A package of news briefs from the Caribbean

JAMAICA: Maid tells of blood-spattered room as Woolmer inquest opens

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A Jamaican hotel maid described finding Bob Woolmer's body in a disheveled, blood-spattered room as an inquest began Tuesday into what caused the Pakistani coach's death during the Cricket World Cup.

The maid, Bernice Robinson, told an 11-member jury she'd noticed a chair overturned, blood on a pillow and a smell resembling alcohol and vomit when she entered the room to clean it on the morning of March 18.

Then Robinson spotted a man's leg extending beyond the bathroom door, which she could not open because the body of the 58-year-old coach blocked it from the inside. The maid called for help, setting off one of the largest investigations in modern Jamaican history as authorities tried to determine how the coach died a day after his team had been eliminated from the World Cup.

Robinson was the first of about 50 witnesses due to testify at the inquest, which is expected last until Nov. 9 and determine the official cause of Woolmer's death.

Four days after Woolmer died, Jamaican police announced he'd been strangled. Nearly three months later, authorities closed the homicide case after pathologists in Britain, South Africa and Canada concluded the coach had died from natural causes.

Dr. Nathaniel Cary, a British pathologist, testified at the inquest that he'd found no strangulation marks on Woolmer's neck.

"If I was asked if there was a violent struggle, I would say no," Cary said.

GUYANA: President suggests payment to protect its Amazon rain forest

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Impoverished Guyana has offered to limit logging inside its rain forests in exchange for pay.

President Bharrat Jagdeo proposed the deal Monday at the opening of a three-day conference on climate change attended by delegates of more than 50 former British colonies. He did not say how much compensation his South American government would request.

Jagdeo said he'd made the same offer last year to then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and will work with any nation or group that shares Guyana's vision for sustainable development.

"I outlined our offer to deploy almost our entire rain forest, which is the size of England, in the long-term service of the world's battle against climate change," Jagdeo said.

Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud said the government would honor existing timber concessions but would not sign new contracts.

Large sections of forest already enjoy protected status in Guyana, including the Guiana Shield — an area of Amazon forest that spans international borders and contains more than 25 percent of the world's remaining humid tropical forests.

JAMAICA: 6 companies bid to take over Caribbean country's ailing sugar company

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Six companies have bid to take over Jamaica's struggling state-owned sugar company, which is being privatized by the Caribbean nation's government after years amassing debt.

Companies in the running to purchase the cash-strapped Sugar Company of Jamaica include Coimex Trading Company from Brazil, Angostura Holdings Limited from Trinidad and Tobago and Flo-Sun Inc. from Florida, Agriculture Minister Christopher Tufton said.

Details of their offers were not disclosed and company representatives did not immediately return calls for comment.

June 2008 was the deadline for privatization of the state-owned company, which comprises six estates that produce the large majority of Jamaica's sugar exports.

The government announced plans to sell the company in 2005, after it accumulated more than US$180.5 million (euro127.5 million) in debt, and to restructure Jamaica's sugar industry to focus production on ethanol and molasses. Most of the Caribbean nation's cane fields remain dedicated to sugar.

Jamaica has been squeezed by deep cuts in European Union sugar subsidies for producers in the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific. Other Caribbean nations, such as St. Kitts and Trinidad, have shut down their centuries-old sugar industries.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: 3 men jailed in killing of Canadian hotel owner

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — A Dominican judge ordered three men jailed Tuesday on suspicion of involvement in the weekend killing of a Canadian man.

The men are suspects in the murder of Hugh Edward Gannon, 63, who was stabbed to death Saturday at a hotel he owned in the northern Dominican province of Espaillat, prosecutor Praxedes Jacobo Marchena said.

Martin Antonio Gomez Cooper, 26, Eladio Polanco Martinez, 24, and Jhonny Familia Bonilla, 25, will be jailed in the town of Moca, Marchena said. Blood-spattered clothing from one of the suspects was sent to a lab for examination.

Gannon's wife brought his body back to Canada on Tuesday, according to Marchena.

Formerly of Winnipeg, Gannon also owned a resort in the nearby town of Cabarete.

GUANTANAMO: Terror suspect granted interview with civilian lawyer

BALTIMORE (AP) — A Pakistani terrorism suspect was allowed to meet with a civilian defense attorney at Guantanamo Bay on Tuesday, the Defense Department said, the first such meeting for a so-called high-value detainee.

Majid Khan grew up in Owings Mills, Maryland, and is the only U.S. resident among 15 detainees the government considers most dangerous.

