High of 90 Low of 78 Slight with wave heights of 1 to 3 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 A NICE IDEA TO KEEP CAYMAN BEAUTIFUL ALL YEAR LOCAL | PAGE 5 ‘FRESH START’ BRINGS HOPE OF REHABILITATION ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2018 Tropical wave brings heavy rain to Cayman SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com A tropical wave passed over Cayman on Tuesday, causing heavy afternoon rains and flooded streets. A forecast by the Cayman Islands National Weather Service on Tuesday morning said that isolated showers were expected for the next 24 hours, by which point the wave will move away. The local forecast called for tempera- tures to drop to 70 degrees at night and to rise again to 90 degrees by Wednesday morning. Allan Ebanks, a meteorologist for the Cayman Islands National Weather Service, said Tuesday afternoon that he does not expect the inclement weather to continue into Wednesday. “There’s a tropical wave going through right now. By tomorrow morning, it will be by us,” Mr. Ebanks said. “The wave will go through in the next 24 hours and then everything will be back to normal.” Tuesday’s downpour followed a bout of lightning and heavy rain on Sunday evening. Kerry Powery, the chief meteorologist for the Cayman Islands National Weather Ser- vice, said that weather gauges at Owen Rob- erts International Airport recorded just under one inch of rainfall between 7 p.m. on Sunday night and 7 a.m. on Monday morning. GUILTY VERDICTS IN ‘SHOE TREE’ FIREARMS TRIAL OPPOSITION: SUMMER WORK PROGRAM A ‘BAND-AID SOLUTION’ Defendant dashed from dock after verdict CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A jury of five women and two men returned unanimous guilty verdicts on Tuesday in the trial of Gerald Jaleel Bush, 21, and Rico Roy Walton, 29, on three charges alleging possession of unli- censed firearms. The mandatory minimum sentence is 10 years, unless there are exceptional circumstances. The men had pleaded not guilty, denying any involvement with the firearms, which were found by police in a black sock in the roots of what has become known as the “shoe tree” or “flip-flop tree” in South Sound in the early hours JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Government’s summer work program for job- less Caymanians has divided opinions, politically. Advocates of the program, like Commerce Min- ister Joey Hew, say it provides soft skills, work experience and a cash boost to those struggling to find work. But opposition politicians have labeled the National Community Enhancement program a “band-aid solution” that fails to properly address the islands’ unemployment issues. The work program, usually held around Christmas, was extended this year to include a summer installment. Around 500 people showed up at the Lions Centre Monday to sign up for the community cleanup, known as NiCE, which pays $10 an hour. Deputy Opposition Leader Alva Suckoo said the large turnout was a worrying sign. “The number of people turning up for the now twice-yearly NICE jobs program does not seem to be declining,” he said in a press release. “Such band-aid solutions, while appreciated by the people at the time, do very little to help with long-term employment. What I want to see Bodden Town boxing gym plan shelved JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Plans for a Bodden Town boxing gym, announced amid significant publicity during the visit of boxing legend Manny Pacquiao last year, have been quietly shelved. The Filipino eight-divi- sion world champion, one of the greats of the sport, vis- ited the Cayman Islands in January 2017 to host a fight night at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex. During that trip, in the run up to the 2017 general election, he joined politicians, including then sports minister Osbourne Bodden and Premier Alden McLaughlin, for what was described as a “groundbreaking ceremony” for the project. Officials wielded golden shovels for a photo opportunity and indicated the gym would likely be open by early 2018. Mr. Bodden, who was one of the primary drivers of the plan, lost his seat during the May election and little has been heard on the project since then. In response to questions from the Compass, govern- ment acknowledged that the gym was no longer part of its current plans. Christen Suckoo, chief of- ficer in the Ministry of Edu- cation, Youth and Sports, said, “Unfortunately, the project was not progressed beyond the de- sign stage due to a combina- tion of factors.” He said government had undertaken a heavy capital PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » Lightning streaks across the sky and appears to strike George Town during a spectacular thunderstorm Sunday night. - PHOTO: DREW MCARTHUR PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 »2 LOCAL NEWS WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS • Matinees Daily (matinee price before 6pm) • Seniors $8.00, Mon-Fri Before 6pm • Additional charges apply per 3D/VIP tickets 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) THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME (R) 1:35 I 4:20 I 7:10 I 9:50 BLACKKKLANSMAN (R) 12:35 I 3:35 I 6:35 I 9:35 MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE FALLOUT (PG13) 12:35 3D I 3:35 VIP I 6:40 I 9:40 THE EQUALIZER 2 (R) 1:00 I 3:50 I 6:45 I 9:25 VIP THE MEG (PG13) 1:00 VIP I 3:45 3D I 6:50 VIP I 9:50 TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES (PG) 2:30 I 4:45 MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN (PG13) 7:00 I 9:40 Ex-civil servant’s theft sentence adjourned Immediate imprisonment will be imposed, magistrate says CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Sentencing was adjourned on Monday for a former civil servant who pleaded guilty to theft and obtaining property by deception while serving as facilities administrator between 2011 and 2016. The total theft involved was more than $30,800. Trisha Marissa Jackson, 39, admitted in May this year that she had stolen $18,890 that had been paid for rental of the South Sound Community Centre between 2011 and 2017. Crown counsel Toyin Salako told Magistrate Valdis Foldats this week that the monies had been paid to Ms. Jackson by a volunteer with the Mothers and Toddlers playgroup, which met at the center. Those who attended paid $8 per session and the organizer paid the rental fee to government in advance, first on a twice-yearly basis and then annually. The group did not have a bank account and paid cash, Ms. Salako noted. The defendant started employment with govern- ment in 2011 and started stealing in 2011, Ms. Salako told the court. When the rental fee was paid, Ms. Jackson gave a re- ceipt, which was purported to be genuine but which turned out to be forged. When she did not issue a receipt, she sent an email. Ms. Jackson resigned from the civil service in Au- gust 2016. In 2017, the di- rector of her department raised a concern because there was no record of the customer’s rent payment. The woman was able to produce her records and re- ceipts, but internal inves- tigation showed that the cash paid had not been de- posited to any government account or with the Trea- sury Department. If the customer had not kept her receipts, she would have been in a difficult posi- tion, Ms. Salako observed. The money has not been repaid, she added. The other offense con- cerned Kirk Office sup- plies, to which Ms. Jackson sent unauthorized orders for products, along with in- voice numbers. On most oc- casions, she collected the items from the store herself. By this method, she obtained $11,924.68 worth of goods by falsely representing that the purchases were for legitimate Cayman Islands government business. None of the items were received by government. Ms. Salako said sen- tencing guidelines indicated a range of one to three years, with a starting point of two years. Aggravating features included the amount of plan- ning that had gone into the offenses and the fact that they were breaches of trust. Defense attorney Crister Brady spoke in mitigation. The magistrate