Caribbean Report 11-06-1990

Abstract

Stanley Rensch, exiled leader of the Surinamese Human Rights Organization, contends that the government is powerless to control the current conflict between the army and the Jungle Commando rebel group. Over the past week, the bauxite mining town of Moengo in Suriname has been under siege resulting in the closure of the bauxite company SURALCO. Secondly, Jamaica’s ailing Prime Minister, Michael Manley, is unable to host the 11Th Caricom Heads of Government Summit. Mr. Manley is currently a patient at the Miami Heart Institute recovering from a case of pneumonia and will soon be preparing for prostate cancer surgery. Thirdly, all travellers arriving in the Dominican Republic will now be required to change US$100.00 in an effort by the government to increase the foreign currency of the Central Bank. Following the Financial News, the Caribbean ambassadors in Brussels are expected to meet tomorrow to discuss the proposals put forward by the regional agricultural ministers for the regularization of the banana trade in Europe after 1992. These proposals were drafted at a meeting in Jamaica last week and seek to counter the controversial proposals by the British government which may lead to a significant fall in the price of bananas. The report concludes with a brief segment on Guyana’s inability to work out a support agreement with the IMF.