Chinese Spying Facilities In Cuba Signal America’s New Cold War
China has likely upgraded and expanded its spying facilities in Cuba, posing potentially severe implications for the U.S.China has likely upgraded and expanded its spying facilities in Cuba, posing potentially severe implications for the U.S.American woman reportedly brutally beaten by growling, 'pure evil,' fake taxi driver on Caribbean island: 'I fought for my life'
An American woman vacationing on a Caribbean island was brutally beaten by a man claiming to be a taxi driver, according to authorities.
The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force said 29-year-old Davidson Martin was charged with one count of inflicting grievous bodily harm.
Suyapa Ramos, from New Jersey, went on a vacation on the Caribbean island of Turks and Caicos this month.
Ramos was enjoying her vacation — visiting pristine beaches and dancing.
On the evening of March 10, Ramos attempted to take a taxi cab back to her hotel from a bar.
Ramos noted, "I believe after 10 they don't run, and that was something I found out the hard way. I trusted someone who said they were a taxi."
Apparently, the man who offered to drive Ramos back to the hotel was not a legitimate taxi driver.
Ramos said that people at the bar seemed to know the alleged taxi cab driver.
Suddenly, the alleged taxi driver began attacking her during the drive.
"That was the scariest thing I had to encounter to come face to face with evil. Pure evil," Ramos told WABC-TV.
"While he was beating me, he was growling at me, he was trying to poke my eye out," Ramos said.
Thankfully, Ramos was able to break free from the brutal attack.
However, Ramos suffered a major injury and lost vision in her left eye.
The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force noted, "Based on the information received and interviews conducted, Mr. Martin is alleged to have attacked the female victim."
Ramos said, "I fought for my life. It was so scary to feel yourself so close to death."
"It wasn't just a woman, it was a mom, a daughter, a grandmother, a sister, a friend and an American tourist," Ramos added.
The suspect reportedly stole the victim's cell phone.
Martin's bail was set at $10,000. He is scheduled to appear in court in May.
The U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory about Turks and Caicos in July.
The Department of State warned: "Exercise increased caution in the Turks and Caicos Islands due to crime."
The warning advises Americans not to walk alone at night and "do not physically resist any robbery attempt."
Ramos warned other Americans, "Be careful where you travel to because paradise can turn into a nightmare for anyone but especially a woman and tourists."
Woman 'fought for her life' during assault in Turks and Caicos www.youtube.com
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Police say American woman, 71, raped on yacht by escaped convict in Caribbean before she and husband tossed overboard, killed
An American woman was raped by an escaped convict while she was sailing on her yacht in the Caribbean, according to police. The woman from Virginia and her husband are believed to have been killed after they were tossed overboard by the escaped fugitives last month.
A spokesperson for the Royal Grenada Police Force told the Daily Mail, "Atiba Stanisclaus was charged by the Grenadian police with one count of rape on Kathy Brandel."
The 25-year-old Stanisclaus, along with 30-year-old Ron Mitchell and 23-year-old Trevon Robertson, were charged with two counts of capital murder for the deaths of Brandel and Ralph Hendry. The three murder suspects were also charged with escaping lawful custody, housebreaking, robbery, and two counts of kidnapping.
As Blaze News previously reported, Brandel and Hendry were sailing their yacht on a "dream" boating voyage in the Caribbean.
The married couple of 27 years had anchored their yacht in Grenada's capital of St. George's.
The American couple's yacht, named the Simplicity, was located on Feb. 21 by authorities on the neighboring island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
There were no signs of Brandel or Hendry. However, law enforcement said the crime scene on the yacht was "consistent with signs of violence."
"The entire interior of the vessel and its decks were ransacked," the Coast Guard’s commanding officer reportedly wrote in an internal memo.
The couple's possessions were strewn everywhere on the vessel and blood was found throughout the boat, according to police.
Investigators believe the three murder suspects commandeered the yacht a day after they broke out of a prison in Grenada on Feb. 18.
Grenada police commissioner Don McKenzie said in a news conference that the escaped convicts "disposed of the occupants" while sailing the hijacked yacht between Grenada and St. Vincent.
The bodies of Brandel and Hendry have yet to be found.
The couple were experienced boaters and had been sailing for more than a decade.
Brandel's son — Nick Buro — told WRC-TV, "They were super careful to be safe all the time. Everywhere they went everything they did, safety was their top, top concern. So this unfortunate accident, I think, it came out of nowhere for them."
"This is something that is completely unexpected," Buro added. "And wrapping our brains around it and trying to understand a senseless act of violence against two people while they were just living their lives in their home, essentially, because Simplicity was their home. They didn't have another home.... And having that safety and security taken away from them abruptly and [having] them attacked ... where they live, it's just, it's unimaginable."
The suspects were originally arrested on robbery charges. Mitchell had also been charged with one count of rape, three counts of attempted rape, and two counts of indecent assault and causing harm, according to Grenada police.
The three suspects are scheduled to appear in court on March 27.
