Carib Scope

标签： Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

圣文森特和格林纳丁斯

  • Murdered businessman’s son among 4 gunned down in Green Hill

    Murdered businessman’s son among 4 gunned down in Green Hill

    A devastating mass shooting in the Central Kingstown village of Green Hill on the night of September 25 left four people dead and four others wounded, marking the latest in a string of deadly gun violence that has rocked St. Vincent and the Grenadines in recent years.

    Among the four fatalities is 22-year-old Steve King, the son of 76-year-old businessman Stephen King who was fatally shot on the patio of his own Green Hill home in May 2025. The other deceased victims have been identified by multiple independent and reliable sources as 30-year-old local villager Antonio Samuel, 26-year-old Shaqueil Peters, also a Green Hill resident, and 23-year-old Shevon Chandler from Paul’s Avenue. Police have not officially released the identities of the victims as of the initial investigation, and law enforcement has cited limited preliminary details available to share publicly.

    The four injured victims, all currently reported to be in stable condition at local hospitals, include a 20-year-old Green Hill woman with a gunshot wound to her right hand, a 17-year-old male student hit in the right arm, right leg and left hand, a 28-year-old man with a wound to the right arm, and a 16-year-old mechanic who suffered gunshot injuries to the left thigh, right forearm and left hand.

    Brenton Smith, acting Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of crime-fighting operations, confirmed the deaths and injuries to local outlet SVGTV while at the crime scene just after midnight Friday. He told reporters that law enforcement first received the alert about the shooting at approximately 10:30 p.m., adding that the violence unfolded a short distance from the community’s outdoor hard court. At the time of his statement, members of the national Crime Investigation Unit were already processing the scene to collect forensic evidence, with the full investigation still in its early active stages. Smith added that a woman was among the total victims, and that limited available information was being disclosed at this early phase of the probe. Senior law enforcement official Trevor “Buju” Bailey, the acting Commissioner of Police and predecessor to the current crime-fighting lead, also responded to the scene alongside other officers.

    Scene footage and on-site accounts indicate that Chandler was killed inside a vehicle, while two of the male victims died on a nearby street, and the fourth fatality was found along an adjacent dirt track. This shooting brings the total number of homicides in St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the current year to 36, following 40 killings in 2025, 54 in 2024, and a record high of 55 homicides in 2023.

    This latest incident is the third mass shooting resulting in multiple fatalities in the country in recent months, and the second multiple-death shooting in the Kingstown area this year. The violence has quickly revived public memories of a string of deadly mass shootings that have plagued the island nation over the past three years.

    In April of this year, the first multiple-fatality shooting in Kingstown took the lives of 29-year-old Enrique John aka Shoubu of Layou and 22-year-old Raheem Guy in the Stony Ground neighborhood. John, who had been out on bail for two pending attempted murder charges even after a curfew breach, was killed just two days after a court ruled his bail could remain in place. He was also a co-defendant in a high-profile 2024 credit union robbery case in South Rivers that saw five people hit with multiple charges. Just days after John’s killing, his mother was one of two people charged with the murder of a Layou resident rumored to be linked to John’s death.

    In July 2023, the deadliest documented mass shooting in St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ recent history left five people dead in the Harbour Club area of Upper Kingstown. D’ondre Hillock, Jamall Bobb, Lamont “Dutchy” Hector, Ricky Taylor, and 14-year-old student Kashie Primus were killed when gunshots were fired from a passing vehicle around 8:30 p.m. Despite a EC$50,000 reward offered for information leading to arrests, police have never gathered enough evidence to file charges in the case. Exactly one year after that mass shooting, six people were shot and injured during a social gathering in Kingstown’s Paul Avenue community.

    That same July 2023, three men were gunned down in downtown Kingstown’s Chinatown district, located across the street from the Central Police Station between the Solidarity Carpark and the capital’s fish market. The victims were Claude John of Redemption Sharpes, and 35-year-old Karon Bowens aka Twin and 24-year-old Giovannie Grant, both residents of Ottley Hall. Reports indicate two masked gunmen approached the area from the seaside behind a public washroom before opening fire, killing all three at the scene. Police have not released any official motive for the attack, but local sources with knowledge of organized criminal activity on the island suspect Claude John was not an intended target, pointing to the established criminal history of Bowens and Grant.

    In May 2025, three people, including 68-year-old businesswoman Lesline Davis, and her customers Joel Browne and Demeon Cumberbatch, were killed in a mass shooting at a shop in Belmont. Police have charged two men—one reported to have a history of mental illness—with murder in connection to that attack.

    Less than a month after that 2025 shooting, three more people were killed in a shooting in Paul’s Avenue that has drawn little public attention: 56-year-old pushcart operator Laurence Warren aka Bolo, a lifelong Paul’s Avenue resident; 44-year-old Don Ashton, a labourer from Ottley Hall; and Alston “Red Ants” Henry of Diamond.

  • In maiden UN address, PM Friday urges reform, climate justice, reparations (+Video)

    In maiden UN address, PM Friday urges reform, climate justice, reparations (+Video)

    In his maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly high-level debate on Friday, Godwin Friday, the newly elected Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, laid out a sweeping agenda for transformative reform of global governance institutions, pressing for changes ranging from UN Security Council restructuring to reparations for historical injustices.

