iNews Briefs, More & Community Events
Community Events
8th Annual CISPA Gala “Back to the Future-Celebrating 45 years of excellence”
Date: 10/10/2015
Time: 6:30 PM
Ritz Carlton Seven Mile Beach
Phone: 749 3360
Register
Event Description: The 8th Annual CISPA Gala “Back to the Future-Celebrating 45 years of excellence” is a time to celebrate Caymanians who recently attained their professional accounting designations as well as a chance to celebrate the past and look to the future
Directions: The Ritz Carlton, Grand Cayman
Annual Meals on Wheels Dress Down Day
SAVE THE DATE
Dress Down Day Friday, 20th November, 2015
Help feed our Seniors we believe no-one in Cayman should go hungry.
Individuals can help by purchasing an orange ribbon for $5.00 or a tee shirt for $15.00 and wearing them on Dress Down Day, we are encouraging companies to match employee donations.
For more information or to sign up to participate please feel free to contact us via email at [email protected] or via telephone at 949-3905.
CARE announces Cayman Islands 5th Annual Paws for wine
Sat Sept 26th Ristorante Pappagallo
Lions Club of Tropical Gardens Brenda Tibbetts-Lund Memorial 5K Walk/Run5K
Sunday October 3, 2015 in North Side at 6am
FRI AUG 28
Friday Primary School Orientations
The orientation for Sir John A Cumber Primary School is Friday (28 Aug) from 830 to 1230pm. Lighthouse school is from 9 until 10am and Savannah Primary is from 9am until 1030pm. Bodden Town Primary School is from 9am until 11am. East End Primary is from 9 until 12pm.These are for new students and they must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Friday High School Orientations
The orientation meetings for high schools students continue on Friday (28 Aug.) Year 7 students at John Gray High School will be meeting from 8am until 1215pm. New transfer students not in year 7 will be meeting from 930 until 11am. Year 7 and 11 students at Clifton Hunter High School will be meeting from 8am until 2:50pm. These are for new students and they must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
SAT AUG 29
East End Church of Christ Fun Day
On Saturday (29 Aug) the East End church of Christ will host a church fun day at the East End Civic Center. The event will run from 12:00noon to 3:00pm. For further information www.eechurchofchrist.org.
The Lions Club of Tropical Gardens Presents a Diabetes Health Fair
Free A1C Testing
By the Cayman Islands Diabetic Association (CIDA) For Persons with diabetes and a
strong family history of Diabetes.
Where: Church of God of Prophecy, Eastern Avenue, George Town
When: Saturday 29th August, 2015
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Clifton Hunter High School Uniform Shop Open
The Clifton Hunter High School Uniform Shop will be open Saturday (29 Aug) from 10am until 12pm.
Financial Assistance Meeting West Bay
There will be a financial assistance meeting in West Bay on Saturday (29 Aug) at 7pm. The location will be announced later.
REUNION OF ALL FORMER SECONDARY MODERN SCHOOL STUDENTS
A REUNION OF ALL FORMER SECONDARY MODERN SCHOOL STUDENTS IS PLANNED FOR THE 29TH AUGUST AT GRAND OLD HOUSE RESTAURANT TO CELEBRATE 55 YEARS SECONDARY EDUCATION IN THE CAYMAN ISLANDS. THIS CELEBRATION WILL BE PRECEDED WITH A TEACHER HONOURING CHURCH SERVICE AT THE CHAPEL CHURCH OF GOD CHURCH, WALKERS ROAD ON THE 23ND AUGUST AT 4:00 PM.
SUN AUG 30
Summer Praise
Elmslie United Memorial Church GT
All islands’ church choirs 7pm
MON AUG 31
Rehoboth Ministries
Rehoboth after school enrichment program re-opens Monday 31st August, 2015
HOURS: 2.30 PM – 6.00 PM
Pick up from schools available at no charge
FEE: $150.00 PER MONTH (DISCOUNTED PRICE FOR MORE THAN ONE CHILD.) Spaces allocated on first come first served basis
The children do get a snack which is included
More information- registration CALL 345-949-3905
2015 Orientation Dates for Cayman Islands Government Schools
Released on behalf of the Education Ministry.
