GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC)- The Caribbean Community (Caricom) is mourning the passing of former President of the Republic of Suriname, Runaldo Ronald Venetiaan. In a statement, Caricom said Venetiaan was a distinguished statesman who dedicated a significant portion of his life to public service and was also a strong advocate for Caribbean regional integration. “Under his leadership, Suriname took steps towards full membership in Caricom, motivated by a deep belief in the Community’s ideals and obj...

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) -- French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that any effort to combat drug trafficking must respect the sovereignty of all nations, in a veiled criticism of the controversial US anti-narcotics campaign in the Caribbean and the Pacific. The French leader, who arrived in Mexico at the end of a mini-tour of Latin America, made the comment during a joint press conference with his Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum when asked about the US operations and reports on eve...

MBABANE, Eswatini (AFP) -- Few places in the small African kingdom of Eswatini have a more feared reputation than the Matsapha Correctional Centre, a high-security sprawl of concrete and rust outside the capital, Mbabane. "It's like a jungle," a former detainee told AFP of the prison that is holding 14 men deported from the United States in the Trump administration's crackdown on migrants. For decades, the prison has embodied the repressive policies of the southern African nation, routinely used...

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) -- Roberto Mosquera's family had no trace of him for a month after he was arrested by US immigration agents, until a government social media post revealed he had been deported to Africa's last absolute monarchy. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had picked up the 58-year-old Cuban at a routine check-in with immigration officials on June 13 in Miramar, Florida, said Ada, a close family friend, who spoke to AFP under a pseudonym for fear of US govern...

Jamaican football icon Allan “Skill” Cole was laid to rest recently, drawing hundreds to watch him for one final time at a funeral inside the National Arena. Like he did in life, the revered Cole, arguably Jamaica’s most talented footballer who made his senior national team debut as a 15-year-old, brought the Rastafarian, sporting and music communities together at the memorial service. The Jamaica Observer was at the Arena to witness the occasion. See some highlights in the photo gallery below....

LAS CUEVAS, Trinidad and Tobago (AFP) -- Trinidad and Tobago was in shock Thursday over the reported deaths of two local men in a US strike on a suspected drug boat, the latest of Venezuela's neighbours to become sucked into Washington's pressure campaign. "Are we in Israel or in Afghanistan? This is the Caribbean; here is peace and love," a fisherman in the Trinidadian village of Las Cuevas told AFP in a thick drawl after Tuesday's strike on a boat allegedly ferrying drugs from Venezuela. Polic...