March 2018 – Guyana Times International

Guyanese among 271 arrested in US immigration crackdown

March 31, 2018March 31, 2018 TIMES INT'L

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency says its Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers have arrested “271 aliens as part of an enforcement action targeting immigration violators and those who pose a threat to public safety.” On Wednesday, ICE said that the enforcement action ran from March 18 – 22. ERO officers made the arrests across the state of Florida, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands (USVI). The Enforcement agency in a released statement posited that the immigrants who were arrested came from 36 countries: Afghanistan,…

Guyana files border case with ICJ

March 30, 2018March 31, 2018 TIMES INT'L

Guyana, on Thursday, field its Application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) requesting the Court to confirm the legal validity and binding effect of the 1899 Arbitral Award regarding the boundary between Guyana and Venezuela. This is according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday. The Application follows the decision by UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, in choosing the ICJ as the next means of resolving the controversy that arose as a result of the Venezuelan contention that the Arbitral Award of 1899 regarding…

US judge awards Guyana plane crash survivor US$272,000

March 30, 2018March 31, 2018 TIMES INT'L

A United States federal judge has ordered Caribbean Airlines (CAL) to pay about US$272,000 in damages to a Connecticut woman injured in a plane crash in Guyana in 2011. According to an article from the Associated Press (AP) Judge Michael Shea in Hartford ruled Tuesday that Caribbean Airlines was responsible for the injuries of Waterbury resident Indrawatie Shiwbodh. The decision came in Shiwbodh’s lawsuit against the airline and after a non-jury trial before Shea. Lawsuits by other passengers were settled, and Shiwbodh’s case was the only one to go to…

President orders probe into Kingston Seawall deaths

March 30, 2018March 31, 2018 TIMES INT'L

As there continues to be uncertainty over what transpired during the shooting incident at the Kingston Seawall earlier this month, President David Granger has ordered that an investigation be launched into the deaths of Dextroy Cordis, Kwame Assanah, and Errol Adams, who were shot dead by Police. The Head of State said that the decision was made at the level of the National Security Committee. It was also decided that the findings of the probe would be sent for legal advice to determine whether there was any culpability for the…

Guyana’s Private Sector urges Govt to address issue of dumping of inferior products

March 30, 2018March 31, 2018 TIMES INT'L

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon said Government was working with the Competition and Consumer Affairs Commission to enforce compliance with the Consumer Affairs Act to target, among other things, price fixing, conspiracy, dumping of inferior and harmful products, and misleading advertisements. He noted this move was to protect consumers from errant Private Sector operatives. The Minister made the statement following a call by former Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) President Ramesh Dookhoo for the implementation of anti-dumping legislation. He made the call at the GMSA’s Annual General Meeting at…

Under pressure, Govt says will place US$18M oil bonus into Consolidated Fund

March 30, 2018March 31, 2018 TIMES INT'L

The US$18M signing bonus which was received by the Guyanese Government from ExxonMobil will now be placed into the Consolidated Fund before it is used to make any payments- particularly to Attorneys who will be fighting the Venezuela border controversy case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Minister of State Joseph Harmon, during the Post Cabinet press briefing on Thursday said that the bonus, wherever it is would be placed into the Consolidated Fund and it is from that fund that “any team whatsoever will be paid whether they…

Man sentenced to 35 years after being found guilty of raping 10-year-old girl

March 30, 2018March 31, 2018 TIMES INT'L

It will be at least 35 years before 46-year-old Sheldon Lynch see the light of the outside world following a 12-member jury on Tuesday finding him guilty of raping a 10-year-old girl between December 7, 2010 and January 25, 2013. High Court Judge Simone Morris-Ramlall handed down life sentences to the offender for crimes which were said to have occurred in the Essequibo district. The jury considered the evidence after a few days of trial and returned unanimous verdicts on two counts of rape of a child under 16. However,…

Breaking good

March 30, 2018March 31, 2018 TIMES INT'L

Satiricus was happy as a lark, even though he’d never seen a lark to know how it expressed “happiness”. But he’d been educated in the British educational system, and ‘happy as a lark’ – not Kiskadee! – it was!! For the past year, he’d been given so much stick from the fellas over Trot Man’s negotiation of the oil contract! It didn’t matter he insisted his KFC leaders were Nagga Man and Rum Jhaat. But now, as he entered the Back Street Bar, he would “shut their mouths!!” “So you…

City cop faces High Court trial for alleged rape of 15-yr-old boy

March 30, 2018March 31, 2018 TIMES INT'L

Almost two months after Lance Corporal Clifton Pellew was charged for raping a 15-year-old boy while he was in custody, Senior Magistrate Leron Daly found that there was sufficient evidence for him to stand trial before a Judge and jury at the High Court. Following his committal, Pellew was granted bail in the sum of G$500,000 pending the High Court trial. The City Constable was charged back in February with the indictable offence, which alleged that on August 15, 2017, at the Constabulary Outpost at City Hall, he engaged in…

Mean-Spirited

March 30, 2018March 31, 2018 TIMES INT'L

…to Father of the Nation March 22, 2018 marks the centenary of the birth of Dr Cheddi Jagan. As part of the month-long series of activities commemorating the event, the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre (CJRC) had arranged with the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) to issue a commemorative stamp in the great man’s honour. Now, commemorative stamps are routinely issued by all countries to mark special events. In fact, right here in Guyana, the Post Office had issued the first one with a Guyanese face in 1970, when they featured…