Bigotry is always ugly, but even more so when it comes from religious organizations. People look to the gospel for guidance and understanding, not vitriolic hatred. People are not born as bigots and racists. These traits are learned usually from parents, teachers, and, in this case, religious organizations.
Caribbean Cause’s hateful manifesto (that appeared in the Curaçao Chronicle recently) is no less insidious than Adolph Hitler’s Mein Kampf in short form. Have the signatories from these Caribbean churches forgotten the history of religious and social persecution of people over the millennia? Have they forgotten that their island ancestors were without civil rights as well? Apparently so. Theirs is a vicious attack on LGBT people simply because a flag representing inclusiveness is flying over US embassies and consulates in their countries and around the world.
It is not altogether surprising, however, given that the majority of churches supporting this hateful assault on human rights are Evangelic and Pentecostal denominations, which are famous for their “fire and brimstone” approach to administering the gospel. There are hundreds of positive Bible topics to choose from, yet these churches tend to focus on attacking what they consider to be immoral, with homosexuality a long-time favourite.
Hate-mongering organizations such as Caribbean Cause are to Christianity what ISIS, Boko Haram, and Al-Qaeda are to Islam: extremists who are not truly representative of a particular religion or most of the people who adhere to it. As such, they are experts at reinterpreting religious text to fit their needs, then broadcast the distorted bile to receptive parishioners. It’s a tactic that perpetuates a cycle of misinformation and intolerance towards people unjustly considered to be outside their own narrow-minded definition of normal. These religious zealots represent the dark ages of church tyranny and brutality. Their views and actions are based on fear and ignorance, not legitimate science.
Their fanatical assertion that LGBT Marxists and the US government are subverting the fundamental freedoms, rights, or conscience of citizens worldwide is simply absurd. And it is truly shameful that holding high a symbol of diversity, equality, and inclusiveness would lead to demonizing LGBT people and be used as a pretence for criticizing US foreign policy as “cultural imperialism”. It’s good the US and most countries of the free world respect the rights of LGBT people. It says something about who they are as a society.
Sadly, a few Caribbean island nations still have oppressive and antiquated anti-gay laws reflecting historically passed-down intolerance – something that ends only when the cycle of prejudice is broken. Using religion as a moral justification for discrimination devalues not only religion itself but also the efforts of all those who fought and continue to fight for civil rights and social equality for all people.
Gunsor Buther
Curaçao
Dear Morgan Resort,
Congratulation on the opening of your new shiny resort in Beacon Hill.
The unsightly mess you left in our neighbourhood makes me think of Syria every time I come home.
Can you pick up after yourself please, it’s the least you can do.
Jean de la Salle
Beacon Hill
Dear Editor,
Addiction has been a major problem in our small community since the drug “crack cocaine” swept across the world and our shores in the 1980s and 1990s. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a subsequent epidemic where the rise in fear, anxiety, and stress created historic increases in substance abuse, drug overdoses, and corresponding mental illness globally and of course in St. Maarten as well.
Initially, humanity dealt with the unpredictable nature of the COVID-19 disease. Individuals had to sift through the conflicting messages from authorities. The world lost control and the people lost their personal freedoms. Overnight abrupt changes were made to life, to everyone’s plans both immediate and future. Deep, crippling concerns were birthed for everyone’s health, not just in St. Maarten but across the entire globe. Physical health and soon behind it burgeoning concerns for mental health and overall well-being of everyone as well as that of their relatives and loved ones. Added to this were lockdowns, home confinement for indefinite periods of time, with no one having any answers, shifting people into both isolation and a paralyzing lack of autonomy and causing a substantial and growing financial losses.
As was seen with other pandemics of our time such as Ebola, H1N1 and other viruses, negative psychological effects including post-traumatic stress symptoms, anger and confusion followed the pandemics. As is to be expected, these major stressors often lead to an increased risk of psychopathology such as anxiety or depression.
During the pandemic, about 4 in 10 adults in the U.S. have reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder, increasing from one in ten adults who reported these symptoms from January to June 2019.
