Carib Scope

分类： politics

  • PM Calls for Unity After Election, Says Victory Should Not Divide Nation

    PM Calls for Unity After Election, Says Victory Should Not Divide Nation

    Fresh off securing a historic fourth consecutive general election victory, the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) has capped its electoral win with a national thanksgiving service that doubled as a rallying cry for cross-community solidarity. Held on Sunday at the St. John’s Pentecostal Church House of Restoration, the gathering brought together a cross-section of the nation’s leadership, including newly appointed government ministers, senators-designate, senior church figures, and hundreds of jubilant ABLP supporters. In his keynote address to the congregation, Prime Minister Gaston Browne centered his remarks on a urgent call for national unity, framing the election outcome as a catalyst to bridge divides rather than entrench political rifts.

    Browne argued that regardless of differing political affiliations or religious backgrounds, all Antiguans and Barbudans share a common stake in the country’s progress. “I do not expect this victory to divide us. Instead, it should unite us,” he told attendees, pushing for the country to evolve into a “more harmonious society” that puts collective progress above partisan interests. “So let us not move forward as different political institutions, different religious denominations, but as reborn Antiguans and Barbudans who are working harmoniously to build this country,” he added.

    The prime minister emphasized that widespread collaboration around shared national development goals could unlock Antigua and Barbuda’s full potential, positioning the small island nation as a global example to be admired. In a nod to the campaign and election process, he extended gratitude to a broad group of stakeholders: ABLP voters, the party’s election candidates, and what he called “prayer warriors” who worked to secure the party’s win and advocated for a peaceful, transparent voting process.

    The interwoven service blended traditional Christian worship, solemn scripture readings, and thoughtful political reflection, with religious leaders echoing Browne’s core themes of gratitude, national healing after a divisive campaign, and shared responsibility for the country’s future. Speakers also wove in an unexpected note of thanks, referencing a 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Antigua and Barbuda and nearby neighboring islands just two days earlier on Friday. With no reported major casualties or catastrophic damage across the country, the collective survival from the natural event served as a second, urgent reminder of why national unity and gratitude remain critical for the Caribbean nation.

  • PM Says ABLP Victory Is “Not a Gift” but a Mandate for Better Governance

    PM Says ABLP Victory Is “Not a Gift” but a Mandate for Better Governance

    Following the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party’s (ABLP) historic fourth consecutive decisive election victory, Prime Minister Gaston Browne has rejected calls for complacency, pledging to steer his new administration with heightened accountability and a renewed commitment to public service. Browne made the remarks during a national thanksgiving service held Sunday at St. John’s Pentecostal Church House of Restoration, where he addressed a gathered crowd of party supporters, religious leaders, and sitting government officials.

    Browne emphasized that the party’s resounding electoral success is not an unearned reward, but a renewed public mandate to deliver more faithful, effective governance to the people of the dual-island nation. “We do not see this resounding victory as a gift,” he told attendees. “We do not see it as the opportunity to be slothful or for that matter to abuse public resources.”

    Instead of resting on the party’s past achievements accumulated over nearly 12 years in power, Browne said his administration views the new mandate as a opening to strengthen governance frameworks and expand efforts to economic and social empowerment for all citizens. “We see this as an opportunity to serve you more faithfully, to provide even better governance than we provided during the last approximately 12 years,” he added.

    Looking back on the weeks-long election campaign, the prime minister extended gratitude to every candidate, grassroots supporter, and the group he called “prayer warriors” – faith leaders and congregants who prayed for peaceful electoral processes and the ABLP’s success. He acknowledged that the party faced significant headwinds during the campaign, including widespread misinformation, deliberate disinformation, false claims, and targeted character assassination of party members, but maintained the ABLP remained focused on its core mission of delivering progress for all Antiguans and Barbudans.

    Browne also used the high-profile post-election event to issue a call for cross-partisan and cross-community national unity, arguing that deep-seated political divisions should not shape the country’s trajectory going forward. “So let us not move forward as different political institutions, different religious denominations, but as reborn Antiguans and Barbudans who are working harmoniously to build this country,” he said.

    The thanksgiving service itself blended traditional Christian worship, formal scripture readings, and deliberate political reflection. Throughout the event, church ministers and senior faith leaders repeatedly centered their remarks on the themes of collective gratitude, committed public service, and national renewal ahead of the new parliamentary term.

