Carib Scope

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  • Report warns offshore oil exploration could threaten Jamaica’s marine ecosystems — JET

    Report warns offshore oil exploration could threaten Jamaica’s marine ecosystems — JET

    KINGSTON, Jamaica — Ahead of two major global ocean conservation events this June, a coalition of environmental groups has released an alarming new report detailing how planned offshore oil and gas exploration along Jamaica’s southern coast puts nearly all of the island nation’s most ecologically and economically vital marine ecosystems at severe risk.

    Produced by environmental research organization Earth Insight in partnership with the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) and 10 other global civil society groups, the report *Fossil Fuel Threats to the Ocean: Marine Life and Coastal Communities at Risk* leverages geospatial mapping to document the full scope of overlapping risk between the proposed Walton-Morant exploration block and Jamaica’s protected marine resources. The analysis was released as part of a larger global study examining ocean threats from fossil fuel development across 11 countries including Kenya, Indonesia, Mexico, and Australia.

    The Walton-Morant block, located off Jamaica’s south coast, is classified as the country’s most promising untapped hydrocarbon reserve. While exploration activities are still in the early preliminary phase, the report’s geospatial analysis confirms that the entire project’s risk footprint overlaps with 11,070 square kilometers of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs) — an expanse nearly matching the entire land area of Jamaica. This accounts for roughly 18 percent of all EBSAs located within Jamaica’s exclusive economic zone.

    Breakdowns of the risk assessment reveal just how comprehensive the threat is: 99 percent of Jamaica’s southern coral reefs and 97 percent of southern seagrass beds fall within the exploration block’s risk zone. Both habitats form the foundational backbone of the island nation’s key coastal industries: commercial and artisanal fishing, and nature-based tourism. Additionally, 62 percent of Jamaica’s total marine and coastal protected areas, covering 1,680 square kilometers, and 62 percent of the country’s key biodiversity zones (1,900 square kilometers) sit within the mapped high-risk area.

    Major sensitive sites at risk include the Pedro Bank, Jamaica’s primary commercial fishing ground, which alongside the Pedro and Morant Cays falls entirely within the risk zone. The Portland Bight Protected Area, a Ramsar-listed wetland of international importance and one of Jamaica’s largest marine conservation zones, is also located inside the block’s footprint. This protected area is home to multiple globally threatened species, including the endemic Jamaican iguana, hawksbill sea turtles, and American crocodiles.

    The threat extends beyond biodiversity to the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Jamaican people. Multiple south coast fishing communities centered in towns including Port Royal, Old Harbour Bay, Rocky Point, Alligator Pond, and Treasure Beach rely entirely on the nearshore and offshore fishing grounds now covered by the exploration risk zone. Even preliminary exploration activities such as seismic surveys can disrupt fish populations, while potential drilling discharges or a major oil spill would permanently contaminate seafood supply chains that support thousands of households. Popular tourism destinations along the southern coast, including Hellshire Beach, Treasure Beach, and the Whitehouse coast, also face major risk: oil pollution or coastal industrial development linked to the oil project would damage both luxury resort operations and small-scale community-led tourism ventures that are critical to local economies.

    Jamaica’s marine ecosystems are already coping with multiple cumulative stressors, including rising ocean temperatures and acidification linked to climate change, plastic and nutrient pollution, and overfishing, JET CEO Dr. Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie emphasized in a statement accompanying the report’s release. While offshore activity is currently limited to the exploration stage, she warned that preliminary approvals for this project would clear a path for full-scale fossil fuel extraction in the heart of Jamaica’s most valuable marine landscapes.

    “Instead of pushing for oil and gas expansion, we must focus on protecting our oceans and investing in healthy ecosystems, resilient communities and sustainable livelihoods,” Dr. Rodriguez-Moodie said.

