Caribbean News
Courageous Decorator Maria Rolle tells us why it was RACISM
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicosIslands, October 6, 2023 – Immediate unprovoked anger and fear for her safety is what one event decorator says she was met with after an altercation with a villa owner in Providenciales, now Robert Been, Opposition Deputy Leader is calling for a dedicated system to report these issues.
“We trust that authorities will swiftly address this matter, including taking punitive measures against Mr. Gulka. Regrettably, we believe that Ms. Rolle’s experience may not be an isolated incident– We call upon the government to ensure that the mechanisms in place for reporting and investigating such incidents function effectively and receive the necessary resources to do so,” said Been.
The response was prompted by a video showing an irate villa owner instructing decorator Maria Rolle to get off of his property, but not before demanding she ‘wash’ his floors with a rag. We reached out to get the full story from Maria.
We asked Maria if she had damaged Gulka’s villa by accident.
She told the news team decisively there was no property damage whatsoever before the villa owner arrived and began to berate her.
Maria was confused as she said she and Cory had spoken only hours before and she had gotten his okay to carry out the decor.
“The host, that same guy in the video contacted me and he was like oh the guest said you’re going to be coming in to do balloons, how much time do you need?”
When she arrived she was let in by an unnamed woman and began her decorating process. When the owner arrived about five minutes later Maria said he immediately told her not to stick anything onto the ceiling and tugged roughly on the balloons which were floating with the help of helium. Rolle tried to explain that the balloons were not stuck to anything but even that did not diffuse the situation.
“He asked me why I was talking back and told me his rules were his rules and said ‘If you don’t like them you can get the ‘f*** out!”
After that, with distress in her voice, Maria explains that Cory threw a rag at her and now fearful, she decided to leave the house and start recording. In that recording, the villa owner can be heard saying,
“Wash the floor,” while he holds a green terry rag in one hand and a string of pink balloons in the other.
“I’m not washing the floor,” Maria responds as the villa owner blocks the door.
“Take those balloons out.” he demands to which the decorator says “I have two hands, sir.”
“Then put your s*** down and take your balloons out because as soon as you walk out the door you’re not going to take them up. Take your balloons out and wash the floor.”
To her protests that she would not wash the floor he responded
“You’re washing the floor, you f****** walked in with your dirty shoes.” It was this part of the exchange, Maria said, that felt racially demeaning.
“Mops exist, why would you throw a rag at me and tell me to go on my hands and knees, and wash your floors? A broom exists, plus the floors were not dirty,” she explained.
After the confrontation, in which Cory in the cell phone video can be seen blocking the door, Maria makes her way out into the driveway and the balloons are removed and loaded into her vehicle but not before another abrasive move, where the villa manager appears to slam the trunk of her jeep.
Even then the shocking ordeal wasn’t over.
A few hours later, Maria says she was contacted by the guest with whom she shared the videos after Cory reportedly lied to the woman, blaming Maria for running off and not finishing the decor.
After clearing that up with the guest she tells Magnetic Media she was repeatedly contacted by Cory as well who she says was acting completely different as if nothing had happened. When she revealed she had video evidence he reportedly tried to get her to come back to the property to talk but Rolle refused, he also refused to refund the guest.
Rolle says Cory then tried to bully her again, this time into returning to finish the decor. The decorator refused, determined not to step foot on his property again; when she refused he hung up.
“He called me back like five minutes later like a totally different person saying oh Maria I spoke to the guest and I’m going to refund her you don’t have to worry… and I said I’m not worried you should worry,” Rolle told us.
Rille was right. Her experience was shared on social media and the outpouring of support reached as high up as the Minister of Immigration and Border Services who has now launched an investigation. Others are calling for Cory Gulka to be deported immediately.
She asked him not to contact her again, but he kept trying to reach out with platitudes and offers of business and partnership, all of which Rolle said she declined, citing his repulsive behavior. It was that behavior and her determination that he should not get away with treating residents this way that pushed the decorator to share the video.
Arlington Musgrove, Minister of Immigration was horrified by the ordeal
“The release and video issued by the brave young Rolle was disturbing and infuriating, to say the least, and it showed the actions of what I can only call a bully and of absolute hatred by Mr. Gulka,” he continued. “Let me be clear, to live and work amongst us in these Islands is indeed a privilege and one which should never be abused.”
