Carib Scope

博客

  • COE reports 27 deaths during Holy Week 2026 operation

    COE reports 27 deaths during Holy Week 2026 operation

    SANTO DOMINGO — The annual Holy Week holiday travel period in the Dominican Republic wrapped up with dozens of preventable deaths recorded across the country, per final statistics released by the nation’s Emergency Operations Center (COE, by its Spanish acronym) following the conclusion of the “Awareness for Life, Holy Week 2026” public safety operation.

    In its official closing bulletin, COE confirmed that 27 people lost their lives in holiday-related incidents between the operation’s start and end, with 22 of those fatalities tied to traffic collisions and the remaining five stemming from drowning accidents. The report breaks down that motorcycles were implicated in the overwhelming majority of road crashes, making up 173 of the 203 total traffic accidents registered nationwide. In terms of location, 112 crashes took place within densely populated urban zones, while another 91 occurred on intercity highways and rural public roads. Of all people killed during the holiday, 18 were motorcycle riders, with other fatalities attributed to pedestrian hit-and-run incidents and additional water-related accidents.

    Despite the grim final toll, authorities noted a notable improvement from last year’s event: overall fatalities dropped by 15.63% compared to the 2025 Holy Week operation. COE representatives credited this decline to expanded preventive public outreach campaigns and stepped up law enforcement surveillance across high-traffic and high-risk areas throughout the country. The operation’s data also mapped out which regions faced the highest volume of incidents, with the most cases recorded in the provinces of Santo Domingo, Puerto Plata, San Pedro de Macorís, La Altagracia, San Cristóbal, and the National District.

    Beyond traffic and drowning incidents, the COE bulletin documented hundreds of non-fatal medical emergencies tied to the holiday. Responders recorded 506 confirmed cases of alcohol poisoning across the country, 28 of which involved underage individuals, alongside 207 cases of food poisoning linked to unregulated street vendors and poorly stored celebratory meals. Emergency teams also carried out 22 separate sea rescues for distressed recreational swimmers and boaters, safely reunited 24 separated minor children with their guardian families, and delivered more than 30,700 total assistance services, ranging from on-site medical care to emergency roadside support for stranded motorists.

    Over 7.3 million Dominican residents and tourists traveled across the nation during the annual Holy Week holiday, one of the busiest travel periods on the country’s calendar. The multi-day national safety operation required coordinated deployment across dozens of public institutions, including the Dominican Armed Forces, national and regional health authorities, tourism regulatory bodies, and specialized local and national rescue agencies. As the operation drew to a close, COE leadership renewed its longstanding call for all travelers and holiday-goers to practice responsible behavior, emphasizing consistent helmet use for motorcycle riders and strict adherence to national traffic regulations as simple, critical steps to cut down on preventable holiday tragedies in future years.

  • Cuban youth lead a productive Sunday

    Cuban youth lead a productive Sunday

    On a misty Sunday early this April, Cuba launched an island-wide day of voluntary labor to mark two landmark milestones for the country’s youth organizations: the 64th anniversary of the Union of Young Communists (UJC) and the 65th anniversary of the José Martí Pioneer Organization (OPJM). The national volunteer push centered on two core national priorities: expanding agricultural output and building new photovoltaic solar energy infrastructure, addressing two of the country’s most pressing ongoing challenges.

    Leading the effort on the ground in Bauta, a municipality in western Cuba’s Artemisa Province, was Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who serves as both First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party and President of the Republic. Joined by generations of local Cuban volunteers, Díaz-Canel took part in hands-on planting work to highlight the central role of domestic food production in the country’s current national strategy.

    The president had already laid out the guiding ethos of the voluntary work days during a recent gathering with high-achieving young Cubans from across all sectors of society: “To produce is to resist, and to create is to conquer.”

    Díaz-Canel was not alone in the Artemisa planting activity. He was accompanied by senior party and youth organization leaders, including Roberto Morales Ojeda, a member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee, and Meyvis Estévez Echevarría, First Secretary of the UJC National Committee.

