Carib Scope

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  • Cave Hill campus remembers Daquan Roberts

    Cave Hill campus remembers Daquan Roberts

    On a quiet, somber Saturday at the Cave Hill campus of The University of the West Indies, the air hung heavy with unspeakable sorrow as faculty, staff and fellow students came together for a moving walk and vigil to honor Daquan Roberts, a promising law student whose life was cut short in a recent fatal shooting.

    The pain of the loss was palpable across every corner of the gathering, reaching its most raw and heart-wrenching moment when Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Law Dr. Ronnie Yearwood delivered a tribute that left him overcome with emotion. Struggling to steady his voice through tears, Dr. Yearwood reflected on the cruel turn of fate that flipped what should have been a joyful milestone for the law school into a period of devastating collective mourning.

    “This year was supposed to be a celebration — of life, of our students, of the graduation of a new cohort,” he said, his frame visibly shaken by grief. “For every educator who walks this campus, our students are not just names on a class roster. They are people we grow to care for deeply; over time, they become extensions of our own families, as much our children as the ones we raise at home.”

    Dr. Yearwood went on to speak to the one-of-a-kind, unbreakable bond that forms between legal educators and the students they mentor. The Faculty of Law, he explained, does not merely teach statutes and case law — its core mission is to nurture young minds and guide the next generation of legal leaders to live out core values of justice and integrity. That close, nurturing work, he said, makes this senseless loss cut even deeper, leaving the entire department fractured on a deeply personal level.

    “I truly do not have the words to capture how sad and broken I feel, how broken all of us are here,” he said. “As a father to a son myself, I cannot begin to fathom the agony that Daquan’s family is carrying right now. I am so, so, so sorry for your unbearable loss.”

    For the entire duration of the remembrance event, that heavy, muted grief hung over the entire campus. Even senior faculty leadership, accustomed to stepping forward to steady the community in difficult times, struggled to find language that could match the depth of loss shared by every member of the UWI Cave Hill family.

  • Labour Queen Contestant Tonya Phillips Leads Roadwork and Outreach Project in St. John’s Rural South

    Labour Queen Contestant Tonya Phillips Leads Roadwork and Outreach Project in St. John’s Rural South

    Against the backdrop of the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party Queen Pageant, a unique community-focused framework has redefined what it means to compete: instead of centering only on cultural display and performance, contestants are challenged to deliver meaningful, tangible change to their home constituencies through dedicated service projects. Leading this charge for the St. John’s Rural South district is contestant Tonya Phillips, whose work spans critical infrastructure upgrades, youth empowerment, and care for the constituency’s most isolated vulnerable residents.

    Organized under the pageant’s Queens Committee, the mandatory community project requirement is rooted in a clear mission: to push contestants beyond traditional pageant activities and encourage them to give back to the communities that support their candidacies. For Phillips, this mission has translated into hands-on involvement across three key priority areas that directly address local needs.

    Her first major contribution ties into ongoing infrastructure improvements across St. John’s Rural South, where she has partnered directly with Daryll Matthew, the constituency’s Member of Parliament, to advance ongoing road rehabilitation works. Phillips has framed her approach to community service as rooted in on-the-ground participation rather than distant planning, and her work on the road improvement project embodies that commitment, bringing direct, visible benefit to local residents who have long relied on the upgraded thoroughfares.

    Beyond concrete infrastructure upgrades, Phillips has prioritized investing in the district’s younger generation through sustained engagement with local recreational and sports programming. She has maintained a consistent public presence at community sporting events, most notably throwing her support behind the Ottos local basketball team. Organizers of the pageant initiative note that this focused involvement is intended to boost youth participation in organized activities, lift team morale, and give young residents a visible role model to encourage their ongoing engagement with community life.

    Phillips’ outreach does not stop at public projects and youth work; she has also prioritized care for some of the constituency’s most overlooked residents: shut-ins who are unable to leave their homes unassisted. She makes regular visits to these community members, spending one-on-one time checking in on their needs, offering companionship, and connecting them with any additional support they may require.

    Pageant committee leaders explain that the “Queens with a Purpose” initiative was developed to reposition the annual event as a platform for growing leadership, rather than just a cultural showcase. The program is intentionally designed to foster key leadership and collaboration skills among young women contestants while encouraging them to take active ownership of local community development. Phillips’ multi-pronged project serves as a leading example of how the initiative is turning that goal into action, bringing immediate benefit to St. John’s Rural South while building the foundation for long-term youth leadership across Antigua and Barbuda.

