On September 9, a landmark special meeting convened by Sir Ronald Sanders, Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) and Chair of the Inter American Council for Integral Development (CIDI), brought together key stakeholders from across the inter-American system to reorient the body’s priorities around inclusive, sustainable development. The gathering, which included OAS Secretary General Albert Ramdin, representatives from 32 active OAS member states, and delegations from Permanent Observers including the European Union, China, Spain, Italy, France, Morocco and Japan, served as a platform to challenge existing hierarchies of priority within inter-American governance. At the core of Sanders’ address was a bold re framing of development’s role in the inter-American system: rejecting the common framing of development as a secondary, “fourth pillar” of the organization’s work, he argued that it is the foundational bedrock upon which the system’s other core priorities rest. Sanders elaborated on the interconnected nature of development and the OAS’ other core missions, noting that fundamental human rights cannot be fully realized when communities lack access to food, affordable healthcare, and quality education. He further explained that democratic institutions lose public legitimacy when citizens are blocked from accessing dignified work or pathways to upward mobility, while public security frameworks grow increasingly fragile when young people see no viable future in the formal, legal economy. Beyond eroding the system’s core pillars, Sanders linked chronic underdevelopment to the growing migration pressures that dominate policy debates across the Americas, noting that mass migration almost always originates in regions where economic hope and opportunity have collapsed. “When development fails, the other pillars do not stand untouched. They begin to fracture,” he emphasized. While Sanders acknowledged the critical, valuable support that Permanent Observers from Europe and Asia have extended to the OAS’ work in democracy, human rights and security, he pointed out that development cooperation has not received the same level of focus in the organization’s external partnerships. A key additional priority highlighted in his address is scaled-up support for climate-resilient development, a pressing need for small island developing states like Antigua and Barbuda, which are repeatedly forced to take on crippling public debt to rebuild critical infrastructure destroyed by intensifying severe weather events. Sanders pushed back against framing development cooperation as a peripheral charitable act disconnected from core foreign policy goals, arguing instead that it is a high-impact investment at the center of shared regional stability and collective prosperity. To turn this call into action, he proposed that this September 9 meeting be the first in an ongoing series of practical working sessions between CIDI and OAS Permanent Observers, designed to build tangible collaborative partnerships and deliver measurable, on-the-ground development outcomes for communities across the hemisphere.
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Prime Minister Skerrit accuses UWP of confusing supporters over voter confirmation
In the wake of the closely watched September 7, 2026 Roseau North by-election, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has launched sharp criticism of the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP), accusing the group of sowing confusion among its own supporters over the national voter confirmation process and creating internal leadership disarray. Speaking at an official government press briefing held Wednesday at the Financial Centre conference room, Skerrit argued that the UWP’s inconsistent stance on the national voter confirmation exercise directly suppressed turnout among the party’s backers, a factor he links directly to the opposition’s poor performance at the polls.
According to the prime minister, UWP leadership spent more than a year publicly urging their supporters to boycott the Electoral Office’s mandatory voter registration confirmation process. That position, he noted, was only reversed roughly 10 months before the by-election was scheduled to take place. Skerrit emphasized that the last-minute policy shift came far too late to undo the entrenched attitudes the party itself had spent months cultivating among its base.
“Dr. Thomson Fontaine consistently saying we should not go and confirm. Now you want to tell we go and confirm. Not even to beg people to confirm. But in psychology, there’s a term called conditioning. We have conditioned people’s minds not to confirm. So to uncondition, it is going to take more than 10 months,” Skerrit told reporters during the briefing.
Expanding on his point, the prime minister explained that cognitive conditioning makes reversing deeply ingrained behaviors and beliefs a slow, challenging process. Voters who had been consistently told over a long period to avoid confirming their registration, he argued, were far more likely to stick to their original stance than to abruptly adopt the party’s new, last-minute directive.
Skerrit went on to frame the UWP’s missteps on the voter confirmation issue as more than just an internal party problem, calling the opposition’s actions a “huge national disservice” that carried consequences extending beyond UWP’s own political ranks. The prime minister’s public comments came after official by-election results showed a clear victory for the ruling Dominica Labour Party: the party’s candidate Ashma McDougall secured 1,473 votes, while UWP’s Daniel Lugay trailed behind with just 998 votes.