    Friday, who took office following November’s general election, opened his remarks by delivering a stark assessment of the current multilateral order. He argued that public and state trust in global cooperative bodies has fractured, and optimism for collective progress has faded, leaving small, economically vulnerable developing nations to shoulder the worst consequences of crises they had no role in creating. Despite the UN’s well-documented flaws, he urged member states not to walk away from the organization, instead calling for intentional reform to fix its structural inequities rather than discarding it entirely. “The UN is what we have made it, and it is our responsibility to reshape it to fit the needs of the modern world,” he emphasized.

    A core priority of Friday’s reform push was an overhaul of the UN Security Council, a body he argued remains trapped in the 1945 power dynamics that shaped its founding, failing to reflect today’s shifted geopolitical landscape. He called for the council to include at least one permanent African representative with full membership rights and privileges, warning that continued exclusion would expose the global governance system as one built for power, not equitable governance.

    On institutional representation, Friday also noted that every UN Secretary-General since the body’s founding in 1946 has been a man. After nearly 80 years, he insisted, the moment has arrived for a equally qualified woman to lead the organization. He formally endorsed Guyanese diplomat Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett as St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ preferred candidate for the role, praising her as a principled multilateralist and a steadfast advocate for developing and small states.

    Climate change and economic resilience occupied a large portion of the prime minister’s address, as he stressed that for small island developing states (SIDS), climate impacts are not a distant future threat, but an immediate, ongoing crisis that creates repeated financial emergencies. Pointing to the widespread destruction wrought by Hurricane Beryl across the Caribbean in July 2024, he explained that just a few hours of extreme weather can erase decades of infrastructure investment and livelihood development, setting national progress back years and forcing governments to take on repeated new debt just to rebuild what was lost.

    Friday renewed longstanding calls for the formal adoption and implementation of a multidimensional vulnerability index to govern access to concessional development financing. Traditional classification systems that rely solely on national average income, he argued, fail to capture the extreme inherent risks and limited adaptive capacity of small island nations. He threw his support behind key provisions of the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS and the Bridgetown Initiative, including automatic suspension of debt service in the aftermath of climate disasters, reallocation and expansion of Special Drawing Rights, and reform of multilateral development banks to offer lending terms aligned with the needs of developing partners, rather than the stricter terms applied to commercial creditors. “Affordable, long-term concessional capital is not charity for small states; it is simple justice,” Friday said. “We contribute the least to the climate crisis, yet we pay the highest price.”

    Turning to global peace and security, Friday drew a direct line between ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and growing economic instability in the Caribbean. Disputes thousands of miles from the region, he explained, drive up global shipping costs and send shockwaves through food and fuel markets that disproportionately harm vulnerable small economies. He called for an immediate end to the war in Ukraine, with any peace agreement rooted in full respect for the sovereign sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations. He also urged a permanent ceasefire in the Middle East, immediate protection of civilian populations, and advancement of a two-state solution that guarantees equal peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians.

    Friday reaffirmed the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)’s longstanding commitment to establishing Latin America and the Caribbean as a formal zone of peace, noting that all regional disputes — including the ongoing border controversy between Venezuela and Guyana — must be resolved through peaceful negotiations in line with international law and the UN Charter. On the ongoing crisis in Haiti, he described the country’s worsening insecurity and humanitarian catastrophe as a shared burden across the entire Caribbean, calling for sustained international support to help strengthen Haitian state institutions, improve public security, and create the stable conditions needed to hold credible, inclusive elections. He also pressed industrialized nations to crack down on the illicit flow of assault weapons into the Caribbean, arguing that these illegal arms are the primary fuel for rising gang violence and eroding public safety across the region.

    Addressing longstanding geopolitical disputes, Friday reiterated St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ opposition to the decades-old United States economic embargo on Cuba, labeling the policy a form of collective punishment that blocks Cuban people from accessing essential medicine, fuel, and normal trade and development opportunities. Such measures, he added, are fundamentally inconsistent with the core principles of the UN Charter.

    Friday also highlighted his country’s 45-year bilateral relationship with Taiwan, praising Taipei’s contributions to development, disaster response, education, and public health progress in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He called for Taiwan’s meaningful inclusion in the UN system and its specialized agencies, arguing that Taiwan’s participation would strengthen, rather than weaken, the universality and effectiveness of global collective action.

    Central to Friday’s call for global fairness was a demand for reparatory justice for historical crimes of slavery and indigenous genocide. He welcomed the UN General Assembly’s upcoming March 2026 resolution, led by Ghana and supported by the African Union and CARICOM, that formally classifies the transatlantic trafficking and racialized chattel enslavement of African people as the gravest crime against humanity. He noted that CARICOM’s ten-point reparations plan remains a clear roadmap for addressing the ongoing legacies of slavery and the near-annihilation of Indigenous communities across the Caribbean, arguing that “the past is never truly past when its outcomes still determine who holds wealth and power, and who is left in poverty, across the globe today.”

    In his closing remarks, Friday argued that restoring broken trust in the multilateral system depends entirely on whether small and vulnerable states finally feel protected and their voices heard. Confidence in global institutions will only be rebuilt, he said, when debt is restructured fairly, when climate disaster funding arrives promptly when it is needed, when the benefits of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence are shared broadly rather than hoarded by wealthy nations and priced out of reach for developing countries, and when long-condemned policies like unilateral embargoes and unresolved historical injustices are finally addressed through concrete action.

    Despite his catalog of systemic failures and unmet demands, Friday closed his address on a note of cautious optimism. With deliberate commitment to courage, honesty, and fairness, he insisted, the United Nations can still live up to its founding mission and deliver equitable progress for all member states, large and small.

