Black Immigrant Daily News

The first Category 5 storm of the 2017 season was Hurricane Irma, which formed on Aug. 30, 2017 and dissipated on Sept. 13. For those of you who are meteorology-minded, here is a portion of the National Hurricane Center’s “Tropical Cyclone Report” on Hurricane Irma, as applicable to the Caribbean.

By early on 4 September, Irma’s eye was growing in size and becoming better defined, and deep convection around the eye was gaining symmetry. Irma was on a strengthening trend once again, likely due to the completion of an eyewall replacement cycle, and it was headed toward the northern Leeward Islands. Irma turned west-northwestward, due to the erosion of the western side of the mid-level ridge (Fig 5b), and went through another round of rapid intensification. The hurricane reached its maximum intensity of 155 kt around 1800 UTC 5 September, when it was located about 70 n mi east-southeast of Barbuda. As a category 5 hurricane, Irma made landfall on Barbuda around 0545 UTC 6 September with maximum winds of 155 kt and a minimum pressure of 914 mb (Fig. 6a).

After crossing Barbuda, Irma continued to exhibit an impressive satellite appearance and made its second landfall on St. Martin at 1115 UTC that day, with the same wind speed and pressure as for its Barbuda landfall. Still moving west-northwestward to the south of a mid-level ridge, Irma made its third landfall on the island of Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands at 1630 UTC 6 September still as a 155-kt category 5 hurricane. Later that day, as Irma moved away from the Virgin Islands, reconnaissance data from the Air Force indicated that the major hurricane had weakened slightly and had a double wind maximum, indicative of concentric eyewalls. The double eyewall structure was also evident in Doppler radar data from San Juan, Puerto Rico (Fig. 7)

Even though Irma was no longer at its peak intensity, it remained a category 5 hurricane with a larger wind field than it had previously (Fig. 4). The eye of Irma tracked about 50 n mi to the north of the northern shore of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic from 1800 UTC 6 September to 1800 UTC 7 September, with the strongest winds to the north of the center.

The eye of Irma passed just south of the Turks and Caicos Islands around 0000 UTC 8 September, and it made landfall on Little Inagua Island in the Bahamas at 0500 UTC that day at category 4 intensity, with estimated maximum winds of 135 kt and a minimum pressure of 924 mb. This slight weakening ended Irma’s 60-h period of sustained category 5 intensity, which is the second longest such period on record (behind the 1932 Cuba Hurricane of Santa Cruz del Sur). Irma then turned slightly to the left, due to a building subtropical ridge, and moved toward the northern coast of Cuba (Fig. 5c). Reconnaissance and microwave data indicate that the inner core had become better organized, and it is estimated that Irma strengthened to a category 5 hurricane again around 1800 UTC 8 September, only 18 h after weakening below that threshold.

Irma then intensified a little more and made its fifth landfall near Cayo Romano, Cuba, at 0300 UTC 9 September, with estimated maximum winds of 145 kt (Fig. 6b). This marked the first category 5 hurricane landfall in Cuba since Huracan sin Precedentes in 1924. Irma tracked along the Cuban Keys throughout that day, and its interaction with land caused it to weaken significantly, first to a category 4 storm a few hours after landfall in the Cuban Keys and then down to a category 2 hurricane by 1800 UTC that day when the eye was very near Isabela de Sagua. Shortly after that time, the forward speed of Irma slowed, and it began to make a turn to the northwest, which caused the core of the hurricane to move over the Florida Straits early on 10 September.

On Sept 7, 2017, NPR’s Scott Neuman chronicled the damage, going from island to island, tracking Irma’s path.

A string of tiny Caribbean islands have been left stunned and devastated by the destructive force of Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest storms ever to hit the region. Some islands appear to have been spared, but others suffered loss of life and damage on a near-apocalyptic scale.

He started with Antigua and Barbuda.

In Barbuda, communications were severed as Irma made landfall just before midnight on Tuesday. Antigua, 25 miles to the south, dodged the full force of the storm, prompting Prime Minister Gaston Browne at first to declare it a miracle that his nation had been spared.

But as it turned out, Browne had spoken too soon. It was only after communication began to be restored and he was able to visit Barbuda that the damage to the smaller of the two islands became clear. “I journeyed to Barbuda this afternoon and what I saw was heart-wrenching, absolutely devastating,” Browne said on state-owned television Wednesday afternoon. “In fact, I believe that on a per capita basis, the extent of the destruction in Barbuda is unprecedented. And it is unprecedented, based on the type of storm. Hurricane Irma would have been easily the most powerful hurricane to have stormed through the Caribbean, and it is extremely unfortunate that Barbuda was right in its path.”

