Carib Scope

分类： society

  • VIDEO: Effects of flooding from heavy rain in some areas of Dominica’s east coast

    VIDEO: Effects of flooding from heavy rain in some areas of Dominica’s east coast

    A severe bout of heavy rainfall has swept across Dominica’s eastern coast, triggering destructive flooding that has left significant damage in multiple communities across the island region. Local news outlet Dominican News Online has published a collection of firsthand visual materials—including user-submitted and on-the-ground videos and photographs—that document the widespread impact of the extreme weather event across four affected districts.

    The hardest-hit locations confirmed so far include Concord, Deux Branches, and the Dam neighborhood of Marigot, each of which has seen floodwaters inundate residential and public spaces, per the visual evidence shared. Two additional videos captured in the Antrizzle area of Atkinson further illustrate the scope of the flooding, showing rising water levels and disrupted daily life for local residents. As of the publication of this initial report, no official updates on casualties or full estimations of total property damage have been released to the public. Emergency response teams are expected to begin conducting damage assessments across the affected coastal areas as soon as floodwaters begin to recede.

  • Shot dead at home: Family alleges “execution” by police

    Shot dead at home: Family alleges “execution” by police

    In the quiet neighborhood of Old Train Line in Corinth, a early-morning police response to a reported altercation has left a community in mourning and sparked urgent questions about the appropriate use of deadly force by law enforcement. Early Sunday morning, 45-year-old laborer Shivnath Jogie was fatally shot by officers inside his own residence, and pronounced dead shortly after arriving at San Fernando General Hospital.

    According to initial official accounts from police, the team was dispatched to Jogie’s property around 1:30 a.m. to probe a report that Jogie had attacked a neighbor with a cutlass, inflicting chop wounds, during a dispute on his own land. During what police describe as a confrontation with the suspect, officers opened fire, striking Jogie. He was immediately transported to the regional hospital for emergency care, but medical staff were unable to save him.

    However, Jogie’s family and neighbors have rejected the official narrative, pushing back hard on the circumstances that led to his death, and alleging that the encounter escalated unnecessarily and unjustly ended an innocent man’s life. Britney Francis, a relative of Jogie, has openly questioned why law enforcement resorted to lethal force when they arrived only to investigate a reported incident. Francis clarified that the incident prompting the visit was a dispute between Jogie and another resident on the street earlier that evening.

    Francis has also raised a critical legal question rooted in Trinidad and Tobago’s 2025 Home Invasion (Self-Defence and Defence of Property) Act, popularly referred to as the nation’s “Stand Your Ground” legislation. The law explicitly grants people on their own property the legal right to defend themselves without a duty to retreat, and permits the use of reasonable force — including lethal force — when a person reasonably believes it is necessary to protect their life or property from criminal harm. Francis questioned whether Jogie was within his legal rights to act in self-defense if he perceived a threat to his property.

    In blunt terms, Francis described the shooting as an extrajudicial killing: “This was an execution. It was a straight shot to his face. If the police did their job properly, he might not have been dead today. They shot him in his face, a single gunshot wound.”

    By Sunday morning, dozens of neighbors had gathered near Jogie’s home to express solidarity with his family and back their calls for a full, independent probe of the officers’ actions. One witness to the confrontation called the shooting a heartless, cruel injustice and a fundamental failure of policing. “It was traumatising to see someone getting killed in their own home for defending themselves,” the neighbor said.

    Another long-time resident who has known Jogie since childhood described the fatal shooting as “unjust,” pushing back against any implication that Jogie was a habitually violent person. “I grew up with him and when he drink alcohol, he would talk plenty. He was not a violent guy at all, he didn’t keep no grudges. He was a good fella,” the resident said. “This is the first time that we have experienced something like this in his district. We want a proper investigation.”

    In addition to calling for a full investigation, Francis also urged policy change, saying that mandatory body camera use for all police officers should be required to add transparency and accountability to law enforcement interactions. The community remains united in its demand that every detail of the shooting be brought to light to deliver justice for Jogie.