had pre- viously ordered a social in- quiry report and a victim im- pact report. He indicated he would be considering those, along with all that had been said that day. He warned that the sen- tence he imposed would be immediate imprisonment, not suspended. The date for sentence was set as Monday, Aug. 27, at 2:30 p.m. Mean- while, he extended bail with a recognizance and surety in the sum of $1,500. Ms. Jackson resigned from the civil service in August 2016. In 2017, the director of her department raised a concern because there was no record of the customer’s rent payment. Trisha Marissa Jackson admitted stealing $18,890 that had been paid for rental of the South Sound Community Centre between 2011 and 2017. Visitor charged with DUI, gets curfew Man in stabbing case appears in court Crown withdraws charge of assaulting police CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A visitor with relatives in Cayman was released on bail with a curfew on Monday after spending the weekend in custody for charges that included driving under the influence of alcohol and as- saulting police. Omar Pineda Banegas, 32, appeared in Summary Court, where he pleaded guilty to driving a Toyota 4Runner when his alcohol-in-breath level was 0.195. The legal limit in Cayman is 0.100. Mr. Pineda Banegas pleaded guilty to three other traffic charges as well, all arising from an incident that oc- curred on Saturday, Aug. 11, shortly before 2:30 a.m. A Royal Cayman Islands Police Service press re- lease issued about the in- cident indicated that offi- cers responded to a report of a single vehicle collision in the vicinity of Boatswains Bay Road, West Bay, where a Toyota 4Runner had ex- ited the roadway. The release stated that of- ficers arrived and spoke to a man who identified himself as the driver of the vehicle. He appeared unsteady on his feet and showed other signs of intoxication, police said. When asked to provide his driver’s license, he stated that he did not have one. Police said that he was ar- rested on suspicion of DUI and while being placed in the police vehicle, he began to act in an aggressive manner, kicking one of the officers. He was taken into custody and breath tested. It was later determined that he had been driving the vehicle without permission. Appearing before Mag- istrate Valdis Foldats late Monday, and with the help of a Spanish interpreter, Mr. Pineda Banegas pleaded guilty to the DUI, taking and driving a conveyance without the consent of the owner, careless driving and driving without being licensed. Defense attorney Mar- geta Facey-Clarke asked that the charge of assaulting po- lice not be put. She sug- gested that the defendant’s behavior could be considered part of being under the influ- ence of alcohol. She also noted that he was staying with relatives in Bodden Town and the vehicle he had taken belonged to his sister. Another relative was in court and prepared to act as surety, the attorney advised. The magistrate observed that the assault charge was not in the correct form and he asked if it made sense for the Crown to review it. Crown counsel Garcia Kelly agreed. The magistrate said he would release Mr. Pineda Banegas on bail, but only with conditions. They in- cluded residence at a speci- fied address, curfew from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., prohibition from entering any liquor-li- censed premises, disquali- fication from driving and a surety in the sum of $950. The case was brought back on Tuesday morning, when Mr. Kelly told Magis- trate Grace Donalds that the charge of assaulting police was being withdrawn since it was not in the public in- terest to pursue the matter by way of trial. With the defendant ex- pected to be on island until September, sentencing was adjourned on the traffic charges until Aug. 21. Mag- istrate Donalds emphasized that the bail conditions, in- cluding curfew, would re- main in effect. A 22-year-old man ar- rested last week in connec- tion with a stabbing in East End appeared in court Friday charged with assault causing grievous bodily harm. Javonnie Silburn was remanded in custody and is expected to make his next court appearance on Friday, Aug. 17. The stabbing occurred on Sea View Road on the afternoon of July 31. Ac- cording to a police report at the time, the victim was standing outside a residence when a man known to him approached on a bicycle and stabbed him. TWO STABBED IN GEORGE TOWNCLARIFICATION Police are investigating a report of two men being stabbed during an alterca- tion in George Town early Saturday morning. Shortly after 3 a.m., po- lice received a report that two men had attended the emergency room of the Cayman Islands Hospital with stab wounds. Police said the injuries occurred at an event on Harbour Drive. The men did not sustain serious inju- ries and were subse- quently released. The Royal Cayman Is- lands Police Service has requested the Cayman Compass clarify that the wording of a press release issued by the RCIPS on Aug. 9 regarding recruit- ment stated that police had received 81 applications “from people meeting the minimum criteria,” rather than “suitable candidates,” as the applicants were de- scribed in a Compass story titled “Police open recruiting to foreigners” which ran in the Aug. 10 edition of the newspaper. With the help of a Spanish interpreter, Mr. Pineda Banegas pleaded guilty to the DUI, taking and driving a conveyance without the consent of the owner, careless driving and driving without being licensed.The islands’ most-trusted news source 3 CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2018 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. 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 findtheirownway” Monday’s turnout at the NiCE initiative was a statement on the willingness of Caymanians without work, to work. Some 500 people – one-third of the country’s esti- mated 1,500 unemployed Caymanians – braved long lines and stifling temperatures to sign up for the government’s National Community Enhancement Program, the seasonal cleanup project that pays temporary workers $10 an hour for their time and labor. Although the putting of extra money in Caymanians’ pockets tends to get top billing in government mate- rials, the NiCE program has at least two other objectives that are even more important to the individuals and the island: 1) providing opportunities for unemployed people to secure honest jobs; and 2) beautifying Grand Cayman’s public spaces. The beach and roadside cleanup initiative provides much-needed employment for Caymanians struggling to find jobs. The project offers those individuals a chance to prove themselves, in the absence of usual barriers to employment, such as lack of skills, gaps in work history, criminal records or past battles with substance abuse. And far from being “busy work,” the goal of the project couldn’t be more substantive – making Grand Cayman a cleaner, healthier and lovelier place to live, work and visit. It was a good idea for government to take its annual Christmas cleanup on the road in summer. Perhaps, here’s a better one: Offer full-time public employment to each NiCE partic- ipant who proves to be a capable and reliable employee. After all, keeping Cayman’s streets and beaches immaculate is an all-the-time undertaking, not a once-in- a-while endeavor. For the sake of arithmetic, let’s assume a full-fledged Cayman Clean Corps would constitute 500 people making $10 per hour. Accounting for pension and health- care, a force that size would cost government some- where between $10 million and $15 million per year. With a purported half-year public surplus of $201 million ($67 million more than expected), there appears to be more than adequate room in the government budget. For that public investment, our community would reap three key rewards: • First, the government paying unemployed people to work (rather than to remain unemployed) would immediately reduce reliance on government’s social services programs, including $50 million per year just on direct financial assistance, plus tens of millions of dollars