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  • Een broeierige donderdag met een verfrissende bui

    Een broeierige donderdag met een verfrissende bui

    A warm, sticky weather pattern is set to unfold across the Netherlands this Thursday, starting from the earliest hours of the morning, according to the latest local weather update published September 17.

    When dawn breaks on Thursday, initial temperatures will already hover between 23 and 29 degrees Celsius. What makes the conditions feel more oppressive than the numbers suggest is the unusually high atmospheric humidity, which pushes perceived temperatures well above the actual readings shown on thermometers.

    As the day progresses into midday and afternoon, the heat will ramp up dramatically. Depending on the region across the country, maximum actual temperatures will surge to between 33 and 39 degrees Celsius. When combined with the persistent high humidity, it will feel as hot as 40 degrees Celsius or even higher in many areas. Skies are expected to be partly cloudy through most of the day.

    There is one potential refreshing break in the hot conditions, however. Forecasters note a considerable chance of rain showers or thunderstorms developing through the afternoon and early evening. These storms could bring heavy downpours that are intense in localized areas. Winds will blow from the east to northeast, and they will remain mostly calm for the duration of the event.

    Once the sun sets and the day moves into evening and overnight, temperatures will gradually cool down to a range between 23 and 27 degrees Celsius. High humidity will remain in place, leaving the evening warm and somewhat stuffy for most of the country.

  • UN chief warns of global uncertainty as world leaders prepare for General Assembly

    UN chief warns of global uncertainty as world leaders prepare for General Assembly

    Ahead of the high-level week of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, which will bring global leaders together in downtown Manhattan, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has framed the gathering against a backdrop of seismic shifts in global power dynamics and rapidly escalating systemic uncertainty. With Guterres set to step down from his post at the end of 2026, he used a pre-General Assembly press conference at UN Headquarters on September 16 to argue that the changing global landscape demands adaptation from the United Nations, while emphasizing that organizational reform must never come at the cost of core founding principles. Instead, he argued, these values must be defended with renewed conviction. “The United Nations is not just a platform, it is a promise,” Guterres told reporters. “So my message to leaders comes down to this: Keep your promises. Live up to the UN Charter. Be true to the ideals you pledged to uphold. Defend international law. Protect human rights. Invest in sustainable and inclusive development. And push for peace. Now more than ever.”

    Calls for sweeping UN institutional reform have gained momentum in recent years, coming from a diverse coalition of stakeholders ranging from vulnerable small island developing states to major powers including the United States. But as leaders prepare to convene, the full attention of the international community remains anchored to the escalating, ongoing conflict roiling the Middle East – a crisis Guterres identified as the most urgent priority ahead of the General Assembly’s debates. “De-escalation must be priority one, priority two and priority three,” he stressed, calling on all warring parties to immediately halt all operations that target or harm civilian populations, and to clear all barriers to unimpeded, safe access for humanitarian aid workers and supply convoys.

    Guterres also issued a clear call for international law to be upheld in critical strategic waterways: he demanded that navigational rights and freedoms be fully restored and respected around the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab, global chokepoints that carry a large share of the world’s seaborne trade. He reiterated that the only viable path out of escalating regional tension runs through “de-escalation, diplomacy and dialogue.”

    Turning specifically to the long-simmering Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Secretary-General urged the international community to not turn away from the catastrophic humanitarian suffering of Palestinian communities in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He insisted any finalized peace plan for Gaza must be implemented in full, with no restrictions on the entry and distribution of life-saving humanitarian aid. He also called for an immediate end to what he termed the “creeping annexation” of West Bank territory, stressing that a lasting, just peace across the Middle East can never be achieved without the full implementation of a two-state solution.

    Guterres also addressed the ongoing full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, noting that the conflict is now entering its fifth year, with unthinkable civilian toll and cascading negative impacts on the global economy and food security that extend far beyond Eastern Europe. “It is time for an immediate ceasefire as a first step towards a just, lasting and comprehensive peace – in line with the UN Charter, international law, and relevant UN resolutions,” he said.

