Carib Scope

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  • «If I’m not Dominican, neither is Abinader»: Haitians protest for their rights

    «If I’m not Dominican, neither is Abinader»: Haitians protest for their rights

    SANTO DOMINGO – On Friday, dozens of people of Haitian descent born and raised in the Dominican Republic gathered in peaceful demonstration outside the Dominican National Palace, carrying clear, impassioned slogans to demand long-overdue action from the national government. Chants of “We are Dominicans”, “If I am not Dominican, neither is Abinader”, and “Being Dominican is our right, not a favor” echoed through the public square as organizers called attention to the unfulfilled promises of a decade-old nationality law.

    The demonstration, organized by the grassroots Recognized Movement, marks the 12th anniversary of the passage of Law 169-14, legislation drafted to address the citizenship crisis triggered by the Dominican Constitutional Court’s 2013 ruling 168-13. That ruling stripped nationality from thousands of people born in the Dominican Republic to undocumented Haitian migrant parents, creating a large population of stateless people who were denied access to basic identity documentation. Law 169-14 was intended to resolve this crisis by formalizing pathways to citizenship for two distinct affected groups, labeled Group A and Group B. But protesters say that after 12 years, the government has never fully enacted the regulation.

    One spokesperson for the group emphasized that demonstrators are not asking for special treatment – they are demanding their constitutionally guaranteed birthright. “We are here to claim our Dominican nationality. We are not foreigners or immigrants; we were born on this soil, and we will not leave,” they said. The representative added that even after 12 years, less than half of the people classified in Group A have successfully received their citizenship, while all members of Group B remain waiting for permanent, official resolution of their status.

    Movement coordinator Franklyn Minor detailed the ongoing harms of the government’s delayed implementation. He explained that many people who had held valid Dominican identity cards, birth certificates, and passports for decades have suddenly had these official documents suspended, leaving them legally adrift. Protesters added that stateless and undocumented residents of Haitian descent continue to face routine systemic discrimination: they face arbitrary arrests, unfair deportations, and persistent bureaucratic roadblocks that block them from obtaining even the most basic official paperwork. This lack of documentation in turn cuts off access to fundamental rights including public education and healthcare, turning long-overdue citizenship into a matter of daily survival for thousands of families.

    Protesters anchored their demand in the text of the Dominican Constitution that was in force at the time of their birth, which grants automatic Dominican nationality to anyone born on national territory, with only narrow exceptions for children of foreign diplomats and individuals in legal transit. To move the process forward, Minor called on Dominican President Luis Abinader to directly intervene in the crisis, to enforce the existing Law 169-14, and to clear the backlog of thousands of pending citizenship applications. Rejecting the erasure of their community, one spokesperson summed up the demonstration’s core message: “We are not invisible.”

  • French mum accused of blindfolding, abandoning sons in Portugal remanded

    French mum accused of blindfolding, abandoning sons in Portugal remanded

    On Saturday, a judicial court in Portugal’s southern port city of Setubal ordered a French woman and her male partner to be held in pretrial detention, following a two-day court hearing over allegations that the pair abandoned her two young sons, aged 4 and 5, on a remote roadside in the country’s south. Beyond charges of child abandonment and endangerment that apply to both suspects, the 55-year-old male partner also faces an additional aggravated assault charge relating to one of the two children, court officials confirmed following closed questioning of the pair. After the hearing concluded, the couple was transported from the courthouse via an unmarked police van, which exited directly through the building’s private garage to avoid public attention.

    The high-profile case has sparked intense public scrutiny in both Portugal and France, ever since the two young boys were discovered crying on the side of a road near the town of Alcacer do Sal, roughly 60 miles south of the Portuguese capital Lisbon, on Tuesday evening. According to local Portuguese media reports, the pair left the children with small backpacks stocked with basic food and water, but no form of identification that could connect the boys to any guardian or family.

