Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon. Roger Clarke, has endorsed the annual pan-jerked chicken competition, staged by the Caribbean Broilers Group of Companies, describing it as an example of the government’s emphasis on entrepreneurship and producing and eating more local foods.
Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon. Roger Clarke (right), and Tourism Director and Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) Chairman, John Lynch ((centre), observe as 2010 Caribbean Broilers Pan Chicken Competition winner, Oliver Bailey, prepares a dish, during Tuesday’s (May 1) launch of the 2012 tournament, at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston.
Speaking at the launch of the 2012 tournament on May 1 at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, Mr. Clarke noted that, over the years, Jamaica’s poultry industry had grown and advanced to the stage where the sector is currently “almost self-sufficient”.
“That is the direction we should always go and we are also now in a situation where we can begin to export chicken to other places. What it (tournament) is doing is underlining what we as a government…support wholeheartedly ….eat what you grow, grow what you eat. But what is even more important is the fact that coming out of that little start with the pan (jerked) chicken, we have developed so many entrepreneurs. It is something that we should be proud of,” Minister Clarke said.
Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon. Roger Clarke (right), is presented with serving of a dish prepared by 2010 Caribbean Broilers Pan Chicken Competition winner, Oliver Bailey (right), during Tuesday’s (May 1) launch of the 2012 tournament at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston. Looking on is Tourism Director and Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) Chairman, John Lynch. Mr. Clarke was guest speaker at the launch.
Caribbean Broilers Group Chief Executive Officer, Mark Haskins, informed that this year’s competition is expected to be bigger and better than the previous years, as it will coincide with celebrations marking Jamaica’s 50th independence anniversary.
He said the company has, again, partnered with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) to stage the tournament, which will see the top 10 chefs being selected from the list of entrants for each parish, to participate in three scheduled regional competitions.
These are slated for the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre in Kingston on May 27; Dump Up Beach, Montego Bay, on June 29; and a venue in Clarendon on September 29.
Mr. Haskins said the regional competitions will each feature an hour-long cook-off, from which the winners and first runners-up for each parish will be selected. The 26 selectees will then advance to the November 18 final, scheduled for the Kingston Waterfront, where they will vie for the championship title, which will see the winner copping a cash prize of $275,000 from the CB Group; a $250,000 business expansion grant from co-sponsor, Churches Cooperative Credit Union; and a trophy.
“We have no doubt that the regionals and the grand finale will boast an abundant of succulent, mouthwatering, juicy, and irresistible (recipes) for everyone to enjoy,” Mr. Haskins assured.
By Douglas McIntosh, JIS Reporter
The following statement has been issued by Commonwealth Journalists Association President Rita Payne:
CJA-UK chair Rita Payne (picture, left)
The Commonwealth Journalists Association wishes to join in the messages of outrage and concern that have been expressed at the attack by bombers on the premises of This Day and other media in both Abuja and Kaduna in Nigeria on 26 April 2012.
We deplore the loss of life and consider any bid to silence important media voices in any country to be a blow struck against the universal values of democracy and freedom of expression of which the Commonwealth is a standard bearer.
We are particularly concerned as Nigeria is a major Commonwealth country with a dynamic and independent media, and we wish to do all we can to help combat any threat to that independence. It is a reminder that the media are in the front line of the battle to defend democracy.
About the CJA: The Commonwealth Journalists Association is a voluntary professional association offering training and moral support to journalists in Commonwealth countries where the media lacks resources, comes under pressure from government and commercial interests, or suffers threats of violence.
It operates on behalf of working journalists throughout the Commonwealth, comprised of 54 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, North and South America, and the Pacific.
By FILADELFO ALEMAN and MARJORIE MILLER
Associated Press
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) – Thousands of Sandinista militants on Tuesday bid goodbye to Tomas Borge Martinez, the last surviving founder of the guerrilla movement that overthrew Nicaragua’s U.S.-backed right-wing dictatorship in 1979 and replaced it with a leftist government also criticized for repression.
