![Gays tolerated in T&T says survey
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The majority of people in T&T are either tolerant or accepting of homosexuals rather than homophobic. Also, lesbian/bisexual/gay/transgender (LBGT) issues are not as politically dangerous as politicians think, as Yvonne Baboolal reports in this article for Trinidad’s Guardian.
These were the results of a survey, funded by the British High Commission and conducted by the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Research Services Inc (CADRES), of attitudes toward homosexuals in T&T. The results were announced at a….[Full article HERE]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/78279422c1b8252cee716610ffb40c5d/tumblr_mn0hf0fvfD1r9bbqfo1_400.png)
Gays tolerated in T&T says survey
(Subscribe to our blogs HERE & HERE)
The majority of people in T&T are either tolerant or accepting of homosexuals rather than homophobic. Also, lesbian/bisexual/gay/transgender (LBGT) issues are not as politically dangerous as politicians think, as Yvonne Baboolal reports in this article for Trinidad’s Guardian.
These were the results of a survey, funded by the British High Commission and conducted by the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Research Services Inc (CADRES), of attitudes toward homosexuals in T&T. The results were announced at a….[Full article HERE]
KINGSTON, Jamaica - A police corporal in Jamaica has been arrested after authorities say he called a prisoner’s family and stated he could release the inmate in exchange for $10,000.
![Haitian Migrants Flee via Puerto Rico
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Danica Coto and Trenton Daniel report on how Haitian migrants find safer passage to the U.S. mainland through Puerto Rico. They call it “a newly popular route” that has caught officials in the Caribbean by surprise; I had assumed that this route had been a popular choice for years. They write:
Hundreds of Haitian migrants have made their way to Puerto Rico in recent months. They’ve found that if they can make it to the U.S. territory without getting arrested, they can fly on to U.S. cities such as Miami, Boston or New York without having to show a passport, although some kind of identification, such as a driver’s license, is needed. Immigration authorities checking travelers before they leave Puerto Rico for the U.S. mainland sometimes find them carrying fake driver’s licenses or other identification, but counterfeit documents are not always detected.
[…] There are no official statistics on how many Haitians have successfully made their way illegally to Puerto Rico, or how many have traveled on to the U.S. mainland. But the trend worries officials in the U.S. and the Dominican Republic, with both countries reporting a jump in arrests of Puerto Rico-bound Haitians.
Migrants reportedly are paying smugglers $1,000-$1,500 for a trip to Puerto Rico, located less than 100 miles east of the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. At the same time, Dominican officials have detained more than 400 Haitians bound for Puerto Rico in the past four months, compared with just a handful annually in previous years, said Victor Pilier, the Dominican Republic’s director of naval intelligence. “It’s an excessive amount,” said Pilier, who oversaw the capture of 78 Haitians headed to Puerto Rico in late April before sending them back home. “It’s unusual.”
U.S. officials in the past six months captured 352 Haitian migrants who were bound for Puerto Rico or were found on or near the island. Coast Guard statistics show that between October 2010 and September 2011, only 13 such migrants were found, and at most five Puerto Rico-bound Haitians were arrested in the two years before that. The odds of reaching the U.S. mainland directly from Haiti have dropped as the U.S. Coast Guard beefs up patrols by Hamilton class cutters, or what Haitian migrants simply refer to as “Amilton.”
Along with trying to sail directly to the U.S. mainland, Haitians in the past attempted to get to the United States through long-established smuggling networks on islands including the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/8f6b89cc0d255ba119e0e3247a7c7ab5/tumblr_mmxsf7gQ731r9bbqfo1_500.jpg)
Haitian Migrants Flee via Puerto Rico
(Subscribe to our blogs HERE & HERE)
Danica Coto and Trenton Daniel report on how Haitian migrants find safer passage to the U.S. mainland through Puerto Rico. They call it “a newly popular route” that has caught officials in the Caribbean by surprise; I had assumed that this route had been a popular choice for years. They write:
Hundreds of Haitian migrants have made their way to Puerto Rico in recent months. They’ve found that if they can make it to the U.S. territory without getting arrested, they can fly on to U.S. cities such as Miami, Boston or New York without having to show a passport, although some kind of identification, such as a driver’s license, is needed. Immigration authorities checking travelers before they leave Puerto Rico for the U.S. mainland sometimes find them carrying fake driver’s licenses or other identification, but counterfeit documents are not always detected.
[…] There are no official statistics on how many Haitians have successfully made their way illegally to Puerto Rico, or how many have traveled on to the U.S. mainland. But the trend worries officials in the U.S. and the Dominican Republic, with both countries reporting a jump in arrests of Puerto Rico-bound Haitians.
