I greet you, the people of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago – very confidently today – at the start of the new year — 2021.
It is with a firm buoyancy that I extend New Year’s Greetings from the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, my family, and myself as Prime Minister.
The first of January 2021 is not just the start of the new year – but it is the day in which we begin to set out what we can see as a new beginning.
There are those among us, the nay-sayers, who will cry out immediately, casting doubts that this year will be just an extension of the awful nightmare of 2020.
My government with its “boundless faith in our destiny” holds, instead, to its faith in the people of Trinidad and Tobago, seeing only hope and opportunities.
I know that we all wish we could leave the challenges of 2020 behind, but its realities are before us.
Globally the dual shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the collapse in energy prices have had debilitating impacts. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated that the world economy has suffered a -4.4 percent decline.
In some countries, the economic decline and the lockdown resulted in job losses on an unimaginable scale, with commodity and other markets grinding to a halt. That double blow coupled into the challenges of 2020, hindering projected economic growth, resulting beyond belief in millions of people losing income, others their lives and livelihoods.
The health, economic, and psycho-social impact on people’s lives have been enormous, causing strains on governments, just like ours, to extend its policy reach, so that “No one will be left behind”.
The way out, the IMF describes, as “a long and difficult ascent”, fraught with many risks.
However, the COVID-19 vaccines are considered, as the light in the tunnel, but those scars in the global economy will take many years to heal.
Nonetheless, the IMF’s World Economic Outlook projects a 5.1 percent growth in 2021, which is expected to level off at 3.5 percent in the medium term.
It projects that Trinidad and Tobago will see a 2.6 percent economic growth this year, as compared to the -5.6 of 2020.
But the real good news is that we have lived to see another year, and 2021 springs eternal hope for us as a people.
I believe the worst is behind us. With the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, global demand and economic activity are expected to return; improvements are expected in world energy prices, commodity markets; employment in the restaurant, entertainment, and distribution sectors are expected back slowly.
Today, I assure you the Government will do its best to continue to steer this country to a place of growth and prosperity with the aid of our Roadmap to Recovery.
The new beginning I speak of will be a re-orientation of the economy, a transition into the digital age, which will create opportunities for small businesses, and increasing employment in this area.
Opportunities are also identified in manufacturing, energy services, green technology and agriculture.
The government, in its role, will be paying attention to emerging innovations, predicting future trends, attracting collaborations, facilitating the re-design of work processes and re-purposing of organisations.
With food security at the top of the list on the way forward. Government has already approved a $500 million agriculture stimulus package for 2021, in addition to regular budgetary allocations. The use of digital technology in agriculture will be increased with a focus on decreasing our food import bill.
The development of downstream agriculture industries and creating a strong agri-business eco-system are also on the agenda.
Income tax earners will also have a bit of an ease on their pockets. Anyone earning $7,000 per month or less will be exempt from income tax, as the personal tax allowance has been raised from $72,000 to $84,000. It will take effect in January 2021.
One of two new fast ferries is set to arrive in January to service the sea-bridge. The journey to Tobago will be less than three hours and become an integral part of a visit to Tobago.
We are also working towards establishing and increasing our renewable energy usage.
Government has already signed an agreement with Lightsource BP and Shell for the construction of a 150-megawatt solar power plant, which would represent 10 percent of the country’s total power generation capacity.
The development of this area will bring the country within compliance of our commitment to the Paris Agreement.
As our country steadily transforms into a modern State, we will celebrate the diversity of our talent and innovative ideas, seeking to market our creativity to the region and the world.
Let us allow our true spirit of unity to guide us as a people, moving us forward as one, not being dominated and motivated by race, colour or class — but focusing on our similarities, our shared heritage, our promised future, our sense of patriotism, and love of country.
Today, let us invest in our children’s future, creating a society whose singular goal is to meet the needs of all of its peoples, through the creation of opportunities for all.
Happy New Year.