in additional expenditures that are not more specifically accounted for in the government budget. • Second, since the Corps will be 100 percent Cayma- nian, nearly 100 percent of the wages will remain on island, recirculate through local businesses and feed the country’s growing economy. Among the 500 workers, you can be sure that any number of high-performers will rise to the attention of government and private employers, allowing these “shining stars” the opportu- nity to transition into the local employment pool. • Finally, and critically, a properly managed and deployed Corps would be an effective force in our country’s battle against litter and neglect of pride in our public places. Given the country’s thousands of visitors (whose minds may be occupied less on the next trash bin than the next rum punch), and cadres of local litterbugs (rela- tively few in number), cleaning up Cayman is a full-time occupation, and one which should engender genuine pride, for a dedicated task force of professionals … not an intermittent opportunity for evanescent armies of well- intentioned volunteers. We see no compelling reason preventing the govern- ment from transforming the seasonal cleanup program into a full-time public employment opportunity, beginning with the 500 applicants to the NiCE program. A NiCE idea to keep Cayman beautiful all year WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS A reminder: if you want peace, prepare for war WASHINGTON – Scholars have already debated for de- cades, and will debate for centuries, the role U.S. poli- cies – military, diplomatic, economic – played in bringing the Cold War to endgame and the Soviet Union to ex- tinction. One milestone was Ronald Reagan’s 1983 Stra- tegic Defense Initiative pro- posal, a technological chal- lenge that could not be met by a Soviet economy already buckling under the combined weight of military spending and socialism’s ignorance. But before SDI there was Ocean Venture ‘81, initiated by Reagan as president-elect. The protracted strategy, of which this enormous op- eration – 15 nations’ navies, 250 ships, more than 1,000 aircraft – was a harbinger, came to be referred to by some Soviets as the “Lehman strategy.” In “Oceans Ven- tured: Winning the Cold War at Sea,” John Lehman, a Navy aviator who was secretary of the Navy during Reagan’s first six years, explains the Navy’s role in the “forward strategy” that implemented Reagan’s Cold War policy. Reagan explained the policy when asked about it in 1977: “We win and they lose, what do you think of that?” Among Reagan’s early ac- tions – in addition to rein- stating the MX missile and B-1 bomber programs that President Carter had sus- pended – was to increase by 11 percent Carter’s fiscal 1981 Navy budget, and in- creasing by 15 percent the fiscal 1982 request. By 1980, there was rough nuclear parity, and the Soviets, with 280 divisions, had superiority of land forces. Reagan cam- paigned on building the U.S. Navy to 600 ships and using it for purposes beyond merely keeping sea lanes open to de- liver supplies for land forces. Those purposes included signaling U.S. confidence and ambition – what Lehman calls a “combat-credible for- ward naval presence” – in order to ratchet up psycho- logical pressure on Soviet leaders. So, in the autumn of Reagan’s first year, Ocean Venture ‘81 surged U.S. naval power into what the Soviet Union had considered its maritime domain, especially the Norwegian and Barents Seas. (And eventually under the Arctic ice pack, where the Soviets had hoped to hide nu- clear ballistic missile subma- rines.) By dispersing Ocean Venture ‘81 ships when Soviet satellites were overhead, the arrival of a large flotilla in northern waters was an un- nerving surprise for Moscow. This “transformative” op- eration, Lehman writes, “came as a thunderclap to the Soviets, who had never seen such a NATO exercise on their northern doorstep.” “In preceding years,” he says, “during the hopeful pursuit of detente and arms con- trol by Presidents Ford and Carter, such robust NATO ac- tivity would have been un- thinkable, as provocative to the Soviets.” Provocation was a risk worth running, but a real risk: “The Soviets were par- ticularly fearful of being at- tacked under cover of a for- ward U.S. exercise. Why? Because their own doctrine was to use military exercises to mask surprise invasions,” as with Poland in 1981. So- viet doctrine’s “central con- cept was a high-speed offen- sive launched [against NATO] under the cover of military exercises in East Germany and Czechoslovakia.” Lehman says that in 1986, with Mikhail Gorbachev inching crabwise toward acknowledging the Soviet Union’s terminal sclerosis, “the most delicate period of the Reagan naval strategy began.” Reagan would con- tinue to deploy and demon- strate the multiplying Amer- ican military proficiencies, but would avoid a triumph- alism that might provoke an anti-Gorbachev coup by the humiliated Soviet military. By the end of 1986, with the Soviets having learned that they could not inter- fere with U.S. aircraft car- riers operating in Nor- wegian fjords, the Soviet general staff told Gorbachev that they could not defend the nation’s northern sector without tripling spending on naval and air forces there. Thus did the Cold War end because Reagan rejected the stale orthodoxy that the East-West military bal- ance was solely about con- ventional land forces in cen- tral Europe, so NATO’s sea power advantage was of sec- ondary importance. Today’s naval problems posed by a rising China, par- ticularly in the South China sea, are unlike the problem of hastening the Soviet de- cline. Today’s U.S. ships are more capable than ever, but too few for comfort, as Lehm- an’s readers will realize when they consider what only the Navy can do. In the movie “A Few Good Men,” a furious Col. Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson) ex- claimed to his courtroom tormentors – Navy officers – words that are actually true regarding almost all civilians in this age of complex pro- fessional military establish- ments configured for myriad and rapidly evolving threats: “You have no idea how to defend a nation.” Lehman’s book is a rare window on that world, and a validation of the axiom that if you want peace, prepare for war. George Will’s email address is georgewill@washpost.com. © 2018, Washington Post Writers Group GEORGE F. WILL Today’s U.S. ships are more capable than ever, but too few for comfort, as Lehman’s readers will realize when they consider what only the Navy can do.5 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2018 Building Tomorrow Today CIBC Cayman Bank Limited Scholarship 2018 CIBC Cayman Bank Limited Invites applications from suitable quali ed Caymanians for an annual Scholarship to pursue an Associates or Bachelor’s degree at a local university. Candidates should have been accepted for the 2018 academic year. Successful candidates should have: • An interest in pursuing a degree in Business Administration, Accounting, Finance, Management, Marketing, IT or Human Resources • A proven academic record (GPA of 3.0 or higher) • Caymanian status or be Caymanian Email: human.resourcescayman@wi.cibc.com to obtain scholarship guidelines and application form Deadline for applications is August 17th, 2018 ‘Fresh Start’ brings hope of rehabilitation SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com Chris Myles conducts his work day just like everyone else. He’s up at 5 a.m., and he hustles to eat and get ready for work. He leaves at 6:15 a.m. and commutes into George Town, where he works for the Phoenix Group as the company helps to construct a new desalination plant at Cayman Water. He works in the hot sun for most of the day, and he’s on his way back home by 6 p.m. The only difference comes at the end of the day, when he goes back to Northward Prison. Mr. Myles, 38, is one of four inmates involved in the prison’s Fresh Start program to be back in the commu- nity and working on a daily basis. He said the program, which was initiated to give inmates a chance to learn vo- cational skills, has