    After the day’s agricultural work concluded, Mirthia Julia Brossard Oris, a member of the UJC National Bureau in charge of Ideological Affairs, spoke to reporters about the significance of the celebrations amid the country’s prolonged challenges. She emphasized that despite the complex economic and social conditions facing the Caribbean nation—conditions made far more severe by the decades-long intensified U.S. imperial blockade—April 4’s anniversary events have not been sidelined or canceled.

    Across the country, Brossard detailed, a wide range of activities were organized to mark the anniversaries. These included mass mobilizations for food production, public forums denouncing the ongoing blockade, mountain hiking excursions, “I Accuse Imperialism” Pioneer Tribunals for youth, kite-flying events organized to advocate for peace and oppose the imperial siege, cultural festivals and open-air concerts in city parks and main public squares, and award ceremonies recognizing the contributions of outstanding young Cuban leaders.

    One of the most meaningful moments of the anniversary celebrations, Brossard highlighted, was the recent meeting between Díaz-Canel and the group of recognized outstanding young Cubans. During that gathering, the president spoke to the critical role that new generations can play in strengthening their local communities, a contribution that has become increasingly essential amid the current period of economic readjustment driven by widespread resource limitations, most notably widespread energy shortages.

    “In Cuba, there is no such thing as a defeated youth,” Brossard affirmed, speaking on behalf of Cuban young people. She added: “Our commitment, in these challenging and creative times, is to propose, mobilize, convene, and involve all young people in key national tasks, especially within our local communities.”

    The Bauta planting event itself featured cultural entertainment from young improvisational poets associated with the Punto Cubano project of the Casa de la Décima in neighboring Mayabeque Province. As a capstone to the day’s activities, 18 Cubans from diverse professional and social sectors were formally inducted into the Union of Young Communists, receiving their official membership cards during a public ceremony.

  • De zonsondergang als spiegel van ons leven

    De zonsondergang als spiegel van ons leven

    Every morning, we greet the break of dawn with a quiet flicker of hope and the promise of a fresh start. As the sky softens into hues of tangerine, blush pink, and occasionally vivid crimson, we stop to marvel at this timeless natural spectacle. Hours later, when the sun dips low to kiss the horizon, we are once again enchanted by the sunset—a quiet moment of stillness that marks the close of another day. Yet all too often, we overlook the deeper meaning woven into this steady rhythm of light and darkness, of rising and falling. The stretch of time between sunrise and sunset, after all, serves as a stunning metaphor for human existence: it is the finite window we are given, the lifespan in which we get to show what it means to be fully human. More often than not, we are only forced to confront this truth when someone dies unexpectedly. Without warning, the fragility of life is laid bare before us, a harsh, painful wake-up call that jolts us into remembering how precious and delicate our existence really is. But how quickly do we forget that lesson? How quickly do we slip back into our daily routines, acting as if life will go on undisturbed forever, as if we are immortal? This slide back into old habits may be the hardest part of all. The reckoning with our own mortality rarely sinks deep enough to fundamentally change how we live. And yet, that awareness is one of the most valuable gifts we can have. If we truly internalize that our time is limited, that our lives mirror the sun that rises and sets every single day, we gain the power to choose how we fill that time. There is only one certainty in life: time is finite. It is far too short to hold onto resentment, petty irritation, negativity, and division. It is far too precious to waste on unnecessary conflict or indifference. What if we chose instead to fill our days with empathy, love, connection, and purpose? As society prepares to say goodbye to former president Chan Santokhi, the fleeting nature of life has once again come into sharp focus. Throughout his term in office and long after he left office, Santokhi bore the brunt of widespread public criticism. Every misstep the nation faced was often pinned solely on his shoulders. Yet it was Santokhi who, despite pushing through unpopular policies and facing lonely personal battles, found the courage to make hard choices no other leader dared to make. The phrase “It’s always Chan’s fault after Chan” became a common saying—no matter what went wrong, he carried the blame. But behind the public headlines and official portraits was a human being, just like all of us, moving steadily toward his own sunset. A sunset does not call for melancholy; it calls for reflection. It does not ask us to look back with regret, but to live intentionally right now, to pay full attention to the people around us and the world we share. We get that chance every single day, from the moment the sun crests the horizon to the moment it slips below it. Let us choose to fill our lives the way we admire a sunset sky: with color, warmth, and beauty. So that when our own sun finally sets, the legacy we leave behind becomes a light that inspires others long after we are gone.

