Category: CANA News

The hallowed ground of Caymanas Park is set to witness a historic changing of the guard today (Dec 26) as seasoned owner Carlton Watson stands poised to shatter a 48-year-old record.

Watson enters today’s race card tied with the legendary Cecil Charlton’s milestone of 43 winners in a single season, a towering benchmark untouched since 1977.

The racing world holds its breath, anticipating the moment a new king of the owners’ championship is crowned.

The final push for the record has been a dramatic saga of triumph and heart-stopping near-misses.

Watson drew level last Saturday, December 20, when his charge ‘Hit N Run’, expertly piloted by Tevin Foster, surged to victory in the day’s opener.

The three-year-old and upward Optional Claiming race over 7½ furlongs provided the perfect stage for the milestone-equalling run.

Yet, the path to immortality has been fraught with tension. Merely races later on that same Saturday, Watson’s ‘Prince Amaan’, with Robert Halledeen in the irons, was edged out in a thrilling photo-finish by ‘Warsaw’.

The agony of the near-miss continued into Sunday, when two more of Watson’s contenders, ‘Undisclosedlocation’ and ‘Brenda Boy’, both ridden by Halledeen, had to settle for gallant second-place finishes.

The air at Caymanas is now electric with anticipation. Every Watson entry will be watched with bated breath, each race a potential chapter in the history books.

To surpass Charlton’s venerable feat would not only be a personal triumph for Watson but would cement his legacy as one of the most dominant owners in the long, storied history of Caymanas Park.

The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has published the electoral calendar in the official gazette, Le Moniteur, indicating the key stages from the submission of candidacies to the proclamation of the final results as Haiti prepares for a elections widely expected to take place next year.

The publication of the electoral calendar follows the publication of the Electoral Decree in Special Issue 66 of Le Moniteur on December 1 by the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT).

Presidential elections were held in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country on November 20, 2016 after having been postponed several times, Jovenel Moise was declared the winner of the polls and assumed office on February 7, 2017.

But Haiti has been without an elected head of state ever since Moise was assassinated on June 7, 2021. 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.

But the country has taken several steps toward holding the long-delayed elections with the creation of the nine-member provisional electoral council tasked with organising the elections..

According to the CEP, the the key dates include the start of the election campaign on May 19, running until August 28, 2026, and the first round of voting (legislative and presidential) on August 30.

The first round results will be published on October 3, 2026, and the second round on December 6, 2026. The final results of the second round will be published on January 7, 2027.

The final publication and posting of the final results of the local elections that will be held on December 6, 2026, will be on February 20, 2027.

The Electoral Council said that adherence to these deadlines is contingent upon two factors, namely that the acceptable security environment and the availability of resources.

The CEP said that to organise elections throughout the country, it must have access to and operate in all municipalities and communal sections throughout the entire process. Specifically, it said it must be able to move about safely and work day and night in all Departmental Electoral Offices (BEDs), Communal Electoral Offices (BECs), and polling stations.

The Provisional Electoral Council that ‘A total of 23 communes, spread across the departments of West (12), Artibonite (8), Center (3), and Northwest (1), are currently under the control of armed bandits(and that).The current security situation has major implications for electoral logistics.’

On the issue of resources, the CEP said that the budget is a crucial pillar of the electoral process.

‘Organising elections in Haiti involves simultaneously managing multiple emergencies that require swift action in all regions of the country. The electoral institution must have its own financial resources to manage certain activities and unforeseen events,’ the CEP added.

Prime Minister Godwin Friday says his New Democratic Party (NDP) government is exploring ways to ease the pressure the EC$3.1 billion national debt placed on government finances.

Friday, who is also the minister of finance, disclosed the size of the national debt in radio interviews this week, adding that he was still reviewing information on the nation’s fiscal situation, three weeks after the NDP was voted into office.

Friday spoke about the national debt in an interview on Hot 97 on Tuesday and also addressed the topic during a similar appearance on Boom FM on Wednesday – Christmas Eve.

He said despite the fiscal situation, his government will honour the promises it made to citizens during the campaign for the Nov. 27 general election, reiterating that a salary bonus will be paid in January.

