Anguilla launches online booking and payment for licensed taxi and chauffeur transfers

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Locally developed platform enhances digital innovation for transportation services

THE VALLEY, Anguilla (Oct. 16, 2026) — Visitors and residents can reserve and pay online for licensed taxi and chauffeur services through RSVD | Transfers, a locally developed platform bringing digital convenience to Anguilla’s ground transportation sector.

Developed by What We Do In Anguilla, the platform allows users to arrange airport and ferry transfers, transportation to restaurants and journeys to attractions before arrival or during their stay.

The company describes RSVD | Transfers as Anguilla’s first online platform combining reservations and payments for licensed taxi and chauffeur services. Users receive transparent pricing based on the island’s official taxi fare structure and can pay securely online.

On the Caribbean island known globally as the home of the .ai internet domain, the service offers a practical example of technology connecting tourism businesses with customers.

“Locally developed services like RSVD | Transfers show how digital innovation can benefit our tourism industry,” said Jameel Rochester, director of tourism at the Anguilla Tourist Board. “For our visitors and residents, it means being able to arrange transportation with greater confidence. For our taxi and chauffeur operators, it creates another way to reach customers and plan their business. That is the kind of practical progress we want to encourage and support.”

For participating transportation providers, advance reservations can reduce scheduling uncertainty, help drivers anticipate demand and support more predictable earning opportunities. The service is also available to residents, extending its benefits and accessibility beyond the visitor market.

“Innovation and problem-solving have always been at the heart of What We Do In Anguilla,” said Clemvio Hodge, the company’s manager. “With the launch of RSVD | Transfers, we are proud to introduce a digital solution that modernizes transportation booking on the island, making it easier for visitors and residents to access reliable services while empowering local transportation providers through technology.”

For information and reservations, visit whatwedoinanguilla.com/rsvd/transfers.

US Pledges Over $340 Million In New Funding To The Caribbean – But Says Little About Deportations Or Boat Strikes

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By News Americas Now Staff Writer

News Americas Now, NY, NY, Fri. Oct. 16, 2026: The United States announced more than $340 million in new funding commitments to the Caribbean on Wednesday at the opening of the U.S.-Caribbean Dialogue in Washington, as Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau laid out a sweeping set of economic and security pledges to a room of regional leaders led by CARICOM chairman and Saint Lucia Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre.

Calling the dialogue “overdue,” Landau said the Trump administration’s approach to the hemisphere rests on three pillars: economic investment in the region, ending what he called the “narco-terrorist threat,” and ending illegal immigration. He linked drug trafficking through the Caribbean directly to the more than 100,000 annual U.S. overdose deaths, and told the room the administration would not continue “business as usual” with the region.

“We’re taking actions accordingly. And we’d like to work with your countries to make sure that we’re all on the same page, at least in recognizing the common danger of this and seeing how we can try to address this scourge together,” he said.

NEW COMMITMENTS

The new commitments he announced include:

$61.5 million to launch ASPIRE – the America Strategic Partnership for Independent Regional Healthcare Excellence – aimed at building the region’s own healthcare workforce capacity.

$37 million in new Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) programming to protect critical digital infrastructure and strengthen port security.

$55.5 million to strengthen regional law enforcement, including on illegal fishing, plus $11 million in Foreign Military Financing to build up Caribbean security forces.

$175.8 million for a Caribbean and Central America undersea cables program, intended to provide secure, high-speed connectivity across the region.

U.S.-Caribbean investment dialogue

Landau also announced a U.S.-Caribbean investment dialogue to launch next year, aimed at connecting Caribbean governments directly with American private-sector companies, and said the next CBSI security ministerial will convene in spring 2027.

Pierre, delivering brief remarks as CARICOM chair, welcomed the dialogue and named the region’s priorities as affordable energy, investment, safer communities, and reliable disaster response. He said Haiti “must remain central” to the partnership, welcomed the extension of the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force mandate there, and said credible elections are essential to restoring the country’s stability.