  • Shark Sighting at Ffryes Beach Prompts Swimmers to Exit Water

    Shark Sighting at Ffryes Beach Prompts Swimmers to Exit Water

    On a sunny Sunday at Ffryes Beach, a routine day of sunbathing and swimming was interrupted by an unexpected visitor: a shark spotted swimming just off the shoreline. The sighting triggered immediate alarm among the crowd of beachgoers, with many swimmers hurrying to scramble out of the shallow water while curious onlookers pulled back to safer distances to observe the rare marine visitor.

    Witnesses on the sand described the shark moving slowly through the water, lingering just beyond the breaking waves of the shallow near-shore zone. Several bystanders pulled out their phones to capture video and photos of the uncommon encounter, while also calling out warnings to swimmers who had ventured further from shore to alert them of the potential danger.

    In the end, the encounter ended without harm to any beachgoer or the shark itself. No injuries were reported among the crowd, and after several minutes of slowly cruising the offshore area, the animal turned and swam back out into deeper open water with no further interaction.

    Local marine officials note that while shark sightings in the waters near Ffryes Beach are an extremely rare occurrence, they are not impossible. Experts explain that such encounters are most likely to happen in areas where large schools of fish draw sharks closer to shore in search of prey. For beachgoers who spot a shark near the coast, standard safety guidance from authorities urges people to avoid panicking or making sudden movements, and to exit the water slowly and carefully to avoid escalating any risk.

  • Flood warnings due to heavy rainfall, extended for Dominica’s coasts

    Flood warnings due to heavy rainfall, extended for Dominica’s coasts

    The Caribbean island of Dominica remains under active flood warnings for both its eastern and western coastlines, government officials have confirmed, as an extended period of heavy rain continues to pummel the region and raise flood risks across the island.

    National Security Minister Rayburn Blackmoore has appealed to residents to maintain both calm and caution amid the ongoing weather event. In his address to the public, he noted that while meteorological conditions are entirely outside of human control, individuals can mitigate their personal risk by making intentional choices about their movements and keeping a level head. He also issued a warning against the spread of unvetted, alarming imagery across social media platforms, pointing out that many Dominicans still carry trauma from past devastating weather events including Tropical Storm Erika in 2015 and Hurricane Maria in 2017, and that sensationalized content can cause unnecessary widespread panic.

    According to Blackmoore, all national emergency response systems have been fully activated to coordinate preparations and relief efforts. Disaster management teams, fire service personnel, and public works crews have already been deployed to at-risk regions across the island. “All the systems are in place in terms of response, and preliminary damage assessments are already underway for areas that have been impacted. We are fully prepared to move forward with relief and recovery as soon as conditions allow,” he said, adding a critical note that first responders must prioritize their own safety while working to evacuate and support vulnerable community members.

    Senior Meteorological Officer Marshall Alexander provided updated rainfall data, confirming that accumulations on the island’s eastern coast have already surpassed 200 millimeters (8 inches), while western coast areas have recorded more than 50 millimeters (2 inches) of rain. In response to the rising water levels, the national meteorological service upgraded the existing flood watch for the western coast to a full flood warning, and extended both coasts’ warnings through 6 p.m. local time on the day of the announcement.

    Alexander explained that the persistent bad weather is being driven by a slow-moving trough system parked over the region, which will continue to bring moderate to heavy showers and thunderstorms to the island over the coming hours. He added that widespread flooding is now considered a likely outcome on both coasts as saturated ground struggles to absorb additional rainfall.

    Authorities are maintaining round-the-clock monitoring of weather conditions, river levels, and flood risk across Dominica. They have issued specific guidance for high-risk groups including farmers, fishermen, and daily commuters, urging all residents to stay alert to changing conditions and follow all official safety advisories.

