Stories about Caribbean from January, 2007
Haiti: Pre-Carnival Festivities A Blast for All
Due to regained security in the capital, pre-carnival festivities in Port-au-Prince have been about as well attended as carnival itself, says (Fr) HaitiXchange. Adds the site: “Marching bands and the better known DJs were all part of the festivities. People came from everywhere: Petion Ville, Delmas, Cite Soleil, Martissant…in order...
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Drive-bys arrive
Abeni regrets to report that drive-by shootings have arrived in St. Vincent.
Bahamas: Does the war on drugs make sense?
Larry Smith offers a useful historic overview of the history of the drug trade in a post that asks the question: can the war on drugs be won?
Trinidad & Tobago: Festivals and all that jazz
Laura at the Caribbean Beat blog is interested to see what the impact of the three-year old — and inaptly named — Tobago Jazz Festival will be on the region's other music festivals.
Trinidad & Tobago: A nation unravels
“How do you take back a country that at independence failed to take real responsibility for itself, whose fabric has been slowly unravelling ever since, and which now equates modernisation with a frantic rush towards industrialisation and “developed country status by 2020″?” asks Jeremy Taylor of his country, Trinidad and...
Haiti, France: Creole Language Catholic Mass in Marseilles
Collectif Haiti de Provence reports (Kr) on a Creole language mass that took place last Sunday in Marseilles, France for the Haitian community there: “More than 120 people showed up in their Sunday best. Restless young men weren't very excited about the music and hymns but they still showed up…...
Haiti: Pictures of Soccer Victory Celebration
Collectif Haiti de Provence posts (Fr) a slideshow of Haitians celebrating their win in the Digicel Caribbean Soccer /Football Cup final.
French Caribbean DOMs: Welcoming Vaval, King of Carnival
Mas a kle, a Guadeloupe mas bandUploaded by Akynou No sooner were the 2006 holidays over that Martiniquans, Guadeloupeans and Guianese were kicking off the prelude to “Vaval”, their affectionate nickname for carnival which will take place in February, in a three-day celebration peaking on “Mardi Gras”, the “fat tuesday”...
Guadeloupe: Invited to Brooklyn's Labor Day Parade 2007
Atout-Guadeloupe explains that Guadeloupe has been invited to Brooklyn's West Indian Day parade in 2007 and notes (Fr): “It is an important event for Guadeloupean culture to be parading in Brooklyn, NY in 2007! Since October 2006, 5 carnival bands have converged into a single association , “K'Ribeens” to prepare...
Trinidad & Tobago: Police force irrelevance
Manicou hits out at the “irrelevance” of the Trinidad and Tobago police force, in light of their handling of the organiser of last week's proposed national shutdown.
Trinidad & Tobago: Soca podcast
The latest IZATRINI.com soca podcast features 2007 tracks by several Trinidadian artists and by Japanese soca sensation Minmi.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Airlines merge, prices skyrocket
St. Vincent and the Grenadines blogger Abeni's worst fears are realised with the announcement that the merger between two Caribbean airlines will be accompanied by an increase in airfares.
Trinidad & Tobago: Nationwide shut-down and media hype
Keith Francis questions the quality of some of the information being circulated by the media and others about the events surrounding yesterday's nationwide shut-down in Trinidad and Tobago, including the arrest of the shut-down's organiser. The shut-down is supposed to continue today.
Belize: “Third parties” emerge
Melody at the Belize News Blog encourages readers to download the latest issue of the recently launched Belize Independent Newspaper, which is devoted to the emergence of new political parties in Belize and the challenge they represent for the two-party status quo.
Barbados: Calypso for Desmond Haynes
Robert Frische at Cricketwukup.com remembers a calypso written by a Barbadian singer in honour of great West Indies cricketer Desmond Haynes, who, near the end of his career, was both passed up for the captaincy and dropped from the team. You can hear the song as well — an MP3...
Trinidad & Tobago: National shutdown organiser arrested
Attillah Springer confesses to a sense of unease as the organiser of today's national shutdown in Trinidad and Tobago is charged under the country's anti-terrorism act.
Trinidad & Tobago: National shutdown
Taran Rampersad, Roslyn and Hassan Voyeau weigh in on the national shutdown which is supposed to be taking place in Trinidad and Tobago today. Taran has also posted a photo of the promotional flyer on Flickr.
Haiti: Caribbean Soccer Cup Champion
Says Collectif Haiti de Provence (Fr): “The national soccer team won the Caribbean Cup by defeating Trinidad in the final 2-1. A deserved victory for the Haitians… In Port-au-Prince the victory was celebrated in the streets. Thousands of fans assembled on the Champ de Mars exploded with joy when the...
French Guiana: Aerial Shots of Cayenne and the Forest
Carnet de Guyane posts (Fr) aerial shots of Cayenne and the guianese forest taken while flying over the country.
Trinidad & Tobago: Will Elton John be safe?
Jessica is certain that the early January assault on a Dutch model during a photo shoot in rural Trinidad was “a homophobic attack by a group of ignorant ruff necks who saw a ‘pretty’ foreigner and his artsy entourage and fell into a fit of dance-hall fueled, ‘chi-chi man’ fury,”...
Barbados: Barrow statue
Bajan Reporter discusses the controversy surrounding a newly erected statue of late Barbadian prime minister Errol Barrow.