Migrants reportedly are paying smugglers $1,000-$1,500 for a trip to Puerto Rico, located less than 100 miles east of the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. At the same time, Dominican officials have detained more than 400 Haitians bound for Puerto Rico in the past four months, compared with just a handful annually in previous years, said Victor Pilier, the Dominican Republic’s director of naval intelligence. “It’s an excessive amount,” said Pilier, who oversaw the capture of 78 Haitians headed to Puerto Rico in late April before sending them back home. “It’s unusual.”
U.S. officials in the past six months captured 352 Haitian migrants who were bound for Puerto Rico or were found on or near the island. Coast Guard statistics show that between October 2010 and September 2011, only 13 such migrants were found, and at most five Puerto Rico-bound Haitians were arrested in the two years before that. The odds of reaching the U.S. mainland directly from Haiti have dropped as the U.S. Coast Guard beefs up patrols by Hamilton class cutters, or what Haitian migrants simply refer to as “Amilton.”
Along with trying to sail directly to the U.S. mainland, Haitians in the past attempted to get to the United States through long-established smuggling networks on islands including the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.
![READ A BOOK:
The Enigma of the Return, By Dany Laferrière, trans. David Homel
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A magnificent meditation on loss and political exile as a great Haitian writer returns home, as Ian Thomson writes in this review for London’sIndependent.
After years of estrangement in a foreign land, what can a great Haitian writer expect to find on his return home? The remembered warmth and….[Full article HERE]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/2611bc0f44ec6bd37cc248246d58040a/tumblr_mmpk12oLhE1r9bbqfo1_500.jpg)
READ A BOOK:
The Enigma of the Return, By Dany Laferrière, trans. David Homel
(Subscribe to our blogs HERE & HERE)
A magnificent meditation on loss and political exile as a great Haitian writer returns home, as Ian Thomson writes in this review for London’sIndependent.
After years of estrangement in a foreign land, what can a great Haitian writer expect to find on his return home? The remembered warmth and….[Full article HERE]
Andre Villas-Boas has been to the Bahamas before but is eager to return simply because he’s bringing his famed Tottenham Hotspur soccer club to play an exhibition match against Jamaica’s “Reggae Boyz” in the new Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium on May 23.
![Trini actors shine in O Starry Starry Night
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Derek Walcott’s latest play O Starry Starry Night premiered at Essex University’ Lakeside Theatre on May 3 with Trini actors Nigel Scott and Wendell Manwarren leading the cast along with UK-based compatriots Martina Laird and Brian Green, Trinidad’s Guardian reports.
Walcott’s writing, whether poetry or drama, has been influenced by visual art throughout his long career. He himself is a keen watercolourist and it is the artist’s eye as much as the literate writer’s lexicon, which has informed his unique imagery. So his choice of subject matter-the stormy relationship between the Post-Impressionist painters Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin–is understandable; moreso when we delve into Gauguin’s background. His mother was of Peruvian extraction and the young Paul spent five years of his early life in Lima, before returning to …[Full article HERE]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/8c60e1f5013f66441abd653d36a6404b/tumblr_mms766jsGU1r9bbqfo1_500.jpg)
Trini actors shine in O Starry Starry Night
(Subscribe to our blogs HERE & HERE)
Derek Walcott’s latest play O Starry Starry Night premiered at Essex University’ Lakeside Theatre on May 3 with Trini actors Nigel Scott and Wendell Manwarren leading the cast along with UK-based compatriots Martina Laird and Brian Green, Trinidad’s Guardian reports.
Walcott’s writing, whether poetry or drama, has been influenced by visual art throughout his long career. He himself is a keen watercolourist and it is the artist’s eye as much as the literate writer’s lexicon, which has informed his unique imagery. So his choice of subject matter-the stormy relationship between the Post-Impressionist painters Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin–is understandable; moreso when we delve into Gauguin’s background. His mother was of Peruvian extraction and the young Paul spent five years of his early life in Lima, before returning to …[Full article HERE]
Dreadlocked Jamaican construction worker weds daughter of US house speaker
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The eldest daughter of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, John Boehner, has tied the knot with her dreadlocked, Jamaican-born construction worker boyfriend.
Lindsay Marie Boehner, 35, married Dominic Lakhan, 38, over the weekend in an intimate ceremony amid a lush Florida garden. She wore a flowing white strapless gown, showing off a huge tattoo etched across her arm, while Dominic wore a grey suit with his dreadlocks flowing down his back.
The Republican House Speaker reportedly looked on proudly after walking Lindsay down the aisle at Sundy House under tight security.
About 60 guests were invited to the wedding, including Boehner and his wife Debbie, and Lindsay’s younger sister Tricia, 32.
Male guests reportedly sported Hawaiian shirts and slacks, while the women wore sun dresses and semi-formal gowns.
Dominic was arrested in 2006 for possessing marijuana, with the arresting officer reporting that Lakhan admitted to possessing it for “personal use,” Boehner is a strong opponent of legalizing the drug.