  • Pope’s Easter message calls for hope and compassion in a troubled world

    Pope’s Easter message calls for hope and compassion in a troubled world

    In a solemn yet uplifting annual Easter address delivered from the Vatican, Pope Francis has been succeeded by Pope Leo, who used his 2026 holiday message to issue a heartfelt global call for radical hope and intentional compassion, even as the world grapples with widespread social, political and personal upheaval.

    Speaking to a gathered crowd of worshippers in St. Peter’s Square ahead of the global broadcast of his remarks to Christian communities across the planet, the Pontiff framed the core meaning of Easter around the transformative Christian belief in Christ’s resurrection. He noted that the annual celebration brings new light and renewal to all creation, marking a moment when billions of believers commemorate the promise of spiritual new life and ultimate victory over death that lies at the heart of the faith.

    Pope Leo did not shy away from acknowledging the deep divides and struggles that make the Easter message of hope difficult for many to embrace in 2026. He pointed first to the quiet burdens that weigh on people in their daily lives: widespread loneliness, persistent disappointment, constant anxiety, and the growing strain of meeting basic needs that leave many feeling drained and disconnected from any sense of optimism. For millions of people across the globe, these personal struggles have pushed hope far out of reach, he said.

    Beyond individual hardship, the Pope also called out pressing systemic global challenges that continue to inflict harm on the world’s most vulnerable populations. He named grinding systemic poverty, systemic political oppression, ongoing armed conflicts around the world, and the unfettered exploitation of Earth’s natural resources for private corporate profit as interconnected crises that generate widespread pain and inequity.

    Even in the face of these overlapping struggles, Pope Leo stressed that the core message of the resurrection offers a permanent, unshakable hope that no amount of darkness can extinguish. He argued that Easter serves as a universal reminder that new beginnings are always within reach, even for communities and individuals trapped in the depths of despair. Renewal and transformation remain possible, no matter how intractable crises may seem, he added.

    Drawing on the biblical narrative of Christ’s resurrection, the Pope urged believers around the world to follow the example of Mary Magdalene and the early Apostles, calling on them to actively carry the message of hope into their daily lives and share the joy of the resurrection with those who are struggling.

    Closing his address, the Pontiff offered a formal prayer for global peace, challenging people of all faiths and backgrounds to bring that hope into their local communities and work collectively to build a more just, compassionate world for all. “May Christ, our Passover, bless us and grant peace to the whole world,” he concluded.

  • Court orders new expert report in Jet Set Nightclub tragedy case

    Court orders new expert report in Jet Set Nightclub tragedy case

    Three months after the catastrophic collapse of the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo that claimed 236 lives and left over 80 people injured, a Dominican judicial official has greenlit a fresh round of specialized technical analysis as the legal process moves forward.

    Raymundo Mejía, a judge sitting with the First Court of Instruction of the National District, issued the order for the new expert report under official order number 057-2026. The ruling partially grants a motion filed by the legal defense team representing Antonio Espaillat and Maribel Espaillat, who are facing proceedings related to the disaster during the case’s preliminary phase. In justifying the decision, the court emphasized that authorizing independent specialized studies is a critical step to uphold due process and guarantee equal legal standing for all parties involved in the case.

