549 My first opportunity to pay public tribute to our most adored National Hero, Sir Garfield Sobers, was on the occasion of the award of his honorary doctorate by The University of the West Indies at Cave Hill in 1992. That citation brought the audience to their feet, with a full five minutes of continuous applause. It was repeated at the presentation of our 10 National Heroes at Government Headquarters on April 28, 1998, when the hundreds of seated guests stood as one, and the roar of applause from the whole crowd of thousands gathered seemed in danger of “bringing down the walls of Jericho”, for the love and admiration of Sir Garry is both local and global. I had opened my UWI citation with the words, “Chancellor, I present to you the man who has done more than anyone else in recorded history, since the settlement of Barbados in...

OECS – The Heads of Government of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) met in Saint Lucia on 13th January 2026, hosted by the Honourable Philip J. Pierre, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, and under the chairmanship of Honourable Dr. Godwin Friday, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in his inaugural Heads of Government meeting. OECS Heads of Government Meet in St. Lucia The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit of the Commonwealth of Dominica; Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre of Saint Lucia; Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell of Grenada; Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew of St. Kitts and Nevis; Premier Reuben T. Meade of Montserrat; Premier Dr. Natalio Wheatley of the British Virgin Islands; and Premier Cora Richardson-Hodge of Anguilla. The Heads of Government were accompanied by the Director General of the OECS, Dr. Didacus Jules.  The meeting addressed several critical regional and international issues, including...

29 Bukayo Saka scored a hat-trick as England won an extraordinary 10-goal thriller against France to finish third at the 2026 World Cup. The Three Lions were involved in the bronze match – formerly known as the third-place play-off – after losing their semi-final to Argentina in galling fashion. However, they showed no hangover from that disappointment by racing into a four-goal first-half lead in a chaotic game.  Saka, an unused sub against Argentina, scored twice after Declan Rice and Ezri Konsa had put England in control inside the opening 20 minutes. Momentum completely switched after the break, with France pulling three goals back and missing clear-cut chances to equalise. Kylian Mbappe netted either side of a Bradley Barcola goal to put himself ahead in the race for the 2026 Golden Boot and leap above Lionel Messi to become the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer (22 goals). You Might Be...

We may as well begin with some pearls lifted from a James Baldwin essay entitled  An Open Letter to my Sister, Miss Angela Davis, originally published in a 1970 edition of The New York Review of Books: “One way of gauging a nation’s health, or of discerning what it really considers to be its interests, is to examine those people it elects to represent or protect it.”     “Politics is not a game. It is an extremely serious thing,” writes the same author in A Talk to Teachers: And then there’s this: “People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead, turns himself into a monster.”   But enough from the revered author and American Civil Rights giant. Let us now turn our attention to one of our own, with...

123 by Julian Rogers The day the scoreboard stopped with Sir Garry Sobers on 89, eleven years short of a century, writes veteran broadcaster Julian Rogers.  There will be a garrison of tributes for days. From Bridgetown to Bangalore… from Melbourne to Manchester… from Sabina Park to Lord’s… voices will rise to celebrate the life of The Right Honourable Sir Garfield Sobers, Barbados’ National Hero and, for many, the greatest all-round cricketer the game has ever known. His records will be recited. His 365 not out will be relived. You Might Be Interested In His six sixes in an over will once again enter cricketing folklore. His genius with bat, ball and in the field will be celebrated across the cricketing world. But my thoughts did not begin with the records. They began with the man. I was standing in a bank in Belize when I shared the news with...

Bernardo López Acevedo fue, además de periodista estrella, un comprometido militante del MPI-PSP y un recio y comprometido luchador por la independencia de nuestra patria. Pero, sobre todo, sobresalió por su inmensa humanidad: por su lealtad y constancia inquebrantables, por su capacidad de ser un amigo incondicional, por su dignidad y entereza, y por su fidelidad patriótica a toda prueba. Fue, como dice el poema de Antonio Machado » más que un hombre al uso que sabe su doctrina, un hombre en el buen sentido de la palabra, bueno.» En el año 2022 publicó su libro «Sambumbia de plato principal«, una colección de relatos, crónicas y reflexiones que había publicado en CLARIDAD y otros medios, y otras que aún no había publicado. En CLARIDAD se celebró una muy concurrida presentación del libro que tuvo una gran acogida. De ese tomo salen estas palabras: «Tenía 21 años. Corría agosto de 1971...