given him a new perspective on how he lives his life. “It feels good to get up every morning and know you have something to do,” said Mr. Myles, a father of three. “I look forward to it. I go to sleep every night looking for- ward to getting up in the morning. By the time I go back in, I get something to eat and do some exercise and call my kids. Then I sleep. By the time I close my eyes, it’s 5 o’clock again. I jump up, make breakfast and get ready for the day.” When it started last May, Fresh Start sought to create exactly that kind of story. Three companies – En- compass Cayman, the Phoenix Group and Clan Con- struction – initiated Fresh Start with a class of 12 in- mates learning carpentry and construction. Now, four grad- uates of that class are out in the workforce. Two of the four have been released, and two commute from Northward. The Phoenix Group em- ploys both Mr. Myles and Donnovan Petterson, another Fresh Start graduate. Brent McComb, one of the directors of the Phoenix Group, said that he’s been passionate about vocational training for years, and he brought Fresh Start to North- ward at the request of former prisons director Neil Lavis. Now, more than a year later, Mr. McComb is thrilled with the way the program’s grad- uates are performing in their jobs at Cayman Water and at the South Sound boardwalk. “It’s been phenomenal seeing these guys on the job site and how hard they’re working and how apprecia- tive they are to have the op- portunity,” Mr. McComb said. “On the South Sound job, it was coming to a close and we had 10 guys. The foreman had to get down to a small crew and he got to pick who he wanted to keep. He kept the guys from the Fresh Start program because of their work ethic.” The first stage of Fresh Start involved erecting a 30- foot by 30-foot building that will ultimately become the program’s teaching facility. The 12 inmates involved in Fresh Start are now working on exterior siding, stucco fin- ishing, interior framing and drywall. Mr. McComb and the program’s instructors hope to teach lessons on mechanics, engineering and plumbing at some point in the future. Mr. Petterson, a father of nine children, has found full- time employment with the Phoenix Group since his re- lease, and he’s hoping to set a positive example for his friends at Northward who are looking for a better life. “I must give thanks to Mr. Brent and the Phoenix Group, Clan Construction and En- compass,” Mr. Petterson said. “Fresh Start means a lot to me because it made a great change in my life. Right now, it’s working for me. And I wish the day will come that I can give back to the Fresh Start program.” Mr. Myles, who is in Northward on a burglary charge, can hope for a stable future. He has skills now that he did not have before he went to prison, and he said his family is thrilled with his new direction. “My kids love it. My wife loves it. She gets to see me every day,” he said. “She picks me up in the morning and she drops me off in the eve- ning. I’m in a better state of mind now. I’m ready now to have a full-time job and work to provide for my wife and my family. I always wanted to do that, but it was hard to get a job at the time. I was looking for a job for like two years but couldn’t find a job.” His co-workers at Cayman Water have treated him with respect, Mr. Myles said, and his peers at Northward have noticed that he’s turned his life around. Every day, he sees the building that the Fresh Start class built at Northward and he’s proud to have put the work in with his hands. “A lot of people in there are asking me if there’s any work out here,” he said on Wednesday. “They say, ‘I’ve stopped doing all the stuff I was doing. I really want to train and get with the program.’ “A lot of the officers, I think they’re happy for me. I’ve been trying hard. I have my family and my family means the most to me. I’ve been trying my best to stay out of trouble and get a second chance.” Mr. Myles said that North- ward’s staff is helping the in- mates improve their lives, and he singled out Aduke Joseph-Caesar, the prison’s deputy director responsible for rehabilitation. He said Ms. Joseph-Caesar looks for- ward to achieving rehabili- tation for inmates, but the journey to a better life always starts from within. “It’s just up to you to make up your mind and re- ally want to make a change,” he said. “It changed my whole state of mind since I’ve been doing it. Now, I feel I’ve got more hope when I get out.” From left, Phoenix group engineer Lenny Huffington-Britton, Donnovan Petterson, Cayman Water general manager Manuel Thomaz, Christopher Myles and Phoenix Group site supervisor Barry Alphonse. Two graduates of Northward prison’s ‘Fresh Start’ program are working with Phoenix Group, which is building a new desalination plant for Cayman Water. - PHOTOS: SPENCER FORDINThe islands’ most-trusted news source 6 works program and other projects had to be prioritized due to demand for project management personnel. He added that the funds secured during the design phase of the project were deemed insufficient to cover all necessary costs. During the 2018-2019 budget process, he said, the ministry also faced issues securing funds for a number of capital works projects. “Decisions were made to prioritize projects, and while the boxing gym project is still desired, it could not be prioritized over more critical projects at this time, such as the new John Gray High School project and capital works needed in preparation for next year’s CARIFTA meet that is being hosted in the Cayman Islands,” he said. SDKA International, the multinational company that helped bring Mr. Pacquiao to the Cayman Islands, had indicated that it would pro- vide equipment, including a boxing ring for the facility. Matthew Leslie, who was the promoter of that event, said he believed the company’s offer of assis- tance would still stand if the project were revived. A large crowd turned out for the groundbreaking event on the gym to hear Mr. Pacquiao endorse the planned project. “I myself come from humble beginnings, and it was because of sports fa- cilities like this I was able to meet the people who saw my potential, took me under their wing and pro- vided the best facilities for me to train and to be in- spired and motivated to pursue my dream of being a world champion,” he said at the time. WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS “Decisions were made to prioritize projects, and while the boxing gym project is still desired, it could not be prioritized over more critical projects at this time, such as the new John Gray High School project …. ” CHRISTEN SUCKOO, chief officer Then-Sports Minister Osbourne Bodden and Premier Alden McLaughlin were among a host of politicians and civil servants who joined boxing legend Manny Pacquiao for the groundbreaking event. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY Bodden Town boxing gym plan shelved Opposition: Summer work program a ‘band-aid solution’ is a needs-driven approach to providing technical and vocational training at the levels required to equip Cay- manians to gain employment and to remain employable.” Preempting some of those concerns in an inter- view with the Cayman Com- pass Monday, Minister Hew said the project did pro- vide valuable experience and job training for many. He said department heads used it as an opportunity to vet potential new workers for full-time employment opportunities. He added that the pro- gram also served as a timely, if temporary, boost for people who struggled to hold down long-term employment for a variety of social reasons. “It is about preparing people who have not been in the workforce for a while or who need some re- tooling,” he said. “We run the program like a real job and there have been persons that have re- ceived further short-term and even long-term employment through the government with this program.” Independent George Town legislator Kenneth Bryan said the program was a wel- come boost for many of his constituents. But, he said, the fact that so many people needed to sign up for a week’s work program amid