Category: CANA News

The Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) and Barbados’ Ministry of Finance have launched discussions aimed at expanding access to financing for local businesses as the country seeks to accelerate export-led growth and economic transformation.

The high-level Private Sector Dialogue, held earlier this week, brought together business leaders, financial institutions, government agencies and policymakers to explore how CAF’s financing instruments can help Barbadian firms expand operations, increase exports and improve competitiveness.

Finance Minister Ryan Straughn said Barbados is placing the private sector at the center of its growth strategy, emphasizing that stronger export performance will require greater investment and leadership from businesses.

“Export-led growth is not a government project with the private sector as cheerleaders on the sideline,” Straughn said. “It requires investment, risk and bold commercial decision-making.”

He noted that after years of fiscal reforms under the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme, the focus is now on creating a more dynamic and globally competitive economy.

CAF Regional Manager for the Caribbean and Representative in Barbados, Dr. Stacy Richards-Kennedy, said the discussions were designed to identify practical opportunities for collaboration.

“If we are serious about economic growth, jobs, exports and resilience, then the private sector cannot be on the margins of development. It has to be at the centre,” she said.

Richards-Kennedy pointed to positive economic projections from the Central Bank of Barbados, which indicate that continued public and private investment in infrastructure, renewable energy and tourism projects will support growth and employment in the coming years.

She also highlighted the role of public-private partnerships (PPPs), noting that they can help mobilize private capital and expertise to advance national development priorities.

CAF Vice President for Private Sector, Antonio Silveira, outlined a range of financing options available to businesses, including loans, credit facilities, risk guarantees, equity investments and technical support for project development.

He said CAF’s priorities align closely with Barbados’ BERT 3.0 agenda, particularly in areas such as infrastructure development, renewable energy, digital transformation and capital market expansion.

CAF approved US$10.3 billion in private-sector operations in 2025, accounting for more than half of its total approvals for the year. The institution has also expanded support across the Caribbean, including a US$35 million financing facility for small and medium-sized enterprises in Trinidad and Tobago.

The bank is currently working with the Caribbean Development Bank and other regional partners to develop additional financing mechanisms aimed at strengthening private sector growth throughout the Caribbean.

Sri Lanka trail a West Indies Select XI by 167 runs with nine wickets remaining at the close of play on the first day of their four-day warmup match at the Coolidge Cricket Ground here on Thursday.

Scores

WEST INDIES SELECT XI 205 in 61.4 overs (Kirk McKenzie 58, Keemo Paul 36, Kevin Wickham 20, Nial Smith 19 not out, Ojay Shields 16, Ackeem Auguste 12, Alzarri Joseph 12; Lahiru Kumara 4-39, Asitha Fernando 2-26).

SRI LANKA 38 for one in eight overs (Nishan Madushka 25 not out).

Tevin Imlach of Guyana has been appointed captain of the West Indies Select XI for the upcoming four-day warm-up match against Sri Lanka, set to bowl off from June 18-21 at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua.

The 13-man squad features a strong Guyanese contingent, with Imlach joined by fellow countrymen Kemol Savory, Nial Smith, and Keemo Paul, ensuring the fixture carries a distinct Guyanese flavour.

The match serves as a critical dress rehearsal for the two-match Test series between West Indies and Sri Lanka, offering fringe players and Test aspirants a valuable platform to press their claims in a red-ball setting.

Head Coach Daren Sammy underscored the significance of the fixture, stating: ‘The four-day warm-up game before the series provides the chance for some of our Test hopefuls to play in high-intensity action and create the avenue for more competition within the squad ahead of the upcoming and future series.’

Full WI Select XI Squad:

Tevin Imlach (Captain), Joshua Bishop, Jonathan Drakes, Karima Gore, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Kirk McKenzie, Keemo Paul, Kemol Savory, Ojay Shields, Nial Smith, Gilon Tyson, Kevin Wickham.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has launched the ANIMA-AA Kit, a practical tool designed to support health care workers in identifying, responding to, and supporting children and adolescents affected by violence.

