Category: CANA News

The Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Wednesday said a Colombian national has been fined GUY$82.9 million (One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) and jailed for four years after he pleaded guilty to in possession of 56.296 kilogrammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

CANU said that Revelino Ascue along with Venezuelan Gerardo Martinez appeared before Magistrate Dylon Bess on Tuesday charged with the offence after a vehicle in which they were travelling on July 24 was intercepted and searched and uncovered 50 brick-like parcels of cocaine.

While Acue pleaded guity, Martinez did not and he was remanded to prison.

CANU said several other foreign and Guyanese nationals remain in custody as investigations continue.

Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro Wednesday extended condolences to the family of 48-year-old Police Constable Romell Kerry Douglas, who was shot and killed in central Trinidad on Tuesday night.

In a statement the police said that the officer, who was last attached to Four Roads Police Station in Diego Martin, west of here, was seated in his motor vehicle in Kelly Village, Caroni, just after 11.00 pm (local time) when a vehicle pulled up alongside him.

‘The occupants of the car are believed to have attempted to rob PC Douglas, and during the incident, there was an exchange of gunfire. It is alleged that PC Douglas’ licensed firearm was taken from his possession during the incident,’ the police said in the statement.

It said that Douglas was found dead with gunshot wounds about the body and that a male suspect believed to have been involved in the shooting and identified as 19-year-old Adetola Ammon, died at the Arima Health Facility,east of here, where he had been taken for treatment.

The police said a coordinated manhunt continues for two additional male suspects, who were occupants of the motor vehicle, which was recovered shortly after the shootings.

West Indies senior men’s captains Roston Chase and Shai Hope, along with fellow Barbadians Justin Greaves, Joshua Bishop and Jomel Warrican, will join a Cricket West Indies (CWI) delegation in Barbados for the funeral of Sir Garfield Sobers on Wednesday.

Chase, Hope, Greaves and Warrican played in the opening Test match against Pakistan at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad, which the West Indies won by 90 runs on Tuesday’s fourth day.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, CWI said the five players would fly back for the state funeral with the assistance of the Government of Barbados.

They, along with assistant coach Floyd Reifer will join a CWI delegation that includes President Dr Kishore Shallow, Chief Executive Officer Chris Dehring, along with CWI Directors Enoch Lewis, President of the Leeward Islands Cricket Board; Bissoondyal Singh, President of the Guyana Cricket Board; and Clement Marcellin, President of the Windward Islands Cricket Board.

‘The opportunity for our Barbadian representatives to be present at the state funeral of The Right Excellent Sir Garfield Sobers is a deeply meaningful one for West Indies cricket,’ Dr Shallow said.

‘On a day when the cricketing world celebrated his extraordinary life, the team honoured his enduring legacy with a performance that reflected the courage, resilience, and skill that defined his remarkable career and inspired generations.

‘We are deeply grateful to Prime Minister, Hon. Mia Amor Mottley and her Government for making this possible and reaffirm our commitment to preserving the memory of a true icon whose name will forever be synonymous with the greatness of West Indies cricket,’ he further added.

The Barbadian pair of Stephen Slocombe and Kaipo Marshall captured a silver medal in the men’s doubles at the Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) here on Tuesday.

Competing in the final against El Salvador’s Cesar Cruz and Diego Duran, Slocombe and Marshall fought valiantly but went down in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.

It was Barbados’ first medal at the CAC Games, and their first-ever tennis medal at a major multi-sport Games.

Their historic performance was lauded by the Barbados Tennis Association (BTA) on its social media pages.

Garfield St. Auburn Sobers played his final innings at the Kensington Oval here on Wednesday under bright sunshine for nearly three hours, still able to mesmerise local, regional and international spectators, most of whom including Britain’s King Phillip acknowledging that there have been few,’ whose name alone brings a smile to people’s faces across Barbados, the Caribbean and the entire Commonwealth’.

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who in her ‘grateful from the nation’ tribute at the State Service of Thanksgiving, said the visit to the Kensington Oval, this most iconic of cricket grounds where Sir Garry’s casket was draped with the national flag of Barbados, , ‘is to pay tribute, but also to send a message to the future’.

