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Antigua's CBI Programme Faces Washington Pressure as Election Aftermath Settles

Good morning, Antigua and Barbuda. The election is in the rearview. The questions it raised are not.

CBI programme: still on the agenda, still under pressure

Citizenship-by-investment programmes remain the policy question that the recent campaign foregrounded but did not resolve. UPP leader Jamale Pringle had promised during the campaign to work directly with Washington on the issue. The US State Department’s pressure on Antigua and Barbuda — including the visa suspensions imposed earlier this year — has not abated. The minimum investment of roughly US$100,000 has long been contested by US and EU officials, who argue that applicants with dubious backgrounds capitalise on the visa-free travel the Antiguan passport unlocks. Whatever the new political configuration looks like, the CBI question is still the pressure point.

Bahamas Goes to the Polls Tuesday with Wealth Declarations and a Dames Scandal in the Closing Frame

Good morning, Bahamas. Forty-eight hours until you decide.

OAS observers received at Government House

Governor General Dame Cynthia Pratt received representatives of the Organization of American States Electoral Observation Mission in a courtesy call at Government House on Friday. The Commonwealth Observer Group was received earlier in the week. International observation is, in a closely contested election, the kind of thing both sides claim they want and neither side is entirely comfortable with.

Belize Pushes Sustainable Tourism as Princess Cruise Ship with Norovirus Skips Belizean Stop

Good morning, Belize. The cruise season’s middle stretch always brings the same risk, and this week the risk made the news.

Caribbean Princess norovirus outbreak: Belize watching closely

The CDC reported Friday that 102 of 3,116 passengers and 13 of 1,131 crew aboard the Caribbean Princess have reported gastrointestinal illness on a 13-day Caribbean voyage that has not, in this case, included a Belizean port. The vessel departed Port Everglades on April 28 and is set to dock at Port Canaveral on May 11. The reminder for the Belize Tourism Board: a previous outbreak on the Star Princess in March did include the Belize City stop. Cruise health protocols and the country’s reputation as a clean stop are tied together more closely than the visiting passengers ever notice.

Dominica's CBI Revenue Still Funds the Hospital Wing as US Visa Suspensions Persist

Good morning, Dominica. The week ends as it began: with a small island state quietly weighing the cost of revenue against the cost of access.

CBI continues despite Washington pressure

The Dominican Citizenship by Investment programme remains a primary source of development financing, even as the US visa suspensions imposed earlier this year continue to affect travellers. The previous revocation of citizenship from a small group of Iranian nationals — after the discovery of misrepresentations on applications and links to figures in Tehran — has been cited by the government as evidence of due diligence. Washington has remained unmoved on the visa suspensions. Travel bonds of US$5,000 to US$15,000 for Dominican applicants continue to be required.

Grenada Faces US Visa Bond Requirement as Mitchell's Government Holds the Line on CBI

Good morning, Grenada. The pressure is steady. The response, so far, has been measured.

Visa bond requirement: $15,000 ceiling

Grenadian nationals applying for US tourist visas continue to face the bond requirement of up to US$15,000 imposed earlier this year. The bond is refundable if the application is denied; it is not refundable if granted and used. Grenada was placed on the list as part of the same package of measures that suspended visas for Antiguan and Dominican nationals. Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell’s government has continued to push for the measure to be lifted. Washington has continued to link the issue to the CBI programme.

Guyana's Legal Team Says Venezuela Brought No Evidence to The Hague

Good morning, Guyana. The Hague gave us the headline this week, and it was a strong one.

Venezuela’s case in The Hague: short on evidence

Guyana’s legal team told reporters Saturday that Venezuela has submitted no evidence to support its claim to Essequibo during the opening week of oral hearings at the International Court of Justice. The hearings opened Monday and have proceeded through the week, with Guyana’s argument resting on the 1899 Arbitral Award. Caracas has spent the week relying on rhetoric. The court has spent the week unmoved. Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, in remarks earlier in the week, said the case had moved into “legal focus.” Translation: the politics are over and the law has begun.

