Carib Scope

分类： politics

  • Judicial data gaps undermine court efficiency, chief justice warns

    Judicial data gaps undermine court efficiency, chief justice warns

    As a regional workshop focused on standardizing case management procedures for Caribbean judicial bodies got underway this week, Chief Justice Leslie Haynes has delivered a stark warning: the absence of reliable, systematically collected judicial data is actively undermining regional efforts to cut through crippling case backlogs and boost overall court performance across the Caribbean. He is calling for immediate action to build formal, structured frameworks for gathering and analyzing court data to evidence-based justice reform.

    Opening the two-day workshop on judicial case management standard operating procedures (SOPs) at Hotel Indigo on Thursday, Haynes emphasized that meaningful, lasting change to the region’s justice systems will remain out of reach without consistent, credible information to guide policy and operational decision-making. Currently, the region lacks any standardized, institutionalized framework for judicial data collection, he explained. Instead, data gathering tasks are most often delegated informally to overstretched legal assistants, judicial support staff and court clerks, with no clear, unified protocols in place to standardize collection or storage.

    Even in jurisdictions where some data is collected, Haynes noted, continuity of records is frequently broken when staff transition to new roles or leave their positions, leaving gaps that erase institutional knowledge. Without a formal data collection framework, Haynes argued, judicial leaders are forced to make critical reform decisions based on anecdotal observation rather than hard evidence. “There is a necessity for us to create a framework for the collection of this data because if we do not, we will be unable to make the necessary decisions that we ought to make, and our decisions will be based on anecdotal evidence,” Haynes told attendees.

    Haynes was careful to reframe judicial data not as a tool for disciplinary blame, but as a diagnostic instrument to pinpoint and resolve systemic inefficiencies across court operations. “We need data to understand where the bottlenecks exist, and having gathered the data, to resolve the issue,” he said. Beyond data infrastructure, the chief justice also pushed back on the common assumption that technology alone can solve the judiciary’s most pressing challenges. Organizational culture and institutional accountability, he argued, are equally critical to sustainable reform. He put it bluntly: “Culture eats technology for breakfast.” Meaningful change, he explained, requires a fundamental shift in institutional mindset that cannot be achieved through digital upgrades alone. Successful reform, he added, demands greater operational discipline, consistent accountability, respect for procedural timelines, a shared commitment to efficiency, and a widespread willingness to adapt to new processes across the judiciary.

    Haynes stressed that the regional workshop could not be more timely, noting that criminal justice systems across every Caribbean territory are facing growing, unsustainable pressures. The region can no longer be reduced to the outdated, romanticized image of a laid-back tropical paradise, he argued: shifting social and economic realities have brought new, complex security and public safety challenges that demand a modernized justice response. “The Caribbean region can no longer be described as an easy-going paradise where we drink coconut water in various mixtures,” he said. “That crime is now an everyday reality for us is reflected in the songs that we sing, the movies that we watch, the news reports that we listen to, and the day-to-day stories shared by our friends and neighbours.”

    Rising crime rates have driven a sharp increase in court caseloads, placing unprecedented demand on a justice sector already constrained by limited resources. Combined with evolving complex social issues and rising public expectations for faster, fairer justice, these pressures have made systemic reform an urgent priority, Haynes said. He highlighted that collaborative discussions across the two-day workshop will play a pivotal role in strengthening three core pillars of the regional criminal justice system: credibility, efficiency, and fairness. Improvements to these areas, he added, will in turn rebuild and strengthen public trust and confidence in how justice is administered across the Caribbean.

  • Rodrigues-Birkett hopes to use ‘good offices’ process to address conflict

    Rodrigues-Birkett hopes to use ‘good offices’ process to address conflict

    As the race to succeed outgoing United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres heats up, Guyanese nominee Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett has laid out her core vision for global conflict mitigation, leaning on the UN’s longstanding “good offices” mechanism as a central tool to de-escalate rising international tensions.

    Rodrigues-Birkett, who currently serves as Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the UN and recently completed a term on the UN Security Council, drew from her own nation’s decades-long territorial dispute with Venezuela to frame her approach to peacebuilding. “On conflict resolution, all the tools that are available to me as Secretary General, the good offices, I think that this is something we can use more. My own country benefited from the good offices process of the UN,” she told member states during an interactive question-and-answer session for candidates.

    The UN’s good offices process supported negotiations between Guyana and Venezuela for half a century over a long-running territorial dispute stemming from the 1899 Arbitral land boundary award. After decades of mediated talks, Guyana ultimately brought the case to the UN’s International Court of Justice, where it remains pending with Guyanese officials holding out hope for a favorable ruling.

    If elected to take the top UN post when Guterres’ term ends on December 31, 2026, Rodrigues-Birkett pledged to take a proactive approach to deploying the UN’s full suite of peacebuilding and conflict resolution tools to tackle rising global instability.