  • Man dies from gunshot wound opposite Baroombar

    Man dies from gunshot wound opposite Baroombar

    A violent public altercation in Georgetown has ended in a fatal shooting, leaving one man dead and local law enforcement searching for the suspect, Guyana’s police confirmed in an update on Sunday, 26 April 2026. The confrontation unfolded shortly before 8 a.m. along North Road, directly across from the popular Baroombar Club, when an unprovoked attack turned deadly. According to initial police accounts, the victim, a dreadlocked man whose personal details have not been released to the public as of Sunday morning, initiated the conflict. The still-unidentified suspect had been urinating on the northern curb of North Road when the victim walked over from his nearby position and struck the suspect a hard blow to the head. What followed was a rapid escalation of violence that ultimately claimed the victim’s life. After being struck, the suspect retrieved a small handgun from a side bag he was carrying. He aimed the weapon at the victim and pulled the trigger twice, but the gun failed to fire on both attempts. Rather than de-escalate, the suspect then began beating the victim about the head with the handgun itself, striking him twice and knocking the man to the pavement. As the victim lay on the ground, the suspect hit him a third time with the weapon — and that is when a shot discharged. The bullet struck the victim in the head, killing him almost instantly. Following the fatal shot, the suspect calmly returned the gun to his side bag, then fled the scene on foot, heading west along North Road, leaving the victim motionless in the roadway. Members of the public contacted police to report the incident shortly after the shooting. Responding officers summoned emergency medical personnel, who arrived and pronounced the victim dead at the scene. A close examination of the scene confirmed a single entry gunshot wound on the right side of the victim’s head. As of the latest update Sunday afternoon, investigators have not released any additional details about the suspect’s identity, nor have they announced any arrests in connection with the killing. The case remains open and active as law enforcement works to identify both the victim and track down the fleeing suspect.

  • China Railway First Group’s engineer arrested for massive power outage; electricity being restored

    China Railway First Group’s engineer arrested for massive power outage; electricity being restored

    A major nearly four-hour power outage that disrupted services across multiple communities in Guyana’s Demerara region has ended with an arrest, as power authorities work to gradually restore full electricity service to affected areas.

    According to a statement released by Guyana Power and Light (GPL), the outage was triggered by an avoidable industrial incident on April 26, 2026. A piece of heavy machinery operated by contractors from China Railway First Group accidentally made contact with a critical 69,000-volt transmission line. This transmission line, labeled Line 10, serves as a key connection between the New Georgetown and Sophia substations, and the collision forced the line to trip offline, cutting power across the network.

    In the aftermath of the incident, the Guyana Police Force has taken the site engineer overseeing the China Railway First Group project into custody, as law enforcement and utility officials investigate the circumstances that led to the blackout.

    GPL officials confirmed that incremental power restoration efforts launched immediately after the incident have already succeeded in returning electricity to multiple neighborhoods across Georgetown. “This restoration exercise will continue systematically until all affected areas have been fully repowered,” the company said in its official update.

    Beyond the immediate response to the outage, GPL has issued a renewed public warning to all individuals and organizations working near its energy infrastructure, emphasizing that accidental contact with high-voltage lines does not only cause widespread disruption for thousands of customers, but also poses a severe deadly risk to on-site workers and nearby community members. The utility is urging all construction and engineering teams operating near transmission networks to double-check safety protocols before starting any work to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

  • US mom’s viral video of son in Jamaica jersey melts hearts online

    US mom’s viral video of son in Jamaica jersey melts hearts online

    A spontaneous, heartwarming clip capturing a young boy’s fierce pride in representing Jamaica has taken social media by storm, resonating deeply with hundreds of thousands of viewers across the globe — and particularly within the Jamaican community.

    Brenda Estrada, a mother of two residing in Delaware, United States, saw the video of her 4-year-old son Mateo go viral in early 2025. In the clip, which has now earned more than 678,000 likes and counts growing engagement by the day, the little boy confidently shows off his Jamaican national football (soccer) jersey, affectionately known as the kit of the ‘Reggae Boyz’, the nation’s men’s national team. Estrada later joked that she could not bring herself to correct her son, who has no known Jamaican ancestral roots, and burst his innocent bubble of joy.

