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  • Micoud teenager set for national boxing debut

    Micoud teenager set for national boxing debut

    On Wednesday, June 24, a three-member national boxing delegation from Saint Lucia departed for Guadeloupe, where they are scheduled to compete in a high-profile Boxing Gala kicking off this Friday. The trip was organized following a formal invitation from the host organization, the Gwada Boxing Club, and the roster carries a particularly exciting new face: 18-year-old lightweight debutant Ethan Reneau.

    Hailing from the quiet community of Mon Repos in Micoud, the south of Saint Lucia, Reneau has earned his place on the national traveling side not through luck, but through months of consistent, grueling training. As a left-handed fighter who has turned heads with his technical progress in domestic competitions, the young athlete worked his way up the ranks to secure his first international call-up.

    Shannon Lebourne, vice president of Saint Lucia’s Boxing Association, spoke highly of Reneau’s selection in comments following the team’s departure. Lebourne emphasized that Reneau’s spot on the national team is far more than a personal opportunity—it stands as clear proof that dedication, discipline, and trust in incremental improvement yield tangible results for young athletes across the country. “Young boxers all over Saint Lucia can look at Ethan’s journey and see that hard work does pay off,” Lebourne said. “We are incredibly proud of what he has already achieved, and we have full confidence that he will carry our nation’s flag with honor in the ring.”

    Reneau will not enter the competition alone: he will share the ring with two vastly more experienced teammates who bring years of international competition experience to the team. Kyle Marcel will step into the 75-kilogram elite division, while Danaii Cooman is scheduled to compete in the 60-kilogram elite class. Leading the entire delegation and guiding the three fighters through pre-fight preparation and match strategy is head coach Conrad Fredericks, who has overseen the team’s training camp in the lead-up to the Friday gala.

  • CARICOM expresses solidarity as deadly Venezuela earthquakes leave more than 160 dead

    CARICOM expresses solidarity as deadly Venezuela earthquakes leave more than 160 dead

    On June 24, 2026, northern Venezuela was hit by an unprecedented seismic disaster: two massive earthquakes, registering magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, struck the region within seconds of one another, leaving a trail of death and widespread destruction across the country’s northern corridor. As of the latest official updates from acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez, the disaster has claimed at least 164 lives and left 971 people injured, with rescue teams still racing against time to pull survivors from the rubble of collapsed buildings, prompting warnings that the final death toll may climb as search operations progress.

    According to U.S. public media outlet NPR, the second 7.5-magnitude tremor is the most powerful earthquake to hit Venezuela since 1900, marking a historic seismic event for the South American nation. The worst damage has been concentrated in areas close to the capital Caracas and the coastal state of La Guaira, where dozens of structures crumbled during the quakes. Emergency response teams have worked nonstop around the clock since the disaster struck, combing through destroyed neighborhoods and damaged infrastructure to locate missing people and deliver life-saving aid to affected communities.

    In the wake of the tragedy, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the regional integration bloc representing Caribbean nations, has issued an official statement extending its deepest condolences to the Venezuelan people and affirming regional solidarity amid the crisis. “The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) expresses deep condolences over the tragic loss of life, the growing number of injuries, and the extensive damage to infrastructure and homes as a result of the devastating earthquakes that struck Venezuela on Wednesday, 24 June 2026,” the statement reads.

    Recognizing the profound grief that has gripped the country following the disaster, CARICOM reaffirmed its commitment to standing with Venezuela during this period of trial. “We stand in solidarity with the people of Venezuela during this time of immense grief and offer prayers for a swift recovery to the injured and displaced,” the bloc said.

    The regional body also paid tribute to the tireless work of those on the front lines of the response effort, commending first responders, emergency personnel and civilian volunteers who have been working under harsh, dangerous conditions to execute rescue missions and deliver critical support to impacted populations.

    As Venezuela prepares to enter the long, difficult process of rebuilding shattered communities and infrastructure, CARICOM closed its statement by expressing confidence in the Venezuelan people’s ability to recover, wishing them strength and resilience through the coming months of recovery and reconstruction.

  • Interior and Police coordinate actions to strengthen citizen security in Verón

    Interior and Police coordinate actions to strengthen citizen security in Verón

    VERÓN-PUNTA CANA — As the Dominican Republic’s most high-profile tourist destination, Verón-Punta Cana is moving forward with a coordinated, multi-agency push to elevate public safety and reinforce peaceful community coexistence, led by the nation’s Minister of Interior and Police Faride Raful. Raful recently chaired the regional Security, Citizenship and Gender Roundtable, a convening designed to align cross-institutional strategies that address the unique security needs of the area, which draws millions of international visitors each year.