On the issue most on the minds of Caribbean nationals right now, Pierre offered a single, carefully diplomatic sentence: the dialogue, he said, “must make room for immigration and migration matters, with profound implications for our communities and our people-to-people ties.” It was the closest either leader came, in their prepared remarks, to directly addressing deportations or the U.S. military’s ongoing boat-strike campaign in the region.

“Let us connect political dialogue with sustained technical engagements, identify priorities, and establish clear arrangements for follow-up between governments and the private sector,” he added. “The CARICOM Secretariat will help coordinate the community’s technical work alongside our national authorities and regional institutions. CARICOM comes to this table ready to listen, ready to engage, and ready to build a partnership that delivers mutual benefit, with respect for our sovereignty and our shared aspirations.”

Neither Landau’s nor Pierre’s remarks, as delivered, referenced the boat strikes against alleged drug-trafficking vessels – which have killed at least 238 people since September 2025, including confirmed Caribbean nationals – or the deportation agreements several Caribbean nations, including Jamaica, Guyana, and Saint Lucia, have signed with Washington in recent months. Both issues have generated significant controversy and political friction in the region, even as officials on both sides described Wednesday’s funding announcements as evidence of a strengthening partnership.

RELATED: Caribbean Leaders Talk “Partnership” With The US Today While Absorbing Its Deportees And Boat-Strikes

Guyana Is Sitting On A $19.6 Billion Exxon Audit It Still Won’t Release

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By News Americas Now Business Editor

News Americas Now, NY, NY, Fri. Oct. 16, 2026: As Guyana’s oil economy posts some of the fastest growth rates in the world, the government is holding back a US$19.6 billion audit of ExxonMobil’s spending that it has possessed since May 2025 – the largest and most consequential of three outstanding cost-oil audits the International Monetary Fund flagged this week as a governance risk.

The IMF’s 2026 Article IV consultation, released last week, praised Guyana’s economic trajectory – 19.3% real GDP growth in 2025, projected to hit 22.3% in 2026 – while explicitly calling on the government to resolve its backlog of unpublished oil audits and strengthen transparency around how ExxonMobil’s costs are being verified.

“Priorities include resolving outstanding cost-oil audits, improving the timeliness of public enterprise and agency accounts, further strengthening audit capacity, especially in the oil and gas sector, and ensuring consistent compliance with the procurement framework as public spending expands.,” the IMF stated. “Efforts to strengthen AML/CFT and anti-corruption frameworks should continue, including by strengthening the Integrity Commission and the asset declaration regime.’

THE PATTERN

The pattern spans three separate audits. The first, covering 1999–2017, flagged US$214 million in disputed costs more than five years ago; that dispute has only now reached the International Chamber of Commerce, which is working to appoint a sole expert to resolve it, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat confirmed, with no timeline yet set. A second audit, for 2018–2020, found an additional US$65 million incorrectly charged to the country. But it’s the third audit — covering US$19.6 billion in Exxon costs, by far the largest sum in question — that the government has sat on since last May without releasing it or addressing what the auditors found.

The IMF’s broader message was pointed: durable prosperity from Guyana’s oil wealth depends on governance keeping pace with growth, not just the growth itself. The Fund also pushed Guyana to tighten public procurement compliance, reinforce anti-corruption safeguards, and move away from broad consumer subsidies toward targeted assistance — all while warning that the country’s fiscal deficit is set to widen from 5.5% of GDP to 6.4% in 2026 before improving in 2027.

With Guyana’s Natural Resource Fund now holding roughly US$3.3 billion and the country posting some of the highest reserves and lowest debt ratios in the Western Hemisphere, the open question the IMF is effectively putting on record is whether the government intends to make the full scale of disputed Exxon costs public —- or continue managing the country’s oil wealth with its largest audit kept out of view.

RELATED: Guyana Record Oil Profit Share Could Be Temporary – Here’s Why