KINGSTON, Jamaica - Readers of these columns are well aware that we have always been critical of the undemocratic actions of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. For we hold firmly to the view that democracy demands the co-existence of opposing views, and people should not be punished for dissent....

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - With the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez 17 Caribbean countries face a heightened period of economic uncertainty, Sir Ronald Sanders, a business executive and former Caribbean diplomat, said in an opinion piece published yesterday. He said these countries have be...

WASHINGTON, CMC – The United States on Wednesday joined the global community in expressing sadness over the passing of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Chávez, the firebrand socialist and avowed enemy of the United States who transformed politics in his native country, died Tue...

CARACAS --  Hundreds of thousands of President Hugo Chávez’s followers waited hours in a three-mile-long line Thursday to file past the late leader’s coffin as Cuban leader Raúl Castro and other presidents arrived to attend Friday’s state funeral. Castro’s...

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller is heading a high-level team of Jamaicans who will travel to Caracas, Venezuela, today to attend the funeral for that nation's late president, Hugo Chávez. Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell and Foreign Affairs Minister A.J. Nicholson...

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar will be in Venezuela today to attend the funeral of president Hugo Chavez. Persad-Bissessar left Trinidad at 4.30 p.m. yesterday for Caracas and is scheduled to return home later today. Chavez's funeral is scheduled to take place at...

HAMILTON, Bermuda, CMC - Bermuda's MPs have passed a resolution giving cabinet ministers a 10 per cent pay cut effective April 1. “It’s more symbolic than substantive,” Premier Craig Cannonier said, noting that the overall saving was relatively small. “But in our present...

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Pungent fumes drifting over Antigua from Montserrat’s volcano sparked alarm yesterday, prompting disaster chiefs to issue a health alert. The National Office of Disaster Services (NODS) told OBSERVER media that staff had received a number of calls from concerne...

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – A regional expert on earthquakes said residents should not fear the natural happening, but rather, prepare for its inevitable arrival. Following the revelation that two minor earthquakes hit near to Antigua & Barbuda in the last two days, Director of the Seismic...

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Both houses of the Barbados Parliament have been constituted and the Throne Speech has been delivered as the new administration sits down to begin its business in what is going to be an interesting period of our parliamentary life. One aspect of being a responsible paper is th...