    Shifting focus to emerging transnational challenges that will dominate General Assembly agenda items next week, Guterres turned to the rapid, unregulated advancement of artificial intelligence, calling for urgent global action to address growing risks associated with the technology. He acknowledged that AI holds unprecedented transformative potential: it can speed progress toward the UN’s sustainable development goals, expand access to quality education, strengthen global public health systems, and boost communities’ ability to adapt to the impacts of climate change. But he also highlighted that even leading AI developers are increasingly sounding the alarm that the technology is advancing far faster than global regulators’ and societies’ understanding of its catastrophic potential risks.

    “We cannot afford to ignore concerns that have been raised, especially by those on the frontlines of the development of AI,” Guterres said. He emphasized that national governments bear the primary responsibility for protecting their citizens from AI-related harms, noting that meaningful risk mitigation requires far more than vague good intentions from global policymakers. To address this gap, the United Nations has already established the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, a global body that brings together leading scientific expertise from across the world to ensure AI governance policy is rooted in robust empirical evidence. Guterres confirmed that AI will be a central topic in his bilateral and multilateral discussions with world leaders during high-level week, and that the UN is actively working to advance practical, actionable policy frameworks for safe AI development in the coming weeks.

    Guterres argued that the international community must build a shared global consensus on how to advance the safe, secure, and responsible development of AI, including establishing clear frameworks for when more powerful AI systems require stricter safeguards or additional regulatory intervention to mitigate systemic risks. “This requires genuine international cooperation and a coordinated global effort,” he said, acknowledging deep geopolitical divides around AI governance but warning that these splits must not be allowed to derail urgent work to improve global AI safety.

    Climate change, another longstanding core priority for the UN, was also flagged as a key issue for the upcoming General Assembly, with Guterres implicitly tying the need for cross-border cooperation on AI to the larger demand for collective action on slowing global temperature rise and supporting vulnerable developing states.

  • BRICS Pay: kan het nieuwe betaalsysteem de macht van SWIFT en de dollar uitdagen? (1)

    BRICS Pay: kan het nieuwe betaalsysteem de macht van SWIFT en de dollar uitdagen? (1)

    The global competition for influence over the international financial system has entered a new phase, as the expanding BRICS bloc advances an initiative to streamline intra-bloc cross-border payments and reduce reliance on Western-dominated financial infrastructure. During the 18th BRICS Summit held in New Delhi on 12 and 13 September, bloc leaders formally backed further development of local currency trade mechanisms and cross-border payment systems, highlighting the strategic role of BRICS Pay, a project led by the BRICS Business Council. First proposed in 2018, BRICS Pay is designed as a digital payment and settlement ecosystem that connects existing national payment systems across member states, aiming to make cross-border transactions faster, more affordable, and less vulnerable to external geopolitical pressure. Contrary to widespread speculation, the initiative is not positioned as an immediate full replacement for the SWIFT global financial messaging network, or major Western card networks like Visa and Mastercard; instead, it operates as a complementary alternative infrastructure that works alongside existing global systems. There are also no current plans to launch a single centralized BRICS payment system or a common BRICS currency, a distinction that reflects the divergent economic and geopolitical priorities across the bloc’s 11 current members.

    To understand the urgency behind BRICS Pay, one must look at the shifting geopolitical landscape of recent years, which has turned financial infrastructure into a core tool of international statecraft. Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine cut off major Russian financial institutions from the SWIFT network, exposing the profound risks emerging economies face when critical components of their international financial infrastructure are controlled by external powers. For Russia, the exclusion made clear how dependent even large economies are on systems outside their sovereign control, and Moscow has since become a leading advocate for alternative payment arrangements and expanded use of national currencies in intra-bloc trade. But the push for alternatives extends far beyond Russia: many emerging market economies across BRICS have growing concerns over the concentration of control over global financial infrastructure in a small group of Western nations and institutions.

    A common misconception about BRICS is that it acts as a unified geopolitical and economic bloc with a single shared financial agenda. In reality, member states hold widely divergent interests, shaped by their unique trade relationships, existing financial systems, currency policies, and diplomatic ties to Western powers and the U.S. dollar. For example, India maintains deep economic and strategic ties with both Western nations and fellow BRICS members, while Brazil’s policy priorities differ sharply from Russia’s, and China already operates a robust cross-border payment infrastructure of its own. This diversity rules out a fully centralized, one-size-fits-all BRICS payment system in the near term. Instead, the bloc is pursuing a more pragmatic model: an interoperable network that links existing independent national payment systems, rather than building an entirely new centralized system from scratch.

