Chinese influence in Caribbean
Caribbean News Updates (Nov. 11, 2020)
How to react to growing Chinese presence in the Caribbean will be an important policy issue for the government of U.S. president-elect Joe Biden. China has quietly, but assertively, sought to expand its influence in the Caribbean through government grants and loans, investments by Chinese companies, and diplomatic, cultural and security efforts. The efforts have been welcomed by governments in the region, but viewed with suspicion by the U.S. Trump administration, reports the New York Times.
Evan Ellis details how China is expanding its presence in the strategically important Caribbean, through infrastructure investment, COVID-19 aid, and security sector assistance. He argues that the expanded Chinese presence in the Caribbean, known as the United States’ 'third border,' presents a policy challenge to the United States. (Wilson Center report)
Ruben Gonzalez-Vicente asks a broader question about Chinese investment in the region, namely, what makes this form of capital distinct when compared to local and transnational companies in the region. In a very in-depth delve into the issue, he argues that "the combination of Chinese state-led predistribution through government-to-government arrangements in the Caribbean, and firm-based accumulation, adds up to a distinct mechanism of accumulation." Partnerships between Caribbean states and China have permitted heavily indebted governments to pay in kind (land, in this case, and oil, copper or cocoa in others) for much needed infrastructure projects. "However, and crucially, this type of arrangement also requires spaces of exception where sovereignty is effectively circumvented to enable the realization of profit." (Made in China Journal)
The change in the U.S. government would not have a significant impact on the country's policies towards the anglophone Caribbean, wrote Samantha S.S. Chaitram at Global Americans before the election. In addition to the China issue, the incoming Biden administration will face a Caribbean divided over U.S. policies towards Venezuela.
Cubans don't expect U.S. president-elect Joe Biden to lift the long-standing embargo against their country, but they hope he will reverse the Trump administration's harsh sanctions aimed at choking-off Cuba's economy to foment political change. Press reports indicate that Biden plans to roll back limitations on family travel and remittances, as well as re-staff the embassy in Havana. (Reuters) The U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, tightened under Trump, cost the island a record total of more than $5 billion over the last financial year and hurt its ability to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, according to foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez. (Reuters)
Environmental activists are hopeful about Biden's stance towards climate change, notes Alicia Nicholls at Caribbean Trade Law and Development.
Caribbean and the World
Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump's refusal to accept his electoral loss reminded some in Guyana of the country's protracted presidential election dispute this year. One meme circulating on the local Internet there Friday showed Trump phoning Guyana’s indicted election chief, Keith Lowenfield. “Yo Lowenfield help me out bro. Joe Biden leading,” Trump says in a caption. “Sure no problem but you have to gimme back my visa,” Lowenfield replies, referencing the U.S. penalty imposed on him for the disputed vote. (Washington Post)
The U.S. election resonated in Jamaica in a special way, as vice president-elect Kamala Harris's father is from there. Jamaica’s prime minister, Andrew Holness, saluted Harris’s “monumental accomplishment for women” as well as her Jamaican heritage. (Washington Post)
Democracy
Pedro Pierluisi of Puerto Rico’s pro-statehood New Progressive Party won a majority of votes to become the U.S. territory’s next governor. He received nearly 33% of votes compared with nearly 32% obtained by Carlos Delgado of the Popular Democratic Party, which supports the current territorial status. It is the first time that Puerto Rico's two main parties fail to reach 40% of votes. (Associated Press)
Puerto Rican voters participated in a non-binding referendum during last week's election over whether the territory should become a U.S. state immediately. More than 52% of voters approved in what is the island's sixth such referendum, though changes to the island’s political status go through the U.S. congress. But Puerto Ricans have allowed an obsession with the territory's status to elide broader debates over how to generate democratic alternatives for Puerto Rico, argues Carlos Pabón Ortega in Nueva Sociedad.
