Why are Governor John P. deJongh, Jr. and medical doctor Delegate Donna Christensen being so quiet about the U.S. Congress taking up the rum rebate issue this April 2014? Does it have anything to do with the toxic chemical odors on St. Croix? The world already knows that these two Virgin Islands public officials are directly connected to the corrupted Diageo rum deal. Are they afraid that the world is going to find out they allowed the Diageo Distillery to be built on the same location thats potentially causing the current environmental crisis on St. Croix? Is this why the VI government is covering up the true source of the toxic chemical odors that have sickened our children and closed down their high school? What are they afraid of - national media attention? When will the U.S. Department of Justice bring an end to the “V.I. Government Racketeering Enterprise”? How many more innocent victims lives must be ruin before these criminals are brought to justice? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is fully aware that the Diageo Distillery is built on highly toxic grounds. How can this regulatory agency not move to shut down this distillery being that it could potentially ship contaminated rum back into the United States mainland and around the world? The inclusion of the rum rebates in last year’s fiscal cliff deal and the national media attention it garnered, added fuel to a spirited fight between Puerto Rico and the USVI about the funds, which has spread to other producers in the Caribbean, as increasing portions of the rum rebates are funneled directly to rum producers in the U.S. territories. The “rum war” between the two territories was sparked in 2008 when British-liquor giant Diageo announced it would move production of Captain Morgan rum from Ponce to St. Croix after landing huge incentives from the USVI government, which split the rum-rebate revenue between the government and the liquor producer.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 22:53:00 +0000