I am a writer and media producer based in Trinidad and Tobago. Follow me on Twitter @JanineMFranco.
Latest posts by Janine Mendes-Franco from January, 2012
Cuba: Human Rights Double Standard
Lilianne Ruíz, blogging at Translating Cuba, compares a television spot “that shows a series of watercolors of butterflies from one of the five officials of the Interior Ministry imprisoned in...
Puerto Rico: Waste of Money
Dondequiera says of a US $20 million ad campaign to promote tourism: “If we could only use 1/4 of that money to police and clean our beaches, maintain the bathrooms…....
Cuba: Upwardly Mobile?
The latest Cuban media campaign “is directed against the [expensive] mobile vendors, those sellers of fruits and vegetables who transport their goods on a tricycle or other wheeled device” –...
Bermuda: “Constant Circus”
“The Premier is saying that she will pass more good governance laws. That’s positive,” says Vexed Bermoothes. But he still can't help but wonder: “You need laws to control the...
Jamaica: Bleached
Annie Paul posts an article she wrote about Vybz Kartel and the skin bleaching phenomenon.
Cuba: Pope's Visit & Human Rights
In the wake of more repression against Las Damas de Blanco, Uncommon Sense thinks “that the pope should postpone his visit until human rights conditions improve in Cuba.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Abuse of Trust
The TnT River says of an incident in which a teacher allegedly stuck a student's head in a toilet bowl: “This is another case of child abuse which comes in...
Trinidad & Tobago: Reviving Capital Punishment?
Plain Talk comments on the issue of capital punishment: “The sad reality is that this pantomime only continues because the people are starved for choice, so every now and then...
Cuba: No Political Reforms
Cuban bloggers discuss the national Communist Party conference, which took place this past weekend.
Jamaica: Types of Racism
“Racists in Jamaica come in at least two varieties: upfront and down-low”: Jamaica Woman Tongue explains.
Cuba: The Cardinal Rule
In the context of the country's upcoming papal visit, Angel Santiesteban writes: “What we Cubans have to achieve won’t come from anyone’s visit, nor from the ‘peace concert’, although it...
Trinidad & Tobago: The Value of Seniors
kid5rivers takes the Port of Spain mayor to task for his disagreement with a proposal to offer offer free utilities and transport to senior citizens, asking, tongue firmly in cheek:...
Cuba: Playwright Passes On
Havana Times acknowledges the passing of “Cuban writer, playwright and theater director Humberto Arenal”, who passed away yesterday.
Trinidad & Tobago: Child Abuse
Guanaguanare hopes that the story of Josiah Governor, the child who was beaten to death, will “motivate us to be more humane in the way we treat our children”, while...
Jamaica: Gully versus Gaza
Jamaica Salt considers “how Jamaican music superstars, Vybz Kartel and Mavado have taken their different paths”, suggesting: “Kartel [is] more real in a way but when it comes to survival...
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Favourite Proverbs
“I consider them to be expressive and beautiful in a way that is so Caribbean”: Abeni blogs about West Indian proverbs.
Cuba: Internet as a Public Good
“In addition to triggering the greatest civic hell-raising in Internet history…the SOPA/PIPA laws have touched a nerve in Cuba’s digital community”: half-wired explains.
Trinidad & Tobago: Indigenous Portrayal in History
Review of the Indigenous Caribbean republishes a paper on “the dominant, almost doctrinal assertions made about the history of Trinidad and Tobago–with some attention paid to the ways historiographers diminished...
Cuba: Knocking & Entering
Laritza's Laws laments that people's homes are not a safe haven from arbitrary searches by government officials.
Guyana: Protest at University
Bloggers report on protests against the firing of journalist and lecturer Freddie Kissoon from the national university, here and here.
