Page 12 - atoday

A12 Cuba launches
shark protection
WORLD NEWSThursday 22 October 2015 plan produced
Haiti officials to support peaceful election
with US group
DAVID McFADDEN citizens that the weekend ter voting was supposed to rity will be in place so that
Associated Press balloting will be held as start at dawn that day. everybody can come out M. WEISSENSTEIN
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) scheduled and voters will and vote in peace,” Opont Associated Press
— About a dozen top Hai- be respected. In some districts, voters asserted, adding that he’s HAVANA (AP) — Cuba an-
tian officials appeared on “Everybody prepare to go grew exasperated after confident that all of coun- nounced Wednesday that
state television Wednes- vote, there will be elec- being told they couldn’t try’s roughly 13,700 voting it is launching a long-term
vote because their names centers will be open at 6 plan to preserve its sharks
a.m. sharp as scheduled. in cooperation with a U.S.
People caravan on motorcycles campaigning for presidential candidate Steeve Khawly, in Port- When a Haitian journal- environmental group, part
au-Prince, Haiti. “Whatever the leader tells us to do, we will do. If he tells us to take to the streets ist asked him about the of a rapidly accelerating
and mobilize, we will do that. If he says be calm, we will be calm,” said Khawly campaigner chronic allegation of bi- partnership between the
Frantzdy Thomas. His friends nodded their heads in agreement. ased tallies at tabulation two countries aimed at
centers and an overall lack preserving their shared wa-
(AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) of transparency, ters in the Gulf of Mexico
Opont said the elector- and Florida Straits.
day in an effort to reassure tions,” Paul said, adding weren’t on official lists. al council would put out Nearly a year after Presi-
anxious voters that they will that “a lot of money has And some voting centers a statement about their dents Barack Obama and
keep their promises of or- been spent, a lot of ener- were so badly married by “methods” of tallying votes Raul Castro announced
ganized, fair and peaceful gy has gone into” getting violence and intimidation at some point after the that they would end a half-
elections this weekend. ready for this year’s three- that balloting was can- Oct. 25 contest. century of official hostility
The prime minister, vari- round electoral cycle. celled in 25 districts, forc- Calm and transparent and start moving toward
ous Cabinet members, the Widespread delays and ing authorities to schedule elections are a tall order normalization, the most vis-
police chief and the elec- disorder troubled the first a new vote for those areas. in Haiti and many Haitians ible progress has been in
tions director spoke on the round of legislative elec- But about 2 ½ months later, are skeptical of the fairness the realm of environmental
national broadcast about tions on Aug. 9. Pierre Louis Opont, of the electoral process, protection. The shark plan
preparations for Sunday head of the country’s Pro- given the country’s recent announced by Cuba after
elections that will see Hai- That balloting was billed visional Electoral Council, history of tumultuous or just two years of work with the
tians casting ballots for as a crucial test of the says authorities have iden- plain messy votes. U.S -based Environmen-
president, Parliament and country’s electoral system tified the weak spots, fired The Provisional Electoral tal Defense Fund commits
local offices. ahead of the first-round three staffers, and there will Council has repeatedly Cuba to recording shark
Looking directly into a TV presidential vote this week- be no organizational disar- been criticized for votes catches by fishing vessels
camera, Prime Minister end. ray for Sunday’s balloting. plagued by disorganiza- and eventually implement-
Evans Paul told Haitians Numerous polling stations “We are sure that secu- tion, ballot irregularities and ing stricter rules that would
had to wait for ballots af- fraud allegations. limit shark fishing and pro-
In 2006, a former electoral tect shark nurseries.
council chief was forced Secretary of State John
to flee the country after he Kerry announced in Val-
was accused of trying to paraiso, Chile this month
manipulate results and at- that the U.S. and Cuba
tackers looted and burned were signing an accord to
his farmhouse. work together on protect-
But Haitian citizens like Der- ing marine preservation
osier Amos, areas in far western Cuba
a university student in agri- located a relatively short
cultural science, distance from Texas and
said voters are determined Florida across the Gulf of
to make their voices heard Mexico and Florida Straits.
Sunday. In April, a research vessel
“I’m going to vote no mat- operated by the U.S. Na-
ter what because I think tional Oceanic and Atmo-
it is my responsibility as a spheric Administration car-
citizen,” he said outside his ried marine scientists from
Port-au-Prince school.q Cuba and other countries
on a research cruise aimed
Guyana reports ‘troubling’ level of child labor at gathering information
about the spawning of
GEORGETOWN, Guyana ing produce in the streets debilitating effects of child and in the countryside in blue-fin tuna, a commer-
(AP) — A government sur- and working in agriculture. labor,” it said in a state- 2011 with the International cially valuable and highly
vey found a “troubling” It determined that kids “of ment. Labor Organization. threatened species.
amount of child labor in all ages” are involved in The ministry said it would An annual report on child “That voyage opens the
Guyana, with minors en- prostitution, according to create a special unit aimed labor released by the U.S. possibility of deeper rela-
gaged in prostitution and a summary released by the at eradicating child labor, Department of Labor found tions in the future,” said
children as young as five ministry. improve enforcement of that Guyana has made Julio Baisre, a marine sci-
working on farms around “While the findings of the existing laws by providing “moderate advancement” entist and vice-director for
dangerous chemicals, survey are troubling, the more money for enforce- toward eliminating child la- science of the Cuban Na-
the Ministry of Social Pro- Government of Guyana, ment and remove working bor but noted the govern- tional Aquarium. “We’re
tection said Wednesday. through the Ministry of So- children from the streets ment had not released the hopeful, we’re open to it. I
The study, based on a sur- cial Protection, will take and ensure they go to results of the 2011 survey, think there are many ways
vey of 532 children and urgent steps to address this school. a fact noted by the ministry in which we can work to-
young workers, found many problem, The survey was conducted as it released the informa- gether.” q
children engaged in sell- since we are aware of the in the capital, Georgetown, tion on Wednesday.q