Caribbean Week in Review: 30 October – 5 November 2026

A King in the Caribbean, two elections, a new governor in St Thomas and a drought warning for half the region. Here's your week, island by island.

Top story: the "reparations CHOGM"

Commonwealth leaders met in St John's, Antigua, from 1 to 4 November, at a summit the CARICOM Reparations Commission had dubbed the "reparations CHOGM". Opening the meeting on Tuesday, King Charles III called the transatlantic slave trade a "shameful chapter of history", though he did not offer a formal apology.

The bigger shift came from London. Caribbean leaders welcomed British Prime Minister Andy Burnham's openness to considering a formal apology. Dr Ralph Gonsalves, former Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, called it a positive move but said Britain was coming to the table "kicking and screaming". St Lucia's Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre pointed to CARICOM's 10-Point Plan, of which a formal apology is only the first step.

Why it matters: an apology is now on the table. Cash reparations are not, and the UK has repeated it will not pay them. The fight now moves to what "reparatory justice" means in practice.

Ballot boxes

Grenada voted today for all 15 seats. Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell's NDC is defending a 9–6 majority against Emmalin Pierre's NNP, with Peter David's new Democratic People's Movement also in the race. Polls closed at 5pm local time and results are expected overnight. (See our full piece, "Grenada at the Ballot Box.")

US Virgin Islands made history on Tuesday. Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett was elected the territory's first woman governor, with running mate Milton Potter. Former senator Janelle Sarauw won Plaskett's old seat in Congress by a landslide. The new administration has already hit turbulence: Plaskett's transition chief of staff has a federal bribery conviction, which she defended by saying he has served his sentence. She also plans to declare a state of emergency over the Water and Power Authority when she takes office in January.

Meanwhile, in Washington: the AP projects that Democrats have regained control of the US Senate in the midterms, which matters for diaspora voters and for Caribbean issues from deportations to tariffs.

The Bahamas

• Royal welcome. The Governor-General welcomed King Charles III "home" to The Bahamas after 53 years, at the start of his Caribbean tour.
• Davis takes on Big Tech. Prime Minister Philip Davis urged Commonwealth nations to negotiate as a bloc with global technology giants, warning small economies risk losing control of their citizens' data and missing out on AI-driven opportunities.
• Two air tragedies. Search teams found wreckage of a small plane that went missing between Exuma and Nassau; the pilot remains missing. Separately, a private jet bound for Eleuthera crashed in Florida, killing nine people.
• Lights out on Guana Cay. North Guana Cay residents have been without power for about ten days after Bahamas Power & Light sent a replacement generator meant for them to Man-O-War Cay instead.
• Freeport's future. A public consultation has opened on a new framework for Grand Bahama, as the Grand Bahama Port Authority's co-chair warned that a new framework alone will not fix Freeport.

Around the islands

• British Virgin Islands: signed a financial services memorandum with Hong Kong, welcomed its first cruise call of the 2026/27 season, and opens BVI Lit Fest today, four days of Caribbean authors and poets. Residents are also demanding urgent repairs to the Beef Island Bridge after concrete was seen chipping from its underside.
• USVI: the CDC now requires Ebola travel declarations from passengers flying in from abroad.
• Barbados: FLOW's broadband price rises of up to $10 took effect on 1 November after the Fair Trading Commission approved them.
• Trinidad and Tobago: a multi-million-dollar deal ended a nine-year wage dispute at the power company.
• Dominica: the Caribbean Development Bank approved funding to strengthen the island's economic and climate resilience.
• St Lucia: LUCELEC has secured land for a solar project to cut reliance on imported fuel.
• Belize: a proposed undersea cable linking Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras would cross part of the protected Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve, setting connectivity against conservation.
• Haiti: Royal Caribbean ships will keep skipping Labadee until mid-2028, a long-term blow to one of Haiti's few tourism earners.
• Jamaica: Mystic Mountain and Appleton Estate topped the Tourism Excellence Awards.

Weather watch: drought ahead

The hurricane season may be winding down, but the Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum warns a very strong El Niño could deepen drought through January. Long-term drought is imminent in St Lucia and developing in the ABC Islands, Antigua, the northern Bahamas, northern Belize and the US Virgin Islands, with Grand Cayman, Grenada, Martinique, St Vincent and Tobago also at risk. Coral bleaching is likely around The Bahamas and the Greater Antilles through December. Closer in, forecasters are watching a possible subtropical system between The Bahamas and Bermuda this weekend.

The week ahead

• Grenada's result and the shape of its next government.
• USVI transition: watch the Plaskett team's early appointments and the power utility emergency.
• BVI Lit Fest runs until Sunday 8 November.
• Bahamas Bonefishing Tournament in George Town, Exuma, from 10 to 15 November.

What was your biggest Caribbean story this week? Tell us in the comments on Kingstonmouth.com.

Sources

• PACNEWS (AP) – King Charles's CHOGM opening speech
• Jamaica Observer – 'Kicking and screaming!'
• Jamaica Gleaner – Eyes on reparations as King visits Caribbean
• Latin Times – CHOGM 2026 and reparations
• Caribbean Life – Grenada election date
• Virgin Islands Daily News – Plaskett elected first female governor
• Virgin Islands Consortium – USVI election, transition and CDC news
• Virgin Islands News Online – BVI and USVI news
• Bahamas Government – Royal visit
• Eye Witness News – Davis on Big Tech
• Bahamas Press – Missing aircraft and Learjet crash
• The Tribune – North Guana Cay power outage
• Our News – Freeport framework and plane search
• ICT Pulse – Barbados FLOW prices and Belize cable
• Caribbean Today – Dominica CDB funding, T&T power wage deal
• Royal Caribbean Blog – Labadee stops cancelled to 2028
• Jamaica Observer – Drought warning
• AccuWeather via Yahoo – Bahamas–Bermuda system
• GlobeNewswire – Bahamas winter events