    Beyond peace and security, the candidate linked sustainable development, educational investment, and human rights as interconnected pillars of a more stable global order. Drawing from her early political experience as Guyana’s Minister of Amerindian Affairs in 2001, she highlighted how targeted investment in education transformed underrepresented Indigenous communities. When she took office, she noted, there was just one Amerindian doctor serving Guyana’s Indigenous populations. After sustained public investment in accessible education, dozens of doctors and other professional leaders have emerged from these remote communities.

    “I also see the investment in development and the investment in peace and security as also investment in human rights because when conflicts arise, many times, human rights is one of the things that suffer immediately,” she added.

    However, during the interactive session, Rodrigues-Birkett chose not to directly respond to a pointed question from Cuba’s representative to the UN, which pressed her on two critical principles: curbing rising “war-like rhetoric” and upholding the global norm of non-use of force in international relations. The Cuban representative asked: “Given the growing escalation of conflicts and the proliferation of war-like rhetoric, what action would you take as Secretary General to promote a culture of peace and the peaceful settlement of disputes and respect for the principle of non-use of force?”

    The question comes against a fraught geopolitical backdrop for Cuba: former U.S. President Donald Trump has recently openly floated the idea of forcing regime change in the communist-run Caribbean nation via military intervention. In recent months, the U.S. has expanded sanctions on top Cuban government officials and state-run entities, and sweeping U.S. trade restrictions have effectively crippled the Cuban economy by blocking most fuel imports, leaving the country reliant on sporadic fuel deliveries from Russia.

    The non-response also comes amid worsening bilateral ties between Guyana and Cuba in recent months. Earlier this year, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali spoke on the sidelines of Trump’s “Shield of the Americas Summit”, where he stated that it was time for a “political transition” in Cuba. “There must be dialogue but those changes must lead to the improvement of the people of Cuba. It must lead to better conditions for the people of Cuba, must lead to a society in which the rule of law, in which democracy, in which freedom is celebrated,” Ali said at the event.

  • LETTER: COVID-19 Salary and Wage Payments for Public Sector Employees

    LETTER: COVID-19 Salary and Wage Payments for Public Sector Employees

    Six months after the government’s stated deadline for disbursing pandemic-related wage compensation to eligible public sector employees, hundreds of affected workers in Antigua and Barbuda are still waiting for the funds they were promised, pushing one affected staffer to publicly call for clarity from government authorities.

    Back when the compensation program was first announced, the Antigua and Barbuda administration laid out a clear roadmap for delivering backpay to public workers whose salaries were interrupted or cut off amid the COVID-19 public health crisis. Permanent Secretaries across government departments were directed to lead the initial phase of the process: identifying eligible workers, compiling their submitted claims, and cross-verifying the information to confirm eligibility. Claimants were given a firm deadline of December 31, 2025, to submit all required documentation, after which verified claims would be passed to the national Treasury Department for final processing. According to the original timeline, disbursements were scheduled to begin in January 2026.

    It is now June 2026, half a year after payments were supposed to start. A large number of compliant claimants who followed all procedural rules and had their verified files sent to the Treasury have yet to receive any form of compensation. To date, hundreds of affected employees across multiple public departments have reported receiving no funds at all, with no official explanation for the hold-up.

    In an open letter addressed to the editor of the local publication, one concerned public sector employee has called on relevant government bodies to break their silence and deliver a formal update on the program’s status. The letter outlines four key questions that eligible workers are demanding answers to: First, has the Treasury Department completed its internal verification and processing of all submitted claims that were transferred over by department heads? Second, what is the revised, realistic timeline for disbursing the owed compensation to approved claimants? Third, what specific outstanding issues, if any, are responsible for the six-month delay beyond the original launch date for payments? Finally, when can eligible workers reasonably expect to receive the money the government pledged to them?

    The letter notes that most affected workers have remained patient throughout the process, abiding by all the requirements laid out by the government. An official public update, the author argues, would provide much-needed clarity and ease the financial uncertainty that many workers have been grappling with for months. The author closed by thanking the publication for drawing attention to the unaddressed issue.

  • Peacekeeping must be backed by political solutions – Guyana’s nominee for UN Secretary General

    Peacekeeping must be backed by political solutions – Guyana’s nominee for UN Secretary General

    As the race for the next United Nations Secretary-General gains momentum, Guyana’s candidate Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett has laid out her foundational policy vision during an interactive dialogue with UN member states, centering her argument on the critical link between peacekeeping operations and long-term political settlements. Currently serving as Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the UN and a former national foreign minister, Rodrigues-Birkett is in the running to succeed incumbent António Guterres when his term concludes in December 2026.

