· January, 2013

Stories about Caribbean from January, 2013

Hotel Development near the Pitons Raises Concerns in St. Lucia

A planned hotel development near the Pitons in Saint Lucia has fueled more debate about the way to balance development with cultural and environmental concerns. The proposed “eco-luxury” development is “Freedom Bay”, which plans to include a five-star hotel in addition to private residences.

25 January 2013

Cuba: Internet Change Coming?

If you took a poll in our streets about Cubans’ most serious problems, the youngest…would list…lack of access to the Internet. They want to dive into that sea of kilobytes!...

24 January 2013

Guyana: Literary Controversy

Writer Ruel Johnson has expressed concern at what he considers to be possible case of nepotism at Caribbean Press, a publishing company owned by the government of Guyana: When I saw...

24 January 2013

Jamaica: Hitting the Paywall

I hear Swartz and others who maintain that information can and must be free. But to simply equate academic articles with useful information is misleading…these are issues we need to...

24 January 2013

Tobago's Election Results Send Message: Hit the Road, Jack!

Tobago's election results have come in and bloggers don't seem surprised. The incumbent, Tobago House of Assembly Chief Secretary Orville London, won by a landslide, while the main challenger, Ashworth Jack, representing the Tobago Organisation of the People, which has links to the country's current administration, failed to win even one seat.

23 January 2013

Haiti: Like a Phoenix from the Ashes?

Haiti Grassroots Watch examines the pros and cons of the Phoenix Project – a “massive public-private business deal [involving] a factory that would transform garbage from the capitol into electricity,...

23 January 2013

Guyana: Minimum Wage and Inflation

The welfare of the working poor who have seen their purchasing power steadily eroded in the past ten years, or what one must consider, after reviewing the facts, as phantom...

23 January 2013

Belize, St. Vincent: Garifuna Culture

…the Garifuna language, which integrates Arawak and Carib, and which was declared a ‘masterpiece of the oral intangible heritage of humanity’ by UNESCO in 2001, is severely threatened. It possesses...

16 January 2013

“Silly Season” with Tobago's Elections

Tobago will be holding its Tobago House of Assembly elections on Monday, January 21 - and though these are not national elections, it is still an important vote, as the result will determine who will steer the semi-autonomous body which governs several key functions of what Trinidadians refer to as “the sister isle”. One political blogger examines the issues...

16 January 2013

Haiti: Water & Cholera

Was there a simultaneous sabotage of Haiti's municipal water systems while the country was grappling with cholera? kiskeácity links to the details.

16 January 2013

No Exit Visa: The Cuban Diaspora Speaks

After much anticipation, it has finally happened. The Cuban government has done away with the need for an exit visa - essentially state permission - to leave the country. Bloggers have been sharing their thoughts on this new development.

15 January 2013

Jamaica: Handing Over “Calabash”

The world can and will run without you. Get over yourselves. Active Voice salutes Colin Channer, the founder of Jamaica's Calabash Literary Festival, whose “exemplary resignation” she thinks “ought to...

15 January 2013

Mobile Libraries Help Haitians Overcome Major Earthquake

Mobile libraries are helping Haitians overcome the devastating 2010 earthquake, providing intellectual resources, entertainment and assisting in essential matters such as health. By March 2013, the organisation Libraries Without Borders intends to launch another two mobile libraries to circulate through the most affected neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Recognition is growing about the value of reading in places suffering from conflicts and natural disasters.

12 January 2013

Jamaica: Debt Storm Coming?

The Jamaican blogosphere has been a bit prickly ever since the Chicago Tribune, in an editorial on January 8, 2013, compared Jamaica’s financial condition to that of Greece, considered by some to be the most precariously perched country in the global economy.

12 January 2013

About our Caribbean coverage

Janine Mendes-Franco
Janine Mendes Franco is the Caribbean editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.