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Can Massy’s US$75M Guyana Hub Succeed Without Reliable Power?

June 30, 2026/0 Comments/in news /by

By Keith Bernard

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. June 30, 2026: The recent groundbreaking ceremony for Massy Holdings’ US$75 million Massy Hub at Houston, East Bank Demerara, in Guyana was celebrated with considerable fanfare – ministers, executives, and the kind of optimism that oil-boom Guyana has grown accustomed to projecting. But amidst the ribbon-cutting, shareholders of this publicly listed company – on both the Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica Stock Exchanges – would be prudent to ask a question that went conspicuously unaddressed: who will reliably power this facility?

The Massy Hub, as announced, is a 190,000-square-foot state-of-the-art warehouse featuring advanced automation, an Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS), temperature-controlled storage, 15 container receiving bays, and 28 dispatch bays – technology that is entirely dependent on a stable, uninterrupted electricity supply. The facility is scheduled for completion by 2028, an 18-month construction window. Yet the energy infrastructure needed to sustain such a facility does not yet exist in Guyana in any reliable form, and by even the most optimistic official projections, it will not for some time to come.

Guyana’s power supply remains among the most expensive and least reliable in the Caribbean region. The country currently pays electricity costs approaching US$0.32 per kilowatt-hour – among the highest in the region – and has been forced to rent two Turkish power ships from Karpowership International at a reported combined daily cost of approximately US$235,000, simply to prevent routine blackouts. As recently as March 2026, Guyana extended that power ship contract, with the Minister responsible acknowledging plainly: “If we don’t, you would get blackout.” That is not the energy backdrop one would choose for a facility dependent on warehouse automation, climate control, and precision logistics.

The government’s solution to this crisis – the US$1.9 billion Gas-to-Energy (GtE) project at Wales on the West Bank of Demerara – has been the subject of repeated, compounding delays since its original completion target of end-2024. A contractor dispute requiring adjudication, on-site soil complications, and transmission infrastructure challenges have repeatedly pushed the timeline forward. The government’s Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, has acknowledged that the timeline has shifted to end-2026 for a “simple cycle” of approximately 228 megawatts – not the full 300 megawatts of combined-cycle generation originally promised. Full operational capacity, requiring the two steam turbines, is not projected until mid-2027 at the earliest. Phase II of the project – needed to fully meet Guyana’s surging electricity demand – remains in the proposal stage, with gas volumes from the Hammerhead project not expected until 2029. Meanwhile, the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project has only recently gone back out to Request for Proposals.

Put plainly: by the time Massy’s Houston Hub is completed and operational in 2028, Guyana’s electricity grid may only just be stabilizing at the Phase I level – a single cycle plant that, if history holds, will face transmission and distribution constraints of its own. Full energy sufficiency remains years away.

Massy’s Q2 FY2026 results, covering the six months to 31 March 2026, show the Guyana segment contributing approximately 27% of Group profit before tax – a significant and growing share. Third-party revenue from continuing operations grew 7.4% year-on-year to TT$8.51 billion, and Guyana specifically recorded 16% revenue growth within the Integrated Retail Portfolio. The Board has rightly identified Guyana as a strategic growth market. But the same results also show that working capital absorbed cash during the period, with the Board intensifying focus on cash conversion and balance sheet discipline. Total equity stands at TT$8.58 billion, and cash and short-term funds from continuing operations increased to TT$2.0 billion – a resilient position, but one that leaves less margin for capital allocation errors.

A US$75 million commitment – approximately TT$510 million at current rates – is not a trivial line item. This is roughly equivalent to the Group’s entire Financial Services profit before tax for the six-month period, more than six times the capital allocated to previous Guyana warehousing ventures, and it sits on top of the Group’s own TT$210.2 million in dividends paid during the half-year and its ongoing investment in the Orange Grove automation project in Trinidad. The question of how this investment is being financed – equity, debt, or a combination – has not been disclosed in the financial highlights released to the market.

This brings us to a question shareholders deserve a direct answer to: will the Guyana government be acting as any form of backstop, co-guarantor, or credit support for debt financing associated with this investment?

The context matters. Guyana’s government is simultaneously managing a US$1.9 billion Gas-to-Energy project that has gone materially over budget and timeline, extended costly power ship contracts, entered a second gas-to-shore planning cycle, and made commitments toward Amaila Falls – all while managing the fiscal architecture of one of the world’s fastest-growing oil economies. GO-Invest, Guyana’s investment promotion agency, was represented at the Massy groundbreaking, as was the Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation. The presence of senior government figures at a private-sector sod-turning is not unusual in the Caribbean. But it raises a legitimate question about whether preferential arrangements – land, utilities commitments, fiscal incentives, or financing support – form part of this investment’s underpinnings. If government support is part of the structure, shareholders should know. If it is not, shareholders should equally understand that this US$75 million commitment will be serviced entirely by the Group’s own balance sheet in an environment where the electricity supply serving the facility may be unreliable for years.

Modern, automated distribution warehousing is not simply inconvenienced by power outages – it is operationally compromised by them. The ASRS technology Massy has deployed at Orange Grove in Trinidad, and proposes to replicate in Houston, Guyana, is sophisticated robotics and machine-learning infrastructure designed for seamless, continuous throughput. Temperature-controlled storage for food and pharmaceutical products is not a feature that tolerates intermittent supply. The business case for the Houston Hub is built on operational efficiency, inventory precision, and supply chain reliability. All of these are directly contingent on an energy supply that Guyana does not yet reliably have.

Diesel generators can serve as backup, but at a cost that materially erodes the efficiency gains the facility is designed to deliver, and which would need to be factored into every financial projection presented to the Board. Has it been?

Massy Holdings’ management has earned credibility through disciplined execution, and the Group’s track record in Guyana spans almost 60 years. This letter is not a counsel against investment in Guyana – it is a call for transparency proportionate to the scale and the risk of this specific commitment. Shareholders, in their quarterly dividend framework, deserve clarity on:

1. The financing structure of the US$75 million investment and whether any government facilitation forms part of it;

2. The contingency provisions for power supply during the period between facility completion (2028) and grid stabilisation;

3. The sensitivity of projected returns to electricity cost assumptions, including the cost of backup generation;

4. Whether independent energy risk due diligence was conducted prior to the investment decision.

Guyana’s economic ascent is real. So is its electricity problem. A company of Massy’s standing owes its shareholders a frank account of how it intends to navigate the gap between the two.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Keith Bernard is a Guyanese-born, NYC-based analyst and a frequent contributor to News Americas.

RELATED: The Growing Influence Of Guyana In The Caribbean: From The Dominican Republic To Haiti

As Africa And The Caribbean Demand Reparations, A New Book Shows The British Crown Was The Architect – Not Just A Bystander

June 27, 2026/0 Comments/in news /by

By NAN Staff Reporter | NewsAmericasNow.com

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. June 26, 2026: On Juneteenth – June 19, 2026 – young Ghanaian students marched through the “Door of No Return” at Christiansborg Castle in Accra in an emotional reenactment of the transatlantic slave trade, staged before African and Caribbean heads of state and delegates from more than 80 countries, gathered for the most significant global reparations conference in history.