an economic boom showed there was a bigger problem that needed to be addressed. He urged government to take a tougher stance with private companies, particu- larly developers, and hold them to account to hire Cay- manians. He said more could be done to assist Cayma- nians in getting trade skills through small scholarships for short-term vocational training courses. Mr. Suckoo also made the case for more investment in vocational training. He said government should determine the areas of highest demand for work permits requiring skilled labor and offer technical scholarships for Caymanians who could be prepared to take those jobs. He has also proposed that 10 percent of the money paid for every work permit be set aside for educating and training Caymanians. “Much more effort is needed to identify and assist those who need the training and skills to equip them to take advantage of available jobs on a permanent basis,” he said in his statement. “We need to give Cayma- nians a fighting chance. We cannot continue to pump money into the Needs Assess- ment Unit while increasing the frequency of these tempo- rary job programmes.” Guilty verdicts in ‘shoe tree’ firearms trial of June 25, 2017. The pair had been seen in a boat in the sound by officers aboard the po- lice helicopter. Trial began on July 30 and both defendants gave evidence. Justice Francis Belle instructed ju- rors on the pertinent law and summarized the evi- dence on Monday. The jury retired shortly after 10 a.m. on Tuesday and returned min- utes after 2 p.m. The foreman was asked for separate verdicts for each man on each count. On the second count, when he repeated “guilty” for Mr. Bush, this defendant made a remark about being sent to Northward and sud- denly left the dock, heading down the stairs that lead to the cells. A prison guard at- tempted to stop him, but he pushed past. Justice Francis Belle ob- served that Mr. Bush might be in contempt of court. Defense attorney Jona- thon Hughes asked if he might go down and speak to his client. The court clerk con- tinued taking the rest of the verdicts, which were all guilty. There was some ques- tion as to whether the men would be sentenced that day, but attorney Richard Barton, holding for Oliver Grimwood, asked for a social inquiry report for Mr. Walton, and Mr. Hughes asked for one for Mr. Bush. Mr. Hughes asked if his client might be given the opportunity to purge his contempt. After a brief recess, Mr. Bush came back into the dock and court resumed. Mr. Hughes commented that people involved in the trial process day to day might not always be aware of the “high emotions involved.” He said his client had had the chance to calm down and wished to remain in the courtroom for the rest of the afternoon. Justice Belle told the defendant that the court would not tolerate any further outburst. He said Mr. Bush had gone through the trial and should have been pre- pared for the outcome. He said he would not take any particular step at this time, but thought it important that Mr. Bush be present. Director of Public Prosecutions Patrick Moran, who conducted the Crown’s case, ob- jected to bail. After hearing details of the objections, the judge remanded both men in custody until Sept. 20. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Mattis: US needs Space Force RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – A U.S. Space Force is necessary to protect American satellites from being targeted by at- tack weapons in the hands of China and Russia, De- fense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday. Mattis’ comments came days after Vice President Mike Pence announced am- bitious plans to create a sixth, separate U.S. military warfighting service by 2020 to ensure American domi- nance in space. Speaking during a trip to Brazil, Mattis said repeatedly that the U.S. has no plans to put weapons in space, but he emphasized the vital and growing role that sat- ellites play not just in mili- tary operations but in the world economy. He recalled China’s use of a ground-based missile to destroy one of its own non- functional weather satellites in January 2007, which he suggested was a calculated demonstration to the United States of Chinese capabilities. “We understand the mes- sage that China was sending – that they could take out a satellite in space,” Mattis said in remarks to about 270 military officers and civilians at Brazil’s premier war col- lege. “Since then our intelli- gence services have watched other nations, including Russia, develop a space at- tack capability.” He was responding to a question from an audience member who expressed con- cern that the planned Space Force could lead to an inter- national arms race in space. Mattis said the U.S. cannot ignore potential threats to satellites that are crucial to communication, navigation, weather informa- tion and other underpinnings of modern life. “So this is a reality,” he said. “We are not initiating this. We are saying we will be able to defend our satellites in space. At the same time, if someone is going to try to en- gage in space with military means, we will not stand idly by. We don’t intend to milita- rize space. However, we will defend ourselves in space if necessary.” He did not say this meant the U.S. would respond to a satellite attack by attacking the aggressor’s satellites or with any other use of force. But that scenario is one that worries many who have warned that space could be- come the next global bat- tlefield. The U.S. military has worked on anti-satellite weaponry in the past but has no deployed weapon dedi- cated to that mission today. Asked later to elaborate on how the U.S. would re- spond to an attack on a satel- lite, Mattis said he preferred to maintain ambiguity. “I don’t tell adversaries in advance what we will do or what we will not do,” he said. “We will not stand idly by if someone tried to deny us the use of space.” He added: “I wouldn’t read anything more into” his comments. Mattis’ point about coun- tering the space capabili- ties of other nations was reinforced Tuesday by the State Department’s top arms control official, Yleem Poblete, speaking in Ge- neva at the U.N. Conference on Disarmament. She said that despite Rus- sian claims it wants to pre- vent an arms race in outer space, Moscow is devel- oping new anti-satellite mis- siles and has given its forces a mobile laser system. She also voiced suspicion about Russia’s deployment last Oc- tober of a satellite whose be- havior she said was incon- sistent with its supposed purpose of conducting in- orbit space inspections. “Russian intentions with respect to this satellite are unclear and are obviously a very troubling development,” Poblete said. Russia denies any hostile intent.The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2018 Bus crash in Ecuador kills 24 people, injures 19 At least 24 people were killed and another 19 injured when a bus careened into another vehicle at high speed in an area known as dead man’s curve at about 3 a.m. Tuesday and overturned on a highway near Ecuador’s capital, local officials reported. Dear Valued Customers and Partners, WE HAVE MOVED! We are pleased to advise that effective Monday 13th August, Aon Cayman has opened its doors at the following new location: Aon Risk Solutions (Cayman) Ltd. 18 Forum Lane, Ground Floor Camana Bay Grand Cayman KY1-1102 PO Box 10042 Aon Insurance Managers (Cayman) Ltd. 18 Forum Lane, Second Floor Camana Bay Grand Cayman KY1-1102 PO Box 69 Only our physical address has changed. All other contact information will remain; telephone numbers, fax numbers and PO Boxes. Any queries, please contact us at 1-345-945-1266. At least 26 killed after bridge collapses on Italian highway Manafort’s defense rests after calling no witnesses ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) – Paul Manafort’s defense rested its case Tuesday without calling any witnesses in the former Trump campaign chair- man’s tax evasion and fraud trial. Manafort himself chose not to testify. The decision by Manafort’s lawyer, Kevin Downing, not to call witnesses clears the