Category Archives: Caribbean

Tropical Storm Imelda forming and expected to become hurricane

Posted on by

Forecast track could take storm, which caused disruption in Bahamas and Cuba, away from US east coast

Tropical Storm Imelda formed on Sunday and was expected to become a hurricane on a forecast track that could take it away from the US east coast in the coming days. The storm was causing disruption in the Bahamas and Cuba on Sunday, and a tropical storm watch was posted in parts of Florida.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Humberto weakened very slightly but remained a strong category 4 storm in the Atlantic, threatening Bermuda.

Continue reading...

Tropical Storm Imelda forming and expected to become hurricane

Posted on by

Forecast track could take storm, which caused disruption in Bahamas and Cuba, away from US east coast

Tropical Storm Imelda formed on Sunday and was expected to become a hurricane on a forecast track that could take it away from the US east coast in the coming days. The storm was causing disruption in the Bahamas and Cuba on Sunday, and a tropical storm watch was posted in parts of Florida.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Humberto weakened very slightly but remained a strong category 4 storm in the Atlantic, threatening Bermuda.

Continue reading...

Colombia’s Petro urges ‘criminal process’ against Trump for Venezuelan strikes

Posted on by

At UN, Gustavo Petro says ‘poor young people’ died in US strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats off Caribbean coast

Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro addressed the UN general assembly Tuesday to call for a “criminal process” to be opened against counterpart Donald Trump for US strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean.

Petro said unarmed “poor young people” died in the strikes that Washington said were part of a US anti-drug operation off the coast of Venezuela, whose president Washington accuses of running a cartel.

Continue reading...

Top Obama-era Latin American expert warns of ‘disastrous’ US intervention in Venezuela

Posted on by

US military buildup and attack on alleged narco boat spark fears of protracted guerrilla war in South America

The White House’s former top Latin America official has said he fears the US could stumble into a protracted guerrilla war in Venezuela after Donald Trump ordered a military strike on a boat in the Caribbean Sea, killing 11 alleged drug traffickers.

Tuesday’s controversial strike off the Venezuelan coast – which was reportedly carried out by an attack helicopter or Reaper drone – came after the US president ordered a major naval deployment to the region, ostensibly to combat South American drug traffickers.

Continue reading...

Jamaicans head to polls for election as ruling party faces corruption concerns

Posted on by

Polls point to ‘very close election’ between the Jamaica Labour party and the opposition People’s National party

Jamaicans head to the polls on Wednesday for a closely fought general election which has been overshadowed by an investigation into potential corruption in the ruling Jamaica Labour party (JLP) which is seeking a third term in office.

The latest local poll put the opposition People’s National party (PNP) 3.1% lead over the JLP, but political analyst Damion Gordon cautioned that the lead was barely larger than the margin of error.

Continue reading...

Hurricane Erin knocks out power lines in Puerto Rico before heading north

Posted on by

Most of more than 147,000 customers affected reconnected by Monday as category 4 storm not forecast to make landfall

Hurricane Erin’s outer bands pelted the US territory of Puerto Rico with heavy rains and tropical-storm winds during the day on Sunday, knocking out power to tens of thousands of customers, according to officials.

At one point, more than 147,000 utility customers were without power in Puerto Rico, according to Luma Energy, a private company that oversees the transmission and distribution of power on the island. By 5.30am on Monday, 96.3% of customers had electric service, with most who were affected by outages being concentrated in the Caguas, Mayagüez and San Juan regions, Luma said on X.

Guardian staff contributed reporting

Continue reading...

Hurricane Erin weakens to category 3 as storm lashes Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands

Posted on by

First Atlantic hurricane of 2025 diminishes but tropical storm warnings issued for Turks and Caicos

Hurricane Erin was downgraded to a category 3 hurricane early Sunday as its outer bands continued to lash the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico with heavy rains and tropical-storm force winds.

While Erin’s maximum winds diminished, the storm’s overall size grew and forecasters issued tropical storm warnings for the Turks and Caicos Islands and a watch for the south-east Bahamas.

Continue reading...

