Auntie Cheryl From Chaguanas — Saturday, April 11, 2026

Good morning! Auntie Cheryl calling from Chaguanas, just finished my puja and ready to talk news!

NGC MADE THREE BILLION DOLLARS AND AUNTIE CHERYL IS PLEASED

Three billion, two hundred and eighty-five million dollars profit! Best year in eleven years! Kamla announced it in Parliament yesterday and Auntie Cheryl nearly choked on her sada roti. Stuart Young came out immediately to say it’s not Kamla’s doing — but Stuart, darling, somebody has to be in charge when the numbers look good, and the lady standing at the podium seems to have found that position. Auntie Cheryl will take the win.

Trini Dispatch — Saturday, April 11, 2026

Good morning. Pour some bitters in your cocoa tea and settle in.

PERSAD-BISSESSAR DEMANDS CARICOM SECRETARY-GENERAL EXIT

Trinidad’s row with its Caribbean neighbours — simmering since the disputes over US drug policy, Venezuela, and the reappointment of the CARICOM Secretary-General — boiled over publicly on Friday. PM Persad-Bissessar is now demanding that the Secretary-General not receive another term past August. The fight is officially no longer subtext. What began as a disagreement about procedures at the Basseterre summit has become a Caribbean diplomatic fracas of the first order. Guyana’s President Ali, notably, had just shaken hands with Persad-Bissessar in Port of Spain hours earlier on the bilateral trade agenda, which means the region is simultaneously having a unity summit and a breakup. This is the Caribbean. Both things fit on the same Friday.

The Trini Dispatch – Thursday, April 9, 2026

The Trini Dispatch

Port of Spain, Trinidad | Thursday, April 9, 2026

The news from the twin islands. Delivered dry.

KAMLA IS GOING TO VENEZUELA FOR GAS

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced Wednesday that a diplomatic delegation will travel to Venezuela soon to secure Trinidad and Tobago’s “just share” of cross-border oil and gas resources. This is a renewed push to advance the Dragon and other stalled cross-border energy projects, which were frozen when the Trump administration revoked OFAC licences earlier last year. The Hormuz crisis has made this conversation considerably more urgent. T&T’s energy sector is running on mature fields and optimism. The Venezuela gas situation represents either a breakthrough or an extended diplomatic exercise, depending on how Caracas is feeling that week. Kamla is going to find out.

Caribbean Daily Brief – April 8, 2026

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

Ramesh Sees It Differently – April 8, 2026

Good morning. Ramesh here. A lot of negativity out there this Wednesday. Let us set the record straight.

US$761 MILLION. YOU ARE WELCOME.

Guyana collected three-quarters of a billion US dollars in oil revenue in the first quarter of 2026. Let that land for a moment. Three. Quarters. Of. A. Billion. US. Dollars. In one quarter.

This government built that. This government negotiated those contracts, developed that infrastructure, maintained the institutional relationships with Exxon, Hess, and CNOOC that made this production possible, and created the conditions for that revenue to flow into the national treasury at this scale and at this speed. Other countries have oil. Not all of them have the leadership to monetise it responsibly, sustainably, and at pace. Guyana does. Let the number sit with you before you move on to whatever Kaieteur News has decided to be alarmed about today.

The Trini Dispatch – April 8, 2026

Good morning from Port of Spain, where the Prime Minister has announced she is sending a delegation to Venezuela to collect oil and gas money that T&T partly owns. This is the geopolitical equivalent of going to your neighbour’s house to politely retrieve the lawnmower you lent him three governments ago. Good luck to the delegation.

KAMLA ON VENEZUELA: “WE WANT WE GAS”

PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar, at a fire tender handover ceremony in Penal — because that’s where major international energy policy gets announced — said a diplomatic delegation will shortly depart for Venezuela to ensure T&T gets its “just share” of oil and gas it partly owns through the NGC. The National Gas Company has interests in Venezuelan fields. Those fields are currently managed by a government that manages things in its own particular way.

Caribbean Brief – Sunday, April 6, 2026

Your weekly look at what’s moving across the Caribbean — beyond Guyana’s borders.

CARICOM RALLIES BEHIND CUBA AS US BLOCKADE BITES

CARICOM governments are stepping up support for Cuba as the US economic blockade continues to squeeze the island. CARICOM Chairman Dr. Terrance Drew confirmed at the bloc’s 50th Regular Meeting that humanitarian aid — including solar panels, baby food, rice, flour, basic medical supplies, and water tanks — is being coordinated through the regional secretariat in Guyana. St. Kitts and Nevis has pledged $500,000, with the first $100,000 already deposited. Drew framed it simply: “Cuba has never turned its back on the Caribbean. We will not turn our backs on Cuba.” The first shipment dates are expected to be confirmed this week.

Caribbean Daily Brief — Monday, April 6, 2026

Regional news for the Caribbean diaspora — without the spin, with the context.