As noted by Prime Minister Browne below, at least 95% of the island was affected.

One of the most irritating (read: rage-inducing) things about the first reports on Irma were the large number of social media posts from people who mistook Barbuda for Barbados, and posted videos like the one below—videos that were not even hurricane footage.

This post pointed out the geographical distance between the two countries, after a journalist for a Charlotte CBS affiliate made the same error.

On Sept. 11, the BBC reported on damage to St. Martin, St Barts, and Anguilla.

The hurricane left more than two-thirds of homes on the Dutch side of the island of St Martin uninhabitable, with no electricity, gas or drinking water, and four people confirmed dead. The French government has said its side of St Martin – known as Saint-Martin – has sustained about €1.2bn ($1.44bn; £1.1bn) in damage, with nine deaths across Saint-Martin and St Barts. French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said there had been “massive destruction” to the islands.

Then Irma hit close to home, making landfall in the Virgin Islands.

Overhead footage offered just a glimpse of how bad things were.

As Colin Dwyer wrote for NPR on Sept. 14:

Hurricane Irma arrived on the doorstep of the Virgin Islands just over a week ago. A Category 5 storm, historic in its terrible might, Irma shredded homes and hotels into the bare materials that made them, its winds scattering floorboards and roofs and light poles like so many matchsticks.

Within a day, the storm had rendered the islands so unrecognizable, satellites could register the stark change from space. Where once the Virgin Islands — both U.S. and British — gleamed green in their lush vegetation, that vista is buried brown beneath uprooted trees and the debris of broken buildings.

As nightmarish as those hours were, the days since have seemed a lifetime for many residents of the U.S. and British territories.

“While there were some homes that survived — some lost just roofs — there are homes that are totally obliterated right down to the foundation,” David Mapp, executive director of the Virgin Islands Port Authority, tells NPR’s Jason Beaubien. “I mean, all you see is rubble.”

This short PBS video offers a glimpse of life after the destruction to the USVI.

In an in-depth segment called “The Forgotten Americans,” Democracy Now! raised questions about the U.S. media’s coverage—or rather, lack thereof—of the devastation to the U.S. territory.

As the video’s YouTube caption explains:

Hurricane Irma made landfall in the U.S. Virgin Islands as a Category 5 storm just over one week ago, knocking out electricity and running water, and cutting off communications with the outside world. Now, Governor Kenneth Mapp says the islands of Saint John and Saint Thomas are still nearly entirely without power. The hurricane also destroyed schools and the main hospital on Saint Thomas. The devastation was so extensive, it can be seen from space. Earlier this week, a U.S. military amphibious ship arrived on Saint Thomas ladened with equipment and supplies. The islands have also received emergency aid from residents of the nearby island of Puerto Rico, where volunteers banded together to collect supplies and transport them on dozens of ships.

But while Hurricane Irma hit the U.S. Virgin Islands days before it made landfall on the Florida Keys, the Virgin Islands have been largely forgotten in the wall-to-wall U.S. media coverage of the storm. And that omission is even more striking given that the U.S. Virgin Islands are in the midst of celebrating their centennial as U.S. territory. We speak with Saint Thomas native Tiphanie Yanique, award-winning poet and novelist. She’s an associate professor in the English Department at Wesleyan University and the author of the poetry collection “Wife” and the novel “Land of Love and Drowning.”

Meanwhile, on Fox (not) News, Tucker Carlson attacked USVI Gov. Mapp, based on NRA claims that Mapp’s calling up the National Guard to respond to the disaster included “seizing citizens’ guns.”

Mapp is the same governor then-President Trump mistakenly called “the president of the Virgin Islands.” It wasn’t until Oct. 3—about a month after Irma made landfall—that Trump actually met with him.

Many U.S. television viewers got their first introduction to USVI Rep. Stacey Plaskett, who went on to be an House manager during Trump’s first impeachment trial; she’s seen here on MSNBC on Sept. 8, 2017.

Perhaps the most high-profile face to step up rally relief for the USVI was retired NBA star Tim Duncan.

Michael C. Wright reported on Duncan’s “amazing” efforts for ESPN.

