Sunday Sips with HG Helps | A weird World Cup, wickedness in Cuba, Chuck and human rights, and killed by a car out of control

World Cup just not the same

There have been 22 World Cup tournaments since the event that is dubbed ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ began in 1930.

The playing rules have changed significantly since, but the basics have remained intact, as far as technical, on-field issues are concerned.

The excitement that those 22 tournaments have generated across the globe is immeasurable, leading millions around the world to conclude and accept as fact, that the sport at that level remains far more popular than any other.

A World Cup football final, for example, would grab more attention than the 100 metres final in the Olympic Games, the Super Bowl, the deciding game of an NBA final, World Series baseball, or any other.

But at the 2026 tournament being hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, there are far more distractions in the air than ever before.

People who want to travel to the USA in particular, are being denied entry for various silly reasons.

Officials, like top African referee Omar Artan of Sudan, Iranians connected to their national teams, African fans, Haitians, and others, were not allowed to enter the United States. That’s very sad.

In the case of Artan, it was so shameful that he was picked on and even fingered as having links to terrorists, when none of that had ever emerged before, and no evidence has been produced. Pinning false information on honest people is nothing new. Jamaica’s National Hero Marcus Garvey faced it. But it has become far more frequent.

It is strange that Thomas Partey, the former Arsenal player who represents Ghana has been denied a visa to Canada to play a match there against Panama on Wednesday. Partey faces rape and sexual assault charges in England and will be tried there later this year. He was allowed to enter the USA and train with the team at its camp in Boston, but now, how does it make sense that he cannot be allowed to land in Canada, yet he will play other matches against England and Croatia in the USA?

FIFA has kicked the ball away by not insisting that host nations must at least allow players and technical officials visas to enter, or those nations cannot bid for hosting rights. To further insult the process, FIFA President Gianni Infantino has brushed it off as nothing that important and even called on some of the parties involved to ‘chill’. After 10 years on the job, he just does not understand how important it is.

On the other side of things, FIFA should not be surprised that the crowd turnout at matches has not been good, and the projection for overwhelming attendance at others is also not good. If entrance tickets are so high, then no matter how they love football, they will be forced to make sober and realistic decisions, which include staying away from matches. That is basic.

It is clear as daylight that FIFA has strayed and must get back on course. A change in leadership at the top must be contemplated following the actions of Infantino in recent months. 

The sooner the better.

What’s happening in Cuba is sheer wickedness

The question that I face every day is about what is happening to the people of Cuba in the fight for survival, following sanctions imposed and tightened by the Donald Trump Administration in the United States.

It is inhumane to even consider what is going on, while the rest of the world, save for a handful of charities, slip into an uncaring comfort zone.

It baffles me to fully understand the mechanics of the matter. Can the United Nations, for example, not send supplies to Cuba on humanitarian grounds?

How long can other willing countries stand far away and watch an economy that they would have benefited from at some point simply wither away, while one nation, led by the president of the Bullies Association of the World, continues to squeeze the people and carry out one of the worst acts that the Caribbean region has seen?

There is a deep political issue that is at stake here, but no one country should force another to tell it how things ought to be run. The people must decide that, and I do not see daily mass demonstrations by the people of Cuba, that they are being brutalised by their leaders. 

It is a dangerous thing to try and legitimise international dictatorships, for you just do not know what will happen at the end of the day.

It does not matter much to me what kind of political system the Cuban people decide to choose to manage the affairs of the land of their birth. What is important is that when they do so, it is respected worldwide, and nothing is done to deny them of it.

Chuck, Jamaica and human rights

Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Delroy Chuck has bucked his toe again. Big time.

The latest issue surrounds human rights in Jamaica, and Chuck arrived at the conclusion by way of an address to the Jamaican Parliament last week that there were no problems of the kind in Jamaica. He is wrong. So very wrong.

The questionable killings of citizens of Jamaica by an out-of-control police force is definitely at the top of the list of human rights atrocities being committed by agents of the State, and clearly supported by their heads of operations and policy.

It is disgusting to see how many people are slaughtered as if they are rats and cockroaches being run over by motor vehicles on the road. And guess what, the stories given by the police are always slanted the same way … ‘a man pointed a gun in the direction of a police team and was shot’, etc. Why is everybody pointing guns and not shooting at the police? Is this the new method of suicide?

At this point, police killings have hurried past all other forms, at last count, 155 for the year so far. They continue to reduce the workload of judges by eliminating the possibility of judges having to adjudicate on the future of potentially accused individuals. How can such a system continue?

There are other areas of human rights abuses that are also relevant, among them the treatment of accused people in lockups, and overcrowded and inhumane conditions at prisons, both of which I have witnessed.

So, Chuck, a Rhodes Scholar and brilliant former student of Kingston College, and a leading Member of Parliament in the context of how MPs manage their constituencies, should think again. Human rights abuses in Jamaica are real, and they are mounting.

Killed by a car out of control

The death of a woman, aged 62, who was hit by a Toyota Mark II motor car in Ocho Rios last Saturday morning, was a simple reminder of how easy it is for people to lose their lives by way of motor vehicle accidents.

The CCTV footage that has been made available shows clearly that the woman was actually not on the roadway, but was in her territory – the sidewalk – when she was hit by the car which was travelling at high speed.

Details about a potential mechanical defect to the car are not known yet, but the speed at which it was travelling raises a lot of questions.

People rush daily, on roadways that you least expect them to. I was on Norbrook Drive in St Andrew recently and saw a racing car travelling up and down the road at high speed, accompanied by noise that would destroy eardrums nearby.

The people of the area told me that it was a regular occurrence, night and day, but the driver had strong connections ‘high up’ so he was never penalised, despite reports being submitted to the police. There will be action only when an individual is killed.

The penalties for dangerous, careless and reckless driving must be increased like the salaries of politicians. That’s just one way to rein in offenders, led by taximen, but which has widened, uncomfortably.