ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – WEDNESDAY APRIL 4, 2018 High of 86 Low of 73 Smooth with wave heights of less than 2 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 WILL THE EVOLUTION OF ‘LOCAL CONTENT’ BE TELEVISED? LOCAL | PAGE 6 MEALS ON WHEELS’ COIN DRIVE RAISES MORE THAN $30,000 CAYMAN ‘UBER’-LIKE APP MORPHS INTO HIGH-TECH DISPATCH SERVICE JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Originally envisaged as “Uber in Cayman,” a new tech business is preparing for a pilot launch as a potential solution to concerns about taxi rates and reliability on the island. The Flex app will allow users to summon and pay for a taxi using their smartphone, according to business owners Rachel Smyth and Alex Cowan. Flex had initially hoped to use private drivers but after discussions with govern- ment, they agreed to modify the plan to in- volve only taxi drivers licensed through the Public Transport Board. The board limits the number of taxi drivers allowed to operate in Cayman and officials were concerned that an Uber-style platform would threaten the industry. Flex is currently signing up drivers for a pilot of the new app in the George Town and Seven Mile Beach area. Ms. Smyth said the app would make cashless payment possible for taxis and erase debates about inconsistent pricing, which have dogged the industry. “We are born and raised Caymanians and we want to see something like this work for the industry,” said Ms. Smyth, also a lawyer who runs ARKA legal services. “We want the taxi drivers to see the bene- fits and understand the advantages of having access to a completely different demographic.” She said the company had signed up several younger drivers to use the app, but was finding it harder to persuade older drivers to try some- thing new. One barrier is that drivers seem to like being paid in cash every time they collect a fare, while the Flex app would mean they were CAYMAN’S FIRST INDEPENDENT MISS WORLD LAUNCHES Recruitment for the 2018 Miss World Cayman has kicked off, the first time the pageant will be an indepen- dent, privately-sponsored competi- tion. Pageant organizer and director of the Miss World Cayman Islands Com- mittee Pamela Ebanks-Small is calling for community support for the Cayman contestants in both the local and in- ternational pageants. The deadline for applications is May 1 and Miss World Cayman will be selected on Sept. 8. For more on this story, see page 5. ‘Hundreds’ of instances of fake online profiles of Premier McLaughlin SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com Premier Alden McLaughlin responded to a report about a fraudulent Facebook pro- file purporting to be him on Tuesday with a mix of resigna- tion and alarm. “There’s been hundreds of similar instances – Facebook, In- stagram and others – over the past few years,” Mr. McLaughlin said. “We’ve reported them re- peatedly to the authorities, to no avail.” The latest scam bearing the premier’s name was executed over the Easter vacation. A Cayman Brac resident re- ceived a message on Facebook from a fake profile purporting to be Mr. McLaughlin, and the mes- sage was apparently an attempt at soliciting funds for a fraudu- lent “Cash Grant Programme” os- tensibly sponsored by the gov- ernment of the Bahamas. The government of the Ba- hamas learned of the scam last September, and the Cab- inet of Prime Minister Dr. Hu- bert Minnis issued a statement warning people not to take the message at face value. “The Cabinet Office wishes to advise the general public that the Prime Minister is not aware of any such program nor has he recommended any person or group to receive ben- efits from such a program,” said the warning message back Cricket legend Graham Gooch to visit Cayman Graham Gooch, former captain of the Eng- land cricket team, will be in the Cayman Islands next month to take part in a fundraiser to help support cricket develop- ment in Cayman. The legendary English batsman will visit Cayman on May 16-20, and will feature in the “All Out” fundraising weekend, which includes a golf tournament at the North Sound Golf Club on Friday, May 18, and an “all-inclusive summer party” at Morgan’s Seafood Restau- rant at the Cayman Islands Yacht Club on the evening of Saturday, May 19. He will also make an appearance at the youth cricket coaching clinics at the Smith Road Oval that Saturday morning. Cayman Cricket’s Vice President Hector Robinson said in a press release announcing Mr. Gooch’s participation: “We are so excited to have Graham Gooch and his wife visiting Cayman this year; he is certainly one of the most distinguished international cricketers of his generation, and a genuine all-time great. “We are hopeful that Mr. Gooch’s pres- ence as a player in our golf tournament, and as guest of honor at the party, will encourage the community to come out and enter a golf team or purchase tickets for the party. These events will contribute towards our aim of raising $50,000 to help us to further develop our youth programmes and coaching re- sources. It is only by investing in a long-term youth development strategy that we can build on recent success – and ensure our players are equipped to compete on a world stage.”Former England captain, Graham Gooch, at Lord’s Cricket Ground, London, in 2006. He will visit Cayman next month to help raise funds for Cayman Cricket. - PHOTO: GRAHAM MORRIS PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 »2 LOCAL&REGIONAL WEDNESDAY APRIL 4, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS • Matinees Daily (matinee price before 6pm) • Seniors $8.00, Mon-Fri Before 6pm • Additional charges apply per 3D/VIP tickets ACRIMONY (R) 1:00 I 7:00 I 9:50 PAUL, APOSTLE OF CHRIST (PG13) 1:15 I 3:50 I 6:30 I 9:05 TOMB RAIDER (PG13) 1:25 I 4:10 I 9:55 BLACK PANTHER (PG13) 12:50 VIP I 3:55 I 6:55 I 9:45 PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING 3D (PG13) 1:40 2D I 3:50 2D VIP I 4:20 I 6:35 2D VIP 7:15 2D I 9:10 2D VIP SHERLOCK GNOMES (PG) 2:40 I 7:25 PETER RABBIT (PG) 12:20 I 4:55 I 9:35 Cayman Cinema@cbcinema6cbcinema6 SATURDAY NIGHT: For your viewing pleasure, minors under the age of 18 will not be admitted to any film starting after 6pm, unless accompanied by their parent. - WEDNESDAY - 640-FILM (640-3456) Inspectors find East End Primary making progress MARK MUCKENFUSS mmuckenfuss@pinnaclemedialtd.com A new report says East End Primary School has made mostly “satisfactory” progress in the past three years on recommendations that were made after an in- spection during the 2014- 2015 school year. Evaluators with the Of- fice of Education Standards found that changes in staffing assignments and additional teacher training and support have led to improvement in student performance, which has been low, in the early grades at the school. The re- port also said more improve- ment is needed in the upper grades, especially in Year 6. When inspectors vis- ited the school at the end of 2017, the report said, year-end reading assessments showed “only around half of the stu- dents left the school achieving the expected levels. In mathe- matics, similarly, only around one third achieved the re- quired level. There were no examples of achievement at the highest level in these two subject areas. In writing, levels of achievement at Year 6 remained well below the Cayman Island[s] av- erage and significantly below the U.K. norm.” Public schools are on break this week, and no one answered the phone at East End Primary when a reporter called for comment. Writing was noted as a problem across all grades, in particular with Year 6. “Students’ progress was judged to be too slow and achievement for the cur- rent academic year had only shown limited improvement from previous years,” the re- port said. “The school re- quires a clearer strategy and more effective arrange- ments to ensure good prog- ress in writing.” Overall, the report was complimentary to many of the changes that had been made since the last inspec- tion, particularly in areas where teaching resources were realigned. The report noted “the principal had established a clear structure to the time- table for all classes and set an appropriate time alloca- tion for each area of the cur- riculum. In all classes there was sufficient time given for English, mathematics and science as key