PAHO said that the initiative aims to strengthen frontline health services across the Americas, including the Caribbean, where violence remains a widespread and urgent public health challenge. The UN agency said violence is highly prevalent in the region, and sexual violence is of particular concern, as it disproportionately affects girls. Among adolescents aged 15 to 19, one in five 5 experience physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner.

According to PAHO/WHO estimates one in six 6 girls are subjected to sexual violence before the age of 18, based on UNICEF data.

Child marriage, affecting one in five girls, further increases the risk of violence and adolescent pregnancy. Taken together, these figures highlight the scale of the problem and its significant impact on physical, mental, social and reproductive health.

PAHO said that the ANIMA-AA Kit was developed with the support of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) in response to a persistent gap: health workers are often the first point of contact for survivors, yet they frequently lack the training and practical tools needed to provide timely, appropriate and empathetic care.

The toolkit provides concise, accessible, and easy-to-use guidance tailored to everyday clinical practice, with a particular focus on girls, who face heightened risks and greater barriers to being heard and accessing services.

‘Health services can be a turning point in the lives of children and adolescents experiencing violence,’ said Britta Baer, advisor on violence and injury prevention at PAHO.

‘A compassionate, timely, and non-judgmental response can mean the difference between continued harm and the beginning of protection and recovery.’

The ANIMA-AA model promotes first-line support as an essential health service and organizes it into seven practical steps: attentive listening, non-judgmental validation, identifying and responding to needs, improving safety, offering support, creating child-friendly environments, and supporting caregivers – that is, those responsible for the child who are not perpetrators of violence and who may also need guidance and support.

Despite the high prevalence of violence, relatively few cases are identified within health services, pointing to a critical opportunity to improve early detection and response.

PAHO said that although thousands of cases of sexual abuse are reported each year in some countries, these figures remain well below estimated prevalence levels, reflecting limitations in the capacity of health systems to respond. Without timely identification and response, violence often continues and escalates, leading to more severe and lasting consequences.

The development of the ANIMA-AA Toolkit reflects a participatory process involving direct input from adolescents and young people across the region.

The Antigua and Barbuda Parliament has given the green light to legislation allowing for fines as high as one million EC dollars (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) for anyone or a company convicted on charges of failing to provide electronic information requested by law enforcement during criminal investigations.

Attorney General Sir Steadroy Benjamin, who piloted the Electronic Crimes Amendment Bill said the new measures are intended to address longstanding difficulties investigators face in obtaining electronic records and data needed to solve crimes. ‘The police would need evidence of pinging from telephones, different posts, et cetera, to get a trace of how crimes have been committed. But the service providers are refusing to do so,’ Benjamin told legislators.

Under the amended legislation, a person who fails without reasonable excuse to comply with a production order within the specified time can face a fine of up to EC$100,000, imprisonment, or both upon summary conviction. On conviction on indictment, penalties increase to a fine of up to one million EC dollars, imprisonment for up to seven years, or both.

Benjamin said the government was particularly concerned about situations in which local managers of telecommunications companies and other service providers claimed they were unable to comply because instructions had to come from overseas headquarters.

‘Some of their supervisors and managers are overseas. We have broadened this now. We are naming the managers who are here, the people in control of the company,’ he said, telling Parliament that companies operating in Antigua and Barbuda must cooperate with lawful requests for information rather than delay investigations by referring authorities to foreign-based executives.

During the debate, Education Minister Daryll Matthew recalled a recent incident in which he had been the victim of a sophisticated financial crime.

‘I fell victim to financial crime,’ Matthew said, adding that his bank is currently handling the matter.

The bill also received support from the opposition with one legislator saying ‘I think the government is doing quite an admirable thing in coming to the Parliament to ensure that information can be retrieved from them’.

The government said that the amendments form part of its broader effort to strengthen the country’s ability to investigate cybercrime, financial fraud and other offences that increasingly rely on digital communications and electronic records.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is leading a coalition of 22 other attorneys general in urging United States Congressional leaders to restore the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (SNAP) benefits and eligibility protections for Caribbean and other immigrants.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, SNAP provides food benefits to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget so they can afford the nutritious food essential to health and well-being. The attorneys general also urged Congress to reject efforts to reduce food assistance for families, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and working people.