way for the jury to hear closing arguments in the trial, now in its third week. Manafort is accused of hiding millions of dollars in income he received advising Ukrainian politicians. The defense has tried to blame Manafort’s financial mis- takes on his former assistant, Richard Gates. Defense attor- neys have called Gates a liar, philanderer and embezzler as they have sought to under- mine his testimony. Closing arguments in the case are scheduled for Wednesday morning. Asked by Judge T.S. Ellis III whether he wished to tes- tify in his defense, Manafort responded: “No, sir.” The deci- sion came after a more than two-hour hearing that was closed from the public. The judge has not given any explanation for the sealed proceeding, only noting that a transcript of it would become public after Manafort’s case concludes. Manafort’s decision not to testify and not to call wit- nesses came after Ellis re- jected a defense motion that the case should be dismissed on grounds the government failed to meet its burden of proof. Manafort’s law- yers asked the judge to toss out all the charges against him, but they focused in particular on four bank- fraud charges. The government says Manafort hid at least $16 million in income from the IRS between 2010 and 2014 by disguising the money he earned advising politicians in Ukraine as loans and hiding it in foreign banks. Then, after his money in Ukraine dried up, they allege he de- frauded banks by lying about his income on loan applica- tions and concealing other financial information, such as mortgages. Manafort’s lawyers ar- gued that there is no way that one of the banks, Fed- eral Savings Bank, could have been defrauded because its chairman, Stephen Calk, knew full well that Manafort’s fi- nances were in disarray but approved the loan to Manafort anyway. Witnesses testified at trial that Calk pushed the loans through be- cause he wanted a post in the Trump administration. Ellis, in making his ruling, said that the defense made a “significant” argument, but ultimately ruled the question “is an issue for the jury.” Prosecutors rested their case on Monday, closing two weeks of testimony that de- picted Manafort as using the millions of dollars hidden in offshore accounts to fund a luxurious lifestyle. MILAN (AP) – A bridge on a main highway linking Italy with France collapsed Tuesday in the Italian port city of Genoa during a sudden, violent storm, sending vehicles plunging nearly 150 feet into a heap of rubble below. Italian officials said at least 26 people were killed and others injured. A huge section of the Mo- randi Bridge collapsed at mid-day over an industrial zone, sending tons of twisted steel and concrete debris onto warehouses below. Photos published by the Italian news agency ANSA showed a mas- sive, empty gulf between two sections of the bridge. There was initial confusion over the exact death toll and officials were still searching for people in the rubble. Fire- fighters said two people were pulled alive from vehicles in the rubble and transported by helicopter to a hospital. The head of Italy’s civil protection agency, Angelo Borrelli, told reporters at a news conference in Rome that the collapse left 20 people dead and 13 injured. He said all the victims appeared to all have been in vehicles that plunged from the bridge. Earlier, an Italian trans- port official, Edoardo Rixi, had said that 22 people were killed and 13 injured in the collapse. Officials later said the death toll was 26. Borrelli said 30-35 cars and three heavy trucks were caught up as a 260-foot stretch of the bridge collapsed. Borrelli said highway en- gineers were checking the safety of the bridge at other points and that some areas were being evacuated as a precaution. He said they were still trying to figure out the reason for the collapse. “You can see there are very portions big of the bridge (that collapsed). We need to remove all of the rubble to as- certain that all of the people have been reached,” Bor- relli said, adding that more than 280 rescue workers and sniffer dogs units are at work. “Operations are on- going to extract people im- prisoned below parts of the bridge and twisted metal. “ Video of the collapse cap- tured the sound of a man screaming: “Oh God! Oh, God!” Other images showed a green truck that had stopped just short of the gaping hole in the bridge and the tires of a tractor trailer in the rubble. Firefighters told The As- sociated Press they were worried about gas lines ex- ploding in the area from the collapse. Italy’s transport min- ister, Danilo Toninelli, called the collapse “an enor- mous tragedy.” News agency ANSA said Prime Minister Gi- useppe Conte would travel to Genoa later Tuesday. “We are following minute by minute the situation,” Inte- rior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Twitter. The disaster occurred on a highway that connects Italy to France, and northern cities like Milan to the beaches of Liguria. It came on the eve of a major Italian summer holiday on Wednesday called Ferra- gosto, which marks the reli- gious feast of the Assumption of Mary. It’s the high point of the Italian summer holiday season when most cities and business are closed and Ital- ians head to the beaches or the mountains. That means traffic could have been heavier than usual. The Morandi Bridge is a main thoroughfare connecting the A10 highway that goes toward France and the A7 highway that continues north toward Milan. Inaugurated in 1967, it is 148 feet high and just over .6 miles long. The collapse of the bridge comes eight days after an- other major accident on an Italian highway, one near the northern city of Bologna. In that case, a tanker truck carrying a highly flam- mable gas exploded after rear-ending a stopped truck on the road and getting hit from behind itself. The ac- cident killed one person, in- jured dozens and blew apart a section of a raised eight- lane highway. Rescuers work to recover the injured after the Morandi highway bridge collapsed in Genoa, northern Italy, Tuesday. - PHOTO: AP8 WORLD&REGIONAL WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS UK police treat Parliament crash as terrorism, man arrested LONDON (AP) – A car plowed into pedestrians and cyclists near the Houses of Parlia- ment in London during the morning rush hour Tuesday, injuring three people in what police suspect is the latest in a string of attacks in the British capital that used ve- hicles as weapons. A rooftop camera re- corded the car driving past Parliament and suddenly veering sharply to the left, striking cyclists waiting at a set of lights before crossing the road and crashing into a barrier outside Parliament. Armed police surrounded the car within seconds, pulling a man from the vehicle. Police said the driver, a man in his late 20s, was ar- rested on suspicion of ter- rorism offenses. He was alone and no weapons were found in the car. “Given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method and this being an iconic site, we are treating it as a terrorist incident,” As- sistant Commissioner Neil Basu of the Metropolitan Po- lice told reporters outside Scotland Yard. Police flooded the area after the incident was re- ported at 7:37 a.m., cordoning off streets surrounding the heart of Britain’s govern- ment. The nearby Westmin- ster subway station was closed, and police asked people to stay away from the area, which is filled with gov- ernment offices and major tourist attractions including Westminster Abbey. Most of the cordons were lifted by mid-afternoon, apart from a stretch of road right outside Parliament, where fo- rensics officers in blue cover- alls collected evidence from the crashed Ford Fiesta. The suspect was not co- operating with police, and of- ficers were working to con- firm his identity, said Basu, who oversees U.K. counter- terrorism policing. No other suspects have been identi- fied and police believe there is no further threat to Lon- doners, he said. Basu said “we don’t be- lieve this individual was known” to police or Britain’s intelligence services. Eyewitnesses said the silver car was