Carib Scope

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  • Dominican Republic designates Iran’s IRGC and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations

    Dominican Republic designates Iran’s IRGC and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations

    In an official policy announcement released by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic has formally added two groups — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Lebanon’s political-military movement Hezbollah — to its national list of designated terrorist organizations.

    The Dominican government clarified that the decision aligns with multiple binding international frameworks and domestic legal standards, including counterterrorism resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council, the Inter-American Convention against Terrorism, and existing national counterterrorism legislation. This move marks a notable shift in the country’s formal designation of transnational groups, bringing it into alignment with a growing number of nations that have taken similar action in recent years.

    Notably, the new designation does not immediately disrupt the existing diplomatic arrangements between the Dominican Republic and Iran. Iran currently maintains non-resident diplomatic accreditation for the Dominican Republic through its embassy in neighboring Cuba, a arrangement that remains in place following the announcement. The accredited Iranian ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Seyed Mohammad Hadi Sobhani, only formally presented his credentials to Dominican President Luis Abinader this past December 2024, just months before the counterterrorism designation was made public.

  • Jamaica regressing on logistics hub development, says Hylton

    Jamaica regressing on logistics hub development, says Hylton

    KINGSTON, Jamaica — In a stark assessment of the country’s economic trajectory delivered during Tuesday’s Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives, opposition trade spokesperson Anthony Hylton has claimed that Jamaica has moved backward on its promised goal of becoming a major global logistics hub. Hylton, who oversaw the initial planning and launch of the logistics hub initiative during the previous People’s National Party administration, used his parliamentary address to lay out long-standing structural flaws holding back the island nation’s economy.

  • Powerful Women and Men Perform for Charity returns in first post-COVID show

    Powerful Women and Men Perform for Charity returns in first post-COVID show

    After a years-long pandemic pause, one of Jamaica’s most anticipated charity entertainment events is set to return to the stage on June 21, blending surprise performances from top public and private sector leaders with a mission to lift up vulnerable children across the island.

    The Powerful Women and Men Perform for Charity show, which has raised more than JMD $80 million for local nonprofit Mustard Seed Communities (MSC) over its history, will welcome a mix of veteran performer-participants and exciting first-timers when it kicks off at 7:00 pm at the Jamaica College Auditorium.

    Headlining the roster of debut performers are two of the country’s top political figures: Opposition Leader Mark Golding and Minister of Tourism Ed Bartlett, who will take the stage for the first time. They will be joined by another new talent, Dr. Maria Myers-Hamilton, Managing Director of Jamaica’s Spectrum Management Authority. Leading the returning cast is House Speaker Juliet Holness, who is making her triumphant comeback to the event’s stage after previous appearances. Other returning fan favorites include Cordel Green, Executive Director of the Broadcasting Commission, who will reprise his beloved comedic role as the outrageous “Bling Church pastor”, and Hugh Falconer, Commissioner of the Independent Commission of Investigations, who has built a loyal audience following for his vocal performances in past shows.

    All told, dozens of high-profile leaders from across Jamaica’s public and private spheres have signed up to showcase their hidden entertainment skills for the night, all to generate critical funding for MSC. The organization currently provides full-time care and support to nearly 500 children across 12 residential facilities spread across the island.

    Behind the scenes, the 2024 event draws on top local creative talent: award-winning designers Kevin Rettie and Delano McFarlane are handling the stage’s custom set design, while local production firms Viva Events and Kinematix/Bloozick will manage all audiovisual production. Ewan Simpson, Chairman of the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association, will serve as the show’s official Musical Director.

    Founded by Thyra Heaven, a former MSC fundraising director, the charity gala has long occupied a special spot on Jamaica’s events calendar. For thousands of regular attendees, it has remained a must-attend engagement, drawing crowds eager to see the unexpected sides of the country’s most prominent business, political and civic leaders. After going on hiatus when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down large public gatherings, organizers have revamped the program and recruited a slate of fresh talent to deliver an even more engaging experience for this year’s comeback.

    For Father Garvin Augustine, Executive Director of MSC International, the return of the event is a momentous occasion for the organization. Beyond the critical operating funds the show generates, Augustine noted that the event’s strong brand has played a key role in raising public awareness of MSC’s work, motivating individual donors from Jamaica and abroad, as well as major Jamaican corporate entities, to contribute to the nonprofit’s mission.

    “We are excited and grateful for the return of the show, and we look forward with renewed interest to the support we will get to care for the nation’s vulnerable,” Augustine shared in the lead-up to the performance.

  • New trial ordered for US lawyer convicted of murdering wife, son

    New trial ordered for US lawyer convicted of murdering wife, son

    One of the most high-profile criminal cases in recent U.S. history has taken a dramatic legal turn, as the South Carolina Supreme Court has thrown out the double murder conviction of disgraced former attorney Alex Murdaugh and ordered a new trial. The 57-year-old, who comes from a powerful local dynasty of judges and legal professionals, had been serving a life sentence for the 2021 killings of his 22-year-old son Paul and 52-year-old wife Maggie at the family’s remote hunting property.

