country:dominica

  • Record High #Remittances Sent Globally in #2018

    Remittances to low- and middle-income countries reached a record high in 2018, according to the World Bank’s latest Migration and Development Brief.

    The Bank estimates that officially recorded annual remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries reached $529 billion in 2018, an increase of 9.6 percent over the previous record high of $483 billion in 2017. Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, reached $689 billion in 2018, up from $633 billion in 2017.

    Regionally, growth in remittance inflows ranged from almost 7 percent in East Asia and the Pacific to 12 percent in South Asia. The overall increase was driven by a stronger economy and employment situation in the United States and a rebound in outward flows from some Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the Russian Federation. Excluding China, remittances to low- and middle-income countries ($462 billion) were significantly larger than foreign direct investment flows in 2018 ($344 billion).

    Among countries, the top remittance recipients were India with $79 billion, followed by China ($67 billion), Mexico ($36 billion), the Philippines ($34 billion), and Egypt ($29 billion).

    In 2019, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries are expected to reach $550 billion, to become their largest source of external financing.

    The global average cost of sending $200 remained high, at around 7 percent in the first quarter of 2019, according to the World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide database. Reducing remittance costs to 3 percent by 2030 is a global target under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10.7. Remittance costs across many African corridors and small islands in the Pacific remain above 10 percent.

    Banks were the most expensive remittance channels, charging an average fee of 11 percent in the first quarter of 2019. Post offices were the next most expensive, at over 7 percent. Remittance fees tend to include a premium where national post offices have an exclusive partnership with a money transfer operator. This premium was on average 1.5 percent worldwide and as high as 4 percent in some countries in the last quarter of 2018.

    On ways to lower remittance costs, Dilip Ratha, lead author of the Brief and head of KNOMAD, said, “Remittances are on track to become the largest source of external financing in developing countries. The high costs of money transfers reduce the benefits of migration. Renegotiating exclusive partnerships and letting new players operate through national post offices, banks, and telecommunications companies will increase competition and lower remittance prices.”

    The Brief notes that banks’ ongoing de-risking practices, which have involved the closure of the bank accounts of some remittance service providers, are driving up remittance costs.

    The Brief also reports progress toward the SDG target of reducing the recruitment costs paid by migrant workers, which tend to be high, especially for lower-skilled migrants.

    “Millions of low-skilled migrant workers are vulnerable to recruitment malpractices, including exorbitant recruitment costs. We need to boost efforts to create jobs in developing countries and to monitor and reduce recruitment costs paid by these workers,” said Michal Rutkowski, Senior Director of the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice at the World Bank. The World Bank and the International Labour Organization are collaborating to develop indicators for worker-paid recruitment costs, to support the SDG of promoting safe, orderly, and regular migration.

    Regional Remittance Trends

    Remittances to the East Asia and Pacific region grew almost 7 percent to $143 billion in 2018, faster than the 5 percent growth in 2017. Remittances to the Philippines rose to $34 billion, but growth in remittances was slower due to a drop in private transfers from the GCC countries. Flows to Indonesia increased by 25 percent in 2018, after a muted performance in 2017.

    After posting 22 percent growth in 2017, remittances to Europe and Central Asia grew an estimated 11 percent to $59 billion in 2018. Continued growth in economic activity increased outbound remittances from Poland, Russia, Spain, and the United States, major sources of remittances to the region. Smaller remittance-dependent countries in the region, such as the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, benefited from the sustained rebound of economic activity in Russia. Ukraine, the region’s largest remittance recipient, received a new record of more than $14 billion in 2018, up about 19 percent over 2017. This surge in Ukraine also reflects a revised methodology for estimating incoming remittances, as well as growth in neighboring countries’ demand for migrant workers.

    Remittances flows into Latin America and the Caribbean grew 10 percent to $88 billion in 2018, supported by the strong U.S. economy. Mexico continued to receive the most remittances in the region, posting about $36 billion in 2018, up 11 percent over the previous year. Colombia and Ecuador, which have migrants in Spain, posted 16 percent and 8 percent growth, respectively. Three other countries in the region posted double-digit growth: Guatemala (13 percent) as well as Dominican Republic and Honduras (both 10 percent), reflecting robust outbound remittances from the United States.

    Remittances to the Middle East and North Africa grew 9 percent to $62 billion in 2018. The growth was driven by Egypt’s rapid remittance growth of around 17 percent. Beyond 2018, the growth of remittances to the region is expected to continue, albeit at a slower pace of around 3 percent in 2019 due to moderating growth in the Euro Area.

    Remittances to South Asia grew 12 percent to $131 billion in 2018, outpacing the 6 percent growth in 2017. The upsurge was driven by stronger economic conditions in the United States and a pick-up in oil prices, which had a positive impact on outward remittances from some GCC countries. Remittances grew by more than 14 percent in India, where a flooding disaster in Kerala likely boosted the financial help that migrants sent to families. In Pakistan, remittance growth was moderate (7 percent), due to significant declines in inflows from Saudi Arabia, its largest remittance source. In Bangladesh, remittances showed a brisk uptick in 2018 (15 percent).

    Remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa grew almost 10 percent to $46 billion in 2018, supported by strong economic conditions in high-income economies. Looking at remittances as a share of GDP, Comoros has the largest share, followed by the Gambia , Lesotho, Cabo Verde, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Togo, Ghana, and Nigeria.

    The Migration and Development Brief and the latest migration and remittances data are available at www.knomad.org. Interact with migration experts at http://blogs.worldbank.org/peoplemove

    http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2019/04/08/record-high-remittances-sent-globally-in-2018?cid=ECR_TT_worldbank_EN_EXT
    #remittances #statistiques #chiffres #migrations #diaspora

    #Rapport ici :


    https://www.knomad.org/sites/default/files/2019-04/MigrationandDevelopmentBrief_31_0.pdf

    ping @reka

    • Immigrati, boom di rimesse: più di 6 miliardi all’estero. Lo strano caso dei cinesi «spariti»

      Bangladesh, Romania, Filippine: ecco il podio delle rimesse degli immigrati che vivono e lavorano in Italia. Il trend è in forte aumento: nel 2018 sono stati inviati all’estero 6,2 miliardi di euro, con una crescita annua del 20, 7 per cento.
      A registrarlo è uno studio della Fondazione Leone Moressa su dati Banca d’Italia, dopo il crollo del 2013 e alcuni anni di sostanziale stabilizzazione, oggi il volume di rimesse rappresenta lo 0,35% del Pil.