The NEXTISTEPS High-Level Consultative Conference adopted a sweeping 19-point framework for reparatory justice – backed by both the African Union and CARICOM – calling for formal apologies, financial compensation, debt cancellation, a Global Reparations Fund, the return of looted cultural artifacts, and a right of return for descendants of enslaved Africans. The proposal is expected to be presented at the next UN General Assembly.

“History does not ask us to inherit guilt, but it asks us to inherit responsibility,” Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama told delegates at Christiansborg Castle, as quoted by reporting on the conference.

The timing could not have been more significant. Because as African and Caribbean nations intensify their demands for reparatory justice, a landmark new book has arrived to fundamentally shift the legal and moral ground beneath those demands – and to eliminate one of the arguments Britain has historically relied upon to resist accountability.

The Book That Changes Everything

The Crown’s Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in the Americas – authored by acclaimed US historian Brooke N. Newman and published by HarperCollins – presents what its press materials describe as undeniable archival proof, drawn from newly examined royal archives and manuscripts, that the British monarchy was not merely a passive beneficiary of the transatlantic slave trade. It was an active architect, investor, and financial beneficiary.

Drawing on records from the Royal African Company, the South Sea Company, the Royal Navy, and colonial officials, Newman demolishes Britain’s long-standing defense that colonial slavery was strictly the work of private enterprises – establishing instead that the Crown designed, funded, enforced, and profited from the Caribbean slave system across multiple monarchies spanning nearly 250 years.

“It is time to place the British Crown at the center of our analysis of the transatlantic slave trade, its legacies, and the pursuit of reparatory justice for slavery – where it belongs,” Newman writes, as quoted in the book’s notes.

The Royal Archives Tell The Story

The evidence Newman presents from the royal archives is extensive and specific. In 1564, Queen Elizabeth I became the first English monarch to invest directly in the transatlantic slave trade – fully aware of the aim of the venture – loaning the 700-ton warship Jesus of Lübeck from her Royal Navy to slaver John Hawkins in exchange for a one-sixth share of the anticipated profits from capturing and selling Africans in the Spanish Caribbean, according to the book.

By 1666, records of the Royal Adventurers – the Crown-backed trading company – show that 8,778 Africans had been disembarked in Barbados, 4,445 in Jamaica, and 1,250 in St. Kitts, Suriname, and Nevis, according to Newman’s research. Another 5,107 individuals had perished during the Atlantic crossing.

In 1672, King Charles II issued a new patent to The Royal African Company of England, granting it sole control over all English trade in African “commodities” – including, as the charter specified, “Negro Slaves” – for one thousand years, as the book documents. Under that charter, the African Company shipped more enslaved African women, men, and children to the Americas than any other single institution during the entire period of the transatlantic slave trade, according to historian William Pettigrew, as cited by Newman.

From 1672 to 1688 alone – during the reigns of Charles II and James II – nearly 100,000 Africans fell victim to the Royal African Company’s slave-trading activities across some 330 recorded transatlantic voyages, with approximately 76,000 surviving the Atlantic crossing to disembark in the English Caribbean colonies, predominantly in Barbados and Jamaica, according to Newman’s research.

The Duke of York – later King James II – was the African Company’s largest individual shareholder, subscribing £3,000 and holding regular company meetings in his own royal apartments, the book documents. He remained governor of the company and issued a proclamation defending its royal monopoly two months after ascending the throne as king.

The Royal Navy was deployed to enforce the Crown’s slave-trading monopoly – patrolling African and Caribbean waters, seizing interlopers, and convoying transatlantic deliveries of captives, according to Newman’s research. And the money flowed directly into royal coffers. By 1687, sugar and tobacco customs revenue – produced entirely by enslaved labor in the Caribbean colonies – comprised a significant share of the Crown’s income, the book documents. In the 1690s alone, customs revenue from tobacco and sugar totaled nearly £1 million, an average of £100,000 per year, according to Newman.

The Branding Of Caribbean Enslaved People

Performers reenact the branding of slaves at Christiansborg Castle in Ghana on June 19, 2026. (Photo by Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)

Among the most disturbing revelations in the book is the Royal African Company’s systematic branding of enslaved Africans – including children – with marks denoting Crown ownership.

The company branded enslaved individuals with the acronym RACE – for the Royal African Company of England – seared into their flesh with burning irons. In instructions issued in 1699, company directors specified that enslaved individuals purchased by the company, both adults and children, were to be “mark[ed] on the right breast RACE,” and that “the children of them at three years of age” were to be similarly branded, as Newman documents.

Later, the South Sea Company – to which Queen Anne transferred the asiento contract giving Britain the exclusive right to supply enslaved Africans to Spanish America – branded enslaved individuals passing through Jamaica and Barbados with its own mark: the SSC seal topped with King George I’s state crown. The brand featuring a royal crown was a deliberate choice. The company touted its intimacy with the British monarchy as a badge of honor, as Newman’s research shows.

Jamaica served as the central Caribbean base of operations for this transatlantic trafficking system. By 1714, enslaved people made up 90 percent of the island’s total population.

The King Charles III Connection

Perhaps the most striking personal connection Newman establishes is between the current British monarchy and the Caribbean slave system. Through his maternal line, King Charles III is a direct descendant of Virginia planters who exercised ownership over African men, women, and children and profited from their coerced labor, according to Newman’s research. The lineage runs through Frances Smith, a direct descendant of Virginia planter Robert Porteus, who married Claude Bowes-Lyon – whose granddaughter was Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, wife of King George VI and mother of Queen Elizabeth II.

Over the course of her 70-year reign, Queen Elizabeth II never addressed the foundational role of the monarchy in Britain’s transatlantic slave trade and mass enslavement of Africans, according to Newman. Her reticence, the book argues, was strategic.

“The queen’s silence did not go unnoticed,” Newman writes, as quoted in the book’s notes. “Preserving her policy of silence until the bitter end, the queen went to her grave with her lips permanently sealed on the subject of the monarchy’s historic links to slavery. But silence, however seemingly effective in the moment, cannot erase the past or expunge its enduring impacts.”

What The Book Means For Reparations

The significance of Newman’s archival findings for the Caribbean reparations movement is direct and profound. Britain has long shielded itself from financial accountability for the transatlantic slave trade by arguing that colonial slavery was a private enterprise – the work of merchants, planters, and trading companies operating with minimal Crown direction. If slavery was primarily a private commercial affair, the argument runs, the modern British state bears limited direct responsibility and the monarchy even less.

Newman’s royal archives dismantle that argument entirely. The Crown was not a bystander to the Caribbean slave system. It was the architect. It granted the monopoly charters. It deployed the Royal Navy. It enforced compliance. It collected the customs revenue. It personally invested in the slave-trading companies. It branded enslaved people with royal marks. And it profited – substantially, directly, and over generations – from the labor of hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans in the Caribbean.

