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  • Gofundme launched for boy bitten by dogs over 100 times

    Gofundme launched for boy bitten by dogs over 100 times

    A brutal dog attack on a young American child vacationing in the Bahamas has resulted in a one-year prison sentence for the Bimini-based canine owner, according to court proceedings. Harrington Rolle, 34, accepted full culpability for multiple offenses connected to the July 28 incident that left 9-year-old Beau Brattain of Florida covered in more than 100 bite wounds, requiring emergency medical intervention and multiple major surgeries.

    Acting Chief Magistrate Ancella Evans handed down the combined sentences after reviewing graphic evidence of the attack, including photographs of Brattain’s severe injuries that the magistrate described as deeply disturbing. Rolle pled guilty to three separate charges: negligently inflicting grievous bodily harm, keeping a dangerous dog that caused harm to another person, and allowing a dangerous dog to roam freely in a public area. All three sentences will run concurrently, resulting in a total 12-month custodial term.

    The attack unfolded around 10 a.m. on a public Bimini beach, where Brattain was collecting sand during a family holiday. Rolle’s six dogs escaped from their unsecured enclosure and assaulted the child, biting repeatedly across his face, head, arms and legs. The attack was only halted when an anonymous passerby stepped in to chase the pack away, potentially saving the young boy’s life.

    Emergency first responders transported Brattain to a local Bimini clinic, but the severity of his injuries required an emergency airlift to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Florida for advanced care. Prosecutors confirmed the child has already undergone two surgeries, one of which lasted a full 10 hours, to address life-threatening damage. Court documentation noted large portions of tissue were torn away from Brattain’s arm during the assault.

    During sentencing, Rolle appeared visibly distressed and took full responsibility for the incident. He told the court he had confined the six dogs in a storage shed, but acknowledged the lock on the structure was faulty and failed to keep the animals contained. When asked how he would have responded if the child had died from his injuries, Rolle admitted he had no defense and acknowledged his negligence was entirely at fault.

    In the wake of the attack, Brattain’s family launched a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe to cover the overwhelming costs associated with the child’s care, including immediate medical bills, ongoing rehabilitation, travel for treatment, and other related recovery expenses. The family set an initial goal of $350,000, and by the time local media confirmed the sentencing on Thursday, more than $240,000 had already been raised from public donations.

    Brattain’s family said in a statement that their sole focus for the coming weeks and months will be supporting the child through his recovery. “Alongside the overwhelming emotional toll, they are now facing significant medical expenses, travel costs and rehabilitation needs related to this tragic incident,” the statement read, adding that Brattain faces what the family describes as a “long and difficult road to recovery.” The case was prosecuted by Sergeant Vernon Pyfrom.

  • Andros Bridge collapse disrupts travel and electricity

    Andros Bridge collapse disrupts travel and electricity

    A critical infrastructure failure has thrown daily life across Central Andros into disarray, after the Fresh Creek Bridge — the island’s primary north-south transport link — was officially condemned following the sinking of a key structural support that left the crossing dangerously unstable.

    The structural failure, which local leaders say was years in the making due to unfulfilled replacement plans, triggered widespread disruptions: it has delayed critical electricity restoration work, cut off access to key government services, the island’s main airport, and major local employers, and forced residents and commuters to rely on makeshift boat travel while awaiting a temporary replacement.

    Senior engineering officials with Bahamas’ Ministry of Works and Family Affairs confirmed that a post-failure visual inspection found one of the bridge’s intermediate piers had sunk, shifting the entire structure’s weight load to just two outer supports. The bridge’s pile cap tilted between 20 and 30 degrees, pulling three concrete bridge slabs downward with it. “This is a great concern. This is not the way the bridge was designed,” senior engineer Anthony Taylor said. “As a result, we have officially condemned the bridge. We are not allowing vehicular traffic to traverse the bridge at this particular time, and we are in the process of developing temporary solutions to address the matter.”

    Central Andros District Administrator Jackson McIntosh noted that the collapse was not an unforeseen event. For years, successive local administrations had laid out concrete plans to replace the aging, deteriorating crossing, but none of those plans ever moved forward. “Mother Nature decided it was going to fast-track dealing with the situation,” he said. Officials have confirmed there will be no repairs to the existing structure, which also carries critical water and electricity utilities across the creek. Utility lines will be reconfigured, with a new water line potentially laid along the creek’s seabed, and the condemned bridge will be demolished once all regulatory and planning steps are complete.