SAN ANTONIO — Retired San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan called the response to his plea Friday for donations toward Hurricane Irma relief efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands “amazing,” adding that thousands of donors, including the Spurs, local grocery store chain H-E-B and the San Antonio Food Bank, have contributed.

“I’m blown away by it,” Duncan said Sunday during a news conference at the San Antonio Food Bank. “In this day and age, it’s a little easier to reach a lot of people, and people have come out from everywhere. I’ve looked down the list of donors, and I’ve recognized some names. I’ve gotten support from the Spurs, H-E-B and the food bank — all across the board. It’s just been an amazing response.”

Duncan penned an impassioned plea for donations toward Hurricane Irma relief efforts Friday in The Players’ Tribune, and by Sunday afternoon, he had reached his $1 million goal. Duncan promised that every dollar donated would go directly toward relief efforts on the ground. Duncan kick-started the fundraising effort with a YouCaring account and an immediate $250,000 contribution, and he pledged to match all donations up to the first $1 million.

Post-Irma, Daily Kos Community member Lefty Coaster documented his work helping the USVI rebuild in early 2019, posting at both the beginning and after the conclusion of his three weeks of service.

In the meantime, cross your fingers and hope that the Caribbean makes it through this season with no major storms.

Join me in the comments to share your memories of Irma, and for the weekly Caribbean News Roundup.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

As the Amerindian Heritage Month celebrations got underway on Thursday evening with a cultural extravaganza, President Dr Irfaan Ali has pledged to Guyana’s indigenous people that his government will ensure that they will be part of and benefit from the country’s development.

Addressing the gathering at the National Stadium Tarmac in Providence, East Bank Demerara, the Head of State pointed out that all Guyanese are entitled to the same treatment and opportunities. As such, he committed to stand by indigenous people from every community and take them on the pathway to prosperity, telling them that they should celebrate this month with this in mind.

“Celebrate with the confidence that your future is going to be better. Celebrate with the confidence that the opportunities of the future will come to you. Celebrate with the confidence that you will be an equal partner in the development of our country. Celebrate with the confidence that you are deserving people. Celebrate with the confidence that you are equal to anyone else. Celebrate with the confidence that this govt is with you, for you and by you,” President Ali stated.

The Guyanese leader went to noted that Government has the responsibility to create the environment for indigenous people especially the youth to prosper. To this end, he reiterated that government will support and provide all that is necessary, including the finances, for those qualified Amerindians who wanted to be trained a particular field – nursing, teaching, medical technician, environment and so on.

“We will make sure you get all the opportunities… You have what it takes to be all you can be and we will create the environment to ensure you be all you can be,” he posited.In fact, the President revealed that 60 per cent of the junior teachers trained in the last three months came from hinterland and riverine communities across the country amounting to approximately 500.

Moreover, in the area of agriculture, President Ali again encouraged hinterland communities to produce crops, reassuring that government will assist them with the transportation to get those items to the markets.

He contended that hinterland communities too have a role to play in Guyana’s food security agenda, and by extension, the Caribbean region’s plan.

“So produce, we are going to get the produce out [to the markets] for you,” he implored.To further empower indigenous people the Head of State went onto outline the other initiatives government has undertaken such as the Hinterland Housing programme across the country. Only last week during a visit to Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), President Ali announced a series of measures to push homeownership in hinterland communities.

This includes a $1 million grant to some 600 land title holders so that they can start construction on their homes. Added to this, government has also partnered with two commercial banks to provide low-interest $2 million loans to each of these persons to supplement the construction cost since a typical house in the region racks to about $3 million to build.

To further assist with village economies, government also be procuring some two million building blocks from Region Nine communities. At least one village, Shulinab in South Central Rupununi will be getting $10 million to supply 300,000 clay bricks to be used in the region’s housing programme.

According to President Ali on Thursday, the best investment government can make is in its people. On this note, he underscored the importance of empowering individual persons, especially young people.

He explained that transformation is not only seen in physical infrastructure but also in individual development. The Guyanese Leader stated that by transforming individuals, then collectively they will transform their communities and ultimately, the country.

“Our country will do better and everyone must be better,” he asserted. The Head of State also used the opportunity to highlight Guyana’s rich culture embedded in its six races.“What we have is unique, what have cannot be taken away, what we have can only be celebrated and shared… because what we have is a united people and united culture,” he pointed out.