traveling at high speed when it hit pe- destrians and cyclists, then crashed into a barrier de- signed to protect Parlia- ment from vehicle attack. Two people were taken to local hospitals and another was treated at the scene. One woman remained hospital- ized Tuesday afternoon, but her injuries aren’t believed to be life threatening, au- thorities said. “The car drove at speed into the barriers outside the House of Lords. There was a loud bang from the col- lision and a bit of smoke,” Ewelina Ochab told The As- sociated Press. “The driver did not get out. The guards started screaming to people to move away.” Jason Williams also saw a car moving at high speed. “It didn’t look like an ac- cident,” he said. “How do you do that by accident?” Donovan Parsons, a cam- eraman for ITV’s “Good Morning Britain,” was filming outside Parliament when he heard a loud crash. “I saw the car crash into the barrier outside West- minster Palace, with smoke coming out of the ve- hicle. Police were around it, telling people to get back …. They dragged someone out of the car.” Prime Minister Theresa May tweeted: “My thoughts are with those injured in the incident in Westminster and my thanks to the emergency services for their immediate and courageous response.” U.S. President Donald Trump was less measured, tweeting that the crash was “another terrorist at- tack in London.” Trump added: “These an- imals are crazy and must be dealt with through toughness and strength!” Trump has a history of tweeting about violence, or alleged violence, in London. He angered many when he said a London hospital was like a war zone because of knife violence. Parliament has been a target for attacks several times over the years, and se- curity has grown progres- sively tighter. Concrete and steel barriers protect against vehicle attacks, armed police officers patrol the grounds and visitors undergo airport- style security screening. Since a series of vehicle at- tacks in London last year, con- crete barriers or bollards have been erected along bridges and beside some major roads to prevent cars mounting the sidewalk to hit pedestrians. The House of Com- mons and House of Lords are on their summer break, so lawmakers and some of their staff are not currently working in the building. Parliament was the site of an attack in March 2017, when Khalid Masood ploughed a car into crowds on Westminster Bridge, killing four people. Masood abandoned his car and then stabbed and killed a po- lice officer before being shot dead in a courtyard out- side Parliament. Less than three months later, a van rammed into pe- destrians on London Bridge before three men aban- doned the vehicle and at- tacked weekend revelers in the nearby Borough Market. Eight people were killed and 48 injured in the attack. On June 19, 2017, a man drove a van into a crowd of worshippers leaving a mosque in north London, killing one man and injuring eight others. The official terrorist threat level for Britain is “se- vere,” indicating an attack is considered highly likely. Police said the driver, a man in his late 20s, was arrested on suspicion of terrorism offenses. He was alone and no weapons were found in the car. India rolls out healthcare plan for half a billion people NEW DELHI – India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to roll out the first phases of a new health- care program on Wednesday that could bring affordable healthcare to a staggering 100 million families. First announced in Feb- ruary, the National Health Protection Mission will give poor families health cov- erage of up to $7,100 every year – which could go a long way in reducing crip- pling healthcare costs for half a billion people. At the time, Indian Finance Min- ister Arun Jaitley said this was going to be the “world’s biggest government-funded healthcare program.” It’s an ambitious plan that could have vast appeal among voters, but one that also faces major challenges. Experts say that even if the government can provide in- surance to so many people, India lacks the healthcare in- frastructure to provide even the most basic services for its population. Healthcare in the world’s most populous democracy is characterized by a yawning gap between the services available in urban and rural parts of the country and be- tween rich and poor. State- funded hospitals face huge shortages of beds and staff, and because of the scarcity of medical facilities in vil- lages, many have to travel for hours to cities for care. Medical costs are the number one reason people plunge below the poverty line, and millions of families fall into debt to pay for care. Modi’s plan could change all that, the government says. “This is going to be a game changer,” said Indu Bhushan, chief executive of- ficer of the program. India has seen a huge economic leap over the past three decades, but lags be- hind in social welfare and in quality of life indicators. A healthcare program of this scale – covering around 40 percent of India’s pop- ulation – could clinch Mo- di’s reputation as a leader who can deliver vast social change ahead of general elec- tions next year. India spends just 1.4 per- cent of its gross domestic product on healthcare com- pared with China’s 3.1 per- cent and the United States’ 8.3 percent, according to the World Bank. The cost of healthcare services has a knock-on economic cost – according to a 2010 study, 63 mil- lion people fall below the poverty line every year be- cause of healthcare costs, and over 70 percent of med- ical bills are paid out-of- pocket by patients. Even with the new public healthcare plan, how- ever, India simply does not have the doctors and hospi- tals to serve so many hun- dreds of millions. There is one doctor for every 1,315 people – most of whom work in private hospi- tals and live in cities, which means millions of Indians turn to quacks or traditional medicine when they fall ill. With this expansion of af- fordable healthcare, demand for services is likely to ex- plode. Bhusan said that there will be 5 million more pro- cedures in the country, and the need for 35 million more hospital beds. “In theory those beds exist, but in reality, those beds may not be there.” When asked how hospi- tals will cope, Bhushan said, “The market will do that.” Unlike the public sector, the country’s private health- care sector is booming. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, a business asso- ciation, estimates that the market will grow 15 percent every year and rise threefold by 2022 to $133 billion. And while millions do not have access to decent care, the country markets itself as a hub for medical tourism. The shortages in the public sector mean that around 70 percent of In- dians turn to private health- care when they are unwell, Bhushan said. But private hospitals can charge as much as 10 times more than their public counterparts for the same procedures. Bhushan said that 8,000 hospitals have al- ready signed up to the gov- ernment’s plan and have agreed to accept set costs for procedures. The govern- ment is also hoping that in- vestors will recognize the booming demand for health- care and build more hospi- tals in response. Critics however caution that relying private health- care is inefficient and could see increased disparity be- tween the services available to rich and poor. The private sector expects huge profits when investing in healthcare, said Ramanan Laxminarayan, director at the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, and the government’s budget con- straints simply will not be able to match their expec- tations. “The private sector wants more money than the government wants to spend,” he said. © 2018, The Washington Post Experts say that even if the government can provide insurance to so many people, India lacks the healthcare infrastructure to provide even the most basic services for its population. In this screen grab taken Tuesday, armed police train their weapons on a car that crashed into security barriers outside the Houses of Parliament in London, England. - PHOTO: AP Prime Minister Narendra Modi9 