‘I’m not going to use that as an excuse because you will not get an excuse, because I will honour those pledges,’ the prime minister said.

He said the budget that he will bring to Parliament in January will increase public assistance to EC$500, as the NDP had also promised in the campaign.

Social welfare recipients will begin receiving that amount from February.

Asked where the money will come from, the prime minister said, ‘You let me worry about that.’

He noted that the Ministry of Finance has not had to prepare a transition document on the state of the economy for a new government in 25 years.

‘So, they prepared that, to me, it’s a fairly thick document, and I’m working my way through it,’ the prime minister said on Hot 97.

Friday became prime minister on Nov. 28, one day after the NDP won 14 of the 15 parliamentary seats, with the remaining one going to the Unity Labour Party (ULP), which had been governing the country since March 2001.

Friday said there are some things that his party knew about government finances.

‘.. we knew that the government finances are tight. You have a debt now that is over $3 billion . $3.1 billion in public debt.’

The prime minister said a lot of the debt is to countries, some is owed to the Caribbean Development Bank CDB and other parts are financial instruments that had been floated to be able to pay for certain things.

He said there are payables that the government had not been honouring to local businesses.

‘And it’s quite a lot .’ he said, adding that while he had the figure, he did not want to disclose it as yet.

‘. I have to remember that I’m not in opposition,’ said Friday, who served as opposition leader from November 2016 to November 2025.

‘I’m not here to expose and depose. . I want the people in my office – they are very capable people – to do their job without feeling that they’re in a fishbowl and that they can’t trust the prime minister with certain information,’ Friday said.

‘. the point of the matter is we are looking very carefully at what the financial status of the country is. We knew before going into government that things were difficult.

‘What we didn’t know is how difficult they were. But as I say, that is something that was not outside my expectations.’

Asked how bad, on a scale of one to 10, the economy was, the prime minister said, ‘eleven.’

He said the government has not appointed auditors to look into government financing, as they are trying to get a sense of the situation.

The prime minister said his cabinet is going through the process of assessing wastage in government.

‘There are individual things we could see from when we were outside,’ he said.

The prime minister said the NDP had cutting wastage in mind when it announced during the election campaign that an NDP government would pay EC$500 to fmailies on the birth of a child.

‘And people said, ‘Oh, where you go get the money from?’ Well, what it costs to do the baby bonus for one year is what they spent on the Emancipation cricket tournament,’ he said, referring to the cricket festival that the ULP administration held in August.

‘But the point was that if you put those money where they’re supposed to go, then people benefit, and it doesn’t cost anything more,’ Friday said.

Meanwhile, in his interview on Boom FM, the prime minister said the size of the national debt means that one-third of the money that the government collects goes to debt servicing.

To illustrate, he said that if someone borrows EC$50,000 to buy a minivan, they don’t want to pay it back by borrowing from friends.

”Cause if you’re borrowing to pay back your loan, then you’re digging a deeper hole for yourself.

‘It applies the same way that you have to pay from what you earn. We have not been able to do that. And so, what’s been happening is that a big chunk of the money that we earn, more than a third of it, goes just to service debt , and very often we don’t have that because you have to meet other obligations. You have to pay health care, to pay for education and fix the potholes in the road .’

The prime minister said the government has to find ways to tighten up the financing of development projects.

‘. to find ways in which to make savings and to also be more efficient and also to stabilise the situation going forward as we invest in growing the economy.’

He, however, said this does not mean ‘banding yo’ belly’ as the host of the show suggested.

‘Well, I wouldn’t use that language. The point of the matter is, I’m bringing hope to people. What I’m saying, what I want to do is that we are going to be focused on essentially running government, the finances of government, in the way that it was designed to be done.’

He said the ULP administration did things that seemed expedient or convenient and justified it by saying it was being done in the interest of the poor.

‘The point of the matter is that if you are serving poor people, you don’t get yourself in a situation where, instead of paying debt at 3 and 4% interest, you’re borrowing, or you’re doing overdrafts and so forth that you’re borrowing, or you’re paying back at 8% interest. That takes money away from what you can do to help people.’

Friday said the NDP has complained for years about the government ignoring the guardrails that govern how government finances should be managed.