      Il primato del Bangladesh
      Per la prima volta, nel 2018 il Bangladesh è il primo Paese di destinazione delle rimesse, con oltre 730 milioni di euro complessivi (11,8% delle rimesse totali).
      Il Bangladesh nell’ultimo anno ha registrato un +35,7%, mentre negli ultimi sei anni ha più che triplicato il volume.

      Il secondo Paese di destinazione è la Romania, con un andamento stabile: +0,3% nell’ultimo anno e -14,3% negli ultimi sei.
      Da notare come tra i primi sei Paesi ben quattro siano asiatici: oltre al Bangladesh, anche Filippine, Pakistan e India. Proprio i Paesi dell’Asia meridionale sono quelli che negli ultimi anni hanno registrato il maggiore incremento di rimesse inviate. Il Pakistan ha registrato un aumento del +73,9% nell’ultimo anno. Anche India e Sri Lanka sono in forte espansione.

      Praticamente scomparsa la Cina, che fino a pochi anni fa rappresentava il primo Paese di destinazione e oggi non è nemmeno tra i primi 15 Paesi per destinazione delle rimesse.
      Mediamente, ciascun immigrato in Italia ha inviato in patria poco più di 1.200 euro nel corso del 2018 (circa 100 euro al mese). Valore che scende sotto la media per le due nazionalità più numerose: Romania (50,29 euro mensili) e Marocco (66,14 euro). Tra le comunità più numerose il valore più alto è quello del Bangladesh: ciascun cittadino ha inviato oltre 460 euro al mese. Anche i senegalesi hanno inviato mediamente oltre 300 euro mensili.

      https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/notizie/2019-04-17/immigrati-boom-rimesse-piu-6-miliardi-all-estero-strano-caso-cinesi-spa
      #Italie #Chine #Bangladesh #Roumanie #Philippines

  • Premier équipage entièrement féminin sur un remorqueur portuaire. C’est à Saint-Domingue, en République Dominicaine.

    Svitzer Employs First All-Female Crew in Dominican Republic – gCaptain
    https://gcaptain.com/svitzer-employs-first-all-female-crew-in-dominican-republic


    The team on board Svitzer Monte Cristi is led by Captain Maria de los Santos, accompanied by Chief Engineer Marysabel Moreno and supported by sailors, Paloma Montero, Loreanni Torres and Juana Custodio.
    Photo courtesy Svitzer

    Global towage operator Svitzer has hired the first 100% female crew for one of its tugs in the Dominican Republic.

    The vessel, the 70-ton bollard pull Svitzer Monte Cristi, provides harbor towage services for ships in the port Santo Domingo.

    Svitzer says the all-female crew in an industry typically dominated by men is part of a gender inclusion initiative and marks a milestone for gender diversity in the Latin American maritime industry.
    […]
    The General Manager of Svitzer Caribbean, Captain Dickson Rivas, and others at the company spent two years pursuing the project, focusing the team’s energy on training.

    These women have become local icons for others and have proven to be an efficient and hardworking team,” said Captain Eduard Medina.

    Svitzer says it hopes the gender-inclusive initiative will help buck the historical predominantly male trend in the maritime industry. According to The International Transport Worker’s Federation, it is estimated that only 2% of the maritime workforce is made up of women, most of them employed on cruises and ferries.

  • Foreign Policy’s #Venezuela “Global Scorecard” map wrongly lumps Caribbean nations with Russia and China · Global Voices

    #Maduro ou pas Maduro

    https://globalvoices.org/2019/02/07/foreign-policys-venezuela-global-scorecard-map-lumps-caricom-nations-w

    Foreign Policy has published an infographic that purports to depict global allegiances in the Venezuela crisis. The infographic, curiously, singles out three CARICOM nations—St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica and Suriname— and mentions them in a table in the accompanying story, placing them in the “Backs Nicolás Maduro” camp alongside powers such as Russia, China, Iran and Turkey.

    Here’s how the world is split on Maduro vs. Guaido, in Venezuela’s political crisis: https://t.co/hm1N7Gx6fH pic.twitter.com/mdkx7l2FbZ

    — Robbie Gramer (@RobbieGramer) February 6, 2019

  • Your Complete Guide to the N.Y. Times’ Support of U.S.-Backed Coups in Latin America
    https://www.truthdig.com/articles/your-complete-guide-to-the-n-y-times-support-of-u-s-backed-coups-in-latin-

    A survey of The New York Times archives shows the Times editorial board has supported 10 out of 12 American-backed coups in Latin America, with two editorials—those involving the 1983 Grenada invasion and the 2009 Honduras coup—ranging from ambiguous to reluctant opposition. The survey can be viewed here.

    Covert involvement of the United States, by the CIA or other intelligence services, isn’t mentioned in any of the Times’ editorials on any of the coups. Absent an open, undeniable U.S. military invasion (as in the Dominican Republic, Panama and Grenada), things seem to happen in Latin American countries entirely on their own, with outside forces rarely, if ever, mentioned in the Times. Obviously, there are limits to what is “provable” in the immediate aftermath of such events (covert intervention is, by definition, covert), but the idea that the U.S. or other imperial actors could have stirred the pot, funded a junta or run weapons in any of the conflicts under the table is never entertained.

    (bourré de citations accablantes...) #venezuela #medias

    • More often than not, what one is left with, reading Times editorials on these coups, are racist, paternalistic “cycle of violence” cliches. Sigh, it’s just the way of things Over There. When reading these quotes, keep in mind the CIA supplied and funded the groups that ultimately killed these leaders:

      – Brazil 1964: “They have, throughout their history, suffered from a lack of first class rulers.”
      – Chile 1973: “No Chilean party or faction can escape some responsibility for the disaster, but a heavy share must be assigned to the unfortunate Dr. Allende himself.”
      – Argentina 1976: “It was typical of the cynicism with which many Argentines view their country’s politics that most people in Buenos Aires seemed more interested in a soccer telecast Tuesday night than in the ouster of President Isabel Martinez de Perlin by the armed forces. The script was familiar for this long‐anticipated coup.”

