April 11, 2026 • 3 min readBajan Brief
Good morning. Miss Violet is seated, coffee in hand, ready to speak.
THE DROUGHT WATCH
A Hydrological Drought Watch has been declared for April. Groundwater is low. The authorities are asking for water conservation. Miss Violet has been asking for a national water conservation education programme since before most of you were born, and has been told variously that it is “not the right time,” “not in the budget,” and once, memorably, “people already know about water.” They do not. The evidence is the drought watch.
Read More → April 11, 2026 • 3 min readBajan Brief
Good morning from the rock. The sun is out. The reservoir is not full. Let’s proceed.
HYDROLOGICAL DROUGHT WATCH DECLARED FOR APRIL
Barbados is officially under a Hydrological Drought Watch this month. Groundwater levels are below seasonal norms. The Meteorological Service would like you to conserve water. The Barbados Water Authority would like you to conserve water. The Bajan Bugle would like you to conserve water. You will not conserve water. This is the annual ritual. It will rain in May and we will have this conversation again next April.
Read More → April 10, 2026 • 3 min readBajan Brief
Bridgetown. Friday. The CARIFTA swimmers are home and the dengue numbers are not improving. Both things are true and one of them requires more urgency than it is receiving.
CARIFTA SWIMMERS RETURN
Trinidad and Tobago’s CARIFTA swim team landed at Piarco to a reception. Barbados’s own contingent had a creditable showing at the Games in Grenada. Across the region, the 53rd CARIFTA Games reminded everyone that the Caribbean produces competitive athletes at every age level with a fraction of the infrastructure budget that larger countries use to produce roughly equivalent results. This is either an argument for the talent of Caribbean youth or an indictment of how little we invest in it. It is probably both.
Read More → April 10, 2026 • 3 min readBajan Brief
Good morning. I am Miss Violet. I have been watching the news and I have several things to say about the state of Caribbean civic preparedness, sporting achievement, and mosquito policy. Please sit.
THE SWIMMERS EARNED THIS
I want to be clear that the CARIFTA swimmers did not land at Piarco to polite applause because they were expected to do well. They earned that reception through months of training in pools that are not always in ideal condition, with coaching that is not always funded at the level it deserves, representing countries that do not always have the national sports budgets to justify the results they somehow consistently produce. When we celebrate CARIFTA athletes we should celebrate them knowing the full cost of what they accomplished. That cost includes everything that was not provided and had to be overcome anyway.
Read More → April 9, 2026 • 3 min readBajan Brief
Miss Violet’s Barbados Bulletin
Brooklyn, New York | Thursday, April 9, 2026
Miss Violet taught civics at a secondary school in St Michael for twenty-two years before she retired to Brooklyn. She reads the Barbados Today every morning. She has expectations.
THE HERITAGE SITUATION
Minister Prescod is correct that Barbados children need to know their history better. Miss Violet has been saying this for thirty years. The curriculum was insufficient when she was teaching it and she has no reason to believe it has improved in the years since she left. You cannot build a nation on people who do not know where they come from. Miss Violet taught Form Three students who could not name a single person from the 1937 labour uprising. This was unacceptable then. The Minister is now saying it publicly. Progress, at whatever pace.
Read More → April 9, 2026 • 3 min readBajan Brief
The Bajan Bugle
Bridgetown, Barbados | Thursday, April 9, 2026
The news from the island that runs things, whether or not anyone admits it.
PRESCOD: THIS ISLAND IS FORGETTING ITS HERITAGE
Minister for Pan-African Affairs and Heritage Trevor Prescod has renewed calls for stronger history education in Barbados schools, warning that the island risks losing touch with its identity by teaching generations too little about their own past. The Minister’s concern is noted. Whether the curriculum will change, and how quickly, is the bureaucratic question. Barbados has a remarkable history. It would be a shame if the people who live here had to learn it from a podcast.
Read More → April 8, 2026 • 3 min readCaribbean Brief
Good Wednesday, Caribbean. The World Bank has issued its regional economic update and the news is, as the Bank likes to say, “mixed.” Translation: some of you are fine, some of you are not, and Guyana is in a different report entirely.
THE NUMBERS
The World Bank projects 2.1 percent growth for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2026, down from 2.4 percent last year. Highlights for the region:
- Barbados: 2.7 percent this year, 3.0 next. Solid.
- Jamaica: minus one percent this year, 3.2 percent next. This is the economic equivalent of a bad quarter being followed by optimism about the next quarter, which is what economists say when they have nothing more useful to offer.
- Guyana: 16.3 percent this year. 23.5 percent in 2027. We’ve mentioned this. We’re not going to stop mentioning it.
