Caribbean Report 10-10-1995

Abstract

In this report an Indian-based firm United Breweries Limited has taken up the sponsoring of the West Indies cricket team and wants to change the team's name to reflect its product. Peter Short, President of the West Indies Cricket Board welcomed the sponsorship but said little on the proposed name change. Meanwhile, there are concerns over plans by the US to cut its contributions to the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA). British development agencies took out a full page advertisement to protest the proposals by the Overseas Development Agency (ODA) to cut bilateral aid to developing countries. At an anti-drug conference, Britain's Custom and Excise official, Richard Brown, warns that heroin could be the next threat for the Caribbean in the wake of cocaine transhipment. In the US, racial tensions remain high and the black/white divide has been magnified and expanded as a result of the O.J. Simpson not guilty verdict. Political analyst, Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson comments on just how widespread the racial crisis is in the US. In Haiti, the Lavalas spokesman Chavannes Jean-Baptiste has distanced the party from the recent gunning down of a former member of the Haitian Army. Volcanic eruptions in Montserrat pose great danger to the population and the economy by keeping the tourists away. However, British scientist Tony Atkinson states that the eruption could bring economic benefit to the island in an unexpected way.