    During Thursday’s question-and-answer session, Rodrigues-Birkett emphasized that no matter the format of a UN peace operation — from traditional peacekeeping to targeted enforcement missions — military and peacekeeping deployments must act as a stepping stone, not an end goal. “Whether we’re doing a traditional peacekeeping, a certain type of enforcement operation, it must be a means to an end, a means to a political solution, giving a space for a political solution to move forward,” she told attending member state representatives.

    Her comments come amid a major ongoing security deployment in Haiti, where the UN Security Council has authorized a 5,500-strong multinational gang suppression force to address the country’s ongoing humanitarian and security collapse. The question that prompted Rodrigues-Birkett’s remarks came from the Dominican Republic, which shares a border with Haiti and has hosted multiple UN peacekeeping missions along its frontier over the past decades. On the topic of evolving peacekeeping models, she noted that member states will need to evaluate a range of proposed frameworks, with the non-negotiable priority of upholding the United Nations’ long-held high standards across any structural adjustment.

    A seasoned diplomat with deep multilateral experience, Rodrigues-Birkett previously led Guyana’s delegation during its recent term on the UN Security Council and has also served as a senior director at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). If selected as the next UN chief, she confirmed she would further explore evidence-based options to strengthen global peace operations to match evolving conflict dynamics.

    Beyond peace and security, Rodrigues-Birkett outlined additional key planks of her leadership vision. She placed strong emphasis on advancing and protecting global human rights standards, and put forward a new proposal to develop structured payment plans for UN member states that have accumulated outstanding membership dues, a longstanding financial challenge for the organization. She also committed to advancing more balanced, equitable geographic and gender recruitment across UN staff, to better reflect the organization’s global membership.

  • Young: Petrotrin revival could ‘sink’ T&T

    Young: Petrotrin revival could ‘sink’ T&T

    A heated parliamentary debate over Trinidad and Tobago’s energy sector has reignited tensions over the legacy of the defunct Petrotrin refinery, as former energy minister Stuart Young has issued a stark warning that the current government’s proposal to restart operations at the shuttered facility could inflict irreversible fiscal damage on the small island nation.

    Speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives during deliberations over the 2026 Miscellaneous Provisions (Heritage Petroleum, Paria Fuel Trading and Guaracara Refining Vesting) (Amendment) Bill, Young doubled down on his defense of the 2018 restructuring of Petrotrin carried out by the former People’s National Movement (PNM) administration. He firmly rejected claims that the restructuring amounted to union busting, a charge frequently leveled by opponents of the original overhaul.

    The bill under debate would formalize the extension of all collective bargaining agreements originally signed by Petrotrin, and legally designate two state-owned holding companies, Heritage Petroleum Company Ltd and Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd, as the official successors to Petrotrin for the purposes of these agreements and the country’s Industrial Relations Act. The legislation paves the way for the current government’s campaign promise to bring the idled refinery back online.

    Young pushed back against the plan, arguing that Trinidad and Tobago simply cannot shoulder the massive financial burden that the refinery would place on public coffers. He emphasized that the PNM never permanently closed Petrotrin – instead, it split the struggling entity into separate holding companies to manage its viable assets, isolating the refinery’s crippling debts and operational inefficiencies.

    He criticized the current government for ramming the legislation through parliament, scheduling the debate just one day ahead of Labour Day with what he called empty, voter-pleasing rhetoric. Young explained that even at the time of restructuring, the refinery was draining Petrotrin’s resources: the facility was losing between $5 and $6 US dollars for every single barrel of crude it processed, a gap that could not be sustained by public finances. Compounding these operational challenges, Trinidad and Tobago’s own domestic oil reserves have been in steady decline for years, forcing the refinery to import roughly 120,000 barrels of crude per day to keep operating, adding even more to its costs.

    Outlining the scale of the refinery’s unsustainable losses, Young noted that the facility racked up $4.3 billion in losses in 2016 alone, and accumulated a total of $5.9 billion in red ink over the three years leading up to restructuring. In contrast, he pointed out that Heritage and Paria – the two companies that took over Petrotrin’s viable upstream and midstream assets – have operated profitably for the eight years since the restructuring, with Petrotrin’s restructured debt already fully paid off by Heritage. Under the current government’s revival plan, Young argued, the crippling costs, liabilities and labor obligations of the refinery will now be forced onto these two profitable firms, putting their strong financial standing at risk.

    Young warned that the plan would create massive, far-reaching fiscal consequences for the entire country, shifting a massive unsustainable burden onto the national treasury that could ultimately sink the nation’s finances. He also pushed back against claims from the Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) that its members were victimized in the original restructuring, noting that the former PNM government granted the OWTU exclusive bargaining rights in the refinery restructuring process, contradicting claims of unfair treatment.

