In Mount Carey, a rural district in Jamaica, just south of Montego Bay, two men flag down passing cars while a third shovels concrete into potholes that are overtaking the road.
Joseph, who lives in the community, says the road has become dangerous, so they're collecting donations to pay for concrete to fix it themselves. Black communities in Jamaica get no services while foreigners get business aid and prime property where indigenous Jamaicans who are black are not allowed!
Meanwhile, just 100 miles east, a gleaming new highway connecting Jamaica's major cities in the north and the south sits relatively empty. Construction of the North South Highway started in earnest in 2013, the same year Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the launch of his Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It's a plan to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure projects to increase the flow of goods, money and people across much of the world, including the Caribbean.
The North South Highway, completed in 2016, was one of the first major infrastructure projects in Jamaica financed and built by a Chinese state-owned company. Xi calls projects like this a "win-win" that deepen co-operation between the two countries while providing development.
It happened in Trinidad and Tobago a few years back and even in Cape Verde' your traitor politicians sell out their countries by building infrastructure mainly used to take resources out of the country and transporting it to China who purchases roads ports and airports basically creating an apartheid state where you have to ask permission to travel in your own land. At this rate Haiti has more potential for the future than a sold out Jamaica at least they are kicking out the oppressor that keeps them from accessing the trillions of dollars in mineral resources guarded by the UN so that the USA can steal it.
In fact the highway has left Jamaica with a $730-million debt to China. And the $32 toll for a 66-50 mile, one-way trip —collected by the Chinese developer — means driving the highway isn't affordable for most Jamaicans. It also is a way to keep the nation in debt as a 2 dollar toll would have already brought in enough money to pay off half the debt! Either Jamaicans leadership is entirely comprised of idiots or they are actively traitors to their own nation for cash.
The highway is emblematic of a larger question surrounding China's growing interest and investment in the Caribbean: Who really wins and who loses? Experts say there are several key reasons why China is investing in the region: to extract mineral resources, to develop strategic ports and shipping lanes, and to provide opportunities for Chinese labor not Jamaican jobs! China does the same thing in every nation. China has offered Jamaica loans and expertise to build miles of new highways. The ultimate trick is Jamaica is taking on debt for money that goes directly back to China. Its an age old American con called the Monkey Hustle. To catch a monkey you offer something he wants like fruit inside a gourd with a narrow neck the monkey reaches in and grabs the fruit but he is so greedy with a full fist he cant pull out his hand and is trapped.
China traps Jamaica by giving millions to build but making sure the builders are all Chinese nationals. The Prime contractor is imported from China... (explains J. Lynda Blake a Prime Contractor from the US who often offers services to nations that want to win instead of lose with her firm 25 year old Narman Construction Inc,) as are most if not all of the workers. This is almost always the case when projects are funded by grants, loans and private investments from China.
A recent CBC network report cited the following: Such concessions have prompted criticism from members of the local construction industry, some of whom accuse the Jamaican government of selling out their industry to the Chinese. "The Chinese do not engage Jamaican engineers and Jamaican management on the construction job, they only engage labor," said Carvel Stewart, a civil engineer and former president of the Incorporated Master Builders Association of Jamaica.
"I think it's shortsightedness. I think it's a lack of development of the Jamaican construction workforce."
ECO and Climate Justice
China's interest in the Caribbean extends beyond loans and labor. Seeking out natural resources is also a key aspect of BRI. Bauxite, a rock formed from the reddish clay of tropical regions, is the world's primary source of aluminum. Bauxite mining is also the second largest industry in Jamaica.
The Alpart mine and refinery, one of Jamaica's largest, is located in the southwestern town of Nain. In 2009, Alpart closed in the wake of the global financial crisis and a downturn in the aluminum industry. It sat dormant until it was purchased in 2016 by Chinese state-owned mining giant Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO).
Jamaica's environmental regulator issued 16 enforcement orders against JISCO for causing "serious environmental and human health issues." The source of the problem, the regulator said, was a 350-hectare residue disposal area that was poorly managed and in breach of environmental permits. Residue from bauxite can contain concentrations of harmful metals and low levels of radioactive elements. Of primary concern is bauxite dust, which can contaminate drinking water and cause damage to the lungs, nose and throat, as well as exposed skin. It also interferes with the quality of local fruit tree crops. So again the government takes no heed to the needs of its citizens but bends over backwards to do business with foreigners that benefit everyone but the working class.
Another reason for China's interest in the Caribbean is its proximity to the Panama Canal, a strategic shipping route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In fact China wanted to build a port their which of course they would fully own. One reason China showed interest in building a port at Goat Island, located off the south coast of Jamaica and directly north of Panama. It's part of Jamaica's Portland Bight, an environmentally sensitive and protected area so it has been untouched and a safeguarded area for the shoreline and wildlife.
Ingrid Parchment heard that Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller announced the plan during a trip to China, she was shocked. "I thought, 'Why are we giving away one of our major resources to somebody? Because they have an idea?' "Parchment is executive director of the Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation, which is responsible for preserving the area.
"They were going to be levelling the island, removing all of the trees, which is habitat for birds, and also the mangroves, in particular, which are where the baby fish and crabs grow."
Construction of the port would have also required dredging around the island, which would leave the local community more vulnerable to damage from hurricanes.
Five years ago, the Jamaican government announced that the state-owned China Harbor Engineering Company would lead the project.
Comentários