Caribbean Corner | www.canarsiecourier.com

In its just released World Press Freedom Review, IPS said that during that year, two journalists were killed as a direct result of their work and there were numerous reported instances of others being wounded.

It said politicians, both in government and opposition, exerted sometimes excessive pressure on media out-fits and journalists to favor their points of view.

IPI said the continued use of libel laws, the introduction of new restrictive legislation, and instances of government interference in state-owned media, all increased the inclination to self-censor.

It said the continued growth of “talk radio” to an extent, contributed to a democratization of news and opinion, but at the same time threatened to have a negative impact on the quality of broadcasting by displacing the more expensive programs based on fact-based, investigative journalism.

“Indeed, the increased broadcasting of unsubstantiated accusations and ru-mors invokes real dangers by making radio stations vulnerable to punitive legal action and, more dangerous still, by creating the potential for media outfits to become embroiled in violent struggles for political power,” the IPI said.

Regarding the Caribbean Commu-nity (Caricom) countries, IPI said that disappointingly, the new government in Antigua & Barbuda took up where its predecessor left off by trying to exert an untoward influence over the state media. It said the Baldwin Spencer administration was also engaged in some heavy-handed intimidation of the pro-opposition ZDK radio station.

In Grenada, media freedom came under a more sustained attack from the government in the form of verbal threats, police intimidation, and threats of libel action.

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) – The Jamaica government has signed a US$6.28 million financing agreement with the European Union (EU) to provide additional funding for the EU’s Banana Support Program on the is-land.

The funds are expected to substantially increase the production of ba-nanas on the island and boost foreign export earnings for the crop, to an estimated US$35 million annually within the next three years.

The funding represents the fifth instalment given by the EU under a 10-year Framework of Special Assis-tance to African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) banana producing countries.

Since 1996, the EU has provided approximately US$50.4 million to the local banana program.

Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke commended the EU’s ongoing intervention in the banana industry noting that bananas were one of Jamaica’s main traditional exports.

Clarke said that the Banana Support Program would be implemented through two separate components, which in-clude the Banana Improvement Program (BIP) and the Rural Diversification Program (RDP).

He said the BIP would target do-mestic and export banana as well as plantain farmers, while the RDP would support growers who have stopped pro-ducing and exporting banana and wished to engage in other economic activities.

ST. GEORGE”S, Grenada (AP) – The Grenada government said the re-cent decision by Air Jamaica to temporarily suspend flights to the Eastern Caribbean would severely disrupt the island’s efforts at reviving its tourism industry following the passage of Hur-ricane Ivan in September last year.

Tourism Minister Brenda Hood, said efforts would be made to hold urgent talks with Air Jamaica’s management and the local aviation body, since the suspension could result in a sharp decline in tourist arrivals.

“Well I think first of all that we would have to have an urgent meeting with Air Jamaica to find out what is going on and I always say that I think a lot of time when decisions are made that a country needs to know ahead of time and not be hearing it on the radio.

“We would have to look at the whole issue of airlift to the destination be-cause as you know airlift is very im-portant to us, this is what keeps the economy going and if you don”t have airlift it creates a lot of problems so it is going to be setback in the tourism sector for us, although they are saying that it is only four weeks, four weeks is a long time,” she said.

“We do have an airlift committee which I would have to have a meeting with immediately to see what other alternatives we can look at,” the minister said.

Air Jamaica announced over the weekend that it would suspend flights to Eastern Caribbean destinations, in-cluding Barbados, Grenada and St. Lu-cia due to the new accelerated maintenance schedule required by the Jam-aica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA).

It said the services would resume on 16 April.

prime minister meets with british soldier

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada (AP) – Grenada’s prime minister met recently with a British soldier who saved 30 comrades during a nighttime ambush in Iraq and was awarded Britain’s top military honor, officials said.

Pvt. Johnson Beharry, a 25-year-old native of Grenada, was awarded the Victoria Cross last week, becoming its first recipient in more than 20 years.

Prime Minister Keith Mitchell met privately with Beharry at London’s Heathrow airport, according to a statement from the Grenada High Commis-sion in London. Mitchell was quoted as saying Beharry’s achievement was “a proud moment for his family ... and the entire country.’’

Beharry said the award “seems like a dream and is difficult to comprehend.’’

Beharry is a driver of a Warrior armored vehicle with the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment and his award citation said he carried out two heroic acts that saved the lives of his comrades.

CASTRIES, St. Lucia (AP) – The Banana Emergency Recovery Unit (BERU) said it will stage the first “Banana Festival” in St. Lucia next year, hoping to get people more in-volved in the diversification of the in-dustry.

BERU’s Program Manager Hilary La Force said experiments have shown that the banana plant has the potential for producing paper and rope.

“We intend to continue to basically promote the use of the fruit and the whole plant for the processing of various products. In the future, we would want to work with the manufacturing people in that regard,” La Force said.

He said his organization would use the first “Banana Festival” scheduled for 2006, as another opportunity to share information on the versatility of the fruit.

La Force said BERU is pursing a project aimed at encouraging greater local interest in the fruit as the island needed to develop alternatives should the fruit become uncompetitive on the European market, particularly after 2006, when the new banana reform package adopted by the European Union goes into effect.