WORLD&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2018 Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for two (2) RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS to be awarded as follows: Candidates must have undertaken academic training sufficiently advanced to assure the completion of a Bachelor’s degree by 1st October, 2019. Married candidates can now apply. The criteria for selection by the Committees are as follows:- Proven Intellectual and Academic Achievement of a high standard is the first quality required of applicants, but they will also be required to show integrity of character, sympathy for and protection of the weak, the ability to lead and the energy to use their talent to the full. The closing date for Jamaican and Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholarships 2019 application is SEPTEMBER 30, 2018 by which date all completed entry forms must be received by the Secretary. (Candidates who do not meet the eligibility criteria for any constituency may be able to apply for inter- jurisdictional consideration or for one of the new Global Rhodes Scholarships). (a) The Jamaica Rhodes Scholarship available to candidates from Jamaica only; and (b) The Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholarship, available to all Caribbean candidates, including Jamaicans (at the Committee’s discretion). The Memorandum which contains Details of the Scholarships as well as the Application Form may be obtained from:- THE SECRETARY RHODES SCHOLARSHIP SELECTION COMMITTEE 21 East Street Kingston, Jamaica Contact: 876-922-5960 or www.rhodeshouse. ox.ac.uk Mexico: Lopez Obrador expands plan for Yucatan tourist train MEXICO CITY (AP) – Mexico’s president-elect announced an even more ambitious pro- posal for a train on the Yu- catan peninsula Monday that would link nearly all the region’s main tourist draws and cost double or more than the previously an- nounced figure. Andres Manuel Lopez Ob- rador had campaigned on building the tourist train from the beach resort city of Cancun down through Tulum and to the Mayan ruins of Palenque, 520 miles to the southwest. The new plan adds a western spur that could stop in the cities of Campeche, Merida and Valladolid – the latter near the famed ruins of Chichen Itza – and ul- timately complete the cir- cuit in Cancun. Lopez Obrador said the “Mayan train” would cost be- tween $6 billion and $8 bil- lion, compared with the pre- vious figure of $3.2 billion. He said it would be financed over six years through both public and private invest- ment, including tourism taxes that currently net about $370 million a year. What was to be 560 miles of track would rise to about 930 miles, and would be completed in four years “at the latest,” he said. Most of the route lies on land al- ready owned by the fed- eral government. “This will greatly stimu- late tourism and will create jobs in the southeast, which is the most neglected re- gion of the country,” Lopez Obrador said. The announcement amounted to a doubling down on a campaign pro- posal that had left some scratching their heads, and perhaps improving its via- bility by extending it along a well-traveled tourist route. The region is dotted by low jungle, wildlife reserves, pre-Hispanic archaeological sites, wetlands and under- ground rivers that can sud- denly cave in. Even the initial proposal would have taken years to build, and soaked up scarce money, to reach ruin sites like Calakmul, which now gets only about 35,000 vis- itors a year – the number better-known sites like Chichen Itza have in a week. The new plan would bring Chichen Itza into play, as well as Campeche and Merida, two gorgeous if sweltering cities known for their picturesque colo- nial buildings. For fans of Lopez Ob- rador’s initial plan, it’s all about getting people off the beaten track – the heavily traveled tourism route of Cancun-Riviera Maya- Chichen Itza-Xcaret vis- ited by millions of tour- ists every year. “Tourists today prefer other types of tourism proj- ects that are more in con- tact with nature …. They are showing less interest in the coast,” said Vicente Ferreyra, a Cancun-based consultant whose Sustentur company specializes in sustainable tourism. “They are turning more toward the jungle, and there is an opportunity to di- versify for markets that don’t just want sun and sand.” So, imagine if you could hop on a train at the Cancun airport and step off two hours later in one of the communities at the edge of the Sian Ka’an nature re- serve, south of Tulum, where the coast turns into lagoons and mangroves. Villages like Muyil are of- fering tours such as floating down fresh-water canals dug by the Mayas, visiting local pre-Hispanic ruins, seeing local craftsmen and sampling regional foods. Few doubt that the first stretch of proposed train on the Caribbean coast – from Cancun through the Riviera Maya to Tulum – would be heavily used. Almost 7 mil- lion international tourists visit this stretch of coast every year, many of them ar- riving at the Cancun airport and then taking buses or cars down the coast. While resorts have been popping up south of Cancun since the 1990s, most hotel workers still live in Cancun, which was founded in 1974. So huge numbers of tourism workers could also use the train to get to their jobs, a trip that can currently take them an hour and a half or more. But it’s not clear whether the train would have stops at Playa del Carmen or other busy resorts that would be destinations for the tour- ists and workers. The initial plan shows it making its only Maya Riviera stop in Tulum before heading farther south. It is the second, southern stretch from Tulum to the un- picturesque Maya town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, just southwest of the Sian Ka’an environmental reserve, then on to Bacalar, the state cap- ital of Chetumal, Calakmul and Palenque that raises more questions. Some see it as an expensive folly. There is little developed tourism infrastructure until one gets around the Bacalar fresh- water lagoon. And the route from there west is practi- cally undeveloped. “The biggest doubt (about the southern leg) is regarding the profitability of the project, based on tourism flows,” said Francisco Madrid Flores, di- rector of the Tourism and Gastronomy Department at Mexico’s Anahuac Univer- sity. “In southern Campeche, where Calakmul is, there are practically no hotel rooms.” That is not to say that Mayan communities there do not have something to offer tourists beyond sites such as Calakmul, a sprawling ancient Maya city-state al- most completely covered in low jungle. Five communi- ties in the low jungle around Calakmul already offer hiking, biking, bird watching, cave tours, kayaking and craft workshops. Historically, the largely Mayan southern half of the Yucatan has been locked out of the tourism boom that has enriched the northeast – around Cancun – that now is largely populated by non- indigenous Mexicans. But in part that is due to the logic of who has the white-sand beaches and turquoise waters loved by tourists. The south has them, too, but only on the Costa Maya, a narrow penin- sula running from Mahahual to Xcalak, an area the train apparently would not go to, although cruise ships do. In 2012, current Presi- dent Enrique Pena Nieto announced that he would build a rapid-train link con- necting the Riviera Maya with Merida, passing by Val- ladolid and Chichen Itza. The $1.5 billion project would have connected already de- veloped tourist destina- tions on a heavily traveled, well-known route. It was canceled in 2015 due to a lack of funds, but the idea now would appear to be revived with Monday’s announcement by Lopez Ob- rador, who takes office Dec. 1. “Based on the sheer num- bers of inhabitants, it would seem to me to make more sense to run it in the northern part” of the Yucatan penin- sula to Merida, said Ferreyra. In this Aug. 5, 2018 photo, tourists vist the archeological site of Tulum on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Almost seven million international tourists visit this stretch of coast every year. - PHOTO: APNext >