Last year, Angelys Marelys Boada Munoz left behind her children in the failing city of Cumana, Venezuela, and joined the exodus.
She travelled across the peninsula to the mainland’s Gulf of Paria coast and paid her way to Trinidad, following the uncounted thousands who came to the island by boat, driven by hunger and hopelessness.
Angelys found work, hawking vegetables for a vendor in Freeport, her salary paying for a bare apartment near the Solomon Hochoy Highway, the rest sent home to the children, aged nine and 11.
She was a ghost when she got here, undocumented and, like so many others, trying every day to earn money by whatever means —sales, skills, sex—while trying to avoid police attention, detention, and deportation.
Her lifeline came in May of 2019, when the State called on Venezuelans, here legally and illegally, to register for the card that would allow them to stay and work for a year, for at least the minimum wage.
Angelys received her registration card months later. 
Then the Covid-19 pandemic happened, and the world’s reaction to the virus with a 99 per cent survival rate, destroyed the lives of countless.
The lockdowns, regulations and restrictions in Trinidad and Tobago disproportionately affected the working class, and many of the lowest wage earners ended up jobless and desperate.
Angelys was among the migrants left on the fringes, people who could not leave, had nothing to go home to, and no opportunities here. The vendor could not afford to keep her.
Downward spiral
Six months ago, Angelys began a downward spiral.
This 32-year-old single mother, who worked at a horse riding school in that other life, ended up dead on the fast lane of the Solomon Hochoy highway last week Monday.
Police were told she walked into the path of a pick-up truck heading north at daybreak, and then was run over by a second vehicle.
Before the highway was blocked and her body covered, the Facebook videographers captured close-ups of what remained of her partially unclothed, broken body.
The traffic and inconvenience her body caused became the topic of discussion for those caught up in it.
“Lovely way to kick off your morning,” commented one.
Angelys had no relatives in Trinidad.
But the Express found a girlfriend who led us to the dead woman’s brother and sister in Venezuela.
As of Saturday, six days later, they had not told Angelys’ children that she was dead. How could they? It’s Christmas all over the world.
This woman was loved.
“Here she was very dear, because she was a very humble and hard-working girl. She helped those who needed…because she offered everything to those who didn’t have. Good sister, good daughter and good mother. Friend of the whole world,” her sister communicated with the Express using an online translation tool.
“She had two children, one 11 and nine years old. Her life plans were to give them a decent home,” said her brother, who added he was told of what had happened to her in her final months in Trinidad.
“She was not working there because of the pandemic. And some evil men took away her desire to continue living. They kidnapped her, they mistreated her, they did much, much damage and then they left her abandoned and she went mad, on her way to places that led her to her death,” he said.
Mental health issues
Those who remember seeing Angelys in Freeport said she appeared to have mental health issues over the past few months, seen on the streets shabbily dressed, late into the night, blocking cars, and walking into properties.
The police were called at least once and she was taken to the Couva Hospital, then transferred to the San Fernando Hospital.
Those holding registration cards are entitled to emergency medical services. A mental health evaluation is not considered an emergency. In any event, her torment would have been lost in translation.
The Express was told that she fled the hospital, and would stay at random places, just trying to stay alive, the Express was told.
The night before her death, she stayed late at a back road “party’’, then stumbled away, people in the area said. What she did in those final hours, however, no one could say.
Her body is now on a slab at the Forensic Science Centre in Federation Park. The girlfriend identified her by a tattoo.
The autopsy result will be a formality.
What happens next with Angelys’ body, no one can say.
Her siblings are asking authorities in Trinidad and Tobago for information on how the body of their sister can be returned to Venezuela for a funeral.
Whether this is possible is unlikely.


Bureacracy maze
Co-founder/coordinator of the La Romaine Migrants Support (LARMS) Angie Ramnarine told the Express the family could expect a maze of bureaucracy made more complicated by the pandemic restrictions, and that fact that Angelys had no relatives in Trinidad.
The most likely outcome would be that Angelys Marelys Boada Munoz’s “unclaimed” body would be the State’s responsibility, and taken away to a crematorium for disposal.
Ramnarine says there have been instances where deceased Venezuelans caught in the document/illegal mess in Trinidad and Tobago got a more dignified end, when friends paid a funeral agency.
This was bound to happen “in the absence of a clear policy framework of what to do and now (migrants) are to be handled. There were never clear parameters laid out,” said Ramnarine.
Angelys’ siblings just want to know what to do. They have to tell her children what happened to Mama.