    A pre-fabricated temporary bridge has already been located in New York, but officials estimate it will take roughly two months to transport and install on Andros. In the interim, the government has moved quickly to launch a temporary ferry service that was scheduled to begin operations the day after the bridge’s closure, to help residents and workers cross the waterway. Authorities also allowed a two-hour window for residents and workers to cross the bridge one last time before shutting it down completely to all vehicle traffic.

    The closure has already hit critical services hard. Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) announced that restoration work for ongoing outages in Cargill Creek and parts of South Andros has been put on hold, as crews cannot move heavy equipment and personnel across the creek. The utility explored alternative sea access routes but was unable to secure suitable vessels; it now expects the planned ferry service to allow work to resume. Beyond power restoration, the shutdown has blocked commuter access to the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Centre, a major local employer, and cut off residents’ access to the airport, government offices, and businesses located on the opposite side of Fresh Creek.

    Works Minister Clay Sweeting confirmed that government officials, including local MP Leon Lundy and a team of technical experts, traveled to the site the morning after the failure was reported to assess the situation. The government has already entered into discussions with Acrow Bridge, a firm that previously provided temporary and permanent bridge infrastructure to Abaco and Eleuthera, to formalize the temporary crossing delivery.

    Robert Mouzas, Director of Public Works, added that the temporary crossing has long been part of the broader permanent replacement plan. The new permanent bridge is designed to be a two-lane structure standing 16 to 20 feet higher than the original crossing, reducing flood and erosion risks.

    Local community leaders and residents have described the disruption as a major blow to daily life. Dr. Dorinda Dean, president of the Central Andros Christian Council, called the closure “a great loss, great disappointment, great setback.” Dean, who lives in Andros Town but leads a congregation in Calabash Bay on the opposite side of the bridge, was forced to miss a youth ministry workshop at her church, an event that saw low attendance overall due to the crossing shutdown. Currently, residents must book separate taxis on each side of the creek and cross via small private boats, turning routine trips into complicated, costly outings. Commuters from Cargill Creek, Behring Point and Blanket Sound face daily barriers to reaching their workplaces, and multiple local businesses have reported lost revenue from restricted access.

    Longtime South Andros resident Julian Gibson said erosion around the bridge’s supports had been a source of community concern for years. “If you see things getting rusty and starting to chip away and starting to fall apart, eventually, with trucks going back and forth, they could collapse,” he said. Gibson emphasized that the bridge served as the only reliable fixed route connecting northern and southern Andros, making its shutdown a far-reaching barrier to access for all essential services across the island.

  • Dominican Republic and U.S. launch Friendship 2026 health mission in La Vega

    Dominican Republic and U.S. launch Friendship 2026 health mission in La Vega

    LA VEGA – A binational health security partnership between the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Health and the United States Southern Command has officially kicked off the Friendship 2024 cooperation mission in the central city of La Vega, bringing no-cost clinical care to local residents and forging deeper professional ties between medical teams from both nations.

    Running from August 3 through August 14, the 12-day initiative unites skilled medical personnel from both countries to deliver direct patient services, exchange cutting-edge clinical knowledge, and boost the overall care capacity of Dominican health systems. Organized under the umbrella of U.S. Air Forces South (AFSOUTH), a component command of U.S. SOUTHCOM, the mission forms part of a broader regional collaboration framework focused on improving public health outcomes across the Western Hemisphere.

    Dominican Health Minister Víctor Atallah emphasized that the outreach will deliver tangible benefits to thousands of local community members who may face barriers to accessing routine care, while also offering a valuable hands-on training opportunity for domestic healthcare workers to expand their professional skills and clinical experience.

    From the U.S. side, Lieutenant Colonel Donald Davison, a representative from U.S. Air Forces South, noted that the joint mission creates a rare, productive space for medical providers from the two nations to work shoulder-to-shoulder, exchange evidence-based best practices, and refine joint operational readiness for future public health challenges. “These collaborative efforts don’t just help patients today—they build relationships that strengthen health security across the region for years to come,” Davison shared.

    Free services are currently being offered at two La Vega medical facilities: the Luis Morillo King Regional University Hospital and the Dra. Almida García Municipal Hospital. Available care includes general medical consultations, dental screenings and treatments, ophthalmology appointments, and personalized public health guidance. All services are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, and no elective surgical procedures are scheduled as part of this iteration of the Friendship mission.

