George Zimmerman with his attorney Mark O'Mara in court

George Zimmerman‘s amateurish website was only online for two weeks, but it collected a staggering $200,000 in donations, his lawyer said Thursday.

Zimmerman launched the site on April 9, two days before he was arrested and charged with murder for shooting Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black Florida teenager.

On the site, he portrayed himself as a victim of racial politics and asked “my supporters” to send funds for his living and legal expenses.

“In talking to George after I was trying to shut down his full Internet presence, he asked me what to do with his PayPal accounts,” Zimmerman lawyer Mark O’Mara told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “I asked him what he was talking about, and he said . . . there was about $204,000 that had come in to date.”

Grenada's Prime Minister Tillman Thomas

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada — An increasing number of members of Grenada’s ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is reported to be less optimistic about the chances of a reconciliation within the party.

Party “elders” and officials of the National Secretariat have been making repeated calls for discussions, especially after the NDC leader’s recent statement on television, declaring that that there is division in the party between “the forces of good and evil.”

However, sources say the efforts at reconciliation are being rebuffed in the pronouncements at what are known as “Solidarity Sunday Meetings.”

The latest meeting, held last Sunday in St Patrick West, where just over a week ago the NDC constituency branch endorsed MP Joseph Gilbert as the party’s candidate for the area in the upcoming general elections.

However, for Sunday’s meeting that was addressed by NDC leader and prime minister of Grenada, Tillman Thomas, deputy political leader Nazim Burke, and former party chairman Glen Noel, neither the constituency branch chairman nor MP Gilbert, was invited to attend.

According to reports, Sunday’s gathering followed the tone of previous meetings at which so-called “leftists” were attacked, and the issue of the selection of NDC candidates for the next general elections was again brought up.

More than once in the past, Thomas has said that he has the “right” to decide who runs for the NDC at the next national poll, which is due by 2013.

His statement, as well as the organizing of the “Solidarity Sunday Meetings,” has raised the eyebrows of many NDC members and supporters, who are concerned about the apparent sidelining of the National Executive and even party branches in the constituencies.

Under the party’s constitution, candidates are usually chosen by their constituency branches and the nominee’s name is sent for ratification to a committee of the NDC executive that includes the leader and the general secretary.

Thomas has said the aim of the “Solidarity Sunday Meetings” is to reinforce the “values” of the party such as “integrity in public life”, respect for institutions, honesty, accountability and the “good governance agenda.”

“Those who deviate from this, we have to take action against them,” he told a local TV station recently.

However, British-based Grenadian businessman, Winston Strachan, has taken issue with what he describes as the prime minister’s “leftist chants.”

“His leftist chants are pure scaremongering of the electorate by a bitter man who has now become desperate and perhaps dangerous because deep down he has come to realise he is isolated (barring a few cronies) and divorced from his political party. No longer respected, he no longer speaks or acts in their best interest or shows any capability for dealing with the chronic economic situation that the country is in or the desperate plight of our people, especially those without work,” Strachan said in a letter published by Caribbean News Now.

Strachan, who recently visited Grenada, added that “while the former PM Dr Keith Mitchell was unpopular and always seemed to be at loggerheads with the local press, Tillman Thomas seems to be glorified by them; he is like a king that can do no wrong.”

According to Strachan, “a lot of what they (the press) have been reporting about his Cabinet colleagues and members of his party is quite the reverse – it is Thomas who cannot get along with people; it is Thomas who has split his party and it is he who would rather see his party face political meltdown at the next general election rather than pull the membership together; respect the constitution of the NDC and allow the membership in each constituency to democratically choose the candidate of their choice to stand for parliament.”

Guyana's Opposition Leader David Granger

Guyana’s opposition APNU is facing stern backlash from constituents after Prime Minister Sam Hinds Thursday told Parliament the APNU agreed to a PPP government plan to gradually increase electricity rates in the town of Linden.

Lindeners immediately rejected Hinds’ proposal, and slammed the APNU for compromising their interests.  But was there a deal or not? Or is the PPP attempting to drive a wedge between APNU and Lindeners? Has the APNU betrayed the AFC, as alleged by AFC chairman, Kemraj Ramjattan? And, what aspect of the opposition’s agenda has been integrated into the national budget? I’ll ask Guyana’s opposition leader & APNU Chairmen, Brigadier David Granger.