During Thursday’s Amerindian Heritage Month Cultural Extravaganza at the National Stadium Tarmac, there were performances of traditional dances and songs as well as spoken pieces by cultural groups from various hinterlands communities across all 10 regions in the country.

The event saw the attendance of Prime Minister Brig Ret’d Mark Phillips, Cabinet Ministers, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, representatives from hinterland villages and other officials.

This year’s Heritage Month being held under the theme “Celebrating our traditional culture, while building One Guyana.” According to Amerindian Affairs Minister Pauline Sukhai, this theme is appropriate. Pointing out the importance of the indigenous culture, she noted that it is personal, unique and scared.

In the same breath, the minister said this rich culture is slowly fading away. However, she explained that there is an advantage to avoid this especially with government as a committed partner in the drive to promote and preserve traditional culture coupled with Constitutional provisions for the protection and preservation of Amerindians way of life and culture.

In fact, Minister Sukhai said that Guyana is the only country that has a government supporting a month-filled activities aim at celebrating and promoting indigenous traditional knowledge and culture.

“But in actively working to celebrate and preserve of our culture, we have to each do our part. Indigenous leaders, elders and youths have a specific role to play and we must take our roles seriously, proactive steps must be taken to not only celebrate and promote our culture but to keep it alive, to transmit it to the nexy generation, to embrace it and ensure we have pride in our identity,” the Amerindian Affairs Minister stated.

Similar sentiments were echoed by Chairman of the National Toshaos Council (NTC), Derrick John, who urged that at no time must indigenous people forsake their heritage.

Instead, he implored, they must preserve it for future generations. He added that this requires renewed efforts to work on passing down various indigenous traditions to generations.

Amerindian Heritage Month is observed in September annually. However, this year’s celebrations have returned after a three-year hiatus caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

By: Feona Morrison

The use of capital punishment in Guyana is reserved for certain categories of murder, including the killing of members of the Disciplined Forces in the line of duty. High Court Judge Sandil Kissoon, on Thursday, sentenced 33-year-old Mark Royden Williams to suffer death by hanging for the January 23, 2008 murder of Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Corporal Ivor Williams.

Back in July, the father of three of Friendship, East Coast Demerara (ECD), was found guilty by a 12-member jury of fatally shooting the soldier, who was acting in the execution of his duties.

Mark Williams, called “Smallie”, who is currently on death row for murdering eight persons during the 2008 Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) Massacre, and who appeared in court virtually on Thursday, sat expressionless as a ninth death sentence was imposed on him at the Demerara High Court. Corporal Williams, 24, a father of one, was shot dead by the members of the notorious Rondell “Fineman” Rawlins gang while he and other soldiers were carrying out a military operation in Buxton and neighbouring ECD communities.“I salute this young hero”

The Judge, in his sentencing remarks, condemned the senseless murder of Corporal Williams, describing it as a “shocking, brutal, horrific, violent and premeditated crime”.

This crime, he highlighted, was designed and calculated to entrap, ambush, and “murder in mass” members of the Disciplined Forces acting in the lawful execution of their duties to preserve and maintain calm in Buxton and neighbouring communities during the bloody crime wave.

Alluding to the fact that Mark Williams and his accomplices were on a killing spree, not only in Buxton but in other communities across the country, the Judge said that the gangsters set out to murder Disciplined Forces members for no reason, other than the fact that they swore to uphold the rule of law and the Constitution of Guyana.

“I salute this young hero, Corporal Ivor Williams,” Justice Kissoon said, adding that the soldier stayed true to his oath, even when his life was under grave threat by the criminal gang’s attack on his patrol vehicle which came under rapid fire from machine guns.

Given Mark Williams’s previous convictions for mass killings, the Judge noted that he has chosen a “path of violent criminal existence”—one which he has pursued with much “enthusiasm”.

According to the High Court Judge, extreme violence was unleashed by the criminal gang on the night of Corporal Williams’s death. He pointed out that there were “absolutely no mitigating factors”. In light of the exceptional seriousness of the crime and the convict’s “reprehensible” conduct, Justice Kissoon saw it fitting to impose the death penalty on him.

Through a victim impact statement, the dead soldier’s grandmother said that she missed him and that she was proud when he chose to enlist in the military to serve his country.She related that she had cared for her grandson from infancy to adulthood, fondly recalling that he had a habit of “spoiling her” with treats and other items whenever he came home.The elderly woman expressed that she would like her grandson’s killer to know that she has forgiven him, since he, too, was a young man, and she had no ill feelings towards him.At the time of his death, Corporal Williams had a young daughter.