As Newman demonstrates, four centuries of royal silence have only deferred an inevitable reckoning. The Crown’s Silence proves that contemporary demands for reparations are not new claims, but long-overdue accounts waiting to be settled.

The Caribbean’s Moment

The confluence of the Accra conference, the AU’s launch of its Decade on Reparations – 2026 to 2036 – and the publication of The Crown’s Silence arrives at a moment of unprecedented global momentum for the reparatory justice movement. CARICOM’s 10-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice – including formal apologies, the erasure of the unjust debt burden, and financial compensation – carries renewed urgency alongside the archival evidence Newman has now placed in the public record.

Multiple Caribbean nations are actively reassessing their constitutional relationships with the British monarchy and moving toward becoming republics. The question of what Britain owes the Caribbean is no longer merely academic or political. It is, thanks to the royal archives Brooke Newman has examined and published, now undeniably documented. The 19-point framework adopted in Accra calls on all state and non-state institutions that have not yet provided justice for the transatlantic slave trade to offer “full, formal and unconditional apologies as a foundational step towards reconciliation, trust-building and reparatory justice.”

The British monarchy is a state institution. And thanks to The Crown’s Silence, the receipts are now in the public record.

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Supreme Court’s Liberal Justices Say Trump’s Haiti TPS Decision Was Racially Motivated – But It Stands 6-3

June 25, 2026/0 Comments/in news /by

By Staff Reporter | NewsAmericasNow.com

News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C, Thurs. June 25, 2206: The United States Supreme Court today, June 25th, cleared the path for the potential deportation of 350,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians – ruling 6-3 along ideological lines that the Trump administration has the legal authority to end Temporary Protected Status for both groups in the highly watched Haiti TPS case.

The decision comes as the Trump administration has moved to terminate TPS for nationals of 13 out of 17 countries that held the designation when President Biden left office – part of what the administration describes as a broader crackdown on immigration.

For the Haitian diaspora – and particularly for the hundreds of thousands of Haitian Americans who have built lives, careers, and families in the United States under TPS protections – the ruling represents one of the most consequential legal setbacks in recent memory.

The Ruling

Writing for the 6-3 majority, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. held that federal law prohibits courts from second-guessing an administration’s determination to strip TPS protections. “This text is clear, and its plain meaning is very broad,” Alito wrote, as quoted in the ruling.

The court also rejected claims that the administration’s decision to end TPS for Haitians was driven by racial hostility – a finding that drew a blistering response from the court’s three liberal justices.

“The Statements Fairly Shout”

Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the three dissenting justices, quoted extensively from President Trump’s own public statements about Haitian immigrants in making the case that race had entered into the administration’s decision.

The dissent cited Trump’s false accusations during the 2024 campaign that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, ate their neighbors’ pets – a claim that was widely debunked – and his December comments describing Haitian immigrants as undesirable because they come from a “filthy, dirty, disgusting” country.

“The statements fairly shout, in their racial undertones and overtones alike, that race entered into the president’s resolve to remove Haitians from this country,” Kagan wrote, as quoted in the ruling.

The administration’s solicitor general D. John Sauer argued during oral arguments that Trump’s statements were “unilluminating” and referenced poverty and crime rather than race – and that federal law makes clear courts cannot second-guess the government’s TPS decisions regardless of the motivation behind them.

The majority agreed. The dissent did not.

What Temporary Protected Status Is

Viles Dorsainvil (R), Executive Director of the Haitian Support Center, and Associate Pastor Brandon Peterson (C) of Greater Grace Temple in Springfield, Ohio, listen to a prayer outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on March 17, 2026. The US Supreme Court agreed on March 16 to consider the Trump administration’s bid to strip Haitians and Syrians of temporary deportation protections. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced plans to end so-called Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for some 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP via Getty Images)

Temporary Protected Status was created by Congress with bipartisan support in 1990 to provide temporary legal status to people whose home countries were deemed unsafe because of war, natural disasters, or other crises. The program allows TPS holders to live and work legally in the United States for periods of six to 18 months, with no limit on how many times a country’s designation can be renewed.

For Haiti – a country that has faced a devastating earthquake, political instability, and now widespread gang violence that has rendered parts of the country ungovernable – TPS had been repeatedly extended, becoming effectively permanent for hundreds of thousands of Haitian nationals living in the United States.

The program had similarly been extended repeatedly for Syrians, whose country has been consumed by civil war for over a decade.

CAIR REACTS

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants without any judicial review will harm families, destabilize communities, and place vulnerable individuals at risk.

CAIR also expressed disagreement with a conclusion by non-binding plurality of judges that there was likely insufficient evidence to conclude that racism motivated the TPS termination in violation of the Equal Protection Clause.

The ruling clears the way for the administration to end TPS protections for approximately 350,000 Haitians and more than 6,000 Syrians who have been living and working legally in the United States. TPS was created by Congress to protect people from deportation to countries facing war, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions. Haitians first received TPS after the devastating 2010 earthquake, while Syrians were granted TPS in 2012 because of the civil war in their homeland.

Last year, CAIR welcomed a federal court order delaying the Trump administration’s termination of TPS for Syria and warned that forcing Syrians to return prematurely could expose them to danger and family separation.

In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said: “Temporary Protected Status was established to ensure that people are not forced to return to countries facing extraordinary and dangerous conditions. Ending these protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians and thousands of Syrians will tear families apart, disrupt workplaces and communities, and place vulnerable individuals at risk.

“Many TPS holders have lived in our nation for years, raised American children, built businesses, contributed to our economy, and become integral members of their communities. Policies that target these families for deportation because of their race and ethnicity are contrary to our nation’s values.

“Congress should pursue legislative solutions to make clear that courts do indeed have the authority to review TPS termination decisions, to recognize the contributions of TPS recipients, and to protect families from unnecessary hardship and separation.”

What Happens Now

The Supreme Court’s ruling clears a legal path for deportations – but the timeline and process remain complex.

The ability of the government to quickly expel TPS holders will depend significantly on whether individuals already have deportation orders pending. In many instances TPS holders have not received such orders – which will allow them some ability to contest their removal from the country through the immigration court system.

Class action lawsuits had been filed by TPS holders – including engineers, students, doctors, and caregivers – who argued they could be killed if forced to return to Syria or Haiti. Lower court judges had sided with the Haitians and Syrians, finding that the homeland security secretary’s process was subject to court review and that her decisions had been preordained rather than based on meaningful analysis of country conditions.

The Supreme Court overruled those findings Thursday. The ruling is also likely to have significant implications for TPS holders from approximately a dozen other countries beyond Haiti and Syria.

The Broader Context

Thursday’s ruling arrives as part of a sweeping transformation of American immigration policy under the Trump administration – one that has fallen with particular force on Caribbean communities.