    The scope of the new technical evaluation is broad, covering multiple layers of engineering and geological analysis to pinpoint what caused the structure to fail. Analysts will conduct material and structural examinations, including compressive strength testing of the building’s concrete, petrographic analysis to assess the mineral composition and quality of construction materials, corrosion testing and chemical evaluations of the site’s embedded reinforcing steel, and full geotechnical investigations to rule out or confirm underlying foundation failures. A specialized team of independent engineers has been appointed to complete the report, with a strict 30-business-day deadline to deliver their findings. The judge rejected the defense’s request for a longer timeline, citing the need to keep the proceedings moving forward in a timely manner for victims and their families.

    Alongside the structural investigation, the court issued a second order requiring the full extraction of all digital data from a mobile phone owned by Carmen Burgos, who works as an assistant to Antonio Espaillat. The process will be carried out by the Dominican National Institute of Forensic Sciences, and must be conducted under the supervision of independent court-appointed experts. The judge did, however, reject one additional request from the defense: a motion to order new extraction of security camera footage from the area surrounding the nightclub. The request was ruled inadmissible on the grounds that prosecuting authorities had already fully processed and cataloged that evidence for the case, making additional extraction unnecessary.

  • When ingenuity is the main fuel

    When ingenuity is the main fuel

    Sixty years have passed since the Antonio Maceo Grajales Thermoelectric Power Plant (CTE), commonly known locally as “Renté”, first synchronized its generating unit to Cuba’s national power grid, and the facility still stands as an irreplaceable energy backbone for the entire eastern region of the island nation.

    Located in Santiago de Cuba, the plant has adapted its operations to run on domestically produced crude oil since the 1990s, a transition rooted in a directive from Cuba’s historic Commander-in-Chief that launched a modernization project for the facility’s 100-megawatt units. That project combined French technical support with homegrown Cuban engineering expertise, laying the foundation for the plant’s decades of continued operation, recalled Mayra McCalle Irsula, an industrial maintenance engineer who has spent more than 35 years working at Renté.

    Today, the plant faces unprecedented challenges: decades-long U.S. sanctions have frozen most imports, left warehouses with critically low spare parts inventories, and created persistent fuel shortages that limit the facility’s maximum output. But for the plant’s more than 1,000-person workforce, external pressures are nothing new, and they have responded with a commitment to local innovation rather than waiting for outside solutions, according to CTE General Director Jesús Aguilar Hernández.

    “Power generation cannot stop” is the guiding principle for the team, which has restructured its operations to guarantee uninterrupted output. Cross-functional teams combine operators, maintenance technicians, support staff and security personnel to streamline response, while maintenance crews stay on call 24/7 to address any emergency. Remote work is implemented for non-essential administrative roles where possible to keep core generation services running without interruption.

    While the plant’s total installed capacity stands at 500 megawatts, current constraints mean it can deliver a steady 285 megawatts to the National Electric System (SEN) via three fully operational units (3, 5, and 6) running at maximum capacity. Recent targeted overhauls in early 2026 brought units 5 and 6 back online after extensive repairs to circulation pumps, turbines and boilers, and the local workforce has turned to local manufacturing to replace critical imported components that are no longer available.

    In the plant’s machining workshop, that innovation becomes tangible. Eduardo Morales García, a veteran technician set to receive a 40-year service medal, explained that his team now manufactures parts that once were imported exclusively from Russia, including key shafts for Unit 5’s seawater pumps. Working with limited raw materials, the team has even redesigned critical systems to improve performance: Morales modified the boiler water supply system across multiple units, cutting unplanned downtime from failures and improving control of core operational parameters, while also developing a custom demineralized water system for the plant’s 100 MW units. For Morales and his co-workers, Renté is more than a job — it is a lifelong commitment, with the entire team ready to respond at any time of day or night, even when resources are scarce.

    Complex maintenance work on the plant’s massive generation units demands extreme precision, and transportation disruptions tied to fuel shortages have created additional staffing constraints that slow progress. Ángel Fabars Borlot, electromechanical supervisor for the Power Plant Maintenance Company, explained that even the smallest components on the 60-year-old machinery weigh tons, with clearances measured in millimeters, making every step of repair work high-stakes. Despite understaffing, the small team of highly skilled, dedicated technicians on site delivers exceptional work to keep the units running.

