Caribbean Report 16-01-1997

Abstract

Hundreds of demonstrators have literally cut off a section of Trinidad and Tobago's main land oil belt in protest of unemployment and poor living conditions in the area. The following segment states that after complaints from the Italian and Spanish producers, the British government is calling on the European Commission to modify the quotas on rice import from the Caribbean. British officials say that the measures are affecting the Rice Processing Industry in Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Next, Jamaicans will now have a third option, the National Democratic Movement, when they vote in the next general elections. Next, former US President Jimmy Carter is to visit former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley in January. In the next segment, the Grenada government says that it wants to diversify the country’s economic base. Casino gambling seems to be one of its options and church leaders are opposing this move. The freeing of Colville McBarnet and Phyllis Coard on medical and humanitarian grounds is dealt with in this segment. The final segment states that a New York City Police Department memo, which directs police to compile a special list of Caribbean people they arrest, is causing a political storm.