In 2017, the global estimated prevalence of depression showed a proportion of 3.44 per cent (ranging between 2 per cent and 6 per cent.). Now research suggests that during the COVID-19 outbreak, rates of depression in the general population have risen to almost 7 times higher.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of June 2020, 13 per cent of Americans reported starting or increasing substance use as a way of coping with stress or emotions related to COVID-19.
More people are using drugs, and there are more drugs, and more types of drugs are available now than ever before in human history. Over the past decade, there has been a diversification of the substances available on the drug markets. In addition to traditional plant-based substances – cannabis, cocaine and heroin – the past decade has witnessed the expansion of a dynamic market for synthetic drugs and the non-medical use of pharmaceutical drugs and prescription medicines. All of which poses an even greater challenge to the prevention of drug use and the treatment of drug use disorders than in the past.
Even at Turning Point, the number of outpatient clients seen has doubled. The requests received from the community for voluntary clients have increased.
Here are some important stats from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Drug Use:
Around 269 million people globally used drugs in 2018, up 30 per cent from 2009, with adolescents and young adults accounting for the largest share of users.
Among the estimated 269 million people who used drugs in the past year, some 35.6 million people (range: 19.0 million to 52.2 million) are estimated to suffer from drug use disorders, meaning that their pattern of drug use is harmful, or they may experience drug dependence and/or require treatment.
And according to the CDC, before the pandemic in 2019 there were 70,000 deaths by overdose in the US. However, during the pandemic this number rose to 92,000, the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period, according to recent CDC provisional data.
Based on recent discussions held at the Ministry of Justice, it has been revealed that there has been an alarming rise in specific substances not before prevalent as abused substances in St. Maarten. Global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic such as the rise in substance abuse and mental health disorders, drive us to be more prepared for the coming aftermath that this difficult period will undoubtedly bring. Because when society ignores the harmful impacts of drug use and the disorders it creates, the repercussions can extend far beyond the individual to affect the health and well-being of others, including their families, neighborhoods and the community at large; thus, actively creating an island where there is social disadvantage, low educational attainment, increased difficulty in finding and sustaining employment, and financial instability and poverty.
As we all work through this difficult time, Turning Point would like to ask everyone in our community to be a support system for those around them who may be struggling with addiction. Personify caring for each other. Also, please anticipate that Turning Point will be reaching out to community leaders and organizations to discuss ideas on how we can together, combat substance abuse on the island.
For additional questions or concerns, contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Turning Point Foundation
International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is Saturday, June 26.
Dear Editor,
The history of the Caribbean clearly shows that Caribbean people have migrated when the opportunity was afforded and their economic circumstances could be improved. Where this is still possible, it is still occurring and where it is not possible, extensive and creative efforts are constantly being made to migrate to territories where the quality of life is perceived to be better. This occurs at all levels including the crucial high-skilled sector which is so essential for island nations to develop.
At the same time we hear from independista groups that when connections with European powers are finally untied completely, a wave of nationalism will sweep over the newly independent country and will drive an improved administration, economic activity and a cohesive nation will perform better when released from the European created restrictions.
It seems clear to me that unless there is some unprecedented cultural change, a change to independence in St. Maarten would lead to the population behaving as the economic actors they always have been and choose jurisdictions that provide the safest option for the best quality of life. Are those choices likely to be in the long-term interest of country St. Maarten?
Robbie Ferron
Dear Editor,
As we in the Caribbean seek to fast-track recovery and build a post COVID-19 world where business plays a leadership role in creating much needed jobs, access to finance remains a major constraint.
The World Bank in its 2020 Ease of Doing Business Report notes that of the 14 Caribbean countries that were reviewed in its annual report, only three of them – Jamaica (ranked 15th), Trinidad and Tobago (ranked 67th) and Guyana (ranked 94th) – are among the top 100 countries globally in accessing credit. This is out of a total of 190 countries. Simply put, we are not doing well in this critical index.