    Maximiliano Guisande Agüero, head of dynamic equipment at Renté who boasts 56 years of experience at the plant, led the final work to bring Unit 5 back online earlier this year. He emphasized that every day of delayed repair costs the national grid critical generation capacity, so the team dedicates every possible hour to returning units to service as quickly as possible, well aware of the country’s ongoing energy challenges.

    To secure the plant’s future for decades to come, the leadership has prioritized cultivating the next generation of skilled workers. The facility has formal partnerships with the Pre-University Vocational Institute of Exact Sciences, local polytechnic schools, and the University of Oriente, offering hands-on work placements and professional training to students to recruit and retain new talent.

    For Aguilar Hernández, reaching the 60-year milestone is both an honor and a responsibility. “It represents a challenge left to us by previous generations that we must pass on to future ones,” he said. “It requires constant work and deep commitment. More than the equipment itself, what keeps this plant running is the skill and dedication of its workforce.”

  • Rekenkamer: Structurele knelpunten in financieel beheer overheid blijven bestaan

    Rekenkamer: Structurele knelpunten in financieel beheer overheid blijven bestaan

    In its 2025 annual public accountability report released on April 6, the Netherlands Court of Audit (De Rekenkamer) has outlined a mixed picture of the Dutch government’s financial management: while incremental progress has been made in strengthening regulatory frameworks and professionalizing oversight, deep-rooted structural flaws continue to plague public financial governance across national institutions. The report identifies two particularly pressing areas for urgent reform: persistent misalignment between policy design and budget implementation, and widespread weaknesses in internal control systems across government departments. The court notes that the adoption of the Accountability Act (Comptabiliteitswet) and the implementation of the single-audit principle represent meaningful milestones in professionalizing national financial oversight. Even with these regulatory advances, however, the court warns that weak internal control mechanisms within central ministries have prevented early detection of errors and irregularities, leaving gaps that allow non-compliance to persist. Beyond core financial management, the report documents significant ongoing challenges around integrity and adherence to national laws and regulations across multiple policy areas. Investigations into the allocation of domain land, administration of social benefits, and distribution of public subsidies to educational institutions have consistently uncovered repeated irregularities and procedural shortcomings that have yet to be resolved. Another longstanding critical issue, the court confirms, is the failure of many semi-autonomous state institutions (parastatale instellingen) to comply fully with the requirements of the Annual Reporting Act. The court emphasizes that full transparency and robust public accountability are non-negotiable foundations for sustaining citizen trust in government, and stresses that previous recommendations from audit reports must be translated into tangible, actionable reform rather than left unaddressed. The oversight body further underscores the central role of discharge approval by the Netherlands’ National Assembly (De Nationale Assemblee) in completing the state’s financial accountability cycle. Without this formal final step, the entire process of public audit and accountability remains incomplete, undermining the integrity of the overall governance framework. Closing its assessment, the Court of Audit argues that a resilient, well-functioning public finance management system is a prerequisite for long-term healthy economic performance in the Netherlands. To achieve this, the court identifies three core priorities for reform: meaningful strengthening of internal control systems across all government bodies, improved cross-departmental coordination within the public service, and more consistent, strict enforcement of existing regulatory requirements.

  • Whale births and killings

    Whale births and killings

    The concept of “culture” is far from an immutable moral foundation. It can be twisted, reinterpreted, and shaped to fit the selfish needs of those in power, depending on how deeply rooted a society’s moral emptiness and hypocrisy run. Nowhere is this double standard more obvious than when comparing two Caribbean approaches to whales: one rooted in scientific care and collective protection, and another that defends cruel killing as cultural tradition.

