Real Estate

Barbados’ Four Seasons Still Stalled After Seventy Seasons

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After almost 20 years and four successive government administrations, the Four Seasons Hotel is still a concrete skeleton of failure standing in Barbados’ tourism landscape. The partially built project continues to raise questions about whether there are even more issues and miscues buried in the project’s layered history. The project was initially priced at US$160 million but there have been significant cost overruns due to delays, legal fees and theft. Those questions were part of what led to the launching of an investigation by the CIJN into real estate projects in the Caribbean region which have raised speculation in the public domain with regards to transparency. The company running The Four Seasons Hotel (Barbados) was incorporated in 1988 with its longest running member of the board being Trevor A. Carmichael.  Carmichael is one of Barbados’ most esteemed lawyers having received the Order of Barbados in the Grade of Silver Crown of Merit for his contribution to law, financial services and the preservation of the national heritage.

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COVID in the Caribbean

Jamaica’s COVID-19 Strategy Raises Mistrust Among Rastafarians

Kingston, Jamaica

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“I will give you the figure off the top of my head: ZERO!”

That was the reply of a health worker in one of Jamaica’s vaccine sites when asked how many Rastafarians had come to her to get a shot.  But she says she still hopes Rastafari elders will lead the way as Jamaica’s phased vaccine rollout continues. Jamaica received its first doses of COVID-19 vaccines in March, about a year after the virus arrived on the island.  The World Health Organization tracks vaccine distribution on the island. WHO Dashboard for Jamaica

But while Jamaica’s vaccine blitz exceeded the government’s targets with hundreds of people being turned away from vaccine sites, Prime Minister Andrew Holness is still urging every Jamaican to take the vaccine. Prime Minister Holness has gone on record saying vaccinations are critical for reopening the economy. “What would happen to Jamaica if we are considered a country that has not yet reached the threshold of vaccinations to be the destination of travel that we once were?

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COVID-19

The Caribbean’s Pandemic Pyramids and Ponzis

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Even as Caribbean authorities wrestle with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, legislators have been scrambling to formulate appropriate responses to an accompanying growth in unlawful pyramid and Ponzi schemes marketed as financial solutions to the impact of restrictive pandemic measures.

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