  • Slain law student to receive posthumous degree

    Slain law student to receive posthumous degree

    The Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies has launched formal procedures to grant a posthumous Bachelor of Laws degree to Daquan Roberts, a high-potential third-year law student whose life was abruptly ended by a recent outbreak of gun violence. The landmark decision was publicly announced by Deputy Principal Professor Winston Moore during an on-campus vigil and memorial walk held Saturday, an event organized to celebrate the short but meaningful life Roberts built during his time at the institution.

    Speaking on behalf of the university’s principal to a crowd of mourning relatives, teaching staff and fellow students, Professor Moore acknowledged that the entire campus community has been left reeling by an incident of this magnitude, even as the university’s core mission remains centered on nurturing the next generation and building brighter futures for its students.

    “Daquan came to this institution to earn this degree through years of consistent effort, unwavering dedication and personal sacrifice,” Professor Moore told attendees. “We hope this honor can bring a small degree of comfort to his family, as they take solace in knowing that his academic journey here has been fully recognized and celebrated by our institution.”

    Beyond being just a name on the university’s student registry, Roberts is remembered by the campus community as a deeply committed scholar who entered the legal field with the goal of advancing equal justice for all. Professor Moore called the young student’s death a senseless, horrific tragedy, noting that while the Cave Hill Campus has never experienced a loss of this kind in its history, deadly gun violence has become a depressingly normalized crisis across the broader regional society.

    “Gun violence does not merely end a single life—it steals an entire future,” Professor Moore emphasized. “It robs our community of a son, a friend, a classmate, and a future attorney who could one day have stood in a courtroom to advocate for those who had no other voice to speak for them.”

    In closing, the Deputy Principal challenged the entire university community to turn its shared sorrow into determined action. He called on all attendees to speak out loudly against the ongoing wave of violence that is cutting short the lives of young people across the region, and to work toward creating safer learning environments where all students can pursue their education free from fear. The event concluded with a formal commitment from the university: the institution will stand in unwavering solidarity with the Roberts family in the years ahead, and will ensure Daquan’s legacy remains a permanent, honored part of the Cave Hill Campus’ history.

  • Killings fall, fear rises

    Killings fall, fear rises

    For years, violent crime has stood as one of the most pressing and destabilizing challenges facing Trinidad and Tobago, eroding public confidence and placing immense strain on government resources. A decades-long upward trajectory in homicides has turned the issue into the defining political flashpoint for the nation’s major parties, with campaign promises around public safety shaping recent electoral outcomes.

    Leading up to the April 28, 2025 general election, the United National Congress (UNC) made national safety a central pillar of its campaign, tapping into widespread public frustration over the surge in murders that unfolded over the 10-year tenure of the preceding People’s National Movement (PNM) government. Now, one year into the UNC’s term, new crime data offers a mixed picture: while overall homicides have dropped to their lowest level in 15 years, violent crime remains a persistent reality for communities across the country.

    Since the UNC won power in 2025, the nation has recorded 353 murders through late April 2026. As of April 24 this year, 111 homicides have been registered, compared to 127 murders on the same date in 2025. By the end of 2025, the full annual murder toll hit 367 — a figure that aligns closely with the 355 murders recorded in the PNM’s first year in office after its 2000 election win. But when placed in the context of long-term trends, the 2025 number marks a dramatic reversal:

    Historical data shows the national murder toll climbed steadily from 354 in 2011 to an all-time record of 626 in 2024, the final full year of PNM rule. That 2024 toll included the deaths of more than 40 women and 10 children, pushing public anger to a breaking point. The 2025 drop to 367 represents the lowest annual homicide count recorded in the nation since 2011.

    Firearms remain the dominant weapon in homicides, responsible for more than 80% of all killings. The widespread availability of high-powered weapons has also driven a pattern of multiple-victim attacks: between 2025 and early 2026, there have been at least 94 incidents with multiple casualties, including 33 double homicides, 8 triple homicides, 4 quadruple homicides and 2 quintuple homicides.

    To address the escalating gang violence that drove the 2024 murder peak, successive governments have turned to states of emergency (SoEs) as a core crime-fighting tool. During the PNM’s first term, COVID-19 public health restrictions — including stay-at-home orders, border closures and business shutdowns — acted as de facto movement limits before a full SoE was declared in 2021 amid a pandemic surge. As pandemic restrictions lifted, homicide rates climbed steadily back to the 2024 record, prompting the PNM to call its first anti-crime SoE in December 2024, which ran through April 2025.

