WASHINGTON DC - Chairman of the CARICOM Council for National Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE) and Jamaica’s National Security Minister Dr. Horace Chang, says the illicit trafficking of illegal firearms is a significant challenge for the region.

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, says armed violence has reached “unimaginable and intolerable levels” in Haiti and that the surge in violence is being fueled by heavily armed gangs in Port-au-Prince.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley Thursday said he is hoping in the “not too distant future” CARICOM leaders will adopt a position on attending the Summit of the Americas in the United States, as the division continues as to whether the region should boycott the event if Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are not officially invited.

NEW YORK, New York – Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has been listed among the 100 most influential people in the 2022 TIME 100, the annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – With an increase in reports of daily kidnappings across the country, truck drivers from the neighboring Dominican Republic have decided not to enter Haiti deliver goods and produce.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders are pondering whether they will participate in the Ninth Summit of the Americas to be held in the United States next month, should Washington extend an invitation to Venezuelan Opposition Leader Juan Guaidó while also leaving of Miguel Díaz-Canel of Cuba.

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica has been acknowledged for best practices in facilitating a creative ecosystem by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in its ‘Reshaping Policies for Creativity’ global report.

HAVANA, Cuba – The National Institute of Social Security (INASS) is carrying out a centralized process of granting pensions, in a quick way, for all the affected workers and relatives of the victims of the accident at the Saratoga hotel, without distinction of pension rights.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua –Prime Minister Gaston Browne says he hopes last week’s discussions between United States Vice President, Kamala Harris and several CARICOM leaders will not turn out to be another occasion of “diplomatic exercises”.

LONDON – Health Ministers from the Commonwealth concluded their annual meeting on Thursday united on a post-COVID-19 health agenda that includes collaboration on several key issues including vaccine equity, increasing investment in health to strengthen the resilience of health systems, and advancing Universal Health Coverage (UHC) goals.

BELMOPAN, Belize – The construction phase of major improvement to the essential arterial route that links Belize City to the Mexican border has officially gotten off the ground.

WASHINGTON, D.C - Afro-Latinos are a growing part of the Black immigrant population in the US and now make up about 2 percent of the U.S. adult population.