    Manoj Kewalramani, chair of the Geostrategy Programme at Indian think tank Takshashila Institution, framed the initiative to Al Jazeera as an iterative exploration of tools to reduce the vulnerability of intra-BRICS trade and financial ties, rather than a direct challenge to the existing global order. At its core, the development of BRICS Pay touches on a fundamental geopolitical question: who controls the infrastructure that underpins global trade and international financial transactions?

    How does BRICS Pay work in practice? The core premise is that each member state retains its existing domestic payment infrastructure, while BRICS Pay builds the technical bridges to enable these separate systems to communicate with one another, via tools like QR codes, digital wallets, and mobile applications. For consumers, this could mean a traveler from India visiting Brazil would be able to use their existing Indian payment infrastructure directly, rather than relying on international card networks or traditional cross-border payment services. The same model applies to business and banking transactions: an Indian firm trading with a Chinese partner could settle transactions directly in their respective national currencies via connected domestic systems, arranged through agreements between their financial institutions.

    Andrey Mikhaylishin, CEO of BRICS Pay, pointed to existing cutting-edge national systems as the building blocks for the network, including India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and RuPay, Russia’s Mir card network and Fast Payment System. Currently, these advanced national systems operate in isolation: an Indian payment app does not work automatically in China, a Brazilian domestic network cannot connect seamlessly to Russian banks, and China’s infrastructure does not natively interoperate with India’s. BRICS Pay’s core mission is to close these gaps.

    Many member states already operate world-class national payment systems that can serve as a foundation for the expanded network:
    – India’s UPI is one of the most advanced instant payment systems globally, enabling fast person-to-person and business-to-consumer transactions directly from bank accounts. While it dominates domestic retail payments and has been rolled out in a small number of partner countries, its role in facilitating large-scale international trade remains limited for now.
    – Brazil’s Pix is another wildly popular instant payment system that has rapidly become a core part of the country’s domestic payment ecosystem. Like UPI, its main gap is the lack of established international interoperability. A successful domestic system does not automatically translate to a functional global payment network.
    – China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) is a dedicated infrastructure for cross-border renminbi payments. It is important to note that CIPS does not fill the exact same role as SWIFT: CIPS handles the processing and settlement of cross-border renminbi transactions, while SWIFT is primarily a secure messaging network that allows financial institutions to exchange payment instructions and transaction information.

    This distinction is critical for anyone comparing BRICS Pay to SWIFT. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is not a global settlement system that moves money between accounts itself. Instead, it is a standardized, secure messaging network used by more than 11,000 financial institutions worldwide to exchange transaction information. Its massive scale, built up over decades of operation, creates a self-reinforcing network effect: the more institutions that join SWIFT, the more valuable the network becomes for every user. Beyond technology, SWIFT represents a decades-old global framework of trust, standardized rules, regulation, and financial relationships that cannot be easily replaced overnight.

    In their joint declaration from the New Delhi summit, BRICS leaders emphasized the need to prioritize national sovereign priorities, noting that no universal solution exists for all member states. BRICS Pay is also open to use by friendly non-BRICS countries, expanding its potential reach over time. For now, the initiative remains a work in progress, focused on incremental connection of existing systems rather than a sudden overhaul of the global financial order.

  • One in custody following death of Ponds Extension man

    One in custody following death of Ponds Extension man

    BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — Law enforcement authorities have confirmed that a suspect is in custody following the death of 27-year-old Jamie Douglas, a resident of the Ponds Extension neighborhood, in what marks the seventh recorded homicide in St. Kitts and Nevis so far this year.

    A public release from the St. Kitts and Nevis Police Force details that the fatal incident unfolded on the evening of September 14, 2026, along West Street in the Newtown district of the island nation. Early investigative findings show Douglas suffered life-threatening injuries during the altercation, and emergency responders rushed him to the Joseph N. France General Hospital for urgent care. He was immediately admitted to the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit as medical teams worked to stabilize his condition, but he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead in the early hours of September 15.