    Portuguese law enforcement tracked down and arrested the couple on Thursday at an open-air cafe in Fatima, a central Portuguese pilgrimage town, and they were first brought before an investigating judge at the Setubal court the following day. Speaking to local Portuguese broadcaster SIC, Carlos Canatario, a spokesperson for Portugal’s national GNR police force, described the pair’s demeanor after arrest as deeply disturbing to officers. “After something as shocking as abandoning two small children, finding this couple sitting relaxed at an outdoor cafe for hours was quite shocking,” Canatario said. He added that the couple displayed a striking emotional detachment from the situation: “They did not respond much. They appeared very withdrawn and therefore did not react.”

    During the initial questioning session at the court Friday, the pair was interviewed for multiple hours. As they arrived at the courthouse, the male suspect, identified by authorities only as Marc B. to comply with privacy rules, twice shouted “I love you” in French to onlookers, while the children’s mother, identified as Marine R., hummed a quiet melody. Shortly after midnight on Friday, as Marc B. was being led to a police transport van, he shouted “Portugal Armageddon” toward the crowd of journalists gathered outside the courthouse building. To prevent further public disruption, when transporting the pair back to the courthouse for the second day of the hearing Saturday, law enforcement kept the suspects inside the vehicle until it had fully entered the closed garage and all external doors were secured.

    In the aftermath of the discovery, the two young boys have been placed in the care of a French foster family based in Lisbon, as authorities coordinate arrangements to return the children to their native France. Official records show the brothers had been living with their mother in Colmar, a city in eastern France, while the children’s biological father was granted only limited, supervised visitation rights under a French court order. French law enforcement had been searching for the mother and the two boys since May 11, when the father filed a missing person report for the group, prompting French authorities to issue a cross-border European arrest warrant shortly after.

    New details from the motorist who first encountered the boys have also shed light on the children’s experience. Eugenia Quintas, whose son discovered the abandoned children, told AFP that one of the boys told rescuers the pair had been blindfolded by their mother and told they were searching for a hidden toy. When the children removed their blindfolds, both their mother and her vehicle were already gone. Quintas added that despite the traumatic abandonment, “On them they had an orange, a pear and a bottle of water each. We didn’t see any signs of mistreatment.”

    Investigators have noted that the couple appears to have no prior personal or professional ties to Portugal, which has deepened public curiosity around the motivation for the abandonment. Further reporting on the suspects’ backgrounds has amplified public interest in the case. Marine R. describes herself on public social media profiles as a sexologist specializing in somatic body practices, developmental therapy and trauma care. Marc B., meanwhile, is a former officer with the French national gendarmerie who left the force in 2010; French media reports confirm he has repeatedly shared conspiracy theory and antisemitic content on his public social media accounts.

    This case marks the second high-profile incident involving French citizens in Portugal within the span of a few months. Earlier this year, Portuguese authorities charged French national Cedric Prizzon with murdering his current and former romantic partners in northern Portugal, before fleeing the area with the young children he had with the two women. Portuguese courts have rejected France’s extradition request for Prizzon, ruling that the alleged crimes were committed on Portuguese territory and fall under Portuguese national jurisdiction.

  • Motorcyclists involved in violent incidents in Santo Domingo

    Motorcyclists involved in violent incidents in Santo Domingo

    SANTO DOMINGO — In a single day of widespread unrest, two separate violent incidents involving motorcycle taxi drivers have left one man dead and a school bus driver injured in the Greater Santo Domingo metropolitan area, unfolding against a backdrop of already simmering friction between local authorities and the region’s motorcycling community over widespread reckless operation and links to criminal activity.

    The first and most deadly of the two incidents took the life of 38-year-old Osvaldo Silverio, a seasoned motorcycle taxi driver based out of the La Barquita sector of Sabana Perdida. According to preliminary law enforcement accounts, Silverio was gunned down in cold blood by Ramón Elías Ureña Hernández — a fellow motorcyclist widely known by his alias “Mon Elías” — following a lingering dispute that erupted between the two men days earlier.

    Graphic security camera footage of the attack, which has circulated widely across local social media platforms, captures Silverio walking along a public street in Santo Domingo Norte, wearing his riding helmet, when Ureña Hernández intercepted him from his own motorcycle. After less than a minute of heated verbal exchange, Ureña Hernández drew a firearm and fired two shots directly at Silverio before immediately fleeing the scene on his motorcycle. Investigators later confirmed the root of the conflict was a disagreement over a competing passenger at the shared bus stop where both men worked to pick up fares.

