Caribbean Report 04-02-1992

Abstract

The United States has changed its attitude towards Haiti regarding the trade embargo and is now willing to grant licenses to individual companies on a case by case basis. The Bush administration is criticised for this change of heart. The first batch of Haitian refugees is repatriated from Guantanamo Bay and conditions in the Haitian countryside on the return of the refugees are reported on; Jamaica wants a meeting for a special discussion on the plight of Haitian refugees. Dominica's Prime Minister, Dame Eugenia Charles re-confirms her decision to attend the ACP/EC General Assembly in Santo Domingo, rather than the Caricom leaders intercessional meeting in Jamaica; she is interviewed on what she hopes to achieve in Santo-Domingo. Concern is expressed for the Windward Islands banana industry especially in light of a recently published report by CTA Economic and Exports Analysts Ltd., which was commissioned by the Caribbean Banana Exporters Association (CBEA). The report confirms that the industry will be wiped out by a massive fall in prices if Windward Island producers were to loose their protective market, and Claire Wenner lobbyist on behalf of CBEA is interviewed. The final segment reports on the monetary grant which the Brtish parliament aproves for the Caribbean Development Bank.

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Table of Contents

1. Headlines (00:00-00:35)
2. Report on the changed attitude of the United States towards the embargo against Haiti and the willingness to now grant licences to individual companies in Haiti on a case by case basis by the U.S. Treasury Department (00:36-01:20)
3. Interview with American Democratic Charles Rangel's Legislative Director, who says the latest decision by the United States seemed linked to the United States Presidential election and contrary to the initial decisions of the Bush administration (01:21-03:50)
4. Report on the first group of refugees repatriated from the United States base in Cuba, Guantanamo Bay, and airing of the views of one Haitian farmer in the group (03:51-04:20)
5. Michael Norton reports from the Haitian countryside on the reception of one individual who had sought political refugee status in the U.S. four months ago, who said things were still rough (04:21-06:09)
6. Report on the proposal by the Jamaican government of a special discussion on the plight of Haitian refugees and the assylum which Jamaica is providing for those refugees already in the island (06:10-06:49)
7. Report of the re-confirmation of the decision by Dame Eugenia Charles, Dominica's Prime Minister, not to attend the Caricom leaders intercessional meeting in Jamaica later this month, but instead she will be going to Santo Domingo for the ACP-EC General Assembly. Tim Forsette asks her what she hopes to achieve in Santo Domingo (06:50-08:21)
8. Report on the concern for the future of the Windward Islands Banana Industry which has been heightened by the recently published report compiled by CTA Economic and Exports Analysts Ltd. and commissioned by the London based Caribbean Banana Exporters Association, (CBEA), which confirms that the industry will be wiped out by a massive fall in prices if Windward Island producers were to loose their protective market (08:22-08:54)
9. Hugh Crosskill interviews Claire Wenner, who lobbies European decision makers on behalf of the CBEA on what she hopes the report will achieve (08:55-11:30)
10. Report on the approval by the British parliament of a grant of ten and a half million pounds to the Caribbean Development Bank to be used for educational schemes, agricultural projects, coastal defenses and a series of private initiatives (11:31-12:03)
11. Report on the debate over the grant in the British House of Commons and airing of the case for the grant put forward by Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Mark Lennox-Boyd, as well as the questions raised on the role and functions of the CDB (12:04-14:47)

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