    The global component of the report paints a similarly worrying picture for ocean ecosystems worldwide. Across all 11 case study regions analyzed, researchers found that 38 percent of global coral reefs, 18 percent of seagrass meadows, 29 percent of mangrove forests, and 27 percent of marine and coastal protected areas are located within existing oil and gas exploration or extraction risk zones. Half of all globally identified important marine mammal habitats are directly overlapped by active or planned fossil fuel development blocks.

    To address this growing global threat, the report puts forward a clear set of policy recommendations: it calls on national governments, global financial institutions, and international regulatory bodies to immediately halt the approval of new licenses, permits, and funding for all offshore and coastal oil, gas, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects located within or adjacent to protected areas, key biodiversity zones, EBSAs, and critical coastal habitats including coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass meadows.

    The report’s publication comes just days ahead of World Oceans Day on June 8, and the upcoming Our Ocean Conference, a high-profile global summit on ocean conservation taking place June 16-18 in Mombasa, Kenya.

  • Uganda’s Ghetto Kids group ‘can’t wait’ to join Shakira at World Cup

    Uganda’s Ghetto Kids group ‘can’t wait’ to join Shakira at World Cup

    In a life-changing opportunity that has sent ripples of excitement across the global dance community, the Ghetto Kids — a Ugandan performance collective composed of vulnerable street-connected children — are preparing to step onto one of the world’s biggest stages, after global music icon Shakira tapped them to join her half-time performance at the upcoming FIFA World Cup final this summer in the United States.

    The Colombian superstar made the announcement last week via her official Instagram account, revealing that the young Ugandan troupe was her first pick for the high-profile finale show. For the kids and the organization behind the collective, the invitation has sparked overwhelming joy, marking a full-circle journey from street performances in Kampala’s informal neighborhoods to a global audience projected to top one billion viewers.

    The Ghetto Kids is more than just a dance group: it is a Kampala-based non-governmental organization founded by Kavuma Dauda, a former street child himself, that uses dance and performing arts as a tool to support abandoned and orphaned children across Uganda. The troupe earned their spot after responding to an open call Shakira shared, asking fans to submit homemade dance clips for her new World Cup anthem. Their submission, brimming with unbridled energy and infectious joy, quickly went viral across social media platforms, catching the eye of the Grammy-winning artist.

    This is not the first time the collective has captured international attention. Their journey to global fame began with simple clips of their impromptu street performances filmed across Kampala, which amassed a large international fanbase and even earned them a coveted spot on the hit U.S. talent competition series *America’s Got Talent*. Even with that previous high-profile exposure, the World Cup gig represents an unprecedented milestone for the young performers.

    Eight-year-old Busingye Josephine Daniella, one of the troupe’s rising young stars, shared her unfiltered excitement in an interview with AFP in Kampala. “We can’t wait to show the world what we are!” she said, echoing the collective’s eagerness to share their talent and story on a global platform.

    Sixteen-year-old Ssegirinyi Madwanah echoed that enthusiasm, noting the transformative potential of the opportunity. “Getting outside the country… and performing on one of the biggest stages… it feels good, and it brings a lot of opportunities,” he explained.

    For Dauda, the invitation is more than just a moment in the spotlight: it is a chance to advance the organization’s long-term mission. He told reporters he hopes the global attention from the World Cup performance will help the collective raise critical funds to build a permanent rehabilitation and education center for the children they support. “We have that big dream… It’s a very huge opportunity for the Ghetto Kids, for me, for the children,” Dauda said.

  • PSOJ President Patrick Hylton appointed Massy Holdings chairman designate

    PSOJ President Patrick Hylton appointed Massy Holdings chairman designate

    PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD – Regional conglomerate Massy Holdings has announced a key leadership transition, naming prominent Jamaican business leader Patrick Hylton as its chairman-designate. Hylton, who currently serves as president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica and previously held the position of chief executive officer at Jamaica’s National Commercial Bank (NCB), will officially assume the chairman role on June 1, 2026.