    In the wake of the killing, the Dominican National Police has opened a full criminal investigation into the incident and launched a manhunt to locate and arrest the fugitive shooter, who remains at large as of press time.

    Hours after the fatal shooting, a second violent incident unfolded in the El Café sector of Herrera, Santo Domingo Oeste, where a mob of local motorcycle taxi drivers viciously attacked Henry González, a driver for the National Student Transportation System (TRAE). The attack was triggered by a minor fender bender between González’s school bus and a motorcycle operated by Gregory González, widely known as “Negro Malo,” who was traveling the wrong way down a one-way lane with two young female passengers.

    At the time of the collision, González was in the process of transporting a group of students to the local Rafaela Santaella School. After the crash, dozens of area motorcycle taxi drivers swarmed the bus, pulled González from the vehicle, and beat him, leaving him with visible facial lacerations that required emergency medical treatment. Terrified students trapped inside the bus during the assault screamed for help, with witnesses later confirming that multiple bystanders warned the mob that minors were inside the vehicle — a warning the attackers completely ignored.

    Speaking to medical personnel after the attack, the TRAE driver stated he had been unable to avoid the collision, saying: “I had my seatbelt fastened and I never even saw them coming until it was too late.”

    In a swift law enforcement response to the attack on the school bus driver, National Police officers moved in to detain all motorcycle taxi drivers who participated in the mob assault. Shortly after the incident, Gregory González, the motorcyclist who caused the initial collision that sparked the violence, turned himself in to authorities voluntarily.

    In comments made to reporters alongside National Police spokesperson Diego Pesqueira, Gregory González attempted to justify his actions, claiming the conflict was entirely the bus driver’s fault. “There never should have been a conflict. I did swerve over into his lane, yes, because I was with two kids. He’s the older, more experienced driver, and he never stopped to think that I’m younger and he should have waited for me to pass,” González said. He added that the driver’s facial injuries were a result of González acting in self-defense after the driver failed to brake to avoid hitting him.

    Officials from the Santo Domingo West Prosecutor’s Office have announced they will move forward quickly with formal charges against all suspects connected to the attack, and will file a request for pretrial preventive detention for all of those involved in the coming hours. In a statement, prosecutors emphasized that this kind of unprovoked mob violence, particularly against a school transportation driver who was carrying minor students, will not be tolerated. “This type of dangerous, irresponsible behavior cannot be overlooked. We will seek the strictest appropriate measures available under law to hold these attackers accountable,” the statement read.

  • Rajindra Campbell breaks national record, Jackson wins 200m at Diamond League

    Rajindra Campbell breaks national record, Jackson wins 200m at Diamond League

    The second stop of the 2025 Diamond League track and field circuit, held Saturday in Xiamen, China, delivered a night of record-breaking performances highlighted by standout efforts from Jamaican athletes and a historic run from American hurdler Masai Russell.

    One of the biggest stories of the competition came from shot putter Rajindra Campbell, the Olympic bronze medalist who made global headlines recently when World Athletics denied his and three other Jamaican athletes’ requests to switch national allegiance to Turkey. Undeterred by the off-track controversy, Campbell launched a 22.34-meter throw that shaved three centimeters off his own 2024 Jamaican national record, set earlier that year in Croatia. The mark pushed Campbell to second place in the global shot put rankings, outperforming a pair of top American competitors: Jordan Geist, who took silver with a 21.52-meter throw, and Olympic star Ryan Crouser, who notched a season’s best 21.41 meters to round out the top three.

    In the women’s 200-meter sprint, Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson continued her fine form this season, clocking a new season’s best time that improved on the mark she set just one week prior. Jackson surged ahead of the pack coming off the final turn, pulling away from the field with a smooth, controlled stride to cross the line well clear of her competitors. Her time also broke the existing Xiamen meet record of 22.41 seconds set by American sprinter Anavia Battle in 2024. In a repeat of the previous weekend’s podium, Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas took second place with a 22.04-second run, while Battle earned third with 22.29 seconds.

