Carib Scope

作者： admin

  • Autobomaanslag schudt Colombia op na inauguratie van hardline president

    Autobomaanslag schudt Colombia op na inauguratie van hardline president

    A brazen car bomb attack at a toll plaza along Colombia’s critical Pan-American Highway has sent tensions soaring across the Andean nation, coming barely 24 hours after right-wing President Abelardo de la Espriella was sworn into office. The assault, which targeted the toll station in the southwestern department of Cauca, left two security personnel with minor injuries. Witness accounts confirm the attacker abandoned the explosive-laden vehicle and fled the scene on a waiting motorcycle, according to initial on-the-ground reports.

    Colombia’s armed forces have immediately pinned responsibility for the attack on two dissident armed factions that broke away from the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla movement. The original FARC organization signed a landmark peace deal with the Colombian government in 2016 and completed its disarmament process shortly after, but a handful of splinter groups have rejected the agreement, remained active, and continued to carry out violent operations across the country.

    The timing of the attack is widely seen as no coincidence: it coincides directly with the launch of de la Espriella’s presidency, a campaign built on a promise of hardline security policy that directly rejects the dialogue-centered peace approach of his predecessor. The new president has positioned himself as a staunch opponent of what he calls “narco-terrorism,” vowing to launch sweeping military offensives against drug trafficking networks and illegal armed factions that have operated with impunity in large swathes of the country. Analysts and government officials view the attack as an open challenge to de la Espriella’s agenda and an early warning from armed groups that they will not submit to the new administration’s crackdown.

    Transport Minister Elsa Noguera emphasized in an immediate statement that the Colombian government will not bow to terror threats, reiterating the state’s commitment to protecting critical infrastructure that connects the country’s disparate regions. She added that the administration is moving quickly to restore public order and security in affected areas to prevent further escalation of violence ahead of planned military operations.

    De la Espriella, a former lawyer, won the Colombian presidential election by a narrow margin over his left-wing challenger Ivan Cepeda. His hardline military-focused agenda has received explicit backing from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pledged $1 billion in security assistance to support the new government’s policies. The plan includes authorization for airstrikes on boats and aircraft suspected of transporting cocaine out of the country. However, the approach has already drawn sharp criticism from global and local human rights organizations, which warn that aggressive military action could lead to widespread human rights violations against civilian populations in conflict zones.

    Colombia has been grappling with internal armed conflict for more than six decades, pitting government forces against rebel groups, paramilitary organizations, and transnational criminal networks tied to the drug trade. The country remains the world’s largest producer of coca leaf, the key raw material for cocaine, with illicit crop cultivation and drug trafficking funding much of the ongoing violence in rural and border regions.

  • LISTEN: PM says artists who compete with ‘old’ songs should not win the monarch

    LISTEN: PM says artists who compete with ‘old’ songs should not win the monarch

    The ongoing controversy over fairness in the Caribbean’s iconic Soca Monarch competition has reignited after Prime Minister Browne made explosive claims that yet another competitor has been wrongfully robbed of the coveted crown. The allegations come on the heels of a previous dispute involving fan-favorite artist Tian Winter, who faced widespread criticism and a rules challenge after competing with a track that had been released prior to the competition’s eligibility window.

    Soca Monarch, one of the most high-stakes and culturally significant music competitions in the Caribbean, draws thousands of attendees and millions of streaming viewers annually, with the title bringing transformative career opportunities and substantial financial rewards for emerging and established soca artists alike. Competition rules have long required all competing tracks to be newly released for the current year’s contest, a regulation designed to keep the competition focused on fresh creative output and give new artists a level playing field.

    When Winter competed with an older, previously released song, a public debate erupted over whether the decision violated core competition rules, and many observers argued that the established artist gained an unfair advantage over other contenders who had spent months creating new work specifically for the event. Now, months after that controversy, Prime Minister Browne has stepped forward to claim that the pattern of questionable judging has repeated: a second artist, who was widely expected to take the top honor, has been denied the crown in what Browne frames as an unfair outcome.

    Prime Minister Browne, a public supporter of the Caribbean soca music scene and a frequent attendee of major cultural competitions, has not yet released detailed evidence to back up his claim of foul play, but his comments have sparked renewed public discussion about the transparency of the Soca Monarch judging process. Fans and artists alike are now calling for competition organizers to release full judging breakdowns and re-examine eligibility rules to prevent future controversies that erode public trust in the event’s integrity.