Iran Seizes Barbados-Flagged Tanker as Bridgetown Warns of False-Flag Trend

Good morning, Barbados. Friday was the kind of news day a small open economy with a large shipping registry never wants to have.

Iran seizes the Ocean Koi; Bridgetown can’t confirm the flag

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy seized a Barbados-flagged oil tanker, the Ocean Koi, in the Gulf of Oman in what Iranian state media described as a “special operation” Friday. The vessel was sanctioned by the US Treasury in February. Acting foreign minister Kerrie Symmonds said the incident had not been formally drawn to his attention and warned that “false flagging” — vessels using flags they have no real connection to in order to evade sanctions — has become a “developing trend.” The Barbados Maritime Ship Registry continues to monitor. Whether the Ocean Koi was actually on the Barbadian register, or merely flying the colours, is the question Bridgetown is now trying to answer in public while presumably already knowing the answer in private.

NaRRA Bill Passes Senate at 8:14 PM as Gunman Threatens Stella Maris Prep

Good morning, Jamaica. It was a heavy week, and Friday was a heavy day.

NaRRA Bill passes Senate at 8:14 PM

The controversial National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority Bill cleared the Senate at 8:14 PM Friday, with the government using its majority to reject Opposition amendments aimed at additional oversight. The bill establishes a centralised authority for hurricane and disaster reconstruction. The Opposition’s argument was straightforward: an authority with this much spending power needs more eyes on it. The government’s response was that the bill, as drafted, includes adequate oversight. The vote was a numbers game, and the numbers were on the government side.

Persad-Bissessar Welcomes Jaishankar with 2,000 Laptops and a Prosthetics Programme

Good morning, Trinidad and Tobago. India is in town. So is the conversation about whether the State of Emergency is doing what it is supposed to be doing.

India’s foreign minister visits, brings 2,000 laptops

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar welcomed India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to Port of Spain Friday for a two-day official visit. The deliverables included two thousand laptops handed to students from seven school districts in a Red House Rotunda ceremony, several memoranda of understanding, and the launch of a National Prosthetics Programme in Penal. The Prime Minister, in remarks to Parliament, credited Prime Minister Modi with ensuring that India “honoured and delivered” on its commitments. India’s Caribbean push continues, and Trinidad — given the Indo-Trinidadian population — is the natural anchor.

Saint Lucia's Tourism Stars Shine at GIMIES as Unemployment Hits 25-Year Low

Good morning, Saint Lucia. It has been a steady week, and a steady week is, in the current regional weather, news in itself.

Unemployment hits 25-year low

Saint Lucia has recorded its lowest unemployment rate in 25 years, according to figures released earlier in the week. The Pierre government has pointed to the figure as evidence that the post-pandemic recovery has converted into durable labour-market gains. The figures vary by demographic, with youth unemployment still elevated relative to the headline rate. The headline number is real. The texture beneath it is mixed.

St. Kitts and Nevis Holds the CBI Line as Drew Government Negotiates the US Deportee Agreement

Good morning, St. Kitts and Nevis. The smallest sovereign state in the Americas continues to negotiate larger questions than its size suggests.

Deportee agreement: regional eligibility only

Prime Minister Terrance Drew’s government has been clear that under the deportee agreement signed with Washington earlier this year, only people from the region will qualify to be hosted in the federation. The clause was negotiated specifically. The reasoning was straightforward: a small island state with limited capacity cannot absorb deportees from anywhere on the planet. Civil society response has been mixed; the regional restriction is the design choice that made the agreement possible.

St. Vincent's New Government Confirms 2026 CBI Launch as US and EU Pressure Builds

Good morning, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The new government has decided, and the decision is going to be tested.

CBI programme: 2026 launch confirmed

Prime Minister Goodwin Friday, whose New Democratic Party took power in November ending 24 years of Unity Labour Party governance, confirmed earlier this week that Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is advancing plans to launch a citizenship-by-investment programme in 2026. The announcement comes against an unforgiving backdrop: the United States has suspended visa privileges for Antigua and Dominica, the European Union has issued its most serious CBI warning yet, and the political environment for new programmes is the worst it has been since CBI emerged in the region.

