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ICE nabs illegal Haitian immigrant allegedly connected to criminal terrorist organizations

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The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency says agents have arrested an illegal Haitian immigrant allegedly connected to criminal terrorist organizations. 

ICE said agents arrested Dimitri Vorbe for violating the Immigration and Nationality Act and contributing to the destabilization of Haiti. 

This case was investigated by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement and Removal Operations, with the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate.

“The Department of State determined that Vorbe’s presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States, providing a basis for the charge of removability,” ICE said. 

“Specifically, officials determined that he engaged in a campaign of violence and gang support that contributed to Haiti’s destabilization,” it added. 

ICE said Vorbe is currently in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. 

“This demonstrates the Trump administration’s firm commitment to protecting the American people, advancing our national security interests, and promoting regional security and stability,” ICE said. (CMC)

Selena Gomez marries music producer Benny Blanco

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US pop star and actress Selena Gomez has married music producer Benny Blanco in a ceremony in California.

Gomez posted pictures to Instagram of her wearing a white halter-neck wedding gown and Blanco in a dark tuxedo, alongside the caption “9.27.25” bookended by love hearts.

The couple exchanged vows in Santa Barbara on Saturday in front of around 170 guests, including singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, actor Paul Rudd, and Gomez’ Only Murders in the Building co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short, according to fashion magazine Vogue.

“My wife in real life,” Blanco commented on his bride’s post.

Gomez, 33, and Blanco, 37, became engaged in December 2024 after a year of dating, having previously collaborated on several music projects together.

The couple released the album I Said I Love You First in March, which explores their own love story.

They previously released the hits Same Old Love and Kill Em with Kindness in 2015, and the 2019 track I Can’t Get Enough featuring Tainy and J Balvin.

Gomez starred in the Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place before beginning her music career in the 2000s. She recently starred in the film Emilia Perez as Jessica Del Monte.

Blanco released his only solo studio album Friends Keep Secrets in 2018, and has produced records for the likes of Katy Perry, Britney Spears and Kesha. (BBC News)

Comissiong clears air on free movement

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Ambassador of Barbados to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) David Comissiong eyes the Full Freedom of Movement regime as an opportunity for the country to address its ageing society and gaps in the labour force.

Commencing on Wednesday, citizens from Barbados, Dominica, Belize and St Vincent and the Grenadines will be granted freedom to live, work and access basic services without work permits or residency requirements across the four territories.

In an interview with the Sunday Sun, Comissiong expressed that access to the neighbouring country’s skilled nationals will open a number of opportunities to address the risks of a rapidly increasing elderly population.

“Barbados really has in a sense been a victim of its developmental success in that Barbados has now developed the demographic profile of a developed country. Barbadian women are having less children than in the past and Barbadians are growing older and living much longer than in the past.

“These are good things, but at the same time, what it means is that we are having an expansion of the percentage of our population that is elderly and that are retirees,” he explained.

“At the same time, we have experienced a shrinking of that component of our population that consists of young, economically active people working and contributing to the national insurance and income tax revenues.

“We are facing a very serious predicament of being in danger of not being able to properly support our rapidly increasing elderly population. We are also finding that there are serious gaps in our labour force and we don’t have suitably skilled Barbadian workers to support the current economic activity,” he added.

The mbassador acknowledged that with just four countries, the regime would not immediately solve these concerns but maintains that the freedom of movement is a step in the right direction.

Under the new regime, skilled workers will be at liberty to remain indefinitely and work at their country of migration without the need for a work permit. Upon moving to one of the participating territories, they will be guaranteed access to primary and secondary education as well as access to emergency and primary health care on the same terms as a citizen of the country.

He clarified that other amenities such as housing will not be at their disposal, with those arrangements left to the skilled national.

Comissiong added that some public concern touched on fears that the initiative could risk introducing various criminal elements into the country. However, he assured that since

2007 CARICOM has placed mechanisms to guard against such instances.

Among these is the CARICOM Impacts Implementation Agency for Crime and Security, headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago with a Barbadian subagency based in Wildey, St Michael.

This institution is mandated to collect intelligence about criminal elements and criminal activity in the region and pass that intelligence to immigration and law enforcement agencies. It also operates a programme known as Advanced Passenger Information System, wherein Barbadian authorities are informed of any passengers aboard a transport vessel with a criminal record.

The Ambassador added that under CARICOM law every member state has the right to refuse entry to any CARICOM citizen if that person will pose a threat to national security or is likely to become a charge to the public purse.

“The point is that the free movement regime is really about encouraging wholesome and constructive movement, whereby CARICOM nationals are coming to make a positive contribution to the host nation. There are mechanisms in place to keep out or to refuse entry to elements who would not fit that category of wholesome and constructive additions to the national population,” he stated.

Comissiong further emphasised that the regime upholds the philosophy of the CARICOM single market and single economy and the CARICOM integration movement. He stressed that a united Caribbean community is necessary in an increasingly difficult, unstable and competitive world.

“We need to be able to come together and pull our resources, whether those resources be human, be financial, be natural, so that we can engage with the outside world from a position of greater strength.

“The whole concept behind CARICOM and the single market and single economy is that we want to gradually develop our region into one single domestic space, where capital moves freely, skills move freely, businesses move freely, workers move freely and more generally, people move freely in search of life opportunities, in search of employment opportunities,” he added. (JRN)

Breakthrough for Maloney

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The woman who was involved in the swindling of US$10 million for COVID vaccinations which were supposed to be purchased for Barbados, has finally been found and is facing a US $2 million default judgment – the amount she owes to Barbadian businessman Mark Maloney.

Moniladae Coley and her company Prestige Pegasus will face the United States District Court Central District California on November 3, after finally being served with the complaint against them. They were supposed to be the “authorised dealer” contracted by Alex Lee Moore, the man who was contracted by Maloney’s company, Radical Investments Ltd, to purchase one million Astrazeneca vaccines for Barbados.

She was paid US$2 million but never fulfilled the purchase.

Damages

Since the trial began in 2021, two US courts attempted to serve Coley on numerous occasions but she was never located.

As a result, while Maloney won a default judgment of US$4 million against Moore and his company Good Vibrations Entertainment back in May, the court had denied without prejudice, the granting of a default judgment against Coley citing that she had never been served and a further extension was granted.

When contacted a satisfied Maloney told the Sunday Sun Coley was served at her father’s house in California.

On September 18 the court noted that the application for default judgement had now been served on both parties adding.

“Plaintiff is now entitled to judgment against defendants on account of the claims pleaded in the second amended complaint. Plaintiff seeks actual damages in the amount of at least $2 million for its claims.”

Maloney’s attorneys explained: “In April of 2021, to meet pandemicdriven demand, plaintiff Radical Investments, Ltd was contracted to provide vaccines to the Government of Barbados. On April 16, 2021, plaintiff entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement with defendant Good Vibrations Entertainment, LLC (“GVE”). GVE entered into the contract by and through defendant Alex “Flex” Moore. Pursuant to the contract, GVE was to supply RIL with one million vaccines in exchange for $12.2m with $10.2m due upon execution of the contract and the remaining $2m to paid as a commission to GVE (“GVE Commission”).

Pointing out that US$2 million was “unlawfully wired to Prestige/Coley by the escrow agent,” they noted that “bank records show that Coley quickly emptied Prestige’s bank accounts through substantial cash withdrawals and mysterious wire transfers” for her benefit.

Frivolous spending

“It is evident that Coley used Prestige for the purpose of committing fraud against plaintiff. Coley treated Prestige Pegasus’ bank account as her personal piggy bank, engaging in reckless and frivolous spending.

“A subpoenaed review of Prestige Pegasus’ bank account records reveals that Coley withdrew over $1 million in cash, transferring these funds directly into her personal account.

These significant withdrawals, along with clear evidence of personal spending, demonstrate that Coley misappropriated Prestige’s resources for her own benefit. Prestige was nothing more than a façade, used by Coley to shield herself from liability. As such, piercing the corporate veil is necessary to hold her personally accountable.”

“Although plaintiff was unable to depose Coley due to her refusal to defend this action, the bank records paint a clear picture of her misconduct. Coley also sent tens of thousands of dollars via CashApp to individuals with names such as “Destiny,” “Jasmine,” “Jewell,” “Kaylyn,” “Tececion,” “Ridah,” “Everett,” “Addie,” “Larry,” and “Sydney,” among others.

