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News

Cuban officials shown video warning on corruption

REGIONAL BRIEFS

Friday, February 03, 2012



HAVANA, Cuba (AP) — Cuban authorities are summoning Communist Party members and government officials to watch a video about corruption investigations.

A person who has seen the video says it shows suspects confessing to crimes and other details of two cases involving bribery, embezzlement and diversion of funds.

The person was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly and spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity.

The video is a warning to bureaucrats that President Raul Castro's government is serious about cracking down on graft.

Castro said at a party conference this weekend that corruption is a bigger threat to the revolution than anything the United States could dream up.

TCI wins judgment against former US billionaire

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — The Turks and Caicos Islands has been awarded a $9.29 million judgment against a former US billionaire and timber magnate who founded an uber-exclusive resort in the Montana Rockies.

The territory's Supreme Court has ruled against Tim Blixseth, founder of the Yellowstone Club in Montana that went into bankruptcy. The court says he helped conceal the true value of his private island retreat called Emerald Cay and significantly underpaid a stamp duty tax owed the Caribbean nation.

Attorney General Huw Shepheard says the $9.29 million judgment replaces an interim award of $1.25 million.

Blixseth lawyer Michael Flynn of Boston says the defense team is not sure about pursuing an appeal. Flynn contends the seller was at fault.

Eastern Caribbean may soon have regional ferry

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — The eastern Caribbean may soon have an inter-island ferry system.

A British investment company says it plans to lease a "wave-piercing" catamaran to Barbados-based Fast Caribbean Ltd, which hopes to transport people and goods between Barbados, Grenada, St Vincent, St Lucia and Trinidad.

Lorraine Johns of London-based Montrose Global LLP said in an email Wednesday that they believe the service will have a "positive impact on travel and trade within the region."

Johns says Fast Caribbean is working closely with Trinidad to determine the 112-meter (367-foot) vessel's configuration.

Trinidad Transport Minister Devant Maharaj says the private ferry system will be based in Port-of-Spain. It's not clear when the service might begin.

Brazil offers 6,000 visas to Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Brazil is offering 6,000 visas to Haitians over a five-year period as one of several efforts that look to help the troubled Caribbean nation get on its feet, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said Wednesday.

She was visiting to showcase Brazilian efforts helping Haiti recover from the devastating earthquake two years ago. In one project, a commission formed by Brazil and Cuba is helping train 2,000 Haitian health workers and building three hospitals, she said.

Rousseff said her country would issue 1,200 visas annually to Haitians during the next five years while also seeking to crack down on smuggling operations.

"We want to stand on the side of Haiti so that Haitians can have a better life," Rousseff told reporters on the grounds of the National Palace, which is still a pile of white crumbled cement since the 2010 earthquake.

Brazil has been a major funder of reconstruction efforts after the 2010 quake.

One of the projects Rousseff highlighted is the renovation of a hydroelectric dam in the heart of Haiti for which Brazil gave $2.5 million to carry out several studies. Repairs to the 54-megawatt Peligre facility are expected to begin this year and are expected to restore the power plant to full capacity in 2015.

The United Nations says Brazil has pledged $164 million for quake recovery projects and has spent about three-quarters of that.

All together, donors have pledged $4.5 billion to help rebuild Haiti, but only about half of that has been released, the U.N. Office of the Special Envoy to Haiti says.

Haitian President Michel Martelly said he hopes Rousseff will help him lobby other countries to meet their pledges.



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