Assistant Majority Leader of the New York State Assembly, Assemblyman Nick Perry

New York State law makers and Governor Andrew Cuomo recently enacted a $132.6 billion budget, that reduced spending for a second, consecutive year. The budget gutted funding to assist home homers facing foreclosure; slashed state employees retirement benefits; eclipsed the power of labor unions, and raised tuition at state universities. With 21% on New Yorkers slipping into poverty in 2011, why are New York democrats enacting these austere budget cuts? And is there a future for the West Indian American Labor Day Parade? What’s the viability of the West Indian American Carnival association? I’ll discuss these issues with Assistant Majority Leader of the New York State Assembly, Assemblyman Nick Perry of the 58th District in Brooklyn.

Former Prosecutor and CUNY Professor Mark Pollard

ISSUE (1). THE TREVON MARTIN CASE AND THE NYPD’S TREATMENT OF YOUNG BLACK MEN IN NEW YORK CITY:-

Trayvon Martin was a 17 year-old teen from Sanford, Florida, who was shot dead on February 26, by George Zimmerman, while walking home unarmed. Zimmerman, armed with a 9mm gun and posing as a neighborhood watchman, saw Trayvon and call 911, claiming he was black, wearing a hoodie and looked suspicious; so he was following him. Police operators warned Zimmerman not to follow Martin. Yet he chased him down then shot him to death.

GUEST addressing this issue – former prosecutor, defense counsel and CUNY law professor, Mark Pollard.

Attorney for Ramarley Graham's Family, Royce Russell

ISSUE (2).       KILLING OF BRONX TEEN RAMARLEY GRAHAM BY NYPD OFFICERS:  Ramarley Graham, an unarmed 18-year-old Bronx teen of Jamaican extraction, was shot to death on February 2nd, by NYPD officers, who claimed they spotted him in the street looking suspicious and moving his hand close to his waist, so they opened chase. Graham ran into his building then into his apartment. The officers pursued him, kicked down his door, ran pass his grandmother, and followed him to his bathroom where they shot him to death.

GUEST addressing this issue: Graham family Attorney, Royce Russell.

Guyana's Chief Justice Ian Chang

I strongly condemn the decision of Guyana’s chief justice Ian Chang which enjoined Guyana’s DPP from charging police commissioner Henry Green with rape.

The chief justice ruled that there was an insufficiency of evidence for the DPP to base her decision to prefer rape charges against Green.

From his ruling, one can reasonably presume that justice Chang  believes the constitution also invests him with the powers of the DPP or that he thought he was actually trying the case. Neither is true!

I have never seen such misguided, irresponsible judicial over reach anywhere in the Commonwealth Jurisprudence. This decision is gravely repugnant to the constitution and has far reaching, deleterious effects on the criminal justice system, as it effectively alters the constitution.

Justice Chang’s aberrant ruling and judicial activistism also makes onerous the

CGID President Rickford Burke

responsibilities of the DPP in all future criminal cases where, the Chief Justices ruling now establishes preponderances of the evidence as the standard to prefer charges rather than the legal standard of probable cause.

This decision reflects a further dismantling of the constitution by a series of injudicious and baseless rulings –  all in the interest of the “good old boys club.”

There is no question in my mind that justice Chang acted ultra vires the constitution. His decision must be reversed!

I know the chief justice and have enormous respect for his office. But I have lost confidence in his ability to be a fair and impartial chief justice who demonstrates unvarnished knowledge of as well as conformity to the constitution.

Rickford Burke

President

Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID)

Mrs. Debra Backer, Deputy Speaker of Guyana’s parliament

ISSUE 1. Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar who heads a minority government, which has a minority of seats in Parliament, claims the opposition majority in Parliamentary is a dictatorship as it refuses to acquiesce to government demands for equal membership on parliamentary committees. Ramotar said his government’s resort to the Courts to gain majority status on committees “is to protect the sanctity of Guyana’s parliamentary democracy.

Opposition dictatorship? Unheard of! But who is being the dictator? Many see Ramotar’s antics as a back handed attempt to control the parliament. So, is Ramotar deliberately poisoning the polity, as a camouflage for the PPP preparation for snap elections? Can the court exercise judicial review, over the legislative branch?

And is the opposition really threatening democracy, or is it executing its mandate, as a parliamentary majority, to hold Ramotar’s PPP government to account, in the new political dispensation?

APNU deputy leader Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine

I’ll ask Attorney at law Mrs. Deborah Backer, Deputy Speaker of Guyana’s parliament and shadow minister of home affairs and national security, Dr. Rupert Roopernaraine deputy leader of Guyana’s main opposition APNU collation, and shadow minister of agriculture and natural resources as well as Mr. Basil Williams, shadow minister of legal affairs.