    Contrary to assumptions that the boy’s affection for the Caribbean nation came out of thin air, the connection grew from a memorable family trip. In an interview with the *Jamaica Observer*, Estrada explained that the whole family traveled to Jamaica in April 2025, a getaway that left an indelible mark on young Mateo. During the trip, the family picked up the jersey, and Mateo fell head over heels for the island, even developing a fondness for the local staple jerk chicken. ‘Unless it was being washed, he never wanted to wear anything else,’ Estrada said of the jersey, noting that Mateo asks for it almost every morning.

    The viral moment itself was never planned, the mother confirmed. She had originally opened her camera to record a quick clip to send to Mateo’s father, and caught the boy’s enthusiastic display of his jersey completely by accident. Beyond his positive trip memories, Mateo’s lifelong love of soccer also fed into the moment. The whole family surrounds themselves with the sport: Mateo’s older sister plays competitively, the family regularly attends matches for their local Major League Soccer side, the Philadelphia Union, and the team’s starting captain is Andre Blake, a veteran Jamaican goalkeeper who plies his trade for the Reggae Boyz internationally.

    In the caption that accompanied the viral post, Estrada joked, ‘He may have been Jamaican in another lifetime… we definitely need to go back for another visit.’ Despite Mateo having no Jamaican lineage, the response from Jamaican social media users has been overwhelmingly warm and welcoming. ‘Every comment, every message has been so kind, it’s been amazing,’ Estrada said. She extended a public note of gratitude to the Jamaican community that has embraced her son: ‘Thank you for all the love you’ve shown him. It really means so much to our whole family.’

    Fueled by the outpouring of support and Mateo’s persistent requests to return to the island, Estrada confirmed that another trip to Jamaica is already being planned in the near future.

  • Junior Achievement group serves breakfast to Grand Bahama police

    Junior Achievement group serves breakfast to Grand Bahama police

    On March 21, a youth-led entrepreneurship group from Grand Bahama turned a simple idea into a meaningful bridge-building event, bringing community members and law enforcement closer together. The group, GB Shipyard N.A.V.Y. Achievers, is a student company affiliated with Junior Achievement Bahamas, and it launched its initiative “Serving Breakfast to Those Who Serve Us” at the Royal Bahamas Police Force Canteen located in Back of Town.

    Operating from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., the young organizers served 100 hot meals to active police officers from across the island. Many officers attended the event in person, while others picked up pre-prepared breakfasts to bring back to their remote posts, extending the reach of the gratitude initiative to law enforcement personnel stationed across Grand Bahama. Beyond serving officers, the group also opened the event to residents of the surrounding neighborhood, extending the day of appreciation to the wider local community.

    As they served meals, the student achievers had the chance to hold casual conversations with both police officers and community members, breaking down barriers and fostering personal connections between groups that rarely get to interact in informal, positive settings. All meals for the event were prepared by the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s own in-house canteen culinary team, led by the force’s only dedicated culinary arts chef, whose behind-the-scenes work was critical to the event’s smooth running and widespread success.

    To add an extra layer of support for the officers who dedicate their careers to public safety, the event also included a voluntary wellness component: qualified local nurses were on site throughout the morning to provide no-cost basic health screenings and general checkups for any attending officer, prioritizing the physical wellbeing of the people who prioritize community safety every day.

    For the organizers, the breakfast initiative was far more than a one-day meal service: it was framed as a chance for emerging young leaders to tangibly express the gratitude that many community members feel for local law enforcement, while strengthening often fragile social ties between youth, police and the general public. Andreaz Burrows, president of GB Shipyard N.A.V.Y. Achievers, publicly thanked every partner and attendee that contributed to the effort, and highlighted the consistent, vital work that officers do to keep Bahamian neighborhoods safe.

    “The event was a great success,” Burrows affirmed, reiterating that the initiative successfully deepened the connection between emerging young leaders, law enforcement and the broader community.

