ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – WEDNESDAY, 15 MAY 2019 Flood threat an ongoing issue in canalside community Road raised to lessen impact JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com When ‘king tides’ sweep across Grand Cayman, the residents of North Sound Estates often find the ocean at their doorstep. Heavy storms or high tides can bring saltwater gushing through the storm drains and leave the streets of the canalside community flooded for days. Residents say their cars fre- quently suffer rust damage be- cause of frequent incursions of seawater. Some have built walls or raised the level of their driveways to fortify their homes. Now the National Roads Au- thority is working to raise the level of the roads that are most se- verely affected. According to Alva Suckoo, the legislator for the area, the devel- opment was not built high enough above sea level and is vulnerable to even mild storms. “It was not really filled to the level it should have been,” he said. In some places, the side roads, which spread out from the main canal in a root and branch struc- ture, were built less than 2 feet above mean sea level. The recom- mended building level to avoid flooding is more than twice that. The NRA is in the process of raising the public road to around 2.5 feet above sea level. This is ex- pected to reduce the number of occasions when seawater comes through the storm drains, but is un- likely to eradicate it totally. Suckoo said the NRA has warned that going to greater heights would risk raising the road above the level PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » Dog raid highlights animal welfare issues MARK MUCKENFUSS mmuckenfuss@pinnaclemedialtd.com Animal welfare advocates were horrified by the photos published last week when police and De- partment of Agriculture officials raided a Prospect home and recov- ered 53 small dogs being housed in unsanitary conditions. “That is absolutely appalling,” Caroline Johnson said of the im- ages showing dogs with matted hair lying in paper-lined cages, soiled with faeces. Police have said an investiga- tion into the suspected breeding farm is ongoing and no charges have yet been filed. That has not kept advocates such as Johnson, who is a director of One Dog at a Time, from mobilising to try to help. She and others are hoping the increased attention to an ongoing problem will lead to some changes. “I think it makes people more aware there are instances like this even on our fantastic island,” she said. “It makes people more willing to come and help.” She and others have been making calls to government offices to push for greater action on the legal front. Despite laws requiring a licence in order to have a dog breeding operation, no mechanism exists for issuing such licences nor for monitoring breeding operations. Prosecutions for animal cruelty are rare in the Cayman legal system. Casey Keller, founding director of Canine Friends Cayman, said the government needs to invest more money into making sure ani- mals are not mistreated. With only one animal welfare officer, she said, the DoA is understaffed in this area and needs more support. The agency’s animal welfare com- mittee has reportedly not met in several years. A request for information from DoA officials did not receive a response. The advocates interviewed for this story indicated it was not a matter of DoA officials being un- concerned about animal welfare, but rather of not having appro- priate resources. “The DoA has its hands tied,” Keller said. Attorney Selina Tibbetts studied animal welfare laws while at university in Australia. She said she has offered to help govern- ment officials rewrite some of the local laws to be more effective, but has not received a response. For instance, she said, when people adopt dogs directly from the DoA shelter, the dogs are not spayed or neutered before they are released. “They don’t seem to have a mechanism by which they enforce spaying or neutering,” Tibbetts said. “It’s a shame and it’s some- thing that needs to be looked at very carefully.” It’s one example of many things that are not getting done in the area of animal welfare, she said. “When it comes to the DoA, they may just have too much of a load,” Tibbetts said. “I think we’ve fallen behind legislatively and in enforcement in terms of where we should be. We have no proper an- imal welfare service here, really.” She said she senses a reluc- tance on the part of the govern- ment to partner with the animal welfare charities on the island. Ideally, she said, the two entities could work together effectively. “In Australia,” Tibbetts said, “the ASPCA can act as animal con- trol officers.” Pit bullPomeranian Shih tzu A tiny and intelligent breed that makes for a popular indoor pet. 3 popular breeds in Cayman A generic term for a number of breeds and crosses, pit bulls are illegal to import into Cayman. An ancient and sociable breed. Officials confiscated 16 shih tzus in a raid on a home last year. 30-85 pounds 3-7 pounds 9-16 pounds PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 »2 REGIONAL NEWS WEDNESDAY, 15 MAY 2019 • CAYMAN COMPASS BREAKTHROUGH (PG) 1:25 I 4:10 I 7:15 I 10:00 SUN: 4:10 I 7:15 I 10:00 KALANK (PG) 3:10 I 9:00 (SAT ONLY) I 9:30 (NO SAT) SUN: 3:10 I 9:20 LITTLE (PG13) 12:30 I 3:25 (SAT ONLY) I 3:50 (NO SAT) 6:50 I 9:45 SUN: 3:50 I 6:50 I 9:35 DUMBO 10:30 (SAT ONLY) I 4:35 I 7:15 (NO SAT) SUN: 4:35 I 7:15 CAPTAIN MARVEL 1:40 I 10:00 (NO SAT) SUN: 6:30 I 10:00 THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA (R) 1:10 VIP I 4:35 I 7:00 VIP I 10:15 HELLBOY (R) 12:35 (SAT ONLY) I 1:00 I 6:10 (SAT ONLY) I 6:45 SHAZAM! (PG13) 1:30 I 3:40 VIP I 7:15 I 9:30 VIP SUN: 3:40 VIP I 4:40 I 6:40 VIP 8:00 I 9:40 VIP KIDS CLUB: OVER THE HEDGE (PG) 10:00 (SAT ONLY) CULTURE AT THE CINEMA: THE TRAGEDY OF KIND RICHARD THE SECOND(R18) SAT ONLY: 8:00 • Matinees Daily (matinee price before 6pm) • Seniors $8.00, Mon-Fri Before 6pm • Additional charges apply per 3D/VIP tickets Cayman Cinema@cbcinema6cbcinema6 SATURDAY NIGHT: For your viewing pleasure, minors under the age of 18 will not be admitted to any film starting after 6pm, unless accompanied by their parent. - WEDNESDAY - 640-FILM (640-3456) THE HUSTLE (PG13) 5:10 I 7:30 I 10:00 POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU (PG) 1:30 I 4:05 3D I 6:40 I 9:15 3D THE INTRUDER (PG13) 1:45 I 7:00 STUDENT OF THE YEAR 2 (PG) 12:45 I 7:15 FAST COLOR (PG13) 2:35 I 4:20 I 10:00 AVENGERS: END GAME (PG13) 12:30 VIP I 1:10 I 4:20 VIP I 5:05 3D 8:10 VIP I 9:00 BREAKTHROUGH (PG) 3:45 I 10:05 Foreign Exchange Revenue from Services in 2017, CI$Million Venezuela exodus raises worries of babies being stateless CÚCUTA, Colombia (AP) – Arelys Pulido had already lost one baby in a neglected Venezuelan hospital where doctors