标签： Suriname

Suriname’s annual Agricultural Trade Fair, organized by the country’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (LVV), opened its doors to visitors on Friday, running through Sunday May 3, with a standout innovative exhibit that is turning heads and challenging long-held local beliefs about a native aquatic species. At the heart of the buzz is a new smoked fish sausage product drawing crowds of attendees eager to sample the offering. When asked to guess what type of fish the sausage is made from, most visitors stammer out guesses ranging from kandratiki to bang bang and tukunari, none coming close to the actual ingredient: the liba kwie, a fish long viewed by local communities as a destructive pest. The surprise reveal always draws gasps from the crowd, as few have previously considered the invasive-feeling species as a viable food source.

Developed through a collaborative public-private partnership between the LVV and local food entrepreneurs, the liba kwie sausage has proven to be a hit with fairgoers, sparking widespread public interest in the novel product. LVV Minister Mike Noersalim explained in an interview that this initiative serves a dual purpose: adding economic and culinary value to a fish that has long been maligned for the damage it causes by burrowing holes in critical dam infrastructure across the country. Minister Noersalim noted that his team has worked closely with counterparts from the Ministry of Public Works and Spatial Planning to identify long-term solutions to reduce the species’ negative environmental and infrastructure impacts, and turning it into a popular food source emerged as a win-win outcome.

Testing and product development confirmed that liba kwie is not only safe and palatable for human consumption, but also versatile enough to be processed into a range of popular products, from fish balls to the smoked sausage that is wowing fair attendees. Compounding this benefit is the fact that liba kwie populations are abundant across Suriname’s waterways. Turning the species into a mass-market food product delivers three interconnected advantages: it reduces the pressure of overpopulation that causes damage to dam walls, expands local food output, and strengthens the nation’s core goal of food security.

Food security and expanded domestic food production are the central themes of this year’s Agricultural Trade Fair, a focus echoed by Suriname’s President Jennifer Simons during her opening address to attendees and sector stakeholders. President Simons acknowledged that efforts to grow and modernize the country’s agricultural sector have faced setbacks and inconsistent progress in past years. To address these challenges, she emphasized that greater investment and attention must be directed to pre-production planning, targeted research, and every link along the entire agricultural production chain. She stressed that transforming the sector is not a one-year project, but a gradual, step-by-step process that can eventually grow agriculture into one of Suriname’s strongest core economic sectors.

“ We truly have all the potential we need to feed ourselves, ” President Simons told the crowd. She pointed not only to future export opportunities for Surinamese agricultural products, but centered her remarks on the urgent priority of national food sovereignty. According to President Simons, Suriname must ramp up production of its own food to reduce reliance on imported goods. “ We need to be absolutely certain that if supply ships don’t arrive, Surinamese people will still have enough to eat, ” she said, underscoring the critical importance of expanding local production.

President Simons called on all agricultural sector stakeholders – from smallholder farmers to large producers, private businesses, and government agencies – to commit their full efforts to lifting the sector to a new level of productivity over the next 12 to 24 months. Once Suriname achieves full domestic food sovereignty and works out the early growing pains in production and processing infrastructure, she explained, the country will be ready to make the strategic shift to expanding agricultural exports to global markets.

For the LVV, public-private partnership is far more than a policy buzzword: it is a concrete, practical tool to strengthen the country’s entire agricultural production sector. Minister Noersalim added that the national government is also working to strengthen cross-ministerial collaboration to speed up sector development, breaking down bureaucratic silos that have slowed progress in past years. “ By giving entrepreneurs space to showcase their innovations and new products to both investors and the general public, we are building up the economic backbone of Suriname together, ” Noersalim said. “ This trade fair is proof that we achieve more when we work together. Our goal is clear: Suriname will build a modern, productive, and competitive agricultural economy that works for all of our citizens. ”

In a significant escalation of Washington’s campaign against Havana, former U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday dramatically expanding existing sanctions targeting the Cuban government and its international allies, the White House confirmed to news agency Reuters. The move comes hot on the heels of Trump’s removal of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, marking a sharp acceleration of pressure on left-aligned governments across the Latin American region.

The newly expanded sanctions regime targets individuals, entities, and associates linked to Cuban security services, those involved in alleged corruption or severe human rights violations, as well as sitting Cuban government officials and their supporters. While the full list of sanctioned actors has not yet been released, the executive order explicitly states that any foreign individual operating in key sectors of Cuba’s economy — including energy, defense, mining, financial services and security — can now be placed under sanctions.