    This youth-driven event is just one example of the impact Junior Achievement Bahamas has cultivated across the archipelago over four decades. As the nation’s leading youth development organization, Junior Achievement Bahamas focuses on equipping young people with critical life and career skills, including entrepreneurship, innovation, financial literacy, college preparation and workforce readiness. For 40 years, the organization has run its proven programs across multiple Bahamian islands, from Abaco and Andros to Eleuthera, the Berry Islands, Cat Island, Grand Bahama, New Providence and Mayaguana, helping generations of students understand how foundational skills like financial literacy shape the health and prosperity of every local community.

  • Lend A Hand sees sharp rise in vulnerable children seeking help

    Lend A Hand sees sharp rise in vulnerable children seeking help

    As Caribbean communities across The Bahamas grapple with deepening socioeconomic instability, a prominent local nonprofit supporting vulnerable youth is reporting a dramatic spike in demand for its services – driven almost entirely by word-of-mouth referrals from at-risk children themselves.

    Lend A Hand Bahamas, a grassroots organization focused on lifting up vulnerable families and children, has recorded what co-founder Shelagh Farrington calls a “great increase” in young people seeking support over recent months. What makes this trend particularly striking is the complete lack of formal marketing or advertising for the group’s programs: existing participants are actively recruiting other children in crisis to join, a phenomenon Farrington describes simply as “our kids recruit for us.”

    In an interview Friday on the sidelines of the soft pre-launch for the organization’s new Culinary Centre in Nassau, Farrington explained that out-of-school periods have seen an especially sharp flow of new referrals, with many adolescents bringing peers and family members to the program out of urgent fear for their safety. She recalled one particularly harrowing case from the previous year, where a teen pleaded for Lend A Hand to accept their friend, warning the child might not survive another two weeks without the organization’s support.

    Farrington pulled back the curtain on the devastating living conditions many of these families face, shedding light on a hidden housing crisis that has yet to become a central issue in the country’s upcoming general election. Stories of systemic instability abound: Farrington described mothers sleeping in parked cars outside public laundromats while guarding their young children and infants through the night, forcing exhausted parents to try to catch up on rest while working during the day, with nowhere safe to leave children under five years old. She highlighted the case of a 14-year-old competitive athlete who spent more than a year living out of a vehicle alongside his mother and siblings, noting that housing instability has sparked cascading mental health crises across communities, from rising household stress and anger to unaddressed psychological challenges.

    With a national general election approaching, Farrington is calling on all political candidates to confront the growing unmet need for affordable housing and social support for low-income Bahamian families. “There are some huge challenges we’re not really talking about in this country because once you start talking about them you have to address them,” she said. “My question is, we got an upcoming election. What is the plan for the little people that live in these communities, whether it’s the grandmothers, the mothers, the aunties, the fathers, because they have nowhere to live.”

    Amid this growing demand, Lend A Hand is moving forward with a key expansion of its services: the new Culinary Centre on Hay Street, a project designed to expand economic and educational opportunities for vulnerable families. Developed over three and a half years in a donated building, the facility has raised roughly $100,000 in funding from corporate and private donors, and is set to open its doors in June to host a summer camp program for at-risk youth.

    The new centre will house the organization’s first fully operational commercial kitchen for its culinary arts training program, complementing existing offerings at its Lewis Street location that include STEM education, electrical trades training, and adult literacy classes. The project has drawn significant support from international partners, including US-based education technology firm Edmentum, which contributed $30,000 in funding and deployed roughly 60 company employees to assist with construction and setup of the new space.

    Edmentum CEO Jamie Candee emphasized that the company’s investment reflects a core commitment to reciprocal giving for communities that host corporate gatherings. “Like many companies in the United States, we fly around the world. We go to these beautiful properties, like sandals and all the other properties that you have here on the island. We have margaritas. We enjoy the beautiful food here,” Candee said. “But most US companies don’t do what this team did today. They enjoy your land, your food, your drinks, and then they leave and they go back to the United States, not Edmentum. What this team, these high performers, who could have chosen to spend all of the days on the beach, they chose to come here and give back to this community.”

