POLITICS: In Caribbean, Dreadful Wait After U.S. Terror Attacks

By Zadie Neufville Reprint | | Print |

Zadie Neufville

KINGSTON, Sep 13 2001 (IPS) - Caribbean leaders and citizens have been transfixed by the unfolding horror in the United States. Many are convinced that countless lives in the region’s small islands will be changed irrevocably by Tuesday’s terror attacks, especially in New York City.

With communication lines between New York and the Caribbean severely disrupted, ordinary people and prominent politicians alike wait with growing dread for word of loved ones. About one million West Indian immigrants live in New York City, according to the American Anthropological Association.

Many went north in search of economic opportunity and the chance to make life easier for their families back home. The fall-out for remittances – to say nothing of tourism – could be acute.

But for now such considerations come a distant second to the need to know how and where family and friends are. Media organisations across the region report that scores of Caribbean nationals have failed to contact their relatives. As the silence stretches, optimism dims.

Trinidad and Tobago Foreign Minister Mervyn Assam was one of the lucky ones: his anguish lasted only a few hours Tuesday before he spoke with his sister, who worked in one of the World Trade Centre towers.

Jamaican music producer Tommy Cowan received news that his nephew was severely burnt in the attack but is alive.

For Jamaican politician Hyacinth Bennet, however, the wait is agonising. Her brother-in-law remains missing.

Monica, a Jamaican who had worked in the World Trade Centre since 1980, and who spoke on radio here Wednesday, said she survived the attack but feared for the many Jamaicans and other Caribbean nationals who work as security guards, secretaries, clerks, and cafeteria staff in the twin towers.

She said she narrowly missed death when, shortly after making her way out from the 34th floor of one of the towers, it collapsed and covered her with debris and dust, making it difficult to breathe and see.

O’Neil Hamilton, the officer in charge of information and public affairs at the Jamaican mission in New York, said he also is concerned for several Jamaicans who worked inside the Pentagon, a section of which collapsed after being struck by a hijacked airliner.

As of Wednesday evening, the embassies of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados said they had no information on the whereabouts and well being of a number of their nationals, thought to have been at or near the attack sites.

Making matters worse, communications have been snarled. Regional carrier Cable and Wireless suffered a loss of 20 percent of its U.S. capacity following the collapse of the Trade Centre towers. The company eventually said it had replaced lost circuits but the volume of calls to New York had gone up by more than 100 percent, resulting in a massive tie-up.

Meanwhile, regional leaders have sent their condolences to the people and government of the United States. Trinidad Prime Minister and Caribbean Community Security Council Chairman Basdeo Panday described the event as a “slap in the face of those who seek peace”.

“We have a threat of (terrorism) in our own country and I have been talking about it for a long time so it’s a matter of great concern to me both nationally and internationally,” Panday told reporters.

In July, the U.S.-based Miami Herald newspaper reported that the Trinidad-based Islamic group Jamaat-al-Muslimeen was linked to Osama bin Laden, the Afghanistan-based prime suspect in Tuesday’s attacks and previous terrorist acts.

Jamaica Prime Minister PJ Patterson echoed Grenada’s Keith Mitchell when he expressed horror at the “devastating and brutal attack” on thousands of civilians.

The voices of both men joined those of Belize Prime Minister Said Musa and Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo, to condemn the “tremendous loss of life, property and injury ” caused by the “senseless acts of terrorism”.

At the same time, the region’s tourism sector anticipates losses. Jean Holder, secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, said the organisation expects a reduction in visitors to the region. Travelers from the United States make up half the region’s tourist arrivals.

Caribbean tour operators already had been affected by a fall-off in travel because of the U.S. economic slowdown.

Air Jamaica and British West Indies Airways said the ongoing lockdown of U.S. airspace would cost them millions of dollars in cancellations, diversions, and service disruptions.

Air Jamaica Director of Communications Sandra Falconer said 600 of the airline’s passengers have been stranded in the United States since Tuesday, when the Federal Aviation Authority grounded all commercial flights. The airline is uncertain when it will be able to bring the passengers home, she added.

Air Jamaica operates more than 20 flights a day between the Caribbean and the United States.

Freight forwarders and shipping companies in the region also expect to lose millions as security tightens and cargo backs up.