Notably, the new framework also allows for secondary sanctions to be imposed on third-party companies and individuals that facilitate transactions with sanctioned Cuban entities. Jeremy Page, a former sanctions researcher at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, described the provision as the harshest measure targeting non-U.S. businesses since the decades-long U.S. trade embargo on Cuba was first imposed. “Oil and gas firms, mining companies and global banks that previously managed to separate their Cuban operations from their U.S. activities now face major vulnerability to American enforcement,” Page explained.

Cuba has issued a fierce condemnation of the new measures. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, who recently met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, denounced the sanctions as illegal unilateral coercive measures that violate the United Nations Charter. Rodríguez stressed the measures amount to collective punishment targeting the entire Cuban people, emphasized that Washington has no legal authority to impose such restrictions on the island nation, and made clear that Cuba would not be intimidated into abandoning its sovereign policies.

The expanded sanctions fit into a broader, increasingly aggressive U.S. campaign against Cuba, which Trump has repeatedly claimed is on the brink of collapse. The move also aligns with recent shifts in U.S. engagement across the region: just days before the order was signed, the first commercial flight from Miami to Venezuela in seven years was completed, a visible signal of growing American intervention in Latin American and Caribbean affairs.

During Trump’s term, U.S. forces have also carried out military operations targeting suspected drug trafficking originating from Venezuela, leading to the detention of Maduro. At the time, Trump openly warned that “Cuba is next,” accusing Havana of maintaining close ties to Iran and militant groups including Hezbollah. A senior U.S. official further framed the Trump administration’s position, arguing that Cuba provides “an accessible hub for hostile foreign intelligence, military and terrorist activities less than 100 miles from the U.S. coast.”

Washington has long maintained three core demands of Havana: opening Cuba’s state-led economy to foreign and private investment, providing compensation for properties seized by Fidel Castro’s revolutionary government, and holding what the U.S. describes as free and fair elections. Cuba has consistently rejected external interference, reiterating that its socialist political and economic system is non-negotiable for the Cuban people.

Friday’s executive order builds on a series of escalating U.S. measures against Cuba implemented earlier this year. After Maduro was removed from power, the U.S. halted Venezuelan oil exports to Cuba, one of the island’s primary energy sources. Trump subsequently threatened steep tariffs on any country that continued shipping oil to Cuba, prompting major suppliers including Mexico to suspend their oil deliveries to Havana. Those earlier restrictions have already triggered severe fuel shortages across the island, leading to nationwide power outages and the cancellation of most international commercial flights.

A major dispute has broken out over conflicting event announcements tied to Suriname’s National Assembly Speaker Ashwin Adhin’s private trip to the Netherlands, leaving attendees and stakeholders in confusion ahead of two competing gatherings scheduled for Sunday, May 3. Both the Diaspora Institute Netherlands (DIN) and the Surinamese Embassy in The Hague have advertised separate networking events headlined by Adhin, but the speaker himself has explicitly disavowed any connection to the DIN-organized meeting, confirming only the embassy-backed event has his official approval.

DIN leadership has claimed strong public interest in their May 3 event, with DIN chair John Brewster reporting that more than 100 paid participants have already registered for the gathering. According to Brewster, the venue secured for the DIN event is already struggling to accommodate the unexpectedly high number of attendees. The organization frames the gathering as a targeted networking opportunity for diaspora community members, including Surinamese entrepreneurs, investors, elite professional football players, and other industry professionals. The event is billed as focused on advancing cross-community collaboration, unlocking new economic opportunities for Suriname, and coordinating collective action to support the South American nation.

However, when contacted by Suriname-based outlet Starnieuws, Adhin pushed back sharply against DIN’s claims, accusing the organization of creating unnecessary confusion by moving forward with the event without any prior coordination or official approval from him or his team. Adhin confirmed that only one networking event has his explicit consent: the gathering scheduled for Sunday in Amsterdam, organized in coordination with Surinamese Ambassador Panka. “I have no agreement whatsoever with DIN to host an event. My team knows nothing about this gathering. No permission was granted to Mr. Brewster to organize an event using my name,” Adhin emphasized in his statement.

Ambassador Panka subsequently backed Adhin’s account, confirming that the speaker had informed his office that no formal arrangements had been made with DIN. “We are proceeding with our planned event as normal,” Panka noted in a brief response to inquiries.

Despite the denial from Adhin and the embassy, Brewster has stood by DIN’s version of events, claiming the organization agreed to organize the gathering at the request of one of Adhin’s own advisors. To date, however, DIN has not publicly identified the unnamed advisor, leaving the claim unconfirmed. Adhin has held firm to his position, stating he had no prior knowledge of the DIN event, did not initiate any such gathering, and will not be in attendance at the DIN-organized meeting.