  • We Are Mayreau reports steady ridge-to-reef progress

    We Are Mayreau reports steady ridge-to-reef progress

    Half a year into a landmark regional ecosystem restoration initiative, We Are Mayreau Inc. (WAM) has delivered tangible progress in building climate resilience across the Southern Grenadines, marking a critical milestone for small island developing states (SIDS) on the frontlines of climate change. The Targeted Ridge-to-Reef Ecosystem-based Adaptation Interventions (TREBAI) project, which connects conservation from mountain ridgelines down to coastal reef systems, has filled pressing gaps left by devastating extreme weather while unlocking unexpected ecological discoveries for the region.

    For low-lying island nations like Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), the urgency of integrated ridge-to-reef conservation cannot be overstated. Pollution and sediment runoff from inland agricultural areas travels to coastal reefs in mere days, leaving interconnected ecosystems extremely vulnerable to cascading damage. When Hurricane Beryl swept through the region in 2024, it destroyed nearly all existing coral nursery infrastructure and local farming operations, wiping out the limited natural and manmade buffers that help communities absorb future climate shocks. Since TREBAI launched in March 2025, WAM has moved quickly to reverse this damage and build more resilient systems for the long term.

    One of the project’s most groundbreaking achievements is the establishment of the first transboundary coral genetic bank nursery in the Windward Islands. WAM’s new Mayreau-based facility currently holds three coral cultivation structures hosting 60 fragments of two critically endangered coral species — Staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and Elkhorn (Acropora palmata) — transferred directly from partner sites in St. Lucia. This marks the first assisted gene flow (AGF) effort between Windward Island nations, and WAM, alongside SVG’s Richmond Vale Academy (RVA), is the first regional beneficiary of this shared cross-border genetic banking initiative. The nursery, located within the protected Tobago Cays Marine Park, is inspected and maintained weekly by a growing team of local coral gardeners, which has expanded from 5 to 11 members. For the first time in the project’s history, the team includes a female junior coral gardener, drawn from a pool of 18 applicants across Union Island, Mayreau and surrounding communities.

    On land, the initiative is equally focused on transforming agricultural practices to align with climate resilience. WAM has hired two full-time climate-smart agriculture coordinators to serve Union Island and Mayreau, and 25 local farmers have already enrolled in the organization’s capacity-building program. The project has also begun engaging three local primary schools to deliver an interdisciplinary, regionally tailored climate-smart farming curriculum, introducing sustainable stewardship practices to young community members early. To further expand workforce opportunities, WAM has partnered with SVG’s Ministry of Agriculture to develop formal work attachment programs for participants from the Southern Grenadines, with a core focus on creating stable, long-term livelihoods for local community members involved in both marine and land conservation work. For WAM, securing livelihoods and building community trust are treated as non-negotiable foundations for all successful conservation outcomes.

    In a surprise breakthrough that has drawn widespread regional attention, a reconnaissance dive in August — conducted in partnership with Dive Bequia off the coast of Battowia in the Northern Grenadines — uncovered more than 15 previously unrecorded wild colonies of Staghorn coral, a species long considered functionally extinct in SVG waters. This discovery marks a major win for marine conservation in the region, offering new genetic resources for future restoration efforts.

    Much of WAM’s work over the past six months has centered on expanding Reef Life Inc., a flagship blue social enterprise launched by WAM in 2022 that operates on a core principle: oceans, land, people and policy are interconnected parts of a single circular living system. Through community partnerships, immersive conservation experiences, hands-on restoration work, and public education, Reef Life centers traditional local knowledge while addressing the disproportionate climate injustice that already threatens livelihoods across the Grenadines. As the enterprise rebuilds following Hurricane Beryl, it is working to share its community-centered model and lay the groundwork for long-term sustainable livelihoods for residents of the region’s marine protected areas.

    TREBAI is led by CLEAR Caribbean, a UK-registered organization with regional operations based in St. Lucia, with on-the-ground implementation delivered by RVA and WAM across SVG. The project receives funding from the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund, with support from Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety through the International Climate Initiative and KfW. CLEAR’s three-year sub-grant to WAM totals up to US$518,700, running through April 2029. WAM has also forged new partnerships with private sector stakeholders and continues to collaborate with multiple government ministries to expand skills training and professional development opportunities for its growing team.

    Six months into implementation, WAM Executive Director Marion Isaacs emphasized that the project’s greatest potential lies in its holistic, community-first approach. “We’re thinking holistically about what our islands and oceans need, and about the unique challenge and opportunity of being a small island state,” Isaacs said. “We embrace this smallness and can already feel massive potential building in what we’ve managed to bring to life so far. We focus on relationship-building, especially as we come from complex histories. For us, relationships are the new infrastructure: they strengthen our work, keep us committed, and hold us accountable in everything we organize, plan, and grow.”

    With a new marine conservationist joining the team as Reef Life’s Project Coordinator in September, WAM announced it expects implementation to accelerate over the coming six months. Upcoming milestones include completing open-water diving certification for all coral gardeners, expanding coral outplanting operations, finishing onboarding for all participating farmers, and launching the first round of community engagement meetings scheduled for September 2025.

  • Building resilience together: why Taiwan’s global partnership matters at the UN

    Building resilience together: why Taiwan’s global partnership matters at the UN

    As two island territories, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Republic of China (Taiwan) share intimate knowledge of the extreme natural vulnerabilities that come with their geographic status. From catastrophic hurricanes and volcanic eruptions across the Caribbean basin to devastating typhoons and seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, their populations have long displayed extraordinary resilience in the face of climate-driven hardship. However, as climate change accelerates and compound natural disasters grow increasingly unpredictable around the globe, building resilience in isolation is no longer a viable strategy. Collective action against this growing threat requires strong, institutionalized global solidarity to deliver meaningful results.

