Caribbean News
February 2026 being eyed for General Elections in Haiti
Garfield Ekon
Staff Writer
Haiti, September 30, 2024 – The interim Government in the Caribbean Island of Haiti has taken a key step towards holding long-delayed elections with the creation of a body which will oversee the polls.
The nine-member provisional electoral council – set up on Wednesday September 18- has been tasked with organising elections by February 2026.
The last time Haitians voted someone into power was in 2016. Since then, armed gangs have seized control of almost the entire capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as large swathes of rural areas of Haiti.
So far, seven members of the provisional electoral council (CEP) have been named.
Among them are representatives of the media, academia, trade unions, and religious groups.
The creation of the CEP comes less than two weeks after a visit to Port-au-Prince by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who had urged Haiti’s provisional government to move forward with the electoral process.
Blinken said setting up an electoral council was a “critical next step”.
Presidential elections were last held in Haiti in 2016, when Jovenel Moïse of the Tèt Kale party was elected for a five-year term. Since Moïse’s murder by Colombian mercenaries in July 2021, the post of president has been vacant.
In the following years, Haiti was governed by Ariel Henry, the man whom President Moïse had nominated as his prime minister shortly before he was killed. But when Henry left for a summit in Guyana on February 25, 2024, gangs seized the international airport in Port-au-Prince and prevented him from returning.
Henry resigned in April and a transitional presidential council (TPC) was created to lead the country until elections can be held. The TPC named Garry Conille as interim prime minister, to serve until a democratically elected government takes over.
A Kenyan-led multinational security force was also dispatched to help the Haitian police rein in the gangs.
While the multinational force has succeeded in rounding up some gang leaders, the power of these criminal organisations has grown to such an extent that Prime Minister Conille expanded the state of emergency to the whole country earlier this month.
The multinational force suffers from underfunding and so far only 600 Kenyans and a small contingent of Jamaicans have arrived in Haiti, though an additional 400 Kenyans were in recent days pledged by that country’s president on a visit to the republic.
Last week, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres berated the international community for not offering Haiti more help: “I find it a scandal that it has been so difficult to mobilize funds for such a dramatic situation,” he said.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, October 6, 2024 – A mural symbolising the theme ‘Tourism and Peace: Out of Many, One Love’ was unveiled by the Ministry of Tourism on Peters Lane in downtown Kingston on Friday (September 27).
The mural was created by lead artist, Sheldon Blake, and assistant artist, Rohan Cargill, for Tourism Awareness Week 2024.
It depicts various Jamaican music genres and fruits, highlights craft vendors and popular tourist spots, including Devon House and Rio Grande rafting.
Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, in a message read by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Jennifer Griffith, said the mural will be a visual representation of how tourism brings people together – breaking down barriers, healing divides and celebrating the beauty of diversity.
“It speaks to the enduring strength of Jamaica’s tourism product and our role in promoting peace, both locally and globally. Sheldon’s work reminds us that our history, culture and people are the foundation upon which our thriving tourism industry is built,” the Minister said.
Meanwhile, Ms. Griffith said preliminary figures show that since the start of the year, Jamaica has welcomed some three million stopover and cruise visitors to the island, earning approximately US$3 billion.
“So despite various challenges relating to travel advisories, Hurricane Beryl and tightness in relation to airlift, we are marginally ahead of last year’s performance and remain on track to achieve our target of securing five million visitors and US$5 billion in earnings by 2025,” she shared.
Ms. Griffiths underscored that these remarkable achievements highlight the strength and sustained recovery of the tourism sector, demonstrating once again that Jamaica remains a premier global destination.
“Tourism is not just an economic driver; it is a bridge to peace, understanding and collaboration. Jamaica’s tourism agenda remains steadfast in ensuring that our industry grows, while protecting the natural and cultural treasures that make us truly unique,” Ms. Griffith said.
For her part, Deputy Director of Kingston Creative, Janet Crick, said the mural is a beautiful addition to the more than 100 in the downtown district.