    In a closing rebuke to the ruling United National Congress (UNC) for its repeated criticism of the PNM’s original decision to idle the refinery, Young highlighted that the UNC previously laid off more than 40,000 workers from government programs including the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP), the Community-based Environmental Protection Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) and the Forestry Division without providing any severance compensation to affected workers.

  • ‘TTPS has a crime plan’

    ‘TTPS has a crime plan’

    One year after taking the helm of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS), Commissioner Allister Guevarro has reflected on a turbulent 12 months marked by notable crime reduction progress, unanticipated financial challenges, and ongoing efforts to modernize the national law enforcement agency. Appointed on June 17, 2025, with his term officially launching the following day, Guevarra is currently serving a one-year probationary period, and as of his first anniversary press briefing, no official confirmation regarding his permanent appointment has been released by the Police Service Commission.

    In a wide-ranging interview held at the Police Administration Building in Port of Spain, Guevarro opened by acknowledging the public and internal support that greeted his appointment, before turning to one of the most debated policies of his tenure: the national state of emergency (SoE) enacted to combat rising violent crime. Shortly after he assumed office, the SoE became the center of national discourse, with critics questioning whether the TTPS had grown over-reliant on extraordinary emergency powers to address persistent criminal activity. Rejecting these claims, Guevarro emphasized that the TTPS has relied on structured, long-term strategic crime-reduction plans since the early 2000s, framing the SoE not as a replacement for existing strategies, but as an additional set of tools to amplify ongoing work.

    Two emergency provisions, he noted, delivered particularly tangible value: preventive detention orders and the authority for officers to conduct warrantless entries to search for suspects or contraband. These measures added a critical new layer to the TTPS’s crime-fighting capabilities, Guevarro said, enabling the service to regain better control over widespread criminal activity. The results, he argued, are visible in official crime statistics: September 2025 recorded just 20 homicides, marking the lowest monthly murder count the country has seen in roughly 15 years. For the full year 2025, the national homicide total fell to 369, down from a 2024 high of 629 – a 41% reduction that Guevarro called a landmark achievement. He also reported a roughly 30% drop in all categories of serious crime, adding that the downward trend in criminal activity has continued into 2026. The Commissioner credited the hard work of rank-and-file officers across the country for these gains, rather than attributing the progress to his own leadership.

    Despite these statistical gains, Guevarro acknowledged a key gap between data and public experience: many residents still report not feeling safer, and the widespread perception that crime remains unaddressed has not shifted alongside falling crime rates. “I know the public will say that they are not feeling safe and there is a public perception that crime is still high. But the statistics do speak for themselves,” he said.

    Beyond crime policy, Guevarro revealed a major unaddressed challenge facing the TTPS: an internal financial audit uncovered approximately $500 million in outstanding debt owed to private suppliers and service providers. The liabilities span a wide range of operational needs, from information technology infrastructure and specialized equipment to general support services. The Commissioner confirmed that a full report on the debt has been submitted to Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander, noting that constrained government budget resources will force the TTPS to implement strict spending prioritization moving forward. Even with fiscal constraints, Guevarro reaffirmed that key priorities including overtime pay for officers and the rollout of body-worn cameras for frontline staff remain on the agency’s agenda.

    Modernization and internal institutional reform remain core long-term objectives for Guevarro, with digital transformation of the TTPS topping his priority list. To cut costs and avoid unnecessary external spending, he said the service will leverage existing technical expertise already present within the TTPS workforce rather than relying on expensive third-party outsourcing. Guevarro also plans to revive in-house technical capabilities that the service previously maintained, including on-site vehicle repair and body shop operations. Beyond cutting costs, he noted that these in-house programs could create new employment pathways for trade school graduates across the country while helping the TTPS maintain its large fleet of patrol and operational vehicles. Looking further ahead, Guevarro aims to attract recent university graduates to fill specialized roles in information technology and crime scene investigation, and has outlined an ambition to establish Trinidad and Tobago as a regional hub for specialized law enforcement training for the Caribbean.

    Guevarro also addressed the most high-profile criticism of his first year in office: controversy over his decision not to suspend officers connected to the high-profile police-involved incident involving Joshua Samaroo and Kaia Sealy. Standing by his original decision, the Commissioner argued that administrative discipline could not be fairly implemented before independent investigators completed their work. Given the information available to him at the time, Guevarro said he could not in good conscience move forward with suspensions prematurely. The case is currently before the national courts, with the state set to present 30 witnesses and a large collection of evidence, and Guevarro noted that due process must be allowed to run its course. He acknowledged that the TTPS cannot meet every public expectation, but reaffirmed the service’s commitment to fair, professional law enforcement across all communities.