and medical gear are in increasingly short supply, so when she got pregnant again, she decided to give birth in a foreign land. She packed suitcases filled with clothes and a few prized ceramic statues of saints that she hoped would grant her and her unborn child protec- tion as they passed through one of the perilous illegal crossings into Colombia. Earlier this year, Zuleidys Antonella Primera was born, a lively girl with dark hair and eyes bearing no hint of the odyssey her mother went through so she could deliver her in a hospital across the border in the city of Cúcuta. Yet little Zuleidys so far has neither the citizenship of the country her parents fled nor that of the nation where she was born. She is one of a growing number of children who have been left essen- tially stateless. “It’s one more thing to worry about,” said José An- tonio Primera, the baby’s fa- ther, a former military officer who now paints motorcycles for a living. While the children born to migrants qualify for Ven- ezuelan citizenship, they would need to formally reg- ister at a consulate or travel to Venezuela to obtain it. Both options are out of the ques- tion for many families. They do not want to return until conditions improve and con- sulates are closed after Presi- dent Nicolás Maduro severed diplomatic relations with Co- lombia in February. Colombia’s government grants the newborns full healthcare during the first year of life and allows them to enrol in school, but experts on statelessness fear that if Venezuela’s crisis drags on for years, they could ap- proach adulthood without key rights such as the ability to travel legally, buy property or get married. Colombia’s National Civil Registry counts at least 3,290 children born since December 2017 who have been unable to obtain citizenship. Rights groups contend the numbers could be as high as 25,000. Even by the lowest count, advocates say, the number of children at risk of stateless- ness now living in Colombia is worrisome. “It is a significant number when you think of it being created out of one crisis,” said Amal de Chickera, co- director of the Netherlands- based Institute on Stateless- ness and Inclusion. “And if it is prolonged and if it’s not nipped in the bud it can be- come much bigger.” Nearly 1.3 million Ven- ezuelans now reside in Co- lombia, about 40% of whom are in the country without any legal status. Colombia has received more Venezuelan migrants than any other na- tion, and the numbers are not expected to dip any time soon. Even with the border between the neighbouring countries officially closed, thousands stream into Co- lombia each day using the same dirt roads that Pulido crossed while pregnant. Colombia’s constitution only offers birthright citizen- ship to children who have at least one Colombian parent or a mother or father who can prove legal residency based on visa status. Many Venezuelan arrivals do not have a passport, let alone a visa. A temporary, two-year visa that Colombia’s government has provided as a stopgap measure to nearly 600,000 Venezuelans does not qualify babies for citizenship. That has left many babies in a legal limbo. Colombian officials say it is Venezuela’s fault that a new generation of children born abroad are virtually statelessness, but they are working on finding a remedy. “We’re all in agreement that exceptional measures need to be taken,” said Al- fredo Posada, a spokesman for Colombia’s National Civil Registry. A government proposal in the works would allow any Venezuelan child born in Co- lombia since the current ex- odus began in August 2015 to qualify for citizenship and is expected to be approved in the weeks ahead while legis- lators are considering a sim- ilar bill in congress. Statelessness first became an international concern be- tween World War I and World War II as the population of those fleeing persecution or excluded from nationality laws rose, said David Balu- arte, an expert on stateless- ness at Washington and Lee University. The issue caused height- ened alarm during World War II when Jews were stripped of their citizenship in Nazi Germany before being sent to concentration camps. Two United Nations treaties were created pro- tecting the right to citi- zenship, but today an esti- mated 10 to 15 million people around the globe are consid- ered stateless. Statelessness experts say the onus is on Colombia to rectify the status of Ven- ezuelan children born on its territory. “In the present mo- ment, these children would be stateless in Colombia, so the obligation is on them to grant citizenship,” de Chickera said. “That would be a really strict reading of the law, but I think it’s important to take into consideration that this is quite an extraor- dinary moment.” When born in Colombia, the children are given a birth certificate, but it clearly states at the bottom, “Not valid for nationality.” “The fact that the parent is an undocumented migrant shouldn’t mean that the child is born an undocumented migrant,” lawyer Xiomara Rauseo said. At the present moment, Venezuelan parents can try going through the courts to get Colombian citizenship for their children, but few have succeeded. Two cases are cur- rently being considered by the constitutional court, said Lucía Ramírez, a coordinator for investigations and mi- gration issues at the human rights non-profit Dejusticia. Others have tried going through the Ministry of For- eign Relations, which must consider any cases in which a foreign consulate does not provide citizenship within three months. Ramírez said Dejusticia is only aware of one case that has succeeded to date. That child, how- ever, was not born to Vene- zuelan migrants. “It’s not a pathway that people are using,” she said. At the Erasmo Meoz Uni- versity Hospital in the border city of Cúcuta, parents clutching newborns stand outside a registry office, eager to ink their children’s feet and obtain their official birth record, only to find out the country is not granting them citizenship. Colombia’s government grants the newborns full healthcare during the first year of life and allows them to enrol in school, but experts on statelessness fear that if Venezuela’s crisis drags on for years, they could approach adulthood without key rights. Two-month-old Zuleidys Antonella Primera, held here after having her feet prints taken for her birth certificate in Colombia, is one of many children born abroad to Venezuelan migrants who faces the possibility of statelessness. - PHOTO: APThe islands’ most-trusted news source 3 CAYMAN COMPASS WEDNESDAY, 15 MAY 2019 L ocaL S wimmerS and a B ackyard o rchid G arden . All of the stunning orchids used in the campaign were captured in the backyard orchid garden of Juliette Nicholas of Frank Sound, Grand Cayman. Juliette is a member of the Cayman Islands