    To clarify the exact circumstances and root cause of Douglas’ death, law enforcement officials announced that a formal autopsy will be carried out by forensic experts. As the investigation moves forward, one individual connected to the case remains in police detention for questioning.

    Local law enforcement is appealing to the public for any additional details that could help advance the probe. Any person with relevant information that could assist detectives in building their case is urged to reach out to the closest local police precinct or contact the island’s emergency tip line at 911 without delay.

  • Column: Schoenmaker blijf bij je leest

    Column: Schoenmaker blijf bij je leest

    A landmark legal change approved one week ago is set to reshape international football opportunities for both players and the South American nation of Suriname. The amendment formally allows professional footballers with Surinamese heritage to represent the country at international competitions while retaining their Dutch nationality, unlocking a deep pool of untapped talent for Suriname’s national squad.

    This regulatory shift delivers mutual benefits for players and the Suriname Football Association alike. For eligible athletes, the rule change removes the long-standing barrier of being forced to give up Dutch citizenship to play internationally, opening up a new path to earn senior caps, raise their profiles among top global club scouts, and continue competitive football at the international level even if they do not earn a call-up to the Netherlands’ iconic Oranje national team. In an era of deepening sports globalization, the change also aligns with new scouting realities: unlike decades past when the Netherlands was seen as the only gateway for Surinamese-born talent to access European opportunities, social media now allows scouts from top clubs across the continent to identify and evaluate talent playing anywhere in the world, making international caps for Suriname just as valuable for a player’s career.

    The timing of the amendment’s passage could not be more critical. Suriname is set to kick off its Concacaf Nations League campaign later this month, and the rule change means the national team can now field a squad made up primarily of professional players, a marked shift from previous rosters that relied more heavily on domestic amateur and semi-professional talent. The full squad has already been announced, and football fans across Suriname are currently counting down to the first match.

    Still, the road ahead presents significant challenges. Team officials face a tight timeline to get the newly assembled squad, most of whom have not played any official warm-up matches together, into peak competitive form. Some observers have argued that local players, who have already been training and competing together in regional domestic leagues, should start the opening matches to address this lack of cohesion. However, this proposal has been ruled out: recent regional competitive assessments confirm that Suriname’s domestic club leagues do not meet the required competitive standard to prepare players for Concacaf League A, the top tier of the regional competition.

    Even with the addition of a full complement of professional players, earning a spot out of the group stage in League A will be an enormous uphill challenge. Amateurs are no longer viable options for the roster when the national association has set the clear goal of advancing past the group stage. National team leadership has emphasized that lessons learned from Suriname’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign will be integrated into this new tournament cycle, and as the ultimate decision-maker, the head coach is tasked with pulling every lever available to hit the team’s performance goals. The Surinamese football community has expressed confidence that the coach will field the strongest possible squad, and has called for giving him the benefit of the doubt through the early stages of the campaign.

    In a closing reflection on the public debate surrounding the legal amendment, opinion writer Mireille Hoepel noted that over the course of the legislative process, many people without professional expertise in sports policy or international football law offered unsolicited, strongly held opinions on the bill, often positioning themselves as uninvited advocates for Dutch national interests. While constructive public criticism is appropriate, Hoepel argued that this pattern of overreach into fields outside one’s own professional expertise is disappointing. She emphasized that members of every profession would deliver better collective outcomes by focusing on improving their own work rather than expending energy criticizing and interfering in work done by trained experts in other fields, closing with the classic reminder: “Let the cobbler stick to his last.”

  • Braganza kreeg duizenden hectares terwijl bedrijfsplan financiële onzekerheid vermeldt

    Braganza kreeg duizenden hectares terwijl bedrijfsplan financiële onzekerheid vermeldt

