Haitian Boat Captains Jailed
September 9, 2010
CaribWorldNews, MIAMI, FL, Thurs. Sept. 9, 2010: Two Haitian boat captains will spend a total of 27-and-a-half years in jail for a failed migrant smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of nine Haitian nationals and an unborn baby.
Jimmy Metellus, 34, and Jean Morange Nelson, alias Jean Monique Nelson, 33, were this week sentenced in connection with the May 13, 2009 accident that happened in waters off Palm Beach County`s shore.
Metellus pleaded guilty to 13 counts of alien smuggling and placing in jeopardy the lives of aliens, that resulted in death, as part of a plea agreement in June. He will serve 14 and a-half-years in jail, down from a life sentence.
According to court records and witness testimony, defendants Metellus and Nelson were the two of the captains of the migrant smuggling vessel that sank off the Palm Beach county coast during the morning of May 13, 2009. Nelson, Metellus and two other captains left the Bahamas on May 9, 2009, on a boat with migrants bound for the U.S. The boat began to have mechanical problems and was adrift for three days. Associates of the smugglers arranged for fuel to be delivered to the boat, and guided it to a house in Bimini, Bahamas. In Bimini, the migrants were allegedly taken off the vessel while the boat was repaired.
The next night, the migrants were reloaded on the boat, and the boat departed for the U.S. A Good Samaritan reported to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) seeing people in the water approximately 16 miles east of Palm Beach County, Fla., in the early morning hours of May 13, 2009.
After a massive search and rescue operation conducted by the USCG, CBP Air and Marine Interdiction Agents, CBP U.S. Border Patrol, the Palm Beach Sheriff`s Office, Palm Beach Fire and Rescue, and the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner`s Office, 16 survivors, including Metellus and Nelson, and 10 deceased were identified as having been on the boat. The 10 deceased migrants included one adult male, seven adult females, one infant, and one unborn viable fetus. None of the survivors had visas or other travel documentation for admission into the U.S., nor were any such documents found in the nearby waters.
`I am very sad today,` Metellus told the judge through a translator at his sentencing. `I apologize for what happened. Poverty and a lack of employment drove me to seek a better life. It is painful for me to put my parents in this predicament. I will always remember what happened and hope my children will learn from it.`
…
Accused Jamaican Drug Lord Adds More Lawyers To Legal Team
September 9, 2010
CaribWorldNews, NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. Sept. 9, 2010: Accused Jamaican drug lord, Christopher Michael `Dudus` Coke, has named two new lawyers in his legal battle against U.S. prosecutors.
Coke who appeared in a New York courtroom Tuesday has fired Russell Todd Neufield and replaced him with Frank Doddato and Steve Rosen. Doddato and Rosen bring to four the total number of attorneys who will be representing Coke in his drug charges. The others are Steve Zissou and Elizabeth Macedonio.
The former Tivoli Gardens strongman has pleaded not guilty to gun and drug-trafficking charges. Coke was extradited to the U.S. in June. U.S. prosecutors claim in an indictment that since the early 1990s, Coke has led an international criminal organization known as the Shower Posse, with members in Jamaica, the US and other countries.
They claim that at his direction, members of this criminal organization sold marijuana and crack cocaine in the New York area and elsewhere, and sent the narcotics proceeds back to Coke and his co-conspirators. Coke and his co-conspirators also are accused of arming their organization with illegally trafficked firearms.
If convicted on the narcotics charge, Coke faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, as well as a fine of up to US$4 million. He also faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on the firearms-trafficking charge, and a fine of up to US$250,000.
…
New York Cop Admits To Killing Haitian American
September 9, 2010
CaribWorldNews, BROOKLYN, NY, Thurs. Sept. 9, 2010: A 32-year-old New York City cop yesterday admitted to killing a Haitian American woman while driving drunk down a Brooklyn street.
Andrew Kelly pleaded guilty to guilty to vehicular manslaughter in the death of 32-year-old Vionique Valnord as she was hailing a cab after leaving a wedding last September. Valnord was the daughter of Haitian-born Reverend, Varius Volnard.