In a letter to US Senate leadership and the leaders of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, the coalition warns that recent federal SNAP cuts – the largest reductions to food assistance in modern history – are increasing hunger, creating new bureaucratic hurdles for eligible families, and shifting billions of dollars in costs onto states and local governments.

They say as the Senate considers the next Farm Bill, it has an opportunity to reaffirm a bipartisan commitment that no American and immigrant should go hungry because they cannot afford food.

‘SNAP helps millions of Americans put food on the table and supports the farmers and grocers that feed our communities. Our representatives in Washington need to understand the consequences of these cuts and the families, veterans, and seniors they are hurting.

‘I am urging the Senate to reverse these cruel changes and restore the food assistance that millions of Americans count on,’ James added.

James said SNAP provides critical support to more than 2.9 million New Yorkers, including Caribbean immigrants and children, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and working families struggling with the high cost of living.

She said new federal restrictions passed in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including expanded work requirements and additional administrative hurdles, make it significantly harder for New Yorkers to keep their benefits or threaten to push them off the program altogether.

In their letter, the attorneys general argue that expanded work requirements and administrative hurdles do not create jobs or reduce poverty, but cause eligible families to lose assistance because they are unable to navigate increasingly complex bureaucratic requirements.

They also argue that new cost-sharing provisions require states to shoulder billions of dollars in new costs while imposing substantial new administrative burdens, ‘a significant shift from SNAP’s longstanding federal commitment to ensuring that Americans do not go hungry during times of need.’

In New York alone, James said these changes could cost well over one billion US dollars annually beginning in 2027.

The attorneys general warn that these unprecedented shifts could force states to make impossible choices between cutting other essential services or reducing SNAP support for vulnerable residents.

They are urging the Senate to take a different approach from the House-passed Farm Bill, which fails to reverse recent cuts to food assistance. They are calling on the Senate to restore SNAP benefit levels and funding, reverse or delay new cost-sharing requirements, and roll back expanded work requirements and eligibility restrictions.

In December 2025, James successfully secured a federal court order preventing ‘unlawful disruptions’ to SNAP benefits and fought to ensure families could continue to access to SNAP during the October 2025 federal shutdown.

West Indies head coach Shane Deitz has issued a stark warning to his players ahead of their crucial ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 clash against Scotland on Thursday: complacency will not be tolerated.

Both teams arrive at Headingley buoyed by stunning opening victories, setting the stage for a tantalising Group B encounter under the lights.

The Windies produced a final-over thriller to dethrone defending champions New Zealand, while Scotland celebrated their first-ever World Cup win with a historic victory over Ireland.

But Deitz, who has witnessed the rapid evolution of women’s cricket since 2014, knows the Scots represent a far greater threat than the side his team defeated in the 2024 tournament. ‘We had a pretty good win against them last time,’ Deitz recalled of the six-wicket victory two years ago. ‘We bowled first, restricted them a bit, and then Deandra (Dottin) went in and smacked a few and got us over the line with a good net run-rate.’

However, the coach quickly dismissed any notion of a repeat performance. ‘But we’ve played them in ODI cricket since then, and they’ve got a few new players. I also think a lot of their players are featuring in the English domestic game, and they will be a much harder test than they were last time.’

Scotland’s landmark victory over Ireland has clearly caught the attention of the Windies camp. ‘They had a great win, so they’ll be flying high and full of confidence,’ Deitz added. ‘They’ve got some good players all around, a good mix, they hit different areas. We’re going to be at our best to beat them. We definitely can’t be complacent, and we won’t be.’

The Windies’ opener against New Zealand was a rollercoaster, with Shemaine Campbelle finally delivering her first T20I half-century in 155 appearances to guide her side home in the final over.

But the Black Caps’ costly dropped chances will not be repeated, Deitz warned, even against a side ranked five places below them at 11th in the world.

‘I’ve been in women’s cricket since 2014, I went to that World Cup, and it was clear those three or four sides were miles ahead of everyone else,’ the coach reflected. ‘But now, you go with your best every day, and it’s just a great spectacle. The girls work hard and have got as much passion and energy for the game as anyone you’ll ever see.’