    Long jump delivered its own share of standout results, led by Greek Olympic and world champion Miltiadis Tentoglou, who claimed gold with a season’s best 8.46-meter jump. The mark matched the 2025 global leading distance and broke the previous meet record of 8.18 meters set by China’s Zhang Mingkun last year. Jamaican Olympic and world medalist Tajay Gayle notched a massive personal improvement from his 7.93-meter result at the previous week’s Shanghai-Keqiao meet, leaping to a season’s best 8.32 meters to take second place. Fellow Jamaican Wayne Pinnock finished sixth with a 7.93-meter jump, matching his own season’s best.

    In the men’s 110-meter hurdles final, American Jamal Britt took gold with a 13.07-second run that equaled his personal best. Japan’s Rachid Muratake claimed silver with 13.13 seconds, while Jamaica’s Orlando Bennett rounded out the podium with 13.20 seconds, matching his 2025 season’s best.

    Jamaica’s Lamara Distin took third place in the women’s high jump, clearing 1.94 meters behind a pair of Ukrainian competitors: gold medalist Yulia Levchenko, who cleared 1.99 meters, and silver medalist Iryna Gerashchenko, who hit 1.97 meters.

    The most historic performance of the day came in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, where American Masai Russell delivered one of the fastest times in the history of the sport. Russell crossed the line in 12.14 seconds, beating her own existing American record of 12.17 seconds. The run also shattered both the Xiamen meet record of 12.45 seconds set by Jasmine Camacho-Quinn in 2024 and the overall Diamond League record for the event. Nigerian world record holder Tobi Amusan took silver with a season’s best 12.28 seconds, while Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas broke her own national record for the second consecutive week, clocking 12.37 seconds to take third. Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent finished sixth in the race with 12.64 seconds, and fellow Jamaican Danielle Williams placed seventh with 12.90 seconds, capping a day of strong results for Caribbean track and field in Xiamen.

  • Haitian group calls for reparations, TPS

    Haitian group calls for reparations, TPS

    On the commemoration of one of Haiti’s most foundational historic milestones, the California-based Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) has spotlighted the enduring revolutionary legacy of the world’s first independent Black republic, while issuing urgent calls for reparative justice from France, a long-term extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian residents in the United States, and equitable systemic change for Haitian people at home and abroad.

    Haiti’s path to independence, cemented in 1804 after the only successful large-scale enslaved people’s revolt in modern history, redefined global conversations about liberation and self-governance. Ahead of the annual observance of the 1803 adoption of the Haitian flag during the Arcahaie Congress, HBA Executive Director Guerline Jozef spoke with the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) in San Diego, framing the commemoration as both a celebration of resistance and a call to address unresolved historical and contemporary crises.

    “Haiti remains a global beacon of Black liberation, resistance, and self-determination,” Jozef said. “As we honor this landmark moment, we are demanding reparative justice from France and an immediate extension of Temporary Protected Status for Haitian nationals living in the United States.”

    This year’s observance unfolds against a backdrop of deepening humanitarian catastrophe across Haiti. Jozef highlighted that latest data from the United Nations and leading humanitarian agencies confirms roughly 1.4 million Haitians have been displaced by widespread violence and political instability, while millions more grapple with acute food insecurity and severely limited access to clean water, healthcare, and other basic necessities. More than 2.6 million Haitian children currently require life-saving humanitarian assistance, she added.

    Despite the cascading crises facing their home country, Jozef emphasized that Haitian communities in the U.S. — including current TPS holders — make substantial, underrecognized contributions to the American economy and workforce. TPS alone, the temporary protection that prevents deportation and allows work authorization for Haitians unable to return to their unstable home country, has allowed hundreds of thousands of Haitians to fill critical gaps across key U.S. sectors. Jozef noted that Haitian TPS holders contribute an estimated $5.9 billion annually to U.S. gross domestic product, pay roughly $1.5 billion each year in combined federal, state, and local taxes, and around 200,000 Haitian TPS holders are active in the U.S. workforce, holding essential positions in healthcare, elder and childcare, agriculture, transportation, and service industries.