After admitting to guilt Wednesday, Kelly then approached Rev. Volnard dad and extended his hand. The Rev. Volnard took a minute but then shook his hand. `He apologized to me and I accepted his apology,` Volnard told reporters afterward while saying he is satisfied with the guilty plea.
`He accepted responsibility and he will no longer be a police officer,` said the pastor of the Haitian Church of God in Brooklyn.
Kelly, a father of two has already resigned from the NYPD and faces 90 days in jail and five years probation when he is sentenced on Sept. 27. He had faced up to seven years in prison but under a plea deal worked out with prosecutors, he agreed to undergo alcoholism treatment and will be barred from driving for a year.
A seven-year veteran assigned to the 68th Precinct, Kelly was off-duty and driving home with police officer buddy Michael Downs after a night of drinking when he ran over Valnord in the Flatlands on Sept. 27, 2009.
Volnard`s family lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, said Kelly`s guilty plea and admission of responsibility is a big step forward for a civil lawsuit the family has filed.
…
Caribbean Roots Player Loses Out On Semi-Finals Slot At Open
September 9, 2010
CaribWorldNews, FLUSHING, NY, Thurs. Sept. 9, 2010: The Caribbean connection to the 2010 U.S. Open is over.
Gael Monfils, whose roots stretch to the French Caribbean, was yesterday denied a spot in the semi-finals of the tourney, despite a hard fought battle. Novak Djokovic beat Monfils and advanced to the semifinals with a 7-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory in a wind-marred match.
`The talent for play in the wind, I don`t have like yet,` Monfils said after the match.`Wind like this for me is very tough. I have a big swing, and as you can see, my adjustment is not that good sometime.`
Monfils’ game was filled with junkball tactics and was purely unpredictable and the player admitted to confusion on the court after.
`I was completely lost. Can`t serve, can`t really use my forehand. You run for what?,` he questioned.
After losing the first-set tiebreak, Monfils went away fast.
Djokovic is now 5-0 in career head-to-head matchups with Monfils. He will now meet either Roger Federer or Robin Soderling in the semifinal.
Monfils, 24, the 17th seed, played well throughout the tourney to make the Quarter finals. His parents are both from the French Caribbean though he was born in Paris, France. His father, Rufin, a former football player employed as an agent for France Telecom, comes from the island of Guadeloupe while his mother, Sylvette, comes from the island of Martinique and is a nurse.
The 6 ft. 4 inch Monfils considers Arthur Ashe to be his favorite player. He was coached by countryman and former ATP pro Thierry Champion (since September 2004) but they parted company in September 2006. Nevertheless, Monfils`s fitness trainer is still Rémi Barbarin. Monfils announced a partnership with a new coach, Tarik Benhabiles, in May 2007. However, for the 2008 season, Monfils has hired Roger Rasheed as his coach.
He has tattoos on both wrists, and giant wing tattoos on the lower half of his back. He is fond of listening to music, particularly R&B and has said if he did not play tennis, he would play basketball. He is a huge fan of NBA team Denver Nuggets and his favorite basketball player is Carmelo Anthony. Monfils is also a fan of football and his two favorite football clubs are Arsenal F.C. and Paris-Saint Germain. He lives in Nyon, Switzerland.
…
Walter Rodney Was Also A Race Man
September 9, 2010
By Dr. David Hinds
Special To CWNN
CaribWorldNews, PHOENIX, Arizona, Weds. Sept. 8, 2010: Since the furor over his visit to Buxton, the President of Guyana has had a lot to say about race, ethnicity, and national unity. At least we have gotten the chief citizen to begin to talk about this defining phenomenon. He knows that the protest against his Buxton trip had nothing to do with his right to visit that village or the right of Buxton to seek government funds and other resources. Never mind some misguided and malicious people continue to sing those tunes. I repeat: my objection to the president`s visit is grounded in two concerns – one political and the other ethno-racial (cultural).
But back to the President`s pronouncements on race. The Guyana Chronicle newspaper reported that the President told his predominantly Indian audience at Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice that David Hinds and other members of the WPA are a disgrace to the memory of Walter Rodney. According to him, `Their policies are built all around race and that was not what Rodney stood for.` (Guyana Chronicle August 28, 2010).