In 2016 the Caribbean had 11 countries ranked among the top 100. This worsening situation tells an all too familiar story in our region. I hear these stories on a daily basis, in conversations with businesspeople across the region on the massive challenges in accessing finance. The World Bank´s report captures a very important part of the story on lending in the Caribbean. Surveys undertaken by Caribbean Export point to as much as 48 per cent of small- and medium-scale businesses reporting that access to credit is the major challenge they face.
We at Caribbean Export are providing some critical assistance in this area. With support from the European Union, we continue to provide much needed financial assistance to small and medium business across the region. More specifically, we have been providing small-scale grant financing to help these businesses withstand the shock of the pandemic and create new opportunities.
In 2018, Caribbean Export awarded approximately 2.2 million euros in grant funding and about 41 per cent of beneficiaries boasted that the grant funds helped them to penetrate new markets, while 79 per cent reported an increase in export sales. Overall revenues increased for 64 per cent of beneficiary firms and 36 per cent of firms were able to reduce their energy costs having used the grant funds to implement energy efficiency projects. Twenty-one percent of firms were able to enhance general productive capacity and efficiency.
Recognising that funding support is extremely critical during the pandemic, Caribbean Export plans to build on these results by continuing to offer targeted grant funding on a non-reimbursable basis. The region needs to do more to support this sector which accounts for most jobs generated in our Caribbean.
The Caribbean Development Bank has also joined our partnership with the European Union in this endeavour and we have launched a call for proposals where businesses can access up to US $15,000 in grant finance. Grant funds are often highly competitive and for this reason, they should not be considered as a primary source of income for small businesses, but as cash infusions to fund special projects that can help to speed up growth, particularly post COVID-19. Please do visit our website at
carib-export.com to get more information.
Another alternative source of finance is angel investment, which is a form of equity financing where the angel investor supplies capital in exchange for an equity position in the business. Angel investors are high net worth individuals who are looking for a higher rate of return, typically of around 25 per cent to 60 per cent, than would be given by more traditional investments. Equity financing is normally used by start-up and growth businesses that do not have sufficient cash flow or collateral with which to secure business loans from financial institutions.
Angel investing is still a relatively nascent concept in the region. Consequently, entrepreneurs interested in angel investing need to understand the fundamentals of angel investing and what to expect when an angel investor is interested in an equity stake in their business. Since 2018, Caribbean Export has been offering capacity development support in these areas and plans to continue to provide specialised support to both entrepreneurs and angel investors to bridge the angel investing divide in the region.
The issue of credit is a central issue. Therefore, with funding from the Africa Caribbean and Pacific Investment Climate Reform Facility, we are working to understand the challenges facing CARIFORUM countries in the establishment and operationalization of efficient credit bureaus and secured transaction systems (collateral registries). The World Bank, in its Ease of Doing Business Report, looks closely at these two aspects of the credit infrastructure in a country, noting that credit bureaus and registries are essential elements of the financial infrastructure that help to address the issue of access to financial services, including credit.
By sharing credit information, a credit reporting system helps to increase access to credit for small firms, improve borrower discipline and support credit risk monitoring. In our region, where movable assets often comprise most of the capital stock of our private firms, we need to establish systems that allow our firms to use inventory, accounts receivables, crops and equipment as collateral. We cannot transform our region if we do not innovate and move to a financial architecture that meets the needs of our times.
In summary, we at the Caribbean Export Development Agency will continue to support these initiatives that are having and can continue to have a major positive impact on businesses across our Region. However, the reality is, much more must be done. Particular attention must be given to the establishment of a regional capital market that can unleash and leverage finance regardless of geographic location. Whereas we recognize the imperative of foreign direct investment, the stark reality is that we have massive assets in our financial sector and pension funds that can be used to spur inclusive growth and job creation both nationally and regionally. A regional stock exchange will also propel business at the regional level to take advantage of regional opportunities as they seize opportunities provided by new economies of scale. To succeed, we need steadfast commitment backed by a clear and ambitious agenda. Much is at stake and failure is not an option.
Deodat Maharaj
Executive Director, Caribbean Export Development Agency