Traffic Operation on Linford Pierson Highway Yields 23 Traffic Prosecutions
From RCIPS: Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 2:45 PM
Yesterday, 26 August, officers carried out a proactive traffic operation with road checks on Linford Pierson Highway between 3PM and 4PM, in partnership with the Department of Vehicle and Driver’s Licensing. Several units within the RCIPS, including the Air Operations Unit, coordinated to target illegal tints, obscured license plates, and other traffic breaches by motorists. During the operation 23 drivers were prosecuted for various offences.
This operation was carried out in response to traffic and road enforcement issues raised by residents in Community Clinics conducted by the RCIPS around the island in June. The second objective of the operation was to emphasize safe driving prior to the start of the school year, which begins on Monday. Operations of this type in different areas will continue on a regular basis.
OT Minister visits Cayman Islands Premier Thu (27)
The UK Member of Parliament currently in charge of the Overseas Territories, Grant Shapps, visited Jamaica but stopped in to Grand Cayman on Thursday to meet with Cayman Islands Premier, Alden McLaughlin. He also met with Cayman’s media in a Q & A.
Caribbean: 2 women arrested after fight on JetBlue flight
From St Lucia News
AP — Two women have been arrested after police say they attacked each other as their flight arrived at New York’s Kennedy Airport from Jamaica.
Port Authority spokesman Joe Pentangelo (pehn-TAN’-jeh-loh) says it happened at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday (26).
He says the dispute started after a 61-year-old passenger at a window seat tried to climb over another woman as Jet Blue Flight 960 approached the gate.
The older woman used an eyebrow razor to slash the 52-year-old woman and a man who tried to intervene.
The Port Authority spokesman says the younger woman then used pepper spray on the knife-wielding passenger.
Seven passengers were treated for difficulty breathing.
Police say the 61-year-old was arrested on assault and weapons charges. The other woman was arrested for possessing pepper spray.
WICB yet to make radical changes
By Azad Ali From Caribbean Life
A ruling by the Supreme Court in India aimed at shaking-up the administration of cricket in that country should give fresh momentum to a move for radical changes to the operations of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), a former chairman of the governance committee for West Indies cricket has said.
The Supreme Court has suspended two franchises in the Indian Premier League (ILP) for two years over a corruption scandal and had recommended changes to make the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) more transparent.
In an article circulated across the Caribbean, Charles Wilkins has accused WICB administrators of deliberately refusing to introduce the changes needed in the region for personal reasons.
“The same changes are badly needed in this region. The WICB has itself recognized that, but does not like the consequences for its clique of administrators hence has backed away,” said Wilkins in his article.
In April, the WICB and CARICOM prime ministers said they had agreed to set up a panel comprising eminent Caribbean persons to examine the problem-plagued governance structure of the WICB with the view of “reversing the current negative trends in the sport.”
The move represented the latest attempt to arrest a worrying trend of crises in the regional administration of the game.
For more: http://www.caribbeanlifenews.com/stories/2015/8/2015-08-20-azad-wicb-cl.html
Dolly Parton raises $500,000 for Imagination Library
From nusic-news
Dolly Parton played four very special shows at her own Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN in support of her Imagination Library.
Over the course of the home stand, she raised $500,000 for the cause which was created by Parton and one of her great philanthropic activities over the last twenty years.
Parton told the crowd at the final show ‘Thank you from all the kids and me! We give books to children all over the world now, and the Imagination Library started right here in Sevier County, right up here in these hills. So thank you all for coming. I truly believe that you can never get enough books into the hands of enough children.’
The Imagination Library, created in 1995, sends a new book to every child in the program once per month from the time they are born until they enter school. To date, the program has sent out over 71 million free books and currently is working with 1,600 local communities in the U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada, servicing 860,000 children per month.
QU Women’s Golf announces 2015 Fall Schedule [Emily Ribbins of Cayman plays for them]
HAMDEN, Conn. – Quinnipiac University women’s golf head coach John O’Connor has announced the Bobcats’ schedule for the Fall 2015 schedule. The Bobcats will play in six tournaments through the end of October, including the fifth annual Quinnipiac Classic.
The Bobcats’ schedule begins on Sept. 19-20 at the United States Naval Academy’s Chesapeake Bay Invitational at the US Naval Academy Golf Course in Annapolis, Maryland. Last season, Estefania Morales (Caracas, Venezuela) turned in a team-best 77 on the final day of Navy’s tournament.
The following weekend finds Quinnipiac competing in the Dartmouth Invitational on Sept. 26-27 at the Hanover Country Club in Hanover, New Hampshire. In 2014-15, Quinnipiac opened their season at Dartmouth, which was highlighted by an 18th place finish by Nicole Scola (Westerly, Rhode Island) and a career-best round for Alexa Gentile (Avon, Connecticut).
