Carib Scope

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  • Dominican Republic welcomes record 8.5 million visitors through August 2026

    Dominican Republic welcomes record 8.5 million visitors through August 2026

    SANTO DOMINGO – The Dominican Republic’s tourism sector has hit a historic milestone, posting a record number of international visitor arrivals through the first eight months of 2026, according to official data released by Tourism Minister David Collado. Between January and August, the Caribbean destination welcomed 8,556,415 total visitors, marking a 6.9% year-over-year increase compared to the same period in 2025.

    Breaking down the overall arrivals figures, 6,610,258 tourists entered the country via air travel, while 1,946,157 arrived on cruise ships. When compared to pre-pandemic levels from 2019, the current eight-month total reflects a dramatic 58.9% jump, signaling that the Dominican Republic’s tourism industry has not only fully recovered from global travel disruptions but is now outperforming pre-crisis levels by a substantial margin. Even against 2024 figures, the 2026 count shows a healthy 9.8% expansion, confirming consistent, long-term growth momentum for the sector.

    The upward trend held strong in the final month of the reporting period as well: August 2026 alone drew 856,858 total visitors. This represents a 6.2% year-over-year increase over August 2025, a 5.4% rise from August 2024, and a 52.3% gain compared to the same month in 2019. A closer look at August’s breakdown shows outsized growth in cruise travel: air arrivals hit 725,560 for a modest 2.6% annual gain, while cruise passenger arrivals surged 31.9% year-over-year to reach 131,298.

    The United States continues to anchor the Dominican Republic’s source market, accounting for 44% of all tourist arrivals in August. Rounding out the top source markets are Canada at 9%, Colombia at 8%, Argentina at 5%, Spain and the United Kingdom at 4% apiece, and Puerto Rico and Mexico at 3% each.

    On the infrastructure side, the country’s major airports reflect the concentration of tourism activity in key resort regions. Punta Cana International Airport, the primary gateway to the country’s most popular eastern beach destinations, handled 49% of all incoming air tourist traffic. It was followed by Las Américas International Airport near Santo Domingo with 29% and Cibao International Airport in the country’s northern region with 14%. Puerto Plata and Higüero airports each captured 3% of traffic, while La Romana and Samaná airports accounted for 1% each.

    Beyond raw arrival numbers, industry metrics point to strong visitor satisfaction and healthy hospitality performance. Average hotel occupancy across the country hit 68% in August, and the average visitor satisfaction rating came in at 4.3 out of a possible 5 points. Most notably, survey data from the Ministry of Tourism shows that 90% of recent visitors stated they would plan a return trip to the Dominican Republic, and 60% said they would actively recommend the Caribbean destination to friends, family, and social contacts. This high level of visitor loyalty bodes well for sustained future growth as the country works to build on its record 2026 results.

  • Ex employee of Anthropic and OpenAI says staff ‘genuinely frightened’ for humanity’s future

    Ex employee of Anthropic and OpenAI says staff ‘genuinely frightened’ for humanity’s future

    A British AI researcher with stints at two of the world’s most high-profile AI development firms, OpenAI and Anthropic, has sent shockwaves across the global tech industry after blowing the whistle on widespread internal fear over unregulated AI progress. Jacob Coxon, who recently left his post at Anthropic, took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to publicly air his alarms that both leading companies are recklessly “gambling with humanity’s future” in their competitive rush to roll out increasingly powerful generative AI models.

    In one viral accompanying post, Coxon made a staggering claim: the engineers and researchers actually building cutting-edge AI systems widely believe the technology could kill all human life by the end of this decade. The post racked up more than 100 million views in just 18 hours, and had crossed nearly 170 million views by the time this report was published, turning a long-simmering debate over AI safety into a global public conversation overnight.

    The sudden viral attention has reignited long-simmering demands for tighter AI regulation and an industry-wide slowdown in advanced model development, triggering major ripple effects across the tech sector. While calls for greater caution around AI risk are not new, this unprecedented surge in public attention has forced top industry leaders to address the concerns head-on, as global audiences now pay closer attention to AI development than ever before.