    The roundtable brought together key stakeholders from across national and local government, including senior representatives from the National Police, the General Directorate of Migration, the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD), Digesett, the national road safety authority, COBA, and local municipal leadership. Over the course of discussions, participating agencies finalized a detailed actionable roadmap to tackle the region’s most pressing public safety challenges. Key priority areas outlined in the plan include intensified counter-narcotics operations to disrupt drug trafficking networks, enhanced border and internal migration control protocols, targeted measures to secure school environments and protect student populations, regulation to reduce excessive noise pollution that disrupts local communities, and expanded initiatives to cut traffic accidents and improve overall road safety.

    Beyond this specific regional meeting, the Security, Citizenship and Gender Roundtable framework was designed as a sustained collaborative platform. It bridges institutional gaps between national government bodies, local authorities, and community groups, creating a structured space to surface emerging public safety concerns, track progress on existing initiatives, and roll out coordinated prevention-focused interventions that reduce crime and strengthen the visible, trusted presence of state institutions across the region. The coordinated approach reflects the government’s priority of protecting both local residents and the critical tourism sector that underpins Verón-Punta Cana’s economy.

  • Onesvie urges stronger seismic preparedness after Venezuela earthquakes

    Onesvie urges stronger seismic preparedness after Venezuela earthquakes

    In the wake of deadly seismic activity in neighboring Venezuela, the Dominican Republic’s National Office for Seismic Evaluation and Vulnerability of Infrastructure and Buildings (Onesvie) has issued a renewed urgent call for sustained investment and action around earthquake preparedness across the country. The recent tremors that rocked Venezuela, which left multiple fatalities and widespread destruction of public and private infrastructure, have served as a stark reminder of the persistent seismic risk faced by the Caribbean region, and highlighted critical gaps the Dominican Republic must address to protect its population.

    Onesvie officials emphasized that ongoing, systematic assessment of the nation’s critical infrastructure — including healthcare facilities, educational institutions, and all public government buildings — remains one of the country’s top public safety priorities. The agency has reaffirmed its ongoing commitment to rolling out a multi-pronged strategy to boost national resilience, including mandatory structural safety inspections for at-risk buildings, hands-on training programs for emergency response teams and community leaders, and large-scale public awareness campaigns designed to educate Dominican residents on how to prepare for, respond to, and recover from major seismic events.

    Alongside its domestic call to action, Onesvie also issued a formal statement of solidarity with the Venezuelan people, who have borne the brunt of the recent quakes’ destructive impact. The agency expressed its deepest condolences for the lives lost to the disaster, and extended full support to Venezuelan public authorities and local emergency response teams as they work to clear rubble, provide aid to displaced communities, and advance long-term recovery and reconstruction efforts across affected regions.

  • Report identifies major gaps in Dominican-Haitian border migration management

    Report identifies major gaps in Dominican-Haitian border migration management

    A collaborative assessment carried out by the Dominican Republic’s National Migration Institute (INM) and the World Bank has uncovered major systemic shortcomings in how migration is regulated along the shared border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, pointing to a series of overlapping issues that put fair legal processes at risk. These flaws span from fragmented coordination between different government bodies to overly broad discretionary power granted to enforcement officials, substandard infrastructure for deportation operations, and confusingly mixed oversight responsibilities between military and civilian institutions.

    The geographic and operational landscape of the border itself adds layers of complexity to the management challenge, the report confirms. Spanning a long, porous divide, the boundary counts more than 31 official crossing points, supports more than 15 binational commercial markets, and is complemented by at least 16 unregulated informal entry points. This mixed ecosystem creates a dynamic space where both legal and unregistered migration and cross-border trade operate side by side, weaving interconnected economic and social ties between communities on both sides.

    To illustrate just how deeply integrated these border economies are, the study notes that close to 2,000 Haitian workers cross through the Pedernales checkpoint every single day. The vast majority of these laborers take up jobs in the Dominican Republic’s construction and agricultural sectors, a pattern that underscores the mutual economic reliance that shapes daily life for populations living near the border, even amid ongoing governance challenges.

    Beyond structural coordination issues, the research team behind the report also called attention to operational gaps that weaken migration enforcement and leave vulnerable populations at risk. These include inconsistent deployment and use of biometric identification technology, a general lack of adequate specialized training for frontline migration enforcement staff, and alarming substandard living and processing conditions at deportation transit centers. These poor conditions disproportionately harm marginalized groups, particularly women and migrant children held in these facilities.

    To address the full scope of these shortcomings, the report puts forward a clear set of actionable recommendations. It calls for a shift toward more coordinated, data-driven migration policies that cut through institutional fragmentation, renewed efforts to strengthen cross-agency collaboration, and expanded opportunities for local border communities to participate in governance planning. The report frames these reforms as a balanced path to improve overall border governance, while upholding both the Dominican Republic’s national security priorities and fundamental due process protections for all people impacted by migration enforcement.

