SANTIAGO, Chile, CMC – The 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping and Chile have pledged to continue working together to further strengthen their relationship.
A communiqué issued at the end of talks between Chilean President Sebastián Piñera Echenique and CARICOM leaders on Monday, noted “a commitment was also made to work together with the aim to achieve regional integration objectives set out by the new hemispheric architecture represented by CELAC), the Community of Latin American and the Caribbean States.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - POLITICAL SCIENTISTS Dr George Belle and Peter Wickham yesterday weighed in on the announcement by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart that the general election will be on February 21. Dr Belle maintained that the election was “unnecessarily delayed”. “We knew that the Constitution and the law allowed him to call it after the five years had passed since the last election but it was the practice in Barbados and most of the Commonwealth that you would call the elections before the anniversary of the last election date.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbadians go to the polls on February 21 to elect a new government ended months of speculation as to when Prime Minister Freundel Stuart would seek a new five year term in office. A Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS) statement said that Stuart, who took over the leadership of the ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP) after the death of prime minister David Thompson in October 2010, had met with Governor General Sir Elliott Belgrave on Tuesday to advise of the date.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Former Jamaica prime minister PJ Patterson has called on Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders to decide on their priorities as well as set a specific time table in order to accelerate regional growth and development.
Addressing the Rotary Club of Georgetown, World Understanding Month dinner on Monday night, Patterson also lamented the fact that CARICOM nationals were still experiencing difficulties in travelling through the 15-member grouping despite efforts to ease restrictions on travel.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - TRINIDAD and Tobago, birthplace of our Caribbean Community (CARICOM), is currently gripped in customary annual Carnival mood. But for one of the best known politicians among former and current heads of government—Jamaica's PJ Patterson—the now almost 40-year-old economic integration movement stands "in danger".

The absence due to illness of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez played a major role during the final day of a summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Santiago on Monday.
Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro read out to leaders a long letter from Chavez, which Venezuelan officials had noted in advance was signed in red ink.
"We have always felt perfect unity in everything, but oligarchies barred the way," Chavez said in his letter.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - That UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week applauded French military intervention in Mali underscores international concern about developments in that nation which occupies so revered a place in African history. Mali is, among other things, home to Timbuktu, the ancient seat of learning. Its fabled past resonates with names such as Sundiata and Mansa Musa, dear to the hearts of those in this country and elsewhere who celebrate ancient African glories. At this time, however, "The country is calling for, and needs, our help," said Ban Ki-moon.

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony has called on Opposition Leader Stephenson King to apologise to Speaker Peter Foster as the controversy over the alleged conflict of interest in the ongoing public inquiry into the St. Lucia Fire Service took yet another turn.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Contrary to the belief emanating from some quarters, deportees do not head the list of crime perpetrators in Antigua & Barbuda.
National Security Minister Dr Errol Cort said these individuals are not at the forefront of the criminal activities that “we are currently experiencing.”
In an exclusive interview with OBSERVER Media, Dr Cort said based on reports from the various law enforcement agencies, “The suggestion is that perhaps they might be more behind the scenes organising and arranging, but they are certainly not at the forefront.”

KINGSTON, Jamaica - We are grateful to Professor Hubert Devonish for his forthright, clear and simple enunciation of this basic fact.
"The University of the West Indies (UWI), whatever the high-minded motives behind its establishment, is now a business," he wrote in this newspaper on Sunday.