Orchid Society and has been cultivating her garden for years. Now, a whole new audience can enjoy all those years of hard work. Orchid from Juliette Nicholas’ garden Gabe and Courtney swim toward purple orchid lower Divers” was produced for the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism to dramatise the islands’ natural beauty both above and below sea level. Local residents Gabe Rabess, Courtney McTaggart, Shaquin Rankine, and Coral Tomascik were the snorkellers seen swimming up to larger-than-life orchids, combining the best of both Cayman worlds. “ F Snorkellers Gabe Rabess and Courtney McTaggart d ream i n c ayman . comThe 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 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 PUBLISHER KATHLEEN CAPETTA EXECUTIVE EDITOR PATRICK BRENDEL A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will find their own way” WEDNESDAY, 15 MAY 2019 • CAYMAN COMPASS When it comes to ‘trash talk’, our position is: the more, the better. Now, we are not referring to the sort of back-and-forth that takes place on playground basketball courts, but, more literally, communications about solid waste management. Accordingly, we welcome and support the Depart- ment of Environmental Health’s ongoing public education initiative to raise awareness among residents “about the importance of adequately packaging and handling house- hold garbage”. For example, place garbage in large trash bags, and then place those trash bags inside an airtight container with a tightly fitted cover and easy-to-grip handles. Those simple, common-sense measures will prevent garbage from getting soaked when it rains, being blown down neighbourhood streets when it’s windy, and being ripped into and scattered by feral chickens and dogs when they are hungry (which is always). Importantly, properly packaging household waste makes the tough jobs of our DEH collection crews that much easier. In the spirit of public communication, this also seems like a good time for DEH to give an update about steps taken to correct problems identified in an internal gov- ernment audit. Completed last September and released to the Compass following an open records request, the report revealed that overtime payments, mostly to trash collectors and landfill workers, exceeded the 18-month budget by nearly $2 million in 2016/17. As we reported last year, an investigation by the Internal Audit Service concluded there had most likely been deliberate abuse of the overtime system, and auditors highlighted the potential for a “formal fraud investigation”. The chief officer responsible for environmental health, Jennifer Ahearn, ordered the audit investigation when the extent of overtime spending was discovered in November 2017. Shortly after that, DEH Director Roydell Carter was placed on leave, and some 10 months later, the ministry released a statement saying Carter had “opted to retire” from government. The Compass has filed an open records request for information about the circumstance of Carter’s departure, with the government resisting the release of such details. The case is currently before the Ombudsman. Auditors’ recommendations included review of key managers and “corrective” or disciplinary action; intro- ducing “thresholds” above which overtime spending must be reported to the ministry; and creating an action plan to reduce overtime. Of course, we cannot discuss Cayman’s solid waste management system without mentioning the 90-foot- high elephant in the room: the George Town landfill. Since Dart’s construction company DECCO and its partners won a competitive bidding process in October 2017, Dart and government have been hashing out the details of a 25-year programme to cap and remediate the existing landfill, and design, build, finance, operate and maintain a new waste-to-energy facility. The Outline Business Case for the project, published in September 2016, estimated the construction cost of the new facility at more than $100 million, and the 25-year operating cost at about $425 million (offset by revenues of $270 million, including $108 million in electricity sales from the waste-to-energy plant). In March, Dart’s waste management chief Martin Edelenbos predicted it would take until late spring or summer for the government contract to be finalised … in other words, any day now, hopefully. Solid waste management is no different from most civic issues, in that communication is key to the effective and efficient performance of public duties. That goes for the responsibilities of household residents, the accounta- bility of the civil service, and the accomplishment of what would be an extraordinary capital works project. Being responsible for solid waste management Space plans stir up old fights in science fiction HENRY FARRELL Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos on Thursday debuted a new lunar landing module, to be constructed by his space exploration company, Blue Origin. As he has in previous speeches, Bezos – who also owns The Washington Post – made it clear that the moon is only the beginning. He wants to help kick-start a new multigenerational era of space exploration, which would culminate in millions of human beings living in space colonies. His vision is spurred by the ideas of the physicist Gerard K. O’Neill, who pro- posed such colonies a gen- eration ago, but it is firmly embedded in debates within science fiction. O’Neill was engaged in fights that spanned science fiction and space exploration. New fights have emerged over the inter- vening decades. These fights help to explain the politics around Bezos’s proposal. O’Neill was opposed to traditional proposals for space colonisation, which aimed at colonising planets. In his presentation, Bezos played excerpts from a fa- mous televised argument be- tween O’Neill and the famous science fiction writer Isaac Asimov over the genre’s lack of imagination. Asimov used the term “planetary chau- vinism” to refer to the sys- tematic bias of science fiction toward planetary exploration. O’Neill proposed an alterna- tive vision in which human beings would not seek to col- onise planets, but instead build their own enclosed cy- lindrical space habitats. Some people – including Bezos’s chief rival in priva- tised space entrepreneur- ship, Elon Musk – have taken up the traditional idea of colonising other planets. Musk wants to get people to Mars. Bezos attended O’Neill’s lectures and was clearly convinced by many of his arguments. The more fundamental de- bate is over whether human beings should colonise space at all. Charles Stross, for ex- ample, has written a classic rejoinder to both O’Neill’s arguments about the ‘High Frontier’ of space and pro- posals for planetary coloni- sation. Space is really big, and really hostile to DNA- based life. More