    In January 2026, Suriname’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (LVV) awarded a conditional 20-year lease for nearly 9,400 hectares of state-owned land in the Para region to Braganza Marketing Group, clearing the way for the firm to develop a large-scale commercial agricultural project on the site. A portion of the already deforested land is currently being worked on by Mennonite farmers recruited by Braganza to move to Suriname for the initiative. But newly public documents from the project’s founding raise serious questions about whether Braganza ever proved it had the financial capacity to meet the strict development requirements tied to the lease agreement. The project was approved in large part based on Braganza’s 10-year business plan covering 2022 to 2031, whose final version was published in May 2023. In that document, the company itself explicitly acknowledged that its financial standing and cash flow were major weaknesses at the time the plan was drafted, noting its overall financial position remained uncertain when the proposal was submitted for government review. It remains unclear whether Braganza has addressed these financial vulnerabilities and shored up its capital position between the publication of the business plan and the January 2026 approval of the land lease. According to Braganza’s own accounting, all early operations up to the approval date were funded by its founding partners, and the company had not yet finalized key funding streams including first-revenue generation, external bank lending, outside investor commitments, government subsidies, and additional state support. At the same time, the business plan notes that there was strong interest from international investors looking to deploy direct capital into Suriname’s agricultural sector, with planned investments covering row crop production, cattle rearing, and dairy processing. Braganza outlined its overarching funding strategy in the plan around two core pillars: equity contributions from existing shareholders and commercial bank lending. What remains unconfirmed to date is what level of financial due diligence LVV conducted on Braganza prior to the ministry’s January 13, 2026 decision to hand over such a large tract of public land for 20 years of commercial development. The terms of the lease agreement impose significant mandatory development requirements on Braganza: the firm must bring a minimum of 10% of the total 9,366.72 hectares under active cultivation every year, which equals roughly 937 hectares of new development annually. The company’s own business plan actually called for a far faster rollout of development than the lease’s minimum requirements. Braganza initially projected that it would have 5,000 hectares in active production after its first full year of operations, targeting annual output of 11,250 tons of soybeans and 25,000 tons of corn. It aimed to have 10,000 hectares in production by the end of the fifth year of the project. Achieving that aggressive timeline requires massive upfront investment in land preparation, agricultural machinery, road and utility infrastructure, on-site storage, processing facilities, and transport logistics. Beyond financial questions, Braganza itself openly acknowledges in its business plan that Suriname currently lacks the full supporting infrastructure needed to sustain large-scale commercial soy and corn production. The document notes that large volumes of required production inputs are either entirely unavailable or only available in insufficient quantities within the country, meaning many key raw materials would need to be imported to keep the project running. The lease agreement grants LVV full authority to conduct regular inspections, ongoing monitoring, and periodic evaluations of the project’s progress. It also explicitly states that the lease will automatically terminate if Braganza fails to meet its mandatory annual cultivation requirements. However, based on all publicly available documents related to the approval, there is no public record of what financial guarantees Braganza submitted to LVV when the lease was signed in January, nor any confirmation that the ministry completed a formal pre-approval verification to confirm the company held enough capital to actually meet its mandatory development obligations over the course of the lease.

  • “Criterio Compartido” (Shared Views): The President returns to the radio to engage with the people

    “Criterio Compartido” (Shared Views): The President returns to the radio to engage with the people

    Cuban President and First Party Secretary Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez has announced the upcoming launch of his new radio talk program, *Criterio Compartido* (Shared Views), set to air on Cuba’s iconic Radio Rebelde starting next week. The program, co-hosted by 2026 National Radio Award-winning journalist Bárbara Betancourt Abreu, draws inspiration from respected media figure Dr. Zeneida Costales, and is built around five core missions that center direct engagement between the island nation’s leader and its citizens.

    Unlike traditional top-down political broadcasts, *Criterio Compartido* is designed as an open, inclusive space focused on participatory governance and transparency. Its core mandate is to candidly address the everyday challenges, pressing concerns, and collective aspirations of Cuban people, creating a structured forum for ongoing social dialogue that acts as a direct, unfiltered bridge between the presidency and the general public. Betancourt Abreu emphasized this core mission in her remarks, noting that the program will prioritize genuine listening: “Yes, he listens to me. He is the president who listens to what I think.”

    A key defining feature of the new show is its commitment to centering ordinary Cubans as the main protagonists of the conversation. Everyday working people, often referred to as the unsung heroes who build the nation through their daily labor, will be given regular airtime to share their experiences and perspectives. The program will also serve as a formal platform for accountability, creating space for citizen oversight of government work and helping build public consensus around key policy issues, grounded in systematic public opinion research and direct public participation.