He said it might take the NDP government some time to correct the situation but it is committed to doing so.

‘. because it is part of good governance. People look at us from the outside and say, ‘These guys are serious about running the country properly.’

‘And then, also for the ordinary folk here, the ordinary people in the country, it benefits them more because it means that government revenue, the fiscal position of government, is basically sounder.

‘And you don’t have this situation where you always have to be borrowing and borrowing and borrowing and borrowing at expensive rates that create hardship for people,’ the prime minister said.

Seasons Greetings from the management and staff of the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

Johnson Charles starred with the bat for the Sharjah Warriorz but it was not enough to stop the Dubai Capitals from coasting to a six-wicket victory and into the playoffs of the International League T20 here on Wednesday.

Opener Charles topscored with 43 off 46 balls, inclusive of two sixes and two fours, but got little other support as the Warriorz were restricted to 134 for eight in their 20 overs after being sent in to bat at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Monank Patel blasted 24 off 13 balls, but no other batsman scored more than 20, as the Warriorz lost wickets at regular intervals.

Haider Ali (2-13) and Waqar Salamkheil (2-29) led the way for the Capitals.

Player-of-the-Match Jordan Cox and Shayan Jahangir then scored half centuries to see the home side ease to 138 for four in 19.1 overs.

Cox slammed an unbeaten 61 off 50 balls with six fours and one six, while Jahangir clobbered 51 off 39 balls, striking six fours and one six, with the pair sharing a 76-run partnership for the second wicket.

West Indies middle order batsman Rovman Powell, who ended on six not out, finished the contest in fine style by hitting pacer Taskin Ahmed for a six over long on off the first ball of the final over.

There is no West Indies batsman in the top 50 of the ICC’s Test batting rankings following their disappointing performances in the recently concluded Test series against New Zealand.

Shai Hope, who was the lone Windies previously ranked in the top 50, has fallen 11 places to 60th and is the highest ranked batsman from the regional team in the most recent ICC rankings.

Hope, who battled an eye infection in the drawn second Test and food poisoning in the third and final Test, slipped out of the top 50 despite a decent series that saw him score 255 runs at an average of 42.50.

Shai Hope is the highest West Indies batsman in the ICC’s Test batting rankings at 60th.

Justin Greaves, the regional team’s highest scorer in the series with 283 runs at an average of 56.60, fell one spot to 62nd in the rankings despite his unbeaten double century in the second Test.

Former West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite, who last featured for the West Indies in July against Australia, is the next highest batter at 65th.

The biggest jumpers on the list for the Windies were Kavem Hodge and Brandon King.

Hodge, who scored an unbeaten 123 in the first innings of the third Test, leapt 11 spots to 66th, while King, who replaced injured opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul and scored half centuries in both innings of the third Test, jumped 27 places and now sits in 73rd position.

John Campbell (75th), Alick Athanaze (76th), Joshua Da Silva (83rd), Chanderpaul (99th) and captain Roston Chase (100th), are the other West Indians on the list.

In the bowling rankings, veteran pacer Kemar Roach, who had climbed to 18th after his impressive performance in the opening Test dropped two spots to 20th, one ahead of the injured Shamar Joseph who did not take part in the series.

Jayden Seales slipped one spot to 25th, while the inactive Alzarri Joseph and spinner Jomel Warrican maintained their rankings at 31st and 32nd respectively.

Gudakesh Motie did not move from 65th, while Chase dropped nine spots to 67th.

Greaves was the lone West Indies bowler to rise in the rankings, moving up 12 spots to 80th.

The following is the CANANews and SPORTS Schedule for Wednesday, December 24, 2025.

BRIDGETOWN – The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Private Sector Organisation (CPSO) has reaffirmed its commitment to regional integration and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) in light of the ongoing spat involving regional leaders and the future direction of the 15-member grouping.

BRIDGETOWN – The Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) is calling on regional leaders to recommit to the principles of ‘respectful engagement, collective responsibility, and meaningful consultation’ within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in the wake of the ongoing spat involving Caribbean leaders and the future direction of the 15-member grouping.

PORT OF SPAIN – Pan Trinbago has expressed its ‘deep disappointment’ at the decision of the Trinidad and Tobago government to extended the use of the existing coat of arms until January 2, 2031, despite the approval of a new national emblem earlier this year.