subjects.” It also praised the prin- cipal for designating lead teachers for literacy and mathematics. These teachers help coordinate the curric- ulum and mentor staff in teaching the core subjects. While improvements have been made in addressing the needs of challenged stu- dents – the report notes that one-third of the student pop- ulation has been assessed as having “additional needs” – those who are capable of excelling are not getting that opportunity. “Over the last few years,” the report said, “there were too few students who had achieved above the expected level despite indications from profile assessments that they were capable of such levels of achievement. In order to raise achievement even further, the senior leaders and staff should review provision for able students and plan more effective intervention strate- gies in Key Stage 2 classes.” A parent survey that was included in the report showed a high level of sat- isfaction with the school. Of the 27 parents who took the online survey, 80 percent said they were pleased with the school’s quality of education. In November, parents pro- tested the placement of a temporary teacher they con- sidered unqualified by re- fusing to send their children to school, effectively shut- ting down East End Primary for two days. A sizable portion of the parents surveyed, 24 percent, disagreed that parents were actively involved in the work of the school, and 27 percent did not believe students at the school were well behaved. The report said inspec- tors would continue to mon- itor student progress at the school. If performance scores at the end of the year show a decline, they said they will reinspect the school within six months. A copy of the full report can be found online at www.pocs.gov.ky. Click on the ‘Publications’ link under the heading ‘Freedom of Information.’ Then click on the ‘Office of Education Standards’ link. Man dies after fishing incident An elderly man died Monday afternoon after getting into difficulty while in the water fishing off Rum Point Road in North Side, according to police. The Royal Cayman Is- lands Police Service re- sponded to a report of a person in distress on the beach shortly after 12:45 p.m. Monday. When they arrived, the police found a 76-year-old West Bay resident who needed assistance. He had encountered difficulties and was helped by family members, police said. Emergency ser- vices were contacted and the man was trans- ported to the Cayman Is- lands Hospital. He was pronounced dead there later in the day. Puerto Rico gov defies board, rejects reform, pension cuts SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – The powers of a federal con- trol board overseeing Puerto Rico’s finances could soon be tested as the U.S. territory’s governor on Monday defied its calls to implement more aus- terity measures amid an 11- year recession. Gov. Ricardo Rossello re- jected demands that his ad- ministration submit a revised fiscal plan to include a labor reform and a 10 percent cut to a pension system facing nearly $50 billion in liabilities. He said the plan he will submit Thursday also will not con- tain any layoffs. “The board does not have the power to implement is- sues of public policy,” Rossello said. “It’s that simple.” The board has not re- sponded publicly yet to Ros- sello’s comments, which came just hours after he sent the board a seven-page letter Sunday night outlining why he will not implement those and other changes. “The people of Puerto Rico, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, have suffered a great deal in terms of reduced gov- ernment services and economic loss,” Rossello said in the letter. “Now the board is attempting to enforce additional cuts on government employee and re- tirement benefits at the worst possible moment, as Puerto Rico attempts to recover.” The Category 4 storm caused more than an estimated $100 billion in damage when it hit on Sept. 20 at a time when the territory was struggling to emerge from an economic crisis and restructure a por- tion of its more than $70 bil- lion public debt load. Roughly 80,000 power customers re- main in the dark more than six months after the hurricane. Board spokesman Jose Luis Cedeno did not respond to a re- quest for comment. The board has the authority to approve its own fiscal plan with the changes it seeks, but Rossello said it does not have the power to force his adminis- tration to implement them. “If the board certifies some of those measures, we won’t execute them,” he said. The board has said it will approve the government’s fiscal plan by April 20. On Sunday, the board posted letters in which it re- vealed that it also has rejected a fiscal plan for Puerto Rico’s largest public university and its Highways and Transporta- tion Authority. It said the University of Puerto Rico should increase its per-credit tuition from $57 to $157 by next year, a proposal that local officials have rejected. In addition, it said the transportation authori- ty’s fiscal plan does not set aside funding for key proj- ects and needs a debt sustain- ability analysis. CORRECTION The Cayman Compass incorrectly reported the re- sults of three competitors at the CARIFTA champion- ships on Tuesday. The cor- rect results are: Ruth-Ann Douglas finished seventh in the under-17 100-meter hurdles; Jaheim Marcus finished fifth in the boys under-17 discus; and Ra- sheem Brown finished fourth in the under-20 110- meter hurdles. TOURISTS AND CROPS RETURN TO STORM-HIT DOMINICA East End Primary School was given a mostly ‘satisfactory’ grade in a school inspection report. MIAMI (AP) – The prime minister of Dom- inica is reporting prog- ress on one of the Carib- bean islands hardest hit by Hurricane Maria. Roosevelt Skerrit says his country has exported the first crops planted since Maria tore across the island as a Category 5 storm in September. He says water has been re- stored to the entire is- land and tourism is re- covering with the return of cruise ships and the re- opening of hotels. The storm killed at least 31 people and damaged 90 percent of homes in Dominica. About 5,000 homes need to be built and 20,000 repaired. Skerrit says about $400 million of the $1 billion needed to rebuild and prepare for future storms has been raised. He spoke Tuesday at a disaster workshop in Miami organized by the Clinton Foundation.The islands’ most-trusted news source 3 CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY APRIL 4, 2018 TO BOOK YOUR AD SPACE (345) 949-5111 sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com AD SPACE DEADLINE: Friday, April 20, 2018 ! Cayman Carnival Batabano is celebrating 35 years of uniting culture and community. At the request of the Batabano committee, the Cayman Compass is producing a special commemorative feature to mark this milestone anniversary. We invite you to support Cayman’s cultural celebration by participating in this keepsake publication that will be included in the May 3 edition of the Cayman Compass. It will highlight the festival’s rich history and cultural evolution and feature a collection of photographs through the years. Cayman Carnival Batabano has become part of the cultural fabric of these islands, with its myriad of benefi ts reverberating socially, culturally and economically. by supporting this keepsake publication and congratulating Cayman Carnival Batabano for creating lasting memories spanning 35 years. CAYMAN CARNIVAL 35 The islands’ most-trusted news source 4 – EDITORIAL – Opinion&Letters The Cayman Compass welcomes comments, opinions and viewpoints from readers. Letters to the editor can be emailed to editor@pinnaclemedialtd.com, submitted via www.caymancompass.com, sent by post or hand-delivered to the Compass office. Will the evolution of ‘local content’ be televised? Who says Cayman doesn’t get “snow”? When it comes to government’s regulation of the country’s television market, the picture is full of static. Recently, Premier Alden McLaughlin told members of the Legislative Assembly that regulators are aware cable providers are not meeting a licensing condi- tion that requires them to provide one “free to air” channel, featuring at least 20 percent local content, but they are doing nothing about it. According to the premier, the “Utility Regulation and Competition Office” (aka “OfReg”) has