Monthly Archives: June 2017

Posted by William A. Gould, US Forest Service/USDA Caribbean Climate Hub and Isabel K. Pars, US Forest Service/Caribbean Climate Hub Coordinator in Climate Food and Nutrition

Jun 06, 2017

Sr. Sapo is a very popular figure among children in Puerto Rico and Latin America and he has a new healthy hobby, agriculture! The USDA Caribbean Climate Hub and the musical group Atencin Atencin Inc. partnered to produce a video focusing on how food is grown and its relationship with nature.

The USDA Caribbean Climate Hub explains they want to promote agriculture and help children better understand how the food we eat is connected to sunshine, rain and the soil.

The video illustrates how food production is influenced by the sun and the rain through the experiences of Sr. Sapo in his home garden. Sr. Sapolearns to prepare the soil and succeeds at harvesting fruits and vegetables after his garden was affected by a drought followed by severe flooding.

Where do potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes come from? Today, few children understand where food comes from so we thought it was important to collaborate with the Caribbean Hub to produce this video, which shows the benefits of agriculture and its relationship with nature to create environmental awareness in children, Vctor Rivera, President of Atencin Atencin Inc. said.

The Caribbean Hub also developed a coloring book based on the video, which the Hub uses as an educational tool when participating in agricultural and environmental events throughout the Island. Both are available in Spanish and with English subtitles in the Kids' Corner on the Caribbean Hub website.

Located in Ro Piedras, Puerto Rico, the USDA Caribbean Climate Hub is one of ten Regional Hubs nationwide that delivers science based knowledge and practical information to farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners to help them adapt to climate and weather variability.

The video and the coloring book are available in Spanish and with English subtitles in the Kids Corner on the Caribbean Hubs website.

Read the original:

New Caribbean Climate Hub Video Teaches Kids About Agriculture - USDA.gov (press release) (blog)

Horace Burrell, a longtime Caribbean soccer official and former ally of several controversial FIFA vice presidents, has died. He was 67.

The governing body of soccer in North America said the Jamaican, a senior vice president, died Tuesday. Media in Jamaica reported that Burrell was a patient at Johns Hopkins Cancer Treatment Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

Burrell oversaw Jamaicas qualification for the 1998 World Cup during two stints as president of the soccer federation from 1994-2003 and since 2007.

Captain Burrells commitment and vision for the sport contributed to create a strong legacy for the game within the region, the Miami-based CONCACAF soccer body said.

Burrell gave the Caribbean region continuity at CONCACAF and FIFA through corruption scandals that have flared since 2011. He was a FIFA disciplinary committee member, but lost that duty in 2011 when he was banned for three months in a Caribbean bribery case during that years FIFA presidential election.

Burrell, who had not cooperated fully with a FIFA-appointed investigation, was not implicated in taking money in a scandal which removed CONCACAF president Jack Warner from soccer.

Warner was replaced as CONCACAF leader and FIFA vice president by Jeffrey Webb, once a business partner of Burrells in a Cayman Islands branch of the Captains Bakery and Grill restaurant chain.

Webb and Warner were both indicted in May 2015 by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of a sprawling and ongoing investigation of bribery and corruption in international soccer linked to FIFA. Webb has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentence, while Warner is fighting extradition to the United States from Trinidad and Tobago.

A third CONCACAF president, Alfredo Hawit of Honduras, was also indicted and arrested later in 2015.

Burrell had rejoined FIFAs inner circle within weeks of his ban expiring in 2012 and was appointed to the committee organizing Olympic soccer tournaments.

As CONCACAF cleaned house in fallout from scandals, Burrell served as its No. 2 elected official and the most senior Caribbean in the 40-nation group.

See the article here:

Longtime Caribbean soccer official Horace Burrell dies at 67 - FOXSports.com

Edmund Bartlett, Jamaicas minister of tourism. (photo by Brian Major)

Jamaicas Ministry of Tourism is partnering with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and international financial organizations, including the World Bank Group, to host a novel conference organizers hope will result in innovative strategies to expand Caribbean tourism.

Announced by Caribbean government and tourism officials at a press briefing Wednesday in New York, the inaugural UNWTO, Government of Jamaica and World Bank Group Conference on Jobs & Inclusive Growth: Partnership for Sustainable Tourism event will be held November 27 to 29 at Jamaicas Montego Bay Convention Center.

