Regional News

HAVANA,  (Reuters) – Cuba yesterday confirmed it had sought help from the World Food Programme to guarantee the supply of subsidized powdered milk for children, according to a report in state-run media, a sign of deepening economic woes on the communist-run Caribbean island.

QUITO,  (Reuters) – Ecuador’s attorney general’s office said yesterday 12 more people, including judges, have been detained in a sprawling organized crime investigation in Guayas province.

(Trinidad Guardian) In a major shake up at the country’s main intelligence gathering agency, Major Roger Best, head of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) has been sent on administrative leave.

(Trinidad Guardian) Following the revelations of a Sunday Guardian investigation into the Tobago oil spill and subsequent claims by the Opposition that the Government is failing to keep the public informed about its investigation, Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Stuart Young says the Government has to ensure accuracy and seek documented verification as it investigates.

(Trinidad Guardian) Police believe a disagreement with a partygoer was the motive behind the killing of disc jockey Elijah “Sugarz” Babb yesterday morning.

PORT-AU-PRINCE,(Reuters) – Haiti’s government declared a state of emergency last evening, following violent clashes in the capital that have damaged communications and led to two prison breaks as a major gang leader seeks to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

(Trinidad Express) Angelique Parisot-Potter, the whistleblower whose claims of “significant governance and fiduciary concerns” at Massy Holdings led to an investigation by the conglomerate, will not be participating in the probe due to the requirement for her to sign a gag order to enable her to do so.

(Trinidad Express) The soldier who was shot and killed in La Puerta, Diego Martin, last month was a hitman for hire in the criminal underworld and had been involved in the murders of several people in the past.

PORT-AU-PRINCE,  (Reuters) – International connectivity to Haiti was disrupted today following violent clashes in the capital that have damaged communications and led to a prison break at the main penitentiary as a major gang leader seeks to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

(Trinidad Express) The soldier who was shot and killed in La Puerta, Diego Martin, last month was a hitman for hire in the criminal underworld and had been involved in the murders of seve­ral people in the past.

 (Trinidad Guardian) On February 7, an oil-like substance began leaking from an overturned barge, clearly abandoned, stuck in a reef south of Cove, Tobago.

BUENOS AIRES,  (Reuters) – Argentine President Javier Milei vowed to “speed up” his plans to overhaul the country and solve its economic woes in a fiery speech to Congress on Friday, challenging them to pass a new package of bills after an earlier version of his “omnibus” reform was rebuffed last month.

(Trinidad Guardian) Workers have started operations to remove the overturned Gulfstream barge involved in the recent oil spill off the coast of Tobago.

PORT-AU-PRINCE,  (Reuters) –  Haitian gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, also known as Barbecue,  warned yesterday he will keep trying to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry, and asked families to keep children from going to school to “avoid collateral damages,” as violence surges in parts of the capital.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – The United States yesterday honoured a Cuban dissident who for decades has defied the communist-run government with her on-island advocacy of human rights, a move likely to irritate Havana.

(Trinidad Guardian) The Port of Port of Spain says it is interruptions to its operations due to the unavailability of the full complement of labour.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Two Democratic U.S. lawmakers who just returned from Cuba pushed back against Republicans’ criticism of the trip, calling on President Joe Biden’s administration to ease restrictions on relations with the Communist-ruled island.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – Cuban Luis Collado was pleasantly surprised by the unusually short line – at least by Cuba standards – of just a few vehicles on Havana’s waterfront on Friday.

(Reuters) – Venezuela’s oil exports slightly increased in February to some 670,000 barrels per day (bpd), but ongoing shipping delays worsened a bottleneck of tankers waiting to load, according to documents and vessel monitoring data.

(Trinidad Guardian) Worried relatives of five Cedros fishermen, including a father and son, who have been missing out at sea since Saturday, complained yesterday that the authorities were not doing enough to find them.