Here the President is repeating the PPP`s talking points which have become part of the manual developed by one of the president`s special advisors. I am sure the advisor has read Rodney. The President has been a busy man since his youth so he may not have read enough of Rodney`s writings.
It is simply not true that Rodney was not about race. Most of what Rodney wrote was about race. Whether it was slavery, colonialism, imperialism, underdevelopment, authoritarianism, Black Power or Pan Africanism, race was central to his discourse. He also dealt extensively with class but he never divorced it from race. His multi-racial thrust in Guyana was premised on his thorough and frontal consideration of race. President Jagdeo may be too young to remember that Dr. Rodney saw the PPP as an integral part of the politics of racial polarization, but he was visionary enough not to allow that conclusion to stand in the way of constructing the necessary broad anti-dictatorial alliance.
President Jagdeo and some of his PPP comrades present Walter Rodney as if he had no racial pride. This is the worst form of deception. Just as Glen Beck is trying to use Dr. King against progressive Blacks in the USA, Mr. Jagdeo is trying to separate Rodney from African Guyanese who defend and advocate African dignity.
He is trying to put Rodney on the side of the new Black acomodationists for whom racial pride and dignity are at best clichés. No, Mr. President, Dr. Rodney, in addition to being grounded in a class perspective, was a Race Man. He abhorred negative race which is premised on racism, racial superiority/inferiority, racial discrimination, race baiting and racial polarization. But he celebrated positive race, which is premised on dignity, pride, equality and justice. His seminal How Europe Underdeveloped Africa was about liberating African historiography from White/European distortion and in the process empowering primarily, though not exclusively, Black intellectual, political and socio-economic liberation.
His Groundings with my Brothers is still one of the most empowering defence of African pride, dignity, self-love, and humanity. As he said in an interview in 1970: `What we must try and understand (and this is a point I`m always trying to make very clearly) is that there is no contradiction between saying that, at this particular point in time, a man needs to assert his given identity, so that, at another point in time, he won`t he wouldn`t have to assert it…And I think that within our community of Guyana, different ethnic groups need to assert their identity, need to put themselves together, to pull themselves together, and when they have and when they can operate on the basis of mutual respect, which they are not doing, now, then I think that the way will be clear for building a new society, a society of a mixed unity.`
Yes, Rodney spoke and acted in solidarity with the downpressed of the world regardless of race, but this was not at the expense of his African dignity. For him it was not race or class, it was Race and Class. In 1977 at Durban and Louisa Row in Georgetown he invoked African dignity and pride to rally African Guyanese against what he saw as a racial conspiracy to hang an Indian man, Arnold Rampersaud. In that same year he also told Africans that it was beneath their dignity to present themselves as scabs to break a just strike by the mainly Indian sugar workers. Rodney always warned Africans about the dangers of propping up and justifying African dictatorship whether in Guyana, the Caribbean or Africa.
David Hinds is no Walter Rodney, but I am a keen student of what Rodney stood for. I am a Rodneyite. I, therefore, see no contradiction between my firm and uncompromising commitment to multiracial nationalism and my equally strong and uncompromising defense and advocacy of African pride, dignity and self-love. The former is not achievable outside of the latter. There is also no contradiction between my commitment to a power sharing national government, including the PPP, and my opposition to a PPP government bent on domination. The latter is diametrically opposed to the former.
My firm stance against an Indian leader and government seeking to turn Africans into mendicants and an African accomodationist class willing to accommodate and facilitate that mendicancy is consistent with Rodney`s outlook. Mr. President, Dr. Rodney heaped scorn on those Indian pandits who once touted Mr. Burnham as the reincarnation of a Hindu deity. The Chronicle`s assertion that you were treated in Buxton like an `African King` is equally racially disgusting.
EDITOR`S NOTE: David Hinds lectures in Caribbean and African Diaspora Studies at Arizona State University in the USA. More of his writings on Politics in Guyana and the Caribbean can be found on his GuyanaCaribbeanPolitics.com website.
…
Guyana Govt. Orders Barama Factory Closed
September 8, 2010
CaribWorldNews, GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Weds. Sept. 8, 2010: The Guyana government on Tuesday ordered the closure of the Barama timber factory following three fatal accidents.