    Last year, a team of marine biologists published groundbreaking findings from a rare, fully documented sperm whale birth they witnessed off the coast of Dominica in 2023. The expedition had originally set out to tag sperm whales to track their migratory patterns and complex acoustic communication systems, when researchers encountered a cluster of 11 sperm whales gathered unusually tightly at the ocean surface. Deploying camera drones to investigate the odd behavior, the team captured the entire birth of a 12th whale: the first complete documentation of a sperm whale birth in human history.

    Over two years of frame-by-frame analysis of the drone footage, researchers made remarkable discoveries about the complex social bonds of sperm whale communities. The mother, a well-documented individual named Rounder, belongs to Unit A, a social group made up of two unrelated whale families that regularly return to the waters off Dominica. When Rounder’s calf was born, it was completely helpless, unable to swim on its own and at risk of sinking if left unsupported. For the first three hours of the newborn’s life, every member of Unit A took turns holding the calf afloat, pressing their bodies close together to form a living raft beneath it. While Rounder and her half-sister Aurora led the rescue effort, the group also included a whale from the unrelated second family, Ariel, as well as Rounder’s 15-year-old half-brother Allan, who traveled to the site specifically to attend the birth. The extraordinary cooperative care displayed by the entire social group left even seasoned researchers deeply moved.

    This story of intergenerational whale solidarity stands in brutal contrast to the cultural practice of unregulated whaling in nearby St. Vincent and the Grenadines, local commentator Patrick Ferrari argues. If the same pod of sperm whales had gathered near St. Vincent and the Grenadines instead of Dominica, Ferrari says, Rounder and her newborn calf would not have been celebrated — they would have been hunted down for meat. While local whalers primarily target humpback whales, he notes, they do not turn away easy prey like sperm whales or vulnerable calves.

    Ferrari pulls no punches describing the brutal process of traditional whaling in St. Vincent and the Grenadines: Hunters in small boats drive a heavy iron harpoon into the whale’s body, attached to buoys that tire the animal out over hours of agonizing struggle. Once the whale is too exhausted to fight back, hunters use lances to stab deep into its heart and lungs. The animal dies a slow, torturous death from blood loss, organ damage, and extreme pain, before its body is towed back to shore where the kill is celebrated as a community event. Local defenders of the practice hide behind the language of “tradition” and “culture” to shield it from criticism, but Ferrari argues this is nothing more than moral cowardice.

    Culture, he points out, is not a static concept that justifies cruelty forever. Humanity has already abandoned other long-standing harmful traditions, such as slavery, by listening to conscience and drawing a clear line between outdated practice and moral right. The same shift is long overdue for whaling, he argues. Just because a practice has existed for generations does not give people an inherent right to continue torturing sentient animals for entertainment and meat. Dominica’s choice to protect whales for research and conservation proves that the Caribbean can choose a better path, and it is past time for St. Vincent and the Grenadines to end what Ferrari calls a shameful, uncivilized practice that has no place in the modern world.

    *(This is an opinion piece by Patrick Ferrari, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of iWitness News.)*

  • Shipping assn chief rubbishes Suriname’s proposed exemption system for vessels plying Corentyne River

    Shipping assn chief rubbishes Suriname’s proposed exemption system for vessels plying Corentyne River

    A cross-border trade dispute over new steep shipping levies on the shared Corentyne River has intensified in early 2026, with the top shipping industry leader in Guyana rejecting Suriname’s proposal for selective cargo vessel exemptions and pushing for full diplomatic negotiations to scrap the fees entirely.

    Komal Singh, Chairman of the Shipping Association of Guyana (SAG), has publicly pushed back against Suriname’s suggestion that the Guyanese government submit a formal diplomatic request to exempt additional Guyanese cargo vessels from the recently implemented charges. Speaking to Demerara Waves Online News, Singh explained that a piecemeal exemption framework would create an unfair, uneven playing field by allowing selective benefit allocations.

    “The Corentyne River sees constant, mixed movement of goods and people: Guyanese carriers ship construction materials, timber and tourism traffic to domestic destinations along the waterway, while Suriname moves its own supplies west into Guyana. We cannot draw arbitrary lines to prioritize some shippers over others. That is no way to maintain a fair cross-border trade ecosystem,” Singh said.