She said that the 89-year-old Sir Garry did not come to be the best or the first or the last, but ‘came to do his best and to be his best, not for the world, but for goals that he set himself, conscious that if he did that, along with whatever else everyone else did, that glory could come, victory could be assured.’

Sir Gary was buried one day after he would have celebrated his 90th birthday and Mottley said that the gods would have conspired to ensure that the West Indies cricket team had defeated the visiting Pakistan test team by 90 runs on Tuesday in Trinidad and Tobago and thereby allowing the seven members of the regional team to attend the ceremony.

Insights from Jamaica’s catastrophic experience with Hurricane Melissa last October will help inform the 2026 edition of the global Human Development Report (HDR), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has said.

The Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Dr. Wayne Henry, said that total damage and losses associated with the passage of Hurricane Melissa are estimated at US$12.2 billion, a figure which is equivalent to 56.7 per cent of Jamaica’s 2024 gross domestic product (GDP) It said that it had convened a ‘landmark consultation’ in partnership with the University of the West Indies (UWI) and that the UNDPs global HDR team is looking to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Jamaica for insights on how the planetary crisis is reshaping social vulnerability and human development.

The UNDP said that qualitative data and strategic recommendations were collected during the recent ‘Consultation and Thought Leaders Dialogue’ and that UWI and UNDP intend to channel the findings of the dialogue into the design of the 2026 HDR.

‘The 2026 HDR, still in development, aims to ensure the inclusion of reflections and voices from the frontlines, examining ways the accelerating planetary emergency is redefining the future of development in contexts like Jamaica, looking to the specific case of Hurricane Melissa,’ said UNDP Resident Representative, Dr Khoday, who was among the speakers at the consultation.

He said the dialogue presented a timely opportunity to reflect on how to better align development with planetary health, aiming to move beyond crisis to actions that ensure both people and the planet can thrive together.

‘This includes measures to move from diagnosis to action, and to implement findings of the upcoming HDR, through guidance of a new UNDP Global Task Force on Nature and Human Development which I serve as a member,’ Dr. Khoday added.

The Global Director at the UNDP Human Development Report Office, Dr. Pedro Conceicao, said that the 2026 HDR will craft an aspirational approach to climate resilience, exploring how to reconnect people to nature.

He said the report will unveil a new Nature-Relationship Index (NRI), which moves beyond tracking environmental harm alone, to assessing human-nature relationships as a core dimension of development. Aligned to the NRI analysis, the HDR will identify strategies to ensure that people and planet thrive together.

Dean of the UWI Faculty of Science and Technology and Chair of the UWI Climate Group, Professor Michael Taylor, said climate action and development policy should go beyond convention to adopt more aspirational approaches that embed nature and resilience, especially following the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

Professor Taylor said to achieve this objective, it was important to build on what he called this unique and important window of opportunity to foster systemic change in development.

The UNDP said that the Thought Leaders Dialogue also included an overview of issues to be addressed in the upcoming 2026 HDR, one of the world’s foremost independent, annual publication on human development commissioned by the UNDP since 1990.

It said the 2026 edition will examine how planetary pressures intersect with health, education, livelihoods, and well-being, and asks how societies can cultivate more constructive, mutually beneficial relationships between people and nature.

A Bahamasair plane carrying 62 Haitian nationals landed in Port au Prince late Tuesday after the Philip Davis government continued its crackdown on illegal migrants on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

‘The government as always has given the immigration department a mandate to arrest and detain all individuals who are in breach of the Immigration Act,’ said Assistant Director at the Department of Immigration, Chad Adams, as the Haitians including 48 men and 14 women, boarded the flight. He said the deportation on Tuesday is a ‘result of a consistent operation and exercise, not only here in New Providence but across the commonwealth.

‘These are individuals that have come out of Grand Bahama, Exuma, Eleuthera, even as far down as Inagua, and also in Bimini and Abaco. You will notice also that this may be a kind of small amount, but it’s because we’re keeping those numbers down in the detention center,’ Adams said, adding ‘we’ve been repatriating over and over to ensure that the numbers stay down and we don’t have overcrowding.’

Earler this week, the Immigration Department received 50 people from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) following an interdiction at sea, and those individuals are scheduled to be repatriated soon.

