Vybz Kartel, the Jamaican dancehall artist, has had his murder conviction overturned. He was sentenced to life in 2014 for the 2011 killing of his associate, forty-eight-year-old Clive “Lizard” Williams. Kartel, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, along with three co-defendants, successfully appealed on the grounds of juror misconduct. The decision to uphold the appeal means that authorities in Jamaica will now consider whether to retry the case.
Kartel faced one of the longest trials in Jamaican history, spanning 64 days. Throughout the trial and subsequent appeal, Kartel and his co-accused, Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St. John, maintained their innocence.
The recent appeal before the Privy Council, Jamaica’s highest court of appeal, revealed that a juror accused of attempting to bribe fellow jurors was allowed to remain on the case, influencing the final verdicts.
The Council deemed this action “fatal to the safety of the convictions,” citing it as a violation of the defendants’ right to a fair trial. While other allegations, such as undue pressure on jurors and improper handling of mobile phone evidence, were raised, the Council’s ruling focused primarily on the seriousness of the bribery accusations, leading to the dismissal of the guilty verdicts.
Prosecutors had relied on cellphone records and testimony from Lamar “Wee” Chow, the sole eyewitness, who said that Williams was killed at Kartel’s home in Havendale, St. Andrew, in August 2011.
The US House of Representatives has passed legislation that could result in TikTok’s ban in the US unless it severs ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. TikTok is a popular social media platform used by 170 million Americans. TikTok is currently one of the most popular social media platforms worldwide, with over 1.7 billion users as of 2023.
If enacted, TikTok would have about five months to disconnect from ByteDance, or face prohibition from US app stores. The bill’s fate in the US Senate remains uncertain. Supporters argue that TikTok poses national security risks due to potential data exploitation by the Chinese government, while TikTok criticises the decision and urges the Senate to assess the situation with factual evidence. China’s foreign ministry has strongly condemned the bill as an act of bullying.
The bill garnered 352 votes in favour, surpassing the necessary two-thirds majority. However, 65 members opposed it, with one voting present.
While the bill still awaits approval from the Senate, President Joe Biden expressed his readiness to sign it into law should it pass.
Former President Trump is now opposing the ban. While ByteDance is specifically mentioned, the legislation could extend to other social media apps owned by companies from select foreign adversary countries.
Haitian President, Ariel Henry, has resigned amid mounting chaos in the nation. Over the last few weeks, gangs have been attacking government structures, leaving the country on the brink of collapse. President Henry took over as acting-president in 2021, following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Last week, gang leader Jimmy Cheriezer, also known as “Barbecue”, launched a coordinated attack against President Henry, threatening civil war and genocide if he did not step down. The violence erupted while Henry was in Kenya signing an agreement to deploy one thousand police officers to Haiti to restore citizen security. He was forced to land in Puerto Rico following that trip. And, over the weekend, CARICOM members held an emergency high-level meeting in Jamaica, with North American and European leaders to discuss immediate mitigation measures for Haiti. Coming out of that meeting, Doctor Mohamed Irfaan Ali, the President of Guyana and Chair of CARICOM, announced Henry’s resignation and the establishment of a Transitional Presidential Council in Haiti.
Mohamed Irfaan Ali
Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of Guyana
“We are pleased to announce the commitment to a transitional government arrangement which paves the way for a peaceful transition of power, continuity of governance and action plan for near term security and the road to free and fair elections. It further seeks to assure that Haiti will be governed by the rule of law. This commitment reflects hard compromises among a diverse coalition of actors who have put their country above all differences. To that end, we acknowledge the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry upon the establishment of Transitional Presidential Council and the naming of an interim-prime minister. I want to pause and thank Prime Minister Henry for his service to Haiti, his service to the Haitian people and for his personal commitment for the furtherance of the development of Haiti and the advancement of the development of Haiti and I asked us to give him an applause.”
Prime Minister John Briceño was also asked for his views on the security crisis in Haiti and Henry’s resignation, during his appearance on Open Your Eyes. PM Briceño says that since 2021, CARICOM leaders predicted that the situation would reach a tipping point. He added that the region and Haiti, specifically, is in need of intervention from leaders in North America and the European Union.
Prime Minister John Briceño
“It is inevitable where it is getting to. WE have been saying this from the crisis started back in 2021. I remember visited the Secretary General of the United Nations, Guitterez and I said Haiti what are we going to do. We said, what can we do, we have to start with the people in Haiti. Unfortunately the people in Haiti don’t have a say because we have these people that are as powerful as the government or even more powerful than the government and this is just years and years of neglect and corruption and greed of the political elite in Haiti to get to where we are, the point where Prime Minister Henry can’t even go back to Haiti and will have to live in exile. But the powers that be, U.S. and Canada and the EU etc, they have to help us. In CARICOM we have been crying out to say we need help in Haiti. The problem or concern is that many people is saying we are going and do what, go against the gang members, a shootout. WE from the beginning said we have a humanitarian responsibility to Haiti. They are our brothers and sisters and that we are prepared to send a small contingent from the BDF once the proper conditions are met.”
The regional commitment to fight hunger and malnutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean has made significant progress thanks to the update of the Food Security, Nutrition and Hunger Eradication Plan of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) for the period 2024-2030, known as the CELAC FNS Plan. This update was approved and ratified during the VIII Summit of Heads of State and Government of CELAC, held on March 1 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
This commitment evidence Latin America and the Caribbean’s significant contribution to accelerating the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals, aimed at achieving societies free of hunger, poverty, and inequality in the region.
Our latest estimates show that, in 2022, 6.5 percent of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean suffered from hunger; this represented 2.4 million fewer people than in 2021. But the situation remains critical; hunger continues to affect 43.2 million people in the region.
FAO in Jamaica, Bahamas and Belize/FAO
Likewise, limited access to resources and services, poverty, the aftermath of the pandemic, and conflicts as well as climate-related disasters, among other factors, are affecting the ecosystems on which food production and the livelihoods of farming communities depend and threaten efforts to ensure food security, nutrition and the sustainability of agrifood systems.
In this scenario, the CELAC FNS Plan 2024-2030 is a concrete initiative, reflected in a unanimous response from more than thirty countries, which, at a ministerial level, agreed to update this document to address the challenge of hunger and food insecurity in the region.
The new plan -developed in coordination with the Pro-Tempore Presidency, currently led by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the thirty-three CELAC countries, included broad participation and analysis with technical assistance from FAO, ECLAC, IICA, and ALADI- has become a benchmark for other regions of the world. Its implementation represents a milestone example of the consensus and political commitment of Latin America and the Caribbean.
This plan, structured into four pillars, includes a conceptual basis to guide the countries concerning legal frameworks, sustainable production, access to healthy diets, and agrifood systems resilient to climate change.
2024 could represent a decisive year for Latin America and the Caribbean to make progress in combating hunger and malnutrition and achieving more resilient and sustainable production systems. During 2023, we have consolidated a deep process of alliances, consensus, and dialogue that will soon be part of the FAO Regional Conference.
We are in the final stretch of preparation for our Regional Conference to be held in March in Georgetown, Guyana, where we will facilitate exchanges and discussions that will be essential to guide FAO’s technical cooperation in the design and implementation of plans and projects tailored to the needs of the countries, and in line with the priorities defined by governments at the highest political level.
In this regard, the reflections and resolutions arising from the updating and subsequent approval of the new CELAC FNS Plan also represent a significant contribution to the FAO Regional Conference.
The preparation of the Regional Conference includes an extensive consultation process involving different stakeholders, such as the private sector, academia, civil society, and parliamentary groups; and of course, the participation of government officials from the thirty-three FAO Member Countries; as well as the presence of Heads of State and Ministers of Agriculture and other sectors committed to the search for more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems.
We hope that the results of the Conference, translated into FAO’s mandate, will be consolidated as a tangible response. The success of these efforts will depend on the collaboration of all to make the hope of a world without hunger a reality.
By Mario Lubetkin, FAO Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean for Latin America and the Caribbean
Today, the Senate Special Select Committee resumed its inquiry into the Portico Definitive Agreement. Hugo Patt, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources, was the first witness to testify before the committee. Patt was much more cooperative than his former lands commissioner, even though he did not see any of the questions relevant to the motion at hand or the committee’s terms of reference. Dean Barrow, the former Prime Minister, appeared as legal counsel for Patt. A majority of the questions posed by the committee focused on those November fourth, 2020 land transaction approvals at the Ministry of Natural Resources. This time, questions were focused on seven companies that reportedly received nine parcels of fifty-acre lands, and why all seven companies had the same director. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Hugo Patt, the former Minister of Natural Resources, testified during today’s Senate Special Select Committee’s inquiry. Patt was the minister responsible for that department from 2018 up until the 2020 general election.