    Beyond contributions within U.S. borders, the Haitian diaspora serves as a critical economic lifeline for the country itself. Jozef reported that in 2024, remittances from Haitians living abroad to family in Haiti totaled roughly $4.5 billion, a sum that makes up a large share of Haiti’s overall national economy and sustains millions of households.

    A core demand of the Haitian Bridge Alliance this year is renewed pressure for France to pay reparations for the crippling “independence debt” imposed on Haiti immediately after it won its freedom. This historic financial extraction, which required Haiti to pay reparations to French enslavers for lost property (the enslaved people who won their freedom), is widely documented by economists and historians as a root cause of decades of economic underdevelopment that has burdened generations of Haitians.

    “Haitian Flag Day is a reminder that Haiti altered the trajectory of world history through its unyielding fight for Black freedom,” Jozef said. “Yet more than two centuries later, Haitians continue to live with the aftermath of centuries-old exploitation, ongoing political instability, anti-Black U.S. immigration policies, and widespread family separation. The international community cannot claim to celebrate Haiti’s revolutionary legacy while turning a blind eye to the conditions force Haitians to flee their homes, and the foreign and domestic policies that continue to destabilize Haitian communities.”

    Advocacy led by HBA and its partner organizations has already yielded incremental progress on the TPS extension front. Jozef noted that last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation — spearheaded by Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley — that would extend TPS protections for Haitian nationals for an additional three years. HBA is now actively lobbying the U.S. Senate to move forward with a matching bill to cement the extension into law.

    The organization continues its advocacy across both legislative chambers and the court system, Jozef added, working not only on behalf of Haitian TPS recipients but also supporting all immigrant communities, with a particular focus on those from marginalized, historically excluded backgrounds.

    “On this Haitian Flag Day, the Haitian Bridge Alliance calls for an immediate end to deportations to Haiti, lasting protection for Haitian families in the United States, meaningful international engagement centered on Haitian-led solutions, and serious, good-faith dialogue around reparative justice and long-term stability that allows the Haitian people to thrive and prosper,” Jozef said.

  • Man Utd’s Fernandes named Premier League Player of the Season

    Man Utd’s Fernandes named Premier League Player of the Season

    In a landmark announcement made Saturday night in English football, Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has capped off a standout domestic campaign by claiming the prestigious Premier League Player of the Season award.

    The 31-year-old midfield maestro delivered a career-best performance across the 2024-25 league season, matching a long-standing top-flight record that places him alongside two of the competition’s all-time greats: former Arsenal forward Thierry Henry and current Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne. All three players now share the mark for the most assists registered in a single 38-game Premier League campaign, with Fernandes notching 20 goal-creating passes this term.

    Beyond his playmaking contributions, Fernandes found the back of the net eight times in league play, playing an instrumental role in guiding Manchester United to a third-place finish in the table. The result locked in the club’s automatic qualification for the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League, a much-coveted milestone for the side led by interim manager Michael Carrick this season.

    The honor carries extra historical weight for Fernandes and Manchester United: he is the first Red Devils player to win the league’s top individual award in nearly 14 years, since Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic took home the prize at the end of the 2010-11 campaign.

    Fernandes beat out a stacked field of top contenders to claim the honor, including Arsenal’s defensive star David Raya, center-back Gabriel Magalhaes, and midfield enforcer Declan Rice; Manchester City’s record-breaking striker Erling Haaland; Bristol City loanee Antoine Semenyo; Brentford forward Igor Thiago; and Nottingham Forest playmaker Morgan Gibbs-White. This award adds to Fernandes’ growing collection of 2024-25 honors, following his win of the Football Writers Association Footballer of the Year award earlier this season.

    In the night’s other major award, 21-year-old Nico O’Reilly of treble-chasing Manchester City took home the Premier League Young Player of the Season honor after a breakout campaign that cemented his place as one of English football’s brightest young talents.