recently, Kim Stanley Robinson, author of a classic series of books about ‘terraforming’ Mars to make it more friendly to human life has written a novel about in- terstellar exploration, ‘Au- rora’, that is clearly intended to push back against the fas- cination with space explo- ration as an alternative to fixing our problems on Earth. One side of this fight is driven by concerns over ine- quality and global warming. Writers like Robinson worry that we have only one world – and we are screwing it up. They suggest that dreams of solar and extrasolar coloni- sation are ways of ducking the real fight over figuring out how to prevent the one environment that we know human beings can inhabit – the planet Earth – from being irrevocably degraded. The other side is driven by the belief that there are effec- tively infinite resources avail- able – once human beings figure out how to sustain a version of their civilisation in space. Bezos argues that human beings either face a future of rationed resources or a future of infinitely ex- panding possibilities. He wants human beings to make the leap to space – and is prepared to put billions of dollars behind this ambition. Unsurprisingly, this dis- agreement sometimes spills over into politics. The prom- inent science fiction writer Neal Stephenson’s recent novel ‘Seveneves’ depicts hu- mans having to flee the Earth at short notice when it be- comes uninhabitable. One of the major characters is a thinly disguised and un- sympathetic portrait of Hillary Clinton. Poul Ander- son’s 1989s novel, ‘The Boat of a Million Years’, presents an equally unflattering cari- cature of a politician based on the-late senator Edward Kennedy impeding the space program in favour of social spending. Other novels by writers such as Paolo Baciga- lupi depict humans trapped in a world that has been ru- ined by global warming, while the triple Hugo-win- ning ‘Broken Earth’ trilogy by N.K. Jemisin shows humans being overwhelmed by vast geological forces. To say that these fights are science fictional is not to dismiss them. As writers like the late Thomas Disch have emphasised, science fiction has had an extraordinarily influential role in setting the scale of our social ambitions (Disch lamented that the lit- erary science fiction writers whom he favoured, like Ur- sula Le Guin, Gene Wolfe and Paul Park, had less influence than those who were more interested in the engineering). Science fiction (and closely associated forms of nonfic- tion) provide the basic intel- lectual vocabulary that we use to think about big issues that connect technology, so- ciety and the environments we live in. As these issues be- come existential, science fic- tion is becoming increas- ingly important. Henry Farrell is professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. © 2019, Washington Post News Service Bezos argues that human beings either face a future of rationed resources or a future of infinitely expanding possibilities. He wants human beings to make the leap to space – and is prepared to put billions of dollars behind this ambition.The islands’ most-trusted news source 5 CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY, 15 MAY 2019 ECONOMIC FORUM 2019 MINISTRY OF FINANCE & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Friday, May 31, 2019 12:00 - 6:30 p.m. Kimpton Seafire Resort & Spa REGISTER NOW AT www.caymanchamber.ky Tickets are $50 and include lunch, coffee break and cocktail reception Join leading industry executives, senior government officials, policy advisors, academics and change agents as we discuss ways to sustainably grow our economy to improve the quality of life for all Cayman residents. Presentations and panel discussions will include: • Balancing population, infrastructure and economic growth • Economic substance - opportunities and challenges • Preparing Cayman's future workforce and the new WORC strategy • Growing a sustainable tourism product THE HON. ROY MCTAGGART Minister for Finance and Economic Development KEY NOTE SPEAKER EXPLORING THE THEME: ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY6 LOCAL NEWS WEDNESDAY, 15 MAY 2019 • CAYMAN COMPASS Drama students set for big stage Local businesses deflated over worldwide helium shortage SWIMMERS CAMPAIGN FOR WATER SAFETY VICTORIA WHEATON vwheaton@pinnaclemedialtd.com The familiar sight of air- borne balloons at birthday parties and weddings may be a decidedly more earthbound visual in the future. In the past week, news re- ports have indicated there is a worldwide shortage of ac- cessible helium, with no im- mediate solution in sight. Local businesses are al- ready feeling the effects and are in the process of coming up with alternative ways to use balloons without relying on the precious gas. “Obviously we depend on things being shipped to us,” said Founder and Cre- ative Director of Celebra- tions, Jo-Anne Brown, “and with this being a worldwide problem, we’re having to be more creative with our de- signs by incorporating more air-filled balloons”. She further stated that they will have to start ra- tioning their helium, as it looks like this will be the sit- uation for a while. Sharleen Duval, owner of It’s Your Party, said that they have upped their air-filled game and have not yet seen a downturn in business. “We’re looking at a long- term alternative, perfecting our air-filled balloon de- signs,” Duval said. “As a re- sult, we still have a supply of helium.” She did acknowledge that at some point, they will run out. “Right now, it’s looking like it won’t be easily avail- able until 2020,” she said. Party City announced on Thursday that it was closing 45 of its stores in the US, stating that the increasing scarcity of helium had con- tributed to the decision. Party & Halloween Re- tailer magazine spoke with Greg Nash of AGP Helium about the shortage, who said that the issue actually began in 2017 when the ports in Qatar were blocked by sur- rounding countries. “Qatar produces almost 30 percent of the world’s helium,” Nash said. “The countries bor- dering it accused [it] of sup- porting terrorism and har- bouring terrorists.” The US Bureau of Land Management controls ap- proximately 70% of the world’s helium, and holds an auction each year to sell a portion of it. Last September, the portion sold for 135% more than the previous year. Although the effects on everyone’s favourite floating décor may be the first con- cern, not to mention the worst case scenario of the beloved Goodyear Blimp possibly being grounded, it should be noted that helium is also used by scientists, the automobile industry, in med- ical equipment and for space exploration, among other applications. At present, exploration data seems to point to large reserves in Tanzania. Helium One, a company created by Australian geologists, an- nounced