All articles tagged with #caribbean
Cuba says four people on a Florida-registered speedboat were killed after the vessel fired on Cuban border guards as it neared Cuba’s north coast; Cuban forces returned fire and evacuated the wounded, with authorities launching an investigation. The U.S. has not independently confirmed Havana’s account; officials have urged investigations amid rising U.S.–Cuba tensions and related policy moves.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio travels to St. Kitts and Nevis for a regional summit to emphasize the Trump administration’s focus on the Western Hemisphere, even as Middle East tensions over Iran loom in the background following the U.S. military’s capture of Nicolás Maduro last month.
A tour of five once-glamorous Caribbean getaways—Caneel Bay (St. John), Moonhole (Bequia), the Four Seasons Barbados project, La Belle Creole (St. Martin), and Sand Castle Hotel (Dominican Republic)—now ruins or derelict sites after hurricanes, financial setbacks, and shifting tourism, with rare signs some properties may be revived.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio travels to the Caribbean to meet CARICOM leaders in Saint Kitts and Nevis to discuss regional security, migration and drug trafficking, while Washington ramps up pressure on Cuba and seeks to steer Venezuela after recent U.S. actions related to Caracas.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio travels to the Caribbean to reassert American interests in response to Venezuela’s strikes and threats from Iran, signaling a regional security push and renewed U.S. diplomacy in the area.
The U.S. Southern Command says 11 men were killed in three strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean (four on the first vessel, four on the second, three on the third), with no U.S. personnel injured. The operation, carried out since September, has faced questions about legality and due process, as the Pentagon has provided no evidence that the boats carried drugs, while officials claim the crews were combatants in an armed conflict with drug cartels. The pace of strikes has slowed since Maduro's 2024 capture, and some families have sued the U.S. government. More than 130 people have reportedly been killed in these strikes overall.
France’s navy seized 4.24 tons of cocaine from a ship in the south Pacific and intercepted a separate boat carrying 678 kilograms of cocaine in the Caribbean, handing the latter to Barbadian authorities; the Pacific cargo was destroyed at sea and the crew released under international law, as part of ongoing efforts to disrupt global trafficking networks.
The families of two Trinidadians, Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, filed a lawsuit accusing the US government of unlawfully killing the men on a boat struck during a Caribbean anti-drug campaign, arguing the strikes lacked legal justification and that the victims had no cartel ties. The suit, which cites the Death on the High Seas Act and Alien Tort Statute, seeks damages and marks a test of the operation’s legality amid ongoing scrutiny of the Trump administration’s maritime strikes against alleged narcotraffickers.
Civil rights lawyers filed the first federal lawsuit seeking accountability for a U.S. airstrike in the Caribbean that killed two Trinidad men, Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, and four others. The suit, filed in Massachusetts under admiralty law and invoking the Alien Tort Act and Death on the High Seas Act, argues the killings were illegal and premeditated, while the government maintains the strikes are lawful under wartime authorities. The families, represented by the ACLU, Seton Hall Law, and the Center for Constitutional Rights, note a broader campaign with a death toll around 117 across multiple boat strikes.
Caribbean cannabis growers in Antigua and Jamaica are expanding licensed cultivation, developing multiple strains with medicinal value, and lobbying for full legalisation to enable regulated production and export. The industry faces high costs and regulatory hurdles, but governments are building frameworks and training programs to curb illicit trade, boost research, and keep profits local, with possible cross-border opportunities if US policy shifts allow imports.
U.S. forces in the Caribbean have seized the seventh tanker sanctioned for transporting Venezuelan oil, continuing Washington’s effort to curb Caracas’s oil shipments and pressure the Maduro regime.
U.S. forces seized the Motor Vessel Sagitta, a Panamanian-flagged, Venezuelan-linked tanker owned by Sunne Co Limited, marking the seventh such seizure since December 2025 as Washington tightens sanctions on Venezuelan oil shipments in the Caribbean; the ship was described as part of a shadow fleet moving oil from sanctioned nations, underscoring ongoing enforcement while related actions—such as the Maduro case in New York and a recent roughly $500 million Venezuelan oil sale—continue.
Spanish prosecutors are examining allegations that Grammy-winning singer Julio Iglesias sexually assaulted two former employees at his Caribbean residences in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas (reported to have occurred in 2021). The case could be pursued by Spain’s National Court if applicable, with Women’s Link Worldwide representing the women and discussions underway about possible consequences for Iglesias, including honors.
Spanish prosecutors are examining allegations that Julio Iglesias sexually assaulted two former workers at his residences in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas, with Women’s Link Worldwide representing the women. The case could involve crimes against sexual freedom, harassment and trafficking, and prosecutors may take statements as protected witnesses in Madrid. The government is also considering stripping Iglesias of Spain’s Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts; Iglesias has not commented publicly.
A rare winter surge of Sargassum seaweed has hit top Mexican Caribbean beaches like Playa del Carmen and Tulum, disrupting the usual clear water season and raising concerns about year-round seaweed blooms due to changing ocean conditions. Travelers are advised to adapt by using pools, checking live beach cams, and exploring inland attractions like cenotes to enjoy their trips despite the seaweed invasion.