A package of news briefs from the Caribbean

GUANTANAMO: Lack of staff hampers defense in Sept. 11 trial at Guantanamo

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The military is speeding ahead with plans to try six men at Guantanamo Bay for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks but none of the defendants, who face possible execution if found guilty, has seen a defense lawyer yet.

Only one military lawyer has been assigned to the case, as the unit responsible for organizing the defense struggles with a lack of attorneys and paralegals and argues with commanders at Guantanamo over access to the men held at the U.S. military base in Cuba.

The problems underscore broader concerns that military tribunals — expected to eventually try some 80 Guantanamo detainees — overwhelmingly favor the prosecution, Army Col. Steve David, the chief defense counsel for the war-crimes trials, told The Associated Press.

He said his team faces a variety of disadvantages, including trial rules that allow classified hearsay testimony against the detainees and the fact that prosecutors can use material gathered over years while the men have been in custody — before the defense has even begun to look for its evidence.

The defense counsel's office is authorized 25 military attorneys and 12 paralegals but currently has only nine attorneys and six paralegals — and they are already busy with pending cases against six other Guantanamo detainees. The additional legal help, once it arrives, will need extensive preparation, David said.

PUERTO RICO: Teacher strike deals blow to US territory's struggling schools

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Empty classrooms, educators clashing with police, anxious students — a weeklong teachers strike in Puerto Rico is dealing a blow to a public school system already struggling to reach U.S. benchmarks and reduce the highest dropout rate in America.

The union that represents the island's 42,000 public school teachers declared the strike on Feb. 20 after 30 months of negotiations to increase salaries and address shortages of books, computers and other materials reached a deadlock. The government of this U.S. island territory is refusing to return to the table until the walkout ends.

On Wednesday, there was little sign that the strike is fizzling.

Protesters jeered teachers who insisted on going to their classrooms, even as many students stayed home. Riot police from the special Tactical Operations Unit were guarding several schools, said Benjamin Rodriguez, the unit's director.

In the western city of Mayaguez, students protested outside a school to demand that teachers return to the classroom. In San Juan, about 300 people demonstrated outside the Department of Labor in support of the strike.

The walkout may force students to catch up during the scorching Caribbean summer — if the semester isn't lost completely.

DOMINICAN: Canada's Barrick Gold to reopen Dominican Republic mine

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Canadian mining company Barrick Gold Corp. will reopen a formerly state-owned mine in the central Dominican Republic, the company and the Caribbean country's president said Wednesday.

Barrick plans to spend about US$2.6 billion (euro1.7 billion) on the Pueblo Viejo mine in what will be the largest private investment in Dominican history, President Leonel Fernandez said.

A Barrick spokesman said construction will cost about $2.7 billion (euro1.8 billion) over three and a half years and operations would begin in 2011.

The company and government have agreed in principle to share the cost of cleaning up acid-filled rivers and fields of mineral waste left behind by a Dominican state-run company's previous activity at the site, Barrick spokesman Vince Borg told The Associated Press.

Details about paying for the cleanup, which Barrick estimates will cost at least US$100 million (euro67 million), are still to be worked out, Borg said.

Barrick estimates that the mine will yield 20.4 million ounces of gold, along with more than 400 million pounds of copper and more than 100 million ounces of silver.

DOMINICAN: Subway debuts with president leading tour for national television audience

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The Dominican Republic's capital debuted its new subway Wednesday, with President Leonel Fernandez taking lawmakers and a national television audience on the first official ride.

Fernandez, who led the tour after his annual Independence Day address to Congress, waved to cameras through the windshield of a gleaming subway car.

The 9-mile (14-kilometer) line later opened for public tours, but many of the 16 stations are still under construction. Officials say the system won't open to commuters for at least six months.

Dominicans crowded around televisions and gathered along sections of above-ground track to better glimpse the multicolored cars, built by French manufacturer Alstom S.A.

Fernandez's chances for re-election this May depend partly on response to the subway, which had an initial price tag of US$710 million (euro472 million) — or more than 2 percent of the Caribbean nation's gross domestic product.

JAMAICA: Former energy minister arrested on corruption charges

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A former energy minister whose free lightbulb program came under fire for racking up unnecessary expenses has been charged with corruption and money laundering.