    In an official statement released to the public this Thursday, the firm confirmed that outgoing chairman Robert Riley will retain his current position until the effective transition date. During this interim period, Riley will continue to oversee board activities, fulfill all core responsibilities of the role, and exercise the full authority associated with the chairman’s office.

    A long-standing member of Massy Holdings’ board of directors, Hylton brings over three decades of specialized expertise spanning banking, finance, and corporate governance to his new designation. The Massy Holdings board highlighted his transformative tenure leading NCB Financial Group, under whose direction the institution expanded to become Jamaica’s largest and most profitable financial player, as well as one of the top financial services groups across the English-speaking Caribbean.

    Beyond his work at NCB, Hylton has previously held the chairman post at Guardian Holdings Limited. He has earned widespread industry recognition for his forward-thinking strategic leadership, rigorous operational standards, unwavering dedication to innovation, and consistent commitment to prioritizing customer needs.

    Massy Holdings emphasized that Hylton’s appointment is not an unexpected change, but rather a core component of a carefully structured long-term succession planning initiative. This process is designed to protect the company’s strong standards of corporate governance, maintain consistent leadership continuity, and facilitate a smooth, orderly handover of board leadership when the transition takes place.

    The company also drew attention to Hylton’s outsized contributions to the restructuring of Jamaica’s financial sector during the 1990s. That period of systemic reform, in which Hylton played a key role, ultimately helped build a more stable and resilient financial industry for the nation.

    In closing, the Massy Holdings board extended its formal congratulations to Hylton on his designation. The board noted that his broad cross-sector experience – covering financial services, insurance, private equity, retail, and distribution – paired with his deep, nuanced understanding of Caribbean regional business dynamics, has already delivered immense value and unique perspective to the company’s boardroom discussions.

  • NaRRA CEO outlines priorities

    NaRRA CEO outlines priorities

    KINGSTON, Jamaica — Just one month into his role as the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of Jamaica’s newly launched National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA), former U.S. Ambassador Antony Anderson has outlined an aggressive timeline that will see critical infrastructure and recovery projects break ground by the end of 2024. In his first exclusive interview with the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) held at Jamaica House on Tuesday, Anderson laid out his immediate priorities: standing up a fully functional organization and integrating automated, streamlined operational systems to manage the authority’s expanding portfolio of government-assigned projects at scale.”We have to move quickly to build out the institutional structure and put in place processes that allow us to manage our entire program of work both efficiently and transparently,” Anderson emphasized, noting that NaRRA is mandated to deliver all Cabinet-assigned projects with four core principles guiding every decision: large-scale impact, rapid execution, full public transparency, and operational efficiency.Among the early priority projects the agency could advance once its structure is finalized is mass housing delivery for Jamaicans still displaced by extreme weather. Anderson pointed out that emergency housing is one of the most straightforward initial assignments, noting that prefabricated construction methods allow the agency to deliver new units to vulnerable households in a far shorter timeline than traditional building approaches.Anderson, who officially took up the CEO post on June 1, confirmed that by the close of the calendar year, NaRRA will launch a unified public register mapping all of the agency’s projects alongside existing recovery and resilience initiatives led by other government bodies and external partners. This centralized inventory, he explained, will be a critical tool to identify collaborative opportunities and eliminate redundant work across the public sector. “The more complete our picture of all ongoing recovery efforts across the island, the better positioned we are to capture synergies that speed up progress and stretch public funding further,” he said.To foster that cross-sector coordination, Anderson confirmed NaRRA will proactively engage with all government ministries, departments, agencies and parish councils across Jamaica to align work, share resources, and cut through bureaucratic delays. “At the end of the day, our shared goal is building a stronger, safer Jamaica for every citizen. Every stakeholder involved in this work has a responsibility to accelerate progress, deliver results faster and more efficiently, because that is what the Jamaican people deserve and expect from us,” he stated.While Anderson acknowledged that the destruction left by Hurricane Melissa created an unprecedented challenge for the island’s government and communities, he stressed that the crisis also presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity Jamaica cannot afford to squander: to rebuild infrastructure better than it existed before, and embed long-term climate resilience into every new project.Beyond physical infrastructure, Anderson highlighted secondary benefits the large-scale reconstruction effort will bring to Jamaica. It will create new opportunities to upskill the domestic construction industry to manage large-scale complex projects, give early-career young Jamaican engineers hands-on experience leading major construction work, and strengthen crisis leadership capacity across all government ministry structures. “This effort isn’t just about rebuilding what was lost,” Anderson noted. “It’s about building the leadership, capacity and resilience we need to face future challenges, and there are tremendous opportunities across every level to do that right.”