    Over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei penned an essay titled *We Must Pace the Frontier*, where he echoed the growing anxiety, noting that AI progress has accelerated “drastically faster” than expected since this summer. According to reporting from The Independent UK, Amodei warned that at the current rate of advancement, an unregulated AI swarm capable of hijacking the entire global internet could emerge within as little as 6 to 12 months. His warning follows multiple high-profile AI-related hacking incidents, the first major reported case occurring in July that affected both OpenAI and leading AI community platform Hugging Face.

    In his essay, Amodei laid out a three-part framework to slow AI development responsibly while prioritizing safety. “I believe that if slowing down bought us even an extra year or two before models reach critical levels of capability, and we used that time to advance alignment, we could greatly reduce the risk that something goes seriously wrong,” Amodei wrote.

    Remarkably, the call for a paced approach has received public backing from some of the biggest names in the industry. X and SpaceXAI owner Elon Musk replied simply to Amodei’s X post with “Dario is right”. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also publicly endorsed the position, writing on the social platform: “I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier. This has been a primary topic of discussions we’ve had at OpenAI in recent weeks.”

    A core part of Amodei’s proposal calls for independent safety evaluators to be granted employee-level access to AI development workspaces, to monitor safety protocols and flag risks publicly. For his part, whistleblower Coxon told the BBC that while he strongly supports an industry slowdown, any effective pause will require global coordination—specifically with major AI power China—to prevent a destabilizing international AI arms race that puts all nations at risk.

  • BHTA reports strong first-half performance

    BHTA reports strong first-half performance

    Against a backdrop of shifting global travel trends and geopolitical uncertainty, Barbados’ key tourism industry has posted strong overall results for the first half of 2024, industry leaders have confirmed. The Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) unveiled the sector’s solid financial performance and landmark development progress during its third quarterly stakeholder meeting, held recently at the scenic Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary.

    While the industry faced a mild headwind in the form of a 3% year-over-year drop in visitor occupancy – a decline BHTA Chief Executive Officer Ryan Forde attributed to simmering global geopolitical tensions that have disrupted international travel patterns – key performance metrics tell a far more positive story. Both Average Daily Rate (ADR) and Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR), two of the hospitality industry’s most critical financial indicators, recorded measurable increases over the 2023 first half period, underscoring the sector’s ability to maintain strong revenue even amid slight dips in bookings.

    Beyond solid financial results, the first half of the year has also brought transformative infrastructural growth to Barbados’ tourism landscape. Three major new hospitality offerings have opened their doors to visitors, joining the island’s expanding accommodation portfolio: the upscale Royalton Vessence Barbados resort, the casual Blue Monkey Hotel & Beach Club, and the completed Marriott Collection, a network of seven distinct properties that broadens the international brand’s footprint on the island.

    In his address to members and stakeholders, Forde also pushed back against growing public criticism of the island’s tourism industry, highlighting the BHTA’s successful advocacy work that has secured critical policy concessions for two key hospitality-linked sectors: standalone restaurants and local car rental operators. Forde emphasized that these won concessions deliver widespread benefits across businesses of all sizes, stretching from large multinational resort operations to small, community-run rum shops that are a core part of Barbadian cultural and economic life.

    “When individuals speak from a place of limited information and speak negatively about tourism and hospitality, we implore them to speak not from emotion but from evidence,” Forde told attendees. Moving forward, the BHTA has outlined clear strategic priorities to strengthen the sector further: the association plans to deepen its collaborative partnerships with multiple government ministries to elevate the profile of Barbados’ national cultural festivals and upgrade the country’s tourism data collection systems to support more informed planning and decision-making.

  • Barbados kijkt naar Suriname voor import bouwmaterialen

    Barbados kijkt naar Suriname voor import bouwmaterialen

    As the Caribbean nation of Barbados ramps up its push for large-scale infrastructure development, it is actively exploring opportunities to import key construction materials – silica sand and crushed stone aggregate – from neighboring CARICOM member Suriname, according to recent high-level diplomatic talks held this week. The push for imports comes as Barbados’ own domestic reserves of these critical building materials have declined significantly, creating a supply gap that needs to be filled to support the government’s accelerated infrastructure agenda.

