that we have had enough nestings over the last few years. We put thousands of juveniles into the water. As for Grande Anse (St. Lucia's most famous turtle nesting ground), the turtle there is of no use. The leatherback has no commercial value".
It is unclear on what exactly the Fisheries Department bases its estimates of the local turtle population apart from incidental sightings. The Crusader goes so far as to say that "In his belief that turtles are not endangered, Horace Walters flies in the face of accepted scientific thought".
From March 1996, St. Lucia maintained a complete ban on turtle hunting - "a move much applauded by environmental groups", according to The Crusader and also a move that has helped the island to gain "worldwide recognition for the prestigious British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow Award". Furthermore, the moratorium on turtle fishing was considered proof of St. Lucia's dedication to sustainable environmental and ecological development - an important consideration, given that the island's application to have the Pitons designated a World Heritage Site by the IUCN is currently under review. As The Star claimed in last week's issue, this application - which has taken years to put together - may now be jeopardised.
In December of last year, seventeen local fishermen were granted permits to kill turtles, allegedly for DNA research - although strictly speaking that type of research does not require an animal to be killed. The results of that December exercise have not yet been made public, but numerous turtles of varying species and size were caught and killed at the time.
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Fish Market profitable once again
Unaudited financial statements indicate that the St. Lucia Fish Marketing Corporation (SLFMC) made a profit of $903,000 dollars during 1999 - only three years after the corporation was making annual losses amounting to as much as $340,000 dollars (1996). The remarkable financial recovery this week resulted in the SLFMC being able to comply with a request from the ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment for a $200,000 dollar donation. The donation is meant to assist the ministry with its fisheries development projects. On Monday, general manager of the SLFMC presented minister Cassius Elias with a cheque to this end. This is reported in The Crusader, Star and Thursday Voice.
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Gros Islet to link up to sewerage system
The Gros Islet area is at risk of water contamination and pollution unless more residents link up to the sewerage treatment plant in Rodney Bay. The situation might well affect the area's economic and social welfare. Already, a foul smell occasionally permeates the Rodney Bay area - the island's main touristic development. To rectify the sewerage problems in the area, the Water and Sewerage Company (WASCO) has embarked on a sensitisation programme aimed at stimulating more households to link up to the company's sewerage treatment plant in Rodney Bay.
The problem is one of under-capacity - not overload. Because the sewerage plant is not used to its full capacity, it has to handle low flows which result in bad smells and in WASCO having to flush treated water through the plant. Currently, only thirty households connect up to the plant every year - most others preferring to use backyard septic tanks and open drains for their other waste water. This week, WASCO began consultations with members of the town council. The Star and Voice both report on this.
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SLBC faces WIBDECO head-on
We are ready to mount a vigorous campaign: that is how the St. Lucia Banana Corporation (SLBC) responded to last week's news that the Windward Island Banana Development and Marketing Company (WIBDECO) intends to start buying bananas directly from St. Lucian farmers. WIBDECO's strategy came in response to a decision by the SLBC earlier this month, to cut out WIBDECO as a middleman in its dealings with banana purchasers in the United Kingdom, most notably Geest. WIBDECO announced its plan by saying that it does not intend to compete with the local banana companies - of which SLBC is one - but SLBC secretary Freemont Lawrence this week said that statement is "absolutely ridiculous", claiming that WIBDECO's approach "was nothing but a step against the privatisation process which will severely hurt the other banana companies". The Star reports this. In a separate article, the newspaper also announces that the new prime minister of Dominica, Rosie Douglas, intends to restore unity in the Windward islands' banana industry. Douglas was in St. Lucia last week to familiarise himself with the recent struggles in the banana industry. The Dominican, Grenadian and Vincentian governments have all expressed concern over the integrity and competitiveness of the Windward islands' position as banana producing countries. Douglas this week said he would attempt to come up with plans for "a restructured WIBDECO, [one] that Patrick Joseph and the St. Lucia Banana Corporation would feel comfortable with, in terms of exporting their bananas through, and hoping overall that the WIBDECO position can be strengthened in terms of the desire of some of the companies like the Tropical Quality Fruits for example, in ultimately purchasing the shares of Fyffes themselves, and strengthening our entire position on the market".
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'Inform public of water quality on beaches'
"It is important to sensitise the media and the public about the health of our coastal areas and some of the measures we can take to mitigate against environmental impacts so that we have a coastal area that we can all be happy about". This was said last Thursday by Dr. Jimmy Fletcher, permanent secretary in the minstry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment at the launch of an awareness-raising campaign about the human and natural impacts on St. Lucia's northwest coast. Both The Star and Voice report on this. The campaign marks the second phase of the EC$2.4 million North-West Coast Conservation Project, funded jointly by the local government ($1.9 million) and the Canadian International Development Agency ($500,000). This project is aimed at informing hoteliers, developers, farmers and residents of the impacts that ecologically negative practices have on rivers, beaches and, ultimately, public health. "Because of the smallness of the island, we find that what we see along our coastline is very often a reflection of what is happening further inland and these are some of the issues we have to get people thinking about", Fletcher said. Fletcher admitted that a lack of resources, political will and courage sometimes jeopardises the enforcement of existing environmental legislation. Furthermore, according to Fletcher, in the past government officials have sometimes tried to hide information regarding potential threats to public health - something which he intends to change. "If there is a problem with coastal water quality it's not something that we can hide. The public should be told about potential public health problems so they can make their own decisions. If they start getting ear infections and all kinds of other infections it won't take them long to work out where it came from. We cannot hide something like that".
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