    The controversy has also highlighted growing tensions between established artists with larger fan bases and name recognition, and emerging creators who rely on the competition to break into the industry. Many new artists argue that allowing older, already popular songs to compete gives established acts an unfair advantage, while some established artists counter that a hit song’s quality should not be disqualified solely based on its release date. As calls for reform grow, competition organizers have yet to issue an official response to Browne’s latest allegations.

  • PM Browne Says Parliament Toughened Gun Laws but Courts Continue to Hand Down Lenient Sentences

    PM Browne Says Parliament Toughened Gun Laws but Courts Continue to Hand Down Lenient Sentences

    Against a backdrop of surging violent crime that has prompted a national emergency-style security summit, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has delivered a scathing rebuke to the nation’s judiciary, accusing courts of systematically undermining parliamentary anti-crime efforts through persistently lenient sentencing for firearms offenses.

    Speaking on his weekly public program *Browne and Browne Show* this past Saturday, Browne outlined that lawmakers had recently updated the nation’s gun laws to raise the maximum possible prison sentence for illegal gun possession and related offenses to 15 years, a change designed to take dangerous offenders off the street for extended periods and deter further criminal activity. But according to the prime minister, not a single convicted person has received a sentence even close to the maximum set by the amended legislation — in fact, he cannot recall any defendant being ordered to serve as little as five years behind bars since the tougher rules took effect.

    “What we are seeing is a clear failure of the judiciary to align with the policy direction that the legislative and executive branches have set to address growing gun violence,” Browne said during the address. “The judiciary is not cooperating with the parliament, the legislature, and the executive branch on this critical national issue.”

    While Browne explicitly acknowledged the constitutional principle of separation of powers and confirmed that judges retain final authority over individual sentencing decisions, he argued that the consistent pattern of light sentences directly contravenes the explicit policy goals Parliament pursued when it voted to increase penalties. He argued that this routine practice amounts to overstepping into the policy domain that democratically elected representatives are tasked with setting.

    “When you routinely, as a judiciary, give these very lenient sentences, you are trespassing on our domain,” he emphasized. The core goal of the legislative amendment, he explained, was to ensure people convicted of serious gun-related crimes would be removed from communities for long enough to reduce the risk they pose to public safety.

    In one of the most striking moments of his address, Browne pressed the judiciary to act before the country’s security situation spirals out of control, drawing a stark comparison to the ongoing instability and violence plaguing Haiti. “Are they going to wait for a crisis to happen? Are they going to wait until we lose our country?” he asked. “Must we wait until our security situation deteriorates to the same level as Haiti before this issue is treated with the urgency it deserves?”

    Browne noted that overly soft sentencing only emboldens criminal actors, who quickly return to the streets to reoffend when they know the consequences of being caught with an illegal weapon are minimal. To break this cycle, he is calling for consistent application of longer, more punitive sentences for all serious firearms offenses.

    The prime minister also proposed a path forward: increased structured dialogue between the judiciary and other branches of government to align on broader crime policy goals. He was careful to stress that this push for dialogue does not amount to an attempt by politicians to interfere in the outcome of individual court cases, a guardrail to uphold separation of powers.

    Browne’s comments come as he has sounded the alarm over a recent sharp uptick in violent crime across Antigua and Barbuda, enough that he has called a special national security meeting bringing together all of the country’s top law enforcement agencies to coordinate a whole-of-government response to the growing crisis.

  • PM Browne Orders Urgent High-Level Security Meeting On Monday Over Uptick in Crime and Violence

    PM Browne Orders Urgent High-Level Security Meeting On Monday Over Uptick in Crime and Violence

    Against a backdrop of growing public concern over a sharp recent increase in violent criminal activity across Antigua and Barbuda, Prime Minister Gaston Browne has called an urgent high-level national security meeting scheduled for Monday. The gathering is intended to coordinate a unified, cross-agency response to what the prime minister has labeled a rapidly deteriorating security crisis.

    During an appearance on the local *Browne and Browne Show* this past Saturday, Browne emphasized that the current scale of violence demands coordinated action from every major national law enforcement and security body, rather than fragmented efforts from individual agencies. Attendees at the Monday meeting will include senior representatives from the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda, the Office of National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy, the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force, the Department of Immigration, and the Customs and Excise Division. Minister of Information and Communications Technology Melford Nicholas will also join the talks, as expanded digital surveillance is a key topic on the meeting’s agenda.