New research reveals King George IV profited from slavery in Grenada

Posted on by

Experts say finding heightens pressure on the monarchy to confront its historical links to slavery

Grenada has vowed to step up its pursuit of an apology and reparations from King Charles after new research revealed that George IV personally profited from slavery on the Caribbean island.

The research by independent scholar Desirée Baptiste shows that George IV, who ruled for a decade until 1830, received profits from enslaved labour on Grenadian plantations – a finding that experts say heightens pressure on the monarchy to confront its historical links to slavery.

This article was amended on 7 August 2025 to remove a description of George IV as an ancestor of King Charles. George IV was Charles’s 4th great-granduncle but not a direct ancestor.

Continue reading...

Three Grenadian men sentenced to decades in prison for killing of US couple in Caribbean

Posted on by

Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel were sailing their catamaran last year when they were attacked and killed

Three men from the eastern Caribbean island of Grenada who were convicted of killing an elderly US couple last year after hijacking their catamaran have been sentenced to decades in prison. They had escaped after their arrests but were recaptured shortly thereafter.

Ron Mitchell, a sailor in his 30s who was accused of being the ringleader, received two life sentences late on Wednesday in the killings of Ralph Hendry, 66, and Kathy Brandel, 71.

Continue reading...

Three Grenadian men sentenced to decades in prison for killing of US couple in Caribbean

Posted on by

Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel were sailing their catamaran last year when they were attacked and killed

Three men from the eastern Caribbean island of Grenada who were convicted of killing an elderly US couple last year after hijacking their catamaran have been sentenced to decades in prison. They had escaped after their arrests but were recaptured shortly thereafter.

Ron Mitchell, a sailor in his 30s who was accused of being the ringleader, received two life sentences late on Wednesday in the killings of Ralph Hendry, 66, and Kathy Brandel, 71.

Continue reading...

Family of Briton murdered in Jamaica seek answers over UK officials’ ‘indifference’

Posted on by

Delroy Walker’s relatives say they were initially told ‘your brother’s not British, or not British enough’ to receive help

The family of a “generous and loving” British man who was murdered in Jamaica are demanding answers over the British government’s “indifferent” response after the tragedy.

Delroy Walker, from Birmingham, was stabbed to death weeks after retiring to the Caribbean island where he was building his dream home. The 63-year-old charity worker was murdered by a “jealous” tradesman he employed to help decorate the property in preparation for a family visit in summer 2018.

Continue reading...

Expedition to ‘real home of the pirates of the Caribbean’ hopes to unearth ships and treasure

Posted on by

Exploration of Bahamas seabed will be first time notorious New Providence hideout has been searched

The Pirates of the Caribbean is a $4.5bn swashbuckling film franchise and Blackbeard and Calico Jack Rackham are among marauding buccaneers who have captured imaginations over the centuries.

But almost nothing is known about the life and times of actual pirates.

Continue reading...

Caribbean beaches blighted by record masses of stinking seaweed

Posted on by

Scientists puzzled by huge amounts of prickly sargassum suffocating shorelines from Puerto Rico to Guyana

A record amount of sargassum has piled up across the Caribbean and nearby areas in May, and more is expected this month, according to a new study.

The brown prickly algae is suffocating shorelines from Puerto Rico to Guyana and beyond, disrupting tourism, killing wildlife and even releasing toxic gases that forced one school in the French Caribbean island of Martinique to temporarily close.

Continue reading...

Over a barrel: lack of sugar throws Cuba’s rum industry into crisis

Posted on by

This year’s tiny harvest casts doubt on the spirit’s recent resurgence, once a bright spot in the island’s economy

It’s a crisis that would have sent a shiver down Ernest Hemingway’s drinking arm. Cuba’s communist government is struggling to process enough sugar to make the rum for his beloved mojitos and daiquiris.

As summer rains bring the Caribbean island’s 2025 harvest to an end, a recent analysis by Reuters suggests that Cuba’s state-run monopoly, Azcuba, is likely to produce just 165,000 metric tonnes of sugar this year. That compares with harvests of 8m in the late 1980s.

