Peter Smith is in intensive care after suffering damage to an arm, leg and hand and puncture wounds to abdomen
A British tourist who was seriously injured in a shark attack off a Caribbean island is “aware of what is happening and can communicate” in intensive care, his wife has said.
Peter Smith, 64, from Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, was savaged 10 metres (33ft) off the shore near the Starfish hotel in Courland Bay on the north coast of Tobago on Friday morning.
Continue reading...Man, 64, being treated for injuries to arm, leg and stomach after attack in shallow waters
A British man is in intensive care after an “unusual” shark attack on the Caribbean island of Tobago.
The 64-year-old man was receiving critical care after the bull shark attack left him with injuries to his left arm, left leg and stomach, Tobago’s Division of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation said.
Continue reading...Government U-turn as PM Mia Mottley acknowledges anger from reparations movement over plan to buy Barbados land from Dorset MP Richard Drax
The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has halted plans for a multi-million-pound payout to the British Conservative MP Richard Drax for the purchase of 53 acres of the Drax Hall plantation, which he owns.
As revealed in the Observer last Sunday, the payout plan had angered those involved in the Caribbean reparations movement, who said Drax, the MP for South Dorset, should hand over all or part of the 617-acre plantation to the people of Barbados.
Continue reading...Haiti has erupted into violence after gangs laid waste to the capital and forced the prime minister to resign. But Haitians are wary from bitter experience of outside forces intervening to find a solution to the crisis
A few weeks ago, two of the main criminal gangs in Haiti joined forces, staging a full-scale insurrection while the prime minister, Ariel Henry, was travelling abroad. Thousands of gang members took over government buildings, police stations and hospitals and broke into prisons, where they released thousands more gang members into their ranks. Before long, it was clear that the Haitian government and the police had lost control of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Widlore Mérancourt, the editor-in-chief of Haiti’s Ayibo Post, tells Michael Safi that for the first time he fears for his life while reporting from Port-au-Prince, such is the violent chaos there.
Continue reading...Only a single hospital in Port-au-Prince remains open, with others devoid of staff as patients look for care and the dead pile up
Haiti’s healthcare system has all but collapsed amid the ferocious gang insurrection which forced the resignation of the country’s prime minister, leaving victims of the violence with little hope of medical attention, according to aid workers in the stricken Caribbean country.
In the past two weeks hospitals have been set ablaze, doctors murdered and the most basic medical supplies have now dried up. Only a single public hospital in Haiti’s capital now remains operational – and that too is expected to shut its doors soon.
Continue reading...Ralph Hendry, 66, and Kathleen Brandel, 77, had been cruising the eastern Caribbean when their catamaran was hijacked
Three men who had escaped from prison have been charged with capital murder in connection with the deaths of an American couple who disappeared in the Caribbean in February after their catamaran was hijacked.
The Royal Grenada Police Force announced Friday that Trevon Robertson, 23; Atiba Stanislaus, 25; and Ron Mitchell, 30, were re-arrested on two counts of capital murder in the slayings of Ralph Hendry and Kathleen Brandel.
Continue reading...It’s not clear if the new agreement can circumvent the Kenyan high court’s earlier ruling that such a deployment is unconstitutional
Kenya and Haiti have a security deal to try to salvage a plan for Nairobi to deploy 1,000 police officers to the troubled Caribbean nation to help combat gang violence that has surged to unprecedented levels.
Kenya agreed in October to lead a UN-authorized international police force to Haiti, but the Kenyan high court in January ruled the plan unconstitutional, in part because of a lack of reciprocal agreements between the two countries.
Continue reading...Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will hear how climate is driving forced migration across the Americas
Communities under imminent threat from rising sea level, floods and other extreme weather will testify in Washington on Thursday, as the region’s foremost human rights body holds a first-of-its-kind hearing on how climate catastrophe is driving forced migration across the Americas.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will hear from people on the frontline of the climate emergency in Mexico, Honduras, the Bahamas and Colombia, as part of a special hearing sought by human rights groups in Latin America, the US and the Caribbean.
Continue reading...Activists decry ruling by top court as ‘a travesty of justice’ after two men sought to strike down colonial-era laws
A top court in St Vincent and the Grenadines has upheld laws that criminalize gay sex, in a blow to activists who have long decried the violence the LGBTQ+ community has faced on the conservative Caribbean archipelago.
The ruling on Friday by St Vincent’s high court stems from a 2019 case filed by two gay men from St Vincent who live in the UK and US. They sought to strike down colonial-era laws that call for 10 years in prison for anal intercourse and five years for “gross indecency” with another person of the same sex.
Continue reading...It is the second time in less than two years the Caribbean archipelago is seeing escalating violence, attributed to warring drug gangs
The United Kingdom is sending specialist assistance to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) following a surge in shooting deaths in the Caribbean archipelago.
Four men were found dead from gunshot wounds on the island of Providenciales on 1 and 2 February, and two more were killed during January.