      See, it didn’t matter! It’s worth pointing out the military junta put in power by the CIA-contrived coup killed 10,000 to 30,000 Argentines from 1976 to 1983.

  • Encore une compilation de musique politiquement engagée, un coffret de 4 CDs même, prévu pour février 2019, produit par le Smithonian Institute:

    The Social Power of Music
    https://folkways.si.edu/the-social-power-of-music

    From parties to protests to prayer, music is a powerful catalyst for celebration, for change, and for a sense of community. Through making music together, we become bigger than ourselves. Whether singing with our families and friends or with thousands of strangers in an arena, music transforms lives, engages individuals, and connects local and global communities. The Social Power of Music chronicles the vivid, impassioned, and myriad ways in which music binds, incites, memorializes, and moves groups of people. This richly illustrated 124-page book, with 80+ tracks on 4 CDs, invites listeners into musical practices, episodes, and movements throughout the U.S. and beyond. These songs of struggle, devotion, celebration, and migration remind us that music has the potential to change our world.

    Countries: Algeria; Angola; Argentina; Brazil; Chile; Congo-Brazzaville; Denmark; Dominican Republic; France; Greece; Indonesia; Italy; Korea, South; Lebanon; Mexico; Nicaragua; Poland; Puerto Rico; Republic of Kosovo; Scotland; South Africa; Thailand; Turkey; United Kingdom; United States; Vietnam

    101 We Shall Overcome The Freedom Singers 2:09
    102 This Land is Your Land Woody Guthrie 2:48
    103 De colores ([Made] of Colors) Baldemar Velásquez, Aguila Negra 3:02
    104 Union Maid Bobbie McGee 2:13
    105 If I Had a Hammer Pete Seeger 1:54
    106 Reclaim the Night Peggy Seeger 4:33
    107 Estoy aquí (I Am Here) Quetzal 5:21
    108 Deportees (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) Sammy Walker 4:57
    109 We Are the Children Chris Kando Iijima, Joanne Nobuko Miyamoto, Charlie Chin 2:55
    110 I Woke Up This Morning Fannie Lou Hamer 2:36
    111 I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Country Joe McDonald 2:59
    112 El pobre sigue sufriendo (The Poor Keep On Suffering) Andrés Jiménez 3:26
    113 Ballad of the ERA Kristin Lems 4:11
    114 Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Pete Seeger 2:06
    115 Blowing in the Wind The New World Singers 2:32
    116 Quihubo raza (What’s Happening, People) Agustín Lira and Alma 3:50
    117 Solidarity Forever Jim Jackson 2:30
    118 Joe Hill Paul Robeson 3:00
    119 Joaquin Murrieta Rumel Fuentes 3:35
    120 Which Side Are You On? The Almanac Singers 2:10
    121 Legal/Illegal Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger 4:12
    122 It Isn’t Nice Barbara Dane, The Chambers Brothers 4:05

    201 Amazing Grace The Old Regular Baptists 2:44
    202 Come By Here Barbara Dane, The Chambers Brothers 5:33
    203 Will the Circle Be Unbroken The Strange Creek Singers 3:38
    204 Peace in the Valley The Paramount Singers 3:50
    205 Many Eagle Set Sun Dance Song The Pembina Chippewa Singers 2:11
    206 Zuni Rain Dance Members of Zuni Pueblo 4:41
    207 Calvary Shape-note singers at Stewart’s Chapel 1:27
    208 Northfield The Old Harp Singers of Eastern Tennessee 1:58
    209 The Call to Prayer / Adhān Ahmad Al Alawi 2:10
    210 Zikr (excerpt) Sheikh Xhemail Shehu, members of the Prizren Rifa’i tekke 2:45
    Audio Player
    211 Buddhist Chants and Prayers Tu Huyen, Hai Phat, Tam Thu, Hai Dat 4:34
    212 Kol Nidre Cantor Abraham Brun 5:05
    213 Dayeinu Raasche, Alan Mills 1:47
    214 Night Chant Sandoval Begay 2:12
    215 Hark, Hark Carolers from the Black Bull, Ecclesfield, UK 3:11
    216 Swing Low, Sweet Chariot The Princely Players 2:47
    217 The Old Rugged Cross The Paschall Brothers 5:17
    218 Madre de Dolores (Mother of Sorrows) Hermanos de la Morada de Nuestra Señora de Dolores del Alto 2:56
    219 San Miguel (Saint Michael) Francia Reyes 4:11
    220 I’ll Fly Away Rose Maddox 2:32

    301 Party Down at the Blue Angel Club Clifton Chenier and His Red Hot Louisiana Band 4:51
    302 San Antonio Rose Los Reyes de Albuquerque 2:38
    303 Jolie blonde (Pretty Blonde) Austin Pitre 2:47
    304 Shake Your Moneymaker John Littlejohn 4:19
    305 Beer-Drinking Polka Flaco Jiménez, Max Baca 2:25
    306 In Heaven There Is No Beer The Goose Island Ramblers 2:32
    307 SAM (Get Down) Sam Brothers Five 4:10
    308 Golden Slippers / The Butterfly Whirl Lester Bradley and Friends 4:31
    309 Sligo Indians / Paddy Clancy’s / Larry Redican’s / The Rambling Pitchfork Tony DeMarco 4:21
    310 La entrega de los novios (The Delivery of the Newlyweds) Lorenzo Martínez 3:46
    311 Rock Dance Song (Cree/Metis) The Pembina Chippewa Singers 2:20
    312 Pow Wow Song Chippewa Nation 2:52
    313 Mary Mack Lilly’s Chapel School, Alabama 1:58
    314 Johnny Cuckoo Janie Hunter and children at home 1:15
    315 Rooster Call John Henry Mealing and group 4:00
    316 Joy to the World Elizabeth Mitchell 3:06
    317 Oylupnuv Obrutch (The Broken Hoop Song) The Golden Gate Gypsy Orchestra 2:01
    318 Liberty Funeral March The Liberty Brass Band 4:51
    319 Junkanoos #1 Key West Junkanoo Band 3:07
    320 The Star Spangled Banner Unknown orchestra 1:16
    321 Mardi Gras Medley (excerpt) ReBirth Jazz Band 4:33