FILE - In this July 9, 2004 file photo, ex-guerrilla commander Tomas Borge, then vice secretary of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, or FSLN, speaks during an interview in Managua, Nicaragua. Borge, the last surviving founder of the Sandinista guerrilla movement that overthrew Nicaragua's U.S.-backed right-wing dictatorship in 1979 died Monday. He was 81. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File
Mourners wearing hats and T-shirts with Sandinista logos waited in snaking lines up marble stairs to the second floor of the National Palace of Culture where Borge’s casket was surrounded with dozens of floral arrangement while revolutionary music blared in the plaza outside.
Most of the mourners came with their neighborhood organizations or unions.
“We wouldn’t have had a revolution without him,” said Glenda Perez, a social science university professor and Sandinista militant.
President Daniel Ortega announced three days of national mourning on state television for his longtime ally Borge, who died Monday night at age 81 after being hospitalized last month for pneumonia and other ailments. Borge joined with Carlos Fonseca Amador and others in 1961 to found the Sandinista National Liberation Front. It was named for Augusto Cesar Sandino, who fought against U.S. military intervention in Nicaragua in the 1930s. Ortega joined the front later and became its leader.
“Like Carlos Fonseca, he (Borge) is one of the dead who never die,” first lady Rosario Murillo said in an emotional announcement, her voice appearing to break at times. “He will always be with us in the Sandinista Front.”
Borge’s body, dressed in a faded olive drab military jacket, lay in state in an open casket at the National Palace of Culture. Ambassadors and government ministers filed by, some tearfully. A few mourners bowed or saluted in front of Borge’s body.
An incendiary speaker, combative personality and avid admirer of the communist governments in Cuba and North Korea, Borge was central to both the overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle and the establishment of a junta after the revolution and then the elected Sandinista government. He became the target of the Contra rebels supported by the Reagan administration.
Jailed twice by the Somozas’ brutal dynastic dictatorship, Borge was himself accused of human rights violations as the powerful interior minister during the 1985-90 elected Sandinista administration, until it was voted out of power.
Working from a six-story building that bore the slogan “Guardian of the People’s Happiness,” he controlled the police, immigration agents, jails and even firefighters, often using his nearly unbounded powers to punish the Sandinistas’ enemies in the press, Roman Catholic Church and private business.
Miskito Indians living along Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast alleged Borge orchestrated the displacement and killing of Miskitos suspected of anti-Sandinista activities, said Marcos Carmona, president of Nicaragua’s Standing Commission on Human Rights. Borge was also accused of ordering the killing of 37 opposition members in a jail in the city of Granada during President Daniel Ortega’s first term in office, something Borge always denied.
A staunch defender of the Sandinistas and Ortega, who won back the presidency in 2007 and was re-elected last year, Borge once wrote that “the return of the right is inconceivable” and pledged before the 2011 presidential election that the Sandinistas would stay in power “forever.” Asked that year who he most admired, he responded: “First, Fidel Castro. Second, Fidel Castro. Third, Fidel Castro. Fourth, Fidel Castro. Fifth, Fidel Castro.”
Congressman Jacinto Suarez called Borge “a transcendental figure in Nicaraguan history, not just for his founding of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, but for his fight to free the Nicaraguan people from Somoza’s dictatorship … I knew him for 40 years and we always had a friendly relationship, but due to his strong character it was impossible not to have some kind of rift with him.”
Renowned Nicaraguan writer Gioconda Belli, a Sandinista who later broke with the movement, found a tragic trajectory in Borge’s life.
“For a good portion of the Nicaraguan revolution, Tomas Borge sought to embody its free-flowing, original character,” Belli said. “Grandiose and unpredictable, he could be tough with one hand and extremely generous with the other. He was a good friend of his friends. After 1990, I have the sense he gave up his revolutionary illusions … He ended up a tragic-comic figure.”