  • Mining leads Dominican economy with 9.7% growth through May

    Mining leads Dominican economy with 9.7% growth through May

    Against a backdrop of widespread global market volatility stoked by simmering geopolitical tensions, the Dominican Republic’s mining sector has emerged as an unexpected powerhouse driving national economic growth, new official data reveals. Citing figures released by the Dominican Central Bank, Energy and Mines Minister Joel Santos announced that mining outpaced every other productive sector in the country between January and May 2026, posting a robust year-to-date expansion of 9.7%. This strong performance has been a critical bulwark for the country’s broader economy, which recorded a solid overall growth rate of 4.2% through the first five months of the year even as many peer nations struggle to maintain stable expansion amid global headwinds.

    Breaking down monthly performance, Santos shared that mining activity grew 6.4% year-over-year in May 2026 alone, pushing the sector into second place among the country’s top-performing industries, trailing only construction. The consistent uptick in output has been driven by rising production of high-demand commodities, including gold, silver, and raw construction materials, cementing the sector’s status as a foundational pillar of the Dominican economy. Beyond output growth, mining continues to deliver outsized benefits to the country through its key contributions to cross-border exports, foreign exchange inflows, and public sector revenue.

    In addition to its financial contributions, the minister emphasized that the mining industry stands out as a reliable creator of high-wage employment for Dominican workers, even during periods of international economic turbulence. Looking back at 2025 full-year results, mining exports exceeded $2.5 billion, with gold accounting for the largest share of that total. For the country’s public finances, the sector delivered approximately 45 billion Dominican pesos in tax revenue in 2025, a significant injection that has strengthened the government’s fiscal position and supported public spending on domestic programs.

  • 4.9 magnitude earthquake shakes Punta Cana

    4.9 magnitude earthquake shakes Punta Cana

    A moderate 4.9-magnitude earthquake hit the waters south of Boca de Yuma in the Dominican Republic’s eastern La Altagracia province on Friday local time, according to data released by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The seismic event was recorded at 12:06 p.m. local time, with a relatively deep hypocenter sitting 90 kilometers, or 56 miles, below the Earth’s surface. Its epicenter was positioned roughly 52 kilometers off the southern coast of the Boca de Yuma community.

    Shaking from the quake was widely felt across the eastern half of the Dominican Republic, including the popular tourist hub of Verón-Punta Cana. The tremor was also detected across the Caribbean in Puerto Rico, where dozens of local residents reached out to officials to report feeling the shaking. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, regional authorities moved quickly to issue public updates: no tsunami advisory or warning was triggered by the event, and as of initial assessments, there have been no reports of human injuries or widespread structural damage to infrastructure.

  • Charles Mackey receives US leadership award

    Charles Mackey receives US leadership award

    Decades of dedicated volunteer work across Bahamian sports, cultural development, and youth empowerment have earned veteran talk show host and community organizer Charles Carlos Mackey the prestigious Outstanding Servant Leadership Award from White House Prayer for Our Nations, a private non-governmental organization. The recognition was presented earlier this month during the group’s 28th anniversary celebration held in Arlington, Virginia.

    For Mackey, the host of the long-running radio program *The Best of Sports World* on ZNS, the honor is far more than a personal accolade—it is a validation of a life guided by unwavering faith, a value that has shaped every major choice from his childhood growing up in segregated Daytona Beach, Florida, to his decision to relocate permanently to The Bahamas in 1984.

    “I said to myself ‘GOD, this is a grand slam. All the things I’ve done, I know that this is the work you chose for me. I’m walking this path with you all the way,’” Mackey shared in an interview with The Tribune. “I’m just following in your footsteps, because I know you will always stand with me.”

    Born to a Bahamian father and a mother from Georgia, Mackey’s early life in the American South was marked by direct encounters with systemic racism that forged his commitment to service. He vividly recalled an incident from childhood when a group of white men surrounded members of his local Black church, hurled vile racial slurs, and blocked the congregation’s exit until a police lieutenant who knew his father intervened to escort the group to safety. “The same kind of hatred you see on television with Dr. King? I lived that when I was just six years old,” Mackey said.

    Mackey went on to attend Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), where he played collegiate baseball and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education and Health. He later pursued professional baseball stints across the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Caracas, Venezuela, before completing a master’s degree in guidance counselling and education from Bowie State College. Following years of work in rehabilitation and counselling services in the United States, Mackey felt a calling to serve young people in The Bahamas, and made his permanent move to New Providence in 1984.