“Her extravagant spending continued throughout the summer of 2021. For example, on June 14, 2021, Coley spent over $40 000 at a Louis Vuitton store in Jacksonville, Florida. On June 22, 2021, she spent nearly $8 000 at an Apple store, and on June 23, 2021, she spent $8 400 at Versace in Los Angeles.

In addition, Coley regularly withdrew large amounts of cash from the Prestige bank account, spent lavishly at restaurants, and used the funds for private jet flights. By August 31, 2021, just a few months after receiving the $2 million from plaintiff only $8 002.22 remained in the Prestige bank account.

“As is undisputed, defendants never delivered the vaccines and RIL has yet to recover the monies unlawfully obtained by Prestige.”

In pleading for the default judgment the attorneys told the court that it was unlikely that default was the result of excusable neglect.

“Because the defaulted defendants are fully aware of this action, have in the past been in contact with plaintiff and have had years to defend themselves. Coley and Prestige, they were properly served and defaulted at the outset of this case, have continued to be sent notices by the court throughout the duration of the action, were served once again in 2025 and have still failed to appear or otherwise defend themselves. Coley has spoken with plaintiff’s counsel on multiple occasions, albeit at the outset of the action and is fully aware of the allegations and claims against her and her company. Thus, this factor, therefore, weighs in favour of default judgment.” (MB)

Caribbean launches first-ever shelter working group to boost disaster preparedness

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More than 47 disaster management professionals from across the Caribbean and beyond have joined forces to launch the region’s first Shelter Technical Working Group, as the Atlantic Hurricane Season reaches its peak.

Led by the Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the IOM Caribbean said on Friday that the new platform will “strengthen emergency shelter operations, ensure fair aid distribution, and promote safer, more inclusive responses for people affected by disasters.” 

Tamara Lovell, community resilience specialist at CDEMA, said the purpose of this group is “really to frame this as a start of what we consider to be a shelter management community for the Caribbean. 

“Out of that, we’re also hoping to have a core group that we can establish to really advance shelter management considerations going forward,” she said. 

IOM Caribbean said that weekly meetings since launch have fostered a “strong, collaborative community, ready to tackle urgent shelter needs.”

IOM Caribbean said it and CDEMA have committed to ensuring that local organizations and communities are “at the heart of all shelter planning and response, recognizing their essential role in making shelters safer and more inclusive for vulnerable groups and ensuring no one is left behind.” 

Key partners including national disaster offices, local civil society and non-governmental organizations from across the Caribbean are participating in the group. 

The working group has launched a WhatsApp community for instant updates and peer support, alongside a dedicated website for sharing resources, technical guidance, and news, IOM Caribbean said. 

It said upcoming sessions will dive into critical topics such as quality of relief goods, gender-based violence, cash support, and sustainable shelter solutions. 

IOM Caribbean said the group will also coordinate technical support, organize training opportunities, and mobilize relief supplies for rapid distribution if disaster strikes. 

Organizations including IOM, ShelterBox, GSD, UNICEF and Red Cross have already stockpiled emergency items like plastic sheets, toolkits, solar lamps, tents, generators and hygiene materials at CDEMA’s Logistics Hub in Barbados, IOM Caribbean said. 

Jan-Willem Wegdam, IOM’s emergency coordinator for the Caribbean, has made “a call to action: “Let’s shape this agenda together. Let’s make this a welcoming community where your ideas and energy drive impact—and where we enjoy working together toward a safer Caribbean.” 

IOM Caribbean said the working group is supported by IOM under the Resilient Caribbean Project funded by the European Union, which was launched virtually by IOM earlier this month. (CMC)

Mahalia’s Corner the time machine

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Mahalia and 2 Mile Hill called it a revival but what they delivered on Sunday at Mahalia’s Corner was a reawakening of memories rooted in a time when life was simpler for most of the Gen Xers and Millennials in the audience, a time when Time to Sing was as much a Sunday staple as attending church, ZRs were art canvasses and recording mix tapes of your favourite songs from the radio was the norm.

The penultimate show, featuring entertainer Damian Marvay, was about community, the collective memories of a generation who, now grown up with families of their own and responsibilities, were able to restore their soul. For the younger people (Gen Zers) in the audience, it was a glimpse into some of the music their parents liked and a foreshadowing of their older years when they may feel nostalgic at shows with music/songs they jammed to.

For about three hours, a palpable excitement enveloped the room at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, wrapping it in its embrace from the time hostess Mahalia welcomed the patrons, told them that the purple

ambient lighting was acknowledging World Alzheimer’s Day – members of the Barbados Alzheimer’s Association were in the anteroom sharing information to increase awareness of the disease – until the final note of Know De Face that Marvay sang just after 11 p.m.

The selection of originals and covers from both 2 Mile Hill and Marvay suited the revival theme to a T. Also, unlike the two previous shows this September season, the featured artiste appeared for the entire show, so the audience got more of him.

After 2 Mile Hill’s performance of Queen from 2011, the band’s final single from its iteration as Nexcyx, spotlight artiste Theo Deo The Poet Greenidge joined them during the rendition of

Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know

weaving his words to tell a story.

The band did Jill Scott’s The Way and A Long Walk and followed that with their first 2 Mile Hill single It’s Over, after which Marvay took centrestage and as usually happens at the Corner, some of the artiste’s songs were rearranged and some remained the same.

Marvay, who sang soca, R&B, and reggae, opened with Antidote from 2017, which he dedicated to “anybody who lost anybody they used to feel good with” and unfurled the nostalgia with P.M. Dawn’s I’d Die Without (1992) and Glenn Benjamin’s Free (1993) with Mahalia. Mahalia followed that with Des’ree’s You Gotta Be from 1994.

Two performances

After that came, arguably, one of the two outstanding performances of the show.

With Mahalia on lead vocals, Shekara Straker and Naressa Lynch on backing vocals, and bassist Kris Clarke taking up the mic to sing, the performers stepped into church with an impeccable rendition of Kirk Franklin’s Silver and Gold from 1993 that left the audience in awe.

Deo The Poet, an award-winning spoken word artist, returned and dropped the provocative piece Young People Been Struggling

before Marvay sang the inspiring Push and Go Through to bring the first half to a crescendo.

The vibes didn’t stop at all during the break from the performances as DJ Salt dropped an eclectic set, inclusive of dance hall, hip hop, and theme songs from popular television series, that was a welcome trip down memory lane.

Popular songs

The second half of the show was just as good as the first. 2 Mile Hill started with more popular songs from the latter part of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st century, such as

Pump Up The Jam,

Crystal Walters’ Gypsy Woman (La Da Dee/ She’s Homeless), Bobby Brown’s Prerogative, Lauryn Hill’s Doo Wop (That Thing) and Lost Ones, for which Marvay joined them.

He sang Bob Marley’s Forever Loving Jah, which was followed by the show’s second outstanding performance of Hold You In A Song

with Mahalia and saxophonist Romaro Greaves. Their rendition of the John King and Alison Hinds’ duet was so moving it brought people to their feet.

The audience was in a tizzy with the performance of Busy Signal’s Come Over (Missing You), I-Sasha’s Don’t You Know and Sizzla’s No Pain, and Sanchez’ Never Dis De Man. Mahalia joined in with Chevelle Franklyn and

Lady G’s Thank You,

which is on the same riddim.

The band switched genres and the tempo with Machel Montano’s Toro Toro, Music Farm and Big Truck, and sprinkled some zouk with

Kassav’s Zouk La Sel Medikaman Nou Ni and before long it was time for Marvay’s final selections. He sang his most popular soca songs – Survive the Weekend, Sweet Potato and Know De Face – to end a night of fantastic performances.

Open mic

This week’s Open Mic saw seven performances. There was spoken word from StonedwithCupid, and Washington D.C.-based

Monè, and singing from Lisa, Jaliah, Antoine, Chloe and Jordan and Wesley, who have appeared on The Voice.

Mahalia’s Corner’s final show is next Sunday at the same venue. GBM)

Call for region to invest in AI

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A leading Caribbean academic is calling for urgent investment in artificial intelligence (AI) content and digital infrastructure, warning that the region risks falling further behind in the global digital economy without a coordinated and strategic push.

Dr Keith Nurse, president of the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT), made the appeal on Wednesday during the 11th Leo Leacock Memorial Lecture at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre. Speaking on the topic Preparing Business For The Age Of Artificial Intelligence, he argued that the Caribbean must shift from being mere consumers of digital content to becoming producers of AI-driven innovation and intellectual property.