Still, Belli said, Borge’s death “has made me very sad. I feel as if an era of Sandinismo died with him, notwithstanding the fact that he did not end his life as valiantly as he once lived it.”
Born on Aug. 13, 1930, to a poor family in the city of Matagalpa, north of the capital, Borge left university before graduating and dedicated himself to the struggle against the hated Somoza family, which ran Nicaragua almost as an extended plantation from 1937 until it was toppled by the Sandinistas in July 1979.
Economists estimate the Somozas owned about 20 percent of the country’s cultivable land, as well as sugar mills, banks, credit companies, cattle ranches, fishing fleets, construction companies, florists and other businesses.
Borge received military training in Cuba, and in 1956 he was arrested and jailed for three years on charges of involvement in a plot that ended with dictator Anastasio Somoza Garcia’s assassination by the poet Rigoberto Lopez Perez. Borge escaped from jail and took refuge in Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
After returning to Nicaragua, Borge helped found the Sandinista movement, which began small-scale armed actions against the dictatorship about a decade after its founding.
Imprisoned for subversive activities at the time of Chamorro’s killing, Borge was liberated in August 1978 after a Sandinista commando force attacked the National Palace, took legislators hostage and traded them for a group of Sandinista guerrillas who then escaped to Cuba.
Borge became minister of the interior after the Sandinista victory in July 1979 that toppled Somoza Debayle, who was the son of the slain Somoza Garcia.
As interior minister, Borge was accused of expelling and harassing clergymen during the war against the Contras, imposing strict censorship of the press and closing media outlets.
In August 1982, the Rev. Bismark Carballo, director of Catholic Radio, was arrested by Sandinista police, stripped naked and taken to a police station. The official press at the time said he had been attacked by a jealous husband who found the priest with his wife.
At about the same time, Bishop Pablo Antonio Vega and four priests were expelled from Nicaragua, accused by the government of helping the U.S.-backed Contras.
A businessman allied with the opposition, Jose Castillo Osejo, charged that he was taken to Borge’s office and was beaten by the minister.
Borge also imposed strict censorship on La Prensa, whose director, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, ended Sandinista rule by being elected president in 1990.
During Borge’s time in power, the government created Sandinista Defense Councils known as “the eyes and ears of the revolution” which exist today as Citizen Empowerment Councils run by Murillo, the wife of Daniel Ortega who is secretary of communication and citizenship.
In 2011, Borge’s former assistant minister, Luis Carrion, said the interior ministry was behind a 1984 bomb attack that killed three journalists and four rebels at a news conference in neighboring Costa Rica.
While the bombing was once blamed on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Carrion said that it had been part of a plot by the Sandinista government to kill Contra rebel leader Eden Pastora, who was giving the conference. Pastora survived.
Borge denied involvement in the attack, which killed two Costa Ricans, four Nicaraguan rebels and U.S. journalist Linda Frazier and wounded more than 20 other people at the village of La Penca, near the Nicaraguan border.
Pastora lauded Borge on national television Tuesday, saying he had become godfather to Borge’s daughter and considered the former interior minister to be “immortal, incorruptible, a man who didn’t lie.”
“He was tough and tender, the new man that we were trying to build,” Pastora said. “A lover of reality and truth.”
The reputations of Borge and other Sandinista officials were also hurt by what Nicaraguans called the “pinata” – the hurried distribution of confiscated properties to Sandinista officials in the weeks before they left office after losing the 1990 election. A former comrade, poet and priest Ernesto Cardenal, wrote a book alleging that Borge was a millionaire, something he vigorously denied.
After Barrios de Chamorro’s 1990 election victory, Borge became a congressman for the Sandinista National Liberation Front and was serving as ambassador to Peru when he fell ill.