    In his announcement shared September 17, 2026, Díaz-Canel reflected on his long personal and professional connection to radio broadcasting, stretching back to his childhood days participating in a children’s program in Santa Clara, to his earlier experience hosting versions of *Criterio Compartido* and another program called *Alta Tensión* in Holguín. “The best way to learn is to listen to the people,” the president stated, reaffirming his administration’s commitment to ongoing, open dialogue with the Cuban public.

    The program will carry a deeply personal touch for the Cuban leader: its opening theme is the well-known track *Canto Arena* by iconic Cuban musician Silvio Rodríguez, performed by Díaz-Canel’s own children, Miguel and Jenny, who are members of the popular Cuban folk group De Cuba. Starting next week, the program will be available to all Cuban radio listeners, with organizers framing it as a promising new effort to foster open, transformative public conversation across the country.

  • UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction stands “shoulder to shoulder with Cuba”

    UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction stands “shoulder to shoulder with Cuba”

    On a Wednesday morning in September 2026 at Havana’s Palace of the Revolution, Cuba’s highest-ranking leader Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, welcomed Kamal Kishore, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), for high-level talks focused on disaster risk management, global solidarity, and the ongoing impacts of the U.S. blockade on Cuba’s crisis preparedness capacity.

    Opening the dialogue, Kishore framed his visit around two core purposes: advancing collaborative work on disaster risk reduction, and demonstrating explicit solidarity with the Cuban people amid their long-standing challenges. He confirmed that UNDRR consistently adds its voice to the UN Secretary-General’s annual report on the harm caused by the blockade, documenting the policy’s tangible far-reaching repercussions for Cuban communities. “We are fully aware of the devastating effects this blockade has, and we recognize the pain and hardship it imposes on the Cuban people,” Kishore stated. He emphasized that the United Nations stands firmly alongside Cuba during this difficult period, and that UNDRR will leverage all available resources to support Cuban efforts to strengthen disaster resilience and advance national development priorities.

    During the conversation, Kishore also offered public recognition of Cuba’s significant achievements in building out early warning systems and community-level population protection frameworks. He noted that Cuba’s experience, developed even under severe resource constraints, serves as a valuable model for nations across the globe.

    In his welcoming remarks, President Díaz-Canel underscored the profound importance of Kishore’s visit to Cuba at this critical juncture, and extended gratitude for the consistent technical and institutional support UNDRR has provided to the country over the years. He acknowledged Kishore’s personal commitment to advancing global disaster risk reduction and scaling evidence-based best practices across the world.

    Díaz-Canel went on to outline the extraordinary challenges Cuba currently faces, as the long-standing U.S. blockade has been significantly intensified, particularly a de facto energy blockade that ripples through every sector of the country’s economic and social life. He described the blockade as an unexaggerated “genocidal and criminal policy” that directly undermines Cuba’s ability to invest in and maintain disaster risk reduction infrastructure and systems. For Díaz-Canel, the UNDRR chief’s visit amid these struggles stands as a meaningful gesture of international support and understanding of Cuba’s reality.

    The Cuban leader reaffirmed Cuba’s unwavering commitment to the UNDRR mandate and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the landmark global agreement adopted in 2015 at the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan. Endorsed by the UN General Assembly, the Sendai Framework centers on a core goal: cutting disaster-related losses of life, livelihoods, health, and economic, social, cultural and environmental assets substantially, while affirming that states hold the primary responsibility for reducing disaster risk within their borders.

    Against the backdrop of growing global climate impacts, Díaz-Canel stressed that both the Sendai Framework and UNDRR play an increasingly critical role in protecting vulnerable communities worldwide. He confirmed that Cuba remains eager to collaborate with UNDRR, drawing on the Caribbean nation’s decades of on-the-ground experience in disaster management to advance shared global goals.

    Díaz-Canel emphasized that Cuba stands as a global example: even under extreme material constraints, the constant pressure of external aggression, and the crippling impact of the decades-long blockade, strong political will and intentional organizational investment can deliver major progress in disaster risk reduction. He explained that this progress is possible when national policies prioritize protecting people, critical infrastructure, and key assets, and build robust capacity for both disaster response and post-event recovery.