    401 Viva la Quince Brigada (Long Live the 15th Brigade) Pete Seeger 3:04
    402 Bella ciao (Goodbye Beautiful) Singers of the “Bella Ciao” production of Spoleto 1:35
    403 A desalambrar (Tear Down the Fences) Expresión Joven 5:07
    404 Muato mua N’Gola (Women of Angola) Lilly Tchiumba 2:34
    405 Un gigante que despierta (An Awakening Giant) Luis Godoy, Grupo Mancotal 4:03
    406 Hasret (Longing) Melike Demirag 3:10
    407 Prisioneros somos (We Are All Prisoners) Suni Paz 2:19
    408 Funeral do lavrador (Funeral of a Worker) Zelia Barbosa 1:59
    409 Izakunyatheli Afrika Verwoerd (Africa is Going to Trample on You, Verwoerd) South African refugees in Tanganyika 1:52
    410 The Boy with the Sunlit Smile Mikis Theodorakis 2:48
    411 Hidup di Bui (Life in Jail) Gambang Kromong Slendang Betawi, Kwi Ap 5:34
    412 Man and Buffalo (Kon Gap Kwai) Caravan 3:40
    413 Why Need We Cry? Cantor Abraham Brun 2:32
    414 El palomo (The Dove) Grupo Raíz 4:06
    415 Hvem sidder dér bag skærmen (The Roadmaker) Inger Nielsen 3:08
    416 Mon’ etu ua Kassule Musician supporters of the MPLA 5:35
    417 Le temps des cerises (Cherry Blossom Time) Yves Montand 4:37
    418 Chongsun Arirang Singer from Central Korea 4:03
    419 The Passport Marcel Khalifé 9:23
    420 Inno della Resistenza (Hymn of the Resistance) Choir of FLN fighters 1:28

    #Musique #Musique_et_politique

  • How an Algorithm Kicks Small Businesses Out of the Food Stamps Program on Dubious Fraud Charges
    https://theintercept.com/2018/10/08/food-stamps-snap-program-usda

    In Washington Heights, a hilly neighborhood at the northern tip of Manhattan, 128 P&L Deli Grocery is the busiest hub on the block. Outside, neighbors lounge in lawn chairs and pass around a hookah hose. Inside, customers watch baseball on an iPhone mounted behind the counter and sip tamarind juice through straws. Yucca, plantains, and bagged heads of lettuce loiter by the entrance. Porfirio Mejia, the Dominican-born New Yorker who has owned this grocery for six years, seems to know (...)

    #algorithme #consommation #discrimination #surveillance

  • Latin American and Caribbean countries sign historic treaty giving environmental rights the same status as human rights | UN Environment
    https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/latin-american-and-caribbean-countries-sign-historic-treaty-giving

    Within 24 hours of its opening, fourteen nations signed the Escazú Agreement; with one more signing the next day. This treaty enacts binding provisions for States to equip their citizens with information, judicial corrections and spaces for public participation in environmental matters concerning them. The Escazú Agreement’s official name is the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters.

    “The fact that fourteen countries have already signed today is extraordinary” stated Epsy Campbell Barr, the Vice President of Costa Rica.

    The agreement is not only the first environmental treaty for the Latin America and Caribbean region. It is also:

    At the forefront of environmental democracy with only one other regional treaty on environmental democracy: Europe’s Aarhus Convention
    The only treaty to have emerged from Rio+20
    The first time a legal agreement includes an Article on environmental human rights defenders (Article 9)

    The Latin America and Caribbean region is home to numerous multifaceted conflicts involving communities opposing business and government interest that threaten their environment,livelihoods and ancestral lands. Global Witness reports that Latin America and the Caribbean has consistently the highest number of murders of environmental defenders in the world. [...]

    In an emotional ceremony at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 27 September 2018, Heads of State and ministers from the following countries signed the Agreement: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Saint Lucia and Uruguay. The Dominican Republic and Haiti added their signatures to the legal instrument later the same day and Paraguay signed on the following day.

    #traité #environnement #Amérique_latine #Caraïbes

  • Organisation des États américains, vers une suspension du Venezuela

    OEA acordó iniciar proceso de suspensión de Venezuela
    http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/politica/oea-acordo-iniciar-proceso-suspension-venezuela_238769

    11 países se abstuvieron en la votación de la resolución planteada por la OEA para declarar ilegítima la reelección de Nicolás Maduro y la “alteración del orden constitucional” en Venezuela. 

    Los países que se abstuvieron fueron Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad y Tobago, Uruguay, Antigua y Barbuda, Belice, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Haití y Nicaragua.

    La resolución fue aprobada por 19 votos a favor de los 35 países miembros de la OEA. Entre los países a favor están Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Brasil, Canadá, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Estados Unidos, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, México, Panamá, Paraguay, Perú, República Dominicana y Santa Lucía.

    Bolivia, Dominica, San Vicente y Venezuela votaron en contra de la resolución.

    Ahora se efectuará una Asamblea General Extraordinaria, en la que se hará la deliberación sobre la suspensión de Venezuela del organismo Interamericano.

    • Mais ce n’est pas gagné, puisqu’il faut 24 voix en Assemblée générale. Les États-Unis à la manœuvre.

      EE UU juega su carta en la OEA y logra un triunfo parcial en Venezuela
      http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/juega-carta-oea-logra-triunfo-parcial-venezuela_238796

      Fuentes diplomáticas describieron como una «partida de póker» el proceso que culminó anoche con una resolución que abre la puerta a la suspensión como Estado miembro de Venezuela, la mayor sanción de la que dispone el organismo y que, en sus 70 años de historia, solo ha aplicado a dos países: Cuba y Honduras.

      «Estados Unidos tenía las mejores cartas, trajo a su vicepresidente y a su secretario de Estado, Mike Pompeo, pero uno no sabía si todo era un farol», resumió una de esas fuentes.