    Suriname’s current Jennifer Geerlings-Simons administration has already noted that vessels operating on behalf of the Guyana Sugar Corporation have held a long-standing exemption from the river tariffs, and has encouraged Guyana to pursue additional exemptions through official diplomatic channels. To date, Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declined to comment publicly on the ongoing negotiations.

    Singh, however, argues that no Guyanese vessels moving cargo originating from Guyanese operations along the upper Corentyne should be charged at all. He joined a growing chorus of Guyanese private sector groups calling for high-level diplomatic talks to resolve the dispute entirely, and has called on Suriname to implement an immediate moratorium on the new levies to restore free cross-border trade.

    “This waterway has always operated as an open shared resource, with no tariffs impeding movement. This is not a one-sided arrangement: both nations’ economies and communities benefit from the commercial activity that takes place here every day,” Singh added. In a separate formal statement, SAG reaffirmed its commitment to supporting multi-stakeholder dialogue and collaboration to ensure the Corentyne River remains an equitable shared asset that delivers mutual economic benefits for both countries.

    The new levies carry steep costs for Guyanese shippers, according to details released by the Upper Corentyne Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI). Shippers are currently charged a $2,500 pilot license fee per trip, plus broker fees ranging from $1,000 to $1,500 per voyage. Multiple industry sources have confirmed additional tonnage-based fees for quarried products, running between $1.00 and $1.50 per tonne for vessels carrying 1,000 tonnes or more of aggregate.

    UCCI President Krishnand Jaichand noted that Guyanese vessels have historically paid a small licensing fee to traverse the Corentyne, a timeline that is corroborated by Surinamese legal expert and former ambassador Aashna Kanhai. Kanhai told Suriname’s LIM FM that the underlying authority to charge fees dates back to the Desi Bouterse presidency in Suriname, and that past exemption requests confirm Guyana has long acknowledged the baseline requirement for fees.

    Singh has indicated he is open to exploring a small, flat nominal fee for river access, but stressed that any such proposal would require rigorous review to confirm it would not drive up costs for end consumers in Guyana. For his part, Jaichand argues the sharp increase in fees is intended to protect two Surinamese stone aggregate exporters that do not face the same tax burden when selling into Guyana, putting local Guyanese producers at an unfair disadvantage. “Our local stone producers simply cannot compete with the imported product under these new cost structures,” Jaichand said.

  • Dominican Republic sees 14.8% increase in tourist arrivals during Holy Week

    Dominican Republic sees 14.8% increase in tourist arrivals during Holy Week

    Santo Domingo — The Dominican Republic’s tourism sector has delivered a robust performance this year, with official data showing a double-digit rise in visitor arrivals during the key Holy Week holiday period. Tourism Minister David Collado announced that the country welcomed a total of 223,328 tourists over the observance, representing a 14.8% jump compared to visitor numbers from the same week in 2023.

    Breaking down the latest figures, Collado highlighted accelerating growth through the final stretch of the holiday: arrivals rose 18.7% across the last four days of the break, a trend that confirms the steady, ongoing expansion the country’s travel industry has seen in recent months.

    Sharing the milestone results on the social platform X, the minister framed the strong visitor numbers as a collective win for the entire Dominican tourism ecosystem. He emphasized that the outcome reinforces three core strengths of the country’s travel brand: its global reputation as a safe destination, its enduring appeal to international travelers, and its unmatched ability to create new jobs and drive broad economic activity across local communities.

    For the Dominican Republic, tourism has long stood as one of the foundational pillars of the national economy, and Holy Week ranks consistently among the busiest and most commercially important peak travel periods of the year. Every uptick in visitor arrivals translates directly to tangible gains across multiple linked industries, from rising hotel occupancy rates to increased spending at local retail outlets, restaurants, and hospitality services. This growth, in turn, supports continued investment and expansion across the full spectrum of the country’s tourism sector.