ISSUE 2. CARIBBEAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES ARE HARD HIT BY FORECLOSURES: Gov. Andrew Cuomo 2012 budget has no funds for foreclosure prevention, legal services or counseling. It’s the state of NEW YORK  telling home

owners in trouble – “you’re on your own? We’ll discuss this, along with the rights of home owners facing foreclosure and mitigating the dreadful effects of losing your, with attorney at law Terry Hinds, who is also Chair of Community Board 17 in Brooklyn

Attorney at Law Mark Polloard

ISSUE 3. Defense attorney, former prosecutor and City University of New York law professor Mark Polloard will dissect the Trayvon Martin murder case, and relationship between the NYPY and young, black men in New York City

Audrey Sewell

PERMANENT SECRETARY in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, Audrey Sewell, yesterday admitted her office misled the public when it claimed Contractor General Greg Christie’s office had “taken” a confidential memorandum during an unannounced visit.

Sewell told The Gleaner yesterday evening that the “confidential” memorandum she sent to portfolio minister Dr Omar Davies was faxed by an officer in her ministry to the Office of the Contractor General (OCG).

Earlier yesterday, a release from the ministry stated that the information “improperly circulated in the press, arises from a memorandum to the Honourable Minister, taken from the permanent secretary’s office by the team from the OCG”.

This was in reference to the OCG team which made the unannounced visit to the ministry on Wednesday to “sequester” documents related to the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP).

Memo not ‘taken’

But in its own response, Christie’s office declared the memorandum was not “taken” from the permanent secretary’s office but, at its request, “was faxed by the permanent secretary herself directly to the OCG’s Mr Craig Beresford”.

“The OCG is, of course, seriously concerned as to why the ministry’s permanent secretary would have stated otherwise,” Christie’s office said.

Last evening, Sewell stressed that she did not personally fax the memorandum to the OCG.

The permanent secretary told The Gleaner that, in a discussion with an OCG official, she was at pains to point out that the memorandum was private.

“I went on the phone and spoke to the (OCG) officer and told him that I had a concern about that document leaving the office because the minister had not benefited from a review of the document and he said I wasn’t to worry, ‘It will be managed but we need it for the records’,” she said.

Sewell said subsequent objections by her to the release of the memorandum were met with a warning by the OCG official who she said cautioned that the document was being “sequestered”.

“On that basis, I told the (ministry) officer to go ahead and send it to them,” she said.

However, she noted that the issue for her was not how the contractor general got the memorandum.

“The issue is how it was used.”

In the memorandum, dated March 20, Sewell had expressed concern about a lack of information flow to her regarding the JEEP.

The OCG, in publishing the memorandum, argued that it served as evidence that Sewell was not being provided with adequate information on the employment programme which was, at the time, scheduled to be launched in two days.

Standing by other claims

Sometime after speaking with The Gleaner last night, Sewell issued a release to the media acknowledging that the document was given to the OCG. She, however, indicated she was standing by all other claims made in her earlier statement.

In the meantime, Sewell said she would supply the OCG with all the information available to her.

The OCG had indicated yesterday that in light of what it had come to regard as Sewell’s “misleading inferences to the media”, a formal demand had been made that all outstanding requisitions be fully satisfied by her by 3 p.m. today.

The Pope who is Head of the Catholic Church

Dutch boys and young men who accused priests of sex abuse in the 1950s were surgically castrated “to get rid of homosexuality” while in the care of the church, an investigative journalist has found.

Joep Dohmen of the NRC Handelsblad, a daily newspaper in the Netherlands, discovered evidence of at least 10 castrations by the Dutch Roman Catholic Church.

“These cases are anonymous and can no longer be traced,” Dohman told The Telegraph newspaper of London. “There will be many more. But the question is whether those boys, now old men, will want to tell their story.”

Dohman did discover the identity of one of the victims, a young man named Henk Heithuis, who was castrated at the age of 20 in 1956 after accusing clergymen of abusing him.

The surgical castration was regarded as a treatment for homosexuality and also as a punishment for those who accused clergy of abuse, sources told Dohmen. Two clergyman were eventually convicted of abusing Heithuis.

After reporting the abuse, Heithuis spent time at two different hospitals, The Telegraph reports.

“We once asked Henk to drop his pants when the women were gone,” family friend Cornelius Rogge told The Telegraph. “He did that. He was maimed totally. It was a huge shock.”

Rogge, now 79, told the Telegraph that he reported the castration to officials investigating abuse within the Catholic Church, but says he was ignored.

Heithuis died in a car cash in 1958, but Dutch authorities are now hoping to find victims willing to tell their stories as they launch a new investigation.

Rickford Burke, Host of "The Caribbean Forum"

The Caribbean Diaspora in the United States and the Caribbean region will from Sunday March 19, 2012, benefit from news, opinions and information from a new Television talk show – “The Caribbean American Forum,” to be hosted by Rickford Burke, a New York based media commentator and human rights advocate who is also President of the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID).

