Caribbean & Central America - May 2020

At the end of March, the international anti-corruption NGO Transparency International (TI) warned about “serious corruption risks” in Latin America’s emergency response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.... Read More

At the end of March, the international anti-corruption NGO Transparency International (TI) warned about “serious corruption risks” in Latin America’s emergency response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.... Read More

An increase in the discovery of drug laboratories in Honduras and a high-profile arrest in the US earlier this year have added overwhelming evidence to fears that the country has now graduated from its “experimental phase” in cocaine production to become a full-blown producer.... Read More

Local and international human rights groups have denounced a “surge in repression” by the government led by Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega in April.... Read More

Measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) have badly impacted travel and tourism in Central America, a sector which is a key contributor to GDP across the sub-region.... Read More

Given its land area, the fact that Guatemala ranks first among Latin American countries on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) list of the world’s top palm oil exporters might come as a surprise.... Read More

Suriname is due to go to the polls on 25 May, and the opposition fears that President Desi Bouterse is taking unfair advantage of the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis to boost his chances and those of his National Democratic Party (NDP).... Read More

On 17 April, on the grounds that “the Covid-19 virus continues to pose a significant threat of a natural calamity”, Prime Minister Timothy Harris successfully introduced a resolution to extend the national State of Emergency to six months, but only after reducing the time period from the originally proposed 12 months.... Read More

Atlantic basin seasonal forecasts warn that warm sea surface temperatures and atypical atmospheric conditions will likely give rise to above-average hurricane activity in the Caribbean in 2020.... Read More

In its latest Quarterly Bulletin, published in late April, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) looks in detail at what the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic could mean for six Caribbean economies: The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad & Tobago.... Read More

REGION | IDB warns of unemployment.... Read More