    Against this urgent global context, R.O.C. (Taiwan) President Lai Ching-te announced the launch of the World Alliance for Disaster Management (WADM) in Taipei on September 19. The initiative was co-founded by Taiwan and its diplomatic partners, with St. Vincent and the Grenadines holding a key founding role, and counts 21 additional partner nations and observers among its supporters, including the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The alliance establishes Taiwan as a cross-border coordination hub focused on humanitarian assistance and proactive disaster risk reduction.

    During a meeting with delegation leaders on September 21, President Lai emphasized a core universal principle: while the specific natural disasters different regions face may differ, the collective responsibility to protect human life and livelihood across the globe is shared by all nations. The WADM represents an evolution beyond traditional models of post-emergency relief. Where the United Nations Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction promotes the guiding principle of “Build Back Better” after crises strike, the WADM introduces a forward-thinking new approach: “Prepare Better Together”.

    Leveraging world-class infrastructure including Taiwan’s National Fire Agency Training Center located in Zhushan, Nantou, the new alliance will deliver advanced professional training, facilitate cross-border technology sharing, and enable real-time operational coordination for disaster response across national boundaries.

    This spirit of global collaboration is especially critical at this moment in time. As the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly gets underway in New York, the newly released 2026 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Report serves as a stark warning: the narrow window to meet the targets outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is closing rapidly. The policy and cooperation decisions made by world leaders over the next four years will determine whether global peace, human security, and long-term environmental sustainability can be safeguarded for future generations. To address these interconnected overlapping crises, the United Nations must return to its founding commitment to genuine inclusivity.

    Taiwan has a long track record as a willing, capable, and irreplaceable partner in advancing the global SDGs. In 2026, Taiwan and St. Vincent and the Grenadines will mark 45 years of formal diplomatic relations, and their long-standing partnership continues to deliver tangible, practical benefits for both populations.

    In the area of smart agriculture aligned with SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), the Agricultural Productivity Recovery and Young Farmers’ Training Project, launched in May 2026 with support from Taiwan’s Technical Mission and integrated with Internet of Things-powered climate monitoring systems, has substantially strengthened local food security and adaptive capacity to climate shifts in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. For youth empowerment and education, aligned with SDGs 4 (Quality Education) and 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), Taiwan’s ongoing partnership with the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) through the 2025–2027 EcoYouth Ventures Initiative is training young Vincentians in critical STEM skills to prepare them to be the next generation of community and global leaders.

    Beyond this bilateral cooperation, Taiwan’s contribution to global public goods is undeniable. As a dynamic democracy that leads global innovation in semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and next-generation digital technologies, Taiwan plays a foundational role in maintaining transparent, resilient global supply chains that benefit the entire world. It also remains a steady anchor for peace and stability across the Indo-Pacific region, upholding international law and democratic norms.

    Global challenges do not stop at national borders, and no country should be barred from contributing to the shared future of all humanity. The unfair exclusion of Taiwan and its 23.5 million people from the United Nations system weakens the very principles of universality and effective cooperation that the UN was established to uphold. When Taiwan is shut out of UN frameworks, the global community loses access to an innovative, experienced leader in public health, digital governance, climate adaptation, and disaster preparedness and response.

    On behalf of the government and people of the R.O.C. (Taiwan), H.E. Fiona Huei-Chun Fan, Taiwan’s ambassador to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, expressed deep gratitude to the government and people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines for their consistent, principled advocacy for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the international community. As the world navigates an era of unprecedented global disruption, the United Nations must open its doors to Taiwan. Working together with mutual trust and respect, the global community can build a more secure, resilient, and prosperous world for all.

    *Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this op-ed are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of iWitness News.*

  • Garifuna heritage in focus as SVG, Honduran leaders meet

    Garifuna heritage in focus as SVG, Honduran leaders meet

    On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, a high-level bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Godwin Friday of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and President Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah of Honduras has placed their shared Garifuna cultural heritage at the forefront of bilateral relations.

    The discussions opened with a reflective look at the deep, decades-long connections that bind the two Caribbean and Central American nations, with both leaders dedicating significant time to exploring the cultural bonds rooted in their common Garifuna legacy. Prime Minister Friday underscored SVG’s status as the ancestral homeland of the Garifuna people, and recalled the large, high-profile delegation from Honduras that traveled to the island nation to participate in this year’s National Heroes Day commemorations held on March 14.

    Beyond cultural ties, the two leaders engaged in a productive exchange of views on core issues of governance and national development. Their talks covered a wide range of shared priorities, including grassroots community development, expanding public access to critical essential services, and the overlapping economic and social challenges that both small nations grapple with in the current global landscape.

    Both sides agreed on the unique value of maintaining open, regular bilateral dialogue, and committed to continuing the exchange of practical experiences and proven best practices across sectors that serve the mutual interests of both countries.

    In an official press statement issued following the meeting, the Office of the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines emphasized that the gathering served to reaffirm the long-standing friendship between the two nations. This partnership, the statement noted, is firmly rooted in shared historical experience, deep cultural connections, and lasting people-to-people ties that continue to bind the two countries together.

  • Friday urges UN summit: Turn SIDS vulnerability into investment

    Friday urges UN summit: Turn SIDS vulnerability into investment

    At a high-level sustainable development gathering hosted at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday, Prime Minister Godwin Friday of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) delivered a bold rebuke to the narrative that frames Small Island Developing States (SIDS) as inherently defined by their vulnerability, calling for strategic cross-sector partnerships to unlock sustainable, resilient growth for small island nations.

