BELMOPAN, Belize – The construction phase of major improvement to the essential arterial route that links Belize City to the Mexican border has officially gotten off the ground.

WASHINGTON, D.C - Afro-Latinos are a growing part of the Black immigrant population in the US and now make up about 2 percent of the U.S. adult population.

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves says Venezuela has agreed to cancel St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ debt under PetroCaribe, its oil initiative with Latin American and Caribbean countries.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley Thursday said he is hoping in the “not too distant future” CARICOM leaders will adopt a position on attending the Summit of the Americas in the United States, as the division continues as to whether the region should boycott the event if Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are not officially invited.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping Tuesday said it is “deeply concerned” at the recommendations by a one man Commission of Inquiry that called for the British Virgin Islands  (BVI) government cease to exist in its current format for at least two years.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Deputy Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Dr. Armstrong Alexis says CARICOM countries do not have structures, policies and resources to effectively cushion the impact from any major disaster through emergency relief grants or unemployment payments.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders are pondering whether they will participate in the Ninth Summit of the Americas to be held in the United States next month, should Washington extend an invitation to Venezuelan Opposition Leader Juan Guaidó while also leaving of Miguel Díaz-Canel of Cuba.

SANTIAGO, Chile – The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says its Acting Executive Secretary Mario Cimoli and the European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, have underscored the importance of strengthening and deepening their ties of bi-regional cooperation in the complex global context caused by the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders were on Wednesday meeting with a delegation from the United States House Committee on Financial Service aimed at reversing the damage caused by decades of loss of corresponding banking, de-risking and deteriorating financial access.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua –Prime Minister Gaston Browne says he hopes last week’s discussions between United States Vice President, Kamala Harris and several CARICOM leaders will not turn out to be another occasion of “diplomatic exercises”.

HAVANA, Cuba – Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit was awarded the Order of Jose Marti on Tuesday night, noting that the Cuban revolution is no longer one of guns but one of ideas, “which seeks to elevate the dominant principle of our world as the dignity of the human person”.

KINGSTON, Jamaica– The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) will be commencing Jamaica’s 15th National Population and Housing Census in September.