    O’Reilly stepped into a regular starting role for City this season, featuring primarily at left-back while also filling in effectively in midfield when called upon. Across all competitions, he notched five goals and three assists, including a iconic two-goal performance that led City to a 2-0 victory over Arsenal in the EFL League Cup final in March. He also started in City’s recent FA Cup final win against Chelsea, proving his ability to deliver on the sport’s biggest stages.

    The young defender beat out a strong group of fellow rising stars to claim the prize, including City teammate Rayan Cherki, West Ham United’s Mateus Fernandes, Newcastle United’s Lewis Hall, Brentford’s Michael Kayode, Manchester United’s breakout star Kobbie Mainoo, and Bournemouth duo Alex Scott and Eli Junior Kroupi.

  • Karpowership consolidates its energy contribution in Latin America and the Caribbean

    Karpowership consolidates its energy contribution in Latin America and the Caribbean

    Global leader in floating power generation, Karpowership — which owns the world’s only full fleet of powerships and operates 45 floating power plants with a combined 8,500 megawatts of installed capacity across four continents — has announced its official market entry into Mexico via a new 250MW project aimed at shoring up the Yucatan Peninsula’s struggling electrical subsystem, one of the country’s fastest-growing regions in terms of energy demand.

    This landmark move marks a major milestone in the firm’s ongoing regional expansion across Latin America and the Caribbean, a geographic zone where Karpowership has steadily built out its footprint in high-priority markets grappling with four core energy challenges: surging consumer and industrial demand, the urgent need for flexible generation capacity, improving grid resilience, and the gradual integration of variable renewable energy sources.

    The Mexican initiative will be advanced in close partnership with Mexico’s federal energy regulators and the state government of Quintana Roo, where the project will be sited. Under Karpowership’s integrated “LNG-to-Power” model, the company will moor its powership alongside an existing liquefied natural gas terminal vessel, a configuration that allows the facility to deliver dispatchable energy to the grid rapidly, with adjustable output and consistent reliability.

    The company’s expansion into Mexico comes as a direct response to the Yucatan Peninsula’s breakneck economic and population growth, a boom fueled by the region’s booming tourism sector, rapid urban expansion, and large-scale public and private infrastructure development. The project is specifically engineered to provide backup and supplemental capacity to the regional grid during periods of peak demand, annual hurricane season, and scheduled grid maintenance. Critically, the floating infrastructure can be fully deployed in a matter of months and repositioned to other locations if energy needs shift over time.

    Across the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic remains one of Karpowership’s most vital established markets. To date, the company has deployed 408MW of installed capacity across the country — equal to roughly 10% of the Dominican Republic’s total firm national generation capacity, enough output to power more than one million Dominican households. Since launching operations in the Azua region, Karpowership has been a key contributor to the stability and resilience of the Dominican grid, delivering flexible generation capacity amid steady demand growth, broad national economic expansion, growing tourism-related energy needs, and the ongoing transition to higher shares of renewable energy. The company’s presence in the country forms a core part of its regional strategy to deliver fast-deployment, high-availability energy solutions to strengthen strained power systems.

    Karpowership has also deepened its footprint in Ecuador, where it recently expanded its total generation capacity to 300MW to support the country through a severe national energy crisis triggered by widespread drought that crippled the nation’s hydroelectric generation output.

    These diverse regional operations underscore Karpowership’s growing role as a go-to energy partner for markets that require urgent, targeted responses to surging demand, extreme weather events, or shortfalls in conventional generation capacity. On a global scale, the company develops custom floating energy solutions that integrate on-vessel power generation, marine infrastructure, and dedicated natural gas supply chains, allowing it to rapidly meet the evolving needs of countries and power systems undergoing energy transition.

    With its new market entry into Mexico and its already well-established position in key markets including the Dominican Republic and Ecuador, Karpowership continues to solidify its standing across Latin America and the Caribbean as a flexible, reliable energy alternative that supports core regional goals: strengthening national energy security, maintaining grid stability, and enabling sustained economic development across the region.

  • Alert: Why are more Dominicans wearing masks again?

    Alert: Why are more Dominicans wearing masks again?

