Month: March 2012

Turks and Caicos Names New Chair of National Insurance Board
By the Caribbean Journal staff Lillian Misick has been named the new Chair of the National Insurance Board of Turks and Caicos, the government announced today. Misick will replace Ervine Quelch, who will complete his five-year term tomorrow. “I am …

St Lucia to Introduce Value Added Tax
By the Caribbean Journal staff The government of St Lucia will introduce a Value Added Tax in September, fulfilling what it called “undertakings given to international institutions by the former government” that VAT would be introduced during this financial year. …

Barbados Holds Talks with Mexico, Turkey
Above: Barbados PM Freundel Stuart (UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz) By the Caribbean Journal staff Mexico and Barbados held talks this week aimed at strengthening the existing bilateral relations between the two countries. Mexican Ambassador Mario Eugenio Arriola Woog paid a courtesy …
LATEST NEWS
Trinidad’s Government Considers Internal Self-Government for Tobago
Above: Tobago (Photo: Tobago Tourism) By the Caribbean Journal staff Trinidad Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has presented a Green Paper on internal self-government for the island of Tobago to former Presidnet Arthur Robinson. The Green Paper is currently out for …
Guyana President: Caribbean Must See Itself as Part of Bigger Movement
Above: Guyana President Donald Ramotar By the Caribbean Journal staff Guyana President Donald Ramotar says that by broadening bilateral relations, Caribbean countries can better immunize themselves against the problems that affect other parts of the world. Ramotar, who was speaking …
Jamaica to Acquire Two Firearm Marking Machines from OAS
Above: National Security Minister Peter Bunting (FP) By the Caribbean Journal staff Jamaica, following the lead of a number of Caribbean countries, will soon receive two firearm marking machines to assist its efforts to stem the illegal gun trade. The …
Haiti’s Martelly Envisions Hospital Expansion As Part of Decentralization Plan
Above: the new Mirebalais Teaching Hospital (Photo: Partners in Health) By the Caribbean Journal staff Continuing his tour around Haiti to push the government’s plan to shift power from Port-au-Prince and into local governments, Haitian President Michel Martelly visited the …
Rum Journal: A Conversation with Atlantico Rum’s Aleco Azqueta
The story of Ron Atlantico begins in the Dominican Republic. But even before that, it began at Georgetown University. It was there that co-founders Aleco Azqueta and Brandon Lieb were classmates, and soon after colleagues at Bacardi. Azqueta then went …
OECS Regional Assembly Moves Forward
Above: St John’s, Antigua By the Caribbean Journal staff The inaugural session of the OECS Regional Assembly is on track to be held in Antigua on June 15. The new regional assembly, whose convention was decided at the 54th Meeting …
Interview with US Virgin Islands Delegate Donna Christensen on Health Care, HOVENSA
Above: US Virgin Islands Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen (Photo: WH) By Alexander Britell The US Virgin Islands is in one of the most challenging periods in its history, in large part due to the closure of the HOVENSA oil …
CARIFORUM and EU Sign $110M in Agreements; Allocations for Belize, Haiti
Above: EU Representative Robert Kopechy and CARICOM SG Irwin LaRocque sign the agreements (Photo: CARICOM) By the Caribbean Journal staff The Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM) and the European Union signed three financial agreements aimed at …
Dominican Republic Opens Police Station in Growing Tourist Town of Las Galeras
Above: the new station in Las Galeras By the Caribbean Journal staff The Dominican Republic’s National Police has opened a new station in Las Galeras. The station comes in part to respond to a surge in development and tourism in …
St Vincent’s United Nations Ambassador Briefly Arrested in New York City
Above: Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves (UN Photo/JC McIlwaine) By the Caribbean Journal staff Camillo Gonsalves, St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Ambassador to the United Nations, was arrested and detained for 15 minutes Wednesday by a New York City police officer following …
US Virgin Islands Governor Proposes Modifications to Cruzan Rum Agreement
By the Caribbean Journal staff US Virgin Islands Governor John de Jongh has submitted to the Legislature modifications to the agreement between the government of the Virgin Islands and Cruzan, VIRIL, Ltd, the St Croix producer of Cruzan Rum and …
Op-Ed: Jamaica’s Local Election: The “Shine on the Ball” Illusion
By Kent GammonOp-Ed Contributor The Jamaican people have answered the call of the People’s National Party (PNP) that they should elect their local councillor candidates to, as Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller termed, “join up the power of government.” The …
Guyana Gets $15.2M in UNICEF Funding
Above: Guyana FM Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and UNICEF Rep. Dr Suleiman Braimoh By the Caribbean Journal staff Guyana Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and UNICEF Guyana/Suriname Representative Dr Suleiman Braimoh have signed a five-year Country Programme Action Plan that will provide Guyana …
Haiti Receives Emergency $8 Million UN Allocation After Funding Shortfall
Above: UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Haiti Nigel Fisher (UN Photo/Victoria Hazou) By the Caribbean Journal staff Haiti was selected to receive an $8 million emergency allocation from the United Nations-managed Central Emergency Response Fund as a result of a funding …
In Haiti’s Villa Rosa, Building Back May Not Prove to Be Better
Above: Villa Rosa (Photo: Kendi Zidor) SEVERELY DAMAGED DURING HAITI’S 2010 EARTHQUAKE, the metropolitan area known as Villa Rosa is a striking example of what has gone wrong with reconstruction. The absence of a government presence is as noticeable as the …