“These streets have now become a popular destination for locals and tourists alike. Spaces which persons once shied away from have now become a viable attraction and a veritable outdoor gathering, offering beautiful and vibrant depictions of our rich Jamaican history, heritage and culture. It is, therefore, most fitting that tourism, one of the country’s largest income earners, should have a mural in this space – paying tribute to the industry and to its importance to our island,” she said.
CONTACT: JUDANA MURPHY
Release: JIS
MORANT BAY, Jamaica, October 6, 2024 – Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, says that a long-term approach to dealing with coffee farm roads must be taken, to propel the nation’s coffee farmers by granting easier access to their farms.
“What I have said to the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA) team [is that] we have to take the coffee road programme out of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) farm road programme, because the small fixes, they help, but we
need some big fixes,” said Mr. Green, at the handover of fertilisers and herbicides to coffee farmers in the Buff Bay Valley area of Portland, recently.
He explained that for the short-term approach using resources already available, at least six roads in the coffee belt will be dealt with every year. In this financial year, this will include roads such as Wakefield to Mahoe and Bangor Ridge to Mahoe in Portland, as well as others in St. Thomas and parts of St. Andrew.
Mr. Green pointed out that he has asked JACRA to work with the National Works Agency and do a comprehensive assessment of how much money it is going to cost to fix the coffee roads once and for all.
“Because one of the things that we know, if we are able to fix access to the farms, you will produce more. And if you produce more, the country will make more money from coffee. So, the reality is that the investment in coffee will pay back for itself. So, we have to fix the infrastructure,” the Minister emphasised.
CONTACT: MICKELLA ANDERSON-GORDON
JIS REGIONAL OFFICE
MORANT BAY
Caribbean News
Turks and Caicos Islands Ranked in Top Ten Caribbean Islands in Condé Nast Traveler’s Reader’s Choice Awards
PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS (October 3rd, 2024) –The Turks and Caicos Islands has been voted among the Top Ten Islands in the Caribbean and The Atlantic in the Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards 2024.
The Turks and Caicos Islands was ranked seventh in the Caribbean according to the votes.
The results of the voting were announced on October 1st, 2024.
A staggering 575,048 people voted in the annual Condé Nast Traveler Reader’s Choice Awards, rating their travel experiences across the globe to offer a comprehensive look at the places they enjoyed and recommend to others.
The Readers’ Choice Awards, with its unparalleled legacy as the travel industry’s longest-running and most prestigious accolades, remain the ultimate symbol and acknowledgment of excellence within the travel sector.
“We are honoured once again to be recognised as a top island within Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards,” said Hon. Josephine
Connolly, Minister of Tourism for the Turks and Caicos Islands. “The Turks and Caicos Islands remain a staple on this prestigious list which speaks to the quality experiences our visitors enjoy. These votes are determined by them which makes it all the more special.”
Experience Turks and Caicos congratulates our hotel partners who have also been voted among the Top Resorts in the Bahamas, Bermuda and The Atlantic:
- Sailrock – #2
- Beach Enclave – #3
- Amanyara – #3
- Ambergris Cay – #9
- Seven Stars Resort – #10
- Wymara Resort and Villas – #11
- Como Parrot Cay – #14
This honour is the latest among the accolades that the Turks and Caicos Islands has received in 2024 such as:
- TripAdvisor Best of the Best Reader’s Choice Awards: Grace Bay, #1 Beach in the Caribbean and Best of the Best for 2024, # 5 among the Top 25 Best of the Best Beaches in the world.
- USA Today 10Best Reader’s Choice Awards – Best Caribbean Beaches: #2 Bambarra Beach, #9 Grace Bay Beach
- World’s 50 Best Beaches: Grace Bay #1 in the Caribbean, #25 in the world
- World Travel Awards: Caribbean’s Leading Beach Destination, Caribbean’s Leading Romance Destination
- World MICE Awards: Caribbean’s Best Incentive Destination (Providenciales)
The 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards are published on Condé Nast Traveler’s website at https://www.cntraveler.com/story/top-islands-readers-choice-awards-2020
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