Editorial

There has been widespread condemnation of the massacre of 52 people at the Casino Royale, in Monterrey, Mexico, on August 25.

Today marks the start of Amerindian Heritage Month with its annual focus on indigenous art, culture and achievements.

Singapore’s elections last week for the presidency of the country threw up a relatively narrow victory for Mr Tony Tan, a former Deputy Prime Minister of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) government which has dominated the country continually since the 1950s.

In his address to Cuba’s National Assembly on August 1, Communist Party Secretary Raoul Castro struck a note of even greater urgency than he has in the past about the need for Cuba to embrace economic reforms.

As far as admissions go, the one made by Agriculture Minister, Mr Robert Persaud in relation to the Skeldon factory was both breathtaking in scope and rife with repercussions for the industry and his government.

On Wednesday we reported Caricom Chairman Dr Denzil Douglas of St Kitts and Nevis as saying that Col Gaddafi of Libya should recognize that “the end is apparently very near and in order to prevent further loss of lives that there is now need for him to now relinquish and speak and talk and even discuss how this conflict can come to an end without further bloodshed.”

A fortnight ago the Arab Spring seemed to have lost its momentum.

In the space of a couple of weeks, two expatriate Guyanese were named to high-level positions in the sister Caricom state of Belize: Justice Kenneth Benjamin to the post of Chief Justice of Belize and Professor Cary Fraser to the presidency of the University of Belize.

At 84 years and frail of frame Mr Harold Rachpaul posed a threat to no one.

NATO planes flying over Tripoli on Monday, guaranteeing the movement of anti-Gaddafi forces as they entered the capital, signalled the sharply reduced security of the Colonel and the imminence  of his regime’s defeat.

We are in the midst of one of those now familiar seasons, when, for brief periods, serious allegations of inappropriate behaviour by public officials surface, set tongues wagging and, in the face of the indifference of the political administration, wither and eventually die.

Invariably the deepest and darkest secrets from opaque and dysfunctional institutions like the Guyana Police Force come from within and most unexpectedly.

When former Assistant Commissioner Paul Slowe spoke out in June last year saying, “sometimes I am ashamed, because when I joined the force you had incidents, yes, but not this blatant corruption of some of the ranks… I believe it has gone out of control,“ he got, of course, a blast of hot air from the Ministry of Home Affairs in response. 

Eighteen months ago, the Port-au-Prince earthquake claimed nearly ten thousand lives for each second of its half-minute apocalypse.

The former President of Cuba and revolutionary legend, Fidel Castro, turned 85 last Saturday, a milestone marked by a range of cultural festivities on the island, from which he was noticeably absent.

History is replete with examples of inventions that ought to have been used specifically for the betterment of mankind being hijacked, misused and abused.

Jamaica celebrated its 49th anniversary of independence on August 6 with much public, and generally critical, comment on the state of the society and economy as the country approaches a half century of sovereign independence.

Media accounts of the recent shocking episode of the bullying and intimidation of a team of NIS officers by a prominent businessman and his employees suggest that the act was as crude as it was barefaced,   One of the more disturbing things about the incident is that it appeared to matter little to the perpetrators that they were unlawfully and forcefully menacing and impeding public servants pursuing their legitimate duties as officials of the state.

That 29 tonnes of building material was shipped to State House in 2009 in the name of President Jagdeo should not be a problem in ordinary circumstances.

President Jagdeo was holding forth on one of his favourite topics on Thursday – post-independence Guyanese history.