      El objetivo de EE UU era suspender a Venezuela de la OEA, un proceso que no es automático: era necesario aprobar la resolución, reunir al Consejo Permanente y luego convocar una Asamblea General extraordinaria con los cancilleres de las Américas para lograr el respaldo de 24 países, es decir, dos tercios de los 35 miembros del organismo.

      Los 24 votos eran muy difíciles de conseguir debido al tradicional respaldo del Caribe a Venezuela, que durante años les prestó dinero y les permitió acceder a petróleo subvencionado.

      Para aprobar la resolución eran necesarios 18 votos y sus impulsores (los 14 países del Grupo de Lima y EE UU) lograron 19, aunque hubo once abstenciones y cuatro Estados votaron en contra.

  • Venezuela vuelve a perder temporalmente derecho a voto en la ONU por impago
    http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/mundo/venezuela-vuelve-perder-temporalmente-derecho-voto-onu-por-impago_22289

    Venezuela perdió este lunes temporalmente su derecho a voto en la Asamblea General de la ONU a causa del impago de sus aportaciones, según dijo la organización.

    El país estuvo en la misma situación el año pasado, cuando posteriormente recuperó el derecho a votar en ese órgano tras abonar parte de su deuda.

    Las normas de la ONU establecen la pérdida del derecho de voto en la Asamblea General para los Estados miembros que tienen pendientes pagos al presupuesto de la organización por una cantidad igual o superior a las contribuciones que les correspondían durante los dos años anteriores.

    Stéphane Dujarric, portavoz de Naciones Unidas, dijo hoy que, a fecha 29 de enero, ocho países estaban en esa situación.

    Además de Venezuela, se trata de la República Centroafricana, Dominica, Guinea Ecuatorial, Granada, Libia, Surinam y Yemen.

    Las reglas de la ONU permiten excepciones para Estados miembros que se enfrentan a situaciones extraordinarias.

    En este caso, la Asamblea General determinó el pasado octubre que Comoras, Guinea Bissau, Santo Tomé y Príncipe y Somalia puedan votar durante el actual periodo de sesiones a pesar de no haber abonado las cantidades correspondientes al presupuesto de la organización.

  • Diaspora Blackness in the Caribbean: A Radical Resource
    https://medium.com/@janelane_62637/diaspora-blackness-in-the-caribbean-a-radical-resource-55ccb65ad6de

    The following resources and media are not by any means exhaustive, but an attempt to hold Black millennials in the Western hemisphere accountable for developing a complex, internationalist analysis as Afro-descendants. Resources will be given on Puerto Rico, Barbados, Martinique, Guyana, Haiti, Suriname, Grenada, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, the Virgin Islands (U.S.), Jamaica, and Trinidad.

    #Culture_noire #Caraïbe

  • Puerto Rico’s streets crawl with heavily armed, masked mercenaries bearing no insignia or nametags
    https://boingboing.net/2017/10/15/katrina-rerun.html

    Though Puerto Rican law prohibits ownership and bearing of most long-guns and especially semiautomatic weapons, the streets of the stricken US colony now throng with mercenaries in tactical gear bearing such arms, their faces masked. They wear no insignia or nametags and won’t say who they work for, apart from vague statements in broken Spanish: “We work with the government. It’s a humanitarian mission, we’re helping Puerto Rico.”

    Rosa Emilia Rodríguez, head of Puerto Rico’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office, initially dismissed reports of the mercenaries, then, after reporters from the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo pressed her she said she’d “check it out.”

    After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Erik Prince’s Blackwater mercenaries flooded the city again, turning it into an “armed camp”, after Brigadier Gen. Gary Jones, commander of the Louisiana National Guard’s Joint Task Force announced “This place is going to look like Little Somalia. We’re going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation to get this city under control.”

    Erik Prince is now reportedly considering a senate run as a Trumpist candidate in Wyoming. His sister, Betsy Devos, has used millions from her husband’s pyramid-scheme fortunes to fund efforts to destroy public education, and now serves as Trump’s Secretary of Education.

    Though the mercenaries in Puerto Rico won’t identify their employers, there’s good evidence that Blackwater (now called Academi) is or will soon be operating there, as well as other notorious mercenary gangs like Ranger America and the Whitestone Group.

    Security firm Academi —known by its former name, Blackwater, which won $21 million contract with the U.S. government to provide security services during the Iraq war in 2003— said that they already have offers from the local and federal government and by the Red Cross to come to Puerto Rico.

    “We’re ready to go,” said Paul Donahue, Chief Operating Officer of Constellis, Academi’s parent company, in a phone interview with the CPI. He explained that if the government of Puerto Rico accepts the proposal made by Academi to respond to the government’s offer, they would be providing security services for water transportation. The company already operates in the Caribbean islands of Dominica and St. Martin, where they arrived after Hurricanes Irma and Maria made landfall. This company, described as an army of mercenaries by investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill, has changed its name three times since its founding in 1997 by a former Navy Seal Officer (United States Marine, Air and Land Teams.)

  • Twin megastorms have scientists fearing this may be the new normal | World news | The Guardian

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/06/twin-megastorms-irma-harvey-scientists-fear-new-normal

    One week after the record deluge in Texas, the biggest hurricane ever measured in the mid-Atlantic is tearing through the Caribbean.

    Hurricane Irma, a category-five storm, is destroying homes and threatening lives in the Leeward Islands with 185mph winds and 11ft coastal surges, and in the coming days it is forecast to hit Puerto Rico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba and Florida. The governor of Florida has already declared a state of emergency.

    #ouragas #cyclones #climat

  • Meyer Lansky - Cuba
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meyer_Lansky

    After World War II, Luciano was paroled from prison on the condition that he permanently return to Sicily. However, Luciano secretly moved to Cuba, where he worked to resume control over American Mafia operations. Luciano also ran a number of casinos in Cuba with the sanction of Cuban president General Fulgencio Batista, though the US government succeeded in pressuring the Batista regime to deport Luciano.

    Batista’s closest friend in the Mafia was Lansky. They formed a renowned friendship and business relationship that lasted for a decade. During a stay at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York in the late 1940s, it was mutually agreed upon that, in exchange for kickbacks, Batista would offer Lansky and the Mafia control of Havana’s racetracks and casinos. Batista would open Havana to large scale gambling, and his government would match, dollar for dollar, any hotel investment over $1 million, which would include a casino license. Lansky would place himself at the center of Cuba’s gambling operations. He immediately called on his associates to hold a summit in Havana.

