Caribbean & Central America - July 2008 (ISSN 1741-4458)

*** TURKS & CAICOS CORRUPTION.  The British parliament's foreign affairs committee has produced a report describing “corruption and a climate of fear" in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), saying that Chief Minister Michael Misick is at the centre of the alleged corruption. The essence of the allegations is that Misick and fellow government ministers have “enriched themselves by selling off Crown land to property developers for their own personal gain". TCI Governor Richard Tauwhare has appointed a commission to investigate the charges. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also investigating Misick for allegedly raping a Puerto Rican woman earlier this year. The Commission of Inquiry is expected to last four months.

*** TRINIDAD VISA THREAT.  The UK's Home Office has said that it is likely to impose new visa restrictions on visitors from Trinidad & Tobago along with 10 other countries including Venezuela, Brazil, and Bolivia from the Western Hemisphere. The UK revealed in early July that it intends to introduce visa requirements for short-term visitors from these countries unless they significantly reduce the risk they pose to the UK by the end of the year.  Trinidad's opposition leader Basdeo Panday said that the move was “a sad indication" of the state of the country […] when people are afraid to associate" with local people.
 
*** TRINIDAD TO LOSE GSP STATUS. On 30 June, US President George Bush wrote to the Speaker of the House of Representatives to say that Trinidad & Tobago was to be removed from the trade programme known as the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) because it has become a high income country. Bush said: “I am terminating the designation of that country as a beneficiary developing country for the purpose of the GSP effective January 1, 2010."

*** ST LUCIA CONSIDERS PETROCARIBE. St Lucia's Prime Minister Stephenson King told parliament on 9 July that he was giving “serious consideration" to joining Venezuela's Petrocaribe scheme of supplying oil on preferential terms. Opposition leader Dr Kenny Anthony supports the move. On 14 July, however, St Lucia's Trade and Industry Minister Rufus Bousquet said that St Lucia would have to consider its long-standing trading relationship with Trinidad before signing up to Petrocaribe. He said: “In making that decision we owe it to Caricom partner Trinidad & Tobago to bear in mind the long-standing trading relationship we have with them as they have been St Lucia's traditional supplier of petroleum products."