decided it’s “futile” to hold Digicel, C3, Flow and Logic – the four companies which hold “type 7” television broadcast licenses – to their obligations to provide “free to air channels.” They say it is not cost-effective to require such channels in Cayman’s small television market, where most people subscribe to cable television or streaming devices, anyway. As for the companies’ requirement to air “local content,” the premier told legislators that was being honored “in spirit” – which seems to be a diplomatic way of admitting that’s also not being enforced. For the record, yes, this is the same OfReg that plans to dive into the (heretofore private) business of installing fiber optic infrastructure in the more rural parts of Grand Cayman, taking responsibility for a requirement that local telecommunication companies have been unable to fulfill. How can a regulator pick and choose which regulations (which, by the way, it negotiates when issuing licenses) it is going to enforce? We would argue that it shouldn’t. No doubt, it is true that technological innovation has enabled more cost-effective ways to deliver local content to local consumers (YouTube, anyone?), than through specially created channels that can be picked up by “bunny ears” on TV sets. The peril here is the existence of unenforced (or unenforceable) terms in governmental contracts or agreements. In regard to permits and licenses, any latitude that government gives can just as easily be taken away. Whether we are talking about police action, planning permits, immigration approvals or utilities regulation, governmental “discretion” is a code word for “danger.” Importantly, the issue of “free to air channels” is distinct from the perceived need for “local content.” We support the creative and entrepreneurial efforts of local content producers, who launched their ventures with the belief – now shown to be mistaken – that they were providing to local TV broadcasters a service required by law. (After all, we at the Compass are “local content pro- ducers” as well, just in another medium.) That being said, in the absence of a mandate from government, it is questionable whether, or how much, the production of local content for TV can be commercially viable. A similar disparity between what the free market can support, and what government thinks consumers need, is what led OfReg to require telecommunica- tion companies to establish fiber optic networks in the eastern half of Grand Cayman (and, on paper at least, the Sister Islands). Adding on to the interference, government has created its own channel, CIGTV, which broadcasts public meetings and fills out the other 20-plus hours of the day with, well, basically whatever it can find. If officials are going to insist upon the dissemination of local content for television, perhaps they should “open up” their own airwaves via a “public access” model. Better yet, when regulators are coming up with new ideas on how to mandate that TV broadcasters provide local content, they should do what we all do when an obsolete electronic device isn’t working: Pull the plug. WEDNESDAY APRIL 4, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS It isn’t Cabinet’s job to be a ‘check’ on the President WASHINGTON – In the wake of President Trump’s deci- sion to appoint John Bolton as his national security ad- viser and Mike Pompeo as secretary of state, a consis- tent criticism has emerged: Trump will no longer have any “adult” supervision in the national security decision- making process or any Cab- inet-level “checks” on his own worst instincts. This view is not only in- sulting, it is fundamentally anti-democratic. The Consti- tution places many checks on a president’s power, in- cluding Congress, an inde- pendent judiciary and a free press. It’s not the job of Cab- inet officials to be a “check” on the president. Their job is to give the president op- tions so he can make deci- sions – not restrict choices to constrain him. One of the reasons Trump is reshuffling his national se- curity team is because he has reportedly been deeply frus- trated with the lack of op- tions presented to him. In April, he reluctantly recerti- fied the Iran nuclear deal but told his national security ad- visers that he did not want to recertify again – and in- structed them to provide a range of options before the next deadline in October. They did not do it. That is unacceptable. According to the Weekly Standard, Trump was so angry that no one presented a decertification option that he put Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on speaker- phone during an Oval Office meeting to make the case – providing advice that Trump soon followed. More recently, the New York Times reported that Trump has grown frustrated with the Pentagon’s failure to provide him with military options for North Korea. Ac- cording to the Times, Pen- tagon officials are “wor- ried that the White House is moving too hastily toward military action on the Korean Peninsula that could esca- late catastrophically. Giving the president too many op- tions, the officials said, could increase the odds that he will act.” Sorry, that’s not how it works in our democ- racy. We have civilian con- trol of the military, and the president is commander in chief. If he wants military op- tions, it is the Pentagon’s job to deliver them. That some in the Pentagon don’t un- derstand that is a greater threat to our democracy than Trump’s temperament. Bolton is determined to fix these problems. Cabinet officers are supposed to give the president options (in- cluding some they may dis- agree with), provide their best advice, and then sa- lute and carry out his orders. Bolton is determined to make that happen. Axios reported that he plans to be an “honest broker” who will make sure that all sides are heard when national security decisions are discussed. But he will also be an “enforcer” who makes sure that Cabinet offi- cials carry out the president’s orders. If the president di- rects the Pentagon to produce military options for North Korea, or demands more cre- ative options on the Iran nu- clear deal, slow walking will no longer be tolerated. That is a good thing. This does not mean that Bolton wants to lead us into war. He does not. Bolton is a traditional peace-through- strength conservative, with vast government experience as undersecretary of state for arms control and inter- national security and ambas- sador to the United Nations. He understands firsthand the way bureaucracies work to narrow options and hinder policy decisions they do not like. He knows how to make sure that does not happen to this president. Trump’s decision to re- place Rex Tillerson with Pompeo will strengthen di- plomacy in a similar way. Under Tillerson, the secretary of state did not listen to his subordinates, and the pres- ident did not listen to the secretary. That will change under Pompeo, who built a strong personal bond with Trump while at the CIA, de- livering the president’s daily intelligence briefing. He will have the trust and the ear of the commander in chief, which means the State De- partment will have more in- fluence. This should thrill our diplomats. Trump faces tough deci- sions in the months ahead. On North Korea, after a quarter-century of presidents of both parties kicking the can down the road, we finally have run out of road. Trump will soon face a binary choice: allow North Korea to deploy the capability to reach U.S. cities with nuclear inter- continental ballistic missiles, or stop it from deploying that capability. We all want the latter to happen peacefully. For that, the president needs a national security team that understands its mission is to constrain Kim Jong Un, not Donald Trump. In Bolton and Pompeo, Trump finally has that team. Follow Marc A. Thiessen on Twitter, @marcthiessen. © 2018, The Washington Post Writers Group MARC A. THIESSEN PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Caymanian Compass Limited (a subsidiary of Pinnacle Media Ltd) Compass Centre Shedden Road, George Town SEND US YOUR VIEWS OR NEWS: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman KY1-1108, Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@pinnaclemedialtd.com ADVERTISE WITH US: Telephone: (345) 949-5111 Email: sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com