    Senior Minister Kerrie Symmonds of Barbados confirmed the country’s interest in Friday’s discussions, which were held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre with Surinamese officials and a delegation from N.V. Grassalco, Suriname’s state-owned mining enterprise. “Historically, we have relied heavily on our domestic deposits to meet our needs for silica sand and aggregate, but those reserves have dropped off dramatically in recent years,” Symmonds explained during the talks. “That means we now have to source a large share of our required construction materials from international suppliers, and Suriname stands out as a natural, strategic partner.”

    As a fellow member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Suriname, located on the South American mainland, holds abundant untapped natural resources that can deliver tangible economic benefits to Barbados at a competitive advantage over non-regional suppliers. The ongoing discussions with Grassalco are also part of a broader initiative to revitalize bilateral economic cooperation between the two nations, which was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic after the signing of the landmark Brokopondo Agreement in 2018.

    The Brokopondo Agreement outlines cooperation frameworks across multiple key sectors, including maritime and air connectivity, tourism development, agriculture and food security, trade and investment, natural resource development, and renewable energy. “Now that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us, we are working to restart implementation of the critical commitments laid out in the Brokopondo Agreement,” Symmonds noted. Beyond construction materials, Barbados has also signaled interest in exploring collaborative opportunities in Suriname’s growing oil and gas sector, as well as joint renewable energy projects.

    Symmonds emphasized that the longstanding positive political and diplomatic ties between the two CARICOM nations should now be translated into concrete, mutually beneficial economic outcomes. For Grassalco, which was founded in 1971 and specializes in the exploration and extraction of mineral resources including gold and natural stone, a new trade agreement with Barbados could open the door to expanded regional market access for Suriname’s mineral products. If negotiations progress successfully, this partnership could mark the first step for Suriname to establish itself as a leading regional supplier of construction raw materials across the Caribbean bloc.

  • Missing teen

    Missing teen

    Law enforcement authorities in St Michael are turning to the community for help as they work to trace a 15-year-old boy who has been reported missing. Toreyan Andre Simmons, a resident of Lot 4B in the Cave Hill neighborhood, was last spotted by members of the public this past Friday, and no confirmed sightings have been recorded since that time.

    Investigators have released a full physical description to help residents recognize the missing teenager. Simmons stands approximately five feet eleven inches tall, has a slim frame, an oval-shaped face, and wears his hair in an afro hairstyle. When he was last seen, he was dressed in a bright yellow short-sleeved shirt, cropped black denim jeans, and black slip-on slippers, and he was carrying a fabric haversack with him at the time.

    Police confirmed that Simmons is known to regularly travel through two main areas of St Michael: the Cave Hill district and the neighboring Grazettes neighborhood. Authorities are urging any member of the public who may have seen Simmons, or who has information about where he may be staying currently, to reach out to investigators immediately though one of several accessible contact channels.

    Tipsters can get in touch directly with the District ‘A’ Police Station by calling either 430-7242 or 430-7246. Those who prefer to reach emergency services can contact the national police emergency line at 211, or submit anonymous information through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIPS (1-800-847-77). Information can also be filed by visiting any local police station in person across the country.

  • Third business owner near sporting complex gunned down since 2023

    Third business owner near sporting complex gunned down since 2023

    In the early hours of Saturday morning, a 48-year-old Arnos Vale-based businessman became the third local business operator killed near the entrance of the Arnos Vale sporting complex since 2023, pushing the 2025 homicide tally in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to 32, according to official police statistics.

    Local law enforcement confirmed the victim as Peter Minors, who was shot multiple times at his private residence around 2:45 a.m. First responders rushed the injured man to Kingstown’s Milton Cato Memorial Hospital for emergency care, but medical teams were unable to save his life. In an official public statement, police confirmed that investigations into the fatal shooting are active and ongoing, and are urging members of the public with any relevant details — no matter how small or seemingly insignificant — to come forward to assist with the probe. Consistent with standard police protocol for open homicide investigations, the official statement released to the public shared no suspect details, no identified motives, and no insight into active investigative theories.