Over 100 Trinidad and Tobago nationals were expected back home last evening, as the Government continued its repatriation exercises for the Christmas period. In fact, over 400 nationals, some of them stranded abroad by the COVID-19 virus since the borders were closed in March, will be back before home before Christmas Day - although they will have to spend the festive season in quarantine.

During a COVID-19 media briefing yesterday, Principal Medical Officer Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards explained that several repatriation flights had been scheduled before Christmas Day.

She assured that the exercises to bring nationals back home will not burden the parallel health care system, as there are available spaces throughout state quarantine facilities.

She said at present, the Ministry of Health had 13 state and state-supervised facilities with two of the facilities being reserved for high-risk populations such as the elderly and persons who may not be able to quarantine amongst typical population.

According to Abdool-Richards’ timeline, hundreds of nationals from high and medium-risk countries were expected to be granted border exemptions over the coming days.

“It is important to note that we have three repatriation exercises scheduled for the next 5-6 days. This evening (yesterday), we have a repatriation exercise of approximately 132 persons from New York City. On December 18th, we have another repatriation exercise with persons from Barbados and yet another exercise on the 19th from Miami.”

Abdool-Richards said another exercise has also been planned to repatriate nationals from Canada.

Meanwhile, there is still no confirmation on which COVID-19 vaccine will be procured by the Government despite the fact that it is already making preparations for its arrival. Abdool-Richards said consultations were ongoing over which treatment will be the most effective.

Through the COVAX facility, the Government had allocated US$9 million to secure over 450,000 vaccines. A number of manufacturers have already begun rolling out vaccines but there are particular specifications that must be met before Government makes a purchase.

“The effectiveness of the vaccine will be dependent on the WHO and PAHO’s certification of that vaccine, so in summary, the Ministry of Health will be guided by the WHO for the selection of a vaccine. At present, the Ministry of Health has not ordered any vaccines so that will be dependent on advice for the WHO regarding several factors.”

Abdool-Richards added that there was currently no authorised over the counter COVID-19 test kit. Her comment came as US regulators recently gave the green light for home test kits to be made available on pharmacy shelves without prescription.

In its daily update yesterday meanwhile, the ministry said there were 17 news cases reported over the period December 13-15. This took the number of cases reported since the virus hit these shores in March to 6,917. It added that there were now 564 active cases, 259 cases at state quarantine facilities and 497 people in home self-isolation. The overall death toll remained at 123.
Source:  Trinidad Guardian, Dec 17, 2020

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In April, we featured Dr Raulnel Neptune, one of the few male paediatricians in Trinidad and Tobago. In his seven years as a doctor and his time as a paediatrician, he has treated children suffering from a myriad of conditions.
So, why Paediatrics?
According to Tobago-born Dr Neptune, "after completing the mandatory internship, I realized at that time that job satisfaction was more important to me than money. Paediatrics provided me with that satisfaction. The ability to continuously see positive results by managing children, gave me great job satisfaction and that’s what sealed the deal for me."
He told us, "I love my job and I love making a difference. The public has a notion that a Paediatrician is simply a doctor who plays with children, feeds them and changes them. This is very far from what we actually do. As a Paediatrician, we rarely see children who are well and healthy: most are very sick. In fact, nurturing a child back to health is not only about giving medication to make the child feel better but it is about understanding the family structure and incorporating the emotional aspect into the caring of the child."
Dr Neptune recently opened his practice, Paeds World in Tobago, where he is now based. Congratulations Doc and best wishes! The children of Tobago are in good hands.
Source:  MENtions-Stories About Us, Sept 10m 2020

Trinidad and Tobago’s Shemika Charles-Campbell attained her third Guinness World Record on Thursday 8, October 2020 at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, when she limbo danced under two jeeps that were below a height of 12 inches over a distance of more than 12 feet. ​

​Senator the Honourable Randall Mitchell, Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, congratulates Trinidad and Tobago’s Shemika Charles-Campbell on attaining her third Guinness World Record on Thursday 8, October 2020 at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, when she limbo danced under two jeeps that were below a height of 12 inches over a distance of more than 12 feet.
Shemika achieved her second Guinness World record for limbo dancing in China in 2016 when she completed the task at a distance of over 10 feet. One year earlier she achieved the record for limbo dancing under a height of 8.5 inches in the United States.
Congratulations Shemika!