    Addressing longstanding public complaints about officer conduct and customer service during interactions with community members, Guevarro admitted that the TTPS continues to receive regular reports of poor treatment. To address this gap, he said the service has rolled out ongoing mandatory customer service training for all officers, with the goal of improving positive engagement between law enforcement and the public.

    When asked to rate his own performance over his first year in office, Guevarro declined to score himself, emphasizing his role as a public servant. “I am a public servant. I work for you,” he said. “Despite whatever else, you are the ones who have to say how you rate me. It is not up to me to say how I would have functioned during the year.”

  • Economic and Social Transformations presented to Cuban Parliament

    Economic and Social Transformations presented to Cuban Parliament

    On June 18, 2026, Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP) held its Third Extraordinary Session of the 10th Legislature at Havana’s Convention Palace to evaluate landmark proposals for national economic and social transformation. The hybrid gathering brought Havana-based deputies together in person, with legislators from across the country joining remotely, and included virtual participation from revolutionary leader Army General Raúl Castro Ruz. In-person attendees were led by Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, while ANPP President Esteban Lazo Hernández opened the session by commemorating the 19th anniversary of the death of Vilma Espín Guillois, a iconic heroine of the Cuban Revolution.

    Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz presented the transformation plan to the assembly, framing the reforms as a sovereign strategic adaptation to the most challenging economic context the country has faced since the 1990s Special Period. Marrero Cruz outlined the multiple pressures weighing on Cuba’s economy: decades of coercive U.S. sanctions that have intensified since 2019, with additional escalations implemented in January 2025, have severely disrupted fuel supplies, cut off foreign currency revenue, damaged national energy infrastructure, and reduced household quality of life. He acknowledged longstanding internal shortcomings alongside external pressure, noting that these combined factors have slowed progress on reforms first approved during the 6th Party Congress in 2011, which delivered positive results through mid-2019.

    Rooted in the legacy of Fidel Castro Ruz’s guidance during the 1990s Special Period and Raúl Castro Ruz’s principles of pragmatic economic updating, the plan rejects rigid dogma and redefines the relationship between socialist planning and market mechanisms. Marrero Cruz emphasized that the proposed reforms are not a retreat from socialism, but a sovereign adjustment of development tools to fit Cuba’s current circumstances, designed to preserve core revolutionary gains while adapting to new realities. The proposal emerged from a broad consultative process that incorporated 390 public submissions, 66.7% of which were accepted, plus 69 additional recommendations approved by the Communist Party Political Bureau, resulting in a final document of 176 proposals organized across 23 core axes covering all areas of Cuban economic and social life.

    The first axis overhauls the governance of state-owned enterprises, granting greater operational autonomy, decentralizing price-setting authority, eliminating rigid national salary scales in favor of company-level wage negotiation tied to financial performance and inflation, and allowing state firms to convert to share-based commercial entities with minority non-state participation, while guaranteeing state majority control over strategic sectors. For non-state economic actors, the plan eases approval requirements, raises the 100-employee cap on private businesses, allows individual ownership of multiple companies, expands permitted corporate structures including public limited companies, reduces the list of banned activities for non-state firms, and integrates artificial intelligence to streamline approval processes on the national Economic Actors Platform. The plan also opens agricultural production to private participation, creates a national production linkage platform that requires state-owned firms to publish local sourcing needs, and offers tax incentives for purchasing domestic inputs.

    On ownership reform, the plan reaffirms social ownership of the fundamental means of production while expanding non-state management of assets, authorizing the purchase of state enterprise shares by domestic and foreign, state and non-state entities, and creates targeted investment incentives for Cuban residents and Cubans living abroad to invest in national companies, while banning exploitative labor practices and guaranteeing labor and social rights. The reform of economic planning transitions from centralized physical resource allocation to a market-oriented financial planning model, incorporates non-state economic activity into national development plans through 2030, and decentralizes investment approval authority to individual firms based on their financial capacity.

    Additional core reforms include a significant downsizing of the central state administration, with a planned reduction in the number of ministries and budgeted agencies to improve bureaucratic efficiency, and a broad devolution of authority to municipal governments, including powers over strategic planning, local economic development, foreign investment promotion, and retention of foreign currency earnings. In the energy sector, private and foreign capital is permitted to enter fuel import, distribution and retail, and major tax incentives are offered for renewable energy investment. Agricultural reforms include indefinite usufruct land rights for all types of producers, elimination of the requirement for permanent on-site land cultivation, direct foreign trade authority for agricultural cooperatives, full decentralization of agricultural price-setting, and expanded decentralized financing for primary production.

    Social reforms center on digitizing and targeting social assistance for vulnerable populations via the new SOBERANIA platform, requiring all economic actors to contribute to community social support initiatives ranging from pension administration to supporting care institutions and providing food aid to low-income households. The plan replaces universal product subsidies with targeted personal subsidies to vulnerable groups, funded by savings from subsidy elimination, and implements a comprehensive wage reform that ties annual minimum wage and pension adjustments to inflation, eliminates administrative barriers to multiple job holding for skilled professionals, and offers training stipends for unemployed young people.