Website: www.caymancompass.com PUBLISHERS DAVID R. LEGGE AND VICKI L. LEGGE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DAVID R. LEGGE EXECUTIVE EDITOR PATRICK BRENDEL A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will find their own way”5 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY APRIL 4, 2018 Cayman’s first independent Miss World pageant launches TAD STONER tstoner@pinnaclemedialtd.com The website for Miss World Cayman Islands opened Saturday, kicking off recruitment for Cayman’s first privately staged Miss World competition as contestants vie for a chance to attend the global finals in China. Pageant organizer and director of the Miss World Cayman Islands Committee Pamela Ebanks-Small called for community support for the Cayman contestants in both the local and inter- national pageants, as she and her board race to re- cruit and train women for the Sept. 8 selection of Miss World Cayman Islands. Organizers have not yet named the host city for the 2018 Miss World pageant, promising an announcement soon, according to the press release. Last year’s competi- tion was in the international tourist destination of Sanya, in southern China’s Hainan Island province. “This is our first year and preparing for the first pag- eant is a lot of work – forms, legal documents, prepara- tions,” Ms. Ebanks-Small said. Recruitment started on Saturday, March 31, as the organizing committee up- loaded its new www.miss- worldcayman.com website, featuring last year’s winner Kristin Amaya and calling on women between the ages of 18 and 25, Caymanian by birth or status, never married and without chil- dren, to apply. For years, the Cayman Is- land’s government held both the Miss World and Miss Universe franchises, but in 2016, for reasons of finance, decided to drop the former, although retaining the latter. In September 2017, Ms. Ebanks-Small topped public bidding for the Miss World franchise, and gained permis- sion from the Miss Cayman Islands Committee to name second-place finisher Ms. Amaya to the Miss World fi- nals in China. Ms. Ebanks-Small – a 1992 Miss Cayman and participant at the South African finals that year, and a 1993 contestant at Mexico City’s Miss Universe pageant – said she expects applications for the Cayman pageant to come from all sec- tors of the community. “Some people just apply and some we en- courage,” she said. Applications close on May 1, with selections made in April and May. “If I can get five girls or six girls, I’ll be happy,” Ms. Ebanks-Small said, though she hopes for more. This year’s pageant, she said, “will be a little dif- ferent,” as the London owners have asked each jurisdiction to choose a theme, based around the message “beauty with a purpose.” “We have a sort of plat- form. That ‘beauty with a purpose’ is the charity leg at Miss World, and ours will be the environment. Some people do hospitals, some do schools, and we feel the envi- ronment in its various forms is important, ridding the oceans of plastic, protecting coral reefs.” Even the Sept. 8 Lions Centre finals will be built around the theme: “No plas- tics, no straws,” with carefully vetted food vendors, renew- able decorations and plants. Each contestant must submit a one-minute video, Ms. Ebanks-Small said, de- tailing what the environment theme means to them. Other features will in- clude a judges’ interview, an opening number and intro- duction, a “Top Model” and evening gown segment and a question-and-answer se- quence. The sports segment is likely to occur the week prior to September’s finals. Another feature will be the first “girl power” out- reach to young women shy of the 18-year-old min- imum age for Miss World entry, but who seek to train, boosting their chances for fu- ture acceptance. “They would be between the ages of 15 and 18,” Ms. Ebanks-Small said. “We will mentor and train them to become better girls,” poised, confident and articulate, “so they may enter at age 18 or 19 and they’ll be ready.” Meanwhile, government is scrutinizing local appli- cants now for the Miss Uni- verse competition, and will select the winner in August, sending her to the December 2018 Miss Universe finals in the Philippines. Defense calls police officer on duty the night of incident CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com The trial of senior im- migration officer Garfield (Gary) Wong resumed on Tuesday, with evidence from the final witness scheduled to be called. That witness was a po- lice constable who worked a shift that included the time in which Mr. Wong’s truck was involved in a collision with a car in the early hours of Dec. 28, 2013. As a result of that colli- sion, Mr. Wong was charged with careless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, and driving under the influence of alcohol. A breath test admin- istered at the Bodden Town Police Station indicated that Mr. Wong provided a breath test reading of .184. The legal limit in Cayman is .100. When Mr. Wong gave his evidence in January, he told the court that the officer who gave evidence about the breathalyzer test was not the officer who adminis- tered the test. Defense attorney Dennis Brady asked Magistrate Grace Donalds to issue a summons for the officer whose name was called by Mr. Wong as the person who administered the test to him. The summoned officer had not been called as part of the case for the prosecu- tion, as conducted by Crown counsel Scott Wainwright. He appeared on Tuesday and was giving evidence at press time. Mr. Brady was taking him through a tran- script of radio transmis- sions made after the acci- dent, which had occurred on Shamrock Road in the vicinity of Hibiscus Gar- dens in Savannah. The witness had not yet begun to narrate what hap- pened at the Bodden Town Police Station. He did say earlier that he had been out on patrol in the eastern districts and went to the scene of the ac- cident, where other officers were. Then, when he got to the Bodden Town Police Sta- tion, he saw the defendant and two officers he was spe- cifically asked about. He said the officers were preparing the “intoxilyzer.” One of them was the officer who gave ev- idence last year that he was the one who administered the breath test. Mr. Brady said his instruc- tions were that it was the witness who administered the test. The witness said no – his only involvement was to assist in documenting Mr. Wong into police custody. Mr. Wong faces charges of careless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, and driving under the influence of alcohol. Immigration officer’s DUI trial resumes Miss World Cayman Islands 2017 Kristin Amaya poses with members of the Miss World Cayman committee. Recruitment for the 2018 pageant is under way.The islands’ most-trusted news source 6 WEDNESDAY APRIL 4, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS in September. “This infor- mation is without founda- tion and patently false.” The Cayman Compass reported in October that many fraudulent profiles of Mr. McLaughlin were cir- culating in the world of so- cial media. In one case, a fake Instagram profile of the premier was found and reported last October. That profile gained more than 500 followers on Instagram. The Royal Cayman Is- lands Police Financial Crimes Unit also issued a public notice about a fake Facebook page purporting to be Mr. McLaughlin in October 2016. That page had been used to fraud- ulently solicit donations and bank account num- bers from people who had “friended” the fake account. RCIPS investigators said at the time that the page was removed from Facebook and that it ap- peared that nobody had been defrauded by the fake profile page. “However, new fraudu- lent pages may appear,” a police statement noted. Last July, there was a fraudulent Twitter page purporting to represent Mr. McLaughlin, and it had been sending out tweets and interacting with people over the social mes- saging service. Mr. Gooch is one of the most successful batsmen of his generation. Through a career that spanned from 1973 to 2000, he became the most prolific run-scorer of all time with 67,057 runs across first-class and limited overs games. He is one of only 25 players to have scored 100 first class centuries. He was awarded the OBE for his services to cricket in 1991. Mr. Gooch led the Eng- land side 34 times and was