The administration has separately halted the resettlement of refugees and dramatically slowed the consideration of asylum claims. It has proposed tougher rules making work permits harder for immigrants to obtain. It has filed denaturalization cases against naturalized American citizens at an unprecedented pace – targeting 200 cases per month. And it has moved to end TPS for nationals of 13 countries.

The Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday – combined with its separate ruling last year allowing the administration to lift protections for more than 300,000 Venezuelans – signals that the legal architecture supporting humanitarian immigration protections is being dismantled with the blessing of the nation’s highest court.

For the 350,000 Haitians who have lived and worked legally in the United States under TPS – many of whom have been here for years, raised children who are American citizens, built businesses, and contributed to their communities – the ruling poses an existential threat to the lives they have built.

What Haitian TPS Holders Should Do Now

Immigration attorneys are urging Haitian TPS holders to take immediate action:

Consult a licensed immigration attorney – not a notario – about your specific situation and any alternative pathways to legal status.

Do not assume you must leave immediately – the process for actual deportation is complex and TPS holders without pending deportation orders retain some ability to contest removal.

Check whether you or your children qualify for other forms of relief – including US-born children, marriage to US citizens, or other visa categories.

Stay informed – the legal situation is evolving rapidly.

Could New Royal Archive Evidence Strengthen CARICOM’s Reparations Case?

June 25, 2026/0 Comments/in news /by

By Senior Staff Writer

NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. June 25, 2026: As Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley pushes a new reparations manifesto and the African Union launches its Decade of Reparations, newly examined historical records are raising fresh questions about Britain’s role in Caribbean slavery and whether the region’s case for reparatory justice may be entering a new phase.

For more than a decade, CARICOM governments have argued that the legacy of slavery continues to shape economic inequality, underdevelopment and social challenges across the Caribbean. Now, a new book by historian Brooke N. Newman, The Crown’s Silence, is adding fresh evidence to that conversation.

Drawing on records from the Royal Archives, the Royal African Company, the South Sea Company and other historical sources, Newman argues that the British monarchy was not merely aware of the transatlantic slave trade but actively invested in, financed and profited from it for generations.

The timing is significant. Last week in Ghana, on Juneteenth in the US, June 19th, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley unveiled an updated reparations manifesto at a conference in Ghana, strengthening CARICOM’s long-standing calls for reparatory justice and introducing new provisions addressing the impact of slavery on women and families.

The manifesto follows growing international attention to reparations after the African Union formally launched its Decade of Reparations (2026-2036), a global initiative aimed at advancing recognition, accountability and repair for the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans.

For supporters of reparatory justice, the significance of Newman’s research lies in its challenge to one of Britain’s long-standing defenses: that slavery was largely the work of private merchants and corporations rather than the state itself. According to Newman, archival records show that successive monarchs invested in and benefited financially from institutions central to the slave trade, potentially strengthening arguments that responsibility extended beyond individual traders to the Crown itself. Newman, reveals that from the 1560s to 1807, the British monarchy didn’t merely permit the transatlantic slave trade – they directly invested in it, designed it, and amassed vast royal wealth from the labor of millions of enslaved Africans.

Whether the findings ultimately alter legal arguments remains to be seen. However, they arrive at a moment when Caribbean governments are increasingly connecting reparations to broader discussions about economic development, climate justice, historical accountability and post-colonial sovereignty.

As several Caribbean nations continue to reassess constitutional ties to the British monarchy and calls for reparatory justice grow louder globally, the debate over history, accountability and repair appears far from over.

The June 19th event took place near a fortress in Accra, Ghana. The site was one of the locations connected to the transatlantic slave trade and served as a backdrop for the commemoration. African and Caribbean leaders are demanding financial compensation, debt cancellation and formal apologies from countries that benefited from the transatlantic slave trade after adopting a sweeping reparations plan at a conference in Ghana.

The 19-point framework calls for financial compensation, debt relief, a Global Reparations Fund and the return of looted cultural artifacts and ancestral remains. It also seeks reforms to international financial institutions that supporters say disadvantage Third World countries. The plan also urges African countries to preserve former slave forts and castles as memorial sites.

The proposal is expected to be presented at the next UN General Assembly as African and Caribbean nations step up a coordinated push for slavery reparations. “We recognize and honor the extensive efforts undertaken over generations by several governments, intergovernmental organizations, our forebearers, individuals and civil society partners across Africa, the Caribbean, the Americas, as well as in Europe and Asia in shaping the global reparations agenda,” the document states. “We adopt this document as a basis for global collaboration and commit to engaging in transparent, constructive and good faith dialogue in advancing reparations and reparatory justice among all state and non-state actors.”

According to advocates, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped and transported aboard European ships between the 15th and 19th centuries. Supporters of reparations argue the effects of slavery continue to be felt across Africa and the Caribbean generations later.

French Court Closes The Door On Justice For Toxic Pesticide Impacted Guadeloupe And Martinique Victims

June 25, 2026/0 Comments/in news /by

By Staff Reporter | NewsAmericasNow.com

News Americas, PARIS, France, Weds. June 24, 2026: A French appeals court has confirmed the dismissal of a landmark criminal case over chlordecone – the toxic pesticide that contaminated more than 90 percent of adults in Guadeloupe and Martinique – effectively closing the door on criminal accountability for one of the Caribbean’s most devastating environmental health scandals.

The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed the dismissal on Monday, June 22, 2026, that was first pronounced in 2023 by two Parisian investigating judges – ending a legal battle that had stretched over 20 years and involved hundreds of victims, farmers, consumer organizations, environmental groups, and public health advocates who had sought criminal accountability from the French state and from the banana industry that used the pesticide.

“It’s a dark, sinister day, since it means that polluters benefit from immunity,” said Christophe Lèguevaques, a lawyer representing the civil parties, as quoted by AFP following Monday’s ruling.

What Is Chlordecone

Chlordecone – also known by its US trade name Kepone – is an organochlorine insecticide that was used intensively on banana plantations in Guadeloupe and Martinique from 1972 to 1993 to combat weevils. The United States Environmental Protection Agency banned the pesticide in 1976. The World Health Organization later classified it as a carcinogen.

France banned chlordecone on the French mainland in 1990 – but continued to allow its use in Guadeloupe and Martinique for three additional years, despite warnings about its dangers. The chemical undergoes no significant degradation in the environment. Scientists estimate that its toxic effects on the soil of the French West Indies will linger for up to 600 years. According to France’s National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety, more than 90 percent of adults in Guadeloupe and Martinique have been contaminated by chlordecone.

The Health Consequences

Research from France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research has established chlordecone as an endocrine disruptor linked to prostate cancer – both islands report some of the world’s highest prostate cancer rates — as well as premature births and developmental issues in children. New research published in October 2025 found that chlordecone also reduces women’s fertility, with those carrying high blood levels found to be 25 to 28 percent less likely to conceive.