Borge is survived by his second wife and four children.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
High-level forum in Barbados to chart a new ‘Sustainable Energy for All’ roadmap ahead of “Rio+20″ Conference, UNDP
The Government of Barbados, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States will host from 7 to 9 May 2012 the High-Level Conference of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS): Achieving Sustainable Energy for All in SIDS and the Rio+20 Informal Ministerial Meeting.
Prime Minister of Barbados Freundel Stuart and UNDP Resident Representative in Barbados Michelle Gyles-McDonnough will open the Conference which will discuss policy strategies leading to universal access to energy, increase in renewable energy production and energy efficiency.
Convened less than two months before world leaders gather in Brazil for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development “Rio+20″, the Bridgetown Conference brings together high level representatives of 39 countries from the Caribbean, the Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Africa, that belong to the Small Island Developing States group.
“Small island developing states can leap toward the goal of a poverty free and prosperous future by changing their energy sectors,” said Prime Minister Stuart. “Just weeks before the Rio+20 Conference, our countries can rally the international community with a unified voice, sharing our aspiration to become fully sustainable, and to contribute to a meaningful outcome of the meeting in Rio de Janeiro.”
In Bridgetown, heads of state, the private sector and civil society will also foster discussions on the SIDS sustainable energy partnership (SIDS DOCK), an initiative focused on creating an institutional mechanism to help small island states transform their energy sectors into a catalyst for sustainable economic development and to generate financial resources to address adaptation to climate change.
“Rising oil prices fuel economic and social instability in the energy importing small island developing states,” said Gyles-McDonnough. “Phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, building local renewable energy sectors, investing in green jobs and strengthening social safety nets for people whose livelihoods depend on imported energy is critical for gaining energy independence and poverty eradication.”
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN an effort to improve the relationship between police and the media, the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force (RSCNPF), in collaboration with the US Embassy to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, is hosting a three-day workshop.
The workshop, which began yesterday (Apr. 30) at the Police Training Complex in Basseterre, is being facilitated by Stephen Davis, President of Davis Investigative Group LLC, who is a former Captain and Public Information Officer (PIO) in the New York Police Department.
Davis held a roundtable discussion with members of the local media houses and a number of senior police officers, in which representatives of both organisations aired their views on certain issues, their respective responsibilities to the public and some of the barriers to communication in the dissemination of information.
The former Captain briefly spoke about his experience as a police officer and police spokesperson, with emphasis on the roles of the police and the media concerning crime.
“We have to understand that the police have a job to do and the media have a job to do. But if you don’t try to work together, how could you get those two jobs working together a common goal? And I believe they both have the same common goal…that common goal is to help increase safety for the public, is to keep the public informed, both of the good things that are happening as well as the bad things that are happening. The police have to deal with some tragic situations that deal with crime and the media have got to report on areas of public interest.”
Davis told the gathering what he wanted to accomplish through the workshop.
“What I am trying to accomplish down in the next few days is to meet with the police and the media to talk about how best to manage that common interest. It’s one thing to report on the crime, and sometimes it is quite shocking…the crime is quite shocking by nature. But there is another side to that crime.”
Explaining what he meant by another side to that crime, Davis said, “How is that crime going to be resolved; what conditions contributed to that crime; and how does society as a whole, media, police, social agencies, law enforcement, education, how they can work together in trying to achieve that goal?”
The consultant encouraged the participants to share their views on the success achieved and failure encountered in their interaction with members of the two organisations relating to the dissemination of timely and accurate information.
One of the many areas that he addressed was the gathering of information by reporters at a crime scene.
“The police in the street have to deal with it (crime) as it is happening. The reporters who get there as it is happening are trying to get the story. And in my day, back in the early 90s, it wasn’t as critical to get the story quickly, because we didn’t have Twitter and Blogs and Youtube. We didn’t really have much of K-24 Hour cable news. So, the pressure was less for both the media and therefore the police; in that, some of the details could be filled in later. Right now we do not have the luxury.”
He made reference to the Middle East where, in the past, information was suppressed by the governments, but “they couldn’t suppress the Youtubers, the Cell phones and literally within seconds what was happening on the scene is broadcast throughout the world, and that’s what you have to deal with now”.