    In a unanimous ruling released Wednesday, the state’s highest court found that Murdaugh was denied his constitutional right to an impartial trial, after court clerk Rebecca Hill exerted improper influence over the jury during his 2023 original trial. Post-trial interviews with jurors revealed that Hill actively encouraged panel members to closely scrutinize Murdaugh’s body language during his testimony, and warned them not to be swayed by evidence presented by the defense team. The justices wrote in their opinion that Hill “placed her fingers on the scales of justice”, irreparably compromising the integrity of the original jury process.

    The ruling also faulted the original trial’s presiding judge for allowing prosecutors to introduce an excessive volume of evidence related to Murdaugh’s unrelated financial crimes, which the court concluded unfairly prejudiced the jury against the defendant. Prior to the murder trial, Murdaugh’s long-running pattern of financial fraud had already come to light: he is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence (corrected from the original report’s 40-year) for stealing millions of dollars from his own law firm and vulnerable clients, a scheme he ran to fund a crippling secret opioid addiction that cost him an estimated $50,000 per week at its peak.

    Prosecutors had argued during the first trial that Murdaugh murdered his wife and son to distract from and gain sympathy for himself as his years of embezzlement were on the verge of public exposure. Murdaugh took the stand in his own defense, admitting to his financial crimes, long-term drug addiction, and repeated lies about his activities, but he has consistently maintained his innocence in the killings. Physical evidence from Paul Murdaugh’s cell phone placed Alex Murdaugh at the dog kennels where the shootings occurred just minutes before the murders, a key detail that helped secure the original guilty verdict.

    The original trial received widespread national media attention, with gavel-to-gavel televised coverage drawing millions of viewers across the United States. Streaming giants Netflix and HBO capitalized on the public’s fascination with the case, releasing popular docu-dramas examining the Murdaugh family’s decades of local influence and the details of the murders just months after the original conviction.

  • Community newspaper executive Marva Brodie is dead

    Community newspaper executive Marva Brodie is dead

    KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s local media community is mourning the loss of a pioneering community journalism figure this week, after Marva Brodie, co-founder and long-serving director of beloved local outlet The News, passed away from a heart attack at her Havendale residence on Thursday, May 7. She was 82 years old at the time of her death.

    Ben Brodie, Marva’s husband and a veteran Jamaican journalist who co-founded The News alongside his wife and serves as the publication’s managing editor, confirmed the news to local outlet Jamaica Observer Online. According to Ben Brodie, his wife experienced a sudden seizure shortly after waking on the morning of her passing. Emergency responders transported her quickly to a nearby hospital for urgent care, but medical staff pronounced her dead on arrival.

    Originally launched under the name Boulevard News before being rebranded as The News, the community newspaper has served local Jamaican audiences for decades, shaped in large part by Marva Brodie’s commitment to elevating hyperlocal stories and connecting neighborhood residents. A public funeral service to honor Brodie’s life and legacy has been scheduled for 10:00 a.m. this Saturday at St Richard of Chichester Roman Catholic Church, located at 126 Red Hills Road in Kingston.

  • RJR Gleaner enters agreement for sale of North Street property

    RJR Gleaner enters agreement for sale of North Street property

    KINGSTON, Jamaica — One of Jamaica’s most prominent media conglomerates has announced a key strategic property deal that will reshape its operational footprint for years to come. RJR Gleaner Communications Group, the parent company of the decades-old Jamaica Gleaner publication, has entered into a binding sales agreement with local enterprise LP Azar Limited for its iconic former headquarters located at 7 North Street in downtown Kingston.

    The announcement, made publicly this Tuesday, confirmed that the deal includes not only the main building that housed the Jamaica Gleaner for generations, but also adjacent parcels of land and existing parking areas attached to the property.

    In an official news release detailing the transaction, the media group emphasized that the sale is not an isolated move, but a core component of its company-wide strategic restructuring and modernization agenda. The overarching goals of these initiatives are to streamline the organization’s physical operational footprint, cut unnecessary overhead, boost efficiency across all of its commercial divisions, and ultimately deliver greater long-term value to its shareholders.

    The proceeds and freed-up resources from the sale will support the ongoing consolidation of all of the group’s operations at its updated Lyndhurst Road campus, where the Jamaica Gleaner newsroom has already completed its relocation. By centralizing operations at this single site, the group expects to eliminate redundant costs and improve cross-department collaboration between its print, digital and broadcast teams.

    Furthermore, the sale allows leadership to reallocate capital and management attention away from non-core real estate holdings and back to the company’s primary business lines: print journalism, digital media content, and broadcast operations.

    Like most commercial property transactions of this scale, the final closing is contingent on the completion of standard regulatory and procedural conditions. The deal is currently projected to be finalized within the next 45 days.

