GREAT BAY — While another earthquake may rattle Puerto Rico’s southwestern coast even more, the risk of tsunamis hitting the Leeward Islands is very slim. Earthquakes below 7.5 or 7.0 usually do not trigger tsunamis. The last time a major tsunami hit the Caribbean region was in 1946, after an 8.1-magnitude earthquake struck the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola. Over the past 500 years, the Caribbean region may have been exposed to approximately 100 tsunamis. The North Panama Deformed Belt has the largest number of tsunami records within the Caribbean. Puerto Rico sits at the edge of the…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — The Sint Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) would like to thank the voters of Sint Maarten for going out and exercising their democratic right and voting in the next parliament. The election took place peacefully and orderly. As we know, the ballot is the way the people speak and certainly the people have spoken today. SMCP certainly respects the voice and the decision of the people. For this reason SMCP would like to congratulate all the winning parties, the NA, UPP, USP, PFP and the UD. Also congratulations to the elected parliamentarians. SMCP wishes you much success. The people…
PHILIPSBURG – Interim Minister of Justice Jurendy Doran, candidate number 5 on the list of the National Alliance leads the top-ten of vote getters in Thursday’s parliamentary elections. Doran improved his score from the 2018 elections by 157 percent, from 278 to 843 votes. Behind Doran are two other NA-candidates: interim Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs whose voter support dropped from 896 in 2018 to 753 this time around and MP Christophe Emmanuel, who improved from 571 to 687 votes. UP-candidate number four Grisha Heyliger-Marten rode on the wings of her husband Theo to fourth place with 656 votes. Party for…
Harbour View – Today, January 10, 2020, the Governor of Sint Maarten, His Excellency drs. E.B. Holiday was informed by the chairman of the Central Voting Bureau about the proceedings of the January 9, parliamentary elections. Governor Holiday also received the preliminary results of the January 9, 2020, parliamentary elections. Interim Prime Minister Ms. S. Jacobs has, in view of the elections, made the portfolios of the Ministers and the Minister Plenipotentiary available. The Governor informed the Prime Minister that he will take the resignation into consideration and requested the Ministers and the Minister Plenipotentiary to continue to handle the…
PHILIPSBURG – The National Alliance recorded a convincing victory in Thursday’s parliamentary elections, securing six seats in the new parliament – based on preliminary results. The United People’s party came in second for four seats, while the United St. Maarten party and newcomer Party for Progress each won two seats. The fifteenth seat is for the United Democrats. The St. Maarten Christian Party did not manage to hold on to its seat and the People’s Progressive Alliance did not win enough votes for a seat either. USp party leader Frans Richardson did not win enough votes to hold on to…
PHILIPSBURG — Four months before the introduction of the planned visa requirement for Venezuelans in the Dutch Caribbean, more than half of the group of illegal Venezuelans on St. Maarten has left to return home on their own initiative. An estimated three hundred undocumented Venezuelan men remain on the island. Santiago (41) is one of the very few illegal Venezuelans who landed at Grand Case-Espérance Airport twice; the first time in 2017 and the second time in October last year. He returned weeks before the Dominican Republic government introduced temporary visa requirement for Venezuelans. “Like me, all of my friends…
PHILIPSBURG — The 2019 income tax returns and the 2020 monthly tax forms will soon be available via the online service provided by the Tax Office. Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion met with the Head Tax Administration of The Ministry of Finance, Sherry Hazel. During this meeting at the Tax Office, Hazel briefed the minister on the challenges the organization is experiencing, ranging from a shortage of personnel, which is further intensified by the high level of sick leave, to the outdated IT system presently in use. Furthermore, the lack of communication between the two applications further increases the workload.…
~ “Terrance Rey is a qualified, experienced, committed and passionate candidate” ~ PHILIPSBURG — The words qualified, experienced, committed and passionate describing the number 12 candidate on the Sint Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) list is none other than Atwell Terrance Rey, a candidate with over 25 years of experience in business development, internet startups, e-commerce and technology; with over 15 years of experience in the travel, tourism and aviation sectors; and, most importantly, with a solid basis of 9 years of experience in Parliament and Government as Policy Adviser, serving from 2010 to 2012 in Parliament and from 2012 to…
PHILIPSBURG – On Thursday St. Maarten goes to the polls for the fourth time since the island became an autonomous entity within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. With 23,130 registered voters and an expected turnout of around 70 percent, winning one of the fifteen available seats in parliament requires approximately 1,080 votes. For the second time since the start of his political career United People’s party founder Theo Heyliger is not on any list. (The first time was 2010, when he saw no point in participating in the last elections for the parliament of the Netherlands Antilles). UP-stalwart Franklin Meyers…
PHILIPSBURG — As residents prepare to go out and cast their votes on election day, Thursday, January 9th, 2020, the Public Prosecutor’s Office Sint Maarten reminds the public at large about the country’s law on vote buying or selling. This practice is considered illegal by law and therefore the Public Prosecutor’s Office strongly advises residents to refrain from engaging in this practice. Article 2:44 in the law book of country Sint Maarten highlights vote buying as a felony and Article 2:45 elaborates on vote selling also as a felony. The Public Prosecutor’s Office encourages residents to learn the do’s and…