    Local crime observers in St. Vincent and the Grenadines have drawn attention to the alarming pattern of violence targeting individuals who operated businesses in the stretch near the sporting complex entrance. Minors’ killing marks the third fatal shooting of a businessperson with ties to the area since 2023.

    The first of these three killings occurred on April 11, 2023, when Jomo Brudy, also known by the alias “Top Dog”, died in hospital hours after he was shot alongside another man in Arnos Vale’s Pole Yard neighborhood. At the time of his death, Brudy worked as a street vendor in Kingstown, but he had previously operated his business in the same area near the sporting complex before relocating to the capital. Brudy’s death marked the fourth time he had been targeted in a gun attack, and the second in a 12-month period. His assailants struck him multiple times in his upper body, including the shoulder, neck, chest, and abdomen, causing fatal injuries. Brudy first survived a 2022 shooting in Pole Yard that killed another person and left a third individual wounded. He had previously sustained gunshot injuries in a 2008 attack in Ottley Hall that left one woman dead, and survived a 2009 gunshot wound to the groin outside his Edinboro home just one day after he testified in the preliminary inquiry into that 2008 killing. That case ultimately resulted in a 20-year prison sentence for an Ottley Hall man in 2012. In May 2022, eight months after being taken into custody, Brudy was acquitted of murder charges connected to the 2010 shooting death of Rillan Hill resident Shawn “Darkie” Gordon.

    The most recent killing before Minors’ death occurred on October 29, 2024, when 56-year-old vendor Marilyn John, widely known as “Maro”, was fatally shot in the Paul Over neighborhood of Arnos Vale. John, who operated her business near the supermarket at the sporting complex entrance, was killed just a few hundred feet from her home, a short distance from the site where another man had been murdered earlier that same year. John’s killing came just three months after her own son, Jomarl John, was shot and killed in Pole Yard on July 13, 2024. Responding officers were called to the area around 9:30 p.m. after residents reported hearing what sounded like explosions that did not match the noise of traditional bamboo blowing. When police arrived at the scene, they found John’s van positioned across the roadway with multiple bullet-riddled windows. John was unresponsive in the driver’s seat, bleeding heavily from her wounds, and was pronounced dead at the scene. At the time, her murder pushed St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ 2024 homicide count to 39.

    Minors himself made local headlines just months before his death, in August 2024, when police charged him and 22-year-old Saint Lucian laborer Glen Louisien with possession of a controlled substance. Louisien pleaded guilty to possession of 2,132 grams (4.7 pounds) of cannabis with intent to distribute in Arnos Vale on August 26, 2024. Minors entered a not guilty plea to the charges against him, and prosecutors ultimately withdrew the charge. Louisien was sentenced to pay a fine of EC$1,500 within one month, or serve three months in prison in default of payment.

  • Alleyne to answer cannabis charges

    Alleyne to answer cannabis charges

    A 47-year-old Barbados resident is set to make his first court appearance on Monday before District ‘A’ Criminal Court, facing multiple drug-related charges connected to one of the recent large cannabis seizures recorded in the region. Ishan Saquan Alleyne, whose address is listed as Town House #8, Fordes Road, Clapham, Christ Church, has been formally charged with three offenses: illegal possession of cannabis, possession with intent to supply the controlled substance, and trafficking of cannabis. All three charges stem from an investigation into a seizure that took place on September 11, 2026, when law enforcement authorities recovered 47.5 kilogrammes of the drug. The seized cannabis has an estimated street value of $237,500, marking a significant bust for local law enforcement targeting illegal drug supply networks operating within the country. Court officials have confirmed that Alleyne’s scheduled appearance will kick off the legal proceedings for the high-value drug case, with prosecutors set to outline the evidence compiled by investigators during the intake hearing.

  • Magnitude 3.5 Earthquake Recorded North of Antigua and Barbuda

    Magnitude 3.5 Earthquake Recorded North of Antigua and Barbuda

    A shallow magnitude 3.5 earthquake has been registered in waters north of the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, regional seismological authorities confirmed over the weekend.