captain in the 1992 World Cup final defeat by Pak- istan. He played in two other World Cup finals, in 1979 and 1987. He was England’s leading test run maker, with a total of 8,900 runs and 20 centuries, until he was surpassed by his protege Alastair Cook. After 118 tests, he re- tired from play in 1997, but continued in the cricket field, working as a coach, team selector and com- mentator. He was an Eng- land batting coach from 2012 to 2014, and was in- ducted into the Interna- tional Cricket Council Hall of Fame in 2009. His visit comes on the back of legendary West In- dian batting pair Gordon Greenidge and Des- mond Haynes, who came to Cayman last year for Cayman Cricket’s “Legends Reunited” fundraiser. Cayman Cricket orga- nizers said they hope to bring more international cricket stars to Cayman to encourage interest and support for the sport. For more information on the “All-Out” golf tournament, email events@sidekick.ky. Tickets for the summer party can be purchased at Jacques Scott outlets or online at https://tickets3.frsolutions.ky. paid by check or direct debit at the end of the week. Mr. Cowan said Flex needs to recruit at least 20 taxi drivers before they can go live with a pilot launch in a limited area. “It is going to be another form of dispatch. We are hoping the drivers will learn to embrace it because it is so well known internation- ally and it is what people ex- pect,” he said. “I see Cayman as one of the most developed and for- ward-thinking islands in the region. We need to have some- thing like this and it needs to happen pretty quickly. “The rest of the world are looking into self-driving cars and we are still using radios and rate sheets. We need to start thinking ahead for the tourism industry. These ride sharing platforms have be- come worldwide, and tourists are asking why don’t we have it and when it is coming.” The app works exactly like Uber and any other ride- sharing platform, according to Ms. Smyth. Passengers use the Flex app to request a ride. When a nearby driver accepts the re- quest, the app indicates an expected arrival time and cal- culates the fare. Once the ride is complete, it accepts pay- ment from a card attached to the user’s Flex account. The drivers use a sepa- rate Flex partner app, which alerts them whenever a po- tential customer in the vi- cinity is requesting a ride. Flex takes the payment and pays the drivers weekly. Ms. Smyth said the plat- form had the potential to solve a number of issues that have impacted the taxi industry, not least disputes about fares. The app uses an algorithm derived from the current rate sheet to calcu- late fares automatically. She said it would also ease concerns about safety of drivers carrying large amounts of cash and make it easier for passengers to use credit cards. According to Ms. Smyth, there is large public demand for the app, but persuading taxi drivers to try it was the key barrier. “We are struggling with educating the taxi drivers on how this is going to be good for them and good for Cayman. We have been con- tacted on many occasions by hotels, restaurants and local business in the Cayman Is- lands who have customers and clients that request this type of service or ask if it ex- ists in Cayman.” She said the app would also help put a dent in Cay- man’s unenviable drunk driving statistics by making it easier for people in bars to summon a taxi and be as- sured that they will be able to get a taxi and that the rates will be consistent. “We are offering a system that makes life easy. That is our driving force. We are not going up against taxi drivers. We are offering them an al- ternate form of dispatch. This is the future, we have to em- brace it – everyone in Cayman and globally has tapped into this type of technology.” Uber has proved contro- versial in some countries because of the competition it brings to traditional taxi drivers. But Ms. Smyth said that would not be an issue in Cayman, given Flex’s assur- ance of working with regis- tered cab drivers only. Payment processing for the app goes through Ber- muda-based First Atlantic Commerce, which provides secure credit card and on- line payment services for businesses. For more information, visit www.flex.ky. ‘Hundreds’ of instances of fake online profiles of Premier McLaughlin Flex had initially hoped to use private drivers but after discussions with government, they agreed to modify the plan to involve only taxi drivers licensed through the Public Transport Board. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Premier Alden McLaughlin Cayman ‘Uber’-like app morphs into high-tech dispatch service CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Meals on Wheels’ coin drive raises more than $30,000 More than 300 volunteers participated in the Meals on Wheels annual Change for Change Coin Drive, which took place on March 23 and 24 in Grand Cayman. The coin drive raised more than $30,000, which is enough to serve more than 6,000 meals, and coins are still being counted for a total tally, according to the charity. Meals on Wheels is ded- icated to providing meals for 223 seniors on Grand Cayman who are presently enrolled in the program, and the charity generally serves around 4,000 meals a month. Every month, Meals on Wheels labors to raise the $20,000 it needs to continue to operate, and the organiza- tion relies on approximately 100 volunteers weekly to de- liver the meals during their lunch hour. The volunteers commit to one day per week every week and use their own cars to make deliveries. Meals on Wheels pre- pares a nutritious hot meal and soup for the seniors every weekday. Organizers said the pro- gram would not be possible without support from the community and a generous grant from the Cayman Is- lands government. The fund- raisers are held to fill in the gaps in community funding. “I am overwhelmed truly by the wonderful support I saw … from our commu- nity,” said Erin Bodden, gen- eral manager for Meals on Wheels, about the annual Change for Change Coin Drive. “Everyone from the Girls’ Brigade to corpora- tions, small businesses, civil servants, churches and more. It is because of these vol- unteers and donations that Meals on Wheels continues to serve. Thank you so much for opening your heart and emp- tying your pockets for such a worthy cause.” Meals on Wheels relied on several sponsors to help op- erate the coin drive, and or- ganizations such as Daven- port Development Ltd., the Cayman Compass and Radio Cayman helped the charity cover costs associated with advertising, and providing volunteer T-shirts and the lapel stickers distributed. Several supermarkets, banks and local businesses participated in the drive. “Meals on Wheels is one of those charities I totally believe in supporting,” said long-time Meals on Wheels volunteer and supporter Tara Bush. “It covers all the objects of my life purpose, which is to bring peace to the world through nutrition. For nearly two years, I have been supporting Meals on Wheels as a volunteer and the sat- isfaction of delivering nutri- tious meals to our elderly cit- izens, plus talking to each of them fills me with immense gratitude. It is often the high- light of my week.” A member of the public donates to Meals on Wheels volunteers as part of the coin drive. – PHOTO: WIL BIGNAL-EBANKS Cricket legend Graham Gooch to visit Cayman Graham Gooch led the England team 34 times. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY APRIL 4, 2018 Britain to ban ivory sales Britain says it will ban the sale of ivory, no matter how old, to help protect the world’s elephant population. There will be exceptions for some old musical instruments and for works of art, such as portrait miniatures, that are more than a century old. Reservation highly recommended for this special night, Please call 945-4755 STEAKHOUSE A Rare Steakhouse, Very Well Done Celebrating Our 4th Birthday Saturday, April 4, 2009 For one special night, All of our valued guests will receive 10% off their entire bill. Opening Hours are 5:30 – 10:30 Nightly Located across from the Strand Shopping Center, 43 Canal Point Drive Reservation highly recommended for this special night, Please call 945-4755 STEAKHOUSE A Rare Steakhouse, Very Well Done Celebrating Our 4th Birthday Saturday, April 4, 2009 For one special night, All of our valued guests will receive 10% off their entire bill. Opening Hours are 5:30 – 10:30 Nightly Located across from the Strand Shopping Center, 43 Canal Point Drive Wednesday, April 4th 2018 For one special night. All of our valued guests Will receive 10% off Their entire bill. Opening Hours are 5:30-10:30 Nightly Located across from the Strand Shopping Centre, 43 Canal Point Drive Reservation highly recommended For this special night, Please call 945-4755 Celebrating Our 13th Birthday Trump calls for Republicans to use border ‘nuclear option’ WASHINGTON (AP) – Trump administration officials said Monday they are crafting a new legislative package aimed at closing immigration “loopholes,” hours after the president called on Republi- cans in Congress to immedi- ately pass a border bill using the “Nuclear Option if neces- sary” to muscle it through. “Border Patrol Agents (and ICE) are GREAT, but the weak Dem laws don’t allow them to do their job. Act now Con- gress, our country is being stolen!” President Donald Trump wrote in a series of sometimes-misleading tweets, fired off after returning from a holiday weekend spent in Florida with several immigra- tion hardliners. Trump also declared protections for so-called Dreamer immigrants “dead,” claimed the U.S. has “no effec- tive border laws” and warned Mexico to halt the passage of “caravans” of illegal immi- grants or risk retribution. “They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL!” he wrote. Trump has been seething over immigration since real- izing the major spending bill he signed last month barely funds the “big, beautiful” border wall he has prom- ised his supporters. The $1.3 trillion funding package in- cluded $1.6 billion in border wall spending, but much of that money can be used only to repair existing segments, not to build new sections. Among the measures the administration is pursuing: ending special safeguards that prevent the immediate depor- tation of children arrested at the border and traveling alone. Under current law, unaccom- panied children from coun- tries that do not border the U.S. would be placed under the supervision of the Department of Health and Human Services and undergo often-lengthy de- portation proceedings before an immigration judge instead of being deported. The administration is also pushing Congress to terminate a 1997 court settlement that requires the government to re- lease children from custody to parents, adult relatives or other caretakers as their cases make their way through immi- gration court. Officials com- plain that many children never show up at their hearings. The proposals appear the same as those included on a White House immigration wish list that was released in October but failed to gain traction during negotiations over the border wall. Such proposals are likely to face opposition from moderate Republicans and Democrats going into the midterm elec- tions. But Trump appears in- tent on ensuring the issues re- main at the forefront of public conversation, even though the omnibus was widely seen as the last major legislation likely passed this year. In his Easter weekend tweets and comments, Trump continued to blame Demo- crats for killing the Obama- era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program despite the fact that he was the one who moved to end the program. He also claimed DACA, which has provided temporary protection from deportation and work permits to hundreds of thousands of young people, is luring people to cross the border illegally, even though the program – and most proposals to replace it – have never been open to new arrivals. Trump spent much of the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago club, having meals with his family, watching cable news shows and rubbing elbows with conservative commen- tators including Fox News host Sean Hannity, according to several club members. Also spotted at the club: championship golfer Dustin Johnson, MyPillow maker Michael J. Lindell, boxing promoter Don King and former New York Police Com- missioner Bernie Kerik. Staffers with Trump over the holiday included policy adviser Stephen Miller, one of the chief architects of the administration’s anti-immi- gration policies, but not his chief of staff John Kelly or his elder daughter, Ivanka, both considered more mod- erate influences. Trump’s past calls to use the “nuclear option” – changing the Senate rules to require a simple majority of 51 votes to override a rule in- stead of 60 – have been re- peatedly dismissed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCo- nnell, who argues Republicans will welcome the filibuster if they return to being the Senate minority. The current split is 51-49 favoring Republicans. Notably, Trump’s favored DACA solution mustered only 39 votes in the Senate, meaning it could not have passed even if the Senate did approve the changes. Trump’s tweets calling on Mexico to halt “caravans” filled with immigrants in the country illegally came after a “Fox & Friends” report early Sunday that featured the leader of the union repre- senting border patrol agents predicting that those in the caravan would create havoc and chaos in the U.S. as they wait for immigration reform. About 1,100 migrants, many from Honduras, have been marching along road- sides and train tracks in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. These “Stations of the Cross” migrant caravans have been held in southern Mexico for at least the last five years. They began as short pro- cessions of migrants, some dressed in biblical garb and carrying crosses, as an Easter- season protest against the kid- nappings, extortion, beatings and killings suffered by many Central American migrants as they cross Mexico. President Donald Trump First person sentenced in Russia probe draws 30 days in prison WASHINGTON (AP) – A Dutch attorney who lied to federal agents investigating former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sen- tenced Tuesday to 30 days in prison in the first punish- ment handed down in special counsel’s Russia investiga- tion. He was also ordered to pay a $20,000 fine. Alex van der Zwaan’s sen- tence could set a guidepost for what other defendants charged with lying in spe- cial counsel Robert Muel- ler’s investigation may re- ceive when their cases are resolved. Among them are a former White House national security adviser and a Trump campaign foreign policy aide. Van der Zwaan had faced zero to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, and his attorneys had pushed for him to pay a fine and leave the country. But U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, citing the need to deter others from lying in an investigation of in- ternational importance, said incarceration was necessary. The criminal case against van der Zwaan is not directly related to Russian election interference, the main focus of Mueller’s probe. But it has revealed new details about the government’s case against Manafort as well as previ- ously undisclosed connec- tions between senior Trump campaign aides, including Rick Gates, and Russia. The allegations have also opened a window into the inter- secting universes of interna- tional law, foreign consulting work and politics. Van der Zwaan admitted in February to lying to fed- eral agents about his contacts with Gates and a person pros- ecutors have since revealed has been assessed to have ties to Russian intelligence. Though prosecutors did not take a position on whether he should be locked up, they stressed that he had lied “re- peatedly” to investigators. Van der Zwaan’s attorneys argued that he had suffered enough already, saying his life had already been destroyed by his “terrible decision” to lie to federal authorities. The at- torneys also pushed Jackson to allow van der Zwaan to re- turn to London as soon as possible where he lives with his wife, who is pregnant with their first child.8 WORLD&REGIONAL WEDNESDAY APRIL 4, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS Condolences can be registered at: www.churchillsfuneralhome.com We have been asked to announce the passing of Mr. Lenny Ray Pinet Trusty of Red Bay, George Town who passed away on Sunday March 25, 2018. A Thanksgiving Service will be held on Sunday April 8, 2018 at 3:00pm at Red Bay Church of God Holiness, 38 Lord’s Way, off Selkirk Drive. Viewing will be from 2:00-2:45pm. Interment follows at Prospect Cemetery. The family of the Late Ottley Earl Scott regrets to announce his passing on Friday, 23 March, 2018. Condolences can be registered at www.boddenfuneralservices.com & Bodden Funeral Service Facebook page A Service of Thanksgiving will be held 3:00p.m. Saturday, 7 April, 2018 at the Veterans and Seaman's Centre, Cayman Brac. In Lieu of Flowers, please make donations to theVeterans & Seaman Society of Cayman Brac & Little Cayman The family of the Late Jeffery Dyson regrets to announce his passing on Monday, 26 March, 2018. Condolences can be registered at www.boddenfuneralservices.com & Bodden Funeral Service Facebook page A Funeral Mass will take place at St. Ignatius Catholic Church 3:00 PM Saturday, 7 April, 2018. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to ALS Society of Canada at www.als.co or Cayman HospiceCare. Funeral attendees are asked to wear bright attire. Migrant caravan, raising concerns in US, halts in Mexico Netanyahu cancels deal with UN to resettle African migrants JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Ne- tanyahu on Tuesday canceled an agreement with the United Nations to resettle thousands of African migrants, caving in to pressure from hawks in his coalition who opposed the deal because it would allow many other migrants to remain in the country. The startling turnaround drew heavy criticism from Netanyahu’s opponents and raised questions about the embattled Israeli leader’s de- cision making processes. Netanyahu proudly an- nounced the deal with the U.N. refugee agency in a na- tionally televised news con- ference on Monday, saying it would benefit Israel and the migrants. But after coalition hard-liners attacked him, he announced late in the eve- ning that he was suspending the arrangement in order to consult with residents of south Tel Aviv. Veteran resi- dents of the working class area, where the migrant pop- ulation is concentrated, had felt slighted by the deal. After meeting with resi- dents on Tuesday, Netanyahu said he had weighed the pros and cons and he “decided to cancel the agreement.” Nationalist allies who dominate Netanyahu’s coali- tion had harshly criticized the deal because it would allow thousands of Africans to remain in Israel. Naftali Bennett, leader of the nationalist Jewish Home party, tweeted ear- lier Tuesday that the deal “is bad for Israel.” “It’s not enough to sus- pend it. I call on the prime minister to cancel it com- pletely. Its approval would cause generations of crying and determine a precedent in Israel granting residency for illegal infiltrators,” he said. Netanyahu announced the deal on Monday after a plan to deport the migrants to an unnamed African country, presumed to be Rwanda, fell through. Given the lack of choices, Netanyahu said his deal with the UNHCR was the best available option. It called for resettling about half of the 35,000 Af- rican migrants in Israel to Western nations, while al- lowing the rest to remain in Israel. It also called for dis- persing the migrant popula- tion throughout the country, and investing and rehabili- tating Tel Aviv’s impoverished southern neighborhoods. Dozens of migrants and their Israeli supporters pro- tested the suspension out- side Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem and government offices in Tel Aviv as he met with the neighborhood rep- resentatives. Some protesters stripped to the waist, draped themselves with chains and taped their mouths shut at a protest in Tel Aviv. Others waved signs reading “Human lives are not to play with. Yes to the deal.” Protester Daniella Elyashar called on Netan- yahu to “stop this political game.” Another protester, Ve- ronika Cohen, said “yesterday we were in tears of joy and this morning just in tears.” Labor Party leader Avi Gabbay slammed the sudden turnaround on Army Radio questioning if defense de- cisions are also made in the same manner. MATIAS ROMERO, Mexico (AP) – The caravan of Central Amer- ican migrants that angered U.S. President Donald Trump was sidelined at a sports field in southern Mexico with no means of reaching the border even as Trump tweeted another threat to Mexico Tuesday. “The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our “Weak Laws” Border, had better be stopped before it gets there,” Trump wrote. “Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is foreign aid to Hon- duras and the countries that allow this to happen.” The caravan that once numbered 1,150 or more people actually halted days ago in the town of Ma- tias Romero in the southern state of Oaxaca. On Tuesday, the group – mostly Hondurans – that had been walking along roadsides and train tracks prepared meager breakfasts with donated food. They were getting advice from Mexican immigration officials on filing for tempo- rary transit or humanitarian visas in Mexico. A couple of hundred men did break off from the march Sunday, hopping a freight train north, probably with hopes of trying to enter the U.S. But the rest seemed un- likely to move again until Wednesday or Thursday, and they probably would take buses to the last scheduled stop for the caravan, a mi- grant rights symposium in the central state of Puebla. Irineo Mujica, director of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, the ac- tivist group behind the an- nual symbolic event de- signed to draw attention to the plight of migrants, said the caravan would continue only to Puebla southeast of Mexico City, “but not in a massive way.” After the symposium, some migrants might go to Mexico’s capital, where it is easier to make an asylum claim. Mujica said about 300 to 400 say they have rela- tives living in Mexico and so may consider staying here at least temporarily. There were reports Mex- ican officials were seeking to end the caravan, but it was for all intents and purposes over anyway. The participants were never equipped to march en masse to the U.S. border or anywhere near it. The “Stations of the Cross” caravans have been held an- nually in southern Mexico for about 10 years. They began as short processions of migrants, some dressed in biblical garb and carrying crosses, as an Easter-season protest against the kidnap- pings, extortion, beatings and killings suffered by many Central American migrants as they cross Mexico. The organized portions of the caravans usually have not gone much farther north than the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, although some par- ticipants have then gone off by bus or truck to the U.S. border, moving as individuals or in small groups. This year’s event seems to have gotten more notice in the U.S., and Trump has sent some angry tweets that raised hackles in Mexico, which in recent years has detained and deported hun- dreds of thousands of Cen- tral American migrants before they could reach the U.S. border. “Mexico is doing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the U.S. They laugh at our dumb immigration laws. They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL!” Trump wrote in one. “With all of the money they make from the U.S., hopefully they will stop people from coming through their country and into ours.” Mexico’s interior secre- tary, Alfonso Navarrete Prida, rejected such pressure. “We will act with com- plete sovereignty in en- forcing our laws,” he said Monday. “Of course we will act … to enforce our immi- gration laws, with no pres- sure whatsoever from any country whatsoever.” In a statement late Monday, Mexico’s govern- ment said about 400 partici- pants in the caravan had al- ready been sent back to their home countries. “Under no circumstances does the Mex- ican government promote ir- regular migration,” the Inte- rior Ministry statement said. But it added that Mexico considers the annual cara- vans to be “a public demon- stration that seeks to call attention to the migration phenomenon and the impor- tance of respecting the rights of Central Americans.” The U.S. government has been kept fully informed of the sit- uation, it said. Asylum seekers march during a protest in the Negev desert, southern Israel. – PHOTO: AP A group of Central American migrants line up for dinner during a Viacrucis Migrante caravan at a sports complex in Matias Romero, Mexico, Monday. - PHOTO: AP9 WORLD&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY APRIL 4, 2018 ROBERT ORIZU IBEH, SNR. 17 JULY 1954 04 APRIL 2003 Dad, it's been 15 years today since you've passed on, and although no longer with us, you are still alive and well in our thoughts and hearts. Love, Your Sons, Robby, Andrew and Richard State burial set for Winnie Mandela JOHANNESBURG (AP) – Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, an anti-apartheid activist in her own right whose reputa- tion was sullied by scandal, has died. She was 81. Madikizela-Mandela will be honored by a state fu- neral on April 14, preceded by an official memorial ser- vice on April 11, said Presi- dent Cyril Ramaphosa after visiting her home in Johan- nesburg’s Soweto township Monday evening. Ramaphosa described Madikizela-Mandela in a televised tribute as a “cham- pion of justice and equality” and a “voice for the voiceless.” The woman many South Africans have described as the “Mother of the Nation” and a champion of the black ma- jority, died “surrounded by her family and loved ones,” according to a statement re- leased by Madikizela-Man- dela’s family. Madikizela-Mandela was the second of Mandela’s three wives, married to him from 1958 to 1996. Mandela, who died in 2013, was imprisoned throughout most of their marriage, and Madikizela-Mandela’s own ac- tivism against white minority rule led to her being jailed for months and placed under house arrest for years. “She kept the memory of her imprisoned husband Nelson Mandela alive during his years on Robben Island and helped give the struggle for justice in South Africa one of its most recognizable faces,” the family said. However, Madikizela-Man- dela’s political activism was marred by her conviction in 1991 for kidnapping and as- sault, for which she was fined. She faced these allegations again during the 1997 hear- ings before the Truth and Rec- onciliation Commission, a panel that investigated apart- heid-era crimes. As a parliamentarian after South Africa’s first all- race elections, she was con- victed of fraud. Still, Madikizela-Mandela remained a venerated figure in the ruling African Na- tional Congress, which has led South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994. She continued to tell the party “exactly what is wrong and what is right at any time,” said senior ANC leader Gwede Mantashe. The ANC, which was the main movement against apartheid, had lost popularity in recent years in part because of scandals linked to former President Jacob Zuma, who resigned in February. Nobel laureate and former archbishop Desmond Tutu, a periodic critic of the ruling party, noted her passing by describing Madikizela-Man- dela as “a defining symbol” of the fight against apartheid. “She refused to be bowed by the imprisonment of her husband, the perpetual ha- rassment of her family by se- curity forces, detentions, ban- nings and banishment,” Tutu said. “Her courageous defi- ance was deeply inspirational to me, and to generations of activists.” U.N. Secretary-General An- tonio Guterres called Madiki- zela-Mandela “a leading figure at the forefront of the fight against apartheid in South Af- rica,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Guterres said “she was a strong and fearless voice in the struggle for equal rights and will be remembered as a symbol of resistance,” Du- jarric told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York. Madikizela-Mandela had been in and out of hospital since the start of the year, ac- cording to her family. She had back surgery a year ago. After hearing of her death, some people gathered Monday evening outside Madikizela- Mandela’s home in the Soweto area of Johannesburg to sing tributes. She had attended Easter services in Soweto over the long weekend. The family said it will re- lease details of her memorial and funeral services when they are finalized. Madikizela-Mandela’s story was told in biographies and novels as well the Holly- wood movie “Winnie,” starring Oscar-winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson. The young Winnie grew up in what is now Eastern Cape province and came to Johan- nesburg as the city’s first black female social worker. Her research into the high infant mortality rate in a black township, which she linked to poverty caused by racism, first sparked her in- terest in politics. In 1957, she met Nelson Mandela, an up-and-coming lawyer and anti-apartheid ac- tivist 18 years her senior, and they married a year later. The first five turbu- lent years of their marriage saw Mandela going under- ground to build the armed struggle against apartheid, and finally to prison in 1963, while his wife gave birth to two daughters. Madikizela-Mandela al- ways was aware of the danger of being in the shadow of her husband’s all-encom- passing personality. Even before they were separated by Nelson Mande- la’s long stay in prison, she had become politicized, being jailed for two weeks while pregnant for participating in a women’s protest of apartheid restrictions on blacks. The apartheid police later harassed her, sometimes drag- ging her from bed at night without giving her a chance to make arrangements for her daughters. In 1977, she was banished to a remote town, Brandfort, where neigh- bors were forbidden to speak to her. She was banned from meeting with more than one person at a time. The woman who returned to Johannesburg in 1985 was much harder, more ruthless and bellicose, branded by the cruelty of apartheid and de- termined vengeance. In her book “100 Years of Struggle: Mandela’s ANC,” Heidi Holland suggested that Madikizela-Mandela was “per- haps driven half-mad by se- curity police harassment.” In an infamous 1986 speech she threatened “no more peaceful protests.” Madikizela-Mandela was the second of Mandela’s three wives, married to him from 1958 to 1996. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela listens to speeches during the memorial service for her ex-husband, former South African president Nelson Mandela in Soweto, Johannesburg, on Dec. 10, 2013. – PHOTO: AP MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) – Ni- geria’s Boko Haram Islamic extremists attacked two vil- lages on the outskirts of the northeastern city of Mai- duguri late Sunday, killing at least 15 people, the mili- tary said Monday. The Boko Haram militants tried to enter the center of Maidugiri, the provincial cap- ital of Borno state, but sol- diers repelled them, gunning down six armed insurgents and seven suicide bombers, said army spokesman Col. Onyema Nwachukwu. At least 83 people were injured and are receiving medical at- tention, he said. Residents of Maiduguri retreated to their homes Sunday night during hours-long battle marked by thunderous explosions and gunfire heard until the early hours of Monday. Troops prevented the in- surgents from entering the center of Maiduguri, but they detonated their bombs in the outlying villages of Bille Shuwa and Alikaranti, with one soldier among the 15 ca- sualties, said Nwachukwu. “Troops are still on the trail of the insurgents,” he said. “It is clear that the rem- nants of the Boko Haram ter- rorists are hell bent on re- maining relevant by attacking soft and vulnerable targets and therefore we call for col- lective vigilance by all secu- rity stakeholders and mem- bers of the public.” Nwachukwu warned res- idents to remain watchful and report any suspicious people or activity to security officials. A 14-year-old Boko Haram insurgent surrendered to soldiers after escaping an extremist enclave on the Lake Chad islands, he said. Survivors of the attack told The Associated Press that most of those killed by the suicide bombs were youths at a viewing center and were targeted when they fled after hearing gunfire be- tween the soldiers and the Boko Haram fighters. “The gunmen came with the suicide bombers, and as they were engaged by sol- diers, some of them sneaked into the confused, fleeing crowd and detonated them- selves killing about 15 people and over 80 others,” said Mo- modu Bukar, a member of a civilian defense force. Boko Haram attack kills 15, wounds 83 in northern Nigeria Borno state governor Kashim Shettima, speaks to a victim of Boko Haram suicide bomb attack as they receive treatment at a hospital in Maiduguri, Nigeria Monday. – PHOTO: APNext >