    As multiple circulating respiratory viruses including influenza, adenovirus, and COVID-19 drive rising caseloads across the Dominican Republic, local residents have responded by increasing their use of face masks in public spaces, according to the head of the country’s leading medical organization. Waldo Ariel Suero, president of the Dominican Medical Association (CMD), shared the observation of shifting public behavior in recent days amid the growing outbreak.

    Suero stressed that unaddressed early symptoms of these viral respiratory illnesses can quickly progress to severe complications, putting patients at greater risk of worse outcomes. To curb avoidable health deterioration, he issued a clear call to action for the Dominican public: maintain consistent evidence-based preventive measures, and do not delay seeking care at official public or private health centers as soon as the first signs of illness appear.

    The jump in confirmed infections across the country underscores two critical unmet needs, per the CMD leader: strengthening national epidemiological surveillance systems to track virus spread in real time, and ensuring a steady, adequate supply of antiviral medications and diagnostic testing kits across all regions of the nation. “Prevention still stands as the most effective tool we have to stop these viruses from expanding into an uncontrolled, larger public health crisis,” Suero said in his statement.

    Suero’s public warning aligns with growing concern among frontline medical teams across the country, who report that the surge in respiratory cases is placing significant strain on the capacity of local hospitals and outpatient clinics. Medical staff have repeatedly highlighted the life-saving value of up-to-date influenza and COVID-19 vaccinations, as well as the continued importance of wearing well-fitted masks in crowded enclosed spaces to reduce transmission risk.

  • Quality: The aim is to reduce the number of chemicals in meat and meat products.

    Quality: The aim is to reduce the number of chemicals in meat and meat products.

    The Dominican Republic has taken a major step forward in protecting public health through the official launch of two groundbreaking national safety programs targeting meat and meat products, overseen by the General Directorate of Medicines, Food and Health Products (DIGEMAPS) via its Meat Products and Derivatives Division. Developed to shield consumers from preventable foodborne hazards, the National Programs for the Control of Pathogens and Chemical Residues aim to guarantee that all meat distributed for human consumption across the country meets rigorous safety benchmarks. The launch ceremony was hosted at the headquarters of the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD), with critical technical backing provided by the Dominican Agribusiness Laboratory (LAD), marking a landmark example of productive public-private inter-institutional collaboration designed to reinforce health surveillance and quality control across the nation’s entire agri-food supply chain. Stakeholders from across the sector gathered for the event, including senior public health authorities, leaders of the Dominican Republic’s domestic meat industry, specialized food safety technicians, official government inspectors, and key representatives from every segment of the food production, processing, and distribution network. At their core, the two new programs are designed to eliminate dangerous contaminants from the national meat supply by ensuring all products are free of harmful chemical residues, pathogenic microorganisms, and banned substances. To achieve this goal, the initiative rolls out standardized sanitary controls, validated sampling frameworks, and ongoing microbiological surveillance protocols that align fully with international food safety standards and leading global public health guidelines. During the launch event, organizers presented the full technical and regulatory structure of both programs to attending stakeholders. Key components shared included updated on-site inspection protocols, standardized microbiological testing procedures, targeted surveillance for high-risk pathogens such as Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STECs), and Listeria monocytogenes, as well as systematic controls for residues of veterinary medications, agricultural pesticides, and other unintended chemical contaminants. The day’s programming also included a series of targeted technical training sessions covering critical topics: best practices for microbiological risk control, the standardized N60 sampling methodology, strategies for integrating the new programs into existing daily operations at meat processing plants, protocols for managing and responding to positive contaminant test results, and proactive preventive measures that producers can implement to embed food safety into every stage of production. DIGEMAPS officials emphasized that the new initiative marks a substantial leap forward in strengthening the country’s national health inspection system for meat and meat products. Beyond protecting consumers, the agency noted that the programs will deliver broader economic benefits: boosting consumer trust in domestic meat products, improving end-to-end traceability across the livestock supply chain, and raising the global competitiveness of the Dominican Republic’s livestock sector in both domestic and international export markets. For its part, JAD and its technical arm LAD reaffirmed their long-term commitment to supporting cross-sector initiatives that advance food safety, improve the quality of Dominican agricultural goods, and build technical capacity across the domestic agribusiness sector. The launch aligns with DIGEMAPS’ core institutional mission, which uses its comprehensive meat and meat product inspection system to support national agricultural development through rigorous public health surveillance and consistent enforcement of both domestic and international regulatory requirements for all animal-derived products sold in or exported from the Dominican Republic.