    Another major partner, the Sandals Foundation, has also backed Lend A Hand’s expanding community work: the foundation has invested $95,000 in a hydroponics agriculture training program for local families and contributed an additional $50,000 to general community development initiatives. US Ambassador to The Bahamas Herschel Walker attended the pre-launch event, highlighting the power of cross-sector collaboration to address persistent social challenges. “The reason I say that is because I stand before you and tell you that it takes a village,” Walker said. “Edmentum is doing a village. You’re bringing people together that can solve the problems we need solved.”

  • Supporting the autistic

    Supporting the autistic

    KINGSTON, Jamaica — Across Jamaica’s education system, a quiet revolution is unfolding in support of autistic students, driven by a transformative collaborative bond between families and contracted Special Education Needs Assistants (SENAs) — roles previously known as shadows or caregivers. Working under the jurisdiction of the country’s Ministry of Education, Youth, Skills and Information (MoESYI), these dedicated support staff embed in school settings to advance autistic children’s participation, social integration, long-term independence, and overall safety and well-being.

    New data for the 2025-2026 academic year underscores the urgent demand for this targeted support: of 217 students placed in private non-governmental special education institutions this year, 124 — 57% of the total cohort — have received an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis. Even more striking, 70% of the 696 students approved for dedicated shadow support this academic year are autistic. To uphold its commitment to leaving no child behind, MoESYI’s Special Education Unit has implemented a proactive provisional placement policy: students waiting for formal psychological education assessments are admitted to schools immediately, with doctor’s notes accepted as temporary documentation to avoid gaps in learning.

    This model of collaborative care, rooted in intentional partnership between SENAs and families, has produced tangible, life-changing progress for autistic students, with countless stories of patience, persistence, and compassionate care at its core.

    One such success story centers on 8-year-old Kylian Barnett, a nonverbal autistic student at Solid Base Preparatory and Kindergarten School in Spanish Town, where SENA Dana Beckford has supported his personal care and skill development since July 2024. From the earliest days of Kylian’s diagnosis, his father Keino Barnett refused to succumb to despair. With prior experience working as a music teacher supporting a nonverbal autistic drumming student at Portmore’s Aintree Basic School, Barnett understood that autism did not define his son’s potential. “He was three when we noticed developmental differences, but I stayed calm — autism wasn’t new to me. I always knew he could thrive,” he explained. The entire Barnett family, including Kylian’s sister and grandparents, has embraced active participation in his care, creating a consistent support system that complements Beckford’s work in the classroom.

    That consistent cross-setting support has delivered remarkable progress. Under Beckford’s patient, gentle guidance, Kylian — once nonverbal — now speaks several words and completes many daily tasks independently. Keino Barnett credits Beckford’s unwavering commitment for the visible shifts in his son’s development: “There are clear improvements in his behavior, and she has contributed so much to his literacy and numeracy skills. He’s grown so much, and she’s even helped him develop interest in activities he once avoided entirely. That’s the difference her dedication makes.”

    Beckford’s approach is shared by SENAs across the island, who bring personalized, child-centered strategies to their work. For Angela Davis-Johnson, that means centering patience, positivity, and individualization in every interaction. “Every autistic child is unique, with their own personality, interests, and way of learning. Some days bring mood swings or meltdowns, so I adapt to each child’s specific needs,” she explained. Davis-Johnson prioritizes positive reinforcement, framing instructions to minimize negative language and celebrating every small win to encourage desired behaviors. She also notes that ongoing professional development from MoESYI and the Special Education Unit has equipped her with the tools to succeed.

    Hannah-Lisa Clue, another SENA, adds that effective support requires more than just patience: it demands compassion, strong communication, flexibility, and a commitment to continuous learning. “I use simple, accessible communication tools — pictures, gestures, consistent routines — to help children feel comfortable and connected. Most importantly, I work closely with parents to align strategies, so kids get consistent support whether they’re at school or at home,” she said.

    Beyond the on-the-ground support from SENAs, MoESYI has built out a broader framework of inclusive programming. The ministry runs Early Stimulation Programmes (ESP) for children six and under living with a range of developmental disabilities, and has recently launched a new tailored curriculum for students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities designed to meet their unique learning needs.