from early analysis that the country could hold as much as 98.9 billion cubic feet. This would make it one of the world’s top producers. Helium is a nonrenew- able resource, extracted from natural gas mining. There is no chemical or cost-effective way of manufacturing it. JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman’s swimmers are beginning a safety cam- paign in an effort to reduce the number of deaths in the island’s waters. The Cayman Islands Amateur Swimming Associ- ation has produced a video with water safety tips, and will be posting similar public service advice in bus shelters around the island. Longer term, the asso- ciation would like to see swimming and water safety basics become part of the school curriculum. The campaign launched Wednesday to coin- cide with the Red Cross National Water Safety Day, a US-based promo- tional campaign. “We are surrounded by water. You are never more than two or three miles from the coast,” said Steve Broadbelt, public relations officer for of CIASA. “Still, there is a lack of education. Swimming is not part of the curric- ulum, so learning to swim is optional.” He said swimming had become a compulsory part of the PE curriculum on Cayman Brac. Once new pool facilities, including a national aquatics centre and a YMCA pool, are built on Grand Cayman, he believes it will be easier for the larger island to follow suit. “It would be a mas- sive step forward for water safety on the island if we could get every child of pri- mary school age to learn to swim and to learn some safety basics.” The CIASA campaign is aimed mainly at the is- land’s residents. It includes numerous water safety tips. Broadbelt said the most important advice was for people to never swim alone, and for boaters to wear life jackets. “If people could re- member just those two things, we would go a long way to making the is- lands safer.” There were 12 con- firmed water-related deaths last year, and three other fatalities in and around Cayman’s waters. So far in 2019, there have been five water-related deaths. Broadbelt said the campaign hoped to have an impact in reducing that number. JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A group of young actors from John Gray High School are hoping for the chance to prove themselves on the big stage at the Caribbean Sec- ondary School Drama Fes- tival in St. Lucia. There’s just one catch. The students are some $38,000 short of their fundraising goal to get on the plane for the prestigious event. The group are putting on an encore performance of the play, ‘Africa Slingshot’, at the Harquail Theatre next week in an effort to raise money for the trip. Their teacher, Lesley- Ann Bernard, head of drama at John Gray, is also ap- pealing to corporate sponsors to lend a hand. She said the students had brought down the house when they put on the play, by Trinidadian writer Cicely Waite-Smith, at the Prospect Playhouse in December. Now they have been in- vited to join other drama groups from across the Car- ibbean at the festival. They will take part in a series of workshops and pit their play against other countries in a performing arts equivalent of the CARIFTA track and field competition. Bernard said it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportu- nity for the group to repre- sent their country. They planned and ex- ecuted every aspect of the original performance, from costume design and mar- keting to stage management and lighting, as part of their Year 11 BTEC course. She said putting on the play had given her students a new sense of belief in themselves. “I have seen dramatic turnarounds in their confi- dence levels. For anyone to take a production from page to stage, you are talking about hours of rehearsals. For them to do that in three months, they had to be very motivated. “I think to go to St. Lucia is important, not just for the craft, but because it shows them we are able to do more than we think we can.” The play, ‘Africa Sling- shot’, is a satirical comedy with a powerful message about the importance of un- derstanding your own history and culture. Bernard said she had spe- cifically chosen it because it was something she felt the children could relate to. “It is a very Caribbean play and I feel Cayman stu- dents are perhaps not ex- posed enough to themselves. We should see ourselves in our art,” she said. Janicka Ebanks played the role of Miss Mary, a strict Christian grandmother who also dabbles in Obeah, in the play. Janicka, who was also part of the fundraising and marketing team for the orig- inal production, said she was hopeful to get the chance to take the play to St. Lucia. “We are going to blow this up and put Cayman up there.” Janieka Barnette, who played the role of a villager and helped with costume de- sign, said the students had already learned a lot from putting on the play. “It was very nerve-racking. We had to do a lot of work to get ready for it, but at the end of the day, we pulled it off.” Alexander Angel had one of the trickier parts in the play. In the role of ‘Big Syd’, he had to pretend to be hyp- notised into believing he was a rhinoceros. “I just went nuts,” he said. Bernard said the students had done themselves proud and she believes they will represent Cayman well. The students will perform their play at the Harquail Theatre on 21 May. There will be a 6:30pm drinks reception and fundraising activities be- fore the performance. For more information or to find out how to contribute, email Bernard at LBernard@jghs.edu.ky. “ I think to go to St. Lucia is important, not just for the craft, but because it shows them we are able to do more than we think we can.” LESLEY-ANN BERNARD, head of drama at John Gray Sharleen Duval, owner of It’s Your Party, said that they have upped their air-filled game and have not yet seen a downturn in business. The students took the play from script to stage in less than three months as part of their course. Drama teacher Lesley-Ann Bernard and her students accept applause from the crowd after their performance last year. John Gray High School students put on the play ‘Africa Slingshot’ at Prospect Playhouse last year. Sharleen Duval, owner of It’s Your Party, says her business is still able to keep its balloon offering afloat. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY7 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY, 15 MAY 2019 Accommodations (condominiums/villas & hotels) Watersports Restaurants Allied, Attractions & Transportation (Allied includes retail, services, media, arts & entertainment) Nominations Deadline Extended to May 24 th Celebrating the Magic of Tourism Visit www.cita.ky/stingrayawards to submit nominations and buy tickets to the Awards set for July 23 rd at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman CITA members may nominate top performers(manager or employee) in the following categories as well as nominate for a Rising Star or Diamond Award (Long Service): STINGRAY awardsawards TOURISM ent Cancer registry seeks to tackle stigma The battle against cancer may really start with a battle against stigma. The Cayman Islands Cancer Registry has identi- fied stigma as a major ob- stacle of cancer surveillance locally and a contributing factor to the lack of data and registries in the Caribbean. The Cayman Islands Cancer Registry now has 443 registrants, and people registered at a 20% higher clip in 2018 than they did in 2017. May is Cancer Re- search Month, and one of the goals is to raise global awareness of the disease and open channels for public discussion and sharing of information. “I think sometimes people in the Cayman Islands choose not to join a registry because cancer is something very personal and they still don’t feel comfortable talking about it with others,” said Cayman Islands Cancer Reg- istrar Amanda Nicholson as part of an official press re- lease. “Stigma around this disease hinders the process of monitoring cancer trends, advancing cancer treatments, conducting research and im- proving cancer prevention and screening programmes. In order to combat the stigma surrounding cancer, we must first break the cycle of misin- formation and fear. We must be able to have informed, in- telligent conversations about how this disease impacts our population.” There is presently a dearth of information re- lated to cancer trends in the Caribbean. A recent research study co-authored by Health Ser- vices Authority pathologist Dr. Shravana Jyoti indicates that only 12 of 30 Caribbean nations have cancer regis- tries. Four of those 12 na- tions provide high-quality incidence data, information that covers just 14.4% of the population. The study, which is ti- tled ‘Advancing Cancer Con- trol Through Research and Cancer Registry Collabora- tions in the Caribbean’, states that, “Few national registries exist in the Caribbean, re- sulting in limited cancer sta- tistics being available for the region. Therefore, estimates are frequently based on the extrapolation of mortality data submitted to the World Health Organization.” Last June, the Caribbean Public Health Agency and the International Agency for Re- search on Cancer officially launched the first IARC Car- ibbean Regional Hub for Cancer Registration. Jamaica launched its own population-based national cancer registry last December. That registry will collect data on all new cancer cases and cover the entire population of the island. Over time, the cancer registrars hope for more complete participation and data that covers every Caribbean nation. “Cancer registration is limited in the Caribbean, and the Caribbean Cancer Registry Hub will seek to strengthen cancer surveil- lance by building capacity for cancer registration in the region,” said Dr. James Hospedales, executive di- rector of CARPHA. “The availability of cancer surveillance data is critical to enable evidence-informed de- cision-making in support of wider national and regional cancer control and preven- tion programmes.” In 2015, Cayman legisla- tors drafted a Cancer Reg- istry Law that would make it mandatory for health profes- sionals to report cancers and brain tumours to the registry. The bill did not pass. There were only around 250 people on the registry in February 2015 when the Cayman Compass reported about the Cancer Registry Law, and the past three years have seen the registry nearly double. Slowly, people are be- coming more willing to share their information in the in- terest of science. “We find that a lot of people are more willing to help than they are re- luctant,” said Catherine Ebanks, programme coordi- nator for the Cayman Islands Cancer Society. “A lot of people worry that their information is not kept confidential and we try to re- mind them that for the pur- poses of statistics, a code is generated for their file and they are given an 8-digit identifier. This seems to put a lot of people at ease and encourages participation in the registry.” TEENS PANEL TO EXPLORE STRESS AND ANXIETY Peer pressure surrounding social media, societal expec- tations, self-esteem issues and exams will be among the topics discussed Thursday during a Child Month teen panel focussed on coping with stress. The 90-minute roundtable discussion at George Town Town Hall will include youth panellists, from 14 to 17 years old, from government and private high schools, in- cluding two from Layman E. Scott High School in Cayman Brac. The Department of Chil- dren and Family Services event will be moderated by Zoe Conolly Basdeo of the Alex Panton Foundation. The theme is ‘Navigating Stress and Anxiety during Adolescence’. DCFS Director Paulinda Mendoza-Williams said studies indicate that stress is a growing issue among children. “As a community, we must do whatever is in our power to understand and address this problem. It has also been shown that in some cases, mental well-being can be seriously compro- mised,” she said. “Therefore, in trying to safeguard our children, it is vital that we find out what they themselves think can be done to alleviate stress and anxiety, and what they think are the most common stressors for teenagers in the Cayman Islands.” The panel is part of a larger community initiative by the Alex Panton Foun- dation and the Ministry of Community Affairs targeting bullying and seeking to im- prove emotional well-being. The panel will be from 4:30-6pm Thursday at the George Town Town Hall, and is open to members of the public. “ I think sometimes people in the Cayman Islands choose not to join a registry because cancer is something very personal and they still don’t feel comfortable talking about it with others.” AMANDA NICHOLSON, Cayman Islands Cancer RegistrarThe islands’ most-trusted news source 8 WEDNESDAY, 15 MAY 2019 • CAYMAN COMPASS of existing residences. He said the roadwork was a “small step” towards fixing an ongoing problem in the es- tate. He said Roads Minister Joey Hew had responded to residents concerns and the NRA was examining other engineering solutions. Adding to the concerns are reports that the canal walls are deteriorating. The Rackley canals, which line the streets of North Sound Estates, were built in the 1960s and ‘70s and have eroded over time. Suckoo said the canal walls offered very little pro- tection against king tides and storm events, and the water often surges over the top. He said the issue was a difficult one for government to resolve because the lots are in private ownership. Sonya Hydes, who lives on Faye Street, one of the worst- affected areas, said the resi- dents had been having prob- lems for more than a decade. She said she was happy to see the road