    Since taking office, the UNC government led by Kamla Persad-Bissessar has declared two additional SoEs. The first, launched in July 2025, targeted violent criminal networks operating within the national prison system and remained in place until the end of January 2026. The current active SoE, declared on March 2, 2026, was implemented in response to rising organized gang activity and direct threats against law enforcement and protective services.

    Despite the controversial nature of emergency measures, early data suggests the strategy is delivering measurable results. Beyond the 2025 annual drop in homicides, projections for 2026 point to further reductions, with current estimates putting the full-year murder toll around 355 — matching the PNM’s first-year figure and continuing the downward trend from the 2024 peak. This decline is also visible across other categories of serious crime:

    Trinidad and Tobago Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro recently reported that serious reported crimes (SRCs) have dropped 30% year-over-year, falling from 3,413 incidents in the first four months of 2025 to 2,397 over the same period in 2026. Guevarro noted that all policing divisions across the country have recorded reductions, ranging from 32% to 55% compared to last year.

    In remarks to the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Westmoorings, Guevarro pushed back against widespread public anxiety over crime, arguing that public fear is being amplified by political and special interests with their own agendas. He warned that unfounded fear distorts public behavior, raises operational costs for local businesses, discourages foreign and domestic investment, and erodes public confidence in government and law enforcement.

    Guevarro also defended the ongoing state of emergency, emphasizing that the measure is not designed to restrict the lives of law-abiding citizens or hinder legitimate business activity. Instead, he said, emergency powers are targeted exclusively at violent actors and organized criminal networks. Over the first 42 days of the current SoE alone, police conducted more than 3,500 targeted enforcement operations, made over 1,500 arrests, and filed 340 criminal charges. Guevarro framed these actions as evidence of consistent, aggressive disruption of criminal activity, adding that while violent crime remains a real challenge, widespread public fear is often disconnected from the improving statistical reality.

  • A trough will generate downpours and thunderstorms across much of the country this Sunday.

    A trough will generate downpours and thunderstorms across much of the country this Sunday.

    On Sunday, the Dominican Institute of Meteorology (Indomet) issued an official update warning that a low-pressure trough will shape nationwide weather conditions, bringing a period of widespread rain that will ramp up through the day and stick around for the coming days.

    The wet weather is set to kick off in the early pre-dawn hours, with gradual building cloud cover and scattered light to moderate showers moving across the northwestern portion of the country by morning. Meteorologists specifically flagged Santiago Rodríguez, Montecristi, and Puerto Plata as the first provinces to see measurable rainfall as the system moves into the country.

    By mid-afternoon, conditions will worsen thanks to a combination of the existing trough and daytime atmospheric warming, which will supercharge cloud development and precipitation. Forecast models call for widespread thick cloud cover, followed by moderate to heavy downpours, rolling thunderstorms, and sudden gusty winds that will last into the early evening. A long list of provinces across the north and border regions are in the highest-risk zone, including Hato Mayor, Monte Plata, Sánchez Ramírez, Duarte, Hermanas Mirabal, María Trinidad Sánchez, and Espaillat.

    In response to the projected severe weather, Indomet’s National Forecast Center has issued formal weather advisories and alerts across multiple at-risk provinces. The main hazards highlighted are urban flooding, rapid rises in river and stream water levels, and an elevated risk of landslides in vulnerable terrain.

    For the Greater Santo Domingo area, forecasters predict mostly scattered cloud cover through most of the day, though they note that occasional thicker cloud formation and unexpected passing showers can not be completely ruled out. Across the entire country, temperatures will remain unseasonably hot despite the cloud cover and rain, with overnight lows ranging from 22°C to 23°C and daytime highs reaching between 29°C and 31°C.

    Indomet stressed that the weather pattern driven by the trough will not move on after Sunday, and that similar conditions – most notably afternoon rain and thunderstorms – will persist over the coming days. The agency has urged the general public to remain vigilant, keep updated with the latest official weather bulletins, and follow any safety guidance issued by local emergency management authorities.

  • 37th Session of the Sectoral and Thematic Table on Social Protection in Haiti

    37th Session of the Sectoral and Thematic Table on Social Protection in Haiti

    Amid ongoing efforts to build a more inclusive and coordinated support system for vulnerable populations across Haiti, the country’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MAST) has brought together key sector stakeholders for the 37th gathering of its high-level Sectoral and Thematic Table on Social Protection (TSPS). Organized by MAST’s internal Studies and Programming Unit (UEP), the hybrid event, held both in-person at Port-au-Prince’s Montana Hotel and accessible to global participants via live videoconference, opened this week with a clear core mandate: strengthen institutional and multi-partnership coordination to address longstanding gaps in Haiti’s social protection ecosystem.