- T&T: Not in the headlines on growth, but very much in the headlines on gas.
TRINIDAD GOING TO VENEZUELA TO GET ITS GAS BACK
Read More → April 8, 2026 • 3 min readCaribbean Brief
Barbados
Good morning, children. Miss Violet here. Pull up a chair. There is a great deal to cover and I will not be rushing.
ON THE WORLD BANK REPORT
The World Bank has released its Caribbean Economic Update. Barbados is projected to grow 2.7 percent this year and 3.0 percent next. This is respectable. This reflects sound monetary management, a stable tourism sector, and a government that has, on balance, not made things dramatically worse. We do not celebrate mediocrity, but we do acknowledge competence where it exists.
Read More → April 8, 2026 • 2 min readCaribbean Brief
Barbados
Good morning from Barbados, where the World Bank has confirmed that this island is growing at 2.7 percent this year and will grow at 3.0 percent in 2027. This is not spectacular. It is also not minus one percent, which is what Jamaica is doing this year. We note the distinction without gloating. The distinction speaks for itself.
THE WORLD BANK REPORT
The World Bank’s latest Caribbean Economic Update projects 2.1 percent growth for the Latin America and Caribbean region, below the 2.4 percent of 2025. The report cites “high borrowing costs, weak external demand, and inflationary pressures from geopolitical uncertainty.” It is a thorough document and largely confirms what anyone with a utility bill already knew.
Read More → April 7, 2026 • 3 min readCaribbean Daily Brief
Regional news for the Caribbean diaspora — without the spin, with the context.
CARIFTA 2026 FINAL STANDINGS: JAMAICA DOMINANT, GUYANA STRONG
The 53rd CARIFTA Games concluded in St George’s, Grenada with Jamaica firmly atop the medal table — leading with gold in the sprint hurdles and capturing three of four relay titles on the final day, as records fell across multiple events. Shanoya Douglas completed her U20 sprint double with a new CARIFTA record in the 200 metres. For the host nation Grenada, the championships were well-run and the Kirani James Stadium proved a worthy venue. Regional athletics is in good health. The pipeline of talent coming through Caribbean junior programmes — Guyana’s relay quartet, Jamaica’s sprinters, Trinidad’s field athletes — suggests the next generation is ready.
Read More → April 6, 2026 • 3 min readBajan Brief
Miss Violet writes from St Philip, Barbados, where she taught primary school for 34 years, knows everybody’s business, and has voted BLP since she was old enough to hold a pencil.
Good morning, Barbados. Miss Violet speaking.
Well. Three terms. Thirty seats. Three times. If you did not feel something when those results came in, then you were not paying attention. Mia Mottley has done what no Caribbean leader has done before her — three consecutive clean sweeps — and she is now the longest-serving female head of state or government in the world. Let that settle. Let it settle properly.
Read More → April 6, 2026 • 3 min readBajan Brief
The Bajan Bugle — Little England, big opinions, and zero patience for spin.
THE THIRD 30-0: HISTORIC, AND SLIGHTLY CONCERNING
Mia Mottley’s BLP has won a third consecutive 30-0 clean sweep of Barbados’s 30 parliamentary seats, making her the first Caribbean leader to achieve three successive clean sweeps and, as of 2026, the longest-serving sitting female head of state or government in the world. These are real achievements and the Bajan Bugle acknowledges them without reservation.
Read More → April 1, 2026 • 4 min readCaribbean Brief
The Guyana Daily Brief extends its gaze across the Caribbean. The region is complicated. We try to keep up.
TRINIDAD: NURSES WALKING SLOW, MANAGEMENT MOVING SLOWER
A sick-out by nurses at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Trinidad has entered an extended standoff. The Trinidad and Tobago National Nurses Association says the action will end if management simply speaks to nurses “respectfully.” Management has not done this. Former medical director Dr. Anand Chatoorgoon is urging nurses to reflect on compassion and duty. The nurses, one presumes, are reflecting on being talked down to and underpaid simultaneously. Meanwhile, the public is reflecting on how long emergency waits are getting.
Read More → March 31, 2026 • 4 min readCaribbean Brief
Good morning from the region. The world is on fire — quite literally, given developments in the Strait of Hormuz — and the Caribbean is watching carefully, because oil prices affect everyone down here and not everyone has Guyana’s luck.
Here is your Tuesday Caribbean briefing.
THE MIDDLE EAST CRISIS IS NOW A CARIBBEAN PROBLEM
The US-Israeli war with Iran has entered its second month, and the ripple effects are landing in the Caribbean harder than most headlines acknowledge.