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Haiti’s Contribution to the History of Humanity
In early September, Haiti’s Embassy in France partnered with the Diplomatic and Consular Academy of France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs to host a multi-day event series celebrating Haiti’s impact on world history, as part of the second edition of the academy’s signature “The Making of Diplomacy” initiative. Held across September 5 and 6, the gathering brought together scholars, diplomats, and culture enthusiasts for three core components: an academic roundtable, an interactive dance workshop, and a beginner’s session on Haitian Creole. The event’s central mission was to reframe public understanding of Haiti, pushing back against one-dimensional narratives that often reduce the Caribbean nation to crisis and overlook its foundational contributions to global progress.
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Five Colombians sent to Dominica under US arrangement have returned home, reports PM Skerrit
In a formal press briefing this Wednesday, Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has confirmed the successful conclusion of the first round of transfers under a landmark bilateral third-country national arrangement (TCNA) between the Commonwealth of Dominica and the United States, with all five individuals transferred already returning to their home country of Colombia.
The non-binding agreement, first negotiated earlier this year between the Dominican government and the U.S. government via the U.S. Embassy in Bridgetown, Barbados, outlines a framework under which Dominica may accept third-country nationals that the U.S. is seeking to remove from its territory, with full authority retained by the Dominican side to approve or reject any candidate. Per the terms of the deal, the U.S. is required to disclose full criminal and medical history for all proposed individuals to the extent permitted by U.S. law, grants Dominica the right to reject any candidate with a criminal record, and allows either party to exit the agreement at any time via formal diplomatic notice. All transferred individuals are also guaranteed treatment consistent with Dominica’s constitution, national immigration laws, and all international human rights conventions that Dominica is party to, including the UN Refugee Convention and the Convention Against Torture.
Skerrit detailed the process of the first transfer to reporters, noting that the U.S. initially provided an initial list of candidates that Dominican authorities rejected, as the list failed to meet the information requirements set out in the agreement. After the U.S. submitted a revised second list that included all requested background details, Dominican officials selected five candidates, all Colombian citizens, for transfer. All five cleared background checks, with none holding any prior criminal records.
Upon their arrival in Dominica, the five individuals were housed in a local hotel, provided with meals and basic care, and offered the choice to return to their home country or pursue other resettlement options. All five independently elected to return to Colombia, Skerrit confirmed. The U.S. government provided funding to cover all costs associated with the individuals’ stay in Dominica, and covered the cost of their repatriation flights. The entire process from arrival to departure was completed in an exceptionally short timeline, according to the prime minister, and no third-country nationals currently remain in Dominica under the arrangement.
To ensure impartial and professional management of the process, the Dominican government has contracted the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to administer all logistics related to the TCNA on its behalf. Moving forward, the agreement outlines that Dominica will accept between five and seven third-country nationals per quarter, should the U.S. submit requests aligned with the terms of the deal. Skerrit emphasized that both sides have maintained mutual respect throughout the implementation of the first transfer, and any future U.S. requests will be reviewed in accordance with the existing agreement and agreed-upon conditions.
Framing the arrangement as a humanitarian commitment, Skerrit noted that Dominica’s approach to the agreement is rooted in a broader philosophy of global solidarity. “We have a duty to humanity, and there are so many Dominicans who are living in other people’s countries that we see it beyond just a third-country national issue and a bilateral arrangement between ourselves and United States,” he said. “We have a higher philosophical view on humanity and the right for everybody to survive and to be regarded.”
Work on detailed operating procedures to guide long-term implementation and monitoring of the agreement is currently in its final drafting stage. The forthcoming guidelines will formalize requirements for documentation that the U.S. must provide for each proposed transferee, as well as clarify the scope of U.S. financial and operational support for the arrangement.
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Five top-10 drivers set to miss BMF Rally2
The 2026 Barbados Rally2 Championship is bracing for a dramatic shake-up of its standings this Saturday, as the fifth round of the Barbados Motoring Federation Championship kicks off without five of the current top 10 drivers. The most high-profile absence comes in the form of series leader and 2022 title holder Stuart Maloney, who is stepping away from his usual driving seat to take on co-driving duties for his brother Mark at the iconic Sun & Stars Rally, launching on September 12.
Heading into this weekend’s blue-riband event, the championship battle is already unusually competitive. Three different drivers have claimed victories across the opening four rounds, and an additional three racers have notched podium finishes, leaving the title fight wide open for contenders to seize momentum. The gap at the top is razor-thin: only 30 points separate current leader Stuart Maloney from his brother Mark, who sits in sixth place, meaning a strong showing this weekend could completely rearrange the overall standings.