    In his formal opening address to attendees, Social Affairs Minister Marc-Elie Nelson centered his remarks on the critical role of Haiti’s National Policy on Social Protection and Promotion, framing the framework as a foundational strategic asset for MAST’s work. He explained that the recurring TSPS sessions serve a unique purpose in the sector: creating a structured space for cross-stakeholder dialogue, breaking down silos that have historically fragmented social protection interventions, and unifying diverse actors around aligned, collective action.

    “It is non-negotiable that every intervention, whether led directly by the Haitian state or implemented by our technical and financial partners, aligns fully with this national framework and contributes to its coherent rollout,” Nelson stated. He went on to reaffirm MAST’s unwavering commitment to sustaining collaborative partnerships, upholding alignment with national development priorities, ensuring intervention coherence, and leveraging complementary strengths across all participating organizations.

    Marie Hérolle Michel, Director General of MAST, followed the minister’s remarks by praising the consistent engagement and proactive energy of all stakeholders working to advance social protection across Haiti. She called for deeper cohesion and targeted collaboration to deliver tangible, practical results that directly improve the lives of Haitian citizens. “A cohesive national social protection system starts with cohesion right here within the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor,” Michel emphasized, underscoring the importance of internal alignment to set an example for external partners.

    The 37th TSPS session featured a structured agenda focused on progress tracking and future planning. Attendees heard a joint presentation on the Social Protection and Employment Accelerator Joint Project from leads Sergot Jacob and Thomas Debrouwer. Barbara Canton and Jonès Pyram delivered a comprehensive overview of key progress and achievements delivered through the TSPS framework over the preceding term. Claudy Louis, the TSPS Focal Point, walked attendees through the newly revised Terms of Reference for the roundtable, updating operational guidelines to reflect evolving sector needs. Finally, Lucny Cadet, Coordinator of MAST’s UEP, presented a formal action plan designed to revitalize the TSPS mechanism and expand its impact moving forward.

  • Training project in Haiti targeting 5,000 young people from high-risk neighborhoods

    Training project in Haiti targeting 5,000 young people from high-risk neighborhoods

    In a landmark bilateral cooperation gathering held on April 23, 2026, Haitian and Brazilian institutional stakeholders came together to advance two transformative initiatives focused on youth empowerment and community stabilization amid Haiti’s ongoing security challenges. The meeting brought together technical representatives from Haiti’s Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Civic Action (MJSAC), Brazil’s leading community security organization Viva Rio, and the Brazil-Haiti Cultural Center, all aligned around a shared goal of expanding opportunity for vulnerable young Haitians.

    At the core of the talks was the unveiling of an ambitious large-scale training project that aims to reach 5,000 young people residing in some of Haiti’s most high-risk urban neighborhoods. Designed to disrupt the cycle of violence that has drawn many disconnected youth into armed groups, the initiative frames skills training and mentorship as a concrete, life-changing alternative to recruitment by violent factions. Organizers have structured the project around a holistic model of prevention, one-on-one mentorship, and socio-community integration, seeking to reconnect marginalized youth to local support systems and economic opportunity.

    During discussions, stakeholders prioritized two neighborhoods for early intervention: Solino and Fort-Jacques. Both areas have been flagged as facing acute gaps in youth development resources, making them critical starting points for the initiative’s outreach and programming.

    Beyond the youth training project, MJSAC also presented a long-term strategic vision to its Brazilian partners: the “Sport Vision 2030” initiative. This multi-year plan centers on expanding access to quality sports infrastructure across Haiti and nurturing emerging athletic talent through inter-school championship programs. Backers say the project will create structured pathways to identify, mentor, and elevate a new generation of Haitian competitive athletes, while also using sports as a tool to build community cohesion and keep young people engaged in positive activities.

    The joint planning meeting marks a key step forward in bilateral cooperation between Haiti and Brazil, with both sides framing youth investment as a foundational strategy for long-term peace and development in the Caribbean nation.

  • Tragedy strikes San Gerónimo: elderly man dies after being hit by a motorcyclist

    Tragedy strikes San Gerónimo: elderly man dies after being hit by a motorcyclist

    Residents of the San Gerónimo neighborhood in Santo Domingo’s National District are reeling from a preventable fatal traffic incident that claimed the life of a beloved local elder just weeks shy of his 90th birthday. Leslis Santana, 89, died Thursday afternoon after being struck by a motorcyclist while crossing Núñez de Cáceres avenue, a tragedy that was fully captured on nearby security camera footage.

