Caribbean Week in Review: 6 – 13 November 2026

13 November 2026 · Donovan Reynolds

A landmark ruling in London, a landslide in St George’s, drone strikes in Port-au-Prince and the region’s climate diplomats in Türkiye. Here’s your week, island by island.

Top story: Privy Council strikes down Trinidad’s buggery law

On Tuesday 10 November, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled unanimously for Jason Jones, the Trinidad-born activist who challenged the laws criminalising consensual same-sex relations between adults. The Law Lords allowed his appeal and threw out the Attorney General’s cross-appeal.

The legal heart of the case was the “savings clause”, which shields laws in force before the 1976 Constitution from fundamental-rights challenges. The Court of Appeal had relied on it in March 2025 to put the law back on the books. The Privy Council disagreed: it held that the 1986 Sexual Offences Act was a new, comprehensive regime, not a saved colonial law, so it can be tested against the Constitution’s protection of human dignity and family life.

Jones, now 62 and living in Britain, began the case in February 2017. His counsel, former Attorney General Anand Ramlogan SC, called it a “landmark victory for gay rights”. Jones welcomed the win but said colonial-era laws still deny LGBTQ+ people equality across the Commonwealth. Activists now want Parliament to amend the Act.

Why it matters: the savings clause has protected inherited anti-gay laws across the region. This ruling shows a law re-enacted after independence can lose that shield, which will be studied closely in Jamaica and other states that still keep the Privy Council or have similar clauses.

Grenada: a 14–1 landslide

Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell’s NDC won 14 of the 15 seats in last Thursday’s election, up from nine in 2022. It is the first time since the party’s founding in 1987 that it has won a second consecutive term. The NNP, under Emmalin Pierre in her first election as leader, held only St George North-West, the seat Keith Mitchell represented for 42 years.

Provisional figures give the NDC 61% of valid votes to the NNP’s 36.8%, on a 63.3% turnout, lower than in 2022. Barbadian analyst Peter Wickham called the poll free, fair and peaceful. Sworn in for a second term, Mitchell called for national unity and said the victory belonged to the people of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Leaders from Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States sent congratulations.

Haiti: drones, a dead gang boss and a peace feeler

Haiti’s Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé confirmed on Friday 6 November that Mathias Saintil, leader of the Boston gang in Cité Soleil, was dead after coordinated operations across five communes using explosive drones. Police said he died of gunshot wounds; other accounts point to a drone strike. “One less gang leader,” Fils-Aimé posted.

The same day, the 400 Mawozo gang, whose leader Wilson Joseph survived the bombing of his home, said it had contacted the state disarmament commission seeking peace and reconciliation. The offensive involves Haitian police, the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force and more than 2,000 Salvadoran troops. Human rights groups are warning about civilian casualties from drone strikes.

On the political track, police set a 23 November deadline for presidential and parliamentary candidates to file for police certificates ahead of the long-delayed elections, and the World Bank outlined a 12-month reform plan to support recovery.

COP31: the Caribbean negotiates as its own bloc

The UN climate conference opened in Antalya, Türkiye, on 9 November and runs to 20 November. For the first time, CARICOM is negotiating as a separate group, after heads of government voted in July to step out from the much larger G77 and China. Climate envoy James Fletcher has pointed to the gap between need and money: Hurricane Melissa alone did about US$12 billion of damage in Jamaica, while the UN loss and damage fund has around US$820 million in pledges.

• St Kitts and Nevis launched a national loss and damage strategy at the summit, billed as a Caribbean first.
• St Lucia: Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre urged faster global action to hold warming to 1.5°C.
• The Bahamas: Prime Minister Philip Davis brought three youth climate ambassadors, saying young people “belong in this room”. He also nominated Justice Cheryl Bazard as Secretary-General of the Commission of Small Island States, which works on climate change and international law.

The Bahamas at home

Dr Daniel Johnson was sworn in at Government House as High Commissioner-designate to the Court of St James’s, giving The Bahamas a new envoy in London.

US Virgin Islands: a bumpy transition

• Ethics first. Governor-elect Stacey Plaskett says she will send sweeping ethics legislation to the Legislature on her first day in office.
• Controversial aide steps back. Dean Plaskett, whose federal corruption conviction caused a backlash when he was named to the transition team, is returning to his job at the Port Authority. Plaskett had said his chief-of-staff role was only temporary.
• Power fight. Plaskett accused the Water and Power Authority of failing to pursue a US Department of Energy emergency offer, as WAPA warned of worsening outages on St Thomas and St John.
• Good news on investment: the US Treasury approved all 18 of the territory’s census tracts for the next round of federal Opportunity Zones.
• Violence: two killings this week, on St John and St Croix, took the territory’s homicide count to 48.

Around the islands

• Jamaica: the National Water Commission paid out only about a third of the compensation owed for 14,817 service breaches, leaving customers short by about J$50 million. Meanwhile, Mitchell Town in Clarendon has been named as the site of what could be the Caribbean’s largest aquaculture business.
• Trinidad and Tobago: the government announced fresh drills with the US Marine Corps’ 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit from 16 to 21 November, a sensitive move given tensions with Venezuela.
• Guyana: imports of vaping products are now banned over concerns about young people’s use.
• Antigua and Barbuda is reported to have changed its UN vote on the Cuba embargo after a US visa warning.
• St Lucia has answered EU demands to end its citizenship-by-investment programme.
• St Vincent and the Grenadines: after a murder-free October, the Prime Minister urged police to keep up the fight against crime.
• Cayman Islands: residents’ satisfaction with their quality of life has risen to 84.9%, a new survey finds.
• Sint Maarten: nine years after Hurricane Irma, French Quarter residents are still waiting for fibre broadband, amid funding gaps and delays.
• St Kitts and Nevis opened the first Fostering the Future: The Caribbean Summit today, gathering leaders, educators and students on empowering children.

The week ahead

• Reggae Boyz v Mexico: the Concacaf Nations League quarter-final starts in Kingston on Saturday 14 November (8pm ET), with the return leg in Monterrey on Tuesday 17 November. A place in the finals is at stake.
• T&T–US military drills run from 16 to 21 November.
• COP31 enters its decisive second week; watch for new pledges to the loss and damage fund.
• Haiti: candidates’ deadline for police certificates is 23 November.
• Trinidad and Tobago: watch for the government’s response to the Privy Council ruling.

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

Sources

• Jamaica Observer – Privy Council overturns anti-gay laws in Trinidad
• Jamaica Gleaner – Privy Council rules in favour of Jason Jones
• Global Voices – Jason Jones wins landmark judgement
• TTT News – Jones welcomes decision
• Jamaica Observer – NDC sweeps Grenada polls
• Jamaica Gleaner – Mitchell leads NDC to historic victory
• Rio Times – Grenada’s PM wins second term
• Caribbean National Weekly – Mitchell calls for unity
• Reuters via The Star – Haiti PM says Saintil is dead
• Jamaica Observer – Haitian gang leader killed
• Political.org – 400 Mawozo contacts disarmament commission
• Jamaica Observer – World Bank reform plan for Haiti
• Carbon Pulse – Caribbean forms separate UNFCCC bloc
• CARICOM – COP31 dates
• SKNIS – Fostering the Future summit and loss and damage strategy
• Office of the Prime Minister, The Bahamas – press statements
• Virgin Islands Consortium – USVI news
• Caribbean National Weekly – Caribbean news
• Caribbean National Weekly – T&T–US military exercises
• Jamaica Observer – NWC compensation
• ICT Pulse – Week ending 8 November
• Rio Times – Mexico v Jamaica fixtures