  • Ensuring internal order: A strategic objective in times of threat

    Ensuring internal order: A strategic objective in times of threat

    Cuba has officially launched its fifth nationwide exercise focused on the prevention and counteraction of transnational and domestic societal threats, including organized crime, systemic corruption, illicit drug trafficking, unauthorized activities, and widespread social indiscipline. The nationwide initiative comes with an explicit core mandate: to ramp up coordinated action against harmful behaviors that directly undermine the island nation’s most critical strategic priorities.

    This year’s exercise unfolds against an extraordinarily complex geopolitical and economic backdrop, shaped by decades of escalating pressure from the United States government. A decades-long economic, commercial, and financial blockade has been tightened in recent years, compounded by a strict oil embargo, expanding unilateral sanctions, sustained diplomatic hostility, coordinated psychological warfare campaigns, and persistent threats of direct military action against the Cuban government and people.

    2026 marks the centennial celebration of Fidel Castro Ruz, the historic Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban Revolution, and this year’s exercise is rooted firmly in Castro’s enduring ideological and practical legacy. It aligns directly with his longstanding guidance that “special attention must be paid to upholding internal order, because resource scarcity can create conditions for a rise in criminal activity, particularly actions targeting the national economy. This task must be understood as a shared responsibility of all public institutions, and every political and administrative leader.”

    Organizers frame the initiative as a collective battle that demands elevated, coordinated action from all sectors of Cuban society to eliminate any space for impunity for harmful actors. Stakeholders emphasize the urgent need to recognize the full scale of current threats, both internal and external, and the non-negotiable responsibility to protect citizen security — a core, cherished achievement of the Cuban Revolution. These challenges have been further exacerbated by widespread, persistent power outages that disrupt daily family life, erode public well-being, and strain access to essential resources for the population.

    Under the initiative, priority efforts will be directed at strengthening security and protective measures for Cuba’s national energy grid and national fuel supply chains, alongside the country’s critical food production and distribution systems. Simultaneously, preventing and combating illicit drug activity, public sector corruption, predatory price gouging, and open market speculation top the exercise’s priority list.

    In the current heightened political climate, resolute action against vandalism and social indiscipline carries particular strategic importance. Cuban authorities note that these disruptive acts are frequently instigated by foreign actors as part of deliberate subversive efforts to destabilize the government. Beyond the direct material damage these acts cause, they are often connected to violent actions that threaten the lives and physical safety of ordinary citizens, all with the end goal of fostering public discontent and widespread social unrest. This context requires strict adherence to national law, widespread public support for law enforcement and regulatory authorities carrying out their official duties, and collective action to protect the nation’s critical strategic assets.

    As Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, noted during the previous iteration of the national exercise, these coordinated initiatives represent a critical opportunity to strengthen collective defensive capacity and guarantee public calm, respect for internal order, national stability, and social discipline — all while advancing broad public participation in the country’s core national priorities. This is especially critical amid the complex challenges the nation currently faces.

    Cuba’s revolutionary leadership has made clear that this collective campaign for public order, social discipline, and national tranquility is built on the unified strength of revolutionary forces led by the Communist Party, with active coordinated participation from state organs, national government bodies, the Union of Young Communists, and a wide network of mass and grassroots social organizations.

    In this national effort, achieving high levels of grassroots popular participation and community oversight is a core requirement. It stands as a tangible expression of the Cuban people’s political maturity and ideological commitment to defending the socialist project the nation has built over decades. Ultimately, upholding internal order is framed as a non-negotiable strategic objective for Cuba in an era of persistent external threat.