    As a case in point, the president noted that during the current Atlantic hurricane season—one of the most recurrent and dangerous natural hazards facing the island—Cuba has rolled out full early warning and protection measures for people, property and critical resources, exactly as it would under normal operating conditions, despite the widespread hardships caused by the intensified blockade and ongoing energy restrictions.

    In line with Sendai Framework commitments, Díaz-Canel added that Cuba has recently updated its national institutional and regulatory frameworks for disaster risk reduction, including a national coordination platform that extends all the way to the grassroots, reaching local defense zones and community-level organizations. The country has made major investments in expanding early warning infrastructure and establishing dedicated disaster reduction centers, and has integrated cutting-edge science and innovation into its national governance program focused on risk mitigation.

    “Our country has built up practical experience that we are fully willing to share, and we have already shared much of it with fellow nations across the Caribbean region,” the president stated. This includes training for regional personnel, open access to research from Cuba’s landmark Tarea Vida (Life Task) initiative, which addresses climate change-driven sea level rise and coastal adaptation, and full transparency around the methodologies and operational procedures that underpin Cuba’s national disaster risk reduction platform.

    The meeting was attended by senior officials from both sides. Accompanying Kishore were Nahuel Arenas, Head of the UNDRR Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean, and Saskia Carusi, Deputy Head of the regional office. Cuban attendees included Division General Ramón Pardo Guerra, Chief of the National Civil Defense General Staff; Anayansi Rodríguez Camejo, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; and First Colonel Luis Ángel Macareño Véliz, Deputy Chief of the National Civil Defense General Staff.

  • Local Food, Higher Prices: What Is Driving the Increase?

    Local Food, Higher Prices: What Is Driving the Increase?

    In 2026, Belize finds itself caught in a sharp political debate over the soaring cost of living, a crisis that has laid bare the growing gap between official economic messaging and the everyday financial struggles of ordinary families. As grocery bills, transportation costs, and utility rates continue to climb, Prime Minister John Briceño’s administration and opposition leader Tracy Panton’s bloc have offered starkly different narratives about what is driving price hikes and how effectively the government is addressing the crisis.

    Briceño, the sitting prime minister, frames the country’s cost pressures as a largely external challenge, comparing the issue to the transboundary environmental problem of sargassum blooms. He argues that even though Belize has achieved full self-sufficiency in producing basic food staples, the broader national economy remains dependent on imports, leaving domestic prices vulnerable to global inflationary shifts outside of government control. To counteract these strains, the prime minister outlined a suite of policy measures his administration has rolled out to ease household financial burdens.

    Among the most prominent interventions is an extension of fuel subsidies for private bus operators, designed to prevent fare hikes for the tens of thousands of Belizeans who rely on public transit for daily commutes. Going a step further, Briceño announced that cabinet has approved a $20 million investment to purchase a fleet of new electric buses to improve long-term transit accessibility and sustainability. The government has also enacted electricity relief reforms: it has completely removed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from residential electricity bills for all 100,000 customers of Belize Electricity Limited (BEL), and expanded eligibility for the discounted social electricity rate to cover more low-income households. For broader consumer savings, the administration has revived GST-free shopping days, which Briceño says have put millions of dollars back in household pockets while also keeping consumer spending within Belize’s local economy rather than pushing cross-border shopping in neighboring Mexico and Guatemala. On the wage front, the government has delivered salary adjustments: a recent minimum wage hike that brought the base rate to $5 per hour will be followed by a further 20% increase to $6 per hour in the near term, and all 16,000 public sector employees – including teachers, police, coast guard personnel, soldiers, and civil servants – will receive an 8% salary adjustment by the end of the current fiscal year, representing a historic $112 million annual investment in public sector pay.

    But Panton and the opposition reject the government’s framing, arguing that top-line economic gains have not translated into tangible relief for working and middle-class Belizean families. Panton points to the government’s own headline statistics – 5.1% economic growth, 98% employment, and a strong national currency – and asks a pointed question that resonates with many consumers: if the economy is performing so well, why are ordinary families still feeling the squeeze at every checkout and every bill payment?

