Janine Mendes-Franco · December, 2009

Latest posts by Janine Mendes-Franco from December, 2009

Jamaica: The Good and the Bad

  17 December 2009

The good and the bad: The Phoenix in a Gas House reports that dancehall artist Buju Banton has been officially indicted for cocaine possession, while Letter From Jamaica is pleased that Usain Bolt is a runner-up in TIME magazine's Person of the Year.

Dominica: Being Transparent

  16 December 2009

Dominica Weekly supports transparency and accountability in public life: “If the people have to dig out the truth, all trust is gone and aggression will step to the fore. Then who knows what can very well happen.”

Trinidad & Tobago: Baby Face

  15 December 2009

Of a Danish study which suggests that “baby-faced people live longer”, B.C. Pires says: “Any Trini could have told the world that…it have a reason ogly people does look ogly: because they miserable; and them so bound to die faster than good-looking people who everybody like and want to have...

Cuba, U.S.A.: American Arrested in Havana

  15 December 2009

The Cuban Triangle comments on press reports that “an American citizen working on a USAID contract was arrested in Cuba” for allegedly “distributing ‘cell phones, laptops, and other communications equipment’.”

Trinidad & Tobago: Twitter's the Thing

  15 December 2009

“The man came across as feeling he was a celebrity, shouting for the whole stationery store to hear that he was ‘on Facebook and Twitter’. Better yet that the woman didn't know what Twitter was”: From Trinidad, Now Is Wow Too finally gives in to her resistance to the micro-blogging...

Jamaica: Buju Arrested

  15 December 2009

Regional bloggers react to news that dancehall star Buju Banton has been arrested on cocaine possession charges.

Dominica: Copenhagen Expectations

  14 December 2009

“The proposal from the United States and China, by far the world’s largest per capita contributors to the global greenhouse gas build-up, has been nothing short of apathetic”: Dominica Weekly thinks there is still lot of work to be done at the Copenhagen Climate Change talks.

Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago: Plastic Pollution

  14 December 2009

“Take a walk along any beach in Barbados – and you’ll see the plastic rubbish washed up on the shore”: Barbados Free Press asks whether the sale of plastic water bottles should be restricted, while Trinidadian Keith Francis is also concerned about global plastic pollution.

St. Lucia: Considering the Blind

  14 December 2009

As new technology makes e-books accessible for the blind, St. Lucia's Caribbean Book Blog says: “It remains to be seen how the Caribbean will be able to justify the blind among us being left behind in the global quest for economic empowerment and basic human dignity.”

Cuba: Say What?

  14 December 2009

Repeating Islands reports on the Pope's statements that “there are growing signs of religious freedom in Cuba”, while El Cafe Cubano says: “As a practicing Catholic I am troubled and saddened that the Pope…would laud Cuba for openness? Dr. Biscet is currently in prison serving 25 years simply for speaking...

Barbados: Friends?

  10 December 2009

“There is terrible misunderstanding about what the IMF does–part of which is the Fund's fault; some is plain uninformed ignorance; some may be willful misunderstanding especially by politicians…”: Living in Barbados wonders whether the International Monetary Fund can be the island's friend.

Trinidad & Tobago: Under Pressure

  10 December 2009

“The visible signs of success in Trinidad and Tobago used to be having a big foreign-used car, a thin cell phone and a plane ticket to Miami, but the list just got longer with the addition of the pressure washer”: This Beach Called Life explains.

Cuba: Human Rights Day

  10 December 2009

Diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense says that today, which commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “is a day to remember and honor this document, and more importantly, those in Cuba and around the world imprisoned and suffering for demanding that their governments abide by its precepts.”

Bermuda: Fleecing?

  10 December 2009

Vexed Bermoothes says: “The Bermuda Music Festival is a complete failure as a tourism promotion. In fact, it’s scandalous.”