Trade Negotiations Insights, 8(4), April 2009
The CARIFORUM-European Commission EPA title on services and investment appears to be a template for the European Commission EPAs for all regions so it will be used as the basis for this analysis. With respect to financial services in particular, there are a number of provisions that may make it difficult to prevent future crises and to effectively deal with the current crisis…
Barack Obama dominates his Republican rivals here in the United States, but the international arena is a different venue, entirely. There, Obama carries the baggage of American presidents past – and any new encumbrances he might pick up on his own. Certainly, in a heads up against Cuba, the United States finds it nearly impossible to claim the moral high-ground. “One cannot ignore that unlike in the US, Cuba regards education, healthcare and employment as rights, not privileges. It is fairly common knowledge that Cuba provides free education, from pre-k up to the university level, and healthcare to all its citizens is completely free of charge.”…
“El derecho al delirio”, in Archipielago: Revista Cultural de Nuestra America. No. 22/23, March-June 1999. Informal English translation by Norman Girvan.
Eduardo Galeano
The new millennium is upon us! We shouldn’t take it too seriously: after all, the year 2001 of the Christians is the year 1379 of the Muslims, 5114 of the Mayas and 5762 of the Jews. The new millennium starts on January 1st thanks to the caprice of the senators of Imperial Rome who decided one fine day to break with the tradition of celebrating the New Year at the beginning of spring. And the annual count of the Christian era derives from another caprice: one fine day, the Pope of Rome decided to fix the date of the birth of Christ, although nobody really knew when He was born…
Walterio Lord Garnés [Havana, 1948] and David González López [Havana, 1947] are collaborators attached to the Centro de Estudios de África y Medio Oriente in Havana and to the University of Havana’s Cátedra “Amílcar Cabral” de Estudios Africanos. They have written dissertations at home and abroad and published works about African and Afro-Cuban cultures in Cuban and foreign publications. Because Walterio Lord’s father was born in Barbados, since birth he was affectionately/jokingly called Pichón de barbadense or Pichón de jamaiquino. David González recalls that, because his grandfather came from the Canary Islands, his father was affectionately/jokingly called Pichón de isleño.
Carlos Moore’s most recent book, Pichón, A Memoir, is bound to generate as much controversy as his previous Castro, the Blacks, and Africa. Not constructed as an academic work, it seems in many ways a lot more like a novel. Since several chapters are devoted to passages of the author’s life outside of (and frequently having little to do with) Cuba, the subtitle “Race and Revolution in Castro’s Cuba” can only be explained as a marketing device. Cuba, nevertheless, is present, by hook or by crook, in pretty much every passage…
A Pan African delegation recently traveled to Berlin, Brussels, Madrid, Paris and London to engage European farmers, parliamentarians, civil society and media in discussions regarding the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) both instruments that risk having disastrous consequences on African small scale farmers..
Cedric Grant Memorial Lecture Delivered in Georgetown, Guyana, January 28, 2008
Caricom’s institutional presence and visibility in dynamic global environments, including demonstration of our ability to articulate collectively-determined responses based on the assurance of legal capabilities for ensuring implementation- effectiveness, does not yet have the credibility that is required. A rearrangement of the institutional systems that play diverse roles on Caricom’s behalf, in international negotiations, is now necessary – implying an integrated governance system for effectiveness, as well as from the point of view of parsimony of institutional arrangements in a small region…
Nelson Valdes, who holds PhDs in Sociology and History, was born in Cuba and currently directs the Cuba-L Project at the University Of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1961, at the age of 15, he was taken to the United States as part of the “Pedro Pan” (Peter Pan) project to ’save’ young Cubans of privileged background from the influence of the Revolution. He returned to Cuba in 1977 as a member of the Antonio Maceo Brigade and since then has been a regular visitor. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Cuban magazine TEMAS.
A Modest ["Transition"] Proposal.
1. That Newt Gringrich and Sarah Palin be permitted to become Cuban citizens so that they may offer Cuba the proper guidance on how to set up political parties in the island. They will be put in charge of a two-party system. We realize that we do not need more than two parties, as you have shown the world through your example.
2. That the United States National Security Agency help the Cuban police modernize their surveillance technology so that we can better keep track of the congressmen we elect, as you do so well…
The Vth Summit of the Americas is now history. The Summit ended without the signing of the contentious Declaration that several countries had indicated contained unacceptable omissions and inclusions.Having the Declaration signed by the Summit Chairman, Prime Minister Manning of Trinidad and Tobago, was evidently a face-saving compromise to the stand-off over the Declaration’s failure to call for the lifting of the U.S. embargo on Cuba and for Cuba’s re-admission to the Organisation of American states.
Haga click para ¿Declaración de Puerto España o debacle de Puerto España?
See also A Critical Analysis of the Port of Spain Declaration of Commitment, by Mervyn Claxton
Cumaná, Venezuela, April 17, 2009
The heads of state and governments of Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela, member countries of ALBA, consider that the proposed Declaration of the 5th Summit of the Americas is insufficient and unacceptable for the following reasons:
- It offers no answers to the issue of the Global Economic Crisis, despite the fact that this constitutes the largest challenge faced by humanity in decades and the most serious threat in the current epoch to the wellbeing of our peoples.
- Unjustifiably excludes Cuba in a criminal manner, without mentioning the general consensus that exists in the region in favour of condemning the blockade and the isolation attempts, which its people and government have incessantly objected to.
For these reasons, the member countries of ALBA consider that consensus does not exist in favour of adopting this proposed declaration and in light of the above; we propose to have a thoroughgoing debate over the following issues:
Click here for full document
Hopes on a beneficial outcome from the G20 meeting were dashed by its communiqué which was long on words and promises and very short on direct deliverables for poor countries and vulnerable small countries such as those in the Caribbean…
From Caribbean Net News http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-15580–6-6–.html