  • Launch of a national training program to strengthen electoral security…

    Launch of a national training program to strengthen electoral security…

    In a landmark step to lay the groundwork for 2026 inclusive national elections, Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé has formally inaugurated a countrywide training program designed to reinforce electoral security and guarantee the credibility of upcoming votes for key judicial and public authority posts. The initiative, conducted under the official oversight of Haiti’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP), aligns directly with the three core policy priorities the prime minister outlined for his administration: eliminating the threat of armed gang activity to restore national security, revitalizing Haiti’s struggling economy, and delivering free, fair, transparent, and inclusive elections by the end of the year. The first phase of the training program focuses on equipping three key stakeholder groups with the tools to uphold electoral integrity: government commissioners, justices of the peace, and uniformed personnel from both the Armed Forces of Haiti (FAd’H) and the Haitian National Police (PNH). Initial training sessions are being rolled out in three strategic municipalities: Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital, Petit-Goâve, and Croix-des-Bouquets, with plans for a phased expansion that will reach all 146 of Haiti’s municipalities in the coming months. Alongside the training initiative, the Haitian government has also earmarked more than 3 billion gourdes in public funding to support participating political parties and electoral coalitions, a move designed to level the playing field for all candidates. During the launch ceremony, Prime Minister Fils-Aimé delivered a firm, uncompromising rebuke to gang activity, stressing that the Haitian state would never retreat from its duty to protect national territory and would never cede control of any region to armed criminal groups. “We will combat money laundering systematically, and we will not allow dirty money to infiltrate our electoral process and corrupt our ballot boxes,” the prime minister stated. To deliver on this promise, his administration will establish a dedicated specialized judicial unit focused on investigating and prosecuting financial crimes, with a specific mandate to block illicit financing from influencing election outcomes. The prime minister also paid public tribute to the courage and sacrifice of police and military personnel currently deployed to retake residential neighborhoods held by armed gangs, urging security forces to apply the highest level of rigor to pursuing and penalizing any violations of electoral law. Reaffirming the government’s commitment to collaborative governance throughout the electoral process, Fils-Aimé noted that all planning is being carried out in close consultation with Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), civil society organizations, and registered political parties. He closed with a solemn reminder to all electoral stakeholders of their core obligation: “You have only one leader: the Haitian people. It is to them alone that you owe loyalty, discipline, and impartiality.”

  • Gonsalves says police force ‘now entirely politicised’

    Gonsalves says police force ‘now entirely politicised’

    A controversial fast-track promotion of a former partisan political official to a senior leadership role in the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force is at the center of growing political tension, with opposition leader Ralph Gonsalves labeling the plan entirely unacceptable and warning it will deepen what he calls systemic partisan infiltration of the national constabulary.

    National Security Minister St. Clair Leacock first made public Brenton Smith’s planned promotion as part of a broader reshuffle of the police force’s top command on Wednesday. Smith’s path to this anticipated senior appointment traces back to 2021, when he was one of hundreds of public sector workers terminated under Gonsalves’ Unity Labour Party (ULP) government, which enforced a COVID-19 vaccine mandate that removed unvaccinated public employees from their posts.

    After his dismissal, Smith stepped into a top partisan role, serving as general secretary of the then-opposition New Democratic Party (NDP). Following the NDP’s landslide general election victory on November 27, the new administration fulfilled a campaign pledge to reinstate all workers dismissed under the previous government’s vaccine mandate, restoring their full employment benefits. Smith returned to his role in the police force as part of this policy.

    What makes Smith’s planned promotion extraordinary is the size of the rank jump: instead of advancing sequentially through the traditional hierarchy of assistant superintendent and superintendent, he will move directly from his current rank of inspector to the senior position of assistant commissioner of police (ACP), skipping three intermediate ranks entirely. On Wednesday, Gonsalves addressed the plan during a caller segment on his popular weekly radio show *Morning Comrade*, broadcast on Star FM, after a listener cited Leacock’s announcement that Smith would also be tapped to lead critical human resources operations within the force.

    Gonsalves stressed that his criticism centers on institutional principle, not a personal attack on Smith. He emphasized that the proposed leap would be an unprecedented break from longstanding police protocol and fundamentally unfair to veteran officers who remained in service and climbed the ranks gradually while Smith left to pursue full-time partisan political activity.

    “I have no objection to him returning to his post — other workers dismissed under the mandate were reinstated, and that is the policy the new government put in place, that is their right,” Gonsalves said. “But there is no justification for moving him straight from inspector over multiple intermediate ranks directly to the ACP. You simply cannot skip assistant superintendent, superintendent, and all the intervening steps to land at a senior command post. I do not believe the public of this country will accept this unfair outcome lightly.”

    The opposition leader warned that if the promotion moves forward, it will trigger significant unrest both among the general public and within the rank-and-file of the police force. “Vincentians have a deeply held belief in fairness in public service,” he noted. “When the public sees an unfair appointment, they will speak up. And serving officers who have spent decades working their way up the ranks will also object to this. This decision will carry major repercussions, far-reaching repercussions.”

    Gonsalves called on the independent Police Service Commission (PSC), which holds formal authority to approve senior police appointments, to reject the plan, saying he would be gravely disappointed if the body endorsed the accelerated promotion. “I know the chairman and all members of the PSC personally, and I cannot imagine that, with proper legal and procedural advice, they would endorse such an irregular decision. This is fundamentally a question of merit and seniority. There are only four ACP posts in the force, and when vacancies open, appointments should go to officers who have worked their way up through the system, not to former political officials who just returned to the force.”