New Details in American Couple Hijacked on Yacht, Allegedly Thrown Overboard www.youtube.com
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Christopher Columbus’ Calamitous Mistakes Don’t Negate His Noble Contributions
Columbus was no genocidal sociopath; he was an ambitious, expert explorer disastrously incapable of governance, whose poor decisions had consequences he could hardly have predicted.If You Take The Elevator To The Second Floor, You Don’t Deserve Legs
There are few reasons why any able-bodied person should ever ride the elevator one floor instead of tackling a single flight of stairs.Sailor survives 24 days lost at sea by eating ketchup
A sailor survived 24 days lost at sea by eating ketchup and seasoning.
Elvis Francois, a citizen of Dominica, was working on his boat in St. Maarten in December. Francois said the weather suddenly became tempestuous and his sailboat drifted out to sea.
"I tried to [go] back to port, but I lost track because it took me a while to mount the sail and fix the sail," Francois said in a video released by the Colombian navy.
"I call my friends, my coworkers. They tried to contact me, but they lost service," he said. "There was nothing else I could do than sit down and wait."
The 47-year-old sailor didn't have any food on his boat except for a bottle of ketchup, garlic powder, and Maggi seasoning. Francois said he would mix up the limited ingredients with water as sustenance while he floated around the Caribbean Sea.
"So, I mixed it up with some water. So I had this to survive for 24 days in the sea," he explained.
During storms at sea, he collected drinkable rainwater with a cloth. The sailor said that he constantly had to remove water from the small boat to prevent it from sinking. Francois said that he attempted to light a fire on the boat as a distress signal, but it was unsuccessful. He wrote out the word "HELP" on the boat's hull.
More than three weeks after being lost at sea, the tiny sailboat was spotted by air some 120 nautical miles off the Guajira Peninsula in northern Colombia. The turbulent seas had pushed Francois approximately 700 miles southwest from his original starting point of St. Maarten.
The Colombian navy informed a container vessel in the area of the stranded sailor. Francois was brought on board the merchant ship CMA CGM Voltario and taken to the Port of Cartagena in Colombia for medical attention. Cmdr. Carlos Urbano Montes told the Associated Press that Francois was in good health, but had lost weight.
"Twenty-four days – no land, nobody to talk to, don't know what to do, don't know where you are — it was rough," Francois said, according to NBC News.
Francois admitted that he lost faith while being lost at sea for 24 days, but one thing gave him hope.
"At a certain time, I lose hope. I think about my family," Francois said on video.
Francois will be handed over to immigration authorities and taken back home.
Sailor survives 24 days adrift in Caribbean Sea living off ketchup www.youtube.com
President of a Florida NAACP branch resigns after allegedly being 'maliciously racistly oppressed' by members of the organization's executive committee
Dr. Vanessa Toolsie, president of the NAACP's Orange County branch, announced her resignation this week after she claimed to have experienced "harassment and racist marginalization" from members of the executive board of the nonprofit civil rights organization.
Born in Trinidad of Indian descent, Toolsie was the first female South Asian leader on the organization's board. She was elected vice president of the Orange County branch and later became president in March after her predecessor resigned.
The Orlando Sentinel reported that Toolsie posted her resignation letter on Facebook but then replaced it with a shorter statement that read, "I will NO LONGER tolerate ANY racism against me for being a #ProudBrownWoman of #SouthAsian and #Caribbean descent."
She stated, "The fact that I have consistently been made to endure this hateful racism in anti-racist spaces is abhorrently shameful, and in moving forward, let it be widely known that I have #ZEROtolerance for any further anti-Brown racism against me or anyone else. More to come. #STOPAAPIhate #BROWNandPROUD.”
During a virtual meeting with the board on Monday, Toolsie read her resignation letter. During the meeting, board members asked if Toolsie could provide evidence of the harassment and racism she encountered.
Toolsie alleged that someone from the executive board deliberately excluded her from the NAACP's gala by ignoring her emails and refusing to provide her with accurate and timely meeting announcements. She accused the member of intentionally interfering with her effectiveness and attempting to sabotage her.
Some members on the call responded with concern and asked how the organization could ensure similar treatment would not happen in the future. One board member expressed skepticism about Toolsie's claims and stated she was making "false allegations against the executive committee."
John Cummins, a spokesperson for the group, told the Orlando Sentinel that he is "concerned about this person and the charges that were made. We don't want to overlook or dehumanize or, in any way, cause anybody problems or concern intentionally or unintentionally."
Toolsie claimed that she tried to internally resolve the issue for months but that "no action to curb the harassment and racist marginalization was taken by superiors prior to my resignation announcement."
She wrote, "It would be hypocritical of me to continue to stand at the helm of an organization branch 'for the equality of all persons' that is against racism and oppression, while I continue to be treated with such bold disproportionate inequality, maliciously racistly oppressed as the first AAPI President of the branch to a disproportionate blatant level that I have not yet seen in any organization."
Two Killed in Dutch Military Helicopter Crash in Caribbean Sea
A Dutch military helicopter has crashed into the Caribbean Sea near the island of Aruba, killing two of the crew.![]()
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