Kern Spencer was arrested Tuesday along with his personal assistant and a business associate, who were both charged with conspiracy to defraud, assistant commissioner of police Les Green said Wednesday.

The charges stem from a 2006 energy program in which Spencer's ministry distributed 4 million free lightbulbs donated by Cuba.

But the program cost the government more than US$3.9 million (euro2.6 million) — even though Cuba also provided volunteers to complete the project, the current energy minister revealed in November.

A later report by Auditor General Greg Christie found two businesses linked to Spencer had been awarded contracts to oversee distribution of the lightbulbs.

Spencer's attorney, Patrick Atkinson, said his client is the victim of political persecution by the Jamaica Labor Party, which wrested control of the government from Spencer's People's National Party in September elections.

Spencer, 33, faces seven charges, including money laundering, conspiracy to defraud and corruption.

VIRGIN ISLANDS: US jury convicts 2 former US Virgin Islands officials in bribery scheme

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — A U.S. federal jury convicted two former U.S. Virgin Island officials of theft Wednesday in a scheme to defraud the territory's government of US$1.4 million (euro930,000) through phony work contracts.

The jury deliberated for two days before returning guilty verdicts against Dean Plaskett, a former planning and natural resources commissioner, and Marc Biggs, former chief of the department of property and procurement.

A third suspect, local businessman Leroy Marchena, was acquitted of charges alleging that he helped the others try to conceal the fraud once they learned they were under investigation.

Plaskett and Biggs were accused of taking bribes in exchange for granting government contracts to a fictitious company, Elite Technical Services, that involved little or no actual work.

During the 12-day trial, prosecution witnesses said the defendants colluded with associates to create the company on paper, seek contracts and split the money from federal grants.

ST. VINCENT: Man acquitted in killing of press secretary to St. Vincent's prime minister

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (AP) — A 24-year-old man was acquitted Wednesday in the slaying of a popular St. Vincent radio host who was also the press secretary to the Caribbean island's prime minister.

Francis Williams had been accused of murdering Glen Jackson, whose naked body was found in his car near his home outside the capital on March 6, 2006. He died from a single bullet wound to the chest, an autopsy found.

Judge Fredrick Bruce-Lyle on Monday ruled that an alleged police confession was not admissible as evidence. Lead prosecutor Gilbert Peterson told the judge Wednesday that the ruling left him no choice but to drop the case.

Jackson, 42, was a radio show host and political activist along with serving as press secretary to Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.

Williams has insisted he is innocent, and police never revealed a motive for the shooting.

JAMAICA: 1 worker killed in Jamaica during clash at hotel construction project

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A construction worker was killed Wednesday during a clash between laborers and security personnel at a Jamaican hotel project that was the scene of another violent melee one year earlier, police said.

The fight began when a security guard refused to let workers without proper identification onto the compound in Hanover, where the Spanish-owned Fiesta Hotel Group is building a US$150 million (euro100 million) resort, according a police statement.

Peter Evans, 47, was hit by a truck that was trying to avoid the brawl and died instantly, according to the statement.

Some of the workers later set fire to a guard house and police fired tear gas to break up the protest.

In February 2007, a worker was shot in the head during another clash outside the 1,600-room hotel project that began with a standoff between laborers and security.

HAITI: Haitian woman takes stand in indentured servitude case in US

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP) — A young Haitian woman testified Wednesday that she considered suicide to escape years of abuse at the hands of a family accused of keeping her as their "slave" at their Florida home.

Simone Celestin's voice wavered and she teared up as she recounted her life after being taken from her mother and grandmother in a remote mountain village to an orphanage run by Evelyn Theodore near Ranquitt, Haiti.

Theodore, her two daughters and one former son-in-law all face various federal charges for illegally bringing Celestin to the United States in 1999 and forcing her to work against her will. All have pleaded not guilty.

Celestin, now 22, said she lived and worked at Theodore's home in Haiti for about two years, where she was forced to haul water and perform chores. She said Theodore would hit her or keep her home from school if she did not finish work to her satisfaction.

Celestin said similar abuse continued when she came to the U.S. at age 14.