Black Immigrant Daily News

El presidente del Partido Popular Democrático (PPD), José Luis Dalmau Santiago, dijo hoy, miércoles, sentirse contento con la gran cantidad de personas en su colectividad, que al igual que él se están haciendo disponibles para aspirar a posiciones electivas

“Yo he sido siempre un soldado de fila en mi partido. Ahora me ha tocado tener dos posiciones de liderato: presidente del Senado y presidente del partido. Es un honor bien grande presidir el partido que uno milita. Siempre estaré disponible para lo que los populares entiendan que yo les debo servir. Yo no quiero anunciar ninguna candidatura de mi parte hasta que restructure el partido y lo reorganice. Posteriormente, lo haré. Pero de que estoy disponible, estoy disponible para donde los populares, en una primaria, y los puertorriqueños entiendan donde mejor les puedo servir”, dijo Dalmau Santiago a preguntas de la prensa.

“Yo no tengo duda de que el Partido Popular va a ganar las próximas elecciones. Yo no tengo duda de eso. Y yo estaré trabajando dentro del Partido Popular para que eso suceda”, añadió.

Hasta el momento, han expresado interés por la candidatura a la gobernación la alcaldesa de Morovis, Carmen Maldonado González, y el senador Juan Zaragoza Gómez, presidente de la Comisión de Hacienda de dicho cuerpo. El representante Jesús Manuel Ortíz González ya tomó una decisión sobre esa candidatura, pero no la ha hecho oficial. Otro que expresó interés, pero no ha vuelto a hablar del tema, es el alcalde de Villalba, Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz.

Las expresiones de Dalmau Santiago se dieron en una conferencia de prensa en la que acusó de incapaz y lenta a la administración del gobernador Pedro Rafael Pierluisi Urrutia sobre el uso de fondos federales disponibles para la reconstrucción, a cinco años del paso del huracán María.

Nota relacionada: Hay muchos “disponibles” y yo también, dice presidente del PPD sobre candidaturas a la gobernación

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Fitzgerald Hinds. File photo/Jeff K Mayers

MINISTER of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds expressed reservations over the performance of the protective services in light of a recent spate of group shootings, speaking to reporters at the Red House Rotunda on Monday after the ceremonial opening of Parliament.

Asked his views on the recent performance of acting Commissioner of Police McDonald Jacobs, Hinds replied, “I cannot say I’m ultimately optimally happy with the performance of the TT law enforcement platforms.

“We have much more work to do. We have porous borders. This includes the Customs, Immigration, Defence Force, Coast Guard, our radar system.”

He urged everyone to work harder against crime.

“There are a lot of state agencies populated by individuals that are complicit in this crime problem we are facing, either negligent in their duty or complicit.”

He said public corruption was affecting the crime situation.

Hinds gave insight into the causes of crime, saying illegal guns were mainly sourced in the US and were imported not only by the proverbial Mr Big by also by “the small man.” Somewhat blaming crime on certain corrupt activities in the public sector, he said corruption exists throughout the society including past cabinets and even the media.

Hinds proposed polygraph testing to ensure the moral integrity of key public employees including police officers.

“I have a bill before Parliament and we carried it over into this new Parliament. It has to do with integrity testing of officers of law enforcement. It includes elements of Inland Revenue, Immigration, Customs, Defence Force, Police Service, and certain sectors of the Public Service including the Registrar General’s Department.

“In the Registrar General’s Department if someone corruptly steals a birth certificate it could give rise to the importation of, and the settlement and comfort here, of a terrorist or a terrorist cell that could bring harm to all of us.”

He said the bill would need a special majority but would allow “spontaneous integrity testing” of individuals.

“It is very important because very often people who are involved in law enforcement, driving around in law enforcement vehicles, can become part of the problem. We need to be able to test them.”

He said the Government would continue to seek the Opposition’s support for the bill.

“I have also before us a Private Security Bill which also requires a special majority and we are hoping we’ll get support. That will bring about 50,000 private security officers, like happens in Israel and other countries, into the security platform in a more direct way…”

Hinds declared, “I believe that with more effort and more support from the public we can do a lot better at dealing with this problem in TT.”

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Only 12.5 per cent of the population have returned for their COVID booster doses, as many persons are yet to take the jab.

Statistics revealed on Tuesday by Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony provided an update on the country’s vaccination campaign, which showed that only 73,375 or 12.5 per cent of persons took their booster shots.

“I think, people ought to get boosted because I think a large group of our population would have received at least a first and second dose. So, the thing now is to ensure that people are boosted. A lot of people who are eligible for boosters have not come back to be boosted,” he underscored.

“If you’re going into gatherings where there is a lot of people, the chances are you might be sitting next to someone who might be infected and you wouldn’t know. It is better for you to ensure that you’re boosted. Vaccines are available for boosters,” the Minister added.So far, 446,418 or 87 per cent of adults have taken a first dose, while some 346,244 or 67.5 per cent of persons are fully vaccinated.

For adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, 35,687 first doses or 48.9 per cent and 26,181 or 35.9 per cent second doses have been administered.

Vaccination for children in the five to 11 category shows 8125 first doses or eight per cent. Only 3841 or 3.8 per cent have returned for their second shot.

Recently, the Health Ministry piloted its late-night vaccine campaign in Region Four, which has generated a sizeable response. Throughout the first week, some 1490 doses were administered while by the second week, 1603 doses were recorded. The plan is to rollout this initiative next in Region Six.

Late night vaccine is something we have started recently and we have been seeing more people coming out in the evenings to get their vaccination…Because we are seeing a positive uptake in the later hours, we are going to extend this programme from Region Four to Region Six and see whether we have similar results.

New cases

As of Tuesday, the Health Ministry updated its dashboard to reflect 71,209 confirmed cases to date, after 17 more persons were infected.

Seven patients are hospitalised, including five at the Infectious Diseases Hospital. The country’s death toll remains at 1279 and there are zero patients in the Intensive Care Unit.Meanwhile, seven persons are in institutional isolation, 153 in home isolation and two in institutional quarantine. To date, 69,770 positive cases have recovered while the country has tested 691,491 persons.

Symptoms of the coronavirus include fever, cough, tiredness, diarrhoea, pains, sore throat and loss of taste or smell. The more serious symptoms are difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain and loss of speech or movement.

If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19 or needs any additional information, they are asked to contact the COVID-19 Hotline 231-1166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www.health.gov.gy.

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