Deitz reserved special praise for Scotland’s dynamic siblings, the Bryces. ‘They’re really world-class players,’ he acknowledged. ‘But we’ve got some other world-class players in there too, and we’ll be ready for them.’

Scotland, meanwhile, is choosing to embrace the occasion rather than be intimidated by the prospect of facing multiple World Cup winners.

Opener Darcey Carter, who set the tone against Ireland before departing for 14, spent Thursday evening watching the Windies’ triumph over New Zealand and emerged unfazed.

‘They’re a really good side. They’ve got some great players in their team as well, but I think we just have to play the team on the day,’ Carter said. ‘Personally, I don’t try to look at the names too much because then you just get caught up in that. If we can just take the game as it comes and take the players and how they perform as it comes, then I think we will be in good stead.’

The Scots can draw confidence from their 11-run victory over the Windies in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 Qualifier, a result that ultimately cost the Caribbean side a place at the tournament proper.

Desert Vipers Head Coach Azhar Mahmood has issued a defiant rallying cry, insisting his side can conquer the ExxonMobil Guyana Global Super League even after being dealt a major blow with the loss of captain Chris Green.

The off-spinning all-rounder has been ruled out of the five-team Twenty20 showdown, set for Providence Stadium in late July and early August, after suffering a hand injury while representing English county side Lancashire earlier this month. Speaking on the Vipers Voices podcast, Mahmood admitted the setback was significant but backed his squad to adapt and overcome.

‘It is definitely a big blow as he was our skipper as well as being a crucial player for us who bats at number seven, along with his off-spin, plus he is a gun fielder too,’ said Mahmood.

‘These things happen in cricket, and you need to control the controllables. It’s a shame he won’t be with us, but we are a professional side. In modern-day T20, players gel quickly; it’s not like the old days when new faces needed time to settle. Whoever replaces him will fit right in.’

A replacement for Green will be announced in due course.

Mahmood, who has previously served as head coach of the Pakistan men’s national team and Islamabad United in the PSL, highlighted the importance of the Vipers’ West Indian contingent, which includes left-arm seamer Ramon Simmonds, spinner Khary Pierre, batting all-rounder Kyle Mayers, and teenager Zachary Carter, alongside assistant coach Shane Dowrich, a former West Indies wicketkeeper.

‘They know the conditions and the culture better than us. Their local knowledge and insights will be vital both on and off the field. Having people from that environment who can share that knowledge is always handy,’ he said.

With powerhouses like holders Guyana Amazon Warriors, San Francisco Unicorns, Lahore Qalandars, and Perth Scorchers in the fray, Mahmood acknowledged the challenge but backed his squad’s hunger over star power.

‘Big names cannot win you tournaments. Our players can execute plans, gel together, and they have a hunger that can win tournaments. I see hungry players in our line-up who want to win, just like we did in the ILT20 this year. We want to show how good we are, even without our full resources.

‘Yes, it might be tough, and there will be challenges. But we need to believe we are going there to win-not to make up the numbers.’

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) must make progress on digital inclusion, putting it at the center of its public policies.

EACLAC is also warning that since without suitable measures, today’s fast-paced technological transformation can deepen preexisting inequalities and generate new forms of social, labour and territorial exclusion.

Addressing the Sixth Regional Seminar on Social Development ‘Inequality and Digital Inclusion; Challenges and Opportunities for Inclusive Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean,’ ECLAC’s executive secretary, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, digital transformation creates significant opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean, a region caught in three, mutually reinforcing development traps. ‘.…one involving low capacity for growth and transformation, another of high inequality, low social mobility and weak social cohesion and a third of low institutional capacity and ineffective governance.’

He said the incorporation of new technologies, the expansion of artificial intelligence and the digital economy’s advances can contribute to increasing productivity, fueling innovation, creating new economic sectors and expanding access to essential services such as education, health, social protection and financial services.

The senior UN official said these transformations can also create new job opportunities, strengthen people’s capabilities, and expand the region’s possibilities for economic growth and development.

‘However, these opportunities are not automatically or equitably distributed. Moving towards digital inclusion necessitates recognizing its social dimension and placing it at the center of public policies.

