Janine Mendes-Franco · February, 2008

Latest posts by Janine Mendes-Franco from February, 2008

Barbados, Jamaica: Political Accountability

  29 February 2008

Living in Barbados thinks that the arrest of a former Jamaican Minister implicated in the Cuban lightbulb scandal “should shed light on what kind of government Bruce Golding is leading and what kind of democratic country Jamaica really is.”

Trinidad & Tobago: Chinese “Pow”

  29 February 2008

“The Chinese community in the Caribbean is small, but…the region’s culture would be poorer without them”: Trinidadian blogger Can Cook, Must Cook examines the influence the Chinese have had on Caribbean food and posts a recipe for one of her favourite delicacies.

Barbados: Joe's River

  29 February 2008

Keltruth Corp. blogs about the level of pollution at Joe's River, which runs through Barbados’ last remaining rain forest.

Jamaica: Service Culture?

  29 February 2008

“Jamaica is just not ready to do business the way business is done on an international level. Our people still believe that to give service is to be servile”: Jamaican Lifestyle explains.

Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago: Panorama

  28 February 2008

“It is music that must be heard live to be appreciated, as much of it is literally felt in the body…”: Jamaican Francis Wade blogs about Panorama, Trinidad and Tobago's premier steel band competition.

St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Land Lover

  28 February 2008

“It's time for us to concentrate more on growing what we eat even though far too many of us consider farming as something that the educated should steer away from”: Blogging from St. Vincent, Abeni advocates going back to the land.

Bermuda, Cayman Islands: Constitutional Change

  28 February 2008

Bermudan blogger Vexed Bermoothes, on learning that the Cayman Islands is updating its Constitution following “rigorous public consultation”, asks: “Are we just so used to corrupt governance that normalcy seems unusual?”

Jamaica: This and That

  28 February 2008

Jamaica and the World puts in her two cents’ worth on everything from a Minister being charged with fraud to the island's roller-coaster crime rate.

Jamaica: Both Sides Now

  28 February 2008

“We Jamaicans take the mountains, valleys, waterfalls — all for granted. And because we can't see those things with ‘outsider eyes’ we don't think deeply enough about how to share them with the world”: Francis Wade believes Jamaica is full of untapped potential.

Cuba: Cardinal Points

  27 February 2008

“Nowhere in the world has the Catholic Church been a greater force for evil than in Cuba,” according to Review of Cuban-American Blogs. Babalu is not impressed with Cardinal Bertone's recent visit either.

Anguilla, Trinidad & Tobago: Procurement

  27 February 2008

“We live in a time when coping with corruption is high on the agenda of all countries. It is therefore important that we take the opportunity to discuss transparency and accountability in procurement”: Corruption-free Anguilla leads the discussion.

Bermuda: Silo Situation

  27 February 2008

The fact that “the cement company at Dockyard would not be required, at least for now, to relocate the contentious silos” should be raising political questions – at least in the opinion of two Bermudan bloggers, Vexed Bermoothes and A Radical In Bermuda.

Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago: Regional FBI?

  26 February 2008

As the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago raises the question of a regional policing body, Barbadian blogger Notes From The Margin says: “When you look at the implications of a Caribbean Law Enforcement agency, it’s not as simple as it might appear at first blush.”

Jamaica, Bermuda: Rogue Children

  26 February 2008

“A Bermudian member of parliament…is convinced that when you have ‘bad bruk pickney’ you must punish parents as it is the parents whose responsibility it is to ensure that children are socialised properly”: Jamaican Lifestyle hopes that “the sentiments of one man won’t be the basis of a policy that...

Cuba: Reactions to Raul

  25 February 2008

Cuban bloggers’ responses to news that Raul Castro has been appointed President of Cuba…Babalu Blog: “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”; Child of the Revolution: “The appointment of a 76-year-old hardliner…as the effective number two rather than younger apparatchiks…has surprised everyone”; Uncommon Sense: “For those who think...