ST. GEORGE’S – Grenada’s first retail bond programme, which was launched in October with the aim of raising five million EC dollars (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) on the Regional Securities Market has failed to raise the targeted amount.

BRIDGETOWN – Health authorities are reporting at least two deaths and a ‘growing’ increase in cases of respiratory illness, especially in adults in Barbados, even as they acknowledge that this is not uncommon at this time of the year.

SPORTS:

PORT OF SPAIN – Trinidad and Tobago centre back Kobi Henry has signed a two-year deal to play with Major League Soccer (MLS) team, Real Salt Lake.

ABU DHABI – Prolific middle order batsman Shimron Hetmyer will take no further part in the International League T20 tournament after picking up a hamstring injury.

As United States President Donald J. Trump expands the US military build-up in the Caribbean, Democratic legislators are demanding that the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate the US military’s strikes on suspected narco-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea as crimes.

Congressmen Ted Lieu and Jamie Raskin, the Ranking Member of the House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee, have sent a letter to US Attorney General Pam Bondi demanding that the DOJ open a criminal investigation into the Trump administration’s lethal military strikes in the Caribbean.

The members cite ‘deeply troubling reporting’ that, on September 2, 2025, following an initial strike on a small vessel in international waters off Venezuela, US forces carried out a second attack on two survivors clinging to the wreckage, raising ‘serious concerns that senior Defense Department officials ordered or condoned conduct that violates both the laws of war and federal criminal law.

‘To be clear, the entire Caribbean operation appears to be unlawful. Congress has never authorized military force against Venezuela; a boat moving towards Suriname does not pose a clear and present danger to the United States; and the classified legal memoranda the Trump administration has offered us to justify the attacks are entirely unpersuasive,’ they wrote in the letter.

They said deliberately targeting incapacitated individuals constitutes a clear violation of the Department of Defense’s Law of War Manual, which expressly forbids attacks on persons rendered helpless by shipwreck.

‘Such conduct would trigger criminal liability under the War Crimes Act if the administration claims it is engaged in armed conflict, or under the federal murder statute if no such conflict exists.’

The lawmakers claimed that Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth has offered ‘shifting and contradictory’ explanations for the September 2 incident, including ‘claims of confusion due to the ‘fog of war’ and assertions that he delegated or did not personally issue an order to kill survivors.

‘Issuing or executing a general order to kill survivors is unlawful under any circumstances and ‘acting pursuant to orders’ is not a defense when those orders are manifestly illegal. Any suggestion that classified or prior Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memoranda could immunize the targeting of survivors after an initial strike is legally baseless.’

The legislators said prior OLC opinions were limited to congressionally authorized armed conflicts against enemy combatants posing imminent threats ‘conditions that are plainly absent here’.

Lieu and Rankin said that even conservative legal scholar John Yoo, former deputy assistant attorney general and author of the ‘now infamous’ OLC ‘torture memos’, which ‘condoned and defended torture by US officials, has said that the administration violated both federal law and the law of war.

‘Outside of war, the killing of unarmed, helpless men clinging to wreckage in open water is simply murder. The federal criminal code makes it a felony to commit murder within the ‘special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States,’ which is defined to include the ‘high seas.”

Lieu and Rankin said it is also a federal crime to conspire to commit murder and are demanding that Bondi investigate Hegseth’s ‘apparent and serious violations of federal criminal law’.

In remarks from the Senate floor last Thursday, US Democratic Senator Peter Welch raised alarm about Trump’s mobilisation of National Guard troops, warships, and fighter jets to the Caribbean, urging the US Congress to enforce the War Powers Act before the United States embarks on another unauthorized war.

The senator said that the Trump administration has not provided Congress with adequate information about its recent military strikes in the region, and demanded transparency and accountability for attacks that have killed nearly 100 people.

‘The question is: Why are our warships, a carrier group, and support assets in the Caribbean? They are not there for drug interdiction. The reason they’re there is obvious, and it’s even acknowledged. President Trump wants Maduro gone. He wants regime change,’ Welch said.