October finds O’Connor’s squad at the Princeton Invitational on Oct. 3-4 at Springdale Golf Club in Princeton, New Jersey. The following week marks the fifth annual Quinnipiac Classic, which will be hosted for the first time at New Haven Country Club in Hamden, Connecticut on Sept. 12-13. Last year, Scola became the second Bobcat to win the Quinnipiac Classic with back-to-back 73’s for a two-day total of 146, all of which set new Classic records.
The Bobcats’ fall slate continues at the Delaware State Invitational on Oct. 18-19. Last year, Scola and Emily Ribbins (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands) both placed in the Top 10 , as Ribbins’ second-day 82 was a career best. Quinnipiac’s final competition of the Fall semester falls on Oct. 26-27 when the Bobcats head to Hastings-on-Hudson, New York to compete in the St. John’s Women’s Golf Invitational at The Saint Andrew’s Golf Course.
SOURCE: http://www.quinnipiacbobcats.com/sports/wgolf/2015-16/releases/2015082661zo9f
9 factors may be key to Alzheimer’s risk
By Alan Mozes WebMD News from HealthDay
Healthy lifestyle important but no guarantee against most common form of dementia, researchers find
(HealthDay News) — Up to two-thirds of Alzheimer’s cases worldwide may stem from any of nine conditions that often result from lifestyle choices, a broad research review suggests.
Those include obesity (specifically, high body mass index, an indication of obesity, in midlife); carotid artery disease, in which plaque buildup narrows major neck arteries and slows blood supply to the brain; high blood pressure; depression; being frail; being poorly educated; having high levels of a naturally occurring amino acid known as homocysteine; and (specifically among those of Asian descent) being a smoker and/or having either type 2 diabetes.
The implication: Taking steps to minimize or eliminate such conditions might reduce the long-term risk for developing Alzheimer’s, a brain disorder that affects memory and thinking. It is the most common form of dementia among seniors.
“The current evidence from our study showed that individuals would benefit from [addressing] the related potentially modifiable risk factors,” said study lead author Dr. Jin-Tai Yu, an associate specialist in neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, and senior editor of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
But Yu cautioned that “what is what is seen here is an association rather than a direct cause-and-effect relationship between any one factor and Alzheimer’s risk.” And that, he said, means it’s impossible to determine exactly how much protection against Alzheimer’s would be gained by the elimination of any one condition.
Yu and his colleagues discuss their findings in the Aug. 20 online issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.
In all, investigators reviewed the findings of 323 studies completed between 1968 and 2014. Collectively, the studies involved more than 5,000 patients and looked at 93 conditions with the potential to affect Alzheimer’s risk.
The team set out to determine which factors appeared to offer some protection against developing Alzheimer’s.
On that score, the strongest evidence suggested that coffee, vitamins C and E, folate, NSAIDS (anti-inflammation drugs), statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs), blood pressure medications, and estrogen supplementation all appeared to reduce Alzheimer’s risk.
Alternative funds growth for Jersey as private placement uptake breaks 200 barrier
From FTSE Global Markets
The Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) says the number of Jersey funds marketing into Europe through national private placement regimes (NPPRs) under the EU Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) has broken through the 200 barrier (June this year), underpinned by strong combined performances in Jersey’s alternatives sector where net asset values under administration rose 15% on the previous year.
According to latest figures (June 2014) from JFSC, 205 Jersey funds are now being marketed into Europe through private placement regimes, an increase of 10% on December last year, whilst 84 fund managers have now received private placement authorisation, up 40% over the previous six months.
Meanwhile, statistics collated by the JFSC show that the net asset value of all regulated funds under administration in Jersey grew by around 9% year on year as at June 2015 to stand at £218bn, and that the fund formation rate remains strong with on average one fund being established in Jersey every week during the first half of the year.
In particular, JFSC believes the alternative asset classes grew 15% annually. Hedge fund business grew by 31% year-on-year, real estate funds business was up by 16% annually, and private equity maintained a steady yearly increase of 2%.
Whilst Jersey’s current marketing route into Europe via national private placement regimes looks likely to remain in place until at least 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced in July that it was recommending Jersey should be included in the first wave of ‘third non-EU countries’ whose managers could seek authorisation for a passport to market their alternative investment funds to professional investors throughout EU Member States.