  • ON THE HUNT

    ON THE HUNT

    Fresh off a dominant opening victory at the Wanda Diamond League’s first 2025 stop in Shanghai/Keqiao, two-time World Athletics Championships 200m gold medalist Shericka Jackson is set to target consecutive wins at the tour’s next stop, held at Xiamen’s Egret Stadium in China. The race, which kicks off Saturday morning Jamaica time, will see Jackson chase more than just another win — she aims to avenge a surprise defeat to American sprinter Anavia Battle when she opened her 2024 Diamond League campaign in the same city a year prior.

    Jackson, who has navigated a string of nagging injuries over the past two seasons, turned heads last week with an impressive opening performance, clocking 22.07 seconds in the 200m just 48 hours after touching down in China. With a full week of acclimatization and training under her belt ahead of the Xiamen meet, track analysts and fans widely expect the Jamaican star to shave time off her already strong opening result and deliver an even faster performance this weekend.

    Jackson will face off against nearly the exact same field of competitors that lined up against her in Shanghai/Keqiao. Battle, who finished third in the opener last week, will look to defend her 2024 Xiamen victory against Jackson. Joining the pair on the starting line will be Shaunae Miller-Uibo of The Bahamas, who claimed second place in the opening meet, alongside American sprinters Jenna Prandini and Sha’Carri Richardson.

    Jackson is far from the only Jamaican star set to compete in Xiamen: a total of nine Jamaican athletes, most of whom already raced in the tour opener, will return to the track this weekend. The full Jamaican contingent includes sprint hurdlers Ackera Nugent, Megan Simmonds, and Danielle Williams in the women’s 100m hurdles; Orlando Bennett in the men’s 110m hurdles; high jumper Lamara Distin; long jumpers Tajay Gayle and Wayne Pinnock; and shot put national record holder Rajindra Campbell. Notably, Campbell and Pinnock are competing just weeks after World Athletics rejected their applications to switch sporting allegiance to Turkey, clearing them to remain competing for Jamaica for the 2025 season.

    The women’s 100m hurdles boasts one of the deepest and most competitive fields on the entire Xiamen schedule, featuring gold medalists from each of the last four global championships. American Masai Russell, the reigning Olympic champion, took gold in the opening race last week, where both Danielle Williams and another competitor failed to finish the event. This weekend, Williams will look to put her opening-meet DNF behind her and claim a better result in Xiamen.

    Jamaica’s Megan Simmonds, an Olympic medallist, was the highest-placed Jamaican hurdler in Shanghai/Keqiao, finishing fourth with Nugent close behind in sixth. The two Jamaicans will face stiff competition from a stacked field that includes World Championships gold medalist Ditaji Kambundji of Switzerland, World Indoor champion Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas — who set a new national record in the event last week — and reigning world record holder Tobi Amusan of Nigeria.

    Orlando Bennett, a medalist at the 2025 World Athletics Championships, will also aim to improve on his opening result. Bennett clocked a 2025 season’s best 13.20 seconds to take fourth place in Shanghai/Keqiao, and will this weekend go head-to-head with world leader Rachid Muratake of Japan, and Americans Jamal Britt and Cordell Tinch, who finished first and second respectively in the opening meet.

    Lamara Distin will make her 2025 outdoor season debut in the women’s high jump, where she will compete against Australia’s Eleanor Patterson, American Charity Hufnagel, and Ukraine’s Yulia Levchenko. In the men’s long jump, Jamaicans Tajay Gayle and Wayne Pinnock tied with an identical 7.93m jump in the opener, and both will target personal improvements against a field that includes rising Italian star Mattia Furlani, Australia’s Liam Adcock, home favorite Mingkun Zhang of China, and combined World Championships and Olympic gold medalist Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece.