Vybz Kartel dropped a teaser on Instagram that’s already got people talking — a collab with Fixaveli called “Zelle” is on the way, tagged under what appears to be a project or campaign called #THESUN.
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News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. August. 10, 2026: The Guyana government has stated that it may cost from US$8 to US$10M to salvage MV Barima. That amount is a drop in the ocean compared with the expected oil profits for the rest of the year. In its 2Q2026 call, Exxon stated, “Again, as we mentioned, at this point, we’ve fully recovered the $55 billion of investment along with all the operating costs.” Guyana should therefore start to have ample cash flowing in to raise the MV Barima.
In 2026, using production data see HERE, we can see that, for the first six months, an average of about 27.2 million barrels were produced per month, with an average selling price of US$91.74.
Guyana Oil Production — First 6 Months of 2026MonthTotal Barrels ProducedAvg. Brent Crude Price (US$/bbl)January 202628,375,332$66.60February 202625,697,948$70.89March 202628,345,600$103.13April 202627,083,049$117.29May 202627,719,800$107.14June 202626,080,430$85.40Avg per Month27,217,027$91.74
Given that Exxon stated in its investor call covering the quarter ended June 30 that the investment costs for the projects had been recovered, we can expect Guyana to start receiving profits significantly greater than the meager 12.5% of revenue. We estimate that operating costs are around US$10 per barrel, based on HESS stating that the cash unit cost in 2027 would be US$10/barrel – see the 2Q2023 HESS earnings call transcript. In the table below, we show what Guyana’s expected profit take for July could be, excluding the 2% royalty, for oil prices ranging from US$80 to US$120. The war started at the end of February 2026; we use a range of Brent crude prices that reflects prices after the war started.
As can be observed from the table, even at US$80/barrel, Guyana should receive about US$953 million in profits for July, or about 100 times the estimated cost of salvaging the MV Barima. At US$120/barrel, Guyana should receive about US$9 billion during the second half of 2026, or about 1,000 times the amount needed to salvage the MV Barima.
The Guyanese who perished in the MV Barima will never experience the benefits of the vast sums of money flowing up from the bottom of the ocean. But surely, we can more than afford to lift their bodies from the bottom of the ocean and give their families closure through a proper burial; and provide the injured family members with sufficient emotional and financial support to reduce their inter-generational pain and suffering. The Government must step up and deal compassionately with this national tragedy.
EDITOR’S NOTE: EDITOR’S NOTE: Darsh Khusial is an executive of the Oil and Gas Governance Network (OGGN) Other executive members include Kenrick Hunte, Joe Persaud and Mike Persaud.
The more surprising detail buried in this chart update is not that Buju Banton is still on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart, but that “Too Too Bad” is the first album he has released since 2006 that failed to crack the Top 5.
Beenie Man, Future Fambo
Future Fambo Accepts $1.5 Million Offer For Beenie Man’s Summer Sizzle Amid Feud
Dancehall artiste Future Fambo has accepted a $1.5 million offer to perform at Beenie Man’s Summer Sizzle, potentially setting the stage for a public reconciliation between the former friends following weeks of verbal clashes.
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. August 10, 2026: Thousands of Caribbean nationals and soca fans packed into Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield this past weekend as Trinidad’s “Soca King,” Machel Montano, brought his “This Is The Encore” tour to New York City for two high-energy nights, August 8 and 9, as part of Central Park SummerStage‘s 40th season.
Flags from Trinidad, Guyana, St. Kitts, St. Vincent, Grenada, Puerto Rico and Brazil waved throughout the crowd as Montano delivered hit after hit, backed by special guests including Skinny Fabulous and Full Blown, transforming the Manhattan park into a stretch of Trinidad Carnival for two straight evenings.
The tour’s name is no accident. Montano claimed his 12th Road March championship at Carnival 2026 for the song “Encore,” breaking his previous tie with legendary calypsonian Lord Kitchener to become the outright record holder for the most Road March wins in Trinidad Carnival history.
Machel Montano brought Trinidad Carnival to Central Park for two sold-out nights of his “This Is The Encore” tour
“Central Park, THANK YOU!!! Day 1 was pure LOVE!!! The crowd was loud, the vibes were high, and the whole park was movin and jammin,” Montano posted following the first night’s show.