“It is a much different situation when I was there. So that brings more responsibility on the part of the local police at the time to try to deal with the media. Now, you can’t take time out of your own duties, neglect your duties so that you can accommodate a reporter, and reporters need to understand that.
But there has to be some sense of cooperation at that level that will help people achieve their jobs”.
Davis gave examples of some cases whilst he was a PIO and noted that because of the large number of reporters who would have sought information on the many murders that would occurred within one day in the US, he could not have responded to them all, but “I had to be prepared to get questions on them all”.
He stated that it is a long but very important process in the dissemination of information to the media, because “what happens what’s reported is going to have a larger implication for society as a whole, for communities’ safety, for tourism, for business, for education and I hope I can help the police understand the role of the media and the media understand the role and responsibilities of the police and try to figure out how collaborative responsible relationship with the two can help achieve what is really a common goal. At the end of the day, everybody is interested in public safety, community safety”.
The workshop continues today and Davis, along with the participants, will be having a walkthrough the Newtown and Frigate Bay communities.
Source: SKN Vibes
PHILADELPHIA – Jamaica’s Prime Minister The Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller has assured members of the business community in Philadelphia that she will do everything possible to make investing in Jamaica a hassle free process.
The Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller
Addressing over 200 members of the Philadelphia business community at a reception given in her honor at the upscale Pyramid Club in downtown Philadelphia last night, April 27, 2012, Prime Minister Simpson Miller said she was determined to attract more overseas investments to Jamaica. However to do so, she would have to find ways of removing the red tape so that Jamaica could benefit from the investments that many foreign entities and members of the Diaspora would like to make in the country.
“The investments that many of you here have started in Jamaica might be incomplete because of the difficulties you have experienced in doing business in the country. As Prime Minister, I’m here to let you know that I will do everything in my power to ensure that your investment desires will materialize”.
The Prime Minister pointed out that one of the on-going objectives of the government at this time is to help to increase the level of employment in the country through the creation of jobs from foreign investments.
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller was presented with the city of Philadelphia’s highest award, “The Liberty Bell”, by chairman of the Mayor’s commission on African and Caribbean Immigration Affairs, Stanley Straughter. He pointed out that the award was being presented by the city in recognition of her status as the first woman to be elected Prime Minister of Jamaica and also because of the recent recognition given to her as one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.
The Prime Minister and Minister of Sports who is on a two-day official visit to the city of Philadelphia paid tribute to CEO of Team Jamaica Bickle, Irwin Claire and CEO of Caribbean Food Delight, Vincent HoSang for their outstanding support and contributions to the Jamaican athletes who represent the country at the annual Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“The contributions of your organizations in providing support of meals, transportation, lodging, medical services among others, to our athletes on a yearly basis, are worthy of the highest commendation. “On behalf of my government, the athletes and people of Jamaica, I want to commend you both.”
Mrs Simpson Miller noted that because of the support and assistance given by these two organizations, the athletes can perform at their highest levels since they can relax and not worry about transportation, lodging, meals or medical services.
“I am confident that our athletes who are participating in the Penn Relays over the weekend will do Jamaica proud. I am even more certain that they will perform creditably at this years’ upcoming summer Olympics in London.”
On Saturday, April 28, 2012, the final day of the Penn Relays, the organization will salute Jamaica on its 50th year of independence anniversary where Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller will be the special guest.
The Prime Minister is accompanied by Minister of Tourism Wykeham McNeil, Jamaica’s Consul General to New York Mr. Herman G LaMont and Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, Delano Franklyn.
ZIZ News…April 25 2012 — The most electrifying soca artist in the world has been added to the “Sweet Sixteen” edition of the Annual St. Kitts Music Festival, which takes place on Thursday, June 28 to Saturday, June 30.