    Gonsalves drew a clear distinction between Smith’s proposed promotion and the planned elevation of two other senior officers, Trevor “Buju” Bailey and Dwayne Bailey, who are set to be promoted to deputy commissioner of police. He stated he holds the Bailey brothers in high professional regard, noting that their promotions follow traditional hierarchical advancement: Dwayne Bailey was promoted to superintendent by the PSC during the ULP administration, and Trevor Bailey already holds the ACP post, so his elevation to deputy falls well within normal procedural bounds.

    “The promotions for the Bailey brothers are completely reasonable and aligned with constitutional and regulatory frameworks, which outline the prime minister’s role in appointing commissioner and deputy commissioner posts,” Gonsalves explained. “Smith’s jump is on an entirely different footing — it combines an unprecedented accelerated promotion with recent full-time partisan political activity with the ruling party.”

    Gonsalves also questioned the procedural decision to have the sitting national security minister announce individual senior promotions, rather than releasing the announcement through the PSC, the body legally responsible for police personnel decisions. “I held the national security portfolio and oversaw the police force for years under the ULP government, and I have never seen a sitting minister personally announce individual promotions of this sort. This makes clear that the entire police force is now being politicized from the top down, after the NDP took office in November,” he added.

  • Bouva bespreekt economische samenwerking met Venezolaanse leiding

    Bouva bespreekt economische samenwerking met Venezolaanse leiding

    On a working visit to Venezuela, Melvin Bouva, Suriname’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Cooperation, held high-level talks with interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez focused on expanding and deepening diplomatic and economic ties between the two Caribbean-South American nations. The meeting, held in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, centered on boosting collaborative projects across a suite of strategic priority sectors, including energy, agriculture, fisheries, tourism, education, and capacity building for the oil and gas industry.

    Bouva’s visit was arranged at the invitation of his Venezuelan counterpart, and aligned with broader regional integration goals and the advancement of South-South cooperation, a framework that fosters knowledge and resource sharing among developing nations. Both delegations framed the Caracas meeting as a pivotal milestone in the ongoing development of bilateral relations between Suriname and Venezuela, with both sides confirming their commitment to expanding existing partnership frameworks and advancing joint projects that deliver mutual benefits to their populations and economies.

    Dialogue during the talks also addressed core regional priorities: the delegates emphasized the critical role of inclusive economic growth, expanded cross-border trade, and sustained regional stability for long-term development across the broader area. Both sides further underlined the urgent need for long-term sustainable cooperation across both the Caribbean region and the Amazon basin, two ecologically and economically vital areas shared by the two nations.

    During the discussions, Bouva reaffirmed Suriname’s commitment to deepening its partnership with Venezuela, noting that the two sides will work to turn diplomatic understandings into concrete agreements that drive shared economic growth, advance regional integration, and strengthen long-term sustainable diplomatic ties. Both Suriname and Venezuela concluded the meeting by reaffirming that open, constructive dialogue, mutual respect for national sovereignty, and strategic cross-border collaboration remain foundational to advancing shared interests across the South American region.

  • President Lai: Taiwan geeft zijn vrije en democratische levenswijze niet op onder druk

    President Lai: Taiwan geeft zijn vrije en democratische levenswijze niet op onder druk

    Fresh off high-stakes talks between U.S. and Chinese leaders that centered heavily on the Taiwan issue, Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te has issued a clear rebuke of mounting pressure from Beijing, pledging the island will never be forced to abandon its democratic system and sovereign status.

    In a social media post laying out his administration’s stance, Lai emphasized that Taiwan has no intention of provoking or escalating conflict across the Taiwan Strait. At the same time, he made clear the island will not sacrifice its national sovereignty, dignity, and free democratic way of life in the face of external coercion. Lai reiterated that Taiwan has long been a committed defender of the cross-strait status quo, and is not the party seeking to alter the current arrangement. He went so far as to name China as the fundamental source of regional instability in the area.

    Beijing has long claimed Taiwan as an integral part of its territory, and has repeatedly threatened to use military force to achieve unification if the island formally moves toward independence. The Taiwan question remained a core, contentious topic during the recent summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

    According to Chinese state media, Xi described the Taiwan issue as the single most sensitive core question in bilateral relations between Washington and Beijing. He warned that improper handling of the question could trigger severe conflict that would put the entire bilateral relationship at irreversible risk.

    While the United States has not formally recognized Taiwan as an independent sovereign state, successive U.S. administrations have maintained robust unofficial support for the island, including through billions of dollars in arms sales and consistent diplomatic statements that imply Washington would intervene to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.

