‘Fake News’; No USA Visa free travel for Caribbean nationals!
Even before the USA elections where Donald J. Trump (R) became the 45th President there was a rise in ‘fake news’ whereby anonymous writers most often use the internet to spread lies, misinformation, make blatant erroneous claims and propaganda, posing it as real or legitimate news.
Many have also claimed that the rise of ‘fake news’ articles that have been proliferating to deliberately destroy some governments around the world, as well as political candidates such as Mrs Hillary R. Clinton, and even the credibility of the media, is a new and dangerous phenomenon.
US Visa lifted for Caribbean NOT SO
Sometime last week one of the fake news articles circulating around the Caribbean Region and even the Virgin Islands (VI) falsely and erroneously claimed that US President Trump had signed an Executive Order last week, January 30, 2017 making it possible for Caribbean nationals to travel to the USA visa free for a period of 180 days for Tourism or Business purposes only.
The false and misleading information quoted the President as saying “The Caribbean is my greatest bet for Trade and Economic growth.” Hours after the fake article was posted online it starting to circulate amongst many Caribbean nationals, governments, diplomats and people of the Virgin Islands. Many local residents had posted, forwarded or shared it on their Facebook pages, Instagram, WhatsApp and other social network modes of communication.
Our newsroom called the United States Embassy to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean on Thursday February 2, 2017 to ask about the article and in a brief response on Friday the U S Embassy wrote, “We advise the public that, contrary to rumors, the list of countries participating in the US Visa Waiver Programme has NOT changed.”
Hopefully, this will put this matter to a close. However, in an invited comment, Mr Julian Willock, who normally speaks to our newsroom on these regional and international issues from the company Advance Marketing and Professional Services, a local political and marketing consulting firm, said “with the emergence of fake news we all have to be on our guard, especially our people in the region who can at times become vulnerable.”
Julian Willock speaks again; What to watch for under Trump
Notwithstanding, Mr Willock said he does not see the Trump administration’s policies towards the Caribbean changing much, but there are some areas we need as a region and the VI to pay keen attention to.
The former Permanent Secretary and Businessman Willock said “we need to pay attention to Mr Trump’s policy on Climate Change and its effect on our small island states.” In addition, “I have advised some Caribbean senior officials and two Prime Ministers to pay attention to President Trump’s plans to reduce corporate tax.”
If this is reduced by 15% as Mr Trump has been saying there will be little need for US Corporations to move overseas, including the Caribbean. Mr Willock further said that the VI Government needs to particularly pay attention to OECD and G20 rules under the new US Administration.
“It is important to stress that these rules are rigidly applied against the Caribbean and other developing countries, especially a place like the VI where we have our legitimate financial sector. Countries that fail to comply are blacklisted, affecting their capacity to operate in the international economy,” Willock said, adding that he will be talking about these issues more.
Finally, Mr Willock, who often speaks to the international media on these and other financial sector matters, said another area the Caribbean must watch under the Trump Administration is the deportation of undocumented immigrants and persons in violation of the country's laws.
“We simply do not have the capacity to deal with this…they left the region for years, they got their habits in the States, now we must take them back, which puts a burden on our social services system, along with our law enforcement capacity,” the astute social scientist lamented in his telephone interview with our newsroom.
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23 Responses to “‘Fake News’; No USA Visa free travel for Caribbean nationals!”
Did you mean a legal institution of "alternative interpretations" based on who you are - like in the interpretation on "conflict of interest?"
Is Obama some kinda deliverance prophet sent to you by your Jesus when you prayed and said send help?
while many countries do choose to rely on americans to spend or invest money in other countries, obama did
what he could to interfere even with the rights of americans abroad as well as using the us government as a
big bully or threat against foreign governments when it came to normal money matters. i hate to say it, but
i do think a lot of folks around here do like obama just because of his color. that is sad. do not judge a book
by its cover. and personal privacy is everyone's right, by the way.