Top Caribbean stories in 2021
By Bert Wilkinson
No sitting Caribbean Community head
of state or government had been assassinated
since Maurice Bishop in Grenada
in 1983, but the brutal killing of Jovenel
Moise in Haiti in early July sent shockwaves
throughout a region, which has
been largely spared such high brutality
and drama over the decades.
Moise, 53, was killed when a large
group of heavily armed mostly Colombian
gunmen stormed his suburban hillside
home, shot him and his wife several times
before fleeing the scene.
Local police arrested more than a
dozen of the gunmen, several of whom
have confessed to investigators that Moise
had to be killed because he had been
compiling a list of local narco traffickers
whom he was planning to move against.
His palatial south Port Au Prince home
was ransacked, and as the New York
Times and investigators have reported,
important documents including the list
are believed to have been taken away from
the home during the brutal invasion. The
capture of the documents appeared to
have been a main motive for the home
invasion and the killing, police said.
Caribbean leaders condemned the
assassination in strong terms, but
appeared to worry more about the pile
on effect his killing would have had on
the region’s most populous but poorest
nation.
After all, the island was hit by a deadly
earthquake in August that killed dozens
as well as Tropical Storm Grace the very
same week of the storm that triggered
mudslides and flooding even as the nation
and regional mourned Moise’s murder.
First Lady Martine Moise was treated for
her injuries in Florida, since her return
home she has threatened to run in the
next presidential elections, sensing that
she might be able to tap into lingering
political sympathies from her husband’s
murder.
As Haiti struggles to settle down in a
tumultuous year for CARICOM, no one
can forget and or ignore the devastating
effects of a second full year of the COVID-
19 pandemic. In 2020, the economies of
tourism dependent countries were battered
by shuttered air and sea ports and
non arriving passengers. Even as the
planes and ships have returned in significant
numbers in the latter half of 2021,
in recent months, the new Omiron variant
once again threatens the viability of
regional economies.
Hardest hit by the current wave is
Trinidad where authorities have decided
to shutdown the civil service from this
Friday to the first working day in January
to ease congestion and to give state
workers a chance to get vaccinated. The
move came hours after the medical sector
reported a record 33 COVID-19 deaths
in a single day last weekend and as the
twin island republic with Tobago picked
up its fifth positive Omicron infection
this month.
“We have come to the point where
the government will have to take certain
Caribbean L 20 ife, JANUARY 14-20, 2022
actions,” Prime Minister Keith Rowley
said as he and labor unions prepared to
fight over vaccine mandates. “I have had
extensive discussions with the attorney
general and his support team in his ministry
and his advisers outside and we will
now move to a situation of insisting that
people in Trinidad and Tobago acknowledge
the government’s policy that vaccination
is our best way of dealing with the
carrier of death and destruction.”
Trinidad apart, Guyana, Barbados,
Suriname, The Eastern Caribbean sub
grouping and The Bahamas and Jamaica
to a lesser extent, all appear to have
made strides in controlling the spread and
avoiding costly economic shutdowns.
While that was happening, usually well
organized Barbados seamlessly and brilliantly
transitioned to a republic, installing
former Governor General Sandra
Mason as its first Black or Brown head
of state instead of a white, great grandmother
known globally as Queen Elizabeth.
Jamaica has since indicated that it
will join Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and
Dominica in time for 60th independence
celebrations next August.
As governments battled with the pandemic,
African Union countries stepped
in to help the region to procure large
amounts of vaccines. Leaders like Gaston
Browne of Antigua and Rowley helped to
push the US and other western countries
to donate large amounts of vaccines even
as officials complain about slower than
expected uptakes. The Caribbean and
Africa also organized and held their first
full fledged, formal summit this year with
plans for regular meetings and promises
to establish air and sea links, spur trade,
tourism and other investment opportunities.
Politically, general elections changed
governments in The Bahamas, St. Lucia
as well as in associate states — the Turks
and Caicos Islands and The Cayman
Islands. Led by PM Mia Mottley of Barbados,
the region’s profile at the climate
change summit in Scotland was at its
highest this year with dynamic presentations
from several leaders.
In April, the region jumped to the
assistance of bloc member nation, St.
Vincent when the La Soufriere volcano
erupted for the first time since 1979,
sending hot lava and other releases down
hillsides and to communities. Plumes of
ash headed eastward to Barbados shutting
down air travel and life on the island for a
few days. The regional response to St. Vincent
encouraged many to heap praise on
the integration movement, a point which
was not lost on newly minted CARICOM
Secretary General, Carla Barnett.
“In the past year we have experienced
time and again the benefit of the community
working together to assist each
other in responding to natural disasters.
We also worked together to procure
and share vaccines to present a common
front at climate change negotiations and
to advocate strongly for our interests in
discussions with foreign governments,”
she said.
Jovenel Moise addresses the media next to his wife Martine after winning
the 2016 presidential election, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Picture taken Nov.28,
2016. REUTERS/Jeanty Junior Augustin, File
Barbados’ new President Sandra
Mason and singer Rihanna stand
during the Presidential Inauguration
Ceremony to mark the birth of a new
republic in Barbados, Bridgetown,
Barbados, Nov. 30, 2021. REUTERS/
Toby Melville/Pool
Plumes of ash billow from the La
Soufriere volcano on the island of St.
Vincent and the Grenadines which
started erupting on April 9. UN/Navin
Pato Patterson
Belizean, Dr. Carla Natalie Barnett
appointed 8th CARICOM secretarygeneral.
caricom.org
/caricom.org