    Speaking at the Family Offices for Sustainable Development Summit, Friday emphasized that while SIDS like SVG face outsized exposure to climate disasters and systemic economic challenges, their developmental ambitions are far from constrained by their geographic size. He centered his address on a people-first vision of progress, arguing that true development cannot be measured by abstract economic indicators alone, but by tangible improvements to daily life.

    “Development means whether young people in my country, in Tonga, or across any SIDS can secure meaningful employment; whether all children can access high-quality education; whether smallholder farmers, artisanal fishers and local entrepreneurs can build stable, viable livelihoods and gain access to the capital they need to grow,” Friday explained. He added that for SIDS, development also hinges on whether core community infrastructure — from roads and healthcare clinics to power grids — can withstand the increasing frequency of extreme weather events.

    Decades of firsthand experience have taught small island nations that a single catastrophic climate event can wipe out decades of hard-won developmental progress, Friday noted. This leaves SIDS caught in a persistent paradox: how can governments invest in climate-resilient infrastructure without jeopardizing national debt sustainability? This challenge shapes every decision his administration makes as it pursues long-term growth, he said.

    Friday stressed that rather than accepting vulnerability as a permanent defining trait, SIDS can leverage their experience as a catalyst for innovative development models and more strategic global collaboration. For him, building resilience is not an optional discretionary expense — it is a core investment that secures the continuity of long-term development. This framing, he argued, reframes the global conversation about SIDS’ growth as fundamentally a conversation about targeted investment.

    A recent joint analysis from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Inter-American Development Bank identified high-impact investment sectors that can deliver both strong economic returns and transformative developmental benefits for SIDS, Friday noted. These priority areas include climate-resilient infrastructure, renewable energy transition, sustainable tourism, climate-smart agriculture and agri-processing, sustainable blue economy development, digital transformation, entrepreneurship, and human capital investment.

    Even with clear priorities in place, major barriers remain. Public sector budgets in small island states are never large enough to fund all ambitious developmental projects, particularly when governments are forced to repeatedly borrow to fund disaster recovery, Friday explained. At the same time, private capital providers often hesitate to enter SIDS markets, deterred by perceived higher risk, smaller transaction sizes, and uncertain long-term returns. This leaves a critical unanswered question: How can SIDS translate their developmental priorities into credible, investable opportunities, while addressing the reality that their inherent vulnerability makes investment more costly?

    For Friday, the core solution lies in building intentional, cross-sector partnerships across every available stakeholder group. “Private capital, multilateral development institutions, civil society, regional bodies, and global development partners can collaborate with national governments from the earliest stages of project planning,” he said. This collaboration can support early project preparation and aggregate small individual projects into larger investment vehicles, creating bankable opportunities and ready-to-implement project pipelines for investors.

    Since taking office in November, Friday’s administration has already taken concrete steps to attract responsible private investment. The government has implemented predictable, transparent regulatory frameworks, strengthened public investment management systems, and built clear, open processes that allow investors to easily identify opportunities and understand associated risks. “We have sent an unambiguous signal: we welcome private partnership and investment in our nation’s growth,” Friday stated.

    For small Caribbean economies in particular, regional collaboration creates economies of scale that no individual small island can achieve alone, Friday added. Caribbean nations have already refined effective regional models to aggregate investment opportunities, align common regulatory standards, share specialized local expertise, and build collective investment platforms capable of attracting large institutional capital that would not be accessible to single nations.

    Multilateral development institutions also have a critical catalytic role to play in unlocking investment for SIDS, he argued. “We need expanded use of risk-mitigating tools: guarantees, first-loss instruments, concessional development finance, targeted technical assistance, political risk coverage, and other forms of blended finance that lower risk for investors and draw responsible private capital into SIDS markets,” Friday explained. When public and multilateral resources are deployed strategically and effectively, they can unlock hundreds of billions in private capital for high-priority developmental projects that would otherwise go unfunded, he noted.

    Friday called for a fundamental shift in how global development frameworks view private capital: rather than treating it as just a source of financing, it should be recognized as a core partner in sustainable development. It is possible to reduce risk to a level that attracts private participation while protecting and preserving public value, he emphasized. For example, a resilient infrastructure project is not just a physical asset — it protects lives, preserves ongoing economic activity, and avoids billions in future disaster losses. Global investment decision-making must better account for the long-term economic value of resilience and avoided disaster damage, he said.

    The prime minister called on global development and financial institutions to update their investment and risk assessment methodologies to explicitly account for the long-term benefits of resilience-building in SIDS. “SIDS must not be an afterthought in global investment design. We need frameworks built for our specific needs from the ground up,” he said. He also encouraged expanded adoption of targeted financial tools for SIDS, including catastrophe risk financing, parametric insurance, contingent development financing, and climate-resilient debt mechanisms.

    A new model of public-private collaboration for SIDS must be guided by a clear development compact, Friday argued. All public-private partnerships must be fully transparent, aligned with core national developmental priorities, and structured around measurable, people-centered outcomes. While national governments are responsible for building an enabling regulatory and policy environment, private sector partners must bring responsible investment, innovative practice, skills development, long-term commitment to local economies, and a willingness to transfer knowledge to local stakeholders. Multilateral institutions can act as a trusted bridge between public and private partners, aligning shared interests, he added.