The first-ever gathering will bring regional destinations together with Caribbean tourism groups that include the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), plus international development banks, non-profit organizations, academic groups and hotel and cruise industry officials.

The conference will address methods to attract increased tourism investment to Caribbean destinations while formulating policies through which communities will better retain and benefit from tourism expenditures, noted Edmund Bartlett, Jamaicas tourism minister.

The event will be the first UNWTO conference to take place in the Caribbean and coincides with the organizations year-long focus on international sustainable tourism development, said Paul Pennicook, Jamaicas director of the Jamaica Tourist Board.

Among several Caribbean officials to refer to the region as the worlds most tourism-reliant, Bartlett said countries in the region have the worlds highest proportion of total employment and percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) derived from tourism.

It is estimated that one in every four [Caribbean] persons is employed by tourism-related activities, and the sector accounts for 41 percent of all exports and services and 31 percent of all gross domestic product, he added.

READ MORE:Haitis Hometown Airline Spreads Its Wings

Bartlett also outlined the tourism industrys growing global significance: Global travel employs 10 percent of global labor. That means one in every 10 people working in the world is working in tourism. 1.2 billion people traveled globally in 2016, spending $1.3 trillion and 30 percent of world trade is in tourism.

Yet, Caribbean destinations have largely failed to retain tourism expenditures, Bartlett lamented. Thus the conference will focus on building linkages in our communities to capitalize on tourism dollars.

Bartlett said 80 percent of global tourism operations are run by small and medium-sized businesses.

If tourism is to be an economic driver, we have to improve in our retention of the proceeds, he said.

Bartlett said the conference themes will include tourism and sustainability; threats, risks and challenges; the strengthening of human capital; tourism value chain linkages and technology and innovation.

He added that the gathering will culminate in the formulation of a Montego Bay Declaration, which will provide an action plan for tourism destinations to follow.

The Montego Bay Declaration will contribute to a UNWTO global report on public-private partnerships. The conference will also feature the presentation of Caribbean Legend Awards to individuals that have made an indelible mark on the tourism industry, enhancing the Caribbean brand, Bartlett said.

Because we are the most tourism-reliant region of the world, we have to be the most tourism-competent, said Riley of CTO. We have to care more about the quality of the experience of the people who visit.

Matt Cooper, CHTAs chief marketing officer, noted Caribbean hoteliers operate in the worlds highest-cost region based on electricity rates and access to water.

Sustainability to us is a matter of practicality and survival, he said.

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Originally posted here:

Inaugural Jamaica Conference Invests in Caribbean Tourism - TravelPulse

The US Coast Guard recently offloaded in Puerto Rico more than a metric ton of cocaine, the latest in a string of seizures that points to a potential growth in the Caribbean's role as a drug transshipment hub.

The Coast Guard unloaded 1.1 metric tons of cocaine in Puerto Rico on June 2. The drugs, seized a week earlier off the island's southern coast, are estimated to have a wholesale value of around $32 million.

According to a June 6 press release, three Dominican nationals were arrested as part of the operation. They will face US federal charges in a Puerto Rico court.

The incident is the latest in a series of large cocaine seizures in the Caribbean this year. In a single operation in February, the Coast Guard seized 4.2 metric tons of cocaine heading to Europe in international waters off the northern coast of Suriname -- the largest bust in the Atlantic Ocean in nearly two decades.

Meanwhile, on June 4, the Jamaica Observer reported a small seizure of 75 kilograms of cocaine that were being shipped from Suriname and Guyana, indicating that the Caribbean is an important route for both large-scale and small-scale trafficking.

The latest seizures serve as a reminder of the Caribbean's important role as a drug transshipment hub, but also of the variety of routes and operations established in the area.

Central America and Mexico remain the main corridor for South American drugs heading to the US market, accounting for an estimated 76 percent of cocaine smuggled north, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration's 2016 National Drug Threat Assessment report. However, almost all of the remainder travels to the United States through the Caribbean, the report states.

SEE ALSO: Caribbean News and Profile

US authorities have in the past argued that evidence points to growing trafficking activities through the Caribbean. In fact, the DEA has said that the region saw a three-fold increase in drug smuggling between 2009 and 2014.