    Currently, the government is in the process of deploying roughly 200 new closed-circuit surveillance cameras across high-traffic areas of the country, but Browne confirmed that discussions will center on further expanding this digital monitoring network to cover more at-risk communities and public spaces. The prime minister pointed to a recent high-profile daylight shooting that left two young men wounded at the bustling West Bus Station as a stark example of how brazen criminal actors have become in recent weeks. Carrying out a violent attack in a crowded, public location during daytime hours, he argued, underscores the urgency of aggressive intervention.

    Beyond stepped-up law enforcement action and expanded surveillance, Browne made a direct appeal for increased collaboration between local communities and security authorities. He stressed that law enforcement agencies cannot effectively disrupt criminal networks or prevent violent incidents without actionable tips and information from residents who witness suspicious activity. To encourage public participation, the prime minister reminded citizens of the government’s existing cash reward program, which offers financial incentives for information that leads to the seizure of illegal firearms.
    Browne confirmed that all information submitted through the program is kept strictly confidential, and the initiative has already yielded tangible results, helping officials remove dozens of illegal weapons from streets across the country. Ultimately, the prime minister noted that reversing the recent upward trend in violence will require more than just government and law enforcement action: it demands what he termed an “all-of-society approach”, with every segment of the Antiguan and Barbudan community contributing to improved public safety.

  • Tempo opvoeren om risico blacklisting te verkleinen

    Tempo opvoeren om risico blacklisting te verkleinen

    Leaders and industry stakeholders gathered in Suriname’s Oxygen Resort on Friday for the 6th National Compliance Congress, hosted by the TABTO Group, where a stark warning was issued: the country must accelerate the implementation and enforcement of anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) measures to avoid international blacklisting and harsh sanctions that would impact every segment of society.

    The conference brought together representatives from government, financial regulators, the banking sector, and private industry to assess Suriname’s progress toward meeting global financial transparency and integrity standards, and to outline remaining gaps that threaten the country’s economic standing. Opening the event with a keynote address on behalf of President Jennifer Simons, Vice President Gregory Rusland emphasized that meaningful compliance extends far beyond simply enacting new legislation on paper.

    “At the end of the day, it does not matter how many rules we put in place – what matters is whether those rules actually deliver an honest society, a trustworthy government, and a resilient economy,” Rusland told attendees. He acknowledged that Suriname has made tangible progress in strengthening financial oversight and rolling out AML/CTF frameworks, but stressed that on-the-ground execution remains far behind schedule. Rusland added that widespread digitalization and improved governance are also critical to building a stable, attractive investment climate that can support long-term economic growth.

    The core consensus from the congress’s National Compliance Debate echoed this assessment: existing legislation alone is insufficient to combat financial misconduct. When violations go uninvestigated and wrongdoers face no consistent consequences, regulations lose all deterrent effect, delegates agreed. The Anti-Corruption Commission noted that prevention efforts also weaken dramatically without consistent enforcement; if violations carry little to no penalty, public and business willingness to comply with rules erodes over time. Financial regulators in attendance further emphasized that any sanctions imposed for non-compliance must be effective, proportional, and sufficiently discouraging, noting that the ultimate goal is not to issue as many fines as possible, but to encourage consistent voluntary adherence to rules across all sectors.

    Winston Wilson, senior partner at the TABTO Group, warned that Suriname cannot afford the economic fallout of falling short of international requirements. “If we are blacklisted, it will not only be banks and large corporations that feel the impact – every single citizen in Suriname will deal with the consequences,” Wilson said. To date, the country has completed 27 of 40 required international AML/CTF recommendations, but 29 additional pieces of legislation and state decrees still need to be finalized and implemented. “We have taken many important steps forward, but we still have a very long way to go,” he added.

    Suriname is required to submit a new progress report to international oversight bodies in November, and global evaluators will focus not only on written policy changes, but on how effectively measures are working in practice. Wilson stressed that extra urgency is required amid the rapid development of Suriname’s emerging oil and gas sector. Strong institutions and a reliable, transparent financial system are non-negotiable to responsibly capitalize on the major economic opportunities this new sector is expected to bring, he said.