Continue reading...Actor and daughters, 12 and 10, died along with pilot on Thursday after small plane they were in crashed into Caribbean Sea
A Los Angeles pilates instructor who recently lost her two daughters and their father – actor Christian Oliver – has paid tribute to her girls and her former husband, saying their deaths are “deeply felt by all who knew” them.
Jessica Klepser’s remarks about Oliver and their daughters – Madita Maia and Annik Luna Klepser, ages 12 and 10, respectively – were contained in a statement published late Friday on Instagram by Wundabar Pilates, the studio where she works.
Continue reading...Jonathan Lehrer, 57, and alleged accomplice appear in court after bodies of Daniel Langlois and Dominique Marchand were found
An American chocolatier and his alleged accomplice have been charged in the Caribbean island of Dominica with the murder of a Canadian animation innovator and eco-resort owner and his partner days after their bodies were found in a burned-out car.
Jonathan Lehrer, 57, and Robert Snider appeared in magistrates court in Roseau, the capital, on Wednesday to face charges relating to the murders of Daniel Langlois and Dominique Marchand. They did not enter a plea.
Continue reading...Draft resolution to European parliament committee is first formal attempt to place reparations for slavery on EU agenda
The European Union should urgently address and reverse the lasting impacts of European colonialism and support a reparations programme to rectify continuing injustices, according to a draft resolution to be presented to the European parliament’s development committee.
Noting that the EU has made “no concerted efforts to recognise, address and rectify the lasting effects of European colonialism on social and international inequities”, the draft resolution calls for the creation of a permanent EU forum on restorative justice.
Continue reading...African Union and Caricom members establish global reparations fund and call for formal apologies from European nations
A global movement to seek reparations for slavery has been forged during a summit in Ghana this week, with the African Union partnering with Caribbean countries to form a “united front” to persuade European nations to pay for “historical mass crimes”.
The partnership between the 55-member African Union and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) of 20 countries will aim to intensify pressure on former slave-owning nations to engage with the reparations movement.
Continue reading...Nearly 300 sq miles of water on west of Caribbean island to be designated as a reserve for endangered animals
The tiny Caribbean island of Dominica is creating the world’s first marine protected area for one of Earth’s largest animals: the endangered sperm whale.
Nearly 300 sq miles (800 sq km) of royal blue waters on the western side of the island nation that serve as key nursing and feeding grounds will be designated as a reserve, the government announced on Monday.
Continue reading...Shares fall in world’s largest spririts company as consumers seek cheaper brands
The Guinness to Johnnie Walker drinks maker Diageo has issued a profit warning as a result of cash-strapped customers in Latin America and the Caribbean consuming less alcohol and seeking cheaper brands.
Shares in the world’s largest spirits company plunged more than 11% in early trading on Friday, making it the biggest faller in the FTSE 100, as investors worried that the trend in the region might spread to other markets.
Continue reading...Retired army officer Germán Alejandro Rivera García, 45, is second of 11 suspects detained and charged in Miami
A retired Colombian army officer has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 2021 assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse, which caused unprecedented turmoil in the Caribbean nation.
Germán Alejandro Rivera García, 45, is the second of 11 suspects detained and charged in Miami to be sentenced in what US prosecutors have described as a conspiracy hatched in both Haiti and Florida to hire mercenaries to kidnap or kill Moïse, who was slain at his private home near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince on 7 July 2021.
Continue reading...Ecological calamity on the Caribbean island demonstrates how quickly wildlife can be destroyed, scientists say
They were once so numerous they were cooked as the national dish of Dominica. Every year, thousands of mountain chicken frogs, roasted with garlic and pepper, were eaten by islanders and tourists.
Two decades later, the animal – one of the world’s largest species of frog – has in effect disappeared from the Caribbean island. A series of ecological disasters has reduced its former healthy, stable population of hundreds of thousands of animals to a total of 21 frogs, according to scientists’ most recent survey.
Continue reading...Investigation raises questions about transparency and governance of $1bn citizenship by investment scheme
The Caribbean island of Dominica may have sold thousands more “golden passports” than its government has publicly disclosed, according to analysis that raises questions about the transparency and governance of its $1bn (£822m) citizenship by investment scheme.
An investigation by the Guardian and 14 other international news organisations, in partnership with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, has conducted the first detailed examination of the identities and numbers of individuals who paid for Dominican citizenship.
Continue reading...Former Afghan spymaster, convicted millionaire and former Libyan colonel among those who became Dominican citizens
The Caribbean state of Dominica has sold citizenship to thousands of individuals including a former Afghan spymaster, a Turkish millionaire convicted of fraud and a former Libyan colonel under Muammar Gaddafi, the first detailed examination of the country’s controversial “golden passports” scheme has found.
The findings are from Dominica: Passports of the Caribbean, an investigation by the Guardian and 14 other international news organisations, in partnership with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
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