The Central Park run adds to a milestone year for Montano, who became the first soca artist to perform on NPR’s Tiny Desk in January 2026, recorded the same day he sold out Washington, D.C.’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Soca star Machel Montano performing at Central Park Summer stage on August 8th 2026.
Montano will also bring the heat to Barclays Center with Bunji Garlin, Skillibeng, Problem Child, Skinny Fabulous, Ravi B, Lady Lava, Ayetian, and Travis World on Sunday, August 24th and Brooklyn Public Library will launch Journey of a Soca King: The Exhibition, presented by the library and the Machel Montano Foundation for Greatness from August 22 through September 12, celebrating Montano’s more than four-decade career and Brooklyn’s own role in his rise.
The exhibition features costumes, trophies and vinyl records from Montano’s career, offering an immersive look at the artist who began performing at age seven in 1982 and released his debut album, Too Young To Soca, in 1985. Montano remains Trinidad and Tobago’s most decorated Road March champion, with a record 12 titles, and holds titles including National Calypso Monarch, Chutney Soca Monarch, and the Hummingbird Gold National Medal.
The exhibition follows the 2026 documentary Like Ah Boss: Journey of a Soca King, centered on Montano’s 16 performances during the 2015 Carnival season. The film will be projected onto Central Library’s facade on September 3.
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Sun. August 9, 2026: CARICOM or the Caribbean Community has spent this year pressing its case for reparations with real momentum. Every CARICOM member state backed a United Nations resolution in March recognizing the transatlantic slave trade and racialized chattel enslavement of Africans as humanity’s gravest crime. In July, regional leaders approved a revised Ten-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice, renewing demands that European nations formally account for slavery, colonialism and Indigenous genocide.
There is just one detail complicating the moral clarity of that demand: eight of CARICOM’s own member states still have the British monarch as their head of state.
A man holds a flag calling for reparations in Windrush square during the commemoration.. Fifth anniversary of remembering those who have been impacted by the Windrush scandal which saw people from the Caribbean treated like illegal immigrants by the Home Office despite arriving in Britain legally. (Photo by Thabo Jaiyesimi/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines remain Commonwealth realms, meaning King Charles III, not a president or a citizen of their own nations, sits constitutionally atop their governments. Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Dominica removed the monarch decades ago, in the 1970s. Barbados was the most recent to go, becoming a republic in November 2021.
The contradiction is sharpest in the two countries that have been loudest on reparations. Jamaica’s government has said publicly, repeatedly, that it intends to remove the King as head of state. Foreign Minister Alando Terrelonge told reporters the country remained “hopeful” it would complete the constitutional reforms and referendum needed to do so, a target that has already slipped past its original 2025 deadline. Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne has likewise pledged a referendum on becoming a republic, calling it “the final step to complete that circle of independence.”
Neither has happened yet.
To be clear, retaining a constitutional monarch is not the same as excusing colonialism, and removing the King as head of state carries no guarantee of reparations, accountability, or justice on its own. Many of the same governments pushing hardest for European accountability, including Jamaica’s, argue their monarchy question and their reparations case are separate matters entirely: one a constitutional and legal process requiring supermajorities and referenda, the other a demand rooted in a historical injustice that predates any of the sitting monarchs.
But the optics remain difficult to ignore. A regional bloc that spent 2026 demanding the Crown’s institutions reckon with the wealth extracted from enslaved Africans is, in eight of its own member states, still constitutionally headed by that same Crown. It is one thing to ask a king to answer for the sins of his ancestors. It is another to keep him as your own head of state while you do it.
None of this means CARICOM’s reparations case is wrong, or that the region’s demands on Europe should wait until every member state becomes a republic first. But full sovereignty and moral consistency are not unrelated projects. If the region wants its case for reparatory justice to carry the weight of complete independence, rather than a demand made with one hand while the other still swears allegiance to the Crown, finishing the work Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, and the six other remaining realms have already promised to do would remove the one contradiction critics can point to first.
NewsAmericasNow will continue tracking CARICOM’s reparations push and the region’s ongoing relationship with the monarchy.