    The opposition critiques every one of the government’s relief measures as insufficient to address the core crisis. On transit, Panton argues that future plans for new electric buses do nothing to solve the immediate school transportation crisis that is already straining family budgets today. On electricity relief, while the opposition welcomes the removal of GST on residential bills up to $200, Panton stresses that cutting tax on an already rising bill does nothing to fix the underlying problem of unaffordable, unreliable energy that Belizeans need fixed immediately. Most broadly, the opposition argues that rising wages and headline economic growth are meaningless if the purchasing power of the Belizean dollar continues to erode year over year. “We cannot eat 5.1 percent growth. We cannot put a credit rating in our gas tanks,” Panton says, arguing that if ordinary Belizeans cannot feel economic improvement in their daily lives, the government has failed to deliver on its core obligations.

    As the political back-and-forth continues, Belizean households continue to navigate steadily rising costs across every core spending category: food, fuel, transportation, and utilities. The debate has become a defining political issue, pitting the government’s focus on long-term structural investment and external economic pressures against the opposition’s demand for immediate, tangible relief that matches the everyday experience of consumers. The question at the heart of the clash remains: will Belize’s recent economic gains translate into broad-based prosperity, or will the cost of living gap continue to widen for ordinary families?

  • Briceño Administration Touts Economic Growth, Belizeans Weigh In

    Briceño Administration Touts Economic Growth, Belizeans Weigh In

    In a national address delivered on Tuesday, September 16 2026, Prime Minister John Briceño and his administration painted a rosy picture of Belize’s economic trajectory, touting 5.1% annual growth and a 90% national employment rate as proof the country is moving in the right direction. Alongside these positive macroeconomic metrics, Briceño outlined upcoming policy priorities, including a planned one-dollar hourly increase to the national minimum wage—raising it from $5 to $6 per hour—though no implementation timeline was shared. The Prime Minister also noted that the country has secured more than $225 million in approved new investments expected to generate over 900 new jobs, with an additional $1 billion in development projects currently pending approval.

    Briceño attributed the nation’s ongoing cost of living crisis to broader global market pressures, pointing to existing government relief programs for electricity and public transportation as targeted support for working households. But when local outlet News Five took the debate to the streets of Belize City to ask ordinary residents for their perspectives, a stark divide emerged between official government statistics and day-to-day financial realities for many citizens.

    Multiple residents emphasized that skyrocketing prices for basic goods, utilities and fuel have erased any perceived benefits of national economic growth. “Everything is so high, you cannot even live. As you get the little bit of money, the money goes. It’s really ridiculous,” one long-time Belize City resident told reporter Britney Gordon. “He’s having a speech and talking about twenty million for bus costs. No, cost of living is so high. We cannot even live.” Other locals echoed this frustration, noting that utility bills for water and electricity absorb most of their monthly income, leaving little room for other essential expenses.

    Small business owners shared similar struggles, explaining that elevated fuel and supply costs force them to raise prices, which in turn drives away cash-strapped customers. “When the customer come it’s even harder to sell because the price has to go up as well if we want to see any profit,” one small retailer explained. “We work from four in the morning to four in the evening because we have to pack up and leave by five. The customer is complaining about the price for the product but like how we tell them we don’t have any control over the price of the product. All we do is provide service for you so that you don’t have to go nowhere else but we are seeing struggle with the customers.”

    When asked about the planned minimum wage increase, most residents were skeptical that the small adjustment would meaningfully ease their financial burdens. One resident called the $1 hourly bump insufficient, pointing out that it adds just $12 to a full-time worker’s daily pay—less than the current increase in daily gas costs. Others argued that raising minimum wage would only trigger further price hikes across essential goods, creating a vicious cycle that leaves working households no better off. “If minimum wage go up, everything still going up so to me it’s a waste of time,” one resident said. Not all responses were negative, however: one resident told News Five they had personally felt the benefits of economic growth, and welcomed even small policy changes as a step in the right direction.

    While the Briceño administration’s new investment and job growth projections signal long-term economic expansion, many ordinary Belizeans remain uncertain when that growth will translate to improved financial stability for everyday households. The street interviews highlight a growing gap between top-line macroeconomic performance and the lived economic experience of working and low-income Belizeans, who continue to prioritize urgent action on the cost of living ahead of long-term development goals.