    Banking and financial sector reforms open the sector to private capital under equal regulatory conditions with state-owned banks, eliminate prior authorization requirements for foreign currency accounts, implement a regulatory framework for virtual assets and fintech, and authorize private currency exchange houses as part of a plan to unify Cuba’s exchange rates through gradual currency devaluation. Tax reforms introduce a value-added tax with reduced rates for essential goods, reduce corporate profit tax burdens, adjust personal income tax brackets to account for inflation, and offer targeted incentives for agricultural production and renewable energy investment. Foreign investment is expanded through extended land right terms up to 99 years, decentralized approval with tacit approval for most projects, elimination of mandatory employment agency requirements for hiring, and permission for foreign investment in heritage tourism zones. Additional reforms open tourism to new business models including real estate development, remove restrictions on electric vehicle imports, formalize street vending, expand insurance products, recognize data as a formal factor of production to support the digital and knowledge economy, and create a new cross-institutional working group to update national regulatory frameworks, requiring changes to more than 140 existing Cuban laws and the creation of 32 new high-level regulations.

    During the plenary debate, deputies broadly supported the plan while offering constructive amendments, with many emphasizing that the reforms do not represent a departure from socialism, but a necessary adjustment to preserve it amid external pressure. Deputy Danhiz Díaz Pereira called for prioritizing the creation of the social protection fund and wage reform before other transformations to protect vulnerable households, and highlighted the need for strong anti-corruption safeguards as reforms advance. Deputy Carlos Miguel Pérez Reyes argued that partial reform poses a greater risk than full transformation, and called for clear, swift implementation and increased social responsibility from the private sector. Deputy Emilio Interián Rodríguez praised the agricultural reforms as revolutionary, noting they address longstanding barriers to increasing domestic food production.

    Closing the debate, President Díaz-Canel stressed that the transformations are the product of decades of national debate, expert input, and the study of international experience, and do not signal a retreat from socialism. He noted that preserving and expanding the revolutionary social justice that Cuba has built requires a productive, dynamic economy to generate the necessary resources, stating: “If we don’t produce, if we don’t generate wealth, if we don’t provide quality services that are inclusive and comprehensive, what kind of social justice are we going to defend?” He emphasized that innovation is the only path forward in the current challenging context.

    Prime Minister Marrero Cruz announced that the working group will immediately revise the draft to incorporate deputies’ amendments, and outlined clear institutional responsibilities for implementation: the Cuban Government will lead overall management, the National Assembly will draft required legal changes, and senior party leadership will provide political oversight. The session concluded with a letter from Raúl Castro Ruz, read by Council of Ministers Secretary José Amado Ricardo Guerra, expressing full support for the plan and affirming that the reforms will strengthen socialism and preserve revolutionary gains in Cuba’s current complex circumstances.

  • Walton-Desir says Mohamed’s GECOM nominees raise conflict of interest concerns

    Walton-Desir says Mohamed’s GECOM nominees raise conflict of interest concerns

    As tensions over appointments to Guyana’s Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) roil the country’s fragmented opposition bloc, Forward Guyana Movement leader Amanza Walton-Desir has broken ranks with other opposition figures, putting forward her own nominee and a sweeping transitional reform plan to address growing concerns over public trust and perceived conflicts of interest.

    Walton-Desir’s intervention comes directly in response to Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed’s slate of proposed election commissioner nominees, which she argues carries avoidable risks of conflict of interest perception. Mohamed’s picks include three prominent legal professionals: Siand Dhurjon, Roysdale Forde, and Damien Da Silva, who previously represented Mohamed in an extradition court hearing. While Walton-Desir emphasized she holds full respect for the three as legal practitioners, she noted that their existing professional ties to the Opposition Leader create circumstances that could undermine public confidence in the nomination process – a risk she says should be prevented entirely.

    In place of Mohamed’s nominees, Walton-Desir has put forward Pastor Nigel London for the commission vacancy, framing him as a figure uniquely positioned to restore public trust in GECOM’s work. She argued that meaningful electoral reform requires more than just structural institutional changes; it demands active, accessible public engagement to bridge the gap between the commission’s internal work and the Guyanese population. London, she says, has a proven ability to distill complex electoral concepts for ordinary citizens, bringing grassroots perspectives into commission deliberations that are often closed off to public input. Crucially, she added, London is not afraid to challenge consensus, ask tough questions, and hold the commission accountable from within – a trait she says is critical to rebuilding public faith in the electoral system. Walton-Desir stressed that public confidence in electoral bodies depends not only on the personal integrity of appointed officials, but also on trust in the appointment process itself.

