All Things Dominica

Today is a quick recap of some little bits and pieces coming out on the news wires from Dominica. I was hoping to get a transcript or a recap on Skerrit's speech a week or so ago, but no such luck. Anyways, if you have anything of interest, hit me up!

Heritage and Ecology Center
This week, the government of Dominica presented a cheque to Dr. Lennox Honeychurch to help in the establishment of the Carbits Heritage and Ecology Center. This was the first installment of the estimated $2 million dollar project.

Built between 1765 and the 1820s, the Cabrits Garrison was constructed to defend Portsmouth harbor. It was abandoned in 1854 and lost to the forest until restoration began in the 1980s. Carbits is designated by UNESCO as a world heritage site. The Cabrits Garrison was built between 1765 and the 1820s to guard the Portsmouth harbour and the north of Dominica. It served as a battleground between British and French forces in the 18th and 19th centuries for control of Dominica. It was abandoned in 1854 and the forest reclaimed the volcanic headland until restoration began in the 1980s.

This phase (courtesy of Caribbean Net News) will include"

• Completion of Officers’ Quarters
• Repairs to Guard House and storage shed
• Restoration of Powder Magazine for displays and exhibitions
• Restore Troops Barracks to create camp facilities for Heritage and Ecology Center
  

The north part of the island, where this is located, is the part of Dominica in which I ventured the least. I have been to Portsmouth once, but it rained the entire day and I took up shelter in a local bar to wait out the rain. If you ever get a chance to visit Portsmouth be sure to take a boat ride up the Indian River, absolutely amazing trip!

Not Flying High
The one thing that is both a blessing and a curse to Dominica is its lack of an international airport. Its a blessing as it limits the total number of people who can visit the island in any given year. This also limits the number of tourists that can contribute to the economy, but those that do arrive on the island, contribute a significant per capital input of capital while on the island.

I believe that there is now only one, maybe two, airlines that services the small Caribbean islands such as Dominica, LIAT. I was unaware, until recently, that Caribbean Star and Caribbean Sun airlines had sold out or merged with LIAT, essentially giving LIAT a monopoly on all flights two and from Dominica. Recently, LIAT has been suffering a shortage of pilots, staff, and maintenance crews, creating a backlog and severe delays and cancellations. Dominica, and many other countries are voicing their concerns about the operations at LIAT, wondering if they are fit to hold up their end of the tourism chain. Its a shame that you can't have a reliable service in the Caribbean without having a major international airport. If you have any information or horror stories about LIAT, let me know!

Dominica the Next "Terror Island"
Finally is an interesting article that has generated a moderate amount of spin on some regional news sites. Coming out of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (whatever that is???) is an article looking, what the author says, is striking resemblances between Dominica and 1980's Grenda. In the 1980's, under the Regan administration, Grenda was invaded militarily to overthrow a leftist government under the guise of protecting U.S. students (which was a joke). The author tries to make the claim, that in the event of a McCain win in this years presidential election, Dominica would be a ripe candidate for some sort of strong arming or military mission of the U.S. government.

The articles arguments hinge on the close relationships between Dominica and leftist countries Cuba and Venezuela, who's presidents are staunch (to put it lightly) critic of US foreign policy. Yes, one could surmise that these relationship does have its interesting quirks, but to state so boldly that Dominica is the next "Terror Island" is an utter joke. I take offense at the authors statements of "grinding poverty" and the islands lack of "natural resources." So if you don't have gold, oil, or diamonds in which rich white countries (I'm white by the way) can come and exploit for their personal gain, you have no natural resources? I guess having potable water right out of the majority or streams is not a valuable natural resource. How about Dominica ranking in the top 5 countries of whose population is happiest?

Dominica should take caution in who they deal with, but this is the case for any country. To make the assumption that Dominica is in the next Axis of Evil is overblown, who else would be in that new Axis of Evil, Martinique and Canada? One good thing this article does point out is how Roosevelt Skerrit came to power and some of the hardships Dominica has faced. But one thing Dominica does not have is "grinding poverty," instead, to quote Steve, Dominica has Grinding Greenery!
Cheers!