    Debate attendees also highlighted two key gaps holding back progress: insufficient institutional capacity and missing critical regulatory frameworks. Regulators and enforcement agencies, delegates said, need greater access to expertise, staffing, and funding to carry out their mandates effectively. The Anti-Corruption Commission called for new legislation to protect whistleblowers, alongside stronger legal tools to investigate and process reports of financial misconduct. Most notably, Suriname still lacks a legally mandated Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) register, which documents the actual owners of companies and other legal entities – a tool widely recognized as critical to disrupting money laundering, fraud, and other illicit financial activity.

    Minister of Economic Affairs, Entrepreneurship and Technological Innovation Andrew Baasaron added that compliance is not a responsibility that falls only to government and financial institutions. “We must ensure our processes are in place, and that we can deliver on the ground what is needed to be transparent and meet international expectations,” Baasaron said. He also highlighted the need to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which often lack the resources to meet new compliance requirements, noting that SMEs need targeted support for administrative processes, financial reporting, and banking relations to bring them into line with national rules.

    Across all sessions, delegates repeatedly emphasized the need to invest in specialized skills development. Suriname needs a larger pool of qualified professionals working at regulators and enforcement bodies to not only create rules, but implement and uphold them consistently. The overarching message from the 6th National Compliance Congress was clear: while Suriname has made measurable progress on financial compliance, it must dramatically speed up its efforts. Coordinated action on legislation, oversight, enforcement, institutional strength, and political will is needed to ensure compliance does not remain only a commitment on paper.

  • Environment : Monitoring of commitments against desertification

    Environment : Monitoring of commitments against desertification

    Against a backdrop of growing climate vulnerability and accelerating land degradation across the Caribbean nation, Haiti’s Ministry of Environment (MoE) has convened a key national workshop to evaluate progress on the country’s global anti-desertification commitments and review the implementation of a major landscape management initiative. Scheduled for August 9, 2026, the gathering centered on the launch of the Performance Review and Assessment of Implementation System (PRAIS) report, the primary monitoring tool mandated by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) for tracking member state commitments. The workshop also served as a critical platform to conduct a mid-implementation stocktake of the Integrated Sustainable Landscape and Land Management Project (PISLM), Haiti’s flagship intervention for degraded land recovery.

    This event aligns with the core policy priorities set by Haitian Prime Minister Fils-Aimé’s administration, which has identified degraded land restoration, natural resource protection, and boosting community climate resilience as central planks of its national action agenda.

    During the opening session, Environment Minister Valéry Fils-Aimé presented official certificates to members of the National Inter-institutional Committee for Sustainable Soil and Surface Management (CNIGSS), technical specialists, and institutional representatives that collaborated on the development of the PRAIS report. He commended the collective work of these stakeholders, noting their contributions have been instrumental in strengthening Haiti’s national environmental monitoring framework and advancing the fight against widespread land degradation.

    The workshop brought together a diverse cross-section of stakeholders, including senior representatives from multiple government agencies, international technical and financial partners, local civil society organizations, and leading national environmental experts. Over the course of the meeting, attendees reviewed key outcomes delivered by the PISLM project to date, highlighting how its on-the-ground interventions have advanced degraded land restoration, preserved critical natural habitats, and built greater community capacity to withstand the accelerating impacts of climate change.

    A core portion of the workshop was dedicated to walking stakeholders through the full PRAIS reporting process, which was developed with technical and coordination support from CNIGSS. Participants engaged in detailed discussions covering every stage of national data collection, consolidation, and validation, ultimately agreeing on a set of targeted recommendations designed to improve the accuracy and consistency of future national environmental reporting and strengthen cross-institutional coordination across Haiti’s environmental sector.

    The event also marked the official launch of the new Haitian Reforestation Guide, a landmark reference document crafted to support ongoing forest landscape restoration initiatives across the country. The guide is designed to promote context-appropriate reforestation practices tailored to Haiti’s unique ecological conditions, and to provide actionable support for national land restoration targets.

    Closing out the workshop, Joseph Emmanuel Philippe, Director General of the Ministry of Environment, praised the productive and collaborative nature of the exchanges, and called on all partner institutions to maintain their momentum. He emphasized the need for continued collective action to strengthen national coordination, expand access to reliable environmental data, and scale up adoption of evidence-based sustainable land management practices across Haiti.