Read More → March 29, 2026 • 3 min readCaribbean Brief
Sunday, March 29, 2026 | Caribbean Daily Brief
Trinidad Gets a List
The United States has provided Trinidad and Tobago’s Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander with a list of “persons of interest” in the country linked to illegal drugs, guns, and violence. Minister Alexander confirmed this publicly. The persons of interest have presumably noted they are of interest.
Barbados Port Wins the Americas
Barbados Port Inc. has been awarded at the Inter-American Committee on Ports Maritime Award of the Americas for digital transformation. The port adopted a National Port Community System to improve efficiency and transparency. They will be formally honoured in Bridgetown in June 2026. Barbados Port: awarded, efficient, and not flooding. The bar is specific.
Read More → March 27, 2026 • 4 min readCaribbean Brief
A weekly sweep of what’s moving across the Caribbean. Five minutes. No fluff.
JAMAICA — BUDGET DEBATE UNDER THE SHADOW OF HURRICANE MELISSA
Jamaica is deep in its 2026–2027 budget debate, and the numbers are sobering. Finance Minister Fayval Williams opened the debate last Tuesday facing a JA$1.4 trillion national budget with a significant gap, after Hurricane Melissa made landfall on October 28, 2025 as a Category 5 storm and wiped out an estimated 40% of GDP — causing roughly US$8.8 billion in physical damage. Williams announced new taxes for the first time in a decade, including a sugar beverage tax projected to raise JA$10.1 billion, noting bluntly that “it took a Category 5 hurricane for that to happen.” Opposition Leader Mark Golding has since taken the floor, and the debate is being closely watched across the region. Meanwhile, Montego Bay’s mayor is pressing the Auditor General for answers on the post-Melissa street light restoration arrangement with Jamaica Public Service. Much of St. James is still dark.
Read More → March 24, 2026 • 6 min readCaribbean Brief
Regional News
🌴 THE CARIBBEAN DAILY BRIEF 🌴
Your 5-Minute Regional News Digest
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
Good morning from across the archipelago, where Jamaica is doing budget math, Trinidad and Tobago just received a very uncomfortable list from Washington, and Sandals is spending $200 million on resorts that a hurricane knocked down.
Also: Caribbean AIDS deaths fell 60%. That’s the rare piece of news that’s just straightforwardly good.
📊 REGIONAL NUMBERS
| Country | Story | Number |
|---|
| Jamaica | Hurricane Melissa damage | US$8.8 billion (40% of GDP) |
| Jamaica | New taxes being introduced | JA$29.5 billion target |
| Sandals | Jamaica resort reinvestment | US$200 million |
| Caribbean | AIDS-related deaths decline | Down 60% |
| Trinidad | US persons-of-interest list | Received, unnamed |
🇯🇲 JAMAICA: HURRICANE MATH IS UGLY
Finance Minister Fayval Williams is scheduled to open Jamaica’s 2026–2027 budget debate this month, outlining how the government plans to address a gap in the JA$1.4 trillion national budget.
Read More → March 19, 2026 • 4 min readCaribbean Brief
Regional News
Your weekly satirical roundup of news from across the Caribbean — because the whole region deserves coverage, not just one country 🌴
Jamaican motorists woke up Thursday to gasoline at $170.83 per litre — up $4.50 at the pump, courtesy of Petrojam’s latest ex-refinery price adjustment. The Middle East oil surge is being felt from Kingston to Westmoreland, and in Westmoreland they have enough other problems. Five months after Hurricane Melissa, residents are still describing conditions there as “hellish” — patchy mobile service, spotty internet, and a general sense that the rest of the country moved on while they were still bailing out. Digicel says towers will be fully restored by end of April. Residents have heard this before.
Read More → February 17, 2026 • 4 min readCaribbean Brief
News
US blows up another boat in the Caribbean (133 dead now). Iran-US nuclear talks show progress in Geneva. Barbados FM challenges US due process. Mottley pushes electoral reform. Jamaica’s students stranded in Cuba. Aer Lingus launches first direct Caribbean flights.
Read More → February 16, 2026 • 2 min readCaribbean Brief
Regional News
Good morning, Caribbean! 🌴
Carnival Tuesday is tomorrow in Trinidad, Barbados has a brand new cabinet, Maduro pleaded not guilty in New York, and the US is making it harder for Caribbean nationals to visit. Your Monday regional roundup.
🎭 Trinidad: J’ouvert Done, Parade of the Bands Tomorrow
Carnival Monday is winding down in Trinidad after a J’ouvert that started before dawn and a full day of revelry through Port of Spain, Tunapuna, and beyond. Police confiscated an impressive collection of weapons during early morning exercises — because some people apparently think Carnival is a medieval tournament.
Read More →