In October, Welch voted in support of a War Powers Act Resolution to stop Trump’s ‘unconstitutional attacks’ in the Caribbean Sea and urged the Senate to question Trump’s legal authority to take the United States to war.

Under pressure to publicly release a video of a boat strike that killed survivors in the Caribbean Sea, Hegseth declined to do so.

‘Of course, we’re not going to release a top secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,’ Hegseth told reporters last Tuesday.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Private Sector Organisation (CPSO) has reaffirmed its commitment to regional integration and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) in light of the ongoing spat involving regional leaders and the future direction of the 15-member grouping.

In a statement, the CPSO said since it became an ‘associate institution’ within CARICOM, it has worked with fellow private sector companies and business organisations ‘to advance projects and representations to pursue the noble objectives of the CSME,’ which allows for the free movement of goods, skills, labour and services across the region.

The CPSO said that the CSME has ‘delivered tangible benefits to firms and workers throughout the region, supporting significant intra-regional trade, strengthening regional supply chains and contributing meaningfully to foreign exchange earnings and economic activity in member states, including Trinidad and Tobago’.

In recent days, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has called on Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar to ‘produce the evidence’ that CARICOM, including Antigua and Barbuda had aligned itself with ‘the Maduro narco government headed by a dictator’ in Venezuela.

The Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) is calling on regional leaders to recommit to the principles of ‘respectful engagement, collective responsibility, and meaningful consultation’ within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in the wake of the ongoing spat involving Caribbean leaders and the future direction of the 15-member grouping.

In a statement, the CCJ, which is the voice of organised labour representing workers and trade unions across the Caribbean, has expressed deep concern regarding the ‘tone and implications of statements made in the public domain’ by the Trinidad and Tobago prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne in relation to CARICOM, regional relations and international partners.

In recent days, Browne has called on Persad-Bissessar to ‘produce the evidence’ that CARICOM, including Antigua and Barbuda had aligned itself with ‘the Maduro narco government headed by a dictator’ in Venezuela.

She said that Venezuela has been threatening to invade Guyana for years and since last June they began making similar threats that Trinidad and Tobago is a part of Venezuela.

‘Yet CARICOM has chosen to support the Maduro narco government through the fake zone of peace narrative which is clearly designed to get the American military to leave the Caribbean region and therefore enable Maduro to remain as dictator in Venezuela.

‘An organisation that chooses to disparage our greatest ally the United States but lends support to the Maduro narco-government headed by a dictator who has imprisoned and killed thousands of civilians and opposition members as well as threatened two CARICOM members is one that has clearly lost its way,’ Persad-Bissessar said in a statement.

‘My priority is in the best interests of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago,’ she added.

In its statement, the CCL said it is of the firm view that this public exchange risks undermining regional cooperation and solidarity ‘at a time when Caribbean working people are already confronting profound economic, social, climate-related, and security challenges.

‘In such circumstances, unity, restraint, and constructive dialogue are essential to safeguarding regional stability and advancing the collective interests of Caribbean citizens.’

The CCL said that it ‘further emphasises that regional consultation and the articulation of collective CARICOM positions do not constitute hostility toward international partners.

‘Constructive, respectful, and mutually beneficial engagement with allies such as the United States can and must coexist with robust regional dialogue, cooperation, and solidarity. Unity among Caribbean states should never descend into ideological posturing; rather, it must be grounded in strategic necessity and a shared commitment to protecting the rights, dignity, and livelihoods of Caribbean workers and communities.’

The CCL said that it has consistently advocated for ‘reform, transparency, accountability, and People-centred governance across the region.

‘At this critical juncture, Caribbean workers require leadership that prioritises cooperation over division, consensus over confrontation, and social and economic justice over political posturing.

‘The Caribbean Congress of Labour therefore calls on regional leaders to recommit to the principles of respectful engagement, collective responsibility, and meaningful consultation within CARICOM. The strength of the Caribbean integration movement lies in its ability to resolve differences through dialogue and to present a unified front in defence of the region’s people,’ the CCL said, adding it remains steadfast in its commitment to ‘a reformed and strengthened CARICOM that truly serves the interests of Caribbean people and protects the dignity, rights, and livelihoods of workers across the region’.