    The University of the West Indies (UWI) Seismic Research Centre, the leading scientific body monitoring seismic activity across the Caribbean region, announced that the tremor struck at 3:48 p.m. local time on Saturday, September 12. Initial automated geological calculations place the quake’s depth at 10 kilometers below the ocean floor.

    Geospatial data pins the earthquake’s epicenter at 18.83 degrees north latitude and 61.93 degrees west longitude. This positioning places the epicenter roughly 191 kilometers directly north of St. John’s, the capital city of Antigua and Barbuda. It also sits approximately 192 kilometers northeast of Basseterre, the capital of neighboring St. Kitts and Nevis, and 228 kilometers north of Brades, the administrative center of the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat.

    In a key note accompanying the early alert, the UWI Seismic Research Centre emphasized that all geographic and magnitude data released so far is the product of automated computer algorithm processing. The readings remain classified as preliminary until they undergo full review and verification by the center’s team of specialist seismic analysts.

  • NHC Flags New Tropical Disturbance in Central Atlantic

    NHC Flags New Tropical Disturbance in Central Atlantic

    After declaring a full week of zero expected tropical cyclone development across the entire Atlantic basin just one day prior, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) has shifted its focus to a newly emerged tropical disturbance brewing in the central Atlantic, issuing a low-risk formation outlook for the system over the next seven days.

    In its official seven-day projection released Sunday morning, the NHC placed the zone of disorganized weather several hundred miles to the west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands. Per the agency’s assessment, the system carries less than a 40% chance of coalescing into a defined tropical cyclone over the coming week, a probability that classifies it as a low-risk development scenario.

    Tracking projections show the disturbance is on track to drift generally west-northwestward across the breadth of the tropical Atlantic. As of the latest update, the system remains far to the east of the Caribbean Sea, and has not yet strengthened enough to be categorized as a tropical depression or a named storm.

    Current outlooks confirm the disturbance poses no immediate danger to the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. Forecasters emphasize that it is still too early in the system’s trajectory to draw any definitive conclusions about whether it will eventually bring impacts to the northeastern Caribbean. Local authorities and residents across the region have been advised to keep a close watch on updated official forecasts as the system continues its slow movement across the open Atlantic.

  • PM Browne Threatens Legal Action Over Gisele Isaac’s Money Laundering Claim

    PM Browne Threatens Legal Action Over Gisele Isaac’s Money Laundering Claim

    A high-profile political controversy has emerged in Antigua and Barbuda, where Prime Minister Gaston Browne has publicly announced he is exploring legal options against Gisele Isaac, chair of the country’s main opposition United Progressive Party, over an article he claims carries defamatory content.\n\nBrowne made the announcement during an appearance on his own weekly broadcast, the Browne and Browne Show, this past Saturday. The prime minister detailed that the contentious article written by Isaac directly linked him and his cabinet to illegal money laundering activity, quoting the piece as claiming that “the Cabinet and Gaston Browne will get back to its usual job of laundering money.”\n\nStrongly pushing back against the damaging accusation, Browne issued a flat denial of any involvement in money laundering or any form of corrupt practice. He emphasized that Isaac has failed to produce any credible evidence to back up the serious claim, and warned opposition figures against targeting him with unsubstantiated corruption labels. \n\n“When they’re using the word corruption, use generic terms. Don’t put my name in there, otherwise I’m going to sue you,” Browne stated in a clear warning to political opponents.\n\nOutlining his next steps, the prime minister explained that he plans to first track down a full copy of the article, consult with advisers to confirm whether the statement meets the legal definition of defamation, and then pass the materials to his legal team to pursue formal action. “I’m going to try and find it,” he said. “You all can advise me if it’s defamatory, and we’ll just send it to my lawyer.”\n\nAs of Saturday’s announcement, Browne has not confirmed that a lawsuit has already been filed with the courts. Additionally, Isaac has not yet made any public statement in response to Browne’s comments and the threat of legal action, leaving the political community waiting for the opposition chair’s side of the exchange.