In a landmark March 2025 ruling, a French court held the state responsible for the reproductive issues of two women and nine men who developed prostate cancer – acknowledging that France had knowingly exposed them to a toxic pesticide with lifelong consequences. The French government subsequently appealed that decision.

The chemical continues to seep into the soil and water of Guadeloupe and Martinique with each rainfall — contaminating streams, livestock, and crops decades after its use was discontinued.

“The food chain was contaminated,” said Luc Multigner, one of the lead researchers at Inserm who spent two decades studying the pesticide, as quoted in reporting on the crisis. “As a result, contamination wasn’t limited to banana plantation areas only.”

The 20-Year Legal Battle

French lawyer Christophe Leguevaques delivers remarks to journalists in regards to a court decision on health issues allegedly linked to chlordecone persticide use, in a cafe near the Palais de Justice courthouse in Paris, on June 22, 2026. After 20 years of legal proceedings, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld a dismissal of the case on June 22, effectively ruling out any reopening of the criminal investigation into the health scandal involving a pesticide used in the French Caribbean despite warnings about its toxicity. (Photo by Charlotte SIEMON / AFP via Getty Images)

A judicial investigation was opened in Paris in 2008 following complaints filed by farmers, consumer and environmental organizations, and public health advocates. The case reached the courts after years of proceedings before being dismissed in 2023 by two investigating judges who ruled that too much time had elapsed to secure criminal convictions.

In their dismissal, the Parisian magistrates acknowledged a “health scandal” and “environmental damage” that would “affect the daily lives” of residents in the overseas territories “for many years to come” – but cited the difficulty of providing criminal evidence of facts committed 10, 15, or 30 years before the filing of complaints.

Monday’s appeal court ruling confirmed that dismissal – and left victims and their lawyers searching for their next legal avenue.

Victims Vow To Fight On

Despite Monday’s ruling, victims and their legal representatives vowed to continue the fight. “The legal battle will undoubtedly continue before the Court of Cassation,” said Rachid Madid, one of the lawyers for the civil parties, as quoted by AFP – adding that if necessary, the case could ultimately be taken to European courts.

“Like the asbestos victims who ultimately won thanks to their tenacity, we will continue our fight,” said Harry Durimel, a civil party and mayor of Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, as quoted following the ruling.

Durimel told AFP that he had demonstrated that the statute of limitations could not begin to run as long as the poisoning – which he described as “hidden” – continued, expressing optimism about the outcome of a potential Court of Cassation appeal.

“This is a judgment of colonial continuity,” said Philippe Pierre-Charles, spokesperson for the Lyannaj pou dépolyé Matinik collective, as quoted by AFP. “No investigation was carried out on site by the judges, who did not come, did not meet with any victims.”

“It’s a political decision, we can’t say it comes from the justice system,” said Yvon Sérénus, president of the Collective of Agricultural Workers Poisoned by Pesticides, as quoted by AFP. “It’s a strategy of the State: to let people die without compensating them.”

The Legislative Response

Earlier this month, French lawmakers unanimously acknowledged the state’s role in the chlordecone scandal – setting the goal of decontaminating land and water and compensating victims. A law on the recognition of state responsibility gives the government one year to submit a report to Parliament on the terms of compensation. France has also introduced measures including free chlordecone blood tests and government-funded soil testing. A maximum residue limit policy permits food with low chlordecone levels to be sold – an approach criticized by many in Guadeloupe and Martinique.

“They’re trying to contain the problem, not solve it,” said Josiane Jos Pelage, a pediatrician who hosts community meetings to help residents understand chlordecone and its dangers, as quoted in reporting on the crisis. “It’s not ambitious enough.”

“The state is engaging in double-talk,” said Lèguevaques, as quoted in prior reporting. “The president and some ministers have publicly acknowledged the state’s share of responsibility, so why does it bother them when the courts agree?”

What Comes Next

Victims and their lawyers have signaled they will pursue the case before the Court of Cassation – France’s highest court – and potentially before European courts if necessary. The legislative acknowledgment of state responsibility and the March 2025 civil court ruling establishing the state’s liability for specific victims may provide additional legal pathways for compensation, even as the criminal case is closed.

For the more than 400,000 residents of Guadeloupe and Martinique living with chlordecone contamination in their blood, their soil, and their water – contamination that scientists say will persist for centuries – Monday’s ruling represents a closed door. But as their lawyers and advocates made clear outside the Paris courthouse, it is not the end of the road.

RELATED: Windfall Tax Or Nation Building? The Question Antigua and Barbuda Must Answer

The Untold Story Of The Deacons For Defense: The Hidden Guardians Of The Civil Rights Movement

June 23, 2026/0 Comments/in news /by

By Nyan Reynolds

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. June 23, 2026: There are chapters of American history that sit quietly in the shadows, not because they lacked importance, but because remembering them forces society to confront uncomfortable truths. One of those chapters is the story of the Deacons for Defense and Justice in Natchez, Mississippi, freedom fighters whose sacrifices have too often been omitted from the larger Civil Rights narrative.

Who among us has truly heard the story of the Deacons for Defense?

When most people hear the word “deacon,” they immediately associate it with the church, a quiet spiritual figure dressed in Sunday clothes, helping guide worshippers into the sanctuary of God. But long before the term became confined to the walls of the church in the minds of many Americans, there were deacons in places like Natchez, Mississippi, who represented something far greater in the struggle for survival. They were not simply leading people to pews; they were helping lead families through fear. They stood watch while crosses burned in the distance. They guarded homes while children slept. They protected meetings where Black citizens gathered to discuss whether they would live long enough to vote, organize, or demand equality.

These men understood something history often refuses to acknowledge faith alone did not stop bombs from exploding or mobs from gathering outside homes in the middle of the night. In many Southern communities, deacons became protectors of both spirit and body. They prayed with their communities, but they also defended them. Their role extended beyond religion into resistance, survival, discipline, and protection during one of the most dangerous periods in American history.

I must admit that until recently, I had never even heard of Natchez, Mississippi. It was only after watching a Frontline-produced documentary released several years ago that I became aware of the history that unfolded there. And perhaps that is part of the problem with history itself. We walk into bookstores every day, into places like Barnes & Noble, searching through shelves filled with historical texts, biographies, and stories of America, yet somehow places like Natchez rarely enter the conversation. Even for those of us who live in the South or in regions closely connected to that history, many of these stories have slowly faded from public consciousness.

And that is dangerous.

Because when history is omitted, people lose more than information; they lose connection. Entire struggles become invisible. Entire communities disappear from memory. The sacrifices of ordinary people become buried beneath simplified narratives that are easier to teach, easier to market, and easier for society to digest.

That is why this generation of conscious writers, historians, and storytellers carry such an important responsibility. We must learn these stories and tell them honestly, so they are not erased by time.