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Producers said the weekly two-hour, Internet based show will “air” live Sundays from 6:00 – 8:00 P.M on TCN HD at:www.tcnhd.com. TCN HD is a 24-hour all Caribbean TV network: The show will also air on TCN Mobile TV – The Caribbean’s #1 Mobile TV Network at: www.tcnhd.com, and on Hott Caribbean Radio: www.hottcaribbean.com.

First guests to appear on the show this Sunday are New York State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, a candidate for the United States Congress in the 10th Congressional District, which encompasses several Caribbean communities in Brooklyn; National Security Expert and Provost of York College – City University of New York, Dr. Ivelaw Griffith; and Immigration law expert – Attorney at Law Donnell Saures.

“The Forum,” a collaboration between its host and Junior George, owner of Total Caribbean Network (TCN) stations, will feature expert opinions and news makers and will be simulcasted live by various news websites as well as radio and television stations in the US and the Caribbean. “In recognition of the growing influence of Caribbean-Americans in the US, we hope to soon initiate discussions for the program to be picked up by a Cable channel in the US,” producers disclosed.

Burke said the program would be a platform to ventilate and brainstorm issues of salience to the Caribbean American community and peoples of the region. “I see it as an interchange of news, information, ideas and opinion from the Caribbean Diaspora and the region.”

He observed that because it is Internet based, he hopes it will help to transform how members of the Diaspora and nationals back in the region interact. “The Forum” will not only facilitate instant and simultaneous feedback to political and other developments on both sides of the Atlantic, but it must be a meeting place where, regardless of our geographic location, we as Caribbean people can all come together to listen to points of common interest, interact and exchange our thoughts and opinions on matters of mutual import. This is the intrinsic and central purpose behind the creation of “The Forum” Burke posited.

Burke, a political consultant with expertise is public policy, international law and foreign policy, provides television

Junior George, Junior George, owner of Total Caribbean Network (TCN) stations

and radio commentary for several New York and Caribbean media outlets, and co-hosts the “Caribbean Corner” on New York’s WRL1600 A.M Radio, which airs Saturdays from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M.

A leading figure in New York’s Guyanese and Caribbean communities, Burke previously served as aide to various government officials in Guyana, including as an Assistant to late Guyanese President Desmond Hoyte. He has worked in government and politics in the US, serving as policy advisor to New York City Councilmember David Yassky and on three gubernatorial and several mayoral campaigns. He has also managed and consulted on several other national, state, citywide and judicial campaigns. In 2005 The Network Journal named him one of forty influential African Americans under forty years old.

International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2012 – Guyana

A. Introduction

Guyana continues to be a transit country for cocaine destined for the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and West Africa. Cocaine originating in Colombia is smuggled to Venezuela and onward to Guyana by sea (fishing vessels, bulk cargo vessels and tug vessels) or air. Because of Guyana’s porous borders, smuggling is also conducted by land from Brazil and Suriname into Guyana. Once cocaine arrives in Guyana, it is often concealed in legitimate commodities and smuggled via commercial maritime vessels, air shipments, human couriers, or the postal services.

Guyana has seen its political and judicial infrastructure impacted by narco-influence, while its economy has become increasingly affected by narco-dollars. Drug trafficking organizations based in Guyana are beginning to use neighboring Suriname as a major distribution hub. The cocaine is smuggled into Guyana and then transported to Suriname for safekeeping and distribution. In these instances, Suriname is used as a stash location and distribution country for drugs entering Guyana. In other cases, drugs depart directly from Guyana.

Both locally grown and imported marijuana (usually from Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela) is mostly used for domestic consumption and is the most commonly abused drug in Guyana, followed closely by cocaine. Marijuana is sold and consumed openly in Guyana despite frequent arrests for possession. Ecstasy/MDMA is becoming more prominent, although availability and use is still low. Drug abuse treatment in Guyana is hindered by insufficient government funding and a lack of public awareness.

Guyana is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention.

B. Drug Control Accomplishments, Policies, and Trends

1. Institutional Development

The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act (AMLCFTA), the Interception of Communications Bill, and the Criminal Procedure Bill were designed to enhance both the investigative capability of law enforcement authorities and prosecutors’ ability to obtain convictions in drug related cases. In 2011, however, there have been no convictions under these laws, and there is an apparent lack of political will to investigate and prosecute drug trafficking organizations.