  • Fishermen face threat of 12.5% trump tariff

    Fishermen face threat of 12.5% trump tariff

    A new 12.5% tariff threat from the Trump administration targeting Bahamian exports to the U.S. is sending ripples of concern through the Caribbean nation’s key industries, with its $90 million annual fisheries exports facing the most immediate competitive danger. The penalties were announced after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) determined The Bahamas lacks both enacted legislation and active enforcement measures to block forced labor-made goods from entering its borders, placing the country among 54 global jurisdictions facing new trade restrictions.

    Adrian LaRoda, president of The Bahamas Commercial Fishers Alliance (BCFA), sounded the alarm on the proposed tariffs in an interview with Tribune Business, warning that the new levy would push the nation’s spiny lobster exports – one of its most valuable fisheries products – into a critical competitive disadvantage against U.S. domestic supplies. LaRoda noted that Bahamian spiny lobster already sells for 70% more than Maine lobster in U.S. retail locations, and the 12.5% tariff would effectively push the total cost increase to 15%, eroding what thin profit margins the sector already holds. “We are already breaking even and in survival mode, caught between shifting U.S. market trends and constant uncertainty over Washington’s trade policies,” LaRoda explained, adding that the new threat would only squeeze the industry further.

    The USTR’s June 2, 2026, final investigation finding, released after months of written consultations and public hearings, concluded that The Bahamas’ failure to implement and enforce a forced labor import ban is “unreasonable” and “burdens or restricts U.S. commerce.” The penalty structure varies by jurisdiction: nations that have already enacted forced labor import bans or made formal commitments to do so face a lower 10% tariff, while countries like The Bahamas that have neither existing laws nor active enforcement face the full 12.5% rate. Major developed economies including Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Israel, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore are also among the jurisdictions targeted for tariffs.

    Bahamian officials and industry leaders have roughly one month to take action to avert the tariffs, with the USTR scheduled to open a final round of consultations starting July 7, 2026, following a July 6 deadline for written submissions. Based on 2024 trade data submitted to USTR during the first consultation round by former Bahamian Attorney General Ryan Pinder KC, up to $985 million in annual Bahamian exports to the U.S. could be subject to the 12.5% tariff. The largest affected category is refined petroleum, valued at $610 million annually, with other impacted sectors including documents of title ($95.2 million), styrene polymers ($55.7 million) and pearl products ($39 million).

    The USTR has signaled that some exports may qualify for exemption on the grounds of U.S. economic and national security, as well as critical supply chain needs. Refined petroleum from The Bahamas is widely seen as a likely exemption candidate: Buckeye Bahamas’ Grand Bahama refining facility currently supplies up to 40% of California’s gasoline demand after the state lost significant domestic refining capacity in recent years.

    The Davis administration has moved swiftly to address the USTR’s concerns, tabling amendments to the nation’s Customs Management Act alongside the 2026-2027 national budget just last week. The Customs Management (Amendment) Bill 2026 adds a new Section 208A that grants the government power to ban imports of any goods produced wholly or partially by forced labor, with the explicit goal of blocking forced and child labor-made goods from entering Bahamian markets. During public hearings before the USTR, Danya Wallace, director of legal affairs at the Bahamian Attorney General’s Office, conceded that no existing Bahamian law directly addresses forced labor imports, but the new legislation would close that regulatory gap.

