CARIBBEAN CORNER

Compiled By Neil S. Friedman

from AP Newsfinder

Whale Sanctuary Rejected

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua — Six Caribbean nations that sided with Japan last year to reject a South Pacific whaling sanctuary appear likely to again vote against the sanctuary at this week’s International Whaling Commission meeting in London.

Three countries — Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Kitts and Nevis — have said outright they will not change their position, which has attracted millions in aid from Japan. The other three have not said officially what they will do, but seem reluctant to change that would put the aid at risk.

"So as long as the whales are not an endangered species, I don’t see any reason why if we are able to support the Japanese and the quid pro quo is that they will give us some assistance. I’m not going to be a hypocrite," Antiguan Prime Minister Lester Bird said recently.

The International Whaling Com-mission’s annual meeting began Monday in London.

Although commercial whale hunting was outlawed 15 years ago, seven out of 13 species of great whales are still officially classed as "endangered " or "vulnerable," according to the World Wildlife Fund.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines is allowed to hunt two whales a year, among a handful of countries that have an exemption for indigenous people and traditional hunting.

Big Dish Sets A Record

PONCE, Puerto Rico — Mofongo, a dish of mashed plantains with garlic and meat, is one of Puerto Rico’s biggest dishes, and it’s just gotten much bigger.

A mall in the island’s second city, Ponce, created what it says is the world’s biggest mofongo Sunday, mixed in a wooden mortar that’s 10 feet (3 meters) tall and 6 feet (1.8 meters) in diameter, crafted by a local artesian.

At least 4,000 portions were served by mid-afternoon and there were about 5,000 more to go, said Arturo Valdejully, president of Plaza del Caribe mall, which sponsored the promotion.

"We could estimate it’s about 4 tons," Valdejully said.

The ingredients included 3,000 plantains, 300 pounds (135 kilograms) of chicken, 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of pork rinds, 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of onions, 50 pounds (22 kilograms) of mild peppers, 3 gallons (11 liters) of sofrito — a sauce base made from mild peppers _ and generous amounts of oil, tomato sauce and ham.

"It was delicious — a little dry, but with good flavor," said Ponce resident Sarah Echevarria, who came with her family.

The mall contacted officials from Guinness Book of World Records, and hopes to have its claim to the largest mofongo verified in a few weeks, Valdejully said. There is no record for the Puerto Rican dish now listed on the Guinness web site.

U.S., Cuba Are Hurricane Allies

MIAMI, FL — When hurricanes form in the Atlantic, meteorologists in Cuba and the United States unite against a common enemy.

Contacts between the governments of the United States and communist Cuba are rare, but hurricane experts in Miami and Havana quietly work together to warn their region of perilous storms.

"This has nothing to do with politics or diplomacy," said Lixion Avila, a Cuban-born hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Avila, who fled Cuba in 1980, often serves as an intermediary between the two countries. Their relationship goes beyond phone calls and e-mails, with meteorologists from both sides exchanging visits.

Last month, Cuba made its radar images from Havana available to U.S. forecasters and the general public.

"We’re all meteorologists, and we don’t want any disasters," Avila said. "My main goal is to save people’s lives. One of those lives is my mother’s. She’s still in Havana."

The World Meteorological Organization, a unit of the United Nations, directs the National Hurricane Center to coordinate all tropical weather warnings from Africa through the Atlantic and into the Pacific.