In places like New York City, the memory of Medgar Evers is honored with a school bearing his name. Americans remember him as a martyr for racial equality and justice after his assassination in 1963. Yet far fewer people know the story of his brother, Charles Evers, who became director of the NAACP field office in Natchez and helped organize Black communities living under the constant threat of racial terror.

Natchez was one of the most dangerous places in America for Black citizens during the Civil Rights era. It reportedly had one of the highest per capita concentrations of Ku Klux Klan membership in the country. Racial violence was not occasional; it was systemic. Black families were harassed, followed, photographed, threatened, and bombed. The Klan attended meetings to intimidate local citizens. Crosses burned not merely as symbols, but as warnings. Churches and homes became targets. Men, women, and children lived with the understanding that their lives could be destroyed simply for demanding basic human dignity.

History is ugly. It is painful. But if historians are willing to expose atrocities committed across the world, then we must also preserve the sovereignty of our own past so future generations understand the magnitude of what people endured for freedoms many now take for granted. To soften the brutality of history is to erase the courage of those who survived it.

The story of the Deacons for Defense challenges the popular perception that the Civil Rights Movement was fought solely through passive resistance. While organizations like the NAACP petitioned for desegregation through legal avenues, communities in Natchez faced an enemy unwilling to surrender white supremacy peacefully. The Klan viewed Black advancement as a threat to the racial order they sought to preserve. Ironically, although the Klan was often the aggressor, they framed themselves as defenders of Southern tradition while terrorizing innocent citizens.

That is one of the greatest problems with history: whoever controls the narrative often controls memory itself.

Figures like James Jackson became central to protecting Black communities because survival itself required organization, discipline, and courage. The Deacons for Defense did not emerge from hatred; they emerged from necessity. They understood that in many Southern towns, local law enforcement either ignored racial violence or actively participated in it. In such an environment, self-defense became intertwined with survival.

The reality is difficult for many Americans to confront because it complicates the sanitized version of history often taught in classrooms. The movement for civil rights was not merely speeches and marches. It was fear. It was bloodshed. It was families sleeping with weapons nearby because they did not know whether their homes would still be standing by morning.

Even today, remnants of that trauma remain embedded in the psychology of Black America. There are older generations of Black citizens who still fear police dogs or instinctively move away from barking dogs in public spaces. Those fears did not emerge from imagination. In places like Natchez and throughout the South, dogs were weaponized to instill terror into the hearts of protesters, organizers, and ordinary citizens fighting simply to exist as equals under the law.

So why are these stories not told more often? Why are the Deacons for Defense treated as a footnote rather than a critical part of American history?

Perhaps because their story forces America to confront the reality that freedom was not handed to Black Americans through goodwill alone. It was fought for economically, politically, spiritually, legally, and sometimes physically.

The citizens of Natchez used multiple methods to force change. They organized boycotts against white-owned businesses, understanding that economics could pressure institutions where morality had failed. When business owners began feeling financial losses, many were eventually forced to reconsider their opposition to civil rights reforms. Economic resistance became a powerful weapon against segregation.

Schools slowly became integrated. Public spaces gradually changed. Progress came, but it came on the backs of people who endured unimaginable suffering. Every gain carried the weight of sacrifice.

The men of the Deacons for Defense were more than historical figures hidden in archives or documentaries. They were defenders. They were protectors of families, communities, dignity, and hope during one of the darkest periods in American history. They were fathers, veterans, laborers, ministers, and ordinary citizens who decided their families deserved protection. Their existence reveals something profound about the American struggle for democracy: oppressed people are often forced to defend freedoms long before society is willing to acknowledge they deserve them.

And that is why these stories matter. American history cannot simply celebrate victories while ignoring the cost of achieving them. The truth about Natchez, Mississippi, and the Deacons for Defense is not comfortable, but history was never meant to comfort us. It was meant to teach us.

And if we fail to tell these stories honestly, future generations may inherit the freedoms won by these men and women without ever understanding the terror they endured to make those freedoms possible.

The defenders of Natchez were amazing human beings who did amazing things in the face of unimaginable fear. They stood between terror and their communities when many institutions refused to do so. Their sacrifices deserve more than a passing mention in documentaries or forgotten footnotes buried within textbooks. They deserve remembrance.

And perhaps remembrance itself is one of the greatest forms of justice we can still offer them today.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Nyan Reynolds is a U.S. Army veteran and published author whose novels and cultural works draw from his Jamaican heritage, military service, and life experiences. His writing blends storytelling, resilience, and heritage to inspire readers.

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Windfall Tax Or Nation Building? The Question Antigua and Barbuda Must Answer

June 23, 2026/0 Comments/in news /by

By Dr. Isaac Newton

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. June 22, 2026: Every generation is confronted by a question that reveals what kind of nation it wishes to become. Antigua and Barbuda’s government now faces one of those questions. Prime Minister Gaston Browne has proposed a windfall tax on exceptionally profitable companies to help fund national development initiatives, including higher education. The debate, however, is not really a question of taxation. The real issue is whether extraordinary wealth created within a society should help create greater opportunities for the people of that society. Before citizens decide whether to support or oppose the proposal, they must first understand what a windfall tax actually is.

Antigua PM Gaston Browne

A windfall tax is an additional tax imposed on profits that are considered unusually high or unexpected. Imagine two farmers. One farmer increases his harvest because he invested in better equipment, worked longer hours, and improved his techniques. The other farmer receives an unusually large harvest because perfect weather conditions produce an exceptional crop. Most people would agree that the first farmer’s success comes primarily from his effort. The second farmer’s success comes partly from circumstances beyond his control. A windfall tax is based on the belief that when companies earn extraordinary profits because of favorable conditions, market advantages, or unusual circumstances, a portion of those gains can be used to advance the public good. The principle is simple. When fortune smiles unusually on a few, society may reasonably ask whether some of that blessing should help the many.

The strongest argument in favor of a windfall tax is fairness. Antigua and Barbuda must continuously invest in education, healthcare, infrastructure, and youth development. These investments require resources. If a nation can raise revenue from exceptionally profitable companies instead of increasing the burden on ordinary workers and struggling families, many citizens see that as fair. Consider a simple example. Suppose a bank earns profits far above its historical average during a particular period. Citizens may reasonably ask whether a small portion of those exceptional profits could help finance scholarships for hundreds of young people who otherwise could not afford higher education. This is where the windfall tax gains its moral force. It attempts to convert concentrated prosperity into shared opportunity. As a nation, we must always remember that wealth has its greatest value when it expands possibilities for others.

Yet fairness is only one part of the story. A wise policy must also pass the test of sustainability. Imagine a family that receives a large inheritance one year. It would be unwise for that family to assume the same inheritance will arrive every year thereafter. Windfall profits are, by definition, exceptional. They may appear one year and disappear the next. If permanent programs become dependent on temporary revenue, future governments may find themselves facing difficult financial choices. This is why economists often warn that unpredictable income should not be treated as permanent income. Revenue may come and go, but obligations remain. The challenge is not collecting the money. The challenge is building a system that remains strong long after the windfall has passed.