    It remains unclear whether the last-minute legislative change will be enough to satisfy the Trump administration, as the USTR’s findings emphasize that it requires both enacted legislation and proof of active enforcement to avoid tariffs. For The Bahamas’ fishing industry, the uncertainty alone is already causing damage, LaRoda said. Currently, The Bahamas exports 12 million pounds of spiny lobster annually, worth approximately $90 million, with 4 million pounds (valued between $30 million and $60 million) destined for the U.S. market. While a slowdown in U.S. exports would not immediately cause catastrophic job losses on its own – much of the industry’s employment is seasonal – LaRoda warned of potential knock-on impacts if domestic markets cannot absorb the excess supply, leading processors and wholesalers to cut purchases and reduce staffing.

    To insulate the industry from long-term trade volatility, LaRoda urged the Bahamian government to prioritize diversifying fisheries export markets, noting that the nation already benefits from existing spiny lobster sales in Europe, particularly France, but must expand further into markets like Canada to reduce reliance on the U.S. “Where does it end? We’ve already seen other Caribbean neighbors face tariffs as high as 45%, which would devastate our economy,” he said, calling for immediate trade and foreign policy intervention to protect the industry. “We depend on this export for critical economic injection. We’re already at breaking point on pricing, and we don’t know how much more of this we can take.”

    U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer defended the investigation and upcoming tariffs, arguing that failure by major U.S. trading partners to block forced labor goods creates an unlevel playing field that harms American workers. “Some trading partners have taken initial steps to prevent the importation of forced labor goods… However, each of our trading partners must do more to ensure that trade does not perversely encourage and entrench forced labour globally,” Greer said in a statement following the release of the findings.

    Independent media analysts have noted the investigation carries wider geopolitical overtones, suggesting it is partially a targeted effort to limit the flow of Chinese goods through major U.S. trading partners like The Bahamas. The U.S. has long accused China of using forced labor for manufacturing, particularly against ethnic minority Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Commentators also added that the probe could be a backdoor means for the Trump administration to reimpose its controversial 2025 “Liberation Day” tariffs, which were previously ruled unlawful by both the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Trade Court and are currently under appeal.

  • Guyana expands agricultural cooperation with Dominican Republic

    Guyana expands agricultural cooperation with Dominican Republic

    A new chapter of cross-border agricultural collaboration is opening between Guyana and the Dominican Republic, as Guyana’s top agriculture official travels to the Caribbean nation to deepen ties and unlock new joint development opportunities. Zulfikar Mustapha, Guyana’s Agriculture Minister, launched the official visit to Santo Domingo, with a clear agenda of advancing shared agricultural priorities between the two governments.

    During his stay in the Dominican capital, Mustapha held formal, in-depth talks with Francisco Oliverio Espaillat Bencosme, his counterpart from the Dominican Republic. The pair centered their discussions on a series of actionable initiatives designed to ramp up overall agricultural output and raise sector-wide productivity across both nations. Core topics of the dialogue included structured technical cooperation, cross-border transfer of climate-smart and modern agricultural technologies, exchange of evidence-based knowledge, and collaborative strategies to add greater value to locally produced agricultural goods. Both leaders also assessed targeted pathways to strengthen partnership in key sub-sectors, with the ultimate goal of delivering tangible benefits to smallholder and commercial farmers as well as agricultural industries in both Guyana and the Dominican Republic.

    Beyond discussions with sitting government officials, Mustapha also met with Hipólito Mejía, the former president of the Dominican Republic, who has long-standing ties to the Dominican agricultural sector. During that closed meeting, the two parties exchanged insights on the long-term development trajectory of Guyana’s agricultural industry, and explored mutually beneficial opportunities to scale up production and expand sector diversification.