When we tried to contact Gulka, his Atmosphere Villa’s website which cited both Lyra, the property in question, and Vela, a twin property, was closed to the public.
By Deandrea Hamilton | Magnetic Media
October 14, 2025 – It’s being called political theatre — but for citizens, constitutional watchdogs, and democracy advocates across the Caribbean, it feels far more serious. Within a single week, two national parliaments — in Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis — descended into turmoil as opposition members stormed out in protest, accusing their Speakers of bias, overreach, and abuse of parliamentary procedure.
For observers, the walkouts signal a deeper problem: erosion of trust in the very institutions meant to safeguard democracy. When Speakers are viewed as political enforcers instead of neutral referees, parliaments stop functioning as chambers of debate and start performing as stages for power and spectacle — with citizens left wondering who, if anyone, is still accountable.
October 6: St. Kitts Parliament Erupts
The first walkout erupted in Basseterre on October 6, 2025, when Dr. Timothy Harris, former Prime Minister and now Opposition Leader,
led his team out of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly in a protest that stunned the chamber.
The flashpoint came as the Speaker moved to approve more than three years’ worth of unratified parliamentary minutes in one sitting — covering 27 meetings and three national budgets — without individual review or debate.
Dr. Harris called the move “a flagrant breach of the Constitution and parliamentary tradition,” warning that the practice undermines transparency and accountability. “No serious parliament can go years without approving a single set of minutes,” he said after exiting the chamber.
The Speaker defended the decision as administrative housekeeping, but critics were unconvinced, branding the move a “world record disgrace.” The opposition’s walkout triggered renewed calls for the Speaker’s resignation and sparked a wider public discussion about record-keeping, accountability, and respect for parliamentary norms in St. Kitts and Nevis.
October 10: Trinidad Opposition Follows Suit
Four days later, on October 10, 2025, the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) in Trinidad and Tobago staged its own walkout from the House of Representatives in Port of Spain.
The UNC accused the Speaker of partisan bias, claiming she had repeatedly blocked urgent questions, ignored points of order, and allowed government members to breach standing orders without consequence.
“The Speaker has failed in her duty to act impartially,” the Opposition declared in a statement. “Parliament is not the property of any political party or Presiding Officer.”
The dramatic exit was seen as a culmination of months of rising tension and frustration, with opposition MPs arguing that parliamentary rules were being selectively applied to silence dissenting voices.
Political analyst Dr. Marcia Ferdinand described the twin walkouts as “a warning sign that parliamentary democracy in the Caribbean is teetering on the edge of performative politics.”
“When chairs become political shields rather than constitutional referees,” she said, “democracy becomes theatre, not governance.”
A Pattern Emerging
While St. Kitts and Trinidad are very different political environments, both incidents point to the same regional fault line: the perception that Speakers — the guardians of parliamentary order — are no longer impartial.
In Westminster-style systems like those across the Caribbean, the Speaker’s authority depends not on power but on public confidence in fairness. Once that credibility erodes, parliamentary control collapses into confrontation.
Governance experts say the implications are serious: eroded trust between government and opposition, declining public confidence in state institutions, and growing voter cynicism that “rules” are flexible tools of political advantage.
Why It Matters
Parliamentary walkouts are not new in the Caribbean, but what makes these recent events different is their frequency and intensity — and
the regional echo they’ve created. Social media has amplified images of lawmakers storming out, with citizens from Barbados to Belize questioning whether the same erosion of decorum could be happening in their own legislatures.
Analysts warn that if this perception takes hold, it risks diminishing the moral authority of parliamentary democracy itself.
“Once opposition MPs believe the rules are rigged, and once citizens believe Parliament is just performance,” said one Caribbean governance researcher, “you’ve lost the most valuable currency in democracy — trust.”
Restoring Balance
Political reformers across the region are calling for tighter Standing Order enforcement, independent parliamentary service commissions, and training to strengthen Speaker neutrality. Civil society leaders say the public must also play its part by demanding transparency and refusing to normalize partisan manipulation of parliamentary procedure.
Whether these twin walkouts become catalysts for reform — or simply another episode of Caribbean political theatre — will depend on what happens next inside those chambers.
For now, democracy watchers agree on one thing: when opposition leaders feel the only way to be heard is to walk out, the entire democratic house — not just its Speaker — is in danger of collapse.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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