    Following his closed-door summit with Xi, Trump told reporters that Xi holds extremely firm opposition to any move toward Taiwanese independence. The U.S. president, however, declined to commit to approving a new $11 billion arms sales package to Taiwan that has already cleared approval from the U.S. Congress. “I haven’t approved it yet. We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters.

    For his part, Lai framed U.S. security cooperation and arms deliveries to Taiwan as critical foundational elements for sustaining regional peace and stability. He argued that these commitments are not just a security guarantee from the U.S. to Taiwan, but also serve as the most effective deterrent to actions that would undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and broader Indo-Pacific region.

  • Special Envoy: ‘Make Sex Offenders Registry Public’

    Special Envoy: ‘Make Sex Offenders Registry Public’

    Amid a swell of public anger over recent sexual assault allegations involving influential figures in public trust positions, Rossana Briceño, a special envoy based in Belize, has reignited national debate over offender transparency by calling for the country’s existing closed sex offender registry to be opened to full public access.

    Briceño argues that no longer should convicted sex offenders – regardless of whether they hold positions of power as teachers, law enforcement officers, or other public-facing roles – be able to conceal their criminal histories behind the current restricted registry system. Her call to action centers on three core pillars: increased accountability for convicted offenders, greater governmental transparency around public safety data, and enhanced protective measures for vulnerable communities, particularly children.

    Currently, Belize maintains an internal registry of convicted sex offenders overseen jointly by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the national Police Department. Unlike systems in many other jurisdictions that allow public access, this database remains completely closed to general citizenry, with access limited exclusively to authorized law enforcement personnel and a small number of selected childcare institutions.

    Briceño emphasizes that the current policy of keeping offender identities hidden creates unnecessary danger for children. By opening the registry to the general public, she says, communities gain the most effective tool available to proactively protect their most vulnerable members and prevent future victimization.

    Briceño’s statement has sparked widespread discussion across social media platforms, with the vast majority of online commenters expressing clear support for the proposal. One supporter framed the demand as a critical public safety priority, noting “Yes, we need this, and we need the punishment so strong that others will think twice to hurt any of our children.”

    Even among commentators who back the push for a public registry, however, there have been calls for clearer policy details. Many have pressed for clarification on practical implementation questions, including whether new geographic restrictions will be put in place to bar offenders from living within set distances of schools, daycare centers and other child-focused facilities, as well as how user-friendly and widely accessible the public database will be for ordinary citizens.

  • ‘A wicked act’, says Brown Burke after AG flags slow use of hurricane funds

    ‘A wicked act’, says Brown Burke after AG flags slow use of hurricane funds

    KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s main opposition party has launched a scathing rebuke of the national government after a damning auditor general report revealed that just a tiny fraction of donated hurricane relief funds have actually been deployed to support affected communities. As of February 23, 2026, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) had only spent $26.2 million of the $1.44 billion raised in donations following the catastrophic Category 5 Hurricane Melissa — that equals less than 2% of the total pledged funds. The opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has labeled this gross under-spending a deliberate “wicked act” against vulnerable Jamaican households still reeling from the storm’s destruction.

    Addressing reporters at a PNP press briefing on Monday, Dr. Angela Brown Burke, the party’s spokesperson on Social Protection and Social Transformation, emphasized that the slow disbursement of critical relief resources is particularly unacceptable given the unprecedented scale of damage Hurricane Melissa left in its wake.

    “Most Jamaicans have not forgotten just how extensive the harm from this storm was. Late last year, the Red Cross calculated that more than 156,000 residential properties suffered damage, and close to 90,000 families were directly impacted by the hurricane,” Brown Burke told journalists.

    “Even if every dollar donated had been put to use immediately, there would still have been an unmet gap in support for affected families. That makes it all the more outrageous that $1.44 billion in relief is sitting untouched with no clear plan to get it to the people who need it. This is nothing short of a wicked act against our most vulnerable citizens,” she added.

    The shadow cabinet minister went on to stress that all donations were earmarked explicitly for delivering urgent shelter and life-saving assistance to survivors of the storm. In her view, the auditor general’s independent review lays bare deep, systemic failures in governance, financial oversight, and public accountability across the entire national hurricane relief program.

    “The findings are damning: millions of dollars in funds and critical relief supplies cannot be independently traced or verified, and the Jamaican citizens who need support most are left completely without protection,” Brown Burke said.