The potential for disruption does not end with the Maloney brothers. Third-placed Jamaican driver Kyle Gregg and fifth-placed Jeff Panton, a four-time winner of the Sun & Stars Rally, are also absent from the entry list, opening even more opportunities for lower-ranked competitors to climb the table. Currently sitting second and fourth in the overall standings are 2024 champion Josh Read and Adam Mallalieu, the youngest driver on the 2026 grid. Read already claimed victory at this season’s opening round at BRC Shakedown Stages, while Mallalieu is chasing his first ever Rally2 Championship win after taking second place behind Stuart Maloney at the First Citizens King of the Hill event earlier this year.
This year’s Sun & Stars Rally, hosted as part of the MCBI championship, will see competitors cover 12 stages spanning 62 kilometres across the parishes of St John and St George. The on-track action is scheduled to get underway at 1:55 p.m., starting with the first of three runs along the 4.3-kilometre Society-to-Pool stage, which will alternate with three passes over the 6.1-kilometre Malvern-to-Sweet Vale route. Following a dinner break at the Service Park located at The Lodge School, crews will complete the remaining stages in reverse order. The first Sweet Vale-to-Malvern run is set for 6:30 p.m., with the final Pool-to-Society stage expected to wrap up by approximately 10 p.m.
MCBI President David Williams shared insights into the lead-up to the event, noting that the cancellation of the 2025 Sun & Stars Rally dealt a significant blow to all involved. “Losing last year’s Sun & Stars was a big blow, not only in financial terms, but also for our competitors and volunteers. A lot of work goes into the planning of these events and it is disappointing for everyone when something out of our control means we can’t go forward,” Williams explained. Still, he expressed optimism about this year’s running, pointing to strong competitor interest as a positive sign. “It is encouraging to see such strong support from competitors again this year; with a couple of days before entries close, we are already in the mid-thirties — there are some close battles in the classes and just two double-header speed events to go after this, so the guys are keen to keep scoring points.”
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Two Suspects Caught on Camera Stealing Quad Bike
A brazen quad bike theft from a private residential property has been caught entirely on home surveillance camera, with two suspects seen making off with the vehicle in what appears to be a surprisingly smooth and unchallenged heist. The released security footage, which was shared to local community outlets by a concerned follower, shows the two individuals completing the entire process of removing the all-terrain vehicle without any apparent struggle or delay, even as neighborhood dogs can be observed reacting to the intrusion with persistent barking nearby.
What makes the incident particularly striking is the accounts from adjacent residents, who told community sources that they noticed nothing out of the ordinary during the time the theft was taking place. Despite the audible barking from dogs in the immediate area, none of the nearby neighbors reported seeing suspicious activity or hearing unusual noises that would have tipped them off to the crime unfolding right next door. Local community members are now calling on anyone who may recognize the two individuals from the surveillance footage to come forward with information to help law enforcement recover the stolen quad bike and hold the thieves accountable.
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Barbados @ 60 timeline ‘seeks to preserve national story’
As Barbados gears up to celebrate two landmark national occasions – the 60th anniversary of its independence and five years as a sovereign republic – a pioneering interactive digital timeline has been unveiled to open up the island’s rich history to wider audiences and protect its national narrative from erasure or misrepresentation.
The launch of the Barbados @ 60 Timeline took place this Wednesday at Pelican Village, where project leads outlined the decade-long evolution of the initiative. Prince Bazawule, co-founder and head of design at local digital firm ESLOV Digital, explained that the current project grew out of a smaller community effort held 10 years ago, to mark the island’s 50th year of independence.
“A decade ago, we created the 50 in 50 project,” Bazawule shared during the launch event. “In the 50 days leading up to Barbados’ 50th independence anniversary, we collaborated with students from the Barbados Community College to publish one creative piece every day, each telling a distinct chapter of Barbados’ story.”
That early grassroots project left the team with a pressing question that inspired the new, expanded platform: What if people could explore the full breadth of Barbadian history through a simple, easily accessible tool?
The final product is a user-friendly digital platform that organizes the island’s history by decade, stretching from the 1960s, when the nation gained independence, through to the current 2020s. Unlike dense, academic historical archives, the timeline structures history around digestible, bite-sized key milestones. Every milestone entry is paired with a diverse range of multimedia resources, including original photographs, archival video footage, traditional and popular music, curated slideshows, and official historical documents.
Bazawule emphasized that the milestones themselves are the core of the platform, noting that each entry includes a short, accessible description designed to make the country’s history easy for any visitor to absorb. For readers who want to dive deeper into a particular event or development, every milestone includes a direct link to its original source, allowing full access to complete documents and archival materials.
The timeline spans all areas of national life, capturing major milestones across legislation, arts and music, sports, public health, and other key sectors of Barbadian development. In a future update, the platform will also open the door to user-generated content submissions, though all public contributions will go through a rigorous fact-checking and verification process before being added to the official timeline.