    This visit is not an isolated diplomatic engagement, but rather a key component of the broader outward-focused cooperation agenda advanced by Guyana’s sitting President Irfaan Ali. Ali’s administration has prioritized expanding bilateral collaboration across agriculture, agricultural product processing, innovative technology adoption, and institutional capacity building, positioning this visit as a critical step forward in delivering on that national strategy.

  • Pregnant woman, fiancé drown at Guyana beach; bodies recovered

    Pregnant woman, fiancé drown at Guyana beach; bodies recovered

    GEORGETOWN, Guyana — A coastal tragedy has left a small Guyanese community in mourning after authorities recovered the remains of two missing people: a young pregnant woman and her police officer fiancé, who were swept out to sea during a weekend beach trip.

    The victims, 20-year-old Lyodisa “Loyda” Waldron and 33-year-old Andri Francis, a serving special constable, were both residents of Victoria Village on East Coast Demerara. Their bodies were pulled from the waters off Unity Beach on Tuesday, three days after they went missing, local law enforcement confirmed.

    The incident unfolded on Sunday afternoon, when the couple joined a group of friends and family for a recreational outing at the popular Atlantic coastline spot. While swimming, Waldron was caught in unexpected strong pulls that dragged her further from shore, prompting her to call out for emergency assistance.

    Francis, a father of two children, did not hesitate to act on her cries for help and immediately entered deeper water to rescue his fiancée. But the powerful Atlantic currents proved too much for both of them, overwhelming the pair and pulling them under the surface before other beachgoers could reach them.

    Within hours of their disappearance, a coordinated search and recovery mission was assembled, bringing together uniformed officers from the Mahaica Police Station and specialist water teams from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard. Search teams combed the shoreline and surrounding offshore waters through Monday, but poor conditions and strong currents hampered their efforts, and they were unable to locate the couple on that day.

    Local police have confirmed that investigations into the exact circumstances of the drowning are still ongoing, as the community begins to process the loss of two young residents.

  • Dominican Republic to host UNDP Democracy and Development Report Launch

    Dominican Republic to host UNDP Democracy and Development Report Launch

    Next month, a landmark United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) regional analysis focused on democratic resilience will be unveiled in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo. Scheduled for June 8 at the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the launch event of the report *Democracies under Pressure: Reimagining the Futures of Democracy and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean* will gather a diverse cross-section of key stakeholders, including senior national government officials, representatives of international bodies, and leading development practitioners from across the hemisphere.

    The event will feature opening and keynote participation from some of the highest ranking figures in both the Dominican government and UNDP’s regional leadership. Dominican President Luis Abinader and Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez will join UNDP Regional Director Michelle Muschett and UNDP Chief Economist Almudena Fernández for the presentation, with independent analyst Ana María Díaz set to moderate the post-presentation discussion that will follow the official launch.

    The 2024 report dives deep into a cascade of interconnected challenges that have put growing strain on democratic systems across every corner of Latin America and the Caribbean. Its research covers six of the most pressing stressors testing regional democracies today: deepening political polarization, the rapid spread of harmful disinformation across public discourse, the uneven impacts of widespread digital transformation, stubborn systemic social inequality, the accelerating fallout of climate change, and ongoing large-scale migration movements. Beyond identifying these growing pressures, the UNDP analysis also puts forward a set of actionable, evidence-based strategies designed to strengthen democratic institutions, boost the operational capacity of state bodies, and foster more inclusive, resilient, and socially cohesive communities across the entire region.

  • Dominican Navy rescues two foreigners from sinking vessel in Atlantic Ocean

    Dominican Navy rescues two foreigners from sinking vessel in Atlantic Ocean

    A dramatic high-seas rescue operation off the northern Atlantic coast of the Dominican Republic has ended in success, with two foreign citizens pulled to safety after their recreational vessel suffered catastrophic mechanical failure and began flooding. The 18-meter leisure craft, identified as the *CAICOS CAT*, encountered sudden mechanical trouble roughly 23 nautical miles off the Dominican coast late last week, leaving its two-person crew stranded as water rapidly filled the vessel’s hull.

