Trinidadians & Tobagoians, and on a wider scale the entire Caribbean, is preparing for the upcoming Fifth Summit of the Americas, being held in Trinidad on April 17th to 19th. Although I’m a good 150 miles overseas, I must admit to a great deal of personal excitement over the impending arrival of President Obama in Trinidad; we can only hope he might decide on a spur of the moment rest-stop in Greenz perhaps?
For the past week or so, as advance security measures have begun, Grenada’s Point Salines International Airport has become a hub for the U.S. Air Force. F15 jets and C5 transports occupy a section of the runway, with the F15s maintaining a steady rotation of recon/surveillance flights. The Grenada network on Facebook is awash with videos and pictures, and I managed to locate some public shots on Flickr for your enjoyment.
ModernDayGilligan’s Flickr photos
RicardKo’s Flickr photos
And here is a hilarious blog post by Trinidadian blogger aka_lol, about a telephone conversation between Obama and P. M. Manning. For more jokes, read his Welcome to Obama post.
On a more serious note, I came across an interesting post on Huffington Post regarding the U.S. policy towards the rest of the Americas.
The first is the degree of demographic and economic interdependence with the United States: highest and still growing in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean: lowest and likely to remain low in South America, and especially in the Southern Cone. Countries such as Mexico, El Salvador, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and others, which have significant fractions of their population living and working in the United States, pose “intermestic” issues — combining international and domestic facets — from immigration to medical insurance, pensions to drivers licenses, remittances to youth gangs.
Here’s hoping to hear some good news out of the Summit.
Hi there! YingYang here, live and direct from Grenada. I'm a thirtysomething, moderate-liberal, working single mother. I'm a web, TV & pop culture addict, and a passionate Caribbeanista.
The CSO meeting were badly organized, many of us never got our acreditation paases and many of us were not invited or had a clue about what was going on.
I blame the CSO committee who seem to not have a sense of what they were doing and Hazel Brown who did have a sense of what she was doing but just s did not know why.
It was a shame though it was a great opportunity to meet and discuss real issues and look ahead.
We just showed how disorganized we can be.
lol jokes fuh real
Trinidadians and Tobagonians must take a stand against the tyranny and exploitation being experienced in our country. While the government attempts with all their might to put on the biggest carnival of deception to the world since our independence, we must respond! We must send a strong message to the world that all is not well in Trinidad and Tobago! We are a broken nation, constantly living in fear from the rampant crime, economic depression and corruption plaguing us. The time is right to rise up and come together. It is now up to every one of us to take back this beleaguered country from contempt and corruption. Join and support us fully in our attempt to change all this… We can do it with the help of God Almighty… The alternative to doing nothing is living in this abyss that is Trinidad and Tobago… Anyone willing to assist PLEASE Call: 1 (868) 787-0765 or send us a message at: theislamicfront@gmail.com or waajihatulislaamiyyah@gmail.com.
@ Umar: I was in two minds whether to approve your comment but I thought “what the heck”. I should point out (and this comes from a person living in a country with an armed revolution in its recent history) that maybe the best way to effect change is with your ballot, your voice and your positive actions. Compared to many other countries right here in our region, Trinidad – even with it’s problems, is a literal paradise.