    Beyond her nominee pick, Walton-Desir has laid out a compromise transitional framework designed to balance institutional continuity with fresh opposition representation and broader electoral reform. Her plan calls for retaining one sitting GECOM commissioner for a two-year transitional period to preserve critical institutional memory, while bringing on new appointees to refresh opposition representation. To further smooth the knowledge transfer, she proposes that the three current opposition-nominated GECOM commissioners – Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin, and Desmond Trotman – be hired as paid advisors to the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, where they can support new commissioners in acclimating to the role.

    Walton-Desir’s plan enters a already fraught political standoff over GECOM appointments. Aubrey Norton, leader of the PNCR-APNU bloc, has already refused to meet with Opposition Leader Mohamed over the appointments, arguing that there are no current vacancies on the commission requiring new nominations. Mohamed has countered that his We Invest in Nationhood bloc, which holds 16 seats making it the largest single party in the opposition caucus, is entitled to proportional representation on GECOM. For his part, Norton maintains that sitting opposition commissioners can only be removed if they resign voluntarily.

    Against this impasse, Walton-Desir emphasized that the debate over GECOM cannot be reduced to a binary choice between keeping all existing commissioners or replacing the entire slate. The current deadlock, she argued, does a disservice to the Guyanese public, who deserve fully functional electoral institutions that command widespread public confidence. Rather than refusing engagement entirely, as Norton has done, she says advancing constructive proposals that balance continuity, renewal, and reform is the only productive path forward. In line with this commitment, Walton-Desir confirmed she will attend the consultative meeting on GECOM appointments scheduled by Mohamed for June 23, 2026. She framed the current moment as an opportunity to address longstanding challenges facing GECOM – including structural flaws, weak accountability mechanisms, and eroding public trust – that must be addressed as part of any credible electoral reform agenda. “The question before us is not only who should sit at the table, but whether we are prepared to improve the table itself,” she said.

  • Regering: Ingrijpen bij 21 Bergi moet levensgevaarlijke situatie beëindigen

    Regering: Ingrijpen bij 21 Bergi moet levensgevaarlijke situatie beëindigen

    On June 19, a planned law enforcement and regulatory operation targeting unregulated gold mining at 21 Bergi in Suriname’s Matawai region is set to launch, with the explicit goal of eliminating life-threatening working conditions and bringing order to the country’s informal mining sector. Minister of Justice and Police Harish Monorath outlined the full details of the operation during an address to the National Assembly Thursday evening, responding to repeated calls for clarity from BEP party faction leader Ronny Asabina.

    Monorath explained that the 21 Bergi area has been plagued by unsafe, unregulated mining activity for years. He reminded legislators that a major landslide several years ago killed 15 miners working in the region. Just weeks before the planned operation, another severe incident occurred when a sand bank collapse buried four workers. Two of those workers faced fatal injuries before being successfully rescued, highlighting the ongoing danger in the area.

    According to the minister, informal miners in the region have constructed an extensive network of dangerous underground tunnels, some stretching up to two kilometers in length and reaching depths of hundreds of meters. This unapproved infrastructure creates constant lethal risk for every worker on site, Monorath emphasized.

    The push for government intervention did not originate from national officials, the minister clarified. Local traditional leadership and the district commissioner requested government action to address the unsafe conditions months ago. Following that request, interministerial delegations from the ministries of Justice and Police, Defense, Regional Development, and Natural Resources conducted an on-site assessment alongside local police to review conditions and plan next steps.

    After reviewing the assessment, the national cabinet approved a plan to regulate and restructure gold mining activity in the region. All miners currently working in the high-risk zones will be temporarily relocated, and will be required to complete an official re-registration process. Once the process is complete, miners will be able to resume their work in safer, organized designated areas.

    Monorath stressed that all relevant local and national stakeholders have spent weeks proactively notifying miners in the region of the upcoming measures, clearly communicating that all workers must evacuate the high-risk, unregulated tunnel sites ahead of the operation. Starting Friday, clearing operations will begin in the dangerous zones, and the re-registration process for gold miners will get underway immediately after the evacuation is complete.

    The discussion was brought to the floor of the National Assembly after Asabina raised concerns over circulating rumors claiming the entire region would be fully evacuated, displacing all local miners. He asked the government to confirm its official stance on the operation, warning that lingering public uncertainty over the plan could trigger unnecessary social tensions in the mining community.

    ABOP Member of Parliament Edgar Sampi, who participated in earlier negotiations between the government and local traditional leadership, confirmed that the operation does not involve a full evacuation of the entire area. Instead, it is a targeted restructuring of mining activity that prioritizes worker safety, and no miner will lose their livelihood as a result of the intervention, Sampi said.