    The emergency response was triggered immediately after the Maritime Operations Center received an automated distress signal from the stricken craft, prompting officials to quickly mobilize a specialized Dominican Navy rescue unit to the reported coordinates. When the naval team arrived on scene, they found the *CAICOS CAT* already partially submerged, with the two crew members clinging to the boat’s raised stern waiting for assistance. The navy personnel executed a swift evacuation, transferring both men safely to their patrol craft without incident.

    Both survivors, confirmed to be citizens of the neighboring Turks and Caicos Islands, were then transported back to a coastal port in the Dominican Republic, where waiting medical teams from the country’s National Emergency and Security System 9-1-1 conducted full health evaluations. In a post-rescue briefing, government authorities confirmed that both crew members had escaped the ordeal unharmed and remained in stable condition, with no requiring hospital admission.

    Following the successful operation, Dominican Navy Commander General Juan B. Crisóstomo Martínez used the incident to issue a public safety reminder to all mariners operating in Dominican territorial waters. He emphasized that all vessel operators must complete comprehensive mechanical inspections of their craft before setting out, ensure they carry a full complement of certified safety equipment including life rafts, distress beacons and personal flotation devices, and always file a detailed navigation plan with local authorities before departing. This simple preparation, he noted, can drastically reduce response times in an emergency and prevent avoidable loss of life at sea.

  • Abinader enacts Alertas RD Law to accelerate search for missing persons

    Abinader enacts Alertas RD Law to accelerate search for missing persons

    In a significant step forward for citizen protection and public safety in the Dominican Republic, President Luis Abinader has signed Law 25-26 into effect, formally establishing the National Alert for the Search for Missing Persons, widely known as Alertas RD. This newly launched integrated system is engineered to deliver fast, well-coordinated responses to cases of missing people across every region of the country.

    The new legislation lays out a clear legal foundation that enables immediate, widespread sharing of information about individuals who have been reported missing, by uniting the efforts of three key stakeholder groups: national and local government agencies, print, broadcast and digital media outlets, and civil society organizations focused on public safety. Per the requirements outlined in the statute, the Dominican National Police and the Public Ministry are mandated to jointly issue a public alert no later than 24 hours after a disappearance report is filed or a case of imminent danger is confirmed.

    To address the unique risks facing different vulnerable groups, Alertas RD operates through four targeted, specialized alert classifications. The Amber Alert category is reserved for missing or abducted children and teenagers, while the Silver Alert designation applies to missing adults over the age of 65. People living with physical or cognitive disabilities are covered under the Blue Alert framework, and Pink Alerts are issued for women facing immediate harm linked to gender-based violence or human trafficking. Once activated, alerts are distributed across a wide network of channels, including major social media platforms, traditional broadcast and print media, ports, airports and bus terminals, public digital platforms, and official police bulletins posted across communities.

    Beyond the alert dissemination framework, Law 25-26 also formally establishes the National Registry of Missing Persons, a centralized national database overseen by the National Police. This repository will store critical information including up-to-date photographs of missing individuals, detailed physical descriptions, relevant medical data, and real-time updates on the status of each search, all while putting strict protocols in place to protect the personal privacy rights of everyone included in the system. The law also creates a permanent National Council for the Search for Missing Persons, which is tasked with overseeing the rollout of the new system and facilitating cross-agency coordination between key government institutions involved in search efforts.

    To ensure accountability for public servants involved in the process, the new legislation outlines formal penalties for government officials who fail to properly report disappearance cases or intentionally obstruct the standardized search protocols laid out in the law. With the official enactment of Alertas RD, Dominican national officials have outlined clear core goals: to overall boost citizen security across the country, streamline and improve the effectiveness of missing person search operations, and expand protective measures for the vulnerable populations most at risk of disappearance and harm.