Guyana has a drug enforcement presence at its international airport, at post offices, and to a lesser extent at the port of Georgetown. Three major agencies involved in anti-drug efforts are the Guyana Police Force (GPF), the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), and the Guyana Defense Force (GDF). Of those three, CANU has the most drug enforcement experience.

Guyana is a party to the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters; the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, as amended by the 1972 Protocol; the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances; and the 1988 UN Drug Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. Guyana is also a party to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its three Protocols.

The 1931 Extradition Treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom is also applicable to the United States and Guyana. This is a treaty that permits extradition only for offenses listed. Recent rulings in extradition hearings have severely challenged this treaty. For example, in 2008, a Guyanese court first made provisional arrests of fugitives very difficult and a second court held that the treaty was invalid because it lacked a re-extradition clause. The latter issue has been addressed by a recently enacted amendment to the Guyanese Fugitive Offenders Act. The United States has not sought any extraditions since its enactment.

In 2008, Guyana acceded to, and has filed information requests under the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, to which the United States, also a party to the Convention, has responded positively. Guyana has bilateral agreements to cooperate on drug trafficking issues with its neighbors and with the United Kingdom. Guyana is also a member of the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (OAS/CICAD). In April, the United States and Guyana signed a Letter of Agreement to cooperate in the implementation of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI).

The government of Guyana signed a maritime counter-drug bilateral agreement with the USG in 2001, but has yet to take the necessary domestic action to bring the agreement into effect.

2. Supply Reduction

In general, the Guyana Defense Force (GDF), with approximately 2,500 members, supports law enforcement agencies and their operations with boats, aircraft, and personnel but has a limited capacity and lacks law enforcement authority. The Guyana Coast Guard (GCG), a GDF component and key partner in maritime interdiction, has approximately 250 members, and its primary missions are to patrol the territorial waters of Guyana and conduct humanitarian search and rescue.

Approximately 352 kg of cocaine and 393 kg of marijuana were seized in 2011. As a result of these seizures, Guyanese authorities have cases pending prosecution against 16 mid-level and senior drug traffickers. Also during 2011, Guyanese authorities seized 2,500 marijuana plants, which led to the arrest of three individuals whose cases are also pending prosecution. Cocaine seizures totaled 105 kg in 2010.

3. Drug Awareness, Demand Reduction, and Treatment

Guyana’s ability to handle drug abuse is impeded by its modest financial resources available to support rehabilitation programs. Guyana has only two residential facilities that treat substance abuse: the Salvation Army and the Phoenix Recovery Center. Both are partially funded by the government, but they have budgetary constraints and often rely on donations from addicts’ families to stay open. Since 2007, the Ministry of Health has provided outpatient talk-therapy treatment and has run several modest demand reduction programs in schools, prisons, and through the media. Awareness efforts are inconsistent and lack material results due to budgetary shortfalls. There is little by way of non-governmental organization (NGO) support in demand reduction.

4. Corruption

As a matter of policy, the Government of Guyana does not encourage or facilitate the illicit production or distribution of narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other controlled substances, or the laundering of proceeds from illegal drug transactions. News media, however, report on allegations of corruption; some reports have implicated police personally in stealing drugs from seizures, while others point to high government officials who are not investigated and thus go unpunished.

Guyana is a party to the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, but has yet to fully implement its provisions, such as seizure of property obtained through corruption. Guyana is also a party to the UN Convention against Corruption.

C. National Goals, Bilateral Cooperation, and U.S. Policy Initiatives

Although Guyana’s 2005-2009 National Drug Strategy Master Plan expired in 2009, the Ministry of Home Affairs in August announced that it would still continue to pursue a number of the goals under the expired plan, including enhancing forensic laboratory capabilities, and expanding drug treatment and rehabilitation programs.

CBSI is now an umbrella program under which U.S. policy in Guyana focuses on building capacity in security and law enforcement institutions, and encouraging positive livelihoods for at-risk youth and other populations. The USG has facilitated subject matter expert exchanges and trainings for the GDF, CANU, GPF, and has also engaged the Department of Public Prosecution and financial institutions to enhance the capacity of the court system to manage narcotics and money laundering cases.

The U.S. Coast Guard conducted 1 Mobile Training Team (MTT) and 1 resident course in small boat operations, professional development and port security.

While the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Office collaborates with Guyana on counternarcotics-related activities, the Embassy continues to support the establishment of a DEA office in Georgetown.

D. Conclusion

The Government of Guyana has shown strong interest in furthering collaboration under CBSI, and the United States encourages the Government of Guyana to deepen these mutual efforts. U.S. agencies look forward to tangible progress on extraditions, security sector and judicial capacity enhancement, the engagement of at-risk communities, and enforcement of laws against money laundering and financial crimes.