  • U.S. Embassy details new third-country migration agreement with the Dominican Republic

    U.S. Embassy details new third-country migration agreement with the Dominican Republic

    SANTO DOMINGO — The United States Embassy in the Dominican Republic has announced a new bilateral agreement that creates a formal legal framework for the temporary relocation of vetted third-country nationals from U.S. territory to the Dominican Republic, under strictly defined terms. This memorandum of understanding, the embassy clarifies, is restricted to a small, pre-vetted group of foreign individuals who have cleared comprehensive background checks and carry no criminal convictions. Two groups are explicitly barred from participation under the terms of the deal: Haitian nationals and unaccompanied minor migrants.

    Officials from the United States emphasize the arrangement is designed to cut procedural red tape for U.S. deportation and repatriation processes, while fully upholding Dominican national legislation, sovereign authority, and established cross-border protocols. Under the agreement’s terms, U.S. law enforcement and immigration agencies will take full responsibility for coordinating the eventual onward travel of transferred individuals back to their respective countries of origin, removing that administrative and logistical burden from Dominican authorities.

    The new migration pact is not a standalone measure, but rather a component of deeper long-term cooperation between Washington and Santo Domingo across multiple policy areas, including regional security governance, coordinated migration management, and joint counterterrorism and anti-transnational organized crime efforts. The announcement follows a shared Instagram post from U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Leah Campos, highlighting the diplomatic milestone between the two neighboring partners in the Western Hemisphere.

  • Cops escape with minor injuries after service vehicle overturns in Trelawny

    Cops escape with minor injuries after service vehicle overturns in Trelawny

    On a Wednesday morning in Trelawny, Jamaica, a routine work trip took an unexpected turn for five members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Trelawny Division, when their official service vehicle overturned on Foreshore Road, leaving all five with only minor injuries.

    According to details shared by an anonymous police source, the collision unfolded shortly after 7:15 a.m. as the group traveled west toward Montego Bay. While navigating a stretch of Foreshore Road in the town of Falmouth, the driver lost control of the vehicle, resulting in the rollover.

    At the time of the incident, the three male and two female officers were heading to a scheduled shooting range training exercise, a standard part of law enforcement preparedness in the region.

    Following the crash, first responders coordinated to extract the officers from the overturned vehicle and transported them to Falmouth Public General Hospital to receive prompt medical evaluation and care for their minor injuries. No other vehicles or bystanders were involved in the incident, per initial reports.

  • Dimitri Vorbe cannot enter the Dominican Republic, authorities confirm

    Dimitri Vorbe cannot enter the Dominican Republic, authorities confirm

    In an official update shared via its social media platform X, the Dominican Republic’s General Directorate of Migration (DGM) has formally confirmed that high-profile Haitian business leader Dimitri Albert Edouard Vorbe will be barred from entering the Caribbean nation. The travel restriction was officially enacted on October 13, 2025, following an official notification submitted by the Dominican Republic’s National Intelligence Directorate, and remains fully in force.

    The confirmation arrives amid unfolding developments: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Vorbe in Florida back in September 2025, and he is currently being held at the Krome Processing Center, where U.S. authorities have recently approved his deportation.

    Vorbe, who once led Haiti’s leading energy firm Société Générale d’Énergie, has long been counted among Haiti’s most influential business figures. He previously held Temporary Protected Status (TPS) that allowed him to reside legally in the United States, and was known as an outspoken critic of former Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, who was assassinated in 2021. Following Moïse’s killing, Haitian law enforcement officials questioned both Vorbe and fellow Haitian businessman Réginald Boulos as part of their assassination investigations. To date, U.S. officials have not released any public explanation for Vorbe’s September detention.

  • MITUR and MIREX train diplomats to promote tourism and investment

    MITUR and MIREX train diplomats to promote tourism and investment

    In a strategic move to elevate the Caribbean nation’s standing as a top-tier global tourism and investment hub, the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have jointly rolled out a pioneering “Tourism Training for Diplomats” initiative.

    The intensive upskilling program, which is being hosted by the country’s Institute of Higher Education in Diplomatic and Consular Training and will run through May 21, brings together a diverse cohort of active Foreign Service members, senior government officials, and leading industry experts. Over the course of the program, participants will engage in a structured schedule of interactive lectures and hands-on workshops covering a wide range of critical tourism-focused topics, from modern tourism governance and targeted investment attraction to expanding international air connectivity, advancing sustainable tourism practices, and refining strategic global communication strategies.

    Speaking on the launch of the program, Dominican Tourism Minister David Collado emphasized that the new initiative underscores the central role the tourism sector plays as a core pillar of the nation’s ongoing economic and social development. The roster of expert speakers lined up for the course includes Vice Minister Carlos Peguero, veteran Ambassador José Rafael Espaillat, alongside senior representatives from ProDominicana, the country’s national trade and investment promotion agency, and UN Tourism, the United Nations’ specialized agency for travel and tourism.

    At its core, the training program is designed to equip Dominican diplomatic personnel with targeted, practical tools they can use in their global postings to drive new foreign investment into the country’s tourism ecosystem, secure new and expanded international air routes to key source markets, and ultimately solidify the Dominican Republic’s competitive position as a leading Caribbean tourism destination on the global stage.