    The Havana Conference was held on December 22, 1946, at the Hotel Nacional. This was the first full-scale meeting of American underworld leaders since the Chicago meeting in 1932. Present were such figures as Joe Adonis and Albert “The Mad Hatter” Anastasia, Frank Costello, Joseph “Joe Bananas” Bonanno, Vito Genovese, Moe Dalitz, Thomas Luchese, from New York, Santo Trafficante Jr. from Tampa, Carlos Marcello from New Orleans, and Stefano Magaddino, Joe Bonanno’s cousin from Buffalo. From Chicago there were Anthony Accardo and the Fischetti brothers, “Trigger-Happy” Charlie and Rocco, and, representing the Jewish interest, Lansky, Dalitz and “Dandy” Phil Kastel from Florida. The first to arrive was Lucky Luciano, who had been deported to Italy, and had to travel to Havana with a false passport. Lansky shared with them his vision of a new Havana, profitable for those willing to invest the right sum of money. According to Luciano’s evidence, and he is the only one who ever recounted the events in any detail, he confirmed that he was appointed as kingpin for the mob, to rule from Cuba until such time as he could find a legitimate way back into the U.S. Entertainment at the conference was provided by, among others, Frank Sinatra who flew down to Cuba with his friends, the Fischetti brothers.

    In 1952, Lansky even offered then President Carlos Prío Socarrás a bribe of U.S. $250,000 to step down so Batista could return to power. Once Batista retook control of the government in a military coup in March, 1952 he quickly put gambling back on track. The dictator contacted Lansky and offered him an annual salary of U.S. $25,000 to serve as an unofficial gambling minister. By 1955, Batista had changed the gambling laws once again, granting a gaming license to anyone who invested $1 million in a hotel or U.S. $200,000 in a new nightclub. Unlike the procedure for acquiring gaming licenses in Vegas, this provision exempted venture capitalists from background checks. As long as they made the required investment, they were provided with public matching funds for construction, a 10-year tax exemption and duty-free importation of equipment and furnishings. The government would get U.S. $250,000 for the license plus a percentage of the profits from each casino. Cuba’s 10,000 slot machines, even the ones that dispensed small prizes for children at country fairs, were to be the province of Batista’s brother-in-law, Roberto Fernandez y Miranda. An Army general and government sports director, Fernandez was also given the parking meters in Havana as a little something extra. Import duties were waived on materials for hotel construction and Cuban contractors with the right “in” made windfalls by importing much more than was needed and selling the surplus to others for hefty profits. It was rumored that besides the U.S. $250,000 to get a license, sometimes more was required under the table. Periodic payoffs were requested and received by corrupt politicians.

    Lansky set about reforming the Montmartre Club, which soon became the “in” place in Havana. He also long expressed an interest in putting a casino in the elegant Hotel Nacional, which overlooked El Morro, the ancient fortress guarding Havana harbor. Lansky planned to take a wing of the 10-story hotel and create luxury suites for high-stakes players. Batista endorsed Lansky’s idea over the objections of American expatriates such as Ernest Hemingway and the elegant hotel opened for business in 1955 with a show by Eartha Kitt. The casino was an immediate success.[18]

    Once all the new hotels, nightclubs and casinos had been built Batista wasted no time collecting his share of the profits. Nightly, the “bagman” for his wife collected 10 percent of the profits at Trafficante’s interests; the Sans Souci cabaret, and the casinos in the hotels Sevilla-Biltmore, Commodoro, Deauville and Capri (part-owned by the actor George Raft). His take from the Lansky casinos, his prized Habana Riviera, the Nacional, the Montmartre Club and others, was said to be 30 percent. What exactly Batista and his cronies actually received in total in the way of bribes, payoffs and profiteering has never been certified. The slot machines alone contributed approximately U.S. $1 million to the regime’s bank account.

    Revolution

    The 1959 Cuban revolution and the rise of Fidel Castro changed the climate for mob investment in Cuba. On that New Year’s Eve of 1958, while Batista was preparing to flee to the Dominican Republic and then on to Spain (where he died in exile in 1973), Lansky was celebrating the $3 million he made in the first year of operations at his 440-room, $18 million palace, the Habana Riviera. Many of the casinos, including several of Lansky’s, were looted and destroyed that night.

    On January 8, 1959, Castro marched into Havana and took over, setting up shop in the Hilton. Lansky had fled the day before for the Bahamas and other Caribbean destinations. The new Cuban president, Manuel Urrutia Lleó, took steps to close the casinos.

    In October 1960, Castro nationalized the island’s hotel-casinos and outlawed gambling. This action essentially wiped out Lansky’s asset base and revenue streams. He lost an estimated $7 million. With the additional crackdown on casinos in Miami, Lansky was forced to depend on his Las Vegas revenues.

    ...

    When asked in his later years what went wrong in Cuba, the gangster offered no excuses. “I crapped out,” he said. Lansky even went as far as to tell people he had lost almost every penny in Cuba and that he was barely scraping by.

    ...

    Since the warming of relations between the United States and Cuba in 2015, Lansky’s grandson, Gary Rapoport, has been asking the Cuban government to compensate him for the confiscation of the Riviera hotel that his grandfather built in Havana.

    #Cuba #USA #mafia #histoire

  • Punish the smuggler or reward the smuggler? Recent refugee arrivals in Greece

    Media coverage of the refugee situation in Greece focuses heavily on the Syrians and secondarily on Afghans and Iraqis. While these are indeed the three most highly represented nationalities among asylum seekers in Greece, the past six to twelve months have seen a gradual shift.

    Fast forward to 2017, taking the period from 10 May to 27 June 2017, a total of 982 asylum seekers reached the island of Lesvos. The top nationalities were: DRC (202), Syria (160), Iraq (116), Afghanistan (61). The rest were from Iran, Kuwait (Bidoon), Palestine, Guinea, Eritrea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Morocco, Yemen, Togo, Gambia, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Sri Lanka, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Sudan and Nigeria. One person each came from Bolivia, Cuba, South Africa, Haiti and Uganda. Similar trends are noted on the other islands which act as the entry point to Greece.

    Those of us acquainted with Moria reception and identification centre in Lesvos have noticed the nationality change among the new arrivals over the last two years: many more Africans and less Arabs. Groups of Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans are still coming grouped together, while Africans from different nationalities arrive in different groups with other nationalities. The smuggling fees vary according to nationality.

    One may wonder why people from Africa, whether northern or sub-Sahara, take the route to Europe through Greece, rather than the intuitively more direct route to Italy or Spain. A look at flight routes and visa regimes provides the answer. One may reach the Greek islands from as far away as central Africa, using Turkish Airlines, a Turkish visa and a smuggler picked at Istanbul airport or the Aegean coast, for less than 1,500 dollars total.

    Turkish Airlines has 200 destinations worldwide and at reasonable prices. For example, one way flight from Kinshasa to Istanbul costs 833 dollars, Abidjan to Istanbul, 709 dollars and Casablanca to Istanbul 458 dollars.

    Secondly, visas for Turkey are generally easily obtained. From the nationalities arriving in Lesvos in June, all except Cubans and Palestinians, depending on where they were registered, are exempt from any visa requirement or need only an electronic visa, easily obtained online for the cost of 20 dollars.

    Eritreans are often rejected asylum seekers from Israel, deported to Rwanda with cash, which they use to escape again through the Aegean route. Women from the Dominican Republic are usually trafficked to Turkey and once they manage to escape to Greece, seek assistance to return to their country. Citizens of sub-Saharan Africa come from a number of conflicts in the region, both internal and cross-border, including purges in the DRC and the Boko Haram. North Africans face chronic instability in their countries.

    https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/fotini-rantsiou/punish-smuggler-or-reward-smuggler-recent-refugee-arrivals-in-greece

    #Grèce #mer_Egée #asile #migrations #réfugiés #parcours_migratoires #Turquie #routes_migratoires #Afrique #réfugiés_syriens #Turkish_airlines #visas #réfugiés_érythtréens

  • How immigration detention compares around the world

    The US has the highest number of incarcerated non-citizens in the world: a population which grew from around 240,000 in 2005 to 400,000 in 2010. Since 2009, there has been a congressional mandate to fill 34,000 immigration detention beds each night. More than half of these beds are placed in privately run detention facilities, run by companies such as CoreCivic (formerly the Corrections Corporation of America), who lobbied for the passing of this mandate.
    The number of detainees, according to the latest numbers, has also been growing in many EU countries since the 1990s. The UK held 250 people in detention in 1993 and 32,163 in March 2016. France detained 28,220 in 2003 and 47,565 in 2015. Sweden placed 1,167 immigrants in detention in 2006 and 3,959 in 2015. In the past ten years or so Australia’s detainee population has fluctuated. In 2009, there were 375 detainees, a number that sharply rose to 5,697 in 2013, and then dropped to 1,807 in January 2016.
    Statistics for Greece and Italy, the two main first countries of entry for asylum seekers to the EU, are not readily available. In 2015 Italy detained 5,242 people, while Greece had a detention capacity of 6,290 in 2013.

    https://theconversation.com/how-immigration-detention-compares-around-the-world-76067
    #détention_administrative #chiffres #statistiques #rétention #asile #migrations #réfugiés #monde #Europe #USA #Etats-Unis

    • ¿Qué esperamos del futuro?: Detención migratoria y alternativas a la detención en las Américas

      The study is the result of numerous efforts to collect and compare information on policy and practice related to immigration detention and alternatives to detention in 21 countries in the Americas region: Argentina, the Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States. Although data collection and analysis are by no means exhaustive, the study does identify the main patterns of human rights violations related to the use of immigration detention, and also highlights key policy and practice that represent positive components of alternatives to detention


      http://idcoalition.org/publication/informe_regional_americas_2017
      #Amériques

      Pour télécharger le rapport: idcoalition.org/publication/download/informe_regional_americas_2017

    • Y a un solendon aussi

      Five centuries after it was likely driven to extinction by the arrival of Spanish conquistadors, a mammal known as the “island murderer” is getting its day in the court of scientific inquiry. Using fossilized DNA, scientists have now traced the evolution of the shrewlike mammal, which comprised at least eight species living throughout the Caribbean before it was outcompeted by black rats that hitched a ride on the ships of Spanish explorers in the early 15th century. Nesophontes, as the genus is known, is thought to be one of the earliest branches of the mammalian tree to survive into the modern era—and a close cousin of the still-living Solenodon (above)—so it has long been of particular interest to scientists. However, tracing its history has been tough. The complex science of extracting fossil DNA is even more difficult in tropical areas, as heat causes DNA strands to break down more quickly. But in a study published today in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, scientists have successfully retrieved the DNA from a 750-year-old N. paramicrus skull found in the Dominican Republic. Analysis shows that the genus split off from Solenodon at least 40 million years ago—30 million years after the ancestral species lived among the dinosaurs. Though they’re not quite Jurassic Park, the islands of the Caribbean have been their own form of living museum in preserving some of the world’s oldest mammals. The case of Nesophontes isn’t closed yet.

      #zoologie

  • Stateless Children in Dominican Republic Still Unable to Go to School

    Many children of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic could not enroll in school this year, as they remain unable to get the documents to prove their nationality, say legal researchers B. Shaw Drake and Raimy Reyes.

    https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/articles/2016/10/05/stateless-children-in-dominican-republic-still-unable-to-go-to-school

    #apatridie #République_dominicaine #école #éducation #enfants #enfance #scolarisation #déscolarisation

  • Budgets, bureaucracy and realpolitik trump #human_rights advocacy
    http://africasacountry.com/2016/09/budgets-bureaucracy-and-realpolitik-trump-human-rights-advocacy

    The year 2015 was El Salvador’s deadliest since the end of that country’s civil war in 1992. According to police records, more than six thousand people were murdered. Elsewhere, in Honduras, Brazil and Columbia, dozens of environmental activists are under attack. And in the Dominican Republic, thousands of Dominicans of Haitian ancestry are on the […]

    #LATIN_AMERICA_IS_A_COUNTRY #Americas #Funding #Inter-American_Commission_for_Human_Rights #OAS

  • Afro-Latino: A deeply rooted identity among U.S. Hispanics

    Identity for U.S. Hispanics is multidimensional and multifaceted. For example, many Hispanics tie their identity to their ancestral countries of origin – Mexico, Cuba, Peru or the Dominican Republic. They may also look to their indigenous roots. Among the many ways Hispanics see their identity is their racial background.


    http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/03/01/afro-latino-a-deeply-rooted-identity-among-u-s-hispanics
    #esclavage #Amérique_latine #histoire #statistiques #chiffres
    cc @louca

  • The Significance of Celia Sanchez & Rachel Carson
    http://cubaninsider.blogspot.de/2012/09/the-significance-of-celia-sanchez.html

    Je découvre ce blog étatsunien. Il y a quelques articles historiques mais on y trouve surtout beaucoup de nouvelles du jour commentées.

