Caribbean News
CIBC Caribbean and JetBlue Expand Partnership with Introduction of New JetBlue Business Card for Business Clients in Four Caribbean Destinations
Bridgetown, Barbados (June 23, 2025)– CIBC Caribbean and Mastercard have unveiled a third card, the JetBlue Business Credit
Card, designed for business clients across four Caribbean markets where JetBlue operates: The Bahamas, Barbados, The Cayman Islands and Jamaica. Developed with customers in mind, the new JetBlue Business Card offers exclusive rewards, valuable travel benefits, and enhanced opportunities to earn and redeem TrueBlue points, underscoring JetBlue’s ongoing commitment to fostering loyalty by becoming an integral part of its customers’ daily business journeys.
“We are thrilled to expand our card offerings with the addition of the JetBlue Business Card by CIBC Caribbean which will offer a truly enhanced travel experience for the business traveler,” said Jennifer Fuller, Director Enterprise Payments, Cards and Merchant Services.
“As a leading airline in the Caribbean, JetBlue takes great pride in our continued commitment to delivering innovative programs and products to our loyal customers throughout the region,” said Edward Pouthier, Vice President of Loyalty and Personalization at JetBlue. “We’re excited to strengthen our partnership with CIBC Caribbean through the launch of the new JetBlue Business Card, an offering designed specifically for our business customers. This new card provides exclusive rewards and benefits, allowing cardmembers to earn and redeem TrueBlue points across JetBlue’s network of more than 100 destinations and partner airlines, bringing them one swipe closer to their next journey.”
The JetBlue Business Credit Card offers TrueBlue points based on eligible spend, and clients with frequent travel to North America and
beyond, will also benefit from using the business credit card for purchases instead of using their personal cards.
The new business card will allow holders in The Bahamas, Barbados, The Cayman Islands and Jamaica to enjoy Group A priority boarding on select flights, the first checked bag free for up to three eligible travel companions in the same reservation, earn 4X points on eligible JetBlue purchases and get 10,000 TrueBlue points annually.
The new JetBlue Business Credit Card by CIBC Caribbean is the latest offering following the launch of the JetBlue Mastercard and JetBlue Select Mastercard by CIBC FirstCaribbean which were introduced in November 2023 in The Bahamas, Barbados, The Cayman Islands, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. These cards provide cardmembers exclusive rewards, benefits, and an opportunity to earn TrueBlue® points that can be used to travel to more than 100 destinations in JetBlue’s network.
PHOTO CAPTION:
HEADER: L-R Head of Country – Gemel Sobers, Deborah Mercer, Director, Strategic Business Units, CIBC Caribbean, Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez, Samuel McField Morgan, and Chris Morgan.
1ST INSERT: L-R Grand Prize winner Susan Boyko congratulated by Donna Wellington, Chief Country Management Officer, CIBC Caribbean.
2ND INSERT: L_R Jose Vargas, Vice President, Head of Sales and Account Management, Mastercard Direct Services, Edward Pouthier, Vice President Loyalty and Personalisation, JetBlue, Pim van der Burg ,Chief Commercial Officer, CIBC Caribbean, Danielle Dumas, Director, Business Development Mastercard, Jennifer Fuller, Director, Enterprise Payments, Cards & Merchant Services, CIBC Caribbean, Lucia Bastidas, Manager, Intl. Co-brand and Loyalty, JetBlue.
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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