Chairman of the Executive Committee of the St. Kitts Music Festival, Faron Lawrence, revealed that Machel Montano HD will be performing on Thursday, which is the first night of the three-night festival.
Michael Montano
“Montano is an award winning soca artiste who will complement the exciting mixture of Caribbean and international acts being put together for this year’s event,” Lawrence said. “He now stands as one of the most well-known soca acts in the world, using his leverage as an artiste able to sell-out shows.”
Montano has released many successful singles during his career, such as “Big Truck”, “Outa Space”, “Music Farm”, “It’s Carnival” and “Jumbie”. He is the frontman of the popular soca band The HD Family, and is loved for his high energy, fast-paced, and often unpredictable on-stage performances.
During his career, which spans over 30 years, Montano has recorded several songs alongside many of Caribbean music’s most popular acts such as Alison Hinds, Beenie Man, Burning Flames, Wyclef Jean, Shaggy, Sparrow, Destra, Vybz Kartel, G-Unit, David Rudder, Buju Banton, Mr. Vegas, Pitbull and many others.
The enigmatic soca artiste has won numerous soca awards from all over the world including the Bob Marley Award Entertainer of the Year 2007, Best Calypso/Soca entertainer 2007, and named the Most Outstanding Stage Personality at the International Reggae and World Music Awards (IRAWMA) at the historic Apollo Theatre in New York. That year also found Machel receiving an award at the first Annual BET J Virtual Awards for Best Caribbean Artiste of the Year.
In 2011, Machel won the International Soca Monarch competition a fierce night of competition.
In the end, Machel walked away with theTT$2 million dollar prize and the first International Soca Monarch title of his career. He then went on to win the Carnival Road March title with the same hit Advantage’ by a landslide victory. This year, Machel once again won the International Power Soca Monarch with the song Pump Yuh Flag. He also won the Groovy Soca Monarch title and then topped off the Carnival Season in Trinidad & Tobago, by winning the Road March Title with Pump Yuh Flag.
Machel Montano is the latest of an impressive St. Kitts Music Festival lineup, which include Roberta Flack, Damian Marley, Courtney Pine, Omarion, Morgan Heritage, Krosfyah, I-Octane and Popcaan.
Now in its 16th year, the Festival attracts both locals and visitors alike. It features a wide range of musical styles on the popular market, including R&B, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Soca, Calypso, Gospel and Contemporary music. Past artistes have included such prominent acts as John Legend, T-Pain, Michael Bolton, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, UB40’s Ali Campbell, Wyclef Jean, Ne-Yo, Air Supply, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, The Commodores, Dionne Warwick, Billy Ocean, Sean Paul, Boyz II Men, King Konris, Stephen Marley, Regina Belle, Maxi Priest, Biggie Irie, Bunny Wailer and Lord Nelson.
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jean Monestime, District 2, released Miami-Dade County’s official 2012 Haitian Heritage Cultural Month Event Calendar. This is the 12th consecutive year that Miami-Dade celebrateq the Haitian Heritage Cultural Month which will be held this year on the theme “Rediscovering the Pearl of the Caribbean : Celebrating an Explosion of Culture.”
This month-long celebration of the arts, culture and cuisine of Haiti will kick off with an opening ceremony on May 1, 2012, in the lobby of the Stephen P. Clark Government Center, 111 N.W. 1st Street, Miami, FL. The opening ceremony will be hosted by NBC6-Miami television personality Elizabeth Guerin and will feature a local dance troupe performing traditional Haitian dances; a salute to exemplary students of Haitian descent; and the unveiling of a Haitian-American art display in the lobby of the Stephen P. Clark Government Center. The art display is sponsored by the Center for Haitian Studies.
“During this special month, Miami-Dade County will pay tribute to the many contributions the Haitian people have made to our community, our state and our nation. These events will increase public knowledge and appreciation of the Haitian culture in America,” said Commissioner Monestime, the first Haitian-American elected to the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners.