level had been raised. “I am still concerned about the water. Where will it go?” she added. She said her husband had built their driveway up sev- eral feet to keep it clear of seawater. But she said hers and her neighbours’ vehicles had suffered damage from frequently driving through salt water. She thinks a similar ar- rangement could work in Cayman, taking some of the pressure off the already strained DoA. “It takes a village for this kind of thing, with everyone playing their part,” she said. Keller said hers and other agencies are hoping to gain access to the con- fiscated dogs in the coming weeks so that they can work on finding good homes for them. But that brings up another problem with Cayman law. Because dogs are seen as property, in order to prosecute the owner, they must be held as evidence. The DoA has lim- ited kennel space, she said. “They don’t have the fa- cilities to do that,” Keller said. “If they keep all 53 dogs, they can’t take any more animals.” Tibbetts said, the situa- tion is an example of one of the changes that needs to be made in the law. “It’s something that can be easily done in the leg- islature, whereby the DoA is able to release these an- imals. We shouldn’t have the government saying, should we prosecute or not, based on the release of the animals.” In an email, One Dog at a Time’s Johnson laid out other steps she believes need to be taken to regu- late breeding operations. Those included: ■■ All breeders be licensed; ■■ Each dog be micro- chipped and registered with information that includes details on the breeding parents; and ■■ Stronger inspection and enforcement by DoA officials, including ensuring that prohib- ited breeds are not being propagated. If nothing else, the re- cent raid has brought at- tention to such issues, Tibbetts said. “This kind of situation highlights the difficulties that might be faced by the government,” she said, “and highlights what changes we need to make. “It shocks a lot of people,” she added, “the fact the island is so small and these things are still going on”. The NRA has been working over the past month to raise the level of the road in North Sound Estates. Flood threat an ongoing issue in canalside community Dog raid highlights animal welfare issues CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Report calls on FCC to probe storm aftermath in Puerto Rico SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – A consumer activist group re- leased a report Tuesday out- lining the collapse in commu- nications that beset Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, and it urged the US gov- ernment to investigate the problems to avoid a repeat of the situation as the is- land prepares for another storm season. The report by the group Free Press said the Federal Communications Commis- sion should hold telecommu- nication companies respon- sible for the problems that emerged after the storm and also convene an independent commission to investigate the blackout similar to the one it formed after Hurricane Kat- rina ravaged New Orleans. “There are still so many questions, and the FCC has failed to be transparent about the communications crisis in Puerto Rico and what carriers did or didn’t do to help,” said Carmen Scu- rato, senior policy counsel for Free Press. The storm that hit on 20 Sept. 2017, caused a com- munications outage that pre- vented local and federal of- ficials from learning about the extent of the damage and people’s needs in the days and weeks that followed, with the storm knocking 96% of cellphone transmis- sion sites out of service. One month later, 36% of sites were still not working, and in December 2017, the FCC noted that cable and landline phone services were “gener- ally nonexistent”. The Free Press report in- cludes 52 complaints filed by Puerto Rican customers after the hurricane that were ob- tained under the Freedom of Information Act. Complaints range from being charged for services never received to failed promises of waiving excessive data-usage fees. Scurato said the group is still waiting for additional information requested, in- cluding how carriers re- sponded to the complaints. The FCC rejected the re- port and said it has worked to provide short- and long- term funding to restore and improve Puerto Rico’s tel- ecommunications system, including the creation of a $750 million fund an- nounced last year. “It’s terribly misleading to claim that establishing a commission would be a more effective use of time and re- sources than the work we did and continue to do,” the FCC said. The report was released a day before the House Com- mittee on Energy and Com- merce holds an oversight hearing of the FCC, which issued a report earlier this month saying that communi- cation outages in the Florida Panhandle after Hurricane Michael were lengthened by wireless carriers’ poor prepa- ration and coordination. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Despite laws requiring a licence in order to have a dog breeding operation, no mechanism exists for issuing such licences nor for monitoring breeding operations. The storm that hit on 20 Sept. 2017, caused a communications outage that prevented local and federal officials from learning about the extent of the damage and people’s needs in the days and weeks that followed … Personnel from Liberty Cable work in Carolina, Puerto Rico, in September 2017 to restore fibre optic lines on the third day after the impact of Maria, a Category 5 hurricane that devastated the island. - PHOTO: AP The streets of North Sound Estates are frequently flooded with salt water at high tides or after storms. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAYThe islands’ most-trusted news source 9 CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY, 15 MAY 2019 Venezuelan police block access to congress Venezuelan security forces have deployed around the opposition- controlled congress ahead of a planned debate there. Masked agents of Venezuela’s police intelligence agency as well as National Guard troops stood around the perimeter of the National Assembly building Tuesday. Saudi Arabia says oil pipeline was attacked by drones DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – An oil pipeline that runs across Saudi Arabia was hit by drones Tuesday west of its capital of Riyadh, the Saudi energy minister said, shortly after rebels in Yemen claimed they carried out coordi- nated drone strikes against the kingdom. The attacks followed re- ports of sabotage against oil tankers in the Persian Gulf off the coast of the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, with tensions rising between the US and Iran. Oil prices rose Tuesday, with benchmark Brent crude trading over $71 a barrel, up more than $1 on the day. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih Al-Falih vowed that production and export of Saudi oil would not be interrupted. In a state- ment carried by the state- run Saudi Press Agency, he called the pipeline attack “cowardly”, saying that recent acts of sabotage against the kingdom’s vital installations were targeting not only Saudi Arabia, but also the safety of the world’s energy supply and global economy. Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they launched seven drones against vital installations in Saudi Arabia, which borders Yemen to the north. Saudi Arabia has been at war with the Houthis and their allies in Yemen since March 2015, tar- geting the Iranian-allied re- bels with near daily airstrikes. “This is a message to Saudi Arabia: Stop your ag- gression,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Salam told The Associated Press. “Our goal is to respond to the crimes they are commit- ting everyday against the Yemeni people.” The two oil pumping sta- tions targeted in Saudi Arabia are over 500 miles from Yem- en’s northern border with the kingdom. It was not immedi- ately known where the Hou- this launched the drones. The attacks demon- strated the increased risks in a region vital to global en- ergy supplies amid height- ened tensions following the Trump administration’s with- drawal from the 2015 nu- clear deal between Iran and world powers, and the sub- sequent reimposition of US sanctions to cripple the Ira- nian economy. Iran has since said it would begin enriching uranium at higher levels by 7 July if world powers failed to negotiate new terms for the deal. Al-Falih said the drone attacks reaffirm the need of the international commu- nity to confront the activities of groups like the Houthis, whom he accused of being backed by Iran, Saudi Ara- bia’s regional rival. He said the drones had targeted petroleum pumping stations supplying a pipe- line running from its oil- rich Eastern Province to the Yanbu Port on the Red Sea. Saudi Aramco, the gov- ernment-controlled oil com- pany, said that as a pre- caution, it temporarily shut down the East-West Pipeline and contained the fire, which caused minor damage to one pumping station. It added that Saudi Aramco’s oil and gas supplies have not been affected by the attack. Saudi Arabia said the two petroleum pumping stations that were struck by drones are located in the greater re- gion of Riyadh, home to the landlocked capital. The sta- tions, targeted around the same time early Tuesday, are located in al-Duadmi and Afif, about 125 miles west of Ri- yadh city and 250 miles west of Riyadh city, respectively. Saudi Arabia built its pipeline in the 1980s amid fears that the Iran-Iraq war would cut off shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The 746-mile pipeline is ac- tually two pipes that have a total capacity of 4.8 million barrels of crude oil a day, ac- cording to the US Energy In- formation Administration. The four oil tankers that were targeted Sunday off the coast of the UAE’s port of Fu- jairah were allegedly dam- aged in what Gulf officials described as sabotage, al- though satellite images ob- tained Tuesday by the AP showed no visible damage to the vessels. The MT Andrea Vic- tory, one of the alleged tar- gets, sustained a hole in its hull just above its water- line from “an unknown ob- ject”, its owner Thome Ship Management said in a state- ment. Images Monday of the Norwegian-flagged An- drea Victory, which the com- pany said was “not in any danger of sinking”, showed damage similar to what the firm described. Details of the alleged sab- otage to two Saudi, one Nor- wegian and one Emirati oil tanker remain unclear, and Gulf officials have refused to say who they suspected was responsible. Satellite images provided to the AP by Colorado-based Maxar Technologies showed a boom surrounding the Emi- rati oil tanker A. Michel, in- dicating the possibility of an oil leak. The other three showed no visible damage from above. A US official in Wash- ington, without offering any evidence, told the AP that a US military team’s initial as- sessment indicated Iran or Iranian allies used explosives to blow holes in the ships. The official was not author- ised to discuss the investiga- tion and thus spoke on con- dition of anonymity. The US has recently warned ships that “Iran or its proxies” could be targeting maritime traffic in the region. Washington has deployed an aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, and B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf to counter alleged, still-un- specified threats from Tehran. Speaking in New Delhi, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mo- hammad Javad said he spoke with Indian officials about concerns of “suspicious ac- tivities and sabotage in the region”. “We announced that we had previously predicted these sorts of activities aimed at escalating tension in the region,” he said. United Nations deputy spokesman Farhan Haq called on “all concerned par- ties to exercise restraint for the sake of regional peace, including by ensuring mari- time security”. On Tuesday, Spain tempo- rarily pulled one of its frig- ates that was part of a US- led combat fleet from near the Persian Gulf because of the mounting tensions. The Ministry of Defense said the Méndez Núñez, with 215 sailors aboard, will not cross the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf with the USS Abraham Lincoln. The Spanish frigate was the only non-US vessel in the fleet. The drone strikes on Saudi oil facilities reflect how the Houthis have ex- panded their capabilities during the four-year war. The rebels have targeted Ri- yadh with missiles and used drones to disrupt air traffic at Saudi airports near the Yemen border. The Houthis also have flown into the radar arrays of Saudi Arabia’s Patriot missile batteries, according to the research group Conflict Ar- mament Research, disabling them and allowing the rebels to fire ballistic missiles into the kingdom unchallenged. Iran has been accused by the US and the UN of sup- plying ballistic missile tech- nology and arms to the Hou- this, which Tehran denies. Such drones remain dif- ficult to shoot down with ei- ther light or heavy weapons. Iraqi forces learned this from driving out the Islamic State group from northern Iraq, where the extremists would load drones with grenades or simple explosives to target their forces. Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they launched seven drones against vital installations in Saudi Arabia, which borders Yemen to the north. Saudi Arabia has been at war with the Houthis and their allies in Yemen since March 2015, targeting the Iranian- allied rebels with near daily airstrikes. Saudi Arabia says two of its oil tankers were attacked Sunday off the coast of the UAE port city of Fujairah. – SOURCE: APNext >