Sunday Sports Cartoon: 194,000 Eyeballs Pon Jamaica

Friday in Kingston. One phone. 194,000 people watching.

The numbers from Friday’s livestream are real. 2.8 million views. A peak of 194,000 concurrent viewers. More reach in one afternoon than the Jamaica Tourist Board’s traditional ad spend has been delivering on a quarterly basis.

The aunties at the Half-Way Tree bus stop did the math before the strategy meeting did. And him not even charging JTB a cent.

Sunday Sports Cartoon: Bushy Park Calling

The countdown nobody forgot.

A Formula E driver is set to compete in Rally Barbados for the first time in three years. Around Bushy Park, motorsport is religion, and the Porsche 992 Rally GT is the offering being made on the start line this season.

The Barbadian fanbase: loyal, patient, and already in the queue with the cooler bag packed.

Sunday Sports Cartoon: Dey Rob De Cricket Board?!

Couva, Friday morning. The news landed like a Test wicket.

The Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board has condemned the robbery at its Clifford Roach Drive offices. The TTCB has not yet detailed publicly what was taken. The community has been less restrained.

Robbing the cricket board, in Couva, on a Friday — for a country where cricket is religion and the panyards have memories longer than any police file, that is the kind of story the elders are still working out over the bench.

Sunday Sports Cartoon: Road to Linden

Road to Linden. Guyana’s Slingerz FC is on the road today for a closed-door preparation match in Linden, quietly building toward the Caribbean Football Union Club Shield in July 2026.

The pundits across the region are already warming up. Trinidad clubs have reached two CFU finals (one win) in the current cycle. Jamaican clubs have reached two semifinals. Guyana has not made a CFU final this decade.

The Week the Caribbean Stopped Apologising for Its Own Borders

The week began with Guyana’s legal team arguing in The Hague that Venezuela had “submitted no evidence” to support its claim to Essequibo, and ended with the Bahamian electorate forty-eight hours from voting on a government whose national security minister is in the middle of a scandal nobody has fully explained yet. In between, an oil tanker that may or may not have been Barbadian was seized by Iran in the Gulf of Oman, the Trinidad government welcomed India’s foreign minister with two thousand laptops in tow, and the Eastern Caribbean spent another week trying to decide whether the citizenship-by-investment programmes that fund their hospitals are worth the visa restrictions Washington keeps threatening to impose.

Pride storm into playoffs as Bishop dismantles Scorpions and the regional championship reminds the Caribbean why it still matters

Regional cricket may not dominate Caribbean public life the way it once did. But every year, the West Indies Championship quietly reminds the region that cricket still knows how to produce drama.

This week delivered exactly that.

Barbados Pride surged into the playoffs after demolishing Jamaica Scorpions by an innings and eleven runs. For Barbados, the result felt like one of those classic regional cricket reversals: the kind where a team spends weeks looking inconsistent before suddenly remembering it is Barbados. Joshua Bishop’s bowling helped dismantle Jamaica, and the Pride suddenly transformed from playoff outsiders into legitimate contenders.

Dwight Yorke still has backing, but Trinidad football's patience is never unlimited

Trinidad football has many traditions. One of them is loudly discussing whether the national coach should still have the job.

This week, Trinidad and Tobago Football Association president Kieron Edwards publicly reiterated support for head coach Dwight Yorke despite the national side’s uneven start in World Cup qualifying. That statement matters because in Trinidad football culture, managerial backing is usually interpreted in one of two ways: genuine confidence, or the beginning of the countdown.

The Reggae Boyz job has become Caribbean football's most public interview process

There are football vacancies, and then there is the Jamaica vacancy.

At this point, the search for the next permanent Reggae Boyz head coach is beginning to resemble a regional referendum on what Jamaican football actually wants to be.

This week, reports confirmed that former national players Michael Johnson and Darren Moore are among the applicants for the role, joining what is quickly becoming one of the most closely watched coaching races in Caribbean football. The fascination is understandable. This is not simply about naming a coach. It is about deciding whether Jamaica sees itself as a CONCACAF middle power, a diaspora-powered football project, or a nation still trying to reconcile talent with structure.