Minister of State for Immigration Darron Pickstock, who wasat the Lynden Pindling International Airport, said the government wwould be very vigilant about work permit renewals, adding ‘we just want to emphasize the importance of employers ensuring that they have renewed their employees’ work permit on time.

‘The major issue that we are seeing is overstay, whether it is overstaying your visitor’s visa or just overstaying when your work permit is not renewed,’ he said, adding ‘if you overstay, there is a likelihood that you will be repatriated if you’re caught.’

Pickstock said that the government has stepped up repatriation efforts over the last few months as part of the Davis administration’s mandate and that he expects immigration officers to be firm but fair.

‘I was very clear about our role and duties as immigration officers, which is one, not to abuse anyone in our custody, so we are also firm on that position as well. We will be fair in carrying out our duties.’

Justice Gertel Thom, will on Wednesday continue hearing evidence in the two election petitions brought by defeated candidates of the main opposition Unity Labour Party (ULP) after five witnesses testified on the first day.

The ULP’s Luke Browne is challenging the victory of the East Kingstown legislator, Dwight Fitzgerald Bramble, while Carlos Williams is asking the court to declare the victory of Prime Minister Dr. Godwin Friday in the Northern Grenadines null and void. Friday led the then opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) to victory in the November 27 general elecction last year, ending a 24-year rule by the ULP.

Browne is contending that Bramble was not qualified to be a candidate because he holds Canadian citizenship, while Williams has filed a similar petition against Friday.

Lawyers for the petitioners began presenting their case on Tuesday and the Court is expected to start hearing ‘expert witnesses’ Wednesday as the sitting is expected to continue until Thursday.

Bramble, who is also the Minister of Foreign Affairs, has welcomed the start of the election petitions telling reporters ‘the court case has begun and it’s in process.

‘That’s the most I can say. It has begun and legal proceedings are underway,’ said Bramble, who was declared winner of the East Kingstown seat for a second five-year term last November.

Both Prime Minister Friday and Bramble were in court on Tuesday and speaking to reporters after Tuesday’s hearing, former Trinidad and Tobago attorney general, Anand Ramlogan, the lead counsel for the government said ‘the law is taking its course.

‘This is a very interesting election petition, given the overwhelming mandate given by the people to Prime Minister Friday and his government, and you know we see the wheels of justice and democracy interacting, and we are very confident about this matter.

‘We feel that justice will prevail in the end, and the honourable prime minister will be vindicated in the position he has taken,’ Ramlogan said, adding that Prime Minister Friday had never made his dual citizenship a secret.

‘And I think that the population voted for him, knowing full well his democratic credentials and his commitment and dedication as a servant of the people, and we intend to ensure that it remains that way,’ Ramlogan said, adding that on Wednesday ‘ we’ll have the expert witnesses, and we have a couple others. … it’s a day-by-day trial’.

Ramlogan said that the judicial proceedings are ‘a very exhausting and intense process, but ultimately, we feel this is a very momentous day to see that the prime minister would clear his schedule, come to court, be there respectful towards the court and the citizens who are entitled to a quick resolution of this matter in the interests of democracy’.

Meanwhile, former Trinidad and Tobago prime minister, Senior Counsel Stuart Young, who is the lead counsel for the petitioners, said the first day of hearing was as expected, with ‘the commencement of these very important election petitions, and we will see how it goes.’

Leading up to the 2025 vote, notices were published in the media, urging constituents not to vote for either candidate.

‘Do not be fooled, nomination as a candidate for election is a legal prerequisite to election, and a valid nomination is a legal prerequisite to being validly elected. The nomination of a person who is not qualified to be elected is not a valid,’ the notice said, adding that constituents can be assured that the nomination of Friday and Bramble ‘will be successfully challenged’.

A Trinidad and Tobago national, who pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining funds from a credit card not belonging to him, has been fined and ordered out of Barbados.

Kal-El Isaiah Justin Johnson, of El Dorado Road, Tunapuna, admitted to using stolen credit card details to book accommodation on the South Coast when he appeared before Magistrate Jared Richards, who ordered him to repay the holder of the credit card BDS$$600 (One BDS$=US$0.50 cents) and reprimanded and discharged him for the offence.

