Category Archives: International

Contesting Dr. Bratt’s “Fear in US society”

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
March 27, 2013

Dr. Kwame NantambuOne of the most incredulous, simplistic and parochial articles this writer has ever read was “Fear Factor in US Society” written by David E, Bratt, MD and published in the Guardian dated 12 March, 2013 (p.A.23).

At the outset, it must be stated emphatically that the contents of the article revealed the writer’s ignorance of the political-societal complexity of American society.
Continue reading Contesting Dr. Bratt’s “Fear in US society”

Mishra pleads for Govt to stop Indian trade fairs

By Camille Bethel
March 20, 2013
Originally printed at
www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Mishra_pleads_for_Govt_to_stop_Indian_trade_fairs-199283991.html

lettersIndian High Commissioner Malay Mishra is calling on the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to stop the Indian trade fairs that are operating in this country.

Speaking at yesterday’s business forum held by the High Commission of India, in collaboration with the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce, at the chamber building in Westmoorings, Mishra said the Indian government distances itself from the activities of the “so-called” Indian trade fairs.
Continue reading Mishra pleads for Govt to stop Indian trade fairs

Harare: Is It Really the Worst City on Earth?

Out and About in Zimbabwe’s Capital

By Andre Vltchek
March 15, 2013 – andrevltchek.weebly.com

ZimbabweFor a change, I don’t want to discuss politics. I don’t want to debate whether big bad Mugabe is actually an African national hero, as many on this continent believe, or some brutal dictator, as we are told relentlessly by the BBC, The Economist and virtually the entire Western establishment media.

‘Data’ about Zimbabwe is developed somewhere, to serve Western political interests, and then it is recycled, repeated by hundreds of websites all over the Internet. Old reports are not updated when the situation improves. Incorrect statistics are hardly challenged.
Continue reading Harare: Is It Really the Worst City on Earth?

Machel Montano Performed in Miami After All

Machel MontanoFrom the article below (the bottom of the first page and continuing onto the second page), it appears that Machel Montano did perform at the “Nine Mile Music Festival 2013” which was held in Florida, Miami on March 02, 2013. There were concerns that his U.S. visa would have been revoked following his conviction last year for assaulting four persons in 2007 outside Zen night club in Port-of-Spain and for using obscene language. Montano was fined on February 25, 2013.
Continue reading Machel Montano Performed in Miami After All

Chavez – Catalyst for Change

By Raffique Shah
March 09, 2013

Raffique ShahHUGO Chavez cast a giant shadow over the Western Hemisphere during his relatively short life. Few world leaders can claim to have influenced the course of history and geopolitics the way he did. For more than half-a-century, visionaries formulated and articulated ideas for the creation of a new power centre that resided outside of North America and Europe. Chavez transformed those dreams into reality, however limited, and upon his untimely death he left behind the legacy of a new world order that seems set to redefine Latin America and influence global affairs in the 21st Century.
Continue reading Chavez – Catalyst for Change

Venezuela: Adiós Presidente

By Clifton Ross
March 8th 2013 – Upside Down World

Mourners pay their respects to Hugo Chávez (Efrain Gonzalez / Prensa Miraflores)
Mourners pay their respects to Hugo Chávez (Efrain Gonzalez / Prensa Miraflores)
It may be difficult for North Americans to grasp the loss Venezuelans are feeling over the death of President Hugo Chávez since we have no comparable experience in our entire history. I called a friend in Venezuela today to check in with her and find out how she was doing the day after Chávez’s death. She was obviously shaken. “It’s a blow (golpe) and you feel it everywhere. After all, Chávez is a man we’ve lived with for the past fourteen years.”

Chávez, whatever one may think of him or how his legacy will be judged, was a warm, charismatic, down-to-earth, entertaining, larger-than-life figure, part politician, part entertainer. He was from the llano, the land of the cowboys and that was so much of his appeal. When he looked into the camera on his weekly, Alo Presidente, there was a sense of physical contact with him among viewers. I know my friend Juan seemed to feel Chávez was there with us on those Sunday mornings as he laughed with him and even hummed along when Chávez sang.
Continue reading Venezuela: Adiós Presidente

The Life and Legacy of Hugo Chávez

By Gregory Wilpert
March 7th 2013 – The Real News

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, or Comandante Chávez, as he was affectionately known by his supporters and followers, passed away on March 5, at 4:25 p.m. local time, following a 21-month battle against cancer.

When he died, at 58 years of age, he had become one of Venezuela’s and perhaps even the world’s most important contemporary leaders, having launched what he and his movement called the “Bolivarian Revolution,” named after Simón Bolívar, the 19th-century independence hero who had liberated Venezuela and four other countries from Spanish colonial rule. Chávez was a devotee of Simón Bolívar, and his vice president, Nicolás Maduro, recently referred to Chávez as “the new liberator of the 21st century.” Whether this is a fair assessment only history will tell, but what is certain is that Chávez changed the face of Venezuela during his 14 years as president.
Continue reading The Life and Legacy of Hugo Chávez

What kind of monster has priorities like this? Placing healthcare, education and nutrition before skyscrapers!

Hugo Chavez at The Fifth Summit of the Americas 2009 held in Trinidad and Tobago

Below is the actual view of Pamela Sampson, writer for the Associated Press:
Little Reaction In Oil Market To Chavez Death (March 05, 2013)
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=173521347

Chavez invested Venezuela’s oil wealth into social programs including state-run food markets, cash benefits for poor families, free health clinics and education programs. But those gains were meager compared with the spectacular construction projects that oil riches spurred in glittering Middle Eastern cities, including the world’s tallest building in Dubai and plans for branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums in Abu Dhabi.

Continue reading What kind of monster has priorities like this? Placing healthcare, education and nutrition before skyscrapers!

PM extends condolences on the passing of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar signs the Condolence book at the Venezuelan Embassy
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar signs the Condolence book at the Venezuelan Embassy

From the Office of the Prime Minister
March 06, 2013

On behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, it is with great sadness that I extend deepest condolences to the Government and people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and to his family on the passing of Comandante Hugo Chávez Frías, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Our prayers accompany them in their time of grief.
Continue reading PM extends condolences on the passing of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez

Chavismo Lives!

Hundreds of thousands have gathered in Caracas to pay homage to Hugo Chavez (AVN)
Hundreds of thousands have gathered in Caracas to pay homage to Hugo Chavez (AVN)

By Stephen Lendman
March 06, 2013

Hugo Chavez (1954 — 2013) at The 5th Summit of the Americas[/caption]Venezuelans mourn. Chavismo lives! Bolivarianism is institutionalized.

Venezuelans expect no less. They want no part of their ugly past. They’ll put their bodies on the line to prevent it. They did before. They’ll do it again.
Continue reading Chavismo Lives!