  • PMH kitchen delayed after $5m drainage issue found

    PMH kitchen delayed after $5m drainage issue found

    Bahamas’ Health and Wellness Minister Dr. Michael Darville announced Wednesday that the long-awaited reopening of Princess Margaret Hospital’s shuttered kitchen will be pushed back further, after crews uncovered an end-of-life sewage and drainage system that will require an entirely new $5 million infrastructure buildout.

    The hospital’s main kitchen has been offline for more than a year, shut down after health inspectors deemed the facility structurally and hygienically unsafe. Since its closure, the Public Hospitals Authority has contracted third-party vendors to prepare meals off-site for patients and staff, leaving the facility without an on-site cafeteria for employees and sparking ongoing frustration from people receiving care at the hospital.

    Originally, public health officials projected that kitchen renovations would wrap up by the middle of 2025, but that timeline has been scrapped following the unexpected discovery. While conducting pre-renovation assessments for planned upgrades to the kitchen and the hospital’s Legacy Ward, engineering teams found that the decades-old septic and drainage network, which runs to Shirley Street, had fully reached the end of its functional lifespan.

    Because the original system was constructed in the 1950s alongside the hospital itself, repairing the existing infrastructure would be more costly and less reliable than installing a completely new network. Minister Darville explained that the government has opted to build a parallel sewage and drainage system that will connect directly to the hospital, rather than attempting to patch up the failing original infrastructure.

    “This is a major challenge that we just found. It delayed the awarding of the contract for the kitchen because we had to have a proper septic system in order for the hospital to function effectively,” Darville told reporters.

    The $5 million price tag for the new sewage system is an unbudgeted expense, separate from the already allocated funds for the kitchen, Legacy Ward, and hospital dialysis unit renovations. Minister Darville noted that unforeseen infrastructure issues are a common challenge when updating mid-20th century healthcare facilities, pointing to similar unexpected costs that arose during prior upgrades to the hospital’s accident and emergency department.

    “You scope a section of work, and then as you begin to do the work, you realise there are some things that were missed. This is an incidental finding to the necessary repairs for the kitchen and the legacy ward, and we must get it done in order for the Princess Margaret Hospital to function effectively,” he added.

    The extended closure of the on-site kitchen has drawn repeated criticism from patients, who have raised concerns over the quality and temperature of outsourced meals transported to the facility. Hospital employees have also been without a staff cafeteria for more than 12 months, creating additional inconvenience for clinical and administrative teams.

    The revelation of this new costly delay comes one month after Darville defended the government’s plan to construct a second new tertiary hospital on New Providence, even as the country pours ongoing funds into upgrading Princess Margaret Hospital. Darville noted last month that the 1950s-era hospital is approaching the end of its operational lifespan, with maintenance and upgrades growing increasingly expensive and logistically complex over time.

    Prior to this discovery, the government had already allocated funding from a CIBC government loan to cover the planned kitchen, Legacy Ward, and dialysis unit upgrades. Darville also confirmed last month that ongoing renovations to the hospital’s operating theatres have temporarily paused elective surgical procedures, though all emergency surgical services have remained fully operational throughout the upgrade work.

  • Dominican Migration targets networks facilitating irregular migration

    Dominican Migration targets networks facilitating irregular migration

    SANTO DOMINGO — Dominican Republic immigration authorities have launched an intensified nationwide campaign to dismantle transnational criminal networks that profit from facilitating the flow of irregular migration across the country’s borders, the nation’s top migration official announced this week.

    Vice Admiral Luis Rafael Lee Ballester, Director General of Migration, laid out the scope of the operation during an interview on the local radio program *Esto No Tiene Nombre*, detailing how these smuggling networks operate as a profitable illicit business that involves both Dominican and Haitian participants. Over months of intelligence gathering, authorities have mapped out the full range of tactics these criminal groups use to move and house undocumented migrants while avoiding detection by border and internal security forces.

    Common methods identified by investigators include using unmarked civilian vehicles to transport migrants across checkpoints, renting both formal residential properties and makeshift, hidden shelters to house undocumented people long-term, and guiding migrants along unregulated backroads through remote woodlands and mountainous terrain that lack permanent immigration control outposts.

    Lee Ballaster issued a specific warning to Dominican citizens who participate in the scheme by constructing informal residential units exclusively to rent to migrants living in the country without legal status, confirming that enhanced enforcement actions targeting these property owners will be a core focus of the new campaign.