Hugo Patt
Hugo Patt, Former Minister of Natural Resources
“Whenever applications were submitted the process was very straight forward. Applications were submitted, made it through the process and eventually it ended up with me. As long as the application was recommended and it had met all the requirements then it was approved”
Kevin Herrera
Kevin Herrera, Senator
“What would have been some of those requirements?”
Hugo Patt
“I could not get into the details but of my mind, as long as the person is a Belizean that person could apply and another important one for the ministry is that whenever a parcel of land was applied the ministry had to make sure it was national lands in order for it to be processed.”
The committee, as it did with the former lands commissioner, continued to pose questions related to more than a dozen land transactions that were approved on November fourth, 2020, days before the last general elections. Those lands, located in the vicinity of the proposed site for the Port of Magical Belize, were divided into fifty-acre parcels and many were sold for below five thousand dollars each.
Kevin Herrera
“Would you recall whether or not Portico had applied for lands under its own name?”
Dean Barrow
Dean Barrow, Attorney
“Madam Chair certainly the general questions that the Senator is asked, he tries to be helpful. But I must reiterate that once the questions become specific regarding Portico and any application made in the names of Portico for lands. I think that is outside the terms of reference.”
The committee noted that it had documents from within the Ministry of Natural Resources showing that four hundred and fifty acres of land within in the area in question were approved for sale by the Ministry of Natural Resources to seven separate companies on November fourth, 2020. The same director was listed for all those companies, businessman Sunjay Hotchandani.
Bevington Cal
Senator Bevington Cal
“While approving these lands, especially for companies, would it be a concern to have differn5t companies applying the same day and same directors, would that be a concern?”
Hugo Patt
“Senator, whenever applications were accepted it is because they met the requirements. Whenever applications met the necessary requirements those were sent for processing.”
Kevin Herrera
“Mr Patt, would you recall a company called Keystar Limited?”
Hugo Patt
“Senator with much respect I don’t see the relevance of that question, nether to the motion or terms of reference.”
Kevin Herrera
“Would you recall a company called Fire Sky Limited?”
Hugo Patt
“With much respect, I don’t see the relevance of your question so I will exercisemy right.”
Kevin Herrera
“Same question, Vision Pro Limited.”
Hugo Patt
“I will reserve my right as a witness not to answer.”
Kevin Herrera
“Alkaline Limited.”
Hugo Patt
“I will reserve my rights not to respond to that question.”
Kevin Herrera
“Building Blocks Limited”
Hugo Patt
“Same Answer”
Kevin Herrera
“Kill Switch Limited”
Hugo Patt
“Same Answer Senator”
Kevin Herrera
“Build Zone Limited”
Hugo Patt
“Same Answer Senator”
Kevin Herrera
“The common director in all those companies is an individual Sunjay Hotchandani. Would you be familiar with him sir?”
Hugo Patt
“I don’t find that question relevant to the motion or terms of reference. So I will exercise my right as a witness to decline to answer, with much respect Senator.”
The committee further noted that three of those parcels were sold to Portico Enterprises. Two that were bought for five thousand dollars from the Government of Belize were sold off to Portico for fifteen thousand dollars. Interestingly, one parcel that Key Star Limited reportedly bought for thirty-three thousand dollars was also sold for fifteen thousand dollars.
Bevington Cal, Senator
“For the Belizean people to know, we got a document from the lands department that was shared to you that you don’t want to read, but I will read it for you. Coastal lands are usually sold at four thousand per acre and all of these lands issued at east of northern lagoon were sold at five thousand three hundred.
Mr. Patt with simple math, fifty point one acres of land on coastal lands is valued at two hundred thousand dollars. All of these were only sold for five thousand three hundred dollars. To me that sounds like a lot of revenue lost by the government of Belize during your tenure.”
Hugo Patt
“While the question is irrelevant to the Definitive Agreement I will have to state for the record that the social rates the ministry applied then had been there for time immemorial. It is not something I instituted. But as the former minister of natural resources I saw it as my duty to ensure that each and every Belizean gets a portion of land at very affordable and social rates.”