    Through the organization of this workshop, Haiti’s Ministry of Environment has reaffirmed its commitment to consolidating the country’s national environmental monitoring systems, improving the quality of its international reporting under the UNCCD, and accelerating on-the-ground land restoration actions that directly benefit Haiti’s most climate-vulnerable communities. The institution also renewed its pledge to maintain close collaborative partnerships with all national and international stakeholders, to advance the long-term preservation of Haiti’s natural resources and build more robust national resilience to climate change impacts.

  • Taiwan : Official start of the 2nd rice-growing season in Artibonite

    Taiwan : Official start of the 2nd rice-growing season in Artibonite

    On September 8, 2026, the official launch of the year’s second rice-growing season marked a key milestone for agricultural development in Haiti’s Artibonite Department, backed by the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) through its ongoing Rice Production Improvement Project.

    As the initiative gets underway, joint teams from the ICDF and local partner farmers have already moved into the critical pre-planting preparation phase across target plots. Workers are deploying mechanized tillers to break up compacted soil, a step that improves root penetration and water retention, before carefully leveling each paddy to create the uniform growing environment critical for strong rice yields. Parallel to land preparation, nursery operations are already underway, utilizing high-quality seeds harvested from the previous growing season to cultivate robust, disease-resistant seedlings that will underpin the new season’s output.

    Project organizers have emphasized that proper paddy leveling is not just a routine task, but a foundational practice that drives long-term productivity. A perfectly leveled field ensures even growth after seedlings are transplanted, eliminating common stressors that cut into harvests: low-lying spots no longer face the risk of root rot from standing water accumulation, while higher, naturally drier areas avoid the unchecked weed growth that outcompetes young rice plants for nutrients and moisture.

    For fields with large natural variations in elevation, the project is advising farmers to segment plots into separate growing zones aligned with the natural topography. This targeted adjustment simplifies irrigation management, ensures every section of the field receives the right amount of water, and makes routine crop health monitoring far more efficient for local producers.

    Going into the 2026 second season, both the Taiwan-based project technical team and Artibonite’s local farming community have highlighted their commitment to context-appropriate sustainable agricultural practices. Through coordinated preparation and shared expertise, stakeholders are working to transform carefully tended paddies into productive landscapes that will support healthy, high-yield rice crops for Haiti’s domestic food supply.

  • FLASH : Fuel Prices Revised Upward

    FLASH : Fuel Prices Revised Upward

    In an official announcement dated September 8, 2026, Haiti’s Ministry of Economy and Finance and Ministry of Commerce and Industry have rolled out updated pump prices for petroleum products across the country, following a formal recommendation from the country’s Petroleum Market Monitoring Advisory Council (CCSMP).

    The new price schedule marks a controlled upward adjustment for all three major fuel categories. Gasoline, previously sold at 650 Gourdes per gallon, will now cost 700 Gourdes, a 50 Gourde increase. Diesel sees a 70 Gourde rise from 700 to 770 Gourdes per gallon, while kerosene gains 75 Gourdes, climbing from 690 to 765 Gourdes per gallon.

    This incremental adjustment is not a full pass-through of global market costs to consumers, the CCSMP emphasized in its accompanying explanatory note. The advisory body calculated the full real cost of fuel at 879.22 Gourdes per gallon of gasoline, 861.39 Gourdes for diesel, and 788.87 Gourdes for kerosene — far higher than the new regulated prices. The decision to phase in increases comes after a full review of July 2026 fuel shipments, and is rooted in a framework of transparency, institutional accountability, and sensitivity to Haiti’s ongoing socio-economic crisis.

    The CCSMP stressed that fuel pricing cannot be determined solely by budgetary and accounting needs, as every price shift ripples through every layer of daily life for Haitian citizens. Higher fuel costs directly raise transportation fees, push up grocery prices, raise operating costs for small businesses, disrupt agricultural production and domestic commerce, and make essential public services less accessible to vulnerable groups.

    Against the current backdrop of widespread insecurity, mass population displacement, plummeting household incomes, soaring unemployment, and already eroded purchasing power, the Council warned that implementing the full calculated market price immediately would only deepen the economic and social vulnerability of Haitian families. The gradual adjustment is therefore framed as a deliberate compromise: it works to gradually close the revenue gap that the Haitian state currently carries for fuel subsidies, while avoiding the immediate shock of passing the entire cost difference on to consumers.