The Pentagon has alleged that Khan is an al-Qaida operative with direct connections to the United States, having lived and attended high school near Baltimore. U.S. government authorities have said that Khan was linked to al-Qaida and involved in plots to blow up American gas stations, poison U.S. reservoirs and kill the president of Pakistan.

Khan has denied any connection to al-Qaida.

He met Tuesday with Gitanjali Gutierrez, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, said Cmdr. Jeffrey D. Gordon, a spokesman for the Pentagon.

This is the first private attorney visit for high-value detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Gordon said. "It demonstrates an unparalleled access to attorneys and due process afforded to unlawful enemy combatants during wartime," Gordon said.

Gutierrez said by phone Tuesday evening that she was "under complete restrictions" and unable to discuss the meeting.

PUERTO RICO: US customs agents seize stacks of money stashed in SUV's tires at ferry

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.S. customs agents seized more than half a million dollars (euros) from a Dominican man who'd attempted to smuggle the cash from Puerto Rico by stuffing it inside the tires and air bag compartments of his SUV, authorities said Tuesday.

Officers who X-rayed the Dodge Durango at a ferry terminal noticed abnormalities and opened the truck's front tires, which were crammed with cash, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.

Bills of various denominations had also been jammed in the SUV's air bag compartments, Puerto Rico's customs director, Marcelino Borges, said. A total of US$572,744 (euro404,766) was recovered.

The car's owner, a 32-year-old Dominican man whose name was not disclosed, was arrested for attempting to smuggle the cash out of the U.S. Caribbean territory.

Federal law requires travelers to declare amounts of more than US$10,000 (euro7,067).

DOMINICA: Prime minister reshuffles Cabinet

ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) — Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit on Tuesday announced a Cabinet reshuffle that brings in only two new faces, ending weeks of speculation that a broader reorganization was on the horizon.

"(The reorganization) of Cabinet positions at this time is vitally necessary to invigorate new energy and dynamism in the advancement of our social and economic agenda," Skerrit said in a statement.

Skerrit transferred most government ministers to leadership posts in different departments, including appointing the former attorney general, Ian Douglas, as the Caribbean island's tourism minister.

He appointed the leader of Dominica's bar association, Francine Baron Royer, as the new attorney general on the island of 73,000 people.

Political newcomer Ian Pinard was appointed as a junior minister in the Ministry of Education.

PUERTO RICO: Infant death blamed on dengue

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A 3-year-old boy appears to have died of dengue, which could be the fifth death caused by the mosquito-borne illness in Puerto Rico this year.

A doctor said Dylant Carmona Rivera of San Juan had died Monday of dengue shock, a police report said. Health officials in the U.S. Caribbean territory are awaiting test results for confirmation.

At least 7,043 suspected cases have been reported this year in Puerto Rico, including almost 870 cases last week, Edgardo Sanabria, health department spokesman, said Tuesday.

Nearly 200 people have died from dengue across the Caribbean and Latin America during one of the worst outbreaks in decades, according to the Pan American Health Organization. Officials are investigating more than 630,000 cases in the Americas.

The illness, also known as "bonebreak fever," causes joint pain, flu-like symptoms and in some cases, deadly hemorrhaging.

CRICKET: Sarwan leads Guyana to victory over Windwards Islands

BERBICE, Guyana (AP) — Ramnaresh Sarwan carved out a half-century to propel Guyana to a three-wicket win Tuesday over the Windward Islands in the opening match of the KFC Cup.

Sarwan, the right-handed Guyana and West Indies captain, hit five fours off 102 balls as Guyana surpassed the Windward Islands' 179 for nine in their allotted 50 overs, reaching 180 for seven, with 1.1 overs to spare.

Playing at the Albion Community Center ground in eastern Berbice, Darren Sammy led the Windward Islands, hitting two fours and a six in his 58 as the Guyana bowlers led by the Crandon brothers, off-spinner Royston (3-32) and fast bowler Esuan (2-22), collaborated to top their opponents.

Sarwan and fellow West Indies batsman Narsingh Deonarine joined each other in the crease in the seventh over with Guyana on 20 for two in front of a large crowd that included former West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd.

Leg-spinner Rawle Lewis (1-35) finally separated the pair in the 29th over with Deonarine (29) offering Liam Sebastian a catch at deep mid-off to leave Guyana on 103 for four.

Sarwan, whose 50 was achieved with four boundaries from 65 balls, continued to rotate the strike sensibly with new batsman Travis Dowlin until Dowlin was run out.