Other events on this year’s calendar include the Haitian History Bee; a Young Artist Showcase; a Haitian Flag Day Celebration in the City of North Miami; and a Women In Production Trade Show event highlighting Haitian women entrepreneurs.
“Haitian Heritage Cultural Month is an opportunity to appreciate the beautiful cultural tapestry that makes Miami-Dade Couny a great place to live,” said Commissioner Monestime. “Our diversity is what makes this County strong, and our celebration of this diversity helps unify our community.”
Locations, dates and times of all events are listed on the 2012 Haitian Heritage Cultural Month Event Calendar : http://www.haitilibre.com/images/HHCM-2012.pdf
The month’s celebrations will conclude with a closing reception on May 29, at the City of North Miami Beach McDonald Center, 17051 N.E. 19th Ave, North Miami Beach, FL.
HL/ HaitiLibre
VIPCruisePlanner.com hosting an exclusive sale May 1 – May 15, 2012 on all Royal Caribbean International bookings made online offering prepaid gratuities, complimentary speciality dining restaurant and exclusive destination family promotion – priority check in, complimentary young cruiser’s soda packages and Johny Rockets restaurant.
New York, NY (PRWEB) April 30, 2012
VIPCruisePlanner.com hosting an exclusive sale May 1 – May 15, 2012 on all Royal Caribbean International bookings booked online for itineraries sailing May 1 – December 31, 2012.
Book an ocean view stateroom category or higher on any seven nights or longer Royal Caribbean sailings and receive Pre-Paid Gratuities and Complimentary Dinner for two in a specialty restaurant! In addition, our exclusive promotion is combinable with our exclusive Destination family offer. You and your family can skip the regular lines at the pier and take advantage of our VIP/Priority Check-in! This will allow you more time onboard to enjoy! You will also get complimentary young cruiser fountain soda package which entitles 2 young cruisers, 17 and under, to enjoy unlimited refills of fountain soda in all bars and lounges. Plus, enjoy a complimentary Coca-Cola Souvenir cup! Also you will enjoy a fantastic Johnny Rockets experience that includes complimentary one meal in Johnny Rockets for a family of four with full menu selection.
“Cruise Planners wants to make cruising, already one of the most affordable ways to travel, even more valuable for our customers,” said Irina Porter, Cruise Planners of New York. This sale is our way of saying thank you to our customers for trying out our innovative new cruise booking website. Each reservation bokked by May 15th will be entered into a drawing to win a IPAD 3.”
To take advantage of our exclusive Royal Caribbean offers, reservations should be made online.
About Royal Caribbean
Royal Caribbean International is the Nation of Why Not – a place where innovation and imagination reign supreme. All 22 ships are destinations within themselves appealing to families, couples and singles of all ages looking for active vacation experiences, onboard and shoreside. The line’s signature Gold Anchor Service is committed to providing friendly, engaging and personal service to all guests with one goal in mind: to Deliver the WOW.The cruise line built its reputation on providing the most innovative cruise experiences such as a rock-climbing wall, ice-skating rink, FlowRider surf simulator, the H20 Zone aqua park to name a few. And Royal Caribbean is the first ship to introduce a neighborhood concept of seven distinct themed areas, which includes Central Park, Boardwalk, the Royal Promenade, the Pool and Sports Zone, Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Center, Entertainment Place and Youth Zone. There’s even a zip-line and AquaTheater, the first amphitheater at sea.
By Jenny Vaughan (AFP)
Jamaican Rastafarians believe Ethiopia is their promised land (AFP, Jenny Vaughan)
SHASHEMENE, Ethiopia — A ceremonial fire burns as dreadlocked Rastafarians sway to drum beats, chanting “Haile I! Selassie I!” in praise of the former Ethiopian emperor whom they uphold as God incarnate.
Marijuana smoke rises from the crowd, decked out in their trademark red, gold and green — also the colours as the Ethiopian flag — as they celebrate the 46th anniversary this month of Haile Selassie’s visit to Jamaica.