    To strengthen the impact of the crackdown, the General Directorate of Migration has expanded its intelligence gathering operations and formalized a close collaborative partnership with the Dominican Public Prosecutor’s Office and multiple national security agencies. The coordinated effort aims to systematically identify, investigate, and prosecute all individuals connected to the smuggling and facilitation of illegal entry, transportation and accommodation of undocumented migrants within Dominican territory.

  • Dominican Republic loses mixed 4×100 relay gold after disqualification

    Dominican Republic loses mixed 4×100 relay gold after disqualification

    A dramatic last-minute ruling has upended the medal standings at the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games hosted in Santo Domingo, after the Dominican Republic’s home mixed 4×100-meter relay team was stripped of its initially claimed gold medal following a successful rules violation protest from a competing delegation.

    Competing on home soil, the four-person Dominican squad — made up of runners Mayobanex De Óleo, Fiordaliza Cofil, José González and Liranyi Alonso — crossed the finish line to claim what would have been the nation’s 19th gold medal of the regional multi-sport event, sparking widespread celebration among local fans and team officials. That joy quickly turned to disappointment, however, after competition governing officials upheld a protest filed against the team, citing two distinct rule breaches that occurred over the course of the race.

    Following a full review of race footage and referee observations, event organizers confirmed the Dominican team committed two actionable infractions: obstruction during the first baton exchange between runners, and a clear lane violation in the third exchange. The protest specifically called out Cofil, who was alleged to have impeded the progress of the Colombian relay team while running the race’s second leg. The ruling immediately stripped the team of its medal, removing the gold from the Dominican Republic’s Games tally.

    In response to the disqualification decision, leadership of the Dominican national delegation has formally launched an appeal against the ruling, seeking to overturn the outcome and have the medal reinstated. As of the latest update from Games officials, no timeline has been announced for when the appeal will be reviewed or a final ruling issued, leaving the mixed 4×100m relay medal standings in limbo ahead of the Games’ conclusion.

  • Marileidy Paulino advances to 400m final at Santo Domingo 2026

    Marileidy Paulino advances to 400m final at Santo Domingo 2026

    Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – Olympic and world 400-meter titleholder Marileidy Paulino has delivered a dominant preliminary performance at the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games, booking her place in the women’s 400-meter final on the first day of semifinal action this Tuesday.

    Competing in front of a packed, cheering hometown crowd at Félix Sánchez Stadium, located within the capital’s Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center, the sprinter – widely nicknamed the “Gazelle of Don Gregorio” for her effortless speed and agility – claimed victory in her semifinal heat with a solid time of 50.63 seconds. The result was more than enough to secure her advancement, and cements her position as the undisputed favorite to claim the regional games’ gold medal when the final kicks off.

    Paulino’s performance lit up the venue, as she pulled away from the field coming off the final bend before easing through the closing straight with the signature poise that has made her a global star. She crossed the finish line with a comfortable gap over the rest of her competitors, sending the local audience into cheers.

    Trailing behind Paulino in her heat, Shafigua Maloney of St. Vincent and the Grenadines secured the second qualifying spot with a time of 51.22 seconds, while Andrea Rivera of Puerto Rico took third place in 51.78 seconds to round out the heat’s advancing runners.

  • Historian urges national hero status for enslaved woman who killed planter

    Historian urges national hero status for enslaved woman who killed planter

    At the National Emancipation Rally held Saturday at Independence Park, prominent Vincentian historian Michael Dennie has launched a public call for a radical reexamination of the nation’s freedom narrative, demanding that Nelly the Ebo—an enslaved African woman who killed a powerful aristocratic plantation owner on the island of Mayreau before being executed alongside four other co-conspirators—be formally recognized as St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ first Black national hero by next year’s Emancipation Day.

    Dennnie’s address upends the long-held framing of emancipation as a charitable gift granted by British colonial authorities, arguing instead that the freedom enjoyed by modern Vincentians was purchased not only with financial cost but with the blood of generations of enslaved people who resisted their subjugation.

    Citing archival records, Dennie recounted that Nelly, an Ebo woman held in bondage, carried out a targeted act of lethal resistance against the plantation owner: an elite aristocrat who controlled multiple estates across St. Vincent and other Caribbean territories. As the planter rode his horse across the estate, Nelly attacked him with a hoe, inflicting fatal wounds. She and four other enslaved women then disposed of his body by throwing it into the sea. When the killing was uncovered, colonial authorities quickly arrested all five women. Four were hanged directly on the estate, while Nelly was transported to the capital Kingstown for a public trial and execution.