David Comissiong, Barbados’ Ambassador to CARICOM, who partnered with ESLOV Digital to bring the project to fruition, said the initiative carries far more meaning than simply documenting historical events. He warned that without a cohesive, widely accessible narrative of national identity, a dangerous vacuum forms.
That vacuum, Comissiong argued, can easily be filled by inaccurate, harmful narratives shaped by outside interests that distort the country’s true story. He noted that Barbados’ unique history gives the nation a distinct identity that must be preserved and shared.
“Barbados is a very special country,” Comissiong said, pointing to the island’s fraught history as the world’s first full-scale slave society, and the extraordinary resistance, resilience, courage, determination, and cultural creativity that its people have demonstrated through generations.
As the country prepares to mark its 60th independence anniversary, Comissiong said the milestone offers a critical moment to reflect on the landmark events that have defined the nation, and to use that history to guide the country’s future path. “When something as important as a 60th anniversary comes around, you have to embrace it,” he added.
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Antigua and Barbuda Inflation Climbs to 4.4% as of July 2026
New official data has revealed that inflation in Antigua and Barbuda accelerated to 4.4% for the 12-month period ending in July 2026, marking a broad upward shift in the country’s cost of living, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the national statistics agency.
Published by the National Bureau of Statistics, which operates under the country’s Ministry of Finance and Corporate Governance, the data breaks down the key contributors to the growing inflationary pressure across the island nation. When stripping out the volatile food and energy segments that often skew broad inflation readings, the core inflation rate still rose a notable 4.1% year-on-year, signaling persistent underlying price growth across the economy. Energy costs emerged as one of the most significant drivers of overall inflation, with the energy price index jumping an alarming 20.6% over the 12-month period.
The monthly price trend also showed a sharp acceleration, with the overall CPI climbing 2.1% between June and July 2026 alone — a far steeper increase than the gradual monthly shifts seen in prior months. When examining price changes across individual consumption categories, multiple sectors posted double-digit year-on-year growth. Communication costs led the surge with a 23.1% annual increase, followed by education costs which rose 13.3% compared to July 2025. Clothing and footwear recorded a 6.6% annual price rise, while the restaurants and hotels segment saw a 6.5% increase, putting additional pressure on household budgets and the key tourism sector.
Housing and utility costs represent another major burden for local consumers. The aggregated index for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels rose 7.6% year-on-year, with electricity prices alone skyrocketing 42.9% over the period. Official data notes that actual housing rents saw a more modest 2% annual increase during the same window.
In a rare bright spot for consumers, food prices moved against the broader inflationary trend. The overall food index posted a 0.8% year-on-year decline, led by a sharp 13.8% drop in fruit prices and a 5% decrease in prices for meat and meat products. This decline in staple food costs provides some offset to the rising prices of other essential goods and services for Antigua and Barbuda households.
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On World Suicide Prevention Day, PANCAP Champions Inclusion and Stigma-free Communities
On the 2026 observance of World Suicide Prevention Day, held this year under the global theme “Changing the Narrative on Suicide,” the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) has added its voice to global calls for urgent, cross-sector action to advance mental health protection, cut suicide rates, and foster inclusive, stigma-free communities across the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The regional organization made the call in an official press release issued from the CARICOM Secretariat in Greater Georgetown, Guyana on Thursday, 10 September 2026.
Suicide has long stood as one of the most pressing public health crises facing countries across the Americas, and the CARICOM bloc bears a disproportionate share of this burden. 2021 data compiled by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reveals stark disparities: three CARICOM nations — Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago — rank among the countries with the highest age-standardized suicide mortality rates across the entire region, recording 26.4, 22.4, and 11.6 deaths per 100,000 people respectively. These alarming figures make clear that suicide prevention cannot be the sole responsibility of public health systems, PANCAP emphasizes. Meaningful progress requires buy-in and action from every corner of society: families, local communities, educational institutions, workplaces, faith-based groups, civil society organizations, and national governments all have a critical role to play in building supportive environments where people feel valued, socially connected, and safe to reach out for mental health support without fear of judgment or shame.
For PANCAP, this year’s World Suicide Prevention Day also serves as a critical moment to highlight the often-overlooked link between HIV-related stigma, poor mental health, and increased suicide vulnerability across the region. While CARICOM has achieved major milestones in its decades-long HIV response, transforming the condition from a fatal diagnosis to a manageable chronic illness for those with access to timely testing, treatment and care, systemic stigma and exclusion persist. People living with HIV still regularly face rejection, discrimination, and social isolation in communities across the bloc, even amid widespread medical advances.