    Following Minister Monorath’s detailed briefing, Asabina expressed his appreciation for the clear, transparent response from the government, stating he was satisfied that the administration recognized the importance of accountability and transparency to the national legislature.

  • Column: Kwestie Van ‘t Hogerhuysstraat vraagt om open en transparant bestuur

    Column: Kwestie Van ‘t Hogerhuysstraat vraagt om open en transparant bestuur

    What was meant to be a straightforward infrastructure upgrade has morphed into a high-stakes political and governance crisis gripping Suriname, with the Van ‘t Hokerhuysstraat asphalt project becoming a flashpoint for partisan blame, public frustration, and a seemingly intractable institutional dilemma.

    As debate around the stalled project grows louder by the day, the National Assembly has devolved into a back-and-forth of partisan recrimination. Political parties trade accusations of mismanagement, each shifting responsibility to the other: the current administration points fingers at the previous government, while opposition parties pin the gridlock on today’s ruling coalition. Even local construction firm Baitali NV has come under fire, with critics claiming the company is deliberately delaying project delivery by launching a second court challenge. While the political arena grows increasingly chaotic and the narrative around the crisis becomes ever more muddled, for ordinary Surinamese road users, the unfinished street remains nothing more than a persistent source of daily irritation and unmet expectation. Above all else, the public just wants one clear answer: when will construction resume, and when will the long-promised road upgrade finally be completed?

    This lack of clarity has spilled over into social media, where the absence of consistent, official information has allowed facts, partisan opinions, and unsubstantiated speculation to blend into one unnavigable mess. Most residents can no longer distinguish what is actually happening with the project, all because the government has failed to deliver clear, honest, and transparent communication to the public.

    In reality, the core issue is far more complex than the superficial political debate suggests. The Surinamese government is trapped between two competing, non-negotiable obligations, squeezed between pressures that are growing tighter by the day.

    On one side, there is an irrevocable court ruling. In a democratic constitutional state, respecting and upholding judicial decisions is not an optional choice—it is a foundational principle of the rule of law that the government cannot simply ignore. On the other side stands the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the primary financier of the asphalt project. From information that has already entered the public domain, it is clear the IDB has serious objections to the government implementing the court ruling, over fears that such a move would put the entire project’s funding at risk. Beyond this immediate crisis, the bank has also raised concerns that a breach of its funding terms could jeopardize future IDB financing and development projects across Suriname.

    This is the government’s real dilemma—not the petty political sniping, personal attacks, and cross-party blame that dominate daily headlines. To press its case for enforcement of the original ruling, Baitali NV has indeed launched a second legal procedure, asking the court to increase a daily penalty for non-compliance from just 5,000 Surinamese dollars to 1 million Surinamese dollars. This is not a new dispute: the company is simply pushing the government to enforce a final ruling issued more than ten months ago. Whether Baitali’s demand is ultimately justified will be for the court to decide, but the existence of this new legal action does nothing to resolve the underlying impasse: the government remains caught between two weighty, conflicting obligations that it cannot easily reconcile.

    It is for this exact reason that the government should choose to bring the full complexity of the situation to the public. The Surinamese people have a right to answers to core questions: What exact agreements were struck with the IDB? What legal risks does the government face from all possible outcomes? What potential solutions are currently being explored? What consequences will every available option have for taxpayers and future national development projects? Answering these questions openly would also lay the groundwork for a more substantive, balanced public debate, rather than the unproductive mudslinging that dominates today.

    This crisis has already exposed a deeper flaw in Suriname’s governance culture: the country’s domestic legal order and its international funding agreements do not always align seamlessly. When the two clash, it creates a governance dilemma for which no simple, perfect solution exists. But good governance requires more than just careful decision-making—it requires that difficult choices and trade-offs are explained honestly to the public. Transparency is not a sign of uncertainty or weakness. On the contrary, it builds and strengthens the trust that citizens are entitled to place in their government. As long as the full context of the dilemma remains hidden from view, there will always be room for speculation, political spin, and cross-party blame. That outcome benefits no one: not the government, not the contractors, not the IDB, and certainly not the public, which will ultimately bear the consequences of whatever decision is reached.

    There may be no perfect solution to this impasse. Every possible outcome will carry financial, legal, or governance trade-offs. That is precisely why the Surinamese public deserves a government that chooses to speak openly, not stay silent. The government has no reason to be ashamed of the dilemma it faces. In fact, it would demonstrate real strength to openly acknowledge the situation: “We are caught between an irrevocable judicial ruling and the funding requirements of our international financier. Both carry significant weight, and we are carefully exploring a path that allows Suriname to honor both its rule of law commitments and its international obligations.”

    Today, the Van ‘t Hogerhuysstraat project is about far more than just a public road tender. It has become a critical test of good governance for Suriname—and that test begins with radical openness.