That trip prompted an influx of Jamaican Rastafarians to the Horn of Africa state, which they believe is their promised land.
But some feel Ethiopia has not measured up — and now want change.
“After the visit of Haile Selassie in 1966 in the Caribbean, the Jamaican Rastafarians started to pour in” to Ethiopia, said researcher Giulia Bonacci at the French Centre for Ethiopian Studies in the capital Addis Ababa.
When the movement emerged in the 1930s among descendants of African slaves in Jamaica, it adopted Haile Selassie as the messiah, at a time when he stood out as the only independent black monarch in Africa.
They even took their name from his pre-regnal title — “Ras” for “head” and his birth name “Tafari”.
A supporter of decolonization and cooperation among African states when they were still largely under European control, Haile Selassie set aside land south of the capital in the 1950s to welcome back the African diaspora.
The 500-hectare (1,200-acre) plot in Shashemene, 250 kilometres (155 miles) from Addis Ababa, was offered to descendents of slaves who wanted to return “home”.
It is one of Africa’s few Rastafarian communities and residents hold fast to their cultural mainstays: dreadlocks, vegetarian diets, reggae music and marijuana smoking.
But life changed in 1974 when Haile Selassie was overthrown in a coup led by Mengistu Haile Mariam whose Marxist-Leninist regime confiscated the Shashemene plot, prompting most Rastas to flee its authoritarian rule.
Though 40 hectares have been returned to the community since Meles Zenawi, now prime minister, took power in 1991, the 600 or so Rastas from the Caribbean, North America and Europe living there today are “tolerated” by the government, holding neither citizenship nor any legal right to the land.
The 500-hectare Shashemene plot was offered to descendents of slaves who wanted to return "home" (AFP/, Jenny Vaughan)
“I won’t have a home, my home is in the middle of the road. So where am I going to stay?” he asked, sitting in his cramped, airless clay hut decorated with a fading portrait of Haile Selassie and a Rasta flag peeling from the wall.
“We have a right to the land,” he said.
“It’s not threatened, it’s being taken away,” Ras Kabena, 58, said angrily as he poked kernels from corn cobs to plant ahead of the rainy season.
Kabena, who moved from the Dominican Republic two decades ago, runs a natural health clinic on the grounds of a Rasta church but said authorities are encroaching on the fields where he grows food and medicinal herbs.
Rastafarians say it was the “divinity” of the land that drew them to Ethiopia, which is mentioned in the Bible more than 30 times and is believed to be the birthplace of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
“This is the promised land, this is where God is born,” said Ab.
Yet the Rastas’ vague status makes it difficult to set up business and access services open to nationals.
“I’m in Africa and I’m illegal in regards to status. I don’t feel illegal because I’m returning home, but when you’re talking about the letter of the law, yes, in fact, it’s reality,” said Carol Rocke, 56, who runs a Caribbean restaurant.
When she was “ordained by God” to come to Ethiopia from Trinidad six years ago, she applied for a business licence but was only allowed to operate as a foreign investor, limiting her business to the region around Shashemene.
Paul Phang, 55, a Jamaican-born Rasta priest who sits on Shashemene city council, insists the government has been increasingly supportive.
In 2006, the regional president “said the land that had been given to the black people of the West — no more of it should be molested, it should be honoured as a historical heritage for the diaspora community,” Phang said.
But Rocke feels authorities are dragging their heels. “They have not been active enough, it’s like they don’t know how to deal with us,” she said.
The Rastafarians now want clarification, and sent a petition to parliament three months ago urging the government to grant them legal status and legal title to their land. As yet they have not heard back.
“We have been here over 50 years. That means we have been integrated into the Ethiopian society, into the Ethiopian culture. Some of us have Ethiopian husbands, some of us have Ethiopian wives,” Rocke said.
But “our roots have been stanched, we have not been able to develop as a people.”
Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.
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