The factory closing comes just days after employees found the body of Jason Fraser, 30, at an idle plant on Sept. 2. The plant`s machines were not being used but authorities said Fraser appeared to have been crushed.
Labor Minister Manzoor Nadir said the factory will remain closed until authorities determine how the worker died even though he would not have fit through the machine`s narrow opening. Barama has had three deaths in the past year
`Too many young people are dying at the workplace,` said the minister. `This is unsatisfactory.`
Barama Company Limited, a Malaysian company, has a concession of 1.6 million hectares of Guyana forest.
…
Airport Workers Nabbed For DR Coke
September 8, 2010
CaribWorldNews, NEWARK, N.J., Weds. Sept. 8, 2010: Two airport workers at the Newark Liberty International Airport have been arrested for allegedly conspiring to smuggle cocaine from the Dominican Republic into the United States.
Federal authorities accused 25-year-old Yunior Lopez of Elizabeth, 29-year-old Amaurys Caminero of Linden and 27-year-old Kerlwin Taveras of the Bronx, N.Y., with conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Lopez and Caminero are baggage handlers for Houston-based Continental Airlines, where Taveras formerly held the same job. Prosecutors say the cocaine arrived aboard flights from the Dominican Republic.
…
Grenada PM To Remove VAT Service Charge For Hotels
September 8, 2010
CaribWorldNews, ST. GEORGE`S, Grenada, Weds. Sept. 8, 2010: Grenada Prime Minister Tillman Thomas is looking to give tourism in the Spice Isle a boost with the removal of the Value Added Tax on service charge for hotels.
However, Thomas, in an address to the nation last night, said hotels benefitting will have to spend 90 percent of the service charge with workers.
`This safeguard is meant to ensure that the service charge collected is paid to the workers,` the PM said.
He also granted a 50 percent rebate in the VAT on hotel occupancy for the months of September, October and November.
Thomas added that his government will continue to support the expansion of airlift to the island. So far this year, the Thomas administration says it has spent $8 million on direct airlift to Grenada from North America and Europe.
…
Trinidad-American Rapper Scores A `Win` In Court
September 8, 2010
CaribWorldNews, BROOKLYN, NY, Weds. Sept. 8, 2010: There will be no more jail time for raunchy Trinidad-American Rapper Foxy Brown.
Brown was on Tuesday spared jail after prosecutors dropped all but one charge against her in Brooklyn Supreme Court. It was a post birthday present for Brown, born Inga Marchand, 32, who was only indicted for allegedly violating a court order that barred her from contacting a neighbor in Prospect Heights.
If convicted of that count, Brown faces community service. A grand jury failed to indict her on two felonies and three of four misdemeanors.
Afterwards, she blamed her legal trouble on people`s `jealousy` of her.
`I always knew I was innocent. And this is all about jealousy,` she said, without elaborating.
…
Barbados-Born Singer Gets `Loud`
September 8, 2010
CaribWorldNews, LOS ANGELES, CA, Weds. Sept. 8, 2010: Grammy Award-winning Barbados-born singer, Rihanna, is getting `Loud.`
The singer, is set to release her fifth album titled `Loud,` for the Christmas holidays. `Loud` is slated to hit stores in November and comes on the heels of her fourth disc, `Rated R.`
Yesterday, RiRi released her new single, `Only Girl (In the World)` on Ryan Seacrest`s morning radio show. The single was produced by Stargate, the same Grammy-winning producing team responsible for some of her biggest hits, including `Rude Boy,` `Unfaithful,` `Hate That I Love You` and the dance anthem `Please Don`t Stop the Music.`
`Want you to make me feel, like I`m the only girl in the world,` she sings. `Like I`m the only one that you`ll ever love, like I`m the only one who knows your heart.`
`Get loud, everybody. Get crazy. Get excited. `Cause I`m pumped. I`m just gonna be me,` she told fansite RihannaDaily.com during a live chat. `I`m done recording the whole album … I made sure not to let you down with my music! You guys are always defending me, so now you`ve got some great songs to justify it. I didn`t want to go backward and remake [2007`s] `Good Girl Gone Bad.` I wanted the next step in the evolution of Rihanna, and it`s perfect for us.`
…