Puerto Rico’s elections commission said yesterday that it has discovered more than 100 briefcases containing uncounted ballots a week after the U.S. territory held its general election, drawing criticism and scorn from voters who now question the validity of the outcomes of certain races. (Associated Press)
Human Rights
Thousands of outraged Haitians have poured into the streets to protest the death of Port-au-Prince high school student and kidnapped victim Evelyne Sincère. She was tortured and killed, her lifeless body was then dumped on a heap of trash on the side of a road. Some activists see murder as more than an indication of Haiti’s worsening climate of violence, but part of the systematic abuse of women and girls that feminists in the country say is aimed at suppressing women. (Miami Herald)
Climate Change
Hurricane Eta's hit Central America and the Caribbean, including Jamaica and Cuba. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans began evacuating their homes on Saturday as Eta neared the Caribbean island’s southern coast, threatening torrential rain and flooding. (New York Times, Reuters, Reuters, Financial Times)
The U.K. hopes to take a leadership role in the fight against climate change, and could support Caribbean islands' efforts in areas like renewable energy and resilience adaptations, according to Cayman Islands governor Martyn Roper. (Cayman Compass)
Public Health
UN Secretary-General António Guterres praised Caribbean nations for their Covid-19 response, calling the crisis a once-in-a generation opportunity to create a new alliance for an inclusive, sustainable, and resilient recovery. -- Aviso LatAm: COVID-19
Covid-19 has stalled the education of over 137 million children in Latin America and the Caribbean. A new report by UNICEF warns of a "generational catastrophe": 97 percent of the students in the region have missed out on an average of 174 days of learning and are at risk of losing an entire school year. More than 3 million children may never return to school.
The UNICEF report highlights the case of Jamaica, where the pandemic has put the spotlight on the inequities of the education sector, emphasizing the digital divide in the country: in 34% of households, children do not have exclusive access to an Internet device for education purposes . Also, there are glaring disparities between urban and rural areas.
Virtual public consultation sessions due to Covid also exclude many Jamaicans, particularly those in rural areas with less connectivity. (Petchary)
Coronavirus restrictions may have changed the face of tourism in the Caribbean forever. Cruise ships in particular remain affected and are unlikely to return en masse soon. The crisis is an opportunity for the industry to evolve towards higher quality and greener alternatives. (Skift)
Saint Lucia limited commercial fishing for a week in a bid to stop illegal entry into the country by people seeking to get out of Martinique which has instituted a Covid-19 lockdown. Fishers criticized the move as an unwarranted attack on their livelihoods, and the government moved towards limits on hours that can be worked and the number of people on vessels. Saint Lucia fishers caught engaging in human trafficking activities will have their fishing license suspended for a period of one year. (St. Lucia Times, St. Lucia Times, St. Lucia Times)
Dengue is sweeping through the Eastern Caribbean: St Vincent and the Grenadines is currently experiencing the most severe dengue fever outbreak in its recent history; Saint Lucia's Ministry of Health recorded approximately 900 cases of the mosquito-borne disease; and Barbados has had 301 suspected cases. (Loop)
LGTQI Rights
Open for Business seeks to measure the socioeconomic impact of LGBTI exclusion in the anglophone Caribbean. (Antigua Breaking News)
With Barbados’ male population being depleted by gun violence, the country can ill afford losing more to same sex unions is one religious leader's esoteric argument against legalizing same-sex unions in Barbados. (Barbados Today)
The Cayman Islands recognized the first same-sex "civil partnership" on Oct. 29. (Cayman Compass)
Energy and Climate Justice
ExxonMobil ramped up flaring last month in Guyana, by increasing production at its Liza Phase One operations. The national environmental agency indicated that the company flared 16.496 million standard cubic feet of gas per day – up from its previously publicized rate of 15 million cubic feet per day. (Kaieteur News)
Guyana might not have the oil bonanza it expects, warns a new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis that found that oil revenues won’t cover Guyana’s annual budget deficit over the next three years and meet its pledge to build a Sovereign Wealth Fund.
Anti-Colonialism
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles urged the United Nations Security Council to support an economic development plan for the Caribbean funded with reparations from former colonizers. He called on the Security Council to acknowledge and support the reparatory justice framework and movement that have emerged from the need to repair the continuing suffering caused by extreme extractive colonialism and its instruments of slavery and indenture. (Antigua Newsroom)
The National Museum Wales will give greater context to a portrait of Welsh slave owner Sir Thomas Picton. Picton has been celebrated as a hero who died at the Battle of Waterloo, but as governor of Trinidad [aka the Tyrant of Trinidad] he abused the slaves he owned, and was known as a tyrant even at the time. (Repeating Islands)
Culture Corner
Jamaica's government is moving to retrieve pre-colonial indigenous sculptures housed at the British Museum in the United Kingdom. (Jamaica Gleaner)
Jamaican poet Claude McKay was lauded by fellow Harlem Renaissance luminaries like Langston Huges and James Weldon Johnson, but has been ignored in many texts about the era, writes Rob Perrée at Africanah.