Barbados

Barbados’ Forgotten Few

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There is evidence that the ageing population of Barbados is being disproportionately affected by climate-related illnesses such as dengue fever, respiratory infections, asthma, and heat exhaustion. 

Informed, strategic interventions are however stymied by the fact that there has been little systematic employment of data and targeted research.

According to the experts interviewed for this investigation, an increase in adverse climate events is both worsening health conditions and affecting the delivery of care.

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Culture

Sport and Music Bring Hope to Refugees and Migrants in Trinidad

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The small, quiet Maha Sabha Street in Felicity, Chaguanas, wakes up every Sunday morning to a chorus of children playing at Invaders Recreation Ground. The small circular field used predominantly for people playing cricket or football and has a steady flow of exercisers walking its perimeter, is hidden behind narrow roads and congested villages. It’s a maze to get there to the outsider, but Google Maps helps. On any given Sunday, more than a hundred boys and girls attend the recreation ground to learn the sport of cricket. The camp is organised and run by Central Sports Club, a popular cricket club from the Chaguanas borough that plays at the highest level of domestic cricket competition.

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Economy

The High Cost of Subsidised Electricity

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Trinidad and Tobago’s 1.4 million citizens are about to learn how decades of subsidized electric rates are going to cost them dearly. The twin-island republic’s once abundant supply of natural gas has been used to generate electricity for residential, business and industrial customers at far below market prices. 

Beginning in the 1970’s, successive governments discounted Trinidad’s electricity costs to everyone. It proved incredibly popular among voters. Today, it is being sold to residential customers at a mere US$ 0.05 per kWh.  That lowest tier price is among the cheapest rates in the world. There have been unwanted consequences as the subsidies distorted the markets.

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Crime

Guns and Murders – the Deadly Connection

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Port of Spain, Trinidad – Back in 2018, Tommy (not his real name) and four other men attempted to rob a restaurant in Arima – a bustling borough in east Trinidad that’s home to 65,000. When the smoke cleared, a single bullet had taken the life of the cashier on duty. Five years later, Tommy recalls the tragedy as if it were yesterday: Two guns, a resistant restaurateur, a single shot, the shuffle of escape, cash in hand, but cameras that captured each stage of the fateful event. It cost him three years in prison. The police later found that the guns in question were 9mm pistols – a weapon of choice for T&T criminals.

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