The second concern involves investment and economic confidence. Businesses generally do not fear taxes as much as they fear uncertainty. Investors want to know the rules before they commit their capital. If the definition of a windfall is unclear, companies may wonder whether future success will be rewarded or penalized. That uncertainty can discourage investment, expansion, and job creation. This does not mean a windfall tax is inherently wrong. It means the rules must be transparent, objective, and consistently applied. Citizens should evaluate the proposal using four simple questions. Is it fair? Is it transparent? Will it encourage or discourage investment? Will the money be used in a way that produces measurable benefits for future generations? Public policy should never be judged by intentions alone. It must be judged by results.

The better way forward is not to choose between taxation and development. It is to connect them intelligently. A carefully designed excess profits tax could be used during periods of extraordinary profitability, but a significant portion of the revenue should be placed into a protected national education endowment whose investment earnings support future generations. At the same time, tax administration should be strengthened, private sector partnerships expanded, and universities encouraged to develop additional sources of funding. Such an approach transforms temporary gains into permanent opportunity. Ultimately, the debate before Antigua and Barbuda is larger than a tax. It is a question of national vision. The measure of a society is not how much wealth it creates, but what it chooses to do with that wealth. Great nations are not built when money changes hands. Great nations are built when prosperity is transformed into possibility, and possibility is transformed into progress.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Isaac Newton is a leadership strategist and governance expert specializing in ethical leadership, institutional reform, and transformational change. Educated at Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, and Oakwood University, he advises governments, boards, and institutions across the Caribbean and internationally. He is the co author of Steps to Good Governance and coauthor of the forthcoming books Daring to Hope and When Nations Kneel.

What Makes A Caribbean Teacher Unforgettable

Father’s Day – A FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS IN ROOMS HE WILL NEVER ENTER

June 21, 2026/0 Comments/in news /by

By Isaac Newton

News Americas, NY, NY, Sun. June 20, 2026: Happy Father’s Day. A father enters every room his child will one day walk into. That is fatherhood. He shapes a future he will never fully see, yet his presence continues in how his child speaks, decides, and stands under pressure. A child learns life by watching life lived. What is repeated becomes instruction. What is lived in silence becomes formation. What is done when no one is watching becomes an inheritance.

Provision fills a home, but presence forms a person. A child may forget what is given, yet rarely forgets what is shown. Every father writes himself into the future through behavior. He builds rooms he will never enter, influences conversations he will never hear, and prepares decisions he will never witness. Still, those rooms open, and when they do, something familiar appears first: a tone, a response, a way of standing when life becomes heavy. These patterns are absorbed in daily life and repeated without awareness. This is how fathers remain present after they are gone, in rhythm, repetition, and reflection.

Every father leaves something behind. The issue is what that becomes when life grows larger than childhood. Every child eventually steps into rooms their father will never enter, and in those rooms something always speaks first. That voice is the echo of a life once lived beside theirs. A father continues forward in his child long after he stops walking himself. That is fatherhood: a life that keeps moving after the man has stopped, a voice that keeps speaking after silence, a presence that keeps shaping rooms he will never enter.

The measure of fatherhood is not what is given in a moment, but what endures in movement across time. It is seen in what a child becomes when pressure arrives and no instruction is present, only memory. It is revealed in how they respond when life feels unfamiliar yet strangely known. A father is never only remembered. He is repeated. And in that repetition, he continues to live, quietly shaping futures he will never see.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Isaac Newton is a leadership strategist and governance expert specializing in ethical leadership, institutional reform, and transformational change. Educated at Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, and Oakwood University, he advises governments, boards, and institutions across the Caribbean and internationally. He is the co-author of Steps to Good Governance and co-author of the forthcoming books Daring to Hope and When Nations Kneel.

What Makes A Caribbean Teacher Unforgettable

Nationals From Four Caribbean Countries Among New York City’s Top Ten Immigrant Groups

June 18, 2026/0 Comments/in news /by

By Staff Reporter | NewsAmericasNow.com

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. June 18, 2026: Nationals from four Caribbean countries – Jamaica, Guyana, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago – remain among New York City’s ten largest immigrant groups, according to the 2026 edition of The Newest New Yorkers, the city’s most comprehensive portrait of its foreign-born residents in over a decade, released this week by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration.

The report, the first update since 2013, found that New York City’s overall immigrant population remains steady at roughly 3.1 million – more than one-third of the city’s residents and 43 percent of its workforce. Within that population, the four Caribbean nations have maintained an unbroken presence in the city’s top ten foreign-born groups for more than three decades, a continuity the report’s authors describe as evidence of the “large footprint of non-Hispanic Caribbean immigrants in the city.”

Jamaica – Third Largest Immigrant Group In The New York City

New York City was home to 162,490 Jamaican immigrants in 2023, making Jamaicans the third largest foreign-born group in the city overall – a ranking Jamaica has held continuously since 1990, even as its population declined nearly 6 percent over the past decade.

The geography of Jamaican settlement has shifted. A decade ago, Jamaican immigrants were heavily concentrated in Brooklyn. Today they are spread relatively evenly across Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, and the report projects that if current trends continue, Queens will overtake Brooklyn as home to the city’s largest Jamaican population within the next decade.

East Flatbush in Central Brooklyn remains the largest single Jamaican enclave, home to 16,722 Jamaican-born residents – about 10 percent of the citywide total. Canarsie, Flatbush, and Crown Heights each have more than 5,000 Jamaican residents. Southeastern Queens has emerged as an equally significant center, with Springfield Gardens and St. Albans each home to roughly 9,000 Jamaican immigrants.

Guyana – Nearly Half Of All US Guyanese Live In New York City

Guyana’s relationship with New York is unlike that of almost any other immigrant group in the report. Nearly one-half of every Guyanese immigrant living anywhere in the United States has chosen to make New York City their home – the highest such concentration of any country among the city’s top 20 foreign-born groups.

New York’s 129,004 Guyanese immigrants rank as the city’s fifth largest foreign-born group, a position unchanged over the past decade despite a population decline of roughly 6 percent. Fifty-nine percent of that population – 76,698 people – live in Queens.

South Ozone Park stands as the center of Guyanese New York, home to 22,791 Guyanese-born residents in an area long known informally as “Little Guyana,” with a section of Liberty Avenue carrying the name itself. Nearby Richmond Hill, Baisley Park, Queens Village, St. Albans, and South Jamaica form a continuous corridor of Guyanese settlement stretching from Central Brooklyn into Southeastern Queens.

Haiti And Trinidad And Tobago – A Smaller But Resilient Presence

Haiti’s New York-born population stood at 84,120 in 2023, ranking eighth among the city’s foreign-born groups, while Trinidad and Tobago’s population of 69,332 ranked tenth. Both nations have seen their New York populations decline modestly over the past decade — Haiti by roughly 3 percent and Trinidad and Tobago by nearly 14 percent – even as both have held an unbroken position in the city’s top ten immigrant groups for more than three decades.