Indeed, the Caribbean's transshipment role has grown increasingly visible in recent years. The region remains one of the two main transit points for cocaine crossing the Atlantic to feed European consumption markets. This flow has most likely been fueled by the boom in Colombia's cocaine production, while the deep crisis shaking neighboring Venezuela -- from where many Caribbean shipments are launched -- also facilitates trafficking activities.

See the article here:

String of Large Drug Seizures Suggests Growth in Caribbean Trafficking - Insightcrime.org

Royal Caribbean Blog (blog)

6 things you may not have tried on a Royal Caribbean cruise Royal Caribbean Blog (blog) A Royal Caribbean cruise is the kind of vacation experience where fond memories are made. We all have our favorite restaurants, spots onboard, and entertainment to experience, but why not try something new the next time you go? Here are a few ... Port Everglades to Invest More Than $100 Million in Royal Caribbean Cruise TerminalCruise Critic Port Everglades Investing $100 Million to Renovate Royal Caribbean Cruise TerminalCruise Fever Port Everglades will invest more than $100 million to renovate terminal used by Royal Caribbean CruisesSouth Florida Business Journal StockNewsJournal -The Cerbat Gem -AllStockNews all 31 news articles »

See the rest here:

6 things you may not have tried on a Royal Caribbean cruise - Royal Caribbean Blog (blog)

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Cable Bahamas yesterday expressed optimism that it had created a path for other Bahamian firms to follow by becoming the first local company to cross-list on another Caribbean stock exchange.

Kino Williamson, the BISX-listed communications providers finance chief, told Tribune Business it had taken a big step through last Fridays listing of $14.7 million worth of preference shares on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE).

I think we are definitely the first Bahamian-owned entity to cross-list, he said. The JSEs managing director mentioned that.

Its a big step. When you think about it, we are striving to be a global company, and part of our strategy is to get our name and company out there. It [the cross-listing] gives us more alternative avenues out there for fund-raising, and creates more value for shareholders.

The Series 11 preference shares listed on the JSE are split into two tranches, one denominated in US dollars and the other in Jamaican currency. They represent the portion of last Augusts $50 million preference share offering that Cable Bahamas sought to raise outside this nation from Caribbean investors.

The BISX-listed communications provider had engaged Scotiabank (Bahamas) and its affiliate, Scotia Investments Jamaica, to place the Caribbean portion of the issue, which targeted raising $20 million or 40 per cent of the proceeds. Ultimately, $14.7 million, or 34.4 per cent of the $42.7 million total raised, came from outside the Bahamas.

Besides establishing a milestone for Cable Bahamas, Mr Williamson said Fridays cross-listing could also show the way for other Bahamian companies when it came to tapping capital markets and financing sources outside this nation.

Hopefully, it allows other companies in the Caribbean to come to our market and vice versa, he told Tribune Business, with a company on the local market that wants to cross-list on a Caribbean exchange.

Were creating that path. Were excited. It was a condition of [the preference share] raising to list. Were happy to do it, and happy to accomplish this milestone for the company. It will be interesting to see how our shares do, even though theyre just prefs.

Regional cross-listings, with Caribbean companies listing on the Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX), and Bahamian firms going on other regional platforms, has often been talked about as one way to expand the local capital markets and boost their liquidity.

This, though, has yet to translate into action apart from Cable Bahamas JSE listing last week. The Bahamian private sector generally, encouraged by exchange control regime restrictions, continued to look inward rather than outward for investors, financing and markets.

Cable Bahamas, with its $100 million expansion into Florida, is one of the few to break that trend. Mr Williamson said the JSE was extremely excited to receive its preference share listing, given the potential boost to liquidity and the possibility it will act as a magnet for more cross-listings.

He added that the increased exposure to a Caribbean investor audience was a key attraction for Cable Bahamas, especially as the company undertakes rapid expansion through Alivs mobile license and its Florida initiatives.

Hopefully with this move, once persons start to see us, particularly the Jamaican investors, following the transition from triple-play to quad-play provider, and see our growth, that creates avenues to raise additional funds if something comes up in the not too distant future, Mr Williamson told Tribune Business. Were excited about it.

We wont stop. Were back to the drawing board, looking at whats next for the company, and hopefully we will come back with something.

Originally posted here:

Cable 'Creates Path' For Caribbean Cross-Listing - Bahamas Tribune