Tag: The Caribbean

Planet Watch

Dorian’s devastation portends climate disaster

Hurricane Dorian’s slow, destructive track through the Bahamas fits a pattern scientists have seen聽in recent decades, and expect to continue as the planet warms: hurricanes stalling over coastal areas, bringing extreme rainfall. Research shows that more North Atlantic hurricanes have been stalling as Dorian did. Their average forward speed has also decreased by 17%鈥攆rom 11.5 mph聽to 9.6 mph鈥攂etween 1944 and 2017, according to a study by NASA and NOAA.聽Researchers聽think the stalling is聽caused by a general slowdown of atmospheric circulation鈥攊n turn caused by global climate change.聽The temperature contrast between the Arctic and equator is a main driver of wind, and this contrast decreases聽as the Arctic warms. (Photo: NOAA聽via聽Inisde Climate News)

The Caribbean
Haitians in Dominican Republic

Protest racist attacks in Dominican Republic

Rights groups throughout the Caribbean are raising the alarm on the persistence of racist attacks in the Dominican Republic, charging they are being actively encouraged by authorities. The聽wave of attacks on Haitian immigrants and Dominicans of Haitian background聽has been particularly focused in the region of El Cibao, which has become a center of operations for ultra-right nationalist groups. The mayor of Santiago, Abel Mart铆nez Dur谩n, a member of the Central Committee of the ruling Dominican Liberation Party, has promoted hate campaigns against Haitians. Media outlets amplify the racist and conspiracy-laden speeches of anti-immigrant public figures about a “silent invasion,” continuing a disastrous tradition that began under the long right-wing dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo.聽(Movimiento Socialista de los Trabajadores via Change.org)

The Caribbean

Puerto Rico: climate change to regime change

Puerto Rico聽swore in its third governor in less than a week, Wanda V谩zquez Garced, after the removal of Pedro Pierluisi by order of the commonwealth’s Supreme Court,聽which ruled unanimously that his appointment was unconstitutional. Pierluisi had been the chosen successor of Ricardo Rossell贸, who stepped down following weeks of mass protests. The protest wave began after group chats between Rossell贸 and his staff were made public, disclosing ugly homophobic and misogynistic comments aimed at political rivals鈥攁nd even聽victims of Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island in 2017. New research聽links the unprecedented destruction of Maria聽to climate change鈥攚ith grim implications for the future of the island and Caribbean region as a whole. (Photo of NYC rally for Puerto Rican independence by CounterVortex)

The Caribbean

Arrests at Havana’s first independent gay march

Activists in Havana held Cuba’s first independent gay pride march, after authorities cancelled the officially sanctioned event. The march assembled in Old Havana’a Parque Central, where the official event had been shceduled to start. Accompanied by a large escort of riot police and State Security agents, including some with dogs, the activists headed down the Paseo del Prado, waving rainbow flag. Upon arrival聽at the Malec贸n, Havana’s seaside promenade, plainclothes agents moved in on the march, arresting at least six. (Photo:聽CubaNet)

The Caribbean

Venezuela crisis at issue in Haiti unrest

Thousands of Haitians filled the streets of Port-au-Prince and several provincial cities to demand the resignation of President Jovenel Moise on the anniversary of the 1986 ouster of long-ruling dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier. Demonstrators also called for the arrest of officials responsible for the plundering of monies from the Venezuela-provided PetroCaribe fund over the past 10 years. At least two were reported dead in the protests, with vehicles burned, a police station attacked, some 40 arrested, and many wounded. Haiti faces a fast-deepening crisis, with hunger, unemployment and inflation all growing. Protesters are additionally angered by the government’s vote with Washington in the OAS not to recognize the presidency of Venezuela’s聽Nicol谩s Maduro. (Photo:聽Haiti Libert茅)

The Caribbean

US-sheltered terrorist dies a free man

Ex-CIA asset Luis Posada Carriles, wanted by Cuba and Venezuela for a string of deadly armed attacks, died a fee man in Miami at the age of 90. Exiled from his native Cuba after the 1959 Revolution, Posada Carriles dedicated his life to armed counter-revolutionary activity. He was wanted by Cuba for a string of bombings of Havana hotels, and by Venezuela for masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban civilian airliner in which 73 were killed. The US refused to extradite, and he had been for years living openly in the Miami area. He did face some legal trouble when he was accused of lying to immigration officers about how he got into the US before applying for asylum in 2005, but was acquitted in 2011 and spent his remaining years in a comfortable South Florida existence.聽In the 1980s, he worked with the CIA in covert resupply operations for the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. (Photo: anti-Posada Carriles propaganda billboard in Havana, from CounterVortex archies)

The Caribbean

Cuban anarchists get Havana infoshop

 ABRAA group of Cuban anarchists announced "a new phase in the process of self-emancipation," with the opening of ABRA Social Center and Libertarian Library in Havana's Vedado district. This endeavor of the Alfredo López Libertarian Workshop (an anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist initiative launched in 2012, which forms part of the Anarchist Federation of the Caribbean and Central America), with the collaboration of allied collectives such as the Cuban Critical Observatory, seeks "to build an autonomous and sustainable space in today's Cuba."

The Caribbean

Haiti: army to be unleashed on drug gangs

Haiti's President Jovenel Moise is moving to re-establish the country's army after 22 years—in the name of fighting the narco-gangs, of course. Haiti has been without an army since 1995, when populist president Jean-Bertrand Aristide disbanded the military after returning to power following a coup. But veteran officers of the disbanded army were behind the 2004 coup that ousted Aristide for a second and final time. And some of these same veteran officers are themselves implicated in the narco trade.

The Caribbean

Puerto Ricans to become climate refugees?

Hurricane Maria’s destruction on Puerto Rico could spawn one of the largest mass migrations in US history. Some 97% of the island’s residents are still without power, and half do not have running water. Thousands now awaiting flights from San Juan’s airport might be permanently displaced and become the planet’s newest “climate refugees.”