“Whilst of course the endorsement from ESMA in July was a significant development for Jersey’s funds community, it’s extremely pleasing that at the ‘business as usual’ private placement route. With private placement expected to remain in place until at least 2018 and the potential to activate the AIFMD passport in Jersey in due course, the evidence all points to genuine confidence in Jersey for the management, domiciliation and servicing of funds across a range of strategies and target markets” says Geoff Cook, chief executive at Jersey Finance.
Seychelles no longer a tax haven for Indians
By Express News Service From The New Indian Express
NEW DELHI: India continued to develop its relationship in the Indian Ocean Region, offering an additional coast guard patrol boat to visiting Seychelles President James Alix Michel, who is in India within five months of Prime minister Narendra Modi’s state visit.The visit also provided an opportunity to sign an agreement on tax information exchange – which will help in the tracking of black money from India to Seychelles, known as an offshore haven.
Besides, this there was four other bilateral pacts which include on air services and supply of Dornier aircraft to the island nation. India also handed over navigational charts to Aldabra Island, made by India’s naval Hydrographer.
All these show how India is wooing the Indian Ocean island nation – vital for ensuring that strategic imprint in the region is not encroached by China.
During his march visit, Modi had announced India’s gift of Dornier aircraft, which President Michel said will “significantly reinforce our security capabilities in terms of surveillance of our ocean space and of the Indian Ocean region as a whole.”
“I have conveyed that India will gift one more Interceptor Coastguard boat to Seychelles,” Modi said in a statement after his bilateral discussion with President Michel. India has already gifted two coast guard ships to Seychelles, which are part of its fleet of six patrol ships to survey its large territorial waters.
“Seychelles has expressed its willingness to be a partner in the maritime security cooperation between India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives,” reiterated Michel. Mauritius and Seychelles were supposed to have joined the trilateral network, but the delay in holding its meeting has pushed back the expansion.
Modi specifically noted that “we (India and Seychelles) have excellent security cooperation, especially for maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region”.
Further, he announced that India has already begun preparations for infrastructure development on Assumption island.
shot in arm
■ In a boost to its fight against black money, India signs an info exchange pact with Seychelles on tax matters
■ India has signed similar pacts with other offshore tax havens such as Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino
■ Seychelles has long been perceived as one of the preferred offshore havens for routing funds
India’s commitment to develop Assumption and Mauritius’s Adegas islands were taken during Modi’s visit to the region in March.
These are described as being a significant strategic value, with both islands being big enough to build air strips.
For more: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/h/gkual93aotpu/?&th=14f6e6cfe0af5b0c&v=c
Poland: Please stop looking for that ghost Nazi train rumored to be full of gold
By Amanda Macias and Reuters From Business Insider
Earlier this month, two men claimed they found a Nazi ghost train carrying stolen loot and now Poland wants all the second world war buffs and rail enthusiasts to stop searching for the train.
“I’m certain the train exists, but it might contain dangerous materials from World War Two,” said Piotr Zuchowski, Poland’s head of national heritage.
NAZI TRAIN AAHHH
“There’s a huge probability that the train is booby-trapped,” he added.
The Polish government said “foragers” have become active near the town of Walbrzych in Poland where the 500-foot long train was reportedly found in an underground tunnel.
“This is an appeal for any further investigations to be put on hold until we have finished the necessary official procedures relating to securing the site,” Zuchowski said.
According to local folklore, the train is believed to have vanished in 1945 with loot from the German town Breslau, now Polish and called Wroclaw.
IMAGES:
Underground train found in tunnel in Polish town of Walbrzych.
Screengrab Not the Nazi train in question.
Judge says top Dole execs owe shareholders $148m for driving down company’s stock price before buyout
By Mary Beth Quirk From Consumerist
Two top executives at Dole are on the hook for $148 million after a judge ruled that CEO and chairman of the board David H. Murdock, and the company’s former chief operating officer, C. Michael Carter fraudulently drove down their company’s stock price so they could shortchange shareholders and buy the business on the cheap.
Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of Delaware’s Court of Chancery ordered Murdock and Carter to reimburse shareholders $148 million, reports the New York Times. His decision [PDF] comes after a February trial prompted by shareholders in the company, who didn’t think Murdock’s deal to buy the 60% of the company he didn’t own in 2013 was entirely on the up-and-up.