    Friday closed by reaffirming his administration’s commitment to building a better future for current and coming generations. “We have clear priorities, we have untapped opportunities, and we have unwavering ambition. What we need now is a stronger global ecosystem that connects our priorities to capital, innovation, expertise, and shared risk — and a willingness to rethink outdated models,” he said. “My goal is to see us build actionable investment pipelines, not just unfunded project wish lists, and build lasting resilience instead of repeatedly funding post-disaster recovery.”

    He pointed to SVG’s recent string of cascading crises as a clear example of why this new model is urgent: the nation is still recovering from a major volcanic eruption when it was hit by a destructive hurricane, wiping out new progress. “This is the work we must undertake together: to build prosperous, resilient, sustainable small island nations for the next generation,” Friday said.

  • ‘Smooth talkers’ undermining government’s agenda — Leacock

    ‘Smooth talkers’ undermining government’s agenda — Leacock

    In a candid on-air address to ruling party supporters on Monday, St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Acting Prime Minister St. Clair Leacock has issued a stark warning: the newly installed New Democratic Party (NDP) administration is facing deliberate, hidden obstruction from public sector officials who are working covertly to derail the government’s policy goals.

    Speaking during *New Times*, the NDP’s weekly radio broadcast, Leacock — who also holds the national security portfolio — detailed what he calls systemic institutional resistance and internal sabotage across key state agencies. He described a pattern of behavior where public officials offer warm, agreeable words to sitting ministers to build trust, while quietly working to slow or block reforms out of a desire to see the new government fail.

    Leacock recounted a conversation with a fellow cabinet minister who had reached the same conclusion about one senior public servant: the official told the minister exactly what he wanted to hear to earn confidence, but their actions offstage pushed against the administration’s agenda. “You develop greater and greater belief in you. But underneath, the undercurrents are going in a different direction,” Leacock said, recounting the minister’s observation. He added that many officials still underestimate the new leadership, falsely believing they can mislead ministers, fake progress on policy priorities, and sabotage outcomes without consequence.

    Leacock’s accusations came during a broad discussion of the administration’s ongoing challenges: the government is working to stabilize the national economy, bring down a towering debt-to-GDP ratio, and meet international monitoring standards set by the World Bank, which recently completed a country assessment. Beyond these well-documented fiscal pressures, Leacock says the government is fighting an uphill battle against bureaucratic inertia and in many cases, intentional obstruction that keeps even basic government functions from moving forward.

    Going further, the acting prime minister claimed that the most effective opposition to the NDP is not the formal parliamentary opposition, which he describes as weak and directionless. Instead, he argued, the opposition vacuum is being filled by dissident voices within the government and ruling party itself — people who once campaigned for political change, but are now actively undermining the administration from within. “Some of our people, who you think would know better — because we are not void or afraid of criticism — instead of constructively advancing conversations favourable to an administration struggling with the situation, you have literally usurped the role of the opposition,” Leacock said. He added that even within NDP ranks, some partisans selectively back only favored party members while abusing others, deepening internal divisions.

    Much of the public criticism the administration currently faces, Leacock argued, is “unwarranted, impatient, unfounded, and in some cases totally nonsensical,” rooted in a toxic “dangerous cocktail” of ignorance and arrogance. It was this need for open, direct conversation with the public that led Leacock to take over the weekly *New Times* radio slot previously hosted by NDP leader and Prime Minister Godwin Friday. “I believe it is necessary that we have these conversations, and be open to the criticisms and for the explanations, because in the absence of that, people have a right sometimes to speculate,” he explained. “Governmental politics and opposition politics is two different politics. This is where the tyres hit the road, and we have to deal with the reality that’s in front of us.”

    Leacock saved his harshest rebuke for public officials using their government positions to quietly derail the administration’s agenda. While he declined to name specific agencies or individuals, he made clear that disciplinary and personnel changes are already in motion, with more decisive action coming once obstruction patterns are confirmed. “You’re going to find more and more that is going to happen, where we find that there are stumbling blocks, other hindrances to getting the government policies going forward,” he said. “When people cry foul, you have to say, ‘Well, too bad.’”

    The acting prime minister framed this crackdown on internal resistance as a core part of the administration’s broader push to overhaul long-entrenched government culture. He called out “a lot of BS” in state agencies, where even routine tasks are blocked by unnecessary red tape or deliberate foot-dragging. Leacock traced this harmful mindset to the previous administration, which he claimed prioritized holding political power “at all costs”, leaving remnants of that self-serving culture embedded across the public service.

    Leacock also linked internal obstruction to two key priorities of his national security brief: cutting violent crime and attracting foreign investment. He noted that some actors are still “playing games with the government” to prevent new ministers from succeeding in their portfolios, warning that ongoing public disorder — including recent violent incidents involving schoolchildren and persistent gun crime — damages the country’s investment climate. “When that happens, you are disturbing the investment climate in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where people get the perception that this is a disorderly country in which my money is not safe, or which someone feels not safe to go there,” he said.

    Despite the array of challenges, Leacock emphasized that the NDP administration remains fully committed to delivering on its election mandate to the Vincentian people. He asked the public for “more time and more patience”, noting that the government is working to reverse 25 years of what he calls mismanagement by the previous government. The administration is committed to pursuing reform “the right way” even as it confronts massive debt pressure, urgent social demands, and hidden resistance across the state apparatus.

    “This is a government that is going to deliver in the shortest possible time the expectations of the people,” Leacock said. “But we are asking for more time and more patience as we do it the right way. We don’t want to mess up on it.”