“AI is a very powerful tool,” Nurse said. “How can we use AI to export our capacity to win new markets in whatever? That’s the question we need to ask.”

The lecture formed part of the Small Business Association of Barbados’ week of activities, under the theme Navigating Business In The Age Of AI And Digital Technology.

Nurse said that digital transformation budgets across the region remained woefully inadequate, citing figures from his home country and the host nation.

“Trinidad and Tobago has a digital transformation budget of about US$44 million, and Barbados about $30 million. But, we are not close to anywhere we need to be. We are under-investing in ourselves. If you are not in the business of generating content, you are not in the game.”

He emphasised the need to equip young people with the skills to create AI content and intellectual property for international markets, calling it a necessary step to ensure future competitiveness.

“Our young people need us to do this,” he said.

“We are not generating a lot of our content. If we are using other people’s content, then what are we learning?”

Describing the Caribbean as a region that “lags in AI development”, Nurse warned that the implications were economic as well as technological. “Who

controls the data controls the economy going forward,” he said, underscoring the strategic importance of developing local capabilities in data management and AI technologies.

He also took aim at the financial sector, particularly commercial banks and regulatory bodies, for failing to adequately support innovation and start-ups.

“Our banks are very risk-averse,” he said. “The banking sector is doing very well financially, but our central banks have been extremely conservative on FinTech.”

Nurse advocated for the creation of dedicated funding mechanisms to support tech start-ups and digital entrepreneurs. These, he said, should be tied to capacity-building efforts in the digital creative sector, including areas like AI, blockchain, and other emerging technologies.

“The Caribbean must invest in developing an integrative approach to AI and all the other digital technologies,” he said. “We need strategy. Policy by itself will not transform economies.”

Pointing to global examples, Nurse noted that countries like Thailand have already approved national AI strategies and even appointed ministers with specific responsibility for AI.

“Other countries are acting. We need to move with urgency if we want to be part of the global digital value chain,” he warned.

He also spoke of the potential for AI-driven transformation in traditional sectors such as tourism and health care.

“There is a bright future for health interventions using AI. I think that human health is going to be one of the biggest beneficiaries,” he said. (HH)

US revokes Colombian president’s visa over ‘reckless and incendiary’ remarks

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The US has said it will revoke Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s visa, after he urged US soldiers to disobey his American counterpart Donald Trump during remarks at a rally in New York.

The State Department described Petro’s comments at a pro-Palestinian street protest on Friday as “reckless and incendiary”.

The Colombian leader was in the US for the UN General Assembly, where earlier this week he called for a criminal inquiry into the Trump administration’s airstrikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean.

He was already on his way back to Bogota when the US announced it would cancel his visa, Colombian media reports.

Petro shared a video on social media of him addressing a large crowd through a megaphone in Spanish on Friday.

He called for the formation of a “world salvation army, whose first task is to liberate Palestine”.

“That is why, from here in New York, I ask all soldiers in the United States Army not to point their rifles at humanity,” he said. “Disobey Trump’s order! Obey the order of humanity!”

Petro added: “As happened in the First World War, I want the young people, sons and daughters of workers and farmers, of both Israel and the United States, to point their rifles not toward humanity, but toward the tyrants and toward the fascists.”

The US State Department strongly criticised the remarks, saying he had “urged US soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence”.

It wrote on social media that the revocation of his visa was “due to his reckless and incendiary actions”.

Colombia’s Interior Minister Armando Benedetti wrote on X on Friday night that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visa should have been annulled rather than Petro’s.

“But since the empire protects him, it’s taking it out on the only president who was capable enough to tell him the truth to his face,” he said.

Relations between Petro – who leads Colombia’s first ever left-wing government – and the Trump administration have worsened in recent months.

The Colombian leader used his speech at the UN to launch an excoriating rebuke of US strikes on boats suspected of being used to transport drugs, arguing they were not about controlling the drug trade but serving a need to use “violence to dominate Colombia and Latin America”.

He said some of those killed by the strikes may have been from Colombia, which is the world’s biggest cocaine producer, and claimed US officials were allied to drug gangs while his government was persuading farmers to not grow coca.

Petro likened the air strikes to an “act of tyranny” in an interview with the BBC.

Washington contends the actions are part of a US anti-drug operation off the coast of Venezuela, whose president it accuses of running a cartel.

The US also denied visas for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and 80 Palestinian officials, blocking them from attending the UN General Assembly, despite world leaders conventionally being permitted to attend the body’s headquarters regardless of their relations with the US. (BBC News)

Judge: Time to set up parole board

Justice Christopher Birch has issued a call for the establishment of a Parole Board.

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Mottley: War not the answer

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Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley used the United Nations 80th General Assembly platform yesterday to warn the United States and Venezuela that their rising tension could put the southern Caribbean at risk, even as a result of an accident.

“I need not tell you, therefore, what a war can do. It is not acceptable for our islands, our countries, to be viewed as collateral damage,” she said during a 30-minute address.

Mottley said that in the Caribbean Sea, “we’re now seeing a shocking violation of a hemispheric understanding that the Caribbean be treated as a zone of peace”.

“There has been a build-up in military assets in the last few weeks in the Caribbean by both sides, by the United States of America and by Venezuela. We believe that any such build-up could occasion just an accident and, if it does, a simple accident can put the southern Caribbean at disproportionate risk,” she cautioned.

US strike

On September 5, the US carried out a strike on a ship in the vicinity of Venezuela, killing 11 people it claimed were “narcoterrrorists” of the violent and deadly Tren de Aragua gang. However, Venezuela maintained that was not the case and recently launched three days of military exercises, putting on display its Russian-built fighter jets.

“I say simply for all who can hear and for all who read and can listen – full respect for the territorial integrity of each and every state in the Caribbean must be respected, and that includes all states. Almost all wars end as a result of dialogue.

“Let us make a greater effort to have the necessary conversations to prevent war. It is too simple,” Mottley said.

The Prime Minister reminded the countries represented at the UN Headquarters in New York of the horror in Gaza, and the genocide and destruction of the conflict taking place there and in Sudan.

“We have now gotten to a point where all of our human sensibilities are offended by the continuous and disproportionate attacks on the Palestinian people, and the failure to allow access by the international community to the survivors for the provision of humanitarian aid,” Mottley said. She also quoted Bob Marley, asking: “How can you be sitting there telling me that you care when every time I look around, the people suffer?”

The Prime Minister started her address by stating that there was a series of crises for which the world had been unprepared – from the financial crisis started in 2008, a social crisis characterised by rising inequality and a global pandemic leading to restricted movement and choices.

“All of this has been exacerbated by the spreading of fake news. This distorts reality and threatens the stability of our societies, creating a platform for hate to thrive and prejudice to rise. But deeper than all of these crises is a bigger, more insidious crisis that is undermining our domestic and global institutions that have promoted order, peace and prosperity. It is the crisis of truth,” she said.

This leads to trust falling apart, whether between neighbours, the governed

and governing, in the social order or the health systems, she told the world leaders, diplomats and other officials in attendance.

“When we lack truth and we lack trust, law becomes theatre, news becomes spectacle and science becomes just another opinion . . . . Our world today worryingly resembles the world of 100 years ago, and this has become even more evident with the closing of our borders to both goods and to people,” Mottley pointed out.

Better, she said, can and must be done to secure peace across the world in the name of the children. And the international community must find immediate funding to support the children of Gaza and Sudan for the next three months, which UNICEF estimated was US$66 million and US$200 million, respectively, to reverse or mitigate famine, and provide water, sanitation and health interventions.

Lasting peace, she said, could never be achieved through violence but through justice as a guide and dialogue.

Reset

“In Gaza, as we saw, the international community must not condone the bombing of those states who look to facilitate peace. It is a red line that we must never cross . . . . The world needs a reset.

“We must find, first and foremost, whether we still agree on the same values that inform our charter. As simple as this seems, this is necessary in any reset for values we all know have changed over the last 80 years. And if it is not available to all of us to agree to those values, then we must at least know who does and who doesn’t.”

On Haiti, she said the UN Security Council and the international development system were well equipped and had the resources and power to deliver, but also urged dialogue with the United States “on the inescapable issue” of the flow of small arms and light weapons across this entire hemisphere.

“The Caribbean community are now being threatened by this incessant flow of illegally obtained weapons and increasingly organised criminal elements which utilise them, but we will use the systems to deal with them collectively and in accordance with due process,” Mottley pointed out. ( AC)