    Celia Sanchez (...) was the overall most important figure in the Cuban Revolution, and her passion as a rebel fighter and revolutionary leader all revolved around the abysmal treatment of children during the Batista-Mafia dictatorship from 1952 till 1959. The last straw for Celia Sanchez, heretofore an angelic doctor’s daughter, was the kidnapping of peasant girls as young as ten so they could be used to lure rich pedophiles to the Mafia-run gambling casinos that proliferated on the island. A ten-year-old girl that Celia loved, Maria Ochoa, succumbed to that dreadful practice.

    And that’s why it would not be incorrect to state that the fate of little Maria Ochoa constituted the biggest mistake Batista, the Mafia, and the United States ever made on the island of Cuba. It transformed the angelic doctor’s daughter into history’s all-time greatest female guerrilla fighter and revolutionary leader. She was not deterred by the well-known fact that no one had ever come close to overthrowing a U. S. - backed dictatorship. She believed love of children was a superior motivation than the love of money and, deep inside her, she believed a fiercely motivated guerrilla force could defeat a vastly stronger army motivated by greed. In the end, that belief predicated the outcome of Cuba’s revolutionary war.

    Years later when Celia Sanchez [supported 100% by Fidel Castro] was the top decision-maker in Revolutionary Cuba, she told Cuban historian Pedro Alvarez Tabio why the rebels won: “For us it was a do-or-die fight. I knew that the top 40 or 50 of the Batista and Mafia leaders had already stolen so much money from Cuba that they were determined to live and spend it. For them, it was do-and-run. Even as we raced from Santiago de Cuba to Santa Clara to Havana, they were stronger than we were. But, just in case, they had their airplanes and ships and boats at the ready. Batista fled first to his pal Trujillo’s Dominican Republic; Lansky and the other Mafia kingpins fled mostly to Miami and Union City, where the banks were already stuffed with their loot. I still wish they had somehow mustered the guts to stay and fight us. But they didn’t, and that’s where it stands today. We are still here. The rich cowards and their rich children are there.” [That Celia Sanchez quotation dates to Feb., 1978, but in essence it is also where Cuba and the U.S. “stand” in the closing days of 2012, except now there are six unchallenged (when it comes to Cuba) vindictive Cuban-Americans in the U. S. Congress from Miami and Union City (NJ)]

    With the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in January of 1959, three exceptional female rebels — Vilma Espin, Celia Sanchez, and Haydee Santamaria [left to right above] — comprised a decision-making trio more powerful than the three most notable male rebels [Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and Camilo Cienfuegos].

    #Cuba #révolution #femmes

  • ‘I came here with nothing’: life in limbo for unwilling migrants on Haiti’s border

    Changes in the Dominican Republic’s citizenship rules sparked an exodus of undocumented Haitian descendants. Months later their plight is still desperate

    https://espminetwork.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/3936.jpg?w=940
    https://espminetwork.com/2016/05/25/for-posting-10
    #Haïti #migrations #frontières #République_dominicaine #limbe #zone_d'attente #zone-tampon

  • Global Zika update : Incidence, microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome | Outbreak News Today
    http://outbreaknewstoday.com/global-zika-update-incidence-microcephaly-and-guillain-barre-synd

    The World Health Organization (WHO) released their Zika Situation Report Friday, which is chock full of interesting information, ranging from the incidence of Zika virus to microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) data.

    Between 2015 and 2016, 33 countries have reported autochthonous transmission- Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, Curaçao, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Maldives, Martinique, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Tonga, United States Virgin Islands, Vanuatu and Venezuela.
    Brazil has reported by far the most cases, in fact, the outbreak got so large they stopped counting cases. Best estimates from Brazil health officials say there has been [between] 497,593 and 1,482,701 cases of Zika virus since the outbreak began.

    Dernier état de la situation de l’OMS, ici (actuellement, au 5/02/16)
    http://www.who.int/emergencies/zika-virus/situation-report/en

  • Moral Agency on the Haitian-Dominican Border
    http://blogs.pjstar.com/haiti/2015/12/15/moral-agency-on-the-haitian-dominican-border

    With the conditions that I witnessed in the refugee camps in Anse-a-Pitres, it was not hard to predict that cholera could hit the camps and that an adequate medical response was probably not going to happen. I saw people in the camps drinking untreated water straight from the river reservoir. And I saw no preparations being made to develop and sustain an adequate Cholera Treatment Center (CTC) in Anse-a-Pitres.

    During the last six weeks cholera HAS hit the camps in Anse-a-Pitres. And cholera is crossing the border into the Dominican Republic once again.

    #choléra #Haiti #santé #camps

  • Growing a penis at 12: the ’Guevedoce’ boys of the Dominican Republic - Telegraph
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11874983/Dr-Michael-Mosely-growing-a-penis-at-12.html

    Johnny is known as a “Guevedoce”, which literally means, “penis at twelve”. And the reason he’s called that is because, like 1 in 90 of the boys in the area, he first started to grow a penis when he was going through puberty.
    (...) When Dr Imperato investigated the Guavadoces she discovered the reason they don’t have male genitalia at birth is because they are deficient in an enzyme called 5-α-reductase, which normally converts testosterone into dihydro-testosterone. So they appear female when they are born, but around puberty, when they get another surge of testosterone, they sprout muscles, testes and a penis.

    #genre #testostérone