The Caribbean Pop Da News: Bahamas & Caribbean Roundup – Tuesday, October 13, 2026

🎧 Listen to today’s newscast

Good evening, Caribbean family, and welcome to The Caribbean Pop Da News on LOL242! Pull up a chair. We have a lot to get through today, from Nassau to Port-au-Prince. As always, we start at home.

🇧🇸 The Bahamas

$412m GB Power debt worries. Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce president Ralph Hepburn says taxpayers could end up “saddled” with almost $412 million in borrowings tied to Grand Bahama Power Company. A borrowing resolution tabled in the House last week would turn the $200m the government borrowed for the acquisition into direct taxpayer debt, and would also move $131.82m in legacy GB Power loans onto the public books. Hepburn also called it “shocking” that the utility still has not received the $80m in capital works funding Parliament approved before the May 12 election. That’s a lot of zeros, folks. Source: The Tribune 1,300 police promotions under scrutiny. National Security Minister Myles Laroda defended last week’s promotion of about 1,300 Royal Bahamas Police Force officers: 800 regular officers and 500 reserve officers, from corporal up to chief superintendent. The list hasn’t been made public. Some promotions have raised questions, including that of Jerone Thompson, who was moved up to assistant superintendent despite a court case over his conduct that ended in a $103,000 damages award against the government. Opposition leader Michael Pintard wants those kinds of cases weighed before anyone is promoted. Source: The Tribune Mental health halfway house coming? Nearly four years after the Mental Health Act 2022 passed, Health Minister Dr Michael Darville says the government is close to settling on a location for a halfway house for people with severe, chronic mental illness. He expects an announcement before the end of the year. Separately, the ministry plans to seek Cabinet approval to buy two safe houses, one for men and one for women. Source: The Tribune 425 national honourees. Some good news to round out the home segment: 425 people received national honours at the 2026 National Investiture Awards, conferred by Governor-General Dame Cynthia Pratt. More than 200 received the Distinguished Service Medal and 17 were honoured posthumously. PM Philip “Brave” Davis told young Bahamians, “Nation-building is not the work of government alone.” Congratulations to all! Source: The Tribune 70 marine protected areas assessed. The Bahamas Project for Marine Conservation has finished assessing 70 Marine Protected Areas using the international METT tool, working with the BNT, Marine Resources, DEPP and others. A workshop at the end of October will set priorities for a climate-smart management plan. Source: Our News

🇯🇲 Jamaica

Third-country nationals programme starts. The first flight under the controversial Kingston–Washington agreement was expected to arrive today, according to Jamaica Observer sources. Under the June agreement, up to 25 asylum seekers with unresolved US migration cases can transit through Jamaica every two weeks on their way home. The government says Jamaica won’t fund the programme, that no one with criminal antecedents will be allowed to transit, and that the IOM will assist the people involved. Source: Jamaica Observer Tourism bouncing back after Melissa. Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett expects the sector to reach 88% recovery by December and full recovery by May 2027, a year after Hurricane Melissa. He says 1.3 million airline seats are coming this winter, 23% more than in 2025. Insurers have paid out $54.35 billion in property and motor claims, an 89.5% settlement rate. Source: Jamaica Observer Haitian detentions probed. Police are investigating a possible human-smuggling link after three operations between Sept 29 and Oct 9 led to the detention of 22 Haitian nationals in Portland, St Mary and St Ann. Source: Caribbean360

🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago

“We will restart the refinery.” Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo delivered a TT$63.3 billion budget on Monday and announced a phased restart of the Guaracara (Petrotrin) refinery at Pointe-a-Pierre, which was shut down in 2018. The government is evaluating proposals from a shortlist of local and international investors. Source: Jamaica Observer / CMC Special Operations Act fight. The opposition PNM is threatening legal action over the Special Operations Act 2026, which took effect on Oct 6. The dispute is over the Prime Minister’s role in choosing who leads operations. PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar has said the operations will be carried out in constituencies held by the governing coalition. Source: Caribbean Today / CMC

🇧🇧 Barbados

AI by 2035. Education Minister Chad Blackman says Barbados will need a “significant retooling” to keep up with AI over the next decade, and that the effort has to be regional. Source: Bajan Reporter Terrorism warning, 50 years after Cubana 455. CARICOM Ambassador David Comissiong says the region can’t treat terrorism as a distant problem. He represented CARICOM ambassadors at the anniversary commemoration in Havana. Source: CBC Barbados In court: An 18-year-old charged with robbery, escaping custody from Black Rock Police Station and stealing government handcuffs has been remanded until Nov 9. Source: Barbados Today

🇭🇹 Haiti

Elections postponed indefinitely. Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council has scrapped the Dec 13 date for the first round of the country’s first elections in a decade. A new calendar will be published “as soon as possible,” and candidate registration has been extended to Oct 31. Gang violence has blocked registration centres and the delivery of election materials. Source: France 24 · Caribbean Life UN adds US$75m in aid. The money will fund 10 projects in the Ouest, Centre and Artibonite departments, reaching more than 500,000 people. The UN says more than six million Haitians need help and 1.5 million are displaced. Source: Jamaica Observer / CMC Digicel outage #3. Haiti had its third internet outage in under a month. Digicel blames gunfire damage to fibre links along Route Nationale 1. Source: The Haitian Times

🇨🇺 Cuba

Oil sector opens to private firms. New rules let private domestic and foreign companies explore for and produce oil and gas under contracts of up to 50 years, starting Oct 19. Source: UPI

🇩🇴 Dominican Republic

Rain alert and a coconut cocaine bust. The COE has put seven provinces and the Distrito Nacional on green alert for heavy downpours. Separately, the DNCD seized 172 sheets of cocaine hidden in boxes of coconuts at Caucedo port. Source: El Día · El Día

🇵🇷 Puerto Rico

Bird flu confirmed. Bird flu has been confirmed in Cabo Rojo and Lajas, and 120-day quarantines are in place. Source: The Rio Times

🌤️ Caribbean Weather

Good news for the weekend planners: as of 8 AM EDT Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center says there are no tropical cyclones in the Atlantic. The only system it’s watching is a disorganized low west-northwest of Cabo Verde, with a near 0% chance of development over 7 days. Closer to home, an upper-level low is bringing scattered showers and thunderstorms to the central Caribbean. Expect moderate to fresh east to southeast winds and moderate seas through midweek, with winds picking up again late in the week. Mariners in the central Caribbean have seen seas of 7–8 ft. Source: NHC That’s The Caribbean Pop Da News  for now. Stay safe, stay informed, and we’ll see you in four hours! And from our anchor desk: This news was sponsored by PayDat LLC and researched by Michael Elijah Muhammad Clare.