The report notes that Haitian immigrants have dispersed dramatically beyond New York since 1970, when 72 percent of all Haitian immigrants in the United States lived in the city. By 2023, that share had fallen to under 11 percent, reflecting the growth of Haitian communities in Florida and elsewhere even as New York retains a substantial and historically rooted Haitian population.

The Bigger Picture

Together, Jamaica, Guyana, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago accounted for 533,515 New Yorkers as of 2023 – the city’s broader “non-Hispanic Caribbean” population, now representing 17 percent of all foreign-born New Yorkers, down from 19 percent a decade earlier. The decline reflects not a disappearing community but a shifting one, as growth among other immigrant groups, particularly from Asia, has outpaced the Caribbean’s more modest population changes.

“Immigrant New Yorkers are writing the future of this city every day,” Mayor Mamdani said in releasing the report. “From the neighborhoods they have built to the small businesses that have opened, from the languages they speak to the communities they sustain, immigrants make New York the city that it is.”

For the Caribbean diaspora and CARIBID, the data confirms what generations of New Yorkers from these four nations have long understood — that despite shifting numbers and shifting neighborhoods, their place among the city’s defining immigrant communities remains firmly intact.

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Exxon To Recover $55 Billion From Guyana – The Median Guyanese Worker Earns $239 A Month

June 17, 2026/0 Comments/in news /by

By Staff Reporter | NewsAmericasNow.com

News Americas, GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Weds. June 17, 2026: ExxonMobil’s consortium operating Guyana’s Stabroek Block is on track to fully recover its entire $55 billion investment program by mid-2026 – years ahead of original projections – as oil production surges past 900,000 barrels per day and accelerates toward 1 million.

By any measure of national accounting, Guyana is one of the fastest growing economies on Earth. The International Monetary Fund projects 2026 GDP growth of 16.2 percent. GDP per capita has reached $33,167 – a staggering 22.9 percent increase from 2025. Nominal GDP now stands at $33.96 billion for a population of just 840,890 people.

By almost every other measure that matters to ordinary Guyanese families, the oil boom has not yet arrived at their kitchen tables.

The Cost Recovery Acceleration

As of the end of 2025, ExxonMobil’s Guyana operation had banked $55 billion in recoverable costs, of which $51 billion had already been recovered, according to John Colling, ExxonMobil Guyana’s Vice President and Business Services Manager, speaking to reporters as quoted by OilNOW.

“Recovery of those costs could occur sooner than originally anticipated, and that very well likely could be this year, sometime in the second half,” Colling said, as quoted by OilNOW.

Under Guyana’s Production Sharing Agreement, the ExxonMobil-led consortium – alongside partners Hess and CNOOC – can recover up to 75 percent of monthly oil production as cost oil before remaining production is classified as profit oil and split equally with the government. A 2 percent royalty on all production is additional. Once that cost recovery ceiling is exhausted, Guyana’s effective share of production revenue increases substantially – a structural shift that Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has previously signaled the government expects.

The Production Numbers

The Stabroek Block currently produces over 900,000 barrels per day across four operating projects – Liza 1, Liza 2, Payara, and Yellowtail – with the Uaru project expected to commence production later in 2026, pushing total output above 1 million barrels per day.

ExxonMobil has also submitted for authorization a new exploration and appraisal program for the Stabroek Block that could result in drilling as many as 35 additional wells, according to Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency. That drilling is slated to begin in 2028 and run through the end of 2033 – positioning Guyana’s oil sector for installed capacity expansion to 1.7 million barrels per day by 2030.

ExxonMobil operates the block with a 45 percent stake, alongside Chevron at 30 percent and China’s CNOOC at 25 percent.

Why Guyana’s Oil Matters Globally

Guyana’s fiscal windfall arrives as global refining fundamentals shift decisively in its favor. European and North American refiners have substantially increased imports of Guyanese crude, drawn by the light sweet characteristics of Stabroek production. Asian refiners have similarly pivoted toward Guyanese supply as an alternative to Persian Gulf constraints – with India increasing crude purchases to approximately 297,000 barrels per day in January, before Middle East tensions escalated further.

Guyana has positioned itself as a structural beneficiary of Western Hemisphere energy security strategy – a small Caribbean nation now central to global refining supply diversification.

The Other Guyana – Living Hand To Mouth

But behind the extraordinary macroeconomic numbers lies a far more difficult reality for ordinary Guyanese families. Guyana’s national minimum wage in 2026 stands at G$60,146 monthly – approximately US$287. The median monthly income across the formal sector is roughly G$50,000 – approximately US$239. The average gross monthly salary is G$100,000, or roughly US$478.

Meanwhile, the basic cost of living in Georgetown tells a starkly different story than the national GDP figures suggest. A single person requires approximately $900 to $1,200 USD per month to live in Georgetown, excluding rent – and a family of four needs $2,800 to $3,400 USD monthly. Rent alone for a standard one to two bedroom apartment runs $500 to $1,000 or more, with properties in expat neighborhoods exceeding $2,000.

In other words: the average Guyanese worker earning the median salary of roughly $239 a month is being asked to survive in a capital city where basic monthly expenses for a single person start at $900 – nearly four times their monthly income. Annual inflation has also been climbing – rising to 3.4 percent year-over-year in April 2026, the highest reading since January, driven primarily by elevated food costs. The IMF projects inflation to stabilize around 4.1 percent annually – adding further pressure to household budgets that are already stretched thin.

The Inequality Behind The Boom

Guyana’s GDP per capita figure of $33,167 – while genuinely extraordinary on paper – obscures one of the most significant income inequality gaps in the Caribbean. The gap between Georgetown’s oil-driven economic boom and conditions in rural and hinterland regions remains stark, with poverty widespread despite headline GDP growth figures.

Teachers and public servants have received incremental relief – a 9 percent increase in 2026 as part of a multi-year collective bargaining agreement, achieving a compound increase of at least 57 percent over the 2021-2026 period. But for the majority of Guyanese workers in agriculture, mining, and services – sectors that remain the backbone of formal employment despite the oil sector’s dominance of GDP – wages have not kept pace with the cost of living increases driven by the oil boom itself.

The housing boom driven by oil wealth and foreign workers has pushed Georgetown rental costs to levels that price out ordinary Guyanese families – even as the country’s GDP figures suggest unprecedented national prosperity.

The Question Guyana Must Answer

As ExxonMobil prepares to fully recover its $55 billion investment – years ahead of schedule – and as Guyana’s share of oil revenue is set to increase substantially in the back half of 2026, the central question facing the country’s leadership is whether that windfall will finally reach the Guyanese families currently living hand to mouth in the shadow of one of the most consequential oil discoveries in modern history.

The numbers say Guyana is booming. The lived experience of ordinary Guyanese workers earning $239 a month in a capital city where basic survival costs $900 says something very different.