Continue reading...

Climate crisis threatens the banana, the world’s most popular fruit, research shows

Posted on by

Fourth most important food crop in peril as Latin America and Caribbean suffer from slow-onset climate disaster

The climate crisis is threatening the future of the world’s most popular fruit, as almost two-thirds of banana-growing areas in Latin America and the Caribbean may no longer be suitable for growing the fruit by 2080, new research has found.

Rising temperatures, extreme weather and climate-related pests are pummeling banana-growing countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica and Colombia, reducing yields and devastating rural communities across the region, according to Christian Aid’s new report, Going Bananas: How Climate Change Threatens the World’s Favourite Fruit.

Continue reading...

Macron announces joint commission with Haiti amid calls for reparations

Posted on by

France imposed harsh ‘ransom’ after revolution that campaigners say stunted Caribbean country’s development

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has announced a joint commission with Haiti to examine the countries’ shared past as Haitian campaigners demand a reimbursement of billions of dollars worth of “ransom” paid to France.

Macron announced his intention to create the commission as campaigners renewed calls for reparations on the bicentenary of an agreement to pay 150m francs to France in 1825 to compensate slave-owning colonists after the Haitian Revolution.

Continue reading...

Caribbean is friend of US, not an enemy, tariff-hit regional leaders tell Trump

Posted on by

Barbados PM and Caricom chair calls on Washington to engage in talks to ‘keep prices down for all of our people’

The Caribbean is a friend, not an enemy, leaders in the region have told Donald Trump after the US president’s imposition of worldwide import tariffs.

The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, invited Trump to talk with leaders in the region and “work together to keep prices down for all of our people”, adding: “I say simply to President Trump: our economies are not doing your economy any harm in any way. They are too small to have any negative or distorted impact on your country.”

Continue reading...

Scientists identify ‘tipping point’ that caused clumps of toxic Florida seaweed

Posted on by

Giant blobs along 5,000-mile-wide sargassum belt has killed animals, harmed human health and discouraged tourism

Scientists in Florida believe they have identified a “tipping point” in atmospheric conditions in the Atlantic Ocean they say caused giant clumps of toxic seaweed to inundate beaches around the Caribbean in recent summers.

Previous theories for the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt that has killed marine animals, harmed human health and plagued the tourism industry in several countries include a surfeit of nutrients in the water, such as nitrogen and phosphorus in runoff from intensive farming and carried into the ocean in the Congo, Amazon and Mississippi rivers.

Continue reading...

Trump’s mass deportation plans spark panic in the Caribbean amid fake news

Posted on by

Nations try to reassure citizens as Trump threatens unprecedented crackdown but scale remains unclear

Nations across the Caribbean have been attempting to reassure their citizens at home and in the US after misinformation spread on social media channels caused widespread panic over Donald Trump’s plans for trade tariffs and mass deportations.

Alarming stories claiming that 5,000 Jamaicans had already been given final removal orders or that more than 1 million undocumented people were on federal enforcement lists, have caused concern across the region.

Continue reading...

Weather tracker: Tropical Storm Sara and Super Typhoon Man-yi wreak havoc

Posted on by

Powerful storm systems bring heavy rainfall, widespread flooding and landslides to Central America and Asia

Tropical Storm Sara has caused significant disruption across Central America in recent days after forming in the Caribbean Sea on Thursday afternoon. It is the 18th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and the third this month. The large number of tropical storm and hurricane formations this season can be attributed to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico being warmer than average, thus providing more energy for the development and intensification of these systems.

Since its formation, Sara has affected Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Belize and Guatemala, bringing heavy rainfall, widespread flooding and landslides. The slow-moving nature of the storm has exacerbated the damage, prolonging the duration of its impact. However, Sara is losing strength; initially it had sustained winds of 45mph on Thursday but weakened slightly after moving inland, with winds dropping to 40mph by Sunday. According to the National Hurricane Centre, Sara is expected to dissipate into an area of low pressure as it moves north-west toward the southern region of the Yucatan peninsula on Monday.

Continue reading...