‘This is not just a technological agenda, it is also an agenda for rights and development,’ Salazar-Xirinach added.

The seminar, which end on Thursday, is organized, in a hybrid format, by ECLAC with support from the EU’s regional programme ‘Inclusive Societies in Latin America and the Caribbean,’ which is financed by the European Commission and implemented through the ECLAC-BMZ/giz Strategic Alliance, the Republic of Korea, and the Ford Foundation.

The European Union’s Ambassador to Chile, Claudia Gintersdorfer, said technology in itself does not lead to inclusion.

‘It can expand opportunities, but it can also reproduce existing forms of exclusion if it is not accompanied by appropriate public policies, solid institutions and a clear focus on equity. That is why the issue that brings us here today is not just technological in nature; it is, above all, a matter of development, rights and social cohesion,’ she said.

The Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Chile, Hak-Jae Kim, said that the seminar ‘represents a privileged space for dialogue and collective action at a time when social development challenges require urgent and innovative responses’.

He said that ‘digital inclusion is not a minor technical issue; it is one of the pillars of social justice in the 21st century.

‘Korea wants to continue being a strategic partner to ECLAC and to the region in forging digital inclusion that would put people and their rights at the center.’

In addition to highlighting the multiple collaborative initiatives between German Cooperation and ECLAC, Fabian Klein, an ECLAC-BMZ/giz programme advisor, stated that ‘we know there is no single solution, and certainly no definitive one, but we firmly believe that exchanging experiences can generate valuable lessons and proposals that would strengthen public policy design and the creation of a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable institutional framework.’

The seminar will provide an opportunity for participants to share experiences, good practices and proposals aimed at bridging digital divides and moving towards more inclusive societies in the region.

Some of the issues to be discussed include the multidimensional measurement of inequality; the digital divide and inclusive social development; digital social protection and health; the use of digital technologies by children and adolescents; labour policies in the face of automation; and the school-to-work transition in the digital era.

This seminar also seeks to give continuity to the debates put forth at the Sixth Session of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and to the commitments that emerged from the Second World Summit for Social Development, held in Qatar in 2025.

The aim is to produce strategic inputs that would help identify transformative recommendations and proposals for moving towards inclusive social development, reducing inequalities and bridging digital gaps.

Police have arrested Kaia Sealy early Wednesday morning as she returned from the United States where she had been undergoing medical treatment following the police involved shooting of her 31-year-old common law husband on January 20, this year.

Late month, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Roger Gaspard, defended his decision to instruct the police to charge the 24-year-old common-law wife of Joshua Samaroo amid public protest over the decision and the action by the police in January. Gaspard acknowledged that the ‘regrettable killing’ of Samaroo and the serious injury of Sealy, as well as the subsequent charges arising therefrom, have justifiably generated huge public interest; ‘many of the views expressed have been predicated upon the public’s viewing of video footage, which purports to cover the unfortunate events’.

He reminded the country that it is not within his ‘constitutional remit to investigate any crime, neither did I select or pick the evidentiary fruits presented to me by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS)’.

Police had earlier issued for the arrest of Sealy on three counts of shooting with intent to cause grievous bodily harm at the police, manslaughter, with police alleging that Sealy, who was shot multiple times during the incident and left paralyzed, unlawfully killed Samaroo.

Since then, the police have added new charges of having a firearm; possession of ammunition; possession of a firearm with the intent to endanger life and discharging a firearm within 40 meters of a public place.

Sealy’s lawyer, Fayola Sandy, told reporters that she was left stunned after arriving at the Piarco International Airport to find Sealy had been taken into custody by police officers and led out the back.

Sealy had been travelling in the company of her mother, who told Sandy the meeting with officers had been cordial. Sandy said Sealy’s mother was firm the officers had not acted in an aggressive manner towards Sealy.

Sealy was later taken to a police station not far from the airport.

‘She has a severe medical condition and in the circumstances she has been holding up well. I have not been able to talk with the investigative police, as I have been told she is being housed here…until the matter proceeds to court,’ Sandy said, adding that her client would be attending the court virtually.