Caribbean Report 25-09-1995

Abstract

In this report over one hundred Jamaicans and other nationals arrested in a sting operation in the US appeared before the US courts on charges of drug trafficking. US Attorney Kendall Coffey explains the exercise that induced traffickers to part with cocaine in exchange for green cards. However, Jamaican legal expert Delroy Chuck argues that this a classic case of entrapment for those arrested. St. Lucia's Prime Minister John Compton expresses concern about the recent upheavals in the banana industry in the Windward Islands. These concerns follow an Ecuadorian bid to takeover Geest, the US challenge to the Europe's banana regime at the WTO and the extensive hurricane damage sustained. Meanwhile, the dreaded pink mealybug poses a major threat in the Caribbean as scientists work on a way to identify and breed a natural predator. Dr. Gillian Watson, of the British Natural History Museum states that the best option for controlling the mealybug is to bring in a natural enemy in the form of a Chinese wasp. A British tabloid newspaper criticised the World Heavyweight Champion Frank Bruno because his grandmother lives in poverty in Dominica. Felicity Bruno states she was horrified that the journalist used the article to attack Frank Bruno.