Stories about Guyana from April, 2006
Man and anthill (Guyana)
Admiring an anthill in the north Rupununi, Guyana, with the Kanuku Mountains hidden by clouds in the distance. Photo by Nicholas Laughlin.
West Indian literature online
One of the crucial elements in the rapid development of the literature of the Anglophone Caribbean in the 1940s and 50s was a weekly radio programme called Caribbean Voices, broadcast from London on the BBC's Caribbean Service and produced by Henry Swanzy. Caribbean Voices featured stories and poems by West...
Caribbean: Cricket captaincy gamble
West Indies star batsman Brian Lara is appointed team captain for a third time. Jeremy Taylor at the Caribbean Beat weblog calls it “an interesting gamble, both for Lara and for the West Indies Board.”
Caribbean: CSME provides chance for success
The Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) may not “grab us”, says Francis Wade, but it may be the best shot the region has at a successful future.
Guyana: Funeral of slain government minister
Guyana Providence Stadium posts a photograph and a two-line report on the funeral of Guyana's Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Crops and Livestock, who was murdered this past weekend. Guyana Resource Centre posts a Guyana news agency report on comments made by the Canadian High Commissioner during a speech made at...
Guyana: Playwright
Guyana Diaspora profiles Britain-based playright Michael Abbensetts.
Brutal murder of Guyanese government minister sends shockwaves
“The news that the Guyanese Minister of Fisheries, Crops and Livestock, Satyadeow Sawh, was brutally gunned down at his home along with his brother, sister and bodyguard early Saturday morning is sending shockwaves around the Caribbean,” wrote Trinidadian blogger Jonathan Ali on April 23. Jonathan noted that “the Express article...
Caribbean: Bureaucracy kills & biofuel
Taran Rampersad is starting a “death and injury counter” in response to the region's lack of action in the area of disaster preparedness. “My theory is that all the bureaucracy kills people in a way that could be seen as criminally negligent,” he says. And why isn't the Caribbean thinking...
Caribbean: Billionaires Investing in Local Telecoms
Last week Irish billionaire Dennis O'Brien announced his company Digicel was purchasing the Caribbean arm of Bouygues Telecom . This week Mexican billionnaire Carlos Slim announces he is purchasing three Caribbean and Latin-American subsidiaries of Verizon, an American telecom, writes (FR) InternetRapide.com. The Verizon subsidiaries to be purchased by Slim's...
Guyana: Imaginary roads
Nicholas Laughlin posts the seventh instalment of Imaginary Roads, a series of writings on Guyana.
A Seamless Caribbean Network?
InternetRapide.com, a blog dedicated to telecommunications in the Caribbean says (FR) Digicel, a cell phone company owned by Irishman Denis O'Brien that covers 60% of the Jamaican market, celebrates its fifth anniversary this week. The company has expanded to 14 other Caribbean countries since its inception in 2001 and plans...
Caribbean, UK: Amerindian exhibit
At the Caribbean Beat Blog, Tracy Assing posts a short review of the “From the Amazon to the Caribbean” exhibition at the Hornmian Museum in Dulwich, England.
Caribbean: Towards a West Indian canon
At the Caribbean Beat Blog, Nicholas Laughlin solicits suggestions for inclusions in a West Indian literary canon.
Guyana: History without mercy
MediaCritic links to a “brutal historical account of Guyana”. An excerpt: “The present-day Republic of Guyana is an insignificant remnant of the old British Empire, the only possession Britain ever held on the mainland of South America, uneasily resting between Venezuela and Brazil and adjoining two other fragments of European...
Village cricket match, Caribbean-style
Easter Sunday cricket match — Howsen Village, Trinidad. From caribbeanfreephoto At this time of year, thoughts in the English-speaking Caribbean turn to the game of cricket. Travel around any of the region's former British colonies and you're likely to come across greens like this one, located in Howsen Village, Trinidad....
Caribbean, Venezuela, USA: CARICOM talks with US
Seeing it as evidence that the Caribbean has begun to resist the overtures of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, A. M. Mora y Leon links gleefully to a Miami Herald article which states that CARICOM is exploring the possibility of holding free trade talks with the US.
Guyana: Prez Wants Kids
Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo is ready to make some babies. But Guyana360 explains that he's waiting until after the elections.
Caribbean: Cruise ship cuts
One cruise line is planning to remove half its vessels from the Caribbean on account of high costs associated with hurricanes, says Mad Bull: “We are going to have to try to diversify into other areas, though I don’t know yet what they are. Our islands have a big challenge...
Guyana: Old time bird ‘flu remedies
“Almost everyday I open the newspaper…what I see? Reports about how many birds in which country sneeze, which ones had aches and pain and cough and fever and…,” writes Guyana-gyal in an unusual meditation on old-time remedies used to treat sick chickens and the person she wishes she could give...
Caribbean: Hurricane forecast
Linda Thompkins reports on a recent meeting held to discuss the 2006 hurricane season and its implications for the Caribbean. The hurricane season begins officially on June 1.
Guyana: Movie review in Creolese
Itchy-footed Guyana-gyal reviews an Austrian film — in Creolese, no less: “Man, when I tell you some parts o’ Europe poor, believe me, they raggedy poor. And you should see Croatia after the war. Tragic.”