Stories about Caribbean from May, 2013
Campaign to Liberate Oscar López Rivera
The campaign for the liberation of Puerto Rican independence fighter Oscar López Rivera has intensified. During 32 years López Rivera has been imprisoned in the United States charged with “seditious...
Independent Projects of Ecological Solidarity Flourish in Puerto Rico
Ecological solidarity is getting stronger every day, thanks to the people working hard to develop independent projects in Puerto Rico. Here are a few examples that confirm once again that the goal of preserving nature, cultivating non-toxic products and advocating for sustainability isn't an impossible dream.
LGBTQ Rights in Puerto Rico Slowly Improve Step by Step
A battle is currently unleashing in discussions over LGBTQ rights in Puerto Rico. In recent weeks both advances and setbacks have been seen. Groups in favor of LGBTQ rights and Christian fundamentalist groups intensely lobby to influence the Legislature.
Trinidad Startup Weekend
Left & Right: “It was so clear, at that moment, that I had joined a community in a way that can only be described as becoming part of a family.”
Jamaica's Blog Action Day: What Police Can Do
Jamaican bloggers marked their own version of Blog Action Day (dubbed JA Blog Day), on May 23. Netizens discussed the disturbing issue of police brutality, state security abuses and extra judicial killings - particularly fitting as the date for the event was the third anniversary of the "Tivoli Gardens Massacre", which took place during the country's state of emergency in 2010.
Second Segment of Fiber Optic Cable Connects to Cuba
U.S. company Renesys announced on its blog that in the last week they have observed "a second connection" of the fiber optic cable ALBA 1 between Cuba and Jamaica.
Trinidad & Tobago: Invented E-mails or Political Demise?
Monday's sitting of Trinidad and Tobago's Parliament saw the Opposition Leader quoting from several e-mails, which, he alleged, implicate key government ministers, including the Prime Minister, in attempting to cover up her administration's actions surrounding the Section 34 controversy. Netizens have been debating whether the e-mails are even real and what it could mean politically if they are...or are not.
Bahamas: Haitians are our Brothers
One of the most dastardly parts of the Atlantic slave trade was how fellow human beings were treated as as if they less than men and women. And it seems...
Trinidad & Tobago: “Ordinariology”
The backlash, growing quietly by the second, apparently, against the Differentology video isn't that it's a bad video, it's that it's the wrong class of video entirely for the song....
Jamaica: “Good Gay” vs. “Bad Gay”
In this new discourse of the Good versus the Bad Gay, that what is being policed is class as much as sexuality. Under the Saltire Flag explains.
Trinidad & Tobago: It Takes a Village
A generation of Criminals, just like a generation of Professionals, don't simply pop up. They are raised. Trini World Views challenges everyone “who breathes fire and brimstone at criminals and...
Bermuda: House & Senate Accountability
The Bermudian government has introduced a set of reform initiatives; Vexed Bermoothes puts forward one of his own – “mak[ing] MPs accountable for their vote.”
Jamaica: Blogging about Police Brutality
To mark the tragic anniversary of the Tivoli incursion and the lives that were lost there, Jamaican bloggers are uniting to draw attention to the scourge of extra-judicial killings in...
Is Saint Lucia's Jazz Festival Worth the Investment?
The end of this year's Saint Lucia Jazz and Arts Festival, especially in the context of the country's ongoing budget debates, has led many netizens to wonder about the economic impact of the event.
Dominican Catholic Church Sues NGO for Sexual Education Campaign
The Catholic Church filed a claim against the Dominican Association for Family Welfare (Profamilia) to withdraw their advertising campaign, "Your sexual and reproductive rights are human rights."
Saint Lucia Jazz Festival's Controversial Couture
This year's Saint Lucia Jazz and Arts Festival featured a fashion show dubbed “Hot Couture”, intended to boost the island's burgeoning fashion industry by creating a showcase for local models and for designers both in Saint Lucia and throughout the region - but it was filled with controversy and behind-the-scenes wrangling.
‘Not Just About Writers': Talking with NGC Bocas Lit Fest Founder
Global Voices interviews the founder and director of Trinidad & Tobago's NGC Bocas Lit Fest, the indefatigable Marina Salandy-Brown, about how her germ of an idea has now evolved into the biggest literary festival in the Anglophone Caribbean.
Domestic Violence Protection for Everyone
Blogger and feminist lawyer Verónica Rivera Torres writes [es] about the piece of legislations that seeks to extend the Law Against Domestic Violence (Law 54) in Puerto Rico to same sex...
“I Am a Director”
Alternative blog Puerto Rico Indie reviews [es] the recent Puerto Rican film “I Am a Director,” which was partially financed through Kickstarter: The film, made in the ‘mockumentary’ style or fictitious...
“Mom, I Am in Love With a Woman”
On occasion of the celebration of Mother's Day, tomorrow Sunday May 12, feminist activist Amárilis Pagán writes about the experience [es] of telling her mother she was in love with another...
Mapping the Cuban Blogosphere
Blogger Yasmín S. Portales comments on the challenges of mapping the Cuban blogosphere, including everything and anything written in blogs. This is her most recent project: A directory is a...