    Archives label the five women “conspirators,” a term Dennie rejects outright. “That is the wrong word—they are co-freedom fighters,” he told the assembled crowd, noting that their sacrifice places them at the center of the national story of liberation. He emphasized that enslaved women in St. Vincent were not passive victims of chattel slavery, but active, courageous leaders in the ongoing fight for freedom.

    Beyond the call for Nelly’s recognition, Dennie laid out three core arguments to reshape how Vincentians understand their national history. First, he noted that St. Vincent had the shortest period of organized chattel slavery of any territory in the British Caribbean—a distinction he says deserves far greater national recognition and celebration. Second, he pointed out that a portion of the population, particularly members of the Garifuna community, were never enslaved at all. While the British carried out a mass expulsion of Garifuna after their conquest of the island, Dennie explained that the expulsion was not total, and many Garifuna families remained in communities such as Greiggs, retaining their freedom throughout the colonial slavery era.

    Finally, Dennie reiterated that emancipation, achieved in partial form in 1834 and full legal form in 1838, was not the result of colonial benevolence. Resistance to enslavement began long before enslaved Africans arrived in the Caribbean, he explained: most people captured for the transatlantic slave trade were captives of war who already fought for their freedom, losing many comrades on African soil and during the middle passage. “Africans simply didn’t say, ‘Okay, here we are, take us across the Atlantic,’” he said. “Those who fought on land, many died. Those who fought at sea, many died. And when they arrived here in the Caribbean and in St. Vincent, they fought again, and many died.”

    Dennie framed his address as part of a broader collective effort by historians at the rally to unpack the full cost of emancipation. He focused his remarks on the blood price of freedom, leaving discussion of the financial cost—including the controversial policy that compensated enslaved owners rather than the people they had enslaved—to fellow historian Dr. Adrian Fraser, who spoke after him.

    He described Nelly’s act of resistance as extraordinary both in its own time and today, arguing that formal recognition of her heroism would send a clear message about which national stories the country chooses to honor and pass to future generations. “This is not something which was possible in colonial times, but it is our government now. We have the capacity to decide who are our heroes,” Dennie said. “We have to understand which stories must be told, which stories have a reverence to which our children must be acquainted. The story of Nelly the Ebo, a Black woman standing against slavery, and with other Black women giving their lives so that we today could enjoy freedom — let us remember them in the most positive way we can. Make Nelly the Ebo a national hero.”

    Closing his remarks, Dennie urged that this unspoken history of Black resistance be taught, widely shared and institutionalized in national commemorations, starting with the formal honoring of Nelly and the four other freedom fighters who gave their lives. “Those who gave their lives deserve that honour,” he said.

  • Police probe Rodney Bay Strip incident that left woman seriously injured

    Police probe Rodney Bay Strip incident that left woman seriously injured

    A violent late-night incident on the Rodney Bay Strip in Saint Lucia has left a 28-year-old woman in serious but stable hospital condition, after she was struck by an oncoming minivan amid a public altercation Sunday evening. Early findings from the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force outline that the victim became involved in a physical confrontation with two other individuals — one man and one woman — before the conflict spilled onto the adjacent roadway, where she was hit by the approaching minivan before first responders arrived.

    Local emergency response teams were dispatched immediately after reports of the incident came in. Crews from the Saint Lucia Fire Service arrived at the Rodney Bay Strip scene within minutes to extract the injured woman and coordinate urgent transport to the Owen King EU Hospital, the island’s primary public acute care facility. Initial assessments from emergency responders on site documented only lower body injuries, but updated information from a family member speaking to local publication St. Lucia Times confirms the victim’s harm is far more severe than first reported. The woman has sustained multi-system trauma, including extensive damage to her jaw, mouth, and teeth, that requires ongoing inpatient medical care.

    Local law enforcement has now launched a full formal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident. The Criminal Investigations Department assigned to the Gros Islet Police Divisional Headquarters, which has jurisdiction over the Rodney Bay area, is leading the inquiry, working to piece together the sequence of events that led to the altercation and subsequent collision. As of the latest update, police have not released additional details regarding potential charges, the identities of the other parties involved in the altercation, or the status of the minivan driver, and have asked any witnesses who were present on the Rodney Bay Strip Sunday night to come forward with information to support the ongoing investigation.