    The real-time audit of the Hurricane Melissa Relief Initiative, which also reviewed financial management and procurement processes under the government’s flagship Roof Restoration Programme (ROOF), uncovered a host of additional accounting irregularities. Audit investigators found that $34 million worth of roofing materials earmarked for home repairs cannot be properly accounted for, due to widespread missing signed delivery slips and official goods received notes. On top of that, more than $141.1 million in recorded committed expenditure has no supporting, verified payment documentation on file.

    Brown Burke has issued a series of clear demands to the ruling government to address the audit’s findings, starting with full public transparency. She is calling on authorities to publish a complete, detailed list of all ROOF programme beneficiaries, including parish-level breakdowns of recipients and clear documentation of the eligibility criteria used to select which households receive support.

    “We also require independent, third-party verification of all completed home repair work that the government has reported. That is non-negotiable. We are already hearing reports of discrepancies: homeowners who repaired their own properties using a mix of personal savings and limited government assistance check their parish office records, only to find the work is incorrectly listed as completed by the Jamaica Defence Force. These inconsistencies need to be sorted out immediately for the public to trust this process,” Brown Burke explained.

    She also called on government agencies to extend greater dignity and respect to Jamaican families that have been forced to stay in emergency shelters after their homes were destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Melissa. Closing her remarks, Brown Burke urged the ruling administration to prioritize the needs of storm survivors.

    “I am calling on the Government to find its conscience, and commit to doing better by the Jamaican people who rely on this support,” she said.

  • Hylton calls on gov’t to provide immediate update on hurricane-donated goods

    Hylton calls on gov’t to provide immediate update on hurricane-donated goods

    KINGSTON, JAMAICA – Jamaica’s main opposition figure for trade, industry and global logistics, Anthony Hylton, has issued an urgent demand for the national government to publicly disclose full details of uncollected hurricane relief goods currently held in storage at the country’s ports and cargo terminals. Hylton’s call for accountability comes on the heels of a damning report from the Auditor General’s Department, formally presented to Jamaica’s Parliament last Tuesday, that laid bare major gaps in disaster relief management following Hurricane Melissa.

    The audit’s findings paint a striking picture of mismanagement: by February 23, 2026, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) had received a total of JMD 1.44 billion in donations earmarked for survivors of Hurricane Melissa, but had only allocated and spent JMD 26.2 million – a mere 1.8 percent of the total funds committed to relief efforts. Further audit data revealed that as of the same cutoff date, ODPEM retained roughly JMD 569.6 million and USD 5.9 million in active hurricane donation accounts. Alarmingly, this balance includes unspent funds carried over from prior Hurricane Beryl relief operations: JMD 138.8 million and USD 101,974 that had gone unused even before fundraising for Hurricane Melissa launched.

    Speaking at a press conference hosted by the People’s National Party (PNP) on Monday, Hylton warned that the botched handling of international donations risks long-term harm to Jamaica’s global standing. “When Hurricane Melissa hit, Jamaica rightfully appealed to the global community for urgent support, and we received that generosity. But instead of delivering that aid to the people who needed it, we have trapped those donations and put donors through a prolonged bureaucratic and financial nightmare,” Hylton explained. “This does lasting reputational damage that goes far beyond our borders, and it erodes the trust that future donors will have in Jamaica’s ability to manage international assistance effectively.”

    Hylton emphasized that small local Jamaican businesses and diaspora-led humanitarian groups – which moved quickly to mobilize and ship critical supplies in the immediate aftermath of the storm – are among the hardest hit by the delays. Many of these organizations lack the deep financial reserves to cover months of unexpected storage fees at port facilities, and few have the legal expertise to resolve contractual disputes with freight and logistics operators over the held goods, he added.

    Beyond the immediate call for transparency, Hylton laid out three key demands from the Opposition. First, the government must immediately publish a full public accounting of all donated goods that remain uncollected in storage or have been abandoned at Jamaican ports and cargo facilities, including a full accounting of any perishable goods that spoiled in storage and were ultimately disposed of in landfills. Second, Hylton called for the creation of a targeted relief program that will either waive accumulated storage fees charged to donors or fully reimburse those who have already paid the costs. Finally, the Opposition is demanding that the government draft and publish a formal, comprehensive disaster response protocol ahead of the start of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season. This protocol must cover end-to-end processes for customs clearance, port handling, cold chain storage for perishable supplies and medical products, and coordinated partnerships with freight operators to prevent a repeat of the post-Melissa mismanagement, Hylton said.