Global Voices » Barbados

Barbados: “Insultingly Low” Sentence

Janine Mendes-Franco — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:46:05 +0000

Barbados Free Press publishes a letter from a reader, expressing outrage at the minimun sentence for a man that claimed self-defense in his ex-girlfriend's murder: “At the same time we are all discussing Raul Garcia who got 15 years for his offense. So if this murderer had weed in his possession at the time, he would get more time for the weed than for killing this woman?”

Barbados: Take The Prisoner

Janine Mendes-Franco — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:40:30 +0000

An interesting development in the case of the Cuban prisoner being held past his sentence in Barbados, is here.

Barbados, Guyana: “Fearless” Freddie

Janine Mendes-Franco — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:33:20 +0000

Barbados Underground has been “following closely what is happening to the man we have dubbed the ‘Fearless Journalist’ Professor Freddie Kissoon,” adding: “The silence of regional media and governments is unacceptable on this matter.”

Barbados: Voting Strategy

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:17:30 +0000

Politics is on the Barbadian blogging agenda, here and here, as bloggers consider “the viability of a third political party” and the need to “send many independents to Parliament…to disrupt the circle of corruption.”

Cuba, Barbados: Power of the Hunger Strike

Janine Mendes-Franco — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:05:00 +0000

Uncommon Sense notes that Cuban dissident Jorge Cervantes has gone on a hunger strike after being arrested for putting up posters protesting the recent death of hunger striker and prisoner of conscience Wilman Villar Mendoza. Barbados Free Press, meanwhile, republishes a letter from a Cuban prisoner who has served his time in a Barbados jail, yet still remains incarcerated nearly a year after he should have been released, saying: “Raul Garcia is a redeemed man! He deserves to be free!”

Barbados: Excuses for Crime?

Janine Mendes-Franco — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:53:45 +0000

Barbados Underground thinks that “it is time to see crime in a different light. It is not only the victim’s problem, it is society’s and it cannot be solved by giving ready made excuses to thieves and robbers.”

Barbados: Preventing Another CLICO Scandal

Janine Mendes-Franco — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:00:31 +0000

“Three years after the collapse of CLICO and there is still doubt that any serious regional regulatory framework has been established to prevent a recurrence”: Barbados Underground is concerned.

Trinidad & Tobago: Politics & the Press

Janine Mendes-Franco — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:22:51 +0000

Barbados Free Press has it from “an internal source” that “journalist Afra Raymond has resigned from writing for the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian after learning that the paper sends unpublished articles to politicians: apparently seeking to have the politicians pre-approve or vet opinion pieces before publication.”

Barbados: too many cars

Nicholas Laughlin — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:37:53 +0000

Barbados Underground asks: how can the island solve its perennial traffic problem? “Barbados is 166 square miles and at some point commonsense will have to take root. The number of vehicles on our roads cannot be allowed to go unregulated for much longer.”

Barbados: leptospirosis outbreak

Nicholas Laughlin — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 16:58:57 +0000

A government press conference addressing a leptospirosis outbreak prompts Barbados Free Press to ask some questions: “Why must every new leptospirosis outbreak be a surprise? Why are Barbados governments incapable of implementing and carrying through with long-term plans about issues that are foundational to the health and safety of citizens?”

Barbados: old-time Christmas

Nicholas Laughlin — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:45:50 +0000

Barbados Underground indulges in some seasonal nostalgia and describes a traditional Christmas “the Bajan way”: “Our young ones are missing that special warmth that we made as children.”

Barbados: tribute to Desmond Bourne

Nicholas Laughlin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:03:32 +0000

The Bajan Reporter posts a tribute to his late father, the journalist and adman Desmond Bourne. “It was not that my father never stood on convention, he acknowledged where he felt it was expected – such as Diplomats and & Ceremony – but for the most part he ignored it….”

Barbados: prime minister's quandary

Nicholas Laughlin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:59:38 +0000

Barbados Underground offers an analysis of the “headache” created for Prime Minister Freundel Stuart by a now notorious leaked letter allegedly demonstrating his party's doubts about the PM's leadership. “Whatever he does must positively feed public perception that he is in charge of his men. The question is: will it be enough to sway the voter?”

Barbados: remembering “Hitch”

Nicholas Laughlin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:35:19 +0000

Barbados-based B.C. Pires posts his reflections on the death of writer Christopher Hitchens: “for all his flaws … worth a few hundred pastors and priests to me, perhaps a few thousand.”

Barbados: debating “the letter”

Nicholas Laughlin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:21:46 +0000

Barbados Underground and Barbados Free Press comment on a controversial letter allegedly written to Prime Minister Freundel Stuart by members of his party, expressing a lack of confidence in his leadership, and subsequently leaked to the media.