    Within months of arriving, Mackey drew on his U.S. rehabilitation experience to help launch the Dean Granger Centre, a halfway house for men transitioning out of addiction during The Bahamas’ severe national drug crisis of the 1980s. In 1990, he organized a landmark visit of FAMU’s world-famous Marching 100 marching band to New Providence, an outreach effort that ultimately secured full athletic and academic scholarships for three Bahamian students to attend the university. He went on to support youth football clinics hosted by leading historically Black colleges and universities, expand grassroots track and field development programs, and launch a series of cross-cultural exchange initiatives between The Bahamas and U.S. institutions.

    In 2010, Mackey led a coalition of local arts leaders to pitch a proposal for a unified national performance band to then Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Charles Maynard. That collaborative effort eventually grew into the Bahamas All Star Band, which has helped dozens of emerging Bahamian musicians secure competitive music scholarships at U.S. colleges and universities.

    Throughout his decades of service, Mackey emphasized that public recognition has never been the driving force behind his work. His core mission, he says, has always been rooted in connecting The Bahamas to the broader global community. “If I cannot take The Bahamas to the world,” he said, “I’m gonna bring the world to The Bahamas.”

  • United to add seasonal flights between Houston and Santo Domingo

    United to add seasonal flights between Houston and Santo Domingo

    United Airlines has announced a strategic expansion of its route network across Latin America and the Caribbean, introducing a new seasonal air connection between Houston, Texas, and the Dominican Republic’s capital city of Santo Domingo. The new service is scheduled to launch ahead of the 2026-27 Northern Hemisphere winter travel and holiday period.

    Operations will run from December 18, 2026, to January 3, 2027, with three weekly rotations operated using fuel-efficient Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. The carefully crafted schedule is designed to maximize convenience for connecting and local travelers alike: outbound flights from Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport will depart in the afternoon and touch down in Santo Domingo that same evening, while return flights from the Dominican capital will depart early the next morning. This timing enables seamless connections through United’s Houston hub for passengers traveling to and from hundreds of destinations across North America, Europe, and Asia.

    Industry analysts note that the move reflects United Airlines’ data-driven approach to matching capacity with seasonal demand shifts. The temporary winter route is being rolled out specifically to accommodate the sharp annual spike in travel during the year-end holiday season, when leisure getaways and family reunification trips reach their annual peak. Beyond meeting seasonal demand, the new connection underscores United’s recognition of Santo Domingo’s growing status as a multifaceted high-traffic destination that draws both business visitors, leisure tourists, and family travelers throughout the year. The carrier also reaffirmed the central role that its Houston hub plays in its global network strategy, as one of the largest and most well-connected international transfer points in the United States.

    This expansion marks the latest in a series of targeted route adjustments United has rolled out to strengthen its presence in the fast-growing Latin American and Caribbean travel market, which has seen consistent recovery and growth in passenger volumes following global travel restrictions. For both outbound travelers from the U.S. looking for a warm winter getaway and Dominican travelers connecting to global markets, the new route adds more travel options and improved connectivity during the busiest travel period of the year.

  • Tourism industry calls for review of Dominican waste management bill

    Tourism industry calls for review of Dominican waste management bill

    In Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic’s leading tourism and hospitality industry body has sounded a call for reconsideration after the national Senate greenlit amendments to the country’s General Law on Comprehensive Solid Waste Management and Co-processing. The Dominican Republic Hotel and Tourism Association (Asonahores) argues that the newly approved proposal lacks the rigorous technical evaluation and cross-sector consultation that such impactful legislation demands before being enacted.

    At the core of the industry’s concerns is the bill’s introduction of new mandatory financial contributions from private businesses. According to Asonahores, the text of the legislation provides no public access to supporting technical studies, sector-wide impact assessments, or transparent calculation methodologies that would back up the specific fee levels outlined in the amended law.

    Aguie Lendor, Asonahores’ Executive Vice President, clarified that the tourism sector does not oppose progress on environmental stewardship. The industry fully backs initiatives that boost solid waste management and advance the transition to a circular economy, Lendor noted. However, he stressed that any new regulatory framework must be built on objective, proportional, and fair standards that deliver the legal certainty businesses need to plan and operate effectively.

    Asonahores has united with a coalition of six major industry groups spanning the hospitality and tourism supply chain to push for changes to the legislation. Joining the call are the Dominican Association of Restaurants (Aderes), the Association of Casual and Fast Food Establishments (Adecor), the Dominican Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (Adavit), the National Association of Rent A Car (Andri), and tourism investment group Inverotel.

    The united coalition is calling on national authorities to redesign the proposed contribution system to align with the actual type and volume of solid waste each individual business or industry generates. They are also asking policymakers to formally recognize the significant investments many private companies in the sector have already made to develop in-house recycling and sustainable waste management programs. The coalition reaffirmed their open commitment to collaborative work with the Dominican government to craft final legislation that delivers on three core goals: meaningful environmental protection, technical robustness, and long-term economic sustainability for all affected sectors.