  • Platform launched to connect young people with opportunities

    Platform launched to connect young people with opportunities

    A 20-year-old Vincentian educator and technology specialist, Noah Horne, has turned a personal frustration into a transformative digital solution for young people across St. Vincent and the Grenadines, with the official launch of YouthLink SVG, a homegrown platform that aggregates scattered youth opportunities in one accessible, user-friendly hub.

    Unveiled to the public on Saturday, YouthLink SVG consolidates a wide range of opportunities including full and part-time jobs, academic scholarships, professional internships, skills training programs, project grants, youth competitions, volunteer placements, and community events into a single centralized interface. As of its launch, the platform already hosts more than 70 vetted opportunities sourced from local, regional, and international partner organizations.

    The concept for YouthLink emerged directly from Horne’s own post-graduation experience. After completing his computer science degree at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Community College (SVGCC) in 2024, Horne began his search for professional opportunities and quickly discovered that openings were dispersed across dozens of disjointed platforms – from independent Facebook pages and organizational websites to scattered social media accounts. Without constant scrolling across multiple channels, young people risked missing life-changing opportunities entirely if they did not see a posting during its narrow window of visibility.

    This challenge was not a new observation for Horne. Even during his secondary school years, he noticed that most peers had little awareness of available scholarships and development opportunities, let alone guidance on where to find them or how to meet eligibility requirements. “Instead of young people having to search through ten different pages every day, I wanted there to be one place where they could go and see what opportunities are available to them,” Horne explained of his core motivation for building the platform.

    Horne’s path to developing YouthLink builds on a long history of engagement with technology and innovation, cultivated from an early age. Raised in the community of South Rivers, he was encouraged by his parents to pursue technology-focused learning opportunities from childhood. In 2017, he participated in a STEM summer program where he deepened his skills in computer systems and game development. Just one year later, while studying in Form 2, Horne and his cousin Myles Jones claimed first prize at a national technology competition hosted by the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC) for their app Agri Marketplace, a digital tool designed to connect local farmers directly with buyers.

    His professional and educational journey continued with computer science studies at SVGCC, specialized training in web application development through an Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) digital skills scholarship, and a role as an educator at Mountain View Adventist Academy. While working at the academy, he founded the institution’s first Tech Club and mentored student teams that went on to win national robotics competitions in 2025 and 2026.

    In 2026, Horne returned to NTRC’s annual iCode784 competition alongside partner Jadiel Billingy, competing under the team name “The Mandem”. Six of the nine applications the pair submitted advanced to the competition’s top 10, and their project EcoTrack SVG earned them second place overall. The team collaboration eventually evolved into The Mandem, a local technology enterprise that offers mobile device repair services and custom digital solutions for clients across St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

    By early 2026, Horne had finalized plans to develop and launch YouthLink SVG as a public resource. Ahead of the official unveiling, he presented a working demo of the platform to key institutional partners, including the Youth Agriculture Support Improvement Project (YASIP) through the Zero Hunger Trust Fund, and received overwhelmingly positive and encouraging feedback that shaped the platform’s final iteration.

    YouthLink SVG is designed with both young users and opportunity providers in mind. For job and opportunity seekers, the platform offers robust tools to search, filter, save, and share relevant openings. For registered organizations, the platform allows free creation of organizational profiles, publishing and management of opportunity listings, with standard posting currently offered at no cost. Partner organizations can also activate YouthLink’s built-in application system, which enables applicants to submit resumes, CVs, and all required supporting documents directly through the platform, streamlining the entire recruitment and selection process.

    Listings on the platform fall into two clear categories: opportunities posted directly by registered partner organizations, and openings curated from legitimate public sources, which are clearly labeled as “publicly sourced” for full transparency.

    Today, Horne is actively encouraging young Vincentians to sign up for the platform and explore available opportunities, while inviting businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations, youth groups, and other opportunity providers to register and post their openings on the hub. “The opportunity that changes your life might already exist. Sometimes the problem is simply knowing that it’s there. That’s the gap I want YouthLink to help close,” Horne said of the platform’s mission.

  • SVGTA CEO Shafia London selected for International Women’s Forum Leadership Fellows

    SVGTA CEO Shafia London selected for International Women’s Forum Leadership Fellows

    A groundbreaking milestone for women’s leadership in the Eastern Caribbean has recently been achieved, as Shafia London, Chief Executive Officer of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority (SVGTA), has become the first woman from the sub-region to earn a spot in the International Women’s Forum (IWF) globally renowned Leadership Fellows Program. Beyond this historic selection, London has also been awarded one of the program’s highly competitive tuition scholarships – an honor granted to only a tiny fraction of global participants each year.

    Scholarship funding for the IWF fellowship is extraordinarily scarce, with the organization confirming that typically just two to four full or partial awards are distributed across the entire international cohort of selected fellows. London’s nomination was submitted by IWF Barbados, during a period of major professional transition when she was based and working in the neighboring country. Shortly after her nomination, she returned to her native St. Vincent and the Grenadines to take up the top leadership role at SVGTA on July 1, and will now complete the year-long fellowship while serving in her new position, putting the eastern Caribbean nation on the global leadership stage.

    Founded as an invitation-only global network, the IWF connects more than 8,400 top-tier women leaders across 78 regional fora operating in 37 countries. Its membership draws from every major professional field, including business, government, academia, science, the arts and beyond, uniting women who hold the highest levels of influence and leadership across the globe. Now entering its fourth decade of operation, the Leadership Fellows Program stands as IWF’s signature leadership development initiative. Each year, a highly competitive global selection process chooses up to 50 high-achieving leaders from a diverse range of countries, industries, and professional backgrounds to participate in an intensive 12-month leadership development experience.