THE CARIBBEAN IS STILL PAYING TO SELL TO AMERICA

As of April 2026, most Caribbean goods still face a 10 per cent baseline import duty under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. That number sounds modest until you remember that Caribbean producers of rum, processed foods, specialty goods and building products operate on margins where 10 percent is not a rounding error, it is the difference between competitive and not. Sir Ronald Sanders, writing in Kaieteur News this week, makes the point plainly: the Caribbean has not chosen to diversify away from the US market — it is being driven to do so. CARICOM states are now intensifying intra-regional sourcing and widening relationships with other international partners. This is what “diversification” looks like when it is not a strategy but a survival response.

Caribbean Brief – Friday, April 3, 2026

The Guyana Daily Brief looks across the Caribbean on this Good Friday. The region has a lot to reflect on.

TRUMP TARIFFS LAND ON THE CARIBBEAN — 10% BASELINE, 38% FOR GUYANA

The most significant economic story across the entire Caribbean this week: President Trump announced sweeping global tariffs effective April 5, with a 10% baseline imposed on most Caribbean nations and a punishing 38% on Guyana. The tariffs are framed as “reciprocal” under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, targeting countries with trade imbalances with the United States.

Caribbean Brief – Wednesday, April 1, 2026

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.

Caribbean Brief — Tuesday, March 31, 2026

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.

Caribbean Brief: Jamaica's Hurricane Budget, T&T Radar Gone, Guyana Plays Football & The US Removes Military Gear from Tobago

Monday, March 30, 2026 | Caribbean Brief

Jamaica Tables a Hurricane Budget

Jamaica’s Finance Minister Fayval Williams has opened the 2026–2027 budget debate, navigating a JA$1.4 trillion national budget with a hole left by Hurricane Melissa — which struck in October 2025 and wiped out an estimated 40% of GDP. New taxes are on the table for the first time in ten years, including a levy on sweetened beverages expected to generate JA$10.1 billion. Williams noted it took a Category 5 hurricane for the government to introduce new taxes. Jamaica is rebuilding. The math is difficult.

Caribbean Brief: T&T Gets a US Persons-of-Interest List, Barbados Port Wins an Award & The Dominican Republic Declares Tourism War on Mexico

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.

Caribbean Daily Brief — Friday, March 27, 2026

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.

Wednesday's Guyana Brief: Noem Lands, Exxon Expands, and the Bridge Is Still Sinking

🇬🇾 THE GUYANA BRIEF 🇬🇾
Your 5-Minute Wednesday News Circus
Wednesday, March 25, 2026 ⏱️ 6 min read

NOEM LANDS IN GUYANA. NO ONE KNOWS WHY.

Kristi Noem — fired as US Secretary of Homeland Security, dusted off, renamed “Special Envoy” — touched down in Guyana this week as part of something called the “Shield of the Americas.” The visit involves meetings with energy companies and conversations about security cooperation, which is Washington-speak for we want to keep an eye on your oil and make sure China doesn’t get any. President Ali confirmed that US-Guyana relations remain strong. Nobody confirmed that Kristi knows where Guyana is on a map.

Caribbean Brief: Barbados Election Heats Up, Trinidad PM Addresses Energy Week, Jamaica IMF Deal, and Cuba's Humanitarian Crisis Deepens

Barbados heads to polls February 11 with schools closing for election day, Trinidad’s PM addresses Caribbean Energy Week, Jamaica’s IMF $415M deal progresses, and Cuba’s crisis worsens as US tightens the screws.

🌴 Caribbean Brief: Trinidad Carnival EXPLODES, Barbados Election in 4 Days, Jamaica IMF Rescue, and Windies Open T20 Campaign

Trinidad Carnival kicks off TODAY, Barbados heads to polls February 11, Jamaica takes $415M IMF emergency loan, West Indies open T20 World Cup vs Scotland, and US tightens visa screws on Caribbean nationals.

Caribbean Daily Brief: Jamaica Gets $415M IMF Lifeline, Barbados Election Heating Up, T&T PM Blasts CARICOM, and Haiti Under Fire

Jamaica secures emergency IMF funds, Barbados gears up for February 11 election, Trinidad’s PM doubles down on CARICOM criticism, CARICOM rebukes Haiti’s leadership, and the T20 World Cup kicks off tomorrow. Your Caribbean regional roundup.

🌴 Caribbean Brief: Barbados Election ONE WEEK Away, T20 World Cup Starts Friday, and the US Still Patrolling Caribbean Waters Like It's Their Pool

Barbados votes in 7 days with 93 candidates and Mottley going for a third term. The T20 World Cup starts Friday in India with West Indies facing Scotland. US military operations in the Caribbean continue dividing the region. Plus: Jamaica’s IMF lifeline, Trinidad’s police shooting scandal, and the CCJ President visits Barbados.

🌴 Caribbean Brief: Jamaica Gets $415M IMF Lifeline, US Tightens Visa Screws on Caribbean, and Trinidad Says 'We Didn't Do It'

Jamaica secures emergency IMF cash after Hurricane Melissa, the US cracks down on Caribbean birth tourism visas, and Trinidad keeps insisting it had nothing to do with the Venezuela operation. Your regional roundup.