Content about Caribbean

Medical doctors in Brazil remain baffled as to how metal sewing needles were placed inside the body of another two-year old boy from Brazil, with zero evidence of digestion and no signs of an entry wound on the outside of his body. El Sheikh Syed Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani, founder of the El Gilani Methodology (EGM), an innovative method of spiritual therapy and healing, said the rising cases all over the world are a clear sign of the practicing of occultism. “These needles were not swallowed. This is black magic and has become common now in villages of India, Columbia and Brazil”, says El Sheikh Gilani.

Women all across Latin America and the Caribbean joined the recent global celebration of International Women’s Day in March for a day of reflection and commemoration, highlighting the huge strides made in the region towards ending gender discrimination and inequality. Nearly every country in Latin America has currently signed onto international or regional treaties whose focus is equality and non-discrimination. And all the countries have established institutions promoting equality of the sexes.

Over the past three years, the 14 Caribbean countries that signed the Petrocaribe agreement have received between 120,000 and 140,000 barrels of oil per day from Venezuela on preferential terms. One BBC report noted that Petrocaribe assistance to Caribbean nations (other than Trinidad and Barbados) is vital as it has saved the region from experiencing an economic crisis.

No water and fire. Those are the words on many lips in the Caribbean as record breaking high temperatures (35 degrees Celsius) and low rainfall is affecting livelihood and life in the Caribbean. February 2010 was the driest February on record in Trinidad and Tobago receiving only 2.1mm of rainfall. Prior to that the driest February was in 1960 when 4.9mm of rain fell. The average rainfall in February for the past 30 years has been 43mm. 

Much of the Caribbean is experiencing severe water shortages at this time. From Trinidad and Tobago in the south to Jamaica in the north, people are experiencing water woes. In some instances consumers have no choice but to purchase truck- borne water for household use, which is sometimes illegal.

Recently I was surprised to discover that many participants at a conference in Washington DC could not locate the Caribbean on a map. Some said it was close to Africa while others simply believed that the Caribbean was a sun, sea and sand destination that was somewhere out there. This definition of the physical boundaries of the Caribbean should therefore shed some light on the physical location of Caribbean neighbors.

Four years ago, Cuba and Jamaica embarked on a mission to provide desperately needed routine and critical eye care for people of Jamaica, and the Caricom region in general.  The Jamaica/Cuba Eye Care Project has, since its inception, screened some 20,000 patients, and performed over 4,000 eye surgeries to treat cataracts and other anomalies in patients who otherwise may never have received care. 

As inhabitants of the Caribbean looked on at the economic crisis in the US and the rest of the developed world, some economists predicted that we were insulated from similar financial problems.