Data from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) confirms the severe harms of this ongoing stigma. The agencies’ research shows that HIV-related stigma and discrimination directly worsen mental health outcomes and reduce quality of life for people living with the virus, while also discouraging at-risk populations from accessing life-saving HIV testing, prevention services, treatment and ongoing care. Critically, existing research also identifies social exclusion, discrimination, loneliness, and lack of adequate social support as key contributing factors that increase an individual’s vulnerability to experiencing suicidal thoughts and engaging in suicidal behaviors.
Dr. Wendy Telgt-Emanuelson, Director of the PANCAP Coordinating Unit, reiterated that compassion and radical inclusion must be at the center of both the regional HIV response and broader suicide prevention efforts. “Suicide prevention is about protecting life, dignity and hope. No person living with HIV should feel rejected or isolated because of their status,” Dr. Telgt-Emanuelson said. “We must replace stigma with understanding, discrimination with inclusion, and isolation with compassion. Every life has value, and no one should have to face difficult moments alone.”
PANCAP notes that accessible, accurate knowledge is a foundational tool for driving this cultural shift. The organization is encouraging all people across CARICOM to seek out evidence-based information about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Accurate information empowers individuals to make informed decisions about their sexual health, access timely testing, utilize proven prevention tools, and seek care immediately when needed. Beyond supporting individual health, this collective knowledge can also reshape how communities treat people living with HIV, breaking down cycles of misinformation and exclusion.
To mark World Suicide Prevention Day 2026, PANCAP is issuing a formal call to all members of the CARICOM community to join in this shift: replace fear-based misinformation with verified facts, replace harmful stigma with radical empathy, replace systemic discrimination with full inclusion, and replace the isolation that puts lives at risk with meaningful human connection.
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Unsung Hero toasted for community service
On a ceremony held Tuesday at Barbados’ iconic Warrens Great House, regional banking group CIBC Caribbean has named community-focused Barbadian activist Desmond Bruce as the country’s 2026 Unsung Hero, shining a long-overdue spotlight on grassroots volunteers who lift vulnerable communities without fanfare or public acclaim.
During the awards event, CIBC’s Country Head for Barbados, Victor Boyce, honored both Bruce and fellow local honoree Shermena Kirton for their extraordinary, uncelebrated contributions to public good. Founded to lift up quiet changemakers who prioritize service over recognition, the Unsung Heroes program celebrates the unsung builders of Caribbean nations, a point Boyce emphasized by drawing from beloved calypsonian Red Plastic Bag’s 1996 classic *Issues of the Day*: “We must know who our heroes are and we must hail them from near and from far. This nation wasn’t built by our leaders alone, so many heroes out there are unknown.”
Boyce explained that the initiative was created specifically to center ordinary people who carry out consistent, transformative work in their communities without chasing public praise or material reward. “They are not looking for a pat on the back, or rewards. They are just looking to help somebody else,” he noted of all nominees and honorees.
For Bruce, his life of service is rooted in honoring the legacy of his late Combermere School teacher, Harold “Harry” Sealy. Rejecting the model of temporary charity, Bruce founded the volunteer group “Harry’s Dreamers” to deliver a “helping hand up” rather than a one-time hand out to people facing hardship. What began as a local effort across Barbados has grown into an international mission, with the group extending support to vulnerable communities as far as Ghana. The organization’s impact spans multiple critical needs: it has distributed medical supplies, art materials, agricultural tools, and staple groceries to families in need, and completed full renovations of a community playground to support local children.
Fellow 2026 Barbados honoree Shermena Kirton, a registered nurse and midwife, was recognized for her decades of volunteer work with the Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Foundation. Beyond her formal professional duties, Kirton coordinates free breastfeeding education classes and one-on-one consultations, and makes herself available 24/7 to new mothers seeking guidance during the fragile early stages of their children’s lives.
Boyce extended special gratitude not only to the two honorees, who sacrifice countless hours away from their own families to serve their communities, but also to their loved ones, whose steady support makes their volunteer work possible. He also paid tribute to all other nominees for the 2026 award, noting that every act of kindness that improves another person’s life deserves celebration.
With his national win, Bruce will now advance to the regional finals of the CIBC Caribbean Unsung Hero program, where he will compete against national winners from nine other Caribbean territories where the bank operates for the title of 2026 Regional Unsung Hero. Closing out the ceremony, Boyce expressed the nation’s support for Bruce’s regional bid: “Desmond, we are keeping our fingers crossed for you!”