    The program curriculum includes immersive leadership training and executive education coursework hosted at world-leading academic institutions: INSEAD’s campus in Fontainebleau, France, and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. It also adds international leadership programming hosted in Mexico City, before the fellowship concludes with the annual IWF World Leadership Conference and Gala held in Miami. Each selected fellow is also paired with an accomplished veteran IWF member to provide personalized one-on-one mentorship, and all participants are required to complete a legacy project that translates program lessons into tangible, community-focused impact beyond individual professional growth.

    In reflecting on her dual honor of selection and scholarship, London emphasized that the funding made the achievement even more meaningful. “To be selected from a global field for the Fellowship was already an honour, but to also receive one of the very limited scholarships available adds another dimension to it,” she said. “I intend to make full use of the opportunity — not simply for my own development, but to bring the learning, relationships and global perspectives back into the work we are doing to advance tourism in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”

    London also noted that the unique circumstances of her nomination make the recognition even more significant: nominated while building her career in Barbados, she will take part in the fellowship after returning home to serve her native country. “I am deeply grateful to the women of IWF Barbados who believed in me enough to put my name forward, and equally proud to carry St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the wider Eastern Caribbean into this global space,” she added.

    Drawing from her own personal journey, London highlighted the broader inspirational message of her achievement. “I have always believed that where you begin does not determine where you end. For a girl who grew up in a small village in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, opportunities like this reinforce the importance of dreaming boldly, doing the work and, importantly, having people who are willing to open doors for others.”

    For SVGTA, London’s participation in the fellowship extends far beyond individual professional development. The program will grant her access to cutting-edge international leadership frameworks, elite executive education, and a global network of senior women leaders spanning every major sector. This opportunity comes at a critical time for the organization, which is currently working to strengthen its internal capacity, build new cross-border partnerships, and deliver on an ambitious strategic agenda to boost the competitiveness and global profile of St. Vincent and the Grenadines as a premium tourism destination.

    “Tourism is ultimately a people and leadership business,” London explained. “As we work to strengthen the global competitiveness of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, we must continue to expose ourselves to new thinking, global best practices and networks that can create opportunities for our destination.”

    London’s historic selection marks a key milestone for women’s leadership across the Eastern Caribbean, and brings St. Vincent and the Grenadines into a powerful global leadership network that crosses national, industrial, and cultural boundaries.

  • Kosovo asks SVG to recognise its independence

    Kosovo asks SVG to recognise its independence

    Against the backdrop of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, two key diplomatic engagements led by Dr. Godwin Friday, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), have advanced international dialogue on sovereignty, small-state cooperation, and climate action.

    In a bilateral meeting with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti held on the UNGA sidelines, the two leaders centered discussions on Kosovo’s long-standing request for formal recognition as an independent sovereign state, alongside exploring pathways for future bilateral partnership.

    The conversation opened with a reflection on shared experiences of small nations navigating global governance, with Friday grounding SVG’s perspective on self-determination and sovereignty in the country’s colonial history and the legacy of Garifuna resistance to outside rule. For his part, Kurti laid out the full context of Kosovo’s claim to recognition: referencing its 2008 declaration of independence, the 2010 International Court of Justice advisory opinion that ruled the declaration did not violate international law, and the ongoing European Union-facilitated normalization dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia.

    Friday made clear that SVG holds sympathy for Kosovo’s request, but emphasized that no final decision would be made without extensive domestic and regional consultations. No formal commitment to recognition was issued during the meeting, a point confirmed by official accounts of the discussion.

    Beyond the recognition question, the two leaders identified multiple promising areas for practical collaboration. Kosovo highlighted its expanding digital technology sector, developed tourism infrastructure, and specialized search-and-rescue capabilities as areas for potential partnership. In response, Friday expressed SVG’s strong interest in deepening digital cooperation, and outlined the core priorities SVG holds as a small island developing state (SIDS): building robust climate resilience, strengthening disaster preparedness frameworks, and securing access to rapid emergency financing in the aftermath of climate-driven natural disasters. Kurti responded by affirming Kosovo’s willingness to advocate for greater global attention to the acute climate vulnerabilities that threaten SVG and other SIDS across the globe. By the end of the meeting, both sides agreed that continued open engagement and collaborative exploration of shared interests would benefit both small states, regardless of the eventual outcome of the recognition discussion.

    In a separate diplomatic meeting on the margins of the General Assembly, Friday also held talks with Austria’s Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker and Austria’s UN Ambassador Gregor W. Koessler focused on strengthening bilateral ties between SVG and Austria. Friday was joined for the meeting by senior SVG diplomatic officials: Dwight Fitzgerald Bramble, the country’s minister of foreign affairs, foreign trade, foreign investment and diaspora affairs, and Vynnette Frederick, SVG’s permanent representative to the United Nations.

    The meeting concluded with the signing of a bilateral memorandum of understanding that establishes a formal framework for deepening cooperation across multiple priority areas. Discussions between the two delegations centered on advancing peace and multilateral cooperation, addressing the unique structural challenges that SIDS confront, progressing climate resilience and post-disaster recovery efforts, and expanding access to development and disaster-related financing. Friday used the engagement to highlight SVG’s ambitious renewable energy goals, including ongoing exploration of geothermal energy potential and emerging opportunities in wave energy, as the country works to strengthen national energy security and accelerate its transition to a sustainable, climate-resilient energy system.