    Witness accounts confirm that Santana had been returning home from a routine grocery run at a neighborhood supermarket when the collision unfolded. Multiple motorcyclists traveling along the route had already slowed and stopped to grant the elderly pedestrian right of way to cross safely. But a separate motorcyclist, ignoring basic road safety rules, attempted a reckless overtake of the stopped vehicles with no advance warning or caution, directly striking Santana before any evasive action could be taken.

    For the tight-knit San Gerónimo community and Santana’s family, the loss cuts especially deep. Santana was just two months away from celebrating his 90th birthday in July, and neighbors and loved ones remembered him as an active, independent, and exemplary member of the neighborhood who maintained his vibrancy late into life.

    In the wake of the crash, Santana’s relatives have framed the incident not as an unavoidable accident, but as a deadly consequence of widespread reckless driving and a lack of respect for pedestrian safety. “This is an irreparable loss caused by a lack of road safety awareness. It wasn’t a simple accident, but the result of the irresponsibility of those who don’t respect the lives of pedestrians,” a family member stated.

    The Santana family has issued a formal demand for a full, transparent investigation into the collision, calling for full legal accountability for the motorcyclist responsible for the death of their loved one.

  • Young Man Charged with Murder

    Young Man Charged with Murder

    Nearly a week of investigative work has led Belizean law enforcement to an arrest in the killing of 19-year-old Jamir Cambranes, whose body was discovered on Boom/Hattieville Road earlier this month. On Thursday, officials charged 19-year-old Kenrick Lindbergh Robinson, a Belize City-based construction worker, with Cambranes’ murder, closing the first major phase of the case that has added to growing community anxiety over a string of recent youth killings in the area.

    The timeline of Cambranes’ disappearance began on the night of Tuesday, April 21, when he left his Euphrates Avenue residence on his bicycle to meet two unknown associates who were traveling in a silver Chevy Equinox, according to family accounts. In a move his uncle later noted was unusual for the 19-year-old, Cambranes shared his real-time location with his girlfriend before losing contact. For hours, repeated calls and text messages to Cambranes went unanswered, and when his girlfriend observed that his location had not changed for an extended period, she alerted his brother, who immediately mounted a search on his motorcycle. It was that search that led to the grim discovery of Cambranes’ body.

    Cambranes’ killing is the latest in a disturbing pattern of disappearances and deaths of young men that have shaken the Belize City community in recent weeks, leaving residents on edge and calling for greater public safety action to curb the rising violence targeting local youth.

  • Motivatiedag in Para moet examenleerlingen extra boost geven

    Motivatiedag in Para moet examenleerlingen extra boost geven

    On a recent Friday, the Para chapter of Lions Club, a global community service organization, organized a dedicated motivation day to support final-year secondary students from across the Para district’s VOJ secondary school network, ahead of their upcoming graduation exams. The full-day event was hosted at the assembly hall of the Emiel Briel Stadium in Lelydorp, a city in northern Suriname, and built on the success of the initiative’s first launch during the 2024/2025 academic year.

    Roughly 130 students from three local secondary schools — Mulo Onverwacht, Mulo Onverdacht, and Mulo Paranam — participated in the 2026 event. Organizers provided free bus transportation to and from the venue for all attending students, removing logistical barriers for young people looking to take part. The core of the day was an intensive, hands-on and interactive training session led by Michael Watson, a representative from the Surinamese education non-profit Stichting KIME. During the session, students learned practical, actionable strategies to strengthen their exam preparation, including how to set clear academic goals, adopt time-efficient study methods, build a consistent, personalized study schedule, and manage stress ahead of high-stakes testing.

    In remarks to participants and organizers, Lions Club Para president Melvin Mackintosh explained that the motivation day is part of the organization’s long-standing commitment to expanding educational opportunity for students in the Para district. For nearly 20 years, the club has run a separate school recognition program that honors the highest-achieving graduating students from both VOJ and LBO secondary schools across the region. Mackintosh noted that students in rural and suburban districts like Para often face structural barriers and fewer access to academic support resources than their peers in more urbanized areas, making community-led initiatives like this particularly important.

    “This event is meant to give students that extra push they need to not only pass their exams, but to rise and rank among the top performers in their cohort,” Mackintosh said. While all Mulo secondary schools in the Para district received invitations to the 2026 motivation day, two schools were unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts with their scheduled mid-term (SO) assessment period. Organizers have already noted that they plan to continue the annual initiative in coming academic years, to expand support for more pre-exam students across the district.