‘Mr Johnson, please understand that you have been particularly lucky. When things do not look like they are real, they are not. Organise your business so that you are not placed in this position again. Your vacation is now over as the officials from the Immigration Department will now escort you to the airport.’

‘Thank you, sir. Trust me, this will never happen to me again,’ Johnson said as he left the Court.

Johnson, who was escorted from the Court by Immigration officials pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining US$234.04 from a MasterCard credit card in the name of Robert Marshall, with the intention of permanently depriving Marshall by deception.

Johnson had falsely representing that he was in lawful possession of the MasterCard number and was authorised to use the credit card last Wednesday.

The Court heard that Johnson had arrived here on July 17, spent time at two properties, and then went to Worthing Court Apartments, where he spoke to the receptionist about a booking in his name and identified it as his reservation. She informed him to return in 30 minutes for his room to be ready.

But Marshall had discovered that his card had been charged by a hotel booking site on behalf of Worthing Court and contacted the police, who responded to the establishment and arrested the accused and two of his friends. He told police that he had contacted a man named Patchie for help and was sent the credit card information. Police checked his call logs and messages and found the duo’s conversations.

Johnson, who was represented by defence attorney Michael Rivera, told the court he booked a trip to Barbados through a man in Trinidad who said he was a travel agent. When it was time for him to leave Barbados, however, there was no ticket available.

He contacted the man, who gave him a credit card number, saying it was his uncle’s and to use it to book for two nights while the return ticket was sorted. Johnson did so and was later arrested by police.

After Johnson said he was willing to repay the funds, Marshall, who appeared in court, agreed to be compensated.

A National Survey on Social Media Use and the Protection of Children has found that nine out of every 10 Jamaicans support government regulation of minors’ social media use.

An estimated 1,027 adults participated in the national cross-sectional public perception survey and Health and Wellness Minister, Dr. Christopher Tufton, speaking at a news conference said that only 2.9 per cent expressed opposition to social media use being regulated by government, while 6.9 per cent were neutral or unsure. ‘In addition, nearly 84 per cent believe Jamaica should establish a clear national policy framework governing minors’ use of social media,’ Dr. Tufton said, indicating that the most significant finding is not simply that Jamaicans support some level of government action but that they believe this responsibility must be shared.

‘Only 12.7 per cent of respondents believe government should lead this effort alone, 40.5 per cent believe parents and guardians should play the leading role, while another 39 per cent favoured shared responsibility among parents, schools, government, communities and other stakeholders,’ he said.

The Health and Wellness Minister told reporters that protecting children online must be a national partnership.

‘No government policy can replace active parenting. No legislation can replace guidance within the home. No technology platform can replace the influence of families, teachers and communities.’

The lead researcher and research fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), Dr. Stephen Johnson, sharing detailed findings about attitudes towards social media regulation, said 90.7 per cent of respondents agreed that regulation is worth pursuing even if difficult.

Just under 90 per cent agreed to parental consent being a requirement for minors below a certain age to open accounts. Another 83.6 per cent of respondents believe that the rights of minors must be balanced with the need for protection online.

‘In terms of requiring parental consent for minors below a certain age to open accounts and restricting access to social media platforms for children below a specific age, the mean suggested age is 14 years of age. The most popular was 16 years of age,’ Dr. Johnson said.

He said that 90 per cent of Jamaicans believe that regulation would lead to safer online social media use among minors.

In terms of whether regulation would help parents to better supervise minors online, 89.1 per cent said yes, while 88.4 per cent agree that regulation would reduce minors’ exposure to harmful content.

Dr. Johnson said that 87 per cent of respondents believe that minors would likely find ways around the restrictions.

‘We have evidence indicating that that has been happening in Australia, where 80 per cent of minors are still online, despite an outright social media ban.’

Across the different scenarios presented, including setting clear rules about how and when minors can use social media, monitoring minors’ social media activity, using parental controls or privacy settings to restrict access to certain content or platforms, discussing online risks with minors and enforcing consequences when agreed-upon rules are not followed, only one-third of respondents consistently report doing so.