Meanwhile, a serving GDF Sergeant, who was also part of the military operation, shared that the night of Corporal Williams’s death would “always be a nightmare to me”. A Lance Corporal at the time, the Sergeant said that his colleague’s death was a “great loss for us”, adding that even though he wanted to leave the profession after the attack, he stayed in honour of the late Corporal’s memory.

Residents of Mark Williams’s community labelled him as a quiet and respectable young man. Via interviews with a probation officer, they said that Mark Williams and other youths of the community were targeted by criminal gangs during the crime wave to take part in unlawful acts.

According to the residents, had it not been for the criminals that “hijacked” their community, the convicted killer and other young men could have had a different life experience.

Mark Williams’s lawyer, Nigel Hughes beseeched the Judge for leniency, submitting that his client was “deserving” of being placed in a position where hope for the future was available to him.

Hinting at an appeal of his client’s conviction for the soldier’s murder, the lawyer added that Mark Williams continued to maintain his innocence because of his strong belief that he was not a party to the plan to murder the soldier. The defence counsel also asked Justice Kissoon, in passing sentence, to give the statements of forgiveness by the soldier’s close relatives “due weight and consideration”.

For their part, State Counsel Muntaz Ali and State Counsel Taneisha Saygon, who prosecuted the matter, had submitted aggravating and other factors they wanted the court to consider ahead of the sentencing hearing, and only asked, on Thursday, for the maximum punishment to be imposed.

While leading his defence, Mark Williams, who elected to give unsworn testimony, had adamantly denied fatally shooting the soldier, claiming that “[investigators] got the wrong man”.

In his social report, he professed his innocence and expressed no remorse for the crime for which he was found unanimously guilty by a jury of his peers.

In 2017, Mark Williams and Dennis “Anaconda” Williams were sentenced to death by hanging for their involvement in the 2008 Bartica Massacre, which left 12 persons, including three Policemen, dead. The jury found them guilty of eight and seven of the 12 counts of murder, respectively. In relation to the remaining killings, they were found guilty of the lesser count of manslaughter, as it was proven that it was the gang leader, Rawlins who had murdered five of the murdered dozen.

They were given death sentences for each of the murder convictions, and life sentences for each of the manslaughter convictions by now acting Chief Justice Roxane George, SC.The two men have since filed appeals against their convictions and sentences. Those cases are yet to be called at the Court of Appeal of Guyana.

On February 17, 2008, gunmen carried out a brazen attack on the community of Bartica while members of the mining community were watching a game of 20/20 cricket on television. On that fateful night, Police Lance Corporal Zaheer Zakir and Constables Shane Fredericks and Ron Osborne were fatally shot. Edwin Gilkes, Dexter Adrian, Irving Ferreira, Deonarine Singh, Ronald Gomes, Ashraf Khan, Abdool Yasseen, Errol Thomas, and Baldeo Singh were the civilians killed.

Then, in 2021, Mark Williams was found not guilty by a jury of the December 16, 2007 murders of 35-year-old Rajesh Singh and 25-year-old Fazal Hakim, at Triumph, ECD.Another man, Michael Caesar, called “Capone”, was sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter for the deaths of Singh and Hakim.In February 2019, Mark Williams and Sherwin Nero, called “Catty” or “Pussy”, were both found not guilty of the murder of businessman Kumar Singh, which occurred on August 30, 2007.

Singh, 51, also known as “Mango Man”, of Cove and John, ECD, was shot and killed by bandits.

In May 2013, Mark Williams and another man, James Hyles, called “Sally”, were found not guilty of murdering 11 persons, including children, in the January 2008 Lusignan, ECD Massacre.

Following the men’s discharge, the State appealed their acquittals to the Court of Appeal of Guyana, arguing, among other things, that several material irregularities had rendered the not-guilty verdicts unsafe and unsatisfactory.

The appellate court unanimously allowed the State’s appeal, thereby remitting the matter to the High Court for a new trial. But Mark Williams and Hyles appealed that ruling to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which, in May 2018, restored their acquittals.In 2017, Mark Williams was among the high-profile prisoners who escaped after a fire gutted the Camp Street Prison in Georgetown. He was, however, apprehended weeks later by Police ranks while he was on a public minibus on the Weldaad Public Road, West Coast Berbice (WCB).

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