    “The need to preserve public finances must go hand in hand with protecting purchasing power and preserving social cohesion,” the CCSMP stated, outlining its guiding principle for the recommendation.

    Separately, Haiti’s Northeast Departmental Directorate of Commerce and Industry issued a public warning cracking down on unregulated illegal price gouging, a practice that has become alarmingly widespread in the region. The directorate emphasized that illegal overcharging does not only harm motorists — it sends inflationary shockwaves through transportation, food supplies, all goods and services, and undermines the entire national economy.

    “We should never have reached a point where an illegal practice has become so widespread that the population has begun to consider it normal, right under the noses of the relevant authorities,” the directorate’s memo noted, adding that when the state sets a formal regulated price, that price is legally binding for all operators. Any vendor charging prices above the official schedule must provide verifiable legal justification for the markup, the agency said, noting that all claims of extraordinary expenses, security-related costs, or distribution chain disruptions will be subject to rigorous official investigation.

    The department has made clear it will not tolerate exploitative price gouging that preys on the public or abuses consumer rights. It has issued a call to action for local communities, urging Haitian residents not to normalize illegal pricing practices, and to file formal official complaints whenever price violations are documented. To enforce the new price schedule, the directorate announced it will resume routine and targeted inspections at all service stations across the Northeast department, and will apply all relevant legal penalties for violations. The agency also requested coordinated cooperation from all other relevant government bodies to ensure consumer protections are upheld across the region.

  • Man found dead in Potters home

    Man found dead in Potters home

    A death investigation has been launched by local authorities after a man’s remains were discovered inside a private residence in Potters on Saturday evening.

    According to preliminary law enforcement updates, the grim discovery was made by a family member of the deceased, who had grown concerned after days without contact with the man. The relative traveled to the property, which is located close to the shuttered Obeez Supermarket, to check on his welfare and ultimately found the body inside the home.

    Early investigative findings point to the body having been at the residence for an undetermined length of time. As of the latest updates, the exact cause of death remains unconfirmed, and officials have not yet made additional details surrounding the incident — including the identity of the deceased — available to the public. The investigation remains active and ongoing as authorities work to piece together the full circumstances of the death.

  • Antigua’s Amina Washington Longlisted for 2026 Elizabeth Nunez Literary Prize

    Antigua’s Amina Washington Longlisted for 2026 Elizabeth Nunez Literary Prize

    Two accomplished wordsmiths from Antigua and Barbuda, Amina Washington and Joanne C. Hillhouse, have earned coveted spots on the 2026 longlist for the Elizabeth Nunez Award for Writers in the Caribbean, marking a milestone for local literary talent in this prestigious regional short fiction competition. The official longlist, published earlier by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival (BCLF), confirms Washington was selected for her evocative short story “Elmo,” while Hillhouse secured her place with the compelling piece “Holiday J’ouvert.”

    Now in its established run as an annual literary initiative, the competition was created to elevate and amplify unique literary voices rooted in the Caribbean. It opens submissions to both published and emerging unpublished authors who live and create work within Caribbean territories, joining a network of writers spanning 10 regional nations this year. Alongside the two Antigua and Barbuda creators, longlisted writers represent Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago, showcasing the breadth of storytelling talent across the Caribbean basin.

    The award traces its origins back to 2019, when it launched as a program focused exclusively on unpublished writers of Caribbean descent based in the North American diaspora. Just one year later, in 2020, the initiative expanded to add a standalone prize dedicated specifically to writers residing and working within the Caribbean itself. Today, both competitions operate under the umbrella of BCLF’s annual Short Fiction Story Contest. A sister award, the Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writer’s Prize, caters to creators of Caribbean heritage based in the United States and Canada.

    Both awards bear the name of the late Trinidadian-born novelist and professor Elizabeth Nunez, a towering figure in Caribbean-American literary circles. Nunez was a longstanding partner to the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival and a tireless advocate for greater mainstream recognition of Caribbean and African American writers, leaving a legacy that the prize continues to honor.

    Beyond celebrating exceptional storytelling craft, the festival frames the competition as a strategic platform to boost emerging and established writers’ visibility, connect them to global literary networks, and expand access to critical resources that can help advance their careers. With the longlist now finalized, Washington, Hillhouse and their fellow longlisted nominees are waiting for the next round of judging, which will narrow the field to select the 2026 prize winner.