  • PM focuses on high electricity bills amidst plans to ease cost of living

    PM focuses on high electricity bills amidst plans to ease cost of living

    Facing growing public pressure over soaring household and business expenses across St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Prime Minister Godwin Friday laid out a comprehensive two-part strategy this Tuesday to address the nation’s rising cost of living crisis. In an address on NBC Radio, the leader of the eight-month-old New Democratic Party administration outlined that near-term interventions will prioritize curbing skyrocketing electricity costs, while long-term structural reforms will focus on building national economic resilience against volatile global external shocks. The current energy price surge, which has rippled across global oil markets, stems from ongoing conflict in the Gulf region – a challenge Friday confirmed the government is continuously evaluating to soften its impact on ordinary Vincentians. “The current surcharge on electricity is already unacceptably high, but it would be far worse without the proactive steps our administration has already put in place,” Friday stated, emphasizing that both the national government and state-owned electricity utility VINLEC must share the burden of elevated global fuel costs, rather than shifting the entire financial strain onto consumers. For Friday, electricity price inflation sits at the heart of the broader cost-of-living crisis, as every increase in utility costs flows directly through to household budgets and business operating expenses across every sector of the economy. “When VINLEC raises prices, the full surcharge gets passed directly to consumers and business owners. It touches every single person in this country,” he explained, adding that he has deep empathy for working families struggling to cover basic costs amid persistent energy price growth. The prime minister noted that his administration acted swiftly to counter price hikes earlier this year, rolling out targeted measures in May to offset rising diesel costs, the primary fuel used for the nation’s electricity generation. The three core immediate interventions include eliminating port fuel surcharges on all diesel imported by VINLEC, cutting or fully removing excise taxes on this imported fuel to lower the utility’s input costs, and pressuring VINLEC to absorb a portion of global fuel price increases instead of passing 100% of the cost to end users. According to Friday, VINLEC absorbed more than $730,000 in additional fuel costs in July alone, costs that would otherwise have appeared on consumers’ monthly electricity bills. Without these policy interventions, Friday warned, the per-kilowatt-hour fuel surcharge would exceed 90 cents – a level that would place unsustainable pressure on households, businesses and the overall national economy. Beyond pushing for shared cost absorption, Friday called on VINLEC to revise its customer disconnection policies to reflect the ongoing economic strain, urging the utility to extend longer grace periods for customers struggling to pay their bills. “VINLEC has to recognize that they cannot disconnect customers on the same rigid timelines they used before this crisis. We all need to show more flexibility and work together to get through this period,” he said. When discussing the long-term outlook, Friday acknowledged that temporary tax cuts and subsidies are short-term policy tools designed only to cushion the blow of an external price shock, not a permanent solution. Sustainable, long-term relief, he stressed, will require structural reform of the nation’s energy sector, rather than open-ended fiscal subsidies. The administration’s long-term energy strategy centers on reducing national vulnerability to global oil price volatility by investing in affordable renewable energy and building more sustainable domestic energy systems, with VINLEC tapped to lead the renewable transition, rather than treating clean energy as a competing force. “VINLEC has to be at the forefront of this shift so we can build a more stable, sustainable energy supply for the whole country,” Friday told radio listeners. While the government will continue to adjust fuel taxes to lower costs within the limits of constrained national public finances, Friday made clear that St. Vincent and the Grenadines cannot depend on permanent fiscal giveaways to keep electricity prices affordable over time. Beyond energy policy, Friday outlined a series of additional targeted measures to reduce everyday living costs, with a specific focus on low-income households and families with school-aged children. The administration is rolling out periodic VAT-free days to deliver direct, visible financial relief to consumers. The first VAT-free event, held in December 2025 in the capital Kingstown, drew what Friday called a “phenomenal” response, with unprecedented consumer demand. A second VAT-free day has been scheduled for August 28, this time tailored specifically to back-to-school shopping, unlike the broad, general public event held in December. After many businesses reported that they underestimated consumer demand for the December event, the government provided far more advance notice for the August promotion. Friday also called on local retailers to match the government’s fiscal sacrifice by passing additional savings onto consumers through their own price discounts. Friday framed the targeted VAT-free policy as part of a broader government philosophy focused on protecting the nation’s most vulnerable groups during the current cost squeeze. Among other support measures, the administration has raised monthly public assistance payments to EC$500 to support low-income and vulnerable residents, preventing them from being pushed into financial ruin by current economic conditions. The government has also eliminated all registration fees for secondary schools and the national Community College, and will cover all exam fees for the upcoming cohort of final-year secondary school students. “No student should have to fundraise to pay for eight or ten exit exams just to finish their secondary education. This is a core part of public education, and the state will take on this responsibility,” Friday said.