Before coming to the table with a deal for shareholders, Vice Chancellor Laster said Carter had misstated how much Dole could earn if it were to sell of some of its businesses, and canceled a stock buyback program.
That drove down the valuation of the stock, the judge said in his decision. Murdock at first offered $12 per share, which was negotiated up to $13.50 per share after an independent board committee checked out the deal.
Carter then gave the committee a set of artificially low management projects, while at the same time delivering a much more accurate picture to potential lenders involved in the takeover bid.
The deal passed by a slim vote, and the company went private.
“By taking these actions, Murdock and Carter deprived the committee of the ability to negotiate on a fully informed basis and potentially say no to the merger,” Vice Chancellor Laster wrote. “Murdock and Carter likewise deprived the stockholders of their ability to consider the merger on a fully informed basis and potentially vote it down.”
11 Government officials detained in China over Tianjin blast
By Jaime Fuller From New York Magazine
Chinese prosecutors detained 11 government officials on Thursday — all are being blamed for the explosion in Tianjin earlier this month that killed at least 139 people and could lead to more than $1.5 billion in insurance claims. The president of Tianjin Port, two of his subordinates, and current and retired officials in charge of work safety, customs, and transportation in the area, were among the detained. Most of the officials were reportedly accused of dereliction of duty — and not preventing illegal work practices at the port — and one official was accused of abusing power.
A notice, posted online from the prosecutors, notes that those officials detained “failed to take strong measures in response to the Ruihai company’s illegal and unregulated actions, did not assiduously carry out their duties and issued business permits in violations of rules.” Twelve executives, mostly employees at Ruihai International Logistics — the company housing the toxic chemicals, including 700 tons of sodium cyanide that helped cause the blast — have also been detained.
Companies are still reeling from losses in the fire — thousands of cars were rendered unusable, and many storage facilities were ruined. The total environmental impact of the disaster is still unknown too, although the prognosis does not good. Thousands of dead fish have washed up on banks, which officials have said should cause no alarm as many fish die in the summer due to natural changes in the water’s salt levels. Many people are still missing, including some first responders. According to the Los Angeles Times, 115 firefighters and police officers are dead or unaccounted for. More than 500 people are still in the hospital, per the BBC.
Daily News slammed over graphic Virginia shooting cover
By Margaret Hartmann From New York Magazine
The New York Daily News sparked outrage on Twitter overnight when it revealed its Thursday cover on Wednesday’s on-air double murder in Virginia. Under the headline “Executed on Live TV,” it features three photos from alleged shooter Vester Lee Flanagan’s point of view, the last showing the horrified look on journalist Alison Parker’s face as he opened fire. Earlier in the day, colleagues of Parker and cameraman Adam Ward asked people to stop sharing videos of the murder on social media. “Our #WDBJ crew was literally ambushed this morning. Please DO NOT share, or post the video,” wrote chief meteorologist Brent Watts. Andy Parker, the victim’s father, compared the footage to ISIS beheading videos and said, “I am not going to watch it. I can’t watch it.”
An edited version of the Daily News cover is attached. You can see the original at link below.
For more: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/08/daily-news-slammed-over-virginia-shooting-cover.html
See also iNews Cayman story “Live-TV shooting suspect pronounced dead at hospital” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/live-tv-shooting-suspect-pronounced-dead-at-hospital/
The passing chance for a better Haiti
By Jean Hervé Charles LLB, MSW, JD Candidate for the Presidency of Haiti / PENH / 18 From Caribbean News Now
Haiti has conducted this summer of 2015 a huge election process that includes a president, senators, all the legislators all the mayors and all the rural sheriffs; on August 9 for the senators and the legislators and on October 25 for the president, the mayors and the rural counties’ sheriffs.
For a country mired with controversial political issues that date back to October 17, 1806, when its founding father Jean Jacques Dessalines was assassinated by his own armed brethren, the country has not recovered in its mythic mission of forging a nation out of its citizens that were enslaved by their masters.
With a huge ransom demanded by and paid to France through usury payments that lasted more than a century, Haiti did not have the financial means to build a nation with the infrastructure and the institutions that would render its citizens secure in their catchments areas.
Internal conflicts that were fueled by competing nations such as Germany against the United States, Holland against France, for the riches of Haiti made that country for its entire life a hotbed for marginal fires that did not help its development. It commemorated on July 29, 2015, the centenary of the departure of the American troops from Haitian soil after an occupation that lasted 30 years. Haiti is still occupied today by a United Nations contingent made up of the military of several nations under the label of stabilization with the acronym MINUSTHA.