IICA – Caribbean countries expect that the new administration of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), led by Guyanese agronomist Muhammad Ibrahim, will help reduce their dependence on food imports and strengthen their food security. St. Lucia Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security & Climate Change The Ministers of Agriculture of Saint Lucia, Lisa Jawahir, and Belize, Rodwell Ferguson, agreed that they are confident IICA will continue and deepen the work it has been carrying out in the Caribbean on issues such as training for small-scale farmers, the incorporation of new technologies and resilience to extreme climate events. Jawahir and Ferguson attended—together with ministers and senior officials from 30 countries, as well as representatives of international organizations—the inauguration ceremony of Ibrahim as Director General of IICA for the 2026–2030 period, which took place in San José, Costa Rica. Muhammad Ibrahim succeeds Manuel Otero, who led the organization for...

Cette scène s’est déroulée lors de la célébration du 250e anniversaire de l’indépendance des États-Unis, durant une réception organisée par l’ambassade le jeudi 2 juillet 2026, à la résidence officielle du chargé d’affaires américain. Quelle amère réalité ! Ce comportement n’est pas digne d’un Premier ministre. Cette scène, où le Premier ministre de fait Alix-Didier Fils-Aimé serre dans ses bras le chargé d’affaires américain en Haïti, Henry T. Wooster, ressemble davantage à l’aveu sincère d’un serviteur. Un tel acte est bel et bien le fait d’un homme très dangereux, un déshonneur, un dirigeant qui ne reculerait pas devant la conspiration contre son propre pays. Ce spectacle est franchement révoltant ; les deux individus apparaissent comme deux larrons, deux escrocs. D’un côté, Wooster, que l’administration Trump vient de nommer ambassadeur des États-Unis au Kenya ; de l’autre, le Premier ministre de fait d’Haïti, désireux d’afficher cette complicité avec ses tuteurs américains....

297 Global music icon The Right Excellent Robyn Rihanna Fenty joined the nation in mourning on Friday following the death of fellow national hero, Sir Garfield Sobers, describing the legendary all-rounder as “a legend and an icon” whose legacy will inspire generations to come.  “Sir Garry’s legacy will live on forever, a light and inspiration to us all. Barbados loves you eternally, Sir Garry,” said the Grammy Award-winning singer, who in 2021 joined Sir Garfield as the two living national heroes when Barbados became a Republic. She hailed “the greatest cricketer this world has ever seen” and reflected on his profound influence on generations of young Bajans. “Barbados, today we lost a legend and an icon, the Right Excellent Sir Garfield Sobers, the greatest cricketer this world has ever seen,” Rihanna said in an audio recording. She shared a personal memory, revealing that like many Barbadian children she grew up...

La Contraloría General de la República refrendó una novena adenda del contrato de construcción del Centro Regional Universitario de San Miguelito que sería la última para entregar el proyecto. Esta adenda suma 4 millones de dólares al contrato N°DSA-2207-19 para la construcción de una planta de tratamiento. También, modifica la duración del contrato para que el contratista entregue la obra en 2,495 días calendarios, a partir de la Orden de Proceder. En la última adenda, refrendada a finales de marzo, se le otorgó al contratista 2,132 días calendarios, para entregar la obra. Esto quiere indicar que la empresa tendrá hasta el 30 de enero de 2027 para entregar el centro regional. Cuando se dio la orden de proceder, la vigencia del contrato para la entrega del proyecto era de 750 días, que culminaban el 20 de abril de 2022. En otras palabras, el proyecto presenta un atraso de más...