A package of news briefs from the Caribbean

PUERTO RICO: Thousands of teachers stage protest, threaten strike in US Caribbean territory

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Thousands of Puerto Rican teachers marched to the gates of the governor's mansion Sunday, threatening to go on strike for higher salaries and better working conditions if long-stalled bargaining talks are not resumed.

The two sides will sit down again Monday to try to resolve the two-year impasse. But union leaders representing the majority of Puerto Rico's 42,000 public school teachers plan a Tuesday news conference to announce a strike date if no agreement is reached.

"We hope to send a firm message to Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila so that the agreement is signed," Teachers Federation President Rafael Feliciano said among a throng of marchers.

The island's department of education and the union have agreed to 26 articles of a proposed collective-bargaining agreement, but 20 others remain unsigned, including 16 salary-related clauses.

The looming strike has divided the union's roughly 32,000 members as some urge restraint, saying the group's first strike since 1993 should be a last resort. Strikers could be fired under a local law that forbids disruption of the public education system.

The starting salary for a teacher in the U.S. territory is US$19,200 (euro13,084) a year — about a third less than the average public school teacher salary on the U.S. mainland.

HISPANIOLA: Tempers rising amid kidnappings, cattle thefts on Dominican-Haitian border

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Border tensions between Haiti and the Dominican Republic are rising amid incidents of kidnapping and cattle rustling, the director of a border monitoring group said Sunday.

Two Dominican men were kidnapped Saturday near a northern river that divides the countries, an apparent retaliation for days of back-and-forth cattle thefts, said the Rev. Regino Martinez, a Dominican-born priest who heads the border-monitoring section of Jesuit Refugee and Migrant Services.

The men have since been released, but Dominican border guards in the northern province of Dajabon remain on alert for further incursions, the Dominican newspaper Listin Diario reported.

Troops in Haiti belonging to a 7,800-member U.N. peacekeeping force, which is shifting attention to the border under a revised Security Council mandate, contacted Dominican authorities and believe the situation is under control, U.N. force spokesman Lt. Col. Damir Milinovic said.

Tempers already were flaring in the northern border region over Haiti's decision to ban imports of Dominican poultry and eggs because of an ongoing outbreak of a strain of avian flu in several Dominican provinces.

The ban has compounded Haitian food shortages and angered Dominican merchants, who retaliated by boycotting a popular border market. The flu strain, H5N2, is considered harmless to humans but has devastated poultry stock in Asia in the past.

Officials from the two countries, which share a 362-kilometer (225-mile) border on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, are in negotiations to resolve the dispute.

CUBA: 4 freed Cuban political prisoners arrive in Spain

MADRID, Spain (AP) — Four dissidents released after spending years in a Cuban prison for their political beliefs flew into exile in Spain Sunday.

Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos, Omar Pernet Hernandez, Jose Gabriel Ramon Castillo and Alejandro Gonzalez Raga landed in Madrid accompanied by 13 relatives and friends and drove to a downtown hotel, where they spoke about their ordeal to journalists.

Alvarez said Cuban authorities gave him a choice — exile or jail.

"It was a very difficult decision. To leave so many brothers and colleagues behind was a heartrending experience," Alvarez said.

Alvarez, 60, said if he had been younger he would have probably opted to stay in jail as a protest, but with his health failing he felt he had little choice but to leave Cuba.

Spain's Air Force had sent a plane to transport the four Cubans to an air force base in Madrid, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

The Cubans were among 75 dissidents arrested in a government crackdown on the opposition in 2003. They were tried and convicted of being U.S. mercenaries whose aim was to undermine Fidel Castro's government and were given long prison terms.

With the releases, 20 of the 75 have been freed. The other 16 have been freed over recent years on medical grounds. Several of those, including well-known writer and journalist Raul Rivero, have since left Cuba.

JAMAICA: Broadcasters launch crackdown on radio payoffs

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaica's broadcasting chief said new regulations will hinder radio stations from taking bribes from local music companies or artists to play songs, a pervasive problem in the Caribbean country.

Hopeton Dunn, chairman of the island's broadcasting commission, said program coordinators must now provide detailed playlists to government inspectors to prevent the bribes called payola, a contraction of "pay" and "Victrola," the old wind-up record player.

"These regulations will help to encourage the sector to increase the monitoring, management and documentation as a measure against this question of payola," Dunn said in a Saturday statement. "It is impacting on the broadcasting industry and has done so for a very long time."

In addition, Dunn said he will recommend introducing financial sanctions under the island's Broadcasting Commission Act to discourage improperly sold or traded air time. The island's legislature will take up that proposal in coming weeks.

CRICKET: Jamaica wins by eight wickets to reach Stanford semifinals

COOLIDGE, Antigua (AP) — Jamaica beat Nevis Pro Team by eight wickets late Saturday and cruised into the semifinals of the Stanford 20/20 tournament.

Replying to Nevis Pro Team 121 for eight, Jamaica reached 123 for 2 with 2.3 overs to spare.

Marlon Samuels, who hit 47, and Chris Gayle, who played a quiet innings of 28 off 43 deliveries, led Jamaica with a 74-run, second-wicket stand after the early loss of Brenton parchment for 10.

Samuels struck five fours and two sixes off 39 deliveries before he was caught on the long-on boundary.

Danza Hyatt joined Gayle and quickly hit Trevier Smithen for a four and a six to end the match in style.

Earlier, electing to bat, Nevis Pro Team never threatened, despite a few big shots — most off the West Indies pace duo of Jermone Taylor and Daren Powell.

In the end, only Daynason Browne (25) and Javia Liburd (22) made any worthwhile contribution.

Jerome Taylor took 3-39 and Samuels 2-21.

Jamaica will face either Guyana or Antigua, which play their quarterfinal on Sunday.