For the last 60 years, since the departure of Paul Eugene Magloire on December 6, 1956, Haiti has fallen into an abyss that plunged the nation into dictatorship that lasted 30 years, militarism another five years, illiberal democracy plagued with populism, corruption and cronyism for the remaining part of the nightmare, sending its citizens like nomads all over the world.
With this election, Haiti may have the fighting chance that it has never had since Antenor Firmin and Jean Price Mars tried to stir the country into the right path. Educated in Haiti (law and International affairs) and in the United States (law and Social Work), I have plunged myself into the Haitian political scene since my retirement from the life of an educator and legal practice in the United States.
Having worked in the political party Repons Peyizan, the party that President Martelly was elected under but failed to recognize as a maligned child, once in power, I am now a leading part of an old party: PENH/ Party for the National Evolution of Haiti. Its president, Jean Auguste Bellerice, is an old guru of Haitian politics. He was the director of communication under Francois and Jean Claude Duvalier, with well-connected friends in all Haitian political spheres.
I will be competing with some 59 other candidates to occupy the coveted seat of President of the Republic of Haiti. I believe I have a fighting chance to win because I am the only candidate with a book to instruct the citizenry of the major problems of the country and how I plan to tackle them with means to succeed.
I am the only candidate sent by the ancestors to deliver Haiti from its woes. The proof is they have anointed me with the number 18, which is the magical and the spiritual number of Haiti: 18 as in 1804; 18 as in May 18 (Flag Day); 18 as in November 18 (the last decisive battle day to obtain independence). I warn the citizens of Haiti not to infuriate the founding fathers by not taking into account this mystical signal.
In addition, I hail from the town of Grande Riviere, the city that is the birthplace of Haiti’s founding father, Jean Jacques Dessalines; Grande Riviere du Nord is also the birth place of Jean Price Mars, the revered uncle that taught Haitian people in particular, and black people in general to ease into their skin. He is the founding father of Black is Beautiful. It is according to the note in his book: A better Haiti is possible, a divine or a mystical constellation that should alert the electors that I am the man of the hour.
In my book on how to build an excellent nation, as Machiavelli in ancient times, I instruct the princes that a nation is an entity that takes care of each one its citizens. The child is an asset that the government must invest in, in his education and his formation, so he will produce an abundant return for himself and for the state. The sentiment of solidarity to each other and the attachment to the higher values of the nation must be a structural underpinning of the glue that will build the nation prosperous and strong.
I am an adept of the doctrine of Ernest Renan that calls for a strong army that protects the nation physically and spiritually, physically against the vengeance of nature and spiritually against the forces that destroy the core beliefs of its citizens.
Haiti is now a nation of nomads that is facing a day of reckoning from the ultra-nationalists of the Dominican Republic. I have called for the rooting of citizens, in particular the rural world, in their counties, with excellent infrastructure and sane institutions. My plan to infuse one half million dollars in each rural county, one million dollars in each town and ten million dollars in the big cities, as well as two billion in Port au Prince for urban and rural renaissance is without precedent in a Haiti, where political clans is the rule of the game.
Amongst the featured proposals in my vision is the creation of ten universities of 15,000 students each in each one of the states of Haiti. Education will be free for all from kindergarten to university. I plan to use the device of debt swapping for nature for not only paying Haiti’s international debt of $1.5 billion to PetroCaribe but to fill the mountains of Haiti with mahogany, cedar and ebony, ensuring Haiti’s future with a perpetual sovereign fund.
Haiti’s tourism promotion will rest on the special nature of medieval culture of saints’ fiestas observed in the country. I plan to invite the saints’ devotees in Spain and Italy to come to Haiti for pilgrimages to St Ann and St Rose and the rest of saints that are feted every day of the year.
Last but not least, I propose to propel Haiti into its divine mission as an emancipatory nation by building a special corps of nation builders for the United Nations. They will serve all over the world in conflict situations to teach the protagonists that the concept of patrimony is instrumental in building a strong nation. The children of the same country must unite to enrich the patrimony left by the founding fathers.
I have for a motto: wealth in Haiti and peace in the world. With such a motto, Haiti as well as the rest of the world has a passing chance! Let’s hope the country will not let it slip by! The gallant ancestors of Haiti deserve this happy turn of events for the country and for the world!
